B's Film Reviews 6

Urusei Yatsura 2: Byûtifuru Dorimâ (Beautiful Dreamer)

5/5
Directed by Mamoru Oshii
1.33:1 - 98 m - Japan
1984 Kitty Films/Fuji TV

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If there is a single manga and anime series that can be seen as encapsulating the 1980s at its fullest, then I'd give that honour to Rumiko Takahashi's premier manga Urusei Yatsura (Those Obnoxious Aliens). Beginning its publication in 1978, and followed by an anime series in 1981, the series spanned the entire decade to finally see its eventual conclusion in 1991 through the sixth feature film "Always My Darling", leaving in its wake a rich legacy of characters and affectionate remembrance. Encompassing the manga itself, 195 episodes of an anime series, six films, and nine OVAs, Urusei Yatsura was immensely popular in its day, though other series such as Dragonball and Sailor Moon, as well as other newer Takahashi series and their adaptations, have likely since overshadowed this once mighty franchise, but regardless it still remains as a generally well-thought of and critically respected series from the older days of popular Japanese entertainment. Following the adventures of the lecherous, unlucky-in-life-and-love slacker Ataru Moroboshi, and his relationship with the tigerskin-bikini clad alien princess Lum, with whom he accidentally chances to get engaged with after a competition intended to determine whether the alien race of Oni would invade Earth or not, the series is filled with absurd humour and typically Takahashi-like over-the-top characters and situations that she was to cultivate further in her later series. The anime itself however, while from the outset following in the lines of the original manga, soon began taking a turn toward its own direction apart from the original stories by not only focusing on the sitcom comedy aspects, but also introducing more serious and surreal lines of thought in the mix. This was largely thanks to the involvement of Mamoru Oshii, who wrote and directed the series until 1984, this being some of the earliest work he ever did, and under his helm the series grew at times to resemble more a pure Oshii series than a Takahashi one. But the greatest culmination of Oshii's work with Urusei Yatsura most undoubtedly came near the end of his time with the series when he wrote and directed the second feature film, Beautiful Dreamer.

Beautiful Dreamer is loosely based on the ancient Japanese folk-lore tale of Urashima Taro (folk-lore being an area that the series had used to its advantage numerous times before), telling of the fisherman Urashima Taro, who saves a turtle from some abusive children, and as a token of his gratitude, the turtle then takes him below the sea to the Coral Palace where he spends many a day enjoying himself with the princess of the palace. However, as homesickness strikes him and he finally leaves, upon returning he notices that in the interim the world has aged a hundred years, though he has not aged a day, and everything and everyone he knew has long since disappeared. This is quite similar to the familiar story of Rip Van Winkle, who fell asleep for a hundred years, and it is indeed dreams that play a big part of the story's development. The film plays with our sense of what is real and what is a dream, so that one is easily lost in a maze of reality and fantasy, heightening the surrealist ideas that had already been popping up in some of the episodes. The construction of the film is very loose on the whole and plays around a lot with time, flashback, interpretation of a re-interpretation, and alternate reality retelling with various surrealistic elements thrown in for good measure. This begins from the very start as the film opens to a scene of desolation as the town of Tomobiki is seen in ruins. The Tomobiki High School is seen deteriorated in the middle of a body of water as the rich Mendo and school nurse/Shinto priestess Sakura keep watch on top of an armoured tank as Lum and friends enjoy themselves on waterskis. Finally, standing in the shallow water, is Ataru, looking stupefied at the high school clock tower, which will remain as one of the consistent leitmotifs seen throughout the film as an indicator of the differences between reality and fantasy. Once the empty face of the clock tower begins to chime, we are then transported back to "the day before the Great School Festival," and the hectic preparations for it.

