Mother: Saigo no Shoujo Eve

Here's another project whose antecedents are lost in the mists of time: an English subtitled version of the 1993 sci-fi movie Mother: Saigo no Shoujo Eve (Mother: Eve, the Last Girl). The movie had only been available in an English dub version, titled E.Y.E.S. of Mars. From archival evidence, M74 started the subtitling project in 2018, after finding a Japanese VHS tape of the movie. He commissioned a script from Moho Kareshi and timed it to his own encode. In 2019, he did another encode, and glenn retimed the script to the new raw. In 2020, Intrepid reripped the tape on his non-compressing capture setup and made yet another encode. Still, the project languished: no one was willing to translation check the script.

Recently, I dusted off the script, retimed it to the latest raw, and set about editing. I thought it looked okay, except for a few missing lines, so I asked convex for help. He not only filled in the missing lines, he also made significant corrections to critical scenes. We were in business.

Mother: Saigo no Shoujo Eve is another take on an origin story for humankind. In the movie, humans originated on the fifth planet of the solar system, the now vanished Atlas. Technological arrogance and environmental devastation destroyed Atlas, and the surviving humans migrated to Mars. Now, the settlement on Mars - Atlan City - is falling victim to the same forces, and humanity appears doomed.

The leaders on Mars undertake two separate and diametrically opposite projects to save humankind. The first is AIS (the "EYES" of the dub), an institute attempting to isolate psychically-gifted youngsters in an artificial forest paradise. AIS hopes that the youngsters can live without technology and prosper in a "natural" world free of pollution. The second is a government security service attempting to build a rocket for escaping to Earth, where humanity will start over yet again. Opposing them both is a rebel faction that hopes to restore Mars to viability.

The protagonist is a young girl named Eve. She has been brought to AIS, where her memories have been erased, but she is troubled by nightmares about the destruction of the world. Then, a young rebel named Dew contacts Eve and promises to bring her to her parents, whom she has forgotten. His real agenda is to use Eve to contact the legendary Messenger - the original settlers of Mars - in the hope that the Messenger can tell the rebels how to save their planet. Meanwhile, Sara, who is working undercover at AIS as an agent for the security service, tries to stop Eve from going to Atlan City and contacting the Messenger. However, Eve's psychic outreach succeeds, and that sets off the final conflagration.

As sci-fi, Mother: Saigo no Shoujo Eve doesn't break any new ground. Eve is a standard, rather colorless shoujo heroine with extraordinary powers, Sara a tormented antagonist, Dew a plucky young fighter. Much of the running time is devoted to pastoral scenes in the AIS forest and to infodumps on the complex backstory; both bring the movie to a standstill. Still, the opening and concluding action sequences are pretty good, and the denouement is not straightforward.

The voice cast includes:

• Mitsuishi Kotono (Eve) played the title roles in Excel Saga, Birdy the Mighty, and the Maze TV and OVAs, Mink in Dragon Half, Katsuragi Misato in the Evangelion properties, Rosalia in the Angelique franchise, Kagura in the original Fruits Basket, Eri in Love Get Chu, and of course, Sailor Moon in the Sailor Moon franchise. She played the lead in Oshare Kozou wa Hanamaru and Oshina in Hidamari no Ki, as well as appearing in Blazing Transfer Student, Nagasarete Airantou, and Yamato 2520, all Orphan releases.
• Tsuru Hiromi (Sara) debuted as Perrine in Perrine Monogatari. She went on to play Kashima Miyuki in Miyuki, Madoka in Kimagure Orange Road, and Mikami Reiko in Ghost Sweeper Mikami. She also played Sonnet Barge in Blue Sonnet, Fengji in the third Sangokushi movie, Keiko in Hiatari Ryoukou, Nozomi in Nozomi Witches, Jill in A Penguin's Memories, UFO-chan in Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, Milk in Karuizawa Syndrome, and big sister Shizuka in Tomoe's Run!, all Orphan releases.
• Kashiwakura Tsutomu (Dew) played Cal in Ai no Kusabi, Genbu in Akai Hayate, Ranmaru in Chameleon, and Japheth in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, all Orphan releases. He played the lead in Boku no Sexual Harassment and appeared in several other h-animes. He is also a sound director.
• Neya Michiko (Mesa, Eve's mother) played the title character in Shin Cutey Honey, Emilia in Macross 7: Ginga ga Ore o Yonde Iru!, Rally in Gunsmith Cats, Barnett in Vandread, Mako in the Initial D franchise, and Nancy in R.O.D. She also played Aya in Hidamari no Ki and Lena in Fire Emblem, both Orphan releases.
• Sawaki Ikuya (Alan, Eve's father) played Gooley in the Dirty Pair franchise. He also played Masayoshi Hotta in Hidamari no Ki, Barry in Joker: Marginal City, and the Kaiser in Apfelland Monogatari, as well as bit parts in Dallos and Chameleon, all Orphan releases.
• Yoshio Kawai (Sheldon, head of the government faction) appeared in Sei Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki, Sanctuary, Starship Troopers, Yamato 2520, and Zetsuai 1989, all Orphan releases.

