#Then there’s visit to Lum’s planet a few times

[yumedoca]

The funniest and weirdest thing about UY is that the humans in the series can’t breathe underwater cuz no oxygen, but they have absolutely no problem breathing in space without any kind of oxygen supply. Like, I know the characters are super humans, but still, why is this fact so strange to me even though I’m used to UY’s weirdness?

[eggplant-crusader]

My three "Sol saves Kom but Anemone is badly hurt to the point that half of her body is covered in her scales" AUs I'll probaly never write because life is a cage:

Sol has to live with the burden of knowing they did that to Anemone, it's fucking awful, Anemone doesn't blame them but Sol can't come clean about how they knew what they were doing, so they drift apart. When the Helios arrive a less supremacist Anemone doesn't get dragged in, and is in fact treated like shit. Sol and her bond over their rebellion to the new government. Eventually Sol brings Anemone on expeditions, where they show her enough to convince her that they have memories of past timelines, and they come clean. It's a fucking blow, but Anemone comes to terms with it, and helps overthrow Lum and sign a peace with the gardeners. Anemone grows to be an explorer/diplomat, helping Dys and Sol, and keeping an eye on the more dangerous colonists.

Sol dies saving Kom. Tangent looks after the half-dead dead Anemone, because it's her job, and the two sort of get used to each other's presence during Anemone's long hospital stay and rehab. When Anemone is finally discharged, Tang starts seeking her put because she enjoys their conversations and she finds that she thinks more clearly after them. Anemone meanwhile feels lost, and starts going out on expeditions. She replaces Sol as the one to meet and bond with Sym, and she learns to love the planet. She eventually manages to convince Tangent to join her. Tangent is forever changed by the experience, she realizes she doesn't want to harm the ecosystem and also oh fuck, she's in love with Anemone. She completely panics about her project, and destroys it all, which forces her to go on the run, helped by Dys of all people (Dys is friends-ish with Nem), not before telling EVERYONE what they were planning. Cal and Anemone especially freak out (Cal is Nem's bff in all these AUs, at least eventually), and start planning a coup. Anemone is fucking spiraling though, because Tang is OUT THERE and she's IN HERE were she can't help and oh fuck, she's SO FUCKING IN LOVE WITH THE MOST WANTED CRIMINAL IN THE COLONY. The coup fails, because they can't get Marz to agree (Cal is sort of the Sol replacement as leader in the city, and they don't see eye to eye) and without her they can't get the votes. Cal and Nem are thrown in jail because without Sol they're a bit too loud for Lum. As the final Glow attack is imminent though, Dys and Tang arrive to break them out with his guile and her science. They also bring the overseer's final deal with them, and the four of them crash the council with it. Lum is about to go ballistic when Marz (who got a place in the council post failed coup for siding with him) knocks him out from behind. They vote to try to negotiate. They succeed. Marz becomes governor, but her transitional government is replaced by Cal's and/or Tammy's, who are a better fit for dealing with the gardeners. Meanwhile, Tang becomes a field scientist, trying to better understand the planet so that humans can better coexist with it. Anemone joins her as her guard/forager/assistant/pillow. They basically live in tents. Dys joins them sometimes when he's not too busy with his alien boyfriend.

Marz catches Sol preparing for the glow attack, and realizes Sol isn't planning to come back. Sol plays dumb, but their last words to her are to look after Nem. After the attack, Marz visits Nem while she's healing a few times, but they can't get along and eventually she gives up. Then again, the Helios show up, Nem doesn't fit in, and bonds with Marz over their mutual distaste of Lum and co. They're not friends, but Marz recruits Nem to be her muscle, and Nem is happy to. This includes trying to figure out wtf Dys is doing because he's sus af, among other things, but is mostly about making the Helios look bad and looking intimidating next to Marz. Nem finds out about Dys and Sym, brings it to Marz, convinces her that they can use this to improve life in the colony AND take down Lum. Marz begins a slow negotiation with Sym, basically playing a game of telephone where she tells Nem who tells Dys who tells Sym who tells the Gardeners. It takes YEARS, but during that time, Nem watches Marz grow more and more invested in the people and become more and more determined to make the peace work for the sake of the planet and everyone, and that makes Nem's devotion switch flips on. She becomes the ultimate badass hyperloyal bodyguard, and Marz sort of takes her for granted until the day Marz overthrows Lum and is attacked, Nem jumps in front of her and she think Nem just took a bullet (or sci fi bullet equivalent idk) for her and oh fuck, if Nem is dead she's going to literally murder everyone. But Nem is fine, except now Marz won't let her do her job and keeps fuzzing over her and what is WRONG WITH YOU you're the governor now, you need me more than ever, DAMN RIGHT I NEED YOU, furious making out ensues. They completely wreck the governor's desk (or sci fi desk equivalent idk). You know the rest. Peace signed. Gay Dys. Marz becomes first galactic empress, Nem is her loyal bodyguard and also wife.

