Collectr's Blog

Here is the next installment of Hidamari no Ki: episodes 14 through 19. We're in the third quarter now, and the pace picks up accordingly. From natural catastrophes like a great cholera epidemic, to man-made disasters like the Ansei Purge, momentous events overtake Manjirou, Ryouan, and many others, threatening to sweep them away.

By the late 1850s, the struggle between the relentless expansionism of the Western powers on one side, and the feudal isolationism of the Emperor and the Sonnou Joui movement on the other, was pulling the Tokugawa Shogunate apart. The Shogunate tacked back and forth, trying to avoid either a foreign war or a civil war. First, it opposed the Western initiatives for open trade. Then, overmatched militarily, it signed trade treaties with the Western powers and began importing Western technology. When internal opponents took up Sonnou Joui as a rallying cry, the Shogunate tried first compromise and then brutal repression (the Ansei Purge). Neither worked, and the chaos inside the country only increased.

Although Ryouan is a doctor, and Manjirou is studiously apolitical, both are caught up in the press of events. Manjirou is arrested, tortured, and nearly executed simply for talking to the wrong people.

Ryouan must again use his devious skills - demonstrated during the Shogun's meeting with American envoy - to rescue Manjirou from a dangerous situation. Ryouan also confronts, treats, and outsmarts a group of wounded ronin assassins, garnering favorable attention from the Shogunate.

By the end of this batch of episodes, both men have experienced deep personal losses, and both have become involved (in Ryouan's case, reluctantly) with the Shogunate's efforts to reform itself before it's too late. Never has the future looked more uncertain. Kind of like current times, huh?

Some notes:

Ep 14. The great cholera epidemic of 1859 killed an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Japanese. It was part of a world-wide cholera pandemic that impacted Russia and much of southeast Asia.
Ep 18. The marching song sung by the peasant soldiers is フジの白雪ャノーエ, from Shizuoka prefecture. While the song is famous, its meaning is obscure. In the episode, it is translated to fit the rhythm of the Japanese syllables.
Ep 19. The Roushigumi was the first of numerous squads of ronin formed by the Shogunate and its opponents to further their aims by violence. It was founded by Kiyokawa Hachirou, a swordsman and dedicated opponent of the Shogunate. Although the ostensible purpose of the Roushigumi was to protect the Shogun, Kiyokawa in fact offered its services to the Imperial court.Two years after the events shown in the episode, Kiyokawa was killed by a Shogunate assassin.

The staff for the show remains pretty much the same. Sunachan translated the dialog, songs, and signs. Eternal_Blizzard did fine timing on episode 14; starting with episode 15, Yogicat took over all the timing. I edited and typeset. banandoyouwanna, Nemesis, and VigorousJammer did QC. Skr encoded the workraws, and M74 the final raws. As a bonus, this set of episodes also includes the DVD booklets for all nine volumes. They were provided by the anonymous benefactor who purchased the DVDs.

You can get the third installment of Hidamari no Ki from the usual torrent sites (although nyaa.si is down temporarily; use nyaa.at instead) or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. What are you waiting for? Go download it and watch it now!

If you track Erik's laserdisc releases, you'll know that he ripped the Dallos special. I wanted to subtitle the special, but that required revisiting the original Dallos OVA scripts and piecing them together, with excisions, to fit the special's reduced running time. Rather than just go over the existing scripts, I thought it might be more entertaining to move them onto HQR's high-definition (720p) raws, which were taken from a KIDS TV broadcast. So that's been done, and this release is the result.

In my original blog on Dallos five years ago, I was rather harsh on the show. Back then, I was viewing it in the context of all the recent anime I had seen, and it seemed very derivative. In fact, the reverse is true. Dallos came first, and it has been imitated numerous times since. If I use a historical perspective on what anime was in 1983, Dallos is far more interesting and original than I had thought.

Dallos is set in the 21st century - our own! The backdrop is an Earth ruined by overuse of resources. In desperation, the Earth government creates a colony on the Moon to exploit the resources there. After sixty years, the gamble has paid off, and Earth is prospering again. However, there is a high cost: the colonists on the Moon are treated as little better than slave labor. While the older generations of settlers, who still remember Earth, are resigned to their fate, the third generation - born and raised on the Moon - see only the merciless oppression and lack of opportunity. They organize a guerilla resistance movement to fight back. The colonial government responds with even greater repression, which in turn creates more resistance. (Does this sound familiar?)

As the story opens, Shun Nonomura is an apolitical teenager more interested in "fiddling with machines" than in flirting with his girlfriend Rachel. Shun inadvertently shows Dog McCoy, the leader of the guerillas, how the Moon's mining equipment can be converted into effective weapons. Dog and his followers kidnap visiting Earthling Melinda Hearst, who is the fiance of the head of lunar Security, Alex Riger. Alex uses the incident as a pretext for intensive operations against the guerillas. Shun and Rachel are swept up in the conflict, which escalates into outright war involving the civilian population of the Moon.

Brooding over these proceedings is a giant machine called Dallos, which looks rather like a mechanical facemask. The early settlers discovered Dallos and worshiped it as a god, but both Alex Riger and the guerillas regard it as a relic. However, when the conflict spills into Dallos itself, it proves to be a true deus ex machine, coming to life and taking out its wrath on both sides. This brings about an uneasy truce. It's clear, though, that the conflict will resume, and Shun and Rachel must decide where they stand. Unfortunately, that's where the story ends.

Dallos is often called the first OVA (anime released directly to consumer video media), but that was an afterthought, not the original intent. Dallos was intended to be a long TV series, of at least 26 episodes (and probably more). The four episodes we have were intended as prologue. This is evident from the numerous plot threads that are planted and left unresolved, such as the story of Shun's older brother Tatsuo, and the political machinations within the Moon government. We'll never know how the story was supposed to unfold; no plot synopsis or summary has been published.

Sasaki Hideki (Shun) played the lead role in Gauche the Cellist; otherwise, his resume is very short. Ikeda Shuichi (Riger) played Char in Mobile Suit Gundam, Gilbert Durandal in Gundam Seed, Ulrich Kessler in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Azuma in Starship Troopers, an Orphan release. The deep-voiced Genda Tesshou (Dog McCoy) played Colonel Muto in Joker Game, Moloch in Yondemasu Azazel-san, Rei in the Urusei Yatsura franchise, Moguro Fukuzou in New Laughing Salesman, "Oyaji" in this year's Mitsuboshi Colors, and the loyal lieutenant Galbreath in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, an Orphan release. Sakakibara Yoshiko (Melinda) played Sir Integral Hellsing in both versions of Hellsing,as well as Paula in Condition Green, an Orphan release. The director, Mamoru Oshii, would go on to direct many famous anime works, including Ghost in the Shell, Gosenzosama Banbanzai, and Sky Crawlers.

This version of Dallos has been little altered from the original release in 2013. Some lines have been tightened, and more line breaks have been inserted for readability. The original translation was done by laalg and has not been revisited. In particular, it does not reflect the recent R1 DVD release. I edited both versions and did a little typesetting for this one. CP and Saji QCed the original release; Calyrica did a release check on this version. The raws were encoded by HQR from a KIDS high-definition TV broadcast and are probably the best we'll see unless Dallos gets a Blu-ray release.

On this round, Dallos impressed me a lot more than it did back in 2013. The space scenes look great, although the character animation can get rather funky. The story is interesting, and the god-machine Dallos no longer seems like an arbitrary plot contrivance. You can get his release from the usual torrent sites as well as from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

One final note. If you like Dallos as much as I do, I'd urge you to buy the R1 DVD, as I did. It's not expensive, it has a fascinating interview with Mamoru Oshii and others involved in the production, and it includes the context-setting "pilot film" not included in other releases.

With the release of the 1981 TV special Bremen 4, Orphan and M74 have completed their high-definition survey of Tezuka Osamu's feature length anime movies for NTV's annual telethon. The eight Tezuka Production specials were:

1978: Hyakumannen Chikyuu no Tabi: Bander Book
1979: Kaitei Choutokkyuu Marine Express
1980:Fumoon
1981: Bremen 4
1983:Time Slip Ichimannen Prime Rose
1984: Daishizen no Majuu Bagi
1986: Ginga Tansa 2100-nen: Border Planet
1989: Tezuka Osamu Monogatari: Boku wa Songoku

The 1985 special, Akuma Shima no Prince – Mitsume ga Touru, was based on a Tezuka Osamu character but was produced by Toei Animation. It has not been released in high-definition. Maybe someday...

Bremen 4 seems to have an official subtitle, Angels in Hell, although that does not appear in the anime itself. It tells the story of four animals - a cat named Coda, a donkey named Largo, a dog named Allegro, and a chicken named Minuet.

