The GHZ Forum

The Beautiful Dreamer collector's edition was released a couple weeks ago, but apparently they're having trouble keeping up with the demand. I had mine reserved, but I keep getting e-mails to the effect of "uh, sorry, we keep running out."

Everyone should be aware that, regardless of whether or not you're into the Urusei Yatsura thing (and you should be), Beautiful Dreamer is essential viewing for anime fans or just fans of good cinema.


Also, for those who are interested in checking out the series but lack the gumption to drop $100 on a box set, <a href="http://www.animeigo.com">AnimEigo</a> now has the individual DVD's 1-25 for sale. I wanted to single a few out for recommendation, but there's good stuff on all of them. They're only $20 a piece and for 5 bucks an episode, I encourage everyone to sample a shot of Lum. Do eeny-meeny-minie-moe if you can't decide which one to get.

Also, while we're on the subject of vintage Takahashi, the Maison Ikkoku reprints are up to volume 5. Don't forget, brother Yotsuya is still watching. He is always watching.

Just a note: the Collector's Edition of Beautiful Dreamer is not the same beautiful, pristine, widescreen transfer found on the Japanese version, but just a slightly improved version of the previous R1 disc. And it still has hardsubs.

Though I hear Oshii's commentary is very good.

What's a hardsub?

Green Gibbon! wrote:What's a hardsub?

A submissive who likes it rough.

Video with unremovable subtitles. I'd really hoped the industry was past that stage by now.

So the only reason they rereleased the DVD was for Oshii's commentary? I still can't wait to see that, but regardless...

<a href="http://ghz.emulationzone.org/gibbon/tom ... l">There's going to be trouble in Tomobiki tonight.</a>

Hah. Dead on.

I've perused a couple volumes of the MI manga, and I don't think I'd like it as much as I like the anime. Its music and movement add an element of dynamicism that the print iteration can't help but go without, not to mention that the character designs in the anime look at least slightly deviated from the Takahashi archetypes used in the manga. I can't look at manga-Godai without thinking of prettymuch every male protagonist from the Rumic World series.

Of course, Yotsuya is universally irresistable.

Even in the English dub of the anime and the abysmal live-action movie, Yotsuya is undeniably awesome.

There are some episodes of the MI anime that work extremely well, but by and large, it's pretty inferior to the manga. The pacing is different. For instance, the incident where Godai runs away and moves into the pachinko building lasts for 5 episodes in the manga, but in the anime it's crammed down to 2 and loses nearly all of the emotional impact it originally had.

In general, the characters also come off as more shallow. There are certain subtleties in the manga that are lost entirely in the anime. If anything, the anime cast fits more into the realm of generic 80's characterization than does the manga crew.

Plus, they made Kyoko's hair purple. I'm still not too sure how I feel about that. Also, even if Godai does resemble the average joe Rumic World hero, you have to remember that he came first.

If you like the anime, I strongly recommend you sit down and give the manga a proper reading. Infact, I'd encourage you to stop watching the anime altogether until you've read the manga series in its entirety.

Speaking of Rumic World, though, wasn't that just recently animated? How did it turn out, and is anyone planning to bring it over?

I haven't heard a peep about the Rumic World anime, so I'm guessing that it's nothing astonishing.

Also, I still haven't gotten my Maison Ikkoku volume 5 (OR Rurouni Kenshin volume 5) because my local Chapters doesn't seem to have a clue what it is I actually preordered.

I have "Fire Tripper" on VHS under the Rumik World label and its dated 1992, and that's for the US release so the Japanese version may have been much earlier.

Rumiko Takahashi Theater is a more recent TV series of unrelated little domestic situations, like when your neighbor is keeping a penguin in secret from the animal-hating apartment manager, or when dad forgets who he is and thinks he's a 13 year old boy and can't explain why he has pikura photos of himself with a high school girl. They're nice little stories but I've only seen a couple episodes.

Mermaid Forest and Laughing Target also got released under a Rumik World label ages ago. And by ages, I mean -- as Silv said -- over 10 years ago.

<a href=http://www.tcp.com/~doi/alan/webguide/e ... UM.html>Oh, here we are.</a>

Yeah, I meant Rumic Theater, or Rumik Theater, or Rumiko Takahashi Theater, or whatever the blazes it's called.

It looks awesome, and it also stars alot of voices from the old Takahashi series. Fumi Hirano, who is the voice of Lum, is one of the characters in the last episode, and as far as I'm aware, she hasn't been acting for almost 10 years.

Green Gibbon! wrote:Plus, they made Kyoko's hair purple. I'm still not too sure how I feel about that.

This I completely understand. There are plenty of reasons why Fushigi Yûgi is a terrible show, but the first thing that threw me off about it was that Tamahome's hair was turquoise.

Also, even if Godai does resemble the average joe Rumic World hero, you have to remember that he came first.

