This is a fairly “light” anime season for me as far as new series go, so I have been watching the Urusei Yatsura Blu-ray discs that I got a few weeks ago in between watching the Spring 2013 series. The first UY Blu-ray box set contains the first 69 episodes. I haven't watched them in around 15 years, so while I still remember the stories there are many details that I forgot or didn't think about at the time.
One thing that I noticed was in the “special” episode when the class was in Kyoto and Ataru ran into the reluctant ninja girl. While Ataru is looking for the ninja girl and she is looking for her lost scroll, the ninja girl releases hundreds of hogs who stampede through the town with the ninja girl riding them. As I watched it my thought was – they are referencing Mononoke Hime. But then I stopped in mid-thought because I realized that these episodes of UY were created 15 years before Mononoke Hime was made! So maybe Miyazaki was influenced by UY. <L>
Another little detail caught my attention in the episode where Ten goes on a date with Sakura. When they are on a “flying” ride in an amusement park Ten and Sakura are riding a giant Arale from Dr. Slump. (The name on the Arale ride's hat is “Mizore” - Dr. Slump was UY's main competition in the early 80s and they weren't going to advertise it directly.)
So for these and other reasons I am enjoying re-watching the UY episodes after so many years. The other three Blu-ray box sets will come out over the next year so it will be a slow but fun way to once again enjoy my all time favourite anime series. Now, if they will only re-release the first five UY movies and the OAVs on Blu-ray.
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