Gakkou no Yuurei (School Ghosts), volume 4

More ghostly doings in Japanese schools. Gakkou no Yuurei (School Ghosts), volume 4, is much like volume 3: six segments of about the same length, both animation and live-action.

The six segments in volume 4 are:

1. "Death Doll" (animated). The beloved doll of a girl killed in World War II brings destruction on anyone who hurts her, accidentally or otherwise.
   
   
   
   
   
2. "Behind Me" (live-action). Ever hear the story about how to summon a ghost at school? If you do, you'll never hear another...
   
   
   
   
   
3. "The Animal Spirit That Saved My Life" (animated). A girl is brought back from the brink of death by her determined dog, who refuses to let her cross the Sanzo River to the afterlife.
   
   
   
   
   
4. "Wandering Feet" (live-action). A pair of detached legs in geta haunts a school where she was separated from her mother in a flood and drowned.
   
   
   
   
   
5. "Boy at the Crossroads" (live-action). There's a ghostly boy at an intersection. You must never, never, never make eye contact with him.
   
   
   
   
   
6. "Jogging Old Man" (live-action). A newbie jogger receives encouragement and jogging companionship from a cheerful old man. After he calls to say goodbye, the newbie finds out that the old man had been bedridden for a year...
   

I like the fourth and sixth stories best, because they end well, but they're all fairly routine. The animation in segment 3 is very cheap, with lots of still frames instead of motion.

The voice actors in the animated segments are:

• Ikezawa Haruna played Nagisa in CLAMP School Detectives, Christine in Daa! Daa! Daa!, Luna in the Gravion series, Noriko in Gravitation, Momoka in the Sgt. Frog franchise, Yoshino in the Maria Watches over Us franchise, Caimie in One Piece, and Broye in the Uma Musume series.
  
• Watanabe Misa played Akeginu in Basilisk, Eriko in Gilgamesh, and Mattsu in Mattsu to Yama to Moburi-san.
  
• Yamaguchi Kappei played the lead character in the Detective Conan franchise, Ranma in the Ranma 1/2 franchise, Inuyasha in all the Inuyasha properties, Usopp in the One Piece franchise, Sakuma Ryuichi in Gravitation, Arslan in the first OVA series, and the title role in Mouse, among many others. He played Billia in Tottoi, Matsuoka Eiji in Chameleon, Shibuya in Zetsuai 1989 and Bronze: Zetsuai Since 1989, and Tooru in Boyfriend, all Orphan releases.
• Yamazaki Takumi played Hans in A.D. Police, Kasugaigarasu in Demon Slayer, Kayneth in Fate/Zero, Yata in the .hack franchise, Isamu in Macross Plus, Jyoji in Monkey Turn, and Ferio in the Rayearth franchise. She appeared in Tottoi and Wolf Guy, both Orphan releases.
  
• Katsuhisa Houki played Gamo Bicchunokami Yorisato in Sanada 10, an Orphan release. He appeared in Hand Maid Mai; Tiger & Bunny, Babylon, Burst Angel, Fire Force, Ghost Talker's Daydream, and House of Five Leaves.
• Hikami Kyouko played Momoko in Wedding Peach, Pastel in Megami Paradise, Momo in Ultra Nyan, and Sara in Hand Maid May. The last three are Orphan releases.
  
• Hisakawa Aya played the title roles in Mamono Hunter Youko, Voogie's Angel, and Iria: Zeiram, Skuld in the Ah! My Goddess franchise, Cerberus in Card Captor Sakura, Sailor Mercury in the Sailor Moon franchise, Yuki in Fruits Basket, Haruka in RahXephon, Youko in The Twelve Kingdoms, and Storm in X-Men. She played Yoshiko in Ushiro no Hyakutaro, Natsuki in Kimama ni Idol, Marine in Nana Toshi Monogatari, Shizuka in Sotsugyou: Graduation, Mishima Misako in Yume Tsukai, Shana in Al Caral no Isan, Sonia in Ziggy Sore Yuke! R&R Band, Tomoko in Sensou Douwa: Boku no Boukuugou, and Koneko in Ear of the Golden Dragon, all Orphan releases.
• Takagi Wataru played the title role in Great Teacher Onizuka, Nezumi in the 1996 and 2007 versions of GeGeGe no Kitarou, his namesake, as well as other recurring roles, in the Detective Conan franchise, old man Gorou in the recent Godzilla S.P., and Takeshi in Kakyuusei (1995), an Orphan release.
  
• Tsuboi Tomohiro played Shinpachi in the Hakuouki franchise, Ichirou in the Knights of Sidonia properties, Toshii Maeda in the Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings shows, and Shima in Zegapain, and appeared in the first volume of Gakkou no Yuurei, an Orphan release.
  

The director, Yazaki Shigeru, also directed the animated segments in volume 3 as well as Kyuuketsuki, an h-anime.

The staff is the same as for volume 3. Perevodildo translated and did initial timing. ninjacloud fine-timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Topper3000 QCed. Our caffeinated encoder went under the pseudonym of "cappucino" this time.

So here's volume 4 of Gakkou no Yuurei. Nothing really new or groundbreaking, and I'm concerned about the decline in the animation production values. Time will tell. You can get this volume from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news in irc.rizon.net.

Seirei Tsukai (Elementalors)

Seirei Tsukai (Elementalors), not to be confused with Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance, is a one-shot OVA based on a manga by Okazaki Takeshi, who also wrote Explorer Woman Ray. Released in 1995, it was one of the first OVAs to be fansubbed; the first version was done in the VHS-fansub era. It has some resemblance to 1994's Bakuen Campus Guardress - epic battles among super-powered heroes and villains to determine the fate of the world - but Bakuen was a parody, while Seirei Tsukai takes itself completely seriously.

