The World of Urusei Yatsura's Lum
Urusei Yatsura - RPG, Movies, Episodes & Stories => Movies, OAV & TV Series => Topic started by: Oldfan on July 08, 2017, 10:36:46 PM
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Warning - this theory will cross between the four mediums of Urusei Yatsura - the Manga, the TV Show, the Movies and one very specific OVA. It's a bit lengthy so sorry for the long post.
I was first exposed to UY in the 90s, I saw a VHS Rental of the 1st 4 episodes, and as I was getting into Anime at the time I figured I would give it a shot. To say the least, it became my favorite, but collecting it on VHS back then was really expensive. However, I did manage to get the 1st 16 episodes, half the OVAs, and all of the movies. I had no idea how many episodes there were but the overall theme was established - a crazy relationship with all the others around them involved to one extent or another.
Two years ago, I had found a YouTube channel that had ALL the episodes, at best at VHS quality but they were subbed and I'm not super fussy so after HOURS of using a website called KeepVid I had them all saved to a HD in my computer and figured one day I'd watch them all when I had the time. That time started in May of this year, and after a good bit of watching I knew a lot more about that 'relationship'. I now have all the Blurays from Japan, had to buy Only You on DVD since the movie on Bluray is cut by 10 mins.
All the guys love Lum, inclusive of Ataru, but he's too bent on being 'free' to commit to her. Lum doesn't care about any of the other guys, she's so in love with Ataru it almost hurts. But despite the efforts of others around them, anytime anyone gets NEAR her, he's all over them. The TV gives hints and nudges of this, but nothing more, while the movies actually establish the fact that he does love her and is willing to risk life and limb for her.
Only You - gets the ball rolling for them as near the end, Ataru realizes that despite how he acts, Lum cares only for him and he feels bad. (Doesn't marry her though at the end.)
Beautiful Dreamer - Ataru admits he's in love with her, of course he admits to loving the others, but that falling sequence hits the one notion home, he really only loves Lum.
Remember My Love - Lum at least will have a child, as Ruu is her descendant. Looking at the character of Ruu, he's precocious (something Lum was), he's headstrong and he has a bit of a temper. They never said who she married at the time because the show was still going, but there's another aspect of Ruu that gets ignored - the kid is a KLUTZ. Who else is one? Ataru, that's who. Plus, Ataru says he does things without thinking of the consequences, and Ruu did just that. It also emphasizes that if Lum is in danger, Ataru will do everything to get her back. He's also the one that remembered Lum after everyone forgot her, significance of cutting his finger on the soda can for the red string.
Lum the Forever - Just reinforces the relationship - When everyone is fighting, Ataru goes jogging because he hates violence, he falls, sees the fog and calls Lum's name and immediately Lum knows she has to go back.
The Final Chapter - There's a laundry list of tells for how Ataru feels, I'll mention some:
- Ataru goes into immediate action and bargains away ALL his girl stalking material to get her back
- He thinks she's in danger and runs out the hole in the side of the school
- He's genuinely hurt when he's fooled by the copy of Lum
- His internal talk, does he have to tell her in words for her to know
- Holding onto the horns at the end there
- Honorable Mention: REFUSING to say he loves her because she won't know if it's the truth or not
Always My Darling - We'll just leave that one alone
The TV show had a bunch of well placed episodes that show how he feels, some based off the manga, but the rescue from Mendou's estate was not, and cemented one important thing. He'd run through tank and gunfire to get her back. And the very last episode with their kiss, it was annoying that we had to wait that long for it, but it was very sweet if not setup by that one MiB of Mendou's (my theory).
The Manga, which I only just got to read had similar moments, setting up relationship stories and such, but there was one manga story earlier on that didn't sit well with me. When Lum and Ataru went into the future and saw that Ataru was married to Shinobu and they had a kid. I had seen all the episodes by then and I didn't recall an adaption of that one. But since I wasn't too keen on the story, I didn't care so much. Then the Manga for Inaba the Dreammaker came (and the corresponding OVA in 1987). That story not only undid the prior time travel story but also setup the fact that no matter what Ataru did, he was going to fail at making a Harem. Even in his ideal dream, Lum leaves him if he does that. We then have the usual fight/chase in the OVA, and then they go through another door and it's a future they're getting married in.
The manga is a little less kind to Ataru as people are throwing things at him and everyone is objecting to their wedding, but he sees what's important. Lum is happy, even crying with tears of happiness and he knows that he has to save that future. In the OVA, there's no fight at the wedding, but the end result is the same. When the door is falling, he goes all out to try and save it. The OVA also gives us the ending sequence of Inaba finding Lum's "Sweet Home" doorknob and placing it on a door.
In The Final Chapter, because they were so bitterly fighting, the doors that represented their futures led to nothingness because if they didn't reconcile, obviously there was no future for them. Of course they did and we got the whole 'She get him to say he loves her even if it takes a lifetime' with his 'He'll say it on his deathbed'. And then we get to sit and wonder and basically have to say obviously she didn't leave him, she loves him way too much and he'd never let go because of the same feelings.
My theory (finally) is that while Inaba the character was supposed to be a bone for Shinobu (she lost Ataru to Lum and Mendou was obsessed with Lum - but failed), the story was a bone for us, more the OVA than the Manga, because of that doorknob sequence at the end. As someone that has wrote tons of stories in the past 30+ years, you can do the 'make it up as you go along' or have a planned outline of everything that happens. The idea was that they were all kids in school, enjoying their youth and living day to day, concerned with only having fun and adventures - why throw a marriage into that? We won't even mention that despite that Lum is one of the Oni, she has more human wants and needs than any other female in the show - period.
Fans, that's why. Say what you want, but other than Maison Ikkoku , every relationship created by Rumiko Takahashi put the readers/viewers through the wringer. To this day, I've found snippets of conversation on various websites that express a bit of bitterness that Lum didn't get her happy ending. But unless we're really lucky, we likely won't see it. Fumi Hirano (Lum's VA) is 62, Toshio Furokawa (Ataru's VA is 70), they aren't immortal and despite the fact they can both still do the voices pretty well (Look up Dallas Animefest 2016 on YouTube). So because this won't be revisited, Inaba the Dreammaker is our bone that says they get married and have a family (how many kids is up to you).
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Rumiko did mention at one point years back how she has like no intentions of making anything new with UY. While I would love something new for the goat series, I'm pretty satisfied with the way it ended. The real big question of the last storyline was really did Ataru care and was he so foolish enough to choose his own chaos over his love for Lum. We got the answers to both of those questions by the end. With that said, I do get what you mean. I too always saw the Inaba storyline where it showed the future of Ataru and Lum's marriage as Rumiko showing what would eventually happen between Ataru and Lum without actually needing to show the real thing.
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I don't know how reliable the source was, but I heard that the reason we got a new UY for the Rumic World in 2008 was because someone threw the equivalent of a boatload of money at Rumiko for an okay to make that OVA. Almost makes me wonder if there was enough of a desire, a good script and a real big sum of cash (again) if she'd approve of one last movie.
Wishful thinking I know.
I'd hate to see the day come if there was some kind of revival and the main two voice actors simply couldn't do it anymore because of their respective ages. I can only ever hear them as the voices they've been since Day 1. The English speaking dubs make my skin crawl.
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Agreed. New material would always be great in this series. I do wonder. This was after 50 years for an anniversary, wondering if they wouldn't mind having another one some time down the road. Cause there are quite a few stories I'd love to be animated (like the Ultra Colorful Pair Look).
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I'd be happy with one more Movie or longer OVA to tie it all up, while we still have the seiyū (声優) for Lum and Ataru with us, and by proxy Shinobu and Mendou with us.
By longer OVA, approx 60 mins not including opening and closing credits, a movie would be ideal since the idea of getting them from The Final Chapter to 'together' would likely involve their usual highs and lows.
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It would require a lot of time. I guess a movie could suffice. I'm personally satisfied with the ending, though I do wonder what you envision would be an appropriate post-Final Chapter/Boy Meets Girl storyline.
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Warning - Long Post
Given that Always My Darling technically comes after The Final Chapter (Inaba makes an appearance in the crowds watching the battle of Mendou's forces vs Lupica's ship), this would have to come after that. But both manga and anime versions of Final Chapter/Boy Meets Girl began with Lum having a nightmare.
My idea is a more serious toned one, this is marriage we're dealing with after all, but there would be enough humor thrown in to make it work I hope.
I had an idea of Ataru having a nightmare, that Lum never let him win (technically speaking she did) and she was gone. This causes him to wake up and start frantically looking for her, and when she's not in her sometimes usual spot of the closet, he really panics and climbs up to the roof of the house and sees Lum sitting looking at the stars.
They've been together long enough that he can tell when she's sad and she is in fact very sad that despite the proof of his feeling with him holding onto her horns, she wonders if he really loves her. She's pretty much talking to herself and thinks maybe going home back to her parents will help clear her mind. Ataru being him, and having grown up a lot in that last movie (and manga) wonders to himself if his being stubborn is worth it anymore. He knows he loves her, and he knows he's miserable without her.
In the manga, he berated himself for not being able to say it, in the anime, he basically says do I have to tell you in words for you to understand.
The usual Ataru monologue would begin but when he hears her say she'll tell him in the morning she's going home, that last wall of resistance crumbles. He sets his hand on her shoulders, which would startle her but when she turns around and sees him, instead of saying something immediately, I figured the best way for him to tell her would be for him to initiate a kiss, and then when she's confused by his actions, he'll tell her he loves her and thus starts their real relationship.
Since the idea of the show and manga was forever 17 in highschool, we can jump forward, past their graduation and go all the way to their final year of college. They have an apartment together, they attend the same college and they both work jobs and have their relationship which has grown like them.
It's not a far stretch, in both manga and anime, Ataru and Lum both looked a little older during the last story, so we age them just a touch further, but nothing drastic, 4-5 years tops. To make sure we have the old times sake style of the feel of the show, they can get together with their old friends and have one last silly adventure before the crunch of college finals start.
After the college finals, Ataru has a job (amusingly enough, given his love of food and hatred of Lum's cooking, I thought him learning to be a chef would be funny), and Lum has a job too (still trying to think of what she would do, but since she's always dreamed of being with Ataru their whole lives, maybe something to do with children).
Ataru, in the midst of working hard and putting his all into being with Lum, decides that it's time for the next step and starts shopping for a ring and actually finds one that's appropriate and decides to surprise Lum with a proposal. He muses to himself that he finds it funny that the woman he spent so long trying to ditch is now the only one he could imagine spending the rest of his days with. In a throwback to the Inaba story, he'll blame Inaba for seeing how happy Lum was when they were getting married and that's what made him decide to do this.
When he gets home though, Lum has company, Oyuki, Benten and Ran and while he decides not to disturb them, Lum has had her one bane, a pickled plum and so she's tipsy. The other girls are joking with her, mainly Benten of course and they're asking her how things have been. Since Benten can be considered to not have class to a point, she'll ask him if he's asked her to marry him and reminds her that if he's boring like Rei was she can always dump him. Lum says something stupid, even as Ran gets angry with Benten while Oyuki, always the soul of courtesy and manners sees Ataru run off as he assumes the worst (this is Ataru after all) but she can't do anything because Ran and Benten are escalating their argument and she's keeping them in check.
I've only gotten to this point so far, but I considered that Ataru goes to the only people he can possibly talk to about Lum then, her parents (I figure he stays out all night and basically begs and pleads Ran or someone to take him to them in the morning). Lum's parents don't know of anything wrong and that's when he tells them he wants to ask her to marry him for real, but now he's afraid he's too boring for her. Of course they're happy and that's when Lum calls (Ran or whoever spilled it that they brought Ataru to her parents and she's almost there) and she wants to talk to him because she's been frantic with worry.
From there, they have a big misunderstanding and basically Ataru tells her he wants to spend his life with her, but now he's worried she's bored of him and the fact he's a simple Earthling. This is where I ended up with regarding story boarding, a third and final tag match would be cliche, but it is what the Oni do in times of trouble.
I did consider the idea that if I went that route that this time Ataru is the challenger, so he gets to make the rules. So the contest would be on his terms, Lum has to run, she can't fly and she has to tag him. But to make it fair for her, it's on a course on Lum's planet, because in reversed roles, on the ground Ataru is matchless (100 meters in 7 seconds flat when he chased Asuka). Unlike the prior matches though, every night they talk until they go to sleep and each night they each pour their hearts out to each other. And this is where my word doc with all the notes I had been considering is at right now.
As an aside I decided to start learning Japanese so I can understand the literal sense of the digital Tankobans of the manga I got, so I've been busier. But I imagine if it was hinging on a final tag match, something would happen and Ataru would realize Lum does love him and doesn't want anyone else (he's not the brightest guy by any means and they're both still so stubborn) and so he changes the terms of the match and surprises her with a proposal and they have their wedding.
One thing I did decide was that the ending sequence would take place after the wedding. They would be in a hospital and all you see is a delivery room and repeated flashes of light. Lum is in labor and practically roasting Ataru alive until you hear a baby cry and we see father, mother and child all together with everyone around them and we fade to black after they say one last time they love each other.
But in a bit of a full farewell, I had an idea that we have the voices of Ataru and Lum say who they are and that this was their final story and they thank everyone for all the love and devotion over the years as the baby cries and they then playfully argue over whose turn it is to get up.
Roll credits.
It's more serious I know, way more serious, but given the tones of their last stories (despite the manga being more lighthearted than the movie for the last story, they were both actually serious). Ataru threw himself off a massive building after Lum, even HIS durability would have been hard pressed to survive that fall and Lum has no such ability. Also, Lum was talking about wiping out everyone's memories of everything, that's not just a goodbye, that's an I'm leaving and taking all the toys with me scenario and everyone has to suffer.
(My theory on that is that Lum wouldn't have been able to live comfortably knowing that he was out there without her so it was better that the period of time was gone than live with the pain - there is nothing funny about that in any respect even if the device itself was an ugly looking Oni thing.)
I'm still working on this so it's very rough, but not all love and marriage stories are lighthearted. Look at the second manga story with Inaba, For Love and Valor - that was really serious for Shinobu and she did get her happy ending.
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Warning - Long Post
Given that Always My Darling technically comes after The Final Chapter (Inaba makes an appearance in the crowds watching the battle of Mendou's forces vs Lupica's ship), this would have to come after that. But both manga and anime versions of Final Chapter/Boy Meets Girl began with Lum having a nightmare.
My idea is a more serious toned one, this is marriage we're dealing with after all, but there would be enough humor thrown in to make it work I hope.
I had an idea of Ataru having a nightmare, that Lum never let him win (technically speaking she did) and she was gone. This causes him to wake up and start frantically looking for her, and when she's not in her sometimes usual spot of the closet, he really panics and climbs up to the roof of the house and sees Lum sitting looking at the stars.
They've been together long enough that he can tell when she's sad and she is in fact very sad that despite the proof of his feeling with him holding onto her horns, she wonders if he really loves her. She's pretty much talking to herself and thinks maybe going home back to her parents will help clear her mind. Ataru being him, and having grown up a lot in that last movie (and manga) wonders to himself if his being stubborn is worth it anymore. He knows he loves her, and he knows he's miserable without her.
In the manga, he berated himself for not being able to say it, in the anime, he basically says do I have to tell you in words for you to understand.
The usual Ataru monologue would begin but when he hears her say she'll tell him in the morning she's going home, that last wall of resistance crumbles. He sets his hand on her shoulders, which would startle her but when she turns around and sees him, instead of saying something immediately, I figured the best way for him to tell her would be for him to initiate a kiss, and then when she's confused by his actions, he'll tell her he loves her and thus starts their real relationship.
Since the idea of the show and manga was forever 17 in highschool, we can jump forward, past their graduation and go all the way to their final year of college. They have an apartment together, they attend the same college and they both work jobs and have their relationship which has grown like them.
It's not a far stretch, in both manga and anime, Ataru and Lum both looked a little older during the last story, so we age them just a touch further, but nothing drastic, 4-5 years tops. To make sure we have the old times sake style of the feel of the show, they can get together with their old friends and have one last silly adventure before the crunch of college finals start.
After the college finals, Ataru has a job (amusingly enough, given his love of food and hatred of Lum's cooking, I thought him learning to be a chef would be funny), and Lum has a job too (still trying to think of what she would do, but since she's always dreamed of being with Ataru their whole lives, maybe something to do with children).
Ataru, in the midst of working hard and putting his all into being with Lum, decides that it's time for the next step and starts shopping for a ring and actually finds one that's appropriate and decides to surprise Lum with a proposal. He muses to himself that he finds it funny that the woman he spent so long trying to ditch is now the only one he could imagine spending the rest of his days with. In a throwback to the Inaba story, he'll blame Inaba for seeing how happy Lum was when they were getting married and that's what made him decide to do this.
When he gets home though, Lum has company, Oyuki, Benten and Ran and while he decides not to disturb them, Lum has had her one bane, a pickled plum and so she's tipsy. The other girls are joking with her, mainly Benten of course and they're asking her how things have been. Since Benten can be considered to not have class to a point, she'll ask him if he's asked her to marry him and reminds her that if he's boring like Rei was she can always dump him. Lum says something stupid, even as Ran gets angry with Benten while Oyuki, always the soul of courtesy and manners sees Ataru run off as he assumes the worst (this is Ataru after all) but she can't do anything because Ran and Benten are escalating their argument and she's keeping them in check.
I've only gotten to this point so far, but I considered that Ataru goes to the only people he can possibly talk to about Lum then, her parents (I figure he stays out all night and basically begs and pleads Ran or someone to take him to them in the morning). Lum's parents don't know of anything wrong and that's when he tells them he wants to ask her to marry him for real, but now he's afraid he's too boring for her. Of course they're happy and that's when Lum calls (Ran or whoever spilled it that they brought Ataru to her parents and she's almost there) and she wants to talk to him because she's been frantic with worry.
From there, they have a big misunderstanding and basically Ataru tells her he wants to spend his life with her, but now he's worried she's bored of him and the fact he's a simple Earthling. This is where I ended up with regarding story boarding, a third and final tag match would be cliche, but it is what the Oni do in times of trouble.
I did consider the idea that if I went that route that this time Ataru is the challenger, so he gets to make the rules. So the contest would be on his terms, Lum has to run, she can't fly and she has to tag him. But to make it fair for her, it's on a course on Lum's planet, because in reversed roles, on the ground Ataru is matchless (100 meters in 7 seconds flat when he chased Asuka). Unlike the prior matches though, every night they talk until they go to sleep and each night they each pour their hearts out to each other. And this is where my word doc with all the notes I had been considering is at right now.
As an aside I decided to start learning Japanese so I can understand the literal sense of the digital Tankobans of the manga I got, so I've been busier. But I imagine if it was hinging on a final tag match, something would happen and Ataru would realize Lum does love him and doesn't want anyone else (he's not the brightest guy by any means and they're both still so stubborn) and so he changes the terms of the match and surprises her with a proposal and they have their wedding.
One thing I did decide was that the ending sequence would take place after the wedding. They would be in a hospital and all you see is a delivery room and repeated flashes of light. Lum is in labor and practically roasting Ataru alive until you hear a baby cry and we see father, mother and child all together with everyone around them and we fade to black after they say one last time they love each other.
But in a bit of a full farewell, I had an idea that we have the voices of Ataru and Lum say who they are and that this was their final story and they thank everyone for all the love and devotion over the years as the baby cries and they then playfully argue over whose turn it is to get up.
Roll credits.
It's more serious I know, way more serious, but given the tones of their last stories (despite the manga being more lighthearted than the movie for the last story, they were both actually serious). Ataru threw himself off a massive building after Lum, even HIS durability would have been hard pressed to survive that fall and Lum has no such ability. Also, Lum was talking about wiping out everyone's memories of everything, that's not just a goodbye, that's an I'm leaving and taking all the toys with me scenario and everyone has to suffer.
(My theory on that is that Lum wouldn't have been able to live comfortably knowing that he was out there without her so it was better that the period of time was gone than live with the pain - there is nothing funny about that in any respect even if the device itself was an ugly looking Oni thing.)
I'm still working on this so it's very rough, but not all love and marriage stories are lighthearted. Look at the second manga story with Inaba, For Love and Valor - that was really serious for Shinobu and she did get her happy ending.
I feel like the premise is good and shows a lot of promise. Curious about something though: You mentioned that Lum would question if he really loves her despite the whole horns incident. I feel like that would be a little unnecessary as the question of whether he loved her or not was answered with the horns. She had truly questioned if he even hated her, but knew then and there he loved her completely. I think a serious story could work though, granted may be a little too serious for Takahashi but as you mentioned the anime had no problem adding a more serious tone.
Tag would be kind of cliche yeah, but I guess given the right context it could be pulled off well. I do like that you would have this taking place on Lum's planet, felt that location wasn't utilized often enough in the series.
As far as Ataru's durability goes, it ranges. Remember the Electric Jungle story? Lum tried helping him out against Shingo by electrocuted a fruit that drops on Ataru's head which knocks him out (a terrible showing for his durability), when later on in that same story he endures electrocution just long enough to set him and Lum free from the coils. Then there's of course other stories where Ataru straight up falls out the window of his school and is fine in the next page.
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I feel like the premise is good and shows a lot of promise. Curious about something though: You mentioned that Lum would question if he really loves her despite the whole horns incident. I feel like that would be a little unnecessary as the question of whether he loved her or not was answered with the horns. She had truly questioned if he even hated her, but knew then and there he loved her completely. I think a serious story could work though, granted may be a little too serious for Takahashi but as you mentioned the anime had no problem adding a more serious tone.
Tag would be kind of cliche yeah, but I guess given the right context it could be pulled off well. I do like that you would have this taking place on Lum's planet, felt that location wasn't utilized often enough in the series.
As far as Ataru's durability goes, it ranges. Remember the Electric Jungle story? Lum tried helping him out against Shingo by electrocuted a fruit that drops on Ataru's head which knocks him out (a terrible showing for his durability), when later on in that same story he endures electrocution just long enough to set him and Lum free from the coils. Then there's of course other stories where Ataru straight up falls out the window of his school and is fine in the next page.
If not a question of if he really loves her, then maybe more how much does he love her. You can love someone but not be in love with them. Since Always My Darling does come afterwards, we can see he was more or less back to his old self, especially when freed from Lupica's control. He was jumping from woman to woman and while at first Lum was happy he was free, she then saw what he was doing and lynched him. To me, if you go through all that hell why backtrack? Hence her confusion - Lum is emotion at extremes many times, look at the last episode. It may have been based off an older manga, but that relationship stuff they added in, Lum was brutal in lynching him, he was glowing blue from it and she had him in a wrestling move too.
Lum's love for him, despite her crazy breaks and attempts to make him jealous has always pretty much been an 11 on a 1-10 scale. She loves him, and she's madly in love with him. So even if she questions things, we can say neither one of them is exactly what you call a rational thinker. If they were rational, once the misunderstandings were cleared up that would have been the end of the story I think. And Love and Valor was likely even more serious than The Final Chapter was, I felt really bad for Inaba after the beating he took and the fact that Shinobu took the worst emotional beating too was something. Which makes me wonder why that didn't get to be an OVA, that would have been good as a bookend to the original Inaba OVA.
But I'm digressing. :)
My thought with the third tag game would be that it would come as a suggestion from her parents, her parents both really like him and I would go on the premise that this would be the one way to test her dedication. Lum made it clear in the second game that he had two ways of winning, catch her or tell her that he loves her. And as was obvious in both versions, she meant business. For all we've seen from Ataru until that point, he was practically 'invincible' but by that last day, he was for all intents and purposes completely defeated. I can't recall any story where he was completely exhausted like that. So a challenge on his terms, but he at least gives her a chance, showing that he at least won't press too much of an advantage. Plus, twice now the Earth was at stake, this time it has nothing to do with the Earth at all, just the two of them. They don't need a crowd, it's up close and personal with just the two of them at stake. No better place than Lum's planet - which if memory serves me is not Uru but Oniboshi.
A show of maturity if you want to call it that, he takes away her biggest advantage, but at the same time gives himself a handicap to make it fair.
And yeah, his durability is not very consistent, nor is I guess for a lack of a better way to say it but his powerset overall isn't either. The first story where Ten's mother appeared, he used his legs to uproot a tree, and the earliest appearance of Ran, he walked through the ground itself to get to her after Lum basically knocked him up to his waist into the Earth. My rational mind just considers the sheer height of that building, and him jumping right off after her - he knew she couldn't fly, what was he going to do, catch her and flap his arms? Clearly from the start of that sequence they knew the fall would be lethal to Lum so I imagine it would be to him too.
So my thought is I agree it might too serious for Takahashi, she did however love the movie enough that she herself was in tears when it was done, I recall reading that. But considering Lum and Ataru, nothing is ever easy for them, and so they have to have the drama in the midst of their comedy before the very end.
Also, I have a title for this, since every movie title is evocative of the significance of the theme/story - Yes My Darling.
The reason for this is as follows:
Only You - Lum loves only Ataru and there was the sequence where she said to him to think only of her, to look only at her, that's all she does regarding him.
Beautiful Dreamer - Mujaki thought she was uniquely beautiful and wanted to fulfill her dreams.
Remember My Love - Ruu took her out of everyone's memories, until Ataru broke that by cutting his finger and remembering her.
Lum the Forever - As odd as that movie was, I enjoyed it, but that weird fetus thing inferred that the memories of Lum would it had would live on forever in it.
The Final Chapter - speaks for itself. However, the manga version Boy meets Girl - refers to Rupa / Carla, and Ataru / Lum.
Always My Darling - more or less just a play on the possessiveness that Lum has for Ataru - he is her Darling and no one else can have him, which she also stated in the space jet rescue sequence in Only You.
So, Yes My Darling - when he finally proposes at the end, I imagine she would say those exact words (in the midst of everything else she would be scrambling to say too).
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I feel like the premise is good and shows a lot of promise. Curious about something though: You mentioned that Lum would question if he really loves her despite the whole horns incident. I feel like that would be a little unnecessary as the question of whether he loved her or not was answered with the horns. She had truly questioned if he even hated her, but knew then and there he loved her completely. I think a serious story could work though, granted may be a little too serious for Takahashi but as you mentioned the anime had no problem adding a more serious tone.
Tag would be kind of cliche yeah, but I guess given the right context it could be pulled off well. I do like that you would have this taking place on Lum's planet, felt that location wasn't utilized often enough in the series.
As far as Ataru's durability goes, it ranges. Remember the Electric Jungle story? Lum tried helping him out against Shingo by electrocuted a fruit that drops on Ataru's head which knocks him out (a terrible showing for his durability), when later on in that same story he endures electrocution just long enough to set him and Lum free from the coils. Then there's of course other stories where Ataru straight up falls out the window of his school and is fine in the next page.
If not a question of if he really loves her, then maybe more how much does he love her. You can love someone but not be in love with them. Since Always My Darling does come afterwards, we can see he was more or less back to his old self, especially when freed from Lupica's control. He was jumping from woman to woman and while at first Lum was happy he was free, she then saw what he was doing and lynched him. To me, if you go through all that hell why backtrack? Hence her confusion - Lum is emotion at extremes many times, look at the last episode. It may have been based off an older manga, but that relationship stuff they added in, Lum was brutal in lynching him, he was glowing blue from it and she had him in a wrestling move too.
Lum's love for him, despite her crazy breaks and attempts to make him jealous has always pretty much been an 11 on a 1-10 scale. She loves him, and she's madly in love with him. So even if she questions things, we can say neither one of them is exactly what you call a rational thinker. If they were rational, once the misunderstandings were cleared up that would have been the end of the story I think. And Love and Valor was likely even more serious than The Final Chapter was, I felt really bad for Inaba after the beating he took and the fact that Shinobu took the worst emotional beating too was something. Which makes me wonder why that didn't get to be an OVA, that would have been good as a bookend to the original Inaba OVA.
But I'm digressing. :)
My thought with the third tag game would be that it would come as a suggestion from her parents, her parents both really like him and I would go on the premise that this would be the one way to test her dedication. Lum made it clear in the second game that he had two ways of winning, catch her or tell her that he loves her. And as was obvious in both versions, she meant business. For all we've seen from Ataru until that point, he was practically 'invincible' but by that last day, he was for all intents and purposes completely defeated. I can't recall any story where he was completely exhausted like that. So a challenge on his terms, but he at least gives her a chance, showing that he at least won't press too much of an advantage. Plus, twice now the Earth was at stake, this time it has nothing to do with the Earth at all, just the two of them. They don't need a crowd, it's up close and personal with just the two of them at stake. No better place than Lum's planet - which if memory serves me is not Uru but Oniboshi.
A show of maturity if you want to call it that, he takes away her biggest advantage, but at the same time gives himself a handicap to make it fair.
And yeah, his durability is not very consistent, nor is I guess for a lack of a better way to say it but his powerset overall isn't either. The first story where Ten's mother appeared, he used his legs to uproot a tree, and the earliest appearance of Ran, he walked through the ground itself to get to her after Lum basically knocked him up to his waist into the Earth. My rational mind just considers the sheer height of that building, and him jumping right off after her - he knew she couldn't fly, what was he going to do, catch her and flap his arms? Clearly from the start of that sequence they knew the fall would be lethal to Lum so I imagine it would be to him too.
So my thought is I agree it might too serious for Takahashi, she did however love the movie enough that she herself was in tears when it was done, I recall reading that. But considering Lum and Ataru, nothing is ever easy for them, and so they have to have the drama in the midst of their comedy before the very end.
Also, I have a title for this, since every movie title is evocative of the significance of the theme/story - Yes My Darling.
The reason for this is as follows:
Only You - Lum loves only Ataru and there was the sequence where she said to him to think only of her, to look only at her, that's all she does regarding him.
Beautiful Dreamer - Mujaki thought she was uniquely beautiful and wanted to fulfill her dreams.
Remember My Love - Ruu took her out of everyone's memories, until Ataru broke that by cutting his finger and remembering her.
Lum the Forever - As odd as that movie was, I enjoyed it, but that weird fetus thing inferred that the memories of Lum would it had would live on forever in it.
The Final Chapter - speaks for itself. However, the manga version Boy meets Girl - refers to Rupa / Carla, and Ataru / Lum.
Always My Darling - more or less just a play on the possessiveness that Lum has for Ataru - he is her Darling and no one else can have him, which she also stated in the space jet rescue sequence in Only You.
So, Yes My Darling - when he finally proposes at the end, I imagine she would say those exact words (in the midst of everything else she would be scrambling to say too).
I love the idea of it being very little stakes behind this surrounding most people and it's mostly a private affair focused solely around Ataru and Lum.
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I love the idea of it being very little stakes behind this surrounding most people and it's mostly a private affair focused solely around Ataru and Lum.
My thought was that every other incident had to involve everyone and yes it's nice to see all the characters but they can be in a movie and not distract viewers from the main issue. I could see them all being there maybe as a show of silent support but not being a part of the overall action - this is supposed to be the epilogue to everything, to tie up Lum and Ataru's relationship. It's their final growth as people into what they've been going back and forth on through all the Manga / Episodes / OVAs / Movies. At best, I would have them rooting for Lum to catch Ataru and put this long game to an end.
But by The Final Chapter, the only one that still wanted Lum for himself was Megane, clearly Mendou gave up. Not only does he have Asuka more or less, but no matter what he tried, Lum only ever had eyes for Ataru. Always My Darling, entertaining as it was, was strange blip in things, which probably was part of the reason why Rumiko didn't like it. If the cameos weren't there from such characters as Inaba, I would personally set that earlier in their relationship since we had an older version of Ataru in it.
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I love the idea of it being very little stakes behind this surrounding most people and it's mostly a private affair focused solely around Ataru and Lum.
My thought was that every other incident had to involve everyone and yes it's nice to see all the characters but they can be in a movie and not distract viewers from the main issue. I could see them all being there maybe as a show of silent support but not being a part of the overall action - this is supposed to be the epilogue to everything, to tie up Lum and Ataru's relationship. It's their final growth as people into what they've been going back and forth on through all the Manga / Episodes / OVAs / Movies. At best, I would have them rooting for Lum to catch Ataru and put this long game to an end.
But by The Final Chapter, the only one that still wanted Lum for himself was Megane, clearly Mendou gave up. Not only does he have Asuka more or less, but no matter what he tried, Lum only ever had eyes for Ataru. Always My Darling, entertaining as it was, was strange blip in things, which probably was part of the reason why Rumiko didn't like it. If the cameos weren't there from such characters as Inaba, I would personally set that earlier in their relationship since we had an older version of Ataru in it.
Knowing the UY cast, they'd probably find a way to tag along for the ride just to watch. I'd probably have both their parents there though. Heck, it'd be a great way to have Ten go through some development too. Despite him and Ataru not getting along, the last story showed clearly that he'd miss Ataru.
Mendou seemed to still have some feelings for Lum, but you're right by that point he'd definitely was fine with being with Asuka. He had no problems with marrying her. Though as far as the ending of the Final Chapter went, when the mob chased Ataru and Lum, someone screamed out to Ataru "Why won't you cut the crap and just tell her you love her?" That was either Megane or Mendou. But thinking about it, it'd make more sense if it was Mendou saying it. It's funny how different the endings are. They get chased by an angry mob in the end of the movie, but the manga, they just casually walk (presumably home) from school. Though if we're going by the anime, then the Inaba OVA shows that in the future Mendou still wouldn't be over Lum and even still deluded himself into believing she'll be unhappy and eventually come to him.
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Knowing the UY cast, they'd probably find a way to tag along for the ride just to watch. I'd probably have both their parents there though. Heck, it'd be a great way to have Ten go through some development too. Despite him and Ataru not getting along, the last story showed clearly that he'd miss Ataru.
Mendou seemed to still have some feelings for Lum, but you're right by that point he'd definitely was fine with being with Asuka. He had no problems with marrying her. Though as far as the ending of the Final Chapter went, when the mob chased Ataru and Lum, someone screamed out to Ataru "Why won't you cut the crap and just tell her you love her?" That was either Megane or Mendou. But thinking about it, it'd make more sense if it was Mendou saying it. It's funny how different the endings are. They get chased by an angry mob in the end of the movie, but the manga, they just casually walk (presumably home) from school. Though if we're going by the anime, then the Inaba OVA shows that in the future Mendou still wouldn't be over Lum and even still deluded himself into believing she'll be unhappy and eventually come to him.
For the purposes of a closure story, I would have to say that unless a strong argument could be presented for it, the Stormtroopers don't really have a place and would likely only be around for the initial sequence and be there perhaps just as a presence near the end. As for Ten, I had the idea of his doing his usual nighttime prowling - fighting with that cat again when Ataru and Lum have their moment at the beginning. When he gets back he sees them finally committing and basically says it's about time that idiot started treating her right.
In the process of aging everyone else, it would be nice to age him a little for two reasons:
1. His artwork actually suffered as the show went on. The best that I could tell, he used to have hands and feet, but as the show went on they looked more like stumps.
2. Considering his seiyū is actually is a woman, it'd be interesting to see if she could voice an older Ten. The 10th anniversary videos that you can find posted to YouTube still surprised me. I never realized Ten was voiced by a woman, not that I have any issue with it. It was impressive to hear her speak in her normal voice and then shift to Ten without missing a beat.
I considered Asuka to be Mendou's just desserts honestly. Given that Asuka and her mother seem to be ridiculously over-powered, one little slap on his back could have him in traction. But at the end, there was "Moroboshi!" - which is how Mendou refers to Ataru, then "Ataru!" which was said by Megane. The cut the crap part was Mendou again, his last parting shot at Ataru.
Timeline wise, the Inaba story is before the end, so I could chalk that up to Mendou still has feelings for Lum until when in the The Final Chapter, Lum makes it very clear she only wants to hear that "I Love You" from Ataru. So, hearing that despite everything that's happened, Lum is still completely fixated on Ataru and Mendou realizes he'll never have her.
But I would definitely have the parents there, this is their children after all. The Moroboshis and the Invaders have endured their children's antics since the beginning and despite everything the parents seem to get along really well. I see Shinobu, Inaba (we'd need a new seiyū for him) and Mendou there, as well as Sakura, Cherry (new seiyū for him as well), Ten, Ryuunosuke, and then Benten, Oyuki, Ran and of course eating the whole time, Rei. I might add Onsen-Mark if nothing else than for the fact that he suffered through a lot of Ataru's antics and even seemed to be rooting for Ataru a little by the end of the fifth movie. It'd be a good touch to let him see the bane of his classroom of misfits actually grow up into the last stage of adulthood.
If I HAD to add the Stormtroopers, it would be for one of Megane's usual little speeches. But I actually think he might have been a little insane. I would also eliminate Mr Fujinami after the beginning too, between the rebuilding the shop lines and how he loves the sea, he was repetitive.
But I have this cut into four parts right now, and per what I have seen from how to write anything that looks like a script, one page equals one minute of screen time. Comedies are usually 90 mins, Dramas are 120 mins - as this is comedy and drama, I have within that range to pull this off as a movie.
(I entertain no crazy fantasies this will ever get past my word processor, but hey, I can dare to dream right?)
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Knowing the UY cast, they'd probably find a way to tag along for the ride just to watch. I'd probably have both their parents there though. Heck, it'd be a great way to have Ten go through some development too. Despite him and Ataru not getting along, the last story showed clearly that he'd miss Ataru.
Mendou seemed to still have some feelings for Lum, but you're right by that point he'd definitely was fine with being with Asuka. He had no problems with marrying her. Though as far as the ending of the Final Chapter went, when the mob chased Ataru and Lum, someone screamed out to Ataru "Why won't you cut the crap and just tell her you love her?" That was either Megane or Mendou. But thinking about it, it'd make more sense if it was Mendou saying it. It's funny how different the endings are. They get chased by an angry mob in the end of the movie, but the manga, they just casually walk (presumably home) from school. Though if we're going by the anime, then the Inaba OVA shows that in the future Mendou still wouldn't be over Lum and even still deluded himself into believing she'll be unhappy and eventually come to him.
For the purposes of a closure story, I would have to say that unless a strong argument could be presented for it, the Stormtroopers don't really have a place and would likely only be around for the initial sequence and be there perhaps just as a presence near the end. As for Ten, I had the idea of his doing his usual nighttime prowling - fighting with that cat again when Ataru and Lum have their moment at the beginning. When he gets back he sees them finally committing and basically says it's about time that idiot started treating her right.
In the process of aging everyone else, it would be nice to age him a little for two reasons:
1. His artwork actually suffered as the show went on. The best that I could tell, he used to have hands and feet, but as the show went on they looked more like stumps.
2. Considering his seiyū is actually is a woman, it'd be interesting to see if she could voice an older Ten. The 10th anniversary videos that you can find posted to YouTube still surprised me. I never realized Ten was voiced by a woman, not that I have any issue with it. It was impressive to hear her speak in her normal voice and then shift to Ten without missing a beat.
I considered Asuka to be Mendou's just desserts honestly. Given that Asuka and her mother seem to be ridiculously over-powered, one little slap on his back could have him in traction. But at the end, there was "Moroboshi!" - which is how Mendou refers to Ataru, then "Ataru!" which was said by Megane. The cut the crap part was Mendou again, his last parting shot at Ataru.
Timeline wise, the Inaba story is before the end, so I could chalk that up to Mendou still has feelings for Lum until when in the The Final Chapter, Lum makes it very clear she only wants to hear that "I Love You" from Ataru. So, hearing that despite everything that's happened, Lum is still completely fixated on Ataru and Mendou realizes he'll never have her.
But I would definitely have the parents there, this is their children after all. The Moroboshis and the Invaders have endured their children's antics since the beginning and despite everything the parents seem to get along really well. I see Shinobu, Inaba (we'd need a new seiyū for him) and Mendou there, as well as Sakura, Cherry (new seiyū for him as well), Ten, Ryuunosuke, and then Benten, Oyuki, Ran and of course eating the whole time, Rei. I might add Onsen-Mark if nothing else than for the fact that he suffered through a lot of Ataru's antics and even seemed to be rooting for Ataru a little by the end of the fifth movie. It'd be a good touch to let him see the bane of his classroom of misfits actually grow up into the last stage of adulthood.
If I HAD to add the Stormtroopers, it would be for one of Megane's usual little speeches. But I actually think he might have been a little insane. I would also eliminate Mr Fujinami after the beginning too, between the rebuilding the shop lines and how he loves the sea, he was repetitive.
But I have this cut into four parts right now, and per what I have seen from how to write anything that looks like a script, one page equals one minute of screen time. Comedies are usually 90 mins, Dramas are 120 mins - as this is comedy and drama, I have within that range to pull this off as a movie.
(I entertain no crazy fantasies this will ever get past my word processor, but hey, I can dare to dream right?)
- Fair. Their roles were never that big to begin with in the films. Even in the Final Chapter, they never got more than maybe a minute's worth of screen time. They were almost always played for comedic relief anyway and whenever they weren't they were usually in the antagonist role. Doesn't really work in a story like this one. Even in the anime they become a lot more irrelevant as the show progresses.
- That makes sense for Ten. I'm sure he and Ataru will probably settle their differences years later when they both mature enough.
- Here's a funny thought: All of Ten's voices in every language available for the show he's voiced by a woman. Ten definitely would benefit from appearing a bit older.
- I think Mendou realized he couldn't get Lum a long time ago. He however just was delusional for most of the series believing he had a chance of getting her. Different than other Rumiko couples as other characters had some chances at first, but Lum was completely and irrevocably smitten with her Darling since chapter 1. I agree he did start to come more to the reality that he wouldn't get her, then again even in the Final Chapter/Boy Meets Girl, the scene where everyone tries to get Ataru to say he loves Lum after she says that's the only way she'd help the earth out. Mendou walks over to Ataru and says under these circumstances, I'll allow it. Mendou... It makes you realize just how miserable he'd probably end up if he didn't have Asuka's family. You can't go wrong with the Mizunokoji's, Mendou would have too much fun there.
- Yeah, the usuals would definitely need to be there. Personally, I'd also have the parents play a bigger role than the other supporting characters in this story. It would be fitting. Was Onsen really all that supportive of Ataru though? It always seemed to me he just supported him because he could really only rely on Ataru. But I do agree it'd be great to have Onsen acknowledge Ataru's further step into adulthood.
- Megane was definitely insane. He really was the only one who stayed truly obsessed with Lum from beginning to end. Even has his room filled with pictures of her. The dude has a pretty unhealthy jealousy of Ataru and an even unhealthier obsession over Lum.
- You're free to dream whatever. Ain't nothing wrong with it. Quick question though, what was your opinion of that one person's own continuation post-Final Chapter/Boy Meets Girl depicting Ataru and Lum already married? Would you say you envision that's how Ataru and Lum's relationship to naturally evolve in due time?
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- Fair. Their roles were never that big to begin with in the films. Even in the Final Chapter, they never got more than maybe a minute's worth of screen time. They were almost always played for comedic relief anyway and whenever they weren't they were usually in the antagonist role. Doesn't really work in a story like this one. Even in the anime they become a lot more irrelevant as the show progresses.
- That makes sense for Ten. I'm sure he and Ataru will probably settle their differences years later when they both mature enough.
- Here's a funny thought: All of Ten's voices in every language available for the show he's voiced by a woman. Ten definitely would benefit from appearing a bit older.
- I think Mendou realized he couldn't get Lum a long time ago. He however just was delusional for most of the series believing he had a chance of getting her. Different than other Rumiko couples as other characters had some chances at first, but Lum was completely and irrevocably smitten with her Darling since chapter 1. I agree he did start to come more to the reality that he wouldn't get her, then again even in the Final Chapter/Boy Meets Girl, the scene where everyone tries to get Ataru to say he loves Lum after she says that's the only way she'd help the earth out. Mendou walks over to Ataru and says under these circumstances, I'll allow it. Mendou... It makes you realize just how miserable he'd probably end up if he didn't have Asuka's family. You can't go wrong with the Mizunokoji's, Mendou would have too much fun there.
- Yeah, the usuals would definitely need to be there. Personally, I'd also have the parents play a bigger role than the other supporting characters in this story. It would be fitting. Was Onsen really all that supportive of Ataru though? It always seemed to me he just supported him because he could really only rely on Ataru. But I do agree it'd be great to have Onsen acknowledge Ataru's further step into adulthood.
- Megane was definitely insane. He really was the only one who stayed truly obsessed with Lum from beginning to end. Even has his room filled with pictures of her. The dude has a pretty unhealthy jealousy of Ataru and an even unhealthier obsession over Lum.
- You're free to dream whatever. Ain't nothing wrong with it. Quick question though, what was your opinion of that one person's own continuation post-Final Chapter/Boy Meets Girl depicting Ataru and Lum already married? Would you say you envision that's how Ataru and Lum's relationship to naturally evolve in due time?
Perm was probably the only Stormtrooper that had any REAL depth, in that he even said he had a life outside of Megane's little group. I actually see Megane as the creepy serial-killer stalker type as his life progressed. Some of his antics early on were really creepy, the Christmas Episode and the Catapiller/Imo the Fairy episode were two that stuck out.
I did not know that Ten was voiced by a female in every language dub. To be fair, I never heard any of the dubs other than Only You and Always My Darling and they set my skin crawling, especially in Always my Darling, Ataru sounded like a pretty creepy closet case himself. Unfortunately, when you go from the original language to a dub, you have it in your mind what a person might sound like, but you're not in control so it doesn't always work. There IS an american voice actress I could see doing someone like Sakura, and she's no stranger to anime dubs - Laura Bailey. She has that kind of voice where she could sound friendly, or angry or sexy easily, but someone like Lum...I have Fumi's voice in my head and no one sounds like her.
That sequence of him 'allowing it' made me laugh. As I figured it, a good retort from Ataru would have been, "You really have no choice I think". And yeah, Mendou is actually worse than Ataru, he wants what he can't have too, and he threw away the one person that did want him, Shinobu. With Asuka's family, between her mother, Asuka herself and his odd rivalry with Ton, he'd be occupied for the rest of his life.
Onsen was probably the only one that wasn't telling Ataru to lie, he just was telling him to say he loved her. I guess in a sense that's not really supportive, but he's not telling him to lie to the one person that a lie would crush. I'll say he was just smarter for once.
And here's where I have egg on my face, which person's continuation? Some I've blotted out of my mind a little, because everything we can imagine from this point on is likely OOC from their personalities from the time of the manga / anime. Though anime Ataru was more receptive than manga in some ways, and manga Ataru was more tender in certain situations than anime. Some stories I have seen have been nicely done, but I do recall one where Lum had some extra power to her to attract people and thinking it was interesting, until she pretty much killed him in a third tag match and he had to have all this medical attention to save him.
The best continuation that I saw IMO that didn't break them too much was Lum Gets Grounded. It was a good progression because Ataru starts off trying to hatch a plan and in the midst of it all, he deals with something he doesn't understand at first - his real feelings.
My own story would be OOC when referencing things to the end, I actually think in some ways, because of the personality throwback in Always My Darling, it makes sense to place it just after Inaba timeline-wise because Ataru acted more like his older self. But as I see it, Ataru's real feelings come out when their relationship or Lum herself is in danger. Hence a nightmare for Ataru, and when he hears something that sounds it could be a reality, he ends realizing what's more important to him.
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- Perm definitely had the most independence. He was definitely my favorite of that group. I liked that group of 4 in general though cause they added a nice dynamic to the anime gang since they faded out of existence in the manga outside of Kyousuke, who is the person Perm replaced. Megane will always remain the creepiest among them. Like he was legit a lot worse than Ataru. Regardless, only member of the four I can't see people liking is Kakugari, who didn't really have much of a personality or stand out as much as the others.
- Agreed with you there. I'm way to use to their original voices, not to mention their original voices fit quite well. I couldn't ever imagine anyone else voicing Ataru or Lum other than Toshio and Fumi.
- Mendou's problem was highlighted in that episode where Cherry straight up told him why he's inferior to Ataru, and why he'll never get Lum. He thinks he's better than everyone else (which he obviously isn't) and believes because of how wealthy and good looking he is, everything great should come to him. It leaves Mendou baffled when you've got "an incompetent and ugly" guy like Ataru Moroboshi who tends to not only get the better of him 95% of the time, but also has the girl Mendou wants. Mendou is somewhat similar to Ranma in that regard. They love one person (Mendou loves Lum and Ranma loves Akane), but they love the fact that other girls love them. Mendou seems to get along with Asuka enough, one of only two guys she can function correctly around. Of course when you've got a fiance like Asuka, a rival in Ton, and a sister in Ryoko, Mendou's life is almost as lively as Ataru's.
- That's true about Onsen. He definitely wasn't telling Ataru to lie. I'm thankful Ataru didn't either. Loved how just about everyone else (including Lum) all were fine with him lying, but Ataru refuses to do that. Pretty much because when he does say the words she wants to hear, he wants her to know it's genuine.
- Wasn't there a person who did like short little mini comics of what they envision as a continuation? Of course it was all in Japanese? About that "Lum gets Grounded" one. You got a source for that? It sounds interesting.
- Does Always My Darling take place after The Final Chapter? If so, that's pretty dissatisfying. Thankfully most fans tend to disregard that film in general.
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Perm's best showing, when Rei showed up at the school thanks to Ten and started eating all the lunches when the class had a study hall period. When he finally lost his cool and went to challenge Rei was great. Of course, he needs to eat a lot more beefbowl because he looked skeletal, but he's pretty tall so it fits him.
Kakugari's best showing I think was in Beautiful Dreamer, when he imitated Onsen Mark who had a severe departure in his artwork for that movie. Otherwise, he's basically Megane's lackey and he carries Chibi everywhere. Chibi and he were my least favorites, by far, with Megane only slightly better because sometimes his speeches were amusing. I did enjoy seeing him in the boxing gloves episode when Ataru basically sent him (Megane) flying, probably because other than when Lum zapped him, he never took much of any hits.
I don't know if the videos are still on YouTube, but there was one of Fumi and Toshio from Dallas Animefest 2016, they did a reading from Beautiful Dreamer and after all that time they still sounded spot on. I give them credit because they've both done so much since then (well, Toshio more than Fumi by far) and the last time they did Lum and Ataru was the 2008 OVA. Fumi also dyed her hair green and sang the original opening song for UY for the crowd too, had to admit, I know now Japan adored her for a very long time.
I like to think of Mendou as 'What if Ataru was rich?' because he's basically the same, if not worse in some ways than Ataru. They have most all the same traits, but Mendou is more of a jerk because he will play off the adoration of the girls just to get his attention. I can't say Ataru wouldn't, but he didn't basically jerk around Shinobu like Mendou did in that he used her to be in the group for all those four person adventures.
Also, I really didn't consider Ataru to be ugly, but having a serious face and a goofy face make for very different looks. Ataru proved more than once when he had a serious face on, he was actually a good looking kid. When Kurama took him back to learn from her 'papa' and Ataru did that serious face (before his nerves exploded) even she was stunned by his looks. Ataru and Lum and then Shinobu I think had the overall biggest artwork changes as time went on. The two girls were pretty skinny at the beginning and they filled out as the show and movies went on. Lum's biggest changes came in the last 40 or so episodes and in The Final Chapter, and by the end Ataru was actually a pretty solid looking kid as well. He definitely looked the best in The Electric Jungle and The Final Chapter.
That whole movie was pretty much Ataru growing up, fast. Considering he wasn't above lying to anyone else, the fact he refused to lie to Lum was probably his best point. It's actually ironic, I discovered this (after all this time) about a week ago, but the sequence where Ataru is taking jump after jump to catch Lum and it's basically a trumpet song, just before Mendou and the others are shown watching from a monitor in a tent, the song is called Ataru No Bolero. I used to wonder why they used a spanish name for a song, but Bolero means Dance, or Jacket. It has an adjective form though too and me with 35 years of Spanish fluency under my belt missed it until I gave it thought.
Bolero as an adjective means Lie, or To Lie as the case may be. Ataru no Bolero -- Ataru Won't Lie. I had to admit I was way more impressed with the music composer after that one, even though it's one of the best soundtracks for a UY movie.
Oh I know who you're referring to now, I posted in the graphics section about it - Genta Heyshi, he did a lot of artwork and continued the story as he felt it should go. He's the reason why I started trying to learn enough Japanese to translate it. I wrote to him via his site which is still up but nothing came back, he disappeared a few years ago, from the looks of it he was having some health issues. I went through his site and basically copied all the artwork and having been plucking away at a translation since - https://postimg.org/gallery/1xhg6vbha/.
Here's the link to Lum Gets Grounded - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4118620/1/Lum-Gets-Grounded - aside from some typos, it's overall a nice read, and I'm not usually a fanfic type.
With Always My Darling, I really HOPE it's not after The Final Chapter, if it is, now I know why Rumiko hated it. As a story, it's not bad, but as a movie following the canon ending, it's very disappointing. The character resets for the gang were horrible - and I can't see Ataru being like that right after basically saying he loves Lum without saying it.
The only reason why it comes late in the overall timeline is because of that brief appearance by Inaba. But I reconcile it in my head is that it can really come anytime after Inaba, but before the second Inaba manga story as that was way more serious in tone.
Someone likely had an idea to try and cash in on the 10th anniversary of UY but likely didn't pay attention to what had been done already. As just a movie, it's alright, but it basically milked the premise of Only You with story changes to make it different. Another alien princess comes for Ataru, not because she's attached to him, but it's a princess in love with a commoner (Lum/Ataru) motif.
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Perm's best showing, when Rei showed up at the school thanks to Ten and started eating all the lunches when the class had a study hall period. When he finally lost his cool and went to challenge Rei was great. Of course, he needs to eat a lot more beefbowl because he looked skeletal, but he's pretty tall so it fits him.
Kakugari's best showing I think was in Beautiful Dreamer, when he imitated Onsen Mark who had a severe departure in his artwork for that movie. Otherwise, he's basically Megane's lackey and he carries Chibi everywhere. Chibi and he were my least favorites, by far, with Megane only slightly better because sometimes his speeches were amusing. I did enjoy seeing him in the boxing gloves episode when Ataru basically sent him (Megane) flying, probably because other than when Lum zapped him, he never took much of any hits.
I don't know if the videos are still on YouTube, but there was one of Fumi and Toshio from Dallas Animefest 2016, they did a reading from Beautiful Dreamer and after all that time they still sounded spot on. I give them credit because they've both done so much since then (well, Toshio more than Fumi by far) and the last time they did Lum and Ataru was the 2008 OVA. Fumi also dyed her hair green and sang the original opening song for UY for the crowd too, had to admit, I know now Japan adored her for a very long time.
I like to think of Mendou as 'What if Ataru was rich?' because he's basically the same, if not worse in some ways than Ataru. They have most all the same traits, but Mendou is more of a jerk because he will play off the adoration of the girls just to get his attention. I can't say Ataru wouldn't, but he didn't basically jerk around Shinobu like Mendou did in that he used her to be in the group for all those four person adventures.
Also, I really didn't consider Ataru to be ugly, but having a serious face and a goofy face make for very different looks. Ataru proved more than once when he had a serious face on, he was actually a good looking kid. When Kurama took him back to learn from her 'papa' and Ataru did that serious face (before his nerves exploded) even she was stunned by his looks. Ataru and Lum and then Shinobu I think had the overall biggest artwork changes as time went on. The two girls were pretty skinny at the beginning and they filled out as the show and movies went on. Lum's biggest changes came in the last 40 or so episodes and in The Final Chapter, and by the end Ataru was actually a pretty solid looking kid as well. He definitely looked the best in The Electric Jungle and The Final Chapter.
That whole movie was pretty much Ataru growing up, fast. Considering he wasn't above lying to anyone else, the fact he refused to lie to Lum was probably his best point. It's actually ironic, I discovered this (after all this time) about a week ago, but the sequence where Ataru is taking jump after jump to catch Lum and it's basically a trumpet song, just before Mendou and the others are shown watching from a monitor in a tent, the song is called Ataru No Bolero. I used to wonder why they used a spanish name for a song, but Bolero means Dance, or Jacket. It has an adjective form though too and me with 35 years of Spanish fluency under my belt missed it until I gave it thought.
Bolero as an adjective means Lie, or To Lie as the case may be. Ataru no Bolero -- Ataru Won't Lie. I had to admit I was way more impressed with the music composer after that one, even though it's one of the best soundtracks for a UY movie.
Oh I know who you're referring to now, I posted in the graphics section about it - Genta Heyshi, he did a lot of artwork and continued the story as he felt it should go. He's the reason why I started trying to learn enough Japanese to translate it. I wrote to him via his site which is still up but nothing came back, he disappeared a few years ago, from the looks of it he was having some health issues. I went through his site and basically copied all the artwork and having been plucking away at a translation since - https://postimg.org/gallery/1xhg6vbha/.
Here's the link to Lum Gets Grounded - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4118620/1/Lum-Gets-Grounded - aside from some typos, it's overall a nice read, and I'm not usually a fanfic type.
With Always My Darling, I really HOPE it's not after The Final Chapter, if it is, now I know why Rumiko hated it. As a story, it's not bad, but as a movie following the canon ending, it's very disappointing. The character resets for the gang were horrible - and I can't see Ataru being like that right after basically saying he loves Lum without saying it.
The only reason why it comes late in the overall timeline is because of that brief appearance by Inaba. But I reconcile it in my head is that it can really come anytime after Inaba, but before the second Inaba manga story as that was way more serious in tone.
Someone likely had an idea to try and cash in on the 10th anniversary of UY but likely didn't pay attention to what had been done already. As just a movie, it's alright, but it basically milked the premise of Only You with story changes to make it different. Another alien princess comes for Ataru, not because she's attached to him, but it's a princess in love with a commoner (Lum/Ataru) motif.
- I remember that moment. Dunno about Perm, in a series where most characters display superhuman strength, he might just be one of the few exceptions.
- Chibi I always felt was hit or miss with people. Though I definitely like him more than Kakugari who wasn't really all that memorable compared to the other three. As I mentioned before, Perm was my favorite and he seems to be your favorite among the four as well.
- Megan did have funny speeches at times. I think my favorite moment of his was the episode where Ataru and Lum were spending the night alone without his parents. Lum tells all the others that her body belongs to Ataru and Megane just freezes up. Even more hilarious is when Ataru and Lum go to bed and when the others are kicked out of the house, Megane was just left on the living room floor frozen solid because he thought Ataru was going to deflower her.
- Funny enough. While anime Ataru is more open to Lum than Manga Ataru, both versions seem fine with having sex with Lum in contrast to him not even daring to consider that earlier in the series. I just find it funny how he's open to the idea of doing it, and was fully under the impression that's what Lum wanted to do as well. She probably would have had he brought the topic up directly. Makes it even funnier as I re-watched episode 161 and Ataru accidentally presses his face into Lum's chest, and she proceeds to grab him and force him into her bosom.
- That is some nice talent. Speaking of the 2008 OVA, you'd think there's a chance we'll get another eventually? I definitely want some stories from the manga to be adapted into the anime. Of course I don't expect anything like that to happen anytime soon.
- All of them had ulterior motives in those four gang groups. Only difference is, Lum is the only one who wasn't really trying to use someone else to get to Ataru. Something else that makes Ataru better than the other boys in his school is the fact that he doesn't bother hiding the fact that he's a lecherous teen. I can perfectly understand why the other boys do hide that fact, but they end up becoming hypocritical when they get on Ataru's case when they're really just as bad as him. They're only saving grace is that they can control it better (until Lum comes into the picture).
- In universe, he's considered ugly by everyone who isn't himself and Lum (who finds him cute looking). Truth be told, Ataru really isn't ugly, and as you said he just comes off looking more goofy looking than anything. Agreed. Those three definitely saw the biggest changes. Ataru in particular I loved how they made him look older in both the "I Howl at the Moon OVA" and The Final Chapter. Artwork for both look pretty much the same. Something I enjoyed about both. By extension it made everyone look a bit older.
- Really? Interesting. I was aware of the song, but not the background of it. The song was fitting. Took me a long time to find the soundtracks for The Final Chapter. The soundtrack of that movie was fantastic. It was definitely his strongest point as a character in that film. That film was largely one big trial for Ataru (and Lum).
- Had no idea that person was sick. That's very unfortunate. That's awesome that you've been translating it. How much more do you have left? I've been on his sight once before and it seems like you did a large majority of it. Very impressive.
- Understandable and I agree. I feel Always My Darling would have been better received had it been like an OVA, or just a regular episode somewhere in like the early-middle part of the series. It's the fact that it's a film that comes out post-Final Chapter where we had just gotten through a beautiful finale to a series and we got to see how many of these characters (especially Ataru and Lum) develop throughout the series. It makes no sense to have Ataru acting that way and especially to that degree anymore. It's partly why I feel if Takahashi did make even just a small comic of UY post-Boy Meets Girl, she probably wouldn't portray Ataru the way he for a bulk of the series, and he'd probably be more in line with how he is in the last storyline (more mature, more open in general to Lum, and not really all that perverted anymore.
- You're right it did just feel like it was just to cash in on UY's massive popularity around that time. I do believe why Takahashi wanted anything anime related with UY to stop after that and I too can't blame her.
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- I remember that moment. Dunno about Perm, in a series where most characters display superhuman strength, he might just be one of the few exceptions.
- Chibi I always felt was hit or miss with people. Though I definitely like him more than Kakugari who wasn't really all that memorable compared to the other three. As I mentioned before, Perm was my favorite and he seems to be your favorite among the four as well.
- Megan did have funny speeches at times. I think my favorite moment of his was the episode where Ataru and Lum were spending the night alone without his parents. Lum tells all the others that her body belongs to Ataru and Megane just freezes up. Even more hilarious is when Ataru and Lum go to bed and when the others are kicked out of the house, Megane was just left on the living room floor frozen solid because he thought Ataru was going to deflower her.
- Funny enough. While anime Ataru is more open to Lum than Manga Ataru, both versions seem fine with having sex with Lum in contrast to him not even daring to consider that earlier in the series. I just find it funny how he's open to the idea of doing it, and was fully under the impression that's what Lum wanted to do as well. She probably would have had he brought the topic up directly. Makes it even funnier as I re-watched episode 161 and Ataru accidentally presses his face into Lum's chest, and she proceeds to grab him and force him into her bosom.
- That is some nice talent. Speaking of the 2008 OVA, you'd think there's a chance we'll get another eventually? I definitely want some stories from the manga to be adapted into the anime. Of course I don't expect anything like that to happen anytime soon.
- All of them had ulterior motives in those four gang groups. Only difference is, Lum is the only one who wasn't really trying to use someone else to get to Ataru. Something else that makes Ataru better than the other boys in his school is the fact that he doesn't bother hiding the fact that he's a lecherous teen. I can perfectly understand why the other boys do hide that fact, but they end up becoming hypocritical when they get on Ataru's case when they're really just as bad as him. They're only saving grace is that they can control it better (until Lum comes into the picture).
- In universe, he's considered ugly by everyone who isn't himself and Lum (who finds him cute looking). Truth be told, Ataru really isn't ugly, and as you said he just comes off looking more goofy looking than anything. Agreed. Those three definitely saw the biggest changes. Ataru in particular I loved how they made him look older in both the "I Howl at the Moon OVA" and The Final Chapter. Artwork for both look pretty much the same. Something I enjoyed about both. By extension it made everyone look a bit older.
