Urusei Yatsura

Urusei Yatsura (うる星やつら) is a well-known 1970s and 1980s manga and anime series created by Rumiko Takahashi. The title is a complicated Japanese pun which very roughly translates as "those obnoxious aliens". The English translation of the manga, published by Viz Communications, is titled Lum, after the main character. The more recent volumes published by Viz are titled The Return of Lum.

The animated version spanned six films, 218 TV episodes, and ten OVAs, and is released, in the United States, by AnimEigo and US Manga Corps.

Characters

Names are in Western order, with the surname after the given name.

• Lum (ラム, voiced by Fumi Hirano), an alien princess of the Oni, capable of flying and generating massive electrical discharges. Lum accepts the accidental proposal of Ataru, but soon comes to truly love him, despite his constant flirting and insistence on seeing other girls. Consistently calls Ataru "Darling!" Lum's personality can range from being incredibly cute to apocaliptically angry, and Ataru has weathered it all. Lum is believed to have been inspired in part by 70s model Agnes Lum.

• Ataru Moroboshi (諸星あたる Moroboshi Ataru) (voiced by Toshio Furukawa), the most lecherous boy in all of creation, Ataru was born during a major earthquake, on Friday the 13th and Butsumetsu (considered to be the unluckiest day of the week in the Japanese calendar). Ataru is generally considered, mostly by Cherry, to be an incredibly unlucky boy. Also, although he rarely admits it, Ataru truly loves Lum, but is not yet ready to give up his "girl-hunting". Ataru is also remarkably intelligent, albeit somewhat limited in application, as demonstrated by his numerous schemes to escape Lum's attention. He also possesses inhuman endurance and determination in the pursuit of his goals.

• Shuutaro Mendou (面堂終太郎 Mendō Shūtaro) (voiced by Akira Kamiya), the heir of the militaristic mega-corporation Mendou Conglomerate, and the "richest boy in Japan" (his family owns 51% of the country). His love for Lum clashes with her faithfulness to Ataru, which makes them bitter rivals. Mendou is also deathly afraid of the dark, except when being watched by a pretty girl. All in all, Mendou and Ataru are remarkably alike, a fact that neither one really cares to admit. Mendou's name is spelled Shutaro Mendo in the English manga.

• Jariten (voiced by Kazuko Sugiyama). Commonly called just Ten (テン), he is the cousin of Lum, still a toddler, but can fly and breathe fire. Ten came to Earth to find out more about Lum's husband, but after meeting him concludes that Ataru is unworthy and sets about trying to convince Lum to dump him through various schemes, usually by trying to demonstrate how much of a loser Ataru really is. Strangely enough, when pretty girls are around, Ten's behavior is remarkably similar to Ataru, although he masks it well in the guise of "I'm just an innocent baby."

• Shinobu Miyake (三宅しのぶ Miyake Shinobu)(voiced by Saeko Shimazu), is Ataru's girlfriend in the beginning. However, Ataru's constant flirting with other girls, and the arrival of Lum, who loudly proclaims her exclusive rights to her "Darling", soon brings this to an end. Once Mendou appears, she quickly decides that her attentions are best focused on him instead, but his infatuation with Lum rarely allows any satisfaction there. Shinobu's frustration often fuels her incredible strength, and she is often seen throwing about tables and other large, heavy objects.

• Ryuunosuke Fujinami (藤波竜之介 Fujinami Ryūnosuke) (voiced by Mayumi Tanaka), a girl raised as a boy, Ryuunosuke wants nothing more than to allow her feminine side to express itself. Sadly, her upbringing makes this nearly impossible as she finds herself falling back into her tomboy ways over and over again. The attentions of Ataru, the only guy who seems to be able to recognize her as a girl, at least at first, certainly doesn't help, and often makes her question her steadfast resolve. She is often at odds with her father, who steadfastly refuses to acknowledge the obvious and loudly insists that Ryuunosuke is every bit the man he raised him to be.

• Sakuranbo (voiced by Ichiro Nagai). Always called just Cherry, he is a demented Buddhist monk regularly just popping up (sometimes literally) when least expected. Cherry is convinced that Ataru's bad luck is absolutely without limit, and that it is his personal duty to ensure that the boy is protected, even when he doesn't want to be. Unfortunately, it often seems that Cherry may actually have a point, considering the endless string of misfortunes that plague Ataru. Cherry is also known for his enormous appetite and is always looking for an opportunity to cadge free food from some unfortunate soul. Cherry somewhat resembles a mushroom, both in stature and appearance.

• Sakura (voiced by Machiko Washio). Cherry's niece, Sakura is also the Tomobiki High school nurse and a Shinto priestess. Unlike her uncle, Sakura is tall, slender and physically attractive, which makes her a common target of the lecherous boys of the school. Like her uncle, Sakura possesses an enormous appetite and has been known, despite never seeming to gain an ounce, to out-eat him.

• Lum's Stormtroopers. Four students (Megane, Chibi, Perm and Kakugari) from the same class as Lum, they are best friends but often end up fighting amongst themselves when the situation involves Lum. Megane has the strongest personality of the four and generally directs the schemes of the group to gain Lum's attention (mostly for himself).