(That's either a very big cat or a really small donkey.) The four are stranded or abandoned when their peaceful country is conquered by ruthless, Nazi-like invaders. Wandering the countryside, the animals save the life of a visiting alien, Rondo. In return, she gives them devices that transform them into humans. In this form, they become musicians, bringing some joy to their war-ravaged land. Eventually, they come to the attention of the invader's commander, Karl Presto. He falls in love with Coda in her human form, but she and her friends reject his overtures and, returning to animal form, help the resistance to fight the invaders. Eventually, the villains are defeated and peace returns.

Bremen 4 was the last of the TV specials that made heavy use of Tezuka's Star System, although the stars made cameo appearances in the later specials. The villainous, Wagner-loving commander, Karl Presto, is Rock Holmes, returning to his usual role as a heavy. Presto's father, an even more heinous warmonger, is Lamp, the guy with the candle on his head. Duke Red plays Count Lento, the hapless (and soon posthumous) leader of the invaded country. Ban Shunsaku is Adagio, the manager of a puppet theater who also leads the resistance. Black Jack is a mysterious figure who cares for the orphans of war. Astro Boy appears in a musical sequence, Don Dracula is an announcer at a concert, and Unico and Leo have cameos in the final triumphant march of the animals.

Okamoto Mari (Coda the Cat) played the female leads in Fumoon, Prime Rose, and The Wizard of Oz movie. The incomparable and now sadly deceased Tomiyama Kei (Largo the Donkey) stole the show as the wicked witch in Grim Douwa: Kin no Tori, an Orphan release. Kyouda Hisako (Minuet the chicken) has had a long career, with some unusual roles, such as the father in Shouwa Monogatari. Ishimaru Hiroya gave a bravura performance as the "interpreter" dog Allegro, speaking Donkey, Chicken, or Cat as required. He also played as Rodimus Prime in the various Transformer TV shows. Tomita Kousei and Nozawa Nachi reprised their roles as Ban Shunsaku and Black Jack, respectively, from Marine Express.

The eight specials exemplify Tezuka Osamu's style - the wandering plots, the use of anachronisms for humor, the obvious fanservice (in Bremen 4, Rondo's cleavage defies gravity). I think the later specials were better, with tighter plots and less overt preaching, but they're all very watchable. (Ginga Tansa 2100-nen: Border Planet remains my favorite.) They also make me more forgiving of Tezuka's earlier Mushi Production movies, the so-called adult cartoons Cleopatra and Sen'ya Ichiya Monogatari. There's a lot of continuity between the Animerama releases and the later specials; the former just have a lot more fanservice. While Tezuka Osamu could work in a much more serious vein (Hidamari no Ki, Hi no Tori), he reveled in the possibilities that his lighter works allowed.

This subtitles for this release were professionally translated. Yogicat transcribed them, and M74 timed them. I edited and typeset (not much). Nemesis and Calyrica did QC. M74 encoded from a BDMV provided by Beatrice Raws. I'm truly grateful to them for sharing their source material. The source material has a a variety of video mistakes. In one scene, the background disappears; in another, the foreground characters. Transitions are rough, and mouth movements are sometimes poorly animated. Still, this is the best source out there.

You can get Bremen 4, and all the other Orphan (or M74) HD releases of the Tezuka Production TV specials, from the usual torrent sources or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

So here's the granddaddy of them all, the 1992 BL OVA Zetsuai 1989. While not the first BL anime (the first volume of Ai no Kusabi preceded it by six months), Zetsuai is arguably the most influential in setting the style and tone (angst-ridden, intense, and operatic) of early BL shows.

Zetsuai is a compound word, meaning "desperate love," although the author preferred "everlasting love" as the translation. It tells the story of two teenagers, womanizing superstar singer Nanjou Kouji and soccer prodigy Izumi Takuto. Both come from damaged backgrounds. Nanjou is a running away from a loveless but highly successful family; he was a gang leader before he became a singer. Izumi is hiding from early abuse; his mother killed his father and attacked him as well.

The two meet by coincidence (or fate). After a night of barhopping, Nanjou passes out in the street. Izumi takes him home and nurses him back to health. Nanjou realizes that Izumi is the soccer player he saw and fell in love with six years earlier, although at the time, Nanjou thought the player was a girl. Nanjou becomes obsessed with Izumi and inserts himself into Izumi's life, eventually confessing his love. All this is accompanied by numerous melodramatic incidents, including life-threatening illnesses, near-fatal accidents, and stabbings and self-mutilation. Despite the operatic tone, the fat lady never sings; that had to wait for the sequel, Bronze: Zetsuai since 1989.

Hayami Shou (Nanjou) has had many featured roles, including Iason's friend Raoul in Ai no Kusabi, Hojo in Sanctuary, Pat Leivy in Starship Troopers, and Junoichi in Blazing Transfer Student, all Orphan releases. He is still active, recently playing Popuko in Pop Team Epic. Koyasu Takehito (Izumi) is reputed to be the most prolific voice actor currently active, with more than 365 roles under his belt. He played Doujima Gin in Shokugeki no Souma, Thirteen in Grimoire of Zero, Dio in Jojo's Bizarre Adventures, the title role in Master of Mosquitron, Fool in Elegant Yokai Apartment Life. He also appeared in Yamato 2520 and Yuukan Club, both Orphan releases. Yamaguchi Kappei (Shibuya, Nanjou's "minder") has played Ranma in the Ranma franchise, Inuyasha in all the Inuyasha properties, Kudou Shinichi in the Conan franchise, Usopp in the One Piece franchise, Sakuma Ryuichi in Gravitation, Arslan in the first OVA series, the title role in Mouse, and many other roles. Nishihara Kumiko (Serika, Izumi's sister) has appeared in Dragon Fist and Blazing Transfer student, both Orphan releases. The score, including the instrumental opening and ending, is by the peerless Kenji Kawai and is very effective. The songs are IMHO not as good; they're very similar to the ones in Cathexis.

Contrary to AniDB, Zetsuai 1989 was never released on DVD. The most commonly available fansub release, by aarinfantasy, was probably done from a laserdisc rip packaged in a DVD ISO format. As a result, it has the wrong aspect ratio (too wide). This makes the characters appear more realistic than they are. The character designs are, in fact, very angular and spindly, which was quite controversial when the show first came out.

The Orphan release is based on a new encode, ripped by Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions from his own Japanese laserdisc. Erik also provided the original Lupin Gang Anime subtitle scripts, which formed the basis for Orphan's script. Yogicat transcribed the aarinfantasy release, and a few lines from that script were interpolated in the LGA script. Sunachan translation-checked the dialog and the songs; there changes were extensive. M74 timed; I edited and typeset; and Calyrica and M74 did QC.

Zetsuai 1989 was intended to be the first release in an ambitious project to redo the early hardsubbed BL shows. Because of various delays, it ended up being released after Cathexis and Ai no Kusabi. Its sequel, Bronze, is fully translated checked and should be done Real Soon™. Meanwhile, you can get Zetsuai 1989 from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Here's another lost, offbeat OVA, 1987's Katte ni Shirokuma (Whatever, White Bear). Iri picked it up from an auction site during one of his shopping forays for used Japanese laserdiscs. Eventually, the disc made its way to Erik, who ripped it and released the raw. Now, Orphan has subtitled it for an English-speaking audience.

The title of the OVA is a bit of a puzzler. The Japanese title, かってにシロクマ, is partly hiragana and partly katakana. It is often translated as The "Something" Polar Bear, where the Japanese adjective かって might mean curious, whimsical, or selfish. シロクマ (shirokuma) is literally "white bear," but because the only white bear most Japanese know is a polar bear, the word also means that. However, the lead character, Shiro, is not a polar bear; he's an albino (white) brown bear. So a better reading of the Japanese might be Katte ni Shiro Kuma. This exposes another ambiguity. "Katte ni Shiro" means "Do What You Want," so when merged with "Shiro Kuma," the title is a joke, meaning "Do What You Want, White Bear." Based on Yogicat's pithy suggestion, we've shortened it to "Whatever, White Bear." Your mileage may vary.

Katte ni Shirokuma tells the story of an animal family consisting of a mother bear, albino cub Shiro, normal cub Dai-chan, and an adopted baby boar. While the mother and Dai-chan have normal spoken lines, Shiro uses non-verbal vocalizations, and the boar can only say "uri" (hence his name, Uribo, or Uri boy). They lead a placid life in the mountains. As the show opens, the mother bear is trying to teach her youngsters how to catch fish by batting them out of a swift-flowing stream. Dai-chan catches on at once. However, Shiro and Uribo are constantly distracted by the sights around them: birds, insects, and in particular, a turtle. The two goof-offs pursue the turtle into the stream, and Mom and Dai-chan go after them. The whole family is swept downstream. There, they start finding strange "rocks" and "animals," which are actually human artifacts - a knife, a TV, a costume jewelry crown. Reaching a cliff, they find a human city, devoid of life. They explore for a while and, after adventures both comic and macabre, eventually return to the mountains.

