Not much is notable about the lecherous Ataru Moroboshi, but his extraordinary bad luck sticks out like the horns in an alien's head. When Earth is threatened by a fleet of alien invaders known as the Oni, Ataru is selected to represent humanity in a duel against one of them. It is a stroke of rare luck for Ataru that the duel is in fact a game of tag, and that his opponent is Lum, daughter of the Oni's leader, who places her personal dignity above victory—as Ataru finds out by seizing Lum's bikini top and with it, victory.
However, misfortune kicks in again when Lum mistakes Ataru's promise to marry his girlfriend, Shinobu Miyake, as the desire to wed Lum herself, and decides she rather likes the idea. Wielding her influence as an alien princess, she moves in with him. Forced to deal with the consequences of his womanizing ways, Ataru must balance his crumbling relationship with Shinobu while keeping Lum happy, all the while flirting with every woman he meets.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Skadi
As a general rule, people usually forget what has come before. For anime fans, particularly those who aren’t Japanese, this is all too often the case as new shows are hailed as the best ever, groundbreaking, or original while completely ignoring what influenced them in the first place. Urusei Yatsura may not be (it's not) the greatest series in the history of anime but it ranks right up there in the top five most influential of all time. Urusei Yatsura is the first of Rumiko Takahashi's work to receive an anime adaptation. It centers on what is today a tried andtrue anime concept, a beautiful alien girl, Lum, falls in love with a rather ordinary and none to bright boy, Ataru. While this may or may not have been the first time this had ever been put to film, you can be sure this was the first time it was done so successfully and thus spawning decades of future imitators. Add in a cast of gorgeous girls and other zany and outrageous characters and a memorably stupid and lecherous leading man, you have the framework for an amusing series.
However for modern fans a few things that are missing from the show will likely effect their overall enjoyment. For starters, Urusei is almost a completely episodic anime with absolutely nothing in regards to an overriding storyline. Once characters have been introduced into the series canon they change little if at all. Because of the nature of this format it makes many of the episodes completely predictable and annoyingly repetitive. A basic episode revolves around Ataru chasing girls, Lum becoming angry, followed by Lum electrocuting him. Additionally quite a few characters are nauseatingly annoying or generally grate on your nerves and outstay their welcome.
All that being said, when Urusei Yatsura is good, it’s REALLY good. But any viewer determined to take the leap into this series would be wise to savor it slowly over time. Over the several years I spent watching this series I found a few episodes at a time was the best I could manage in any given sitting. I would suggest that pace for anyone as well. If you are interested at all in the history of anime, UY should be near the top of your list. While most fans may not be familiar with most if not all of its characters, everyone is familiar with them as they live on today after being pioneered in this series.
The alien girl Lum remains today even thirty years later as one of the most iconic figures of anime. It’s pretty much impossible to dislike Lum. Most people think of her as a tsundere type character but she’s not. Lum is honest with her feelings and incredibly jealous. Add her electrocuting powers, she makes for a girl I don’t think any man with a brain would dare defy or cheat on. Since Ataru is an idiot he doesn't ever learn though. Despite her jealousy and frequent use of her power she never comes across as a bully or a bitch. More often than not you find yourself feeling a little sorry for her that she has fallen for such an unfaithful and idiotic man. Love is blind they say...
For Ataru, he is an unrepentant louse and womanizer in addition to being a complete idiot. You might think that because of his personality that he would not be a likable character either but that’s not the case at all. Despite his odious character defects he remains a charming and likable character throughout the series. Whether you just like his antics or like watching him in pain or being punished. While it becomes obvious that Ataru really does care for Lum, his womanizing and rejection of Lum's advances seem to be out of a desire to not be tied down or in liking being chased. Even though he is completely and totally unsuccessful in wooing any woman other than Lum he never seems to give up.
The supporting cast is enormous, as one would expect from a series of this length. The results are mixed. Because many characters have extreme personalities I often found that they became annoying if they were featured too often. Shinobu starts as Ataru's girlfriend and vies for his affections in the early parts of the series. She is one of the rare exceptions to change over the course of the series. I was glad to see her not pine over Ataru for the entire series though she took a rather strange turn from being an ordinary Japanese girl to being a super strong girl. Mendou also shines as the super rich boy who is adored by all the girls, except the one he most wants (Lum). But in actuality he is just as much of a womanizer as Ataru is. He makes for an excellent foil. Others like Jariten, Ran, and Megane are generally amusing but tend to get on your nerves if they get too much screen time. Cherry and Ryuunosuke's father are ALWAYS annoying and generally made me swing from the desire to punch a hole through my television and projectile vomiting.
From an artistic standpoint, due to its success it’s likely to have influenced character designs for an entire generation and eventually lead to what we have today. I think you can probably trace the origins of "moe" back to at least this series as the thin, lanky, and elegant body types of the 70's give way to younger, chubbier, and cuter looking ones. Despite its age though and the peculiarities of animation from this era its still looks fabulous. The characters are extremely expressive and have enough dissimilarity that they are easily distinguishable from each other, with only a few exceptions.
The seiyuu performances are first rate and each brings out their characters to perfection. Whether it be Lum's anger or Ataru's perverted giggling you can’t help but be drawn into Urusei's universe. The series features many different OP/ED themes that vary from your standard J-Poppy tunes that wouldn't be that out of place today and the very dated engrish disco tracks. It’s old enough now that you may just have some 80s nostalgia.
I my opinion everyone should give this series a watch. While it certainly isn't an easy viewing experience, getting through it will give you an appreciation for the history of animation in Japan and an insight on Japanese pop culture. Not to mention it's also pretty damn funny.
MeitanteiShakura
Back in my "Maison Ikkoku" review, I mentioned that it seems that fans have a tendency to neglect some of the old classics that made the creators they love big in the first place. Either that or they turn a blind eye to them, seeing as they're "old". I'll probably get some flack for all that, but it's just so prominent in today's anime fandom that the latest things out there are "the best anime ever" one day, and when "one year later" rolls its way by and/or when the series ends, it would be a thing of the past. And the cyclegoes on and on. This is the way everything in the media and life is unfortunately. But there are still series out there that can still be remembered by the vetran anime fans and are held in high esteem as being influential to many manga artists (Like "Dragonball" for example. Eiichiro Oda, one of the people influenced by DB went on to make "One Piece", which is freakishly popular in Japan), and "Urusei Yatsura" is no different. Heck, reruns of it still play on Japanese primetime and the manga gets reprinted constantly!
The story is about Ataru Moroboshi, who, as normal as he looks, is the unluckiest and most girl-crazy being in the entire universe. His mere existance attracts unnatural bad luck towards himself and the people around him.
But one day, Ataru comes home to see that the leader of a race of alien oni is sitting in his house. It turns out that he has been randomly selected by computer to race in the major sport of the Oni's planet: the game of tag. He's challenged to race the leader's daughter, the beautiful, tiger bikini-clad Lum. Ataru has to chase Lum for ten days and grab her horns, or else the race of Oni aliens will take over Earth.
This seems easy to Ataru at first...that is, until he finds that Lum can fly, taking the difficulty level way higher than he expected. On the night before the last day, Ataru's childhood friend Shinobu promises to marry him if he is able to win. Full of a new burst of confidence, Ataru grabs Lum's horns in the final minutes of the game and shouts, "NOW I CAN MARRY HER!!" Unfortunately, Lum misunderstands what he means and takes his victory cry as a marraige proposal to her, which she accepts promptly and starts calling him "Darling".
At first UY may seem like another "Love Hina" type of anime, where the show lives to only show fan service and nudity. Other then some little things and unexplicit nudity, the show's pretty clean, depending on which episode it is (there's only two I know of that featured nudity), but seeing the art quality and film quality making them look less detailed, I doub it'll infect anyone. Other than that, it's nothing else than what you would see on BayWatch: four alien chicks in bikinis.
Though it's definitely a good example of 80s anime. Sure, it's incredibly cheezy and the kind of funny that makes you laugh because of how dumb (in a good way) the show is, but it plays like a dream.
Another thing I might want to bring up is that some sites cite this series as a "harem anime". Sure, there's a bunch of women in it and a central male loser character, but keep in mind that most of the women in UY hate Ataru. Despite his barely controlable libido, Lum loves him no matter what. D'awwwww.
The story is very lighthearted and wacky, with all sorts of bizzare references to Japanese mythology and cheesy puns on the language. The artwork is colorful and very cartoon-esqué, but the main target that the show wants is plain fun. It creates a happy mood for the viewers and freely takes you on a random and crazy ride through all the characters.
"Urusei Yatsura" has probably one of the biggest casts out of Rumiko's other stories (next to "Ranma 1/2"). We have Lum's fire-breathing cousin Ten, who hates Ataru with a purple passion and will do whatever it takes to make Ataru look bad, Ran, a redheaded alien with a split personality, the noble Oyuki, the motorbiking Benten, and an assortment of many other weird monsters and aleins.
There's a good balance of humans too, like Shinobu, who can come across as sincere but can get so angry that she's able to lift ridiculously heavy objects and throw them, Lum's fanclub at Tomobiki High, consisting of a bunch of nerds that are ready to reprehend Ataru if he commits a misdeed related to Lum, Ryuunosuke, a girl raised to be a boy by her sexist father, the rich and handsome Shuutaro Mendou, and Ataru's (REALLY) whiney parents who do hardly anything but mourn that the wish they never had Ataru.
Take all these characters and put them in a regular environment, and it's one wacky romance-comedy thoughout all 195 TV episodes, 4 movies, and 6 OVAs.
But one thing that can strike someone funny is Ataru's character. He's a far cry from the meek yet determined Yusaku Godai, and Ranma Saotome and Inuyasha, who are characterized with bravery and great fighting skills.
