Manga & Anime THREAD

[EricJ]

As EricJ mentioned in the Warner Archive thread .. there's a new Urusei Yatsura, which just launched in Japan.

And is currently streaming in the US on second-tier anime service HiDIVE (was ist das "HiDIVE"?? ), rather than the usual fan-visible gig on Crunchyroll: https://www.hidive.com/tv/urusei-yatsur ... ei+Yatsura

Like the similarly too-slick/cutesified Sailor Moon Crystal from a few years ago, UY2.0 claims it's trying to "Stay closer to Rumiko Takahashi's manga stories"--
Which are the same stories from the original anime's first season, that looked shrill, messy and crayon-drawn compared to Mamoru Oshii's later deadpan geek-chic series, and before Rumiko rebooted all the characters to make Lum the "good" character as a new student at the school.

The new series looks like it's trying to take the cleaned-up later characters (the cute Lum and casual Ataru, rather than the "devil-girl" and the "horny bad-luck loser"), and more natural toned-down slapstick where Ataru isn't beaten to a bloody pulp every episode, and do the do-over original-series fans always wanted to see.
First episode looks serviceable-enough good, but hey, like Sailor Moon, if it gets Viz interested in shelling out to rescue the original series on disc...

Its main title 'OP' certainly has the right kind of 'energy' ..

(Oh, right, go ahead, series, help confuse us even more from being able to tell Lum and Hatsune Miku apart... )

[Daniel]

Its main title 'OP' certainly has the right kind of 'energy' ..

Sublime. Incredibly nostalgic. Loved the video game references!

Here's the opening from back in the day:



So cute!

[droosan]

I really like that they put pink & blue gradients in Lum's hair (even though it's apparent that this is only an effect of the 'concert stage' lighting that she's dancing in) .. which recalls the 'rainbow' hair that Rumiko Takahashi depicted in her early color illustrations, for the manga. IMO, this made Lum seem more 'alien' than the green hair that the anime series ran with.
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Lum_RainbowHair.jpg (111 KiB) Viewed 11266 times

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Thanks for letting us know where the anime can be streamed, EricJ.

I took a look through HiDive's series library, and yeah; there's a lot of 'dreck' there .. but they do have the modern TV seasons of Lupin the Third, and the Legend of the Galactic Heroes remake, which also seem interesting, to me .. so, I think I may subscribe for a few months, at least.

[EricJ]

Here's the opening from back in the day:

Although arguably the best opening, that captured the vibe of the OG show, was from the fourth season, after it started to get a bit more of its deadpan pop-spoof vibe:


(Not as cute as "Dancing Star" or "Chance on Love", but it'll do. )

[Daniel]

Here's the opening from back in the day:



So cute!

And now a preview cover of "Lum's Love Song" by Sumire Uesaka (Reiwa Lum):



Beautiful.

[EricJ]

I should add that, while 99% of HiDive's other programming is downright awful, they did somehow, through dumb luck or design, manage to grab the long-lost streams of Azumanga Daioh, possibly the THIRD greatest anime comedy ever made. (If we're counting Ranma 1/2 as second, natch.)
https://www.hidive.com/tv/azumanga-daioh


Worth taking a look at between Thursdays, for those who were never into anime during the last glory days of the 90s/00s.
Imagine if Charles Schulz had been hired to do an anime, and turned the Peanuts gang into Tokyo high-school girls...
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkai5u

[Daniel]

YouTube has the complete series too.

[EricJ]

Really? There's some ACTUAL AzD on YouTube that hasn't been fan-mangled, gag-dubbed, trans-mashed with some other cartoon, or otherwise manhandled by fans from ten or twelve years ago when you could still find the series on disk??

(If I knew that, I would've posted a Sakaki-&-the-Cat clip, and I wouldn't have to go to another site to find it!)

[Daniel]

Trailer for Urusei Yatsura 2nd cour:



Ryuunosuke and Ten-chan!

[EricJ]

In addition to Ryuu and Ten (and Shigeru "Megane" Chiba doing the new voice of Ryuu's dad) core UY fans with sharp eyes and a quick pause-button finger will spot four or five specific episodes up for remake (and/or improvement?) up next cour-season:

- Ten's crush on Sakura
- Love-Love Catchball
- The Mendo vs. Mizunokoji baseball game
- The Lunchtime Takeout wars,
while the OP 2 hints at the Spice Girls and CAO-2.

So far, the first season's been pretty good, by this OG-anime vet who's barely read the manga--
Most of the episodes are going "back to the source" of the manga chapters, so some early episodes are different than fans remember, but they're definitely going in with the improved, less shrill silly-cool vibe of the later series.

For twenty years, OG Urusei fans have lived in a perpetual inferiority crisis, that
A) the tapes and discs were coming out from a fan garage company that couldn't afford to keep them in print, and weren't on Suncoast store shelves like Ranma 1/2,
and
B) when curious newbies did get a look at the new series, they either loved or hated that loud crayon-drawn first season, and we had to assure them, "No, really, it gets BETTER!"
Now, with the remake--and judging from some of the YouTube first-reactions--they've got the same dropped jaws of disbelief at what they're watching, and us old-timers are now getting them hooked with YT clips of the good stuff from the Good Ol' Days...

[Daniel]

Opening: super catchy. Still think I prefer the previous one. Reminds me of a mash-up of some of the original openings; characters on stars like "Lum's Love Song" and the first splash looks a lot like "Rock the Planet". Glad it has so much dancing!

Ending: good song, but pretty lazy. It's just artwork that slowly zooms out.

[gaastra]

They released the top 6 most watched shows of 2022 and stranger things--was defeated by one piece! Yes one piece is the most watched show of last year beating every other show including netflix and HBO!

https://in.ign.com/stranger-things/1780 ... ow-of-2022

[Daniel]

Billboard in Shinjuku:



Awesome!

[EricJ]

But that's the big 3D Shinjuku billboard!...They could have used it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1onwmn43iaE

(Oh, sure, NOW they finally figure out glasses-free 3D, even if it only works on large billboards... )

[Daniel]

The original series is getting the Blu-ray treatment:



Details: all episodes spanning 4 sets, no extras and no dub. Yeah, that last one pretty much kills it for me.