The director, Suzuki Iku, also directed the Maze TV and OVA series, the Lime-iro Senkaitan TV and OVA series, Happy Lesson and Happy Lesson Advance, Moonlight Mile, The Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas, and other shows.

Moho Kareshi did the initial translation. convexity translation checked. M74 timed the first raw, and glenn the second one. I timed the third raw, edited, and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. Intrepid encoded from an uncompressed capture of a Japanese VHS tape. The English dub seems to follow the Japanese script in broad outlines, but it has a different running length, and slightly different playback speed, so it isn't possible to produce a dual-audio version. Two untranslated extras - a promotional video and a live-action omake - are included in the release.

So here's the first version of Mother: Saigo no Shoujo Eve with Japanese audio and English subtitles. You can get the film from the usual torrent site or download it from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

The Girl That Got Away

Orphan-raws is releasing its encode of Kakutou Bijin Wulong (Fighting Beauty Wulong), done from R2J DVDS. Therein lies a story: a project that never really got off the ground and is now officially over.

Fighting Beauty Wulong is one of those shows that was started and abandoned by multiple groups. LIME did nine episodes and gave up. m.3.3.w did five episodes and gave up. Getbackers did episodes 10-15 and gave up. The rest of the series is only available with HKDVD subtitles. Calling them dreadful is being generous.

Collectr's Law of Orphaned Anime states that when a show has been abandoned by multiple groups, it's probably for a good reason, and Fighting Beauty Wulong is no exception. It's sort of a ripoff of Yawara!, with mystic martial arts taking the place of judo. It has a beautiful and exceptionally talented girl protagonist, Mao Ren, the beauty of the title; her irate jii-san, Mao Hun, goading her on; and a befuddled newspaper reporter, Kabugari, who doesn't know if he wants the story or the girl more. Unlike Yawara, Ren embraces her fighting prowess and signs up to be part of an ongoing all-women martial arts competition, Prime Mat, which is produced by the Mao family's arch-rivals, the Cao family. Lots of mayhem, scanty outfits, and pantsu shots ensue.

Fighting Beauty Wulong was on my list of prospective orphaned series to finish from the get-go, but finding resources to do a long (and, truth be told, not outstanding) series seemed unlikely. Then, I caught a break. A BakaBT member said that he had professional scripts for the series, from an R1 licensor that had gone broke, and he'd be happy to share them. He sent them over, and we were in business. Except... they turned out to be dubbing scripts rather than subbing scripts.

This might not seem like the end of the world, but dubtitles (subtitles made from dub scripts) have serious issues. One is that they are typically incomplete. The licensor has control of the audio track, and if background lines can simply be omitted, they don't have to be dubbed. That doesn't work with the original audio track; unsubbed lines are pretty obvious. Another is that they are typically inaccurate. A dub script is made to fit mouth motions, not to translate the actual Japanese line. This became apparent in comparing the dub script against the fansubs, as checked by the team translators. The dub scripts weren't useless; they simply weren't enough for subtitling. Fighting Beauty Wulong would need a translation checker willing to do 25 episodes. None was available. The project ground to a halt with all episodes encoded, seven timed, a few edited and typeset, and all needing translation checking. After two years with no progress, it's time to throw in the towel.