However, as much of an idiot and a pervert that Ataru makes himself out to be, he's actually a very caring person, and an intelligent one at that. His legendary bad luck and resistence to injury has convinced him to be otherwise and that's the reason why he acts the way he does. And as much as he dismisses it, he truly loves Lum as much as she loves him.
With a strong amount of sotries and characters, along with loads of laughs and catchy songs and BGM, "Urusei Yatsura" is an anime that is particularly hard series to get bored of.
Sorrow
Urusei Yatsura (Those obnoxious aliens) was an extremely popular manga and anime series that ran in Japan in the early 80s. Lately, people have been forgetting about these wonderful classics, and so I figured I'd write a review on one that I really enjoyed watching years and years ago, Urusei Yatsura. Urusei Yatsura is Rumiko Takahashi's first work to receive an anime adaptation (ahead of other classics such as Maison Ikkoku, Ranma and Inuyasha). Needless to say, Urusei Yatsura is a true classic that opened the way for future rom-com anime, and all the meanwhile is a wonderful-highly enjoyable story. The basic outline of the storywill seem really stupid, childish, cheesy, boring and "unorignal" at first. But if you take into account that this story was written over 30 years ago, then you'll realize that it was the birthmark of similar stories. And if you compare the anime solely to modern-day shows, then perhaps it won't be one of the best shows you've come across, but Urusei Yatsura set the stone down for these new shows that you enjoy to be created.
Urusei Yatsura is the comedic story of the tumultuous relationship between the Beautiful tigerskin-bikini-clad alien princess, Lum, and the Earth's most lecherous boy, Ataru Moroboshi. Ataru is a pervert whose constantly trying to chase other girls around and Lum has to continuously bring him back into line with her raging jealous temper and tremendous jolts of electricity. But the story goes far beyond that. Urusei Yatsura covers nearly all genres, from romance to science fiction to comedy to parody to Japanese mythology to psychological. Urusei Yatsura incorporates it all into a wonderful, enjoyable story. The outline of the story is basically: The alien race is about to take over Earth, but in order to save the human race, a deal was made between the aliens and the humans. In a race, if a human [Ataru] can touch the Alien representative's horn in a race, then Earth will be saved. At first Ataru doesn't want to do the deal, and would rather have the human race extinct than actually do something he doesn't want to do... But that all changes when he sees that the Alien representative is a beautiful girl - Lum. With the idea of actually being encouraged to grab and grope the beautiful alien to reach her horns, Ataru eagerly does the race and succeeds - thanks to Shinabu, Ataru's one true love who promise to marry Ataru if he succeeded. Upon touching Lum's horns, Ataru yells in glory "I can get married", which causes Lum to misunderstand - thinking Ataru wants to marry her, and so the entire 175 episodes of the story begins.
If you're looking to watch a series that intertwines many side events into one large main event, and the story is connected, then this isn't exactly the place to look. The episodes are episodic, and it jumps around all over the place. The story is honestly really random, and at times makes absolutely no sense. But so what? It was always enjoyable and hilarious to watch Ataru try to run away from Lum, Lum chase him down and a whole load of bizarre events unfold. I've seen people compare this show to the Simpsons in terms of how weird and unorderly the story is, but I'd say they have nearly nothing alike. 175 episodes of 1980s comedy-romance, how lovely right?
The show can be characterized as character-driven, because there is no real plot. There is only characters that create a story each episode because of their love/hatred/annoyance/misunderstanding of each other. The characters are the epitome of your average stereotypical characters. Ataru being the super annoying pervert that he is. Lum being that jealous girl who doesn't want any other girl to be near the guy she loves. And blah blah blah, a whole buttload of other side characters who take their part in the large scheme of things, and then suddenly leave/disappear at some random time because the writers can do that kind of stuff. Throughout the long course of 175 episodes, Ataru and Lum's characters develop a lot-lot, and the audience starts to adjust to their characters, and instead of having a feeling of annoyance towards the characters, the audience develops a sense of bond-love-friendship-understanding with the characters which keeps the entire story not only funny, but captivating and memorable. Sure, Ataru is a pervert who is running away from a innocent, beautiful girl who purely/solely loves him. At first the audience wants him to love Lum back because Lum is so beautiful and innocent, but from Ataru's perverted point of view, why should he love someone if he doesn't actually love her? And Lum... Oh Lum, why must you always shock the poor boy just because he doesn't love you back? It's all just a misunderstanding. Stop stalking Ataru. But over the longass time of 175 episodes, all those thoughts suddenly change-evolve into something like: I love you all. All characters in Urusei Yatsura are annoying at times (like really annoying), but that helps develop their characters into characters that the audience can relate with and like - learn from their annoyance/mistakes. 175 is a lot of episodes. Yes, there are some filler-episodes that help define a character, and yes they can be quite boring at times, but that's the 1980's - long-running series for you. If the load of episodes, turns you off from the show, then poor you, that's your loss. Urusei Yatsura has a quite cast of characters throughout the 175 episodes that you should definitely watch.
The sound and art of the show was composed/drawn in the 1980s, so it's unfair to compare it to romance-comedy-supernatural stories of today. But compare to other shows of it's time, Urusei Yatsura's art is spectacular, and the music isn't great, but isn't bad either. The music of Urusei Yatsura is more of the cute-innocent girly girl yet has a supernatural-alien pinch of sauce style. Especially the opening which is basically a high-pitched girl's voice squeaking, but it's not like an annoying squeaking sound, but more of a cute love sound. There aren't many times in the show (despite being 175 episodes) where music, soundtrack is being played during the show. The character's voicings were wondrous, I loved them, and normally I'm not a big fan of character's voices in romance stories. The character's designs were drawn up by the great, Akemi Takada who also drew the character's for the great Maison Ikkoku. It's no surprise that Lum is considered one of the most beautiful, and greatly drawn characters in anime history. Lum is in her own way unique and beautiful, and she is like a mother-figure to modern-day beautiful super-natural females. The overall art (cities, animals/aliens, characters) is really old-fashioned (reminder: 1980s) but it really added to the livliness of the entire story.
All in all, Urusei Yatsura isn't perfect, and it most definitely isn't the greatest classic out there. But Urusei Yatsura is a trailblazer in anime history, and it remains as a mother-figure show for modern-day romance-comedies, and for those of you that have a lot of time on your hands and want to check out a true classic rom-com anime, then Urusei Yatsura is definitely the one to check out.
nostalgic-hero
If I were to recommend only ONE show for someone to watch if they were new to anime. I can't say for sure that this one would top the list, but it'd definitely be one of the candidates to hold that spot. This show is just one thing: "good, old-fashioned anime fun" The show excels at being absolutely random, and absolutely outrageous at some points. It's kinda like the Simpsons but with that fun and exaggerated anime twist added to it. That's why I genuinely enjoyed watching this show, it's just made me laugh at the situations that the characters get themselves into; or what they do toeach other.
The only thing I didn't like about the show is that after you try to marathon thru the show and you watch 10-15 episodes in one sitting.. the show will probably become less enjoyable. I watched all 195 episodes, but it took me well over a year (with on-and-off periods throughout) to complete watching it all.
Take your time with it, you'll enjoy it!
KirbyDragons
Lum was technically one of the first anime characters I ever saw. Back when I was hardly into anime, I saw some Dragon Ball fan animation that had Lum as a cameo. I was intrigued, so I looked up who it was. Despite this, I didn't show any interest in watching her show until years later. I watched the first twelve episodes, and although I was addicted, I was turned off by how adult it got. I stopped watching it for a long time, but there were times when I missed it. Surely enough, I couldn't stay away from it, so I started it againfrom the thirteenth episode, and watched the whole series over the course of six months, including the movies and OVAs.
So many things about this anime made it memorable and enjoyable. The episodes had different feels from each other, but each one had something to like about it. Some of the episodes are crazy, nonsensical shenanigans, and others are serious with touching drama or romance. This is a universe where virtually anything can happen, so there's no limit to the stories they could tell. It could be fooling with alien technology, or meeting mythical creatures such as ghosts or vampires. Not only are the situations unpredictable, but the way the characters interact with the situations is too, so there are lots of surprises. And the characters being as good as they are makes the situations even more enjoyable.
The side characters all have different roles in the story, as well as different relationships with Ataru and Lum. Lum is generally favored by them, whereas Ataru is generally disfavored. This leads to many different character interactions that are always entertaining. The side characters all have their own situations going on, that make you care about them. This means you can be invested in an episode regardless of who's in the forefront.
Ataru, the true protagonist of the show, is one of the most entertaining ones I've seen. His main interest is girls, but his persistence and determination make him more memorable than all the other pervert and semi-pervert protagonists. He's constantly hitting on girls and being punished for it, but he never ceases to go after them. He'll often use trickery to get away from Lum, and shrug off any hits from girls who reject him. He's also not afraid to tell Lum off.
Lum seems like she'd be a Mary Sue, being a beautiful superpowered alien who all the boys love. However, her flaws are very clearly there, and become more apparent over time. She has a short temper, she's sometimes loopy or clueless, and she can be just as vulnerable as any of the other characters. Her strongest trait is easily her attraction to Ataru. It never goes away, regardless of what he does, or what happens. Her main wish is for Ataru to love her and only her, and to be with him forever. She'll go to great lengths to do it, never giving up hope. She cares about Ataru very much, only attacking him when he angers her.
The relationship between these two is the most compelling thing about this anime. We know how Lum feels about Ataru, but Ataru's feelings are never 100% clear. Based on the situation, he either likes or hates her. The interactions between these two are something to look forward to. They might get angry at each other, or they might have a meaningful romantic moment. Their relationship could make or break at any moment, but never permanently.
There's an overall sense of tension between many of the characters that leads to a lot of slapstick. This slapstick gets repetitive, especially in the second half of the show. Yet, the episode plots differ from each other greatly, so the show overall isn't repetitive.