The story opens with a beautiful (and fetchingly unclothed) blonde woman, apparently some sort of ice spirit, getting subdued and imprisoned.

It then jump cuts to the present, where our depressed hero, Kagura, is suffering through the funeral of his older stepsister, Kana, who has killed herself after her husband dies in a car accident. Their relatives and friends blame Kagura for surviving the accident, and only his wannabe squeeze, Asami, stands by him. 

Then suddenly, more super-powered beings appear and restart the War of the Holy Sword. They attack each other with nonsensically named special moves and unleash earthquakes and floods that destroy civilization.

Turns out that the super-beings are wielding the power of the elements - Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Wood, Steel, etc - and hence are known as Elementalors. Lord Shiki, a water Elementalor, is determined to free his daughter Shiohisa (the woman from the prologue), even if this means upsetting the balance of the elements and destroying the world. To that end, he kidnaps Asami to be his Deepa (assistant? channel?) and almost slices Kagura in half.

Kagura must awaken to his own dormant Elementalor powers, heal himself, rescue Asami, and, incidentally, keep what's left of the world from blowing up.

You following this? It's preposterous. The Elementalors destroy most the of the world and humanity, without the show batting an eyelash. Asami is vital to Lord Shiki, and Kagura has staggering unknown powers as the Ether Elementalor, because the plot requires it. Lots of Elementalors (Tsuyuha, Koimura, Sai, Shizuku), are introduced and given a brief moment to posture or fight, without much explanation. (I think they're opposing members of the Earth and Water Clans.) Still, it has lots of epic battle scenes and shiny explosions. I guess that's the point.

The voice cast includes many well-known seiyuu from the 1990s, all of whom, incidentally, have appeared in other Orphan releases:

• Shiina Hekiru (Asami) played Rurubell in Megami Paradise and Elysse in Plastic Little, both Orphan releases, as well as Hikaru in the Rayearth series, Fam in Hikyou Tanken Fam & Ihrlie, Rockman in the Rockman Hoshi ni Negai wo OVAs,  Alpha in the Yokohama Country Cafe OVAs,and Nene (the protagonist's perverted younger sister) in the Seitokai Yakuindomo franchise.
• Midorikawa Hikaru (Kagura) played the title role in Sakamoto desu ga?, Softon in Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Heero Yuy in Gundam Wing, Tamahome in Fushigi Yuugi, Shi Seiran in Saiunkoku Monogatari, Kaede Rukawa in Slam Dunk, Zelgadis Greywords in Slayers, Gen in the OVA version of MAPS, and Ryuu Hou in s-CRY-ed. He played Muraoka in B.B. Fish and Mars in Fire Emblem, both Orphan releases
• Inoue Kazuhiko (Shiki) starred as Yamaoka Shirou in Oishinbo, Yuki Eiri in Gravitation, the title role in Cyborg 009, Gorou in Moonlight Mile, Tachibana no Tomomasa in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de: Hachyoushou, and my favorite role, the irascible, sake-swilling Nyanko-sensei in the Natsume Yuujichou franchise. He also played Leslie Madoff in Michite Kuru Toki no Mukou ni, Arthur in Ai to Ken no Camelot, Ando Shiro in Dioxin no Natsu, Saiki Haruka in Tobira o Akete, Iori in Tomoe's Run!, Kanuma Hayate in Akai Hayate, Ryousuke in Daishizen no Majuu Bagi, Kitten Smith in Starship Troopers, Liu Bei Xuande in both Sangokushi TV specials, Ayako in Lunn Flies into the Wind, Nakatsugawa in Boyfriend, Jinpachi Nezu in Sanada 10, Katsuhiko in Hiatari Ryouko, Minamoto no Yoshitsune in Genji, Part 1, Hisui in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 2, and Kajiwara Kagetoki in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 3, all Orphan releases.
• Sakuma Rei (Tsuyuha) played Batako in Soreike! Appanman, April in Sol Bianca, Peorth in Ah! My Goddess, the title role in Aika, Shampoo in Ranma 1/2, Vena in Dragon Half, Kitty White in Hello Kitty, and Mii in Muumin. She also played Lady Aoi in Bakuen Campus Guardress, Yukihime in Tengai Makyou, Naru in Blue Sonnet, Carmencita in Starship Troopers, and Belga the pirate in Cosmic Fantasy, all Orphan releases.
• Matsumoto Yasunori (Sai) starred as Ushiro in Ushiro no Hyakutaro, Akira in Mellow, Johnny in Starship Troopers, Kaname in Singles, and Tooru in Every Day Is Sunday, all Orphan releases. He was in numerous OVAs in the 1990s, including Houkago no Tinker Bell, Ziggy Sore Yuke! R&R Band, Seikimatsu: Humane Society, Fukuyama Gekijou: Natsu no Himitsu, and Al Caral no Isan, also Orphan releases. Among his other notable roles were Wataru Akiyama in Initial D, Jean Havoc in Fullmetal Alchemist, Gourry Gabriev in Slayers, Ryou in Sonic Soldier Borgman, and a personal favorite, Dick Saucer in Dragon Half.
• Yamazaki Wakana (Chiaki, Sai's Deepa) played Mao Lan in Fighting Beauty Wulong and Mouri Ran in the Detective Conan franchise. She played Sonya in Dragon Slayer Eiyuu Densetsu and appeared in Chameleon, both Orphan releases.
• Shibata Hidekatsu (Koimura, the Steel Elementalor) played Baron Ashura in Mazinger Z, Kenzou Kabuto in Great Mazinger, King Bradley in both versions of Fullmetal Alchemist, and the Third Hokage in Naruto. He played Sun Quon in the Sangokushi movies, the hero's father in Dragon Fist, Funakoshi in Ushiro no Hyakutaro, and the voice of God in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, all Orphan releases.
• Minaguchi Yuuko (Shiohisa) is best known for Yawara!, her breakout and defining role. She starred in numerous other shows, including Bosco Adventure, Dragon Ball Z and GT, Sailor Moon, One Piece, and Alexander (Reign: The Conqueror). She played Kii in Greed, Yumi in Blue Sonnet, Frieda in Apfelland Monogatari, Saki in Singles, Hoshimi in Maps, and Felicia in Oz, all Orphan releases.
• Orikasa Ai (Hisae) played the title role in Romeo no Aoi Sora, Fee in Planetes, Seguchi Touma (the record company president) in Gravitation, Quatre in Gundam Wing, and Ryouko in the Tenchi Muyo franchise. She also played Hibino Aya in Asatte Dance, Enrico in Dioxin no Natsu, Carrie in Ziggy Sore Yuke! R&R Band, Sara in Eien no Filena, Toryune in Al Caral no Isan, Hanamura in Houkago no Tinker Bell, Katchan's mother in Tako ni Natta Okaasan, the narrator in Boku no Boukuugou, Made, Ayuuru's sister, in B.B. Fish, and young Mars in Fire Emblem, all Orphan releases.
• Iwao Junko (Kana) starred as Mima in Perfect Blue. She played the title role in Ayashi no Ceres and Key the Metal Idol, Jun in Devilman Lady, Tomoyo in Card Captor Sakura, and Mayuka in Tenchi Muyou: Manatsu no Eve. She appeared in Kakyuusei (1995) and Gakkou no Yuurei volume 1, both Orphan releases.
  
