Finally some love for Inferius Wakusei Senshi Gaiden Condition Green

[sensei]

In 2006, as I was becoming more and more interested in the sketch work that lay behind the cels that I'd begun collecting, I came across a holograph "conte" or storyboard for episode 3 of "インフェリウス惑星戦史外伝　コンディション・グリーン" (Inferius Wakusei Senshi Gaiden Condition Green or, "Inferious Interplanetary War Chronicle: CONDITION GREEN.") That turns out to be a 6-episode OAV produced in 1991 by Hero Communication, a short-lived division of Toei Studios. Shigeyasu Yamauchi was the series director and overall supervisor: a Toei regular, he did much of the work for Dragonball Z. This conte, however, was the work of Toru Yamada, a wide-ranging Toei animator and director, who also did considerable directing work on Marmalade Boy (1994-95), Yu-Gi-Oh! and other Toei series.

The OAV was about as obscure as any anime production can be: even today I've found it nearly impossible to find any information on it. And yet I could see from the storyboard that it was a lively, often over-the-top action drama about a crack team of commandos nicknamed "Condition Green," who help save Emerald Earth from an alien invasion led by the infandous Emperor Vince.

The aliens include a female warrior, armed with an amazing battle outfit complete with a translucent bad-girl-cape, who has it out with the commando leader, the hunky Keith Winter, in the control room of the aliens' invasion craft, using a whip that she handles with great skill and a sword (or possibly a light sabre) that she pulls from between her breasts. Oddly, repeated searches in both English and Japanese (with help from Google Translate) have failed to turn up any description of this character, so I've gotten used to just calling her "Bad Girl." Actually, as the conte makes clear, her name is either Liza or Raisa, but no website gives a scrap of information on her. No matter: she makes an unforgettable appearance in this conte, and through patience and good luck I've managed to pick up enough cels of "Bad Girl" to fill an eye-catching and colorful gallery in my collection.

Now it appears that this obscure OAV is finally getting some love. First, a largish selection of good-quality cels from the series popped up suddenly for auction on YHJ, including several really nice Bad Girls. (The ones I nabbed will be a highlight of my next update.) Second, an online search informed me that there is now a subtitled version of the series available on the Web. At once I clicked on the link to Episode 3 and was pleased to see that the description of the plot I'd improvised in my gallery was not at all far from the actual series. It's not great anime, but it's not boring either, and golly, when Bad Girl takes the spotlight ... oh, well ... golly . . . . .

So perhaps in time my little collection of Condition Green art will be as fully contextualized as my other galleries, and maybe even it will take its modest place in the consciousness of anime buffs as a downright interesting sidelight of the DBZ team.

[Pixel]

It's such a trip when anime shows have long titles like that.

Congratulations on being able to find so much of it-pieces of an obscure anime can be very difficult to find in large quantity.

Marmalade Boy, eh. Now where have I heard that title before.

[sensei]

I've done a fair amount of work on this part of the gallery now. One new feature is that I've been able to identify and contextualize all the cels that come from Episode 3, and they are now in their own gallery. I was happy to find that the scene in which Bad Girl arrives and has her duel with Keith, the hunky commander of Condition Green, plays out exactly as I had guessed from the storyboard. Many puzzles were resolved by watching the fansub, though in truth the plot still does not make much sense in detail (though it's paced briskly enough that the obvious questions don't get asked, e.g., why the alien Bad Girl comes armed with a dueling sword and not a pocket annihilator ray).

I also must recommend this new portrait of Bad Girl that was added during the update. I was also able to locate and contextualize it, as it comes from an important scene in which Bad Girl finally realizes the extent to which the Gyazarians have cynically exploited them. The conclusion is anything but lucid, but I gather that Bad Girl and her bad big bad-ass-naked sister Paula Prairie then manage to sabotage the invasion of Emerald Earth. Whatever, it's one of those cels that a collector recognizes as beautiful (and in superb condition given its nearly 30 years of age) regardless of its context in any particular anime.

BTW, I've tentatively determined from the fansub and other materials that "Bad Girl's" name must properly be "Liza Prairie," but searches (even using the katakana spelling) still result in no hits. (I find that there is a more popular anime series in which one of the characters is an American prairie dog, however.) So I'm continuing with my old habit of calling this vividly designed and unforgettable character "Bad Girl," which is who she is in my dreams anyhow. (And that airbrushed translucent bad-girl cape -- golly, as they used to say down on the farm...)

[Pixel]

Maybe a silly question, but by chance do you have access to the credits roll?

Here's my thinking on the name thing-If the credits show the name "RAIZA" in katakana, to me that lends considerable weight to the "Liza" interpretation. Only occasionally will the Japanese write names intended to be foreign/Western in hiragana.

As far as "Marissa/Mirei"...I have a thought on how that happened-was she often referred to as "Mirei-san" in the Japanese audio? I can easily see where a misinterpretation could arise in that case.


While cels can be nice in many different ways, It feels good to have a moment you can look at and say-"Wow they really nailed it!"

[sensei]

The fansub does include (but does not translate) the credits. That would be worth watching to look for how the name was rendered by the studio and could perhaps lead to a more successful online search. I will do this as soon as I can (I'm working on an upload of some Gegege no Kitaro sketches now) and post any result. That would at least identify the voice actress, who I'd expect to be well-known as it is a juicy role. (The actress for Paula Prairie worked mostly in erotic OAVs, I found, which isn't surprising as she is naked or barely decent throughout most of this series.)

But the first name of Bad Girl is unmistakably the katakana ライザ [Raïza or Liza] in the storyboard. I've gone with "Liza" as "Paula" (so identified in all the cast lists) is an American name. And I picked up a cel of Bad Girl in a mat that had the faint penciled identification on the back "Liza - Condition Green."