Background music is a surprisingly important part of the anime. There are all kinds of different tracks it uses. Some of the tracks even have a fittingly extraterrestrial theme to them. There is background music playing a lot of the time, and it is always appropriate to the situation. There is casual music, epic music, romantic music, silly music, suspenseful music, and so on.
If I were to assign this anime to genres, I'd say slice of life, sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, and romance, which is ordered from most to least prevalent. It's harder to narrow it down, since the anime does all kinds of things. And given how long it is, it certainly can afford doing what it wants.
I can just imagine all the Japanese kids in the 80's watching new episodes of this anime every week, and it being their favorite thing. It gives you a lot in each episode, and even references other popular properties at the time, whether they be Japanese or American. There are multiple story arcs involving different characters, and also quick callbacks to previous episodes. It always tries its best, and it strives to be something you'll never forget. So much love was put into the anime from the beginning, that made it everything that it is.
JuneNephthys
Urusei Yatsura is my favorite anime. • This isn’t an easy title to achieve with how high my standards for Japanese animation have become, but Urusei Yatsura left a sublimely beautiful impression on me—so much so that I can’t even imagine any other series taking its place. As far as comedy goes, it’s not a bust-your-gut-out-laughing type of series; it’s more dry, tongue-in-cheek humor. My theory on why the BBC English dub of it was so spectacular, while the American dub flopped, was because the British excel at a more dry, witty type of humor than people in the States do. • Speaking of ‘obnoxious,’ the title forUrusei Yatsura is a pun. The word ‘urusei’ (うる星): the character for ‘uru’ (うる) means ‘possible’ and ‘sei’ (星) means ‘good’ or ‘nice’—is a pun on the word ‘urusai’ (うるさい) which can be translated as ‘noisy’ or ‘annoying.’ The title was localized in English as ‘Those Obnoxious Aliens,’ but a more accurate translation would be ‘Possibly Good Aliens’ since the suffix in the word is ‘(uru)sei’—not ‘(uru)sai.’ The title really fits the mood of the series, all of the cast members have a fixation or fatal flaw that ails them in some way or another, which leads to the screen being flooded with a cataclysm of devilishly fun chaos.
•The protagonist of the story, Ataru Moroboshi, is a diehard skirt-chaser. Despite already having a girlfriend (Shinobu Miyake), Ataru flirts with every girl in town. One day, aliens (the ‘Oni’) wage an intergalactic war on Earth and give them the chance for reconciliation—via competing with their princess, Lum Invader. Of all people, Ataru is randomly selected to compete against her. Ataru plays dirty, by ripping off Lum’s bikini top, and ends up winning. Shinobu had promised that she would marry him if he won against Lum, so Ataru begins cheering about he and Shinobu’s engagement but Lum interprets this as him wanting to marry HER, and accepts the proposal on live television. This turns into Lum’s alien overlord father forcing them together and Shinobu dumping Ataru because she misunderstood what had happened.
•Initially, Shinobu was supposed to be the deuteragonist but because of Lum’s popularity (due to her iconic, bishōjo design)—Rumiko Takahashi’s editors made her make Lum the main heroine, instead of Shinobu! Learning from her past failure with making her heroine’s rival too popular, Takahashi reincorporated the Shinobu character into Akane Tendō from Ranma ½ and made the Lum character, Shampoo, less likable. Lum became a cultural icon in anime and directly inspired characters such as Lala Satalin Deviluke (To LOVEる) and Yōko (*いぬかみっ!). Adhering strongly to the ‘oni’ theme, each alien is based off of some subset of traditional Eastern lore (Oyuki is a *yuki-onna, Benten refers to *Benzaiten, and Ran is a *hone-onna).
*Inukami!—*Benzaiten is a Japanese Buddhist goddess who originated from the Hindu goddess: Saraswati. *Yuki-onna is a snow woman yōkai and *hone-onna is a yōkai that is the Japanese equivalent of a succubus.
•Despite it being an older series, even when episodes aren’t the cream of the crop in quality, the series makes up for it tenfold in its writing, excellent voice acting, directing, and interesting atmospheric takes. Especially when it shows a certain, titular hill at night and there’s eerie music playing with a talking scarecrow. Urusei Yatsura is so imaginative, certain episodes actually feel as if they’re taking you to another world—a world far enough from familiarity to seem foreign, and yet realistic enough to appear in our plane of existence. A perfect blend of practicality and uncanny valley, similar to My Neighbor Totoro.
•There are three episodes in the series, that take the surrealism a step further, and go inside the minds of *Ataru, *his mother (Mother Moroboshi), and *father (Father Moroboshi). During these episodes, the mystery behind Ataru’s dysfunctional family is slowly unraveled and causes the audience to heavily empathize with Ataru, often, even more than Lum. Spoilers ahead; there will be spoilers for the rest of the essay! You have been warned! It is even revealed, in one of the final scenes of Urusei Yatsura 3: Remember My Love, that Ataru loves Lum infinitely more than Lum loves him but he’s too afraid to outwardly show it.
*Episode 78: Mijime! Ai to Sasurai no Haha!? (Pitiful! Mother of Love and Banishment!?—Mother Moroboshi’s Freudian analysis episode), Episode 94: Tabi no Yuki Daruma Jōwa (The Story of a Traveling Snow Dharma—Ataru’s terrifying trip, reminiscent of Dickinson’s A Christmas Carol, showing the emptiness of his own desires), and Episode 177: Hoshi ni Negai wo! Ataru Ikka wa Yokubō Panikku (Wish Upon a Star! Ataru Family is Desire Panic—Father Moroboshi’s fever dream of greed and lust).
•This series peels layers off of its characters and something small is revealed about each of them, episodically, that gradually adds a pieces to the puzzle of their psyche. Because of how subtle these revelations are and how often they are played off as comedy, I consider Urusei Yatsura to have the best character writing in all of anime. After subtle, dark revelations were shown about certain characters—I was left flabbergasted and thinking about those moments for days.
•Although episodic, the formula of this series expects you watch it in its entirety if you want clarity on your favorite characters. That’s why, even though many people suggest Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (as a gateway into the series), I think it’s a bad idea to start anywhere except for the beginning. My introduction to the series was a borrowed DVD of the first film, Only You, and it was difficult to enjoy the movie in the way its intended because you need to get to know that characters from the beginning. It’s like getting to know a friend for a long period of time before you can establish comfortable ‘inside jokes.’
•Urusei Yatsura started common trends in anime, even in the fetish department. Tentacles have always been fetishized in Japan but I believe that Urusei Yatsura started the trend specifically IN ANIME. *Episode 29 has scantily clad, Lum being felt up by a giant gardenia’s tentacles. This formula would later be replicated in Dream Hunter Rem and other series. Another trope that was popularized by Urusei Yatsura was the little sister (imōto) fetish, starting with the introduction of the character Asuka, in Episode 132, who has been sheltered from society and instantly falls in love with any man that she considers a ‘brother’ because of her misgivings on the definition of the word.
*Episode 29: Kuchinashi Yori Ai wo Komete (From the Gardenia with Love) and Episode 132: Omiai Jigoku! Yoroi Musume wa Bijo? Kaijo (Matchmaking Hell! Is the Armored Daughter a Beauty? Beast?).
Psychological Analyses of the Urusei Yatsura cast:
—Lum Invader: Lum is less complicated than Ataru but still has her own quips that make her a fairly interesting character to follow. Lum is a spoiled princess. She has a stable family that loves each other, an exact foil of how Ataru is with his family, and often acts as if she’s the center of the universe because of it. She’s lazy, reckless, and *will often twist the truth to get out of punishment. Lum has common sense, despite being an alien princess, and is often a *good judge of character. Unfortunately, she often misunderstands Ataru because of how well he can mask his own feelings. Lum is steadfast in her dedication to Ataru but is *not above kissing other men to make him jealous; a flagrant contradiction to her own repulsion with Ataru’s cheating—she also flirtatiously refers to Mendō by his given name (Shutarō) to make Ataru jealous, neglecting Shinobu’s feelings, and using him to get Ataru’s attention. She often makes mistakes, given her disposition as an overly playful and idealistic girl, but always has the best intentions in mind. Even if you despise people with similar flaws to her, it’s impossible to not like Lum. She tries so hard to woo Ataru that it’s hard not to feel for her. Lum’s characterization as an impure girl is even canonical—when the Kotobukiya scale figure of Lum dropped in 2014, there was a note from Rumiko Takahashi on the side of the box that said: ‘Lum meets passionate craftsman Shirahige and is filled with the latest modeling techniques and attractiveness of current figures, it is passionate, and the appearance of a pure Lum is also beautiful.’
*Episode 18: Hina Matsuri! Ran-chan Tōjō (Girls' Day! Introducing Ran-chan—an introduction to Lum’s childhood friend, Ran, who secretly hates her because she stole the affection of her crush, Rei), the ‘good judge of character’ bit comes from her seeing right through the charades of Shutarō and Inaba, and Episode 178: Kuchizuke Takkyūbin! Dārin Hajimete no Yakimochi!! (Kiss Courier! Darling's First Jealousy!—Lum kisses an alien frog, with the knowledge that he is actually an alien boy that she grew up with, and despite Ataru’s objections, still smooches her childhood friend in front of him).