• Okiayu Ryoutarou (Shizuku) starred as the title roles in Gambler Densetsu Tetsuya, Toriko, and Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun, Mitsui Hisashi in Slam Dunk, Matsura Yuu in Marmalade Boy, Jinnai Katsuhiko in the El-Hazard franchise, Nueno Meisuke in the Hell Teacher Nube series,Samejima Ranmaru in Kizuna, Souma Shigure in Fruits Basket (2003), Berserker in Fate/Zero, Hideyoshi in Sengoku Basara, and Atsushi in Recorder to Ransel. He also played depressed student Yamazaki in Mellow, Takao-san in Let's Nupu Nupu, Abel in Fire Emblem, Gion in Okane ga nai!, Akram in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 2 (a repeat of his role in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de: Hachyoushou), and Hakuryuu in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 3, all Orphan releases.

The director, Akiyama Katsuhito, directed many other shows, including Bubblegum Crisis, Sol Bianca, Bastard, Monkey Turn, and Inozuma Eleven.

By now, it should be clear that I didn't much care for Seirei Tsukai, so you might reasonably ask why Orphan did the show. The answer is, basically, it seemed like a good idea at the time. The cover art was striking, all the readily available versions were based on VHS tapes, and the laserdisc was inexpensive. I bought the disc, an anonymous friend ripped it on the Domesday Duplicator and encoded it, and then... nothing happened. Eventually, Orphan released the show as a raw. Perevodildo found it and translation checked the existing fansubs. ninjacloud fine-timed. I edited and typeset. ImAWasteOfHair and Rezo QCed.I should mention that the "special attack" names make no sense, so Perevodildo simply left the originals alone. And I don't care; do you?

So here's Seirei Tsukai, in a new, shinier version. It has some (female) nudity; it's NSFW. You can get the show from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

 

Gakkou no Yuurei (School Ghosts), volume 3

Let's start out 2025 on a scary note, 'cause it's gonna be a scary year. Gakkou no Yuurei (School Ghosts), volume 3, features more supernatural doings on Japanese school campuses. (How come the schools I attended never had any of this sort of thing?) The segments are all the same length, a format I like better than the mix of short and long segments in volume 2.

The six segments in volume 3 are:

1. "The Hateful Rabbit" (animated). Some school bullies seek revenge on another student by killing the rabbits he takes care of. They get much more than they bargained for.
   
   
   
   
   
2. "Closed Room" (live-action). Three bored schoolgirls decided to test their courage by visiting a forbidden basement room where ghosts supposedly reside. (They do.)
   
   
   
   
   
3. "Kamaitachi" (animated). Two boys taking a shortcut through an unused tunnel discover that it is inhabited by the battling ghosts of dead samurai. The ghost swords can't seem to hurt them, but perhaps that's not entirely true...
   
   
   
   
   
4. "Filled-In Pond" (live-action). The ghost of a drowned girl haunts a schoolteacher.
   
   
   
   
   
5. "The Devil's Convex Mirror" (animated). A corner mirror intended to show crossing traffic seems to show a schoolgirl the future instead. This is not the blessing it appears to be.
   
   
   
   
   
6. "The Soldier Who Returned" (live-action). The ghost of a soldier killed in World War II haunts a schoolyard. He was supposed to meet the girl he loved there, but he was called up and shipped out before the scheduled meeting.
   

