72 were impressed!
18 Want generally more out of the story
10 got bored of slow reused animations
Here I am reviewing the first Urusei Yatsura film in my chronological watching quest of this entire franchise. I will say outright that overall I was impressed with what was shown here given how I feel about the show in general.
I mean no disrespect to Urusei Yatsura as it is an absolute powerhouse in iconic Japanese culture. The early years of the show are from a VERY dated time however and with that and the show being a regular episodic broadcast there are certain quirks about it that lose some points with me. What pleased me about this movie was that it definitely embraced that it was a film. The quality of the animation was rather enjoyable, the plot was more or less succinct, and it had a good number of legitimately funny gags.
The movies shortcomings were the usual fair I’ve come to expect from the franchise. Ataru the protagonist is an absolute degenerate and I hate him, but on the other hand everyone in the series is kind of terrible which gives it a weird charm. Despite the higher quality animation there are a number of segments that reuse a fair number of animations. It’s more or less understandable as this is from a time where everything was made with cells, but it’s still noticeable. Lastly a grievance I’ve had with the series as a whole so far let alone this movie is that no matter how dramatic things get, that tension is always broken with something that feels cheap. I felt the plot of the film was actually quite sad and could have been something further explored, but nope we gotta revert to our status quo for when the show keeps airing. Can’t have our characters experience any real growth, now can we? Sigh…
I really enjoyed some of the musical numbers and I felt they gave the movie some extra push where it needed it.
I’ve been enjoying this series as a bit of a Japanese learning tool and to place myself in the shoes of a Japanese generation older than myself. This movie was very fun sitting comfy with a blanket and a bowl of cereal and I look forward to the many others. Just make no mistake, it’s not great, just a longer, higher quality episode of Urusei Yatsura and if you’ve signed up for that you know what you want any way.
