More cats. (Yay!)
This time, it's the first What's Michael? OVA, from 1985. Michael is a male orange tiger cat who lives in Japan. The show consists of short humorous vignettes depicting Michael, his mate Popo-chan, and various humans who think they are Michael's owners. (They apparently never heard the aphorism, "Dogs have owners; cats have staff.") There's no continuity between skits. Michael's owner is sometimes single, sometimes married; sometimes a professional, sometimes a Yakuza. Michael is sometimes an outdoor cat, sometimes an apartment cat. Regardless, the series is well-observed and very funny, particularly if the viewer has lived with a cat. I particularly like the "Day in the Park" sketch, contrasting what it's like to play outside with a dog versus a cat.
Michael's look says it all.
Michael was played by Ootake Hiroshi, a veteran voice actor with numerous featured roles to his credit. (In the TV series, Michael was played by the legendary Tomiyama Kei, who voiced the wicked witch in Grim Douwa: Kin no Tori.) Popo was played by Masako Nozawa, who also provided the title character's meow in Midori no Neko. However, she's far better known as Son Goku in the Dragonball franchise. Recent roles include Madame Curie in Marie & Gali and Obaba in Ping Pong the Animation. The director was Nagao Shuku; he also directed Dream Hunter Rem.
Iri translated the show; Yogicat timed; I edited and typeset; and Calyrica and Nemesis did QC. Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions encoded from his own Japanese laserdisc. It's not a great raw; there's a lot of film burn at scene boundaries. We'll do the second OVA One of These Days™, but we won't be doing the TV series; it's too long.
So enjoy this romp with Michael, Popo-chan, and various other humans and creatures, including the terrifying Nyaajira (aka Catzilla). You can get it from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.
Update: there's a minor styling error. The fonts are set up for an anamorphic encode and are thus 12% too wide. If this bothers you, you can download a patch from here. We won't be releasing a formal v2.
Orphan and M74 continue their high-definition survey of the Tezuka Osamu "Love Will Save the Earth" TV specials with the very first, 1979's Hyakumannen Chikyuu no Tabi: Bander Book (Million-Year Trip: Bander Book). This was the first two-hour (with commercials) anime movie made for TV in Japan, and it shows many of the themes, strengths, and weaknesses of the specials that would follow annually for a decade.
Bander Book starts with a bang, literally. A robot terrorist blows up a space liner with Bander's parents on board. In desperation, they put baby Bander in an escape capsule and send him off into space, hoping he will find a home. He drifts to a peaceful planet inhabited by intelligent shape-shifters and is adopted by the Queen. (Superman, anyone? Or maybe Exodus.) Fast forward seventeen years, and Bander is the heir to the throne and the object of unrequited affection from his step-sister Mimiru. However, Bander knows he is different; unlike everyone else, he can't transform. At last, the truth is revealed. He is from Earth, the planet feared throughout the galaxy for its greed and aggressiveness. Bander makes up his mind to leave his home and go to Earth, in order to find out the truth of his origins.
At that very moment, his peaceful home is invaded by "space gangsters," led by... Black Jack! (Yes, the Tezuka Star System is in full swing in this show.) While the rest of the population transforms into animals and flees, Bander attempts to fight off the pirates with just his sword. He is captured, along with Mimiru, who has unwisely decided to stay behind. Black Jack carries them off and maroons them on a desert planet, which leads to a series of spoofs on Westerns. There he rescues Princess Marina of planet Sirius 8 from the Silicon Family of outlaw robots and returns her to her home world. And this is just the beginning. It's ODTAA (one damned thing after another) for 90 minutes until Good triumphs, at significant cost, over Evil, and Bander and Mimiru can be united in True Love.
Black Jack is just the first of the familiar characters repurposed on the show. Ban Shuunsaku, the detective, shows up as Ed the bartender on the desert planet. The leader of the evil Silicon Family is Don Dracula. The henchman to the evil Earth diplomat Dokudami is Hamegg. When Bander is imprisoned by evil Earthmen, his fellow prisoner, Dr. Sharaku, is the "three-eyed boy." Even Kimba the lion and Tezuka Osamu himself have brief cameos:
While the plot meanders towards the inevitable confrontation between Bander and the malignancy controlling Earth (a giant supercomputer, natch), there's time for numerous references, parodies, and gags. The ride to the Silicon Family's hideout includes a spoof of Forbidden Planet and a reference to The Exorcist, for example. The show never drags, but it does meander quite a bit, as Tezuka liked his anime to do. There's also a heavily-sped up, sketchily drawn time-line of Earth history that includes scenes of rape, dismemberment, and cannibalism. It's a kid-friendly show, after all.
