April 28th, 2011 
AstroNerdBoy うる星やつら episode 159 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura Ep. 159 review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
After much flair, Fujinami announces to Ryuunosuke that he has finally saved up enough money for them to build their dream hamajaya — a real beach teashop called “Umi ga Suki” (I Love the Ocean). Shinobu, Lum, Shuutaro, and Ataru join the pair down in at the pair’s home in the school and mention that it is too early to build a shop at local beaches, so they’ll have to go south, where Ataru notes that the girls go topless. Ryuunosuke and Fujinami head south where Ryuunosuke finds they are incurring quite a bit more expenses thanks to her father. Eventually, they end up on a cargo ship in the cargo hold with the pigs it is carrying. Shinobu, Lum, Shuutaro, and Ataru decide to take a trip south themselves to look for the pair. Eventually, they find the shack of a teashop in a well off the beaten track location.
After eating their fill but having no money, Fujinami eventually agrees to let them round up customers. Lum and Shinobu round up guys who immediately realize they’ve been tricked when they arrive at the shop. Shuutaro and Ataru think they can gather girls but fail as Ryuunosuke has better luck and attracts lots of girls when she beats the pair. Meanwhile, Lum and Shinobu are furious at how Fujinami is treating the male customers until he reminds them that they ate up all his food. Shinobu decides she’s waitress while Lum gathers more customers. With the negative word about the hanajaya spreading, Lum invites her alien friends over, which then frightens off the human female customers. A storm causes all of the alien ships to crash into the teashop, destroying it but it doesn’t destroy Ryuunosuke’s love of the sea.
Thoughts/Review:
Well, it seems only fitting that after the tedious Kitsune episode that we’d have one devoted to the annoying Fujinami. *_* I gather the production team knew they didn’t have much of an episode so they front-loaded it with topless female fanservice during Ataru’s fantasy about southern Japanese beaches.
Pretty much, things go as expected. Fujinami refuses to acknowledge Ryuunosuke as a girl. Ryuunosuke attracts tons of girls while Ataru and Shuutaro attracted none. Lum gets jealous as does Shinobu. The hanajaya is a crummy place rather than something decent. Fujinami is going to frighten off the customers. The only unexpected element was Lum bringing down her alien friends but who cares about that?
Sadly, this is another “meh” episode of the series. I really wonder if this series could make it today with stories like this.
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“Sadly, this is another “meh” episode of the series. I really wonder if this series could make it today with stories like this.”
There’s a lot of layers to this statement that involve overall commentary on the “Takahashi” factor. Much like you brought up in your Rin-ne coverage Rumiko Takahashi just isn’t the big draw to anime/manga like she used to be.
The other problem is I recall that by this point in the series I felt things stagnate slightly. The series found its groove and pace with its humor and execution but this being Urusei Yatsura what type of episodes you get are always a mixed bag.
For every touching episode about a dying girl, or Kitsune’s adventures (which, once again, I happen to be the sole being on the planet that finds those episodes cute and yes, they ARE in the manga) you get another episode were Ryuunosuke’s futile attempts to be acknowledged as a woman go awry. But I will still say that you’re entering the last stretch of the TV series and there are quite a few gems ahead but you do have to mull through some “meh” parts.
Still even UY holds up far better then the majority of Ranma TV which these days is much harder for me to sit down and watch.
But going back to the “Takahashi factor” it seems her long running comedies suffer a stigma of being the same jokes grinded into the ground. But on the other hand, as is the case with both UY and Ranma (manga specifically for the latter), some of the stories she writes towards the end of the series runs shake up the status quo…very slightly… and she tends to bring some originality back into her works.
For UY you see this a bit in the last season, but its the OAV special and the final (not the 6th movie) movie that have this in spades.
It’s still an enjoyable series, overall, but I do think a lot more originality and passion were in the late Oshii era and early Yamazaki era.
I’m not sure what era I’m in now, but I believe it was the Oshii stuff that I found the most enjoyable.
Thinking about Ranma 1/2, I found the first couple of seasons great and then it went downhill from there and was mostly unwatchable by the end. The OVA series was pretty good.
The plan is to continue forward though and finish blogging the whole series before moving to the OVA’s and the movies.
Anything after the animation bump (Episode 106) is the Yamazaki directed episodes. The Oshii episodes tended to be more analytical and you would have the characters suddenly going off into monologues about human nature and such. Not all the time, but stuff like the episode where all the characters faked their deaths and Ataru’s mother wacked out dream episode were purely Oshii.
Unlike Ranma where most of the OAVs could be watched at any point in the series the UY OAVs have the entire animation staff change. The designs look more mature and closer to how Takahashi designed the characters at the time.
Unfortunately, the animation is inconsistent and suddenly drops for a few of the episodes (specifically the first episode of OAV 3, and both episodes of OAV 4). The content is still funny as hell but the characters get really off model. After the OAVs I would recommend watching Movie 5 (The Final Chapter) to wrap things up because it does bring a lot of stuff full circle to the beginning of the series.
If you want to blog the other movies, you may want to do it at a separate time since every one of the UY movies represent the visual and directorial evolution of the show. With the first two, 4, and 5 being the standouts. Be warned, Movie 4 makes absolutely no sense (despite having the best animation budget) and NEVER watch Movie 6 to cap off the series because its quality is more akin to Ranma 1/2 during its worst seasons (and it came out around that period of time) and doesn’t carry over any of the charm and integrity of the TV series, OAVs, and previous movies.
Anything after the animation bump (Episode 106) is the Yamazaki directed episodes
Where are we now then? Is he still in charge?
If you want to blog the other movies, you may want to do it at a separate time since every one of the UY movies represent the visual and directorial evolution of the show. With the first two, 4, and 5 being the standouts. Be warned, Movie 4 makes absolutely no sense (despite having the best animation budget) and NEVER watch Movie 6 to cap off the series because its quality is more akin to Ranma 1/2 during its worst seasons (and it came out around that period of time) and doesn’t carry over any of the charm and integrity of the TV series, OAVs, and previous movies.
Thanks for the movie and OVA tips. ^_^ I guess I’ll save 5 for last.
Where are we now then? Is he still in charge?
Yes. 107-End is all Kazuo Yamazaki.
1-106 is Mamoru Oshii but his directing style didn’t start to become apparent until after season 1. The OAVs have a different set of directors each episode.
Mamoru Oshii also directed the first two movies. Kazuo Yamazaki directed movies 3 and 4. The early OAVs/TV Special staff handled Movie 5. While Movie 6 was handled by a bunch of amateurs who had no experience with the series, at all.