Ohara Noriko (Mom) had a long career starting in the 1960s. She played the title roles in Future Boy Conan and Arabian Nights: Sindbad no Bouken, Nobita in the Doraemon franchise (through 2004), and Oyuki in the Urusei Yatsura properties. Mizushima Yuu (Dai-chan) played the heroine's love interest, Makabe Shun, in Tokimeki Tonight (an Orphan release), Roland Chappelle in Shokugeki no Souma, and many other featured roles. Shou Mayumi (Uribo) made her debut in Cream Lemon, played Gannet in Hoshi Neko Full House (an Orphan release), and has also had an extensive career in featured roles. Nagira Kenichi (Shiro) mostly worked outside anime; his only other anime credit is Kappa no Coo to Natsuyasumi. The director, Sasagawa Hiroshi, has directed numerous science fiction and fantasy shows, including the original Time Bokan series, Tokimeki Tonight, Kennel Tokorazawa (an M74 release), and Bremen 4 (a joint Orphan-M74 release).

Moho Kareshi did the initial translation; Sunachan checked it and translated the ending song and additional signs. ninjacloud timed, I edited and typeset, and Calyrica and Nemesis did QC. Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions encoded from a Japanese laserdisc. The release uses ordered chapters in order to isolate an unrelated bonus at the end - a preview for the Appleseed OVA, which is not translated. If your player supports ordered chapters, it will play only Katte ni Shirokuma; you can access the Appleseed preview as the second "edition" in the file. If your player does not support ordered chapters, it will play the main OVA followed by the preview, without a break.

Katte no Shirokuma is a fine watch, a welcome addition to Orphan's growing menagerie of critter-centric shows. You can get the Three Bears, plus the boar, from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

The Dallos special is an edited compilation of the four episode OVA series. Like most compilation specials, if you've seen the original show, you don't need to watch the special. However, the Japanese (but not the US) version of the special has one unique feature: it includes the so-called "pilot film," a five minute series of clips and sketches that supposedly provides the background for the show.

The excisions made in the special to compress the running time from roughly 110 minutes to 83 are not serious. Mostly, the cuts eliminate dangling plot threads and complexities, such as the mystery around Shun Nonomura's older brother Tatsuo and the Bartholemew incident; the political intrigue against Alex Riger by the Vice-Consul and shadowy players back on Earth; and the role of Earth's army in the climactic showdown. However, the cuts exacerbate the jumpiness of some of the transitions, which was already a problem in the original OVAs.

A different sort of issue is the pilot film. While it is supposed to supply background, it actually differs in significant respects from the OVAs.

In the pilot film, the lunar city is called Genesis. In the OVAs, it is Monopolis.
In the pilot film, the Moon is ruled by a small upper-class elite called "scholars." In the OVAs, it is ruled by a more traditional colonial government, headed by a Consul.
In the pilot film, the conflict among the lunar settlers is between the first- and second-generations. In the OVAs, it is between the first- and second-generation settlers and the third-generation settlers.
In the pilot film, Dallos was built by the settlers. In the OVAs, it was built by the first scientists to land on the Moon, or perhaps even earlier.

The pilot film actually confuses rather than explains what's going on in Dallos. That's probably why it was left out of the US version of the special.

I pasted the script for the special together from the high-definition release of the OVAs. Yogicat retimed the script for the inevitable digital-to-analog discrepancies, and I did a release check. Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions encoded from his own Japanese laserdisc. Compared to either version of the OVAs (DVD or HDTV), the video in the specials looks rather washed out, and the sound quality is not as good either. Well, it is a laserdisc.

There really wasn't a compelling reason to sub the special, but I wanted to practice my script detective and pasting skills as a warmup to the much harder task of putting together the scripts for AWOL Compression Remix from the AWOL TV series. That promises to be much trickier, because the TV episodes were not only cut but also rearranged sequentially. So don't hold your breath for that one.

If you'd like to watch the Dallos special, you can get it from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. Even better, you can watch everything in the Dallos special, and more, by purchasing the DVD.

As I said in my end-of-2017 summary, Orphan is working on two relatively long series this year. One of them, of course, is Stop!! Hibari-kun!, the 1983 comedy series. It's still a struggle, but here are the next six episodes. I won't repeat all the background from my introductory post on the series. Nothing has changed - or does change, for that matter, because the show is completely episodic. Cross-dressing/transgender/"new half" son Ozora Hibari is still the best-looking girl in the Ozora family; the family's adopted orphan, Sakamoto Kosaku, is still utterly confused about his feelings toward Hibari; and the rest of the family is still perplexed, apoplexed, bemused, or amused about the whole thing, often at the same time.

What has changed is that laalg, the wonderful translator who worked for Yoroshiku, Orphan, and other teams, has returned after a five-year absence. She translation-checked this group of episodes, doing more of the signs and providing additional information on parodies and cultural references. The rest of the staff remains pretty much the same. Moho Kareshi translated; Yogicat timed; I edited and typeset; Juggen styled the OP and ED; and Nemesis and konnakude QCed. M74 encoded from a remastered DVD box. A few translation notes for this group of episodes:

Ep13.

"Ultra Manji" is an Ultra Man parody. "Kamen Raida" is a Kamen Rider parody. "Nagoya Arale Yakuza Boss" is a Dr. Slump parody.

Pollock roe is a Hakata specialty and is super spicy.

Maple-shaped buns are a Hiroshima specialty.

In addition to bringing their regional specialties, the yakuza bosses speak in their regional accents.

Hibari shooting up the Crazy family is a "Sailor Suit and Machine Gun" parody.

Ep14.

All of Honda-kun’s "killer" looks are named for manga artists. Ikegami Ryouichi was the artist on Sanctuary. Chiba Tetsuya was known for sports series like Ashita no Joe. Egushi Hisashi was the creator of Stop!! Hibari-kun itself.

Honda-kun and his sidekicks Yamama and Suzuki are, of course, named for famous Japanese motorcycle brands.

Ep15. The three girls in their dark outfits (around 18:08) are a parody of Cat’s Eye.

Ep17. The poem on the wall at 15:51 is a parody of the Hyakunin Isshu, which goes:

In the mountain depths,

Treading through the crimson leaves,

The wandering stag calls.

Ep18. In Japan, "getting your hands dirty" means playing a dirty trick rather than digging in on physical work.

By this point, the series was running short of manga material. Episodes 15, 16, and the B part of 17 are anime original and focus on supporting characters: 15 on underboss Seiji, 16 on oldest sister Tsugumi, and 17B on boss Ozora.

When will the next mini-batch be coming out? I don't know, so please don't ask. It's entirely a function of the translation checking process. (Always looking for help there.) In the meantime, you can get this group of episodes at the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Episode 19 of Stop!! Hibari-kun! is a non-stop cascade of parodies, references, and verbal and visual puns - so much so that the normal "translation notes" simply won't suffice. During translation checking, laalg generously annotated her critique with references and pointers. So here, without further ado, is a viewer's guide to episode 19.

1:57 "I'm sick of my bosses. But I feel great."

A three-part pun: 課長(ka'chou')がなんだ; 部長(bu'chou')がなんだ; 胃腸(i'chou')は元気だ . Shades of P**** B*** Cafe!

5:27 "We have come to greet you." Sabu is styled as Goemon from Lupin III.

5:37 "Where are the monkey palanquins?" Monkey palanquins are actually from Indian folklore.

5:53 "I'm a ninja." A Ninja Hattori parody.

6:04 "Where's Mothra?!" A famous Japanese monster film.

8:50 "I love movies! Narayama! Senmeri! YMO! Antonio Inoki!"

This refers to four Japanese movies: Narayama; Senmeri (known in the west as Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence); YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra); and Antonio Inoki.

10:46 "You're such a jerk!" A visual pun. There's a hippo dangling upside-down on Suzume's Naginata spear. カバ (kaba - hippo) upside-down is バカ (baka - jerk).

10:48 "Sir, you're an idiot!". Another visual pun. Kosaku is holding a pig with a ま(ma) dangling underneath. Pig, 豚, here read as とん (ton), and ま(ma), yield とんま (tonma), idiot.

12:26 "I'm Ishin Tasuke." A beloved fictional fishmonger who appears in many stories.

13:41ff Hibari and Kosaku are dressed as Bonnie and Clyde from Arthur Penn's movie of the same name. There are visual quotes from the movie, including the famous death scene.

16:54 Before Shina shows up on his motorcycle, three other riders appear: Kaiketsu Kuro Zukin, then Kamen Rider, and finally Eguchi Hisashi, the mangaka.

20:47 Ibari is dressed as the famous baseball player and coach, Sadaharu Oh.

I'm sure there are more, but that's quite enough for now!

Towards the end of this group of six episodes, Stop!! Hibari-kun! finally and irretrievably jumps the shark.

