Sunday, April 10th - 8:31 pm
Update -
Andrew Floyd
Anime Recommendations:
Urusei Yatsura
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The many faces of Lum |
How much of it there is:
Around 196 episodes for the TV anime series, 11 OVAs, 6 movies, and the
usual huge gamut of goodies: CDs, dolls, figure kits, etc. In terms of anime
fandom, this is one from the Golden Era. ^_^ 34 volumes of manga, not all of
which has been published in English by Viz.
You may watch lots of anime, but if you miss out on Urusei Yatsura by
Takahashi Rumiko-sensei (who also did Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2, and Inu
Yasha), then you're really missing a golden gem of anime. Out of all the
Japanese anime you will encounter, this is the most intrinsically Japanese
of all, in my opinion of course, but I'm sure legions of fans will agree
with me.
Urusei Yatsura features Ataru Moroboshi, a young boy who loves nothing
more than chasing girls. Only thing is, he's not good at it. He does have a
girlfriend which is a miracle in itself. He returns home from school one day
to find a huge alien oni sitting in his house. The reason? They are invaders
about to take over Earth, and unless he can grab the horns of one of their
own, then the planet is doomed. He gets 3 days to do it.
Then we meet his challenger - a rather cute young female oni who's
dressed in little more than a tiger striped bikini, named Lum. Green hair
and horns. (Woah!) Is this challenge as easy as it looks? Ataru is looking
forward to getting his hands on Lum's horns, and most of the rest of her
body as well if he's got anything to do with it. (warau!)
What they don't tell him is that she can fly and shoot electrical charges
out from her fingers.
Anywho, the first episode sets the stage as Ataru makes a mad dash to
win, promising his girlfriend Shinobu marriage if he wins, which is
misinterpreted as a proposal by Lum. She moves in and his life is never the
same - much to our enjoyment.
Animeigo practically put themselves on the map by bringing out this
series on subtitled VHS way back when. Most people considered Urusei Yatsura
a challenge to translate. You absolutely need Animeigo's liner notes
to catch all the pop culture and other references abound in the anime. It's
also a good way to learn about Japanese culture. Takahashi-sensei makes fun
of her own culture in almost everything that goes on in Urusei Yatsura.
You'll understand why the baseball player is more concerned with being able
to play baseball than the fate of the earth in the first episode by reading
the notes. Let's not forget to mention that Urusei Yatsura was the manga
series that made Takahashi-sensei the widely known manga author she is
today.
Let's talk about how the manga and anime have been handled. In terms of
the anime, it's been decently handled to a point. Animeigo got about
half-way through the TV series when suddenly the company decided to go DVD
only. If you try to collect the anime on subtitled VHS, you'll likely find
up to only volume 25. You will be able to find all the movies and OVAs on
subbed VHS. Through some fluke of licensing, Central Park Media got the
rights to Beautiful Dreamer, but Animeigo did the translating work on that,
too.
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Personal snapshot |
I've not been a big supporter of anime on DVD for many reasons which are
beyond the scope of this article. It doesn't help to know that when Animeigo
was going back and doing boxed sets of earlier UY TV episodes, they had to
have disc 2 of the first set pressed at least 2 or 3 times before it came
out right. Animeigo, from some report that I've never been able to verify,
did their subbing work with Commodore Amiga computers. Using their own
systems allows them full control over how subs appear, their color, size,
almost everything. Letting the subbing fall to standard DVD players just
doesn't compare to Animeigo's custom VHS subtitled tapes. I prefer them and
always will.
At some point of working on the TV series, the rights had lapsed and they
had to work to get them back. They're lucky no other companies wanted Urusei
Yatsura, but then would you want to trust anyone else working on such a
series that's full of Japanese puns and culturally intensive humor to do a
decent job? Anywho, they were working directly with Kitty Films. You have to
be glad Viz didn't try getting the series.
Viz has had the manga license since at least the early 1990s. Their
release of translated editions has been a bit haphazard. Their release of
Lum * Urusei Yatsura as a monthly ceased and then came back in the mid 1990s
as The Return of Lum * Urusei Yatsura. I've been told by some at Viz that UY
manga has never been a big seller for them. It's always lost money, and it's
hard to justify producing more English editions of the manga when it does
that. I think part of the problem has been the translation. I read an
article that sometimes they come upon a joke that they feel doesn't
translate well to English, so sometimes the dialogue is changed to fit the
illustration in cases like that. I think this is a failing of an editor to
underestimate the intelligence of the target audience. At any rate, I
haven't been able to figure out how much of Urusei Yatsura's 34 volumes of
manga have made it here in English. I don't know why they never tried
putting it in Animerica Extra. I'd still be buying it if UY manga was in
there. I'd really like to see it all in English, more or less. With the
current market of $8.95 or so graphic novels of manga, maybe UY manga has a
chance at a lucrative market now.
I don't know why Animeigo and Viz don't get together and offer some sort
of cross-promotion. Buy UY manga, get $$$ off the home video releases...?
Dark Horse and Animeigo did that with Oh My Goddess! manga and anime... I
guess with Animeigo and Viz also being rival anime licensing companies, it's
kinda hard to justify teaming up.
What is the appeal of Urusei Yatsura to long time fans? I think
Takahashi-sensei once said she was dismayed that some fans were fans because
of Lum. (Well, you gotta have a cute girl or I won't pay attention to it...)
She really wanted people to like Urusei Yatsura for the comedy or the story
telling. (And I do like it for that as well.)
Become one of Lum's Stormtroopers! ^_^ Urusei Yatsura is one of the best
anime out there, and it's been around a long time. I've got a patch on my
jacket to show my dedication. ^_^ And just to promote one cosplayer -
Alisa-chan is the hottest Lum cosplayer I've ever seen. Her 2nd version of
her costume is definitely better than her first - she really developed and
filled out in the years between them. (wink wink) I dream of meeting her in
person, though I hear she's got a boyfriend. (shou ga nai...) Even manga
author Mio Odagi has pics of Alisa in her Chick #8 (from Anime Weekend
Atlanta 98) with the same opinion I do. "Nice body!"
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