Ranked #383

Urusei Yatsura

A true classic.

For those who don't know. This was Takahashi's very first work and her first anime series. My opinion of the show, pure enjoyment. The show has it, laughs, cool cast of characters, extremly catchy soundtrack and one of the most unforgetable female anime characters of all time. Lum.

It's mostly about the perverted Ataru Moroboshi and his so called alien princess wife, Lum. And there wacky day to day lives in the town of Tomobiki. You never know whats going to happen in Tomobiki. But one thing's for sure, if something happens. It's probably Ataru's fault. His perversion and idiocy knows no bounds and it gets him into an ungodly amount of trouble.

The shows also introduces us to other interesting folk. Lum's stormtroppers(made of 4 high school losers that are hoplesly in love with Lum) Mendou: Rich kid with a massive ego and a fear of the dark.( Could be considered the first Tatawaki Kuno, given there simularitys)

Ten: Lum's bratty cousin who spits fire.

Cherry: A monk no one likes having around and freeloads whenever possible.

And many others, the show is nothing but classic slapstick comedy that combines childish and adult humor.

The soundtrack is top notch, very catchy tropicle pop.

While the animation is good. It's dated(especially the first season) During it's third season though it improves quite a bit and some could say. The best animation from any series of the 80's.

Though the show does have it's faults. Ataru himself is hardly likeable and most will be annoyed by his stupidity. For some the show could be a little too Japanese for everyone to enjoy. And for the dub fans...i'm sorry to say that show has not been dubbed and who knows when. it has been released with subtitles only(though the subtitles are actually very good and easy to read)

Overall, probably my favorite series that i reccomend to all that enjoys a good comedy or wants to check out the classics. read more

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 cycle goes 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. read more

This is a 1978 romantic comedy anime by Rumiko Takahashi. The story is about aliens that come to destroy Earth by before they do that they select a random person who lives on earth to complete a challenge and if they complete the challenge then earth won't be desroyed. The human selected is Ataru a peverted japanese boy in high school. The challenge is to touch the horns of the alien king's daughter.Her name is Lum.BTW she can fly. Ataru ends up completing the challenge and yells out that he will marry her. Lum thinks Ataru meant her but Ataru actually directed this at his classmate, Shinobou. Lum ends up living with Ataru shortly after and insanity ensues. For the time this plot was really original but now its pretty common. Plots like this are in animes like Tenchi Muyo, To love ru and may others. So this was kind of the first anime for its genre.
The art is also good for its time. But compared to todays animation standard it sucks. But later in the series the tv episodes reach the 80s OVA animation qualitysince the show was so popular in Japan.
The music is okay. Some of the songs are kind of catchy.
And the characters. They are probably the best part of the series. Ataru is so retarded and peverted. He is always hitting on others girls and wants to get away from Lum. But deep down inside he actually loves her. Lum can also be really funny because since she only just came to earth she has the view of a kindergartener. There are also a lot of other wacky and zany characters that you meet later in the series like Ataru's ex GF, this super rich guy named Mendou and a ghost cat that haunts people that don't let him stay in their house(BTW he ends up fighting the dude from Fist of the North Star). So overall this anime is classic. It may not be considered an anime classic to anmerican anime fans but it is in Japan. If you like Ranma 1/2 you'll love this read more