- Really? Interesting. I was aware of the song, but not the background of it. The song was fitting. Took me a long time to find the soundtracks for The Final Chapter. The soundtrack of that movie was fantastic. It was definitely his strongest point as a character in that film. That film was largely one big trial for Ataru (and Lum).
- Had no idea that person was sick. That's very unfortunate. That's awesome that you've been translating it. How much more do you have left? I've been on his sight once before and it seems like you did a large majority of it. Very impressive.
- Understandable and I agree. I feel Always My Darling would have been better received had it been like an OVA, or just a regular episode somewhere in like the early-middle part of the series. It's the fact that it's a film that comes out post-Final Chapter where we had just gotten through a beautiful finale to a series and we got to see how many of these characters (especially Ataru and Lum) develop throughout the series. It makes no sense to have Ataru acting that way and especially to that degree anymore. It's partly why I feel if Takahashi did make even just a small comic of UY post-Boy Meets Girl, she probably wouldn't portray Ataru the way he for a bulk of the series, and he'd probably be more in line with how he is in the last storyline (more mature, more open in general to Lum, and not really all that perverted anymore.
- You're right it did just feel like it was just to cash in on UY's massive popularity around that time. I do believe why Takahashi wanted anything anime related with UY to stop after that and I too can't blame her.
Perm was probably the most normal of all the males in the show, period. No powers, no weirdness (another than the summer date episode when he daydreamed of shoving his date off a cliff to have Lum), and he was overall the most friendly to Ataru.
Chibi seemed like the mascot honestly, but overall the group was pretty disturbing. They should have been called "Those who are obsessed with Lum, but have no chance at all with her".
Megane I think couldn't fathom why Lum chose Ataru. The Christmas episode when Lum took the place of the girl they got to humiliate Ataru leaving Megane with the white hair was great too - his stark disbelief leaving him like that was funny. But the home alone episode also stands out as it's the one time that Ataru came to realize whether he's with Lum or he's not, the end result is the same so why not just go for it. I liked how they worked in tandem to eject everyone from the house and that Lum actually lost her cool with the others.
In the beginning there's the episode in the anime when Lum is waving her top at Ataru and obviously flashing him and he gets flustered instantly, not the sign of someone that's a real lecher. But overall, I imagine Lum is as virginal as Ataru is, she just would do anything she could for his attention. There was also the one Kurama episode when she sends him into that other dimension to break him from how he acts and he's scared of Lum and Shinobu when he returns. Once they convince him it wasn't real, he shoved his face into Lum's chest and both Lum and Shinobu were fine with it. Yet when Rei appeared and Lum decided to say she was pregnant, Shinobu pretty much creamed Ataru.
I think if we get another OVA, we'd be lucky at this point, but Fumi stated she still works with her voice coaches to keep in the range for Lum - she doesn't want to disappoint her fans. Toshio does Ataru's voice every time he appears at an anime con, but he's just turned 72, so if they do decide on something, I hope it's soon. And for a story to adapt, Love and Valor - the other Inaba story. It's a really good story for Shinobu, and also it's where Ataru is forced to realize someone else actually really loves her and so he finally 'steps aside'. Another one to adapt, when Ataru gets the bat like wings - that was pretty good in the manga.
With the groups, the ulterior motives were getting to be like a laundry list of issues. The Stormtroopers wanted Lum, Mendou wanted Lum or Sakura, and sometimes I wonder which desire was the greater, Shinobu went from Ataru, to Mendou to Inaba. Ataru wanted any female his lust zoned in on, but in the end, he was realizing he was centering on Lum. Sakura had Tsubame (by the way, his name means Swallow, which I found odd), Onsen-Mark wanted Sakura, Ran wanted Rei, Rei wanted Lum but settled for Ran. And Lum was the only consistent one, she just wanted Ataru.
All previous songs from soundtracks are pretty indicative of what they are, but I recall when I listened to the soundtrack for The Final Chapter and remarking that sounded more spanish in influence. So while listening I looked at the title and started doing the math.
Those translations we have so far are being doing by another member of the forum, Horus - he's native Japanese. I just decided that one way to learn it is to do it myself, and it's not easy. Took me like 15 mins to realize that Darling is a literal use of our language for Lum's term for Ataru. There's words for Darling, but they don't have that ring to it, so to write Darling in Japanese it basically sounds like Da-rin. But I saw the creator was sick from using Google Chrome to translate his blog - I hope he's okay, his artwork is superb.
-
- I remember that moment. Dunno about Perm, in a series where most characters display superhuman strength, he might just be one of the few exceptions.
- Chibi I always felt was hit or miss with people. Though I definitely like him more than Kakugari who wasn't really all that memorable compared to the other three. As I mentioned before, Perm was my favorite and he seems to be your favorite among the four as well.
- Megan did have funny speeches at times. I think my favorite moment of his was the episode where Ataru and Lum were spending the night alone without his parents. Lum tells all the others that her body belongs to Ataru and Megane just freezes up. Even more hilarious is when Ataru and Lum go to bed and when the others are kicked out of the house, Megane was just left on the living room floor frozen solid because he thought Ataru was going to deflower her.
- Funny enough. While anime Ataru is more open to Lum than Manga Ataru, both versions seem fine with having sex with Lum in contrast to him not even daring to consider that earlier in the series. I just find it funny how he's open to the idea of doing it, and was fully under the impression that's what Lum wanted to do as well. She probably would have had he brought the topic up directly. Makes it even funnier as I re-watched episode 161 and Ataru accidentally presses his face into Lum's chest, and she proceeds to grab him and force him into her bosom.
- That is some nice talent. Speaking of the 2008 OVA, you'd think there's a chance we'll get another eventually? I definitely want some stories from the manga to be adapted into the anime. Of course I don't expect anything like that to happen anytime soon.
- All of them had ulterior motives in those four gang groups. Only difference is, Lum is the only one who wasn't really trying to use someone else to get to Ataru. Something else that makes Ataru better than the other boys in his school is the fact that he doesn't bother hiding the fact that he's a lecherous teen. I can perfectly understand why the other boys do hide that fact, but they end up becoming hypocritical when they get on Ataru's case when they're really just as bad as him. They're only saving grace is that they can control it better (until Lum comes into the picture).
- In universe, he's considered ugly by everyone who isn't himself and Lum (who finds him cute looking). Truth be told, Ataru really isn't ugly, and as you said he just comes off looking more goofy looking than anything. Agreed. Those three definitely saw the biggest changes. Ataru in particular I loved how they made him look older in both the "I Howl at the Moon OVA" and The Final Chapter. Artwork for both look pretty much the same. Something I enjoyed about both. By extension it made everyone look a bit older.
- Really? Interesting. I was aware of the song, but not the background of it. The song was fitting. Took me a long time to find the soundtracks for The Final Chapter. The soundtrack of that movie was fantastic. It was definitely his strongest point as a character in that film. That film was largely one big trial for Ataru (and Lum).
- Had no idea that person was sick. That's very unfortunate. That's awesome that you've been translating it. How much more do you have left? I've been on his sight once before and it seems like you did a large majority of it. Very impressive.
- Understandable and I agree. I feel Always My Darling would have been better received had it been like an OVA, or just a regular episode somewhere in like the early-middle part of the series. It's the fact that it's a film that comes out post-Final Chapter where we had just gotten through a beautiful finale to a series and we got to see how many of these characters (especially Ataru and Lum) develop throughout the series. It makes no sense to have Ataru acting that way and especially to that degree anymore. It's partly why I feel if Takahashi did make even just a small comic of UY post-Boy Meets Girl, she probably wouldn't portray Ataru the way he for a bulk of the series, and he'd probably be more in line with how he is in the last storyline (more mature, more open in general to Lum, and not really all that perverted anymore.
- You're right it did just feel like it was just to cash in on UY's massive popularity around that time. I do believe why Takahashi wanted anything anime related with UY to stop after that and I too can't blame her.
Perm was probably the most normal of all the males in the show, period. No powers, no weirdness (another than the summer date episode when he daydreamed of shoving his date off a cliff to have Lum), and he was overall the most friendly to Ataru.
Chibi seemed like the mascot honestly, but overall the group was pretty disturbing. They should have been called "Those who are obsessed with Lum, but have no chance at all with her".
Megane I think couldn't fathom why Lum chose Ataru. The Christmas episode when Lum took the place of the girl they got to humiliate Ataru leaving Megane with the white hair was great too - his stark disbelief leaving him like that was funny. But the home alone episode also stands out as it's the one time that Ataru came to realize whether he's with Lum or he's not, the end result is the same so why not just go for it. I liked how they worked in tandem to eject everyone from the house and that Lum actually lost her cool with the others.
In the beginning there's the episode in the anime when Lum is waving her top at Ataru and obviously flashing him and he gets flustered instantly, not the sign of someone that's a real lecher. But overall, I imagine Lum is as virginal as Ataru is, she just would do anything she could for his attention. There was also the one Kurama episode when she sends him into that other dimension to break him from how he acts and he's scared of Lum and Shinobu when he returns. Once they convince him it wasn't real, he shoved his face into Lum's chest and both Lum and Shinobu were fine with it. Yet when Rei appeared and Lum decided to say she was pregnant, Shinobu pretty much creamed Ataru.
I think if we get another OVA, we'd be lucky at this point, but Fumi stated she still works with her voice coaches to keep in the range for Lum - she doesn't want to disappoint her fans. Toshio does Ataru's voice every time he appears at an anime con, but he's just turned 72, so if they do decide on something, I hope it's soon. And for a story to adapt, Love and Valor - the other Inaba story. It's a really good story for Shinobu, and also it's where Ataru is forced to realize someone else actually really loves her and so he finally 'steps aside'. Another one to adapt, when Ataru gets the bat like wings - that was pretty good in the manga.
With the groups, the ulterior motives were getting to be like a laundry list of issues. The Stormtroopers wanted Lum, Mendou wanted Lum or Sakura, and sometimes I wonder which desire was the greater, Shinobu went from Ataru, to Mendou to Inaba. Ataru wanted any female his lust zoned in on, but in the end, he was realizing he was centering on Lum. Sakura had Tsubame (by the way, his name means Swallow, which I found odd), Onsen-Mark wanted Sakura, Ran wanted Rei, Rei wanted Lum but settled for Ran. And Lum was the only consistent one, she just wanted Ataru.
All previous songs from soundtracks are pretty indicative of what they are, but I recall when I listened to the soundtrack for The Final Chapter and remarking that sounded more spanish in influence. So while listening I looked at the title and started doing the math.
Those translations we have so far are being doing by another member of the forum, Horus - he's native Japanese. I just decided that one way to learn it is to do it myself, and it's not easy. Took me like 15 mins to realize that Darling is a literal use of our language for Lum's term for Ataru. There's words for Darling, but they don't have that ring to it, so to write Darling in Japanese it basically sounds like Da-rin. But I saw the creator was sick from using Google Chrome to translate his blog - I hope he's okay, his artwork is superb.
- Perm was a pretty ok guy tbh and the one who had the best chance of ending up a good person in their adulthood among the four. Megane seemed like he was screwed because of how crazy he is lol.
- Hey, they prefer to be called Stormtroopers or Lum's bodyguards, because that's a much, much milder way of putting that they don't have a chance in the world with her.
- You'd think he wouldn't be that arrogant. Megane was aware that Shinobu loved Ataru beforehand. Heck, Ataru despite getting beaten by women a lot has actually had great luck with alien women whether the ended up liking him or not. He got to kiss Kurama not once but twice, he got to kiss Ran without losing his youth, he nearly got to kiss Benten who had no problem kissing him when they first met, and he was going to get it on with Oyuki when they first met too (even better that Oyuki wondered why he stopped when he ran away), and of course there was Elle).
- Yeah, all those guys learned the hard way that Lum is completely devoted to him. It took only one line for them to understand. Another funny moment was as you mentioned Ataru knew the end result was the same. He put legit thought into wondering if he should "go all the way" with Lum that night.
- It's always funny when Ataru places his face into Lum's chest in the anime, especially since he's probably the only dude who can do that to a female in most manga and not get beaten for doing it (of course that's because the woman he does it to is madly in love with him and wants him to show as much attention to her as possible). Ataru is a lucky man.
- I'd love for Love and Valor to be adapted. Great conclusion for Shinobu and Inaba. Ataru as well got a good deal that storyline when he officially recognized that Shinobu would truly be happy with Inaba and it was nice seeing him officially give up on her. I always did believe Ataru knew Mendou was terrible for her, even if he wasn't entirely noble in his efforts to stop her from getting with him.
- Makes you realize a few things: a) Ataru is better than many of these other characters and really isn't all that bad compared to them and b) Lum is pretty much a saint compared to everyone else. What makes Lum great is that she's had one person she's been after since day one and she's usually just trying to (initially) get him to reciprocate those feelings. Eventually she realizes and finds out he feels the same way and is grateful for that. However, she definitely wishes Ataru would express his love for her more often than he does (he definitely treats her more like a best friend later in the manga and anime which is a massive improvement from how he treated her for like the first third of the manga). Of course as we know, Ataru fears commitment and believes if he does acknowledge his love for Lum he'd have to actually settle down with just her, something he ain't ready to do just yet.
- Translating seems like such a pain. The artwork is very nice I agree. I tend to look at the gallery every once in awhile.
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- Perm was a pretty ok guy tbh and the one who had the best chance of ending up a good person in their adulthood among the four. Megane seemed like he was screwed because of how crazy he is lol.
- Hey, they prefer to be called Stormtroopers or Lum's bodyguards, because that's a much, much milder way of putting that they don't have a chance in the world with her.
- You'd think he wouldn't be that arrogant. Megane was aware that Shinobu loved Ataru beforehand. Heck, Ataru despite getting beaten by women a lot has actually had great luck with alien women whether the ended up liking him or not. He got to kiss Kurama not once but twice, he got to kiss Ran without losing his youth, he nearly got to kiss Benten who had no problem kissing him when they first met, and he was going to get it on with Oyuki when they first met too (even better that Oyuki wondered why he stopped when he ran away), and of course there was Elle).
- Yeah, all those guys learned the hard way that Lum is completely devoted to him. It took only one line for them to understand. Another funny moment was as you mentioned Ataru knew the end result was the same. He put legit thought into wondering if he should "go all the way" with Lum that night.
- It's always funny when Ataru places his face into Lum's chest in the anime, especially since he's probably the only dude who can do that to a female in most manga and not get beaten for doing it (of course that's because the woman he does it to is madly in love with him and wants him to show as much attention to her as possible). Ataru is a lucky man.
- I'd love for Love and Valor to be adapted. Great conclusion for Shinobu and Inaba. Ataru as well got a good deal that storyline when he officially recognized that Shinobu would truly be happy with Inaba and it was nice seeing him officially give up on her. I always did believe Ataru knew Mendou was terrible for her, even if he wasn't entirely noble in his efforts to stop her from getting with him.
- Makes you realize a few things: a) Ataru is better than many of these other characters and really isn't all that bad compared to them and b) Lum is pretty much a saint compared to everyone else. What makes Lum great is that she's had one person she's been after since day one and she's usually just trying to (initially) get him to reciprocate those feelings. Eventually she realizes and finds out he feels the same way and is grateful for that. However, she definitely wishes Ataru would express his love for her more often than he does (he definitely treats her more like a best friend later in the manga and anime which is a massive improvement from how he treated her for like the first third of the manga). Of course as we know, Ataru fears commitment and believes if he does acknowledge his love for Lum he'd have to actually settle down with just her, something he ain't ready to do just yet.
- Translating seems like such a pain. The artwork is very nice I agree. I tend to look at the gallery every once in awhile.
I actually see Megane as being arrested in the future, stalking or some other crime. He and Mendou had the most sinister of intents when it came to doing whatever was needed to get Lum away from Ataru. Megane would be the serial killer, Mendou would have his private army do it - though to Ataru's credit, he proved in Ep 106 that they are horrible at shooting. Despite anyone else's special abilities, Ataru to this day is the only one that ran around machine gun fire and had a tank shell explode in close proximity to him and he was fine. Sometimes I wondered at first if he was really human, or fully human as the case may be. I mean we know he is, but it would have been a funny twist if he had some other blood in him.
Whichever nickname we use for that quartet, they weren't very good at it. If they had guns, they'd be like star wars stormtroopers for sure, couldn't hit anything.
Poor Ataru, can't get very far with Earth women, throw alien women in the mix and he's almost king. I think Elle was the unique one, overall, his and Mendou's initial reactions when they all first met here were the coolest. They all had their mouths open, but those two had the most normal reactions. I was also surprised that while Ataru was playful with her at first, he seemed to cool off towards her fairly quick. I'd imagine that Lum was on his mind already by that time as we know what happens the night before the wedding. Oyuki's reaction with her encounter was priceless, and Lum's was also. I would imagine if the men are always shoveling snow there on Neptune and along comes a really hot-blooded guy, the attention would be pretty welcome.
I give credit for Inaba being more fleshed out in Love and Valor as being probably the only 100% really nice guy, innocent, kind, and really devoted. He's perfectly suited for Shinobu and the fact that he's handsome (the one annoying trait I found among the girls of UY - save for Lum, a guy had to be handsome) gave her what she was looking for. In Ataru's case, I had to wonder if he recognized his own traits in Mendou and that's why he was so much of a thorn in his side. Until Mendou came along, Ataru was the king of lechery, but Mendou's 'noble' intentions pretty much served as a mask for a snake.
Not counting Inaba, Ataru was the only male that showed any compassion for anything. The caterpillar episode, as he and Lum defend it, Mendou and the others are basically trying to kill it. When Ten missed his mother for giving her a flower, while Ataru's method of getting him to his mother was iffy, he appeared immediately when Ten started crying and sent him flying to get to her. Ataru shows intense levels of being introspective and sentimental on more than one occasion.
Lum, for her part, as an alien was more human than anyone else in the show overall, Shinobu being a close second. Though Shinobu did grow up towards the end, Lum's worst trait was she wanted Ataru all to herself and was willing to say/do anything to ensure it. The slightest sad moment could set Lum off to having tears in her eyes, and when Ataru showed his compassion, she loved him all the more for it. Examples being the caterpillar episode again, as well as the girl that fell in love with Ataru when she was sick/dying in the hospital. Lum was basically guilty of falling so in love she didn't really know how to handle it as it's obvious the way Oni do things is different. I'd wager that since Lum is Ataru's age, her mother is only twice her age. We've seen two Oni women aside from Lum, her mother and her aunt and they're both really good looking as well and aside from Rei and Ten, Oni men are kinda silly looking. (As an aside from that, I did find it interesting that Lum's mother has blue eyes like her, and her aunt has red eyes, but Ten has blue eyes.)
Ataru is the epitome of the 17 year old boy, he wants to have as much fun as he can until he can't anymore. Eat, flirt, chase girls, and live for the moment, his problem as you say is commitment, and Lum is the personification of that problem. Until she came along, he was who he was. In both manga and anime, despite having Shinobu as a girlfriend, he had no issues staring at women or flirting and showed no signs of dropping that trait. Once things started moving more between him and Lum, his actions with others reflected it - she became his best friend that he was falling for. I think the movies emphasized that more than the TV Eps, though they had their moments too. With him settling down, it's why I see it as he has a moment where he realizes if it's a choice between a hurt Lum and his freedom, he'd rather Lum be happy. He DID try to save the future where they get married after all.
The translating isn't SO bad, it's just much more literal than we'd expect. The use of the kanji and kana make it like that, since each one has a literal meaning or meanings as the case may be.
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- Perm was a pretty ok guy tbh and the one who had the best chance of ending up a good person in their adulthood among the four. Megane seemed like he was screwed because of how crazy he is lol.
- Hey, they prefer to be called Stormtroopers or Lum's bodyguards, because that's a much, much milder way of putting that they don't have a chance in the world with her.
- You'd think he wouldn't be that arrogant. Megane was aware that Shinobu loved Ataru beforehand. Heck, Ataru despite getting beaten by women a lot has actually had great luck with alien women whether the ended up liking him or not. He got to kiss Kurama not once but twice, he got to kiss Ran without losing his youth, he nearly got to kiss Benten who had no problem kissing him when they first met, and he was going to get it on with Oyuki when they first met too (even better that Oyuki wondered why he stopped when he ran away), and of course there was Elle).
- Yeah, all those guys learned the hard way that Lum is completely devoted to him. It took only one line for them to understand. Another funny moment was as you mentioned Ataru knew the end result was the same. He put legit thought into wondering if he should "go all the way" with Lum that night.
- It's always funny when Ataru places his face into Lum's chest in the anime, especially since he's probably the only dude who can do that to a female in most manga and not get beaten for doing it (of course that's because the woman he does it to is madly in love with him and wants him to show as much attention to her as possible). Ataru is a lucky man.
- I'd love for Love and Valor to be adapted. Great conclusion for Shinobu and Inaba. Ataru as well got a good deal that storyline when he officially recognized that Shinobu would truly be happy with Inaba and it was nice seeing him officially give up on her. I always did believe Ataru knew Mendou was terrible for her, even if he wasn't entirely noble in his efforts to stop her from getting with him.
- Makes you realize a few things: a) Ataru is better than many of these other characters and really isn't all that bad compared to them and b) Lum is pretty much a saint compared to everyone else. What makes Lum great is that she's had one person she's been after since day one and she's usually just trying to (initially) get him to reciprocate those feelings. Eventually she realizes and finds out he feels the same way and is grateful for that. However, she definitely wishes Ataru would express his love for her more often than he does (he definitely treats her more like a best friend later in the manga and anime which is a massive improvement from how he treated her for like the first third of the manga). Of course as we know, Ataru fears commitment and believes if he does acknowledge his love for Lum he'd have to actually settle down with just her, something he ain't ready to do just yet.
- Translating seems like such a pain. The artwork is very nice I agree. I tend to look at the gallery every once in awhile.
I actually see Megane as being arrested in the future, stalking or some other crime. He and Mendou had the most sinister of intents when it came to doing whatever was needed to get Lum away from Ataru. Megane would be the serial killer, Mendou would have his private army do it - though to Ataru's credit, he proved in Ep 106 that they are horrible at shooting. Despite anyone else's special abilities, Ataru to this day is the only one that ran around machine gun fire and had a tank shell explode in close proximity to him and he was fine. Sometimes I wondered at first if he was really human, or fully human as the case may be. I mean we know he is, but it would have been a funny twist if he had some other blood in him.
Whichever nickname we use for that quartet, they weren't very good at it. If they had guns, they'd be like star wars stormtroopers for sure, couldn't hit anything.
Poor Ataru, can't get very far with Earth women, throw alien women in the mix and he's almost king. I think Elle was the unique one, overall, his and Mendou's initial reactions when they all first met here were the coolest. They all had their mouths open, but those two had the most normal reactions. I was also surprised that while Ataru was playful with her at first, he seemed to cool off towards her fairly quick. I'd imagine that Lum was on his mind already by that time as we know what happens the night before the wedding. Oyuki's reaction with her encounter was priceless, and Lum's was also. I would imagine if the men are always shoveling snow there on Neptune and along comes a really hot-blooded guy, the attention would be pretty welcome.
I give credit for Inaba being more fleshed out in Love and Valor as being probably the only 100% really nice guy, innocent, kind, and really devoted. He's perfectly suited for Shinobu and the fact that he's handsome (the one annoying trait I found among the girls of UY - save for Lum, a guy had to be handsome) gave her what she was looking for. In Ataru's case, I had to wonder if he recognized his own traits in Mendou and that's why he was so much of a thorn in his side. Until Mendou came along, Ataru was the king of lechery, but Mendou's 'noble' intentions pretty much served as a mask for a snake.
Not counting Inaba, Ataru was the only male that showed any compassion for anything. The caterpillar episode, as he and Lum defend it, Mendou and the others are basically trying to kill it. When Ten missed his mother for giving her a flower, while Ataru's method of getting him to his mother was iffy, he appeared immediately when Ten started crying and sent him flying to get to her. Ataru shows intense levels of being introspective and sentimental on more than one occasion.
Lum, for her part, as an alien was more human than anyone else in the show overall, Shinobu being a close second. Though Shinobu did grow up towards the end, Lum's worst trait was she wanted Ataru all to herself and was willing to say/do anything to ensure it. The slightest sad moment could set Lum off to having tears in her eyes, and when Ataru showed his compassion, she loved him all the more for it. Examples being the caterpillar episode again, as well as the girl that fell in love with Ataru when she was sick/dying in the hospital. Lum was basically guilty of falling so in love she didn't really know how to handle it as it's obvious the way Oni do things is different. I'd wager that since Lum is Ataru's age, her mother is only twice her age. We've seen two Oni women aside from Lum, her mother and her aunt and they're both really good looking as well and aside from Rei and Ten, Oni men are kinda silly looking. (As an aside from that, I did find it interesting that Lum's mother has blue eyes like her, and her aunt has red eyes, but Ten has blue eyes.)
Ataru is the epitome of the 17 year old boy, he wants to have as much fun as he can until he can't anymore. Eat, flirt, chase girls, and live for the moment, his problem as you say is commitment, and Lum is the personification of that problem. Until she came along, he was who he was. In both manga and anime, despite having Shinobu as a girlfriend, he had no issues staring at women or flirting and showed no signs of dropping that trait. Once things started moving more between him and Lum, his actions with others reflected it - she became his best friend that he was falling for. I think the movies emphasized that more than the TV Eps, though they had their moments too. With him settling down, it's why I see it as he has a moment where he realizes if it's a choice between a hurt Lum and his freedom, he'd rather Lum be happy. He DID try to save the future where they get married after all.
The translating isn't SO bad, it's just much more literal than we'd expect. The use of the kanji and kana make it like that, since each one has a literal meaning or meanings as the case may be.
- No doubt there about Megane or Mendou. The sheer fact Mendou has legit tried murdering Ataru before (obviously failing as Ataru tends to succeed over Mendou). Sending his own army to kill Ataru was pretty crazy tbh. Lucky for them that Ataru is nigh indestructible. That's an aspect of Ataru that I love. He's completely human, but possesses the regenerative properties of a lizard, the live force of a cockroach, has superhuman strength (like lifting the tree, choking out a giant sea snake, smashing Cherry with a lamp post), superhuman speed (outrunning Asuka, and in the anime outrunning a Jet and Superman), and durability (all the punishment he takes from characters only to appear fine a moment later).
- They were essentially a glorified fanclub for Lum tbh.
- I just always found it fascinating that Ataru's luck with alien women is incredibly good. Crazy how good he has it with women. Even better, he scored the best alien girl (and best girl in the series) straight out of the first chapter.
- He probably was thinking of Lum at that point, especially with how terrified he was when he initially thought she died when she tried rescuing him the first time.
- Pretty ballsy of Ataru to pull the stunt he did at the end of Only You. I give him credit for doing it, but absolutely hope he gets the punishment he deserves lol. Puts everyone (especially Lum) through all that, and even initially seems fairly ready for marrying her (obviously we know at this point in the series he wasn't but when Lum first asked him if he wanted to get married or not after the whole Elle business was done, that was the time to tell her that he wasn't ready for that). Instead he yells "No!" and sprints out of the the wedding hall where everyone plans to beat him to a pulp. Hilarious that he managed to take his shirt and pants off and keep up the same level of speed.
- Too true. Inaba was a genuinely sweet guy, and the only one in UY who was completely that way. Shinobu definitely deserved that happy ending. Yeah many of the girls (including Shinobu at one point) only wanting a "handsome" boyfriend really made them come off as somewhat shallow, though I can't blame them completely as the choices they had in their school wasn't all that good. What made Mendou so slimy was that he'd call Moroboshi out for being a lecherous individual but not only was he just as lecherous towards Lum, he was aware of Shinobu's feelings for him and even has flirted with her before, but had no care about just ignoring her completely in favor of showering Lum with affection.
- Agreed about that. Ataru really has shown genuine compassion towards others in comparison to the other guys that aren't Inaba. The caterpillar one as you mentioned is really as good as you get it. He was compassionate in that story from start to finish. He's legit tried helping Ryuunosuke out before as well, and he's obviously been willing to put everything on the line for Lum on numerous occasions.
- Agreed again. Lum was by and far the most human of the characters. That's easily her worst trait, she's so clingy and attached to Ataru. She's so madly in love with the guy that she'd go to whatever lengths to (initially) keep him and eventually get him to not only reciprocate her feelings but (when she realizes he does love her) display his affection for her more often. Lum's love for Ataru at first definitely was genuine, but she seemed to see him as more of a possession than an actual lover. Over time that's obviously evolved into something much greater and her love and devotion to him only grew to the point that she can't tolerate any girl being friendly with him for too long.
- Very much the standard 17 year old. Difference between Lum and Shinobu is first and foremost, Lum wanted marriage immediately and has treated Ataru as her husband since the end of chapter 1. As you mentioned, Lum is the personification of his fear of commitment as both Ataru and Lum are very clearly aware of the fact that Lum is there for the long haul. Lum clearly wants a serious relationship with Ataru (and while she can settle for just being his girlfriend/fiance for now) and is fully committed to this relationship as she wants for nothing more to spend the rest of her life with Ataru and (as she put it in Only You) "Be in charge of his life." Ataru knows this and clearly doesn't want this (at the moment) since he wants to be free and spend a good portion of the remains of his youth having the ability to chasing skirts. Yeah, great moment for him. He pretty much gave up wanting a harem, and even settled on the idea that a future life where he marries Lum isn't bad and even something worth trying to save for her happiness.
- Ataru's relationship with Lum has always been fascinating, especially in Takahashi's works. Especially since it's probably more complex than other Takahashi couples due to the traits from both Lum and especially Ataru.
- What I always found an interesting topic as well though was their friendship. They clearly love one another, but the progression of their relationship involves them essentially treating one another as best friends, where their personalities begin to bounce off one another a lot more, and they even become a lot more playful towards one another (in Lum's case there's the episode of the St. Valentine's Day in where she gets Ataru out of hiding from the table by pretending to give her chocolate away to Perm or Megane. After Ataru reveals himself, she continues to chase him but smiles as she chases him. In Ataru's case, there's the simple fact that late in the series he doesn't really flirt with other girls most of the time because he genuinely wants to do so, but largely did so because he was purposely teasing Lum and getting her pissed off as he likes the challenge Lum brings him when chasing girls. He hates being caught, but loves the thrill of the challenge).
- Speaking of friends, I've always been curious of who Ataru's friends are. We know Lum is pretty much his best friend. He's usually at odds with the males in his class, but is usually on good terms with them when it doesn't have to do with Lum. He's obviously friends with Shinobu, and is friends with (although not close) Inaba. I'd say all of Lum's childhood friends like Ataru too, though Benten, and would even wager that Ryuunosuke views him as a friend of sorts as well. Ryuunosuke, Shinobu, and Benten only really can't seem to stand Ataru when he tries to flirt with them.
- A very tedious process translating can be.
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- No doubt there about Megane or Mendou. The sheer fact Mendou has legit tried murdering Ataru before (obviously failing as Ataru tends to succeed over Mendou). Sending his own army to kill Ataru was pretty crazy tbh. Lucky for them that Ataru is nigh indestructible. That's an aspect of Ataru that I love. He's completely human, but possesses the regenerative properties of a lizard, the live force of a cockroach, has superhuman strength (like lifting the tree, choking out a giant sea snake, smashing Cherry with a lamp post), superhuman speed (outrunning Asuka, and in the anime outrunning a Jet and Superman), and durability (all the punishment he takes from characters only to appear fine a moment later).
- They were essentially a glorified fanclub for Lum tbh.
- I just always found it fascinating that Ataru's luck with alien women is incredibly good. Crazy how good he has it with women. Even better, he scored the best alien girl (and best girl in the series) straight out of the first chapter.
- He probably was thinking of Lum at that point, especially with how terrified he was when he initially thought she died when she tried rescuing him the first time.
- Pretty ballsy of Ataru to pull the stunt he did at the end of Only You. I give him credit for doing it, but absolutely hope he gets the punishment he deserves lol. Puts everyone (especially Lum) through all that, and even initially seems fairly ready for marrying her (obviously we know at this point in the series he wasn't but when Lum first asked him if he wanted to get married or not after the whole Elle business was done, that was the time to tell her that he wasn't ready for that). Instead he yells "No!" and sprints out of the the wedding hall where everyone plans to beat him to a pulp. Hilarious that he managed to take his shirt and pants off and keep up the same level of speed.
- Too true. Inaba was a genuinely sweet guy, and the only one in UY who was completely that way. Shinobu definitely deserved that happy ending. Yeah many of the girls (including Shinobu at one point) only wanting a "handsome" boyfriend really made them come off as somewhat shallow, though I can't blame them completely as the choices they had in their school wasn't all that good. What made Mendou so slimy was that he'd call Moroboshi out for being a lecherous individual but not only was he just as lecherous towards Lum, he was aware of Shinobu's feelings for him and even has flirted with her before, but had no care about just ignoring her completely in favor of showering Lum with affection.
- Agreed about that. Ataru really has shown genuine compassion towards others in comparison to the other guys that aren't Inaba. The caterpillar one as you mentioned is really as good as you get it. He was compassionate in that story from start to finish. He's legit tried helping Ryuunosuke out before as well, and he's obviously been willing to put everything on the line for Lum on numerous occasions.
- Agreed again. Lum was by and far the most human of the characters. That's easily her worst trait, she's so clingy and attached to Ataru. She's so madly in love with the guy that she'd go to whatever lengths to (initially) keep him and eventually get him to not only reciprocate her feelings but (when she realizes he does love her) display his affection for her more often. Lum's love for Ataru at first definitely was genuine, but she seemed to see him as more of a possession than an actual lover. Over time that's obviously evolved into something much greater and her love and devotion to him only grew to the point that she can't tolerate any girl being friendly with him for too long.
- Very much the standard 17 year old. Difference between Lum and Shinobu is first and foremost, Lum wanted marriage immediately and has treated Ataru as her husband since the end of chapter 1. As you mentioned, Lum is the personification of his fear of commitment as both Ataru and Lum are very clearly aware of the fact that Lum is there for the long haul. Lum clearly wants a serious relationship with Ataru (and while she can settle for just being his girlfriend/fiance for now) and is fully committed to this relationship as she wants for nothing more to spend the rest of her life with Ataru and (as she put it in Only You) "Be in charge of his life." Ataru knows this and clearly doesn't want this (at the moment) since he wants to be free and spend a good portion of the remains of his youth having the ability to chasing skirts. Yeah, great moment for him. He pretty much gave up wanting a harem, and even settled on the idea that a future life where he marries Lum isn't bad and even something worth trying to save for her happiness.
- Ataru's relationship with Lum has always been fascinating, especially in Takahashi's works. Especially since it's probably more complex than other Takahashi couples due to the traits from both Lum and especially Ataru.
- What I always found an interesting topic as well though was their friendship. They clearly love one another, but the progression of their relationship involves them essentially treating one another as best friends, where their personalities begin to bounce off one another a lot more, and they even become a lot more playful towards one another (in Lum's case there's the episode of the St. Valentine's Day in where she gets Ataru out of hiding from the table by pretending to give her chocolate away to Perm or Megane. After Ataru reveals himself, she continues to chase him but smiles as she chases him. In Ataru's case, there's the simple fact that late in the series he doesn't really flirt with other girls most of the time because he genuinely wants to do so, but largely did so because he was purposely teasing Lum and getting her pissed off as he likes the challenge Lum brings him when chasing girls. He hates being caught, but loves the thrill of the challenge).
- Speaking of friends, I've always been curious of who Ataru's friends are. We know Lum is pretty much his best friend. He's usually at odds with the males in his class, but is usually on good terms with them when it doesn't have to do with Lum. He's obviously friends with Shinobu, and is friends with (although not close) Inaba. I'd say all of Lum's childhood friends like Ataru too, though Benten, and would even wager that Ryuunosuke views him as a friend of sorts as well. Ryuunosuke, Shinobu, and Benten only really can't seem to stand Ataru when he tries to flirt with them.
- A very tedious process translating can be.
The choking out of the snake might have been the most outwardly violent that Ataru has ever been in when coming to Lum's aid. I mean from the end of that sequence, he had crushed that snake's throat. Also, I do tend to wonder what would have happened if he had made it to Mendou in Ep 106 when he charged across the bridge. Seemed to me like Mendou was just a little scared of him. I would be too if I saw someone doing that and running at me.
A fan club with less than noble intentions, Kakugari was the only one that never tried to touch her that I recall at least.
Here Ataru is with the best girl and he complains, until something threatens that situation and he goes all out to preserve it. I'd actually say the only really bad luck he had with alien women ended up being Lupica in Movie 6 since she just used him overall, and then in second was Elle - she did want to freeze him solid after all.
Every time something pops up that makes him think, there's always a few scenes of him thinking of Lum. The snow fairy one much later in the series is a big example, she was going to claim him and take him away, and it was his thoughts of Lum that saved him. If I had to bet, I'd almost say that while it was obvious Lum was so in love with him that it almost crazy, near the end in certain situations, the feeling was mutual. Which always comes back to my gripe, if the series was around the adventures of kids in school (the focus being Ataru and Lum) that was one heck of a convoluted way to create a relationship, which supposedly wasn't the focus of the overall story.
Oh I hope he was roasted for that stunt at the end of Only You too, Lum went through hell for him and then he did that. And we can add that to his powerset, get dressed and run at the same time at superspeed. I recall that Mamoru Oshii wasn't happy with cranking out the usual UY story into a movie, which is why Beautiful Dreamer was such a departure. Well, other than Lum expressing once more than all she wants to do is live with Ataru forever and Ataru being forced to realize as his spirit freefalls that all he wants to do is see Lum. I'm still wondering what the child version of Lum is supposed to really represent in all that.
There were times I appreciated Mendou's presence and then there were times I just didn't. I think he was added as a rival, and to also make people realize that handsome isn't better. Shinobu pretty much considered him an idiot at one point too. But yeah, the girls and that shallowness, you're right though, they didn't really have too much to work with overall in that school. Pretty bad when the most popular boy ends up being Ryuunosuke.
In a nutshell - by the last story the Earth can be covered in mushrooms for all Ataru really cared. Lum's feelings were more important. That's a ballsy sort of character trait there, his convictions and compassion are like iron.
If I had to pin a hidden trait to Lum, it comes from her being that clingy and possessive. She's insanely jealous, but it makes me wonder if she's lacking in self-confidence. Much like how Ataru can relentlessly chase girls, but the moment it gets personal he gets really shy and awkward. But for the life of me I couldn't see why she's lacking that confidence, unless emotionally speaking she hopes for that ONE great love and in Ataru she believes she has it, and can't stand the thought of losing him/it. She's really very complex, but I tend to overthink it too. But I do see the Oni as being unreserved and so she's way ahead of Ataru on expressing her feelings.
It makes me think that the only reason Shinobu said she'd marry him was to motivate him to win and not because of anything else. Some of her traits were pretty horrifying at the beginning as were Lum's too, not that Ataru was a saint by any means. But some of the things those two girls did were downright horrible to him. The manga version of the duel between Ataru and Rei was really one of Shinobu's worst moments, pretty much telling him to duel and die is bad.
I would have to say they have way more in common than you'd think, they're just on opposite sides of the room in being able to say it/express it. That is, until we get to the end. It's like walking down a street from two ends and meeting in the middle. By the time we get to the end, they're at the middle point.
They are best friends, and they're each other's links to things they never knew existed. It's amusing that when I look at the episodes or read the manga parts where Lum was engaged to Rei, she seemed happy at the time and then in retrospect she can't stand him. For Lum, she's intensely happy, has friends, has adventures and likely knows deep down inside the guy who's bedroom closet she sleeps in he loves her. For Ataru it's a life he never knew existed, with a woman who's overall the best girl of the whole lot that is intensely in love with him. Despite the times he's been an ass, he's also been exceptionally considerate when dealing with her. Example: Lum's class reunion, he really did try to comfort her a lot in that, even going so far as to be with her when all her classmates setup a party. If she's sad, he's right there (unless he causes it of course, but he relents as we all know and apologizes), and if anyone upsets her, he's all over them. And if people pick on him, she's right there too.
This part is my speculation.
His friends in order of best to worst for females: Lum, Shinobu, Lum's mother, Oyuki, Benten, His mother, Ryuunosuke, Sakura, Ran - one shot girls don't count.
His friends in order of best to worst for males: Ten, Lum's dad, His dad, Perm, Cherry, Onsen-Mark, Mendou, Megane, Chibi, Kakugari, Rei - one shot guys don't count.
Why is Ten #1 in the males? If Ataru was SUCH an idiot, Ten would not have acted the way he did in the last story.
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- No doubt there about Megane or Mendou. The sheer fact Mendou has legit tried murdering Ataru before (obviously failing as Ataru tends to succeed over Mendou). Sending his own army to kill Ataru was pretty crazy tbh. Lucky for them that Ataru is nigh indestructible. That's an aspect of Ataru that I love. He's completely human, but possesses the regenerative properties of a lizard, the live force of a cockroach, has superhuman strength (like lifting the tree, choking out a giant sea snake, smashing Cherry with a lamp post), superhuman speed (outrunning Asuka, and in the anime outrunning a Jet and Superman), and durability (all the punishment he takes from characters only to appear fine a moment later).
- They were essentially a glorified fanclub for Lum tbh.
- I just always found it fascinating that Ataru's luck with alien women is incredibly good. Crazy how good he has it with women. Even better, he scored the best alien girl (and best girl in the series) straight out of the first chapter.
- He probably was thinking of Lum at that point, especially with how terrified he was when he initially thought she died when she tried rescuing him the first time.
- Pretty ballsy of Ataru to pull the stunt he did at the end of Only You. I give him credit for doing it, but absolutely hope he gets the punishment he deserves lol. Puts everyone (especially Lum) through all that, and even initially seems fairly ready for marrying her (obviously we know at this point in the series he wasn't but when Lum first asked him if he wanted to get married or not after the whole Elle business was done, that was the time to tell her that he wasn't ready for that). Instead he yells "No!" and sprints out of the the wedding hall where everyone plans to beat him to a pulp. Hilarious that he managed to take his shirt and pants off and keep up the same level of speed.
- Too true. Inaba was a genuinely sweet guy, and the only one in UY who was completely that way. Shinobu definitely deserved that happy ending. Yeah many of the girls (including Shinobu at one point) only wanting a "handsome" boyfriend really made them come off as somewhat shallow, though I can't blame them completely as the choices they had in their school wasn't all that good. What made Mendou so slimy was that he'd call Moroboshi out for being a lecherous individual but not only was he just as lecherous towards Lum, he was aware of Shinobu's feelings for him and even has flirted with her before, but had no care about just ignoring her completely in favor of showering Lum with affection.
- Agreed about that. Ataru really has shown genuine compassion towards others in comparison to the other guys that aren't Inaba. The caterpillar one as you mentioned is really as good as you get it. He was compassionate in that story from start to finish. He's legit tried helping Ryuunosuke out before as well, and he's obviously been willing to put everything on the line for Lum on numerous occasions.
- Agreed again. Lum was by and far the most human of the characters. That's easily her worst trait, she's so clingy and attached to Ataru. She's so madly in love with the guy that she'd go to whatever lengths to (initially) keep him and eventually get him to not only reciprocate her feelings but (when she realizes he does love her) display his affection for her more often. Lum's love for Ataru at first definitely was genuine, but she seemed to see him as more of a possession than an actual lover. Over time that's obviously evolved into something much greater and her love and devotion to him only grew to the point that she can't tolerate any girl being friendly with him for too long.
- Very much the standard 17 year old. Difference between Lum and Shinobu is first and foremost, Lum wanted marriage immediately and has treated Ataru as her husband since the end of chapter 1. As you mentioned, Lum is the personification of his fear of commitment as both Ataru and Lum are very clearly aware of the fact that Lum is there for the long haul. Lum clearly wants a serious relationship with Ataru (and while she can settle for just being his girlfriend/fiance for now) and is fully committed to this relationship as she wants for nothing more to spend the rest of her life with Ataru and (as she put it in Only You) "Be in charge of his life." Ataru knows this and clearly doesn't want this (at the moment) since he wants to be free and spend a good portion of the remains of his youth having the ability to chasing skirts. Yeah, great moment for him. He pretty much gave up wanting a harem, and even settled on the idea that a future life where he marries Lum isn't bad and even something worth trying to save for her happiness.
- Ataru's relationship with Lum has always been fascinating, especially in Takahashi's works. Especially since it's probably more complex than other Takahashi couples due to the traits from both Lum and especially Ataru.
- What I always found an interesting topic as well though was their friendship. They clearly love one another, but the progression of their relationship involves them essentially treating one another as best friends, where their personalities begin to bounce off one another a lot more, and they even become a lot more playful towards one another (in Lum's case there's the episode of the St. Valentine's Day in where she gets Ataru out of hiding from the table by pretending to give her chocolate away to Perm or Megane. After Ataru reveals himself, she continues to chase him but smiles as she chases him. In Ataru's case, there's the simple fact that late in the series he doesn't really flirt with other girls most of the time because he genuinely wants to do so, but largely did so because he was purposely teasing Lum and getting her pissed off as he likes the challenge Lum brings him when chasing girls. He hates being caught, but loves the thrill of the challenge).
- Speaking of friends, I've always been curious of who Ataru's friends are. We know Lum is pretty much his best friend. He's usually at odds with the males in his class, but is usually on good terms with them when it doesn't have to do with Lum. He's obviously friends with Shinobu, and is friends with (although not close) Inaba. I'd say all of Lum's childhood friends like Ataru too, though Benten, and would even wager that Ryuunosuke views him as a friend of sorts as well. Ryuunosuke, Shinobu, and Benten only really can't seem to stand Ataru when he tries to flirt with them.
- A very tedious process translating can be.
The choking out of the snake might have been the most outwardly violent that Ataru has ever been in when coming to Lum's aid. I mean from the end of that sequence, he had crushed that snake's throat. Also, I do tend to wonder what would have happened if he had made it to Mendou in Ep 106 when he charged across the bridge. Seemed to me like Mendou was just a little scared of him. I would be too if I saw someone doing that and running at me.
A fan club with less than noble intentions, Kakugari was the only one that never tried to touch her that I recall at least.
Here Ataru is with the best girl and he complains, until something threatens that situation and he goes all out to preserve it. I'd actually say the only really bad luck he had with alien women ended up being Lupica in Movie 6 since she just used him overall, and then in second was Elle - she did want to freeze him solid after all.
Every time something pops up that makes him think, there's always a few scenes of him thinking of Lum. The snow fairy one much later in the series is a big example, she was going to claim him and take him away, and it was his thoughts of Lum that saved him. If I had to bet, I'd almost say that while it was obvious Lum was so in love with him that it almost crazy, near the end in certain situations, the feeling was mutual. Which always comes back to my gripe, if the series was around the adventures of kids in school (the focus being Ataru and Lum) that was one heck of a convoluted way to create a relationship, which supposedly wasn't the focus of the overall story.
Oh I hope he was roasted for that stunt at the end of Only You too, Lum went through hell for him and then he did that. And we can add that to his powerset, get dressed and run at the same time at superspeed. I recall that Mamoru Oshii wasn't happy with cranking out the usual UY story into a movie, which is why Beautiful Dreamer was such a departure. Well, other than Lum expressing once more than all she wants to do is live with Ataru forever and Ataru being forced to realize as his spirit freefalls that all he wants to do is see Lum. I'm still wondering what the child version of Lum is supposed to really represent in all that.
There were times I appreciated Mendou's presence and then there were times I just didn't. I think he was added as a rival, and to also make people realize that handsome isn't better. Shinobu pretty much considered him an idiot at one point too. But yeah, the girls and that shallowness, you're right though, they didn't really have too much to work with overall in that school. Pretty bad when the most popular boy ends up being Ryuunosuke.
In a nutshell - by the last story the Earth can be covered in mushrooms for all Ataru really cared. Lum's feelings were more important. That's a ballsy sort of character trait there, his convictions and compassion are like iron.
If I had to pin a hidden trait to Lum, it comes from her being that clingy and possessive. She's insanely jealous, but it makes me wonder if she's lacking in self-confidence. Much like how Ataru can relentlessly chase girls, but the moment it gets personal he gets really shy and awkward. But for the life of me I couldn't see why she's lacking that confidence, unless emotionally speaking she hopes for that ONE great love and in Ataru she believes she has it, and can't stand the thought of losing him/it. She's really very complex, but I tend to overthink it too. But I do see the Oni as being unreserved and so she's way ahead of Ataru on expressing her feelings.
It makes me think that the only reason Shinobu said she'd marry him was to motivate him to win and not because of anything else. Some of her traits were pretty horrifying at the beginning as were Lum's too, not that Ataru was a saint by any means. But some of the things those two girls did were downright horrible to him. The manga version of the duel between Ataru and Rei was really one of Shinobu's worst moments, pretty much telling him to duel and die is bad.
I would have to say they have way more in common than you'd think, they're just on opposite sides of the room in being able to say it/express it. That is, until we get to the end. It's like walking down a street from two ends and meeting in the middle. By the time we get to the end, they're at the middle point.
They are best friends, and they're each other's links to things they never knew existed. It's amusing that when I look at the episodes or read the manga parts where Lum was engaged to Rei, she seemed happy at the time and then in retrospect she can't stand him. For Lum, she's intensely happy, has friends, has adventures and likely knows deep down inside the guy who's bedroom closet she sleeps in he loves her. For Ataru it's a life he never knew existed, with a woman who's overall the best girl of the whole lot that is intensely in love with him. Despite the times he's been an ass, he's also been exceptionally considerate when dealing with her. Example: Lum's class reunion, he really did try to comfort her a lot in that, even going so far as to be with her when all her classmates setup a party. If she's sad, he's right there (unless he causes it of course, but he relents as we all know and apologizes), and if anyone upsets her, he's all over them. And if people pick on him, she's right there too.
This part is my speculation.
His friends in order of best to worst for females: Lum, Shinobu, Lum's mother, Oyuki, Benten, His mother, Ryuunosuke, Sakura, Ran - one shot girls don't count.
His friends in order of best to worst for males: Ten, Lum's dad, His dad, Perm, Cherry, Onsen-Mark, Mendou, Megane, Chibi, Kakugari, Rei - one shot guys don't count.
Why is Ten #1 in the males? If Ataru was SUCH an idiot, Ten would not have acted the way he did in the last story.
- I kind of felt bad for the snakes lol. Ataru, Shinobu, and Ryuunosuke all beat them up and Ran just laser'd them. Mendou and Lum were the only ones to get wrecked and Lum only was on the receiving end since she did not want to risk knocking the others out with her electricity. Mendou? The guy was straight up just a joke to those things. Onsen Mark came off as real crazy in that OVA. Mendou feared the unstoppable. ;D Ataru is just way too determined and nigh invincible to be taken down by Mendou.
- I always love seeing them go up against one another because either the writers or Takahashi almost always has Ataru clown Mendou. Like the episode they were trapped in Mendou's vault and Ataru kept on one-upping him at their card game and taking Mendou's gold from him, or the story of when Lum was going to go kiss Pigumo (the frog guy) and Ataru and Mendou step outside together only for the students to follow. When they open the door, they see Mendou unconscious after Ataru clonked him on the head.
- What makes it worse is that Ataru is fully aware how good he has it. He knows Lum is devoted to him, and constantly exploits that fact. He takes full advantage of the fact that no matter what he does, she'll stay with him regardless. Definitely makes him a scumbag a lot of the time lol.
- Speaking on how terrible Ataru can be, the episode of the Miss Tomobiki was extremely funny with what Ataru did. He was terrible in that as a person, but the way it ended had me laughing for some time. He literally takes the money at the end of the episode when everybody questions where it and he is. When then pan over to Ataru who pretty much fled the scene and hopped the train. He's going to get thrashed later on for that, but I found that whole ending hilarious.
- I'd argue their relationship is partly the central focus. It's just that in comparison to Takahashi's other series, UY is the least focused on romance and more of the comedic hijinks of the gang. Their relationship did kick off after all with Lum mistaking his announcement in the first story as a proposal. Always crazy when I think about the fact that Lum was only suppose to essentially be as important to the series as say Kurama initially. A recurring antagonist who'd serve as a trial for Ataru and Shinobu to overcome.
- Well Only You was essentially "UY the movie". It served it's purpose as a theatrical version of the series. Beautiful Dreamer, was stepping out of this series' comfort zone and as a result, it's regarded as one of the best anime films of all time. That movie had an incredibly horrific scene - Ataru in that dream sequence where he wakes up and finds Lum's decomposed body. Always funny to me how Ataru so casually trolled Mujaki and managed to escape to different dreams with him whereas Sakura and Mendou were easily taken out. Ataru is so absurd, and played it cool when Mujaki thought he trapped him in that last dream. The miniature Lum always confused me as well. I love the ending scene of that movie where Ataru and Lum are about to kiss only for Mendou and the Stormtroopers to be pissed off at the sight of this, and then you just get Onsen Mark who is so confused and Ryuunosuke who looks so curious.
- Legit every teenage boy in this series is horny in some form or way. Ataru, Mendou, and Ten are all pretty similar to each other, though none of them would ever admit it. Shinobu calling Mendou an idiot was one of my favorite moments of hers. Like at that point, she's finally had enough with Mendou.
- Ataru is made of iron. An indomitable will so strong, he'll walk through the ground just to kiss a girl, he'll allow the earth to be covered in mushrooms and nearly cover the earth in darkness because of the sake of his girlfriend's feelings and their relationship and his determination to be as genuine with her as possible.
- I don't. Lum seems to have a lot of confidence in herself almost completely. Only time she really seems unsure of herself is when she has to show courage by not relying on her flight and electricity. As we know, Ataru proved that without her powers she's just an ordinary 17 year old girl in the physical stats department. Which is why she pretty much was forced to "cheat" via enhancer gauntlets and pills to boost her strength. Problem is she's rarely ever had to be in a situation where she couldn't use her powers and it had a major affect on her. Outside of that though? Lum seems to be generally confident about everything. She's sees herself as a great cook (which she is on her home planet as the Oni love spicy foods) but Ataru constantly tells her how her cooking sucks for Humans and how it doesn't mesh well with them.
- While Lum has flaws, many of those flaws only really surfaced usually as a result of things. Like yeah she's incredibly clingy and jealous, but she usually only gets jealous because Ataru initiates a situation where she reacts to it. Of course there are exceptions (like the story where they were going to eat everywhere in town and the teachers were going to punish them. They got to one restaurant and Lum got pretty angry just from the lady who worked at the shop holding his hand). Then there's of course Lum getting jealous over a ghost girl. Though anyone would probably get jealous easily if they already viewed another person as his or hers husband or wife from the get-go.
- Shinobu was a pretty terrible person at first. She beat the living tar out of him constantly. There's also the early story of when Ataru ran away from home and tells Sakura about it. How Lum forced a kiss on him, and Shinobu responds by refusing to listen to him and crushes him under several desks. Or how in Lum's case she initially didn't really view him as a person and more like a possession. Since he made it quite clear he didn't love her, she blackmailed him into allowing her to live with him, and went out of her way to ruin his life and his relationship with Shinobu simply because she wanted Ataru and didn't care that he didn't like her. Ataru came off as more horny earlier in the series than late in the series as well. Like sometimes it could be pretty uncomfortable. Fortunately, all three of them improved tremendously as characters.
- Yeah, he doesn't really tolerate anyone treating her like crap or trying to take her away from him. Lum doesn't even really seem to hate Rei later on and seems like she's fine getting along with him late in the series when he pretty much stops chasing after her (since he just settles with Ran because Ran makes him food so often). Hell, even Ran gained some development herself when Lum went to take care of her. Ran always had that paranoia that Lum was out to get her, but learned there that Lum just messes things up because she legitimately just unaware of things at times and is quite genuine in her efforts. Doesn't stop Ran from pulling crap like trying to feed Ataru and Lum to that cannibal though lol.
- He gets along surprisingly well with Lum's mother with the interactions they've had with each other. He gets along well with Ten's mother too. Funny, he has more female friends than male friends, which becomes obvious why when reading the series. Not sure I'd even classify Rei as a friend at all though. He was a one-chapter rival to Ataru until he lost to Ataru in his first appearance, and then just gets relegated to rare occasional antagonist or just minor character. Rei I'd argue is more of a friend to Ten. Ten seemed to get along with him well. Ataru and Ten's relationship was always fun to explore as well. Despite the two disliking one another a lot, they are incredibly similar. As you mentioned, the last story had Ten pretty much show that he was indeed going to miss Ataru (despite saying he wouldn't). He wouldn't have shed a tear for the guy if he legitimately wasn't going to miss being around him. I always imagine the two getting along more when they both get older.
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- I kind of felt bad for the snakes lol. Ataru, Shinobu, and Ryuunosuke all beat them up and Ran just laser'd them. Mendou and Lum were the only ones to get wrecked and Lum only was on the receiving end since she did not want to risk knocking the others out with her electricity. Mendou? The guy was straight up just a joke to those things. Onsen Mark came off as real crazy in that OVA. Mendou feared the unstoppable. ;D Ataru is just way too determined and nigh invincible to be taken down by Mendou.
- I always love seeing them go up against one another because either the writers or Takahashi almost always has Ataru clown Mendou. Like the episode they were trapped in Mendou's vault and Ataru kept on one-upping him at their card game and taking Mendou's gold from him, or the story of when Lum was going to go kiss Pigumo (the frog guy) and Ataru and Mendou step outside together only for the students to follow. When they open the door, they see Mendou unconscious after Ataru clonked him on the head.
- What makes it worse is that Ataru is fully aware how good he has it. He knows Lum is devoted to him, and constantly exploits that fact. He takes full advantage of the fact that no matter what he does, she'll stay with him regardless. Definitely makes him a scumbag a lot of the time lol.
- Speaking on how terrible Ataru can be, the episode of the Miss Tomobiki was extremely funny with what Ataru did. He was terrible in that as a person, but the way it ended had me laughing for some time. He literally takes the money at the end of the episode when everybody questions where it and he is. When then pan over to Ataru who pretty much fled the scene and hopped the train. He's going to get thrashed later on for that, but I found that whole ending hilarious.
- I'd argue their relationship is partly the central focus. It's just that in comparison to Takahashi's other series, UY is the least focused on romance and more of the comedic hijinks of the gang. Their relationship did kick off after all with Lum mistaking his announcement in the first story as a proposal. Always crazy when I think about the fact that Lum was only suppose to essentially be as important to the series as say Kurama initially. A recurring antagonist who'd serve as a trial for Ataru and Shinobu to overcome.
- Well Only You was essentially "UY the movie". It served it's purpose as a theatrical version of the series. Beautiful Dreamer, was stepping out of this series' comfort zone and as a result, it's regarded as one of the best anime films of all time. That movie had an incredibly horrific scene - Ataru in that dream sequence where he wakes up and finds Lum's decomposed body. Always funny to me how Ataru so casually trolled Mujaki and managed to escape to different dreams with him whereas Sakura and Mendou were easily taken out. Ataru is so absurd, and played it cool when Mujaki thought he trapped him in that last dream. The miniature Lum always confused me as well. I love the ending scene of that movie where Ataru and Lum are about to kiss only for Mendou and the Stormtroopers to be pissed off at the sight of this, and then you just get Onsen Mark who is so confused and Ryuunosuke who looks so curious.
- Legit every teenage boy in this series is horny in some form or way. Ataru, Mendou, and Ten are all pretty similar to each other, though none of them would ever admit it. Shinobu calling Mendou an idiot was one of my favorite moments of hers. Like at that point, she's finally had enough with Mendou.
- Ataru is made of iron. An indomitable will so strong, he'll walk through the ground just to kiss a girl, he'll allow the earth to be covered in mushrooms and nearly cover the earth in darkness because of the sake of his girlfriend's feelings and their relationship and his determination to be as genuine with her as possible.
- I don't. Lum seems to have a lot of confidence in herself almost completely. Only time she really seems unsure of herself is when she has to show courage by not relying on her flight and electricity. As we know, Ataru proved that without her powers she's just an ordinary 17 year old girl in the physical stats department. Which is why she pretty much was forced to "cheat" via enhancer gauntlets and pills to boost her strength. Problem is she's rarely ever had to be in a situation where she couldn't use her powers and it had a major affect on her. Outside of that though? Lum seems to be generally confident about everything. She's sees herself as a great cook (which she is on her home planet as the Oni love spicy foods) but Ataru constantly tells her how her cooking sucks for Humans and how it doesn't mesh well with them.
- While Lum has flaws, many of those flaws only really surfaced usually as a result of things. Like yeah she's incredibly clingy and jealous, but she usually only gets jealous because Ataru initiates a situation where she reacts to it. Of course there are exceptions (like the story where they were going to eat everywhere in town and the teachers were going to punish them. They got to one restaurant and Lum got pretty angry just from the lady who worked at the shop holding his hand). Then there's of course Lum getting jealous over a ghost girl. Though anyone would probably get jealous easily if they already viewed another person as his or hers husband or wife from the get-go.
- Shinobu was a pretty terrible person at first. She beat the living tar out of him constantly. There's also the early story of when Ataru ran away from home and tells Sakura about it. How Lum forced a kiss on him, and Shinobu responds by refusing to listen to him and crushes him under several desks. Or how in Lum's case she initially didn't really view him as a person and more like a possession. Since he made it quite clear he didn't love her, she blackmailed him into allowing her to live with him, and went out of her way to ruin his life and his relationship with Shinobu simply because she wanted Ataru and didn't care that he didn't like her. Ataru came off as more horny earlier in the series than late in the series as well. Like sometimes it could be pretty uncomfortable. Fortunately, all three of them improved tremendously as characters.
- Yeah, he doesn't really tolerate anyone treating her like crap or trying to take her away from him. Lum doesn't even really seem to hate Rei later on and seems like she's fine getting along with him late in the series when he pretty much stops chasing after her (since he just settles with Ran because Ran makes him food so often). Hell, even Ran gained some development herself when Lum went to take care of her. Ran always had that paranoia that Lum was out to get her, but learned there that Lum just messes things up because she legitimately just unaware of things at times and is quite genuine in her efforts. Doesn't stop Ran from pulling crap like trying to feed Ataru and Lum to that cannibal though lol.
- He gets along surprisingly well with Lum's mother with the interactions they've had with each other. He gets along well with Ten's mother too. Funny, he has more female friends than male friends, which becomes obvious why when reading the series. Not sure I'd even classify Rei as a friend at all though. He was a one-chapter rival to Ataru until he lost to Ataru in his first appearance, and then just gets relegated to rare occasional antagonist or just minor character. Rei I'd argue is more of a friend to Ten. Ten seemed to get along with him well. Ataru and Ten's relationship was always fun to explore as well. Despite the two disliking one another a lot, they are incredibly similar. As you mentioned, the last story had Ten pretty much show that he was indeed going to miss Ataru (despite saying he wouldn't). He wouldn't have shed a tear for the guy if he legitimately wasn't going to miss being around him. I always imagine the two getting along more when they both get older.