As usual, the quality varies. I liked "A Soldier Who Returned" for its melancholy romanticism, and "The Hateful Rabbit" for the way the bullies get their comeuppance, but YMMV.

One translation note: Kamaitachi usually means a weasel yokai, but it can also mean a cut administered by a whirlwind.

As with volume 2, I've only looked up the seiyuu from the animated segments, not the actors from the live-action segments.

• Orikasa Ai made her debut in Shoukoushi Cedie. She played the title role in Romeo no Aoi Sora, Fee in Planetes, Seguchi Touma (the record company president) in Gravitation, Quatre in Gundam Wing, and Ryouko in the Tenchi Muyo franchise. She also played Hanamura in Houkago no Tinker Bell, Hibino Aya in Asatte Dance, Enrico in Dioxin no Natsu, Carrie in Ziggy Sore Yuke! R&R Band, Sara in Eien no Filena, Toryune in Al Caral no Isan, Katchan's mother in Tako ni Natta Okaasan, the narrator in Boku no Boukuugou, Made, Ayuuru's sister, in B.B. Fish, and young Mars in Fire Emblem, all Orphan releases.
  
• Nishihara Kumiko played Iris in the Sakura Wars franchise and Renko in Kujibiki Unbalance, both OVAs and TV series. She played Fhalei Rue in Ryokunohara Labyrinth and appeared in Kakyuusei (1995), Kosuke-sama Rikimaru-sama: Konpeitou no Ryuu, Zetsuai 1989, Dragon Fist, Tenkousei, and Blazing Transfer Student, all Orphan releases.
• Tanaka Atsuko played Mauve in ACCA, Nena Hargen in Aika, Cassandra in Alexander: Reign the Conqueror, Caster in the Fate franchise, Motoko Kusanagi in the GITS franchise, Bynas in Ozma, Claudette in Queen's Blade, and Jagara in Wolf's Rain. She also played the nameless female lead in Heart Cocktail Again, Yuri in Nemure Omoigo, Sora no Shitone ni, new Mamamega in Megami Paradise, and Dana in AWOL Compression Remix, all Orphan releases
• Tomoko Miura played Katsumi in Project Arms and Miya in Mirage of Blaze.
• Morikawa Toshiyuki took over the role of dad Nohara Hiroshi in the Crayon Shin-chan franchise. He played lead roles in Gallery Fake, Yami no Matsui, Kyou Kara Maou, and numerous other shows. He's also a regular in Orphan's releases. He played the lead role in Ear of the Golden Dragon, Wolf Guy, and Nozomi Witches, as well as delinquent student Fuwa in Mellow, Kazuma in Bakuen Campus Guardress, and Inspector Kendo in the Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo series. He delivered a scene-stealing performance as Panda Mama in Shirokuma Cafe. He also appeared in Al Caral no Isan, Akai Hayate, Dragon Fist, Kiss wa Mi ni Shite, Blazing Transfer Student, and Wild 7.
• Murozono Takehiro played Antonio in Inochi no Chikyuu: Dioxin no Natsu, an Orphan release, and had featured roles in numerous shows, including the Macross 7 franchise, Vampire Miyu, Fullmetal Panic, Hanada Shounen-shi, Monster, and Tsurune.
• Yokoyama Chisa played the title roles in Galaxy Fraulein Yuna, Iron Virgin Jun, and the Sakura Taisen franchise, as well as Sasami/Pretty Sammy in the Tenchi Muyo franchise. She played Nonoka in Princess Army, Hu Ssu, the were-tiger, in Wolf Guy, Flute in Hameln no Violin Hiki, and Mami in Boyfriend, all Orphan releases. 
• Kamei Yoshiko played the title role in Rerere no Tensai Bakabon, Gema in the Di Gi Charat franchise, and Nyan in Ultra Nyan: Hoshizora kara Maiorita Fushigi Neko, an Orphan release. She has had featured roles in Magical Meow Meow Taruto and Tiger and Bunny.
• Tano Megumi played Heigorou in the Inazuma Eleven franchise, Osamu in Mittsume ga Tooru, and Sanzo in Monkey Magic.
• Asano Mayumi played Chizuru Godai in Dance Dance Danseur, Hilda in Eureka Seven, Claus in Last Exile, Mai in Smile Down the Runway, Gascogne in Vandread, and Blue in Wolf's Rain. 
• Itou Kentarou played Doll Isamu in Super-doll Licca-chan, Tetsuo in Hikaru no Go, Akimichi in Naruto, Abarai in Bleach, Tsuchiura in Kiniro no Chord, Riki in Ai no Kusabi (2012), Tadokoro in Yowamushi Pedal, and Dr. Akizuki in Nagasaki 1945: Angelus no Kane, an Orphan release.
  

The director, Yazaki Shigeru, also directed Kyuuketsuki, an h-anime.

Most of the usual suspects were involved in this episode. Perevodildo translated and did the initial timing. ninjacloud fine-timed to the final encode. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Topper3000 QCed. The encode is by our anonymous caffeinated friend, this time enjoying a salted caramel latte.

I've already said my piece on this series. The quality of the stories varies, and the live-action segments look a bit cheesy. Still, the multi-segment format means that the stories get their points across quickly, and the duds don't linger too long. You can get this volume of Gakkou no Yuurei from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

2024 in Review

A year of retreads and repeats, none of them good: War in Ukraine. War in the Middle East. Famine in Sudan. Famine in Gaza. Covid and flu and RSV, oh my. Donald Trump, the once-and-future president. It's all downhill now.

