Urusei Yatsura

(Those Obnoxious Aliens)

TV series vol 3

Review by Matthew Anderson

195 Episode TV Series

Company: AnimEigo

Running Time: 100 minutes (4 25 minute episodes)

Region: 1

Rating:PG-13 (Adult situations and Brief nudity)

EXTERNAL EXAM

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.

Once again, Ataru's lustful nature gets him in trouble. This time he has enraged the gorgeous Princess Kurama, leader of a race of "Crow Goblins". Despite knowing that Ataru is the total looser, she decides to convert him into a real man, even if it kills him.

The insanity does not stop there. Over Christmas and New Years, Ataru, Lum and the rest have to contend with time traveling devils, nefarious plots by classmates, and a wizard that can call forth Satan!

Things can't get any more weird than this.

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.

FAN SERVICE: Plenty. There is Lum, queen of the fan serve. Her sexy tiger bikini, and the fact that she is topless in the first episode is a treat. New cast member Kurma gets to have her breasts flashed during an endurance trial and there are a couple of quick shots of nudity while Kaurma scans Ataru's mind.

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 and even literary jokes. While many may be obscure to American audiences, those with a watchful eye will have a great time figuring out what they are satirizing.

FINAL EXAM

Urusei Yatsura is the Japanese cousin of "The Simpsons"!

Nonsense, you say. Think about it. You have a dysfunctional family, who's son is always getting them in trouble. You have a vast ensemble of characters, that pop in from time to time, to make things interesting. There are plenty of pop culture references, as well as a skewed look at Japanese family life. You even have everything returning to normal at the end of each episode. Sound familiar? It's interesting how despite different cultural issues, the basic ideas and views are the same world wide. From the UK to Japan, there are shows like this. The thing is, while "The Simpsons" is considered groundbreaking, UY did it almost 10 years earlier!

Adding to the parade of lovely female characters, we have Kruma, the "Crow Woman". No, she does not have a white face, and goes around righting wrongs. What she does is sleep in a glass coffin until her prince charming comes along and awakens her with a kiss. Problem is, she gets Ataru, picked by one of her drunk "Crow Demons". Now stuck with this dork, she has to train this lecher on how to be a real man. Unfortunately, she does not truly understand how depraved he is. Fortunately, she has 200+ episodes to do it. She is going to need it.

This disc also will introduce non-Japanese to what are considered "major events" in Japanese television, the "Christmas" episode and the "New Years" special. These shows are usually extended episodes of popular TV series. In the case of UY, the extended episodes mean that one story runs the entire 24 minutes, instead of two "separate but related" stories. While the Buddhist calendar celebrates New Years on a different day, the first day of the year is a big thing for the Japanese. Usually, after being up all night performing at concerts (The New Years Eve special on NHK is the biggest), the stars of Japan, dress in their best kimono and celebrate with their friends and family, usually on TV specials. The cast of UY also dresses up in their New Years best because they too are in a "New Years Special" and have to perform their duties as popular "anime" stars. This is similar to "The Simpsons" when the family understands that they are going to be in yet another "Clip Show".

The stories are not as funny as previous one, or maybe I have been watching too much. The episodes with Kurama are pretty uninteresting, and the specials are not all that funny. The only one I really enjoyed was the last episode on this volume when Ataru and the gang are at a disco and Sakura's boyfriend arrives, ready to prove his love by boogying on down... and calling forth Satan.

The nice thing about UY is that you really don't have to see the first episode to understand what is going on. The formula is pretty standard. Ataru wants every woman he can find, and despite being attacked, beaten, and electrocuted, he doesn't get that Lum and Shinobu both love him. Despite everyone trying to change him, he stays the same perverted, lecherous, unlucky dork he always was.

Over all, if you liked the first two volumes, then volume 3 will be your cup of ocha. If you find this volume a little on the "bland" side, despite the cultural references, don't worry. Volume 4 is a lot more interesting.

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