Urusei Yatsura 2: Byûtifuru dorîmâ

The TV series was relatively funny and watchable but did not let any great memory. This movie however is playing the dream and let you a long and delightful taste. Simply put, with 15 years in retrospect it appears to me being one of the best anime movie I have seen. The atmosphere of the film is light and joyful, using the characters we all knew from the series, but it adds a layer of complexity and philosophy (movie level...), of deep down narration based on old legends allied with humour that makes it a thoroughly enjoyable experience. This is one of Mamoru Oshii's finest production in a career that counts among the richest and more creative. Definitely to be recommended.

For the record, I saw the dubbed version of this movie. The American voices are pretty good, but I still like the Japanese ones better.

Ataru and Lum's voices are in the spirit of their JP counterparts, but Lum just sounds a bit off. The NA voice, while still very good, just doesn't have that super sweet, cuteness her JP voice has. Atuaru's voice suits him, but doesn't quite give off that air of lechery his JP voice does. The other voice are all well done, with Sakura, Perm, Ten and Mendou being especially good. Mendou's VA really captures his arrogance.

As for the story, the only thing I can really compare it to is "Dark City." I know UY and Dark City are about as far apart as you can get, but both movies really convey the whole "What is a dream? What is real?" idea. While I was disappointed that this movie didn't have the wild physical antics we see on the show, I found myself enjoying the intelligent and philosophical script.

Overall, this film has a few flaws but I enjoyed it a lot. "Beautiful Dreamer" should be in the library of any anime fan.

its a prelude through the whole thing. this movie contains the core characters of urusei yatsura, involving an old japanese legend of dreams. when you dream, the demon, mujacki, visits you. he makes you ride a turtle to dragon palace. there, you play in your dream till you wake up. this has the updated animation, as well, which is, better. the dubbed and subtitled is so different from one another in dialogue. one problem i can see most people having is that this particular title might confuse people throughout the movie. in the end, it kind of makes sense. to those who have seen this, but didn't understand that race with lum, that was from the first episode.

I went into this film knowing almost nothing about "Urusei Yatsura" - literally just recognized Lum and Ataru from pop culture. For some reason, I decided to jump straight into the second movie without any background. I had seen people on Twitter calling it "a film that flopped on release but later became a cult classic," and that intrigued me enough to check it out.

The verdict? It was absolutely fantastic! I think my lack of familiarity with the source material actually helped me enjoy it more, allowing me to experience Mamoru Oshii's vision without any preconceptions. In fact, I'd argue newcomers might appreciate this film more than hardcore fans of the series.

What surprised me most was how horror-influenced it felt. The scene with the carnival performers wandering through the empty town was genuinely creepy, and the hibernation pod awakening sequence gave me serious chills. The blurring between dreams and reality reminded me a lot of "A Nightmare on Elm Street," with a similar unsettling atmosphere I wasn't expecting.

It's mind-blowing that this came out in 1984 - nine years before "Groundhog Day" popularized the time loop concept in Western cinema! The ending sequence where dreams keep repeating also reminded me of the "Infinity Train" arc in "Demon Slayer." This film's influence on later works must be enormous.

The visuals are absolutely stunning. The empty night school, Lum floating before the massive water tank - the film creates this dreamlike, ethereal beauty that completely captivated me. I loved Oshii's philosophical questioning throughout (the nature of dreams vs. Reality). The concept that an "unchanging daily life" seems appealing but actually prevents growth is pretty profound.

One line that really struck me was when Ataru says: "To keep loving someone, I need to remain free from them." That resonated far beyond just romance - it speaks to all relationships. The idea that maintaining some independence is crucial to truly loving someone... I found that incredibly relatable.

Seeing Lum in a school uniform instead of her usual tiger bikini was also a refreshing change (even with my limited knowledge, I knew about her iconic outfit, lol). She looked cute in the uniform too!

I can totally understand why hardcore fans might have been upset - "This isn't Urusei Yatsura!" - but as a newcomer, I appreciated Oshii using these characters to express his unique artistic vision. It felt like watching an experimental arthouse film that happened to feature familiar characters.

After it ended, I felt this lingering sense of "Wait, is the reality I'm in right now actually real?" It's incredible that an anime from 40+ years ago doesn't feel dated at all - if anything, it feels fresh and thought-provoking even by today's standards.

For my Twitter follow-up, I'm planning to write: "I get why it flopped initially, but I totally understand why it later became considered a masterpiece." I'd recommend this to anyone, even without knowledge of the original series. A genuine classic of animation that deserves more attention in the West!

This is widely held to be one of the finest of the Urusei Yatsura movies, although rumor has it that creator Takahashi Rumiko was not overly fond of how it turned out. Along with the slapstick romantic comedy that is the UY hallmark, "Beautiful Dreamer" features a deeper, more philosophical note. Those who have seen some of television episodes and rejected it as being too simple or childish owe it to themselves to reserve final judgement until they have seen this movie.

In a nutshell, the story begins much like any other UY storyline. It's the day before the school cultural fair, with all of the craziness which that entails, and the usual gang of idiots is getting their cafe ready. But some strange things are going on - a tank which was destroyed yesterday is whole again this morning. And wasn't YESTERDAY the day before the fair? And why do all roads return to Tomobiki High School? The only two people who seem to be aware of the problem, moreover, are school nurse Sakura and every student's nemesis Onsen-Mark.

This sets up an exploration into the meaning of reality and dream, and the place of love within each. With lots of Takahashi's visual references and sight-gags, this is a film that NEEDS to be watched more than once - it's just not possible to catch everything the first time!

Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer features a few mild curses and comic-book violence, but has nothing that would be offensive to most people. The storyline, however, because of its frequent blurring of fantasy and reality might prove a bit hard to understand to some younger viewers.