—Ataru Moroboshi: Ataru is the ill-fated protagonist who is a womanizer, has a horrible family life, bad grades, and is considered ugly among his peers. Not only is Ataru born on Friday the 13th, but also *Butsumetsu (仏滅), and his name Ataru (あたる) is spelled with characters that mean ‘to be struck by a falling star.’ Ataru is initially flirtatious towards Lum but immediately is repulsed when he finds out that (due to a misunderstanding) he is being forced to marry her. Ataru is most likely repulsed by Lum because her overbearing attitude reminds him of his mother, and in the aforementioned Episode 78, Mother Moroboshi reveals that she has a Freudian sexual attraction to her son, a compulsion to control his life because he’s the only reason she’s married to her unfaithful husband (who has squandered their savings on gambling and women), and, also, resentment towards Ataru because he’s the only reason that she doesn’t leave Father Moroboshi. It’s messed up! No wonder why Ataru is afraid of commitment! The only woman that he shows an open interest in settling down with is Shinobu—probably because she’s a down-to-Earth girl (no pun intended)—but has to stay with Lum because fear of the Earth being wiped out by the aliens. Throughout the series, Ataru begins to fall deeply in love with Lum but is so addled by his phobia of commitment that he refuses to admit it. This might just be Stockholm syndrome kicking in, because she electrocutes (via ‘electric lynching’) him in every episode, but Ataru’s real feelings for Lum seem genuine. Ataru is the type of person who will do something that’s moral and subvert it by acting amoral, just because he doesn’t want his façade to slip.
*Symbolizes the day Buddha died. Considered the most unlucky day.
—Shutarō Mendō: Basically a good-looking, wealthy version of Ataru. He’s just as much of a womanizer as Ataru is but doesn’t get punished for it because all the girls in class are attracted to him. Shutarō is in the top 2% of the world’s wealth—his family owns the police, the military, and is pretty much the governance of Japan. Mess with the Mendō clan and you’ll be barraged with soldiers and fighter jets! After Shinobu dumps Ataru, she begins dating Shutarō (naïvely creating a princely image of him in her head; in reality, Shutarō only acts the part to keep up appearances) but Shutarō only agrees to date Shinobu because he knows it will hurt Ataru. Shutarō puts on the guise of wanting to date Lum, but throughout the series, it’s implied that he only lusts after Lum because he wants to steal her from his nemesis, Ataru. The resentment he feels for him stems from that fact that he lacks the freedom Ataru has. Ataru is able to openly be a degenerate but Shutarō is forced to act like a gentleman to upkeep the image of his family’s estate. Little does he know that Ataru’s degeneracy is also an involuntary guise that he uses to protect himself from intimacy. Shutarō does not fit in with his family, in *Episode 185—the Mendō family uses all of the main cast as pawns in a death match against each other, whilst Shutarō objects and is completely repulsed by their sociopathic behavior. Shutarō’s younger sister, Ryōko, is a complete psychopath and only sees humans as things to be toyed with—even if it means killing them. When she *almost kills everyone on a gigantic Christmas tree rocket, she shows no remorse for nearly murdering them. It is implied that Ryōko has gone mad from being a *shut-in, whereas, Shutarō leads a fairly normal life because he goes to public school. Ryōko resents her brother for this and seems to get pleasure out of tormenting him; and, weirdly enough, it is implied that Shutarō reciprocates his sister’s feelings—getting overly protective when Ataru tries hit on her. Despite Shutarō being more normal than the rest of the family, he has a weird obsession with octopi and the number eight, as well as an extreme phobia of the dark—no doubt caused by the Mendō family’s sadistic nature.
*Episode 185: Shin Shun Panikku! Mendō Ka Ningen Sugoroku Taikai (New Years Panic! Mendo Family Human Sugoroku Tournament) and Episode 79: Mendō Ke - Samā Kurisumasu (Mendo Family - Summer Christmas). Urusei Yatsura did the cute, shut-in imōto trope before Eromanga Sensei!
—Shinobu Miyake: The most morally righteous and sensible character in the show. She comes from an upper middle class family, is good at piano, intellectually smart, and is kind to a small fox creature (namely ‘Pure Fox’), who has fallen in love with her because of her purity. Like Akane Tendō (Ranma ½), she is freakishly strong but a good person at heart. She dumps Ataru after he agrees to marry Lum (even though he technically is forced to agree to the engagement) and goes for Shutarō, oblivious to the fact that she’s attracted to him because he’s so similar to her childhood friend, Ataru. Since she’s known him so long, she knows that Ataru is a good guy (deep down) but still rages at him for being a jerkass. Unfortunately, after she breaks up with Shutarō, she ends up with another scummy guy (Inaba)—who alters reality to force her to fall in love with him. Poor Shinobu can never get a break. She’s more likable than Lum, in a lot of ways, but because of her comparative lack of screen time, you’re almost forced to sympathize with Lum more.
*Episode 122: Kitsune no Kata Omoi Koisuredo Setsunaku... (The Fox's Hard Feelings of Painful Love...)
—Ryūnosuke Fujinami: The progenitor to Ranma Saotome (Ranma ½), Ryūnosuke is a girl who is forced to live as a boy by her abusive father. She yearns to be a girl, but if she refers to herself as female or wears feminine clothing—her mentally-ill father will beat her up and tell her that a ‘boy shouldn’t wear girls’ clothing.’ This is played off for laughs but as the series goes on, you feel more and more sorry for Ryūnosuke’s disposition. She has been conditioned to be male for so long, that she doesn’t even know the basics of acting like a normal girl. She admires Shinobu because, by studying her from afar, she has deemed her to be the perfect example of femininity. Ryūnosuke also has no idea who her real mother is. Her father has a running gag in the series, where he tells a lengthy tale of what her biological mother was like but ends up mournfully calling out a different woman’s name every time! Ryūnosuke has extreme gender dysphoria, even though she’s technically the gender she wants to be—because her father forces her to bind her chest and wear mens’ clothing.
•Urusei Yatsura is the only anime series that I consider to be a masterpiece. It has excellent character writing (rife with complexities and human error), great designs, the seiyū fit the characters perfectly, the humor is intelligent, and the directing was revolutionary, at the time, and even now! Urusei Yatsura is a game-changer that is full of magic and amazement for old and young minds alike. Unfortunately, Rumiko Takahashi poured all of her ingenuity into Urusei Yatsura and that originality that makes this series so special—is severely lacking in her later works. I think that creations like Ranma ½ and Inuyasha became too commercialized and Takahashi lost touch with what made her work so great to begin with. It isn’t the hollow marionettes, that mime their predecessors—but—the emotional complexity, cycles of the characters repeatedly spiraling into their own hypocrisy, and their faulty human characteristics that brought them to life! Not Ranma ½’s childish romantic fluff, or Inuyasha’s neglect of characters for grandiose world-building, nor is it Kyōkai no Rinne’s vapid amelioration of character inconsistencies that made her first manga so special. It was attention to detail, the realism, the surrealism, and the basic affection for the characters that were lovingly conveyed through their triumphs and flaws. At this time in my life, I doubt that a TV anime could ever replicate the passion put into Urusei Yatsura. And that is why I and the remnants of its diehard fanbase are so taken with this show!
middleground4471
If you're wondering why I gave this anime a 10/10 then let me tell you that this is the funniest anime I've ever seen and any anime that can be this consistently funny over 195 episodes deserves to be called a masterpiece. Characters 10/10 It's the characters that truly make this anime great as they all just do their jobs so well. Ataru: What I love most about Ataru is how I have nothing nice to say about him. There are a lot of other anime with characters who are perverts, but normally these characters have some redeeming quality to them that makes up fortheir perversion. Ataru has no redeeming quality. He is selfish, greedy, immoral, he'll flirt with other women while on a date with Lum, and he'll even flirt with Lum's mother right in front of her!
But don't worry because Ataru doesn't go unpunished. Ataru has been shot, electrocuted, exploded, incinerated, crushed, and tortured in every way imaginable, but it doesn't stop him. Ataru can be electrocuted and then two seconds later be back up "girl hunting" again only to be electrocuted yet again!
That brings me to the second thing I love about Ataru is how persistent he is. There's an episode where Lum leaves Ataru alone and for five straight days and nights Ataru did nothing, but "girl hunt". Ataru is simply unstoppable. He's more than just a pervert; he's like some kind of demon sent from Hell to terrorize women and it's hilarious every time he gets punished for it.
Lum: What I love most about Lum is her devotion to Ataru. No matter often Ataru cheats on her, Lum still holds out hope that someday Ataru will change for the better and love her back. However, this doesn't mean Lum doesn't electrocute Ataru or hits him with a hammer each time he even looks at another women.
However, Lum can be devious as well. There are several episodes where Lum either tries to brainwash Ataru into loving her or forces him to taking her on a date.
Some other really funny characters:
Shinobu - who gets super strength whenever she gets mad which happens whenever Ataru flirts with her
Mr. Onsen - their teacher who they torture for just doing his job
Cherry - a monk that appears form nowhere and makes whatever situation they're in worse
Ran - whose constantly trying to make Lum's life miserable as part of her revenge against Lum
Mendou - Ataru's rival that always tries to decapitate Ataru whenever he sees him
Story 9/10
What I love about the story for this show is how unpredictable it is. For example, there's an episode where Mendou turns into a woman, Ataru gets swallowed by a giant amoeba, and Adam & Eve make an appearance all in the same episode! Also, it's funny how some episodes didn't really have a solution to their problem like the characters would just be like "this is life now" and somehow everything is back to normal in the next episode.
Furthermore, I really love how fast paced this show is. There was very little space between jokes and almost every joke is funny. It's really one of those shows that you watch when you want to laugh.
Sound 10/10
The voice acting was good, but what I really love is this songs in this anime. I really like 80's music so I of coursed enjoyed the soundtrack for this show, but more importantly it's funny how almost every song in the show is about love and how much Lum loves Ataru. That is hilarious considering just how messed up their relationship is!
Overall 10/10
Lum and Ataru are either the worst or the best couple ever. Ataru constantly cheats on Lum, but Lum always holds out hope Ataru will love her someday. At the same time, however, Ataru does love Lum and would never leave her, but he's such a pervert that he can't stop "girl hunting". In a lot of ways, Lum and Ataru are perfect for each other.
These are some of the funniest characters I have ever seen living in a random story with 80's era animation and sound.
