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Summary: Rumiko Takahashi's blockbuster series now in English!
Review: "Urusei Yatsura" translates literally as "obnoxious aliens", and that's the focus of this, one of Japan's most enduring "manga" series. The action revolves around Ataru Moroboshi, a young man who, through a series of circumstances, finds himself engaged to a beautiful alien princess named Lum - much to the aggravation of his girlfriend, Shinobu. When Lum moves in, things begin to snowball, and a stream of wierd and wacky characters find their way into Ataru's life. Aliens, demons and sorcerors - every one intent on making Ataru's life as complicated as possible. "Urusei Yatsura" was made into a popular TV series, and Lum and Ataru remain one of Japan's most popular anime couples. Ms. Takahashi has gone on to create a number of popular series, such as "Ranma 1/2", "Maison Ikkoku" and "Inu-Yasha"
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Summary: Space Is Super Weird!
Review: Anyone who is even mildly into the manga and anime scene will probably be familar with the character of Lum. Sometimes, that familiarity will lead to curiousity (or infatuation as is some cases), and sometimes the curiousity will lead to interest in the source manga. If you are one of these people (and you probably are if you are reading this), then congratulations! You've made the right choice, and fellow UY fans welcome you. Welcome to the wacky world of Urusei Yatsura! Drop your bags and forget about 'em, because chances are you ain't leavin'.
"Urusei Yatsura" is, as you might have guessed, a product of comedy genius Rumiko Takahashi. And with that, you can certainly expect to see her trademark brand of comedy slapstick. "Urusei Yatsura" isn't as action based as "Ranma 1/2" or "Inuyasha", but it has aces on the brand of slapstick that "Ranma 1/2" fans are sure to love. Bizarre occurances and weird antics happens almost round-the-clock -- alien tag races, outer space taxi cabs, Snow Princesses from Neptune, and hibernating Crow Princesses are just a small sample of the things you'll encounter with this series. Intrigued by all this? Good, this is definitely the manga for you.
I won't expand too much on the plot, since I believe that one of the strongest aspects of Urusei Yatsura is its wonderful characters (besides, you can find summaries on the net). If you are male, there's a good chance that you'll fall in love with Lum -- beautiful, exotic, young, and full of sex appeal, Lum is essentially what every man dreams of in a perfect woman. For the ladies, there's the man-beast Rei, who looks like he should be in a boyband when he's under his normal form; but once he gets angry and/or hungry, he transforms into a huge tiger-bull creature with big round eyes. Adorable? I wouldn't know. Rei gets two stories in this collection, and some cameo appearances here and there. And of course, who can forget about Cherry the short Buddhist priest? Male or female, everybody loves the deranged monk from hell. Well, they should, anyway.
Last but not least, there's our protagonist, Ataru Moroboshi. At first glance, he appears to be your everyday teen -- average looks, average height, insecure girlfriend, and even a nagging mom. Someone you could relate to... or not. As the manga progresses, we come to see that he's exactly the opposite -- lecherous, perverted, full of bad luck, and as Lum would say, a "philanderer!" Ataru is normally seen flirting (unsuccessfully) with any attractive female within a 10 feet radius, and he usually ends up paying for it by means of Lum's electrical surges of lightning ZAK ZAK. But don't be fooled by his supposedly repulsive ways -- Ataru is far more complicated a character than he lets on. While he appears to lack a brain most of the time, Moroboshi can be quite the calculating manical genius when he needs to be.
There's so much more that I'd love to say about this series, but I'll stop here. If you enjoy manga with odd instances, eccentric characters, a dash of sci-fi, and a sugary bowl of slapstick comedy, then "Urusei Yatsura" is perfect for you. Or if you find yourself enjoying the comedy featured in Takahashi's later works ("Ranma 1/2"; "Maison Ikkoku"; "Inuyasha") and wondering if UY will work the same charms for you, think no more and pick up a volume NOW! It is, after all, Takahashi-sensei's first and best comedy series.
Welcome aboard, mate.