Orphan Fansubs

Orphan's output maintained its strong pace, primarily thanks to new translator Perevodildo and "veteran" team member Skr (he's decades younger than I am). An orphan series, Kingdom of Chaos: Born to Kill, was redone and completed, and another, Gakkou no Yuurei, set in motion.

1. Fruit Brains. This set of shorts, about Orange attempting to complete various missions while Pineapple pesters him with pointless questions, is just plain hilarious.
   
2. Mellow. A philandering layabout poses as his sister, a teacher, to escape retribution. His "lessons" continuously land him in hot water.
   
3. One Pound Gospel. Takahashi Rumiko at her finest. A failing fighter with too large an appetite is taken in hand by a novice nun and put on the road to success.
   
4. DAYS OAD (2017). A set of omake for the series, set at a summer training camp. Joint with Saizen.
5. Asatte Dance. A young man awakens in bed with a nubile naked girl. He has no memory of who she is or how she got there. Is she after his body, his inheritance, or both?
   
6. Nayuta. A young girl takes in a refugee with a strange artifact and finds herself on the front line of liberating humankind from aliens. Life, The Universe, and Everything explain in less than 90 minutes.
   
7. Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro v2. A lighthearted mystery set in Nagasaki, featuring a truant girl, her perceptive cat, and several mysterious and/or tragic strangers..
8. Heart Cocktail Again. More Watase Saizou shorts about romance found, lost, and regained. Joint with DarkWispers and LonelyChaster. 
9. Science Saru x MBS Original Short Anime Daisakusen. More shorts, mostly funny, one enigmatic.
   
10. Boku no Oldies wa All-Color. A Watase Saizou "manga with music," first of three. Joint with DarkWispers and LonelyChaser.
11. Bakuen Campus Guardress. One of the first OVAs ever subbed, and a wicked parody of the "schoolkids save the world" genre.. 
12. Captain Bal. This Anime Tamago OVA is a warmhearted looked at an inept band of impoverished children trying to be pirates.
    
13. Chalk-iro no People. Another Watase Saizou "manga with music," mostly set in the "chalk-colored" apartment house of the title. Joint with DarkWispers and LonelyChaser. 
14. Bride of Deimos. A gothic tale of orchids, incest, and murder. 
15. Chuck Shimezou. Another charming Anime Tamago OVA, about a young "zipper youkai" trying to accomplish his first "closing."
16. Ore no Sora. The scion of the richest family in Japan decides to become a policeman and puts his fortune to work collaring fiendish criminals. Not one frame is believable. 
    
17. Koiko no Mainichi. A charming slice of life romance, but the life being sliced is that of a young Yakuza enforcer and his curvaceous bride.
    
18. Dragon Slayer Eiyuu Densetsu: Ouji no Tabidachi. Swords and sorcery and not much else.
19. Houkago no Tinker Bell. A "high school mystery," in which a bickering pair of friends try to solve the disappearance of a classmate..
20. Garden of Remembrance. An explosion of color and imagination, set to a melancholy song.
21. Michite Kuru Toki no Mukou ni. A sweeping reincarnation romance, spanning millennia. Two lovers in ancient Mongolia are separated by fate, but their shared red deer talismans strive to bring them together across time.
    
22. Princess Army. Yawara Lite. A young judoka becomes an object of romantic contention between her adoring coterie and an arrogant stranger.
    
23. Nijuushi no Hitomi. A look back at pre-war Japan, as seen through the eyes of a pacifistic teacher. She tries to remain true to her beliefs as war encroaches..
24. Nemurenu Yoru no Chiisana Ohanashi. Soothing short stories about a cat (named Cat) and his friends. They have simple adventures or just hang out and enjoy life.
    
25. Ryokunohara Labyrinth. A shounen-ai sci-fi tale, innocuous and baffling. 
26. Tottoi. A young boy returns home to Sardinia with his family. There, he discovers that a supposedly extinct seal species may not have vanished as completely as everyone thinks.
    
27. Ushiro no Hyakutaro. Three parts supernatural thriller, one part spiritualist claptrap. 
28. Two on the Road. The last of Watase Saizou's "manga with music." This one tells a complete story about two lovers who split up but eventually come back together. Joint with DarkWispers and LonelyChaser.
29. Kingdom of Chaos: Born to Kill. An amnesiac young man joins forces with two other outcasts to overthrow a bloodthirsty tyrant. But why is he the tyrant's spitting image?
    
30. Cat-Eyed Boy episodes 4 to 6. Three new episodes, now using laserdiscs rather than DVDs. The roughness of the source suits the material.
31. Aoki Honoo v2. The story of a heel (or psychopath) and his steady ascension by using (and discarding) the women in his life. 
32. Gakkou no Yuurei volume 1. Ghost stories set at schools. 
33. Gakkou no Yuurei volume 2. More ghost stories set at schools, including some live-action segments. 
34. Naki no Ryuu - Hiryuu no Shou (1991). An enigmatic Mahjong gambler, known only as The Calling Dragon, is caught up in a Yakuza war.
35. OL Kaizou Kouza. A ripe piece of Japanese misogyny, purporting to show through comic skits the superiority of male workers to "office ladies."
36. Cat-Eyed Boy episodes 7 and 8. More adventures of our half-cat-youkai hero.
37. Ichigatsu ni wa Christmas. A Christmas shoujo that is neither a typical Christmas story nor a typical shoujo, but rather a character study of two deeply flawed individuals.
38. Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi. An anime and live-action documentary about the bombing of Hiroshima, focusing on three teenage schoolgirls who perished in the blast.
39. Plastic Little. Urushihara Satoshi's character designs on unfettered display. What else do you need to know?
    