In all of these, Nem lives a long, happy, and relatively peaceful life where she is not consumed by hatred for the Other and does not spiral into a cycle of violence that ends with her dying young because I couldn't sign a fucking peace deal for some fucking reason what the fuck am I doing wrong I can't take this anymore aaaaaaaa

[operationrainfall]

With VIZ Media reintroducing the Urusei Yatsura manga series into circulation this February, what better time than now to revisit the accompanying anime series? As one of Studio Pierott’s first endeavors, it would end up proving quite successful over in Japan. By the arrival of its finale, the series had been steered by 2 different directors, 3 different writers, and 2 different animation studios (Studio Deen took the reins for seasons 3 & 4). Originally airing in October of 1981 and running through March of 1986, Urusei Yatsura spanned 4 seasons, 194 episodes, and over 80 hours of content in total.  Numerous movies and OVAs were also released in tandem with the series. The last OVA actually appeared relatively recently back in 2010.

I initially felt compelled to watch this series because of its first director, Mamoru Oshii. Oshii is known for his creation of the long-running Kerberos franchise, directing the Patlabor animated series, and (of course) directing my favorite film of all time- Ghost in the Shell. To me, Urusei Yatsura is really segmented into two parts. Seasons 1 and 2 were animated by Studio Pierott and a number of the episodes exhibit that overly-philosophical vibe that Oshii is known for. Seasons 3 and 4 saw a bit of a shift as Studio Deen took over the animation role. These were directed by Kazuo Yamazaki, whose style I actually ended up appreciating more than Oshii’s by the end. That’s no surprise though, as Yamazaki also directed Maison Ikkoku, which is another series that I hold in deep regard.

The story of Urusei Yatsura is very loose and centers around the misfortunes of one high-school student- Ataru Moroboshi. Ataru is a self-described playboy and one of the most one-dimensional characters that you will ever encounter. Because of his incessant lust for women and inability to take no for an answer, he spends the majority of his time hitting on, creeping on, or being a bit too touchy-feely with every woman that he encounters. In the pilot episode, his life is changed forever when an invading alien race decides to pay a visit to his home. The Oni people (lead by Mr. Invader) have decided to invade Earth, but they are giving its people a fair chance. Out of over 7 billion potential Earthlings, their supercomputer has randomly selected Ataru to play a game of tag with someone from their own race. His opponent is Lum Invader- a bikini-clad Oni princess and the daughter of Mr. Invader. Needless to say, Ataru is immediately on board with the prospect of chasing after her. He eventually succeeds in grabbing her horns and saving the Earth, but now faces a bigger problem. During the commotion that follows his victory, there’s been a slight misunderstanding. Against Ataru’s wishes, he’s now inexplicably married to Lum and will spend the remainder of the series dealing with her jealousy towards other women.