The earliest Rumic World stories predate even Urusei Yatsura.

If you like the anime, I strongly recommend you sit down and give the manga a proper reading. Infact, I'd encourage you to stop watching the anime altogether until you've read the manga series in its entirety.

I decided to listen and picked up Vol. 1 yesterday, and now that I've read it through, I can certainly see that you're right about this. And in addition to being a great package by its own merits, it takes me back to the days when I first started reading Urusei Yatsura and the Rumic books. You really can't go wrong with early Takahashi stuff.

Hey, what do you think of the more recent Takahashi stuff? I never really got into Ranma (though I've only seen the anime) and I read a bit of Inu-yasha, but something about it doesn't click for me.

Takahashi's problem is that she lets things drag out too long. Like Ranma.

Ranma was never quite sure if it wanted to be a comedy or a romance. About 5 books in, they dropped all pretense of a romantic comic and it just turned into slapstick.

Inu-Yasha's also gone on for about a year longer than it should have. Almost the opposite has happened to it. It was supposed to be a dramatic / quest / fighting anime schtick with romance mixed in and now it's dropped most of the fighting and just focuses on putting the characters in awkwardly romantic and angsty situations most of the time. The action sequences are almost like they're going through the motions.

Both are very good series, but there's a huge chunk of useless middle story where everything gets bogged down. Skip that part and enjoy.

The problem with Ranma was definitely that it introduced a decent romantic premise (which was certainly different from those in UY and MI) and then basically gave up on it in favor of maximum wackiness.

Ataru and Lum never needed any conclusion to their situation because, as much as Ataru shrugged Lum off, there would occasionally be an episode where he was forced to admit that yes, she's the one for him. I don't know for certain how things turn out for Godai and Kyoko, but at least the way towards the conclusion was made interesting; every so often Godai makes some permanent progress getting his way into Kyoko's heart. These are the high points along the road that Ranma seemed to lack completely.

When I first read Inu-Yasha I got the distinct feeling that it was something that Takahashi had wanted to do for a long time--to bring back some of the grotesque horror from her Rumic World short stories. (And the "time travel back to feudal Japan" bit seemed to have been lifted right out of "Fire Tripper.") That aspect alone gave me hope for the series, but like Zeta said, as it dragged on the gruesomeness was steadily sapped out of it until it was prettymuch entirely back on the Ranma track--lacking what originally made it interesting and dissatisfying in what remained.

Ahh well.

Admittedly, I still haven't read much of the Lum manga at all, but the TV series has become like a religious ritual for me. Romance aside, the characters are just fantastic.

The climax to Maison Ikkoku is freaking awesome. Throughout the entire series there's a steady build-up of mixed emotions from all the central characters, and when it's finally time to tie up all the threads, Takahashi doesn't shortchange a thing. It'll kick you in the nuts.

Another great thing about Maison Ikkoku is that the focus never really shifts from the romance between Godai and Kyoko. It's the pivot point for all the characters in the entire series, even the comedy relief. I think the only genuinely inconsequential characters in the entire series are Sakamoto and Nikaido, and Sakamoto wasn't meant to be a major character anyway.

Okay. I was scrolling through the DS release list on Nintendo's website (<a href="http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/list/index ... ex.html</a>), and something near the bottom of the page caught my eye. The fourth developer from the bottom of the page is Marvelous Interactive, and the first game in their list of upcoming titles is Urusei Yatsura. The game is also listed on the Marvelous Interactive website (<a href="http://www.mmv-i.net/game/ds/index.html ... ex.html</a>).

Now. My reputation for loathing licensed games and all associated with them is nothing short of legendary around here, I wager. And I stand by that, for the most part. Furthermore, Marvelous Interactive, the conglomeration of MMV (who published all those old Sonic music CD's) and the former Victor Entertainment, doesn't have a single outstanding title in its library.

However. My love of Urusei Yatsura, as I believe I've mentioned before, and is probably quite apparent, is nothing short of religious. Additionally, this would be the first new UY media in over 10 years, the last being "Dear My Friends", a Sega CD text adventure from Game Arts.

So. My theory is this. If you will observe on the Marvelous website, there's another game on their release list tentatively titled "Lunar." That, more than likely, refers to the Game Arts Sega CD title. I don't recall any announcements to the effect being made, but this seems to suggest to me that Marvelous has acquired the rights to at least a handfull of Game Arts' old titles.

Thus. The notion of new Lum, in any form, or the possibility of an updated Alicia Dragoon, can certainly be construed as potential good news. I shall wait, and observe.

I understood the words "Nintendo" and "games".

GG wants to use the DS's touch screen to molest a green-haired, tiger-skin wearing, alien princess.

My love for Lum is strictly platonic. Now Sakura, on the other hand, is pretty hot.

I thought Megane was pretty cute.

Megane is king of the whole goddamned natural universe. I can't believe he isn't in the manga.