When I watched that OVA and saw the snakes, my immediate thought was "Here comes the real violence". Shinobu slapped one snake and beat on the other, Ryuunosuke outright pummeled hers, and Ran used gadgets. Ataru? No discredit to him, but the artwork favored the women more than the boys, but his beatdown of the snake made me feel bad for it. But yeah, Mendou was the ultimate chump in that sequence. In fact, he basically other than his one flashy sword sequence was given a beating throughout. He stood there with his mouth open like the town idiot when Ryuunosuke and her dad were fighting, even Ataru was more decisive than him. Kudos to Toshio for that voiceover for Dirt Poor too, I laughed really hard hearing it. But then Mendou was launched into Ran's bazooka, clocked in the head with a hammer, shocked by Lum, eaten by a snake and blown up by the Dappya doll and also technically by his sister too. And I will give credit to Onsen Mark, that might have been HIS best showing for his strength because Ryuunosuke is no lightweight and she really hurled that ball at him. If it hadn't of exploded, he would have sent it back at her. And in Ep 106, I tend to think that might have been the first time Ataru might have actually been in a brawl if he made it to Mendou, that was the most angry I've ever seen him. Even in the Electric Jungle and Final Chapter, he was angry, but not like that.
The vault episode is great, Mendou is always so convinced he'll win that when he loses he can't understand. Like the class president episode, They tie and Mendou looks stupified that Ataru tied him, of course, Lum zaps him in their duel for Ataru's win, but the ritual suicide moment just shows he's all pride and can't stand any blows to it. That Pigumo episode was great too, and another great Mendou loses moment was thanks to Lum, when she and Ten got drunk on Umeboshi. Mendou betting Onsen Mark he'd dance naked if there was alcohol and Lum comes drunkenly floating in with sake. Ataru comes in at the end and sees that and the look on his face was perfect "Nope, I want no part of that!".
You'd almost think that Ataru was testing Lum at times, like to see if she really still loves him. Whenever she's missing, he has no desire to do any girl chasing. But yeah, he is the scumbag with a heart of gold, very contradictory.
He was terrible in Miss Tomobiki for sure, and the Rice Cooker incident too, when Lum forgot her Japanese. He partied like an idiot for ten days and then in the throes of exhaustion and being sick from eating that bad food he finally gave in and begged for her forgiveness. More like a please come back and save me from myself and my tendencies. I also found it funny how when Lum grew the plant for the berries to give her good dreams, the dream Ataru was actually more of a jerk than the real Ataru even though he was supposed to be 'perfect'. Dream Ataru had no qualms about encasing Lum in a bubble and making her electrocute herself (didn't think that was possible) just to get out. Real Ataru actually had an attack of his conscience and went back for her.
I liked how he opened his side of the dialogue in Beautiful Dreamer when Mujaki discovered he was still free, that he was going to beat on Mujaki for messing with Lum but he fell in the water. Ataru usually doesn't do violence, the boxing glove episode he even said he hates it, but he's really not above it when it comes to Lum. But he did happily send Megane and Mendou flying at least in it. That was their second interrupted kiss too, since they were going to kiss near the end of Only You too. And poor Lum, she would have been so happy if those guys didn't interrupt her. But I have heard two theories regarding that Little Lum, one is that she's the inner Lum, she's so innocent that she's like a child at times. Of course, the Lum we know isn't THAT innocent, but she makes strange appearances throughout the movie, I didn't even notice the one time in the empty classroom until I watched my Blu-ray of the film. The other theory I've seen is that some people think she's their daughter, trying to help Ataru so the future isn't disrupted. Not much lends itself to validate it, other than she looks pretty much like Lum. If you look at Lum's family, she's pretty close to her mother in looks, which is good but she's terribly short in comparison to both. Her mother is notably taller than Ataru, and we won't even discuss the incredible shrinking Mr. Invader. Unless Lum is wearing some kind of heels, she's shorter than Ataru. But I attribute Onsen Mark's confusion to the "I thought he couldn't stand her" and Ryuunosuke probably never saw a guy and a girl kiss before.
When Ataru walked through the ground itself I had to laugh, because as everyone else was staring in disbelief and Mendou was holding onto Lum, she really revved up the shock on Mendou. Started off as a normal shock and then the arcs were flying everywhere. The only way Ataru was stopped was the headbutt from Megane and despite being turned into a 90 something year old man, Ataru STILL wanted to kiss Ran. But you're right, Ataru would doom the earth before hurting Lum, it's too bad Lum didn't see that in the midst of her proving she's as stubborn as he is.
But in thinking about it, I still wonder with Lum and her actions/reactions with Ataru. I know it's per the story she's so in love with him because of the mistaken marriage proposal and his adherence to being free (contradicted by all his actions both around her and in free moments). She basically becomes an earth girl in all but actually being from earth for him, but as we see through the run of the whole thing, he's accepted her for what she is and loves her above all else regardless. But that cooking? I like spicy foods, but she basically can drink tabasco and be happy, that scares me. And the fact that HOW she cooks is scary too.
The episode with the crackdown on eating was good, because Lum didn't even eat out, she was just helping him. And when Megane tried to horn in Ataru immediately went into 'My Girl' mode, just like at the end when Mendou tried to get her to join and Ataru came > . < close to saying she was his girl and caught himself.
Ataru, Lum and Shinobu were all terrible at first, I cut Lum just a sliver of slack only because she was an alien on earth. She thinks she was just proposed to by someone she was playing the Oni tag game against for the earth itself. But that sliver is shaky because she pulled the 'I'm pregnant' thing which Shinobu buys without even hesitating. Shinobu is supposed to be Ataru's childhood friend and she has that little faith in him. I don't think I would want to keep trying to date someone that had that little faith in me. And in the manga at times she was outright crappier in the way she treated Ataru. When Lum disguised herself as a schoolgirl, and Ataru and Shinobu had the moment until Mendou landed on her was really horrible. And she had the nerve to go at him when Lum arrived in disguise, I was glad Ataru called her out on it.
Lum likely sees her time with Rei as a mistake, she's moved on. If they're 17 in the show, Lum was engaged awfully young (15-16?) and probably viewed it as an infatuation. Of course, it was because for the same reason every other woman chases Rei, he's the best looking guy overall (I loved how that was a blow to Mendou as well), but despite it being early on in the series, I give Rei's first appearance as Lum having some character - looks are NOT everything, even when Shinobu keeps saying he's so handsome. And Ran is probably the only one that has tried to kill/incapacitate Ataru the most overall.
I'd say Ten sees Ataru is a sort of older brother. He picks on him, but Ten fights back, and pretty effectively too. When Ataru made Ten lose his horn though I did laugh - another super strength moment for Ataru as he pretty much threw everything including a sink at him in a huge sack. Ten though is the only male Oni I've seen with just one horn though - Lum's dad and Rei have two, and from Only You, the other Oni have two also. But Rei is actually close to boring overall, only because he's basically a walking appetite with a thing for Lum. I give the Stormtroopers more credit for confronting Rei than Ataru, but Rei is good for one thing, he makes women show just how shallow they are. But with Ten, I see it that if Ataru and Lum have kid(s), I see them terrorizing Ten and Ataru being glad for it as a sort of revenge.
Total aside from all this, Fumi Hirano still does an occasional radio show in Japan and she will broadcast it over the Twitcasting plugin for Twitter. As Japan is 13 hrs ahead of me, I tuned into it this past Saturday morning. She talks about things and plays music and while for the life of me I don't understand nearly enough of Japanese to have it all make sense, she DID slip into Lum's persona for a moment as she used the words Uchi and Daccha when speaking in a cute manner.
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- I kind of felt bad for the snakes lol. Ataru, Shinobu, and Ryuunosuke all beat them up and Ran just laser'd them. Mendou and Lum were the only ones to get wrecked and Lum only was on the receiving end since she did not want to risk knocking the others out with her electricity. Mendou? The guy was straight up just a joke to those things. Onsen Mark came off as real crazy in that OVA. Mendou feared the unstoppable. ;D Ataru is just way too determined and nigh invincible to be taken down by Mendou.
- I always love seeing them go up against one another because either the writers or Takahashi almost always has Ataru clown Mendou. Like the episode they were trapped in Mendou's vault and Ataru kept on one-upping him at their card game and taking Mendou's gold from him, or the story of when Lum was going to go kiss Pigumo (the frog guy) and Ataru and Mendou step outside together only for the students to follow. When they open the door, they see Mendou unconscious after Ataru clonked him on the head.
- What makes it worse is that Ataru is fully aware how good he has it. He knows Lum is devoted to him, and constantly exploits that fact. He takes full advantage of the fact that no matter what he does, she'll stay with him regardless. Definitely makes him a scumbag a lot of the time lol.
- Speaking on how terrible Ataru can be, the episode of the Miss Tomobiki was extremely funny with what Ataru did. He was terrible in that as a person, but the way it ended had me laughing for some time. He literally takes the money at the end of the episode when everybody questions where it and he is. When then pan over to Ataru who pretty much fled the scene and hopped the train. He's going to get thrashed later on for that, but I found that whole ending hilarious.
- I'd argue their relationship is partly the central focus. It's just that in comparison to Takahashi's other series, UY is the least focused on romance and more of the comedic hijinks of the gang. Their relationship did kick off after all with Lum mistaking his announcement in the first story as a proposal. Always crazy when I think about the fact that Lum was only suppose to essentially be as important to the series as say Kurama initially. A recurring antagonist who'd serve as a trial for Ataru and Shinobu to overcome.
- Well Only You was essentially "UY the movie". It served it's purpose as a theatrical version of the series. Beautiful Dreamer, was stepping out of this series' comfort zone and as a result, it's regarded as one of the best anime films of all time. That movie had an incredibly horrific scene - Ataru in that dream sequence where he wakes up and finds Lum's decomposed body. Always funny to me how Ataru so casually trolled Mujaki and managed to escape to different dreams with him whereas Sakura and Mendou were easily taken out. Ataru is so absurd, and played it cool when Mujaki thought he trapped him in that last dream. The miniature Lum always confused me as well. I love the ending scene of that movie where Ataru and Lum are about to kiss only for Mendou and the Stormtroopers to be pissed off at the sight of this, and then you just get Onsen Mark who is so confused and Ryuunosuke who looks so curious.
- Legit every teenage boy in this series is horny in some form or way. Ataru, Mendou, and Ten are all pretty similar to each other, though none of them would ever admit it. Shinobu calling Mendou an idiot was one of my favorite moments of hers. Like at that point, she's finally had enough with Mendou.
- Ataru is made of iron. An indomitable will so strong, he'll walk through the ground just to kiss a girl, he'll allow the earth to be covered in mushrooms and nearly cover the earth in darkness because of the sake of his girlfriend's feelings and their relationship and his determination to be as genuine with her as possible.
- I don't. Lum seems to have a lot of confidence in herself almost completely. Only time she really seems unsure of herself is when she has to show courage by not relying on her flight and electricity. As we know, Ataru proved that without her powers she's just an ordinary 17 year old girl in the physical stats department. Which is why she pretty much was forced to "cheat" via enhancer gauntlets and pills to boost her strength. Problem is she's rarely ever had to be in a situation where she couldn't use her powers and it had a major affect on her. Outside of that though? Lum seems to be generally confident about everything. She's sees herself as a great cook (which she is on her home planet as the Oni love spicy foods) but Ataru constantly tells her how her cooking sucks for Humans and how it doesn't mesh well with them.
- While Lum has flaws, many of those flaws only really surfaced usually as a result of things. Like yeah she's incredibly clingy and jealous, but she usually only gets jealous because Ataru initiates a situation where she reacts to it. Of course there are exceptions (like the story where they were going to eat everywhere in town and the teachers were going to punish them. They got to one restaurant and Lum got pretty angry just from the lady who worked at the shop holding his hand). Then there's of course Lum getting jealous over a ghost girl. Though anyone would probably get jealous easily if they already viewed another person as his or hers husband or wife from the get-go.
- Shinobu was a pretty terrible person at first. She beat the living tar out of him constantly. There's also the early story of when Ataru ran away from home and tells Sakura about it. How Lum forced a kiss on him, and Shinobu responds by refusing to listen to him and crushes him under several desks. Or how in Lum's case she initially didn't really view him as a person and more like a possession. Since he made it quite clear he didn't love her, she blackmailed him into allowing her to live with him, and went out of her way to ruin his life and his relationship with Shinobu simply because she wanted Ataru and didn't care that he didn't like her. Ataru came off as more horny earlier in the series than late in the series as well. Like sometimes it could be pretty uncomfortable. Fortunately, all three of them improved tremendously as characters.
- Yeah, he doesn't really tolerate anyone treating her like crap or trying to take her away from him. Lum doesn't even really seem to hate Rei later on and seems like she's fine getting along with him late in the series when he pretty much stops chasing after her (since he just settles with Ran because Ran makes him food so often). Hell, even Ran gained some development herself when Lum went to take care of her. Ran always had that paranoia that Lum was out to get her, but learned there that Lum just messes things up because she legitimately just unaware of things at times and is quite genuine in her efforts. Doesn't stop Ran from pulling crap like trying to feed Ataru and Lum to that cannibal though lol.
- He gets along surprisingly well with Lum's mother with the interactions they've had with each other. He gets along well with Ten's mother too. Funny, he has more female friends than male friends, which becomes obvious why when reading the series. Not sure I'd even classify Rei as a friend at all though. He was a one-chapter rival to Ataru until he lost to Ataru in his first appearance, and then just gets relegated to rare occasional antagonist or just minor character. Rei I'd argue is more of a friend to Ten. Ten seemed to get along with him well. Ataru and Ten's relationship was always fun to explore as well. Despite the two disliking one another a lot, they are incredibly similar. As you mentioned, the last story had Ten pretty much show that he was indeed going to miss Ataru (despite saying he wouldn't). He wouldn't have shed a tear for the guy if he legitimately wasn't going to miss being around him. I always imagine the two getting along more when they both get older.
When I watched that OVA and saw the snakes, my immediate thought was "Here comes the real violence". Shinobu slapped one snake and beat on the other, Ryuunosuke outright pummeled hers, and Ran used gadgets. Ataru? No discredit to him, but the artwork favored the women more than the boys, but his beatdown of the snake made me feel bad for it. But yeah, Mendou was the ultimate chump in that sequence. In fact, he basically other than his one flashy sword sequence was given a beating throughout. He stood there with his mouth open like the town idiot when Ryuunosuke and her dad were fighting, even Ataru was more decisive than him. Kudos to Toshio for that voiceover for Dirt Poor too, I laughed really hard hearing it. But then Mendou was launched into Ran's bazooka, clocked in the head with a hammer, shocked by Lum, eaten by a snake and blown up by the Dappya doll and also technically by his sister too. And I will give credit to Onsen Mark, that might have been HIS best showing for his strength because Ryuunosuke is no lightweight and she really hurled that ball at him. If it hadn't of exploded, he would have sent it back at her. And in Ep 106, I tend to think that might have been the first time Ataru might have actually been in a brawl if he made it to Mendou, that was the most angry I've ever seen him. Even in the Electric Jungle and Final Chapter, he was angry, but not like that.
The vault episode is great, Mendou is always so convinced he'll win that when he loses he can't understand. Like the class president episode, They tie and Mendou looks stupified that Ataru tied him, of course, Lum zaps him in their duel for Ataru's win, but the ritual suicide moment just shows he's all pride and can't stand any blows to it. That Pigumo episode was great too, and another great Mendou loses moment was thanks to Lum, when she and Ten got drunk on Umeboshi. Mendou betting Onsen Mark he'd dance naked if there was alcohol and Lum comes drunkenly floating in with sake. Ataru comes in at the end and sees that and the look on his face was perfect "Nope, I want no part of that!".
You'd almost think that Ataru was testing Lum at times, like to see if she really still loves him. Whenever she's missing, he has no desire to do any girl chasing. But yeah, he is the scumbag with a heart of gold, very contradictory.
He was terrible in Miss Tomobiki for sure, and the Rice Cooker incident too, when Lum forgot her Japanese. He partied like an idiot for ten days and then in the throes of exhaustion and being sick from eating that bad food he finally gave in and begged for her forgiveness. More like a please come back and save me from myself and my tendencies. I also found it funny how when Lum grew the plant for the berries to give her good dreams, the dream Ataru was actually more of a jerk than the real Ataru even though he was supposed to be 'perfect'. Dream Ataru had no qualms about encasing Lum in a bubble and making her electrocute herself (didn't think that was possible) just to get out. Real Ataru actually had an attack of his conscience and went back for her.
I liked how he opened his side of the dialogue in Beautiful Dreamer when Mujaki discovered he was still free, that he was going to beat on Mujaki for messing with Lum but he fell in the water. Ataru usually doesn't do violence, the boxing glove episode he even said he hates it, but he's really not above it when it comes to Lum. But he did happily send Megane and Mendou flying at least in it. That was their second interrupted kiss too, since they were going to kiss near the end of Only You too. And poor Lum, she would have been so happy if those guys didn't interrupt her. But I have heard two theories regarding that Little Lum, one is that she's the inner Lum, she's so innocent that she's like a child at times. Of course, the Lum we know isn't THAT innocent, but she makes strange appearances throughout the movie, I didn't even notice the one time in the empty classroom until I watched my Blu-ray of the film. The other theory I've seen is that some people think she's their daughter, trying to help Ataru so the future isn't disrupted. Not much lends itself to validate it, other than she looks pretty much like Lum. If you look at Lum's family, she's pretty close to her mother in looks, which is good but she's terribly short in comparison to both. Her mother is notably taller than Ataru, and we won't even discuss the incredible shrinking Mr. Invader. Unless Lum is wearing some kind of heels, she's shorter than Ataru. But I attribute Onsen Mark's confusion to the "I thought he couldn't stand her" and Ryuunosuke probably never saw a guy and a girl kiss before.
When Ataru walked through the ground itself I had to laugh, because as everyone else was staring in disbelief and Mendou was holding onto Lum, she really revved up the shock on Mendou. Started off as a normal shock and then the arcs were flying everywhere. The only way Ataru was stopped was the headbutt from Megane and despite being turned into a 90 something year old man, Ataru STILL wanted to kiss Ran. But you're right, Ataru would doom the earth before hurting Lum, it's too bad Lum didn't see that in the midst of her proving she's as stubborn as he is.
But in thinking about it, I still wonder with Lum and her actions/reactions with Ataru. I know it's per the story she's so in love with him because of the mistaken marriage proposal and his adherence to being free (contradicted by all his actions both around her and in free moments). She basically becomes an earth girl in all but actually being from earth for him, but as we see through the run of the whole thing, he's accepted her for what she is and loves her above all else regardless. But that cooking? I like spicy foods, but she basically can drink tabasco and be happy, that scares me. And the fact that HOW she cooks is scary too.
The episode with the crackdown on eating was good, because Lum didn't even eat out, she was just helping him. And when Megane tried to horn in Ataru immediately went into 'My Girl' mode, just like at the end when Mendou tried to get her to join and Ataru came > . < close to saying she was his girl and caught himself.
Ataru, Lum and Shinobu were all terrible at first, I cut Lum just a sliver of slack only because she was an alien on earth. She thinks she was just proposed to by someone she was playing the Oni tag game against for the earth itself. But that sliver is shaky because she pulled the 'I'm pregnant' thing which Shinobu buys without even hesitating. Shinobu is supposed to be Ataru's childhood friend and she has that little faith in him. I don't think I would want to keep trying to date someone that had that little faith in me. And in the manga at times she was outright crappier in the way she treated Ataru. When Lum disguised herself as a schoolgirl, and Ataru and Shinobu had the moment until Mendou landed on her was really horrible. And she had the nerve to go at him when Lum arrived in disguise, I was glad Ataru called her out on it.
Lum likely sees her time with Rei as a mistake, she's moved on. If they're 17 in the show, Lum was engaged awfully young (15-16?) and probably viewed it as an infatuation. Of course, it was because for the same reason every other woman chases Rei, he's the best looking guy overall (I loved how that was a blow to Mendou as well), but despite it being early on in the series, I give Rei's first appearance as Lum having some character - looks are NOT everything, even when Shinobu keeps saying he's so handsome. And Ran is probably the only one that has tried to kill/incapacitate Ataru the most overall.
I'd say Ten sees Ataru is a sort of older brother. He picks on him, but Ten fights back, and pretty effectively too. When Ataru made Ten lose his horn though I did laugh - another super strength moment for Ataru as he pretty much threw everything including a sink at him in a huge sack. Ten though is the only male Oni I've seen with just one horn though - Lum's dad and Rei have two, and from Only You, the other Oni have two also. But Rei is actually close to boring overall, only because he's basically a walking appetite with a thing for Lum. I give the Stormtroopers more credit for confronting Rei than Ataru, but Rei is good for one thing, he makes women show just how shallow they are. But with Ten, I see it that if Ataru and Lum have kid(s), I see them terrorizing Ten and Ataru being glad for it as a sort of revenge.
Total aside from all this, Fumi Hirano still does an occasional radio show in Japan and she will broadcast it over the Twitcasting plugin for Twitter. As Japan is 13 hrs ahead of me, I tuned into it this past Saturday morning. She talks about things and plays music and while for the life of me I don't understand nearly enough of Japanese to have it all make sense, she DID slip into Lum's persona for a moment as she used the words Uchi and Daccha when speaking in a cute manner.
- Mendou being the butt monkey was hilarious. Someone had to be it and Onsen Mark usually takes the role as butt monkey but they wanted to give him a break (though they wanted him to take some damage before the OVA ended lol). Ataru smashing him on the head with the hammer was funny because I knew the moment they decided to be nice to one another, Ataru was going to pull something funny. You're right. Definitely the closest he was to willingly brawling Mendou. Though he did beat Mendou up briefly when he had the boxing gloves on.
- Mendou's failures are funny. You mentioned my second favorite one, his bet with Onsen Mark. When he lost that, lol I knew he was going to try and back out of it. He doesn't know how to deal with a loss or failure. You'd think he'd learn how to by now, considering he's rarely ever been a challenge for Ataru. The class election was hilarious as well. The boys are just "Let's get Ataru to run against him! If anybody can take Mendou he can!" Always hilarious how the boys in the class are on Ataru's side whenever they are jealous of Mendou or against him when they're jealous of Ataru.
- Well Ataru has to keep up his reputation as the biggest jerk with a heart of gold of all of Takahashi's male main protagonists. I loved the ending of the rice cooker one. She clearly sees he misses having her around, and she's grateful for it. But thought ahead of time and built him an ugly translator that would prevent him from approaching girls lol. I'd imagine that despite how angry he was that he couldn't flirt with girls, he'd keep the translator on until she remembered how to speak Japanese considering he actually wants to hear her voice. The dream one is funny. Dream Ataru was so focused on the single-minded goal of marriage, he didn't give a damn that Lum was self-inflicting electrocution on herself. Luckily our Ataru (despite his terrible qualities) has a heart of gold and a conscious, despite him wanting others to think otherwise. I mean Ataru going back for Lum meant that they were too late to stop the wedding, but he definitely had no problems going back for her. I love how she calls out to Ataru when she's on the ground and he just stops, and just knows he can't leave without her. The next scene just has him piggybacking her as "Lum no Love Song (instrumental)" starts playing.
- You're right, Ataru really isn't all that big on violence. We know he wouldn't dare hit a girl, and he'd even refrain from hitting boys most of the time. Considering the only guys he actually does go out of his way to hit often are Onsen, Ten, Megane, and Mendou. Doesn't really hit anyone else. That little Lum was hilarious when I saw her cameo in the Inaba OVA. A small scene during Ataru looking at the future of him and Lum getting married and you see the Little Lum and Mujaki there. Lum definitely isn't that innocent. I mean she tried getting Ataru straight up in like chapter 5 to sleep with her. I mean by late in the series, both have already expressed and willingness to sleep with one another (in Ataru's case in the story where they spent the night alone - he eventually became acceptable to sleeping with her. Funny how at the end of that story when he was in the suit, he even tried kissing her).
- What really sold that scene was the music that played. That music plays often whenever we see Ataru do something insane (it also played in the episode when Ataru was lifting the tree so the episode when Ten's mother appeared). Mendou toughed it out though, I was impressed. Ataru is usually the only one who can withstand the shocks but Mendou showed some guts (I think he even said to Lum that he has his pride on the line as well - funny, Mendou's pride never became a factor before or after since that episode lol). Both are incredibly stubborn, unfortunately for Ataru, there was no way at that point Lum could have realized that he was being more genuine by not saying he loved her because by that point she was desperate enough to not care if he was even lying about it as long as he said it.
- She uses a gun to help her cook. Perfectly understandable why Ataru hates her cooking. Any person who drinks Tabasco sauce so casually clearly doesn't think of food the same way as an earthling would. I remember in one story where Ataru was trying to learn what food made Lum tick, he treated her to different places and he asked her how it tasted. None of the food she ate had any major spicy stuff and she even said that none of the food to her has a particular taste. Tabasco seems to give food flavor to the Oni. The camping story becomes funnier since you know Ataru hates her cooking and the moment he hears it's finished, he straight up runs for it. Of course, she drags him right back but he refuses to eat saying the "Gods have already punished him" lol. She knows what he thinks about her cooking, and he's even told her she makes it too spicy, but she makes it spicy anyway despite trying to give him food often that he'd like.
- Ataru has to be careful. Saying Lum is his girl out in public will ruin his chances of "being free" lol. He's only ever said she's his woman on one occasion in public, when she used the dolphin dude to get him jealous.
- Yeah, Ataru did call Shinobu out on her terrible actions at times. I think I would argue that she was the worst of the three at first. I mean yeah, Lum was pretty antagonistic, and Ataru was a horny lecherous fool, but: Lum pulled the pregnant card twice and she was terrible for it, but Shinobu believed it twice without even bothering to think that it's a lie, the second time with her actually wanting Ataru to die. Then you have Ataru who gets beaten up for calling her out on her hypocrisy lol and being the object of her anger because she never tried to believe him on anything. He honestly went through more effort getting Shinobu to believe him than he should have put out. Childhood friendship apparently didn't run that deep since she dropped him like a bad habit the moment Mendou stepped into the picture (loved the pun chapter title on Mendou's debut "Trouble drops in" since Mendou's name means trouble).
- Ran definitely tried murdering Ataru more often than anyone else. Mendou's ego taking a blow not just to Rei, but to Ryuunosuke never stops being funny. True. Even in the early parts of the series, Lum had more class than to want to get back with Rei. Rei is very dull in personality. Never once in the series does he show any ounce of really anything beyond his love for food and his occasional attempts to get Lum to love him. Love how in his second appearance, Ataru, Lum, and the Stormtroopers just troll Rei by saying if he can actually propose to Lum, she'll go with him. They all just start laughing at him. Love how they even made fun of him by saying the Lum doll he had dumped him.
- Shallow is putting it mildly when in Rei's second appearance several girls (including Shinobu and Ataru's mother) all gets smitten with Rei and actually consider marrying him. Ataru and Ten will be arguing until they're both middle aged men probably. He probably would have his kids terrorize Ten just to get him back, especially since Ten wouldn't be allowed to hit Ataru's kids and get away with it. Lum would be on him so fast.
- I appreciate all the good work both Toshio and Fumi do even to this day.
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- Mendou being the butt monkey was hilarious. Someone had to be it and Onsen Mark usually takes the role as butt monkey but they wanted to give him a break (though they wanted him to take some damage before the OVA ended lol). Ataru smashing him on the head with the hammer was funny because I knew the moment they decided to be nice to one another, Ataru was going to pull something funny. You're right. Definitely the closest he was to willingly brawling Mendou. Though he did beat Mendou up briefly when he had the boxing gloves on.
- Mendou's failures are funny. You mentioned my second favorite one, his bet with Onsen Mark. When he lost that, lol I knew he was going to try and back out of it. He doesn't know how to deal with a loss or failure. You'd think he'd learn how to by now, considering he's rarely ever been a challenge for Ataru. The class election was hilarious as well. The boys are just "Let's get Ataru to run against him! If anybody can take Mendou he can!" Always hilarious how the boys in the class are on Ataru's side whenever they are jealous of Mendou or against him when they're jealous of Ataru.
- Well Ataru has to keep up his reputation as the biggest jerk with a heart of gold of all of Takahashi's male main protagonists. I loved the ending of the rice cooker one. She clearly sees he misses having her around, and she's grateful for it. But thought ahead of time and built him an ugly translator that would prevent him from approaching girls lol. I'd imagine that despite how angry he was that he couldn't flirt with girls, he'd keep the translator on until she remembered how to speak Japanese considering he actually wants to hear her voice. The dream one is funny. Dream Ataru was so focused on the single-minded goal of marriage, he didn't give a damn that Lum was self-inflicting electrocution on herself. Luckily our Ataru (despite his terrible qualities) has a heart of gold and a conscious, despite him wanting others to think otherwise. I mean Ataru going back for Lum meant that they were too late to stop the wedding, but he definitely had no problems going back for her. I love how she calls out to Ataru when she's on the ground and he just stops, and just knows he can't leave without her. The next scene just has him piggybacking her as "Lum no Love Song (instrumental)" starts playing.
- You're right, Ataru really isn't all that big on violence. We know he wouldn't dare hit a girl, and he'd even refrain from hitting boys most of the time. Considering the only guys he actually does go out of his way to hit often are Onsen, Ten, Megane, and Mendou. Doesn't really hit anyone else. That little Lum was hilarious when I saw her cameo in the Inaba OVA. A small scene during Ataru looking at the future of him and Lum getting married and you see the Little Lum and Mujaki there. Lum definitely isn't that innocent. I mean she tried getting Ataru straight up in like chapter 5 to sleep with her. I mean by late in the series, both have already expressed and willingness to sleep with one another (in Ataru's case in the story where they spent the night alone - he eventually became acceptable to sleeping with her. Funny how at the end of that story when he was in the suit, he even tried kissing her).
- What really sold that scene was the music that played. That music plays often whenever we see Ataru do something insane (it also played in the episode when Ataru was lifting the tree so the episode when Ten's mother appeared). Mendou toughed it out though, I was impressed. Ataru is usually the only one who can withstand the shocks but Mendou showed some guts (I think he even said to Lum that he has his pride on the line as well - funny, Mendou's pride never became a factor before or after since that episode lol). Both are incredibly stubborn, unfortunately for Ataru, there was no way at that point Lum could have realized that he was being more genuine by not saying he loved her because by that point she was desperate enough to not care if he was even lying about it as long as he said it.
- She uses a gun to help her cook. Perfectly understandable why Ataru hates her cooking. Any person who drinks Tabasco sauce so casually clearly doesn't think of food the same way as an earthling would. I remember in one story where Ataru was trying to learn what food made Lum tick, he treated her to different places and he asked her how it tasted. None of the food she ate had any major spicy stuff and she even said that none of the food to her has a particular taste. Tabasco seems to give food flavor to the Oni. The camping story becomes funnier since you know Ataru hates her cooking and the moment he hears it's finished, he straight up runs for it. Of course, she drags him right back but he refuses to eat saying the "Gods have already punished him" lol. She knows what he thinks about her cooking, and he's even told her she makes it too spicy, but she makes it spicy anyway despite trying to give him food often that he'd like.
- Ataru has to be careful. Saying Lum is his girl out in public will ruin his chances of "being free" lol. He's only ever said she's his woman on one occasion in public, when she used the dolphin dude to get him jealous.
- Yeah, Ataru did call Shinobu out on her terrible actions at times. I think I would argue that she was the worst of the three at first. I mean yeah, Lum was pretty antagonistic, and Ataru was a horny lecherous fool, but: Lum pulled the pregnant card twice and she was terrible for it, but Shinobu believed it twice without even bothering to think that it's a lie, the second time with her actually wanting Ataru to die. Then you have Ataru who gets beaten up for calling her out on her hypocrisy lol and being the object of her anger because she never tried to believe him on anything. He honestly went through more effort getting Shinobu to believe him than he should have put out. Childhood friendship apparently didn't run that deep since she dropped him like a bad habit the moment Mendou stepped into the picture (loved the pun chapter title on Mendou's debut "Trouble drops in" since Mendou's name means trouble).
- Ran definitely tried murdering Ataru more often than anyone else. Mendou's ego taking a blow not just to Rei, but to Ryuunosuke never stops being funny. True. Even in the early parts of the series, Lum had more class than to want to get back with Rei. Rei is very dull in personality. Never once in the series does he show any ounce of really anything beyond his love for food and his occasional attempts to get Lum to love him. Love how in his second appearance, Ataru, Lum, and the Stormtroopers just troll Rei by saying if he can actually propose to Lum, she'll go with him. They all just start laughing at him. Love how they even made fun of him by saying the Lum doll he had dumped him.
- Shallow is putting it mildly when in Rei's second appearance several girls (including Shinobu and Ataru's mother) all gets smitten with Rei and actually consider marrying him. Ataru and Ten will be arguing until they're both middle aged men probably. He probably would have his kids terrorize Ten just to get him back, especially since Ten wouldn't be allowed to hit Ataru's kids and get away with it. Lum would be on him so fast.
- I appreciate all the good work both Toshio and Fumi do even to this day.
It was great seeing him take all that abuse, heck, Ataru took him just by breaking away from the flypaper hanging from the ceiling and then rolling around with him. I did sort of question Ataru's antics with that one considering the Eps with them having some form of physical contact led to them both experiencing utter revulsion. And Mendou's pseudo speedo was a little dry too, considering the fact that in the earlier works, they were definitely older looking. I know that from when Movie 6 aired to 2008's OVA art changed a lot but they really sort of skewed the looks for Lum, Ataru, Mendou and Shinobu, not to mention Ran and Sakura too. They just looked for lack of a better way to say it, young. Well, other than Sakura - she actually looked older.
I wonder if Mendou's mindset is always "Moroboshi will never beat me" until he does. That Ep might have been the one time I actually cheered Megane for helping with making sure Mendou went through with his loss of the bet. But yeah, the guys in the class basically cheer on whoever didn't upset them and Mendou sure went out of his way to alienate them early on with his rules if he won the presidency. Harsh rules, but only for the boys, the girls of course are completely exempt. Mendou eats lunch out too, and yet he decides to assist the school in reining in the others from eating. He's probably the most snake-like of the lot.
That thing was god awful ugly, in both manga and anime versions. It was like Donald Duck had Oni fangs, but I still give the manga version more credit for being the better story in that case. Just like with the eyedrops story, the anime had weird things happen that just did not make sense, the manga was imple and to the point and Ataru's golden heart came out when at the end he left a whole huge plate of steamed sweet potatoes for Lum. But all Ataru has to do is hear her even start to sniffle and he's pretty much done, at least until the last story. Heck, Ataru creamed his alternate self in Inaba for mistreating Lum. As soon as "I sold all your stuff" is said, you see the mood change, which is funnier because our Ataru is in that rabbit suit. And that pose of his raising his fists up, one higher than the other just before he really slammed his other self with that hammer.
The no violence aspect to his personality is interesting considering that wooden hammers are a constant after a while. But he exhibits his willingness to be violent also when Lum is threatened, the matchmaking party episode was a good example. In the anime, he punched the guy face first into the ground, in the manga it was a wallop with a hammer. He did it to Shingo too in the Electric Jungle, grabbed him and threw him right off the vine he was swinging on. Ten is just Ten, that's like sibling rivalry there. His best violence on Megane was in The Final Chapter when Megane is calling to Lum during the race with the megaphone and Ataru grabs it, yells in his ear and then hammers him over the head. On Mendou, they're all good, but it is the boxing glove one that's the best. When he says he hates violence after punching Onsen Mark out of the school via the roof and he turns and looks at Mendou and that muffled trumpet sound starts playing. He just has that evil smile on his face and Mendou's face and the sound he makes are both priceless, just like the sound he makes after Mendou congratulates him for not hitting Lum you see him hit Mendou and then the "WAH!". Of course he beats the crap out of himself because Lum is enjoying seeing him protect her even from himself. And that suit, Ataru was like, I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't so what the hell! And then he's basically in that and when he can't kiss Lum he cries. But overall, it interesting that the one person that throws herself at him is the one person he won't do anything with. Yes, Benten is good looking, so is Ran and Sakura. Oyuki actually became LESS appealing as her appearances ticked on, and for the life of me I can't see why he would want Ryuunosuke. I'd be afraid she'd kill me if I were in his shoes, she straight up stopped a punch from Benten and threw her casually. Only Asuka overpowered her and that's just because Asuka is completely overpowered, though to Ataru's credit, he did stop the brawl with Ryuunosuke and Benten, that jump he made was really impressive.
That music and the music that starts when Ataru first chases Asuka, those are his themes it seems when he does something like that. I'm not sure if the English sub was 100% correct, but his line when getting the tree out of the ground "Please God, don't let my colon pop out of my ass" was hysterical. And when Asuka does the pole vault, lands and immediately is running at full speed and then The Fla...I mean Ataru comes out of nowhere shocking the two women agents by doing 100 meters in 7-8 seconds flat. I tried doing the math to see if that was a fair indication for his running speed, rounding to the nearest whole number there's 1609 meters in a mile. He basically can run a mile every 113 seconds, by comparison, the fastest mile ever run was 3 mins, 43 seconds in the real world, and he's gone faster when he needs to that's the scary part. The Gardenia episode had him running faster than Lum could keep up with running or flying, as well as vehicles, and Superman. And yes, Mendou said he has his pride as well, which was good enough in my book as a reason to completely electrocute him. The whole last story was an exercise in just how stubborn two people can be, I would shudder to think of how stubborn their kids would be.
The effects her cooking have on people is great, they look like they have duck bills. Mendou was so looking forward to her cooking in that and then they all paid the price except Ataru. And she uses a gun and a welding mask and a shield at times, that right there says something is decidedly wrong. Of course, when it's not spicy it turns him into a wolf...
Another near violent moment for Ataru, the "Get your hands off my woman", it's really too bad there's not a true sense of continuity with the Eps, because Lum clearly heard that. The way he yelled that, I'm surprised the whole beach didn't hear it.
When Shinobu says she'll marry Ataru if he wins the tag match, his reply is you're just saying that to save yourself. The way she went to treating him right afterwards makes you think she probably was just saying that. Of course, she had already beaten the crap out of him once for his reaction to seeing Lum for the first time. She looked like she clawed his face right across his eyes. And nothing against Shinobu, but considering the girls Ataru lusted after, Shinobu was a complete contrast to them. I had to laugh when Kurama called her jailbait, but then Shinobu is plotting in the cave to get Mendou alone.
I give Lum credit for despite her treating Ataru like a possession, she had class. Ataru wasn't bad looking, but Rei was the pretty one of the males, and Lum didn't care about looks. Mendou should have gone around and said Ego is Everything, he might have had a chance then. Rei's reading off that scroll as a form of a marriage proposal to Lum was funny, no mention of love, just will you cook for me. No wonder they all laughed at him, he might as well have just said "Feed me" over and over again. Which is why in Only You when he showed up at the beefbowl place I was surprised he was actually able to order it.
Given how payback seems to work in UY, Ten would go to hit the kids and they'd have not only inherited the moods of Lum and ataru but her lightning. He'd get zapped from one or more sides as my bet is Lum would not want to stop at one kid, she seems to be intent on growing up to be a mommy. The other precious payback would be that first fateful day in Class 2-4, as Onsen Mark, older and still harried, calls out the names of the students and turns pale as he says..."Moroboshi" and there's two of them, twins.
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- Mendou being the butt monkey was hilarious. Someone had to be it and Onsen Mark usually takes the role as butt monkey but they wanted to give him a break (though they wanted him to take some damage before the OVA ended lol). Ataru smashing him on the head with the hammer was funny because I knew the moment they decided to be nice to one another, Ataru was going to pull something funny. You're right. Definitely the closest he was to willingly brawling Mendou. Though he did beat Mendou up briefly when he had the boxing gloves on.
- Mendou's failures are funny. You mentioned my second favorite one, his bet with Onsen Mark. When he lost that, lol I knew he was going to try and back out of it. He doesn't know how to deal with a loss or failure. You'd think he'd learn how to by now, considering he's rarely ever been a challenge for Ataru. The class election was hilarious as well. The boys are just "Let's get Ataru to run against him! If anybody can take Mendou he can!" Always hilarious how the boys in the class are on Ataru's side whenever they are jealous of Mendou or against him when they're jealous of Ataru.
- Well Ataru has to keep up his reputation as the biggest jerk with a heart of gold of all of Takahashi's male main protagonists. I loved the ending of the rice cooker one. She clearly sees he misses having her around, and she's grateful for it. But thought ahead of time and built him an ugly translator that would prevent him from approaching girls lol. I'd imagine that despite how angry he was that he couldn't flirt with girls, he'd keep the translator on until she remembered how to speak Japanese considering he actually wants to hear her voice. The dream one is funny. Dream Ataru was so focused on the single-minded goal of marriage, he didn't give a damn that Lum was self-inflicting electrocution on herself. Luckily our Ataru (despite his terrible qualities) has a heart of gold and a conscious, despite him wanting others to think otherwise. I mean Ataru going back for Lum meant that they were too late to stop the wedding, but he definitely had no problems going back for her. I love how she calls out to Ataru when she's on the ground and he just stops, and just knows he can't leave without her. The next scene just has him piggybacking her as "Lum no Love Song (instrumental)" starts playing.
- You're right, Ataru really isn't all that big on violence. We know he wouldn't dare hit a girl, and he'd even refrain from hitting boys most of the time. Considering the only guys he actually does go out of his way to hit often are Onsen, Ten, Megane, and Mendou. Doesn't really hit anyone else. That little Lum was hilarious when I saw her cameo in the Inaba OVA. A small scene during Ataru looking at the future of him and Lum getting married and you see the Little Lum and Mujaki there. Lum definitely isn't that innocent. I mean she tried getting Ataru straight up in like chapter 5 to sleep with her. I mean by late in the series, both have already expressed and willingness to sleep with one another (in Ataru's case in the story where they spent the night alone - he eventually became acceptable to sleeping with her. Funny how at the end of that story when he was in the suit, he even tried kissing her).
- What really sold that scene was the music that played. That music plays often whenever we see Ataru do something insane (it also played in the episode when Ataru was lifting the tree so the episode when Ten's mother appeared). Mendou toughed it out though, I was impressed. Ataru is usually the only one who can withstand the shocks but Mendou showed some guts (I think he even said to Lum that he has his pride on the line as well - funny, Mendou's pride never became a factor before or after since that episode lol). Both are incredibly stubborn, unfortunately for Ataru, there was no way at that point Lum could have realized that he was being more genuine by not saying he loved her because by that point she was desperate enough to not care if he was even lying about it as long as he said it.
- She uses a gun to help her cook. Perfectly understandable why Ataru hates her cooking. Any person who drinks Tabasco sauce so casually clearly doesn't think of food the same way as an earthling would. I remember in one story where Ataru was trying to learn what food made Lum tick, he treated her to different places and he asked her how it tasted. None of the food she ate had any major spicy stuff and she even said that none of the food to her has a particular taste. Tabasco seems to give food flavor to the Oni. The camping story becomes funnier since you know Ataru hates her cooking and the moment he hears it's finished, he straight up runs for it. Of course, she drags him right back but he refuses to eat saying the "Gods have already punished him" lol. She knows what he thinks about her cooking, and he's even told her she makes it too spicy, but she makes it spicy anyway despite trying to give him food often that he'd like.
- Ataru has to be careful. Saying Lum is his girl out in public will ruin his chances of "being free" lol. He's only ever said she's his woman on one occasion in public, when she used the dolphin dude to get him jealous.
- Yeah, Ataru did call Shinobu out on her terrible actions at times. I think I would argue that she was the worst of the three at first. I mean yeah, Lum was pretty antagonistic, and Ataru was a horny lecherous fool, but: Lum pulled the pregnant card twice and she was terrible for it, but Shinobu believed it twice without even bothering to think that it's a lie, the second time with her actually wanting Ataru to die. Then you have Ataru who gets beaten up for calling her out on her hypocrisy lol and being the object of her anger because she never tried to believe him on anything. He honestly went through more effort getting Shinobu to believe him than he should have put out. Childhood friendship apparently didn't run that deep since she dropped him like a bad habit the moment Mendou stepped into the picture (loved the pun chapter title on Mendou's debut "Trouble drops in" since Mendou's name means trouble).
- Ran definitely tried murdering Ataru more often than anyone else. Mendou's ego taking a blow not just to Rei, but to Ryuunosuke never stops being funny. True. Even in the early parts of the series, Lum had more class than to want to get back with Rei. Rei is very dull in personality. Never once in the series does he show any ounce of really anything beyond his love for food and his occasional attempts to get Lum to love him. Love how in his second appearance, Ataru, Lum, and the Stormtroopers just troll Rei by saying if he can actually propose to Lum, she'll go with him. They all just start laughing at him. Love how they even made fun of him by saying the Lum doll he had dumped him.
- Shallow is putting it mildly when in Rei's second appearance several girls (including Shinobu and Ataru's mother) all gets smitten with Rei and actually consider marrying him. Ataru and Ten will be arguing until they're both middle aged men probably. He probably would have his kids terrorize Ten just to get him back, especially since Ten wouldn't be allowed to hit Ataru's kids and get away with it. Lum would be on him so fast.
- I appreciate all the good work both Toshio and Fumi do even to this day.
It was great seeing him take all that abuse, heck, Ataru took him just by breaking away from the flypaper hanging from the ceiling and then rolling around with him. I did sort of question Ataru's antics with that one considering the Eps with them having some form of physical contact led to them both experiencing utter revulsion. And Mendou's pseudo speedo was a little dry too, considering the fact that in the earlier works, they were definitely older looking. I know that from when Movie 6 aired to 2008's OVA art changed a lot but they really sort of skewed the looks for Lum, Ataru, Mendou and Shinobu, not to mention Ran and Sakura too. They just looked for lack of a better way to say it, young. Well, other than Sakura - she actually looked older.
I wonder if Mendou's mindset is always "Moroboshi will never beat me" until he does. That Ep might have been the one time I actually cheered Megane for helping with making sure Mendou went through with his loss of the bet. But yeah, the guys in the class basically cheer on whoever didn't upset them and Mendou sure went out of his way to alienate them early on with his rules if he won the presidency. Harsh rules, but only for the boys, the girls of course are completely exempt. Mendou eats lunch out too, and yet he decides to assist the school in reining in the others from eating. He's probably the most snake-like of the lot.
That thing was god awful ugly, in both manga and anime versions. It was like Donald Duck had Oni fangs, but I still give the manga version more credit for being the better story in that case. Just like with the eyedrops story, the anime had weird things happen that just did not make sense, the manga was imple and to the point and Ataru's golden heart came out when at the end he left a whole huge plate of steamed sweet potatoes for Lum. But all Ataru has to do is hear her even start to sniffle and he's pretty much done, at least until the last story. Heck, Ataru creamed his alternate self in Inaba for mistreating Lum. As soon as "I sold all your stuff" is said, you see the mood change, which is funnier because our Ataru is in that rabbit suit. And that pose of his raising his fists up, one higher than the other just before he really slammed his other self with that hammer.
The no violence aspect to his personality is interesting considering that wooden hammers are a constant after a while. But he exhibits his willingness to be violent also when Lum is threatened, the matchmaking party episode was a good example. In the anime, he punched the guy face first into the ground, in the manga it was a wallop with a hammer. He did it to Shingo too in the Electric Jungle, grabbed him and threw him right off the vine he was swinging on. Ten is just Ten, that's like sibling rivalry there. His best violence on Megane was in The Final Chapter when Megane is calling to Lum during the race with the megaphone and Ataru grabs it, yells in his ear and then hammers him over the head. On Mendou, they're all good, but it is the boxing glove one that's the best. When he says he hates violence after punching Onsen Mark out of the school via the roof and he turns and looks at Mendou and that muffled trumpet sound starts playing. He just has that evil smile on his face and Mendou's face and the sound he makes are both priceless, just like the sound he makes after Mendou congratulates him for not hitting Lum you see him hit Mendou and then the "WAH!". Of course he beats the crap out of himself because Lum is enjoying seeing him protect her even from himself. And that suit, Ataru was like, I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't so what the hell! And then he's basically in that and when he can't kiss Lum he cries. But overall, it interesting that the one person that throws herself at him is the one person he won't do anything with. Yes, Benten is good looking, so is Ran and Sakura. Oyuki actually became LESS appealing as her appearances ticked on, and for the life of me I can't see why he would want Ryuunosuke. I'd be afraid she'd kill me if I were in his shoes, she straight up stopped a punch from Benten and threw her casually. Only Asuka overpowered her and that's just because Asuka is completely overpowered, though to Ataru's credit, he did stop the brawl with Ryuunosuke and Benten, that jump he made was really impressive.
That music and the music that starts when Ataru first chases Asuka, those are his themes it seems when he does something like that. I'm not sure if the English sub was 100% correct, but his line when getting the tree out of the ground "Please God, don't let my colon pop out of my ass" was hysterical. And when Asuka does the pole vault, lands and immediately is running at full speed and then The Fla...I mean Ataru comes out of nowhere shocking the two women agents by doing 100 meters in 7-8 seconds flat. I tried doing the math to see if that was a fair indication for his running speed, rounding to the nearest whole number there's 1609 meters in a mile. He basically can run a mile every 113 seconds, by comparison, the fastest mile ever run was 3 mins, 43 seconds in the real world, and he's gone faster when he needs to that's the scary part. The Gardenia episode had him running faster than Lum could keep up with running or flying, as well as vehicles, and Superman. And yes, Mendou said he has his pride as well, which was good enough in my book as a reason to completely electrocute him. The whole last story was an exercise in just how stubborn two people can be, I would shudder to think of how stubborn their kids would be.
The effects her cooking have on people is great, they look like they have duck bills. Mendou was so looking forward to her cooking in that and then they all paid the price except Ataru. And she uses a gun and a welding mask and a shield at times, that right there says something is decidedly wrong. Of course, when it's not spicy it turns him into a wolf...
Another near violent moment for Ataru, the "Get your hands off my woman", it's really too bad there's not a true sense of continuity with the Eps, because Lum clearly heard that. The way he yelled that, I'm surprised the whole beach didn't hear it.
When Shinobu says she'll marry Ataru if he wins the tag match, his reply is you're just saying that to save yourself. The way she went to treating him right afterwards makes you think she probably was just saying that. Of course, she had already beaten the crap out of him once for his reaction to seeing Lum for the first time. She looked like she clawed his face right across his eyes. And nothing against Shinobu, but considering the girls Ataru lusted after, Shinobu was a complete contrast to them. I had to laugh when Kurama called her jailbait, but then Shinobu is plotting in the cave to get Mendou alone.
I give Lum credit for despite her treating Ataru like a possession, she had class. Ataru wasn't bad looking, but Rei was the pretty one of the males, and Lum didn't care about looks. Mendou should have gone around and said Ego is Everything, he might have had a chance then. Rei's reading off that scroll as a form of a marriage proposal to Lum was funny, no mention of love, just will you cook for me. No wonder they all laughed at him, he might as well have just said "Feed me" over and over again. Which is why in Only You when he showed up at the beefbowl place I was surprised he was actually able to order it.
Given how payback seems to work in UY, Ten would go to hit the kids and they'd have not only inherited the moods of Lum and ataru but her lightning. He'd get zapped from one or more sides as my bet is Lum would not want to stop at one kid, she seems to be intent on growing up to be a mommy. The other precious payback would be that first fateful day in Class 2-4, as Onsen Mark, older and still harried, calls out the names of the students and turns pale as he says..."Moroboshi" and there's two of them, twins.
- I didn't particularly dislike the animation and art style for the 2008 OVA, but it is undeniable that it made them look younger (barring Sakura as you said).
- You'd think Mendou would learn some humility, with how often Ataru makes a fool out of him. It gets worse than that, he also constantly has to get shown up in the looks department by both Ryuunosuke and Rei as well. Mendou has always also done things in his best interest. A real snake. I don't hate the character overall as I feel he was necessary in the series to further showcase how shallow, vain, and materialistic some individuals can be.
- It can be pretty bad to be a Mendou though. Unlike Ataru who usually only has to deal with electric shocks (which he's built up a resistance to due to how often he gets shocked) and burns (and Ataru can usually fight back against Ten), Mendou is stuck being tormented by Ryoko. Speaking of Ryoko, her relationship with Ataru is pretty fascinating. She makes a hobby out of manipulating and torturing people (mainly Mendou and Ton-chan). At first glance, you'd think she was the one manipulating Ataru, but after you read/watch the story where Ataru tricks Ryoko into believing she mind controlled him into thinking he was a dog, you learn that it's Ataru who's manipulating her. Ryoko usually comes out unscathed, but in that one story, the puppetmaster ends up being the one getting her strings pulled as Ataru took full advantage of that situation, fooling everyone into believing Ryoko did something to him. It really shows how cunning Ataru can be. Despite the fact people call him stupid or an idiot, he's outwitted everyone of the main cast before if it had to do with something he wanted to accomplish.
- You gotta do what you gotta do to prevent your man from cheating on you as often as possible. I really did enjoy the eyedrops one in the manga. Quite a sweet end to that one. A great character moment and nice development from Ataru when he erased his own future harem. Being disgusted with himself enough to get rid of it. As he said in the manga version of that story, he felt the future where he and Lum got married wasn't perfect, but he saw how happy she was to get married to the man of her dreams and he just had to try and save it. As we saw, it was more than just that. While he was mainly doing it for Lum's sake, he wouldn't have gone through that much effort of doing so if he wasn't content with that future either.
- Wooden Mallets are very common in the manga. It's Ataru's choice of weaponry. Suits him quite well. It's always even funnier when Lum resorts to it considering she can just electrocute him, so seeing her bust out the mallet is always funny to see. The gloves story was in general a very fun one to watch/read. Ataru could handle Ryuunosuke. He isn't as good a fighter as her or Benten. But as you mentioned, he stopped their fight, I also remember there was a chapter in the manga where Ataru feels up on Ryuunosuke and she goes for a punch on him and he straight up blocks it by grabbing her fist. He can hang with Ryuunosuke if he needs to. He seems to just be overall nervous with Lum. His feelings for her are a lot more genuine than his feelings for Shinobu (not to mention he was a lot hornier when he was with Shinobu than he is in say chapter 224). Like in both anime and manga, you'll almost never get him to show affection for Lum in public. He's more willing to do so if they're both alone, and even then, he's incredibly nervous when it's just the two of them. Lum has to give him a lot of nudges when they're alone just for him to respond the way she wants (i.e. episode 195, she had to keep asking him a few times when they were in the portable cave alone to kiss her. Ataru was extremely reluctant due to embarrassment, but still did so anyway largely because he does love her, but also cause they were alone in there with nobody watching).
- Always love how that song tends to play whenever Ataru gets to show off his determination. It practically is his theme really in the show. It's played often enough to where it could be classified as his theme (of course there are also a few other songs that play often that associate with Ataru that could qualify as well). Ataru is just that fast. His speed is quite impressive. One of the things anybody in the series (even if they don't like him) can say good about him. That he's just extremely fast. People don't really talk about his superhuman strength very often either, a very undervalued trait of his, which I guess makes sense considering many characters possess superhuman physical strength. Oyuki though is probably the most powerful character in this series just by virtue of the abilities she possesses. Their kids will definitely be as stubborn as they are. That's just how it's going to be.
- I love how all of them were giving Ataru flak for hating on Lum's cooking, and then Ataru just mocks them afterwards for not listening to him. Ataru just can't win with Lum's cooking. Perfectly understandable why he avoids eating it as often as he can. Maybe Ataru should learn how to cook himself in the future, for both of their sake.
- You'd think Mendou would have reacted to it, as he did yell it out loud, which is how Lum and the dolphin heard Ataru in the first place. She was happy as anyone could be to hear Ataru essentially say that she's his girlfriend. Unfortunately for Lum, Dolphin dude decides to go female on them at the last moment lol.
- Hilarious when you realize Kurama gave Ataru more chances despite being more repulsed by him than Shinobu was, as well as the fact that Shinobu has actually known Ataru since they were young.
- Gotta change how I see it. Shinobu was bad, but the Rei stories really made Ataru's mother look even worse (on top of the whole "I wish I never had him" line she'd say every chapter in the early parts of the series).
- Ten isn't winning over Ataru in the end scheme of things thinking about it lol. Probably nobody is ever getting the better over Ataru in the end except Lum (and even then her wins over him usually aren't even complete wins as she never fully gets what she wants out of him). Onsen would probably dig his grave if he had to deal with more of the Moroboshi family. Unfortunately, he's already aware Ataru and Lum are pretty much an item. Lum does want to be a mother, and yeah, she'd probably want two kids to take care of. Onsen's life will never get better.
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- I didn't particularly dislike the animation and art style for the 2008 OVA, but it is undeniable that it made them look younger (barring Sakura as you said).
- You'd think Mendou would learn some humility, with how often Ataru makes a fool out of him. It gets worse than that, he also constantly has to get shown up in the looks department by both Ryuunosuke and Rei as well. Mendou has always also done things in his best interest. A real snake. I don't hate the character overall as I feel he was necessary in the series to further showcase how shallow, vain, and materialistic some individuals can be.
- It can be pretty bad to be a Mendou though. Unlike Ataru who usually only has to deal with electric shocks (which he's built up a resistance to due to how often he gets shocked) and burns (and Ataru can usually fight back against Ten), Mendou is stuck being tormented by Ryoko. Speaking of Ryoko, her relationship with Ataru is pretty fascinating. She makes a hobby out of manipulating and torturing people (mainly Mendou and Ton-chan). At first glance, you'd think she was the one manipulating Ataru, but after you read/watch the story where Ataru tricks Ryoko into believing she mind controlled him into thinking he was a dog, you learn that it's Ataru who's manipulating her. Ryoko usually comes out unscathed, but in that one story, the puppetmaster ends up being the one getting her strings pulled as Ataru took full advantage of that situation, fooling everyone into believing Ryoko did something to him. It really shows how cunning Ataru can be. Despite the fact people call him stupid or an idiot, he's outwitted everyone of the main cast before if it had to do with something he wanted to accomplish.
- You gotta do what you gotta do to prevent your man from cheating on you as often as possible. I really did enjoy the eyedrops one in the manga. Quite a sweet end to that one. A great character moment and nice development from Ataru when he erased his own future harem. Being disgusted with himself enough to get rid of it. As he said in the manga version of that story, he felt the future where he and Lum got married wasn't perfect, but he saw how happy she was to get married to the man of her dreams and he just had to try and save it. As we saw, it was more than just that. While he was mainly doing it for Lum's sake, he wouldn't have gone through that much effort of doing so if he wasn't content with that future either.
- Wooden Mallets are very common in the manga. It's Ataru's choice of weaponry. Suits him quite well. It's always even funnier when Lum resorts to it considering she can just electrocute him, so seeing her bust out the mallet is always funny to see. The gloves story was in general a very fun one to watch/read. Ataru could handle Ryuunosuke. He isn't as good a fighter as her or Benten. But as you mentioned, he stopped their fight, I also remember there was a chapter in the manga where Ataru feels up on Ryuunosuke and she goes for a punch on him and he straight up blocks it by grabbing her fist. He can hang with Ryuunosuke if he needs to. He seems to just be overall nervous with Lum. His feelings for her are a lot more genuine than his feelings for Shinobu (not to mention he was a lot hornier when he was with Shinobu than he is in say chapter 224). Like in both anime and manga, you'll almost never get him to show affection for Lum in public. He's more willing to do so if they're both alone, and even then, he's incredibly nervous when it's just the two of them. Lum has to give him a lot of nudges when they're alone just for him to respond the way she wants (i.e. episode 195, she had to keep asking him a few times when they were in the portable cave alone to kiss her. Ataru was extremely reluctant due to embarrassment, but still did so anyway largely because he does love her, but also cause they were alone in there with nobody watching).
- Always love how that song tends to play whenever Ataru gets to show off his determination. It practically is his theme really in the show. It's played often enough to where it could be classified as his theme (of course there are also a few other songs that play often that associate with Ataru that could qualify as well). Ataru is just that fast. His speed is quite impressive. One of the things anybody in the series (even if they don't like him) can say good about him. That he's just extremely fast. People don't really talk about his superhuman strength very often either, a very undervalued trait of his, which I guess makes sense considering many characters possess superhuman physical strength. Oyuki though is probably the most powerful character in this series just by virtue of the abilities she possesses. Their kids will definitely be as stubborn as they are. That's just how it's going to be.
- I love how all of them were giving Ataru flak for hating on Lum's cooking, and then Ataru just mocks them afterwards for not listening to him. Ataru just can't win with Lum's cooking. Perfectly understandable why he avoids eating it as often as he can. Maybe Ataru should learn how to cook himself in the future, for both of their sake.
- You'd think Mendou would have reacted to it, as he did yell it out loud, which is how Lum and the dolphin heard Ataru in the first place. She was happy as anyone could be to hear Ataru essentially say that she's his girlfriend. Unfortunately for Lum, Dolphin dude decides to go female on them at the last moment lol.
- Hilarious when you realize Kurama gave Ataru more chances despite being more repulsed by him than Shinobu was, as well as the fact that Shinobu has actually known Ataru since they were young.
- Gotta change how I see it. Shinobu was bad, but the Rei stories really made Ataru's mother look even worse (on top of the whole "I wish I never had him" line she'd say every chapter in the early parts of the series).
- Ten isn't winning over Ataru in the end scheme of things thinking about it lol. Probably nobody is ever getting the better over Ataru in the end except Lum (and even then her wins over him usually aren't even complete wins as she never fully gets what she wants out of him). Onsen would probably dig his grave if he had to deal with more of the Moroboshi family. Unfortunately, he's already aware Ataru and Lum are pretty much an item. Lum does want to be a mother, and yeah, she'd probably want two kids to take care of. Onsen's life will never get better.
I didn't dislike it, I was just thrown off by it. I know that the last animation for them was back in '91 and that was also a departure in some respects from The Final Chapter as many of the characters lost some of their physical maturity in the jump to Always. That makes me think Movie 6 is not a story after Movie 5, but in-between Inaba and Movie 5 but that's just my opinion. But regardless, Lum has always had darker green hair, like the color of a well kept lawn. It has varied, and there's been times when her hair was actually more blue than green,but not her eye color. But her hair was pastel green, the kind of green you'd see on some brightly colored piece of clothing. It was jarring. Lum's artwork itself was pretty good in some sequences, like when the snake had her underwater they seemed to do a really good job with her facial expressions.
I have to say I think Mendou is incapable of overall humility, spurred partially on by the fact that Ataru consistently wins over him. He's just too proud, and when Ryuunosuke gets more Valentine candy than him in the manga, that just floors him. Rei was bad enough, but for her to get more because all the younger girls think she's a boy is even worse for him. But he is the perfect opposite to Ataru's real personality, he's a lecher with a heart of lead.
Ryoko is funny, as both a foil to Mendou and her own attempts to manipulate Ataru and how they backfire. Like you said, she thought she was manipulating Ataru and it turns out he had her fooled. What's disturbing in her behavior is the way she acts with her brother, it's not nearly as bad as Asuka/Ton, but it's clearly disturbing. Ryoko at least causes Mendou a lot of problems willingly, the giant Christmas tree climb, the rescue of Lum, the electric bodyguard when she basically grenades everyone, Goat and Cheese too, when she feeds Mendou's part of the picture to the goat. But you're right, Ataru has outwitted everyone, even though he is not the smartest member of the cast.