But I doubt that I will ever entirely relinquish the title "Bad Girl" even if I eventually nail her real identity, be it Liza Prairie, Honey Flash, Eternal Full Moon, or whatever.

[Pixel]

I'm afraid my curiosity got the better of me.

I located Episode 6, and hauled over to the relevant section of the credits roll. Here's a piece of the screen cap.

cg_credits.jpg (68.79 KiB) Viewed 2643 times

I noticed they used half-width katakana, I think that was to make those characters' names more compact.

That doesn't look like Yumi Touma (冬馬由美) beside Barney Page. Maybe he had a seiyuu swap during the OVA?

Anyway, "Bad Girl" is at the very bottom.

As I thought, "RAIZA" is in katakana. I'm reading the surname as フレーリー. I don't see any voice marks on the "fu", so I'm thinking it's probably "Liza Frayley". Of course, "Bad Girl" works too

As for her seiyuu, I read the kanji/kana as 森澤さとみ, which seems to work out to Satomi Morisawa (or Morizawa).

I could have read the kanji wrong though. For what it's worth, I don't think I've ever heard of her.

You may have seen this Sensei, but here's another take on the OVA. I didn't read it all.

http://collectr.blogspot.com/2018/03/co ... green.html

I definitely heard "Mirei-san" once while watching one of the videos. I'm now even more suspicious that is the source of the "Marissa" error.

[sensei]

Thanks Pixel, for providing some additional light. The post by the Orphan Fansubs person is especially helpful in giving a general view of the plot situation, which clarifies both the Prairie/Frayley sisters' role and also how they fit in with Jan Novellam, the most enigmatic of the commando team. And I'd missed the important place the Paula actress had in Hellsing.

But Liza/Bad Girl -- though this blog does give her a brief notice -- really remains very shadowy. I did a trial search for both the kanji for her seiyuu's name and for the katakana for "Frayley" not "Prairie." Nothing much -- just a few references to the more experienced Paula seiyuu.

It's almost as if she doesn't really exist. But she must -- there's the storyboard. And the cels. And now you can see her and hear her on the fansub. But somehow she remains the The One Who Must Not Be Mentioned.

So . . .

Gotta run, as usual.

[Pixel]

I certainly know where you are coming from, Sensei.

At least you do have a series, a name (or a mostly serviceable approximation), and a seiyuu.

I have two characters in my cel collection for which I have none of those things, and it is FRUSTRATING. Who are these people? Why is the brunette in the blue jumpsuit reading someone the riot act? Who is on the receiving end? What does the jumpsuit even mean, and why is the number 8 on it in Roman Numerals?

Is that nasty looking mage about to take someone out? Who peed in his Postoasties anyway?

These questions sometimes drive me bonkers.

[Pixel]

Gomen nasai, Sensei. I wasn't trying to be mean, though it may have come across that way.

I definitely understand your frustration though, believe me.

[sensei]

Not mad; just very busy and then very very much in need of a long nap. . . . . . .

[Pixel]

For what it's worth, assuming that is indeed the final credits roll. (and I don't see why it would have been janked with), The lack of dakuten on "FU" has me pretty firmly on the side of "Frayley".

As a bonus, that surname reminds me of American voice actor Pat Fraley, who gave an impressive performance as the particularly nasty alien brain Krang from Dimension X, along with several others, in the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series. I've watched on YouTube how he built the Krang voice layer by layer. It was really cool.

I don't think it was spelled "Kraang" in those days.

Sorry, I know it's off topic, but "Frayley" just kept bringing him to mind.

[sensei]

If the series were a better one with a wider fan base, this could turn into a Spice and Wolf "Holo vs. Horo" discussion. As is, though, it's part of a wider range of naming oddities in the series, where the katakana can support a very wide range of interpretations. The hapless "Eddie" has his last name transliterated as マクレガン, which could be read in Romaji as Maclegan, Makuregan, McLagan, etc. I call him Eddie McLaughin, which is a credible family name. Likewise the muscle Man whom I call "Mr. G," whose name is ジョルジュ・ガルディーノ or Gyolge/Georges/Giorgio Garudino/Garedean. I go with "George Gardino," which is likewise a credible name, though Garudino is also possible.

For what it's worth, though, Wikipedia Japan does spell the name with the voicing designation for "pu" (vs. "fu" or "bu").


(Second name under "Gazzaria/Gyazarian Empire": ポーラ・プレーリー"Po-o-ra Pu-re-e-ri-i")

Anime News Network discreetly calls this character simply "Paula." Google Translate renders the second name "Prairie," and indeed プレーリーis the normal katakana way to transcribe the English term for a certain type of Midwestern grasslands. Who knows what they were thinking when they were coming up with names for aliens, but with an invasion force commanded by "Emperor Vince" and led by the sentient cyborg juggernaut "Moby Dick," I figured "Paula Prairie" was as credible as any other name for a female baddie.

The relative lack of information on her colorfully costumed sister Bad Girl aka Liza/Raiza Prairie/Frayley is still bemusing. One suspects that she routinely killed everyone with whom she shared her real name.

[Pixel]

I think I may have misused the "for what it's worth" subphrase/cliche, I was simply trying to say that I understood it was just my opinion, but that there was reasoning behind it, whether right or wrong.

IIRC, I think you said the conte used semi-voiced "PU". Perhaps the corresponding phoneme being shown voiceless in the credits is an error.

There's always the possibility that the creators themselves aren't entirely sure which it is.

I know of a Japanese character whose name in English ends in "-ith", but the correct pronunciation of the ending is actually "-is". We may never know the reasoning behind some of these foreign names.

I'm sorry this got out of hand, Sensei. I was only trying to help, I never meant for it to turn into an argument.