M74 encoded the series. ninjacloud timed the episodes; I edited and typeset. In addition to the raws, Orphan is releasing its script archive "as is," in case any other team wants to pick up the project. Please note that the original scripts are Word documents in a strange format; getting them over to Aegisub is rather tricky.

Is it Mao Ren's fate never to have her words properly translated? I sincerely hope not. Meanwhile, you can get the raws from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. The script archive is available as a direct download; see the torrent description for a link.

Orphan also has R2J DVDs for the sequel, Kakutou Bijin Wulong Rebirth (Fighting Beauty Wulong Rebirth), but they've never been encoded. What would be the point?

Sangokushi Dai San Bu Harukanaru Taichi (HD)

The third movie of the Sangokushi trilogy is Sangokushi Dai San Bu Harukanaru Taichi (Sangokushi: The Distant Land). With this release, Orphan completes its work on the HD version of the three Sangokushi movies.

The third movie covers the longest time span, from Liu Bei's expedition to Shu in 211 CE to the death of Kongming in 234 CE. It is also the most melancholy and despairing. All of the main characters die, and the ultimate winner of the battle to reunite China is None of the Above - not Liu Bei or his descendants, not Cao Cao or his descendents, not Sun Quan or his descendants. Eventually, sheer exhaustion of all opponents allows a descendant of the Cao Wei general Sima Yi to reunite the country and create a new dynasty... for a while. True unity would not be achieved for centuries.

In my view, The Distant Land seriously undermines Sangokushi's glorification of Liu Bei's nobility and Kongming's strategic genius. Liu Bei ultimately achieves no more than the other competing warlords. Kongming's "Land Divided in Three Stratagem" fails spectacularly, producing not a peaceful balance of power but a perpetual war for supremacy among the three states, like the three superstates in 1984. (To quote Frank Herbert's dictum from Dune, "In politics, the tripod is the most unstable of all structures.") The results were disastrous: the population of China was cut more than in half between the outbreak of the Yellow Turban revolt in 184 CE and the establishment of the Jin dynasty in 280 CE. The movie tries to claim a retrospective victory for Liu Bei's ideals, but the state of modern China belies that. It's closing scene gives a truer perspective, showing Fengji, bereft of everyone she has loved, riding back across a deserted landscape to her village to become a teacher, as the melancholy ending song plays.

Because it has so much time to cover, The Distant Land moves at a breakneck pace from conflict to violent incident to battle and back again. With the exception of Guan Yu's foster daughter Fengji (played by the wonderful Tsuru Hiromi), characters are introduced, act out their part in history, and vanish in minutes. There is little time for character development or domestic concerns, just for plotting, ambition, betrayals, and executions. It all feels rather depressing - or perhaps I'm just tired of the Three Kingdoms era after so many hours working on the TV specials and the movies. The Distant Land had a ton of signs to set, and because of image jitter, almost all of them needed to be motion tracked.

Despite the massive size of the undertaking, Orphan's work on the Sangokushi movies and their HD counterparts was done by a small and remarkably dedicated crew. Iri translated all three movies, diligently researching names, translating signs, and labeling the numerous map locations. Yogicat timed, I edited and typeset, BeeBee and Topper3000 QCed the original versions, and TougeWolf RCed the HD versions. M74 encoded the original DVDs, and an anonymous contributor encoded the HD version from a 1080p webrip to correct the frame rate. They have my heartfelt thanks for sticking with the project until it was completed. You can get Sangokushi Dai San Bu Harukanaru Taichi from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net,

Is this the end of Orphan's involvement with Sangokushi? Well, it's the end of mine. If real Blu-rays surface, some other team can put these subs onto new raws. (Good luck with the typesetting.) There are other fish to fry.

Shin Takarajima

It's no secret that practically every staff member in Orphan is mad for Tezuka Osamu. The team has done more shows by the God of Manga that by any other anime auteur: two Animerama movies, eight Love Will Save the World TV specials, six Lion Book OVAs, the Hidamari no Ki TV series, and so on. Accordingly, it's a special pleasure to release the first English language version of Tezuka Osamu's early TV special, Shin Takarajima (New Treasure Island). So, Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for 1965, and let's dive in.

