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 a girl 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.