The first 18 episodes had roughly three episodes of anime-original material; the last 17 have 14 episodes that are anime-original. It shows. The anime not only repeats itself, it also borrows material from other Eguchi Hisashi manga and ramps up the parodies and references in a desperate quest to find funny gags. Less time is spent on the relationship between Hibari and Kosaku and more on side characters. Episode 22 (based on chapter 23 of the manga) features dated stereotypes of gay men as effeminate leather boys. The same stereotypes would appear in 1994's Otaku no Seiza - not surprising, because it was also based on character designs by Eguchi Hisashi. Episode 23 introduces a multi-episode story arc in which the Ozora yakuza group tries to reinvent itself as a detective agency. And it's downhill from there.

The translation notes seem to be getting more voluminous and complicated as the series goes on:

Ep19 has so many gags and references that it needs its own blog entry.

Ep20.

Takakura Ken was a famous Japanese film star, known for his brooding presence. He starred in numerous crime dramas and action films.
Tetsuya Watari was another Japanese film star, known for his yakuza roles.
Iwaki-sensei says hello to Sabu with "Ohikaenasu," a special greeting between gamblers.
Ibari mishears "young leader" as "Yamamoto Linda," a well-known singer of the 1970s.
Ibari consults a manga book 日の丸劇場 (Hinomaru Gekijo), which is a parody of Egushi's own manga ひのまる劇場 (Hinomaru Gekijo). The page shown in the anime is a real page from ひのまる劇場.

Ep21.

Panther Yokohata is based on Mimi Hagiwara. She was an idol before she became a pro wrestler. She released a song called "Sexy Panther."
Rikidouzan was a Japanese-Korean pro wrestler. His signature move was a karate chop.
The Sharpe brothers were Canadian pro wrestlers. They worked for Rikidouzan’s Japan Wrestling Association.
The line "Come on! Get up, Joe!" and Ibari's eyepatch are an Ashita no Joe Tange parody.

Ep22.

The title is, literally, "The School's Lovely Takarazuka Star."Takarazuka is a famous musical review in Japan. It has been localized to "Broadway."
"The sky lies far above the mountains." This is from Carl Hermann Busse's Uber den Bergen, as translated by Ueda Bin.
Sign: Matsuzawa, are you watching? Matsuzawa was one of the assistant producers on the show.
The audience at the volleyball match includes Fujiko Fujio's Obake no Q-taro and Hulk Hogan.
V for "Victory!" is from a 1968 shoujo manga and live action TV drama.
Ibari's pinky gesture connotes sexual activity.

Ep23.

Computer Ittosai (also appearing in episodes 27 and 33 as Coffee Ittosai and Occult Ittosai). Ito Ittosai was a famous swordsman.
Ibari's freak-out uses the Japanese children's song Ito maki maki. It is also featured in other episodes.

Ep24.

Nakamori Akina was one of the most popular singers in Japan in the 1980s.
"Can't you see this police notebook?" A Mito Komon parody. The hero always say "Can't you see this family crest?" after he beats up the bad guys.
"When the Nue cries, people die." A line from the Kindaichi Kousuke books of the 1940s and 1950s. The "Village of the Eight Tombs" is from the same series.
Akado Suzunosuke was a cartoon samurai from the 70s.
The Tanokin Trio was a male idol group from the 80s.
Shibugakitai was another male idol group from the 80s.
Tengu are bird-like demons or spirits in Japanese folklore. Kurama Tengu was the title of several Japanese movies.

The staff is the same as for the previous mini-batch. Moho Kareshi translated; laalg checked the translation, added additional signs, and decoded many of the references. Yogicat timed; I edited and typeset. Juggen styled the OP and ED; and Nemesis and konnakude QCed. M74 encoded from a remastered DVD box.

You can get this group of episodes at the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Aren't you sick of the first Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo movie yet? I certainly am. First, Orphan did the laserdisc version. Then we did the "full 480p" version. And now, here is a 720p version, encoded from an HDTV broadcast. It's certainly the best looking of the three, but watching the show for the third (and because of encoding problems, fourth) time has been a true test of patience.

The release has actually been ready for some time. Skr encoded the raw back in December, 2017, and the script was ready in March of this year. However, when I put the final version together, I discovered a video glitch. At my request, Skr had image stabilized the encode, in order to make the typesetting easier. However, that caused black bars to flicker in and out in four separate scenes of an out-of-focus figure running through a heat haze. A new encode was needed, and as this requirement was surfacing, Skr was packing up to move a new apartment. He's come back online only recently.

I've already written extensively about this movie, so I don't see any reason to rehash the plot or the cast. Iri did the original translation and M74 the original timing. I did the original editing and typesetting and bananadoyouwanna, M74, Nemesis, and VigorousJammer the original QC. For this release, Yogicat shifted and retimed the 480p script. I edited and typeset (third time's the charm). konnakude did a release check. Skr did the encode (three times as well). The raw is rather large for a 720p show, but there were banding and grain-loss issues at lower sizes. It was easier just to throw bits at it, as was done before for Hashire, Melos!

Is this the end for Kindaichi Hajime, boy detective, and the Phantom of the Opera, or could there be yet another version, based on an actual Blu-ray release? For the sake of my sanity, I hope not, but one never knows, do one? The two Kindaichi movies have clearly been remastered for high-definition. A Blu-ray is only a matter of a little bit of licensing and a lot of money.

Meanwhile, you can get this high-definition version of the first Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo movie from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

So here's some more Hibari-kun hijinks and mayhem, episodes 25-30. This batch includes the wrap-up of the Kurikara Detectives arc (thank goodness) as well as the last episode adapted from manga chapters. In between are stories featuring youngest sister Suzume, old man Ibari, and the recurring joke that the prettiest women in the series are cross-dressing men.

The references and parodies are almost non-stop now, filling in for the absence of compelling stories.

Ep25. The end of the Kurakawara Detectives arc.

Kawahana Hiroshi is a parody of "川口浩探検隊"Kawaguchi Hiroshi's Expedition, which is full of staged bits and jokes. The parody name replaces 口 (mouth) with 鼻 (nose), hence the close-up of his nose.
Shimizo no Jirocho was a 19th century yakuza.
Akagi no Chugi refers to another yakuza, Kunisada Chuji.
Momotaro is a popular hero in Japanese folklore.
"Ribahi" is "Hibari" spelled backwards in hiragana (りばひ vsひばり).
Ribahi's pet sharks, Taro and Jiro, are named for two Huskies, from a pack of 15, that were abandoned in Antartica in 1957 and survived a full year on their own.

Ep26. Yakuza baseball! What could go wrong?

"Burning fighting spirit" was the stock phrase of professional wrestler Antonio Inoki.
When Ozora and Umiushi are fighting, they're depicted as monsters from Daimajin.
Geronimo knocks down Hibari's home run with Ultra Seven's iconic attack (around four minutes into the linked clip).
Kosaku's memories of his middle school baseball career are a parody of Star of the Giants. Hoshi Hyuma was the protagonist of the series.
The umpires listed on the scoreboard are different kanji that all spell the same thing - wani, or alligator/crocodile.

The preview for the next episode is clearly from a VHS source. The original cel masters must have been lost.

Ep27. Ibari falls in love with the beautiful owner of a coffee shop. Queue recurring joke.

The "Three Wise Gators" are of course a parody of the Three Wise Monkeys.
Kosuki is reading Chuunen Jump (Geezer's Jump), a parody of Shounen Jump (Boy's Jump).
North Pole Story is a parody of the 1983 film Antarctica, starring Takakura Ken and Oginome Keiko.
The stars of Flascodance (i.e., Flashdance) are Jennifer Chiefs (literally Jennifer Typhus) instead of Jennifer Beals and Michael Youri instead of Michael Nouri.
"It's tough being a man" is from the series Otoko wa Tsurai yo.

Ep28. Suzume-chan takes on some juvenile gangsters.

Morita Kensaku, the Kid Delinquents gang, and Shadow Boss are from Eguchi's Hinomaru Gekijou.
The monsters in the picture are from Ultraman: white full moon monster Lunatick, center kidnapper Alien Kemur, red friendly monster Pigmon.
"Unbaba" may be a parody of the Japanese professional wrester Giant Baba.
"Ghosts don't come out in winter." In Japan, telling ghost stories is a summertime activity.

Ep29. Kosaku falls in love with the wrong girl, yet again. The last episode taken from manga material.

The attack of the Korukyu Boxing Club is set to West Side Story's "Cool."
Yakushimaru Hiroko was an idol in the 1980s. She played the lead in Sailor Suit and Machine Gun, a story about a high-school girl becoming heir to a weak yakuza group.
Sayuri's "I fell in love at first sight with a pervert" is a 5-7-5 haiku in Japanese.

Ep30. The Phantom Thief Mouse Kid strikes!

The butler is modeled on Klaus Nomi, a German countertenor who died in 1983.
"My name's not Shibari. Actually, it's Hibari." A play on the shitsuji (butler) / hitsuji (sheep) joke. Shibari is Japanese rope bondage.
The Ibaru/Neone/Rux/Gambar sign is a parody of Subaru and its real car brands back then: Leone, Rex, and Sambar.

