Forum - View topicNEWS: Crackle Adds Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer, Lupin III: The Legend of the Gold of Babylon,
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DeTroyes
 Posts: 521 |
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Beautiful Dreamer is one of the best anime films of all time and well worth a watch. It holds up well even now, 34 years after its release. And has one of the best soundtracks of any anime film ever. Its directed by Mamoru Oshii, who would eventually go on to create and direct Ghost in the Shell.
Legend of Babylon Gold, on the other hand, is probably one of the more forgettable Lupin III adventures. Honestly, coming as it did after Cagliostro Castle, it was a significant let down when it first came out and generally has had a mostly unfavorable reputation ever since. Watch it only if you're a Lupin III completist. Dallos is noteworthy in that it was the first OVA series ever. It proved that original anime productions could be successful in the video-only marketL It was also directed by Mamoru Oshii. Fist of the North Star film is pretty good, and has some really great 80s heavy metal in the soundtrack. Cromarte High School is amusing and also worth a look. Just don't expect it to make any sense. ADDENDUM: Insert perennial request for an Urusei Yatsura blu ray release here. |
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CatSword
 Posts: 1489 |
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But...why Crackle instead of Crunchyroll?
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Otaku-sempai
 Posts: 132 Location: Lackawanna, NY |
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Nice, though the U.S. Street Fighter series comes off as little more than a third-rate G.I. Joe knock-off. I remember watching just enough of it to realize how awful it was.
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gravediggernalk
 Space Cowboy Posts: 246 Location: Alabama |
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Word going around is that Legend of the Gold of Babylon was recently dubbed. It'll be interesting to see if that makes its way to the stream before (if at all) the bluray release
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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I....honestly don't know. 
Discotek usually has a good relationship with CR, and uses it for most of their disk-license premieres. Plus, I was under the impression that Crackle had just plain given up trying, some two or three years ago, and just contented itself to appeal to an urban/stoner/gamerz audience. |
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SolHerald
 Posts: 99 |
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I haven't seen it in a while, and while I would never say Babylon is a good movie, I would say it's in the bad but amusing category. There are definitely Lupin features that are way worst. And also, how much of Urusei Yatsura does one need to see before watching Beautiful Dreamer? I haven't seen anything in the series but the high praise has me interested. Would it be okay to just skip to this movie? |
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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As a feature film, though, it's at the opposite end of the scale from Caligostro-- I remember it being visually ugly in going back to the Monkey Punch style, and the "world" policewomen seemed unusually squicky and sexist even for a Lupin story.
If you consider watching the opening chase of Ranma 1/2's first movie without having seen the series "confusing", then it would probably not be okay to skip to this movie. There are just as many ensemble-comedy Rumiko Takahashi characters in UY as in Ranma 1/2, and just as nutty. 
The first episode (how Ataru met Lum while defending the earth) is necessary for the setup and a key reference in the movie, and the movie's plot calls back to episode #21, "Wake Up to a Nightmare". (Have to YouTube them, the series has been OOP for years.) Otherwise, those are the only specific bits of series lore the movie harks back to, and if you can't track down the "Spring Special/All-Star" half-hour first-season recap searching the Net, it will probably be necessary to Wiki up a list of the supporting characters' running shticks. The movie opening's a bit frenetic, but with a good scorecard, you'll have no trouble telling who's who. Last edited by EricJ2 on Fri Feb 09, 2018 5:27 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Otaku-sempai
Posts: 132 Location: Lackawanna, NY |
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[quote="SolHerald"]
You don't necessarily need to see any of show or read any of the manga before watching the movie, nor do you need to be familiar with the previous film. However, you might want to google Urusei Yatsura to familiarize yourself enough with the basic premise and main characters, though you can probably do that much without leaving ANN. Some of the key recurring characters aren't introduced right at the beginning of the show. |
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Compelled to Reply
 Posts: 358 |
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Beautiful Dreamer is one of the greatest conventional anime movies ever made, and understanding it doesn't require you to watch Urusei Yatsura in its entirety. Still, I'd urge any self-proclaimed otaku to watch the series, as it's one of the most influential anime. Also, it's way better than Ranma ½, which was only ever popular in West for cashing in on Inuyasha and Dragonball.
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Joshua Zarate
Posts: 2062 |
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I’m sorry, but I’m slightly confused by this. Didn’t Ranma 1/2 come before Inuyasha? I haven’t watched/read either, but reading what you typed here has me curious as to how that could have happened.
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Otaku-sempai
Posts: 132 Location: Lackawanna, NY |
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Ranma 1/2 was made (and came out in the U.S.) before Inuyasha and is nothing like Dragonball except that both involve martial arts. Ranma 1/2 starts strong. though it falls too much into a routine later. I really liked the movies for the most part and the two OAV series. |
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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Also, Ranma 1/2 is considered Rumiko's unofficial "spinoff" of Urusei Yatsura, rewriting UY's bit-players of two-fisted tomboy Ryuunusuke and her fights with her nutty father into girl-type Ranma and Genma, and sweet but furniture-throwing "normal" girl Shinobu into Akane Tendo. And turning rich insufferably-handsome sword-wielding ladies-man Mendou into rich dim sword-wielding ladies-man Kuno was considerably less subtle, as was turning amorously-obsessed alien girl Lum into amorously lethal Shampoo. |
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Compelled to Reply
Posts: 358 |
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Yes, I never said it didn't, rather during the anime boom of the early-2000s, with Inuyasha as a major title, Ranma complemented it. Hell, Viz was releasing new Ranma Blu-rays in tandem with the last installments of Inuyasha.
Well, that was part of my point. Competition from other martial arts fantasy manga like Dragon Ball, and later Dragon Ball Z and Yu Yu Hakusho around the time the anime came out, affected its popularity to the extent it had to be canceled and retooled. While it's often considered Takahashi's magnum opus along with Inuyasha here in North America, that honor usually goes to Urusei Yatsura or Maison Ikkoku in Japan. Likely reasons the former didn't catch was was because it's extensive use of Japanese pop culture, and latter because it wasn't your "edgy" shōnen show the anime industry focused on abroad.
Rum tends to recycle character traits and even appearances, while still being unique. It's the same with MI and her one-shots. |
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Cardcaptor Takato
 Posts: 5256 |
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I've never seen Beautiful Dreamer but I know it's highly regarded as a classic and Mamoru Oshii is one of my favorite anime directors. I haven't got to see that much of Takahashi's older titles so I'm glad to see this is available streaming. It's just a shame the series isn't licensed any but it's probably too old and not profitable enough for anyone.
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8503 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Legend of the Gold of Babylon certainly is, uh, a trip, to say the least. It does manage to be better than quite a few of the Lupin III TV specials, at least.
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