Rating:
Summary: Charming, very charming
Review: Anyone who is into manga and anime will probably be familar with the character of Lum. Sometimes, that familiarity will lead to curiousity (or infatuation), and as a result, the person will decide to check out the source manga. If you are one of these people (and you probably are, if you're reading this), then congratulations! Welcome to the wacky world of Urusei Yatsura.Seeing as this is a Rumiko Takahashi product, you might come to expect some of her signature trademarks. While "Urusei Yatsura" isn't as action based as "Ranma 1/2" or "Inuyasha", what it does have won't disappoint. "Urusei Yatsura" turns up the stove on the slapstick comedy, with bizarre occurances and weird antics happening almost round-the-clock. Alien tag races, alien taxi cabs, snow princesses from Neptune, and hibernating crow princesses are just a sample of the things you'll encounter with this manga. Intrigued by all this? Good, then this is the manga for you. I won't expand too much on the plot, since I believe that one of the strongest aspects of Urusei Yatsura is its wonderful characters (besides, you can find summaries on the net). If you are male, then there's a good chance that you will fall in love with Lum and/or Sakura. Lum is the epitome of the woman that every man dreams about: she's young, she's sexy, and best of all, she's in a bikini almost 24/7. Sakura would be the hot school nurse that you've fantasized about throughout high school. For the ladies, there's the man-beast Rei, who looks like he should be in a boyband when he's under his normal form. But once he gets angry and/or hungry, he transforms into a huge tiger-bull creature with big eyes. Rei gets two stories in this collection, and some cameo appearances here and there. There's also Shuutaro Mendou, and although he isn't introduced in this volume, his presence seems to make the ladies drool when he does appear (at least, he does so in the manga). Last but not least, who can forget about Cherry? Male or female, everybody loves the short deranged monk from hell. Well, they should, anyway. And then there's our protagonist, Ataru Moroboshi. He appears to be your everyday teen -- average looks, average height, insecure girlfriend, and even a nagging mom. However, as the manga progresses, we come to see that he's exactly the opposite -- lecherous, perverted, and as Lum would say, a philanderer. He's normally seen flirting (unsuccessfully) with any attractive female within his reach, and he usually ends up paying for it by means of ZAK ZAK. But don't be fooled by his supposedly repulsive ways -- Ataru is a far more complicated character than he lets on. While he appears to lack a brain most of the time, Mr. Moroboshi can be quite the manical genius when he needs to be. There's so much more I'd love to say about this series, but I'll stop here. If you enjoy manga with weird instances and eccentric characters, all dashed a pinch of sci-fi and slapstick comedy, then "Urusei Yatsura" is for you. If you enjoyed the comedy featured in Takahashi's later works such as "Ranma 1/2" or "Inuyasha", then there's no doubt that you need to check out "Urusei Yatsura".
Rating: 
Summary: Class: Chaotic Silly!
Review: Ay ay ay! Lum blows the most stuffshirted uptight reader out of their neatly pressed socks. The wanton and unfortunate schoolboy Ataru is greeted one day after school by an alien. A female, full-figured alien with horns that is. Ataru must beat her in a race to save the planet, and makes a fatal mistake when he does, causing alien Lum to chase her "darling" about, ruining his every chance with old faithful girlfriend Shinobu. Truly manga magnifique.
Rating: 
Summary: High Quality Early Takahashi, but She Has Gotten Better
Review: I discovered Rumiko Takahashi last year and have since devoured virtually every graphic novel of hers that I've been able to lay my hands on... except for stopping my Ranma 1/2 collection with Book Nine. I can't stand obvious machine lettering! My latest purchase was the Lum Urusei Yatsura: Perfect Collection, I think 'Lum' is left in the dust by virtually everything she has done since, even the stand-alone stories in the 'Rumic Trilogy' collections. Takahashi's storytelling abilities and comic timing have only improved over the years, as has her art style. There are still many laughs in Lum, and the prototypes for Takahashi's stable of characters are all evident, but unless one is interested in seeing what her work was like when she was still learning her craft, the Perfect Collection should be passed up for more recent works like 'Ranma 1/2,' 'Mermaid Saga,' 'Inu Yasha.' The only benefit that I see in 'Lum... The Perfect Collection' is that it's a cheaper sampling of early early Takahisi than 'Rumic Trilogy'... although 'Rumic Trilogy' shows that she had a wide range even in the early years.
