Orphan is pleased to release the first English version of the 1994 movie Raiyantsuuri no Uta (The Song of Raiyantsuuri), a title so rare that AniDB doesn’t even list any raws. Loosely based on a true incident, the movie tells the story of Inlen Yang, a Chinese slave laborer who escapes a Japanese coalmine in Hokkaido in the closing days of the war. Unaware that the war has ended, he stays hidden in the woods, until he encounters a mute Japanese girl named Tomoko. His gentle Chinese lullaby strikes a cord, and she makes her first tentative steps toward healing. But Inlen is convinced that Japanese hunters chasing a marauding bear are actually hunting him, and he flees the area, leaving a mystery that Tomoko is determined to solve. See this blog entry for more details.

The rip is from a VHS tape; the widescreen presentation was letter-boxed. Raiyantsuuri no Uta has never appeared on better media, not even laserdiscs. I certainly hope that an improved source will surface. It’s a wonderful movie, and it deserves better treatment.

This release, and all Orphan releases, are available for direct download from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.