Urusei Yatsura (2022-2023)

[うる星やつら]

Season 1

Director: Hideya Takahashi, Yasuhiro Kimura
Studio: David Production
Starring: Hiroshi Kamiya, Sumire Uesaka, Maaya Uchida
Episodes: 23

Synopsis:
The fate of Earth hangs in the balance as alien invaders challenge Earth's champion to a game of tag, only the chosen champion is the world's unluckiest boy.

Impressions:
I was certainly surprised to hear that they were doing a remake of Urusei Yatsura, but I was curious and willing to check it out. The fact that David Production would be handling the project gave me confidence, as I was quite impressed by their handling of Fire Force. There was a part of me that was concerned that there would be dreaded "updated for modern audiences" treatment, but that wasn't the case at all. They even go so far as to keep the setting in the same time period as the original. It is a bit uncanny seeing humor from the late 70's/early 80's in a shiny modern package, but because shows aren't written like this anymore, if you're not a fan of a lot of the prevailing tropes in current-day anime, this can feel like a breath of fresh air. On the other hand, some people might find some of the material played out, but that's because this series, if not the progenitor, was a major popularizer of a lot of these things and people have been aping it for the past 40+ years. The current generation of seiyuu do a fine job in their roles, but I want to give a particular nod to Mamoru Miyano as Mendo, whose comic chops are well-suited for the role. You also get some nice nods to the original series, casting Toshio Furukawa and Fumi Hirano (the original Ataru and Lum) as Mr. Moroboshi and Lum's mom and playing the original OP "Lum no Love Song" in the season finale. As expected from David Production, the production values are quite high and everything looks gorgeous. Old fans should be pleased and I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of new ones are made as a result of this. A second season is already slated for 2024, so in the meantime, I recommend you add this to your collection.

Rating:
Own It