Considering how close they grew, it's why I think Boy Meets Girl is not the title of the last story, but the overall story theme. A Boy meets a Girl, while Rupa and Carla did get married and we are left to puzzle out Ataru and Lum, thematically the relationships are the same. Boy meets Girl, Boy can't stand Girl, Boy ends up falling in love with Girl. Rupa's is more of a stretch because we don't know why, but Ataru and Lum's side of the situation we know. They've been with each other constantly since they met, they went through hell with each other and for each other. The manga is a little more direct, the anime is more poignant. The first Inaba story just seals the deal, Lum's happiness is the one thing that really means the most to him.
Ataru's use of them is great, especially when someone gets near Lum or hurts her in some way. Hence when he creamed his future self with very obvious prejudice. Considering Ataru doesn't fight, I've always thought his skills were interesting. His powers I get, it's his skills that are unexplained. But with how he feels about Lum; it's established he's actually pretty shy early on. His flirting is like a defense mechanism, he does that to offset the fact that he doesn't have that confidence. I tend to think he's so used to rejection that pretty much 99.9% of the time when he flirts he knows it'll go nowhere so he's accepted that. So when Lum, who's so in love with him it's little scary, expresses nothing but desire to be with him, he doesn't know how to react and maybe he feels inside he can't accept it. Kind of like "I just know if I reciprocate, it'll go to hell" basically so it's better to love Lum from afar so to speak, than risk what he has. But, the moment there's a threat to that, Ataru will do whatever it takes to make sure his bubble is safe. But the last story basically forces him to realize he can't do that anymore. And that kiss episode, I will say it was a nice way of taking a small, nondescript manga story and turn it into a story for them.
Which as we discuss the music, it's the music that plays in that cave that is another trademark of Lum/Ataru. That first came about in Beautiful Dreamer as an alternate version of the music from the soundtrack, when Lum tells Shinobu and Sakura her dream, to basically be with Ataru, his family and friends forever. Every time dreams come up, or something suitably romantic, that music gets played. They used it for Shinobu when Inaba appeared at the end of the OVA, and in the Date with a Spirit OVA when Maiko is looking at Tsubame and then in a handful of episodes - notably the dream fruit one which we've been discussing with Dream Ataru being far less than perfect for Lum than the real Ataru is. I maintain that the black suited guy purposely dropped the cave over Lum and Ataru so she could get him, she was frying him at the moment for his looking at Uzume the Dancer when she was supposed to be Uzume for the performance. Speed, Strength and Durability, all hallmarks of the unluckiest kid alive, wish I had that kind of bad luck.
Seeing some stills of Lum's cooking, the fact it glows is warning enough. But watching the others suffer was pretty much perfect payback in Ataru's mind for that flak.
Mendou is person of opportunity, but he can get distracted easily. I seem to recall he was cutting up watermelon for other girls with his sword after confronting Ataru about Lum being with that dolphin turned boy. Likely he missed it because otherwise he would have played his interference as usual.
Kurama was interesting, she was effectively able to keep Lum repelled in most situations, something no other female was able to do. Too bad she basically had one trick - looking for a husband. She came really close with Rei, until Rei saved Ran and completely ignored the food she had in the process.
Ataru's mother was terrible early on, his father showed support on occasion, but it was clear she was not happy with her life. The cracks about money were also annoying because as a salaryman in Japan, you basically only 'got by' barely.
I tend to think while sometimes Lum's wins are genuine, other times they're because he let her win. Much like how other than the aforementioned loss of Japanese episode, Ataru basically stops his usual routine and habits when Lum isn't around. After You've Gone is a perfect example - he met Shinobu but he had the doll with him, it didn't take more than a minute for him to remember there was no Lum and he went for home. That fan made story I gave you the link to actually is pretty insightful in the way it explains the status quo of the others with regards to Lum and Ataru as well regarding his habits. Like a lot of what he does might be a game he's playing with her and nothing more. But I do think all Lum wanted to do was grow up and be a mother, just like her own mother. She's clearly well suited to do that, she mothers Ten as it is, and the Ribbon anime was loud and clear about it. As soon as Ataru said about her being his wife to fool her with the ribbon, we saw Ataru come home and she was cooking and had a baby slung over her back. Ran wanted that more or less with Rei too, even Kurama was looking for a mate for kids only, but still I find it funny the alien women are more wife material than the human women.
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- I didn't particularly dislike the animation and art style for the 2008 OVA, but it is undeniable that it made them look younger (barring Sakura as you said).
- You'd think Mendou would learn some humility, with how often Ataru makes a fool out of him. It gets worse than that, he also constantly has to get shown up in the looks department by both Ryuunosuke and Rei as well. Mendou has always also done things in his best interest. A real snake. I don't hate the character overall as I feel he was necessary in the series to further showcase how shallow, vain, and materialistic some individuals can be.
- It can be pretty bad to be a Mendou though. Unlike Ataru who usually only has to deal with electric shocks (which he's built up a resistance to due to how often he gets shocked) and burns (and Ataru can usually fight back against Ten), Mendou is stuck being tormented by Ryoko. Speaking of Ryoko, her relationship with Ataru is pretty fascinating. She makes a hobby out of manipulating and torturing people (mainly Mendou and Ton-chan). At first glance, you'd think she was the one manipulating Ataru, but after you read/watch the story where Ataru tricks Ryoko into believing she mind controlled him into thinking he was a dog, you learn that it's Ataru who's manipulating her. Ryoko usually comes out unscathed, but in that one story, the puppetmaster ends up being the one getting her strings pulled as Ataru took full advantage of that situation, fooling everyone into believing Ryoko did something to him. It really shows how cunning Ataru can be. Despite the fact people call him stupid or an idiot, he's outwitted everyone of the main cast before if it had to do with something he wanted to accomplish.
- You gotta do what you gotta do to prevent your man from cheating on you as often as possible. I really did enjoy the eyedrops one in the manga. Quite a sweet end to that one. A great character moment and nice development from Ataru when he erased his own future harem. Being disgusted with himself enough to get rid of it. As he said in the manga version of that story, he felt the future where he and Lum got married wasn't perfect, but he saw how happy she was to get married to the man of her dreams and he just had to try and save it. As we saw, it was more than just that. While he was mainly doing it for Lum's sake, he wouldn't have gone through that much effort of doing so if he wasn't content with that future either.
- Wooden Mallets are very common in the manga. It's Ataru's choice of weaponry. Suits him quite well. It's always even funnier when Lum resorts to it considering she can just electrocute him, so seeing her bust out the mallet is always funny to see. The gloves story was in general a very fun one to watch/read. Ataru could handle Ryuunosuke. He isn't as good a fighter as her or Benten. But as you mentioned, he stopped their fight, I also remember there was a chapter in the manga where Ataru feels up on Ryuunosuke and she goes for a punch on him and he straight up blocks it by grabbing her fist. He can hang with Ryuunosuke if he needs to. He seems to just be overall nervous with Lum. His feelings for her are a lot more genuine than his feelings for Shinobu (not to mention he was a lot hornier when he was with Shinobu than he is in say chapter 224). Like in both anime and manga, you'll almost never get him to show affection for Lum in public. He's more willing to do so if they're both alone, and even then, he's incredibly nervous when it's just the two of them. Lum has to give him a lot of nudges when they're alone just for him to respond the way she wants (i.e. episode 195, she had to keep asking him a few times when they were in the portable cave alone to kiss her. Ataru was extremely reluctant due to embarrassment, but still did so anyway largely because he does love her, but also cause they were alone in there with nobody watching).
- Always love how that song tends to play whenever Ataru gets to show off his determination. It practically is his theme really in the show. It's played often enough to where it could be classified as his theme (of course there are also a few other songs that play often that associate with Ataru that could qualify as well). Ataru is just that fast. His speed is quite impressive. One of the things anybody in the series (even if they don't like him) can say good about him. That he's just extremely fast. People don't really talk about his superhuman strength very often either, a very undervalued trait of his, which I guess makes sense considering many characters possess superhuman physical strength. Oyuki though is probably the most powerful character in this series just by virtue of the abilities she possesses. Their kids will definitely be as stubborn as they are. That's just how it's going to be.
- I love how all of them were giving Ataru flak for hating on Lum's cooking, and then Ataru just mocks them afterwards for not listening to him. Ataru just can't win with Lum's cooking. Perfectly understandable why he avoids eating it as often as he can. Maybe Ataru should learn how to cook himself in the future, for both of their sake.
- You'd think Mendou would have reacted to it, as he did yell it out loud, which is how Lum and the dolphin heard Ataru in the first place. She was happy as anyone could be to hear Ataru essentially say that she's his girlfriend. Unfortunately for Lum, Dolphin dude decides to go female on them at the last moment lol.
- Hilarious when you realize Kurama gave Ataru more chances despite being more repulsed by him than Shinobu was, as well as the fact that Shinobu has actually known Ataru since they were young.
- Gotta change how I see it. Shinobu was bad, but the Rei stories really made Ataru's mother look even worse (on top of the whole "I wish I never had him" line she'd say every chapter in the early parts of the series).
- Ten isn't winning over Ataru in the end scheme of things thinking about it lol. Probably nobody is ever getting the better over Ataru in the end except Lum (and even then her wins over him usually aren't even complete wins as she never fully gets what she wants out of him). Onsen would probably dig his grave if he had to deal with more of the Moroboshi family. Unfortunately, he's already aware Ataru and Lum are pretty much an item. Lum does want to be a mother, and yeah, she'd probably want two kids to take care of. Onsen's life will never get better.
I didn't dislike it, I was just thrown off by it. I know that the last animation for them was back in '91 and that was also a departure in some respects from The Final Chapter as many of the characters lost some of their physical maturity in the jump to Always. That makes me think Movie 6 is not a story after Movie 5, but in-between Inaba and Movie 5 but that's just my opinion. But regardless, Lum has always had darker green hair, like the color of a well kept lawn. It has varied, and there's been times when her hair was actually more blue than green,but not her eye color. But her hair was pastel green, the kind of green you'd see on some brightly colored piece of clothing. It was jarring. Lum's artwork itself was pretty good in some sequences, like when the snake had her underwater they seemed to do a really good job with her facial expressions.
I have to say I think Mendou is incapable of overall humility, spurred partially on by the fact that Ataru consistently wins over him. He's just too proud, and when Ryuunosuke gets more Valentine candy than him in the manga, that just floors him. Rei was bad enough, but for her to get more because all the younger girls think she's a boy is even worse for him. But he is the perfect opposite to Ataru's real personality, he's a lecher with a heart of lead.
Ryoko is funny, as both a foil to Mendou and her own attempts to manipulate Ataru and how they backfire. Like you said, she thought she was manipulating Ataru and it turns out he had her fooled. What's disturbing in her behavior is the way she acts with her brother, it's not nearly as bad as Asuka/Ton, but it's clearly disturbing. Ryoko at least causes Mendou a lot of problems willingly, the giant Christmas tree climb, the rescue of Lum, the electric bodyguard when she basically grenades everyone, Goat and Cheese too, when she feeds Mendou's part of the picture to the goat. But you're right, Ataru has outwitted everyone, even though he is not the smartest member of the cast.
Considering how close they grew, it's why I think Boy Meets Girl is not the title of the last story, but the overall story theme. A Boy meets a Girl, while Rupa and Carla did get married and we are left to puzzle out Ataru and Lum, thematically the relationships are the same. Boy meets Girl, Boy can't stand Girl, Boy ends up falling in love with Girl. Rupa's is more of a stretch because we don't know why, but Ataru and Lum's side of the situation we know. They've been with each other constantly since they met, they went through hell with each other and for each other. The manga is a little more direct, the anime is more poignant. The first Inaba story just seals the deal, Lum's happiness is the one thing that really means the most to him.
Ataru's use of them is great, especially when someone gets near Lum or hurts her in some way. Hence when he creamed his future self with very obvious prejudice. Considering Ataru doesn't fight, I've always thought his skills were interesting. His powers I get, it's his skills that are unexplained. But with how he feels about Lum; it's established he's actually pretty shy early on. His flirting is like a defense mechanism, he does that to offset the fact that he doesn't have that confidence. I tend to think he's so used to rejection that pretty much 99.9% of the time when he flirts he knows it'll go nowhere so he's accepted that. So when Lum, who's so in love with him it's little scary, expresses nothing but desire to be with him, he doesn't know how to react and maybe he feels inside he can't accept it. Kind of like "I just know if I reciprocate, it'll go to hell" basically so it's better to love Lum from afar so to speak, than risk what he has. But, the moment there's a threat to that, Ataru will do whatever it takes to make sure his bubble is safe. But the last story basically forces him to realize he can't do that anymore. And that kiss episode, I will say it was a nice way of taking a small, nondescript manga story and turn it into a story for them.
Which as we discuss the music, it's the music that plays in that cave that is another trademark of Lum/Ataru. That first came about in Beautiful Dreamer as an alternate version of the music from the soundtrack, when Lum tells Shinobu and Sakura her dream, to basically be with Ataru, his family and friends forever. Every time dreams come up, or something suitably romantic, that music gets played. They used it for Shinobu when Inaba appeared at the end of the OVA, and in the Date with a Spirit OVA when Maiko is looking at Tsubame and then in a handful of episodes - notably the dream fruit one which we've been discussing with Dream Ataru being far less than perfect for Lum than the real Ataru is. I maintain that the black suited guy purposely dropped the cave over Lum and Ataru so she could get him, she was frying him at the moment for his looking at Uzume the Dancer when she was supposed to be Uzume for the performance. Speed, Strength and Durability, all hallmarks of the unluckiest kid alive, wish I had that kind of bad luck.
Seeing some stills of Lum's cooking, the fact it glows is warning enough. But watching the others suffer was pretty much perfect payback in Ataru's mind for that flak.
Mendou is person of opportunity, but he can get distracted easily. I seem to recall he was cutting up watermelon for other girls with his sword after confronting Ataru about Lum being with that dolphin turned boy. Likely he missed it because otherwise he would have played his interference as usual.
Kurama was interesting, she was effectively able to keep Lum repelled in most situations, something no other female was able to do. Too bad she basically had one trick - looking for a husband. She came really close with Rei, until Rei saved Ran and completely ignored the food she had in the process.
Ataru's mother was terrible early on, his father showed support on occasion, but it was clear she was not happy with her life. The cracks about money were also annoying because as a salaryman in Japan, you basically only 'got by' barely.
I tend to think while sometimes Lum's wins are genuine, other times they're because he let her win. Much like how other than the aforementioned loss of Japanese episode, Ataru basically stops his usual routine and habits when Lum isn't around. After You've Gone is a perfect example - he met Shinobu but he had the doll with him, it didn't take more than a minute for him to remember there was no Lum and he went for home. That fan made story I gave you the link to actually is pretty insightful in the way it explains the status quo of the others with regards to Lum and Ataru as well regarding his habits. Like a lot of what he does might be a game he's playing with her and nothing more. But I do think all Lum wanted to do was grow up and be a mother, just like her own mother. She's clearly well suited to do that, she mothers Ten as it is, and the Ribbon anime was loud and clear about it. As soon as Ataru said about her being his wife to fool her with the ribbon, we saw Ataru come home and she was cooking and had a baby slung over her back. Ran wanted that more or less with Rei too, even Kurama was looking for a mate for kids only, but still I find it funny the alien women are more wife material than the human women.
- Final Chapter had perfectly captured the characters looking a bit older than they did for most of the series. It's part of why the OVA I Howl at the Moon is very pleasing to look at since it's artstyle is pretty much the same as The Final Chapter.
- Heart of lead is pretty accurate. I love how the series doesn't ever try to make you feel bad for Mendou either because he's a an egotistical scumbag underneath it all, and pretty much has almost everything coming for him. When he doesn't have it coming to him, he's pretty just being the butt monkey of the story. The way he took pain isn't the same way early Ataru did where you legit could feel bad for Ataru at times. I'd love to see Valentine's Deception adapted into an OVA now that I think about it. A cute and funny story. But it's also the usual Ataru acts like a jerk, but in a "cruel twist" he doesn't receive any of the Valentine's from Shinobu, Ran, or even Lum, and even watches Lum give one to Mendou lol. Mendou mocked Ataru the entirety of that one. Until we find out at the end of it all, Lum had planned a special one for Ataru.
- Ryoko's desire to torment does reach pretty crazy levels. I think I'd feel bad more for Mendou if Ryoko was a more recurring character than she ended up being. I remember the story of the voodoo doll and I think I legitimately started feeling bad for Mendou there. He legit could have died there if she really wanted to kill him. Turning the tree into a rocket is something so Ryoko like I laughed when it all happened. That episode in general was funny with Mendou constantly being dumb and jumping off the tree to attack Ataru. When Moroboshi wants to get to or away from a girl, he'll do whatever it takes to do so. It's why I find it funny. He can deceive people and trick people quite often, but he's a terrible liar.
- I mean it was pretty obvious he'd choose to try and protect their future, but it's always nice to see him willingly choose to save it. We all know he doesn't want to settle down at the age he's at (and while his actions are justifiable by any means, I can understand him perfectly for not wanting to just tie the knot at age 17). But it's always great to see that he's clearly content with not only spending the rest of his life with her, but eventually settling down with Lum when he feels he's at the age of where that'd be appropriate.
- Mallets were incredibly underused in the anime unfortunately. He's very shy, he's also extremely emotional. Which explains why he has a diary. The diary one was funny. Especially the scene where he stumbled upon the page that said that Lum and Mendou would talk with one another and he'd get jealous. I find it funny how one of the versions of that story (I think the anime) has him scoff it off, while the manga version has him legit trying to pretend that he isn't jealous. You may have a point. I remember the beginning of the Electric Jungle story, a girl actually did say yes to him, and he chose to not go to that date. He's extremely use to rejection and already expects girls to say no to the point that he doesn't know how to handle a girl that actually does say yes. Of course Ataru doesn't get turned down all the time, as in the story with the Rain Girl, he told her he gets dumped like 4 out of 5 times. I'm surprised girls even accept to go on dates with him 20% of the time. But then you have Lum, a girl truly devoted and invested in a relationship with him, and he's in completely unknown territory. There's only one way to handle it for Ataru, flirt with other girls to keep that distance between Lum and him. Probably was the anime writers throwing the couple a bone considering Ataru and Lum's kiss in the last episode I believe is the only one he willingly chose to participate in throughout the anime from the very start.
- I've just been listening to all of the music capsules and it's feels honestly amazing listening back to all these tracks from the 80s. So many of them I associate with different characters depending on what it is just because of how frequently it plays with a specific character or if it matches their personality. Of course, there's a few tracks with Lum or Ataru in the title of it, which is a dead giveaway as to who the song is specifically referring to. Ataru's life seems to be pretty fun all things considering. He doesn't even concern himself with luck. Heck, it's part of the character's appeal to me later in the series. He becomes so apathetic and disinterested with the consequences of his actions that he disregards them. He knows very well that if Lum or whoever gets him whenever he's doing something mischievous, he's going to endure some punishment, yet he does what he does anyway. He pretty much doesn't fear the pain, as he knows it won't last longer for more than a moment or two and he'll just brush it off and go about with his day. The invincible Ataru fears nothing... except commitment.
- When you catch flak from most of the other major male characters because they're jelly of you because you have the attractive and kind-hearted alien girl, you take every opportunity to mock them right back. Ataru is always in the mood to making a fool of the others.
- Not like Mendou would be much of a factor. It's like everyone can clown the guy. He's little more threatening than Tatewaki Kuno from Ranma in that he's a least a bit more competent than Kuno and more resources.
- That really was the flaw with Kurama as a character. She was single-minded and so stories with her were extremely limited to just that: Kurama finding a suitable husband. She also got pretty close to getting Ryuunosuke until Ataru stopped that from happening and even became a woman in the process as well. That was one of my favorite stories in the series. It got so bad that even Ataru in the manga was like: "This is weird even for us." Only other female who had the upperhand on Lum was Elle, which was pretty much until Lum's rescue mission crashing that wedding.
- It's nice how much Ataru's mother improved as well. She's legit nicer towards Ataru and has even expressed that she loves him later on. Ataru's dad was sort of in the background almost all of the time, and his mother quite often appeared more in random chapters and had dialogue as opposed to his dad.
- Just seems like the alien women are a lot more committed to being mothers. Doesn't hurt that they're pretty determined and feel strongly about their decisions to spend the rest of their lives with the men of their dreams. Ataru does often let her win like when they both wrestled each other for the Mendou family. Ataru (who doesn't hit women) just chose to just let her get him on the ground and everything. It was all very playful between the two, which starts becoming the nature of their relationship later on. They're quite playful with one another. Lum tries her hardest to get Ataru to express his feelings for her more often, and Ataru likes to piss her off by flirting with other girls. It's made even better with the fact that Ataru is a rebellious guy, but Lum herself is no stranger to acting like that either. While she definitely hates that he flirts with girls, there's probably some part of her that feels attracted to that rebellious side of his.
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- Final Chapter had perfectly captured the characters looking a bit older than they did for most of the series. It's part of why the OVA I Howl at the Moon is very pleasing to look at since it's artstyle is pretty much the same as The Final Chapter.
- Heart of lead is pretty accurate. I love how the series doesn't ever try to make you feel bad for Mendou either because he's a an egotistical scumbag underneath it all, and pretty much has almost everything coming for him. When he doesn't have it coming to him, he's pretty just being the butt monkey of the story. The way he took pain isn't the same way early Ataru did where you legit could feel bad for Ataru at times. I'd love to see Valentine's Deception adapted into an OVA now that I think about it. A cute and funny story. But it's also the usual Ataru acts like a jerk, but in a "cruel twist" he doesn't receive any of the Valentine's from Shinobu, Ran, or even Lum, and even watches Lum give one to Mendou lol. Mendou mocked Ataru the entirety of that one. Until we find out at the end of it all, Lum had planned a special one for Ataru.
- Ryoko's desire to torment does reach pretty crazy levels. I think I'd feel bad more for Mendou if Ryoko was a more recurring character than she ended up being. I remember the story of the voodoo doll and I think I legitimately started feeling bad for Mendou there. He legit could have died there if she really wanted to kill him. Turning the tree into a rocket is something so Ryoko like I laughed when it all happened. That episode in general was funny with Mendou constantly being dumb and jumping off the tree to attack Ataru. When Moroboshi wants to get to or away from a girl, he'll do whatever it takes to do so. It's why I find it funny. He can deceive people and trick people quite often, but he's a terrible liar.
- I mean it was pretty obvious he'd choose to try and protect their future, but it's always nice to see him willingly choose to save it. We all know he doesn't want to settle down at the age he's at (and while his actions are justifiable by any means, I can understand him perfectly for not wanting to just tie the knot at age 17). But it's always great to see that he's clearly content with not only spending the rest of his life with her, but eventually settling down with Lum when he feels he's at the age of where that'd be appropriate.
- Mallets were incredibly underused in the anime unfortunately. He's very shy, he's also extremely emotional. Which explains why he has a diary. The diary one was funny. Especially the scene where he stumbled upon the page that said that Lum and Mendou would talk with one another and he'd get jealous. I find it funny how one of the versions of that story (I think the anime) has him scoff it off, while the manga version has him legit trying to pretend that he isn't jealous. You may have a point. I remember the beginning of the Electric Jungle story, a girl actually did say yes to him, and he chose to not go to that date. He's extremely use to rejection and already expects girls to say no to the point that he doesn't know how to handle a girl that actually does say yes. Of course Ataru doesn't get turned down all the time, as in the story with the Rain Girl, he told her he gets dumped like 4 out of 5 times. I'm surprised girls even accept to go on dates with him 20% of the time. But then you have Lum, a girl truly devoted and invested in a relationship with him, and he's in completely unknown territory. There's only one way to handle it for Ataru, flirt with other girls to keep that distance between Lum and him. Probably was the anime writers throwing the couple a bone considering Ataru and Lum's kiss in the last episode I believe is the only one he willingly chose to participate in throughout the anime from the very start.
- I've just been listening to all of the music capsules and it's feels honestly amazing listening back to all these tracks from the 80s. So many of them I associate with different characters depending on what it is just because of how frequently it plays with a specific character or if it matches their personality. Of course, there's a few tracks with Lum or Ataru in the title of it, which is a dead giveaway as to who the song is specifically referring to. Ataru's life seems to be pretty fun all things considering. He doesn't even concern himself with luck. Heck, it's part of the character's appeal to me later in the series. He becomes so apathetic and disinterested with the consequences of his actions that he disregards them. He knows very well that if Lum or whoever gets him whenever he's doing something mischievous, he's going to endure some punishment, yet he does what he does anyway. He pretty much doesn't fear the pain, as he knows it won't last longer for more than a moment or two and he'll just brush it off and go about with his day. The invincible Ataru fears nothing... except commitment.
- When you catch flak from most of the other major male characters because they're jelly of you because you have the attractive and kind-hearted alien girl, you take every opportunity to mock them right back. Ataru is always in the mood to making a fool of the others.
- Not like Mendou would be much of a factor. It's like everyone can clown the guy. He's little more threatening than Tatewaki Kuno from Ranma in that he's a least a bit more competent than Kuno and more resources.
- That really was the flaw with Kurama as a character. She was single-minded and so stories with her were extremely limited to just that: Kurama finding a suitable husband. She also got pretty close to getting Ryuunosuke until Ataru stopped that from happening and even became a woman in the process as well. That was one of my favorite stories in the series. It got so bad that even Ataru in the manga was like: "This is weird even for us." Only other female who had the upperhand on Lum was Elle, which was pretty much until Lum's rescue mission crashing that wedding.
- It's nice how much Ataru's mother improved as well. She's legit nicer towards Ataru and has even expressed that she loves him later on. Ataru's dad was sort of in the background almost all of the time, and his mother quite often appeared more in random chapters and had dialogue as opposed to his dad.
- Just seems like the alien women are a lot more committed to being mothers. Doesn't hurt that they're pretty determined and feel strongly about their decisions to spend the rest of their lives with the men of their dreams. Ataru does often let her win like when they both wrestled each other for the Mendou family. Ataru (who doesn't hit women) just chose to just let her get him on the ground and everything. It was all very playful between the two, which starts becoming the nature of their relationship later on. They're quite playful with one another. Lum tries her hardest to get Ataru to express his feelings for her more often, and Ataru likes to piss her off by flirting with other girls. It's made even better with the fact that Ataru is a rebellious guy, but Lum herself is no stranger to acting like that either. While she definitely hates that he flirts with girls, there's probably some part of her that feels attracted to that rebellious side of his.
I know there were some that didn't seem pleased from that artwork in Final Chapter, but to me I felt that might have been the best looks overall for Lum and Ataru especially. I know the trend in anime in general was leaning towards that 'larger eye' look, but given that half of the expressiveness of Lum and Ataru comes from their eyes, it was fitting. Also, not counting the artwork that came about in many of the later episodes, it was the first time Lum really looked more like a young woman and not a very cute kid. Lum's beauty came from simplicity, I recall one very early episode when she was playing around with lipstick and it was interesting to see that additional color, but otherwise, aside from the tiger bikini or other clothing, she really didn't mess with much in the way of her looks. Green hair, uncanny blue eyes, and that always present blue eyeshadow, no other makeup ever.
I can say I never felt bad for Mendou ever. The episode with Lum's class reunion, when Oyuki told Mendou and Ataru of the problem they had with the dimensional space they wanted to use for the party, two things stood out. The first was Mendou tried to be the hero, and failed miserably. The moment he saw all the real alien creatures he fell apart, the other was Ataru called him out on his actions and then stepped up and saved the day. And yes, the Valentine's Deception would be a good one to adapt too, I actually just re-read that one the other day and thought the wall of candy Lum was building for Ataru was perfect.
I'd have to say if Ryoko was more recurring, she'd end up being another 'thorn' in Lum's side, she did love playing Ataru as much as she could too. The indolence that Takahashi portrayed the two richest families as having was remarkable. But I give Ryoko a bit more credit than I ever will to Mendou, she seemed to have a heart somewhere inside her. I just laughed at Mendou's situation though with the Voodoo doll, because Ataru had no idea until the end. The only time I felt a little bad for Mendou was when Ryoko was feeding the octopus arms to her tree, and that was really more because despite anything else, they were actually cute.
Ataru's overall growth through either manga or anime is probably more realistic than any more modern anime. He starts off he'd give anything to get rid of Lum, until the first chances of that actually appear. He starts realizing that fully when her father tried to get her paired off with someone else. Though I will say I did initially miss that in the second appearance of Rei, when Ataru, Megane, Chibi and Kakugari are being chased by Rei in his tiger-cow form, Ataru said that while he wants to get rid of her, the thought of anyone taking her away from him isn't something he can stand. The first Christmas episode happens and Ataru realizes how pretty Lum is; we get to Matchmaking and he hitches a ride to the party and aids the ruination of the party. I did like that in the manga, Lum didn't have a clue until the thought bubbles between Ten and her happened, in the anime, Lum just knew it was him. Then in After You've Gone, Ataru is so miserable when he thinks she's gone that we actually see him crying, and Lum being sneaky, hears him. His ever growing feeling comes about here and there until The Final Chapter, where he pretty much gives up to Mendou his girl chasing information, tries to run out of a hole in the side of the school, flies with the others to Rupa's world (By the way, another example of Ataru's powerset, he resisted the G forces from alien ship level escape velocity to get Lum's horns out and clench them in his fist as he said she better be okay). He jumps off a building to fall with her, refuses to lie to her even if it means the end of the Earth and proceeds to be completely defeated by her, all because if/when he does tell her, it'll be on his terms when she won't doubt him. Not a bad change considering in the first episode the first thing he noted about Lum was her bust.
Edit: I just remembered the manga with the matching kimono garb that Lum got for them, when it got away from Lum near the end and some guy grabbed it and Ataru was thinking why doesn't she zap him. Then when she did, it floated away again and she chased after it and was about to get flattened by a telephone pole when Ataru came zooming in and shoved her to safety even as he was almost creamed and he fell into water. More growth right there for him.
Lum used them rarely, aside from the first Ran appearance I don't really recall others. Ataru used them more often, even on Rupa. The anime version of the diary story did have him shrug off Lum talking to Mendou, but the manga version he wasn't happy at all. The Rain Girl story was good, I think in his 4 out of 5, Shinobu was likely the 5th one he may have been referring to, only because that was the only relationship he had unless things happened 'off camera'. The Valentine's Anime one he was somewhat willing, I was a bit confused that somehow Lum zapping Ten sent Ataru flying at her, but I will say I did like seeing Lum zap Ten for calling Ataru an idiot. Still, he flew at her and she caught him and that was a pretty heavy kiss and at first he seemed thrown off but then he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back amidst that swirl of her hair.
I have all the music capsules on my IPod as well as on a playlist on my computer, considering the time the snow was made, the music is very good and it is easily associated to characters/situations. Like when Ataru is taken from Lum's father's ship and Lum gives chase, I can hear that and know it was used twice; in that scene in Only You, and when Ataru charges across the bridge at the end of Ep 106 to try and rescue Lum. And Ataru said it best to Mujaki near the end of Beautiful Dreamer, he never considers the consequences of what he does. He just acts and lets things go where they will, good thing too, that's saved everyone's hides more than once. I would say though Ataru fears two things, the first being commitment like you said, the second being hurting Lum's feelings.
I loved how early on he always rubbed it in Megane's face that Lum chose him. The effect it had on Megane was great because he always looked like he was going to pop a gasket. Then when Megane tried to get even, it backfired.
Mendou's problem is he always underestimates everyone. The episode with the giant Christmas tree is a perfect example, not once but twice he jumps down with his sword ready thinking he'll get Ataru. Really? Just jump down and get him, not even Ataru was ever THAT stupid, and there have been some dumb things that Ataru has done.
That whole sequence with Kurama and Ryuunosuke and Ataru getting a chest was hilarious, because Mendou was just that freaked out by it all. Poking Ataru and the reaction he got made me laugh so hard the first time I saw it. In Elle's case, I guess it was that Lum and the Oni in general hadn't met anyone with a formidable force of their own. Lum's lightning is pretty impressive and Ataru was encased in the barrier and it didn't even faze him. It took those lightning guns to remove it, which to Ataru's credit, he survived that which not much more than his usual charring and being dizzy for a moment.
Ataru's mother's best moment I think, was in Final Chapter, when she's talking to her husband and she pretty much states why she doesn't understand why her son doesn't say it and gives her approval of Lum in her own way. It's pretty obvious overall that everyone knows he loves her, but because they had a misunderstanding which I consider a role reversal for Ataru and Lum, it turned into a showdown. I consider it a role reversal because for the first time, even if wasn't real, Ataru had to see what Lum usually went through with him, 'Lum' being affectionate to someone else. He's been sad before, but that was the first time he was ever really hurt. Between that and the complete defeat he suffered in the tag match, while it can be said that karma is indeed a bitch, I felt bad for him. To think the woman you love is happily going off with someone else and then later get crushed by her in a tag match that you can't possibly win unless you give in. It's too bad there wasn't more internal monologue for the two of them, it'd have been interesting to see how that could have been developed more and see how they both felt.
Kurama's desire to have a husband and children was racial preservation, and someone she could control. Ran was just single-minded in her pursuit of the handsomest, and most simple-minded of all the characters. The flashbacks show Lum was once happy with him, but I imagine Rei as being pretty much like this, "I'm handsome, I'm a thick as a brick when it comes to my skull, and I want to eat constantly while you dote on me" and as we know Lum, she has one desire, to be to someone else what they are to her, the love of their life. Lucky bastard Ataru that he is, somehow became that for Lum, just took a bunch of episodes, OVAs and 5 movies to see she was that for Ataru. The manga basically stated that Lum wanted to see that he kept something of hers to show he did have feelings, the anime was more focused on him saying the three words, but I guess in keeping an actual piece of Lum (morbid in a way, but still, it doesn't get any more personal than keeping the horns I guess), she got her answer. But she went from a pretty much 2 dimensional person to someone that was way more complicated than she could have expected and to say the least, that was more than enough for her.
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- Final Chapter had perfectly captured the characters looking a bit older than they did for most of the series. It's part of why the OVA I Howl at the Moon is very pleasing to look at since it's artstyle is pretty much the same as The Final Chapter.
- Heart of lead is pretty accurate. I love how the series doesn't ever try to make you feel bad for Mendou either because he's a an egotistical scumbag underneath it all, and pretty much has almost everything coming for him. When he doesn't have it coming to him, he's pretty just being the butt monkey of the story. The way he took pain isn't the same way early Ataru did where you legit could feel bad for Ataru at times. I'd love to see Valentine's Deception adapted into an OVA now that I think about it. A cute and funny story. But it's also the usual Ataru acts like a jerk, but in a "cruel twist" he doesn't receive any of the Valentine's from Shinobu, Ran, or even Lum, and even watches Lum give one to Mendou lol. Mendou mocked Ataru the entirety of that one. Until we find out at the end of it all, Lum had planned a special one for Ataru.
- Ryoko's desire to torment does reach pretty crazy levels. I think I'd feel bad more for Mendou if Ryoko was a more recurring character than she ended up being. I remember the story of the voodoo doll and I think I legitimately started feeling bad for Mendou there. He legit could have died there if she really wanted to kill him. Turning the tree into a rocket is something so Ryoko like I laughed when it all happened. That episode in general was funny with Mendou constantly being dumb and jumping off the tree to attack Ataru. When Moroboshi wants to get to or away from a girl, he'll do whatever it takes to do so. It's why I find it funny. He can deceive people and trick people quite often, but he's a terrible liar.
- I mean it was pretty obvious he'd choose to try and protect their future, but it's always nice to see him willingly choose to save it. We all know he doesn't want to settle down at the age he's at (and while his actions are justifiable by any means, I can understand him perfectly for not wanting to just tie the knot at age 17). But it's always great to see that he's clearly content with not only spending the rest of his life with her, but eventually settling down with Lum when he feels he's at the age of where that'd be appropriate.
- Mallets were incredibly underused in the anime unfortunately. He's very shy, he's also extremely emotional. Which explains why he has a diary. The diary one was funny. Especially the scene where he stumbled upon the page that said that Lum and Mendou would talk with one another and he'd get jealous. I find it funny how one of the versions of that story (I think the anime) has him scoff it off, while the manga version has him legit trying to pretend that he isn't jealous. You may have a point. I remember the beginning of the Electric Jungle story, a girl actually did say yes to him, and he chose to not go to that date. He's extremely use to rejection and already expects girls to say no to the point that he doesn't know how to handle a girl that actually does say yes. Of course Ataru doesn't get turned down all the time, as in the story with the Rain Girl, he told her he gets dumped like 4 out of 5 times. I'm surprised girls even accept to go on dates with him 20% of the time. But then you have Lum, a girl truly devoted and invested in a relationship with him, and he's in completely unknown territory. There's only one way to handle it for Ataru, flirt with other girls to keep that distance between Lum and him. Probably was the anime writers throwing the couple a bone considering Ataru and Lum's kiss in the last episode I believe is the only one he willingly chose to participate in throughout the anime from the very start.
- I've just been listening to all of the music capsules and it's feels honestly amazing listening back to all these tracks from the 80s. So many of them I associate with different characters depending on what it is just because of how frequently it plays with a specific character or if it matches their personality. Of course, there's a few tracks with Lum or Ataru in the title of it, which is a dead giveaway as to who the song is specifically referring to. Ataru's life seems to be pretty fun all things considering. He doesn't even concern himself with luck. Heck, it's part of the character's appeal to me later in the series. He becomes so apathetic and disinterested with the consequences of his actions that he disregards them. He knows very well that if Lum or whoever gets him whenever he's doing something mischievous, he's going to endure some punishment, yet he does what he does anyway. He pretty much doesn't fear the pain, as he knows it won't last longer for more than a moment or two and he'll just brush it off and go about with his day. The invincible Ataru fears nothing... except commitment.
- When you catch flak from most of the other major male characters because they're jelly of you because you have the attractive and kind-hearted alien girl, you take every opportunity to mock them right back. Ataru is always in the mood to making a fool of the others.
- Not like Mendou would be much of a factor. It's like everyone can clown the guy. He's little more threatening than Tatewaki Kuno from Ranma in that he's a least a bit more competent than Kuno and more resources.
- That really was the flaw with Kurama as a character. She was single-minded and so stories with her were extremely limited to just that: Kurama finding a suitable husband. She also got pretty close to getting Ryuunosuke until Ataru stopped that from happening and even became a woman in the process as well. That was one of my favorite stories in the series. It got so bad that even Ataru in the manga was like: "This is weird even for us." Only other female who had the upperhand on Lum was Elle, which was pretty much until Lum's rescue mission crashing that wedding.
- It's nice how much Ataru's mother improved as well. She's legit nicer towards Ataru and has even expressed that she loves him later on. Ataru's dad was sort of in the background almost all of the time, and his mother quite often appeared more in random chapters and had dialogue as opposed to his dad.
- Just seems like the alien women are a lot more committed to being mothers. Doesn't hurt that they're pretty determined and feel strongly about their decisions to spend the rest of their lives with the men of their dreams. Ataru does often let her win like when they both wrestled each other for the Mendou family. Ataru (who doesn't hit women) just chose to just let her get him on the ground and everything. It was all very playful between the two, which starts becoming the nature of their relationship later on. They're quite playful with one another. Lum tries her hardest to get Ataru to express his feelings for her more often, and Ataru likes to piss her off by flirting with other girls. It's made even better with the fact that Ataru is a rebellious guy, but Lum herself is no stranger to acting like that either. While she definitely hates that he flirts with girls, there's probably some part of her that feels attracted to that rebellious side of his.
I know there were some that didn't seem pleased from that artwork in Final Chapter, but to me I felt that might have been the best looks overall for Lum and Ataru especially. I know the trend in anime in general was leaning towards that 'larger eye' look, but given that half of the expressiveness of Lum and Ataru comes from their eyes, it was fitting. Also, not counting the artwork that came about in many of the later episodes, it was the first time Lum really looked more like a young woman and not a very cute kid. Lum's beauty came from simplicity, I recall one very early episode when she was playing around with lipstick and it was interesting to see that additional color, but otherwise, aside from the tiger bikini or other clothing, she really didn't mess with much in the way of her looks. Green hair, uncanny blue eyes, and that always present blue eyeshadow, no other makeup ever.
I can say I never felt bad for Mendou ever. The episode with Lum's class reunion, when Oyuki told Mendou and Ataru of the problem they had with the dimensional space they wanted to use for the party, two things stood out. The first was Mendou tried to be the hero, and failed miserably. The moment he saw all the real alien creatures he fell apart, the other was Ataru called him out on his actions and then stepped up and saved the day. And yes, the Valentine's Deception would be a good one to adapt too, I actually just re-read that one the other day and thought the wall of candy Lum was building for Ataru was perfect.
I'd have to say if Ryoko was more recurring, she'd end up being another 'thorn' in Lum's side, she did love playing Ataru as much as she could too. The indolence that Takahashi portrayed the two richest families as having was remarkable. But I give Ryoko a bit more credit than I ever will to Mendou, she seemed to have a heart somewhere inside her. I just laughed at Mendou's situation though with the Voodoo doll, because Ataru had no idea until the end. The only time I felt a little bad for Mendou was when Ryoko was feeding the octopus arms to her tree, and that was really more because despite anything else, they were actually cute.
Ataru's overall growth through either manga or anime is probably more realistic than any more modern anime. He starts off he'd give anything to get rid of Lum, until the first chances of that actually appear. He starts realizing that fully when her father tried to get her paired off with someone else. Though I will say I did initially miss that in the second appearance of Rei, when Ataru, Megane, Chibi and Kakugari are being chased by Rei in his tiger-cow form, Ataru said that while he wants to get rid of her, the thought of anyone taking her away from him isn't something he can stand. The first Christmas episode happens and Ataru realizes how pretty Lum is; we get to Matchmaking and he hitches a ride to the party and aids the ruination of the party. I did like that in the manga, Lum didn't have a clue until the thought bubbles between Ten and her happened, in the anime, Lum just knew it was him. Then in After You've Gone, Ataru is so miserable when he thinks she's gone that we actually see him crying, and Lum being sneaky, hears him. His ever growing feeling comes about here and there until The Final Chapter, where he pretty much gives up to Mendou his girl chasing information, tries to run out of a hole in the side of the school, flies with the others to Rupa's world (By the way, another example of Ataru's powerset, he resisted the G forces from alien ship level escape velocity to get Lum's horns out and clench them in his fist as he said she better be okay). He jumps off a building to fall with her, refuses to lie to her even if it means the end of the Earth and proceeds to be completely defeated by her, all because if/when he does tell her, it'll be on his terms when she won't doubt him. Not a bad change considering in the first episode the first thing he noted about Lum was her bust.
Lum used them rarely, aside from the first Ran appearance I don't really recall others. Ataru used them more often, even on Rupa. The anime version of the diary story did have him shrug off Lum talking to Mendou, but the manga version he wasn't happy at all. The Rain Girl story was good, I think in his 4 out of 5, Shinobu was likely the 5th one he may have been referring to, only because that was the only relationship he had unless things happened 'off camera'. The Valentine's Anime one he was somewhat willing, I was a bit confused that somehow Lum zapping Ten sent Ataru flying at her, but I will say I did like seeing Lum zap Ten for calling Ataru an idiot. Still, he flew at her and she caught him and that was a pretty heavy kiss and at first he seemed thrown off but then he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back amidst that swirl of her hair.
I have all the music capsules on my IPod as well as on a playlist on my computer, considering the time the snow was made, the music is very good and it is easily associated to characters/situations. Like when Ataru is taken from Lum's father's ship and Lum gives chase, I can hear that and know it was used twice; in that scene in Only You, and when Ataru charges across the bridge at the end of Ep 106 to try and rescue Lum. And Ataru said it best to Mujaki near the end of Beautiful Dreamer, he never considers the consequences of what he does. He just acts and lets things go where they will, good thing too, that's saved everyone's hides more than once. I would say though Ataru fears two things, the first being commitment like you said, the second being hurting Lum's feelings.
I loved how early on he always rubbed it in Megane's face that Lum chose him. The effect it had on Megane was great because he always looked like he was going to pop a gasket. Then when Megane tried to get even, it backfired.
Mendou's problem is he always underestimates everyone. The episode with the giant Christmas tree is a perfect example, not once but twice he jumps down with his sword ready thinking he'll get Ataru. Really? Just jump down and get him, not even Ataru was ever THAT stupid, and there have been some dumb things that Ataru has done.
That whole sequence with Kurama and Ryuunosuke and Ataru getting a chest was hilarious, because Mendou was just that freaked out by it all. Poking Ataru and the reaction he got made me laugh so hard the first time I saw it. In Elle's case, I guess it was that Lum and the Oni in general hadn't met anyone with a formidable force of their own. Lum's lightning is pretty impressive and Ataru was encased in the barrier and it didn't even faze him. It took those lightning guns to remove it, which to Ataru's credit, he survived that which not much more than his usual charring and being dizzy for a moment.
Ataru's mother's best moment I think, was in Final Chapter, when she's talking to her husband and she pretty much states why she doesn't understand why her son doesn't say it and gives her approval of Lum in her own way. It's pretty obvious overall that everyone knows he loves her, but because they had a misunderstanding which I consider a role reversal for Ataru and Lum, it turned into a showdown. I consider it a role reversal because for the first time, even if wasn't real, Ataru had to see what Lum usually went through with him, 'Lum' being affectionate to someone else. He's been sad before, but that was the first time he was ever really hurt. Between that and the complete defeat he suffered in the tag match, while it can be said that karma is indeed a bitch, I felt bad for him. To think the woman you love is happily going off with someone else and then later get crushed by her in a tag match that you can't possibly win unless you give in. It's too bad there wasn't more internal monologue for the two of them, it'd have been interesting to see how that could have been developed more and see how they both felt.
Kurama's desire to have a husband and children was racial preservation, and someone she could control. Ran was just single-minded in her pursuit of the handsomest, and most simple-minded of all the characters. The flashbacks show Lum was once happy with him, but I imagine Rei as being pretty much like this, "I'm handsome, I'm a thick as a brick when it comes to my skull, and I want to eat constantly while you dote on me" and as we know Lum, she has one desire, to be to someone else what they are to her, the love of their life. Lucky bastard Ataru that he is, somehow became that for Lum, just took a bunch of episodes, OVAs and 5 movies to see she was that for Ataru. The manga basically stated that Lum wanted to see that he kept something of hers to show he did have feelings, the anime was more focused on him saying the three words, but I guess in keeping an actual piece of Lum (morbid in a way, but still, it doesn't get any more personal than keeping the horns I guess), she got her answer. But she went from a pretty much 2 dimensional person to someone that was way more complicated than she could have expected and to say the least, that was more than enough for her.
- I thought the art style was perfect for that part of the series. The ending, with everyone looking older than how they did at the end of the anime. The anime itself did this too. Episode 1 Ataru looks different from Episode 195 Ataru. Lum goes through several changes herself to where she comes off a lot of the time looking either like a really cute 15 year old, or barely 17.
- Lol, love how Ataru had no reaction to the alien creatures. Mendou sure is a coward deep inside. Ataru calling him out on it was great. I love how Valentine's Deception went. The way Takahashi wrote it made it seem like Lum didn't give a damn about getting Ataru a chocolate (in Ataru's eyes). You'd think Ataru would realize by that point that Lum tends to think bigger than just giving him a simple chocolate. Made even greater by Ataru acting like a jerk, and then watching him not get any chocolate. I did like that Shinobu would have given him one had she had anymore.
- They both had a heart I'd say, though masked beneath their other qualities. Made worse for Mendou due to how recurring he is, and the fact that you just see more of his flaws as a person and how much an ego-maniac he really is. The Octopus got it rough at times.
- He's just an "average 17 year old boy" who's going through his phase of immaturity and lechery. He definitely seems to unwind and chill out a lot more as the series progresses, often just going with the flow of things. Ataru use to bug out a lot towards the weird things happening to him in the early parts of the series. Well Lum has a bust to admire, Ataru took full advantage of that in the anime at one point. Of course, it runs much deeper than that by the end. I love how when the group got captured on Rupa's world, nobody but Ataru thought to cunningly jump into the water to avoid being seen. He'd have saved Lum successfully had it not been for the fiasco of the fake Lum. Of course, without that, the catalyst to the bigger plot at hand would have never happened.
- It's probably one of those off-screen things in that 20% of the females he asks to go on a date with him say yes. I guess it could count as willing. Though he wouldn't have kissed her on his own free will, he definitely didn't mind it. Hilariously enough, an episode earlier was the Snow Queen one, which Lum kisses Ataru in as well (though Ataru is quite flabbergasted and didn't expect the Snow Queen to be Lum). Pretty much her own devised plan to get Ataru to kiss her.
- Good thing too. Ataru is perfectly capable of thinking before he acts, but willingly chooses not to. I mean it's pretty much a big reason he saved everyone from being trapped in the dreams from Mujaki. I don't know if he's necessarily afraid of hurting her feelings though. He seems to not mind getting her pissed off or offended (unless he takes it too far), but seems to hate the thought of her crying because of him. The sweet potatoes one was a pretty clear indicator of that.
- He even tells Megane in episode 10 that Lum is free to love whoever she wants and he loses it. Especially since, despite how smug Ataru is for saying it, he isn't wrong and Megane knows this. He'll probably go to prison for something eventually.
- I love how Ryoko already assumed Mendou died when he jumped off and was genuinely surprised when she found out he was still alive.
- I loved the scene, especially in the manga. Kyousuke touches Ataru's chest and then just tags Mendou in only for him to freak out. I love how in the back you have Ryuunosuke just nonchalantly realizing that Ataru has breasts.
- I wouldn't mind more dialogue, though I feel there was enough to know how they both felt. He really was just put into a position to where he couldn't win on his own. The sheer fact she can fly already meant he had no chance in the world at winning. The real reason he beat Lum the first time was because of the fact she didn't know him, so she had no clue what to expect from Ataru (not to mention she was fairly cocky herself which is partly why Ataru managed to get her bra which led to her defeat). By the time of the second tag match, she was a lot more focused, and clearly played the safe and smart game by just keeping away since it was obvious he couldn't feasibly catch her within the terms of the game, especially since she wasn't falling for his usual tricks. Ataru didn't start truly taking it seriously himself until he found out about the Memory-Erasing Device. Only time Ataru even got close to Lum was near the end when she was not only pretty desperate, but also depressed and puzzled at the idea of why he won't just say one phrase to end the whole game.
- It's pretty telling that only Ataru, Lum, and Shinobu got their romantic plots resolved for the most part. Sure you could say Mendou too I guess, but it never got to the point of being as serious as the Inaba stories for Shinobu, or having the entire manga, anime, most OVAs, and all of the movies backing him up that Ataru and Lum got.
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- I thought the art style was perfect for that part of the series. The ending, with everyone looking older than how they did at the end of the anime. The anime itself did this too. Episode 1 Ataru looks different from Episode 195 Ataru. Lum goes through several changes herself to where she comes off a lot of the time looking either like a really cute 15 year old, or barely 17.
- Lol, love how Ataru had no reaction to the alien creatures. Mendou sure is a coward deep inside. Ataru calling him out on it was great. I love how Valentine's Deception went. The way Takahashi wrote it made it seem like Lum didn't give a damn about getting Ataru a chocolate (in Ataru's eyes). You'd think Ataru would realize by that point that Lum tends to think bigger than just giving him a simple chocolate. Made even greater by Ataru acting like a jerk, and then watching him not get any chocolate. I did like that Shinobu would have given him one had she had anymore.
- They both had a heart I'd say, though masked beneath their other qualities. Made worse for Mendou due to how recurring he is, and the fact that you just see more of his flaws as a person and how much an ego-maniac he really is. The Octopus got it rough at times.
- He's just an "average 17 year old boy" who's going through his phase of immaturity and lechery. He definitely seems to unwind and chill out a lot more as the series progresses, often just going with the flow of things. Ataru use to bug out a lot towards the weird things happening to him in the early parts of the series. Well Lum has a bust to admire, Ataru took full advantage of that in the anime at one point. Of course, it runs much deeper than that by the end. I love how when the group got captured on Rupa's world, nobody but Ataru thought to cunningly jump into the water to avoid being seen. He'd have saved Lum successfully had it not been for the fiasco of the fake Lum. Of course, without that, the catalyst to the bigger plot at hand would have never happened.
- It's probably one of those off-screen things in that 20% of the females he asks to go on a date with him say yes. I guess it could count as willing. Though he wouldn't have kissed her on his own free will, he definitely didn't mind it. Hilariously enough, an episode earlier was the Snow Queen one, which Lum kisses Ataru in as well (though Ataru is quite flabbergasted and didn't expect the Snow Queen to be Lum). Pretty much her own devised plan to get Ataru to kiss her.
- Good thing too. Ataru is perfectly capable of thinking before he acts, but willingly chooses not to. I mean it's pretty much a big reason he saved everyone from being trapped in the dreams from Mujaki. I don't know if he's necessarily afraid of hurting her feelings though. He seems to not mind getting her pissed off or offended (unless he takes it too far), but seems to hate the thought of her crying because of him. The sweet potatoes one was a pretty clear indicator of that.
- He even tells Megane in episode 10 that Lum is free to love whoever she wants and he loses it. Especially since, despite how smug Ataru is for saying it, he isn't wrong and Megane knows this. He'll probably go to prison for something eventually.
- I love how Ryoko already assumed Mendou died when he jumped off and was genuinely surprised when she found out he was still alive.
- I loved the scene, especially in the manga. Kyousuke touches Ataru's chest and then just tags Mendou in only for him to freak out. I love how in the back you have Ryuunosuke just nonchalantly realizing that Ataru has breasts.
- I wouldn't mind more dialogue, though I feel there was enough to know how they both felt. He really was just put into a position to where he couldn't win on his own. The sheer fact she can fly already meant he had no chance in the world at winning. The real reason he beat Lum the first time was because of the fact she didn't know him, so she had no clue what to expect from Ataru (not to mention she was fairly cocky herself which is partly why Ataru managed to get her bra which led to her defeat). By the time of the second tag match, she was a lot more focused, and clearly played the safe and smart game by just keeping away since it was obvious he couldn't feasibly catch her within the terms of the game, especially since she wasn't falling for his usual tricks. Ataru didn't start truly taking it seriously himself until he found out about the Memory-Erasing Device. Only time Ataru even got close to Lum was near the end when she was not only pretty desperate, but also depressed and puzzled at the idea of why he won't just say one phrase to end the whole game.
- It's pretty telling that only Ataru, Lum, and Shinobu got their romantic plots resolved for the most part. Sure you could say Mendou too I guess, but it never got to the point of being as serious as the Inaba stories for Shinobu, or having the entire manga, anime, most OVAs, and all of the movies backing him up that Ataru and Lum got.
It also helped in not just her case, but for all the girls in the series that they were drawn essentially with a little more body substance to them. The Lum of Ep 1 of the anime had a slightly larger head and a slim body with her obvious bust that Ataru noticed immediately. Shinobu looked way more like a younger girl (jailbait as Kurama called her), Oyuki, Benten and Ran all needed to eat a little more. Only Sakura came off as normal. I know, adult vs children, but when you look at the movies in comparison, the bodies normalized a bit. More notably Lum and Shinobu than the others, well, Ran's bikini seemed like it got smaller than Lum's even. The one thing I hated in Always My Darling was the step back the kids took in it. When Mr. Fujinami is trying to sell stuff at the end, there's a group shot of most of the people before Ryuunosuke punches him up into the sky, Shinobu is tiny, Inaba is a giant compared to her, and Ryuunosuke really does sadly look like a boy.
Mendou is a coward with a really nasty streak in him. Imo the caterpillar, he would have almost did kill it with the bug spray. Ataru thinks and usually correctly so, that Lum is completely enthralled with him and will come through, so when she doesn't he gets a comeuppance. He may not learn, but the lesson is a harsh one. I liked how the manga made more of a big deal with Valentine's Day than the anime did. I know if I had a crappy Valentine's Day like he did and then woke up too a wall of chocolate from the girl I supposedly wanted to get rid of, I'd be reassessing my stupidity. Also, unless I miss my mark, I think it's only really because of Lum that he ever cries. In the anime episode And Then There Were None is a great example. Everyone else comes up dead, he's shocked, upset even. When the water comes through the ceiling when Lum is taking a bath? He's in a crisis. And unless I'm wrong, he inferred they're supposed to go at the same time. Go where? Die? I took that as either be killed on the island at the same time, or live out their lives and die at the same time. If it's the former, then okay, fits the story, if it's the latter then sounds like someone planned on a life with Lum somewhat early on.
Well, other than the one that grabbed Shinobu and gave her the no clothes treatment. Mendou has many of the 'bad qualities' that Ataru has and none of his good ones.
I would hate to see anyone more extreme than Ataru, in terms of lechery that is. I know it exists in other animes, but in the UYverse, he's supposedly the best at it. Even the God of Lust in Always My Darling was impressed by his aura of lust. The funny thing with Lum's bust; it's not really any more prominent than those of other girls save Shinobu. Sakura didn't mind wearing some revealing stuff early on. Heck, Ran's bikini in Only You was just as skimpy as Lum's. Benten's outfit was not what I call conservative either. Oyuki actually became way more conservative from her initial appearances as her indoor clothing was much more revealing. Kurama never changed her look, and Shinobu dressed based on the occasion. And with the whole rescue thing, almost feels like Ataru was the only one on the ball - until he thought Lum was going to marry Rupa, then he fell apart.
The Snow Queen episode was fun, Lum figured out his plan and beat him, fair and square. Well, she did give him something to cheat with, but overall, she won. That was always a nice thing, seeing her get her victories in the end.
I would say he might not be mindful of Lum's feelings, but if she does get hurt, he's quick to feel bad and apologize. The episode with them home alone and Mendou and the others try to interfere, when she tries to tell him something and he snaps at her, as soon as she looks sad at him, he stops immediately and pretty much says don't mind me as an apology. Too bad he had to wear that suit though at the end...
Given Megane and the others seem to almost have lolita complexes, they'll be locked away for a while. But Ep 10 was the start of Lum stopping her treatment of Ataru as a possession. She makes it very clear in her dialogue to herself and to Ten she loves Ataru, she did that in the Manga too (sans Ten who wasn't added yet).
She didn't seem fazed too much by assuming he was dead. I loved in Ep 93 when she's calling him for breakfast and when he keeps saying okay she blows up the bridge. Her words, "I bear no grudge" are usually followed by a stack of grenades.
Ataru's reaction to them is priceless, poor Mendou looked like he was going to dry up and die.
Ultimately, Ataru had no chance unless he gave in to her demands, and we know Ataru, one of the two most stubborn people in the series. It boiled down to she wanted him to say it, and he didn't want to say it under those circumstances, but it was likely the closest he ever came to saying it. And the sequence as he's running to her when she flies at him, you almost think he's going to say it because he opens his mouth and we hear the beginning of sound and then we shift to her and screaming her trademark "Darling" as she flies at him. I watched it with a headset on my computer, when she grabs him we get an "Oof" sound from him too. Always missed that when watching on TV.
Ha, Mendou got his just desserts. He wanted what he couldn't have, now he's stuck with something he doesn't want and doesn't really want him in return because Asuka wants her brother.
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- I thought the art style was perfect for that part of the series. The ending, with everyone looking older than how they did at the end of the anime. The anime itself did this too. Episode 1 Ataru looks different from Episode 195 Ataru. Lum goes through several changes herself to where she comes off a lot of the time looking either like a really cute 15 year old, or barely 17.
- Lol, love how Ataru had no reaction to the alien creatures. Mendou sure is a coward deep inside. Ataru calling him out on it was great. I love how Valentine's Deception went. The way Takahashi wrote it made it seem like Lum didn't give a damn about getting Ataru a chocolate (in Ataru's eyes). You'd think Ataru would realize by that point that Lum tends to think bigger than just giving him a simple chocolate. Made even greater by Ataru acting like a jerk, and then watching him not get any chocolate. I did like that Shinobu would have given him one had she had anymore.
- They both had a heart I'd say, though masked beneath their other qualities. Made worse for Mendou due to how recurring he is, and the fact that you just see more of his flaws as a person and how much an ego-maniac he really is. The Octopus got it rough at times.
- He's just an "average 17 year old boy" who's going through his phase of immaturity and lechery. He definitely seems to unwind and chill out a lot more as the series progresses, often just going with the flow of things. Ataru use to bug out a lot towards the weird things happening to him in the early parts of the series. Well Lum has a bust to admire, Ataru took full advantage of that in the anime at one point. Of course, it runs much deeper than that by the end. I love how when the group got captured on Rupa's world, nobody but Ataru thought to cunningly jump into the water to avoid being seen. He'd have saved Lum successfully had it not been for the fiasco of the fake Lum. Of course, without that, the catalyst to the bigger plot at hand would have never happened.
- It's probably one of those off-screen things in that 20% of the females he asks to go on a date with him say yes. I guess it could count as willing. Though he wouldn't have kissed her on his own free will, he definitely didn't mind it. Hilariously enough, an episode earlier was the Snow Queen one, which Lum kisses Ataru in as well (though Ataru is quite flabbergasted and didn't expect the Snow Queen to be Lum). Pretty much her own devised plan to get Ataru to kiss her.
- Good thing too. Ataru is perfectly capable of thinking before he acts, but willingly chooses not to. I mean it's pretty much a big reason he saved everyone from being trapped in the dreams from Mujaki. I don't know if he's necessarily afraid of hurting her feelings though. He seems to not mind getting her pissed off or offended (unless he takes it too far), but seems to hate the thought of her crying because of him. The sweet potatoes one was a pretty clear indicator of that.
- He even tells Megane in episode 10 that Lum is free to love whoever she wants and he loses it. Especially since, despite how smug Ataru is for saying it, he isn't wrong and Megane knows this. He'll probably go to prison for something eventually.
- I love how Ryoko already assumed Mendou died when he jumped off and was genuinely surprised when she found out he was still alive.
- I loved the scene, especially in the manga. Kyousuke touches Ataru's chest and then just tags Mendou in only for him to freak out. I love how in the back you have Ryuunosuke just nonchalantly realizing that Ataru has breasts.
- I wouldn't mind more dialogue, though I feel there was enough to know how they both felt. He really was just put into a position to where he couldn't win on his own. The sheer fact she can fly already meant he had no chance in the world at winning. The real reason he beat Lum the first time was because of the fact she didn't know him, so she had no clue what to expect from Ataru (not to mention she was fairly cocky herself which is partly why Ataru managed to get her bra which led to her defeat). By the time of the second tag match, she was a lot more focused, and clearly played the safe and smart game by just keeping away since it was obvious he couldn't feasibly catch her within the terms of the game, especially since she wasn't falling for his usual tricks. Ataru didn't start truly taking it seriously himself until he found out about the Memory-Erasing Device. Only time Ataru even got close to Lum was near the end when she was not only pretty desperate, but also depressed and puzzled at the idea of why he won't just say one phrase to end the whole game.
