Urusei Yatsura (うる星やつら, Urusei Yatsura) is a manga written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday from 1978 to 1987. Its 374 individual chapters were collected and published in 34 tankōbon volumes. The series was adapted into a TV anime series produced by Kitty Films and broadcast on Fuji Television affiliates from 1981 to 1986 over 195 episodes. Eleven original video animations and six theatrical movies followed, and the series has been released on VHS, Laserdisc and DVD in Japan.
The manga series was republished in several different formats in Japan. Viz Media licensed the series for English publication in North America under the names Lum and The Return of Lum, but the series was dropped after nine volumes were released. The television series, OVAs and five of the films have been released in North America with English subtitles by AnimEigo who provided extensive notes on the series to allow people to understand the many cultural references and jokes in the series that would normally be impenetrable for non-Japanese. The remaining film Beautiful Dreamer was released by Central Park Media. Five of the movies as well as the OVA's are available from MVM Films in the United Kingdom.
In 1981, the series received the Shogakukan Manga Award. The television series is credited with introducing the format of using pop songs as opening and ending themes in anime. In 2008 the first new episode in 17 years was shown at the Rumiko Takahashi exhibition It's a Rumic World.
Plot
Not much is notable about the lecherous Ataru Moroboshi, but his extraordinary bad luck sticks out like the horns in an alien's head. When Earth is threatened by a fleet of alien invaders known as the Oni, Ataru is selected to represent humanity in a duel against one of them. It's a stroke of rare luck for Ataru that the duel is in fact a game of tag, and that his opponent is Lum, daughter of the Oni's leader, who places her personal dignity above victory—as Ataru finds out by seizing Lum's bikini top and with it, victory.
However, misfortune kicks in again when Lum mistakes Ataru's promise to marry his girlfriend, Shinobu Miyake, as the desire to wed Lum herself, and decides she rather likes the idea. Wielding her influence as an alien princess, she moves in with him. Forced to deal with the consequences of his womanizing ways, Ataru must balance his crumbling relationship with Shinobu while keeping Lum happy, all the while flirting with every woman he meets.
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