I just want to put out there that I absolutely love the design of Mujaki from Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer. Just, 10/10 character design all around.
His short, stout body and doughy face are friend-shaped, and the top hat, bowtie, gloves and flower-patterned suit give off the performance of a great entertainer or magician, befitting his dream-weaving abilities. On top of this, his grey combover, his worn cummerbund, and his (in the original dub) soothing voice give him a grandfatherly quality -- an dependable old fellow with so much charm you can’t help but love him. However, his sinister side and penchant for trickery show through this warm façade in his coloration and face. The prominent parts of his suit are all colored a garish, bloody red, reflecting his devilish nature. His eyes, meanwhile, are constantly hidden behind his tiny sunglasses, diminishing his expressiveness and reflecting how he’s got something to hide. Tying the whole design together is his enormous, buck-toothed smile -- it teeters the line so well between goofily charming and off-puttingly grotesque, able to be intensely inviting or intensely threatening depending on the situation. All together, it creates a design fit for the fairy-like trickery he engages in throughout the movie, charming people into making bad bargains and creating illusions so believable they’re “as good as reality.” The perfect fairytale villain for the strange and wondrous ride that is Beautiful Dreamer.
