sidzero:
Lum, Lum, Lum... the beautiful alien daughter of the alien warlord, Invader. There's so much to say about her. You say there's so much we know about her thanks to this site, but the bulk of what we know about her really comes from UY itself. Everyone is prone to talk about all the wonderful things about her, things we all know so well (things that there really aren't a whole lot of, if you think about it). But she's quite a flawed character. In my opinion, she has so many more negatives than positives when it comes to her personality and overall character. Sure she's got her fantastically good looks and a very nice body to go with them, an undying devotion to her beloved, and no qualms about expressing her feelings for him, as well as her well known powers of flight and electrokinesis. But what else is really so great about her? She's possessive, jealous, and controlling. Those are probably the 3 worst traits for anyone, man or woman, to have when it comes to relationships. Especially when combined with her lack of concern for her partners feelings, despite the intensity of her own feelings. Despite her "absolute love" for Ataru (which could be seen as more of a love between master and pet than an equal relationship between lovers, when looked at from an objective standpoint), she never makes any attempts to really try and understand him, or his feelings, or his point of view (and that's not even counting her lack of understanding of her "darling's" very cultural values and expectations). It's the ultimate hypocrisy of relationships. She expects her mate to stand by her despite all things, but doesn't really expect to do the same in return. True, this could be because she doesn't get what she wants at all, and is only returning his lack of concern, but it could just be because of Lum's personality. She's self-centered. She's obsessive. She's even a little egotistical.
Now, I don't want to seem like I'm being sexist or anything, but these are traits I've noticed in most women (and pretty much all women I end up getting involved in relationships with). She's the typical "crazy girlfriend", despite everyone's want to believe that she's not. Trust me, judging by the way she acts towards Ataru, all the people that think she's an ideal girlfriend, would end up hating her if they actually had that wish, though perhaps for different reasons. She's the type of girl that would walk all over you, if you gave her the opportunity. I've been involved with a lot of women like that, and I've been the boyfriend who's been walked all over, and the jerk boyfriend that doesn't pay enough attention. This is probably why I take such interest in Ataru. Other than the fact that he reminds me of myself at that age (though a more... extreme version of me), I truly sympathize with the situation he's been forced into.
You say you want to know how sure we think she is about her relationship with Ataru, but like with all things, no person is sure about something all the time, despite how sure they may or may not seem. In my opinion, I don't think Lum even thinks about it. I'd think that from her point of view, she has him already, despite his antics. But deep down, she's got a lot of faith that he's going to give up on his "cheating". I also agree that they both like the game of cat and mouse they play. Aside from the occasional crisis in faith, Ataru knows that she's always going to be there for him when he's ready to settle down, whether or not he thinks he's going to settle down being beside the point. I think that fact is quite clearly illustrated by the way Ataru changes his tune any time it looks like that possibility is in jeopardy. He loves her, he's just not ready to be in love with her. Lum on the other hand is the opposite, she's in love with him, but not ready to really love him. Left to their own devices, and if there were no real outside interference, they could very easily end up with that happily ever after that Lum dreams about for them. But that's the whole point of the story, isn't it? To throw things at them and make that dream look harder and harder to achieve. Most of this is on Ataru's end, making crises for Lum's faith in the relationship, despite it seeming that Lum is so sure of their future together. I think, overall, that Ataru seems a lot more sure of their future together than Lum does, though Ataru is a lot less interested in making sure it comes to pass than Lum is.
And that, my friends, is the jist of their relationship together.
I also want to add that if any of the potential fanfic writers out there want some help better understanding the characters of this wonderful series, I'd be more than glad to discuss their ideas with them to see if they really fit the spirit of the characters as they should be (though of course, if their version of things makes for any big things that would change things in the personalities of any of the characters, as happens with most people over time, anything could really go with them).
UruseiNeo:
I'm sorry but that didn't fit the format of a 5 paragraph essay. XD
Very good content, contains a lot of good material. I'd like to step away from her interpretation of Ataru for now, we can come back to that if anybody wants. How about we talk about what she thinks of some of the other people.
For example, Shinobu. Now, I think it's pretty clear Shinobu no longer has interest in Ataru. So... does Lum think of Shinobu as a friend now or as a threat? Similarly what does she see the other female characters as?
Try to keep your comments short so that we can go into an elaborate and diverse discussion.
sidzero:
The relationship between Lum and Shinobu has indeed changed over the course of the series. At first Lum saw her as nothing more than a rival for Ataru's affection, but as Shinobu's feelings for Ataru cooled after Mendo arrived, and Lum got to see Ataru as he is (flirting with many women other than just Shinobu), their relationship warmed up. Later in the series, I think Shinobu had managed to even become Lum's closest earthling friend. One of the good things about Lum is her ability to pretty much become friends with anyone, and I think she's pretty friendly with all the other characters, male or female. Even Ran, despite their history, especially after Ran got together with Rei, and Ran started to see what was really going on with Lum. Ran did eventually see that the bad things that Lum had "done" to her were just because Lum tries too hard and is accident prone. That was made clear in the chapter where Ran got sick, and Lum tried to take care of her.
UruseiNeo:
I remember an episode though the one where Lum thinks she's turning into a cow. She gets this thought into her head that after turning into a cow, Shinobu is going to take Ataru and "all her boys"
This could also imply that she likes the attention the other guys give her.
That scene, I thought, was actually a little out of character.
sidzero:
Well, in my opinion, the anime bastardized a lot of things. It distorted the personalities of many of the characters, especially Ataru, who in the manga, over the course of the series, came a lot closer to settling down than the anime suggests. Even many of the stories themselves were butchered. For example, compare the two stories that realize Ataru's personality into reality, in the manga it comes from an egg owned by sprites that feeds on human spirit that Ataru finds one day at school cleaning up after a storm. In the anime, this story was completely changed, and instead now it happens on an island owned by Mendo that Ataru and the gang find themselves lost on and it happens because Ataru eats a mushroom. Another example would be the whole "Miss Tomobiki contest" story. Hell, the anime assigns many roles that originally belonged to Mendo to the Stormtroopers (who in the manga disappeared completely after Mendo arrives), just because the writers liked them too much. This is why my own story was to be based more on the manga than the anime, the manga was far better and better defined characters, in my opinion.