Urusei Yatsura is my favorite anime.
• This isn’t an easy title to achieve with how high my standards for Japanese animation has become, but Urusei Yatsura has 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 for Urusei 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 prefix is ‘urusei’—not ‘urusai.’ 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 the screen being flooded with 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 off, 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 and 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 with 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 though 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 revelation was 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 baad 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 in 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 not to 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 Kotobukiya scale figure of Lum dropped (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 him 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 (no pun intended)—but has to stay with Lum because of fear of Earth being wiped out by the aliens. Throughout the series, Ataru begins to fall deeply in love Lum but is so addled by his fear of commitment that he refuses to admit it. This might just be Stockholm syndrome kicking in, because she electrocutes him all the time, 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, 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 army, 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, when Shutarō only acts the part to keep up appearances) but Shutarō is only agrees 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 that 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, while 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 murdering them. It is implied that Ryōko has gone mad from being a *shut-in, whereas, Shutarō is fairly normal 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 has 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 (‘Pure Fox’), that 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—her father forces her to bind her chest and wear men’s 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 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 mimed their predecessors—but—the emotional complexity, cycles of the characters repeatedly spiraling into their own hypocrisy, and the human characteristics that brought them to life! Not Ranma ½’s childishness romantic fluff, not Inuyasha’s neglect of its 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 love for the characters that were lovingly conveyed through their triumphs and flaws. At this 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 in love with this show!
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