My personal favorites included One Pound Gospel, Captain Bal and Chuck Shimezou, Nemurenu Yoru no Chiisana Ohanashi, Nijuushi no Hitomi, and Michite Kuru Toki no Mukou ni. Plastic Little was the group's guilty pleasure for the year. The two ultra-shorts, Fruit Brains and Science Saru x MBS Original Short Anime DaisakusenI, tickled my funny bone.

A big "thank you" to all the team members, including translators (and timers) Perevodildo and Skr, timer ninjacloud, QCs Nemesis, Uchuu, Rezo, Topper3000, VigorousJammer, and ImAWasteOfHair, and encoders anonymous1, anonymous2, "coffee," Rezo, and WOWmd. I must also thank the Arutha foundation, which hosts all of Orphan's releases on IRC and reseeded all of our past releases. Finally, I'd like to thank our joint-project collaborators: Inka, DarkWispers, and LonelyChaser. But whether mentioned or not, every staff member has contributed to the work this year.

The Audio Side

Orphan released one additional soundtrack this year, Boku no Oldies wa All-Color, as well as the OP/ED EP from OL Kaizou Kouza.

 
Work for Other Groups

Some old, some new.

• Frozen-EviL. I continued to edit the slow-moving Blu-Ray version of Yawara! Maybe next year.
  
• Perevodildo. I edited and typeset a new version of Guskou Budori. I started editing and typesetting Ningen Kakumei (The Human Revolution), a long series about a Japanese religious movement. Because of Orphan's backlog, I'll only be doing typesetting after episode 1.
  
• Darkonius. I started editing and typesetting a new version of Damekko Doubutsu (Useless Animals). This is one of my favorite short series.
• WasteofBlindness. I continued typesetting Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko.
  

Favorites of 2024

I'm not an anime critic, so I don't try to compile a "best of" list for the anime year. Instead, I'm listing my favorites of the year and why they kept me interested all the way through. As usual, shows with lots of "action" (i.e., violence) mostly don't make the cut.

In alphabetical order:

• Boku no Kokoro no Yabai season 2. This exploration of two mismatched junior high students stumbling toward friendship and even romance is one of the best romcoms ever. Season 2 showed the relationship progressing toward a key milestone.
  
• Dandadan. Balls out (literally) batshit craziness from start to finish. Exhausting and exhilarating at the same time, and wonderfully animated by Science Saru. More to come.
  
• Dungeon Meshi. Comedy, fantasy, and food combined with a crazy cast of goofballs. More to come.
  
• Karasu wa Aruji wo Erabanai. If you like high fantasy, it doesn't come much better than this. A fascinating premise and deep plot mechanics work smoothly with a boy's coming of age drama.
  
• Kusuriya no Hitorigoto. I'm very partial to historical shoujo (such as Saiunkoku Monogatari and Akatsuko no Yona), so this should be no surprise. A quirky heroine, an apparently hopeless love interest, a complex plot with many subplots; what's not to like? Starts again in early 2025.
• Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san. A real sleeper, with a farcical sci-fi plot (panda-loving alien general fights directionally-challenged red ranger, except on their days off) cloaking a wistful and melancholy slice-of-life about the importance of stopping to smell the roses.
  
• Make Heroine ga Oosugiro! This show played with the tropes of the harem light novel, with the self-aware hero more an observer and facilitator than protagonist.
  
• Natsume Yuujinchou season 7. I love this show. Its moodiness and melancholy, as well as its fundamental decency, never pall. Long may Nyanko-sensei thrive.
• Ramen Aka Neko. Cats! Ramen! Cats making ramen! This slice-of-life comedy went far beyond its basic gag. More to come.
  
• Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid season 3. A wonderful fantasy romcom that received a complete, albeit cheap, adaptation. The story is heartwarming, the ending, deserved.
  

Quirky personal favorites:

• Dungeon no Nako no Hito. This very low-key comedy answered a burning question: how do all those damned fantasy dungeons actually work? The heroine's deadpan reactions to one ridiculous revelation after another never palled.
• Jiisan Baasan Wakagaeru. This show will be on no-one else's "favorites of 2024" list, except mine. Very soothing, and excellent proof of the maxim, "Youth is wasted on the young."
  

Ooi! Tonbo also made me rethink my aversion to golf - almost. I'm enjoying the Ranma 1/2 reboot, rather more than original. Dosanko Gal wa Namara Menkoi was a good romcom but a bit generic. Re: Monster was a guilty pleasure, the one isekai I didn't toss right away. Sousei no Frieren fell off the list, because the second half's "exam" arc wasn't nearly as compelling as the first half.

 

Personal Milestones

I've been fansubbing for a long time. Since I started, I've kept track of all the projects I've worked on and all the scripts I've touched, mostly as an editor, but sometimes as a QC, a typesetter, or even (under duress) a timer. This year, I reached some significant milestones:

• I've worked on more than 750 projects
• I've worked on more than 3000 scripts
  
• I've edited more than 2800 scripts
• I've typeset more than than 1000 scripts

Now the caveats: a few of the projects are v2s, so scripts that have been edited may have been edited a second time. Most of the projects I've typeset I've also edited or QCed. On the other hand, I don't count the release checks I do on all Orphan releases. No matter how I count, it's a lot. Fingers crossed for even more.

 

Looking Ahead

Orphan ends 2024 with a significant backlog of projects. Additional translators, editors, typesetters, and QCs are always welcome.