Back then, I had just started college, and Tezuka's Mushi Productions was still in its early days. Its shows were in black-and-white. Tetsuwan Atom, started in 1963, had proved to be a tremendous hit, and the studio was trying to break new ground. Shin Takarajima was intended as the first of a series of anime specials entitled Mushi Pro Land, but the series never materialized. It was the only episode to be aired, the first 60-minute anime broadcast on Japanese TV.

Shin Takarajima doesn't really follow the story line of Tezuka Osamu's 1947 manga of the same name. Instead, it hews more closely to the plot of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic adventure novel, Treasure Island, but with animal characters. The good guys are mostly herbivores: Jim Hawkins is a rabbit, Dr. Livesey a deer, Squire Trelawney a pig, Captain Smollet a bear. The pirates are all carnivores: John Silver is a wolf, Bill Bones a mountain dog, Pew a wildcat, Ben Gunn a lion, and so on.

The plot of Treasure Island is so well known as to need no summary from me. As is the case in many adaptations of the novel, Silver is the most interesting character: charming, agreeable, apparently a bit indolent, but utterly ruthless when he needs to be. The other characters are straight out of the novel. Livesey is noble and upright, Smollett is decisive in action, Trelawney is a ditherer and a bit of a buffoon, and Jim is plucky and resourceful. One interesting conceit is that if a character gets too enamored of treasure, he loses his humanity and becomes an animal again, walking on all-fours and, if he's a carnivore, with claws out. That certainly makes life difficult and scary for a tasty morsel like Jim.

The show embodies a lot of Tezuka's trademarks: good action sequences, great slapstick gags, and the occasional anachronism. For example, when Jim find himself in the pirates' longboat, heading for shore, he looks so grim that Silver compares his face to "George Chakiris." This reference may be incomprehensible to a modern anime audience; Chakiris had won an Oscar in 1961 for his intense, unsmiling portrayal of the gang-leader Bernardo in West Side Story. On the other hand, the continuity of the animation is hit-or-miss. In some scenes, mouth movements aren't even animated.

The voice actors are from an earlier era:

• Tagame Kazue (Jim) played Atom in the original Tetsuwan Atom and Kum Kum in Manga Wanpaku Oomukashi Kum Kum.
• Fujioka Takuya (Squire Trelawney) played Mujaki in the second Urusei Yatsura movie, Beautiful Dreamer.
• Kato Takeshi (John Silver) appeared in Odin: Starlight Mutiny and Tamala 2010.
• Kitahara Takashi (Dr. Livesey, a deer) has no other voice credits.
• Katou Seizou (Billy Bones, a mountain dog) played Ii Naosuke in Hidamari no Ki, Abraham in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, Norbert in Apfelland Monogatari, Hatsutori Juuzou in Kage, Admiral Putyatin in Bakumatsu no Spasibo, and Jeigan in Fire Emblem, all Orphan release. He had many featured roles in the span of a 50 year career.
• Kumakura Kazuo (Pew, a wildcat) appeared in both the 1963 and 1980 versions of Astro Boy. He played Papa Panda in Panda Gopanda, Oz in The Wizard of Oz movie, Thomas R. Manx Cat in Manxmouse, Sima Hui in Sangokushi, and Inspector Unmei in Akuma Tou no Prince: Mitsume ga Tooru. The last three are Orphan releases.
• Wakayama Genzou (Captain Smollett, a bear) played Long John Silver in the Treasure Island TV series. He appeared in Don Quijote, Pro Golfer Saru, and Wanpaku Tanteidan.

The show was directed by the master himself, Tezuka Osamu. The animation director was Sugii Gisaburou. Neither needs further introduction.