- It's pretty telling that only Ataru, Lum, and Shinobu got their romantic plots resolved for the most part. Sure you could say Mendou too I guess, but it never got to the point of being as serious as the Inaba stories for Shinobu, or having the entire manga, anime, most OVAs, and all of the movies backing him up that Ataru and Lum got.
It also helped in not just her case, but for all the girls in the series that they were drawn essentially with a little more body substance to them. The Lum of Ep 1 of the anime had a slightly larger head and a slim body with her obvious bust that Ataru noticed immediately. Shinobu looked way more like a younger girl (jailbait as Kurama called her), Oyuki, Benten and Ran all needed to eat a little more. Only Sakura came off as normal. I know, adult vs children, but when you look at the movies in comparison, the bodies normalized a bit. More notably Lum and Shinobu than the others, well, Ran's bikini seemed like it got smaller than Lum's even. The one thing I hated in Always My Darling was the step back the kids took in it. When Mr. Fujinami is trying to sell stuff at the end, there's a group shot of most of the people before Ryuunosuke punches him up into the sky, Shinobu is tiny, Inaba is a giant compared to her, and Ryuunosuke really does sadly look like a boy.
Mendou is a coward with a really nasty streak in him. Imo the caterpillar, he would have almost did kill it with the bug spray. Ataru thinks and usually correctly so, that Lum is completely enthralled with him and will come through, so when she doesn't he gets a comeuppance. He may not learn, but the lesson is a harsh one. I liked how the manga made more of a big deal with Valentine's Day than the anime did. I know if I had a crappy Valentine's Day like he did and then woke up too a wall of chocolate from the girl I supposedly wanted to get rid of, I'd be reassessing my stupidity. Also, unless I miss my mark, I think it's only really because of Lum that he ever cries. In the anime episode And Then There Were None is a great example. Everyone else comes up dead, he's shocked, upset even. When the water comes through the ceiling when Lum is taking a bath? He's in a crisis. And unless I'm wrong, he inferred they're supposed to go at the same time. Go where? Die? I took that as either be killed on the island at the same time, or live out their lives and die at the same time. If it's the former, then okay, fits the story, if it's the latter then sounds like someone planned on a life with Lum somewhat early on.
Well, other than the one that grabbed Shinobu and gave her the no clothes treatment. Mendou has many of the 'bad qualities' that Ataru has and none of his good ones.
I would hate to see anyone more extreme than Ataru, in terms of lechery that is. I know it exists in other animes, but in the UYverse, he's supposedly the best at it. Even the God of Lust in Always My Darling was impressed by his aura of lust. The funny thing with Lum's bust; it's not really any more prominent than those of other girls save Shinobu. Sakura didn't mind wearing some revealing stuff early on. Heck, Ran's bikini in Only You was just as skimpy as Lum's. Benten's outfit was not what I call conservative either. Oyuki actually became way more conservative from her initial appearances as her indoor clothing was much more revealing. Kurama never changed her look, and Shinobu dressed based on the occasion. And with the whole rescue thing, almost feels like Ataru was the only one on the ball - until he thought Lum was going to marry Rupa, then he fell apart.
The Snow Queen episode was fun, Lum figured out his plan and beat him, fair and square. Well, she did give him something to cheat with, but overall, she won. That was always a nice thing, seeing her get her victories in the end.
I would say he might not be mindful of Lum's feelings, but if she does get hurt, he's quick to feel bad and apologize. The episode with them home alone and Mendou and the others try to interfere, when she tries to tell him something and he snaps at her, as soon as she looks sad at him, he stops immediately and pretty much says don't mind me as an apology. Too bad he had to wear that suit though at the end...
Given Megane and the others seem to almost have lolita complexes, they'll be locked away for a while. But Ep 10 was the start of Lum stopping her treatment of Ataru as a possession. She makes it very clear in her dialogue to herself and to Ten she loves Ataru, she did that in the Manga too (sans Ten who wasn't added yet).
She didn't seem fazed too much by assuming he was dead. I loved in Ep 93 when she's calling him for breakfast and when he keeps saying okay she blows up the bridge. Her words, "I bear no grudge" are usually followed by a stack of grenades.
Ataru's reaction to them is priceless, poor Mendou looked like he was going to dry up and die.
Ultimately, Ataru had no chance unless he gave in to her demands, and we know Ataru, one of the two most stubborn people in the series. It boiled down to she wanted him to say it, and he didn't want to say it under those circumstances, but it was likely the closest he ever came to saying it. And the sequence as he's running to her when she flies at him, you almost think he's going to say it because he opens his mouth and we hear the beginning of sound and then we shift to her and screaming her trademark "Darling" as she flies at him. I watched it with a headset on my computer, when she grabs him we get an "Oof" sound from him too. Always missed that when watching on TV.
Ha, Mendou got his just desserts. He wanted what he couldn't have, now he's stuck with something he doesn't want and doesn't really want him in return because Asuka wants her brother.
- Amazing how drastically the artstyle and the way the characters looked changed from different points in the series. Though they looked better than usual (as expected) in the films given when they arguably take place within the story (Always being the exception).
- I found it crazy how all the guys legit tried killing it. Like they were hellbent on it. When they were just stomping on it in the room and how it jumped to Ataru and then they tried getting it from Ataru by force to kill it was pretty damn sad. Yeah, he only ever reacts the strongest whenever it has to do with Lum. It's pretty obvious that despite these two only ever meeting each other at the age of 16, they pretty much care more about each other than anyone else. In Ataru's case, I can't blame him. Before Lum showed up, his life wasn't really all that good to begin with, and he was pretty much the village idiot, with his parents not even liking him (and his mother saying she wish she never had him). Even after Lum came into his life, most the people he came into contact with weren't exactly friendly with him either. Can clearly understand why Ataru prefers Lum to everyone else. With Lum, that's really one of the many great questions characters ask. Cause she wouldn't hesitate to choose Ataru over anyone else.
- Thinking about it, Mendou really doesn't have any redeemable qualities lol. Like of Rumiko's rich and wealthy rivals, he's by far the worse of the lot. Kuno is stupid and a jerk, but nowhere to the extent of Mendou, and Mitaka is honestly a decent person who actually does improve later on in the story, even trying to better himself as a person to get Kyoko's heart.
- Usually whenever Ataru made mention of Lum's bust, the anime would take liberties and increase the size of it at times. Like in that Kurama episode and Ataru firmly plants his face into her chest. It was a bit bigger than it usually is. Heck, even in the manga this was somewhat the case. Early Lum's chest size was larger than they end up being later on (best shown in the manga story where Lum tries to stop Ataru and Shinobu from seeing each other), and her proportions are also even curvier than they end up being later on. After a certain point, Takahashi kept her bust at relatively the same size (not small but not as big as how they were within like the first 15-20 chapters), and made her slightly less curvy.
- Lol she did cheat there. I find her win funnier in the manga in that in the manga story, she was the Snow Queen all along lol and after Ataru won on his own terms (since Lum didn't cheat there), he's so surprised and she is just so darn happy he won. The whole story was great in both versions with the fact that Ataru had no clue what the lady looked like. Of course, it was obvious to me from the start when first reading/watching it that Lum was the Snow Queen. Only character outside of Ataru they ever let get a kiss on Lum in both anime and manga was Pigumo (the frog who Lum willingly kissed to make him go back to normal), and Mendou (who forced a kiss on Lum in the story where his and Ataru's earthly desires were released from them by that spring fairy - manga version only). Saddest part, Mendou kissing Lum there is the last time any of the males of the cast ever kisses her in the manga. The anime seemed to make it a point to not have anyone but Ataru kiss her (outside of that one exception since the Pigumo story was a story from the manga).
- I guess he knew he didn't want to get electrocuted while she was sleeping. I'm sure if he really did want to get it on with Lum that night and had told he wanted to and didn't want to wear the suit, she probably would have happily complied. Sure Ataru ended up being fine if they had sex that night (always amazes me how from that story onwards, he'd be fine with having sex with her though not necessarily comfortable) though he clearly thought that's what she meant by sleeping with him, and obviously didn't press further since he's already shy enough as it is with her.
- Yeah that's true. They'll probably be taken in for stalking. Agreed there as well, it's where Lum acknowledges she really truly loves Ataru. What better situation for her to come to that realization and state it, then when Ataru has pissed her off/upset her? Best way to showcase it, since it made the point of her feelings all that much stronger. The whole icing on the cake was how Ataru was the one who initiated their extended time spent together when he requested for them to walk together for a bit longer while holding hands.
- Grenades... Reminds me of the mines she planted in the giant cake that people had to eat their way out of. She's a real piece of work that Ryoko.
- Mendou really did freak out there lol. Kyousuke definitely handled that part out better. Always questioned why Kyousuke's description was that he is Ataru's best friend in the manga when they don't hang out all that often late in the series. It was also pretty obvious for a long time that Lum is his best friend.
- The whole series, especially the last story is essentially Ataru's ultimatum. Faced with impossible odds in every way possible: Lum is completely focused this time around and is still allowed to fly. Mix that fact in with the fact that she has no intentions of letting him win and can just play keep away unless she hears the words she wants to hear. Ataru, who is equally as stubborn as her refuses to say so (unknowingly to Lum, he was refusing to do so for her own sake and happiness), and Ataru himself was fully aware without admitting it, he didn't have a chance in hell of winning that. The crucial moments being when he picked up Lum's horns and when he dropped them when he fell. Had he not fallen when and the way he did, he pretty much would have lost. Kinda crazy how much more depressing of an ending that would have been if Ataru hadn't fallen when he did and then after Lum wins, she then sees an exhausted and tired Ataru drop due to fatigue with her only then seeing the horns. Would have been tragic. Luckily, that didn't happen, and they can go on to continue living with each other for the rest of their lives. Heck, after the last story, I don't really see Ataru and Lum truly pissing each other off anymore. Definitely don't see anything like what went down in Boy Meets Girl/The Final Chapter ever again.
- How fitting. He's left with an option that doesn't even entirely want him, while he remains eternally jealous of a guy who got the girl he never had a chance of getting. All the while Mendou himself is a shallow, egotistical, jerk who (as you mentioned) doesn't possess any of the good qualities the guy he's jealous of does.
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- Amazing how drastically the artstyle and the way the characters looked changed from different points in the series. Though they looked better than usual (as expected) in the films given when they arguably take place within the story (Always being the exception).
- I found it crazy how all the guys legit tried killing it. Like they were hellbent on it. When they were just stomping on it in the room and how it jumped to Ataru and then they tried getting it from Ataru by force to kill it was pretty damn sad. Yeah, he only ever reacts the strongest whenever it has to do with Lum. It's pretty obvious that despite these two only ever meeting each other at the age of 16, they pretty much care more about each other than anyone else. In Ataru's case, I can't blame him. Before Lum showed up, his life wasn't really all that good to begin with, and he was pretty much the village idiot, with his parents not even liking him (and his mother saying she wish she never had him). Even after Lum came into his life, most the people he came into contact with weren't exactly friendly with him either. Can clearly understand why Ataru prefers Lum to everyone else. With Lum, that's really one of the many great questions characters ask. Cause she wouldn't hesitate to choose Ataru over anyone else.
- Thinking about it, Mendou really doesn't have any redeemable qualities lol. Like of Rumiko's rich and wealthy rivals, he's by far the worse of the lot. Kuno is stupid and a jerk, but nowhere to the extent of Mendou, and Mitaka is honestly a decent person who actually does improve later on in the story, even trying to better himself as a person to get Kyoko's heart.
- Usually whenever Ataru made mention of Lum's bust, the anime would take liberties and increase the size of it at times. Like in that Kurama episode and Ataru firmly plants his face into her chest. It was a bit bigger than it usually is. Heck, even in the manga this was somewhat the case. Early Lum's chest size was larger than they end up being later on (best shown in the manga story where Lum tries to stop Ataru and Shinobu from seeing each other), and her proportions are also even curvier than they end up being later on. After a certain point, Takahashi kept her bust at relatively the same size (not small but not as big as how they were within like the first 15-20 chapters), and made her slightly less curvy.
- Lol she did cheat there. I find her win funnier in the manga in that in the manga story, she was the Snow Queen all along lol and after Ataru won on his own terms (since Lum didn't cheat there), he's so surprised and she is just so darn happy he won. The whole story was great in both versions with the fact that Ataru had no clue what the lady looked like. Of course, it was obvious to me from the start when first reading/watching it that Lum was the Snow Queen. Only character outside of Ataru they ever let get a kiss on Lum in both anime and manga was Pigumo (the frog who Lum willingly kissed to make him go back to normal), and Mendou (who forced a kiss on Lum in the story where his and Ataru's earthly desires were released from them by that spring fairy - manga version only). Saddest part, Mendou kissing Lum there is the last time any of the males of the cast ever kisses her in the manga. The anime seemed to make it a point to not have anyone but Ataru kiss her (outside of that one exception since the Pigumo story was a story from the manga).
- I guess he knew he didn't want to get electrocuted while she was sleeping. I'm sure if he really did want to get it on with Lum that night and had told he wanted to and didn't want to wear the suit, she probably would have happily complied. Sure Ataru ended up being fine if they had sex that night (always amazes me how from that story onwards, he'd be fine with having sex with her though not necessarily comfortable) though he clearly thought that's what she meant by sleeping with him, and obviously didn't press further since he's already shy enough as it is with her.
- Yeah that's true. They'll probably be taken in for stalking. Agreed there as well, it's where Lum acknowledges she really truly loves Ataru. What better situation for her to come to that realization and state it, then when Ataru has pissed her off/upset her? Best way to showcase it, since it made the point of her feelings all that much stronger. The whole icing on the cake was how Ataru was the one who initiated their extended time spent together when he requested for them to walk together for a bit longer while holding hands.
- Grenades... Reminds me of the mines she planted in the giant cake that people had to eat their way out of. She's a real piece of work that Ryoko.
- Mendou really did freak out there lol. Kyousuke definitely handled that part out better. Always questioned why Kyousuke's description was that he is Ataru's best friend in the manga when they don't hang out all that often late in the series. It was also pretty obvious for a long time that Lum is his best friend.
- The whole series, especially the last story is essentially Ataru's ultimatum. Faced with impossible odds in every way possible: Lum is completely focused this time around and is still allowed to fly. Mix that fact in with the fact that she has no intentions of letting him win and can just play keep away unless she hears the words she wants to hear. Ataru, who is equally as stubborn as her refuses to say so (unknowingly to Lum, he was refusing to do so for her own sake and happiness), and Ataru himself was fully aware without admitting it, he didn't have a chance in hell of winning that. The crucial moments being when he picked up Lum's horns and when he dropped them when he fell. Had he not fallen when and the way he did, he pretty much would have lost. Kinda crazy how much more depressing of an ending that would have been if Ataru hadn't fallen when he did and then after Lum wins, she then sees an exhausted and tired Ataru drop due to fatigue with her only then seeing the horns. Would have been tragic. Luckily, that didn't happen, and they can go on to continue living with each other for the rest of their lives. Heck, after the last story, I don't really see Ataru and Lum truly pissing each other off anymore. Definitely don't see anything like what went down in Boy Meets Girl/The Final Chapter ever again.
- How fitting. He's left with an option that doesn't even entirely want him, while he remains eternally jealous of a guy who got the girl he never had a chance of getting. All the while Mendou himself is a shallow, egotistical, jerk who (as you mentioned) doesn't possess any of the good qualities the guy he's jealous of does.
I know that they had to juggle the movie productions alongside the production of the TV series, I give those artists a lot of credit, they really worked their hearts out on this stuff. I also have to say in Japan, there a LOT, and I'm understating this even with all caps, of UY fans on Twiiter. If I can figure out how to attach an image to these posts, someone seems to have scored storyboard sketches from the 3rd movie.
I thought it was crazy too, given how they all try to profess their love of beauty to Lum constantly. Meanwhile, Ataru simply thinks it's cute and it'll grow up to be a beautiful butterfly and Lum is immediately with him. I have to wonder if Lum just knew all this about him and that's part of the reason why she was so in love with him. She only made fun of him once when he was talking sentiment while sitting on the beach, but then she stopped. And now that you mention it, I tend to wonder if it's because of his parents treating him like they did since they didn't hesitate to say they wanted a daughter, if he was doing what he did on purpose.
Mendou is clearly the most unlikable, at least from our perspective. Ataru at least knew he had his uses, Lum just wanted everyone to be friends, and for the longest time, Shinobu just wanted him. She went from bad to worse to finally getting someone good. I don't hate Mendou, but I've known people like him and they always left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
Ah yes, the 'this is real moment' as he practically motorboats her. When Ten appeared in the anime he buried his head in her chest too, and after a moment, the 'poing' sound happened as her bust popped out from being smushed by his face. Lum sure didn't mind though, she even blushed a little. But you're right, early on she was bigger. I'd have to go through my digital tankobans, but there was one chapter intro image that had her in a bodysuit and my first thought was 'Wow, she's top heavy for her there'. I wouldn't say not as curvy, but she filled out more so to speak. I would have to say that aside from the inter-dimensional bathhouse episode when Ataru gets a job, her best body looks come later on, the 5th movie and in some of the OVAs.
Hehe, she can cheat as much as she wants when the outcome is her getting Ataru where she wants him. I remember the Pigumo episode and manga, it was interesting to see Ataru's reactions. Especially when he ran off at high speed and then just before the kiss, he zooms back and slaps Pigumo to the floor which shocks everyone. That whole 'My Woman' in play right there. And Mendou may have kissed her, but she sure wasn't happy about it, Manga Lum is a little more blunt in some ways than anime Lum, especially in the beginning. But then again, I know that Fumi Hirano was making her to be as adorable as possible which paid off. In the Catch the Heart OVA, Megane tried to kiss her and then died of a heart attack.
Oh I'm sure if he said 'C'Mon Lum..." she would have been all over him. Hell, Ten razzed him in the intro to Rei episode. The Oni are not shy that's for sure, when her mother kicked out her father and he stayed at the Moroboshi house, he really wanted to know why they didn't sleep together. Ataru was really uncomfortable then. But yeah, assumed the whole thing with sleeping, and she pretty much meant she wanted to cuddle up to him. First time I saw that episode my thought was 'Oh man you're an idiot Ataru'.
Ataru has had a few moments where he was the initiator of moments, or where he was going to be if he had the chance. I actually just finished re-watching Ep 64 "The Season for Goodbyes" which was based off the Ataru Retires manga. I suppose it can go in two directions, but it seems to me like at the beginning, which is all original, when Lum flies up into the drifting blossoms and calls out to him, Ataru has a strange look on his face. That, "Umm...wow' look that a guy has when he's in love. Of course, he's stepping down as Class President like in the manga, but that night when they're in his room and Lum is cuddling Ten, Ataru gets strangely serious with Lum, and says he wants to talk to her about something after he sees a plane fly away. When he turns around they're both sleeping and he tenderly covers them with his jacket. That was a very un-Ataru moment. One could argue he was going to tell her to leave, but given later when he's stepping down as president and people are assuming he's giving up Lum, he exclaims angrily, "When did I ever say I was giving up Lum?" I think poor Lum missed her chance at having him all to herself. Also, by Lum's words, by this episode she'd been with him for a year and a half, time is very skewed in UY.
Not the girl I want having a grudge against me, she used a lot of grenades in the Electric Household Guard too, even electrified the wall around the house to zap everyone but Lum who got a supercharge from it.
The polar shift of everyone being around to just seeing a few people was notable, the anime started it earlier, but the Stormtroopers did get to appear here and there. But the manga really did end up being about the Boy and the Girl. I think actually the summary of the Manga is in the title of the last story, Boy meets Girl.
Ataru's ultimatum - Be a free spirit and be unhappy for the rest of your life, or be with Lum and have the love of your life. He really never stood a chance. Those Takahashi heroines know just how to get under a man's skin and stay there. I do question the change of the dialogue from the manga to the anime, because in the manga he clearly wonders why he can't just tell her how he feels, but in the anime he seriously questions if he has to actually say it for her to understand. No, you're definitely right about that one thing, I don't think they will ever go that far in pissing each other off anymore. Unspoken as it is, they definitely love and need each other too much. Which is why I think Lum was going to use the memory device, not as a punishment, but to spare herself all the pain she would have if the ending wasn't what it was. She is just as obsessive if not more so than he is, I don't see her being able to handle knowing on a daily basis the man she fell hard for was out there without her at his side. And given how Ataru gets so depressed if she's gone for even a couple days, he'd have probably done something really drastic.
Couldn't happen to a better snake in the grass lol.
(https://s6.postimg.org/h5rfdbmal/IMG_20170806_003103.jpg) (https://postimg.org/image/h5rfdbmal/) I *think* this will work to see but this is apparently storyboard images. Someone on Twitter in Japan posted 4 of them and for the life pf me I can't find that feed anymore.
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- Amazing how drastically the artstyle and the way the characters looked changed from different points in the series. Though they looked better than usual (as expected) in the films given when they arguably take place within the story (Always being the exception).
- I found it crazy how all the guys legit tried killing it. Like they were hellbent on it. When they were just stomping on it in the room and how it jumped to Ataru and then they tried getting it from Ataru by force to kill it was pretty damn sad. Yeah, he only ever reacts the strongest whenever it has to do with Lum. It's pretty obvious that despite these two only ever meeting each other at the age of 16, they pretty much care more about each other than anyone else. In Ataru's case, I can't blame him. Before Lum showed up, his life wasn't really all that good to begin with, and he was pretty much the village idiot, with his parents not even liking him (and his mother saying she wish she never had him). Even after Lum came into his life, most the people he came into contact with weren't exactly friendly with him either. Can clearly understand why Ataru prefers Lum to everyone else. With Lum, that's really one of the many great questions characters ask. Cause she wouldn't hesitate to choose Ataru over anyone else.
- Thinking about it, Mendou really doesn't have any redeemable qualities lol. Like of Rumiko's rich and wealthy rivals, he's by far the worse of the lot. Kuno is stupid and a jerk, but nowhere to the extent of Mendou, and Mitaka is honestly a decent person who actually does improve later on in the story, even trying to better himself as a person to get Kyoko's heart.
- Usually whenever Ataru made mention of Lum's bust, the anime would take liberties and increase the size of it at times. Like in that Kurama episode and Ataru firmly plants his face into her chest. It was a bit bigger than it usually is. Heck, even in the manga this was somewhat the case. Early Lum's chest size was larger than they end up being later on (best shown in the manga story where Lum tries to stop Ataru and Shinobu from seeing each other), and her proportions are also even curvier than they end up being later on. After a certain point, Takahashi kept her bust at relatively the same size (not small but not as big as how they were within like the first 15-20 chapters), and made her slightly less curvy.
- Lol she did cheat there. I find her win funnier in the manga in that in the manga story, she was the Snow Queen all along lol and after Ataru won on his own terms (since Lum didn't cheat there), he's so surprised and she is just so darn happy he won. The whole story was great in both versions with the fact that Ataru had no clue what the lady looked like. Of course, it was obvious to me from the start when first reading/watching it that Lum was the Snow Queen. Only character outside of Ataru they ever let get a kiss on Lum in both anime and manga was Pigumo (the frog who Lum willingly kissed to make him go back to normal), and Mendou (who forced a kiss on Lum in the story where his and Ataru's earthly desires were released from them by that spring fairy - manga version only). Saddest part, Mendou kissing Lum there is the last time any of the males of the cast ever kisses her in the manga. The anime seemed to make it a point to not have anyone but Ataru kiss her (outside of that one exception since the Pigumo story was a story from the manga).
- I guess he knew he didn't want to get electrocuted while she was sleeping. I'm sure if he really did want to get it on with Lum that night and had told he wanted to and didn't want to wear the suit, she probably would have happily complied. Sure Ataru ended up being fine if they had sex that night (always amazes me how from that story onwards, he'd be fine with having sex with her though not necessarily comfortable) though he clearly thought that's what she meant by sleeping with him, and obviously didn't press further since he's already shy enough as it is with her.
- Yeah that's true. They'll probably be taken in for stalking. Agreed there as well, it's where Lum acknowledges she really truly loves Ataru. What better situation for her to come to that realization and state it, then when Ataru has pissed her off/upset her? Best way to showcase it, since it made the point of her feelings all that much stronger. The whole icing on the cake was how Ataru was the one who initiated their extended time spent together when he requested for them to walk together for a bit longer while holding hands.
- Grenades... Reminds me of the mines she planted in the giant cake that people had to eat their way out of. She's a real piece of work that Ryoko.
- Mendou really did freak out there lol. Kyousuke definitely handled that part out better. Always questioned why Kyousuke's description was that he is Ataru's best friend in the manga when they don't hang out all that often late in the series. It was also pretty obvious for a long time that Lum is his best friend.
- The whole series, especially the last story is essentially Ataru's ultimatum. Faced with impossible odds in every way possible: Lum is completely focused this time around and is still allowed to fly. Mix that fact in with the fact that she has no intentions of letting him win and can just play keep away unless she hears the words she wants to hear. Ataru, who is equally as stubborn as her refuses to say so (unknowingly to Lum, he was refusing to do so for her own sake and happiness), and Ataru himself was fully aware without admitting it, he didn't have a chance in hell of winning that. The crucial moments being when he picked up Lum's horns and when he dropped them when he fell. Had he not fallen when and the way he did, he pretty much would have lost. Kinda crazy how much more depressing of an ending that would have been if Ataru hadn't fallen when he did and then after Lum wins, she then sees an exhausted and tired Ataru drop due to fatigue with her only then seeing the horns. Would have been tragic. Luckily, that didn't happen, and they can go on to continue living with each other for the rest of their lives. Heck, after the last story, I don't really see Ataru and Lum truly pissing each other off anymore. Definitely don't see anything like what went down in Boy Meets Girl/The Final Chapter ever again.
- How fitting. He's left with an option that doesn't even entirely want him, while he remains eternally jealous of a guy who got the girl he never had a chance of getting. All the while Mendou himself is a shallow, egotistical, jerk who (as you mentioned) doesn't possess any of the good qualities the guy he's jealous of does.
I know that they had to juggle the movie productions alongside the production of the TV series, I give those artists a lot of credit, they really worked their hearts out on this stuff. I also have to say in Japan, there a LOT, and I'm understating this even with all caps, of UY fans on Twiiter. If I can figure out how to attach an image to these posts, someone seems to have scored storyboard sketches from the 3rd movie.
I thought it was crazy too, given how they all try to profess their love of beauty to Lum constantly. Meanwhile, Ataru simply thinks it's cute and it'll grow up to be a beautiful butterfly and Lum is immediately with him. I have to wonder if Lum just knew all this about him and that's part of the reason why she was so in love with him. She only made fun of him once when he was talking sentiment while sitting on the beach, but then she stopped. And now that you mention it, I tend to wonder if it's because of his parents treating him like they did since they didn't hesitate to say they wanted a daughter, if he was doing what he did on purpose.
Mendou is clearly the most unlikable, at least from our perspective. Ataru at least knew he had his uses, Lum just wanted everyone to be friends, and for the longest time, Shinobu just wanted him. She went from bad to worse to finally getting someone good. I don't hate Mendou, but I've known people like him and they always left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
Ah yes, the 'this is real moment' as he practically motorboats her. When Ten appeared in the anime he buried his head in her chest too, and after a moment, the 'poing' sound happened as her bust popped out from being smushed by his face. Lum sure didn't mind though, she even blushed a little. But you're right, early on she was bigger. I'd have to go through my digital tankobans, but there was one chapter intro image that had her in a bodysuit and my first thought was 'Wow, she's top heavy for her there'. I wouldn't say not as curvy, but she filled out more so to speak. I would have to say that aside from the inter-dimensional bathhouse episode when Ataru gets a job, her best body looks come later on, the 5th movie and in some of the OVAs.
Hehe, she can cheat as much as she wants when the outcome is her getting Ataru where she wants him. I remember the Pigumo episode and manga, it was interesting to see Ataru's reactions. Especially when he ran off at high speed and then just before the kiss, he zooms back and slaps Pigumo to the floor which shocks everyone. That whole 'My Woman' in play right there. And Mendou may have kissed her, but she sure wasn't happy about it, Manga Lum is a little more blunt in some ways than anime Lum, especially in the beginning. But then again, I know that Fumi Hirano was making her to be as adorable as possible which paid off. In the Catch the Heart OVA, Megane tried to kiss her and then died of a heart attack.
Oh I'm sure if he said 'C'Mon Lum..." she would have been all over him. Hell, Ten razzed him in the intro to Rei episode. The Oni are not shy that's for sure, when her mother kicked out her father and he stayed at the Moroboshi house, he really wanted to know why they didn't sleep together. Ataru was really uncomfortable then. But yeah, assumed the whole thing with sleeping, and she pretty much meant she wanted to cuddle up to him. First time I saw that episode my thought was 'Oh man you're an idiot Ataru'.
Ataru has had a few moments where he was the initiator of moments, or where he was going to be if he had the chance. I actually just finished re-watching Ep 64 "The Season for Goodbyes" which was based off the Ataru Retires manga. I suppose it can go in two directions, but it seems to me like at the beginning, which is all original, when Lum flies up into the drifting blossoms and calls out to him, Ataru has a strange look on his face. That, "Umm...wow' look that a guy has when he's in love. Of course, he's stepping down as Class President like in the manga, but that night when they're in his room and Lum is cuddling Ten, Ataru gets strangely serious with Lum, and says he wants to talk to her about something after he sees a plane fly away. When he turns around they're both sleeping and he tenderly covers them with his jacket. That was a very un-Ataru moment. One could argue he was going to tell her to leave, but given later when he's stepping down as president and people are assuming he's giving up Lum, he exclaims angrily, "When did I ever say I was giving up Lum?" I think poor Lum missed her chance at having him all to herself. Also, by Lum's words, by this episode she'd been with him for a year and a half, time is very skewed in UY.
Not the girl I want having a grudge against me, she used a lot of grenades in the Electric Household Guard too, even electrified the wall around the house to zap everyone but Lum who got a supercharge from it.
The polar shift of everyone being around to just seeing a few people was notable, the anime started it earlier, but the Stormtroopers did get to appear here and there. But the manga really did end up being about the Boy and the Girl. I think actually the summary of the Manga is in the title of the last story, Boy meets Girl.
Ataru's ultimatum - Be a free spirit and be unhappy for the rest of your life, or be with Lum and have the love of your life. He really never stood a chance. Those Takahashi heroines know just how to get under a man's skin and stay there. I do question the change of the dialogue from the manga to the anime, because in the manga he clearly wonders why he can't just tell her how he feels, but in the anime he seriously questions if he has to actually say it for her to understand. No, you're definitely right about that one thing, I don't think they will ever go that far in pissing each other off anymore. Unspoken as it is, they definitely love and need each other too much. Which is why I think Lum was going to use the memory device, not as a punishment, but to spare herself all the pain she would have if the ending wasn't what it was. She is just as obsessive if not more so than he is, I don't see her being able to handle knowing on a daily basis the man she fell hard for was out there without her at his side. And given how Ataru gets so depressed if she's gone for even a couple days, he'd have probably done something really drastic.
Couldn't happen to a better snake in the grass lol.
(https://s6.postimg.org/h5rfdbmal/IMG_20170806_003103.jpg) (https://postimg.org/image/h5rfdbmal/) I *think* this will work to see but this is apparently storyboard images. Someone on Twitter in Japan posted 4 of them and for the life pf me I can't find that feed anymore.
- It's amazing on how much love I see from fans of the series even nowadays considering it's pretty much a "veteran" series and has been forgotten or moved by most people. Always nice to see the occasional recent art of it, as well as just looking at the art over the years of the series. I've gone on Pixiv quite often despite not understanding Japanese (managed to figure a way of navigating it) and a lot of the fanart of the series is great.
- Lum was funny there. She thought of it as a game at first. Fitting how the end of that story has Ataru and Lum dressed in clothes fitting of an old married couple. Ataru definitely gets some of his bad traits from his parents (mainly his mother) not to mention he has to endure them talk about how it'd be better off if they never had him, and never really sticking up for him in the earlier stories. His father was a little more supportive than his mother at times early on though. I wouldn't be surprised if Ataru early on in some way resented his parents a bit.
- I also don't dislike Mendou, and he filled his role well. He probably would have been worse if he had been portrayed as more of an equal or superior to Ataru in the same way Mitaka somewhat was to Godai early on. Mendou remaining vain, egotistical, and shallow and yet getting humiliated every step of the way makes him bearable because you can laugh at his expense.
- The episode where Lum shrinks also has at the beginning of the episode Ataru accidentally pressing his face to one side of Lum's chest, and Lum just responds by forcing Ataru to essentially motorboat her there. She was pretty happy doing that lol. Ataru's reply made it even funnier when he's all like "Lum! This in not the thing to be doing in public!" Like he's embarrassed about it, but wouldn't mind doing it if they were alone in his room lol. He also never said he didn't like it. Her look later on does improve tremendously.
- Ataru can't help it but to go into overdrive at the thought of some dude getting his woman. Love how Lum was trolling everyone by saying she needed to kiss Pigumo in private because she's "shy." Lol at her being shy. She would (and has) kiss Ataru in public if he either asked her to do so, or went in to do so. Hell, she's even made schemes to try and get him to kiss her. Yeah, she did hate the fact Mendou did that lol. She was absolutely disgusted with it. Just a big contrast is all. Takahashi had no problem allowing Mendou to kiss Lum, in the anime? Nah, nobody but Ataru. Legitimately laughed at Megane's moment there. Runs up to the top of the school, and then just drops when he's about to get what he wants. That whole OVA was hilarious to me. Ataru feeding Shinobu a heart and when she looks at him was hilarious. I also found it funny when Ataru tricked Lum by pretending to be serious. He can be real deceptive when he wants to be, despite being a terrible liar. Funniest part though was definitely Lum's lightning having it's own mind and chasing Ataru. Too bad Lum, you almost succeeded in getting Ataru's kiss. At least you can take pleasure in the fact you've gotten to kiss him multiple times.
- I love how Ten was just all "If you want I can just close my eyes." He obviously knew what Lum meant, and both him and Lum were pretty blunt too and completely fine with that happening. Hilarious that Ataru cared more about the futon itself than Lum essentially trying to coerce him to sleep with her. Yeah, she'd definitely happily get it on with Ataru had he asked. He was an idiot in that episode from the moment he thought she just went home without placing a tracer on him. What hammers it home was that he called her a simpleton, which really sells how out of the loop he really is.
- Don't ever try to make sense of UY time lol. Realistically, they should be like third years in college or something if the timeline placement made any sense lol. That story was great. The whole story in the anime and manga versions made it pretty ambiguous what Ataru had to say. Though as usual, this series (and really a staple of Takahashi's works lol) characters jump to conclusions and start overreacting. Like you had Shinobu hiring so many people just to get Ataru lol. Yeah, Lum did miss her chance to spend some quality time with Ataru, especially since he seemed like he was in one of his more easy going moods to be around him. Manga version was funnier with everyone wanting to audition for the role as new main character. Only person who had any merit for that was Lum who in many ways could be argued to be the main character. Her importance in the series is as great as Ataru's with the added effect of being far more well known and iconic than not only Ataru, but her entire series itself. Regardless though, even when I first got into the series, Ataru always came off as the main character to me. I'd argue the males in Takahashi's works are almost always the main characters in her works, only that the lead females also play just as important a role.
- I lol'd when Lum was taking rare hijinks like damage in that OVA. It's just so rare for Lum to take collateral damage that it comes off as funny. Only time I can remember that happening in the manga was when: 1) The Ataru clones ran her over leaving footprint marks on her, 2) When she tried feeding a sleeping Ataru the "Love" candy Sakura made, Ataru kicks her in the stomach, and 3) when she got Ataru to wear the true feelings shirt but she cranked it up so loud it sort of backfired on her.
- Yeah, the title of the last storyline pretty clearly portrays the overarching point of this series.
- An ultimatum of epic proportions. Oh Ataru, you and her girlfriend/fiance nearly dooming the earth over what was essentially the biggest lover's quarrel you two ever had. It was immature and got way out of hand, but completely necessary for Lum to know exactly how he felt, the Ataru Moroboshi way. I definitely preferred the manga version of that scene. Manga Ataru (due to all the constant progression of his character and his growing maturity) legitimately questions and berates himself for not being able to say. Had Lum not challenge him to this tag game, he probably would have eventually said it to get her back. Of course if he was traveling back to the World of Darkness, he'd need to tell her in a secluded area. Yeah it was pretty clear after Benten talked to Lum, the Memory Erasing Device wasn't really a punishment, but it was (initially) there to further force Ataru into a position where he had no choice but to admit he loved her. But you really see later on that she just isn't angry anymore and is just saddened and depressed by it. Yeah, it'd be pretty tragic. I was under the impression Lum wouldn't lose her memories, but Ataru (and everyone from earth) would lose theirs? If so, that in ways is even more tragic than if both were to have lost their memories. Imagine just being on your planet, not being able to get over the one you love the most, but not being able to be with him anymore. Probably doubles for Ataru in that he's a complete wreck if Lum is gone for too long.
- I'm impressed you found those pictures. Pretty hard to find stuff like that nowadays.
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- It's amazing on how much love I see from fans of the series even nowadays considering it's pretty much a "veteran" series and has been forgotten or moved by most people. Always nice to see the occasional recent art of it, as well as just looking at the art over the years of the series. I've gone on Pixiv quite often despite not understanding Japanese (managed to figure a way of navigating it) and a lot of the fanart of the series is great.
- Lum was funny there. She thought of it as a game at first. Fitting how the end of that story has Ataru and Lum dressed in clothes fitting of an old married couple. Ataru definitely gets some of his bad traits from his parents (mainly his mother) not to mention he has to endure them talk about how it'd be better off if they never had him, and never really sticking up for him in the earlier stories. His father was a little more supportive than his mother at times early on though. I wouldn't be surprised if Ataru early on in some way resented his parents a bit.
- I also don't dislike Mendou, and he filled his role well. He probably would have been worse if he had been portrayed as more of an equal or superior to Ataru in the same way Mitaka somewhat was to Godai early on. Mendou remaining vain, egotistical, and shallow and yet getting humiliated every step of the way makes him bearable because you can laugh at his expense.
- The episode where Lum shrinks also has at the beginning of the episode Ataru accidentally pressing his face to one side of Lum's chest, and Lum just responds by forcing Ataru to essentially motorboat her there. She was pretty happy doing that lol. Ataru's reply made it even funnier when he's all like "Lum! This in not the thing to be doing in public!" Like he's embarrassed about it, but wouldn't mind doing it if they were alone in his room lol. He also never said he didn't like it. Her look later on does improve tremendously.
- Ataru can't help it but to go into overdrive at the thought of some dude getting his woman. Love how Lum was trolling everyone by saying she needed to kiss Pigumo in private because she's "shy." Lol at her being shy. She would (and has) kiss Ataru in public if he either asked her to do so, or went in to do so. Hell, she's even made schemes to try and get him to kiss her. Yeah, she did hate the fact Mendou did that lol. She was absolutely disgusted with it. Just a big contrast is all. Takahashi had no problem allowing Mendou to kiss Lum, in the anime? Nah, nobody but Ataru. Legitimately laughed at Megane's moment there. Runs up to the top of the school, and then just drops when he's about to get what he wants. That whole OVA was hilarious to me. Ataru feeding Shinobu a heart and when she looks at him was hilarious. I also found it funny when Ataru tricked Lum by pretending to be serious. He can be real deceptive when he wants to be, despite being a terrible liar. Funniest part though was definitely Lum's lightning having it's own mind and chasing Ataru. Too bad Lum, you almost succeeded in getting Ataru's kiss. At least you can take pleasure in the fact you've gotten to kiss him multiple times.
- I love how Ten was just all "If you want I can just close my eyes." He obviously knew what Lum meant, and both him and Lum were pretty blunt too and completely fine with that happening. Hilarious that Ataru cared more about the futon itself than Lum essentially trying to coerce him to sleep with her. Yeah, she'd definitely happily get it on with Ataru had he asked. He was an idiot in that episode from the moment he thought she just went home without placing a tracer on him. What hammers it home was that he called her a simpleton, which really sells how out of the loop he really is.
- Don't ever try to make sense of UY time lol. Realistically, they should be like third years in college or something if the timeline placement made any sense lol. That story was great. The whole story in the anime and manga versions made it pretty ambiguous what Ataru had to say. Though as usual, this series (and really a staple of Takahashi's works lol) characters jump to conclusions and start overreacting. Like you had Shinobu hiring so many people just to get Ataru lol. Yeah, Lum did miss her chance to spend some quality time with Ataru, especially since he seemed like he was in one of his more easy going moods to be around him. Manga version was funnier with everyone wanting to audition for the role as new main character. Only person who had any merit for that was Lum who in many ways could be argued to be the main character. Her importance in the series is as great as Ataru's with the added effect of being far more well known and iconic than not only Ataru, but her entire series itself. Regardless though, even when I first got into the series, Ataru always came off as the main character to me. I'd argue the males in Takahashi's works are almost always the main characters in her works, only that the lead females also play just as important a role.
- I lol'd when Lum was taking rare hijinks like damage in that OVA. It's just so rare for Lum to take collateral damage that it comes off as funny. Only time I can remember that happening in the manga was when: 1) The Ataru clones ran her over leaving footprint marks on her, 2) When she tried feeding a sleeping Ataru the "Love" candy Sakura made, Ataru kicks her in the stomach, and 3) when she got Ataru to wear the true feelings shirt but she cranked it up so loud it sort of backfired on her.
- Yeah, the title of the last storyline pretty clearly portrays the overarching point of this series.
- An ultimatum of epic proportions. Oh Ataru, you and her girlfriend/fiance nearly dooming the earth over what was essentially the biggest lover's quarrel you two ever had. It was immature and got way out of hand, but completely necessary for Lum to know exactly how he felt, the Ataru Moroboshi way. I definitely preferred the manga version of that scene. Manga Ataru (due to all the constant progression of his character and his growing maturity) legitimately questions and berates himself for not being able to say. Had Lum not challenge him to this tag game, he probably would have eventually said it to get her back. Of course if he was traveling back to the World of Darkness, he'd need to tell her in a secluded area. Yeah it was pretty clear after Benten talked to Lum, the Memory Erasing Device wasn't really a punishment, but it was (initially) there to further force Ataru into a position where he had no choice but to admit he loved her. But you really see later on that she just isn't angry anymore and is just saddened and depressed by it. Yeah, it'd be pretty tragic. I was under the impression Lum wouldn't lose her memories, but Ataru (and everyone from earth) would lose theirs? If so, that in ways is even more tragic than if both were to have lost their memories. Imagine just being on your planet, not being able to get over the one you love the most, but not being able to be with him anymore. Probably doubles for Ataru in that he's a complete wreck if Lum is gone for too long.
- I'm impressed you found those pictures. Pretty hard to find stuff like that nowadays.
Twitter has become something like Facebook in that if you follow a person, similar suggestions pop up. I followed one person because apparently he's a UY fanatic and so is his wife and daughter. He has various figurines of Lum glued to the center console of his car and has Lum decals on the windows. He's also a pretty good artist and showcases what he draws so I figured what the heck, I'd follow him just because, Twitter suggests new people every other time I look at it that also like UY and Lum specifically. I decided to also to check out Pixiv, Chrome will auto-translate if you let it - bearing in mind some of it is literal and not 100% correct. Now I'll have to see what fans post there.
That's one of the best things about Lum, despite her world being way more advanced than ours (her bra seemingly holds not just her bust but all those gadgets as well and you never see them when she loses that bra), Earth is totally new to her and she approaches everything with wide-eyed innocence. Perhaps that clothing was her indication of where they would eventually be. And like you, I definitely say most of his bad traits come from his mother, but his initial meek attitude comes from his father. His mother is very quick to capitalize on anything she can manage to do so with, like Parent's Day at the school. Lum's mother vs. Mendou's mother with the roulette wheel, in which you can also tell Lum got all her traits from her mother except one - her height and arguably her temper, that is from both of them.
Mendou just seems to be the token jerk/rival. He tried so hard to compete, and portray himself as better simply because he's rich. He had to play the money card because Rei beat him in the 'Man is Face' card. In the manga he's got one thing over Ataru, he's taller, in the anime they're about equal.
Lum just craves his attention. At first it's a demand because as we know she considers him a possession, but that changes early on and she just wants his attention because she loves him. She wants to know she's physically desirable and attractive to him in addition to having his emotional love wich is totally understandable. Like when she questions him, rather pointedly, or in her case, shockingly/bitingly about why he looks at other women when he has someone that is willing right in front of him. I still maintain despite everything, she was/is a virgin, she's just way more forward. But in the bathhouse episode, I wonder how he would have reacted if he'd known that he was basically up against a naked Lum. Funny how the female nudity was featured now that I think of it. Benten, Lum, Kurama, Shinobu and Ran were featured in some way topless or at least revealed, but Oyuki and Sakura were not.
Yeah, Lum is about as shy as Cherry is cute lol. And Lum has done some elaborate schemes, like the love potion episode with Sakura and Shinobu which ended up being a lie potion. And definitely in the manga, Mendou was less tolerable to her than in the anime. If she had even a bit more of the attitude she had in the manga, Mendou would have been a crispy critter I bet. Don't forget Mendou's very pink and mutli-armed ugly sweater she knitted in someting like 8 seconds flat. He has his tearful moment and then Ataru slams a metal jar over him. But the lightning was great, especially when Ataru jumped behind Mendou and he took the brunt of the blast.
Well, he was expecting Shinobu to come over, and when Lum figured that out she was hilarious in her reaction. Threw everything at him that Ten gave her, including his desk chair which she even broke from her rant and said thank you for. Ataru's big mistake is he underestimates Lum. Give her enough time and she can shoot down any argument he makes and counter most any move he has. He assumes innocence is lack of intelligence and that has blown up on him several times. But still, Ataru has zero clue, he could have it all and he goes after what doesn't want him. And speaking of that rant, if you freeze frame it at the start, there's a very quick blurb from Lum "Shinobu can go to hell!" It's there for maybe a second and then it's back to the rant. Lum really did not like her at the beginning at all.
I noticed that lol. If the whole timeframe was only supposed to be within two years, they had extra summers in there because it seems like they had a number of seasons pass by. I know the anime didn't quite follow the story placement of the manga in how it jumped around, but that was some really awful timeline management there. The anime version just seemed, and I'll say it's because of my POV of the two, that he was having some settling down feelings there. But I can see where an argument could be made that he might have been wondering if he could get rid of her somehow, just that look on his face when she flew up was not one of being annoyed. And poor Megane, the one 'noble' deed he does and fights everyone to save Ataru because he thinks he'll get Lum in the deal. The manga version was great with everyone saying it should naturally be them, until Lum pretty much said it's about her. Initially it was supposed to be all about Ataru and different people he meets with Lum being just one of them, but the fans loved Lum so much Takahashi had to bring her back. Pretty sure the buck-toothed demon story is the only one in the manga that doesn't have Lum in it at all.
I think there was one other in the manga where she took some damage, when Ran invited her and Ataru over and the doll exploded leaving Lum's school uniform in tatters.
Boy meets Girl (and how he goes from Hate to Love).
I tend to think that the device would have affected all of them, even Lum from the way her father described it. Otherwise, why punish Benten and the other aliens and Lum gets to keep her memories? I agree that it was the ultimate ultimatum, tell me or you'll lose all your memories of me and the others, but Lum doesn't strike me as wanting to live with that pain. Using the device even in theory was more painful to her than anything else other than he wasn't saying what she wanted to hear. If she left herself with her memories, she could basically go back and start all over again with him and see if it works with a more 'mature' Ataru. Otherwise, I don't see Lum as being able to do it. She couldn't give up on him in Only You and she had way more reason to be angry with him there, he left Earth for a woman he couldn't even recall.
I did find the twitter feed today of the person that posted them, makes me wonder who they are because he said he had them in storage. Storyboard animations usually don't go up for sale unless there's some kind of auction or something like it. And in another showing of how popular UY is amongst people, apparently this remix of the original opening song hit this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDLCnKI-dIk - I'll admit, her lip syncing is not the best, but throw green hair and horns and a set of easy to wear fangs on her, she could likely be a pretty good live action Lum.
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- It's amazing on how much love I see from fans of the series even nowadays considering it's pretty much a "veteran" series and has been forgotten or moved by most people. Always nice to see the occasional recent art of it, as well as just looking at the art over the years of the series. I've gone on Pixiv quite often despite not understanding Japanese (managed to figure a way of navigating it) and a lot of the fanart of the series is great.
- Lum was funny there. She thought of it as a game at first. Fitting how the end of that story has Ataru and Lum dressed in clothes fitting of an old married couple. Ataru definitely gets some of his bad traits from his parents (mainly his mother) not to mention he has to endure them talk about how it'd be better off if they never had him, and never really sticking up for him in the earlier stories. His father was a little more supportive than his mother at times early on though. I wouldn't be surprised if Ataru early on in some way resented his parents a bit.
- I also don't dislike Mendou, and he filled his role well. He probably would have been worse if he had been portrayed as more of an equal or superior to Ataru in the same way Mitaka somewhat was to Godai early on. Mendou remaining vain, egotistical, and shallow and yet getting humiliated every step of the way makes him bearable because you can laugh at his expense.
- The episode where Lum shrinks also has at the beginning of the episode Ataru accidentally pressing his face to one side of Lum's chest, and Lum just responds by forcing Ataru to essentially motorboat her there. She was pretty happy doing that lol. Ataru's reply made it even funnier when he's all like "Lum! This in not the thing to be doing in public!" Like he's embarrassed about it, but wouldn't mind doing it if they were alone in his room lol. He also never said he didn't like it. Her look later on does improve tremendously.
- Ataru can't help it but to go into overdrive at the thought of some dude getting his woman. Love how Lum was trolling everyone by saying she needed to kiss Pigumo in private because she's "shy." Lol at her being shy. She would (and has) kiss Ataru in public if he either asked her to do so, or went in to do so. Hell, she's even made schemes to try and get him to kiss her. Yeah, she did hate the fact Mendou did that lol. She was absolutely disgusted with it. Just a big contrast is all. Takahashi had no problem allowing Mendou to kiss Lum, in the anime? Nah, nobody but Ataru. Legitimately laughed at Megane's moment there. Runs up to the top of the school, and then just drops when he's about to get what he wants. That whole OVA was hilarious to me. Ataru feeding Shinobu a heart and when she looks at him was hilarious. I also found it funny when Ataru tricked Lum by pretending to be serious. He can be real deceptive when he wants to be, despite being a terrible liar. Funniest part though was definitely Lum's lightning having it's own mind and chasing Ataru. Too bad Lum, you almost succeeded in getting Ataru's kiss. At least you can take pleasure in the fact you've gotten to kiss him multiple times.
- I love how Ten was just all "If you want I can just close my eyes." He obviously knew what Lum meant, and both him and Lum were pretty blunt too and completely fine with that happening. Hilarious that Ataru cared more about the futon itself than Lum essentially trying to coerce him to sleep with her. Yeah, she'd definitely happily get it on with Ataru had he asked. He was an idiot in that episode from the moment he thought she just went home without placing a tracer on him. What hammers it home was that he called her a simpleton, which really sells how out of the loop he really is.
- Don't ever try to make sense of UY time lol. Realistically, they should be like third years in college or something if the timeline placement made any sense lol. That story was great. The whole story in the anime and manga versions made it pretty ambiguous what Ataru had to say. Though as usual, this series (and really a staple of Takahashi's works lol) characters jump to conclusions and start overreacting. Like you had Shinobu hiring so many people just to get Ataru lol. Yeah, Lum did miss her chance to spend some quality time with Ataru, especially since he seemed like he was in one of his more easy going moods to be around him. Manga version was funnier with everyone wanting to audition for the role as new main character. Only person who had any merit for that was Lum who in many ways could be argued to be the main character. Her importance in the series is as great as Ataru's with the added effect of being far more well known and iconic than not only Ataru, but her entire series itself. Regardless though, even when I first got into the series, Ataru always came off as the main character to me. I'd argue the males in Takahashi's works are almost always the main characters in her works, only that the lead females also play just as important a role.
- I lol'd when Lum was taking rare hijinks like damage in that OVA. It's just so rare for Lum to take collateral damage that it comes off as funny. Only time I can remember that happening in the manga was when: 1) The Ataru clones ran her over leaving footprint marks on her, 2) When she tried feeding a sleeping Ataru the "Love" candy Sakura made, Ataru kicks her in the stomach, and 3) when she got Ataru to wear the true feelings shirt but she cranked it up so loud it sort of backfired on her.
- Yeah, the title of the last storyline pretty clearly portrays the overarching point of this series.
- An ultimatum of epic proportions. Oh Ataru, you and her girlfriend/fiance nearly dooming the earth over what was essentially the biggest lover's quarrel you two ever had. It was immature and got way out of hand, but completely necessary for Lum to know exactly how he felt, the Ataru Moroboshi way. I definitely preferred the manga version of that scene. Manga Ataru (due to all the constant progression of his character and his growing maturity) legitimately questions and berates himself for not being able to say. Had Lum not challenge him to this tag game, he probably would have eventually said it to get her back. Of course if he was traveling back to the World of Darkness, he'd need to tell her in a secluded area. Yeah it was pretty clear after Benten talked to Lum, the Memory Erasing Device wasn't really a punishment, but it was (initially) there to further force Ataru into a position where he had no choice but to admit he loved her. But you really see later on that she just isn't angry anymore and is just saddened and depressed by it. Yeah, it'd be pretty tragic. I was under the impression Lum wouldn't lose her memories, but Ataru (and everyone from earth) would lose theirs? If so, that in ways is even more tragic than if both were to have lost their memories. Imagine just being on your planet, not being able to get over the one you love the most, but not being able to be with him anymore. Probably doubles for Ataru in that he's a complete wreck if Lum is gone for too long.
- I'm impressed you found those pictures. Pretty hard to find stuff like that nowadays.
Twitter has become something like Facebook in that if you follow a person, similar suggestions pop up. I followed one person because apparently he's a UY fanatic and so is his wife and daughter. He has various figurines of Lum glued to the center console of his car and has Lum decals on the windows. He's also a pretty good artist and showcases what he draws so I figured what the heck, I'd follow him just because, Twitter suggests new people every other time I look at it that also like UY and Lum specifically. I decided to also to check out Pixiv, Chrome will auto-translate if you let it - bearing in mind some of it is literal and not 100% correct. Now I'll have to see what fans post there.
That's one of the best things about Lum, despite her world being way more advanced than ours (her bra seemingly holds not just her bust but all those gadgets as well and you never see them when she loses that bra), Earth is totally new to her and she approaches everything with wide-eyed innocence. Perhaps that clothing was her indication of where they would eventually be. And like you, I definitely say most of his bad traits come from his mother, but his initial meek attitude comes from his father. His mother is very quick to capitalize on anything she can manage to do so with, like Parent's Day at the school. Lum's mother vs. Mendou's mother with the roulette wheel, in which you can also tell Lum got all her traits from her mother except one - her height and arguably her temper, that is from both of them.
Mendou just seems to be the token jerk/rival. He tried so hard to compete, and portray himself as better simply because he's rich. He had to play the money card because Rei beat him in the 'Man is Face' card. In the manga he's got one thing over Ataru, he's taller, in the anime they're about equal.
Lum just craves his attention. At first it's a demand because as we know she considers him a possession, but that changes early on and she just wants his attention because she loves him. She wants to know she's physically desirable and attractive to him in addition to having his emotional love wich is totally understandable. Like when she questions him, rather pointedly, or in her case, shockingly/bitingly about why he looks at other women when he has someone that is willing right in front of him. I still maintain despite everything, she was/is a virgin, she's just way more forward. But in the bathhouse episode, I wonder how he would have reacted if he'd known that he was basically up against a naked Lum. Funny how the female nudity was featured now that I think of it. Benten, Lum, Kurama, Shinobu and Ran were featured in some way topless or at least revealed, but Oyuki and Sakura were not.
Yeah, Lum is about as shy as Cherry is cute lol. And Lum has done some elaborate schemes, like the love potion episode with Sakura and Shinobu which ended up being a lie potion. And definitely in the manga, Mendou was less tolerable to her than in the anime. If she had even a bit more of the attitude she had in the manga, Mendou would have been a crispy critter I bet. Don't forget Mendou's very pink and mutli-armed ugly sweater she knitted in someting like 8 seconds flat. He has his tearful moment and then Ataru slams a metal jar over him. But the lightning was great, especially when Ataru jumped behind Mendou and he took the brunt of the blast.
Well, he was expecting Shinobu to come over, and when Lum figured that out she was hilarious in her reaction. Threw everything at him that Ten gave her, including his desk chair which she even broke from her rant and said thank you for. Ataru's big mistake is he underestimates Lum. Give her enough time and she can shoot down any argument he makes and counter most any move he has. He assumes innocence is lack of intelligence and that has blown up on him several times. But still, Ataru has zero clue, he could have it all and he goes after what doesn't want him. And speaking of that rant, if you freeze frame it at the start, there's a very quick blurb from Lum "Shinobu can go to hell!" It's there for maybe a second and then it's back to the rant. Lum really did not like her at the beginning at all.
I noticed that lol. If the whole timeframe was only supposed to be within two years, they had extra summers in there because it seems like they had a number of seasons pass by. I know the anime didn't quite follow the story placement of the manga in how it jumped around, but that was some really awful timeline management there. The anime version just seemed, and I'll say it's because of my POV of the two, that he was having some settling down feelings there. But I can see where an argument could be made that he might have been wondering if he could get rid of her somehow, just that look on his face when she flew up was not one of being annoyed. And poor Megane, the one 'noble' deed he does and fights everyone to save Ataru because he thinks he'll get Lum in the deal. The manga version was great with everyone saying it should naturally be them, until Lum pretty much said it's about her. Initially it was supposed to be all about Ataru and different people he meets with Lum being just one of them, but the fans loved Lum so much Takahashi had to bring her back. Pretty sure the buck-toothed demon story is the only one in the manga that doesn't have Lum in it at all.
I think there was one other in the manga where she took some damage, when Ran invited her and Ataru over and the doll exploded leaving Lum's school uniform in tatters.
Boy meets Girl (and how he goes from Hate to Love).
I tend to think that the device would have affected all of them, even Lum from the way her father described it. Otherwise, why punish Benten and the other aliens and Lum gets to keep her memories? I agree that it was the ultimate ultimatum, tell me or you'll lose all your memories of me and the others, but Lum doesn't strike me as wanting to live with that pain. Using the device even in theory was more painful to her than anything else other than he wasn't saying what she wanted to hear. If she left herself with her memories, she could basically go back and start all over again with him and see if it works with a more 'mature' Ataru. Otherwise, I don't see Lum as being able to do it. She couldn't give up on him in Only You and she had way more reason to be angry with him there, he left Earth for a woman he couldn't even recall.
I did find the twitter feed today of the person that posted them, makes me wonder who they are because he said he had them in storage. Storyboard animations usually don't go up for sale unless there's some kind of auction or something like it. And in another showing of how popular UY is amongst people, apparently this remix of the original opening song hit this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDLCnKI-dIk - I'll admit, her lip syncing is not the best, but throw green hair and horns and a set of easy to wear fangs on her, she could likely be a pretty good live action Lum.
- Pixiv was fun just to see some of the drawings there. But it's as I said, always great to see a big UY fan nowadays. Few and far between.
- Probably was. This was still somewhat early, but by this point it was long before set in stone that Ataru and Lum was the power couple. Always found it funny how insignificant Ataru's parents (especially his father) became as the series progressed, but then late in the manga and anime, there's that random story about the wishing star that prominently features his parents (for the last time as well).
- The heights in the anime always fluctuated at times from what I saw. I remember some shots of Lum being taller than Ataru, them being the same height, or Ataru being a fair bit taller. I always pictured Mendou a bit taller than Ataru, so I like that more in the manga, and Ataru is a bit taller than Lum there. Sometimes the series makes Lum look like a giant compared to Shinobu. Lum's got those long legs.
- Yes, Lum's love for Ataru has evolved immensely, quite admirable really. She truly grows to love the jerk despite all his terrible qualities. I remember her getting on Ataru's case in one story in the manga as she bluntly just tells him that no other girl is willing to put up with Ataru but her. It's even funnier when I go back to the story where Ataru was tricked to go on that date with the girl so that the guys could humiliate him: She mentions to Ataru that there'd have to be something seriously wrong with a girl to go out with Ataru. I'm all "Oh Lum, you're no ordinary girl." But she found her soul mate through it all. She's one of a very small list of people to ever see the real Ataru (I think Sakura and Cherry are the only other two).
- That line was interesting and a legitimate one: Why chase after other women when there's a beautiful one willing to shower you with her affections all the time? Of course Ataru's reasoning pretty much boils down to: As a 17 year old boy, he doesn't want to "throw his youth away" (at least that's what it was initially). But later on it became obvious that it was much more than just wanting to throw his youth away (since he does have time, he's only 17), but that he fears committing to Lum (despite loving her dearly) as he knows that he'll have to tie the knot with her in that case. He takes advantage of her because of that, and it makes him a real scumbag at times. I don't at all condone what he does, but I do understand his side of this. It's one of the few things Lum could never fully understand about Ataru, on why he won't just commit to her. Most of the girls were indeed naked lol. I love how when the women found out the guys were there, Lum was all open to the idea of Ataru chilling with them.
- She can be quite manipulative when she wants to be (the Love potion was a good one, though her stunt in the last story trumps any of her previous acts). That is true. Anime Lum was definitely more tolerant and cutesy than her manga counterpart (though she was pretty damn cute there too the anime just played it up). Lum was a lot more blunt and less tolerant of some of the stupidity going around in the manga at times. Lol what really sold it was Onsen Mark snatching Mendou's heart and allowing the hilarity to ensue. Only downside was that provided the best way to prevent a kiss from Ataru and Lum once again lol. Lol I'm just remembering one scene in that OVA where Lum pretty much tells Ataru to wait up and he just asks her why would he wait. It had me laughing hard for some reason. Probably because in the context of the series, why would Lum think Ataru would wait?
- Even Lum can get her comical super strength moments on rare occasions. :hehe It does tend to bite him in the butt for underestimating her. Sure her naivety works for Ataru at first, but it tends to backfire on him. Too true, but if he did submit to what he really wants, there'd be no reason for these two to grow. Though given it's a Takahashi couple, I imagine it getting a lot of fans irritated at times with the style of how she approaches couples (usually one step forward and two steps back). No, Lum really didn't like her. Even when they were on slightly better terms and no longer blindly hated each other, Lum still goes out of her way to point out Shinobu's lack of "sex appeal."
- The timeframe is sort out of whack I don't even bother trying to make sense of it usually. It's a pretty big hassle considering they've gone through like summer and winter for a fact like 3-4 times. Who knows, he might have been ready to settle down. Megane's protection of Ataru was noble, but it's as I said, if you assume in a Takahashi story, you're very likely to end up not getting what you want in the end. Yeah, that was the only one she was absent from, Ataru himself has been absent from like 4-6 chapters. All the ones he's been absent from though made sense in the context that they usually were about Lum reminiscing the old times with her childhood friends. In the anime, both are only absent from 1 episode each.
