yamada you

Fans of the series will enjoy this immensely, thanks to the way the writers have fashioned a story that makes clever use of all the main characters and a plot that takes them to the far reaches of the galaxy, back and forth in time, and finally back to their provincial little Japanese suburb. Those fans with an eye for anime babes will find plenty of female alien sex appeal on display here, thanks to the prominent roles played by Elle, Lum, and Lum's array of provocatively costumed girlfriends, not to mention Elle's army of female guards. The animation is more fluid than that of the TV series, with lots of intricate chases and battle action, and the design much more detailed. The film was directed by Mamoru Oshii, who also directed the first few seasons of the TV series and the second UY movie, BEAUTIFUL DREAMER. (He would go on to direct the PATLABOR movies and the anime sci-fi classic, GHOST IN THE SHELL.)

The story starts 11 years ago in Ataru Moroboshi's past he plays shadow tag with a little girl, and says that he steps on her shadow. The girl said that on her planet that stepping on another's is a marriage proposel. Well, she leaves. Ataru becomes the biggest lecher in the world, but has the complete devotion of the oni princess Lum. Well, the little girl grows up and is readfy for Ataru to marry her. Of course Ataru wants to run away from Lum as quickly as possible, and it seems that a shield has been placed on Ataru to keep Lum from shocking him. What is a green-haired tiger striped bikini sportting alien princess going to do? Marry him first!

The movie is fun, but suffers because all of the characters are not fleshed out enough, and some folks favorite characters might be left out or play bit roles: Sakura, cherry, etc. However, the movie is very entertaining and should be enjoyed. Urusei Yatsura needs more attention in America's anime market. It is a great series that shouldn't be forgotten.

By the time Urusei Yatsura: Only You came out in 1983, Lum already had an extremely strong following in Japan in both the manga and the TV series, and thus faced the typical problem all well-established series do when being converted into major motion pictures: how to include all the conventions of the series but also give the film a compelling story that anyone can enjoy. Fortunately, Only You does this remarkably well.

For the uninitiated, Urusei Yatsura: Only You tells the story of Ataru Moroboshi, the most lecherous man in the Universe, and Lum, the bikini-clad space princess that is determined to tame him. Other characters include Shinobu, Ataru's would-be girlfriend; Mendou, the richest man in the world and rival of Ataru; and Benten, Lum's best friend and space biker-chick who wears chains. There are several dozen other Urusei Yatsura regulars that appear in this movie also, but the plot basically focuses around Lum and Ataru in this movie with most of the other characters being regulated to cameos of varying degrees.

What the film does really well is capture the spirit, energy, and fun of Takahashi Rumiko's manga and the TV series while juggling situations and characters that effectively serve their purpose without bogging down the over all pace of the story. The plot involves Ataru's kidnapping by a rival space princess named Elle who wants to marry him, and Lum's attempts to win him back. From there the story takes off into an epic space farce that should make any fan of anime as well as classic sci-fi smile.

The film contains several well-crafted scenes. The prologue where children are shown only in silhouette is cute and effective, and the title sequence is so wonderfully overdone that it refrains from saying"The Movie!"only by sheer force of will. Another scene I like is the first space battle that takes place between Lum's planet and Elle's planet. There is a very funny scene where Oshii has some fun cross-cutting between Ataru's refusal to admit he loves Lum and the stalwart conviction of the pilots who are fighting to defend their marriage. The visit to Planet Elle itself is another memorable sequence. Seemingly constructed in the shape of a giant rose, it invokes the kind of tacky paradise image that classic Star Trek only wished for. This is also where the final sequence of the film takes place, where Lum and her friends wage a bizarre battle to crash Elle's wedding. I have to admit there is something extremely endearing about beautiful little Lum piloting her fighter through a gauntlet to save the most worthless man in the Universe, and the final scene, which seems directly inspired by The Graduate, is so romantically cornball that I can't help but be utterly won over every time I see it.

The reason why this movie works is because Oshii Mamoru has the decency to take it seriously. He does not condescend to the material at all, and stays firmly focused on its goofiest obsessions even in their tackiest extremities. The musical choices he makes in the film add to this considerably. Scoring the film like a old sci-fi serial is a delightful addition, and the use of songs and musical numbers throughout the film are warmly affectionate in the way that they have the decency to focus on the sentiment of the moment amidst the farce.

Urusei Yatsura: Only You is excellent light entertainment. It is likable, fast-paced, tacky, absurd, and completely silly. In other words, it is everything a Lum movie should be.