Mizushima Yuu, who voiced Bander, played the male lead in another Tezuka special, Prime Rose. He also played the male lead in Tokimeki Tonight, Natsu e no Tobira, and the God Mars properties. Koyama Mami (Mimiru) played the female lead in another Tezuka special, I Am Son Gokuu. She also played Arale in the Doctor Slump & Arale-chan franchise, the mature version of the title character in Millenium Actress, and the title role in the Minky Momo franchise. Oka Masako (Princess Marina) has a fairly thin resume, but she did appear as the phoenix in the first Hi no Tori movie. Ibu Masatou (Black Jack) played the same role in another of the Hi no Tori movies but not in the later TV series and OVAs. He appeared in almost all the Yamato properties, including the ill-fated Yamato 2520 (an Orphan project), where he played the evil Emperor Brone.
Yogicat
transcribed the subtitles, which were professionally done, and M74
timed them. I edited and typeset, and Calyrica, M74, and Nemesis did QC. M74
encoded from a BDMV graciously provided by Beatrice Raws. This is a
joint Orphan-M74 release.
Despite its meanderings, Bander Book is an entertaining ride, and it's fun trying to spot the references and cameos. You can get the release from the usual torrent sites or
from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.
Update: Orphan and M74 have created a standard-definition release (480p) to replace the existing DVD-rips on BakaBT. It is also available from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha.
Zetsuai (Desperate Love) was a shounen-ai (boy's love) manga that started its run in 1989. It was adapted into an OVA in 1992. Although it was not the first shounen-ai anime by any means, it was very influential. Its operatic plot, tragic characters, and strange character designs defined the genre for years afterwards. The manga and OVA both received sequels (Bronze: Zetsuai since 1989). In addition, the Zetsuai OVA was followed in 1994 by an anime music video, Bronze Kouji Nanjo Cathexis (or Cathexis for short), supposedly a set of music videos by one of Zetsuai's protagonists, musician Kouji Nanjo. Cathexis has not been available with English subtitles since the VHS fansub era... until now.
As a compilation of music videos, Cathexis has no plot. Instead, it's a fever dream of five rock songs:
- Bad Blood
- Jesus Christ Love for You
- Katuai
- 20XX Zetsu-ai
- Moonlight Eternal Mobius
The songs are sung by Hayami Shou, who played Kouji Nanjo in the OVAs. The lyrics are by Shou or by the mangaka, Ozaki Minami. The animation is a delirous cornucopia of homoerotic imagery, mostly featuring protagonist Kouji Nanjo and his love interest, Izumi Takato, as angels, soldiers, cyborgs, and so on.
Some of the images are moderately NSFW, but it's all fairly tame by current standards. Following the music videos, there's a still image gallery of drawings by the manga author, Ozaki Minami.
The subtitles are from Lupin Gang Anime and have not been checked. Yogicat timed the songs, I edited and styled them, and M74 did QC. Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions encoded from his own Japanese laserdisc. For a while, I thought the audio in the encode was defective, because in the second song, the music is interrupted for one second by a test tone. Apparently, this is deliberate; the same tone appears on the original soundtrack.
So, love it or hate it, here's the first digital version of Cathexis with English subtitles. You can get it from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net
When I wrote the blog post about the original, incomplete release of A-Girl in September, 2016, I said that if we ever found a complete raw, we'd release a new version. We did, and we have.
A-Girl is one of six shoujo OVAs based on properties from Margaret Magazine and animated by Madhouse. The others are POPS, Singles, Kiss wa Me ni Shite, Oeda wa Nemurenai, and Oshare Kozou wa Hanamaru. None of them was very successful apparently, because none were ever released on Laserdisc, let alone DVD. Orphan's previous version of A-Girl used a web 384p encode derived from a YouTube rip. It stopped after 25 minutes. Because the story seemed wrapped up, I assumed that only the end credits were missing. I was wrong.
The last segment of A-Girl, which lasts six minutes and is based on the song The Magic of Your Sight, brings the story of Mariko (the A-Girl of the title) and Natsume (the playboy brought low by her charms) to a real conclusion. It includes the end credits too, but it also includes actual dialog, a whopping six lines of it. (It also includes an additional 250 lines of typesetting just for a "Whipped Cream" label, but who's counting?) With the last segment, the OVA is now 31 minutes long and makes more sense.
Iri obtained the new raw by buying a used VHS tape in Japan. Our media guy transcribed it, and M74 encoded it. It's still not perfect - tape stretch causes noticeable audio distortion in three places - but at least it's complete. Iri translated and timed the additional signs and dialog, I did the additional editing and typesetting, and Nemesis and Eternal_Blizzard did QC. This tape, imperfect though it was, was quite expensive, so I don't think Orphan will invest further in A-Girl media. Perhaps it will show up on DVD someday, in some sort of Madhouse retrospective.