So Stop!! Hibari-kun! stumbles across the finish line with five random episodes showing the scriptwriters scraping the bottom of the barrel for reused story lines and tropes. Time travel, body swapping, psychic powers... as far from the core story of Hibari-kun and Kosaku as you can imagine. As always, the episodes are intermittently amusing, but like Tokimeki Tonight!, Stop!! Hibari-kun! should have ended at the standard 24 or 26 episodes.

The usual notes:

Ep31. An ensemble episode featuring every recurring character. Once again, Suzume is the real center of the story.

Ep32. The cast is transported to the Heian Era, where they meet... E.T.?

The title is a nonsense mixture of The Pillow Book (枕草子) and The Tale of Genji (源氏物語).
Shina's bull (his Heien era substitute for a motorcycle) is named Nanahan (750), after Honda's line of 750CC motorcycles that took Japan by storm. The sticker on Shina's back (see above) is the sign for a beginning driver.
"Lady Iwasaki." Iwasaki Shibiku - Shibiku was a title for ladies serving in the palace.
The "kiss coupon" destination is a play on the lyrics of the Japanese children's song Donguri korokoro. Instead of "oike ni hamatte saa taihen" (acorn rolled into the pond), it's "oike ni hamate saa hentai" (pervert rolled into the pond), so Pervert-in-the-Pond Station.
The train line is "okame," meaning an effeminate man. "Okame" is usually a derogatory term; transgender women refer to themselves as "newhalves," a wasei-eigo.
The coupon is dated 4/4, an unofficial day for cross-dressers, which falls midway between Girls' Day on 3/3 (hinamatsuri) and Boy's Day on 5/5 (tango no sekku).
The ogre story is based on Rashomon, a Noh stage by Kanze Nobumitsu about the hunt for an ogre near Rashoman (south Kyoto gate).
The decrepit gate sign is a play on the word "rashomon," with the middle kanji changed to "crazy" (rakkyomon), so Crazy Gate.
The UFO is a zenpoukouenfun style kofun or a keyhole.

Ep33. Hibari and Kosaku switch bodies. A tour de force by the voice actors. This episode required more typesetting than any other in the series.

Occult Ottosai's "Disguise #28" is a parody of Tetsujin #28.
The sentence from the Tokyo University entrance exam is verse 15:23 of the Analects of Confucius. The translation has been slightly abridged for time.
When Kosaku successfully translates the passage, Iwasaki-sensei rings the victory chimes in the style of the long-running music program NHK Nodo Jiman.
"The great blue sky is on my side." From 人を恋うる歌, a poem by Yosano Tekkan.
The billboard advertising "Takamumasamune" is a parody of 菊正宗, Kikumasamune, a brand of moisturizing cream.
In Kosaku's second dream, he gets roasted by three movie monsters (see above). Anguirus is on the left, Godzilla in the center, and Rodan on the right.
The audience for the climactic boxing match includes (again) Hulk Hogan and Q-taro, as well as Captain Kaji in thick black glasses.
The yellow book in the preview is titled "Chinko (Penis) Inc."

Ep34. An episode centered around Captain Kaji and his unrequited - and never to be requited - passion for Tsubame.

Okita Soji was the captain of the first Shinsengumi unit.
Confronting Kaji, Ibari is shown as Chandlar from Ultraman.
Tsubame's pose, shown above, is a parody of the popular 1974 soft-core porn movie, Emmanuelle.
Hibari tries to curse the Kotetsu High team using the ushi no toki mairi ritual.

Ep35. Hibari-kun receives psychic powers from the household's white alligators.

"I am an alligator. As yet I have no name." A parody of the opening lines of Natsume Soseki's I Am a Cat.
"I'm the gold man who can tell the difference." A parody of a Nestle Gold Blend coffee advertisement.
Among the toys that Ibari tries to give Hibari is a Robby the Robot figurine from Forbidden Planet.

The staff is the same as for the previous mini-batches. Moho Kareshi translated; laalg checked the translation, added additional signs, and decoded many of the references. Yogicat timed; I edited and typeset. Juggen styled the OP and ED; and Nemesis and konnakude QCed. M74 encoded from a remastered DVD box.

There will be a batch torrent to clean up oversights in the original releases. Meanwhile, you can get this group of episodes at the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net

Here is Orphan's final word on Stop!! Hibari-kun: the batch torrent, with all 35 episodes. Episodes 12 and 13 received additional checking, while episodes 15, 16, 17, 20, and 23 have minor corrections. A patch file is available here for updating these seven episodes to their corresponding v2s.

The project took almost three years. The first translations arrived in late summer of 2015. The first group of episodes was released in May, 2017, and another in January, 2018. The project languished due to translation checking issues until laalg rejoined Orphan in May. She translation checked 24 episodes in less than a month, allowing us to complete the project quickly. I am very grateful for laalg's return to the fray.

Moho Kareshi translated all 35 episodes. Iri, Onibaba, and tenkenX6 checked various early episodes, while laalg checked episodes 12 to 35. Yogicat timed all the episodes, and I did all the editing and typesetting. konnakude and Nemesis QCed all the episodes, and VigorousJammer did an additional QC on the first ten. M74 encoded all the episodes from an R2J DVD box set. Juggen styled the OP and ED. I want to thank all the members of the team for sticking with this project along its long and winding road.

Stop!! Hibari-kun! proved to be much more difficult than the madcap comedy I was expecting. The dialog was spoken at breakneck speed, sometimes in regional dialects. The show was full of 1980s topical and cultural references; the blog posts have functioned as much as magic decoder rings as commentary on the show itself. And the typesetting... The show is filled with signs, all of them hand-drawn. The encode is mostly free of blended frames, so tracking mostly worked, but there were a lot of signs. Despite my efforts to be more conservative, more than 75 fonts ended up being used.

I gave my perspective on the show's contents in my first blog entry about it. It seemed then like a remarkably even-handed portrayal of a transgender girl, especially for an early 80s series, and it still does. Although some of the later episodes mine easy (or uneasy) laughs out of gay stereotypes, Hibari-kun is treated respectfully throughout. Her family is fleshed out in comic detail, including her apoplectic father Ibari, her bemused older sisters Tsubami and Tsugame, her boss-in-training baby sister Suzume, and her utterly confused love interest, the orphan Kosaku. At the end, nothing is resolved, of course. Hibari loves Kosaku, Kosaku pines for Rie-chan, Rie-chan is hung up on Shina, and Shina wants Hibari. As Hibari sings at the end of every episode, "It's a mixed-up, messed-up, complicated relationship."

In fact, Hibari invariably has the last word, so she might as well have it here too:

You can get the batch torrent at the usual torrent sites or download individual episodes from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. Thanks for watching.

So... Princess Kaguya hentai. Because...well, why, Japan?

The idea of subbing the 1987 hentai OVA Kaguya-hime: Taketori Monogatari (Princess Kaguya: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) has been floating around for two years, ever since a raw turned up. I commissioned a script from an h-anime translator, but this OVA actually has a plot, drawn directly from the folktale, and a fair amount of complicated, non-hentai dialog. (It even includes poems in kobun, or old Japanese.) Accordingly, it stayed on the shelf until another translator was willing to check the script. Now, it's ready to be released on an unsuspecting world that is only familiar with Princess Kaguya through Isao Takahata's masterpiece Kaguya-hime no Monogatari.

Kaguya-hime: Taketori Monogatari is not a masterpiece or anything near it , but it's not the otaku fap-bait that modern hentai anime has become. It has a plot, the sex scenes aren't fetish-of-the-month, and there's even some erudition about the origin of Japanese idioms. The story is carried through from the discovery of Kaguya-hime in a glowing bamboo shoot to her tearful departure for the Moon. The principal change from the folk tale is that the full moon doesn't make Kaguya melancholy, it makes her horny, with predictable consequences.

From what I can tell, Kaguya-hime: Taketori Monogatari was never released on laserdisc, let alone digital media. The only raw is a truly awful VHS rip. If the artwork needed censorship, the lack of definition and the frequent encoding defects in this raw make it unnecessary. No better copies have surfaced, either encoded or on the VHS second-hand market, so I think that WYSIWYG. If you find a better raw or an actual tape, please let me know.

There are no credits in the raw, other than a production credit to Tokyo Studio, so I don't know anything about the cast or staff. Tokyo Studio has no other releases, although there's an announcement at the end of Kaguya-hime about an anime of Yuki-onna (The Snow Woman); apparently, it was never made. The narrator's voice is very familiar, but I'm no expert at identifying seiyuu by voice alone. On the other hand, the opening and closing theme, played under jerky live action shots of a real bamboo forest, is an oriental spin on the second movement of Rodrigo's famous Concierto de Aranjuez. I guess the mountains of Spain and the bamboo forests of Japan are spiritual cousins. Who knew?