Iri translated the show, and kokujin-kun kindly filled in a few lines that were difficult to hear. ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. The raw is from R-Raws and is a webstream. Nemesis pointed out that a black-and-white anime should not have subtitles with colored outlines, so Orphan's usual color scheme for overlapping and song lines has been changed to gray-scale. Uchuu supplied some interesting notes:

• "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest..." Billy Bones' song is straight out of Stevenson's book. Stevenson only included the chorus; later authors filled out the rest of it.
• "You may lay to that." This is Silver's catchphrase in the book. It uses a secondary meaning of "lay", meaning "bet" or "wager".
• At 15:30, when the mice are loading the ship for departure, they carry aboard a case labeled "RAM" instead of "RUM". For all the PCs on board, I guess.
  
• "Hard to larboard!" The book uses "larboard" instead of "port" for the left side of a ship (as you face forward).

I really liked Shin Takarajima. Admittedly, I'm a fan of all things Tezuka Osamu, but I liked how the show played it fairly straight with Stevenson's plot (until the ending), while allowing Tezuka his distinctive touches and laugh-out-loud gags. This is the earliest anime Orphan has ever subbed, and its first black-and-white release. 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.

Cat-Eyed Boy (Youkaiden Nekome Kozou) 01

Just in time for Halloween, Orphan presents the first episode of Umezz Kazuo's 1976 horror series Youkaiden Nekome Kozou (Spirit Legend Cat-Eyed Boy, here just Cat-Eyed Boy). Because of Makoto-chan, I always thought of Umezz Kazuo as a comedy writer, but in fact, he is best known for his horror manga and is sometimes called "the Stephen King of Japan." He wrote The Drifting Classroom, a horror masterpiece, as well as the Kowai Hon (Scary Book) series. On Baka-Updates, more than 50 of his titles are listed as horror.

Cat-Eyed Boy is a spooky tale of demons, spirits, and monsters based on Umezz' manga Nekome Kozou (Cat-Eyed Boy), which is available in English. According to Baka-Updates, Cat-Eyed Boy acts like a Trickster figure, saving the innocent and helping the wicked receive the punishment that fate metes out. The stories are mostly tales of revenge and retribution for the evil acts people do. The TV series adds a quest plot, as Cat-Eyed Boy searches for his long-lost real mother.

The first episode sets out background of the story. Cat-Eyed Boy is the son of Nekomata, a cat demon, and a human mother. Half-demon, half-human, he is shunned by both worlds. He is raised by a foster mother, Miya, who has to beg for food, and he becomes a mischievous nuisance to the village he lives in. When a demon called Nadare-Maneki (the Landslide Summoner) attacks, Cat-Eyed Boy must try to save himself and his foster mother from its relentless attacks.

Cat-Eyed Boy is unusual in several respects. First, it is not really animated. Instead, it is done in "gekimation" (graphic novel plus animation), in which special effects are added to full-length paper cutouts. This gives the show a unique and rather static look. Second, it is Orphan's first one-and-done. That is, we're not going on with the series. (Orphan has created an orphan series; wah...) The underlying reason is lack of raws. Three episodes were included as specials in the live-action Cat-Eyed Boy box set; a few more are on YouTube; and that's it.

With only one episode to work with, I don't have much information on the voice actors:

• Hori Junko (Cat-Eyed Boy) is best known as the voice of the protagonists in three Fujiko Fujio works, Obake no Q-tarou, Ninja Hattori-kun, and Chinpui. She also appeared in Wan Wan Chuushingura, Taiyou no Ouji: Horus no Daibouken, Rain Boy, Time Slip Ichimannen Prime Rose, and Makoto-chan, all Orphan releases), as well as Moomin, Akage no Anne, Cinderella Boy, and Unico.
• Masuoka Hiroshi (traveling priest) is best known for playing Fugata Masuo in Sazae-san (for more than 20 years) and Jam Ojii-san in the Soreike! Anpanman franchise. He appeared in Hidamari no Ki, the Hiatari Ryouko movie, King Fang, Nine, Perrine Monogatari, and Tezuka Osamu Monogatari: I am Son Gokuu, all Orphan releases.
• Yada Kouji (Nadare-Maneki, the Landslide Summoner) played Dr. Gero in the Dragon Ball franchise. He appeared in all the GeGeGe no Kitarou iterations through 2007, Haguregumo, Nine, and the Sangokushi movies. The last two are Orphan releases.

