The Dark Herald gives us the background of Rumiko Takahashi and discusses her Urusei Yatsura series, and the anime remake from 2022.
A few years ago, Emilia Clarke was making a backdoor pitch for a superheroine movie by means of a comic book that she claimed she had written. She hadn’t and the project was stillborn. However, she, or rather her publicist put out some statistics that I thought were hilarious.
Queen Dani: “In doing my research, I found that 16% of comic book creators are female, according to a 2019 study, and only 30% of comic book characters are women.
Dark Herald: “(O)nly 30% of comic book characters are women.” What the hell study was this? I’m not sure that was even true in the 1980s. I guarantee it isn’t the case now. Was the data sample limited to 1950s titles like: He-Men of the NorthWest Territories?
QD: On the other hand, roughly half of comic book buyers are female.
DH: Hang a minute. If you are talking about American comic books, the female market is no better than 20%. The only way you can get to half is if you include Manga.
And if we include women Manga-ka in your Oppression Olympics, then the richest comic book writer in the world is easily and unquestionably Rumiko Takahashi.
Rumiko Takahashi has a career stretching from the mid-seventies when she started drawing her own self-published manga to today where she is viewed as a national treasure.
Rumiko enrolled in the Manga school Gekiga Sonjuku in 1975, where she came under the tutelage of Kazuo Koike of Lonewolf and Cub fame. He stressed to Takahashi the critical importance of deeply layered, interesting characters.
Her first professional publication was in 1978 with Katte Na Yatsura (Those Selfish Aliens). It was one shot but she used the foundation of those characters to create Urusei Yatsura (Those Obnoxious Aliens) as a weekly. It proved popular enough to be picked up as a TV series that would run for a whopping 195 episodes. After the TV show wrapped, UY continued on as a series of OAVs, and then six theatrical releases.
Since that time Rumiko has written everything from romantic comedies (Maison Ikkoku) to horror (Mermaid Forrest). Sports drama (One Pound Gospel) and space opera (Maris the Chojo). She’s come up with stories that defy the best efforts to place them in any genre (Ranma ½, Innuyasha). And Rumiko completed her latest major series in 2017 (Rin-ne) at 40 volumes, (which I need to read).
If there is a comic art award that Rumiko Takahashi hasn’t won, it probably isn’t worth winning.
Given the breadth of Rumiko’s work, her first outing has been overlooked in recent years. That’s a crying shame. There was a lot to be said for it. All of the characters look as two-dimensional as their drawings when you first meet them but as you get to know them you find there are hidden depths.
The plot is that an Alien race, the Oni, is about to invade Earth. Due to reasons of comedic contrivance the human race has only one chance to avoid this. A human champion the Oni selects must beat their princess, Lum, in a race that will last ten days. High schooler Ataru Morobashi is chosen and the human race seems doomed because he’s an idiot. Yet, at the last second, he manages to grab the horns on Lum’s head and win the race. This impresses Lum enough that she declares herself to be his wife (much to Ataru’s horror). Why is never quite made clear because she is kind of hot and he is the most brainless skirt chaser in the history of mankind (his unrepentant horn-doggery is kind of refreshing these days).
What Lum sees in Ataru is even more inexplicable because she could literally have her pick of any man on Earth, yet still, she remains devoted to this retard. Perhaps it is because at the end of the day, Ataru deeply loves her. He has literally crossed the universe to get her back more than once.
There’s a ridiculously large supporting cast including Ataru’s frenemy, the ludicrously handsome and rich Mendo Shutaro who wants Lum and wants to kill Ataru although they will team up at the drop of a hat. Lum being in danger is enough to make that happen.
Shinobu was Ataru’s original love interest but she has since transferred her affection to Mendo, much to Ataru’s rage. Ataru doesn’t so much want Shinobu as he wants more women in general and she is one. Shinobu has a superpower; she becomes immensely strong when she’s angry. Given her world, she’s frequently angry.
I’m not going into the rest of the cast because it really is too vast for that. It stretches from parents, fellow high schoolers, and teachers all the way to other alien princesses and planetary warlords.
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Like I said, it was kind of a pity that this great little series had been neglected for decades.
And then Shonen, which has been Rumiko Takahashi’s home since forever ago, published the, “It’s a Rumic World 50th Anniversary Special” and commissioned this TV ad for it.
Unexpectedly it created a massive revival in interest for the moribund Urusei Yatsura. Japanese animation has never had much trouble turning on a dime, so a remake of this 80’s classic was kicked into high gear.
Now, believe me, I understand how the word “remake” sends a shiver up your spine. I know that sensation better than most of you because I have to watch all of it. However, this is a Japanese remake. Loving faithfulness to the original is an absolute requirement. None of the characters have been updated for modern audiences. They are still the same characters they were in the 1980s it’s just that the animation is better and they have smartphones now. Fuji TV isn’t redoing the whole series however, they are concentrating on the fan favorites which will pare it down from 195 episodes to 44. So far I have not been disappointed. If you’re a fan of the original it’s safe to watch. If you’ve never seen it before, it’s worth a look.
Where is it available? At the moment it’s easier to say where it isn’t available. If you’ve got a pay streaming service you can probably watch it. If you do some looking you can find it for free but those sites are not to be trusted. You can buy a license on Amazon but not Apple. Hard media is not yet available in the US.
The Dark Herald Recommends with… Fond Remembrance
What are your thoughts about Urusei Yatsura? What’s your favorite Rumiko Takahashi manga or anime? Let us know in the comments!
Lum was the first manga I ever read. Everything in the Rumik world is worth a look.
Pretty good choice and selection in terms of what they chose to re-adapt. Some of it is more faithful to the manga than the original TV series was.
Grew up with Lum in the late 80s and in the early 90s I owned a bunch of the OVAs on Laserdisc when they were expensive as hell because you had to get them from Japan and then use a box top unit for the closed captioning to get English! I have a lot of nostalgic fond memories of that series. As long as they stay faithful I’d look forward to revisiting it.