• Onsen-Mark (voiced by Michihiro Ikemizu). The teacher of the "Classroom of failure". A sad, middle-aged man, whose only interest is to teach at Tomobiki High, but fails due to the constant interruptions during class, when the classroom itself is not destroyed by Lum, Ten or Shinobu. His name can be roughly translated as "Thermal Waters", a sign of the back of his jacket.

• Ryoko Mendou (面堂了子 Mendō Ryōko) (voiced by Mami Koyama). The younger sister of Shuutaro, Ryoko is a spoiled girl whose only amusement seems to be the creation and execution of elaborate plans intended to drive her older brother mad. Her schemes frequently drag Lum and her friends along. Ryoko Mendou's surname is spelled Mendo in the English manga.

Urusei Yatsura is home to an enormous ensemble cast, including Mr. Invader, Lum's Mother, Ataru's Mother and Father, Ran, Benten, Oyuki, Princess Kurama, the karasu tengu and a range of other characters, including many cameo appearances from Japanese mythology and history.

More information about the characters and series can be found at Tomobiki-Cho.

The Story

The series is very light-hearted in nature and often quite bizarre. It concerns the adventures of a group of teenagers on a slightly fantastical and often ridiculously surreal version of Earth. The story centers around an extremely lecherous and very unlucky high-school boy, Ataru Moroboshi, and bikini clad alien princess Lum. Lum is in love with Ataru because he accidentally proposed to her, even though he chases after every humanoid female other than Lum. (It's not that she's ugly, it's just that he lost interest in her as soon as she started chasing him) The series is mainly episodic, with only occasional plots spanning more than one chapter/episode. Each chapter/episode usually concerns Ataru's ill-luck, his lechery (and Lum's jealousy thereof), or the wide variety of weird humans and aliens who love, hate, or simply meddle with Lum and Ataru.

The Movies

Only You

The first movie, entitled Only You. The main characters are:

• Lum, an alien princess who can fire out bolts of lightning
• Ataru Moroboshi, a lecherous human, with whom Lum is in love
• Elle, another alien princess, who is in charge of Planet Elle
• Benten, Lum's friend

The basic plot of the first film is that the five-year-old Ataru steps on Elle's shadow during an impromptu game of shadow-tag; in Elle's culture, this is viewed as a marriage proposal. Twelve years later, Elle returns to Earth in order to marry Ataru - by which time not only had he forgotten the events of his childhood, but he was also going out with Lum. The rest of the plot focuses on Lum's attempts to prevent the marriage.

Beautiful Dreamer

The second movie is titled Beautiful Dreamer. The main characters are:

• Lum, an alien princess who can fire bolts of electricity.
• Ataru Moroboshi, the lecherous loser, loved by Lum, and hated (?) by everyone else.
• Mujaki, the dream demon.
• And the rest of the usual cast.

In the second film, the students of Tomobiki High are not surprised to find the day repeating over and over again. And then things start getting really strange. Possibly the best loved of all the Urusei Yatsura films, and certainly one of the most memorable.

Beautiful Dreamer is also the only Urusei Yatsura film released by US Manga Corps and not AnimEigo.

Remember My Love

The third movie, entitled Remember My Love. The main characters are:

• Lum, an alien princess who has fallen for Ataru, much to everyone else's dismay.
• Ataru Moroboshi, Lum's Darling forever trying, and failing, to escape her grasp.
• Ruu, a mysterious boy bent on fixing Lum's life.
• Lahla, Ruu's tutor, who tries to get things set straight.

The third film finds Ataru transformed into a pink hippopotamus, which sends Lum chasing after the the wicked magician responsible, with catastrophic results. With Lum gone, her friends decide that there is no reason to remain, and so Tomobiki slowly returns to normal.

Lum the Forever

The fourth movie, entitled Lum the Forever. The main characters are:

• Lum
• Ataru Moroboshi
• Tarozakura, the great cherry tree.
• And the rest of the usual cast.

The fourth film is the subject of much debate, as it is probably the hardest of all the Urusei Yatsura films to fully understand. Many consider it to be a multi-layered masterpiece, while others feel it is little more than a confused and rambling mess.

The basic plot centers around the great cherry tree Tarozakura and what happens after it is cut down during the making of a movie.

The Final Chapter

The fifth movie, entitled The Final Chapter. The main characters are:

• Lum
• Ataru Moroboshi
• Rupa, Lum's fiancé
• Carla, is said to be Rupa's betrothed.

The fifth film is an animated adaptation of the final story of the manga, in which Lum and Ataru must repeat the game of tag played out in the first episode of the series, or the Earth will be destroyed. Further, should Ataru lose, Lum will leave forever and everyone's memories will be changed so that they don't remember she, or her friends, were ever there. Finally, Lum refuses to allow Ataru to win unless he says, to her, those three words "I love you," that he has steadfastly refused to say over the entire series.

Always My Darling

The sixth movie was actually a tenth anniversary special, and is not widely known. The main characters are:

• Lum
• Ataru Moroboshi
• Lupika, alien princess

Lupika, an alien princess, falls in love with a tofu seller. To make him love her too, she needs to get a love potion, which is in a certain temple. Legend has it that the only person that can obtain this love potion is the most lecherous man in the universe. That man turns out to be Ataru Moroboshi. Lupika kidnaps Ataru to make him get the potion, and Lum and her friends go out to search for Ataru.

External Links

Tomobiki-Cho - Complete site with information of the manga, anime and characters.

AnimEigo - United States distributor of the Urusei Yatsura anime