- You're right about that. I'm also remembering (though she wasn't necessarily hurt), the story where Ran kidnaps Lum and clones her. Like I love how there's no explanation or reason of how Lum managed to do it. We just see Lum tied up and stuffed in a locker. Ran had all the makings of being a bigger villain in the story had she been pushed farther into that role. Of course any chance of that being a thing disappeared when we come across the stories of learning just how cold (no pun intended) Oyuki can really be. It's why Oyuki is so funny to me. She can be so unashamedly selfish and times that she's hilarious.
- Yeah, you're probably right. Just re-read that part. Pretty interesting for Benten to speak up about it, even going so far as to say she likes the people on earth (even though the only people she really interacts with on earth normally that are actually Human are Ataru and Ryuunosuke Still a nice moment for Benten. A few non-Ataru/Lum characters got some nice moments in the finale. Yeah, Lum definitely was faced with her own despair there when she got so desperate. She was so terrified of the thought of being forced to forget Ataru, that it pained her that he wouldn't say it. Lol Only You. Nobody believed Ataru when he claimed to not know Elle. Thinking about it, you'd think they would have at least given him the benefit of the doubt lol. Usually he'd jump at the chance of knowing a girl or something, but he had no reason to lie after all the punishment he took.
- I enjoyed the song that was being remixed. That was probably my favorite opening theme outside of Chance of Love.
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- Pixiv was fun just to see some of the drawings there. But it's as I said, always great to see a big UY fan nowadays. Few and far between.
- Probably was. This was still somewhat early, but by this point it was long before set in stone that Ataru and Lum was the power couple. Always found it funny how insignificant Ataru's parents (especially his father) became as the series progressed, but then late in the manga and anime, there's that random story about the wishing star that prominently features his parents (for the last time as well).
- The heights in the anime always fluctuated at times from what I saw. I remember some shots of Lum being taller than Ataru, them being the same height, or Ataru being a fair bit taller. I always pictured Mendou a bit taller than Ataru, so I like that more in the manga, and Ataru is a bit taller than Lum there. Sometimes the series makes Lum look like a giant compared to Shinobu. Lum's got those long legs.
- Yes, Lum's love for Ataru has evolved immensely, quite admirable really. She truly grows to love the jerk despite all his terrible qualities. I remember her getting on Ataru's case in one story in the manga as she bluntly just tells him that no other girl is willing to put up with Ataru but her. It's even funnier when I go back to the story where Ataru was tricked to go on that date with the girl so that the guys could humiliate him: She mentions to Ataru that there'd have to be something seriously wrong with a girl to go out with Ataru. I'm all "Oh Lum, you're no ordinary girl." But she found her soul mate through it all. She's one of a very small list of people to ever see the real Ataru (I think Sakura and Cherry are the only other two).
- That line was interesting and a legitimate one: Why chase after other women when there's a beautiful one willing to shower you with her affections all the time? Of course Ataru's reasoning pretty much boils down to: As a 17 year old boy, he doesn't want to "throw his youth away" (at least that's what it was initially). But later on it became obvious that it was much more than just wanting to throw his youth away (since he does have time, he's only 17), but that he fears committing to Lum (despite loving her dearly) as he knows that he'll have to tie the knot with her in that case. He takes advantage of her because of that, and it makes him a real scumbag at times. I don't at all condone what he does, but I do understand his side of this. It's one of the few things Lum could never fully understand about Ataru, on why he won't just commit to her. Most of the girls were indeed naked lol. I love how when the women found out the guys were there, Lum was all open to the idea of Ataru chilling with them.
- She can be quite manipulative when she wants to be (the Love potion was a good one, though her stunt in the last story trumps any of her previous acts). That is true. Anime Lum was definitely more tolerant and cutesy than her manga counterpart (though she was pretty damn cute there too the anime just played it up). Lum was a lot more blunt and less tolerant of some of the stupidity going around in the manga at times. Lol what really sold it was Onsen Mark snatching Mendou's heart and allowing the hilarity to ensue. Only downside was that provided the best way to prevent a kiss from Ataru and Lum once again lol. Lol I'm just remembering one scene in that OVA where Lum pretty much tells Ataru to wait up and he just asks her why would he wait. It had me laughing hard for some reason. Probably because in the context of the series, why would Lum think Ataru would wait?
- Even Lum can get her comical super strength moments on rare occasions. :hehe It does tend to bite him in the butt for underestimating her. Sure her naivety works for Ataru at first, but it tends to backfire on him. Too true, but if he did submit to what he really wants, there'd be no reason for these two to grow. Though given it's a Takahashi couple, I imagine it getting a lot of fans irritated at times with the style of how she approaches couples (usually one step forward and two steps back). No, Lum really didn't like her. Even when they were on slightly better terms and no longer blindly hated each other, Lum still goes out of her way to point out Shinobu's lack of "sex appeal."
- The timeframe is sort out of whack I don't even bother trying to make sense of it usually. It's a pretty big hassle considering they've gone through like summer and winter for a fact like 3-4 times. Who knows, he might have been ready to settle down. Megane's protection of Ataru was noble, but it's as I said, if you assume in a Takahashi story, you're very likely to end up not getting what you want in the end. Yeah, that was the only one she was absent from, Ataru himself has been absent from like 4-6 chapters. All the ones he's been absent from though made sense in the context that they usually were about Lum reminiscing the old times with her childhood friends. In the anime, both are only absent from 1 episode each.
- You're right about that. I'm also remembering (though she wasn't necessarily hurt), the story where Ran kidnaps Lum and clones her. Like I love how there's no explanation or reason of how Lum managed to do it. We just see Lum tied up and stuffed in a locker. Ran had all the makings of being a bigger villain in the story had she been pushed farther into that role. Of course any chance of that being a thing disappeared when we come across the stories of learning just how cold (no pun intended) Oyuki can really be. It's why Oyuki is so funny to me. She can be so unashamedly selfish and times that she's hilarious.
- Yeah, you're probably right. Just re-read that part. Pretty interesting for Benten to speak up about it, even going so far as to say she likes the people on earth (even though the only people she really interacts with on earth normally that are actually Human are Ataru and Ryuunosuke Still a nice moment for Benten. A few non-Ataru/Lum characters got some nice moments in the finale. Yeah, Lum definitely was faced with her own despair there when she got so desperate. She was so terrified of the thought of being forced to forget Ataru, that it pained her that he wouldn't say it. Lol Only You. Nobody believed Ataru when he claimed to not know Elle. Thinking about it, you'd think they would have at least given him the benefit of the doubt lol. Usually he'd jump at the chance of knowing a girl or something, but he had no reason to lie after all the punishment he took.
- I enjoyed the song that was being remixed. That was probably my favorite opening theme outside of Chance of Love.
I like to see fanart because while there's always someone that has to draw images in the more exaggerated methods of Hentai and such, there's those people who remain the purists and draw a character as they were portrayed at the time. I think I would have liked to see the Lum from the final design she had in the manga as an anime version, there was something about that rendition that was very pleasing to look at. Simple, yet still Lum in all her glory.
I can't say I missed his mother too much as time went along. She just struck me as someone that was bitter to a point, and felt like she was entitled to or better yet, deserved more. The episode where she was looking at Ataru's baby pictures was a sharp contrast to her usual showings though, because she clearly seemed to actually be nicer in her attitude with Ataru. The scene in The Final Chapter where they're discussing Lum was nice though. As usual, his father has his face behind a newspaper while she's talking about Ataru and Lum and why he can't say it to her and she basically gives her approval of Lum being in his life forever and he just just gives his assent.
If the Inaba OVA is any indication of things, I think they settled with their versions on the height issues, I'll post a screencap too. I did notice that the models used for her parents in that OVA were pretty much the same as in Final Chapter. Lum's father went through the most drastic height change I think of anyone. He was enormous in the first episode and they really shrank him by the end. And Lum does seem to define that 'endless legs' scenario at times doesn't she? Endless legs on someone that ideally is usually shorter than the main character.
(https://s6.postimg.org/d6l130ivx/20170808-130426.png) (https://postimg.org/image/d6l130ivx/)
Edit: Lum's mother used to be much taller too, taller than both Ataru or Lum, one can argue that they both grew a little since her mother's first appearance, but that's a heck of a late teen growth spurt then for them both. Lum's mother was like a full head taller if memory serves.
The funny thing with her love for him is she never really explains it. She apparently gushes to her friends how much she loves him, but we never hear it or her reasons why. She just loves him, to the point of fanaticism in fact, but she's not wrong, no other girl would put up with him, not his old self anyways. The Ataru we see in the last story is definitely much changed, but by then it doesn't matter, everything he did in that story was for Lum and no one else. Given he's been friends with Shinobu and the Stormtroopers since they were little and he still would have doomed the Earth rather than lie to Lum or make her even think she had a reason to doubt him, that's a very serious character change. And what's funny is she thinks she's completely ordinary too, the manga story where she disguised herself as a student she flat out said it to Mendou. I can't say I know any girls myself with horns, can shoot lightning or fly and has fangs and uses them to bite like she does. I think if I did I would be dead, so my thought is she considers herself ordinary in terms of other Oni.
Ataru defines the idea of being blind to what's right in front of you. Likely he envisions women as being a buffet and he wants to try as many dishes as he can, the only problem is all the dishes but one don't want to be sampled. He went from not wanting to throw away the Springtime of his Youth to fearing commitment, to accepting it after seeing what the outcome would be like. That Inaba story I consider to be when he woke up and saw that commitment wasn't so bad, it just took seeing a Lum that's all smiles and crying from being happy to seal the deal. I think in addition to Cherry and Sakura, Shinobu saw it too though, if anyone else ever did, they turned a blind eye to it.
Nothing Lum could do would ever trump the last story, she played the whole deck of cards all at once with that and she pretty much won. She got her proof and nothing Ataru can say or do will change that, unless he really goes against his overall character and I doubt that would happen. That whole sequence with Onsen Mark was hilarious, he grabs it and then "Sensai...." and the look on Onsen Mark's face was priceless. But sure Lum, Ataru will just stop so you can electrocute him, that'd happen the same day I think as Shinobu willingly kisses Soban lol.
Takahashi and couples, it makes me shudder. My girlfriend has started watching this now, she used to sneak watching over my shoulder but since I networked our computers she's been watching the episodes from my drive where I have all my downloaded subbed episodes, OVAs and movies, she's been watching either from her phone or her computer. Of course, she's going way out of order, OVAs and now movies, but she watched my subbed version of Final Chapter and got annoyed all over again (InuYasha didn't end to her satisfaction) and all I could say is I warned her. Hell, everything after UY had arguably more resolved relationship issues than UY did, she can count herself lucky. She just looked at me though and said "Really, him holding her horns is all we get?" and all I could say is that and a last minute kiss in the last TV episode.
We could say that a year has 2 of each season, but otherwise, it is the most skewed timeframe I think I've ever seen. I had to laugh though when we saw Megane post fight and he was barely alive. But I have to say only Lum/Shinobu/Ran got what they wanted I think in the end of it all. Lum more or less has Ataru, Shinobu has Inaba and Ran has Rei (doorprize maybe there). I mean, yeah Sakura has Tsubame, but only was a factor early on and then one last time in the OVA Date with a Spirit. The stories that didn't have Ataru in them were good though, the one without Lum was alright, but that one in the Manga without Lum was kind of boring. I preferred the anime version and that Lum was horrified by that little devil.
The Ran vs. Lum stories were good, even when it was it wasn't really Ran trying to drain Ataru, like the cupcake episode. I liked how when Ataru ate it, he went from being goofy looking to serious and handsome as the cupcake took effect. That might have been the most heartbroken Lum ever was when she thought Ataru had died. And I think the only time Oyuki showed any warmth was her first appearance with the 'And things were going so well' comment that threw Lum completely off. Here she is calling Ataru 'Lum's husband' and Shinobu his mistress and then she didn't at all mind his 'attention'. Makes me think all alien men are just crap and the earthmen are where it's at. But Oyuki is very subtle with her moods, if she starts a speech though, run.
Aside from Ran enrolling in the school, Benten's had the most screen time of the other aliens. I give her the credit for making Lum fight to keep her man in Only You and she's the closest to Lum in overall mood and temper. She was hilarious in the Sherbet OVA and I never knew she had such a head of hair either until that one cone shot from the bird. But damn, when it pegged her brand new bike and she went ballistic, she'd give Lum a run for her money with that temper. And because it's always funny to say how much Mendou is the patsy, I liked where her bike creamed him when he was spouting his nonsense to the bird after it flew off. I liked what happened in the finale right after Lum grabbed Ataru and hugged him, when everyone was watching. They're all happy, Sakura makes her comment as Shinobu is wiping a tear from her eye, and then the device falls from the skies. Just the looks on everyone's faces from smile to 'Uh oh...' and then half the group gets flattened. And yeah, no one gave Ataru credit for him not knowing Elle, heck he still couldn't really rightly remember her even when they were talking, but she was attractive and that was a planet of women so in his mind, instant harem.
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- Pixiv was fun just to see some of the drawings there. But it's as I said, always great to see a big UY fan nowadays. Few and far between.
- Probably was. This was still somewhat early, but by this point it was long before set in stone that Ataru and Lum was the power couple. Always found it funny how insignificant Ataru's parents (especially his father) became as the series progressed, but then late in the manga and anime, there's that random story about the wishing star that prominently features his parents (for the last time as well).
- The heights in the anime always fluctuated at times from what I saw. I remember some shots of Lum being taller than Ataru, them being the same height, or Ataru being a fair bit taller. I always pictured Mendou a bit taller than Ataru, so I like that more in the manga, and Ataru is a bit taller than Lum there. Sometimes the series makes Lum look like a giant compared to Shinobu. Lum's got those long legs.
- Yes, Lum's love for Ataru has evolved immensely, quite admirable really. She truly grows to love the jerk despite all his terrible qualities. I remember her getting on Ataru's case in one story in the manga as she bluntly just tells him that no other girl is willing to put up with Ataru but her. It's even funnier when I go back to the story where Ataru was tricked to go on that date with the girl so that the guys could humiliate him: She mentions to Ataru that there'd have to be something seriously wrong with a girl to go out with Ataru. I'm all "Oh Lum, you're no ordinary girl." But she found her soul mate through it all. She's one of a very small list of people to ever see the real Ataru (I think Sakura and Cherry are the only other two).
- That line was interesting and a legitimate one: Why chase after other women when there's a beautiful one willing to shower you with her affections all the time? Of course Ataru's reasoning pretty much boils down to: As a 17 year old boy, he doesn't want to "throw his youth away" (at least that's what it was initially). But later on it became obvious that it was much more than just wanting to throw his youth away (since he does have time, he's only 17), but that he fears committing to Lum (despite loving her dearly) as he knows that he'll have to tie the knot with her in that case. He takes advantage of her because of that, and it makes him a real scumbag at times. I don't at all condone what he does, but I do understand his side of this. It's one of the few things Lum could never fully understand about Ataru, on why he won't just commit to her. Most of the girls were indeed naked lol. I love how when the women found out the guys were there, Lum was all open to the idea of Ataru chilling with them.
- She can be quite manipulative when she wants to be (the Love potion was a good one, though her stunt in the last story trumps any of her previous acts). That is true. Anime Lum was definitely more tolerant and cutesy than her manga counterpart (though she was pretty damn cute there too the anime just played it up). Lum was a lot more blunt and less tolerant of some of the stupidity going around in the manga at times. Lol what really sold it was Onsen Mark snatching Mendou's heart and allowing the hilarity to ensue. Only downside was that provided the best way to prevent a kiss from Ataru and Lum once again lol. Lol I'm just remembering one scene in that OVA where Lum pretty much tells Ataru to wait up and he just asks her why would he wait. It had me laughing hard for some reason. Probably because in the context of the series, why would Lum think Ataru would wait?
- Even Lum can get her comical super strength moments on rare occasions. :hehe It does tend to bite him in the butt for underestimating her. Sure her naivety works for Ataru at first, but it tends to backfire on him. Too true, but if he did submit to what he really wants, there'd be no reason for these two to grow. Though given it's a Takahashi couple, I imagine it getting a lot of fans irritated at times with the style of how she approaches couples (usually one step forward and two steps back). No, Lum really didn't like her. Even when they were on slightly better terms and no longer blindly hated each other, Lum still goes out of her way to point out Shinobu's lack of "sex appeal."
- The timeframe is sort out of whack I don't even bother trying to make sense of it usually. It's a pretty big hassle considering they've gone through like summer and winter for a fact like 3-4 times. Who knows, he might have been ready to settle down. Megane's protection of Ataru was noble, but it's as I said, if you assume in a Takahashi story, you're very likely to end up not getting what you want in the end. Yeah, that was the only one she was absent from, Ataru himself has been absent from like 4-6 chapters. All the ones he's been absent from though made sense in the context that they usually were about Lum reminiscing the old times with her childhood friends. In the anime, both are only absent from 1 episode each.
- You're right about that. I'm also remembering (though she wasn't necessarily hurt), the story where Ran kidnaps Lum and clones her. Like I love how there's no explanation or reason of how Lum managed to do it. We just see Lum tied up and stuffed in a locker. Ran had all the makings of being a bigger villain in the story had she been pushed farther into that role. Of course any chance of that being a thing disappeared when we come across the stories of learning just how cold (no pun intended) Oyuki can really be. It's why Oyuki is so funny to me. She can be so unashamedly selfish and times that she's hilarious.
- Yeah, you're probably right. Just re-read that part. Pretty interesting for Benten to speak up about it, even going so far as to say she likes the people on earth (even though the only people she really interacts with on earth normally that are actually Human are Ataru and Ryuunosuke Still a nice moment for Benten. A few non-Ataru/Lum characters got some nice moments in the finale. Yeah, Lum definitely was faced with her own despair there when she got so desperate. She was so terrified of the thought of being forced to forget Ataru, that it pained her that he wouldn't say it. Lol Only You. Nobody believed Ataru when he claimed to not know Elle. Thinking about it, you'd think they would have at least given him the benefit of the doubt lol. Usually he'd jump at the chance of knowing a girl or something, but he had no reason to lie after all the punishment he took.
- I enjoyed the song that was being remixed. That was probably my favorite opening theme outside of Chance of Love.
I like to see fanart because while there's always someone that has to draw images in the more exaggerated methods of Hentai and such, there's those people who remain the purists and draw a character as they were portrayed at the time. I think I would have liked to see the Lum from the final design she had in the manga as an anime version, there was something about that rendition that was very pleasing to look at. Simple, yet still Lum in all her glory.
I can't say I missed his mother too much as time went along. She just struck me as someone that was bitter to a point, and felt like she was entitled to or better yet, deserved more. The episode where she was looking at Ataru's baby pictures was a sharp contrast to her usual showings though, because she clearly seemed to actually be nicer in her attitude with Ataru. The scene in The Final Chapter where they're discussing Lum was nice though. As usual, his father has his face behind a newspaper while she's talking about Ataru and Lum and why he can't say it to her and she basically gives her approval of Lum being in his life forever and he just just gives his assent.
If the Inaba OVA is any indication of things, I think they settled with their versions on the height issues, I'll post a screencap too. I did notice that the models used for her parents in that OVA were pretty much the same as in Final Chapter. Lum's father went through the most drastic height change I think of anyone. He was enormous in the first episode and they really shrank him by the end. And Lum does seem to define that 'endless legs' scenario at times doesn't she? Endless legs on someone that ideally is usually shorter than the main character.
(https://s6.postimg.org/d6l130ivx/20170808-130426.png) (https://postimg.org/image/d6l130ivx/)
Edit: Lum's mother used to be much taller too, taller than both Ataru or Lum, one can argue that they both grew a little since her mother's first appearance, but that's a heck of a late teen growth spurt then for them both. Lum's mother was like a full head taller if memory serves.
The funny thing with her love for him is she never really explains it. She apparently gushes to her friends how much she loves him, but we never hear it or her reasons why. She just loves him, to the point of fanaticism in fact, but she's not wrong, no other girl would put up with him, not his old self anyways. The Ataru we see in the last story is definitely much changed, but by then it doesn't matter, everything he did in that story was for Lum and no one else. Given he's been friends with Shinobu and the Stormtroopers since they were little and he still would have doomed the Earth rather than lie to Lum or make her even think she had a reason to doubt him, that's a very serious character change. And what's funny is she thinks she's completely ordinary too, the manga story where she disguised herself as a student she flat out said it to Mendou. I can't say I know any girls myself with horns, can shoot lightning or fly and has fangs and uses them to bite like she does. I think if I did I would be dead, so my thought is she considers herself ordinary in terms of other Oni.
Ataru defines the idea of being blind to what's right in front of you. Likely he envisions women as being a buffet and he wants to try as many dishes as he can, the only problem is all the dishes but one don't want to be sampled. He went from not wanting to throw away the Springtime of his Youth to fearing commitment, to accepting it after seeing what the outcome would be like. That Inaba story I consider to be when he woke up and saw that commitment wasn't so bad, it just took seeing a Lum that's all smiles and crying from being happy to seal the deal. I think in addition to Cherry and Sakura, Shinobu saw it too though, if anyone else ever did, they turned a blind eye to it.
Nothing Lum could do would ever trump the last story, she played the whole deck of cards all at once with that and she pretty much won. She got her proof and nothing Ataru can say or do will change that, unless he really goes against his overall character and I doubt that would happen. That whole sequence with Onsen Mark was hilarious, he grabs it and then "Sensai...." and the look on Onsen Mark's face was priceless. But sure Lum, Ataru will just stop so you can electrocute him, that'd happen the same day I think as Shinobu willingly kisses Soban lol.
Takahashi and couples, it makes me shudder. My girlfriend has started watching this now, she used to sneak watching over my shoulder but since I networked our computers she's been watching the episodes from my drive where I have all my downloaded subbed episodes, OVAs and movies, she's been watching either from her phone or her computer. Of course, she's going way out of order, OVAs and now movies, but she watched my subbed version of Final Chapter and got annoyed all over again (InuYasha didn't end to her satisfaction) and all I could say is I warned her. Hell, everything after UY had arguably more resolved relationship issues than UY did, she can count herself lucky. She just looked at me though and said "Really, him holding her horns is all we get?" and all I could say is that and a last minute kiss in the last TV episode.
We could say that a year has 2 of each season, but otherwise, it is the most skewed timeframe I think I've ever seen. I had to laugh though when we saw Megane post fight and he was barely alive. But I have to say only Lum/Shinobu/Ran got what they wanted I think in the end of it all. Lum more or less has Ataru, Shinobu has Inaba and Ran has Rei (doorprize maybe there). I mean, yeah Sakura has Tsubame, but only was a factor early on and then one last time in the OVA Date with a Spirit. The stories that didn't have Ataru in them were good though, the one without Lum was alright, but that one in the Manga without Lum was kind of boring. I preferred the anime version and that Lum was horrified by that little devil.
The Ran vs. Lum stories were good, even when it was it wasn't really Ran trying to drain Ataru, like the cupcake episode. I liked how when Ataru ate it, he went from being goofy looking to serious and handsome as the cupcake took effect. That might have been the most heartbroken Lum ever was when she thought Ataru had died. And I think the only time Oyuki showed any warmth was her first appearance with the 'And things were going so well' comment that threw Lum completely off. Here she is calling Ataru 'Lum's husband' and Shinobu his mistress and then she didn't at all mind his 'attention'. Makes me think all alien men are just crap and the earthmen are where it's at. But Oyuki is very subtle with her moods, if she starts a speech though, run.
Aside from Ran enrolling in the school, Benten's had the most screen time of the other aliens. I give her the credit for making Lum fight to keep her man in Only You and she's the closest to Lum in overall mood and temper. She was hilarious in the Sherbet OVA and I never knew she had such a head of hair either until that one cone shot from the bird. But damn, when it pegged her brand new bike and she went ballistic, she'd give Lum a run for her money with that temper. And because it's always funny to say how much Mendou is the patsy, I liked where her bike creamed him when he was spouting his nonsense to the bird after it flew off. I liked what happened in the finale right after Lum grabbed Ataru and hugged him, when everyone was watching. They're all happy, Sakura makes her comment as Shinobu is wiping a tear from her eye, and then the device falls from the skies. Just the looks on everyone's faces from smile to 'Uh oh...' and then half the group gets flattened. And yeah, no one gave Ataru credit for him not knowing Elle, heck he still couldn't really rightly remember her even when they were talking, but she was attractive and that was a planet of women so in his mind, instant harem.
- I agree about that. Characters are only at their best when captured in the style of how they actually look like. Though I've seen quite a lot of nice pics of the UY characters in artists own styles. Must say, some of the ones I've seen have done a real nice job with it.
- His dad always tried hiding behind the newspapers. He definitely didn't want to get involved in anything if he could help it. His parents were never that important to begin with, even less important than the Stormtroopers, whose roles increased drastically compared to the manga where they just disappeared around the time Mendou showed up. Always wondered why.
- The best part of that entire pic when comparing heights is that Ataru and Lum's mother are both the same height and a bit taller than Lum herself. The other funny part is that they gave Kakugari Onsen-Mark's complexion. I'll never forget when first watching that OVA how it had both Mujaki and the smaller Lum both present at that wedding even though that doesn't make sense. Yeah, Lum's mother was taller than Ataru initially, but this depicts the two at the same height. Ataru and Lum in that picture are likely in their early twenties. They'd still have some room to grow.
- It'll always remain somewhat unclear why does Lum love Ataru. We know a few reasons, but we're never really told from her directly just why. Guess to Lum it isn't important on the why. She doesn't dwell on why, and doesn't really understand why others are so insistent on wanting to know why. All they need to know is she loves him. End of story. He wouldn't have gone that far for anyone but Lum. It's pretty clear long before the series ends Ataru and Lum care more about each other than they do anybody else. Well she's just like her mother, so it isn't farfetched to assume she isn't all that different from the norm of other Oni. If anything, Rei might be the oddball Oni.
- You can't stop his quest for fulfilling his youthful days! He must ask out every girl he can, even try and flirt with a girl by telling her how rain happens lol. Ataru probably prefers people turning a blind eye to his more noble side. The trick is in this series is most people believe the Ataru they normally see to be the "Real Ataru" while the more kind-hearted and noble Ataru is just "an act." Ataru doesn't do a damn thing to tell people otherwise, despite knowing himself he's capable of being a nice person. Ataru prefers people thinking his real self is an act cause it keeps people guessing, and it's how he tends to surprise people and prove them wrong (something he loves doing). Lum is however the only one who sees through his own act and realizes just how good of a person he really is deep inside (probably even more so than Ataru himself).
- Can't beat someone who chooses the game to play, has flight advantage, has complete knowledge of you, and sets up a countermeasure in case she doesn't get what she wants. Despite how desperate she was in her efforts, I give her props for going that far just to confirm if Ataru genuinely felt the same way about her as she does for him, especially since Ataru didn't exactly make it obvious he loved her when he told her hated her instead of just saying he loved her and would have ended this whole conflict back in the spaceship. Onsen always gets the short end lol. He rarely ever gets the last laugh. I mean the best he managed against Ataru was a draw, and even then, Ataru goes on to clown him several times later anyway. Well, it was worth a shot lol. Give him a chance to stop before she brought out the heavy artillery.
- Lol, she should have known what she was getting herself into. You're right, UY is a bigger offender of how Takahashi resolves her relationships more so than her others. Like Ranma and Akane ended the most similarly to Ataru and Lum, but even Ranma got out a "I love you" to Akane. Hell, Akane even heard him say it too. If your GF wants to see a Takahashi couple truly and completely be complete, Maison Ikkoku is really anybody's best bet at it. MI was a good read.
- The little Devil in general was pretty creepy in both versions. Kinda glad it only appeared once. The biggest crime to me will always be Ryuunosuke not even getting anything close to a resolution for her story. Like some fans may be upset by how Ataru and Lum's relationship was resolved, but I was more irked by Ryuunosuke's. She's one of my favorites, but she was never really allowed to get a "win." She never find out who her mother was, and was never really able to truly embrace her feminine side for more than maybe a few short minutes.
- I do like how they sort of resolved the conflict between the two when Lum went to Ran's house to take care of her when she got sick. The story pretty much ends with Ran realizing that Lum doesn't purposely try to ruin things, it just happens as a byproduct of Lum just trying to help Ran out. Ran just sort of rolled with it. Lol, Benten purposely trying to get Oyuki pissed off just to see how she'd get back at Ran. Ran would fight it out with Lum and even Benten (even kissed Benten to try and steal her youth), but Oyuki? She's packing it in and running for the hills. It really makes you realize that from a first glance, Oyuki may be the nicest of Lum's three childhood friends, but when you get down to it, Benten is probably the nicest of the three.
- That scene was pretty funny in Only You when Megane was talking to Ataru about life on that new planet. Ataru just talks and acts like a villain that it has me laughing pretty hard. He tells Megane how he can pretty much be his subordinate and take pleasure in that and Megane then grovels at Ataru's feet afterwards. Then Ataru just starts laughing maniacally. Benten can get pretty serious when she really needs to be. Yeah, I was surprised to see she has that much hair. She too like Lum has a pair of very long legs.
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- I agree about that. Characters are only at their best when captured in the style of how they actually look like. Though I've seen quite a lot of nice pics of the UY characters in artists own styles. Must say, some of the ones I've seen have done a real nice job with it.
- His dad always tried hiding behind the newspapers. He definitely didn't want to get involved in anything if he could help it. His parents were never that important to begin with, even less important than the Stormtroopers, whose roles increased drastically compared to the manga where they just disappeared around the time Mendou showed up. Always wondered why.
- The best part of that entire pic when comparing heights is that Ataru and Lum's mother are both the same height and a bit taller than Lum herself. The other funny part is that they gave Kakugari Onsen-Mark's complexion. I'll never forget when first watching that OVA how it had both Mujaki and the smaller Lum both present at that wedding even though that doesn't make sense. Yeah, Lum's mother was taller than Ataru initially, but this depicts the two at the same height. Ataru and Lum in that picture are likely in their early twenties. They'd still have some room to grow.
- It'll always remain somewhat unclear why does Lum love Ataru. We know a few reasons, but we're never really told from her directly just why. Guess to Lum it isn't important on the why. She doesn't dwell on why, and doesn't really understand why others are so insistent on wanting to know why. All they need to know is she loves him. End of story. He wouldn't have gone that far for anyone but Lum. It's pretty clear long before the series ends Ataru and Lum care more about each other than they do anybody else. Well she's just like her mother, so it isn't farfetched to assume she isn't all that different from the norm of other Oni. If anything, Rei might be the oddball Oni.
- You can't stop his quest for fulfilling his youthful days! He must ask out every girl he can, even try and flirt with a girl by telling her how rain happens lol. Ataru probably prefers people turning a blind eye to his more noble side. The trick is in this series is most people believe the Ataru they normally see to be the "Real Ataru" while the more kind-hearted and noble Ataru is just "an act." Ataru doesn't do a damn thing to tell people otherwise, despite knowing himself he's capable of being a nice person. Ataru prefers people thinking his real self is an act cause it keeps people guessing, and it's how he tends to surprise people and prove them wrong (something he loves doing). Lum is however the only one who sees through his own act and realizes just how good of a person he really is deep inside (probably even more so than Ataru himself).
- Can't beat someone who chooses the game to play, has flight advantage, has complete knowledge of you, and sets up a countermeasure in case she doesn't get what she wants. Despite how desperate she was in her efforts, I give her props for going that far just to confirm if Ataru genuinely felt the same way about her as she does for him, especially since Ataru didn't exactly make it obvious he loved her when he told her hated her instead of just saying he loved her and would have ended this whole conflict back in the spaceship. Onsen always gets the short end lol. He rarely ever gets the last laugh. I mean the best he managed against Ataru was a draw, and even then, Ataru goes on to clown him several times later anyway. Well, it was worth a shot lol. Give him a chance to stop before she brought out the heavy artillery.
- Lol, she should have known what she was getting herself into. You're right, UY is a bigger offender of how Takahashi resolves her relationships more so than her others. Like Ranma and Akane ended the most similarly to Ataru and Lum, but even Ranma got out a "I love you" to Akane. Hell, Akane even heard him say it too. If your GF wants to see a Takahashi couple truly and completely be complete, Maison Ikkoku is really anybody's best bet at it. MI was a good read.
- The little Devil in general was pretty creepy in both versions. Kinda glad it only appeared once. The biggest crime to me will always be Ryuunosuke not even getting anything close to a resolution for her story. Like some fans may be upset by how Ataru and Lum's relationship was resolved, but I was more irked by Ryuunosuke's. She's one of my favorites, but she was never really allowed to get a "win." She never find out who her mother was, and was never really able to truly embrace her feminine side for more than maybe a few short minutes.
- I do like how they sort of resolved the conflict between the two when Lum went to Ran's house to take care of her when she got sick. The story pretty much ends with Ran realizing that Lum doesn't purposely try to ruin things, it just happens as a byproduct of Lum just trying to help Ran out. Ran just sort of rolled with it. Lol, Benten purposely trying to get Oyuki pissed off just to see how she'd get back at Ran. Ran would fight it out with Lum and even Benten (even kissed Benten to try and steal her youth), but Oyuki? She's packing it in and running for the hills. It really makes you realize that from a first glance, Oyuki may be the nicest of Lum's three childhood friends, but when you get down to it, Benten is probably the nicest of the three.
- That scene was pretty funny in Only You when Megane was talking to Ataru about life on that new planet. Ataru just talks and acts like a villain that it has me laughing pretty hard. He tells Megane how he can pretty much be his subordinate and take pleasure in that and Megane then grovels at Ataru's feet afterwards. Then Ataru just starts laughing maniacally. Benten can get pretty serious when she really needs to be. Yeah, I was surprised to see she has that much hair. She too like Lum has a pair of very long legs.
Oh I agree with you there, such as the artist Genta who has a section here for his artwork, his version of Ataru and Lum are great and the daughter that he created for them is adorable (since she pretty much looks like a Mini Lum). It's when I see a Lum drawing and the bust defies description as well as gravity that I get a little weary of the boundaries of fan art.
I think the only time his dad actually was helpful was the Love Triangle episode when he gave Ataru the rubber raincoat so he could brave going out to see Shinobu. Of course, it was in tatters not just moments later so it may not have been the best item to give him. Score another for Ataru's strength too as when Cherry tried to kill him (let's face it, Cherry DID try), Ataru tried to return the favor with a piece of lightpole. I think basically his parents were phased out because of not being used. The later stories just were at school or odd locations, pretty much once Lum came along he almost didn't need his parents anymore.
They usually use things like this for a who's who retrospective. When UY 3 came out they used Ruu and Lahla as passersby in the street when Lum was out doing something. In UY 6 they used practically everyone as witnesses to the battle between Mendou's forces and Lupica's ship. But yeah, Ataru and Lum's mother are the same height, so either he had one big growth spurt or they shrunk the parents. The complexion mess up though I wondered about, that was a bit odd since Kakugari was pretty pale in the TV series compared to that. I still wonder why they never showed Ataru's face, they did for Lum finally with the wedding, but never once for Ataru.
The whole why she loves him though frustrates everyone else though. It makes me wonder if at the end of the day when Mendou and Megane go home if they cry into their pillows at night. I mean, Megane's room is pretty creepy all things considered, and with Mendou he seems to want to own her like a possession more than have her as a person. And I do find it interesting that all the times we did see other Oni, we always saw men and we've never had more than three women; Lum, her mother and her aunt.
We can't, but Lum will sure as hell try and she just about did too. All the times she ran interference; dragged him off, dropped enough lightning on him to power a small town, used mallets, etc. Still, I give him credit for trying though, it's why Mendou's father said he's more persistant than his own son. The only time he stops in his tracks is of course, for Lum. Admittedly he did stop in the Manga when it came to Shinobu because of Inaba; really is a shame Love and Valor wasn't adapted. But overall, the real Ataru is likely the most capable male in the show, he becomes the instant leader and suddenly everyone just follows him - like when Rei invaded for everyone's lunches or for Lum's reunion - both times Mendou fell apart and Ataru was right there to step up. Not bad for a kid whose mother kept saying she should never have had him.
I would say for once she effectively completely cornered him in every respect. But she's had all that skewed time to think about all of his tricks and antics, for once she was on complete offense and no defense. I'm just still amazed that after all the time they were together, they actually have had worse misunderstandings. Part of me was like "C'Mon Lum, he went all that way to get you back, and you can sit and think he doesn't love you? He jumped out of his kimono when you were falling." But when they're angry forget it, all reason goes right out the window and that likely might have been the single craziest stunt Ataru ever pulled, hands down. I'm actually kind of surprised none of the others ever said anything to him about that. I do feel bad for Onsen though at times, the only reason he puts up with any of it is because he loves Sakura. (I still laugh when I hear Tsubame's name, since it means swallow)
Edit: She started watching the episodes, and made a face about the artwork so I had to remind her this started way earlier than the last few movies. She watched the first 10 of them since she had off from work today, she likes the chaos of the episodes and she already thinks Rei is annoying. I told her to wait until she gets to Mendou, but I did tell her she can watch a 'perfect' ending to an RT story, since I have all the Maison Episodes on the same drive(s) that I have all my UY stuff on. When I didn't think I could get the Blurays, I had everything on a storage drive, then backed it all up on a second storage drive and also a portable one too. That's my only subbed versions since the Blurays are all JP only.
Between the two versions, I like Ataru's reactions to it in the Manga better. Who knew Ataru could throw knives the way he does? For a kid that's supposedly a klutz and all these other bad things, he's surprisingly very adept. I know it's anime and as such, there's in most all cases the hidden abilities, but he had counters for most everything except Oyuki's ice and Lum's lightning. If someone said to me that Takahashi didn't intend for him to be 100% human, I wouldn't doubt it for a moment. But yeah, of all the women in the show/manga, Ryuunosuke got nothing in the end except more of the same. A pain in the ass father and she still wore the chest wrap, and speaking of her father, he bears a lot of resemblance to the father of the girl haunted by the rain demon, even has the same seiyū. I guess at least she has a brawl buddy in Benten.
Lum in her way is just as klutzy as Ataru, it just comes out differently. When she helps, things go wrong and when she cooks, you might as well order take out. Or when she goes to make Ataru a treat and she turns him into a wolf. Ran has different reasons to be afraid of the other three girls though, Lum is nearly as sweet acting and has her own nuclear temper, Benten can go from zero to ticked off and grab her own ordinance in blink, but Oyuki...there's no warning, nothing. Unless you listen to her carefully, you have no idea when she's angry at all. But Benten is definitely an opportunist, she played Ataru pretty well that first Setsuban and got the win for the Lucky Gods because she knew Lum would have fit.
I liked how when he was laughing in that sequence he stops when he sees everyone looking at him with that "Really?" look on their faces. Poor Ataru, three times he's had a chance at a harem but something got in his way. I think the only women with normal legs from the regulars were Shinobu and Ryuunosuke. Ran seemed to have long legs when she went around in her bikini and Sakura was pretty much legs and chest.
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- I agree about that. Characters are only at their best when captured in the style of how they actually look like. Though I've seen quite a lot of nice pics of the UY characters in artists own styles. Must say, some of the ones I've seen have done a real nice job with it.
- His dad always tried hiding behind the newspapers. He definitely didn't want to get involved in anything if he could help it. His parents were never that important to begin with, even less important than the Stormtroopers, whose roles increased drastically compared to the manga where they just disappeared around the time Mendou showed up. Always wondered why.
- The best part of that entire pic when comparing heights is that Ataru and Lum's mother are both the same height and a bit taller than Lum herself. The other funny part is that they gave Kakugari Onsen-Mark's complexion. I'll never forget when first watching that OVA how it had both Mujaki and the smaller Lum both present at that wedding even though that doesn't make sense. Yeah, Lum's mother was taller than Ataru initially, but this depicts the two at the same height. Ataru and Lum in that picture are likely in their early twenties. They'd still have some room to grow.
- It'll always remain somewhat unclear why does Lum love Ataru. We know a few reasons, but we're never really told from her directly just why. Guess to Lum it isn't important on the why. She doesn't dwell on why, and doesn't really understand why others are so insistent on wanting to know why. All they need to know is she loves him. End of story. He wouldn't have gone that far for anyone but Lum. It's pretty clear long before the series ends Ataru and Lum care more about each other than they do anybody else. Well she's just like her mother, so it isn't farfetched to assume she isn't all that different from the norm of other Oni. If anything, Rei might be the oddball Oni.
- You can't stop his quest for fulfilling his youthful days! He must ask out every girl he can, even try and flirt with a girl by telling her how rain happens lol. Ataru probably prefers people turning a blind eye to his more noble side. The trick is in this series is most people believe the Ataru they normally see to be the "Real Ataru" while the more kind-hearted and noble Ataru is just "an act." Ataru doesn't do a damn thing to tell people otherwise, despite knowing himself he's capable of being a nice person. Ataru prefers people thinking his real self is an act cause it keeps people guessing, and it's how he tends to surprise people and prove them wrong (something he loves doing). Lum is however the only one who sees through his own act and realizes just how good of a person he really is deep inside (probably even more so than Ataru himself).
- Can't beat someone who chooses the game to play, has flight advantage, has complete knowledge of you, and sets up a countermeasure in case she doesn't get what she wants. Despite how desperate she was in her efforts, I give her props for going that far just to confirm if Ataru genuinely felt the same way about her as she does for him, especially since Ataru didn't exactly make it obvious he loved her when he told her hated her instead of just saying he loved her and would have ended this whole conflict back in the spaceship. Onsen always gets the short end lol. He rarely ever gets the last laugh. I mean the best he managed against Ataru was a draw, and even then, Ataru goes on to clown him several times later anyway. Well, it was worth a shot lol. Give him a chance to stop before she brought out the heavy artillery.
- Lol, she should have known what she was getting herself into. You're right, UY is a bigger offender of how Takahashi resolves her relationships more so than her others. Like Ranma and Akane ended the most similarly to Ataru and Lum, but even Ranma got out a "I love you" to Akane. Hell, Akane even heard him say it too. If your GF wants to see a Takahashi couple truly and completely be complete, Maison Ikkoku is really anybody's best bet at it. MI was a good read.
- The little Devil in general was pretty creepy in both versions. Kinda glad it only appeared once. The biggest crime to me will always be Ryuunosuke not even getting anything close to a resolution for her story. Like some fans may be upset by how Ataru and Lum's relationship was resolved, but I was more irked by Ryuunosuke's. She's one of my favorites, but she was never really allowed to get a "win." She never find out who her mother was, and was never really able to truly embrace her feminine side for more than maybe a few short minutes.
- I do like how they sort of resolved the conflict between the two when Lum went to Ran's house to take care of her when she got sick. The story pretty much ends with Ran realizing that Lum doesn't purposely try to ruin things, it just happens as a byproduct of Lum just trying to help Ran out. Ran just sort of rolled with it. Lol, Benten purposely trying to get Oyuki pissed off just to see how she'd get back at Ran. Ran would fight it out with Lum and even Benten (even kissed Benten to try and steal her youth), but Oyuki? She's packing it in and running for the hills. It really makes you realize that from a first glance, Oyuki may be the nicest of Lum's three childhood friends, but when you get down to it, Benten is probably the nicest of the three.
- That scene was pretty funny in Only You when Megane was talking to Ataru about life on that new planet. Ataru just talks and acts like a villain that it has me laughing pretty hard. He tells Megane how he can pretty much be his subordinate and take pleasure in that and Megane then grovels at Ataru's feet afterwards. Then Ataru just starts laughing maniacally. Benten can get pretty serious when she really needs to be. Yeah, I was surprised to see she has that much hair. She too like Lum has a pair of very long legs.
Oh I agree with you there, such as the artist Genta who has a section here for his artwork, his version of Ataru and Lum are great and the daughter that he created for them is adorable (since she pretty much looks like a Mini Lum). It's when I see a Lum drawing and the bust defies description as well as gravity that I get a little weary of the boundaries of fan art.
I think the only time his dad actually was helpful was the Love Triangle episode when he gave Ataru the rubber raincoat so he could brave going out to see Shinobu. Of course, it was in tatters not just moments later so it may not have been the best item to give him. Score another for Ataru's strength too as when Cherry tried to kill him (let's face it, Cherry DID try), Ataru tried to return the favor with a piece of lightpole. I think basically his parents were phased out because of not being used. The later stories just were at school or odd locations, pretty much once Lum came along he almost didn't need his parents anymore.
They usually use things like this for a who's who retrospective. When UY 3 came out they used Ruu and Lahla as passersby in the street when Lum was out doing something. In UY 6 they used practically everyone as witnesses to the battle between Mendou's forces and Lupica's ship. But yeah, Ataru and Lum's mother are the same height, so either he had one big growth spurt or they shrunk the parents. The complexion mess up though I wondered about, that was a bit odd since Kakugari was pretty pale in the TV series compared to that. I still wonder why they never showed Ataru's face, they did for Lum finally with the wedding, but never once for Ataru.
The whole why she loves him though frustrates everyone else though. It makes me wonder if at the end of the day when Mendou and Megane go home if they cry into their pillows at night. I mean, Megane's room is pretty creepy all things considered, and with Mendou he seems to want to own her like a possession more than have her as a person. And I do find it interesting that all the times we did see other Oni, we always saw men and we've never had more than three women; Lum, her mother and her aunt.
We can't, but Lum will sure as hell try and she just about did too. All the times she ran interference; dragged him off, dropped enough lightning on him to power a small town, used mallets, etc. Still, I give him credit for trying though, it's why Mendou's father said he's more persistant than his own son. The only time he stops in his tracks is of course, for Lum. Admittedly he did stop in the Manga when it came to Shinobu because of Inaba; really is a shame Love and Valor wasn't adapted. But overall, the real Ataru is likely the most capable male in the show, he becomes the instant leader and suddenly everyone just follows him - like when Rei invaded for everyone's lunches or for Lum's reunion - both times Mendou fell apart and Ataru was right there to step up. Not bad for a kid whose mother kept saying she should never have had him.
I would say for once she effectively completely cornered him in every respect. But she's had all that skewed time to think about all of his tricks and antics, for once she was on complete offense and no defense. I'm just still amazed that after all the time they were together, they actually have had worse misunderstandings. Part of me was like "C'Mon Lum, he went all that way to get you back, and you can sit and think he doesn't love you? He jumped out of his kimono when you were falling." But when they're angry forget it, all reason goes right out the window and that likely might have been the single craziest stunt Ataru ever pulled, hands down. I'm actually kind of surprised none of the others ever said anything to him about that. I do feel bad for Onsen though at times, the only reason he puts up with any of it is because he loves Sakura. (I still laugh when I hear Tsubame's name, since it means swallow)
Edit: She started watching the episodes, and made a face about the artwork so I had to remind her this started way earlier than the last few movies. She watched the first 10 of them since she had off from work today, she likes the chaos of the episodes and she already thinks Rei is annoying. I told her to wait until she gets to Mendou, but I did tell her she can watch a 'perfect' ending to an RT story, since I have all the Maison Episodes on the same drive(s) that I have all my UY stuff on. When I didn't think I could get the Blurays, I had everything on a storage drive, then backed it all up on a second storage drive and also a portable one too. That's my only subbed versions since the Blurays are all JP only.
Between the two versions, I like Ataru's reactions to it in the Manga better. Who knew Ataru could throw knives the way he does? For a kid that's supposedly a klutz and all these other bad things, he's surprisingly very adept. I know it's anime and as such, there's in most all cases the hidden abilities, but he had counters for most everything except Oyuki's ice and Lum's lightning. If someone said to me that Takahashi didn't intend for him to be 100% human, I wouldn't doubt it for a moment. But yeah, of all the women in the show/manga, Ryuunosuke got nothing in the end except more of the same. A pain in the ass father and she still wore the chest wrap, and speaking of her father, he bears a lot of resemblance to the father of the girl haunted by the rain demon, even has the same seiyū. I guess at least she has a brawl buddy in Benten.
Lum in her way is just as klutzy as Ataru, it just comes out differently. When she helps, things go wrong and when she cooks, you might as well order take out. Or when she goes to make Ataru a treat and she turns him into a wolf. Ran has different reasons to be afraid of the other three girls though, Lum is nearly as sweet acting and has her own nuclear temper, Benten can go from zero to ticked off and grab her own ordinance in blink, but Oyuki...there's no warning, nothing. Unless you listen to her carefully, you have no idea when she's angry at all. But Benten is definitely an opportunist, she played Ataru pretty well that first Setsuban and got the win for the Lucky Gods because she knew Lum would have fit.
I liked how when he was laughing in that sequence he stops when he sees everyone looking at him with that "Really?" look on their faces. Poor Ataru, three times he's had a chance at a harem but something got in his way. I think the only women with normal legs from the regulars were Shinobu and Ryuunosuke. Ran seemed to have long legs when she went around in her bikini and Sakura was pretty much legs and chest.
- Of course when you get there, as you mention, that's stepping into more of the R34 realm of drawings. Where everything is likely expanded on.
- His dad just loves to shy away from everything lol. Though in the earlier stories, he did say at the end of the stories how Ataru would pay for everything that happened, even though it largely wasn't completely his fault. I mean hell, Shinobu and Lum also played a big role in everything getting destroyed in the love triangle story, or how the Stormtroopers summoned the space Taxi. Had the series stuck more with the theme of Ataru trying to overcome adversity to prove his love to Shinobu as it seemed to be going initially, his parents might have been a bit more recurring as characters. But later on, you can't even classify them as minor characters a lot of the time lol. Still, it makes sense. Most stories as you pointed out usually took place in different locations.
- You'd think Kakugari was Onsen's son in that pic lol. As for Ataru, there was a big theme on not showing Ataru's face in that story manga and anime version. I never understood why. I always wondered what was Takahashi's reason for not showing his face. Heck, we didn't even really get to see Lum's face until the future where they got married, where her tears of happiness was a plot point for Ataru's major turn in learning to accept a fate where they get married. As for Ataru? No clue. One of the versions, I think in the manga, has Lum asking Ataru why he's so shy (since his head is faced away from view) as they walk down as the newly wedded couple.
- Mendou I can imagine not getting too much time to cry his eyes out that Lum will never be his considering his sister would never give him enough peace time for that. Megane? He'll cry, and then probably kiss a Lum poster he has on his wall or something. Megane should invest in getting some help with that obsession. I do wish we got to learn more about the Oni and the Lucky Gods beyond just Setsubun.
- Ataru tends to be a very independent person. Although many may not like that he sometimes becomes the "de facto leader" of the group, but that's cause he jumps at the situation head first and everyone else is forced to adapt to it or get left behind in all the hijinks. If you chicken out, you usually end up like Mendou, if you run with it and go with the flow, you'll have a better chance of coming out unscathed. Mendou fell apart when Rei came around, love how Ten seems to get along with Rei well enough. Hilarious how he only really seems to have a big role in a story if he's playing the antagonist of it, even though Rei isn't usually antagonistic in nature, hell he only ever tried threatening to kill someone (Ataru) on the spot once. His last major story with the twin lockets was great. Had a nice mix of everything: comedy, fun, Ataru getting jelly and Lum happily and lovingly teasing him for it. It had that really funny scene where the characters are all like "You think Rei would understand anything about this?" Ataru's all like "Nah, he's an idiot." Then they just see Rei behind them who just spits up the other locket. He may not speak Japanese, but he can sure understand what they're saying when he finds it convenient.
- You're right about that, they've had worse misunderstandings than the one they had in the last story. I mean hell, when Ataru was traveling to the World of Darkness, he said her name, and Lum just knew he was coming to save her. He willingly jumped off a cliff to go and save her. Conversely, Ataru, you yourself stated that Lum is irrevocably in love with you, so why would you ever believe differently. Sure, it was a fake that said it, but you yourself have said how strongly she's loved you and even took full advantage of it. For you to lose trust in her this quick? Onsen Mark, now he's likely the biggest loser in this series. Nobody respects the guy. Sakura barely acknowledges him, and the students tend to deliberately causes him pain any chance they get. Tsubame, I half the time forget who he is because he's pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. As far as Sakura goes, they really do double up on her sex appeal at times for the sake of some storylines (her admission into Tomobiki High as the nurse is a pretty big one). I did like how the Inaba OVA, they had her look just like Kyoko.
- Lol she'll be surprised, Rei is honestly pretty tame in the annoying department. Heck, he isn't even all that bad considering he doesn't even appear all that often. Mendou though? The guy is present in like 80-90% of the stories. But yeah, Maison Ikkoku is definitely the way to go if you want to see a Takahashi couple have a complete resolution.
- He's quite skilled in many areas. Even then, while he couldn't straight up counter Lum's lightning, he could either dodge it or just tank/resist it a lot of the time. Oyuki? As I've said before, she's very well the most powerful character in this series, especially when angry. Nobody wants to mess with her. I always felt bad for Ryuunosuke. Her story never went anywhere. I did enjoy the stories between her and Benten. I especially loved when they met the second time where they're on better terms, but just wanted to beat each other up anyway just because they like to fight.
- Benten is pretty smart when she wants to be. But it's pretty easy to tell when she'll get angry. As you said with Oyuki, there's literally nothing to tell when she goes off. She just does at the drop of a hat. Easily understandable why Ran fears her so much. Not a character alive in the series Ran would refuse to fight against barring Oyuki.
- Sakura was pretty much all that to the horny teenage boys at Tomobiki lol. Even Ten got in on that too, but has the nice advantage of being younger. You're right, Ran did appear to have long legs as well when she wore her bikini.
- Lol just remembering another funny moment. The story where they had to ring the giant bells. Ataru goes over to see Lum who got hurt hitting one since she isn't really strong physically, and she is quite pleased to see Ataru comfort her. She tells him to win some of the prizes for her and Ataru is all "Nah, I think I'll win them for myself." Lum just replies with this comical glare she shoots at Ataru as well.
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- Of course when you get there, as you mention, that's stepping into more of the R34 realm of drawings. Where everything is likely expanded on.
- His dad just loves to shy away from everything lol. Though in the earlier stories, he did say at the end of the stories how Ataru would pay for everything that happened, even though it largely wasn't completely his fault. I mean hell, Shinobu and Lum also played a big role in everything getting destroyed in the love triangle story, or how the Stormtroopers summoned the space Taxi. Had the series stuck more with the theme of Ataru trying to overcome adversity to prove his love to Shinobu as it seemed to be going initially, his parents might have been a bit more recurring as characters. But later on, you can't even classify them as minor characters a lot of the time lol. Still, it makes sense. Most stories as you pointed out usually took place in different locations.
- You'd think Kakugari was Onsen's son in that pic lol. As for Ataru, there was a big theme on not showing Ataru's face in that story manga and anime version. I never understood why. I always wondered what was Takahashi's reason for not showing his face. Heck, we didn't even really get to see Lum's face until the future where they got married, where her tears of happiness was a plot point for Ataru's major turn in learning to accept a fate where they get married. As for Ataru? No clue. One of the versions, I think in the manga, has Lum asking Ataru why he's so shy (since his head is faced away from view) as they walk down as the newly wedded couple.
- Mendou I can imagine not getting too much time to cry his eyes out that Lum will never be his considering his sister would never give him enough peace time for that. Megane? He'll cry, and then probably kiss a Lum poster he has on his wall or something. Megane should invest in getting some help with that obsession. I do wish we got to learn more about the Oni and the Lucky Gods beyond just Setsubun.
- Ataru tends to be a very independent person. Although many may not like that he sometimes becomes the "de facto leader" of the group, but that's cause he jumps at the situation head first and everyone else is forced to adapt to it or get left behind in all the hijinks. If you chicken out, you usually end up like Mendou, if you run with it and go with the flow, you'll have a better chance of coming out unscathed. Mendou fell apart when Rei came around, love how Ten seems to get along with Rei well enough. Hilarious how he only really seems to have a big role in a story if he's playing the antagonist of it, even though Rei isn't usually antagonistic in nature, hell he only ever tried threatening to kill someone (Ataru) on the spot once. His last major story with the twin lockets was great. Had a nice mix of everything: comedy, fun, Ataru getting jelly and Lum happily and lovingly teasing him for it. It had that really funny scene where the characters are all like "You think Rei would understand anything about this?" Ataru's all like "Nah, he's an idiot." Then they just see Rei behind them who just spits up the other locket. He may not speak Japanese, but he can sure understand what they're saying when he finds it convenient.
- You're right about that, they've had worse misunderstandings than the one they had in the last story. I mean hell, when Ataru was traveling to the World of Darkness, he said her name, and Lum just knew he was coming to save her. He willingly jumped off a cliff to go and save her. Conversely, Ataru, you yourself stated that Lum is irrevocably in love with you, so why would you ever believe differently. Sure, it was a fake that said it, but you yourself have said how strongly she's loved you and even took full advantage of it. For you to lose trust in her this quick? Onsen Mark, now he's likely the biggest loser in this series. Nobody respects the guy. Sakura barely acknowledges him, and the students tend to deliberately causes him pain any chance they get. Tsubame, I half the time forget who he is because he's pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. As far as Sakura goes, they really do double up on her sex appeal at times for the sake of some storylines (her admission into Tomobiki High as the nurse is a pretty big one). I did like how the Inaba OVA, they had her look just like Kyoko.
- Lol she'll be surprised, Rei is honestly pretty tame in the annoying department. Heck, he isn't even all that bad considering he doesn't even appear all that often. Mendou though? The guy is present in like 80-90% of the stories. But yeah, Maison Ikkoku is definitely the way to go if you want to see a Takahashi couple have a complete resolution.
- He's quite skilled in many areas. Even then, while he couldn't straight up counter Lum's lightning, he could either dodge it or just tank/resist it a lot of the time. Oyuki? As I've said before, she's very well the most powerful character in this series, especially when angry. Nobody wants to mess with her. I always felt bad for Ryuunosuke. Her story never went anywhere. I did enjoy the stories between her and Benten. I especially loved when they met the second time where they're on better terms, but just wanted to beat each other up anyway just because they like to fight.
- Benten is pretty smart when she wants to be. But it's pretty easy to tell when she'll get angry. As you said with Oyuki, there's literally nothing to tell when she goes off. She just does at the drop of a hat. Easily understandable why Ran fears her so much. Not a character alive in the series Ran would refuse to fight against barring Oyuki.
- Sakura was pretty much all that to the horny teenage boys at Tomobiki lol. Even Ten got in on that too, but has the nice advantage of being younger. You're right, Ran did appear to have long legs as well when she wore her bikini.
- Lol just remembering another funny moment. The story where they had to ring the giant bells. Ataru goes over to see Lum who got hurt hitting one since she isn't really strong physically, and she is quite pleased to see Ataru comfort her. She tells him to win some of the prizes for her and Ataru is all "Nah, I think I'll win them for myself." Lum just replies with this comical glare she shoots at Ataru as well.
To each their own when they make their fanart, I just can't see Lum as being the Hentai Porn Star of some people's dreams lol.
There were a few times I felt sorry for his dad, the whole being a salaryman in Japan was not a fun thing to essentially be. They did work long hours and ended up working a lot more than they wanted to in order to make the ends meet. But yes, Ataru will pay them back; good thing the stories really didn't follow each other in episodic format, just by the Love Triangle episode alone Ataru would have been working 24/7 for the rest of his life. And we can blame Lum for that 'bye bye Shinobu', she was just too popular. But I think also Ataru hit the nail on the head without realizing it when Shinobu said she'd marry him. She didn't offer because she loved him or anything of the sort, she offered because she didn't want him to be a loser. I cut her some slack, if we assume they're younger than 17 when the first Ep aired, then a 15-16 year old doesn't fully understand the concept of what love and marriage is in most cases. Plus she did try fighting for him, she was just overmatched by someone that basically bought her way into Ataru's home by Ep 2. Earth gets to keep its oil if she gets to move in with Ataru. Still, after a certain point the parents were moot, they didn't further the plot really, the last big thing they did early on was have the pow wow with Lum's parents and decide that Ataru and Lum should get married.
He did a good impression of him in Beautiful Dreamer, which was a radical departure for Onsen's artwork. Who knows, maybe Onsen got lucky? (No, I don't think that's remotely the case. As bad as the others were, I don't see Onsen ever being more than a bachelor for the rest of his life). And yes, you're right, it was the manga where she asked him why he was so shy. Maybe he couldn't believe he was actually married to her and so he was looking away. The manga version was a far less than perfect future than the OVA. All sorts of things never get explained by the end of the series as a whole, I still wish I knew what that mini Lum was supposed to represent in Beautiful Dreamer.
I'm sure Ryoko probably blew him up at least once an evening. Given how Ran and Benten like their guns, I'm surprised that she never came across them. And with Megane, I'm actually surprised his pajama shirt outfit didn't have her name written on it. Again, he is definitely 'most likely to get arrested' if not beaten within an inch of his life because if we go on the logical premise that after Final Chapter all Lum and Ataru could do is move forward as a couple, Megane would be a lunatic and Ataru would likely not put up with it long. It would have been nice to learn more about them, but if they had added more characters I bet there'd be more unresolved stories to contend with. Takahashi has an issue with adding too many characters to stories.
Rei's best moment as a character with feeling was when Kurama tried to take him and he saved Ran as opposed to jumping for all the falling food. The locket episode was good, not only was Ataru jealous, but he was also relieved when nothing happened - proving again he really only cares about Lum. But overall, Rei is about 5 watts shy of a 4 watt bulb - but he's great as a distraction like he was in Only You. As for Mendou, even if he doesn't chicken out, he is likely to be clowned as he was in the watermelon episode when it just bounced him into the sky and we have the slow version of his spinning fall to the ground. But Ataru is pretty much the one who wants to be free to do what he wants with who he wants, and finds himself frustratingly limited as time goes on only to accept it in the end.
Given all the character building they went through to that point, I can only say in Lum's case, her temper got the best of her and she assumed the worst of the guy that more or less led the charge to get her back. How many times did she look at Ataru upset when he flirted? The one time he was upset and she was blind to it, but when he uses Carla that she doesn't miss. But Ataru? I'm pretty sure he knew how he felt about her long before that point, but this time he saw her kidnapped, powerless and unconscious and he was not able to do anything for her. He had that stress walking into the situation and like Lum he's got a temper and he's stubborn as all hell. He got fooled, likely felt stupid but at the same time was angry at what he saw. Their kid(s) will either be really peaceful or be nightmares for everyone around them. Onsen Mark's wins are countable on one hand, with a couple fingers leftover. That school must have really needed teachers if he made it all that time. Tsubame had two stories where he was the 'focus', his first appearance and the Date with a Spirit OVA. And Sakura's sex appeal was really ramped up in the manga at least in her artwork, closeups of her face in some cases were really well detailed. Until they toned her down near the end and thank you, I wasn't crazy when I thought she looked like Kyoko then. Of course, Onsen Mark, as well as kid versions of Ataru, Shinobu and Megane appeared in Maison as cameo spots, but no one else did.
Today she made it to Ep 22 with the Engagement Party, when she complained again I just said this is just getting started, it'll get even more crazy and confusing.
Oyuki is scary in the fact that if she had a mind to do it, she could freeze someone solid and walk away saying, "When you thaw out in a few months, we'll talk." And with Ryuunosuke, I liked her, but her father was just the single most annoying character hands down. I'd rather see Mendou give a speech than hear her father for more than a few moments. I mean seriously, where was he looking when she was growing up? You'd have to be blind to see your daughter isn't a man, or in his case, very insane.
