And now the other shoe drops. Orphan presents the first English-subtitled release of the movie version of Tenjou Hen: Utsu no Miko (Prince of the Skies: Heaven Chapter). The movie, released in 1990 before the OVAs, is a teaser for the OVA series. It provides condensed versions of the first five episodes and previews of the remaining eight. Like most teaser anime, it is intended to leave the viewer wanting more. Fortunately, all of the Tenjou Hen: Utsu no Miko OVAs are fansubbed, using Odyssey Anime subtitles from the VHS era, and arer eadily available.
Although Tenjou Hen is nominally a direct follow-on to Utsu no Miko, it looks very different. Yamazaki Noriyoshi replaced Inomata Mutsumi as character designer. Matsumoto Kenji replaced Kawamoto Shouhei as art director. As a result, Tenjou Hen's look very different; for example, Miko now has blue eyes instead of brown.
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The artwork is darker and muddier. This is not just the result of laserdisc source vs VHS source. The change of staff led to considerable aesthetic differences. Frankly, I prefer the appearance of the first movie.
Tenjou Hen overlaps the ending of Utsu no Miko by retelling Princess Kaguya's return to the Moon. Miko's desires to follow her and to attain the powers of a god inherent in his divine origin. This leads Master Ozuna to send Miko and his oni comrades Kusuri, Tsuri, Takara, and Kagami, along with the fallen god Kijimuna, on a journey to the heavens. There, Miko first encounters the god Rahu Asura, cast out after his daughter Shachi was kidnapped and raped by Taishakuten, king of the gods.
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Next, Miko visits the Moon, only to discover that Kaguya has forgotten him.
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Now determined to confront Taishakuten and right the wrong done to Asura, Miko and Kijimuna travel to the Heaven of the 33 Gods, Taishakuten's stronghold. Miko challenges the king of the gods, but he is no match for Taishakuten and is defeated.
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In retaliation, or because he mistook her for a swan (shades of Polly Von), Taishakuten kidnaps Kagami, Miko's wannable squeeze, and threatens her with the same fate as Shachi.
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And that's where the movie ends. Want to know more? Watch the OVAs. (Spoiler: Miko gets Kagami back in episode 11.)
A few translation notes, courtesy of Perevodildo's study of Buddhism.
- Taishakuten is the Japanese term for Śakra, the king of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven in Buddhism. Trāyastriṃśa is a tongue-twister and is translated as Heaven of the 33 Gods.
- Shachi, also known as Indrani, is the queen of the gods in Hinduism.
Except for Miko and Kagami, the voice cast is completely different from Utsu no Miko:
- Furuya Tohru (Utsu no Miko) played the lead male roles in Kimagure Orange Road and Sailor Moon, the title roles in Casshern Sins and Kyojin no Hoshi, and recurrent roles in the Dr. Slump, Dragonball, and Mobile Suit Gundam franchises. He also starred as Kosaku in One Pound Gospel, Niimi in Nine, Kosaku in Stop!! Hibari-kun, Beat, aka the Rabbit, in Choujikuu Romanesque Samy: Missing 99, and the title role in Bavi Stock, all Orphan releases.
- Yamada Eiko (Kagami) played Yamazaki Tarou in Okama Hakusho, Syril in Cool Cool Bye, and Vee in Al Caral no Isan, all Orphan releases, as well asTarou in the Captain Tsubasa franchise and numerous other featured roles.
- Tanaka Hideyuki (Kusuri) played Terryman in the Kinnikuman franchise and Rayearth in Magic Knight Rayearth. He also played Max in Dallos, Unno Rokurou in Sanada 10, Harmer in Al Caral no Isan, Sammy in Bavi Stock, Sawamura in Nozomi Witches, Ronron in Greed, Aoto in Oedo ga Nemurenai!, Katze in Ai no Kusabi, Minowa Takanari in Karuizawa Syndrome, Kazuhiko, Chiko's father in Ohoshi-sama no Rail, Ma Su, Fengji's lover, in Sangokushi movie 3, and an extra in Heart Cocktail, volume 5, all Orphan releases.
