Ask John: How Much Night Shift Nurses Anime Exists?

Question:
I wanted to know, how long is Night Shift Nurses? And has it all been released here in the States? And how much is it uncut?

Answer:
The Night Shift Nurses (Yakin Byoutou) franchise isn’t quite as well known or as popular in America as other adult anime series including as Bible Black, La Blue Girl, and Urotsukidoji. So it may come as a surprise to many American anime fans to learn that in Japan the franchise is one of the longest running adult anime series to have a singular narrative. (Very long running labels like the Cream Lemon and Vanilla Series are collections of unrelated shows – not series built around a single cast and narrative thread.) The Yakin Byoutou franchise, which began in December 1999 with the release of the original Yakin Byoutou computer game, has expanded into anime, novels, manga, computer and DVD interactive games, books, and even live action adult movies. The franchise is so diverse, and its release formats and release dates so complicated that even keeping track of just the anime alone is difficult. I believe this is an accurate and complete record of the Yakin Byoutou anime:

First Series

• Yakin Byoutou Karte 1, released December 8, 2000
• Yakin Byoutou Karte 2, released March 23, 2001
• Yakin Byoutou Karte 3, released June 29, 2001
• Yakin Byoutou Karte 4, released September 28, 2001
• Yakin Byoutou Karte 5, released January 25, 2002
• Yakin Byoutou Karte 6, released January 31, 2003
• Yakin Byoutou Karte 5.5, released March 28, 2003
• Yakin Byoutou Karte 7, released April 25, 2003
• Yakin Byoutou Karte 8, released August 29, 2003
• Yakin Byoutou Karte 9, released December 26, 2003
• Yakin Byoutou Karte 10, released January 30, 2004
• Yakin Byoutou Karte 10.5, released April 30, 2004

Second Series

• Yakin Byoutou Futatsu ope 1, released July 30, 2004
• Yakin Byoutou Futatsu ope 2, released November 26, 2004
• Yakin Byoutou Futatsu ope 3, released April 29, 2005
• Yakin Byoutou Futatsu ope 4, released October 21, 2005
• Yakin Byoutou Futatsu ope 5, released January 27, 2006

Third Series

• Yakin Byoutou San experiment 1, released July 29, 2005
• Yakin Byoutou San experiment 2, released October 28, 2005
• Yakin Byoutou San experiment 3, released January 27, 2006

Spin-Off Series

• Yakin Byoutou Kranke Kodama Hikaru, released May 27, 2005
• Yakin Byoutou Kranke Kodama Ai, released August 26, 2005
• Yakin Byoutou Kranke Nanase Ren, released November 25, 2005
• Anime Nanase Ren, released December 4, 2005
• Anime Kazama Mana, released August 25, 2006
• Anime Yagami Yuu, released December 21, 2006
• Yakin Byoutou Heroine Series: Nanase Ren, Kazama Mana, Yagami Yuu Fellatio Climax!, released November 8, 2007
• Yakin Byoutou Heroine Series: Tenshi Ryojoku Complete, released on April 4, 2008

The American Night Shift Nurses DVD contains Yakin Byoutou Karte 1-3, except 4 scenes in episode Karte 1 are censored, one scene is Karte 2 has been removed entirely, and Karte 3 had two scenes heavily censored and one removed entirely. A total of about 13 minutes of footage is missing from the first American DVD. The Night Shift Nurses: RN’s Revenge DVD contains Karte 4 & 5 uncut, and the excised footage from the first three episodes. The Night Shift Nurses: Clinical Confessions DVD contains Karte 6 & 7 uncut. And the Night Shift Nurses: Carnal Corruption DVD contains Karte 8 & 9.

As of early 2008, the most recent Japanese release in the continuing Yakin Byoutou series, “Tenshi Ryojoku Complete,” is merely a re-issue of the “Anime” series on a single 90 minute DVD, but I have little doubt that further episodes in this very popular and long running series will continue to be produced and released in the foreseeable future.

Article revised May 8, 2008