Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer is a 1984 Japanese anime fantasy comedy film written and directed by Mamoru Oshii. It is the second film in the Urusei Yatsura film series based on the manga of the same name by Rumiko Takahashi. Its predecessor, Only You, was also directed by Oshii. It was released in Japan on February 11, 1984 during the second season of the series. While Only You was more faithful to Takahashi's original manga and anime series, Beautiful Dreamer was a significant departure, with Oshii placing an emphasis on deeper philosophical issues. Although the film initially received mixed responses upon its initial release, Beautiful Dreamer later received critical acclaim as an early example of Oshii’s well-received style of filmmaking. In 2009, Kinema Junpo ranked it as one of the best Japanese animated movies. The film experimented with concepts such as a time loop, dreams, and simulated reality, and has drawn comparisons to later works including Ghost in the Shell (1995), Groundhog Day (1993), Dark City (1998) and Inception (2010). Plot Ataru and Lum are among the students at Tomobiki involved in preparing for the student fair. Some of them grow suspicious that their days have been repeating. To (secretly) validate the theory, they are all sent home, instead of sleeping overnight like they had been. All the students end up back at the school, unable to leave the city limits. They board a Harrier jump jet and fly upwards into space. They see that their entire city is on the back of a giant turtle, in the otherwise empty void of space. The students investigate the school, believing it to be the source of the strange happenings. Seemingly impossible events transpire, like a student chased by his own reflections in an infinity mirror. Reality quickly shifts. While before, everything seemed normal, the city now has a post-apocalyptic aesthetic. Only a handful of humans are present, working electricity is rare, and many buildings have worn into ruins. Members of the group trick a dream demon into revealing himself. He describes his plan to create an endless dream, free of another spirit who tends to devour his dreams when they become nightmares. The nightmare eater is summoned and the reality of the dreamscape collapses as he eats the dream. Ataru continues waking up in successive nightmares. Lum tells him that to wake up, he must speak the name of the