The style of storytelling is largely non-linear, but never confusingly jumbled. Beautiful Dreamer is a key example of Oshii's writing for the series as a whole by keeping a humorous element running throughout the film, but covering it all with a greater sense of dramatic plot building and subtly suggested mystery. This is channelled magnificently through a beautifully staged series of atmospheric settings where humour is kept fairly low-key and the characters go through a world that from the outset seems perfectly normal, but in which you can still feel there is something horribly off about it. In fact, this more serious sensibility almost made the mangaka to throw the script away as it was so very different to her manga, and which was reasons why Oshii decided to leave the franchise soon after making the film. The first to make the observation that things are not quite right is the school's English teacher Onsen-Mark, who has started to notice that he has difficulty in remembering even events dating back to yesterday. He tells Sakura of his worries, also alluding to Taro and wondering whether he ever left the Coral Palace and whether they all were still on the Turtle's back. Sakura, initially a little sceptical, also soon begins to notice that maybe Onsen-Mark is on to something as it seems that the greatly expected festival seems to always be tomorrow without getting any nearer. With these observations, gradually the world around them also begins to change as people start mysteriously disappearing, first Onsen-Mark, then Sakura's gluttonous monk uncle Cherry, only leaving behind old relics of their belongings as if discarded a long time ago. Here our main cast also begin to notice weird happenings going on, the source to which seem to always somehow lead back to the high school, emphasised when they are all ordered to go home from the school only to end up right back where they started, no matter how hard they tried to go elsewhere. As they investigate further, the horrifying truth starts to slowly unravel as they find that, under the illusion of normalcy, Tomobiki has in fact descended into becoming a desolate ghost town devoid of life and being caught travelling on the back of a gigantic stone turtle, all puppeteered by a malignant force using dreams to exact his own desires, with Lum being caught right in the middle of them.

It is truly this element of mystery that lifts Beautiful Dreamer above that of the normal episode in the series, or indeed the first feature film itself, which Oshii never was too keen about. The way the story unfolds is simply… well, beautiful; not being too rushed, but neither being too long winded or confusingly staged despite its loose narrative structure. Even more so, what I really find myself loving the most are these little individual moments of pure eeriness that randomly seem to pop up every now and then, when one simply can't avoid the sense of foreboding and strangeness that frequents the movie: the ghost-like street musicians in the stillness of the night near the beginning of the film; the moment when Ataru's original girlfriend Shinobu suddenly finds herself alone in an endless maze of alleyways with tinkling windchimes surrounding her; the phones in the city ringing with nobody to answer them; the taxi driver in the night talking about the legend of Urashima Taro; the long Verne-sque monologue of Megane when he recounts how the town of Tomobiki deteriorated into ruins in such a short time, etc. Also there is a considerably more "grounded" feeling to the film, despite its surreal elements, by toning down the more blatant sci-fi aspects to simply present a good, old-fashioned mystery story, yet never losing the Urusei Yatsura feel. And underlining it all is Oshii's distinctive fingerprints that already hark toward some of his future films like Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor 2.

Of course, with Beautiful Dreamer being the second film derived from a TV series, there's also a whole lot of references to said series, not only in the large amount of characters whom are never really introduced, but also in the form of small references to the series continuity itself. Now, for the uninitiated, these aren't really all that harmful for your enjoyment of the film as the references tend to be largely unaffecting of the film's plot, and are mostly small in scale to not actually matter that much at all (such as seeing Lum doing one of her habitual strange food concoctions registers if you know Lum doing this in several episodes, but which has no effect on the film itself). The greatest issue thus arises from the large cast of characters whom you are already expected to know beforehand, making it harder for newcomers to follow who exactly is who. Still, even with this consideration, I find that Beautiful Dreamer is a film that is still infinitely easy to follow and enjoy even if you only have the most rudimentary idea of the Urusei Yatsura franchise. The animation is top notch and stands up well even today, while the voice acting is delivered with certainty after years of familiarity with the characters, all helped by the haunting score of Katsu Hoshi and fabulous art direction of Shichiro Kobayashi to create a film that has rightfully become regarded as the most beloved of the six films. Beautiful Dreamer wonderfully manages to transcend its comedic origins and become something completely and utterly sublime. It is required viewing for anybody in the least interested in Japanese animation, even if you may not know Urusei Yatsura at all. It is incredible how such a movie was even possible due to the short production time as it was made alongside the series, so good is the quality present. But I just can't stress this enough: If you like anime in any way, you just can't miss out on Beautiful Dreamer. There simply are no excuses that could justify this kind of a lapse. It is a film that can leave you confused the first time around, but on repeated viewing the clarity of the show will become crystal and the rewards it wreaks are substantial. An important milestone for the franchise, for Oshii, and is well worth all the praise it is often bestowed with. See it!