This is an Okizari release, rather than an Orphan project, so there are no staff credits. Frankly, I've forgotten who did the original translation, and everyone else who worked on it declines to be identified. The raw is from eMule; no credits there either. If you're interested in this twist on the classic folk tale, you can find it on the usual (h-)torrent sites or download it from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Mainichi ga Nichiyoubi (Every Day Is Sunday), a six-episode OVA from 1990 to 1992, is another show that's been percolating for a long time - in this case, more than two years. The project started when I noticed that Erik, of Piyo Piyo Productions, owned the Japanese laserdiscs. I thought that if he ripped them, I could spruce up the existing subs (from Kodocha Anime) for a better release, because the Kodocha raws were ancient Divx4 AVIs at low bit rates. Had I But Known™ what I was letting myself in for, I would have shelved the whole idea.

The problem is not the series itself. Mainichi ga Nichiyoubi is a light-hearted slapstick comedy about rookie 22-year-old policewoman Takeshita Yuumi and her love interest, itinerant magician Ichidaiji Tooru. The episodes are standalone capers during which Yuumi's awesome physical abilities and Tooru's cunning sleights-of-hand combine for adventures, with (or desite) help from another rookie policewoman, Ninomiya Shiho (the Chief's granddaughter), and idol Maijima Sarasa, Yuumi's childhood rival. Nothing is taken very seriously. Even when Yuumi's virtue seems imperiled by a villain, the mood is comedic rather than menacing. It's very entertaining.

And the problem is not the series title, although it's commonly given as Everyday Is Sunday. In his torrent, Erik pointed that this is total Engrish. "Everyday" is an adjective, meaning "ordinary" or "commonplace." Mainichi actually means "daily" or "every day." Erik blamed the original English translators, but in fact, the problem goes right back to the anime itself:

(If they meant to use "seems" rather than "is," the title would need to be Every Day Seems like Sunday.) AniDB and friends will never fix it, but the English title should be Every Day Is Sunday.

No, the problem is the encode - blended frames everywhere. That makes tracking moving signs a nightmare, and this series has a lot of signs, all hand-drawn, of course, and many of them in motion. I gradually came to understand why Kodocha typeset so few of them. I considered going back to the Kodocha raws, which have fewer artifacts, but in addition to the ancient codec and low bit rates, they're overcropped. So I blundered on. Some of the signs are set with {\an8}Sign says... because nothing else worked.

All the lead seiyuu are veterans with long careers. Matsumoto Yasunori (Tooru) got his first starring role as Johnny in Starship Troopers, an Orphan release. He was in numerous OVAs in the 1990s, including Seikimatsu: Humane Society and Al Caral no Isan, both Orphan releases. Among his 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. He is still active, appearing in Violet Evergarden in 2018. Itou Miki (Yuumi) played Eika in Project A-Ko, Reimi in Burn Up, and Touko (Natsume's foster mother) in the Natsume Yuujinchou franchise. She is currently appearing in FLCL Alternative. Hiramatsu Akiko (Ninomiya) played Nene Romanova in Bubblegum Crisis and Bubblegum Crash, Tom Kusanagi in Mikan Enikki, Konoe (the security maid) in Hanaukyo Maid Tai, and Miyuki in the You're Under Arrest franchise. Matsui Ikeda (Sarasa) played the title role in Dream Hunter Rem and its sequels, Rei (the protagonist's rival) in Idol Densetsu Eriko, Wendy in Peter Pan no Bouken, and Aiko inSei Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki, an Orphan release, and its sequel. Ikeda Masaru (Chief) got his start in the 1970s and had numerous lead and featured roles, usually as father or authority figures. His most recent appearance was in 2017's Knight's & Magic.

The OP and ED are quite nice. The OP is bouncy, in keeping with the slapstick nature of the series; the ED is pensive, a more serious reflection on the ambiguous relationship between Yuumi and Tooru. The longest versions are in the first two episodes; the last four abbreviate both the opening and closing sequences. There are different OP and ED animations in each pair of episodes. I have not found a copy of the soundtrack, alas.

The original subtitles were by Kodocha Anime. tenkenX6 checked episodes 1 through 4, and laalg episodes 5 and 6. They added quite a few signs. Yogicat retimed to the new raws. I edited and typeset (and typeset and typeset and typeset...) Calyrica, bananadoyouwanna and VigorousJammer did QC. The encodes are by Piyo Piyo Productions from Japanese laserdiscs. It may be possible do better on the frame-blending issues. If anyone comes up with an improved raw, I'll consider a new version. Or in view of all the typesetting, maybe not.

A few translation notes:

Tawagoto, the precinct where the show is set, means "nonsense" or "silly talk."
Tooru is from western Japan and uses "-han" instead of "-chan."
Ep1. "Sefure Apartments."Sefure means "sex friend" (a friend with benefits).
Ep2. "Miss High Legs Contest." High legs are a type of bathing suit cut to make the wearer's legs look longer.
Ep3. In Japan, school failure notices say "Cherry blossoms fall," because "fall" sounds like "fail."
Ep3. "Ground fighter" means lying down judo and wrestling techniques.
Ep3. Miyazawa Rie was a famous actress and singer of the day.
Ep4. The parade costumes are based on the ancient tale "Journey to the West," with Sarasa playing the Priest, the Chief playing the monkey (Son Gokuu), Yuumi playing the pig (Cho Hakkai), and Tooru playing the kappa (Sa Gojou).
Ep6. "Suntona" is a parody of "Stona,""Kyolepion" of "Kyoleopin," both Japanese over-the-counter medications.
Ep6. The newspaper office sign is Shuukan Mainichi, or Daily Weekly.
Ep6. Another background sign is "Nitional," a parody of the Panasonic "National" brand. This couldn't be typeset due to frame blending.

So here's a nearly family-friendly slapstick comedy series that almost everyone can enjoy. ("Nearly" and "almost" because there are a couple of topless scenes.) You can get the show from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Oruorane the Cat Player (Neko Hibi no Oruorane), a 1992 OVA, is a charming sleeper that has languished in totally undeserved obscurity. Thanks to Orphan and Piyo Piyo Productions, it is now available to a wider audience.

The story is set in a vaguely European city in the mountains. The protagonist is a young man named Baku, an unemployed cellist. His orchestra has just disbanded. Without a job or prospects, he wanders the streets, intending to get drunk. He stumbles across a cat that is fond of alcohol and the cat's mysterious owner, an old man (a wizard, possibly) named Oruorane. The old man has taught his three cats - Inruinedo, Malet, and Shofuren - not only to drink but to sing in beautiful harmony. Baku learns to "play" a cat, and the two humans and three cats hold a concert on Christmas Eve. Then, Oruorane and his cats go their way, and Baku returns to his hometown, presumably to start over.

The charm of the show lies not in its plot, which is admittedly slight, but in its storytelling. The visuals are luminous (the animation is by J.C. Staff), and the cat concert is a riot of color and music. We never learn very much about Baku or Oruorane, and the mystery of the singing cats is never explained. However, this show doesn't require explanations; it just needs to be experienced.

The voice cast includes veterans and stars.

Seki Toshihiko (Baku) should be quite familiar to readers of this blog. He appeared as Riki in Ai no Kusabi, the hero Seitarou in Hoshi Neko Full House, Miroku in Yuukan Club, Chuuta in Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro, and the fighter Nagase Jun in Akai Hayate, all Orphan releases. He also played Sanzo in all the Saiyuuki TV series and the title roles in Alexander (Reign the Conqueror) and Kaiketsu Zorro.
Ginga Banjou (Oruorane) is a veteran voice actor. He played the title role in 80 Days Around the World with Willy Fog, Baloo in The Jungle Book, and Tohtsuki chairman Nakiri Senzaemon in the Shokugeki no Souma series. He also appeared in the two What's Michael? OVAs, both Orphan releases.
Hayashibara Megumi (Iruinedo) was arguably the most famous seiyuu of the 1990s. She played other feline roles, including the title role in the All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku franchise and the title role in the Hello Kitty properties. However, she's much better known for her star turns as Faye Valentine in Cowboy Bebop, Ayanami Rei in Evangelion, Rune Balot in the Mardock Scramble movies, Rebecca in One Piece, Lina in the Slayers franchise, female Ranma in Ranma 1/2, and Miyokichi in Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju.
Orikasa Ai (Malet) made her debut in Shoukoushi Cedie. She also played Toryune in Al Caral no Isan and Sara in Eien no Filena, both Orphan releases, Seguchi Touma (the record company president) in Gravitation, Quatre in Gundam Wing, and Ryouko in the Tenchi Muyo franchise.
Naka Hiroshi (Shifuren) has mostly had featured roles; his most recent was as Tada's grandfather in Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinoi.

Oruorane is based on a manga by Yumemakura Baku. He's probably best known for the manga Kurozuka. He also wrote the Chimera and Amon Saga mangas, as well as the screenplay for Boku wa Son Gokuu, an Orphan release. The OVA was directed by Nishikubo Mizuro. He also directed Miyuki and Giovanni's Island, as well as Purple Eyes in the Dark, an Orphan release. The background music is appropriate and evocative. The songs are in English.