As usual, you can get the complete version of A-Girl from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.
Al Caral no Isan (The Legacy of Al Caral) is a 1992 science-fiction OVA based on a manga by Michihara Katsumi, who also wrote Joker: Marginal City. It has been on my wish list for a long time, and thanks to the efforts of a new translator, Sunachan, Orphan is finally able to bring you this intriguing show.
Al Caral no Isan is set in a familiar science-fiction setting of ubiquitous interstellar travel, and it explores an equally familiar theme: first contact with aliens. However, the story is very different. For 180 years prior to the beginning of the show, the Harz Bougen Corporation has been discovering and secretively exploiting relics of a vanished interstellar civilization. As the story opens, they discover an alien race, with golden, cat-like eyes, dark skin, and blonde hair, who call themselves the Sanaan. A young Sanaan boy named Toryune is captured and taken away to the Harz Bougen laboratories for "research."
Meanwhile, a small documentary film crew gets wind of the discovery and sets out to expose the truth. Part of the team is a mysterious girl named Shana T, who has a unique ability to unlock the alien relics and retrieve artifacts. Shana also wants to meet the "golden-eyes," as the aliens are called, but for an entirely different reason than the Harz Bougen team. She believes that she is not a real human and that the aliens hold the key to her identity and her future.
The Harz Bougen overseers, led by future president Zach Isedo, seem to be motivated by simple rapaciousness. They believe that the alien civilization which built the relics must have left untold treasures of knowledge or precious substances. They regard the Sanaan as unrelated, inferior "humanoids" with no rights or value. However, the truth is far more complicated. The Sanaan have inherited the power of their mystical creator, Al Caral, who was "the ruler of words." They have no need for weapons; they are far more dangerous than that.
The voice cast is stellar. Hisakawa Aya (Shana) has had a prolific career. She played Skuld in the Ah! My Goddess franchise, Sailor Mercury in the Sailor Moon franchise, Mishima Misako in Yume Tsukai (an Orphan project), and Koneko in Ear of the Golden Dragon (another Orphan project). Recent series include WWW.Working and Kyousogiga. Tanaka Hideyuki (Harmer) also has had a long career, including featured roles as Terryman in the Kinnikuman franchise, Rayearth in Magic Knight Rayearth, Sammy in Bavi Stock (an Orphan project), and Sawamura in Nozomi Witches (another Orphan project). Orikasa Ai (Toryune) made her debut in Shoukoushi Cedie. She also played Sara in Eien no Filena (an Orphan project), Seguchi Touma (the record company president) in Gravitation, Quatre in Gundam Wing, and Ryouko in the Tenchi Muyo franchise. The music, by synthesizer player Kotaki Mitsuru, is repetitive and hypnotic.
Orphan's release of Al Caral no Isan marks the debut of a new translator, Sunachan, who went over the script multiple times to make sure the nuances and complexities came through the process intact. Yogicat timed, I edited and typeset, and bananadoyouwanna, Nemesis, and Vigorousjammer all did QC. The raw is from the Internet and could be better. If anyone has an original Japanese laserdisc (Al Caral was never released on DVD), please let us know.
I don't think Al Caral no Isan was very successful. The director has few other credits to his name. The show was never released in digital form. It has rather average ratings on the various animation databases. But personally, I really enjoyed it.
The background world-building is well done, although some details are
never really explained. (What, exactly, are the small dragons that live symbiotically with the aliens?) The human
characters include the usual black-and-white heroes and villains but
also characters whose motives and actions are quite ambiguous. And
finally, the gradual revelation of the true legacy of Al Caral and the
power of words is an interesting twist. (I was reminded of the climax of
Dune, when the protagonist, Paul Atriedes, says, "I can kill you
with a word!") There is no clear-cut victory of good over evil or
vice-versa. Humanity stands on the verge of first contact with aliens,
and after a gruesome series of missteps, it is ready to pick up the
pieces and meet the Other.
If you would like to take that step as well, you can get Al Caral no Isan from the usual torrent sources or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.
So here, at long last, is the end of the "-uusei" franchise: 1999's non-hentai TV series, Kakyuusei (1999). With the release of this show, all eleven titles in the series are now available with English subtitles:
- Doukyuusei: Natsu no Owari ni (1994); released in the US on DVD; rips available.
- Doukyuusei Climax (1995-96); subtitled by Orphan.
- Kakyuusei: My Petty Class Student (1995); subtitled by Orphan.
- Doukyuusei 2 (1996-98); subtitled by Orphan.
- Tenkousei (1996-97); subtitled by Orphan.
- Doukyuusei 2 special: Sotsugyousei (1999-2000); subtitled by Orphan.
