Urusei Yatsura (Movies)

Publisher
MVM
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Film
Year
1984

Urusei Yatsura Movie 5: The Final Chapter

By Joseph (Joe) Wood
18th Sep 06

Whilst the fifth Urusei Yatsura may be called “The Final Chapter” it was not the last entry in the series as a sixth film and a series of OVAs followed. The title of the fifth movie refers to the final chapter (or rather the final story arc) of the original manga series by Rumiko Takahashi.

Things are as normal as can be in the town of Tomobiki, Ataru is still chasing after anything in a skirt, and Lum is constantly electrocuting him for it. Lum’s great-grandfather turns up revealing that 120 years ago he promised a stranger that the next girl to be born in his bloodline would become the stranger’s bride. The stranger comes to collect his prize, but as he is too old to be married he tells Lum she must marry his great-grandson to settle the debt. Rupa the great-grandson of the old man arrives and takes Lum and Co. back to his home planet; here Ataru encounters Carla a childhood friend of Rupa who is also in love with him. After several events Rupa realises Lum dose not whish to marry him, and promises to do anything to help Lum. Rupa covers the Earth in large mushrooms and the only way to save the Earth from destruction is for Lum and Ataru to repeat the game of tag that first brought them together. If Ataru says “I Love You” to Lum she will fly into his arms and the world will be saved but will Ataru utter those three special words?

“The Final Chapter” returns to the more comedic type story of the first and third Urusei Yatsura films, which is more than welcome after the extremely disappointing (and mind melting) “Lum the Forever”. The laughs are frequent although not necessarily hilarious. Like the third film the story also takes a rather serious edge, and there are a lot of emotions to sympathise with, especially for Lum and Ataru. Once again past knowledge of Urusei Yatsura helps the film flow more readily, but isn’t essential yet there is little mention of past events in the film so those new to the franchise may be confused.

Visually the film is greatly improved over its predecessors (well they have had a lot of practice), and the film feels far more rounded overall than previous efforts. The largest problem with the film is that it really is more of the same. A lot of the plot points have been seen before in the previous films (and probably a dozen or more times in the original manga and TV series). This does sap some of the fun out of the viewing, wither seeing Ataru get hit by lightning for the nth time is as funny as the first really depends on the viewers personal preferences.

“The Final Chapter” stands well on its own, and is certainly the most impressive of the Urusei Yatsura films so far. Of course it has already been done in the previous films (and I’m only talking about the ones on the UK market) and certain elements are starting to look a little tired.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: Japanese Audio, English Subtitles

Release information: Publisher: MVM Released: November 24th 2003 Classification: PG Running Time: 85mins

Notes:

-- Joseph (Joe) Wood 18th Sep 06