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Summary: A Sweet, If Sometimes Uneven, Romantic Comedy
Review: I love Urusei Yatsura. I read this graphic novel so many times the the binding broke and I occasionally find lost UY pages in my sock drawer. It was my first introduction to UY. It was also Ms. Takahashi's first introduction to plot development, as can be seen here. The stories, even though I enjoyed them, didn't really seem to fit together. The story doesn't really begin to tie together until the second graphic novel, where Mendo is introduced as a foil for Ataru. However, the first graphic novel introduces most of the main characters, each of whom are nicely developed and are easy to empathize with. It may not be widely considered to be Rumiko Takahashi's finest work, but I love it and think it's a lot more interesting than Ranma 1/2.
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Summary: URUSEI YATSURA! The thing that made me become an Anime freak
Review: I used to live in Italy... they showed the Anime of this every night. AND I LOVED IT!!!!!
Two years later I spotted this book... I wanted to know how it all started and... THE MANGA IS WAY BETTER THAN THE ANIME!!! Ataru is a normal girl-chasing teenager. he has a girlfriend named Shinobu, although they usually fight.
One day, he's coming home and then, he finds in his home A GIANT!!! No, he isn't a giant, he an Onu, an alien.
They wanted to take over the Earth, but insisted to play a game of "tag" with Ataru. Ataru had to catch one of the Onu's by the horns, to keep their world safe... he didn't want to, until they showed his the Onu!!! It was a girl, named Lum (Or Lamu in the Italian version).
Ataru saw that catching her was hard, but on the last day, he caught her (How, I cannot tell you, it's so ... funny!) and, since Shinobu said that if he won she'd marry him, he shouted "For the marriage" before catching her, Lum thinking it was Ataru confessing his love for her. And now they are "married". HILARIOUS! ONE OF THE BEST ANIME EVER!
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Summary: Urusei Yasura is EQUAL to Ranma 1/2
Review: I write this in response to reviewer "Steve Miller," who expressed an obvious dislikeing towards the earlier Rumiko Takahashi work like Lum: Urusei Yatsura. Personally I completely dissagree with him. If you can't appreciate the old works, how can you appreciate the new? Anyone who know's Ms. Takahashi's history will completely understand why many of the chapters in this book don't relate to one another (if you look carefully you can see in-jokes from her "rumic world" series), and why it's not untill the second graphic novel that they start to have some correlation. (mostly because her work was being published irregularly and inconsistently) This book is a fine example about how things so completely bizarre can be taken so seriously. Her writing, although somewhat primitive (obviously showing how her writing has developed) is still as charming and exciting to read as any of her later work like Ranma, or Maison Ikkoku. All of Rumiko Takahashi's work should be read, and one should not simply quite reading them because of computerized text or primitive drawings. Her work should be enjoyed and not dismissed.
Rating:
Summary: Urusei Yasura is EQUAL to Ranma 1/2
Review: I write this in response to reviewer "Steve Miller," who expressed an obvious dislikeing towards the earlier Rumiko Takahashi work like Lum: Urusei Yatsura. Personally I completely dissagree with him. If you can't appreciate the old works, how can you appreciate the new? Anyone who know's Ms. Takahashi's history will completely understand why many of the chapters in this book don't relate to one another (if you look carefully you can see in-jokes from her "rumic world" series), and why it's not untill the second graphic novel that they start to have some correlation. (mostly because her work was being published irregularly and inconsistently) This book is a fine example about how things so completely bizarre can be taken so seriously. Her writing, although somewhat primitive (obviously showing how her writing has developed) is still as charming and exciting to read as any of her later work like Ranma, or Maison Ikkoku. All of Rumiko Takahashi's work should be read, and one should not simply quite reading them because of computerized text or primitive drawings. Her work should be enjoyed and not dismissed.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not the best
Review: Let me get this straight: This is an excellent series. I really do enjoy it. However, it lacks the sweetness of Rumiko Takahashi's other works. While the insanity and confusion is defintely hilarious, there is very little character development beyond that Ataru is a ..., unlucky skirt chaser, Lum is an alien completely devoted to Ataru who hates being hit on, etc. etc. whereas Ms. Takahashi's other series have more character development, actually romantic romantic comedy, stuff that makes you alternately say awwwwww and gasp with startlement, drama, and all those good things. So I subtracted a star. If you want a series to get involved in, with deep characters and emotional attachment, don't read this one. Go get Ranma 1/2 or Maison Ikkoku or Inu-Yasha. If you want a lighthearted comedy with funny characters, then this is the series for you.
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