I love Those Obnoxious Aliens :)
TheCoolGuy82
'Urusei Yatsura' is the first major work of Rumiko Takahashi to ever animated. Urusei Yatsura is actually the invention of what we nowadays call rom-com. It really does have Takahashi flavor that we see in her later work 'Maison Ikkoku'. If you thought 3 tennents of Maison Ikkoku are crazy then beware of Urusei Yatsura with some of the most bizarre and insane characters. Urusei Yatsura anime series has also set the stage for some of the most notable names in anime industry. Like Mamoru Oshii, Akita Kamiya, Studio Deen and Pierrot, Rumiko Takahashi and more. Story- The story of Urusei Yatsura focuses aroundAtaru Moroboshi the most pervert, womanizer, lecherous boy ever alive in the entire universe. Suddenly when an alien group known as Oni tries to invade the Earth. They give us one condition so they will leave Earth. It's to duel against them and beat them in Tag game in 10 days. As bizarre as it sounds Ataru is selected as the one to beat them against Lum the daughter of the leader of Oni. But Lum can fly. So that's hard for Ataru. But his girlfriend Shinobu told him before the final game she will marry him he save earth. As our protagonist become motivated he manages to win but also accidentally proposes Lum. This misunderstanding causes Lum to fall in love with him. And she started to live with Ataru. From then on Ataru got everytime electric shock if he ever flirt any woman. But he still remains the same throughout the entire series.(The story is also mostly episodic but not repitetive like other episodic anime as Urusei Yatsura have slow plot progress.
Art- As the anime aired during the early 80s the artstyle may seem dated. But it is charming. It does have some similar character designs to Maison Ikkoku. Example: Godai 's face in 1st season of Maison iKkoku looks like adult version of Ataru.Also Sakura and Kyoko look similar.
But overall, I find the artstyle charming it brings up a atmosphere.
Sound- The soundtrack of Urusei Yatsura is the most memorable aspect of this show for me. It does have great music at times. And all of the 6 openings & 9 endings are quite enjoyable. All of the songs have different feelings to them. But I like them.
Characters - The characters of Urusei Yatsura is the biggest piller more than the story. Ataru is the king of all perverts in planet. He's quite a different protagonist than a lot of rom-com anime. Lum the star of this show even after nearly 40 years still remains the most iconic female character in all of anime (like her iconic tiger-stripped bikini). She tries to stop Ataru from flirt other girl by electrocuting him. She is fun and one of my favorite character to enjoy. Aside from Lum and Ataru, the side characters are lot fun, like Shutaro who is rich and handsome, adored by girls. But actually is also same pervert like Ataru. Then, shinobu who was Ataru's girlfriend previously is stronger infamously known as 'Desk-thrower' is fun character of her own. There are also several crazy and annoying characters like, Ryunosuke's dad, Ran, Ten, Cherry and others. The characters are highly enjoyable.
Enjoyment - I suddenly hyped to watch Urusei Yatsura after discovering that it was made by same person who Maison Ikkoku. However, Urusei Yatsura is a nonsensical comedy and Maison Ikkoku is a realistic slice of life comedy. But I like the comedy of both of them great. I really enjoyed urusei yastura. But I have to admit the show become dragged out during the 3rd and 4th seasons after Mamoru Oshii leaving the production. As we never got many more Oshii-type eps. Instead we got more wasted same kind of episodes of shinobu's fox, ryunoosuke and her dad. Which feels same without changes in end. But still I enjoyed almost 90% eps of Urusei Yatsura.
Overall - At the last I have to say that Urusei Yatsura become one of my favorite shows of all time. After finishing all the 195 episodes, 11 ovas, 6 movies .i felt lonely for several days. I highly recommend Urusei Yatsura if you like Rumiko Takahashi's other works. It is a great episodic without any overarching story but still manages to great without any repitetive formula like other episodic shows and has slowly plot progress. But Urusei Yatsura is worthy of my favorite show.
Rating- 9/10
Alternate Recommendations - Maison Ikkoku(same creator, same feeling but also better romance), Kimagure Orange Road(supernatural powers and also episodic plot. But kimagure orange road has more plot progress)
stmwg01
Quick take: UY is a classic anime from the brain of Rumiko Takahashi. It's bizarre premise, bizarre atmosphere and even more bizarre characters are easy to fall in love with. The re-watch factor for this show is high due to the long length and the sheer number of crazy things that happen. There's a couple things you need to know off the bat about UY, first, it isn't just about the relationship between Lum and Ataru, but rather the affect that Lum has on the entirety of Tomobiki. You'll find that there are smaller stories within the overall series and that all can trace their rootsdirectly back to Lum being present in their lives.
The second thing you should know is that this series enjoys use of bat-shit crazy. There are plenty of moments where you'll laugh. Times when the town is completely destroyed only to have the residents wake up the next day and act as if nothing happened. Times when characters do stupid things or act over-the-top. This is all part of the show. At first it honestly annoyed me, but as the show went on, it provided some great laughs, some sad moments and some angry moments. This show can take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions if you let it.
The final thing you need to know is that, in my opinion, you'll need to digest much of the show before you can appreciate it. There are episodes I loathed. Movies within the series that I didn't like. However, once I had gotten to the end, my perspective on the entire series, including those parts I didn't like, shifted. Even my view on every character shifted as I made my way through the final bits of the story and while some people are confused or angry about the ending, there is beauty in the simplicity of it. Two promises that perfectly encapture the main characters and their feelings.
At the end of the day, UY is an incredible show with a lot of characters that can annoy you, situations that make you frustrated and a healthy dose of situational humor thrown in. Even though I watched it for the first time as an adult, there was an instant nostalgia that bubbled up inside of me. UY will forever remain one of my favorites. Highly suggested to anyone and everyone.
CVArk
I know this is going to sound like epic hyperbole, but please bear with me in the course of this review. My life has been subjected to a number of happy coincidences, so crazy in their randomness and so profound and wonderful in their effects. One of them was the one-in-a-million chance in which I met my girlfriend (we kinda "met cute," and now we're preparing to live together), and another was a chance meeting during one summer with someone who would go on to become my first full-time employer, a great help in getting into law school, and a treasured personal mentor. Chancing upon ANDdeciding to give Urusei Yatsura - Those Obnoxious Aliens - was just another such astronomical, happy coincidence. Again, I don't mean to make it sound so overly dramatic, but when I found it randomly flipping through AniDb.net, I was strongly tempted to shrug and move on. I had been serially burning through anime and manga series for over a year, and I needed a real diamond in the rough to rekindle my interest in Japanese media.
I don't remember what ultimately pushed me to go ahead and actually watch my first episode, but that first episode was all I needed to get hooked. I loved the satirical, esoteric Japanese humor. I felt like I was watching a Japanese Simpsons, and somehow I feel like I've learned quite a bit about classical Japanese culture despite never having taken a class, and surely more than I've felt I learned from previous series. I also loved the general tone of the series, especially in the first hundred or so episodes (directed by Mamoru Oshii), because it reminded me of American cartoons from the '50s and '60s if they had been willing to be a little more daring with their bawdy and scatalogical humor.
There's a WHOLE ton of stuff I want to say about this series that could span volumes, but I want to make this review relatively brief, so I will simply say that if you want a more in-depth breaking down of my thoughts on UY, please check out my blog, which has a link to my OTHER blog, where I've written a full review. But why, if I've already written that, would I write a review here? Well, there were a couple of thoughts I left out while writing that one, because I was only about 1/6th of the way through the series at the time. Now I'm done with the TV series proper and working on the OVAs and the last couple movies, and I have a few new observations I want to share now that I've seen all 195 episodes.
Man, 195 episodes. The only show I've ever watched that was even AS long was Friends, and no cartoon series I've watched ever came close! So suffice it to say that my life for an entire month has consisted of Ataru, Lum, Shinobu, Mendou, and the rest of the wacky denizens of Tomobiki. Having finished the series, now more than ever I can say that the characters actually are the strongest factor the show has going for it, despite what many may say about the lack of character development. For a series that totally screwed around with the chronology of the original manga, they manage to flesh out and grow the characters to a surprising degree, all while maintaining at least a loose semblance of chronological progression. And although I hated troublemakers like Lum's cousin Ten or her rival Ran - at first - I was amazed to find that by the end, they had all grown on me. As much as I groaned at how creepy and cruel Megane and Lum's Stormtroopers were in the beginning, I now consider them some of my favorite characters in the entire series. They are hilarious, and UY would not be the same without them, just as much as can be said for its two leads.
I mentioned in my blog review that one of UY's strong selling points with me was the art style. It's not always consistent (although it does get consistently better over the years), but I found it refreshing, and now that I'm done I can say this with even more certainty. I love shows like Clannad, Haruhi Suzumiya, and Shining Tears x Wind, but I feel like anime art styles have become increasingly homogenous since the '90s. UY's art style grabbed me immediately because it reminded me of the original Dragon Ball, a very nostalgic series for me and among my all-time favorites. And I was not disappointed; from the silly to the epic, the animators proved themselves very versatile, but also very fresh (probably why they burned out towards the end though). If you need a break from modern anime (and don't get me wrong, 99% of my favorite anime was from the last decade or so), I urge you to try an episode or two.
Also fascinating, now that I've seen the entirety of the main series, is I've realized what a seminal work this is. I know they didn't pull things out of thin air and I'm sure even the original source material was building off of old tropes, but since finishing the main body of the series, I took a break from UY to sample a couple of more recent shows. I nearly died of surprise and amusement as I realized just how many modern anime tropes stemmed from characters, plots, and situations implemented in UY. The ridiculously wealthy family with its own private army and a property containing half of Japan? The Mendou clan. (Semi-)ecchi harem comedy? Willful harem seeker Ataru and every attractive female in the known universe. Magical girlfriend? Why, Lum of course. Moe and tsundere traits in a female lead? Lum again. Bishounen played for laughs? Mendou Shutaro and Ataru both have their moments. It's also very cool to see what I imagine are some older tropes that fell out of fashion after the period during which this series had its run. It's kinda like watching an old time movie, where you can get a sense for an entirely different set of cultural circumstances because the stuff they're making fun of is hardly mentioned in contemporary series.