Ten is the only one to ever have a successful date with Sakura, even her fiance couldn't manage that one.
That was a funny moment for the seesaw manner in which he treated her at times. He is pretty greedy when it comes down to it too, like the Typhoon Episode and he constantly said "Allowance?" after boarding up the house with Lum and Ten's help.
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- Of course when you get there, as you mention, that's stepping into more of the R34 realm of drawings. Where everything is likely expanded on.
- His dad just loves to shy away from everything lol. Though in the earlier stories, he did say at the end of the stories how Ataru would pay for everything that happened, even though it largely wasn't completely his fault. I mean hell, Shinobu and Lum also played a big role in everything getting destroyed in the love triangle story, or how the Stormtroopers summoned the space Taxi. Had the series stuck more with the theme of Ataru trying to overcome adversity to prove his love to Shinobu as it seemed to be going initially, his parents might have been a bit more recurring as characters. But later on, you can't even classify them as minor characters a lot of the time lol. Still, it makes sense. Most stories as you pointed out usually took place in different locations.
- You'd think Kakugari was Onsen's son in that pic lol. As for Ataru, there was a big theme on not showing Ataru's face in that story manga and anime version. I never understood why. I always wondered what was Takahashi's reason for not showing his face. Heck, we didn't even really get to see Lum's face until the future where they got married, where her tears of happiness was a plot point for Ataru's major turn in learning to accept a fate where they get married. As for Ataru? No clue. One of the versions, I think in the manga, has Lum asking Ataru why he's so shy (since his head is faced away from view) as they walk down as the newly wedded couple.
- Mendou I can imagine not getting too much time to cry his eyes out that Lum will never be his considering his sister would never give him enough peace time for that. Megane? He'll cry, and then probably kiss a Lum poster he has on his wall or something. Megane should invest in getting some help with that obsession. I do wish we got to learn more about the Oni and the Lucky Gods beyond just Setsubun.
- Ataru tends to be a very independent person. Although many may not like that he sometimes becomes the "de facto leader" of the group, but that's cause he jumps at the situation head first and everyone else is forced to adapt to it or get left behind in all the hijinks. If you chicken out, you usually end up like Mendou, if you run with it and go with the flow, you'll have a better chance of coming out unscathed. Mendou fell apart when Rei came around, love how Ten seems to get along with Rei well enough. Hilarious how he only really seems to have a big role in a story if he's playing the antagonist of it, even though Rei isn't usually antagonistic in nature, hell he only ever tried threatening to kill someone (Ataru) on the spot once. His last major story with the twin lockets was great. Had a nice mix of everything: comedy, fun, Ataru getting jelly and Lum happily and lovingly teasing him for it. It had that really funny scene where the characters are all like "You think Rei would understand anything about this?" Ataru's all like "Nah, he's an idiot." Then they just see Rei behind them who just spits up the other locket. He may not speak Japanese, but he can sure understand what they're saying when he finds it convenient.
- You're right about that, they've had worse misunderstandings than the one they had in the last story. I mean hell, when Ataru was traveling to the World of Darkness, he said her name, and Lum just knew he was coming to save her. He willingly jumped off a cliff to go and save her. Conversely, Ataru, you yourself stated that Lum is irrevocably in love with you, so why would you ever believe differently. Sure, it was a fake that said it, but you yourself have said how strongly she's loved you and even took full advantage of it. For you to lose trust in her this quick? Onsen Mark, now he's likely the biggest loser in this series. Nobody respects the guy. Sakura barely acknowledges him, and the students tend to deliberately causes him pain any chance they get. Tsubame, I half the time forget who he is because he's pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. As far as Sakura goes, they really do double up on her sex appeal at times for the sake of some storylines (her admission into Tomobiki High as the nurse is a pretty big one). I did like how the Inaba OVA, they had her look just like Kyoko.
- Lol she'll be surprised, Rei is honestly pretty tame in the annoying department. Heck, he isn't even all that bad considering he doesn't even appear all that often. Mendou though? The guy is present in like 80-90% of the stories. But yeah, Maison Ikkoku is definitely the way to go if you want to see a Takahashi couple have a complete resolution.
- He's quite skilled in many areas. Even then, while he couldn't straight up counter Lum's lightning, he could either dodge it or just tank/resist it a lot of the time. Oyuki? As I've said before, she's very well the most powerful character in this series, especially when angry. Nobody wants to mess with her. I always felt bad for Ryuunosuke. Her story never went anywhere. I did enjoy the stories between her and Benten. I especially loved when they met the second time where they're on better terms, but just wanted to beat each other up anyway just because they like to fight.
- Benten is pretty smart when she wants to be. But it's pretty easy to tell when she'll get angry. As you said with Oyuki, there's literally nothing to tell when she goes off. She just does at the drop of a hat. Easily understandable why Ran fears her so much. Not a character alive in the series Ran would refuse to fight against barring Oyuki.
- Sakura was pretty much all that to the horny teenage boys at Tomobiki lol. Even Ten got in on that too, but has the nice advantage of being younger. You're right, Ran did appear to have long legs as well when she wore her bikini.
- Lol just remembering another funny moment. The story where they had to ring the giant bells. Ataru goes over to see Lum who got hurt hitting one since she isn't really strong physically, and she is quite pleased to see Ataru comfort her. She tells him to win some of the prizes for her and Ataru is all "Nah, I think I'll win them for myself." Lum just replies with this comical glare she shoots at Ataru as well.
To each their own when they make their fanart, I just can't see Lum as being the Hentai Porn Star of some people's dreams lol.
There were a few times I felt sorry for his dad, the whole being a salaryman in Japan was not a fun thing to essentially be. They did work long hours and ended up working a lot more than they wanted to in order to make the ends meet. But yes, Ataru will pay them back; good thing the stories really didn't follow each other in episodic format, just by the Love Triangle episode alone Ataru would have been working 24/7 for the rest of his life. And we can blame Lum for that 'bye bye Shinobu', she was just too popular. But I think also Ataru hit the nail on the head without realizing it when Shinobu said she'd marry him. She didn't offer because she loved him or anything of the sort, she offered because she didn't want him to be a loser. I cut her some slack, if we assume they're younger than 17 when the first Ep aired, then a 15-16 year old doesn't fully understand the concept of what love and marriage is in most cases. Plus she did try fighting for him, she was just overmatched by someone that basically bought her way into Ataru's home by Ep 2. Earth gets to keep its oil if she gets to move in with Ataru. Still, after a certain point the parents were moot, they didn't further the plot really, the last big thing they did early on was have the pow wow with Lum's parents and decide that Ataru and Lum should get married.
He did a good impression of him in Beautiful Dreamer, which was a radical departure for Onsen's artwork. Who knows, maybe Onsen got lucky? (No, I don't think that's remotely the case. As bad as the others were, I don't see Onsen ever being more than a bachelor for the rest of his life). And yes, you're right, it was the manga where she asked him why he was so shy. Maybe he couldn't believe he was actually married to her and so he was looking away. The manga version was a far less than perfect future than the OVA. All sorts of things never get explained by the end of the series as a whole, I still wish I knew what that mini Lum was supposed to represent in Beautiful Dreamer.
I'm sure Ryoko probably blew him up at least once an evening. Given how Ran and Benten like their guns, I'm surprised that she never came across them. And with Megane, I'm actually surprised his pajama shirt outfit didn't have her name written on it. Again, he is definitely 'most likely to get arrested' if not beaten within an inch of his life because if we go on the logical premise that after Final Chapter all Lum and Ataru could do is move forward as a couple, Megane would be a lunatic and Ataru would likely not put up with it long. It would have been nice to learn more about them, but if they had added more characters I bet there'd be more unresolved stories to contend with. Takahashi has an issue with adding too many characters to stories.
Rei's best moment as a character with feeling was when Kurama tried to take him and he saved Ran as opposed to jumping for all the falling food. The locket episode was good, not only was Ataru jealous, but he was also relieved when nothing happened - proving again he really only cares about Lum. But overall, Rei is about 5 watts shy of a 4 watt bulb - but he's great as a distraction like he was in Only You. As for Mendou, even if he doesn't chicken out, he is likely to be clowned as he was in the watermelon episode when it just bounced him into the sky and we have the slow version of his spinning fall to the ground. But Ataru is pretty much the one who wants to be free to do what he wants with who he wants, and finds himself frustratingly limited as time goes on only to accept it in the end.
Given all the character building they went through to that point, I can only say in Lum's case, her temper got the best of her and she assumed the worst of the guy that more or less led the charge to get her back. How many times did she look at Ataru upset when he flirted? The one time he was upset and she was blind to it, but when he uses Carla that she doesn't miss. But Ataru? I'm pretty sure he knew how he felt about her long before that point, but this time he saw her kidnapped, powerless and unconscious and he was not able to do anything for her. He had that stress walking into the situation and like Lum he's got a temper and he's stubborn as all hell. He got fooled, likely felt stupid but at the same time was angry at what he saw. Their kid(s) will either be really peaceful or be nightmares for everyone around them. Onsen Mark's wins are countable on one hand, with a couple fingers leftover. That school must have really needed teachers if he made it all that time. Tsubame had two stories where he was the 'focus', his first appearance and the Date with a Spirit OVA. And Sakura's sex appeal was really ramped up in the manga at least in her artwork, closeups of her face in some cases were really well detailed. Until they toned her down near the end and thank you, I wasn't crazy when I thought she looked like Kyoko then. Of course, Onsen Mark, as well as kid versions of Ataru, Shinobu and Megane appeared in Maison as cameo spots, but no one else did.
Today she made it to Ep 22 with the Engagement Party, when she complained again I just said this is just getting started, it'll get even more crazy and confusing.
Oyuki is scary in the fact that if she had a mind to do it, she could freeze someone solid and walk away saying, "When you thaw out in a few months, we'll talk." And with Ryuunosuke, I liked her, but her father was just the single most annoying character hands down. I'd rather see Mendou give a speech than hear her father for more than a few moments. I mean seriously, where was he looking when she was growing up? You'd have to be blind to see your daughter isn't a man, or in his case, very insane.
Ten is the only one to ever have a successful date with Sakura, even her fiance couldn't manage that one.
That was a funny moment for the seesaw manner in which he treated her at times. He is pretty greedy when it comes down to it too, like the Typhoon Episode and he constantly said "Allowance?" after boarding up the house with Lum and Ten's help.
- Unfortunately that's how some people and even some of the teenage boys in the series sees her as.
- Lol, Lum was gonna commit lover's suicide. She legit didn't care if they died there. To go that far... It's not worth your life, especially when you've only been alive for around 16-17 years. Well Lum did technically conquer earth in the space taxi story. Earth was literally at her mercy and she got what she wanted out of it. Ataru went from hero to zero real quick. I really do wish Takahshi had a few more stories actually take place on Lum's home planet. Always an underrated aspect, especially since she never delved too much into the Oni customs or even how they live.
- Onsen has to be the bachelor and has to remain the biggest loser in the series. He's there as a reminder for the other characters that they still have hope not to end up like him. Lol, they were throwing soda cans and other garbage at Ataru in the manga version. It really puts into perspective just how immature some of these people still are. To be a young adult and still acting like you're 16-17 years old at a wedding? That's pretty low. Not to mention, characters have a bad habit of seeing and hearing only what they want to see and hear. Like they could clearly see that Lum was happier than they've probably ever saw her, and she was even crying tears of joy at the thought of marrying Ataru. You'd think they'd get a clue that Lum is pretty much the "aggressor" in her relationship with Ataru. She's usually the one that has to force him to do anything with her. But they've got this mental picture in their heads of how Ataru "mistreats" Lum (as in forces himself on her when she's trying to avoid him). Though Lum even told the guys, "My body belongs to darling." That pretty much destroyed any sort of fantasy they could imagine where Ataru is forcing himself on Lum when she pretty much tells the other guys that she willingly gives herself to Ataru and Ataru alone. These guys will remain bitter for their entire lives.
- She does indeed have that problem. So many characters even get introduced late in a series but never really get things resolved. I'm amazed Megane never commented on how his parents thought of his obsession. Like I'd imagine they'd walk in his room on rare occasion (not often as I'm sure once they see the Lum propped up covered room they'll make it a point to not go in there often) and have their own ideas on just how sick Megane really is.
- Ah when he saved Ran, his only ever truly decent character moment. I love how they put Mendou in the watermelon episode (he wasn't there in the manga version) for pretty much the sole purpose of being clowned. Like he doesn't take part in learning about the watermelon curse alongside Ataru, Lum, and Shinobu. He's just there to get crushed by the watermelon. Well when you're getting older, you'll have to start settling down. What better way to do so then with the only person you love?
- No way in the world their kids would be peaceful. They'll probably have enough of either of there parents' traits to where it'd be another living nightmare for someone like Onsen, who'll be tormented by Moroboshi until the day he dies. Ataru certainly wasn't making it easy for Lum telling her he hated her and all. The real dumb thing was how when they got the World of Darkness, the others get captured, but could have left the cell at any time, and might have had a chance of preventing the situation from getting as bad as it did as if they had just left the prison cell, they could have tried making their way to the wedding hall themselves. Tsubame... I really just can't have an opinion of the guy. He's really just kind of there. Makes sense how it would only be them having a cameo in Maison Ikkoku if they're depicted as being young kids, makes sense for Shinobu and Megane to be there, as he's known Shinobu since they were young, and presumably Megane too.
- It does get a lot crazier. The quality of the episodes also improve later on too. As your GF progresses throughout the series, while the resolution to Ataru and Lum's relationship is real subjective, their genuine moments along the way to the finale are really sweet.
- Her father was pretty cruel too. Like they checked the family album, and they see pictures of several women who he says is all her mother. He won't just come out and give her a straight answer. I really did like the story where Ryuunosuke stayed over at Ataru's house for a bit and consoled in Ataru's mother. She really needs a break from a father as terrible as the one she has.
- Good boy Ten! Gets even farther on a date with Sakura than her own boyfriend.
- Lol the typhoon story. She has this romantic moment with him, and Ataru genuinely doesn't mind her sitting up close to him. But then he just ruins the mood by asking for more food.
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- Unfortunately that's how some people and even some of the teenage boys in the series sees her as.
- Lol, Lum was gonna commit lover's suicide. She legit didn't care if they died there. To go that far... It's not worth your life, especially when you've only been alive for around 16-17 years. Well Lum did technically conquer earth in the space taxi story. Earth was literally at her mercy and she got what she wanted out of it. Ataru went from hero to zero real quick. I really do wish Takahshi had a few more stories actually take place on Lum's home planet. Always an underrated aspect, especially since she never delved too much into the Oni customs or even how they live.
- Onsen has to be the bachelor and has to remain the biggest loser in the series. He's there as a reminder for the other characters that they still have hope not to end up like him. Lol, they were throwing soda cans and other garbage at Ataru in the manga version. It really puts into perspective just how immature some of these people still are. To be a young adult and still acting like you're 16-17 years old at a wedding? That's pretty low. Not to mention, characters have a bad habit of seeing and hearing only what they want to see and hear. Like they could clearly see that Lum was happier than they've probably ever saw her, and she was even crying tears of joy at the thought of marrying Ataru. You'd think they'd get a clue that Lum is pretty much the "aggressor" in her relationship with Ataru. She's usually the one that has to force him to do anything with her. But they've got this mental picture in their heads of how Ataru "mistreats" Lum (as in forces himself on her when she's trying to avoid him). Though Lum even told the guys, "My body belongs to darling." That pretty much destroyed any sort of fantasy they could imagine where Ataru is forcing himself on Lum when she pretty much tells the other guys that she willingly gives herself to Ataru and Ataru alone. These guys will remain bitter for their entire lives.
- She does indeed have that problem. So many characters even get introduced late in a series but never really get things resolved. I'm amazed Megane never commented on how his parents thought of his obsession. Like I'd imagine they'd walk in his room on rare occasion (not often as I'm sure once they see the Lum propped up covered room they'll make it a point to not go in there often) and have their own ideas on just how sick Megane really is.
- Ah when he saved Ran, his only ever truly decent character moment. I love how they put Mendou in the watermelon episode (he wasn't there in the manga version) for pretty much the sole purpose of being clowned. Like he doesn't take part in learning about the watermelon curse alongside Ataru, Lum, and Shinobu. He's just there to get crushed by the watermelon. Well when you're getting older, you'll have to start settling down. What better way to do so then with the only person you love?
- No way in the world their kids would be peaceful. They'll probably have enough of either of there parents' traits to where it'd be another living nightmare for someone like Onsen, who'll be tormented by Moroboshi until the day he dies. Ataru certainly wasn't making it easy for Lum telling her he hated her and all. The real dumb thing was how when they got the World of Darkness, the others get captured, but could have left the cell at any time, and might have had a chance of preventing the situation from getting as bad as it did as if they had just left the prison cell, they could have tried making their way to the wedding hall themselves. Tsubame... I really just can't have an opinion of the guy. He's really just kind of there. Makes sense how it would only be them having a cameo in Maison Ikkoku if they're depicted as being young kids, makes sense for Shinobu and Megane to be there, as he's known Shinobu since they were young, and presumably Megane too.
- It does get a lot crazier. The quality of the episodes also improve later on too. As your GF progresses throughout the series, while the resolution to Ataru and Lum's relationship is real subjective, their genuine moments along the way to the finale are really sweet.
- Her father was pretty cruel too. Like they checked the family album, and they see pictures of several women who he says is all her mother. He won't just come out and give her a straight answer. I really did like the story where Ryuunosuke stayed over at Ataru's house for a bit and consoled in Ataru's mother. She really needs a break from a father as terrible as the one she has.
- Good boy Ten! Gets even farther on a date with Sakura than her own boyfriend.
- Lol the typhoon story. She has this romantic moment with him, and Ataru genuinely doesn't mind her sitting up close to him. But then he just ruins the mood by asking for more food.
LOL - You must either have a crazy schedule like I do, or just be in a totally different timezone than me.
And sadly, I can only imagine how they view her. I mean, within the cast she definitely stands out, and at the time when anime was coming into its own, you had either normal anime or you had Hentai. With Lum being openly sexy and there being fleeting nudity at times, the dots were too easy to connect for some people.
You're right, she pretty much did conquer the world, she did better than her father did in fact - all thanks to the hormones Ataru's classmates. But with the Lover's Suicide, in thinking about it, Final Chapter was like that in reverse. Even if Ataru could survive that fall with his insane durability, no guarantee for Lum so who knows maybe he jumped to be with her and not have to be alone if something happened to her. But I think we can count on one hand stories that took place on Lum's world, and have fingers to spare. When we saw Neptune for Oyuki's intro I remember thinking it looked strangely too normal. The flashbacks with Lum and Ran as little kids I don't really count as full stories, but if they're indicators of Lum's home, it's definitely very weird, like the Oni in general.
Sad too, Onsen's not an unlikable character. He just gets put on the most by a class that clearly doesn't respect him. They were even nicer to their homeroom teacher than they were to Onsen. Of course while the anime version is nicer in tone than the manga version with the wedding, the fact that the effort he makes in either one is a nice thing to see. Even just before that when she's clearly very upset that they haven't found a married future and blames him and he goes into comfort mode, the expression on his face sells the moment for him. He's known ever since the end of the first tag match his mouth is what started this going, but seeing her be visibly upset like that was like a wakeup call. I know this is my opinion on it, but his expression seemed to say "She really does want this, despite eveything I've done, I have to do something". Also, maybe it's me, but I got the impression that the anime version took place over two days, but I could be wrong. AnimEgo's translations sometimes are less than perfect, but if it was a two day span, when Lum starts arguing about why they didn't see her future, she blames Ataru. So when you say characters see and hear only what they want, that very much so applies to Lum because when she did that, my reaction was "Uh, Lum....he tried to save that other future. You forget already?" But, it's her temper there.
Pretty sure as far as full sets of parents are concerned, we only saw Ataru's, Lum's, Shinobu's, and Mendou's. We saw Sakura's mother (that Cherry look-alike made me shudder) and then we saw Ton and Asuka's mother, Ten's mother and Ran's mother. But none of the Stormtroopers. lol Maybe Megane offed his parents after they said something about his room, I wouldn't put it past him at all. But Maison had a few too many characters I felt too, even though that was a more cohesive story overall. Probably all because the goal was defined up front. That leads me to a question, I stopped following Takahashi after Ranma 1/2, and I know what happens in InuYasha thanks to my girlfriend, but the idea of "Boy meets Girl" is in each of them. Are you following Kyokai no Rinne? Is that feeling in that one too?
Poor Rei and his limited vocabulary, but when he saved Ran he redeemed himself for being that annoying comedic plot device to make Ran jealous and Lum crazy. He likely figured if something happened to her, there goes his constant supply of food. That was one of the somewhat rare moments where the anime and manga aligned well. I will say the manga version of Kurama was the better looking version in this case. But Mendou and the watermelon, I loved how they ran past him and said help us, and he readies himself only to see how big it was and then get clobbered. Poor Ataru got walloped too though, but then Lum got angry and did the Ultraman pose with a zap. Always enjoyed that they paid homage to Ultraman in UY with Lum's poses.
I see their kids as being terrors not just to others, but to Ataru too. If they inherit Lum's Oni abilities Ataru will find himself way outnumbered, and if they inherit his crazy abilities too? Nothing's worse than invincible kids, period. And it's not like Ataru can use a frying pan on them like he did with Ten. But with Final Chapter, while I know it's really just about Lum and Ataru, the only thing that was jarring was the fact that all the usual voices of reason didn't speak up until it was too late. Sakura's line of 'Going through all this for three simple words', for someone that is a school counsellor, the nurse and a priestess, she has no idea how hard it can be to say three simple words.
I warned her, I even told her from about 70+ onwards there's going to be some really strange moments and that she has to watch 105 and 106 back to back so she gets the full effect of the story which is Oshii's swan song of the series. As far as their relationship and it's resolution, I have to fall in the camp of 'of course they stayed together' otherwise, it would almost feel like I watched it all for nothing (Note I say almost). And I can't say I ever saw a post in which a person said they thought Lum dumped him and left for good. Ataru would probably go insane with depression.
Funny how she took more consolation and solace from Ataru's mother than he did. But her father was definitely a rotten specimen of life in all ways, tricking your own kid so they wouldn't eat something just so you could is pretty low.
The typhoon episode and the summer date one both are good in that Lum gets to enjoy some time with him and he really doesn't mind. When she saw his reaction to her looking like an earth girl she was overjoyed. The music that played in those episodes for the candle scene in typhoon and when Ataru is wondering why Lum left after the date and she appears in the UFO overhead, it's pretty much a theme song for them early on.
I just watched some of the video footage from the 10th anniversary special that is still out there, 2021 is coming up faster than we realize, UY will be 40 soon.
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- Unfortunately that's how some people and even some of the teenage boys in the series sees her as.
- Lol, Lum was gonna commit lover's suicide. She legit didn't care if they died there. To go that far... It's not worth your life, especially when you've only been alive for around 16-17 years. Well Lum did technically conquer earth in the space taxi story. Earth was literally at her mercy and she got what she wanted out of it. Ataru went from hero to zero real quick. I really do wish Takahshi had a few more stories actually take place on Lum's home planet. Always an underrated aspect, especially since she never delved too much into the Oni customs or even how they live.
- Onsen has to be the bachelor and has to remain the biggest loser in the series. He's there as a reminder for the other characters that they still have hope not to end up like him. Lol, they were throwing soda cans and other garbage at Ataru in the manga version. It really puts into perspective just how immature some of these people still are. To be a young adult and still acting like you're 16-17 years old at a wedding? That's pretty low. Not to mention, characters have a bad habit of seeing and hearing only what they want to see and hear. Like they could clearly see that Lum was happier than they've probably ever saw her, and she was even crying tears of joy at the thought of marrying Ataru. You'd think they'd get a clue that Lum is pretty much the "aggressor" in her relationship with Ataru. She's usually the one that has to force him to do anything with her. But they've got this mental picture in their heads of how Ataru "mistreats" Lum (as in forces himself on her when she's trying to avoid him). Though Lum even told the guys, "My body belongs to darling." That pretty much destroyed any sort of fantasy they could imagine where Ataru is forcing himself on Lum when she pretty much tells the other guys that she willingly gives herself to Ataru and Ataru alone. These guys will remain bitter for their entire lives.
- She does indeed have that problem. So many characters even get introduced late in a series but never really get things resolved. I'm amazed Megane never commented on how his parents thought of his obsession. Like I'd imagine they'd walk in his room on rare occasion (not often as I'm sure once they see the Lum propped up covered room they'll make it a point to not go in there often) and have their own ideas on just how sick Megane really is.
- Ah when he saved Ran, his only ever truly decent character moment. I love how they put Mendou in the watermelon episode (he wasn't there in the manga version) for pretty much the sole purpose of being clowned. Like he doesn't take part in learning about the watermelon curse alongside Ataru, Lum, and Shinobu. He's just there to get crushed by the watermelon. Well when you're getting older, you'll have to start settling down. What better way to do so then with the only person you love?
- No way in the world their kids would be peaceful. They'll probably have enough of either of there parents' traits to where it'd be another living nightmare for someone like Onsen, who'll be tormented by Moroboshi until the day he dies. Ataru certainly wasn't making it easy for Lum telling her he hated her and all. The real dumb thing was how when they got the World of Darkness, the others get captured, but could have left the cell at any time, and might have had a chance of preventing the situation from getting as bad as it did as if they had just left the prison cell, they could have tried making their way to the wedding hall themselves. Tsubame... I really just can't have an opinion of the guy. He's really just kind of there. Makes sense how it would only be them having a cameo in Maison Ikkoku if they're depicted as being young kids, makes sense for Shinobu and Megane to be there, as he's known Shinobu since they were young, and presumably Megane too.
- It does get a lot crazier. The quality of the episodes also improve later on too. As your GF progresses throughout the series, while the resolution to Ataru and Lum's relationship is real subjective, their genuine moments along the way to the finale are really sweet.
- Her father was pretty cruel too. Like they checked the family album, and they see pictures of several women who he says is all her mother. He won't just come out and give her a straight answer. I really did like the story where Ryuunosuke stayed over at Ataru's house for a bit and consoled in Ataru's mother. She really needs a break from a father as terrible as the one she has.
- Good boy Ten! Gets even farther on a date with Sakura than her own boyfriend.
- Lol the typhoon story. She has this romantic moment with him, and Ataru genuinely doesn't mind her sitting up close to him. But then he just ruins the mood by asking for more food.
LOL - You must either have a crazy schedule like I do, or just be in a totally different timezone than me.
And sadly, I can only imagine how they view her. I mean, within the cast she definitely stands out, and at the time when anime was coming into its own, you had either normal anime or you had Hentai. With Lum being openly sexy and there being fleeting nudity at times, the dots were too easy to connect for some people.
You're right, she pretty much did conquer the world, she did better than her father did in fact - all thanks to the hormones Ataru's classmates. But with the Lover's Suicide, in thinking about it, Final Chapter was like that in reverse. Even if Ataru could survive that fall with his insane durability, no guarantee for Lum so who knows maybe he jumped to be with her and not have to be alone if something happened to her. But I think we can count on one hand stories that took place on Lum's world, and have fingers to spare. When we saw Neptune for Oyuki's intro I remember thinking it looked strangely too normal. The flashbacks with Lum and Ran as little kids I don't really count as full stories, but if they're indicators of Lum's home, it's definitely very weird, like the Oni in general.
Sad too, Onsen's not an unlikable character. He just gets put on the most by a class that clearly doesn't respect him. They were even nicer to their homeroom teacher than they were to Onsen. Of course while the anime version is nicer in tone than the manga version with the wedding, the fact that the effort he makes in either one is a nice thing to see. Even just before that when she's clearly very upset that they haven't found a married future and blames him and he goes into comfort mode, the expression on his face sells the moment for him. He's known ever since the end of the first tag match his mouth is what started this going, but seeing her be visibly upset like that was like a wakeup call. I know this is my opinion on it, but his expression seemed to say "She really does want this, despite eveything I've done, I have to do something". Also, maybe it's me, but I got the impression that the anime version took place over two days, but I could be wrong. AnimEgo's translations sometimes are less than perfect, but if it was a two day span, when Lum starts arguing about why they didn't see her future, she blames Ataru. So when you say characters see and hear only what they want, that very much so applies to Lum because when she did that, my reaction was "Uh, Lum....he tried to save that other future. You forget already?" But, it's her temper there.
Pretty sure as far as full sets of parents are concerned, we only saw Ataru's, Lum's, Shinobu's, and Mendou's. We saw Sakura's mother (that Cherry look-alike made me shudder) and then we saw Ton and Asuka's mother, Ten's mother and Ran's mother. But none of the Stormtroopers. lol Maybe Megane offed his parents after they said something about his room, I wouldn't put it past him at all. But Maison had a few too many characters I felt too, even though that was a more cohesive story overall. Probably all because the goal was defined up front. That leads me to a question, I stopped following Takahashi after Ranma 1/2, and I know what happens in InuYasha thanks to my girlfriend, but the idea of "Boy meets Girl" is in each of them. Are you following Kyokai no Rinne? Is that feeling in that one too?
Poor Rei and his limited vocabulary, but when he saved Ran he redeemed himself for being that annoying comedic plot device to make Ran jealous and Lum crazy. He likely figured if something happened to her, there goes his constant supply of food. That was one of the somewhat rare moments where the anime and manga aligned well. I will say the manga version of Kurama was the better looking version in this case. But Mendou and the watermelon, I loved how they ran past him and said help us, and he readies himself only to see how big it was and then get clobbered. Poor Ataru got walloped too though, but then Lum got angry and did the Ultraman pose with a zap. Always enjoyed that they paid homage to Ultraman in UY with Lum's poses.
I see their kids as being terrors not just to others, but to Ataru too. If they inherit Lum's Oni abilities Ataru will find himself way outnumbered, and if they inherit his crazy abilities too? Nothing's worse than invincible kids, period. And it's not like Ataru can use a frying pan on them like he did with Ten. But with Final Chapter, while I know it's really just about Lum and Ataru, the only thing that was jarring was the fact that all the usual voices of reason didn't speak up until it was too late. Sakura's line of 'Going through all this for three simple words', for someone that is a school counsellor, the nurse and a priestess, she has no idea how hard it can be to say three simple words.
I warned her, I even told her from about 70+ onwards there's going to be some really strange moments and that she has to watch 105 and 106 back to back so she gets the full effect of the story which is Oshii's swan song of the series. As far as their relationship and it's resolution, I have to fall in the camp of 'of course they stayed together' otherwise, it would almost feel like I watched it all for nothing (Note I say almost). And I can't say I ever saw a post in which a person said they thought Lum dumped him and left for good. Ataru would probably go insane with depression.
Funny how she took more consolation and solace from Ataru's mother than he did. But her father was definitely a rotten specimen of life in all ways, tricking your own kid so they wouldn't eat something just so you could is pretty low.
The typhoon episode and the summer date one both are good in that Lum gets to enjoy some time with him and he really doesn't mind. When she saw his reaction to her looking like an earth girl she was overjoyed. The music that played in those episodes for the candle scene in typhoon and when Ataru is wondering why Lum left after the date and she appears in the UFO overhead, it's pretty much a theme song for them early on.
I just watched some of the video footage from the 10th anniversary special that is still out there, 2021 is coming up faster than we realize, UY will be 40 soon.
- It's probably my schedule. I'm up late many nights.
- Unfortunate and expected.
- Early in the series, the trick is if you do something bad, pin it on Ataru. You'll likely be successful lol. Lol you're right, he didn't exactly have a safety plan for jumping off to save her. One of those in the heat of the moment deals. That aspect of Lum's life could have been expanded on more than it had been, I liked most if not all the stories that focused on the memories she spent with her childhood friends.
- It definitely must be hard to teach a class full of students who belittle you, disrespect you, and harm you physically with no regard for how you feel or your well-being. Lol, I remember that. It was the end of the OVA. She's all like "Darling, why didn't we get to see my future." Ataru's just like "Well cause you dropped it." She asks him why was hers the only one to drop. How is he suppose to answer this? Even funnier when she does drop her doorknob because of the rabbits slamming a door in her face, Ataru chooses to troll Lum by saying at least he has his future. It was a moment I found funny, but definitely a moment he deserved the electric lynching.
- Takahashi's latest story Rinne does fully the general structure that each of her other series follow, the "Boy Meets Girl" template. It's just her theme of tackling the couples. Of course, the way she goes about it has many similarities while the characters in question are not the same in personality necessarily (Ataru and Ranma are not the same, just like how Lum and Kagome aren't the same).
- Rei just sort of fades into the background after that, probably because there's really not much more you can do with him than that. Same issue Kurama's character ran into. Really only so much you can go through the same story just with some different details. Eh, Ataru and Mendou will be fine. They've got Takahashi manga durability. They practically have Takahashi's own take of "toonforce".
- Yeah, that was pretty jarring. You'd think Sakura of all people would understand. Then again, thinking about it, maybe she doesn't understand as much as we and she thinks she does. In the "Happy Birthday My Darling episode" she completely failed to understand the situation between Ataru and Lum, and insisted on Lum to dump him, when it really wasn't an issue like that, more so an issue of a misunderstanding (I wonder where we've seen a misunderstanding get out of hand before). Moroboshi children would hold a clean record against Ataru.
- It does improve later on, that's for sure. As for dumping, I find it interesting that for most of the series, characters have been telling Ataru that he'll get dumped by Lum and have even tried to tell and get Lum to dump him at times. But when they actually do break up (in the last story briefly until that story's climax), Ataru is the one who dumps her.
- That's what I find troubling about Ryuunosuke's stories. She's a great character herself, but the way her stories are structured and framed makes any sort of possibility of progression impossible. Takahashi's couples tend to take one step forward and two steps back, but there is progression there. Ryuunosuke doesn't get much of anything. It makes it frustrating to read or watch through some of her stories.
- Well when your boyfriend/fiance willfully chooses to reject you most of the time, you take any moments you can get and capitalize on when he's being more open towards your affections.
- Yeah, that series is going to be 40 soon. Since Ataru was likely born in '62 since the series started in '78, that makes him 16 at the start. That would make Ataru and Lum like 55 currently now in 2017. Time sure does fly.
-
- It's probably my schedule. I'm up late many nights.
- Unfortunate and expected.
- Early in the series, the trick is if you do something bad, pin it on Ataru. You'll likely be successful lol. Lol you're right, he didn't exactly have a safety plan for jumping off to save her. One of those in the heat of the moment deals. That aspect of Lum's life could have been expanded on more than it had been, I liked most if not all the stories that focused on the memories she spent with her childhood friends.
- It definitely must be hard to teach a class full of students who belittle you, disrespect you, and harm you physically with no regard for how you feel or your well-being. Lol, I remember that. It was the end of the OVA. She's all like "Darling, why didn't we get to see my future." Ataru's just like "Well cause you dropped it." She asks him why was hers the only one to drop. How is he suppose to answer this? Even funnier when she does drop her doorknob because of the rabbits slamming a door in her face, Ataru chooses to troll Lum by saying at least he has his future. It was a moment I found funny, but definitely a moment he deserved the electric lynching.
- Takahashi's latest story Rinne does fully the general structure that each of her other series follow, the "Boy Meets Girl" template. It's just her theme of tackling the couples. Of course, the way she goes about it has many similarities while the characters in question are not the same in personality necessarily (Ataru and Ranma are not the same, just like how Lum and Kagome aren't the same).
- Rei just sort of fades into the background after that, probably because there's really not much more you can do with him than that. Same issue Kurama's character ran into. Really only so much you can go through the same story just with some different details. Eh, Ataru and Mendou will be fine. They've got Takahashi manga durability. They practically have Takahashi's own take of "toonforce".
- Yeah, that was pretty jarring. You'd think Sakura of all people would understand. Then again, thinking about it, maybe she doesn't understand as much as we and she thinks she does. In the "Happy Birthday My Darling episode" she completely failed to understand the situation between Ataru and Lum, and insisted on Lum to dump him, when it really wasn't an issue like that, more so an issue of a misunderstanding (I wonder where we've seen a misunderstanding get out of hand before). Moroboshi children would hold a clean record against Ataru.
- It does improve later on, that's for sure. As for dumping, I find it interesting that for most of the series, characters have been telling Ataru that he'll get dumped by Lum and have even tried to tell and get Lum to dump him at times. But when they actually do break up (in the last story briefly until that story's climax), Ataru is the one who dumps her.
- That's what I find troubling about Ryuunosuke's stories. She's a great character herself, but the way her stories are structured and framed makes any sort of possibility of progression impossible. Takahashi's couples tend to take one step forward and two steps back, but there is progression there. Ryuunosuke doesn't get much of anything. It makes it frustrating to read or watch through some of her stories.
- Well when your boyfriend/fiance willfully chooses to reject you most of the time, you take any moments you can get and capitalize on when he's being more open towards your affections.
- Yeah, that series is going to be 40 soon. Since Ataru was likely born in '62 since the series started in '78, that makes him 16 at the start. That would make Ataru and Lum like 55 currently now in 2017. Time sure does fly.
With me being inbetween job contracts, my schedule has gone completely out the window. Other than the weekends, I'm usually asleep around Midnight EST.
I would say kids will be kids, but...I'll leave it as hormones will be hormones.
Ataru was the best patsy early on, most people found it easy to believe that if something bad happened he caused it somehow. With his jumping after her, I really got nothing other than he either figured on a suicide with her or he hoped that someone would save them. Honestly, given that Benten's bike has gone really fast previously, she should have overshot them and been able to do something. (Un)fortunately for Ataru, he managed to tick Lum off enough that she grew new horns. But when he first jumped down and caught up to her, that wallop of a smack she gave him was priceless. And her childhood was funny, no wonder they called her The Notorious Lum, she was trouble with a capital T.
I found it funny that aside from when they met their new homeroom teacher, there was like only a couple episodes where they were in classes other than Onsen's at the beginning. That new ace teacher that had it in for Ataru didn't last too long, and they had a science class once and then that was it. You'd think they spent their whole day learning English with Onsen. And my thoughts exactly, how was he supposed to answer that? He was right there with her, did she think that it somehow happened diferently for him? The first time I saw the OVA and he trolled her my thought was that pretty much, Ataru is going to pay for that. So what does he do, he blames her for wrecking his perfect future which is really all his own fault. He deserved it, and she really was relentless that time too.
Well then I think since it's ongoing still, I'll wait until it's done before I tackle getting into that one. I've heard it's good and she handles things in it better than she has in the past, but once bitten...
Rei made his token appearances for the sake of 'Here's the whle cast...again', same with Kurama. She was present on the final day of the tag race and my thought was, why? She couldn't stand either of them, especially Ataru and her story wasn't getting resolved anytime soon regardless. For all Mendou's talk, he was more uptight than Ataru just when the Karasutengu were trying to get him to kiss her to wake her. Although it was funny to see his true colors when he first realizes Kurama is attractive - Akira Kamiya did a good job with the voice reaction.
Sakura strikes me as being very book smart, but not wise when it comes to others. Maybe because of her own life and being sick all the time until Ataru came along. Handy that he's a magnet for evil spirits, I liked the manga version when Sakura exorcised all the other spirits and Ataru basically had the Grim Reaper sitting over him then. And for the life of me, if that's what her mother looked like, I'd be scared to know who the heck wanted to marry that. Even at the end of Happy Birthday, it struck me as odd that Lum still looked down, given that she went and got him a present. In the meantime, direct contrast, he saw Lum and he was the happiest person in the world. He couldn't even last a whole day this time without seeing her, and for once his mother actually was worried about him being out in the rain. Lum and Ataru have a misunderstanding? Never... And their kids would likely blow up the school if they had even a hint of a chance.
I can't even call that a real dumping, she obviously didn't accept it, and if he were even halfway serious about it, I doubt it would have gotten to that point when he could have told her off long before the mushrooms began to grow. The look on his face when they got back to Earth and Lum wasn't with them was pretty much an "Ooops, I really screwed up this one".
The manga stories were a little harder to get through for me, her father just looked like a psychotic, abusive jerk. And those facial expressions he made were awful. The one where he has the long hair and beard of a hermit and he sticks his tongue out, that's one of those, 'What has been seen cannot be unseen' moments.
Speaking of the typhoon episode, my girlfriend ended with that one tonight. She looked at me and flat out said that for someone that tries to get away from a girl, he risks his life without a second thought. All I said was welcome to how Takahashi handles character relationships, that Final Chapter movie is based on the last manga story, and it's just as crazily handled as the very first story was. I just left it as, Lum made up her mind to love him, and while he does love her, he can't admit it to anyone, especially himself that he's not free anymore. (I was kind and explained the basis of the main characters for her)
Another time gaff, the manga has them born then, but the anime sure doesn't reflect it and Lum the Forever has Lum born in 1967. But, we know time is just 'a little skewed' in UY. I wonder if we'll get something for the 40th anniversary aside from a drawing from Takahashi. Toshio will be 76 and Fumi will be 65/66, might be a little late for something animated from them at that point.
-
- It's probably my schedule. I'm up late many nights.
- Unfortunate and expected.
- Early in the series, the trick is if you do something bad, pin it on Ataru. You'll likely be successful lol. Lol you're right, he didn't exactly have a safety plan for jumping off to save her. One of those in the heat of the moment deals. That aspect of Lum's life could have been expanded on more than it had been, I liked most if not all the stories that focused on the memories she spent with her childhood friends.
- It definitely must be hard to teach a class full of students who belittle you, disrespect you, and harm you physically with no regard for how you feel or your well-being. Lol, I remember that. It was the end of the OVA. She's all like "Darling, why didn't we get to see my future." Ataru's just like "Well cause you dropped it." She asks him why was hers the only one to drop. How is he suppose to answer this? Even funnier when she does drop her doorknob because of the rabbits slamming a door in her face, Ataru chooses to troll Lum by saying at least he has his future. It was a moment I found funny, but definitely a moment he deserved the electric lynching.
- Takahashi's latest story Rinne does fully the general structure that each of her other series follow, the "Boy Meets Girl" template. It's just her theme of tackling the couples. Of course, the way she goes about it has many similarities while the characters in question are not the same in personality necessarily (Ataru and Ranma are not the same, just like how Lum and Kagome aren't the same).
- Rei just sort of fades into the background after that, probably because there's really not much more you can do with him than that. Same issue Kurama's character ran into. Really only so much you can go through the same story just with some different details. Eh, Ataru and Mendou will be fine. They've got Takahashi manga durability. They practically have Takahashi's own take of "toonforce".
- Yeah, that was pretty jarring. You'd think Sakura of all people would understand. Then again, thinking about it, maybe she doesn't understand as much as we and she thinks she does. In the "Happy Birthday My Darling episode" she completely failed to understand the situation between Ataru and Lum, and insisted on Lum to dump him, when it really wasn't an issue like that, more so an issue of a misunderstanding (I wonder where we've seen a misunderstanding get out of hand before). Moroboshi children would hold a clean record against Ataru.
- It does improve later on, that's for sure. As for dumping, I find it interesting that for most of the series, characters have been telling Ataru that he'll get dumped by Lum and have even tried to tell and get Lum to dump him at times. But when they actually do break up (in the last story briefly until that story's climax), Ataru is the one who dumps her.
- That's what I find troubling about Ryuunosuke's stories. She's a great character herself, but the way her stories are structured and framed makes any sort of possibility of progression impossible. Takahashi's couples tend to take one step forward and two steps back, but there is progression there. Ryuunosuke doesn't get much of anything. It makes it frustrating to read or watch through some of her stories.
- Well when your boyfriend/fiance willfully chooses to reject you most of the time, you take any moments you can get and capitalize on when he's being more open towards your affections.
- Yeah, that series is going to be 40 soon. Since Ataru was likely born in '62 since the series started in '78, that makes him 16 at the start. That would make Ataru and Lum like 55 currently now in 2017. Time sure does fly.
With me being inbetween job contracts, my schedule has gone completely out the window. Other than the weekends, I'm usually asleep around Midnight EST.
I would say kids will be kids, but...I'll leave it as hormones will be hormones.
Ataru was the best patsy early on, most people found it easy to believe that if something bad happened he caused it somehow. With his jumping after her, I really got nothing other than he either figured on a suicide with her or he hoped that someone would save them. Honestly, given that Benten's bike has gone really fast previously, she should have overshot them and been able to do something. (Un)fortunately for Ataru, he managed to tick Lum off enough that she grew new horns. But when he first jumped down and caught up to her, that wallop of a smack she gave him was priceless. And her childhood was funny, no wonder they called her The Notorious Lum, she was trouble with a capital T.
I found it funny that aside from when they met their new homeroom teacher, there was like only a couple episodes where they were in classes other than Onsen's at the beginning. That new ace teacher that had it in for Ataru didn't last too long, and they had a science class once and then that was it. You'd think they spent their whole day learning English with Onsen. And my thoughts exactly, how was he supposed to answer that? He was right there with her, did she think that it somehow happened diferently for him? The first time I saw the OVA and he trolled her my thought was that pretty much, Ataru is going to pay for that. So what does he do, he blames her for wrecking his perfect future which is really all his own fault. He deserved it, and she really was relentless that time too.
Well then I think since it's ongoing still, I'll wait until it's done before I tackle getting into that one. I've heard it's good and she handles things in it better than she has in the past, but once bitten...
Rei made his token appearances for the sake of 'Here's the whle cast...again', same with Kurama. She was present on the final day of the tag race and my thought was, why? She couldn't stand either of them, especially Ataru and her story wasn't getting resolved anytime soon regardless. For all Mendou's talk, he was more uptight than Ataru just when the Karasutengu were trying to get him to kiss her to wake her. Although it was funny to see his true colors when he first realizes Kurama is attractive - Akira Kamiya did a good job with the voice reaction.
Sakura strikes me as being very book smart, but not wise when it comes to others. Maybe because of her own life and being sick all the time until Ataru came along. Handy that he's a magnet for evil spirits, I liked the manga version when Sakura exorcised all the other spirits and Ataru basically had the Grim Reaper sitting over him then. And for the life of me, if that's what her mother looked like, I'd be scared to know who the heck wanted to marry that. Even at the end of Happy Birthday, it struck me as odd that Lum still looked down, given that she went and got him a present. In the meantime, direct contrast, he saw Lum and he was the happiest person in the world. He couldn't even last a whole day this time without seeing her, and for once his mother actually was worried about him being out in the rain. Lum and Ataru have a misunderstanding? Never... And their kids would likely blow up the school if they had even a hint of a chance.
I can't even call that a real dumping, she obviously didn't accept it, and if he were even halfway serious about it, I doubt it would have gotten to that point when he could have told her off long before the mushrooms began to grow. The look on his face when they got back to Earth and Lum wasn't with them was pretty much an "Ooops, I really screwed up this one".
The manga stories were a little harder to get through for me, her father just looked like a psychotic, abusive jerk. And those facial expressions he made were awful. The one where he has the long hair and beard of a hermit and he sticks his tongue out, that's one of those, 'What has been seen cannot be unseen' moments.
Speaking of the typhoon episode, my girlfriend ended with that one tonight. She looked at me and flat out said that for someone that tries to get away from a girl, he risks his life without a second thought. All I said was welcome to how Takahashi handles character relationships, that Final Chapter movie is based on the last manga story, and it's just as crazily handled as the very first story was. I just left it as, Lum made up her mind to love him, and while he does love her, he can't admit it to anyone, especially himself that he's not free anymore. (I was kind and explained the basis of the main characters for her)
Another time gaff, the manga has them born then, but the anime sure doesn't reflect it and Lum the Forever has Lum born in 1967. But, we know time is just 'a little skewed' in UY. I wonder if we'll get something for the 40th anniversary aside from a drawing from Takahashi. Toshio will be 76 and Fumi will be 65/66, might be a little late for something animated from them at that point.
- When you're labeled the village idiot, it's always easy to just blame you for everything. Just another inconsistency. Same with Ataru's durability, Benten's bike speed had to be nerfed to prevent her from rescuing Ataru and Lum (something she'd be able to do in any other story of the series). She was a pretty rebellious youth herself that Lum. She probably does find that side of Ataru attractive to some degree.
- Onsen is just the favorite guinea pig is all. More specifically, I guess Takahashi just found it more appropriate to use Onsen because he was a good butt monkey to the students. Ataru couldn't realistically answer that question for Lum, but he already knows, once she's angry, there's no reasoning with her til she calms down. So, why not make sport of it, and run away from her? He definitely deserved the electrocution she gave him this time, doubled over. I liked how the OVA highlighted a major flaw within Ataru and Lum's communication (or lack thereof) as a couple. Lum despises that Ataru constantly flirts with every woman he sees, and Ataru hates how Lum always electrocutes and how clingy she can be. Valid points they bring up about one another that prevents their relationship from truly progressing I'd say.
- Yeah, it's still on-going. I have to catch up to it personally. I've been occupied with other series like Hajime no Ippo, Black Jack and BnHA.
- Yeah, there was never any point to having Kurama appear again after a certain point. Only You has Kurama in a small but decent role that has her state perfectly why it makes no sense for her to appear anymore. Like I get what they went for with having all those characters reappearing again in the finale, but it just made no sense in the context of her character since she hates both Ataru and Lum and has zero reason to be on earth to watch the events of their lover's quarrel when she wants nothing to do with either of them. Mendou had ample time, and Ataru was even being restrained, yet Mendou still got beaten by Ataru out of scoring a kiss. Pretty pathetic of Mendou tbh.
- Sakura's family is arguably even more strange than Mendou's family. Largely due to the fact that there's more questions for that family than I would have for Mendou's family. Lol, I can see it now: A married Ataru and Lum get into a feud and their children take their feelings about it out on the school, and there's not a damn thing really anyone can do about it.
- No, he obviously wasn't completely serious. The biggest clue to that was the sheer fact that we as the audience realize that he had kept her horns with him (this was before Lum herself knew he had them). He clearly never meant it.
- The manga was usually a bit more mean-spirited and blunt than the anime was most of the time. The anime actually somewhat tones down how some of the cruel acts characters commit in the manga come off. I can't really think of a story that heavily focuses on Ryuunosuke and or Mr. Fujinami and enjoyed her father's presence there.
- The good old Takahashi couples. You can truly grow attached to them, but you get increasingly frustrated with some of the turns in the progression of each couple at times.
- I'd love a fun little sketch or mini comic from Takahashi featuring the UY crew just for fun for a 40th Anniversary.
-
- When you're labeled the village idiot, it's always easy to just blame you for everything. Just another inconsistency. Same with Ataru's durability, Benten's bike speed had to be nerfed to prevent her from rescuing Ataru and Lum (something she'd be able to do in any other story of the series). She was a pretty rebellious youth herself that Lum. She probably does find that side of Ataru attractive to some degree.
- Onsen is just the favorite guinea pig is all. More specifically, I guess Takahashi just found it more appropriate to use Onsen because he was a good butt monkey to the students. Ataru couldn't realistically answer that question for Lum, but he already knows, once she's angry, there's no reasoning with her til she calms down. So, why not make sport of it, and run away from her? He definitely deserved the electrocution she gave him this time, doubled over. I liked how the OVA highlighted a major flaw within Ataru and Lum's communication (or lack thereof) as a couple. Lum despises that Ataru constantly flirts with every woman he sees, and Ataru hates how Lum always electrocutes and how clingy she can be. Valid points they bring up about one another that prevents their relationship from truly progressing I'd say.
- Yeah, it's still on-going. I have to catch up to it personally. I've been occupied with other series like Hajime no Ippo, Black Jack and BnHA.
- Yeah, there was never any point to having Kurama appear again after a certain point. Only You has Kurama in a small but decent role that has her state perfectly why it makes no sense for her to appear anymore. Like I get what they went for with having all those characters reappearing again in the finale, but it just made no sense in the context of her character since she hates both Ataru and Lum and has zero reason to be on earth to watch the events of their lover's quarrel when she wants nothing to do with either of them. Mendou had ample time, and Ataru was even being restrained, yet Mendou still got beaten by Ataru out of scoring a kiss. Pretty pathetic of Mendou tbh.
- Sakura's family is arguably even more strange than Mendou's family. Largely due to the fact that there's more questions for that family than I would have for Mendou's family. Lol, I can see it now: A married Ataru and Lum get into a feud and their children take their feelings about it out on the school, and there's not a damn thing really anyone can do about it.
- No, he obviously wasn't completely serious. The biggest clue to that was the sheer fact that we as the audience realize that he had kept her horns with him (this was before Lum herself knew he had them). He clearly never meant it.
- The manga was usually a bit more mean-spirited and blunt than the anime was most of the time. The anime actually somewhat tones down how some of the cruel acts characters commit in the manga come off. I can't really think of a story that heavily focuses on Ryuunosuke and or Mr. Fujinami and enjoyed her father's presence there.
- The good old Takahashi couples. You can truly grow attached to them, but you get increasingly frustrated with some of the turns in the progression of each couple at times.
- I'd love a fun little sketch or mini comic from Takahashi featuring the UY crew just for fun for a 40th Anniversary.
He's the village idiot and the village curse all rolled into one, until something happens and only he can save Lum (let's face it, everything was either one or the other in danger). Biggest inconsistency - Benten couldn't get there in time in Movie 5, and the bike did warp speed in Movie 6. That was a huh what moment right there. I also find it funny that at least in the english translated manga, Lum says she's a pacifist, she's got the worst temper next to Ran.
There are times I felt bad for Onsen-Mark, the amount of disrespect he got was incredible. He didn't help his case though since he was enthralled with Sakura, something the students recognized early on and actually called him out on. But yeah, their major fault as a couple is they don't communicate, and the fact that Ataru was actually the initiator of that discussion was interesting because no one is more horrible at communicating than he is. Not that he had good examples to follow; his father barely spoke and his mother punctuated things she said with "I never should have had him".
I found a site that streams Rin-ne, so I guess I have something to watch when I have downtime. Hajime no Ippo is another I'm way behind on though.
Kurama has one quality she shares with Lum, bad taste in men (even if Lum is the only one that can get Ataru's good points to come out.) From Ataru to Mendou to Rei with a dash of Ryuunosuke thrown in because everyone thinks she is a boy at one point or another. Another amusing Mendou fail, when Ryoko appeared and Mendou had to admit Ataru is more tenacious than him and then later Mendou's fatehr even admits Ataru is superior to Mendou.
Cherry and his sister are SO short, and then you get Sakura. Never a mention of who her father was, and probably for the better as her mother was basically Cherry with a wig. If classes were called off a lot when it was Ataru causing problems, I could almost see weeks being called off because of their kids as sections of the school are vaporized.
Classic "Never thinks of the consequences", unless he benefits. Which I assume he must if we are to take that ever mentioned Inaba story into account. Unless of course Lum loses her patience and asks him to marry her, which she's not above doing.
There's another murder I see, one day Ryuunosuke murders her father because of how much of a jerk he is.
She made it to the dolphin episode last night. This morning she goes, "So he yells out loud she's his woman - what happens now?" I just laughed. She was not amused.
Takahashi is horrible with couples, I'm convinced to a degree she might dislike them as only one couple has ever been truly successful. I guess they all are to a degree, but Maison is the only series that cleanly ended.
There are people that have expressed a desire for a continuation or new UY, but it would need Takahashi's blessing to be done. I'm not against it, as long as the people don't do something drastic. If they can keep the spirit of the original somehow and make valid character progress, I'd give it a shot.
-
- When you're labeled the village idiot, it's always easy to just blame you for everything. Just another inconsistency. Same with Ataru's durability, Benten's bike speed had to be nerfed to prevent her from rescuing Ataru and Lum (something she'd be able to do in any other story of the series). She was a pretty rebellious youth herself that Lum. She probably does find that side of Ataru attractive to some degree.
- Onsen is just the favorite guinea pig is all. More specifically, I guess Takahashi just found it more appropriate to use Onsen because he was a good butt monkey to the students. Ataru couldn't realistically answer that question for Lum, but he already knows, once she's angry, there's no reasoning with her til she calms down. So, why not make sport of it, and run away from her? He definitely deserved the electrocution she gave him this time, doubled over. I liked how the OVA highlighted a major flaw within Ataru and Lum's communication (or lack thereof) as a couple. Lum despises that Ataru constantly flirts with every woman he sees, and Ataru hates how Lum always electrocutes and how clingy she can be. Valid points they bring up about one another that prevents their relationship from truly progressing I'd say.
- Yeah, it's still on-going. I have to catch up to it personally. I've been occupied with other series like Hajime no Ippo, Black Jack and BnHA.
- Yeah, there was never any point to having Kurama appear again after a certain point. Only You has Kurama in a small but decent role that has her state perfectly why it makes no sense for her to appear anymore. Like I get what they went for with having all those characters reappearing again in the finale, but it just made no sense in the context of her character since she hates both Ataru and Lum and has zero reason to be on earth to watch the events of their lover's quarrel when she wants nothing to do with either of them. Mendou had ample time, and Ataru was even being restrained, yet Mendou still got beaten by Ataru out of scoring a kiss. Pretty pathetic of Mendou tbh.
- Sakura's family is arguably even more strange than Mendou's family. Largely due to the fact that there's more questions for that family than I would have for Mendou's family. Lol, I can see it now: A married Ataru and Lum get into a feud and their children take their feelings about it out on the school, and there's not a damn thing really anyone can do about it.
- No, he obviously wasn't completely serious. The biggest clue to that was the sheer fact that we as the audience realize that he had kept her horns with him (this was before Lum herself knew he had them). He clearly never meant it.
- The manga was usually a bit more mean-spirited and blunt than the anime was most of the time. The anime actually somewhat tones down how some of the cruel acts characters commit in the manga come off. I can't really think of a story that heavily focuses on Ryuunosuke and or Mr. Fujinami and enjoyed her father's presence there.
- The good old Takahashi couples. You can truly grow attached to them, but you get increasingly frustrated with some of the turns in the progression of each couple at times.
- I'd love a fun little sketch or mini comic from Takahashi featuring the UY crew just for fun for a 40th Anniversary.
He's the village idiot and the village curse all rolled into one, until something happens and only he can save Lum (let's face it, everything was either one or the other in danger). Biggest inconsistency - Benten couldn't get there in time in Movie 5, and the bike did warp speed in Movie 6. That was a huh what moment right there. I also find it funny that at least in the english translated manga, Lum says she's a pacifist, she's got the worst temper next to Ran.
There are times I felt bad for Onsen-Mark, the amount of disrespect he got was incredible. He didn't help his case though since he was enthralled with Sakura, something the students recognized early on and actually called him out on. But yeah, their major fault as a couple is they don't communicate, and the fact that Ataru was actually the initiator of that discussion was interesting because no one is more horrible at communicating than he is. Not that he had good examples to follow; his father barely spoke and his mother punctuated things she said with "I never should have had him".
I found a site that streams Rin-ne, so I guess I have something to watch when I have downtime. Hajime no Ippo is another I'm way behind on though.
Kurama has one quality she shares with Lum, bad taste in men (even if Lum is the only one that can get Ataru's good points to come out.) From Ataru to Mendou to Rei with a dash of Ryuunosuke thrown in because everyone thinks she is a boy at one point or another. Another amusing Mendou fail, when Ryoko appeared and Mendou had to admit Ataru is more tenacious than him and then later Mendou's fatehr even admits Ataru is superior to Mendou.
Cherry and his sister are SO short, and then you get Sakura. Never a mention of who her father was, and probably for the better as her mother was basically Cherry with a wig. If classes were called off a lot when it was Ataru causing problems, I could almost see weeks being called off because of their kids as sections of the school are vaporized.
Classic "Never thinks of the consequences", unless he benefits. Which I assume he must if we are to take that ever mentioned Inaba story into account. Unless of course Lum loses her patience and asks him to marry her, which she's not above doing.
There's another murder I see, one day Ryuunosuke murders her father because of how much of a jerk he is.
She made it to the dolphin episode last night. This morning she goes, "So he yells out loud she's his woman - what happens now?" I just laughed. She was not amused.
Takahashi is horrible with couples, I'm convinced to a degree she might dislike them as only one couple has ever been truly successful. I guess they all are to a degree, but Maison is the only series that cleanly ended.
There are people that have expressed a desire for a continuation or new UY, but it would need Takahashi's blessing to be done. I'm not against it, as long as the people don't do something drastic. If they can keep the spirit of the original somehow and make valid character progress, I'd give it a shot.
- Lol, Lum a pacifist. I believe that as much as I believe that Lum will ever stop loving Ataru. Lum's saving grace compared to Ran is she doesn't just get angry abruptly and at the drop of a hat. Lum is usually more composed than Ran is.
- Yeah, he was a character you could really feel bad for. Though as you mentioned, he didn't ever really help his own case. He knew many times he was playing with fire when he tried messing with them or being strict with them. He's been at this too long. I imagine his parents being quite happy with one another and even with Ataru early on in their marriage and within Ataru's first few years.
- Ippo takes forever to get through for a variety of reasons (some fights and plot lines get dragged out or repeated as well as the fact that this series focuses on several different characters which is a huge plus for me). I've been going through the Second Rookie Kings tournament now between Itagaki and Imai. I'm fond of many of the characters though my favorites consist of Ippo, Miyata, Kumi, Mashiba, Volg and Date.
- Lum, Elle, Kurama, and Ran all have terrible taste in men. That's just a fact. As for Mendou, his father always seemed to be neutral with Ataru and even greeted him when Ataru first showed up at the Mendou Estate in Ryoko's debut. Hilarious really. Must be frustrating being told by characters (Cherry and your own father), or even just shown to be inferior to the one guy you hate the most but have no chance of ever coming out on top of him. Mendou "has it all" except Lum, but that's the "only thing" Ataru has over him (as far as the characters in the series want to believe), but that's all he really needs to be over Mendou. His enemy managed to attract the girl he wants but can't ever get. Really must eat him up inside to have to deal with it lol. Can't say I feel sorry lol, he was never an ideal choice for Lum, nor has she ever expressed interest in him romantically either.
- The students probably at certain times make it a point to have the classroom trashed enough so that they wouldn't have to come to school the following few days. I'd imagine that while Onsen wanted them to be at school and wanted to teach even when the school was in ruins, a small part of him probably cherished the fact that he would have time away from them.
- I could see Lum herself pressuring him into it at some point about asking for him to propose to her. Of course, if Ataru was to either propose or accept, that would be him essentially declaring his love for her, which is something he said he'd do pretty much when he felt ready. Meaning, marrying Lum would already mean he loves her, but he'd pretty much would have to confess that he does openly by that point.
- He's got that annoying father toonforce going for him. He'll likely outlive most characters on that fact alone, because he's such a vile person.
- Lol, to answer your GF's question, simply put what happens next is: The series goes on the same it's always been. She's at that point where their relationship is at the level where the love is mutual between the two, Ataru rarely shows it, but definitely makes it a point to show he cares when he has to. The relationship doesn't really make a big leap in progress again for some time.
- I guess part of it might be because Takahashi clearly wrote Maison Ikkoku as more romance focused than her other series. UY is arguably the least focused on romance thinking about it. To many, it feels like Takahashi trolls the couples. The worst part is, since Maison is really the exception and not the standard, you don't even get surprised when somebody tells you about their irritation or frustration or issues with how each relationships resolution is handled in her works.
