SUMMARY
Ataru is the worlds
laziest, lecherous, looser. Everything he does winds up causing himself as
well as the people around him more trouble. Now, this waste of a human
being has somehow managed to save the Earth from the Oni, a group of
intergalactic invaders who came to take over Earth.
Due to an off handed comment in the heat of battle, Lum,
the champion for the Oni, is now convinced that Ataru wants to marry her.
Now he is stuck with a girl who will give him electric shocks if he so
much as looks at another woman. He also has to put up with Lum's family, a
legion of male Lum fans who want to kill Ataru, and his long suffering
girlfriend, Shinobu, who also wants to kill him.
Now, Ataru has once again in deep trouble with the
opposite sex. While on the run from Lum and Shinobu, Ataru literally
runs into Sakura, a young priestess and new school nurse with problems of
her own.
Not only does he have to put up with Sakura's issues, he
has to contend with demons, voodoo dolls, dimensional love triangles,
dinosaurs, and interdimentional snow removal.
However, things might be looking up for Ataru. He
may have found a way to stop Lum from shocking him!
DVD VISION TEST
VIDEO: AnimEigo has done a fine job of transferring this
20 year old anime to DVD. The colors are solid, with no color bleeding,
wrinkles, or pixels to be seen. The image is sharp and the washed out look
of the original video is gone except for the opening. However, a lot of
the scratches and nicks still remain, especially in the opening segment.
AUDIO: The original Japanese 2.0 audio track is pretty
sharp and clear. Despite it being a 20 year and counting TV series, the it
sound almost like new. There is no mono hiss, and there is slight surround
sound mix. Audiophiles may be disappointed.
EDITS: Not a single frame has been edited. The original
open and close are still there, with optional subtitles.
EXTRAS: None on the disc. There is a set of Liner notes cards in the box,
with some explanations about the plethora of in jokes.
WIDESCREEN REVIEW
STORY: Based off of
the manga series by Rumiko Takahashi, Urusei Yatsura is a funny and
interesting take on Japanese life. Many of the typical conventions of life
in Japan (despite it being set in the 80, many of
its themes are still current) are blown up way out of context. At times a
romantic comedy, at times slapstick, the team of writers do a good job of
balancing the two.
ACTING: With only the Japanese track to review, it is
pretty easy to sum up the acting. Wonderful. When anime really hit its
stride in the late 70's, early 80's, so did the voice acting. Never has a
voice sounded so perfect for a character as Fumi Hirano's Lum. With the
right mix of playful sexuality and strong femininity, she gives us the
voice to go with this fan favorite. The other great actor in UY is Toshio
Furukawa as Ataru. He screams well, his voice takes on a sort of a dreamy,
lecherous drawl that reminds me of Homer Simpson in one of his
"transcendent" moments. Like Lum, you can imagine another voice
doing it.
Now, with this volume, you have the lovely sounding
Machiko Washio as the equally lovely Sakura. Sultry is the perfect
adjective to describe her voice, a nice counterpoint to the sweet tones of
Fumi Hirano.
FAN SERVICE: Plenty. There is Lum, queen of the fan serve. Her sexy tiger
bikini and the interesting angles they show her in it is always a treat.
Now, she has serious competition with Sakura. Her very shapely
figure, nice bosoms, and long black hair is a fan boys dream.
Of course, the other type of fan service is there. There
are references to several classic anime as well as joke about Japanese
culture and history. While many may be obscure to American audiences,
those with a watchful eye will have a great time figuring out what they
are satirizing.
CONCLUSION
I love 80's anime. However, my tastes of that era run
closet to shows like Dirty Pair and Macross. Much like Baoh, I had no
interest in watching AnimEigo's release of Urusei Yatsura. I figured it
would be just another "boy has to decide which girl to be with"
stories that usually make me sick (Love Hina for example). To be fair, I
sat down and watched this movie with an open mind.
It was not as horrible as I excepted. Actually, it was
kind of fun.
This volume introduces a new "major"
character, the "major babe" Sakura. She is everything that
Shinobu and Lum are not. She is older, more mature, with long legs,
perfect skin, and an incredible body. She also does not put up with
any of Ataru's crap, as the other two do. She also has no problems
with using Ataru to further her own ends, such as they are. The fact
that Ataru knows another hot girl, makes his precarious position all the
more dangerous with his classmates.
The part that infuriates me is how clueless this lame
brain letch named Ataru is. How can he not get the fact that Shinobu
is tired of being second place in his heart. As each episode progresses,
he finds more and more women to annoy. He wants her, but could care
less what his actions do to her. Whether or not this is a social
commentary on how Japanese men behave is incidental. I have to agree
with Ten, Lum and Shinobu should dump this looser.
I will admit that I feel for Ataru in regards to Lum. It
seems that she goes out of her way to make his life a living hell.
This love triangle gets so bad, it causes planes and helicopters to
disappear! This enrages the towns folk, and once again, Ataru is two
steps from being lynched. I don't blame him for trying to find a way
to stop Lum!
While entertaining,
UY is not a good first movie for the casual fan. Since this release is
Japanese only, newcomers may find it hard to get into because they have to
read subtitles. Also, if you like your anime bloody or action packed, this
one may not be for you.
This series is really a hoot, and while not every
episode is a winner, at least they are entertaining. Fortunately, we
are still early on in the game before we have to decide if it's worth
investing in. With over 200 episodes, it's gonna be a long haul.
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