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Urusei Yatsura

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 195.38.101.16 (talk) at 21:15, 28 November 2006 ("Urusei Yatsura" means something like "Those bastards" or "Damn them".). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the manga and anime series. For the Glaswegian lo-fi band, see Urusei Yatsura (band).
Urusei Yatsura
File:UruseiYatsuraOVAvolume2-DVDcover.jpg
DVD cover of the 2nd OVA.
GenreComedy, Romance, Science Fiction, Shōnen
Manga
Written byRumiko Takahashi
Published byJapan Shogakukan
United States Viz Media
Spain Glénat
Anime
Directed byMamoru Oshii
StudioStudio Pierrot
Anime
Movies

Urusei Yatsura (うる星やつら), a.k.a Lamu, the Invader Girl, or Those Obnoxious Aliens, is a well-known late 70s to 80s manga (1978-1987) and anime (1981-1986) series created by Rumiko Takahashi. The English translation of the manga, published by Viz Communications, was divided into 2 series titled Lum and The Return of Lum, named after the main character.

The anime version spanned 6 films, 10 OVAs, and 195 half hour TV episodes (comprising 218 separate stories, as the first season's episodes consisted of two fifteen-minute segments), which originally premiered across Japan on the terrestrial Fuji Television network between 1981-1986, and was later aired across Japan by the anime satellite television network, Animax, who have also broadcast the series across its respective networks worldwide, including Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Asia and other regions. The series was also later aired across the United States on PBS, from 1998. [1] AnimEigo is the North American distributor for all of these except the second movie "Beautiful Dreamer", which is distributed by Central Park Media. There were also about half a dozen episodes translated and dubbed in the United Kingdom and shown as Lum the Invader Girl on BBC Choice (now BBC 3) shortly after its launch.

Title explanation

The original title is a Japanese pun, and roughly translates as "those obnoxious aliens". The word urusei is a crude way of saying urusai (which means "noisy" or "obnoxious", and is also a slang phrase for "shut up!" (As in, "You're being obnoxious, so…"). The second word in the title, yatsura, is the plural form of yatsu (奴), the low-respect pronoun for "the person over there" and carrying the connotation of a hooligan or jerk. However, "Uru" is also the fictional homeplanet of the aliens, and the kanji for star/planet (星, sei) is used; hence, the title can be seen as an untranslatable combination of "Those noisy hooligans" and "Those jerks from the planet Uru". AnimEigo did in fact release a few episodes in English-dubbed form under the title Those Obnoxious Aliens, but production of the dubbed version was aborted, and aside from this release and several of the movies, the series is only available in English in subtitled form.

Characters

Main article: Urusei Yatsura characters

The story

The series is very light-hearted in nature and often quite bizarre. It concerns the adventures of a group of teenagers who live in Tomobiki, an area of the Nerima ward of Tokyo 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 the 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 of these 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.

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Differences between manga and anime

There are a few differences between the stories of the manga and anime series. The most noticeable is how some of the later stories and characters in the manga (such as Shingo, Inabe and Nagisa) are not part of the regular TV series, only appearing on the OVAs. Additionally, the anime officially ends with the fifth movie; the sixth was only an anniversary special, and whilst some fans think that it is not considered strictly canon, technically it can be fit anywhere in the series before the fifth movie.

Also missing from the anime is Kosuke, one of the students of classroom 2-4 and the only one outside the main cast who is reasonably developed in the manga. His character, in stories that called for Kosuke, is usually replaced by Perm. Further, Lum's Stormtroopers in general, who early on in the manga were dropped from the cast of regulars in favour of more dimensional characters (such as Kosuke) became major regulars in animé and were used in many cases when it was necessary for Ataru and (especially) Lum to interact with school chums. Finally, some stories are slightly altered (mostly by adding or removing plot detail) to better suit the anime format.

Theme songs

Openings
  1. Lum no Love Song (ep.1-77)
  2. Dancing Star (ep.78-106)
  3. Pajama Jama da (ep.107-127)
  4. Chance on Love (ep.128-149)
  5. Rock the Planet (ep.150-165)
  6. Tonogata Gomen Asobase (ep.166-195)
Endings
  1. Uchū ha Taihen da! (ep.1-21)
  2. Kokoro Bosoi na (ep.22-43)
  3. Cosmic Cycling (ep.44-54)
  4. I, I, You and Ai (ep.55-77)
  5. Yume ha Love Me More (ep.78-106)
  6. Koi no Möbius (ep.107-127)
  7. Open Invitation (ep.128-149)
  8. Every Day (ep.150-165)
  9. Good Luck: Towa yori Ai wo Komete (ep.166-195)

Movies

Main article: Urusei Yatsura movies

OVA Releases

Urusei Yatsura also has a number of direct-to-market video releases which include stories not covered in the TV series or movies. All but one of these were released after the ending of the series, so popularity may have also been a factor in the continued release of new animation. Following is a list of these OVAs, official English title in bold, followed by the original Japanese, (a rōmaji transliteration in parentheses), and the original Japanese release date (also in parentheses):

File:Lum-Uresei-Yatsura.png
Lum, the green-haired girl alien
  • Ryoko's September Tea Party (了子の９月のお茶会, Ryōko no 9-gatsu no Ochakai) (1985)
  • Inaba the Dreammaker (夢の仕掛人、因幡くん登場! ラムの未来はどうなるっちゃ!?, Yume no Shikakenin, Inaba-kun Tōjō! Ramu no Mirai ha Dōnaruccha!?) (July 18, 1987)
  • Raging Sherbet (怒れシャーベット, Ikare Shābetto) (December 2, 1988)
  • Nagisa's Fiancé (渚のフィアンセ, Nagisa no Fianse) (December 8, 1988)
  • The Electric Household Guard (電気仕掛けのお庭番, Denki Jikake no Oniwaban) (August 21, 1989)
  • I Howl at the Moon (月に吠える, Tsuki ni Hoeru) (September 1, 1989)
  • Goat and Cheese (ヤギさんとチーズ, Yagi-san to Chīzu) (December 21, 1989)
  • Catch the Heart (ハートをつかめ, Hāto wo Tsukame) (December 27, 1989)
  • Terror of Girly-Eyes Measles (乙女ばしかの恐怖, Otome Bashika no Kyōfu) (June 21, 1991)
  • Date with a Spirit (霊魂とデート, Reikon to Dēto) (June 21, 1991)
  • Memorial Album (メモリアルアルバム, Memoriaru Arubamu) (1993)

Games

A number of video games based on the Urusei Yatsura manga and anime were produced in Japan over the past twenty years:

File:Uygame dmf.jpg
The CD cover of UY game Dear My Friends.
Name Vendor System Type Release Date
Urusei Yatsura Micro Cabin MSX2 puzzle game 1987
Lum no Wedding Bell Jaleco Famicom platformer 1986
Dear My Friends Game Arts Mega-CD visual novel 1993
Urusei Yatsura Nintendo Game Boy visual novel Unknown
Stay With You Hudson PC Engine visual novel 1992
Endless Summer Marvelous Nintendo DS dating sim 2005


References

  1. ^ Absolute Anime
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