- Personally, I don't even think the series really needs to continue with another series. I think maybe a few new stories or like an original special or OVA could potentially be a great thing for UY. To really send it off with an even bigger bang.
-
He's the village idiot and the village curse all rolled into one, until something happens and only he can save Lum (let's face it, everything was either one or the other in danger). Biggest inconsistency - Benten couldn't get there in time in Movie 5, and the bike did warp speed in Movie 6. That was a huh what moment right there. I also find it funny that at least in the english translated manga, Lum says she's a pacifist, she's got the worst temper next to Ran.
There are times I felt bad for Onsen-Mark, the amount of disrespect he got was incredible. He didn't help his case though since he was enthralled with Sakura, something the students recognized early on and actually called him out on. But yeah, their major fault as a couple is they don't communicate, and the fact that Ataru was actually the initiator of that discussion was interesting because no one is more horrible at communicating than he is. Not that he had good examples to follow; his father barely spoke and his mother punctuated things she said with "I never should have had him".
I found a site that streams Rin-ne, so I guess I have something to watch when I have downtime. Hajime no Ippo is another I'm way behind on though.
Kurama has one quality she shares with Lum, bad taste in men (even if Lum is the only one that can get Ataru's good points to come out.) From Ataru to Mendou to Rei with a dash of Ryuunosuke thrown in because everyone thinks she is a boy at one point or another. Another amusing Mendou fail, when Ryoko appeared and Mendou had to admit Ataru is more tenacious than him and then later Mendou's fatehr even admits Ataru is superior to Mendou.
Cherry and his sister are SO short, and then you get Sakura. Never a mention of who her father was, and probably for the better as her mother was basically Cherry with a wig. If classes were called off a lot when it was Ataru causing problems, I could almost see weeks being called off because of their kids as sections of the school are vaporized.
Classic "Never thinks of the consequences", unless he benefits. Which I assume he must if we are to take that ever mentioned Inaba story into account. Unless of course Lum loses her patience and asks him to marry her, which she's not above doing.
There's another murder I see, one day Ryuunosuke murders her father because of how much of a jerk he is.
She made it to the dolphin episode last night. This morning she goes, "So he yells out loud she's his woman - what happens now?" I just laughed. She was not amused.
Takahashi is horrible with couples, I'm convinced to a degree she might dislike them as only one couple has ever been truly successful. I guess they all are to a degree, but Maison is the only series that cleanly ended.
There are people that have expressed a desire for a continuation or new UY, but it would need Takahashi's blessing to be done. I'm not against it, as long as the people don't do something drastic. If they can keep the spirit of the original somehow and make valid character progress, I'd give it a shot.
- Lol, Lum a pacifist. I believe that as much as I believe that Lum will ever stop loving Ataru. Lum's saving grace compared to Ran is she doesn't just get angry abruptly and at the drop of a hat. Lum is usually more composed than Ran is.
- Yeah, he was a character you could really feel bad for. Though as you mentioned, he didn't ever really help his own case. He knew many times he was playing with fire when he tried messing with them or being strict with them. He's been at this too long. I imagine his parents being quite happy with one another and even with Ataru early on in their marriage and within Ataru's first few years.
- Ippo takes forever to get through for a variety of reasons (some fights and plot lines get dragged out or repeated as well as the fact that this series focuses on several different characters which is a huge plus for me). I've been going through the Second Rookie Kings tournament now between Itagaki and Imai. I'm fond of many of the characters though my favorites consist of Ippo, Miyata, Kumi, Mashiba, Volg and Date.
- Lum, Elle, Kurama, and Ran all have terrible taste in men. That's just a fact. As for Mendou, his father always seemed to be neutral with Ataru and even greeted him when Ataru first showed up at the Mendou Estate in Ryoko's debut. Hilarious really. Must be frustrating being told by characters (Cherry and your own father), or even just shown to be inferior to the one guy you hate the most but have no chance of ever coming out on top of him. Mendou "has it all" except Lum, but that's the "only thing" Ataru has over him (as far as the characters in the series want to believe), but that's all he really needs to be over Mendou. His enemy managed to attract the girl he wants but can't ever get. Really must eat him up inside to have to deal with it lol. Can't say I feel sorry lol, he was never an ideal choice for Lum, nor has she ever expressed interest in him romantically either.
- The students probably at certain times make it a point to have the classroom trashed enough so that they wouldn't have to come to school the following few days. I'd imagine that while Onsen wanted them to be at school and wanted to teach even when the school was in ruins, a small part of him probably cherished the fact that he would have time away from them.
- I could see Lum herself pressuring him into it at some point about asking for him to propose to her. Of course, if Ataru was to either propose or accept, that would be him essentially declaring his love for her, which is something he said he'd do pretty much when he felt ready. Meaning, marrying Lum would already mean he loves her, but he'd pretty much would have to confess that he does openly by that point.
- He's got that annoying father toonforce going for him. He'll likely outlive most characters on that fact alone, because he's such a vile person.
- Lol, to answer your GF's question, simply put what happens next is: The series goes on the same it's always been. She's at that point where their relationship is at the level where the love is mutual between the two, Ataru rarely shows it, but definitely makes it a point to show he cares when he has to. The relationship doesn't really make a big leap in progress again for some time.
- I guess part of it might be because Takahashi clearly wrote Maison Ikkoku as more romance focused than her other series. UY is arguably the least focused on romance thinking about it. To many, it feels like Takahashi trolls the couples. The worst part is, since Maison is really the exception and not the standard, you don't even get surprised when somebody tells you about their irritation or frustration or issues with how each relationships resolution is handled in her works.
- Personally, I don't even think the series really needs to continue with another series. I think maybe a few new stories or like an original special or OVA could potentially be a great thing for UY. To really send it off with an even bigger bang.
[/quote]
Ran is about the prime example of bi-polar in UY, but when Lum does lose it, forget it. Of course, she never blew up the house, Ten did though, when he first appeared and Ataru swatted the propane delivery guy with the frying pan. Ten torched Ataru and the tanks, that house was annihilated lol.
Onsen-Mark was the example of the devoted teacher, who believed in what he was doing. He just got stuck with that class, and despite all the claims it was Ataru's fault that things were disrupted, others had a hand in it too. The one thing I always felt was odd with Ataru's parents was their distinctly different personalities. His mother was definitely an opportunist, while his father was definitely a quiet, reserved type. I can only imagine that Ataru changed them into that, but I can also clearly see their influences o in Ataru. He's definitely an opportunist, and his personality is shy and reserved.
I'm probably not nearly as far into Ippo as you are, the last I saw was that Ippo had to stop fighting, I could be industrious and look it up but is that still the case?
It's too bad Elle was a one shot for the first movie, she could have been a good returning character to use for some kind of revenge. After all, Ataru and company basically destroyed the bubble she called her life. Mendou's father I found entertaining, his time in Goat and the Cheese OVA was fun, unfortunately that's a prime example of letting a good character go to waste while the amount of kitsune episodes was silly. But it was good to see how fast Lum shot down Mendou, even if he never accepted it. The scales episode when she compared them and basically they were equal. "It means you're just as much an idiot!" But then Lum says it's up to her decide, and without even hesitating, she went right to Ataru. In Ep 106, it would have been more satisfying to see her completely zap Mendou once she had her memory back. But still, must have been a nice dig, she was drawn to Ataru even when she forgot who he was.
I'd say he looked forward to summer vacation more than the kids did. Funny how his opposite was Hanawa, "Embrace the spirit of learning", and the fact that he couldn't accept in any fashion that Lum was an alien.
I'd have to say that it'd happen by their mid-20's at the latest. The Oni seem to be all about families and such, and Lum is about the most eager to settle down of everyone in that show, and I'd even say to combine the others and she still has them beat. I also think that because slowly but surely Lum knows what buttons to push, by that time he'd pretty much be cornered.
Sad but true, and I really have no words to express how much I hate his presence in the manga. He's actually more of a complete dirtbag in that than the anime.
In the past couple of days she's binged all the way to Ep 93. She was wondering why they did a highlights episode, I told her this was around the time Beautiful Dreamer was about to hit, and this is a prelude in a way to Ep 105/106. Then she asked if the little creepy monk knows he loves her, do the others? I said, they do, they just don't talk of it.
While I liked Maison, I will admit to it being one of the more painful romance stories in anime that comes to mind. Which makes me think you're right in that Takahashi does troll her couples. I actually follow some Japanese people on twitter, mostly because they all seem to be artists who do amazing work, but it's their private passion and not their profession. The sheer amount of UY fans there still is staggering, and they HATE the way Takahashi does relationships in her work.
If it was to be a series, it could be done in 12 episode countdown to a full and complete end. This way they don't rush a lot into one slot, and can maybe even take care of more than one character.
-
He's the village idiot and the village curse all rolled into one, until something happens and only he can save Lum (let's face it, everything was either one or the other in danger). Biggest inconsistency - Benten couldn't get there in time in Movie 5, and the bike did warp speed in Movie 6. That was a huh what moment right there. I also find it funny that at least in the english translated manga, Lum says she's a pacifist, she's got the worst temper next to Ran.
There are times I felt bad for Onsen-Mark, the amount of disrespect he got was incredible. He didn't help his case though since he was enthralled with Sakura, something the students recognized early on and actually called him out on. But yeah, their major fault as a couple is they don't communicate, and the fact that Ataru was actually the initiator of that discussion was interesting because no one is more horrible at communicating than he is. Not that he had good examples to follow; his father barely spoke and his mother punctuated things she said with "I never should have had him".
I found a site that streams Rin-ne, so I guess I have something to watch when I have downtime. Hajime no Ippo is another I'm way behind on though.
Kurama has one quality she shares with Lum, bad taste in men (even if Lum is the only one that can get Ataru's good points to come out.) From Ataru to Mendou to Rei with a dash of Ryuunosuke thrown in because everyone thinks she is a boy at one point or another. Another amusing Mendou fail, when Ryoko appeared and Mendou had to admit Ataru is more tenacious than him and then later Mendou's fatehr even admits Ataru is superior to Mendou.
Cherry and his sister are SO short, and then you get Sakura. Never a mention of who her father was, and probably for the better as her mother was basically Cherry with a wig. If classes were called off a lot when it was Ataru causing problems, I could almost see weeks being called off because of their kids as sections of the school are vaporized.
Classic "Never thinks of the consequences", unless he benefits. Which I assume he must if we are to take that ever mentioned Inaba story into account. Unless of course Lum loses her patience and asks him to marry her, which she's not above doing.
There's another murder I see, one day Ryuunosuke murders her father because of how much of a jerk he is.
She made it to the dolphin episode last night. This morning she goes, "So he yells out loud she's his woman - what happens now?" I just laughed. She was not amused.
Takahashi is horrible with couples, I'm convinced to a degree she might dislike them as only one couple has ever been truly successful. I guess they all are to a degree, but Maison is the only series that cleanly ended.
There are people that have expressed a desire for a continuation or new UY, but it would need Takahashi's blessing to be done. I'm not against it, as long as the people don't do something drastic. If they can keep the spirit of the original somehow and make valid character progress, I'd give it a shot.
- Lol, Lum a pacifist. I believe that as much as I believe that Lum will ever stop loving Ataru. Lum's saving grace compared to Ran is she doesn't just get angry abruptly and at the drop of a hat. Lum is usually more composed than Ran is.
- Yeah, he was a character you could really feel bad for. Though as you mentioned, he didn't ever really help his own case. He knew many times he was playing with fire when he tried messing with them or being strict with them. He's been at this too long. I imagine his parents being quite happy with one another and even with Ataru early on in their marriage and within Ataru's first few years.
- Ippo takes forever to get through for a variety of reasons (some fights and plot lines get dragged out or repeated as well as the fact that this series focuses on several different characters which is a huge plus for me). I've been going through the Second Rookie Kings tournament now between Itagaki and Imai. I'm fond of many of the characters though my favorites consist of Ippo, Miyata, Kumi, Mashiba, Volg and Date.
- Lum, Elle, Kurama, and Ran all have terrible taste in men. That's just a fact. As for Mendou, his father always seemed to be neutral with Ataru and even greeted him when Ataru first showed up at the Mendou Estate in Ryoko's debut. Hilarious really. Must be frustrating being told by characters (Cherry and your own father), or even just shown to be inferior to the one guy you hate the most but have no chance of ever coming out on top of him. Mendou "has it all" except Lum, but that's the "only thing" Ataru has over him (as far as the characters in the series want to believe), but that's all he really needs to be over Mendou. His enemy managed to attract the girl he wants but can't ever get. Really must eat him up inside to have to deal with it lol. Can't say I feel sorry lol, he was never an ideal choice for Lum, nor has she ever expressed interest in him romantically either.
- The students probably at certain times make it a point to have the classroom trashed enough so that they wouldn't have to come to school the following few days. I'd imagine that while Onsen wanted them to be at school and wanted to teach even when the school was in ruins, a small part of him probably cherished the fact that he would have time away from them.
- I could see Lum herself pressuring him into it at some point about asking for him to propose to her. Of course, if Ataru was to either propose or accept, that would be him essentially declaring his love for her, which is something he said he'd do pretty much when he felt ready. Meaning, marrying Lum would already mean he loves her, but he'd pretty much would have to confess that he does openly by that point.
- He's got that annoying father toonforce going for him. He'll likely outlive most characters on that fact alone, because he's such a vile person.
- Lol, to answer your GF's question, simply put what happens next is: The series goes on the same it's always been. She's at that point where their relationship is at the level where the love is mutual between the two, Ataru rarely shows it, but definitely makes it a point to show he cares when he has to. The relationship doesn't really make a big leap in progress again for some time.
- I guess part of it might be because Takahashi clearly wrote Maison Ikkoku as more romance focused than her other series. UY is arguably the least focused on romance thinking about it. To many, it feels like Takahashi trolls the couples. The worst part is, since Maison is really the exception and not the standard, you don't even get surprised when somebody tells you about their irritation or frustration or issues with how each relationships resolution is handled in her works.
- Personally, I don't even think the series really needs to continue with another series. I think maybe a few new stories or like an original special or OVA could potentially be a great thing for UY. To really send it off with an even bigger bang.
Ran is about the prime example of bi-polar in UY, but when Lum does lose it, forget it. Of course, she never blew up the house, Ten did though, when he first appeared and Ataru swatted the propane delivery guy with the frying pan. Ten torched Ataru and the tanks, that house was annihilated lol.
Onsen-Mark was the example of the devoted teacher, who believed in what he was doing. He just got stuck with that class, and despite all the claims it was Ataru's fault that things were disrupted, others had a hand in it too. The one thing I always felt was odd with Ataru's parents was their distinctly different personalities. His mother was definitely an opportunist, while his father was definitely a quiet, reserved type. I can only imagine that Ataru changed them into that, but I can also clearly see their influences o in Ataru. He's definitely an opportunist, and his personality is shy and reserved.
I'm probably not nearly as far into Ippo as you are, the last I saw was that Ippo had to stop fighting, I could be industrious and look it up but is that still the case?
It's too bad Elle was a one shot for the first movie, she could have been a good returning character to use for some kind of revenge. After all, Ataru and company basically destroyed the bubble she called her life. Mendou's father I found entertaining, his time in Goat and the Cheese OVA was fun, unfortunately that's a prime example of letting a good character go to waste while the amount of kitsune episodes was silly. But it was good to see how fast Lum shot down Mendou, even if he never accepted it. The scales episode when she compared them and basically they were equal. "It means you're just as much an idiot!" But then Lum says it's up to her decide, and without even hesitating, she went right to Ataru. In Ep 106, it would have been more satisfying to see her completely zap Mendou once she had her memory back. But still, must have been a nice dig, she was drawn to Ataru even when she forgot who he was.
I'd say he looked forward to summer vacation more than the kids did. Funny how his opposite was Hanawa, "Embrace the spirit of learning", and the fact that he couldn't accept in any fashion that Lum was an alien.
I'd have to say that it'd happen by their mid-20's at the latest. The Oni seem to be all about families and such, and Lum is about the most eager to settle down of everyone in that show, and I'd even say to combine the others and she still has them beat. I also think that because slowly but surely Lum knows what buttons to push, by that time he'd pretty much be cornered.
Sad but true, and I really have no words to express how much I hate his presence in the manga. He's actually more of a complete dirtbag in that than the anime.
In the past couple of days she's binged all the way to Ep 93. She was wondering why they did a highlights episode, I told her this was around the time Beautiful Dreamer was about to hit, and this is a prelude in a way to Ep 105/106. Then she asked if the little creepy monk knows he loves her, do the others? I said, they do, they just don't talk of it.
While I liked Maison, I will admit to it being one of the more painful romance stories in anime that comes to mind. Which makes me think you're right in that Takahashi does troll her couples. I actually follow some Japanese people on twitter, mostly because they all seem to be artists who do amazing work, but it's their private passion and not their profession. The sheer amount of UY fans there still is staggering, and they HATE the way Takahashi does relationships in her work.
If it was to be a series, it could be done in 12 episode countdown to a full and complete end. This way they don't rush a lot into one slot, and can maybe even take care of more than one character.
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- There are certainly a lot of violent acts the characters commit in the series, despite some of them presenting themselves as not being so violent in nature.
- Well, Onsen could have transferred to teaching a different class or something, but even he seems to take pleasure in torturing the students whenever he gets the chance to do so. Makes you wonder how they ever got together Ataru's parents. He definitely takes qualities from both, but it's pretty clear his traits from his mother are more dominant and prominent.
- Depends when. He's had to stop fighting for a bit on few rare occasions. Did you get pass the Sawamura fight? If so, then I probably know what instance you're talking about.d
- Elle's one appearance sure didn't stop her from having cameos in the anime and even getting a few drawings from Takahashi. She feels sort of like a tragic villain, but she was sort of a nutcase what with the whole freezing her "beloveds". Yeah, I definitely wasn't ever feeling the Kitsune stories. They were pretty boring to me. It was a done deal for Lum's memory loss from the moment she saw him flying the helicopter. It only was over for Mendou even quicker when she heard that his name was Ataru. Mendou really trying to kill Ataru is just lol. Amazing how Ataru can ride a motorcycle and fly a copter.
- Lol. Hanawa was a funny one. Shame he pretty much became utterly irrelevant. Would have liked to see him appear in a few more stories. He didn't want to believe Lum was an alien, but he definitely wasn't a bad dude at heart.
- He'd be back against a wall for sure. Sure now Ataru has the excuse of being in high school, but after college? All bets are off, the longer he holds it off, the worse it'd get for him. She probably wouldn't mind waiting initially longer after they just get out of college, but it just become a game of time since he's either going to propose himself, or she going to give him a "push" to motivate him to propose sooner or later.
- So you're GF saw the episode Cherry pretty much told Mendou how inferior he is to Ataru. It's common knowledge by that point in the series that everyone knows Ataru loves Lum (hell, Ataru on some level is aware of it himself too) but as you said, it's really one of those things they don't really discuss openly.
- I can't blame them. While I'm fairly at peace with the ending, it's pretty understandable that you'd want a more concrete resolution to a couple you put a lot of investment into and grew to care about.
- Knowing it's a Takahashi story though, chances of most characters getting their plots resolved is slim, especially when there's a case that can be made that her own main couples haven't had proper endings.
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- There are certainly a lot of violent acts the characters commit in the series, despite some of them presenting themselves as not being so violent in nature.
- Well, Onsen could have transferred to teaching a different class or something, but even he seems to take pleasure in torturing the students whenever he gets the chance to do so. Makes you wonder how they ever got together Ataru's parents. He definitely takes qualities from both, but it's pretty clear his traits from his mother are more dominant and prominent.
- Depends when. He's had to stop fighting for a bit on few rare occasions. Did you get pass the Sawamura fight? If so, then I probably know what instance you're talking about.d
- Elle's one appearance sure didn't stop her from having cameos in the anime and even getting a few drawings from Takahashi. She feels sort of like a tragic villain, but she was sort of a nutcase what with the whole freezing her "beloveds". Yeah, I definitely wasn't ever feeling the Kitsune stories. They were pretty boring to me. It was a done deal for Lum's memory loss from the moment she saw him flying the helicopter. It only was over for Mendou even quicker when she heard that his name was Ataru. Mendou really trying to kill Ataru is just lol. Amazing how Ataru can ride a motorcycle and fly a copter.
- Lol. Hanawa was a funny one. Shame he pretty much became utterly irrelevant. Would have liked to see him appear in a few more stories. He didn't want to believe Lum was an alien, but he definitely wasn't a bad dude at heart.
- He'd be back against a wall for sure. Sure now Ataru has the excuse of being in high school, but after college? All bets are off, the longer he holds it off, the worse it'd get for him. She probably wouldn't mind waiting initially longer after they just get out of college, but it just become a game of time since he's either going to propose himself, or she going to give him a "push" to motivate him to propose sooner or later.
- So you're GF saw the episode Cherry pretty much told Mendou how inferior he is to Ataru. It's common knowledge by that point in the series that everyone knows Ataru loves Lum (hell, Ataru on some level is aware of it himself too) but as you said, it's really one of those things they don't really discuss openly.
- I can't blame them. While I'm fairly at peace with the ending, it's pretty understandable that you'd want a more concrete resolution to a couple you put a lot of investment into and grew to care about.
- Knowing it's a Takahashi story though, chances of most characters getting their plots resolved is slim, especially when there's a case that can be made that her own main couples haven't had proper endings.
I'd have to say the only truly non-violent person in the entire show might be Oyuki. Ataru lost a bit of credibility with the boxing glove episode, even if punching Mendou and Megane was for a good cause.
I think the one time he was going to leave, the transfer was declined by the other school - reputation must have preceded him. With Ataru's parents, I found it funny we only saw something of them in the past when Lum traveled back to try and 'correct' Ataru's fickleness. We got more of Lum's parents in the episode where her mother kicked him out than we ever did of his parents, odd but telling that maybe his parents weren't deemed important. Considering their respective traits, other than his father being the employed bread winner so to speak, his mother fell outside the norms of society with her more assertive nature.
I left off right after Sawamura actually. Thanks to YouTube I've seen Takamura's most notable fights, but not the series as a whole.
Everyone pretty much gets a cameo when it's a UY film or OVA. Ruu and Lahla were seen as passersby on the street in an episode when Lum was out on her own around the time the third movie was coming out. Heck, the witch that crafted the curse for that movie was also in the cameo crowd of guests in the Inaba OVA. I just still think the overall reaction to Elle from Ataru was amusing. Yes he was just taken and saw Lum almost die, but he shifted pretty well to discussing a harem, and then he saw Elle. His reaction of all the males was perhaps the most tame along with Mendou's. But as far as crazy is concerned, freezing 99,999 men is pretty much right up there as the craziest woman in all of the UY-verse. As for Kitsune, one appearance was enough. If it weren't for the fact that in those episodes there's some decent interactions with others, I'd probably just hit skip on the player and move on. Ataru just pulls skills out of nowhere, but when she saw him, her eyes brightened up and Mendou sure scrambled fast. Then later she realizes he's the person she can't remember but knows he's important enough that she needs to remember him.
I liked Hanawa, his inabilty to accept that Lum was an alien was funny. You know, horns are the mark of a strange disease, her flight doesn't mean anything because she didn't have shorts on under the school uniform skirt. Nevermind the fact her father is a giant in comparison to humans, and she cheerfully eletrocuted Ataru in class, or that her UFO was brought outside the school. His temper though was the complete opposite of Onsen-Mark's and I had to laugh when he decided it was up to Ataru to be Lum's constant helper in school. Poor Ataru, that worked out just how Lum wanted it to.
She laughed at the episode, and she also likes Ryoko because of the fact she takes it on herself to blow up Mendou. The only thing she says is really creepy about her is that near incestual attachment she has to him. I told her wait until Asuka appears. But tonight she plans on watching 94-104. She was going to stop at 105 and I told her no, if you do that you'll want to watch 106 because it's a two parter and it's important to see them both consecutively. She also wanted to know if I had anything else by Takahashi, I said I have all of Maison on my drive (well, the TV series - I don't have the OVAs). I told her to wait a month before watching that, it's all about the relationship, but it's all about lousy communication in the process.
For me acceptance and peace are different things, I accept the ending, but not peacefully - hence the long discussion we've had lol.
Well, in looking at UY the only plotlines that likely might matter is showing Shinobu's resolution with Inaba, which should get an OVA of it's own and MAYBE poor Ryuunosuke getting some vindication for her torture. Ran and Rei is easy, they go off someplace and kiss, that's all Ran wants. Sakura and Tsubame (who?) is easy, they set a date and leave it at that, no one really cares with Mendou or the Stromtroopers so that leaves Ataru and Lum. They'd have to torture them a little, it's the nature of the beast to do that to them, but it's possible. At least I can think it is lol.
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- There are certainly a lot of violent acts the characters commit in the series, despite some of them presenting themselves as not being so violent in nature.
- Well, Onsen could have transferred to teaching a different class or something, but even he seems to take pleasure in torturing the students whenever he gets the chance to do so. Makes you wonder how they ever got together Ataru's parents. He definitely takes qualities from both, but it's pretty clear his traits from his mother are more dominant and prominent.
- Depends when. He's had to stop fighting for a bit on few rare occasions. Did you get pass the Sawamura fight? If so, then I probably know what instance you're talking about.d
- Elle's one appearance sure didn't stop her from having cameos in the anime and even getting a few drawings from Takahashi. She feels sort of like a tragic villain, but she was sort of a nutcase what with the whole freezing her "beloveds". Yeah, I definitely wasn't ever feeling the Kitsune stories. They were pretty boring to me. It was a done deal for Lum's memory loss from the moment she saw him flying the helicopter. It only was over for Mendou even quicker when she heard that his name was Ataru. Mendou really trying to kill Ataru is just lol. Amazing how Ataru can ride a motorcycle and fly a copter.
- Lol. Hanawa was a funny one. Shame he pretty much became utterly irrelevant. Would have liked to see him appear in a few more stories. He didn't want to believe Lum was an alien, but he definitely wasn't a bad dude at heart.
- He'd be back against a wall for sure. Sure now Ataru has the excuse of being in high school, but after college? All bets are off, the longer he holds it off, the worse it'd get for him. She probably wouldn't mind waiting initially longer after they just get out of college, but it just become a game of time since he's either going to propose himself, or she going to give him a "push" to motivate him to propose sooner or later.
- So you're GF saw the episode Cherry pretty much told Mendou how inferior he is to Ataru. It's common knowledge by that point in the series that everyone knows Ataru loves Lum (hell, Ataru on some level is aware of it himself too) but as you said, it's really one of those things they don't really discuss openly.
- I can't blame them. While I'm fairly at peace with the ending, it's pretty understandable that you'd want a more concrete resolution to a couple you put a lot of investment into and grew to care about.
- Knowing it's a Takahashi story though, chances of most characters getting their plots resolved is slim, especially when there's a case that can be made that her own main couples haven't had proper endings.
I'd have to say the only truly non-violent person in the entire show might be Oyuki. Ataru lost a bit of credibility with the boxing glove episode, even if punching Mendou and Megane was for a good cause.
I think the one time he was going to leave, the transfer was declined by the other school - reputation must have preceded him. With Ataru's parents, I found it funny we only saw something of them in the past when Lum traveled back to try and 'correct' Ataru's fickleness. We got more of Lum's parents in the episode where her mother kicked him out than we ever did of his parents, odd but telling that maybe his parents weren't deemed important. Considering their respective traits, other than his father being the employed bread winner so to speak, his mother fell outside the norms of society with her more assertive nature.
I left off right after Sawamura actually. Thanks to YouTube I've seen Takamura's most notable fights, but not the series as a whole.
Everyone pretty much gets a cameo when it's a UY film or OVA. Ruu and Lahla were seen as passersby on the street in an episode when Lum was out on her own around the time the third movie was coming out. Heck, the witch that crafted the curse for that movie was also in the cameo crowd of guests in the Inaba OVA. I just still think the overall reaction to Elle from Ataru was amusing. Yes he was just taken and saw Lum almost die, but he shifted pretty well to discussing a harem, and then he saw Elle. His reaction of all the males was perhaps the most tame along with Mendou's. But as far as crazy is concerned, freezing 99,999 men is pretty much right up there as the craziest woman in all of the UY-verse. As for Kitsune, one appearance was enough. If it weren't for the fact that in those episodes there's some decent interactions with others, I'd probably just hit skip on the player and move on. Ataru just pulls skills out of nowhere, but when she saw him, her eyes brightened up and Mendou sure scrambled fast. Then later she realizes he's the person she can't remember but knows he's important enough that she needs to remember him.
I liked Hanawa, his inabilty to accept that Lum was an alien was funny. You know, horns are the mark of a strange disease, her flight doesn't mean anything because she didn't have shorts on under the school uniform skirt. Nevermind the fact her father is a giant in comparison to humans, and she cheerfully eletrocuted Ataru in class, or that her UFO was brought outside the school. His temper though was the complete opposite of Onsen-Mark's and I had to laugh when he decided it was up to Ataru to be Lum's constant helper in school. Poor Ataru, that worked out just how Lum wanted it to.
She laughed at the episode, and she also likes Ryoko because of the fact she takes it on herself to blow up Mendou. The only thing she says is really creepy about her is that near incestual attachment she has to him. I told her wait until Asuka appears. But tonight she plans on watching 94-104. She was going to stop at 105 and I told her no, if you do that you'll want to watch 106 because it's a two parter and it's important to see them both consecutively. She also wanted to know if I had anything else by Takahashi, I said I have all of Maison on my drive (well, the TV series - I don't have the OVAs). I told her to wait a month before watching that, it's all about the relationship, but it's all about lousy communication in the process.
For me acceptance and peace are different things, I accept the ending, but not peacefully - hence the long discussion we've had lol.
Well, in looking at UY the only plotlines that likely might matter is showing Shinobu's resolution with Inaba, which should get an OVA of it's own and MAYBE poor Ryuunosuke getting some vindication for her torture. Ran and Rei is easy, they go off someplace and kiss, that's all Ran wants. Sakura and Tsubame (who?) is easy, they set a date and leave it at that, no one really cares with Mendou or the Stromtroopers so that leaves Ataru and Lum. They'd have to torture them a little, it's the nature of the beast to do that to them, but it's possible. At least I can think it is lol.
- I'd argue Oyuki can be violent when provoked. Inaba seems the least likely to resort to violence really ever.
- Onsen just seems like he just sort of gave up after a certain point. I can't blame him, but since he loves to teach, he put it on himself to be responsible of that class.
- Which Sawamura fight though? Both of Sawamura's fights were great against Makunouchi and Mashiba. Takamura vs Bryan Hawk was always a great fight.
- Kitsune was just fairly boring to me in general because while his stories were always one-dimensional like Kurama's, Kitsune didn't have the benefit of having his stories being interesting like Kurama. Ataru when he first met Mendou in the manga he pulled some ninja trick on him. He pulls skills out of his hat whenever the situation arises.
- Shame really that he never really appeared anymore and went the same way the Stormtroopers did in the manga.
- Lol. Ryoko may have tendencies that feel like incest, but she just acts like that towards Mendou, Ataru, and especially Tobimaro. Asuka is definitely the one who really has this weird love for her brother.
- Fair enough on the ending. It is a pretty controversial topic.
- Takahashi always seemed to like Shinobu, so I can understand her giving Shinobu a happy ending for herself.
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- I'd argue Oyuki can be violent when provoked. Inaba seems the least likely to resort to violence really ever.
- Onsen just seems like he just sort of gave up after a certain point. I can't blame him, but since he loves to teach, he put it on himself to be responsible of that class.
- Which Sawamura fight though? Both of Sawamura's fights were great against Makunouchi and Mashiba. Takamura vs Bryan Hawk was always a great fight.
- Kitsune was just fairly boring to me in general because while his stories were always one-dimensional like Kurama's, Kitsune didn't have the benefit of having his stories being interesting like Kurama. Ataru when he first met Mendou in the manga he pulled some ninja trick on him. He pulls skills out of his hat whenever the situation arises.
- Shame really that he never really appeared anymore and went the same way the Stormtroopers did in the manga.
- Lol. Ryoko may have tendencies that feel like incest, but she just acts like that towards Mendou, Ataru, and especially Tobimaro. Asuka is definitely the one who really has this weird love for her brother.
- Fair enough on the ending. It is a pretty controversial topic.
- Takahashi always seemed to like Shinobu, so I can understand her giving Shinobu a happy ending for herself.
Violent in a 'someone gets impaled by a number of ice spears' kind of way, or crushed by a huge ice boulder. I don't ever see Inaba resorting to violence unless he has to like in his second manga appearance. Even then, he wasn't very good at it.
I still like the story with his revenge, and how he and Ataru both dug huge holes right next to each other and never noticed each other despite they were right next to each other practically.
Makunouchi vs. Sawamura, and on a good note I found a site that has a number of anime movies and series open for streaming has Hajime No Ippo so I'll play some catch up this coming weekend.
Kitsune felt like a character created to occupy a space and basically take up some time. Movie 4 was somewhere in that timeframe, but using him even afterwards just felt odd. With Kurama, I wondered why she didn't fire her little Karastengu after they kept finding her bad choices.
Another example of a character introduced and then nothing comes of it.
Ryoko also seemed to be another one, at least in the manga it seemed, to have extra detail placed on her artwork. Sakura's artwork was always highly detailed, Ryoko's seemed to be and then Lum initially had a lot of detail if she dressed up until we settled on her final art design.
The GF finished 105 and 106, I heard her distinctly say "Ha! Screw you Mendou!" when she was done. She had a lot of questions about that two parter as now she wants to read he English translation of the manga when she's done with the series. Thankfully I can make a PDF of all the images and put it on her Kindle.
Also, thanks again for the heads up about Pixiv, I found the artpage of one of the people I follow on Twitter and was able to see their artwork more easily. You might appreciate this fanart that I found on Deviant Art. https://www.deviantart.com/art/Lum-696097005
As for the ending, like I said, 5 more minutes of animation / a couple artwork panels with a private moment between them is all that would have been needed and myself and a number of others would likely be happy.
Considering that, and how much Shinobu suffered, I'd hate to see what she would do to a character she really didn't like at all.
Oh, an additional aside, since it's Wednesday at 1:40am est when I'm posting this, 'yesterday' evening (Tuesday) I went out to my local bookstore and I had my IPod playing the soundtrack for The Final Chapter in the car. A Japanese couple that were in the lot apparently heard the music and approached me saying it'd been a long time since they heard music from Urusei Yatsura and that it was nice to see people still liked it.
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- I'd argue Oyuki can be violent when provoked. Inaba seems the least likely to resort to violence really ever.
- Onsen just seems like he just sort of gave up after a certain point. I can't blame him, but since he loves to teach, he put it on himself to be responsible of that class.
- Which Sawamura fight though? Both of Sawamura's fights were great against Makunouchi and Mashiba. Takamura vs Bryan Hawk was always a great fight.
- Kitsune was just fairly boring to me in general because while his stories were always one-dimensional like Kurama's, Kitsune didn't have the benefit of having his stories being interesting like Kurama. Ataru when he first met Mendou in the manga he pulled some ninja trick on him. He pulls skills out of his hat whenever the situation arises.
- Shame really that he never really appeared anymore and went the same way the Stormtroopers did in the manga.
- Lol. Ryoko may have tendencies that feel like incest, but she just acts like that towards Mendou, Ataru, and especially Tobimaro. Asuka is definitely the one who really has this weird love for her brother.
- Fair enough on the ending. It is a pretty controversial topic.
- Takahashi always seemed to like Shinobu, so I can understand her giving Shinobu a happy ending for herself.
Violent in a 'someone gets impaled by a number of ice spears' kind of way, or crushed by a huge ice boulder. I don't ever see Inaba resorting to violence unless he has to like in his second manga appearance. Even then, he wasn't very good at it.
I still like the story with his revenge, and how he and Ataru both dug huge holes right next to each other and never noticed each other despite they were right next to each other practically.
Makunouchi vs. Sawamura, and on a good note I found a site that has a number of anime movies and series open for streaming has Hajime No Ippo so I'll play some catch up this coming weekend.
Kitsune felt like a character created to occupy a space and basically take up some time. Movie 4 was somewhere in that timeframe, but using him even afterwards just felt odd. With Kurama, I wondered why she didn't fire her little Karastengu after they kept finding her bad choices.
Another example of a character introduced and then nothing comes of it.
Ryoko also seemed to be another one, at least in the manga it seemed, to have extra detail placed on her artwork. Sakura's artwork was always highly detailed, Ryoko's seemed to be and then Lum initially had a lot of detail if she dressed up until we settled on her final art design.
The GF finished 105 and 106, I heard her distinctly say "Ha! Screw you Mendou!" when she was done. She had a lot of questions about that two parter as now she wants to read he English translation of the manga when she's done with the series. Thankfully I can make a PDF of all the images and put it on her Kindle.
Also, thanks again for the heads up about Pixiv, I found the artpage of one of the people I follow on Twitter and was able to see their artwork more easily. You might appreciate this fanart that I found on Deviant Art. https://www.deviantart.com/art/Lum-696097005
As for the ending, like I said, 5 more minutes of animation / a couple artwork panels with a private moment between them is all that would have been needed and myself and a number of others would likely be happy.
Considering that, and how much Shinobu suffered, I'd hate to see what she would do to a character she really didn't like at all.
Oh, an additional aside, since it's Wednesday at 1:40am est when I'm posting this, 'yesterday' evening (Tuesday) I went out to my local bookstore and I had my IPod playing the soundtrack for The Final Chapter in the car. A Japanese couple that were in the lot apparently heard the music and approached me saying it'd been a long time since they heard music from Urusei Yatsura and that it was nice to see people still liked it.
- He sort of just was a punching bag when he had to fight lol. Inaba isn't a fighter. He sure went through hell though to prove his love for Shinobu was strong and everlasting.
- Just goes to show, they think alike a lot of the time. A thing to note though is that several of the male characters are like parallels to Ataru in some form or way in certain aspects. Heck, you could even throw Lum in as a having similarities to Ataru in some ways as well.
- It was a fun fight, Sawamura became one of my favorite characters, though only after his fight with Mashiba.
- Unfortunately so. Par the course of many of the minor characters with specific stories about them that really doesn't go anywhere. Hanawa ain't the only one. Kitsune and Kurama. None of those three characters went anywhere despite all three having appeared in more than 3 stories.
- It'll be interesting to hear her opinion of the comic. As reading through it feels quite different than watching through it. Many of the characters are portrayed somewhat differently between versions and of course some stories are anime original or locked only within the manga.
- Pixiv is a great site to be able to see some really nice pictures of UY. The picture you linked looks fantastic. Always nice to see some great Lum art.
- Who knows, she could have given Lum a worse fate at first. She obviously wasn't on team Lum initially and seemed to dislike being "forced" to switch the main couple from the one she intended, but I do believe she warmed up to Lum over time.
- Now that's amazing. Something like that is just so unexpected and so rare of an occurrence. How old did that Japanese couple look? Either way, it's great to still meet people who have fond memories of the series, as well as the fact that they appreciate others who enjoy the series as well.
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- He sort of just was a punching bag when he had to fight lol. Inaba isn't a fighter. He sure went through hell though to prove his love for Shinobu was strong and everlasting.
- Just goes to show, they think alike a lot of the time. A thing to note though is that several of the male characters are like parallels to Ataru in some form or way in certain aspects. Heck, you could even throw Lum in as a having similarities to Ataru in some ways as well.
- It was a fun fight, Sawamura became one of my favorite characters, though only after his fight with Mashiba.
- Unfortunately so. Par the course of many of the minor characters with specific stories about them that really doesn't go anywhere. Hanawa ain't the only one. Kitsune and Kurama. None of those three characters went anywhere despite all three having appeared in more than 3 stories.
- It'll be interesting to hear her opinion of the comic. As reading through it feels quite different than watching through it. Many of the characters are portrayed somewhat differently between versions and of course some stories are anime original or locked only within the manga.
- Pixiv is a great site to be able to see some really nice pictures of UY. The picture you linked looks fantastic. Always nice to see some great Lum art.
- Who knows, she could have given Lum a worse fate at first. She obviously wasn't on team Lum initially and seemed to dislike being "forced" to switch the main couple from the one she intended, but I do believe she warmed up to Lum over time.
- Now that's amazing. Something like that is just so unexpected and so rare of an occurrence. How old did that Japanese couple look? Either way, it's great to still meet people who have fond memories of the series, as well as the fact that they appreciate others who enjoy the series as well.
I felt really bad for him in that story, I know the whole thing was a test not just for him within the confines of his job, but to prove himself to Shinobu, but seeing him take that beating and essentially be the Ataru of the story made me appreciate him a lot more.
They all have some of his traits, Mendou being the lesser clone overall. But I guess overall, despite that Onsen-Mark was a patsy for them, he was a good character in that he was at least trying despite it all.
I'm actually ashamed I had never heard of Hajime no Ippo before. I happened to be looking for something on You Tube one night and there was a 'Top 10 angriest moments' for anime characters and at #4 was Takamura's fight vs. Hawk when he snapped and went berserk. Someone posted that whole fight as a 'movie' of sorts and I immediately liked it. The characters are all good, and the writer's knowledge of boxing is excellent. I found some of the episodes but not the whole thing. Now that I have it'll be a nice diversion.
The only thing with Kurama that was good was the fact that her appearance showed Mendou's colors for what they are when it comes to women. If there's one thing Akira Kamiya did, he made that first "Oh!" sound like the Mendou version of an lusting Ataru sound. I still laugh when I hear it.
She's still on the TV show, she made it to the boxing glove episode now. She thought it was sweet that Ataru somehow put his own face in front of the hitting glove, and she cheered when Ataru hit Megane and Mendou. And since she watched the OVAs first, she asked me what is it with Mendou and a pink tuxedo and now the dancing tutu thing? I had nothing.
This would be one of those times that I'm glad for fan and editor influence, Lum has been a pretty enduring mascot of sorts for Japan for a long time now.
Given that the Japanese are practically ageless at least until they hit a certain plateau, I'd say the oldest they looked was in their mid-50's, but I wouldn't confidently bet on that. They were definitely from Japan though, I could hear it in their voices.
Speaking of voices, I had NO idea Fumi was voicing a character in Kyoukai no Rinne. I saw mention of it on the message board of Tomobiki-cho's site so I had to hear for myself. At the end of the episode that had a preview, Fumi did a Lum spot and then I caught the episode itself she appeared in (she's been in a few now that I have added Rinne to my queue) and she still sounds wonderful. I have to appreciate all the little nods to Lum in her character, Green Hair, Blue Eyes (a different shade) and her cooking apron is striped with the same colors as Lum's tiger stripes. The character herself apparently reflects Fumi's own general build.
Oddly enough, it sounds almost like a mature, very calm Lum.
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- He sort of just was a punching bag when he had to fight lol. Inaba isn't a fighter. He sure went through hell though to prove his love for Shinobu was strong and everlasting.
- Just goes to show, they think alike a lot of the time. A thing to note though is that several of the male characters are like parallels to Ataru in some form or way in certain aspects. Heck, you could even throw Lum in as a having similarities to Ataru in some ways as well.
- It was a fun fight, Sawamura became one of my favorite characters, though only after his fight with Mashiba.
- Unfortunately so. Par the course of many of the minor characters with specific stories about them that really doesn't go anywhere. Hanawa ain't the only one. Kitsune and Kurama. None of those three characters went anywhere despite all three having appeared in more than 3 stories.
- It'll be interesting to hear her opinion of the comic. As reading through it feels quite different than watching through it. Many of the characters are portrayed somewhat differently between versions and of course some stories are anime original or locked only within the manga.
- Pixiv is a great site to be able to see some really nice pictures of UY. The picture you linked looks fantastic. Always nice to see some great Lum art.
- Who knows, she could have given Lum a worse fate at first. She obviously wasn't on team Lum initially and seemed to dislike being "forced" to switch the main couple from the one she intended, but I do believe she warmed up to Lum over time.
- Now that's amazing. Something like that is just so unexpected and so rare of an occurrence. How old did that Japanese couple look? Either way, it's great to still meet people who have fond memories of the series, as well as the fact that they appreciate others who enjoy the series as well.
I felt really bad for him in that story, I know the whole thing was a test not just for him within the confines of his job, but to prove himself to Shinobu, but seeing him take that beating and essentially be the Ataru of the story made me appreciate him a lot more.
They all have some of his traits, Mendou being the lesser clone overall. But I guess overall, despite that Onsen-Mark was a patsy for them, he was a good character in that he was at least trying despite it all.
I'm actually ashamed I had never heard of Hajime no Ippo before. I happened to be looking for something on You Tube one night and there was a 'Top 10 angriest moments' for anime characters and at #4 was Takamura's fight vs. Hawk when he snapped and went berserk. Someone posted that whole fight as a 'movie' of sorts and I immediately liked it. The characters are all good, and the writer's knowledge of boxing is excellent. I found some of the episodes but not the whole thing. Now that I have it'll be a nice diversion.
The only thing with Kurama that was good was the fact that her appearance showed Mendou's colors for what they are when it comes to women. If there's one thing Akira Kamiya did, he made that first "Oh!" sound like the Mendou version of an lusting Ataru sound. I still laugh when I hear it.
She's still on the TV show, she made it to the boxing glove episode now. She thought it was sweet that Ataru somehow put his own face in front of the hitting glove, and she cheered when Ataru hit Megane and Mendou. And since she watched the OVAs first, she asked me what is it with Mendou and a pink tuxedo and now the dancing tutu thing? I had nothing.
This would be one of those times that I'm glad for fan and editor influence, Lum has been a pretty enduring mascot of sorts for Japan for a long time now.
Given that the Japanese are practically ageless at least until they hit a certain plateau, I'd say the oldest they looked was in their mid-50's, but I wouldn't confidently bet on that. They were definitely from Japan though, I could hear it in their voices.
Speaking of voices, I had NO idea Fumi was voicing a character in Kyoukai no Rinne. I saw mention of it on the message board of Tomobiki-cho's site so I had to hear for myself. At the end of the episode that had a preview, Fumi did a Lum spot and then I caught the episode itself she appeared in (she's been in a few now that I have added Rinne to my queue) and she still sounds wonderful. I have to appreciate all the little nods to Lum in her character, Green Hair, Blue Eyes (a different shade) and her cooking apron is striped with the same colors as Lum's tiger stripes. The character herself apparently reflects Fumi's own general build.
Oddly enough, it sounds almost like a mature, very calm Lum.
- Yeah, Inaba really did go through hell in that story thinking about it. He suffered a lot there to show that his love for Shinobu was genuine. Fortunately for both of them, it paid off.
- I just love how many of the male characters could be viewed as big losers in the series, and within the series Ataru is treated as the biggest loser among his group of "friends" (even though not too long later you learn he's the farthest thing from a loser there especially with guys like Megane being there). But the moment Onsen Mark comes into the equation, he is instantly placed into the biggest loser role.
- The series is definitely a lot more unrealistic than say Ashita no Joe, but the characters are pretty enjoyable. Takamura vs. Hawk was an absolutely legendary fight. I love that fight. I love that about this series. Many characters get their own major fights (Makunouchi has several, Kimura v. Mashiba, Aoki v. Iga, Takamura v. Hawk and Eagle, Miyata v. Randy Boy Jr., Sawamura v. Mashiba, Volg Zangief v. Elliot).
- I'm kind of disappointed considering more could have potentially been done with Kurama Takahashi made the effort to make her more dimensional of a character.
- Lol, you do tend to root for Ataru over most people as the series progresses. As you the more you read/watch, the more you realize that he's improving as a person, as well as the underlying fact that almost every person he's up against are worse than he is. Glad she liked the boxing gloves one. It was a fun one.
- Indeed she has. If you think of anime characters, you're likely to think of people of the level of Son Goku and Lum.
- The anime adaptations of many of Takahashi's works did tend to love having either cameos or homages to the characters from some of her previous series.
-
- Yeah, Inaba really did go through hell in that story thinking about it. He suffered a lot there to show that his love for Shinobu was genuine. Fortunately for both of them, it paid off.
- I just love how many of the male characters could be viewed as big losers in the series, and within the series Ataru is treated as the biggest loser among his group of "friends" (even though not too long later you learn he's the farthest thing from a loser there especially with guys like Megane being there). But the moment Onsen Mark comes into the equation, he is instantly placed into the biggest loser role.
- The series is definitely a lot more unrealistic than say Ashita no Joe, but the characters are pretty enjoyable. Takamura vs. Hawk was an absolutely legendary fight. I love that fight. I love that about this series. Many characters get their own major fights (Makunouchi has several, Kimura v. Mashiba, Aoki v. Iga, Takamura v. Hawk and Eagle, Miyata v. Randy Boy Jr., Sawamura v. Mashiba, Volg Zangief v. Elliot).
- I'm kind of disappointed considering more could have potentially been done with Kurama Takahashi made the effort to make her more dimensional of a character.
- Lol, you do tend to root for Ataru over most people as the series progresses. As you the more you read/watch, the more you realize that he's improving as a person, as well as the underlying fact that almost every person he's up against are worse than he is. Glad she liked the boxing gloves one. It was a fun one.
- Indeed she has. If you think of anime characters, you're likely to think of people of the level of Son Goku and Lum.
- The anime adaptations of many of Takahashi's works did tend to love having either cameos or homages to the characters from some of her previous series.
I really would have liked to see that as an OVA, but only if the same people that did the original Inaba worked on it. Considering the ups and downs the animation had in the OVAs (Girly Eyed Measles), it would have been a nice, final OVA before The Final Chapter hit.
Ataru is pretty much the ultimate scapegoat. If something goes wrong, they blame him, even if he was nowhere near whatever happened. Perfect example early on is the episode with the alien that latches onto Mendou because he needs fuel in the form of 100 Yen coins. Everytime someone said something, they threw Ataru's name into the mix. All things considered, by the end of the series Ataru is the only one that can say he dated Shinobu, kissed Ran, kissed Kurama (not that she WANTED him to), had an interesting time with Oyuki, got to wrap his arms around Benten, and has Lum. The next highest record for having a date or girlfriend and being able to TOUCH her is Perm.
There's another series I haven't seen, Ashita no Joe. I really need to expand my viewing list. I'll have to find that when Rinne is done for the season. I like Hajime no Ippo though because they all have a sense of camaraderie amongst them with Takamura acting like an older brother to Makunouchi. I have all the Ippo episodes now, so this weekend I'll start watching them from the start.
Kurama was good at giving Lum a run for her money using that leaf of hers. Unfortunately, the fact that there's only so many males in the cast of UY, she was bound to run out of suitable choices very fast. The episode when she thinks Mendou woke her up is funny because Mendou may well be even more shy about women in public than Ataru is.
Ataru's problem as I see it is he's the product of his home environment. With the friends he has, he really doesn't need enemies and Shinobu and he proved to be the worst pairing. You can honestly say everything Ataru learned about growing up, being responsible and learning about love all came for the most part from Lum. And last night she left off with the Snow Fairy episode when Ataru mixed up the time of the date and then was going to be taken away until his memories of Lum made him stay. Her only question for me was why is memory loss such a thing in the show, I had nothing once more.
Goku, there's another one - hard to believe his seiyu is an 80 year old woman. She might be the most active person in anime history period.
Maison Ikkoku was pretty blantant with theOnsen-Mark cameo as well as child versions of Megane, Ataru and Shinobu. I can't recall if there was any cameos in Ranma 1/2 and I never watched InuYasha so I have no idea.
-
- Yeah, Inaba really did go through hell in that story thinking about it. He suffered a lot there to show that his love for Shinobu was genuine. Fortunately for both of them, it paid off.
- I just love how many of the male characters could be viewed as big losers in the series, and within the series Ataru is treated as the biggest loser among his group of "friends" (even though not too long later you learn he's the farthest thing from a loser there especially with guys like Megane being there). But the moment Onsen Mark comes into the equation, he is instantly placed into the biggest loser role.
- The series is definitely a lot more unrealistic than say Ashita no Joe, but the characters are pretty enjoyable. Takamura vs. Hawk was an absolutely legendary fight. I love that fight. I love that about this series. Many characters get their own major fights (Makunouchi has several, Kimura v. Mashiba, Aoki v. Iga, Takamura v. Hawk and Eagle, Miyata v. Randy Boy Jr., Sawamura v. Mashiba, Volg Zangief v. Elliot).
- I'm kind of disappointed considering more could have potentially been done with Kurama Takahashi made the effort to make her more dimensional of a character.
- Lol, you do tend to root for Ataru over most people as the series progresses. As you the more you read/watch, the more you realize that he's improving as a person, as well as the underlying fact that almost every person he's up against are worse than he is. Glad she liked the boxing gloves one. It was a fun one.
- Indeed she has. If you think of anime characters, you're likely to think of people of the level of Son Goku and Lum.
- The anime adaptations of many of Takahashi's works did tend to love having either cameos or homages to the characters from some of her previous series.
I really would have liked to see that as an OVA, but only if the same people that did the original Inaba worked on it. Considering the ups and downs the animation had in the OVAs (Girly Eyed Measles), it would have been a nice, final OVA before The Final Chapter hit.
Ataru is pretty much the ultimate scapegoat. If something goes wrong, they blame him, even if he was nowhere near whatever happened. Perfect example early on is the episode with the alien that latches onto Mendou because he needs fuel in the form of 100 Yen coins. Everytime someone said something, they threw Ataru's name into the mix. All things considered, by the end of the series Ataru is the only one that can say he dated Shinobu, kissed Ran, kissed Kurama (not that she WANTED him to), had an interesting time with Oyuki, got to wrap his arms around Benten, and has Lum. The next highest record for having a date or girlfriend and being able to TOUCH her is Perm.
There's another series I haven't seen, Ashita no Joe. I really need to expand my viewing list. I'll have to find that when Rinne is done for the season. I like Hajime no Ippo though because they all have a sense of camaraderie amongst them with Takamura acting like an older brother to Makunouchi. I have all the Ippo episodes now, so this weekend I'll start watching them from the start.
Kurama was good at giving Lum a run for her money using that leaf of hers. Unfortunately, the fact that there's only so many males in the cast of UY, she was bound to run out of suitable choices very fast. The episode when she thinks Mendou woke her up is funny because Mendou may well be even more shy about women in public than Ataru is.
Ataru's problem as I see it is he's the product of his home environment. With the friends he has, he really doesn't need enemies and Shinobu and he proved to be the worst pairing. You can honestly say everything Ataru learned about growing up, being responsible and learning about love all came for the most part from Lum. And last night she left off with the Snow Fairy episode when Ataru mixed up the time of the date and then was going to be taken away until his memories of Lum made him stay. Her only question for me was why is memory loss such a thing in the show, I had nothing once more.
Goku, there's another one - hard to believe his seiyu is an 80 year old woman. She might be the most active person in anime history period.
Maison Ikkoku was pretty blantant with theOnsen-Mark cameo as well as child versions of Megane, Ataru and Shinobu. I can't recall if there was any cameos in Ranma 1/2 and I never watched InuYasha so I have no idea.
- I'm not sure on the likelihood we'd get that anyway considering the obvious decline in quality of the art of the OVAs.
- That's cause despite what the characters may think, Ataru after a certain point isn't really unlucky (at least in that the physical punishment he takes, which he laughs off anyway most of the time, pales in comparison to what he was lucky to be given), and really has probably the greatest accomplishments in the manga of most of the characters.
- Ashita no Joe was a masterpiece. Though depending on the person, the show might come off as slow paced or a bit of a slog to get through initially. I got into boxing series here from watching actual boxing. I grew up with Cassius Clay turned Muhammad Ali as my inspiration, and I cried like a baby when he passed away.
- Takahashi just never seemed to have any desire to make Kurama (and other recurring characters) be more than one-dimensional. There is a distinct lack of males around Ataru's age in the series that are actually major characters.
- Fortunately for Ataru (and Lum too lol) Ataru's character and personality benefit greatly from Lum's presence, even though he'd likely never credit her publicly for a good portion of his change.
- Nozawa is a legend for sure.
- The best cameo from Ranma I can think of was the one where Ataru and Lum appeared on the cover title of a chapter to celebrate Fumi Hirano getting married.
-
- I'm not sure on the likelihood we'd get that anyway considering the obvious decline in quality of the art of the OVAs.
- That's cause despite what the characters may think, Ataru after a certain point isn't really unlucky (at least in that the physical punishment he takes, which he laughs off anyway most of the time, pales in comparison to what he was lucky to be given), and really has probably the greatest accomplishments in the manga of most of the characters.
- Ashita no Joe was a masterpiece. Though depending on the person, the show might come off as slow paced or a bit of a slog to get through initially. I got into boxing series here from watching actual boxing. I grew up with Cassius Clay turned Muhammad Ali as my inspiration, and I cried like a baby when he passed away.
- Takahashi just never seemed to have any desire to make Kurama (and other recurring characters) be more than one-dimensional. There is a distinct lack of males around Ataru's age in the series that are actually major characters.
- Fortunately for Ataru (and Lum too lol) Ataru's character and personality benefit greatly from Lum's presence, even though he'd likely never credit her publicly for a good portion of his change.
- Nozawa is a legend for sure.
- The best cameo from Ranma I can think of was the one where Ataru and Lum appeared on the cover title of a chapter to celebrate Fumi Hirano getting married.
I've been very remiss in being here, been stuck watching InuYasha with the GF now that she's done with UY plus I've been playing catch-up on Ippo and some other series. Also got pulled into watching Ah! My Goddess (or Oh! if you don't worry about the translation gaffe). Of course, I had to pull down the Goddess manga for the GF as well. Still not a fan of InuYasha, loved Ippo, Goddess definitely has some good moments to it, the music of that one is pretty good. That and trying to end my life as a contract worker and go back to being a normal office slave as well as seeing if I can make my mind say it doesn't matter I once broke my hand and try and draw again and teach myself Japanese.
I probably have to say, the animation in Inaba, Goat and Cheese, and Howl at the Moon were the best overall. I'd use any of those for another OVA.
Ataru, despite everything, more or less is the only one that gets to say he got the girl in the end. Maybe not 100% to my liking, but I'll take what I can get.
Snagged Ashita no Joe over the weekend, managed to find it all. That'll be on the upcoming queue to watch. I do know from the era, Joe was a slower paced story. The manga was around before I was born, back then you didn't need explosions, weapons, monsters, or nudity to get people's attention to watch something. The anime started just shortly after I was born, it has a story, that's all I care about.
Kurama's best appearance was likely when she thought Mendou kissed her, only because the story involved more people and it was fun to see just how much worse than Ataru Mendou really was. He couldn't get the nerve up to kiss her, he can't handle the talking about things in public, and in the most funny moment of the beginning, when he saw Kurama in the sleep chamber his reaction was priceless.
First and foremost thing he learned from Lum, just what love and friendship really are. By the time the show is over, she's pretty much ona course to being his wife, and she's also his best friend.
Speaking of Fumi, she had a twit cast broadcast this weekend. She was oddly quiet on UY's 39th anniversary, but when she broadcast over the twit cast addon for twitter, she was very talkative about UY. She did extended speaking as Lum, she played music from the show and she definitely said happy birthday to UY as well as 'Lamu' as it sounds coming from her.
-
- I'm not sure on the likelihood we'd get that anyway considering the obvious decline in quality of the art of the OVAs.
- That's cause despite what the characters may think, Ataru after a certain point isn't really unlucky (at least in that the physical punishment he takes, which he laughs off anyway most of the time, pales in comparison to what he was lucky to be given), and really has probably the greatest accomplishments in the manga of most of the characters.
- Ashita no Joe was a masterpiece. Though depending on the person, the show might come off as slow paced or a bit of a slog to get through initially. I got into boxing series here from watching actual boxing. I grew up with Cassius Clay turned Muhammad Ali as my inspiration, and I cried like a baby when he passed away.
- Takahashi just never seemed to have any desire to make Kurama (and other recurring characters) be more than one-dimensional. There is a distinct lack of males around Ataru's age in the series that are actually major characters.
- Fortunately for Ataru (and Lum too lol) Ataru's character and personality benefit greatly from Lum's presence, even though he'd likely never credit her publicly for a good portion of his change.
- Nozawa is a legend for sure.
- The best cameo from Ranma I can think of was the one where Ataru and Lum appeared on the cover title of a chapter to celebrate Fumi Hirano getting married.
I've been very remiss in being here, been stuck watching InuYasha with the GF now that she's done with UY plus I've been playing catch-up on Ippo and some other series. Also got pulled into watching Ah! My Goddess (or Oh! if you don't worry about the translation gaffe). Of course, I had to pull down the Goddess manga for the GF as well. Still not a fan of InuYasha, loved Ippo, Goddess definitely has some good moments to it, the music of that one is pretty good. That and trying to end my life as a contract worker and go back to being a normal office slave as well as seeing if I can make my mind say it doesn't matter I once broke my hand and try and draw again and teach myself Japanese.
I probably have to say, the animation in Inaba, Goat and Cheese, and Howl at the Moon were the best overall. I'd use any of those for another OVA.
Ataru, despite everything, more or less is the only one that gets to say he got the girl in the end. Maybe not 100% to my liking, but I'll take what I can get.
Snagged Ashita no Joe over the weekend, managed to find it all. That'll be on the upcoming queue to watch. I do know from the era, Joe was a slower paced story. The manga was around before I was born, back then you didn't need explosions, weapons, monsters, or nudity to get people's attention to watch something. The anime started just shortly after I was born, it has a story, that's all I care about.
Kurama's best appearance was likely when she thought Mendou kissed her, only because the story involved more people and it was fun to see just how much worse than Ataru Mendou really was. He couldn't get the nerve up to kiss her, he can't handle the talking about things in public, and in the most funny moment of the beginning, when he saw Kurama in the sleep chamber his reaction was priceless.
First and foremost thing he learned from Lum, just what love and friendship really are. By the time the show is over, she's pretty much ona course to being his wife, and she's also his best friend.
Speaking of Fumi, she had a twit cast broadcast this weekend. She was oddly quiet on UY's 39th anniversary, but when she broadcast over the twit cast addon for twitter, she was very talkative about UY. She did extended speaking as Lum, she played music from the show and she definitely said happy birthday to UY as well as 'Lamu' as it sounds coming from her.
- Hey great to be back online. My internet was out for some time.
- Take it easy, you don't want to overdo it. Inuyasha was never my thing personally either. I've been trying to catch up with Ippo myself but I've also been playing catch up with BnHA.
- Agreed with that. Absolutely loved the drawings and animations of those. Date With a Spirit is probably the worst OVA. Catch the Heart had an odd design choice but it fit with the humor they were going for, which is largely why I love Catch the Heart.
- Sometimes all we can do is take what we can get. Ataru will make a fine husband some time later in life I guess lol.
- It is fairly slow at points definitely. Like how it takes some time before he even begins to fight professionally as he spends a decent time in prison. But it's a beautiful story that I love.
- Agreed with that. UY works well with an ensemble cast in stories like those. Even funnier that Ataru (despite being heavily restricted by the others) still beat Mendou to the punch and got to kiss Kurama again.
- Very rarely would you ever end up marrying your best friend. Ataru sure is one lucky dude.
- God bless Fumi.