This is taken from Tomobiki-cho: The Urusei Yatsura Web Site
Written by Mason Proulx (mson@ottawa.net)

Urusei Yatsura is not a person. It's the name of a manga (comic book), TV, and movie series. The title is a pun in Japanese: urusai means "obnoxious," "annoying," or "noisy" and yatsu means "guy" or "fellow". ra is simply a somewhat informal plural. Urusei is a mispronunciation of urusai. In Japanese writing, it is written as: u ru hoshi ya tsu ra, where hoshi is the Chinese character for "star". An alternative pronunciation for hoshi, used only in a compound word, is sei. Hence Urusei Yatsura="noisy-star guys" or, roughly, "Those Obnoxious Aliens!"

The series begins with an impending invasion of Earth. The leader of the invasion agrees withdraw if an earthling can defeat his opponent in a game of tag. The earthling chosen happens to be Ataru Moroboshi, the most lecherous lout in the universe. Ataru refuses until he finds out that his opponent, Lum, is a beautiful girl.

Ataru's attempts to grab Lum's horns (and also her body) fail miserably until his semi-girlfriend Shinobu promises to marry him if he wins. Inspired by that declaration, Ataru succeeded in grabbing Lum's horns (it also helped that Ataru stole Lum's bikini top during the contest). However, due to a big misunderstanding, Lum thought Ataru's marriage proposal was meant for her.

And things get weirder from here as Lum's friends drop by for a visit.


This is taken from the Anime Pocket Guide

Urusei Yatsura (FILM, OAV, TV) Genre: Romantic Comedy

Cast:
Lum ................................................ Fumi Hirano
Ataru Moroboshi ............................... Toshio Furukawa
Shinobu Miyake ................................ Saeko Shimazu
Shutaro Mendo ................................. Akira Kamiya
Ryoko Mendo ................................... Mami Koyama
Ryunosuke Fujinami .......................... Mayumi Tanaka
Benten ............................................ Yuhko Mita
Oyuki .............................................. Noriko Ohara
Ran ................................................ You Inouye
Megane ........................................... Shigeru Chiba
Chibi ............................................... Issei Futamata
Cherry ............................................. Ichiroo Nagai
Onsen-mark ..................................... Michihiro Ikemizu
Tsubame Ozuno ................................ Kazuhiko Inouye
Asuka Mizunokouji ............................ Sumi Shimamoto
Ten's Mother .................................... Sumi Shimamoto
Elle Barakumi (UY1: Only You) ............ Yoshiko Sakakibara
Rara (UY3: Remember my Love) .......... Sumi Shimamoto
Karla (UY5: Boy meets Girl) ................ You Inouye

Anime Pocket Guide Description:

One day, an alien fleet appeared and was going to invade the Earth. Earth had only once chance: if a randomly selected Earth man defeated an alien in a game of tag, then Earth would be spared. The computers picked a high school lech named Ataru Moroboshi. When Ataru found out, he hid behind his girlfriend Shinobu...until he saw his opponent: a cute girl in a tiger striped bikini named Lum. All he has to do is grab Lum's horns before 10 days are up. The horny Ataru was very willing to do just that :-). On the first day, Ataru dashed toward Lum...who flew off. Ataru screamed that nobody told him that Lum could fly! Day after day, Ataru kept trying and failing. On the last night, Shinobu said that she'd marry Ataru if he won. The next day, Ataru cheated...and won the match. Then he said he would now be married. Baaaad timing...Lum took it to mean that he wanted to marry her. Now, the girl-chasing Ataru has a devoted and loving 'wife who will fry him if he even looks at another girl. Oh, didn't I mention Lum's electric shock power? A romantic comedy created by the talented Rumiko Takahashi.

US Release by: AnimEigo (subtitled)
Anime Pocket Guide Rating: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This is taken from Tomobiki-cho: The Urusei Yatsura Web Site
Written by Mason Proulx (mson@ottawa.net)

Urusei Yatsura was a very popular weekly Japanese comic which ran for 34 volumes over 9 years and went on to become Japan's wackiest animated television comedy airing from 1981 to 1986. In total the animated UY had produced 195 TV episodes, 6 movies, 9 original animated videos, and a few other releases. It was, and still is regarded as one of the most popular anime series of all time. One that speaks to my generation in a way few other anime can.

The comedy was originally created by reknowned female manga-ka Rumiko Takahashi and featured in Shounen Sunday Comics. It is probably the weirdest and debatably the funniest show there has ever been. Like with most of Takahashi-sensei's manga titles, it is chock full of slapstick and physical comedy. But also as is with all of her series, she blends this edgy comedy with with ludicrous situations, lovable characters, a unique brand of drama and lots of punnery. Takahashi-sensei went on to create other great hits such as Maison Ikkoku and Ranma 1/2. UY was her first big hit and consequently her most creative and ingenious body of work.

Urusei Yatsura concerns the tempestuous relationship between Ataru Moroboshi, a lecherous and fickle teenage boy and Lum, a tigerskin bikini wearing alien package of sex appeal and jealousy, who's fallen for him. It chronicles the misadventures of these two stubborn teenagers along with a veritable entourage of comically insane characters. Aliens, humans and inhumans alike.

The series includes a lot of parody of science-fiction. But more than just sci-fi, Urusei Yatsura pokes fun at everything under the sun, from film and television cliches to ancient legends and lore. It is a melting pot of love triangles, fantasy, Japanese and Chinese mythology, high school life, pop-culture and so much more. It's the type of show where literally anything can happen so there's something for everyone to enjoy. The anime undergoes a dramatic changes throughout it's long run as it starts out with fairly simple animation, and slowly builds towards an exceptional level of quality unmatched by any other TV show from the same era. Yet it is consistent in that it's always well worth watching. I honestly believe that it is the greatest anime and manga series to ever come out of Japan.