Urusei Yatsura, TV Series 1 (Episodes 1-4)
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Features
• Animated
• Color
• Subtitled
• NTSC
In Theaters : 01 January, 1982
DVD Release : 27 March, 2001 |
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Urusei Yatsura, TV Series 1 (Episodes 1-4) Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
No Words to Describe
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There really are no (English) words adequate to describe Urusei Yatsura- it's an animated absurdist romantic-comedy from outer space, it's a work of art which helped form the famed avant-garde anime director Mamoru Oshii's career, a groundbreaker which pioneered anime aimed at a more mature audience and popularized many of the now-standard anime gags; the list could go on for a VERY long time.
Before I go on with the review, I'd like to make a few corrections of misunderstandings from other reviews- for one, the DVD does indeed have a menu from which you can access the individual episodes (you just have to press the "Menu" button on your remote) and the transfer is top-notch for a show that, bear in mind, is from nearly thirty years ago. Originally a dub was created for the first four episodes, but due to its general atrociousness it was discontinued. I doubt many of the people buying this anime (generally being pretty hardcore anime fans) could care that much. The animation, while not as shiny as the later episodes or modern anime, was some of the best from the period. And Ataru is indeed likable- but I'll get to that later.
Urusei Yatsura (the title is a Japanese pun which is much too hard to explain in a limited format, but could rougly translate as "Those Obnoxious Aliens") was a breakthrough for several different giants of the manga and anime worlds. For one, it was the debut series of Ms. Rumiko Takahashi, the world's most popular female comic artist and multi-multi-multi-millionaire creator of some of the most loved and very best manga ever, and which helped her to cement that position. But if the manga was Takahashi's breakthrough, the anime was twice that for many of the most acclaimed directors, artists, and writers of the anime world, especially Mamoru Oshii, directors of such films as "Ghost in the Shell". But enough history.
The plot has been described in detail elsewhere, so I won't go that far into it, but suffice it to say that yes, it is just as weird and crazy as it sounds. What else could it be when the plot is centered around the most luckless, lecherous, nerdy loser on the face of the earth who just happens to be the exclusive, passionate love interest of a green-haired, tiger-skin bikini wearing and pheromone-exuding space princess with the sensual name "Lum" (pronounced "luhm", or in Japanese, even "ramu", not "loom" as I originally believed)?
For some reason, and I am no exception, many fans of Takahashi's work originally feel a little hesitation to pick up Urusei Yatsura, probably mostly from misinformed or biased reviews which describe the animation as outdated, etc. But trust me- its really hard, if you're a fan of anime, to NOT become hooked on this show. The comedy is much more wacky than what you can find in Ranma 1/2, but besides that, the show really has heart, with extraordinarily likeable characters and enjoyable situations. It's easy to fall in love with Lum, but Ataru is another story- many complaints say that, unlike Godai or InuYasha or Ranma, Ataru has no strong points. I disagree; yes, he may be a loser compared to the characters just mentioned, and yes, he really is an a**hole most of the time, but he has something that not many other male anime characters have- identifiability. He's just a normal, if very persistent, high-school age loser, who is thrust into the weirdness mostly against his will. Besides, I know it sounds cheesy, but the character has an ultimately good heart, and it comes out even in some of these earlier episodes.
The only reason I give 4 stars instead of 5 is that this first season is hardly the best, featuring the most dated animation and less interesting character development than the second season and onward(Oshii had yet to take the reigns). Indeed, many picking up the first four episodes might even be turned off- leaving us Urusei Yatsura veterans to only say "Please, hold out a little longer". The series really is a classic and a gem, but you have to give it a chance. I would suggest picking up one of the later volumes first, to get a sense of the series' potential, and then coming back to the first season. |
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