- Elf ban Kakyuusei: Anata Dake o Mitsumete... (1998); subtitled by IY-F.
- Kakyuusei (1999); subtitled by C1.
- Kakyuusei 2 (2004); subtitled by Lunar.
- Kakyuusei 2: Anthology (2006); subtitled by Erobeat.
- Kakyuusei 2: Sketchbook (2007); subtitled by Erobeat.
The first five are borderline hentai; the last two are real hentai; and the middle four are PG-rated. Doukyuusei 2 (shorn of its sex scenes), Kakyuusei (1999), and Kakyuusei 2 were broadcast on TV. All the others were OVAs. All of them were released on DVD.
Kakyuusei (1999) has the same plot structure as all the rest. The happy-go-lucky but undistinguished protagonist, Yamaguchi Tsuyoshi, a third-year high-school student, discovers the girl of his dreams, in this case a demure first-year student named Minamizato Ai. Before they can find their stumbling way to true love, Tsuyoshi is distracted by other girls. Eventually, the series settles down to a final rivalry for Tsuyoshi's affections between Ai and her best friend Iijima Miyuki. Tsuyoshi is aided, sort of, by his comical wingman, Gotu Minoru, who has a hopeless crush on their homeroom teacher, and opposed by the rich school playboy, Haruhiko Satake, who believes he is God's gift to women. Eventually, true love triumphs. What a surprise! The show is entirely innocuous, with nothing more serious than a kiss. The fourteenth episode isn't really part of the series. It provides a bit more fanservice, but nothing like the famous extra episode in Maze.
This series has been a long time coming. It began three years ago, when C1, an old line fansubbing group, suddenly revived after a four-year coma. Progress was slow, because the group leader had real life commitments, and the project almost died twice. As result, the credits are a bit complicated:
- Translation: EmptySoul (1-7), Moho Kareshi (8-14).
- Translation Check: Meiko (1-7), EmptySoul (8-12), kokujin_kun (13-14).
- Timing: EmptySoul (1-12), Eternal_Blizzard (13-14).
- Karaokes: EmptySoul (OP, ED1); Eternal_Blizzard (ED2, ED3)
- Editing: Collectr (all).
- Typesetting: EmptySoul (1-8), Collectr (9-14).
- QC: Calyrica, Eternal_Blizzard, Xanth.
- Encoding: anonymous.
The source is an R2J DVD set, but it's a mess of interlaced and blended frames, just like most of the other shows in the series. Perhaps a more labor-intensive encoding process could have done better, but the series isn't worth it.
Toochika Kouichi, who voiced Tsuyoshi, played the lead in the Comic Party shows and has had an ongoing role in all the Naruto properties. Sango Minako (Ai) played the same role in Elf Ban Kakyuusei and appeared in Tenkousei and other h-anime shows. Sonozaki Mie (Miyuki) played the same role in Elf Ban Kakyuusei and had featured roles in Kingdom, Strike Witches, and the Happy Lesson properties. The director, Kashima Norio, has a few other directing credits, including Elf Ban Kakyuusei and Refrain Blue.
There's nothing that really distinguishes Kakyuusei (1999) from any of its siblings. Its content is tame but otherwise follows the same plot line. If you aren't totally jaded by harem anime derived from eroge, you might like it; but to me, it seems fairly generic.
A batch torrent will be forthcoming for ease of downloading. There won't be any changes.
So here's an orphan series, sort of: the four omake or extras from the Okane ga nai! OVA set. They are technically orphans because aarinfantasy only did the first three, and Nosmas omitted them from its R1 DVD rip altogether. Here are all four, from the R1 DVDs, softsubbed.
If you're not familiar with Okane ga nai! (No Money!), it's a yaoi OVA about a college student (Ayase) forced to pay off his debt to a loan shark (Kanou) by selling his body:
That's probably enough information for most people. If you need more, read the Wikipedia article.
These omake emphasize comedy rather than drama, so they're a showcase for the voice actors to display their comic talents. Ayase is played by the incomparable Fukuyama Jun, who has starred as Panda in Shirokuma Cafe, Geass in Code Geass, and Kuro-sensei in Assassination Classroom, among numerous other major roles. Kanou is voiced by Kosugi Juurouta, who has had many featured roles, including Touji in Ninku and Gisuke in Kage. The amateur AV photographer, Gion, is played by Okiayu Ryoutarou, whose 30-year career recently included the title role in Keppeki Danshi Aoyama-kun.
M74 encoded and timed, I edited and typeset, and Nemesis QCed. I haven't done much to the subtitles, other than restore Japanese name order and honorifics. On the other hand, the typesetting was an effort. For example, episode 2 has 27 lines of dialog and 7600+ lines of typesetting. Enough said.
You can get these mini-episodes from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.