Iri got the ball rolling by buying the laserdisc of Oruorane at a Japanese auction. He sent it, via Skr, to Erik of Piyo Piyo productions, who encoded it. Moho Kareshi did the initial translation. laalg translation checked. ninjacat - er, ninjacloud - timed. I edited and typeset (nothing difficult). Nemesis and Iri did QC.

I'll leave the final word to Erik: "This anime is a thing of beauty and wonder, and I cannot recommend it enough. It is short and to the point, wasting no time and not wearing out its welcome." So what are you waiting for? Run, don't walk, to get Oruorane the Cat Player from the usual torrent sites, or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou (Singles Apartment Dokudami-sou) is a very ecchi, not to say rather sketchy, three-part OVA from 1989. It was one of the very first laserdiscs that ics- ripped when he joined Orphan; it was encoded more than two years ago. However, no translator wanted to touch the material. Getting a subtitled version seemed hopeless, so Orphan released it in raw form last September. Then intrepid translator Moho Kareshi surfaced after his 18-month-long marathon translating all 136 episodes of the Oishinbo TV show. He said he was ready to help clear up Orphan's backlog, and he chose Dokushin as his first project. Accordingly, Orphan can now bring you this long-neglected show, although this just might be an instance of the old adage, "Let sleeping dogs lie."

Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou chronicles the so-called life of Hori Yoshio, apartment house resident and horny schlub. Yoshio has no talents, no prospects, and no apparent goals, except to get drunk and get laid. His appearance is undistinguished, and his personal hygiene is very questionable. (He tends to drool from his nose and mouth at the sight of a pretty girl.)

The three OVAs provide five unrelated episodes from Yoshio's life:

UFO-chan. A pretty but mentally deficient young woman, who thinks she came from the sky, takes up residence in Yoshio's room. Yoshio is torn between his desire to sleep with her and his wish to protect her, sometimes simultaneously. This episode is double length.
Death Trap. Yoshio meets Shinobu, a beautiful a woman who thinks that her sexual partners are cursed to die within a week. Yoshio proves more than willing to test the curse, with near-fatal results.
Charge! Adventures of the Okutama Explorers! On a camping trip with his friends Rokuta and Hiromi, Yoshio stumbles over a nubile and willing young woman, who is not at all what she seems to be.
Tokyo Lullaby. Yoshio "assists" two young lovers by setting the boy up with another woman and persuading the girl to take a job at a brothel.
Visitor at Midnight. Yoshio has an unexpected visit from his childhood crush. Their romantic tryst takes a supernatural turn.

The stories are definitely NSFW, full of nudity and sex. The first, UFO-chan, is the skeeviest of the bunch, as Yoshio and his buddy have no compunction about trying to take advantage of a mentally deficient girl and are only thwarted (repeatedly) by adverse circumstances. It is also too long. The others work better. In all the episodes, Yoshio ends up getting his just desserts.

Because of the episodic nature of the show, the voice cast is extensive:

Futamata Issei (Yoshio) is best known for his roles as Godai Yuusaku in Maison Ikkoku, Akira (Chibi) in Urusei Yatsura, and Saburo in Sazae-san. He also played the psychopathic brother Cross in Hi-Speed Jecy, an Orphan release. He recently appeared in Gurazeni.
The late Tsuru Hiromi (UFO-chan) debuted as Perrine in Perrine Monogatari. She went on to play Kashima Miyuki in Miyuki, Madoka in Kimagure Orange Road, Barge in Blue Sonnet, and Mikami Reiko in Ghost Sweeper Mikami. She also played Nozomi in Nozomi Witches and Jill in A Penguin's Memories, both Orphan releases.
Ikura Kazue (Shinobu) had leading roles in the City Hunter and All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku-Nuku franchises. She also played Kuroeda Keiko in Aoki Honoo, an Orphan release.
Takada Yumi (Yumi the barkeeper) played Yoshinaga-sensei in many of the Crayon Shin-chan movies and Ayeka in the Tenchi Muyo franchise. She also appeared as Saya and Monmo in Cosmic Fantasy and Purinpurin in Hoshi Neko Full House, both Orphan releases.
Anzai Masahiro (Rokuta) played appeared as Cherenkov in Starship Troopers, an Orphan release.
Yamaguchi Ken (Hiromi) appeared in Yamato 2520, Hoshi Neko Full House, and Condition Green, all Orphan releases.

The music tends to be comic honky-tonk, befitting the tone, but the ending songs by The Hero Band are fairly bluesy, reflecting Yoshio's prospects.

A few translation notes:

Episode 1:

"New squeeze." Yoshio uses kore (これ - "this") reversed (れこ) with a raised pinky, indicating a girlfriend.
"Get it on with her." Osamu uses manko (まんこ - "pussy") reversed (こーまん), indicating sex.
"I want to eat shabu-shabu." Yuuho mistakes shabu (amphetamines) for shabu-shabu (hot pot).
"A-A chestnut and a squirrel?" A pun on kuritorisu (clitoris) and kuri to risu (chestnut and squirrel).

Episode 2:

Shinobi describes herself as a bad luck fortune, like the o-mikuji visitors draw at Shinto festivals.

Moho Kareshi translated the dialog and signs. Sunachan translated the songs and checked a few lines (under duress). laalg did a much more extensive check and provided more translation notes. Yogicat timed; I edited and typeset. VigorousJammer and Calyrica did QC; M74 encoded. ics- ripped the show from his own laserdisc collection.

So if you're ready for a dip in the slimy end of the pool, you can get Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

The Japanese are obsessed with chaotic parts of their history, like the Sengoku and the Bakumatsu, both of which have been the subject of numerous anime, movies, TV shows, manga, books, and games. However, they appear equally fascinated with a chaotic era in Chinese history, the fall of the Han dynasty, aka the Three Kingdoms period (184 AD to 280 AD). There have been numerous Japanese adaptations of the history of that period, Records of the Three Kingdoms, or of the famous novel based on it, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but none is as famous as the 60-volume manga Sangokushi by Yokoyama Mitsuteru. The manga in turned spawned two TV specials (OVAs) in the 1980s, and a 47-episode TV series and three movies in the 1990s. Orphan is proud to present the first of the two TV specials, Sangokushi (1985). We plan on releasing the second TV special, Sangokushi 2 (1986), and the three movies. The TV series will have to wait for a group with more patience and stamina.

Sangokushi is set in the waning days of the Han dynasty. Central rule has disintegrated, and the land is controlled by multiple warlords. Wei is nominally ruled by the Han emperor, but power really belongs to his ambitious chancellor, Cao Cao Mengde. Wu, a state south of the Yangtze River, is ruled by Sun Quan Zhongmou. Liu Bei Xuande is a warrior from a small state. While Cao Cao is governed by ambition and Sun Quan by pride, Liu Bei aspires to build a just state and to serve the people. Clearly, he's the hero of the story.

This movie-length TV special opens with Liu Bei under attack by Cao Cao's forces and in danger of capture. His only hope is to find a strategist whose knowledge and wiles can offset Cao Cao's far superior military power. He eventually finds the sage he's looking for, Zhuge Liang Kongming. With the strategist's help, Liu Bei escapes Cao Cao's net and flees to Wu. There he proposes an alliance to Sun Quan. Kongming convinces Sun Quan that he and Liu Bei can defeat Cao Cao, despite their numerical disadvantage in troop strength. Aided by Sun Quan's sister Lihua, with whom Liu Bei has fallen in love, the allies prepare to confront Cao Cao at the Battle of Red Cliffs. And then... but that would be telling.

Like the live-action movie Red Cliffs, which covers many of the same events, Sangokushi is full of larger-than-life warriors who easily defeat tens, hundreds, or even thousands of enemies. These warriors - even the female ones - strike heroic, manly poses and declaim in heroic, manly dialog. There is no time for introspection, second thoughts, or character development. Liu Bei starts as saintly, Cao Cao as ambitious, and Sun Quan as irascible, and they remain exactly as they started. Well, it avoids confusion.

The anime has many exciting action scenes, both mass battles and individual duels, and they're beautifully done, with fluid animation and clear direction. The voice cast includes many familiar names:

Inoue Kazuhiko (Liu Bei Xuande) played Yamaoka Shirou in Oishinbo andYuki Eiri in Gravitation, but I know and love him best as the irascible, sake-swilling Nyanko-sensei in the Natsume Yuujichou properties. He also played Ryousuke in Daishizen no Majuu Bagi and Kitten Smith in Starship Troopers, both Orphan releases.
The late Tomiyama Kei (Zhuge Liang Kongming) is another familiar name. His versatility landed him leading roles in Ginga Tansa 2100-nen: Border Planet, Bremen 4, Grimm Douwa: Kin no Tori, and Yousei Ou, all Orphan releases.
Hirano Fumi (Princess Lihua) starred as Lum in the Urusei Yatsura franchise. She also played Tsugumi in Stop!! Hibari-kun, an Orphan release.
Ikeda Masaru (Sun Quan Zhongmou) starred in Yatterman and had numerous featured roles.
Yamada Eiko (Yu Jin, Cao Cao's stalwart woman warrior) played the title roles in Anne of Green Gables and Legend of Lemnear, as well as Jo in Little Women. She appeared in What's Michael? and Chameleon, both Orphan releases.

