What Am I Watching - Urusei Yatsura

Bow down.

Synopsis - Meet Ataru Moroboshi: he's the most perverted human being this side of Handbanana. (Okay not that bad) He was also chosen by the leaders of Earth to defend it from an alien race, the Oni Race, in a game of tag. Meet his opponent, Lum: She's the princess of said race. She can also fly and shock the holy hell out of people. Meet Shinobu: Ataru's bitchy (for good reason) girlfriend, who in the midst of this affair, promised to marry Ataru if he beat Lum. Well, Ataru ends up beating Lum and says something along the lines of "Now I can get married! =D", prompting Lum to assume that he was talking about her. And thus, what is considered by many to be the greatest anime comedy in history, begins.

Review - That wasn't the only thing that began either. With this series, I began my foray into anime. Actually not quite. If you were being technical, it'd be Ronin Warriors or Sailor Moon. But it was Urusei Yatsura that got me that little nine-year-old to start watching and studying licensing companies, J-pop, and the history of the whole shindig. That wasn't all, though; Urusei Yatsura was the first anime, or anything really, that I watched subtitled. Before that, it was all Robotech and Voltron for me. Then after this, I got into Macross and GoLion. I owe alot to this series obviously, but why should you give two craps about a series made in the late 70's? Actually there are layers upon layers of reasons as to why you should make it an obligation to watch at least an episode.

Okay, so there isn't really much of an ongoing plot to this show. This is very much in the mold of The Simpsons, if anything. But like the Simpsons, this show's humor and characters are what carried it for so damn long.

As mentioned, the characters are what made this show a classic. As a matter of fact, many of these characters' archetypes are used today. For example, Ataru Moroboshi, as mentioned above, is your pervert main character that every female wants dead.

Hmm..nice.

Shinobu is the human love interest of the main character who will just have to admit that she will never compete with what Lum's got.

Hi...who are you again?

Hell, she (along with Lum) also made that "I love you, and the only way I can show it, is to make you scream bloody murder.." archetype.

Look at her face if you know what's good for you.

Mendou is your rich kid who flies jets to school...

...and of course, you have the most famous one from this show: the alien/not-quite-human girlfriend. Lum made this shit popular, and without her, Chii, Lala, Ren, and Ai wouldn't have had such luck with guys.

5 bucks to the anime fan who gets who she is.

With that said, the characters are amazing. They never grow stale, but instead end up being better than they were at the beginning. Ataru Moroboshi puts me in the odd position of being the most misogynist and vile human being I have ever watched, but I can't help but feel sorry when Lum gives another volt of her love. Or how you can't help but admire his vigor and determination at trying to get laid. I mean, he's even chased after dinosaurs! A solid mention has to go to Lum's storm troopers a'la Ataru's friends. At first, you see, they may seem like the best of friends, but like all guys that age, their jealousy of Ataru leads to them making sure that Ataru meets an untimely demise, especially the one in the glasses. I have heard that they weren't even in the manga, which makes me respect them that much more. Think about it. Characters who weren't even in the original format manage to be entertaining. I dig. Plus you have characters like Kurama the crow lady, Lum's best friends (Benten, Oyuki, and Ran the twat), Sakura, Ten, etc. that build the foundation from which this comedy shows its quality.


The humor within the show is top-notch and would appeal to anybody. If you enjoy Japanese mythology, you will be rolling on the floor. If you just like characters that break the fourth wall, or are just so fucking stupid (again, in a funny Simpsons way), why wouldn't this appeal to you? I find the show humorous to this day, despite the art being alot worse than what I remembered, haha.

The music itself is classic. It doesn't matter how old you are, Lum No Love Song will still be a fun song to listen and dance to. The background music, which consists of synthed up versions of said song, normally add a cuter tone to the show, in my eyes. The first ending theme, Uuchu Wa Taihen Da, is also awesome, and I can't help but feel giddy watching Lum dance to the music. That's not to say the 2nd and 3rd openings and endings weren't great. As much as I hated it as a kid, I grew to love the cheese of Dancing Star and Cosmic Cycling.

The character designs were done by Akemi Takada (Jin-Roh, Fancy Lala, Kimagure Orange Road), a fact I did not know years ago. Looking back, I can see where some of the designs draw parallels. The characters are very unique in that if I were to, say, walk around in Anime Expo and see a cosplayer dressed as Mendou... I'd get it. The art and animation (not designs here) are...aged. It's obvious that would happen, so I'm not going to pick on it too much here. The art does pick it up a notch on the later episodes (Beautiful Dreamer-era), but yeah, Angel's Egg this is not.

I watched the series subbed, because the Animeigo tapes, well, only had them in that format. Thinking about it now, I really wouldn't have it any other way. Think about Lum saying "Darleen~!" the way she says it. Oddly enough, there was a dub that was released, but it was scrapped. I would like to see it just for shits and giggles, even though I know it just won't match the original seiyuus' work.

So overall...what's more to say? The series was and is still a hit. The characters are amongst my favorite of all time. This show is my favorite of all time, and the fact that the characters, the music, the humor, everything in this show is continuing to influence the game just shows how much quality this series has. Heck, take your kids to watch it with you. Outside of that scene in the first episode, it's very much a safe and funny show to chill and eat popcorn to.

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Story - 7

Characters - 10

Content - 10

Animation - 6.75 (cumulative of later episodes included)

Music - 10

Overall - 9.75 

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Wanted to give it a ten, BUT the animation and "story" kind of lowers the rating.