Manga Review: Urusei Yatsura Vol. 1

Manga Review: Urusei Yatsura Vol. 1 by Rumiko Takahashi

Have you ever had a day when a pint-sized Buddhist monk looks you in the face and tells you you have terrible luck? Ataru Moroboshi has. Repeatedly. While he’s had poor luck all his life, the young lecher’s problems really kicked into high gear when aliens invaded and he was chosen to battle their champion–in a game of tag!

After much difficulty, Ataru was able to defeat the lovely oni Lum, but at the cost of becoming unwillingly engaged to her. This didn’t sit well with Ataru, who’s way too young to be tied down to just one woman, and even less so with his more or less steady love interest Shinobu. Before long, other annoying aliens show up, and the Earth people are no prize either.

This science fiction comedy manga was Rumiko Takahashi’s breakout hit. It’s filled with puns (most not actually translated) and Japanese folklore, as well as slapstick humor.

American fans have been waiting a long time for a complete version of the manga. Back in the early 1990s, Viz Media put out a series of miniseries in a flipped format and under the titles “Lum” and “Return of Lum.” Sadly, this publication model was not a good one for the series, and it was dropped for poor sales. We’re hoping that the new Signature Edition version with two Japanese volumes per book will be able to complete its run.

Legend has it that Takahashi intended for Shinobu to be the main heroine, and for a more random assortment of wacky things to happen to Ataru. Thus, the second chapter has no Lum whatsoever and Ataru must deal with a mirror devil. But Lum reappears at the end of the third chapter and never goes away for a full chapter again.

Soon afterward, we are introduced to the Shinto shrine maiden Sakura, niece of monk Cherry. Ataru vacillates between coming on to the lovely slightly older woman and being terrified of her botched exorcism attempts.

Then Lum’s ex-fiance Rei shows up, and we begin to see a bit of why she’s so fixated on Ataru. Rei’s super-handsome when he’s not in his tiger-bull form, but stupider than many rocks.

This is followed by Lum dragging Ataru off to a battle between her people and the gods of luck, which results in Ataru meeting and hitting on biker goddess Benten. Another recurring alien soon appears, Neptunian ice princess Oyuki. Ataru flirts with her, too. You think he would learn, but that’s not Ataru’s style.

Soon, we see the first of several possible futures for our cast when a shortcut to school turns out to be a shortcut to the school reunion. Ataru’s child is a chip off the old block.

Finally in this volume, we have Princess Kurama of the crow goblin people, who manages to get hooked up with Ataru much to her disgust. Even turning Ataru mentally female doesn’t improve his behavior due to his extreme lust.

Pretty much everyone in this series is some variety of jerk, with Ataru thoroughly deserving up to 70% of the awful things that happen to him because he can’t stop hitting on women or puts his stomach ahead of his brain. Lum’s a horrible person with a jealous streak a mile wide (she gets nicer over the course of the series) and Shinobu’s quick to assume the worst of Ataru.

Ataru’s sexual harassment of girls and women, and the subsequent violent attacks he suffers are less funny in the 21st Century, so younger readers may find aspects of the series distasteful. The first chapter has Lum’s bikini top being stolen as a major plot point and we get to see a full view at one point.

This edition comes with translation notes and mini-features about the characters and their world.

Highly recommended to Rumiko Takahashi fans.