The director, Tsuchiya Keinosuke, helmed Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair and Wandering Girl Nell, which have been fansubbed by OldCastle and South Wind Subs.

Cat-Eyed Boy is a labor of love by Skr, who is a fan of all things Umezz Kazuo. He translated, timed, edited, and encoded the show. His friend sotoo did a translation check. Uchuu and I did QC. The encode is very large, because the underlying film stock is not in great shape; Skr needed a very high bit rate to capture all the defects. 😉

So buckle up, boys and girls, for classic Japanese horror from 45 (!) years ago. You can find Cat-Eyed Boy on the usual torrent site or download it from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

To-Y Blu-ray

To-Y is a 1987 OVA about a Japanese indie rock band and its lead singer. It is based on a ten-volume manga by Kamijou Atsuji. To-Y was stranded on the wrong side of the Digital Divide for years, until the eponymously named To-Y Restoration Committee subbed a laserdisc rip of the show in 2007. It quickly found a niche among devotees of indie rock and Japanese visual kei. Earlier this year, it was restored and released on Blu-ray. Orphan is now releasing a high-definition version featuring a new encode and a revised script.

To-Y tells the story of the indie rock-and-roll band GASP, which has a fervent following among Tokyo's rebellious youth. GASP is on the verge of a breakthrough, with a pending concert at an outdoor venue, Hibiya Yaon. However, the band's lead singer, To-Y (pronounced Too-i), seems indifferent to the possibilities of success. He's more interested in living his life, fighting when he feels like it, and balancing the attentions of his eccentric girlfriend, Niya, who seems to be part cat, and his beautiful cousin, Hiderou Koishikawa, who performs as a successful idol under the name Sonoko Morigaoka.

As the show opens, GASP is playing a gig at a seedy nightclub. For no particular reason, To-Y punches out the lights of a successful male idol, Aikawa Youji, who has come to see the band play. This arouses the interest of Youji's scheming manager, Katou Koshiko. She approaches To-Y and offers to make him an star - without his band, of course. When To-Y rebuffs her, she sets out to show him who really holds the power in the music business. She gets GASP's forthcoming concert at Hibiya Yaon canceled, throwing the band into a tailspin. But inspired by Niya, To-Y refuses to buckle, and he finds a way forward for the band and for himself without giving in to Katou's demands.

To-Y is as much a music video as it is a drama. It includes eight different songs in its 55-minute runtime, all performed by indie bands of the era, including Psy S, the Barbee Boys, the Street Sliders, Zelda, AMOR, and Qujila. The dialog is sparse, less than 300 lines, and very terse. Despite the brevity of the script, To-Y tells a coherent, complete story and fleshes out its characters in a few deft strokes.

The voice cast contains both veteran seiyuu and successful practitioners from other fields:

