Urusei Yatsura is one of those great old shows that everyone loved when it came out and the fans of the original show were more than happy to give it new life decades later.

David Productions updates the entire series with a snappier condensed retelling of all the characters and storylines that filled the hundred plus episode original series while not completely modernizing the timeframe these characters inhabited of the 80's/90's. This means a humor styling and character bits much fresher a few decades ago being abridged for pacing and covered in a gorgeous new coat of paint and sound.

Visually and audibly this show is a titan, with so many moving and detailed elements. The intro's and outro's both being done by MAISONdes and others who you could swear have been patiently waiting to be the ones making the shows music.

Story wise it is almost identical to the story structure of the original Urusei Yatsura or Ranma 1/2 where it focuses on a handful of colorful characters with unique traits. The most notable are Ataru and Lum who are pitted against eachother initially for a competition to decide the worlds fate and after Atarus win becomes the unwitting recipient to a one-sided romance and the threat of engagement to the alien beauty he had to best in their match, Lum. The rest of the show evolves as more characters are added and they engage with eachother in fun storylines of weird technologies magic curses and romantic entaglements ensue as Lum and Ataru grow their relationship over the course of the show.

Personally this is one of those reviews that sounds like it should be a 10 all around but now I am to ruin it with the one reason I think it is inferior to the original, the comedy and its length.

The comedy as I said earlier is 40 years old with dozens or so characters engaging with each individual storyline by doing "their bit" and not much else, once you've seen a character do their bit you see the joke coming miles away before it happens. Decades ago this was fresh and wacky but today theirs not enough to really find endlessly humourous which is my biggest setback to this show. I didn't laugh once, with there being only two episodes I found more funny than the usual being the Out-of-School Lunch Scandal and the Kitsune Imposter episodes where the characters forgo their tropes mostly and all become a group of neerdowells together regardless of who is or isn't a troublemaker. When Ataru isn't endlessly skirt chasing for no profit and Mendo isn't riding his ass for whatever pompous reason the show becomes pretty cute especially again with its animation and sound design.

The shows length also becomes a factor as shortening the episodes gives us less breathing room and more character dynamics added to the fray, you cannot settle for their jokes to be angled in humorous ways long enough before the next new face rolls around to reset the entire process. To some this may be not a big deal but frankly that's a matter of how many comedies you view and how sensitive you are to older forms of humor, for those who don't watch alot like I did once upon a time all of these jokes may be the funniest things you've seen in awhile. But if you come off of other shows like Hinamatsuri or Bocchi the Rock or even Peach Girl which carries a similar old style of humour Urusei Yatsura may end up being only chuckleworthy and that may be just fine too.

Whether or not this show stands up as the comedy it once pioneered this show is a blast to see make it back as beautifully as it has been. If nothing else give it a shot and more imprtantly watch all the openings and endings because those songs are marvelous.