Meanwhile, thanks, everyone, both team members and fans. Have a happy and safe 2025.

 

Plastic Little

Let's face it: the world does not need another version of the 1994 OVA Plastic Little. kuraze spent years wrestling decent video from the DVD releases, and his version is unlikely to be surpassed unless or until a remastered source becomes available. But as Wesley so acutely remarks in The Princess Bride, "There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world," and who draws them better than Urushihara Satoshi, the "Master of Breasts" as Wikipedia calls him? Plastic Little is one of only a handful of his anime works, and a chance to revisit it cannot be overlooked.

The origin of this release dates back to the early years of the Domesday Duplicator. Back then, enthusiasts noted that DdD captures of Japanese laserdiscs often looked better than the slipshod DVD releases of composite sources. (Amon Saga, Golden Boy, and Initial D are examples, as was Project A-Ko, until the original film masters were found.) So our intrepid encoder bought a laserdisc of Plastic Little, ripped it, and encoded it. I didn't think that another version was warranted, so the raw lay unused until Perevodildo found it. He did think that a new version was warranted, and here it is. The video probably needed more tweaking - LDs often have color balance or gamma correction issues - but with Urushihara's talents on unfettered display, who's paying attention? And this version is the first with a thorough translation check of the familiar R1 script (which is, to be fair, pretty good).

Plastic Little is set in the distant future on the gas giant Ietta. (The planet has little or no metal, so everything is made out of plastic; hence the title.) Tita Mu Koshigawa is captain of the Cha Cha Maru, which was once her father's. 

She and her crew are in the business of capturing exotic creatures from the planet's sea of clouds and selling them to the pet trade. While shopping in town one day, Tita rescues a young girl, Elysse Aldo Mordish, from the hands of the planetary military, led by the power-mad Commander Guizel. 

Elysse's father knew the secret of vital gravity-controlling technology. Guizel killed Elysse's father while trying to obtain it, and he's after it still. Now Tita and her faithful crew - pilot Nichol Hawking (who has a crush on Tita), chief engineer Mikhail Diagilev, assistant engineer Roger Rogers, medical officer Mei Lin Jones, and all-around fighter Joshua Balboa - must keep Elysse safe and counter the military's dastardly plans.

If the plot sounds a bit generic, it is. The story is a collection of set pieces: chases, explosions, interactions among the lively supporting characters, and of course, opportunities for Tita and Elysse to get naked.

(Let's ignore that they are said to be seventeen and sixteen, respectively; it's Japan.) The fanservice is all eye candy. There's no sex, not even a hint of it. Nichol's crush on Tita is entirely one-sided. In fact, she seems a lot more interested in Elysse, tbh.

The voice cast includes many famous names from the 90s:

• Fuchizaki Yuriko (Tita) played the title roles in Metantei Loki Ragnarok, Musashi no Ken, and Bit the Cupid, Ibuki in Maison Ikoku, Michael in Peter Pan no Bouken, June in Sol Bianca, Anthy in Revolutionary Girl Utena, Li Kouran in the Sakura Taisen franchise, and Sanosuke in the original Rurouni Kenshin TV series.
• Shiina Hekiru (Elysse) played Rurubell in Megami Paradise, an Orphan release, Hikaru in the Rayearth series, Asami in Seirei Tsukai, Fam in Hikyou Tanken Fam & Ihrlie, Rockman in the Rockman Hoshi ni Negai wo OVAs, Alpha in the Yokohama Country Cafe OVAs, and Nene (the protagonist's perverted younger sister) in the Seitokai Yakuindomo franchise.
• Yamaguchi Kappei (Nichol Hawking) played the title roles in the Detective Conan, Ranma 1/2, and Inuyasha franchises, Usopp in the One Piece franchise, Sakuma Ryuichi in Gravitation, Arslan in the Arslan no Senki OVA series, and the title role in Mouse, among many others. He played Billia in Tottoi, Matsuoka Eiji in Chameleon, Shibuya in Zetsuai 1989 and Bronze: Zetsuai Since 1989, and Tooru in Boyfriend, all Orphan releases.
• Wakamoto Norio (Joshua Balboa) played the title role in The Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas, Vicious in Cowboy Bebop, Cell in the Dragonball franchise, Katakuriko in the Gintama franchise, Oda Nobunaga in the Sengoku Basara franchise, Guren in Ushio to Tora TV, Shining Saotome in the Uta no Prince-sama franchise, and Oskar von Reuenthal in Legend of the Galactic Heroes. He also appeared as Sakakibara in Sanada 10, Noa in Choujikuu Romanesque Samy: MISSING 99, York Denman in Apfelland Monogatari, Major Thrauza in Yamato 2520, Denon in Amon Saga, the Tengenji underboss in Koiko no Mainichi, and the Narrator in Joker: Marginal City, all Orphan releases.
• Yokozawa Keiko (Mei Lin) is probably best known for her starring role as Sheeta in Castle in the Sky. She played the title roles in Charlotte (1977), the Dorami-chan properties, and ESPer Mami, as well as a leading role in Legend of Lemnear (another Usushihara Satoshi OVA). She also played Pandora in Akuma-tou no Prince Mitsume ga Tooru and Yukari in Karuizawa Syndrome, both Orphan releases.
• Ootsuka Chikao (Mikhail Diagilev) played Kaibara Yuuzan in the Oishinbo specials, Gennosuke in Sugata Sanshirou, Nikolai Rednov in Fumoon, and General Presto in Bremen 4, all Orphan releases. He played Tora in the original Ushio to Tora, Joseph Joestar in the original JoJo's Bizarre Adventures, Captain Hook in Peter Pan no Bouken, and Hades in Arion.
• Nakao Ryuusei (Roger Rogers) played the lead in Igano Kabamaru, King Falke in ACCA, Hephaestion in Alexander's Decision, and Freeza/Cooler in Dragon Ball. He also played Akio in Chameleon, Peat Cullen in AWOL Compression Remix, and Puu in Captain Bal, all Orphan releases.
• Yanaka Hiroshi (Guizel) played Shiba in the remake of Piano and Gorou in the Free! franchise. He played Yuurakutei in Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinji and appeared in Noragami, Nanbaka, Terraformars, Wild 7, Hidamari no Ki, and Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament. The last three are Orphan releases.
• Akimoto Yousuke (Nalerov, Guizel's henchman) played Principal Ikebe in Mellow, Ookubo Sagaminokami Tadachika in Sanada 10, and appeared in Apfelland Monogatari, Genji, Part 1, Wild 7, and Dokushin Apartment Dokidami-sou, all Orphan releases. He also appeared in Stratos 4, Sisters of Wellber, Princess Lover, The Sacred Blacksmith, and Black Summoner.
  