- Shioya Yoku (Tsuri) played the title roles in Kariage-kun and the Umi no Triton TV series and movies, Ryouta in Slam Dunk, Jinpei the Swallow in Gatchaman, and Cosmo Yuki in Space Runaway Ideon. He played Yuzuru in Laughing Target, Mickey in Milky Passion: Dougenzaka - Ai no Shiro, Mizuki in Nayuta, and Zhuge Jun in the first Sangokushi movie, all Orphan releases.
- Horikawa Ryou (Takara) played Shutendou in Shuten Douji, Vegeta in Dragon Ball, Naoto in Slow Step, Anthony Brown in Candy Candy, Reinhard in LOGH, Tadao in Ghost Sweeper Mikami, Kai in Kizuna, and Andromeda in Saint Seiya. He starred as Shinya in Okama Hakusho and appeared in Chameleon, Hi-Speed Jecy, Lunn no Kaze, and the first two Sangokushi movies, all Orphan releases.
- Shibata Hidekatsu (En no Ozuna)played Baron Ashura in Mazinger Z, Kenzou Kabuto in Great Mazinger, King Bradley in both versions of Fullmetal Alchemist, and the Third Hokage in Naruto. He played Sun Quon in the Sangokushi movies, the hero's father in Dragon Fist, Funakoshi in Ushiro no Hyakutaro,Koimura, the Steel Elementalor, in Seirei Tsukai, and the voice of God in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, all Orphan releases.
- Mita Yuuko (Kijimuna) played the title role in Pokonyan, Posi in the Creamy Mami franchise, Kazuya in the Kimagura Orange Road franchise, Neko Musume in the 1985 iteration of GeGeGe no Kitarou, and Will in Robin Hood no Daibouken. She appeared in Rain Boy, an Orphan release.
- Banjou Ginga (Teishakuten) played the title role in 80 Days Around the World with Willy Fog, Baloo in The Jungle Book, and chairman Nakiri Senzaemon in Shokugeki no Souma. He appeared in Gude Crest, Oruorane the Cat Player, Amon Saga, Ipponbouchou Mantarou, Sanada 10, and the What's Michael? OVAs, all Orphan releases.
- Kashina Kazuhiko (Asura) played Roku in Haguregumo and Matsuda's editor in Yawara! He also appeared in Izumo, Meisou-ou Border, Akuma-tou no Prince: Mitsu Me ga Touru, the three Sangokushi movies, and the first Utsu no Miko movie, all Orphan releases.
- Tominaga Miina (Kaguya-hime) played Ritsu in Fruits Basket (2002), Persia in Magical Fairy Persia, Rollpanna in the Anpanman franchise, Misaki in Tsuritama, Muuma in Bavi Stock, Kamiya in Tokimeki Tonight, Hikaru in Chameleon, Karen in Yuukan Club, Cresson in Star Dust, Ito Aki in Tanjou Debut, and Eri in Karuizawa Syndrome. The last seven are Orphan releases.
- Yara Yuusaku (Fujiwara no Fuhito) played the destroyer captain in Zipang and Miyuki's father in Tokyo Godfathers. He had many featured roles, appearing in Nayuta, Next Senki Ehrgeiz, Eien no Filena, Elf 17, Hidamari no Ki, Nozomi Witches, Kimama ni Idol, both Sangokushi OVAs, the second Sangokushi movie, Prime Rose, Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, and both What's Michael? OVAs, all Orphan releases.
Like many other Orphan projects that Perevodildo rescued from the vaults, the origins of this release are lost in the mists of time. I don't remember who bought the VHS tape or why; perhaps it was thought to be the first Utsu no Miko movie. In any case, an anonymous friend ripped and encoded it, and it was eventually released as a raw. This year, Perevodildo translated it, using the Odyssey Anime OVA subs as a base; he also timed it. ninjacloud fine-timed. I edited and typeset (very little needed there). ImAWasteOfHair, Paul Geromini, and Topper3000 QCed.
Tenjou Hen: Utsu no Miko the movie will give you a pretty good idea, in 80 minutes, of whether you want to invest six plus hours in the OVA series. (If you do, be prepared for rougher translations and early oughts styling.) If you want to try the Reader's Digest version instead, you can download the movie from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.