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Urusei Yatsura
うる星やつら (Urusei Yatsura)
Demographic	Shōnen
Genre	Comedy, Romance, Science fiction
Manga
Author	Rumiko Takahashi
Publisher	Shogakukan Viz Media
Other publishers: Glénat
Serialized in	Weekly Shonen Sunday
Original run	1978 – 1987
Volumes	34
TV anime
Director	Mamoru Oshii & Kazuo Yamazaki
Studio	Studio Pierrot & Studio Deen
Network	Fuji Television, Animax
Other networks: Animax TF1 BBC Choice
Original run	14 October 1981 – 19 March 1986
Episodes	195
OVA
Episodes	11
Released	1985 - 1991
Movies
Only You Beautiful Dreamer Remember My Love Lum the Forever The Final Chapter Always, My Darling

Urusei Yatsura (うる星やつら, Urusei Yatsura^?), also known as Lum/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 manga received the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1981.

The anime version spanned 6 films, 11 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 aired in France from 1988 on TF1 and later 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 shortly after its launch.

Contents 1 Title explanation 2 Characters 3 The story 4 Differences between manga and anime 5 Theme songs 6 Movies 7 OVA Releases 8 Games 9 References 10 External links

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, yatsu^?), the low-respect pronoun for "the person over there" and carrying the connotation of a hooligan or jerk. However, 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". Uru is the name of the plant from which Lum, Ran, Benten and the other alien characters originate from. 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.

Main article: List of Urusei Yatsura characters

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. (He lost interest in her as soon as she started chasing him, and also probably because she uses her powers on him many times, which come in the form of electric shocks.) 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.

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, Inaba 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 the anime 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.

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 & 65-77)
4. I, I, You and Ai (ep.55-64)
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)

Main article: Urusei Yatsura movies

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. Also, unlike the others, Inaba the Dreammaker was first featured as a TV Special before being released on video. 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):

• 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 wa 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)

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

Name	Publisher	System	Genre	Release Date
Lum no Wedding Bell	Jaleco	Famicom	platformer	1986
Urusei Yatsura	Micro Cabin	MSX2	puzzle game	1987
Stay With You	Hudson Soft	PC Engine	visual novel	1992
Urusei Yatsura	Nintendo	Game Boy	visual novel	1992
Dear My Friends	Game Arts	Sega Mega-CD	visual novel	1993
Endless Summer	Marvelous Interactive	Nintendo DS	dating sim	2005

• AnimEigo - United States distributor of the Urusei Yatsura anime.
• Urusei Yatsura (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Tomobiki-cho - English language fansite.

v • d • e The Works of Rumiko Takahashi
Major works	Urusei Yatsura · Maison Ikkoku · Ranma ½ · InuYasha
Other manga	Mermaid Saga · Rumic World · One-Pound Gospel · Rumic Theater
Related anime	Fire Tripper · Maris the Chojo · The Laughing Target · Rumic Theater