The director, Yoshimoto Kinji, collaborated with Urushihara on several other projects, including Legend of Lemnear, two Queen's Blade series, and the h-anime Front Innocent. He also directed Genshiken 2 and Sin: Natatsu no Taizai.

As noted above, the project originated with an enthusiastic (anonymous) encoder. I shifted kuraze's subs to the LD raw. Perevodildo translation checked. ninjacloud fine timed. Topper3000 and ImAWasteOfHair QCed. I had no trouble finding volunteers for this show.

So... do I really have to give you a reason to watch Plastic Little again? The show is amazing fanservice and lively characters wrapped around a "little guys vs the big bad" sci-fi plot. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the stunning character designs of Urushihara Satoshi in one of his few anime outings. You can get the show from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #new on irc.rizon.net.

Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi

As I wrote in my blog post on Kuro ga Ita Natsu, artists have grappled for more than a century with the problem of presenting massive tragedies, such as the atomic bombings or the Holocaust, in ways that are neither overwhelming nor overly distancing. Usually, the stories focus on survivors, for who else is left to tell the tale? The 1988 TV special Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi: Hiroshima, Shouwa 20-nen 8-gatsu Muika (Girls in Summer Clothes: Hiroshima, August 6, 1945) takes a different approach to the bombing of Hiroshima: it lets the dead speak for themselves, through their diaries and journals and through the memories of their surviving relatives. It packs a punch all outsized to its 35 minute runtime.

Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi focuses on the first-year girls of Hiroshima Prefectural First Girls' High School. The second- and third-year girls had been drafted to work in factories, so only the 220 first-year girls were still attending school. They were out clearing rubble when the bomb detonated. All of them died, in the explosion or the radioactive aftermath. The show alternates anime segments, set in 1945, with "present-day" (1988) remembrances of the lost by surviving relatives.

The show focuses particularly on three girls: Morikawa Yoko, who lived in Miyajima and had to commute to school by boat and train; 

Oshita Nobuko, a serious girl who liked to study; and Okutsu Hitomi, a bright girl popular with her class. They walked to school together, in formation, as preparation against air raids. They endured air raids and privation together. They enjoyed the arrival of summer together, although shortage of fabric meant they had to make their summer dresses from old clothes, and white dresses were forbidden as too visible to airplanes. 

And they died together on August 6, 1945, Hitomi immediately, Nobuko and Yoko a few hours later.

Okutsu Hitomi's mother, who was 93 when the film was made, remembers her daughter by a class photograph. Oshita Nobuko's parents, 84 and 80, treasure the summer clothes that their daughter was wearing when the bomb hit. 

(Eventually, they donated the fragile outfit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.) And Morikawa Yoko's brother, who was away at the time, reads excerpts from Yoko's diary, which survived. This short document (published in English as Yoko's Diary) illuminates the girls' lives in the spring and summer before the bombing.

The seiyuu in the show have no other anime credits. For example, the narrator, Sugiura Keiko, was an announcer in Hiroshima. The children were voiced by actors from the Japan Children's Theater Company, and their song was sung by the Hiroshima Broadcasting Children's Choir. The animated segments were directed by Hirata Toshio, an industry veteran who started at Toei and then worked at Mushi Pro. Hirata directed two Unico movies, Barefoot Gen 2, Hi no Tori: Yamata Chapter, and Grimm Douwa: Kin no Tori, an Orphan release.

One translation note. The song the girls sing to celebrate the completion of their summer clothes is Natsu wa Kinu, a traditional song written in literary Japanese.

I stumbled across an earlier release of this show on BakaBT and was disturbed by the admission that 20% of the show wasn't subbed. I found the ISO, got a colleague to encode it, and asked Perevodildo to do a new translation. ninjacloud retimed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis, Rezo, and Uchuu QCed. The editing and typesetting were routine, except for the content, which tore me to pieces. The encode is only minimally cropped. The borders vary from segment to segment, so many segments have narrow black lines on both sides.

Does anyone need to watch Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi, particularly in the holiday season? Actually, everyone does. To quote a song from my youth,

The wars are long, the peace is frail
The madmen come again
There is no freedom in a land
Where fear and hate prevail

We need to be reminded of the consequences of power-mad leaders and nationalist fervor run amok, as happened in Japan (and elsewhere), before it's too late.

You can get Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.