The Urusei Yatsura Films
Six films between 1983 and 1991. The second of them, Beautiful Dreamer, outgrew the franchise entirely.
Four films were produced during the TV run and two after it. The directors map the series’ own history: Oshii made the first pair, Yamazaki the second pair, and the post-series films went to Satoshi Dezaki and Katsuhisa Yamada. In North America, five films came from AnimEigo and the sixth, the famous one, from Central Park Media; Discotek Media re-released Beautiful Dreamer in 2018 and acquired the other five in 2020.
THE SIX FILMS
1983–1991Only You · March 11, 1983
Directed by Mamoru Oshii. His feature debut, made while he was still directing the TV series.
Beautiful Dreamer · February 11, 1984
Directed by Mamoru Oshii. The dream-loop film: the one that turned a sitcom director into an auteur, and the one North America got from a different distributor than all the others.
Remember My Love · January 26, 1985
Directed by Kazuo Yamazaki, the TV run’s second director taking the feature chair.
Lum the Forever · February 22, 1986
Directed by Kazuo Yamazaki, released weeks before the TV series ended.
The Final Chapter · February 6, 1988
Directed by Satoshi Dezaki. The manga’s ending, adapted as a tenth-anniversary celebration and shown as a double bill with a Maison Ikkoku film.
Always My Darling · August 18, 1991
Directed by Katsuhisa Yamada. The last film, arriving five years after the TV series closed.
THE OVA TAIL
1985–1991, and one codaTwelve Releases
From Ryoko’s September Tea Party (September 24, 1985) through Terror of Girly-Eyes Measles and Date with a Spirit (June 21, 1991): specials and OVAs that kept the series alive between films.
Inaba the Dreammaker
The July 18, 1987 TV special matters to the manga’s own story: Inaba’s arrival is bound up with why Takahashi chose to end the series when she did.
The Coda · 2008
The Obstacle Course Swim Meet, shown December 23, 2008 at the It’s a Rumic World exhibition, was the first new Urusei Yatsura animation in seventeen years; it reached home video in the Rumic World box set of January 29, 2010.