Rest assured that the entirely of that last paragraph only contains story content from the first episode. The remaining 193 episodes don’t really offer much in the way of a central narrative. What they do offer is the pure insanity that surrounds Ataru as he repeatedly encounters misfortune, suffers for his infidelities, and emerges each week having learned no valuable lessons. As I mentioned before though, Ataru is a pretty unsavory human being. The fact that he has little to no redeeming qualities, never learns his lesson, and is completely impervious to discouragement makes watching his antics incredibly enjoyable. There’s also the overwhelming irony of his relationship with Lum. Despite being obsessed with women and spending each episode trying to hook up with them, he’s already engaged to a woman who cares about him and who’s envied by every other male at his school. This envy ends up causing Ataru even more issues as Lum’s unofficial group of admirers (calling themselves “Lum’s Stormtroopers”) repeatedly take their anger out on Ataru because of the way that he treats her.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Before you decide to go head-first into the series, there are a few things to be aware of. One: there are no rules. Anything that can happen, will happen. Since Lum is an alien, she’s brought with her a number of alien devices and objects that can do things seemingly impossible to us on Earth. For example, in one episode she uses a miniature time machine to transport herself (and eventually Ataru) back into the past. This device allows her to shrink down to a near atomic level and use a cup of tea as a portal to the past. Another episode has her baby cousin, Ten, using a fertilizer from his planet to grow a plant that gains sentience. Other instances come off as less alien and more supernatural. In one of the earlier episodes, Ataru’s rival Mendou takes a picture of him using a cursed camera. This transports him into another dimension that can only be accessed from a random window within his classroom. Really, it’s best to throw out all ideas of reality and go in expecting anything.

Second- there are zero consequences. Any unfortunate or horrific occurrence in the series is completely forgotten about in the proceeding episodes (with some minor exceptions). To give you an example, in one episode Ataru’s psyche is changed into that of a woman’s. In another he actually becomes a woman. In yet another he transforms into a giant bear. There are also a multitude of episodes in which his house is completely destroyed beyond repair. None of these events ever have lasting effects and simply exist in the moment for the sake of a quick gag. With no rules and no consequences, I think that one of the liner notes from the original AnimEigo releases translated the series title perfectly: It’s Japanese for “Totally Insane”.

Ataru’s dad is the only real victim in this series.

The art style of the series evolved gradually across all 4 seasons and this is evident if you watch them all in order. Season one was initially aired in short, 11 minute segments between other shows. In fact, the first 20 or so “episodes” are actually each comprised of two smaller ones. Likely as a result of this and the fact that Studio Pierott was still pretty green at the time, the quality of season one’s artwork and animations is a bit lacking and shows a number of noticeable flaws and shortcuts. Mind you, there are definitely some more detailed shots, but things really start to improve in the later seasons. By the end of the last season, putting a picture of Lum from first and fourth seasons side-by-side shows a night-and-day difference. In my mind, this kind of adds to the show’s charm and allows you to watch the series grow and mature over time.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

When I say that the series matures, I mean it. While I love Oshii’s style and appreciate his direction in the first two seasons (and second movie), I must admit that I found seasons 3 and 4 to be far superior. Season 4 was actually my favorite, but both of these later seasons really ramped things up. For one, the character development (for everyone but Ataru) is noticeably better. Characters like Shinobu, Mendou, Ryunosuke, and even Megane are a lot more fleshed out than before. Shinobu in particular receives her own little story arc involving a fox, which is a nice change of pace since the focus is mainly on Ataru and Lum. I would also argue that the various scenarios laid out in each episode tend to be more interesting in these seasons. If anything, I’d say the fact that the series continues to improve with each subsequent season is reason enough to keep watching.

Rumiko Takahashi is arguably best known for creating Inuyasha and Ranma 1/2, but her first venture into creating manga continues to stand on its own two feet today. Urusei Yatsura remains just as enjoyable now as it was 37+ years ago. As one of the earliest examples of a magical-girlfriend anime, it tries to be so many different things at once and does a fantastic job with all of them. There are a plethora of comedic moments, a generous sprinkle of romantic ones, and a perfect dash of serious ones that help each episode stand on its own. Because of this, the viewing order really doesn’t matter after season 1 since all the major characters have been introduced by then. If you’ve never seen the anime or read the manga, I’d highly suggest doing one or both. Unfortunately, there are currently no paid streaming services that allow you to watch the anime. Having said that, with VIZ releasing new deluxe editions of the manga this year, perhaps we may see the anime get re-licensed and made available for streaming as well.

Anime of the Past: Urusei Yatsura With VIZ Media reintroducing the Urusei Yatsura manga series into circulation this February, what better time than now to revisit the accompanying anime series?