Urusei Yatsura - TV Series 3

Rating:
Summary: Electric Bugaloo!
Review: I'd rate this particular DVD higher, if it weren't for Episode 11. This DVD features the introduction of Princess Kurama, the hijinx of Ataru, Lum, Ten, and all the others, and even has the debut of Mendo Shutarou, a soon-to-be rival of Ataru. It also has the very romantic Christmas episode (Episode 10) and the liner notes were even wrapped in plastic in this set. But Episode 11 is difficult to follow unless you are familiar with Japanese literature, as it follows the plot (sort of) of a Japanese novel, actually considered by many scholars to be the world's first novel. This episode is very confusing to those not familiar with the context. Still enjoyable, and of course, there's still plenty of shocking Lum action. Just might not be a favorite among many fans.

Rating:
Summary: BEST UY DVD YET!
Review: This is the best Urusei Yatsura collection released yet! The first time I watched this I laughed so hard I almost cried in spots.

Ataru is yet again found in odd predicaments because of his "love" of being a free spirit so to speak. The first episode he is to become a "one-night groom" to a princess, where we learn that Ataru will do ANYTHING for a one night stand. The second half is more of the princess trying to convert him into a half way decent person. Anyone that has seen previous episodes knows that that will probably never happen. Then we have the Christmas special where the lovely Lum saves Ataru from looking like an idiot yet again. Then we have the New Years special where we meet Mendou for the first time, even though he won't be a "regular" for a few more episodes. This is where they take a trip to the Heian era. The next episode has the princess trying to fix Ataru by taking him into the past to meet the perfect man, who turns out to be her own father.

If you have the first couple of DVDs and enjoyed them, do yourself a favor and pick this one up. This is actually the disc I use to introduce people to the series, as it is funnier than the previous disks.

More Lum goodness.

Rating:
Summary: BEST UY DVD YET!
Review: This is the best Urusei Yatsura collection released yet! The first time I watched this I laughed so hard I almost cried in spots.

Ataru is yet again found in odd predicaments because of his "love" of being a free spirit so to speak. The first episode he is to become a "one-night groom" to a princess, where we learn that Ataru will do ANYTHING for a one night stand. The second half is more of the princess trying to convert him into a half way decent person. Anyone that has seen previous episodes knows that that will probably never happen. Then we have the Christmas special where the lovely Lum saves Ataru from looking like an idiot yet again. Then we have the New Years special where we meet Mendou for the first time, even though he won't be a "regular" for a few more episodes. This is where they take a trip to the Heian era. The next episode has the princess trying to fix Ataru by taking him into the past to meet the perfect man, who turns out to be her own father.

If you have the first couple of DVDs and enjoyed them, do yourself a favor and pick this one up. This is actually the disc I use to introduce people to the series, as it is funnier than the previous disks.

More Lum goodness.

Rating:
Summary: Those obnoxious aliens... third row on DVD!!!
Review: Urusei Yatsura was a very popular weekly Japanese (female manga-ka Rumiko Takahashi) comic which ran for 34 volumes over 9 years and went on to become Japan's wackiest animated television comedy airing from 1981 to 1986. In total the animated UY had produced 195 TV episodes, 6 movies, 9 original animated videos, and a few other releases to boot.

This DVD made by Animeigo Inc. contains (according to my edition of previously released VHS) the chapters: The Mysterious Seductive Beauty Sakura (the introduction of the shinto priest Sakura). Tormenting Virus (a virus is wrecking havoc in the Tomobiki high school, poor Ataru is exorcised by Sakura) Love Triangle Black Hole (Lum vs Shinobu, who will get Ataru's love?) Hey Hey, It's a Little Demon (Ataru gets a bump and at night when he uses 2 mirrors to see the bump a little demon pops out of the mirror).

The DVD version offers a much better resolution and video quality, the audio is far cleaner. (no, no THX nor 5.1 channels dts es super especial, extra hi fi, mega bombastic or other wacky sound enhacements here, remember: these were japanese cartoons of early 80's) Excellent re-remasterizations (no, really!) from the now defunct Laser discs.

Are they funny? YES a lot, the series includes a lot of parody of the science-fiction genre poking fun at everything under the sun, from film and television clichés to ancient legends and lore, a melting pot of love triangles, fantasy, Japanese and Chinese mythology, high school life, pop-culture and so much more.

Animeigo is doing an excellent job bringing back the series on DVD, each one containing 4 episodes, some will say that they could have fitted more episodes on 1 DVD, buy hey! your average anime movie is 80 to 120 minutes long, if you do the math you will see that 25 minutes x 4 episodes you get a whopping 100 minutes of the most hillarious and wackiest episodes, more than enough for any fan.

Personally I believe that this series are way more fun and silly than Ranma 1/2. You will love Lum the first time you see in her tigerskin-bikini, and will laugh eternally at Ataru the most unfaithful, unlucky and lecherous idiot to have ever been born.

Buy this DVD and the previous collections 1 and 2, you won't regret it. Also I highly reccomend to buy the Books from Viz, and unlike Ranma 1/2 mediocre adaptations of the manga, the Lum TV episodes are good if not better adaptations of the manga.