The actor who played Cao Cao seems to have no other credits. The director, Imazawa Tetsuo, helmed Coo of the Far Seas and Utso Miko. (He also directed the first Happy Science film, Hermes: the Winds of Love, but we'll overlook that one.) The music is by the late Watanabe Takeo, who also scored many 70s and 80s TV series, including Perrine, Heidi, Nobody's Boy Remi, Dog of Flanders, Lady Georgie, and the original Mobile Suit Gundam.

Sangokushi is Iri's brainchild; he's translating the TV specials and the movies. Sunachan checked the Chinese names and places. M74 timed the show. Lann094, a new member of the team, edited; I typeset. bananadoyouwanna, VigorousJammer, and I all did QC. (banana also styled the ending song.) Skr provided the raw, which is a direct 1080p webrip and looks quite nice, although it is probably upscaled. (This is Orphan's first 1080p release, I believe.) There is a brief bit of nudity - it's a 1980s OVA, after all - but by and large, it's SFW.

So buckle up for an exciting ride through ancient China, with the assurance that even more historical adventures are on the way. You can get Sangokushi (1985) from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

I've wanted to do a subtitled version of 1982's Techno Police 21C for quite a while, although not since 1982. A dubbed version has been available for several years, but it's a VHS source, and I had my doubts about the accuracy of the English script. Fortunately, Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions had the Japanese laserdisc, so off we went.

Techno Police 21C (the 21C stands for 21st century) is a sci-fi action flick about crooks and police. Centinel (sic) City has been overrun by criminals who use giant machines to commit crimes. To counter them, the police form a unit called the Techno Police, which uses advanced robots (called Techroids) in partnership with human officers. Kyousuke Mibu, a Highway Patrol officer best known for destroying his motorcycles, is drafted into this new force. His partner is a flying, skating Techroid called Blader. His colleagues include Kaoru Kousaka, partnered with a brute strength Techroid called Vigorous (and mispelled as Vigorus in the bonus section), and Elena Fubuki, partnered with a scanning and analysis Techroid called Scanny. (Scanny has a shapely female form, because, why not?) Together, they must combat a criminal gang that first robs an impregnable bank and then hijacks an advanced heavy tank with a mind of its own. Kyousuke's best weapon is his instinct, but will that keep him alive in the face of heavy weaponry, dastardly villains, military intervention, and general mayhem?

In short, Techno Police 21C is good fun. It starts fast and keeps the pedal to the metal almost all the time. The story was the debut work of Suzuki Toshimitsu, who went on to create other sci-fi and action shows such as Bubblegum Crisis, Bubblegum Crash, and A.D. Police. (The script itself is credited to five different people.) The voice cast includes:

Yasuhara Yoshito (Kyousuke) played Scarecrow in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (TV), Ranze's father in Tokimeki Tonight (which Orphan finished), and Louis XVI in The Rose of Versailles.
The late Utsumi Kenji (chief of Techno Police) played the title role in Don Dracula and again in Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned, Norimaki Senbei in the Dr. Slump franchise, Alex Louis Armstrong in all the Fullmetal Alchemist properties, Dr. Zachariasen in Nora, an Orphan release, and numerous other roles.
Takizawa Kumiko (Elena) played Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz (movie). She also appeared in Scoopers, an Orphan release.
Ikeda Masaru (Kaoru) got his start in the 1970s and had numerous lead and featured roles, usually as father or authority figures. He played the police chief in Every Day Is Sunday, an Orphan release.
The late Takiguchi Junpei (Scratch, the criminal with the distinctive voice) played the villainous king of Kanemacchi Castle in Grim Douwa: Kin no Tori and the Mouse Thief in Stop!! Hibari-kun!, both Orphan releases.
The late Aono Takeshi (Crime, the other criminal) played Masaki Katsuhiko in the Techni Muyo franchise, Bookman in the original D.grayman, and the leader of the Crazy Group in Stop!! Hibari-kun!, an Orphan release.
Oobayashi Ryuusuke (Blader) played Ranma's father in the Ranma 1/2 franchise. He also appeared in Yuukan Club, an Orphan release.

Moho Kareshi translated the dialog, and Sunachan translated the songs. laalg checked the translations and filled in some of the military and naval jargon. ninjacloud timed; I edited and typeset. Nemesis and VigorousJammer did QC. Erik encoded from his own Japanese laserdisc. The encode includes a ten-minute bonus showing the "state of the art" 1985 CGI used in designing the Techroids and providing detailed technical specs. It's a hoot.

The show is not set in Japan, despite the Japanese names for the police officers. All the signs are in English, for example, and the crooks and the military baddie have western names or nicknames. Accordingly, western name order has been used and honorifics removed. This presents some problems. "Kaoru" is an androgynous name, and Kousaka is reluctant to say it, often trailing off his introductory sentences. That doesn't work as well if Kaoru comes first. Kyousuke responds by calling Kousaka "Kaoru-chan," rendered as "little Kaoru," to try to convey the joke. Kyousuke also calls Elena "Elena-chan," rendered as "Elena baby," a mark of condescension that Blader (who is still learning how to speak) mimics. Kyousuke calls Blader "Blader-san," rendered as "Mr. Blader," until he learns that Blader is a robot; after that, it's plain "Blader." All "-kun" honorifics are dropped.

Even if you've watched the English dub, you'll enjoy this subtitled version; and if you haven't, go get Techno Police 21C from your usual torrent site. You can also get it from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Update: just as we released Techno Police 21C, a Blu-ray edition went on sale in Japan. It's insanely expensive ($130) because it includes a Blader action figure. However, if any fan really wants to see this movie with much better video, it's only a matter of money...

Bronze: Zetsuai ~ Since 1989 is the 1996 sequel to the pioneering BL OVA Zetsuai 1989, which Orphan released earlier this year. It brings the story of singer Nanjou Kouji and soccer prodigy Izumi Takuto to some sort of stopping point, although the manga goes on for another twelve volumes without reaching much of a conclusion. The release of Bronze concludes Orphan's project to "spruce up" the classic BL OVAs with modern encodes, checked translations, and softsubs.

Like Zetsuai, the tone of Bronze is emotionally overwrought and operatic. As the OVAopens, Izumi is going off to Italy to try his soccer skills against better players. Nanjou, in despair, gets into a near-fatal motorcycle accident and is hospitalized in a coma. When Izumi returns, his rage goads Nanjou back to consciousness, but the latter has lost his voice from the trauma. Deprived of his career, Nanjou is carried off to his family to become the heir to his late father's martial arts school. Nanjou's friend and manager, Shibuya, conspires to bring the two lovers back together again, in the hope of shocking Nanjou out of his silent state. And then... As I said, operatic, although rather more soap opera than grand opera.

Unlike Zetsuai, Bronze was released on DVD. The aspect ratio (700 x 527) is narrower than standard 4:3, because there were substantial black margins on each side. Although the voice cast is the same for the two OVAs, almost everything else changed - the animation house (Madhouse to Production I.G.), the director (Endou Takuji to Kawasaki Itsurou), the music composer (Kawai Kenji to Ootani Kou),and the character designer (Aoki Tetsurou to Kise Kazuchika). The most noticeable difference is that the characters look even taller, thinner, and more elongated.

Continuing the tradition of Cathexis - a set of Zetsuai anime music videos that Orphan released last year - Bronze includes its own AMV, Cliff. It's yet another emotional ballad set to homoerotic imagery. It includes shots of the manga author, Minami Ozaki, looking pensive or yearning, along with some heavy breathing (whose is not specified). This is the first time the AMV has been released as part of a fansub.

For Bronze itself, the original script is by Lupin Gang Anime. Sunachan went over it with a fine-tooth comb and marked it up extensively. M74 timed; I edited and typeset; Calyrica and VigorousJammer QCed. M74 encoded from an R2J DVD. The AMV has the same credits, except that the translation is from the Internet, credited to Evol Siren.

At a distance of more than twenty years, it's easy to dwell on the faults of Zetsuai and Bronze and hard to remember the impact they had when they were first released. You can get Bronze from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Hidamari no Ki, Part 3

Dallos HD

Bremen 4

Zetsuai 1989

Katte ni Shirokuma

Dallos Special

Stop!! Hibari-kun! 13-18

A Viewer's Guide to Stop!! Hibari-kun 19

Stop!! Hibari-kun! Episodes 19-24

Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo movie 1 HD

Stop!! Hibari-kun! Episodes 25-30

Stop!! Hibari-kun! Episodes 31-35

Stop!! Hibari-kun! Batch

Kaguya-hime: Taketori Monogatari

Every Day Is Sunday

Oruorane the Cat Player

Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou

Sangokushi (1985)

Techno Police 21C

Bronze: Zetsuai ~ Since 1989