• Shiozawa Kaneto (To-Y) played Shin in Hiatari Ryoukou, Iason in Ai no Kusabi, Rock Holmes in Fumoon, Shiina in Chameleon, Sanzou in I am Son Goku, Kouhei in Karuizawa Syndrome, and Kurahashi Eiji in Nine, all Orphan releases. He also played Joe in Tokimeki Tonight, Yoshio in Miyuki, Takeshi in Touch, D in Vampire Hunter D, Narsus in the Arslan Senki OVA, Rosario in Dragon Half, and Abriel senior in Crest of the Stars.
• Nokko (Niya) is a singer-songwriter. To-Y was her only anime role.
• Uchida Naoya (Aikawa Youji, the rival singer) played the title role in the Cobra franchise, Yagami's father in Death Note, Daigo in the recent version of Dororo, Oda Nobunaga in Drifters, and Askeladd in Vinland Saga.
• Yayoi Mitsuki (Hiderou Koishikawa, aka Sonoko Morigaoka, the successful female singer and To-Y's cousin) played Maria Winter in Condition Green and Maron in Girl from Phantasia, both Orphan releases.
• Sogabe Kazuyuki (Nakahara Kimihiko, aka Kaei, the mysterious goth character) played Oda Nobunaga in Black Lion, Rei Ginsei in Vampire Hunter D, and Meyer in Hi-Speed Jecy, an Orphan release.
• Hitotsuyanagi Miru (Katou Koshiko, Youji's scheming manager) has only a few credits, appearing recently in Eizouken.
• Gendou Tesshou (Momo, the drummer) played Colonel Muto in Joker Game, Moloch in Yondemasu Azazel-san, Rei in the Urusei Yatsura franchise, Moguro Fukuzou in New Laughing Salesman,  and "Oyaji" in Mitsuboshi Colors. He also played Jin Kiryu in Blue Sonnet, Zigong in Eiyuu Banka Koushi-den, Paul Rusch in Yume Kakeru Kougen, Jim Hyatt in AWOL Compression Remix, the loyal lieutenant Galbreath in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, the dragonman Baguda in Greed, the narrator in Akai Hayate and Meisou-ou Border, Dog McCoy in Dallos, Hebopi in Wild 7, rebel leader Oosukune in Izumo, and Rikiishi's trainer Kuroki and Kirishima in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, all Orphan releases.
• Seki Toshihiko (Shouji, the guitar player) played the title role in Izumo, Riki in Ai no Kusabi, the hero Seitarou in Hoshi Neko Full House, the gang leader Hiba in Wild 7, Miroku in Yuukan Club, Chuuta in Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro, the fighter Nagase Jun in Akai Hayate, Hayata in Call Me Tonight, Ootsuki in Milky Passion: Dougenzaka - Ai no Shiro, Junichiro in Kasei Yakyoku, and the unnamed protagonist of Oruorane the Cat Player, all Orphan releases. He also played Matsuda in the Yawara! properties, Sanzo in the Saiyuuki TV series, Mousse in Ranma 1/2, and the title roles in Alexander (Reign the Conqueror) and Kaiketsu Zorro.
• Yamada Tatsuo (Isami, the bass player) is an animator. To-Y was his only voice-acting role.

The director, Hamatsu Mamoru, also helmed B.B Fish (an Orphan release), Yoroiden Samurai Troopers, the Arslan Senki OVAs, B'tx, and the 2005 remake of Glass no Kamen.

This version started with the To-Y RC script. Iri did a thorough translation check. (One example of the changes: the originals script had the venue as Yaon Hibiya, as though it were a Japanese name that needed to be reversed for Western order. In fact, Hibiya Yaon is an acronym, short for Hibiya Yagai Ongakudou - Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall - not a name.) ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset; the typesetting is much more extensive than in previous versions. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. bananadoyouwanna encoded from a Japanese Blu-ray. The file is 9GB for a show of less than an hour, driven by the visual effects, the film grain, and the FLAC soundtrack.

I guess Orphan is in the big (file) leagues now.

I quite liked To-Y. It is recognizably an 80s one-and-done OVA teaser for a long manga series, like Sanctuary, but it tells a complete story and can be watched without knowledge of the manga. It even has the usual 80s soupcon of gratuitous nudity, which I'm sure will discourage exactly none of our potential viewers. You can get To-Y from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Laughing Salesman HD Completed

Today, another milestone: the last group of high-definition TV episodes for Laughing Salesman (Warau Salesman) has been released. The TV series is complete in HD, all 103 episodes. There will be a batch Sometime Soon™, but I don't see any pending changes or issues for the scripts.

The team barely made it to the finish line. It wasn't a large group to begin with, and over five years, people dropped out or got caught up in real life. In particular, the rework of the first 25 episodes from DVD to HD was a slog. Two more specials are essentially complete, but I don't know when or if the remaining 17 specials will get done.

The team for the HD releases and specials was:

• Translation or translation check: kokujin-kun.
• Timing: sangofe, ninjacloud.
• Editing and typesetting: Collectr.
• QC: Calyrica, Skr, konnakude, Eternal_Blizzard, sangofe, pheon18, Mamo-chan, Nemesis, BeeBee.
• Encoding: BakaProxy.
• Raw provider: Skr.
  

I'll leave the last word to Moguro Fukuzou:

"Don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll meet again some sunny day..."

Thanks for watching.