Don't get me wrong; this series is not perfect, and not always totally enjoyable. One thing I got tired of pretty early on was the music. Not that the music was bad or anything, and actually there was quite a bit of variety, but that variety is almost for naught considering how many episodes they stretch them out for. Maybe that indicates it's more a symptom of the series being extremely long than anything to do with the music, but take it as you will. There are also definitely points (and unfortunately sometimes streaks) at which the episodes do drag on, because the humor doesn't work or it feels incongruent, or hey, maybe you're tired of Ataru giving Lum sh*t or Lum putting up with his sh*t. Luckily these are usually followed by marathons of episodes that are leagues better, and on the whole I would say UY's enjoyment factor and overall worth is greater than the sum of its parts. It's an experience I will never forget, and to which I hope to return again and again.
Thank you for reading my review. Please, please watch this series. As another reviewer said, it's a crying shame that otherwise open-minded anime lovers and general lovers of entertainment will pass on this one just because it's older. The modern stuff is great and is sure to get better with time, but classics like these deserve to be remembered and treasured, because 'classic' is a title well-deserved for Urusei Yatsura. Happy (girl) hunting!
Astral_baixo
I'm not much of an anime or manga reviewer, but I think I'll at least review my favorite anime. Urusei Yatsura, by the writer Rumiko Takahashi, the same author of Inuyasha, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma½, etc... I haven't seen any of Rumiko's works yet besides UY (Urusei Yatsura) and Maison Ikokku (I'm still watching a little bit), but easily Urusei Yatsura and my favorite anime is basically a RomCom (Romantic Comedy) out of the curve, addressing themes that for the time (1980) I believe were quite difficult to portray. I love the way the characters interact with each other, no matter the place or situation they work very welland are extremely funny, even if it's a closed room with 4 of the main characters, I'm sure there will be a good episode, I don't think Rumiko is the master of romance (at least she doesn't seem to be in this work), but the way she develops Lum and Ataru, 2 of the main characters that move the story of Urusei Yatsura is incredibly GOOD.
Even though at many moments Ataru is an obnoxious person that you will probably hate at the beginning of the anime, you easily begin to understand how this creature's head works, a young man who hasn't grown up that much.
He is a tantruming, childish, annoying, exaggerated and above all a kind person.
Many moments the series tries to show more this side of Ataru, a gentle person but with many problems, either in the dialogue at the beginning of movie 2 (Urusei Yatsura: Beatiful Dreamer) or even in an episode that focuses mainly on this point, episode 157, MY favorite episode. Ataru starts as a "normal" young man, his first characteristic presented is that he is a womanizer, that kind of guy who can't see a woman on the street and keeps looking or hitting on her, the anime already plays in your face that he is not a very nice person, since his first scene is this one and also ending a relationship with Shinobu, one of the main characters of the series as well.
Besides showing this, shall we say, bad side of Ataru, episode 1 also shows a more striving side of him as soon as he has to face Lum in a competition for land. He gets totally inspired and tries his best to win this competition, which besides saving the land, the character Shinobu would marry him, and this leaves him totally inspired.
Lum is presented as a simple character, an invader. She has come to dominate the earth along with her father.
It doesn't seem to add or change much in the narrative of the anime (this was one of the original ideas, until Takahashi saw the power she had with a character as influential as Lum).
With Ataru managing to win the competition we see that Lum was confusing things, since Ataru was shouting the whole "fight" that he was going to get married, Lum believed he was talking to her, thus forcing Ataru to marry her for the rest of his life, and if he opposed, she would use her electrical powers on him.
In the remake, Urusei Yatsura All-Stars (2022) it becomes much more apparent that Lum falls in love with Ataru at the moment of his victory (aside from the confusion of the marriage proposal) because he was totally struggling, she was enjoying seeing how he struggled in the end, even after taking shocks and shocks still managing to beat a flying opponent in a catching competition is admirable.
Lum is a simple character, but it works very well for the narrative and the relationship between her and Ataru, it is easy to hate Ataru in the beginning for mistreating Lum, while she loves him very much, but her role in this part of the anime is to be an invader, she completely changes the not very good routine of Ataru's life and even shocks him if he does what he always did before, which was to hit on other girls. For Ataru this attitude is TERRIBLE, he completely loses his "peace" to commit these types of acts and furthermore loses all first desire in a figure like Lum, who the first appearance he literally is drooling over her, but later can no longer stand her, this changes with time and the advancement of the relationship between these two.
Lum is a character that means almost everything that Ataru is not, so he doesn't like her much when he knows that, she is beautiful, wanting it or not she is rich, she is super smart, she is popular, features that are the complete opposite of Ataru, who just for this already doesn't like the idea of having to be with someone like that, even more thank you, Lum even not being literal something that means perfection, she is something like that in the vision of Ataru.
But things change, in the meantime THERE ARE charismatic and important characters to the plot, one of the main ones being Mendo, a rich and extremely popular person who clashes with Ataru for being "married" to a person as beautiful as Lum, and he ends up falling in love with her too. The way Ataru and Mendo interact I would say is incredible, the subtle way that the anime shows that they are extremely similar in some aspects and admirable is extremely funny in many moments, if I am going to quote every thing with each character I will stay hours and hours writing, so I will try to focus only on Ataru (which is the most complicated character of the anime) and Lum.
Ataru as said above is a child, he is attached to his parents who don't like him very much, sometimes they seem to love him but many times they say they wish he hadn't been born.
The figure of Lum in his life is a complete whirlwind, but with time he ends up falling in love with her, but in a way that I at least have never seen before.
He doesn't change. He continues being this guy who wants as he says ALL THE WOMAN IN THE WORLD, an unbearable person many times and reluctant to Lum, but much of this is just a lie he creates for himself in order not to accept his true feelings, something he is very afraid of, he is afraid of losing his normal life in exchange for loving Lum, but at the same time he can't live without her, many times he has the opportunity to get out of this, to at least in some moments live his dream even if it is something quick and without Lum being able to affect it, but he doesn't. He can't live without her, so much so that he doesn't do it.
He can't live without her, so much that when she disappears for a few days to do something off Earth (something he didn't know), he gets into a depressive state, he doesn't sleep properly anymore, doesn't react normally anymore, stops caring about the other girls he used to hit on so much, basically he loses all meaning in his life at that moment.
He may be the biggest asshole in many moments, but it is undeniable how much he loves Lum, in many moments he gives up his dreams and motivations for Lum's happiness.
In OVA 3, Inaba the Dream Maker, there is a perfect scene about this, watch it and you will see.
Even at the end of Urusei Yatsura, they basically promise each other that they will stay in this game of cat and mouse until the end of their lives, basically a promise to live together until their last days, it is beautiful, touching and very funny the way it is done.
Lum at first glance, at least I understand, that she fell in love with Ataru because she saw how hard he worked for something.
Lum comes from a relationship that seemed to work basically only one way, she gave and the other guy (who appears in the first episodes of the series) received, it didn't seem something reciprocal (even if, in fact, it was, because the guy is a strange person anyway), when she saw how much Ataru was striving for something, she saw in that someone who could strive for her, someone who was worth the effort she made (let's say that with a lot of work she succeeded).
Their relationship itself throughout the series shows positive changes but nothing too exaggerated, in no moment there is a proposal for dating or marriage after the first episode, basically they are already in this complicated relationship since forever, wanting it or not, many ideas that Ataru was reluctant as dating or walking together, he just accepts and even gives up many things that he likes to go places with her, even in all moments of the series he continues with the parade of hitting on several women and things like that, basically it's all lies, so much so that in moments that and between that and Lum, he leaves without blinking for Lum.
Ataru is a child who fights for forgetting his birthday (and at the same time doesn't mind almost dying because of her, Lum reaches her limit in the fifth movie of the series, which is the canonical ending of Urusei Yatsura, where even though they both know that they are having a tantrum, they don't accept to end it all with an apology or something like that, Lum WANTS to hear an I love you or a proof of true love, even though she knows that he loves her. Ataru doesn't want to say he loves her, because he is a liar for most of the anime, in the situation that the end of the fifth movie finds itself (which is pretty crazy and complicated) Ataru just saying "I love you" would solve all the problems of the movie in the blink of an eye, That would be too easy and Lum would never know if he is lying or not, Ataru decides to choose to prove that he loves her with actions, since in many moments of the series and the movie itself he only lies, his actions are what matter here, him saying it or not, would not be enough for him, and Lum would have doubts of his love.
Whether he gets that or not, you will only find out by watching the canonical movie/ending of Uruei Yatsura, in the manga it takes place between chapters 356 and 366, the final 10 chapters.
My experience with Urusei Yatsura was INCREDIBLE, I loved every part of this story and went from hating Ataru and loving him many times (being one of my favorite characters of all time), the way the jokes work takes the term comedy much more seriously than romance, even having both genres here, the comedy stands out A LOT.
I strongly recommend that you see this work, besides the GIANT influence it has on the current culture, influencing basically all RomCom works and the anime industry to grow strongly, a masterpiece by Rumiko Takahashi with an impeccable director, Mamoru Oshii who directed the anime adaptation until episode 106, after that comes another extremely talented director, Yamazaki Kazuo, with many episodes of the anime alone fitting perfectly into the story, sometimes even being better than the original manga, so that's it, if you've read everything up to here, watch this INCREDIBLE work and thank you for giving me a little of your time.
The remake of Urusei Yatsura is very good so far, but the dubbing, direction and animation of the 1981 version, besides the special episodes that probably will not be adapted for the remake because they are not in the manga, if you have time, watch the old version, even though it is big it is very good and I believe it is the definitive version of Urusei Yatsura.
Good evening! The way the jokes work takes the term comedy much more seriously than romance, even though we have both genres here, the comedy stands out a LOT.
