The Brattle Anime Festival News

195 episodes and 15 years later.

I have now seen every episode of Urusei Yatsura made for television back in the eighties. Honestly, I didn’t think this day would ever come. From its ups (Beautiful Dreamer) to its downs (not that freaky starry-eyed kid and his bizzare sister AGAIN), my eyes have seen the complete glory.

It’s been at least 15 years since I saw my first Urusei Yatsura comic, and not long thereafter I watched the raw of Beautiful Dreamer (still one of my all-time favorite movies). And with last night, thanks to Animeigo’s terrfic boxset releases, I am done. 195 episodes of Lum, not to mention 6 movies. My favorite episodes usually revolved around Ryuunosuke and her insane father, who insisted Ryuunosuke was his son. All Ryuunosuke ever wanted was a bra and girl’s uniform of her own…

My 10 favorite episodes are, in order of viewing:

1. Episode 4: Mrs. Swallow and Mrs. Penguin
2. Episode 5: The Metamorphic Handsome Man Rei is Here
3. Episode 67: After You’ve Gone
4. Episode 91: The Groom’s Name is Ryuunosuke
5. Episode 99: Firefighter Mommy Visits
6. Episode 102: The Mendou Family’s Summer Christmas
7. Episode 124: Operation: Peek in the Woman’s Bath
8. Episode 180: I Love Darling Sincerly
9. Episode 181: The Honest Fox Again! I Love Shinobu
10. Episode 196: Great Uproar! Ryuunosuke’s First Time Wearing a Swimsuit

Best Episode Title: Love and War! Battle of Glove vs. Pants

Fortunatly, there’s still a little more of Rumiko Takahashi’s characters for me. I have a box of unopened UY OAV’s I’ve been saving.

Tomorrow, one of the true classics of anime, animation and cinema will be screened at The Brattle Theatre as part of their Real Family Films program. If you haven’t seen Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece, this is your perfect opportunity. There are shows throughout the day so every member of your family can enjoy it! Visit the Brattle Theatre for more information.

We’ll probably be at the 7:30 show if you want to say “hi.”

Hello

We’ve decided to use this space to let you know what we’re planning in the future for The Brattle Anime Festival, or TBAF (pronounced Tee-Baff). We’ll be back in summer 2007, but we’re already thinking about what to show. And if you have any ideas of what you’d like to see, please let us know. For those of you who enjoyed This is Otakudom and S.T.E.A.M., if you know of any other fan parodies you’d like to see at TBAF3, please inform us of them!

Some ideas we’re already throwing around:

• Akira
• The Real Folk Blues (Cowboy Bebop episodes 5, 25&26)
• Strawberry Marshmellow
• Kiki’s Delivery Service
• Genshiken
• Tenchi Muyo

Of course, those could all change in a heartbeat. Of my original list of what I wanted to show at TBAF2, only Castle of Cagliostro and FFVII:AC survived to the final tally.