Lecherous pervert Ataru Moroboshi; who spends his time chasing girls as well as being a walking manifestation of total bad luck (he was born on Friday 13th, the day of a major earthquake and on Butsu-metsu; the worst day in the Bhuddhist calendar), was known to all in his town Tomibiki-cho as the infamous local idiot. One day after having been whacked across the face by his ex-girlfriend Shinobu Miyake, (a signal that the relationship is over), he comes home to find a giant space ship hovering over his house which was jam packed with reporters and curious onlookers. After been warned of bad luck by Sakuranbou and then given it when he was pushed into the river, he thought nothing worse could possibly happen to him. Was he wrong.

You guessed it. Alien armies are going to invade the earth and wipe out the earthlings, but Earth has one chance; if the person chosen by the aliens (who is from Planet Oni - a race of demons from Japanese mythology with horns and dresses in tiger skins) from earth wins a competition against the person chosen from the Planet Oni, then the aliens will not invade. And of all people, Ataru was the lucky guy (as expected). Ataru refuses, until he sees the other contestent, Lum. The contest is a game of tag, where Ataru has to grab Lum's horns (and her body in the process) in ten day's time. Ataru gets whacked on the face again by Shinobu.

Unknown to him (it didn't even occur to him), Lum could fly, and 9 days flashed by with Ataru leaping around fruitlessly and Earthlings throwing garbage at him for his incompetence. On the night of the 9th day, Shinobu promises to marry Ataru if he wins, and with that as his motivation, on the tenth day he grabs Lum's horns (and bikini top), yodelling "I can get married now!" at the top of his voice. Bad timing. Lum thought he meant he wanted to marry her, and right away, was determined to stay by his side frying him with her electricity powers if he dared look at another girl. So, here begins the story of unlucky pervert Ataru Moroboshi and his jealous "wife", Lum. And a whole host of crazy characters who join them along the way.

Tomobiki-cho having one moron and one alien was probably enough, but Ataru and Lum together seemed to attract scores of them to the town. The next 32 volumes sees the arrival of filthy rich playboy Shutaro Mendou, of Shinto priestess Sakura, Lum's bratty fire-breathing cousin Jariten; Boyish good-looker plus martial artist (but is in fact a girl) Ryuunosuke Fujinami; and her very-much deranged sea-loving father, I don't know what his name is. Meanwhile, Shinobu had developed an amazing ability to throw desks to counter the new arrivals. Ofcourse, we must not forget Lum's alien childhood friends, the very violent, studs and crosses biker girl Benten; the placid Queen of Neptune Oyuki; Split-personality, obsessive Ran, who's only joy left in life is to torment Lum; and Lum's former fiance, the most handsome guy in the universe (that is NOT an exaggeration), airhead Rei.

Being a story based on the relationships between the characters, the locations rarely change and incidents rarely go beyond anything as exciting as going to school/excursion. But that is where the wacky part comes in. Each volume is a collection of short stories, so Ms Takahashi is able to use her imagination to the limit to create the wierdest and most entertaining situations, usually disasters based on Lum's technology and alien friends dropping in. Situations such as Ten being hit on the back of the head by a desk thrown by the homeroom teacher Onsen (he's a loser but he still has my deepest sympathies) of the notorious class 2-4 (it was aimed at Ataru for eating in class) can cause half the school to be demolished. Makes your own school life seems do darn boring.

Class 2-4 is where all the action is; with Ataru, Lum, Shinobu, Mendou and Ryuunosuke in it, it makes your own life seem so incredibly boring. You have to see it to believe (more like understand) it. What sets Urusei Yatsura apart is probably it's unforgettable cast of characters, each with their unique and exaggerated flaws which continually echo that nobody's perfect. Ms Takahashi, with a deep understanding of the human psyche and the fine lines between love and hate (as well as other types of relationship), is able to create so well the constant bickering and catfights between the characters that we can relate much to it from our own experiences, which is what makes it a comedy.

Iron Mouse's Comment

Most mangas that revolve around it's characters lack a strong plot, but no plot is needed in this romantic comedy which will have you split your sides laughing at the antics of the characters in it. I personally believe it to be one of the funniest manga/anime ever shown; there is no limit to each story, the best part of the manga is the unpredictability of what the characters will do next, since it is so far-fetched and exaggerated (which is what brings in the humour). Definately worth a look even though it is an older manga (I recommend everything, don't I), but I must say that it will only make sense to someone who has seen examples of such manga/anime, because it is very far-fetched and will be very confusing to someone who has never seen anything like it before. I have never regretted the fact that I had bought the whole series with my own money (the series part, no; my own money, maybe).

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