I strongly recommend that you see this work, besides the GIANT influence it has on the current culture, influencing basically all RomCom works and the anime industry to grow strongly, a masterpiece by Rumiko Takahashi with an impeccable director, Mamoru Oshii who directed the anime adaptation until episode 106, after that comes another extremely talented director, Yamazaki Kazuo, with many episodes of the anime alone fitting perfectly into the story, sometimes even being better than the original manga, so that's it, if you've read everything up to here, watch this INCREDIBLE work and thank you for giving me a little of your time.
The remake of Urusei Yatsura is very good so far, but the dubbing, direction and animation of the 1981 version, besides the special episodes that probably will not be adapted for the remake because they are not in the manga, if you have time, watch the old version, even though it is big it is very good and I believe it is the definitive version of Urusei Yatsura.
Good night!
Hodinky
Long series can live or die on the strength of their cast, and Urusei Yatsura has one of the best around. Provided you have the patience to sit through the first twenty episodes, and the endurance to remain interested for the last one hundred and seventy five of them. It's going to take a lot of resilience and nobody is going to blame you for giving up before the end. Yet this series is a highly influential classic and the least you could do is indulge in it a little, even if it's only as an introduction before preceding to the second movie spin-off, theseminal 'Beautiful Dreamer'.
Urusei Yatsura is the story of a lecherous high school student called Ataru Moroboshi and his alien wife, Lum Invader. The partnership is less than mutual though because while Ataru does care for Lum and even finds her attractive, he is unwilling to settle for her alone. He also struggles with commitment, starting to lose interest in Lum as soon as she starts returning his advances. He's a bit of an archetype, clearly the inspiration behind many a leading harem character. But while many of those characters are 'innocent' or 'naive' young men who find themselves wandering or collapsing on top of perverse situations, Ataru actually seeks these out. What this costs in the audience's sympathy is more than made up for in laughs. We can even respect him more than most harem leads simply because he isn't an utterly spineless git.
His spouse, while a weaker character, is an even bigger anime icon. Even anime fans who've never heard of Urusei Yatsura are likely to have seen Lum Invader portrayed or referenced somewhere along the line. If you ever catch a character in a tigerstripe bikini with horns or green hair, it's a nudge to Urusei Yatsura's leading lady. She is sometimes said to be the original tsundere, and although that term has become whittled down almost to a formula at this point, in Lum's day a tsundere personality still came across as human instead of robotic. Unfortunately she retains a number of character flaws common in female anime characters: particularly her excessive doting on Ataru even though he does not treat her with much respect. The premise of the show is dependent on this, but even so all the best episodes are those which deviate from it: either by dealing with an entirely separate matter, or in the rare moments where Ataru's feelings for Lum are central to the plot.
Before Ataru met Lum, he had been dating a girl called Shinobu. In contrast to the docility of Lum, Shinobu is an aggressive girl with an incendiary temper. Earlier episodes focus on Ataru's efforts to continue his relationship with Shinobu, but after some time she finds a new boyfriend: Mendou Shutaro. The eldest son of an exorbitantly rich family, he demands respect at all times even though his behaviour seldom warrants it. Mendou is the strongest member of the cast. Things are never truly 'funny' until his character is introduced, and most of the series humour is derived from his rivalry with Ataru. His vast wealth also provides the opportunity to introduce some ridiculous elements into the show, like his family's private army and castle. It also creates a bit of satire, since for all his pretentions, Mendou is every bit as common as Ataru is. And at least Ataru is aware of his own disgraceful behaviour.
These are the four leading cast members, but there are many more great characters in the show. Mr and Mrs Moroboshi, who Ataru causes little else but grief, are a good example. Ataru's mother in particular has always got a scathing comment to make about her disappointing son. At other times, Ataru's classmates are brought to the forefront. These are young men who are so dedicated to Lum's happiness, that they force Ataru to continue dating her even though they are in love with her themselves. This is to say nothing of the wide variety of alien characters included. Altogether, they make one of the strongest casts in anime and one would have to look at The Simpsons or King of the Hill to find anything that comes close.
But what makes the series difficult to sit through if the cast is so good? There are several reasons. Each episode has a self-contained story and the characters develop very slowly throughout the series. This is perfect for just dipping into every once in a while, as you would if you were watching it on television, but doesn't work so well when you watch a few episodes back to back. It soon starts to become a struggle not to get bored with the lack of progress in the story. This problem is acute in the earlier episodes, which are each split into two separate stories, placing even greater limitations on what any individual story can achieve. However these earlier episodes do have one benefit, which is they allow the creators to introduce most of the very large cast relatively quickly. It is not until around episode twenty, when this split episode structure is abandoned and longer episode format is used that the series really begins to hit its stride.
When each episode is a self contained story, it's also inevitable that some of them will be better than others. As was alluded to above, the stronger episodes tend to be those which feature the relationship between Ataru and Mendou, or Ataru and Lum as major plot elements. The weakest episodes are those with a plot involving one-shot characters. Obviously such episodes are always without consequence and are little more than a distraction, or 'filler' if you will.
Urusei Yatsura was made during the first half of the 1980s, with the spin off movies running all the way into the 90s. During that time period, most Japanese animation underwent a great deal of development and became significantly more "realistic" in terms of proportions. For example, compare the 1979 series of Mobile Suit Gundam with the 1985 Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. These two series are roughly contemporary to the start and end of Urusei Yatsura retrospectively and are both from the same series, yet they look radically different. Mobile Suit Gundam almost resembles an American cartoon, while in Zeta there has been a clear effort to make them resemble real people as closely as possible. Such a deviation in style would not seem appropriate in a single series, so improvements within Urusei Yatsura are more modest. Improvements on detail and colouring without tampering with the original, slightly cartoonish art style.
The animation is also simplified. It's common for endless shounen series like this to feature animation that is less than stellar, and while there's nothing groundbreaking here, at least there aren't many scenes where bad animation becomes a problem. When it does stinginess is usually the cause, rather than laziness or ineptitude. Most of the errors do not really stand out, instead a few details are spared when perhaps they shouldn't have been, or a certain sequence will feel like a cell dragged across a background rather than proper 'animation'. It could however be worse, and indeed most would be expecting worse.
Urusei Yatsura may be visually unimpressive, but its soundtrack is spectacular. Everything from the opening and ending themes, to the background music, to the little sound effect when Lum starts flying is fantastic. The main themes are some catchy 80s pop tunes, the best of which is technically not from the TV series. The main theme of UY Movie 2: Beautiful Dreamer is "Ai wa Boomerang" and it's a thumping pop tune with a slightly melancholic tone, and I often sing it while showering. The background music and the sound effects all work from a similar palette which complements the series perfectly, capturing the sci-fi wackiness of it all by referencing older science fiction shows like Doctor Who and Star Trek.
Unfortunately there is only so much a good soundtrack can redeem an often enjoyable but overlong and at times slightly tedious anime. Some episodes of Urusei Yatsura are comedy gold, but many of them are just a bit too boring to stomach for long. B nobody said that you must watch all of it, and there's little point in denying yourself something good because of any unhealthy obsession with completing everything you start. Anime is a bit like gambling: you should stop when the fun stops.
And if you're still feel unsure about starting this show, keep in mind that Urusei Yatsura is one of the most influential anime ever made. If you do not bother to at least familiarise yourself with it, your ability to enjoy anime will suffer slightly: obvious references will escape you; old ideas will seem novel. Your understanding of this medium, which is already difficult to comprehend, will always be incomplete. You'll also be missing out on Beautiful Dreamer, one of the better anime films ever made and the 'true' directorial debut of Mamoru Oshii. Last but not least, my darling, you'll also miss out on a series which at its best, is one of the finest comedy anime ever made.
cinnapupp
This is the one you should be watching. Disregard the Remake entirely. SOME SPOILERS AHEAD Although they really don’t matter much in an anime like this.Urusei Yatsura for what it is, it is a great anime. Funny with a colorfully cynical cast with the only difference being the beautiful Lum. The synopsis describes episode one but what the rest of the anime is, is about Lum and Ataru living together and having lots of wacky adventures. As they get closer and start to care for each other more and more, even if it doesn’t seem like it. It’s small changes from episode 10 the end of the series. Starting out from hating Lum to never wanting her to leave.
It’s really a romantic comedy to the fullest extent and the best episodes are the concept episodes (ex. And then there were none) and the episodes featuring Lum and Ataru’s relationship (I.e After You've gone).
Funnier than the manga with the addition of Perm, Chibi, Megane, and Kakugari. If there were antagonist to the anime besides the teacher, Mendo would be my next candidate. He’s a very funny yet disturbed guy obsessed with Lum (like half of the cast). It’s a fun time and meant to be watched overtime, the flaws of this anime is that it is very repetitive and adapts some chapters out of order.
The soundtrack is one of the best I’ve heard and the animation picks up after episode 50. I’d recommend skipping some episodes though, specifically Ten episodes. 8/10.
overfiend1976
This was my very first anime, which I began watching in the early summer of 1983. I figured it would be appropriate to post this here, since this marks my 30th year of anime. I'm fairly certain I was one of the only kids in the States in the early 80's who knew that Japan also made cartoons...oh crap...does that make me some kind of anime hipster?! *sigh* Anyhoo, I'm a huge fan of Rumiko Takahashi, and I'm quite happy that she introduced me into a wild world of fantasy, fun, romance and amazing storytelling. Kudos.
Fran_Man
In 2025 with anime becoming ever more popular in America and other places I still find myself surprised that certain great anime go unnoticed and underrated. Despite its massive influence on the medium, Urusei Yatsura would be one of these anime. Urusei Yatsura is the grandfather of comedy anime that completely changed the medium and its ripples of influence can still be seen today. The premise of the show is rather simple. An alien girl named Lum comes down from space and falls in love with a flirty high school boy named Atrau who wants nothing to do with her and only wants to getwith other girls. Now you combine a glutinous monk, a mega rich snob, a sexy priest/nurse, a girl with super strength, a cute girl who is secretly menacing, and tons of obnoxious aliens and you have the show. While some of these characters may sound cliche today, these tropes were fresh at the time of creation and basically established many of the most significant anime staples. Lum practically invented waifu culture! When watching the show every joke feels fresh and not oversaturated like many modern comedies. The cast of characters are able to operate in both wild sci-fi settings and down to Earth high school settings which is a testament to Rumiko Takahashi’s ability to write good characters.
Besides establishing most major character archetypes for romcoms. Urusei Yatsura can also be credited with helping change the animation style of this period from more slender and sharp characters of 70s anime to more rounded and soft characters as we know today. As far as the quality of animation goes, it’s charming and colorful and improves greatly as the show progresses. Of course the animation was limited in some aspects because of the time of production, so certain scenes can appear dated. Overall it’s very well done for its time and can be looked back at nostalgically.
Urusei Yatsura is also credited with being one of the first anime to include pop songs in its soundtrack. Yet another feat which started a trend that still exists today. Now anime and pop are synonymous. The soundtrack is filled with catchy songs that get stuck in your head and make you feel like you are in 1980s Japan. During UY’s original run in Japan, they made great sales selling the openings as records.
One of the most interesting aspects of the show is its use of surrealism. Throughout many episodes we see strange dream sequences, eeriness, as well as off putting settings and actions. This uneasiness is enchanting and makes the show much more interesting than a simple comedy. You can see the staff had greater visions and really cared about their work. The surrealism can be seen to a greater extent in the second movie. The ability for the characters to be used in instances of comedy and in more artistic ways shows the versatility of the characters and the genius of the writing. The show was ahead of its time in many ways.
Many of the characters in UY are based on Japanese mythology. The most obvious being Lum and her family who are oni, which are ogres or demons in Japanese folklore who wear tiger stripes and have horns. The stories also follow Japanese myth, some of which are more subtle and others are obvious retelling of classic tales. Even the characters who are not directly based on a myth have stereotypical Japanese qualities. Mendou is basically a modern day samurai who hails from an ancient clan and Megane’s demeanor is extremely serious besides his philosophical outbursts which are oftentimes fascist sounding which is strangely fitting. Most characters also will unexpectedly display qualities of seriousness which plays into the stereotypical Japanese nature. This juxtaposition between seriousness and cometic is hilarious and done very well and can be seen in many comedy anime today.
The only quarrels I have with UY is the fact that the show lasts so long sometimes it can get repetitive. Many of the same jokes, gags , and storylines are repeated over the course of the very long series. I suppose this repetition of jokes was a sort of prelude to the trope and camp of comedic anime to come. The show is better watched over a longer course of time and not binged so that it feels more fresh. Without this show, anime would probably look completely different. It helped grow the medium in several different aspects. Not only is Urusei Yatsura historically significant but it is also an entertaining watch with memorable characters and episodes. UY is a show that made me feel nostalgic for a time when I wasn't yet born and a culture I’ve never been a part of. Anyone who considers themself a fan of anime should give Urusei Yatsura a watch.
Mishacchi
Urusei Yatsura is known for being the first masterpiece of Rumiko Takahashi, author of series like Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha and recently Kyoukai no Rinne. Originally her publications started in Shounen Sunday in 1978 with eventual releases, suddenly it was being published weekly thanks to the success it had. This also made it become an anime that was very liked, making it have 195 episodes, 12 OVAs and 6 movies. If we compare her work with others, Urusei Yatsura goes more to science fiction, since somehow she mixes things from spiritual worlds that the mangaka adds in her other works; anyways, this story talks about how agirl from another world gets involved with a lusty earthling.
On the other hand the comedy, along with the romance, are the basis to develop the story that ends up in very surreal moments.
As the main characters we have Lum, a girl that belongs to the Onis alien race (a mixture of human and ogre that have special abilities, like flying, throw fire, shapeshifting between others)
She's the princess of her planet. Without much common sense, she looks always extravagant and vivacious in front of any situation, thanks to how uninhibited she can get to be. Contrasting her joyful personality, she has some explosive temperament that is triggered by the jealous she suffers from her love relationship. Naive but smart, loyal and faithful to her boyfriend, are other adjectives to describe her. In addition her beauty, that is enhanced by the animal-printed bikini she always wears, makes other's guys heads turn to look at her.
Ataru Moroboshi is the male main character of the story. This guy since early age has developed a extreme like for females, that's why he's 90% of the time trying to chase girls.
He ended up engaged with Lum after defeating her in a battle to prevent the Oni's invasion. Lustful, stubborn, egocentric and ungrateful are part of her personality, But as the story develops, those "qualities" weaken while getting more dignifying ones.
There are other characters that maintain contact with the couple, making Ataru's life complicated since he's always stalked by Lum because he's a womanizer. Every situation ends bad for Ataru, he's usually beaten physically by the girls he chases, specially Lum that has the ability to throw electric charges, Lum's personality can be tedious for the audience (if we compare her to a contemporany character, I'd say Kirino from Oreimo).
The first episodes are short stories that don't get in too deep, that is coherent to the manga. But as the story advances, the complexity of each episode increases gradually until getting a plot thought to make each episode last the usual time of every regular anime.
Thanks to this, the characters start to develop. Each one gets new qualities that helps their participation in the anime strengthen. Naturally, one by one, get to transmit spontaneously to the audience their feelings, even in a simple way as the time goes. All define their profiles correctly until they reach the point the author desired.
This said, the structure gives us a easy-to-digest anime, without many complications, thanks to how light it is (considering the number of episodes), this, along with how funny it can get to be thanks to the crazy situations Ataru gets involved day by day.
Without a doubt, this Rumiko Takahashi's work is of utmost importance for sustaining the basis that will help her build in other stories posterior to this one. Even if we know that Rumiko tends to recycle elements of her other works, her creativity is capable of create original stories full of charisma. That's how she's recognized all around the world, because of the "innocent" comedy that she adds to all her masterpieces.
Urusei Yatsura is something so singular that you'll hardly find somewhere else. The charisma and comedy are unique and simple. If you enjoyed animes like Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha, you won't get disappointed to get a little Retro and watch this anime.
AverageRiceFan
Urusei Yatsura is just a really fun and hilarious anime and I don’t have much to say unlike a lot of other anime. For an anime adaptation of Rumikos first manga, it was really well done. Lum is a really solid and cute character, Atari starts off annoying but becomes a better character later on, Shinobu is awesome and she’s one of my favorites, oyuki, Benten, ran, Ryunosuke, and the other girls I love, Mendo is really funny, and I really like ton. Really the only character I didn’t like was Ryunosukes dad. The songs are bops and I listen to them regularly, and there’sreally no story, it’s just a fun episodic series that’s hard to hate. Urusei Yatsura is really good and I highly recommend it, especially if you like stuff like ranma, or any of rumikos works really
Gollonkus
It all began 18 months ago, as I was curiously browsing a selection of anime titles. Among them, one peaked my eye with interest, "Urusei Yatsura." I didn't know the anime in particular, but did know the Author's (Rumiko Takahashi) other works like Inuyasha and Ranma 1/2. I decided to give it a go, watching the 2nd Yatsura movie beautiful dreamer to start off the series with. Although I only hade a vague idea of who the characters were, I was intrigued with the film. By the end of it, I developed a bond with the series, it's wacky sense of humor mixed with thewide array of characters all fleshed out into glorified ideological persona's of the typical anime genre. I liked the chemistry between the characters that when mixed, resulted in a messy explosion known as "Urusei Yatsura." Soon I began to watch the series, and despite the early episodes being a mixed bag for me, I eventually found the later episodes to be quite enjoyable and funny at times. The series introduced more side characters later on, like "kotatsu neko" and "Ryuunosuke" which added flavor to the Yatsura mix. Despite my enjoyment with the series up until this point, I'll say that around the 100 episode mark (halfway though the series) is where Urusei Yatsura took a dip in quality.
Not to say it was awful or unwatchable, but it seemed that the overall plot for episodes, characters and animation seemed to not match the better quality of the earlier episodes. Characters like Cherry just felt more like a nuisance, only being used as the punching bag of the show as it continued. The plot seemed to be made up on the spot sometimes, whereas the earlier episodes focused on wacky but somewhat sensible stories, the later episodes just made anything up, sometimes not even relating to the series at all. The show broke away from it's identity, from what made Urusei Yatsura enjoyable. The plot for the later episodes could easily be plots for other anime's, they don't feel like they have the charm of Urusei Yatsura in it anymore.
What is Yatsura? Is it the chaotic plots narrated by stereotypical members of society who all represent a fundamental character trait? Is it an anime that breaks away from the typical Sci/Fi & Comedy anime tropes, instead personally defining its own genre? Is it an anime or a case study about the inner psychological expressions of a married couples relationship? "What is Urusei Yatsura?" is a question that the later half of the series fails to answer. 18 Months later and I finished the series, bidding my farewell to episode 195. 1 1/2 years it took me to finish, 195 episodes I had to watch, yet it still felt like the series had been already finished a long time ago.
The finale to the series wasn't an ending, it's when the documentation of the Yatsura universe ended. The series would continue with more theatrical movies and OVA's, but slowly fizzled out overtime. the last Yatsura movie was released 30+ years ago, and despite some recognition the series has got since then, being the starting legacy of Rumiko Takahashi's career, it has been nothing more or nothing less than what it is today.
Urusei Yatsura may be defined as your stereotypical once poplar 80's anime, responsible for setting up a lot of tropes and themes that would still be used in Anime nowadays, but for me it's more than that. Urusei Yatsura is a pillar of what would later build the foundation for what anime has become in the modern time, leaving a small but ever lasting impact on the anime industry.
So overall, I do recommend watching the series- have fun!
