Topic: The Urusei Yatsura Reading Challenge!

[swizzle]

So I have all of the Urusei Yatsura manga but I haven't read much of it at all and decided to make this. It's a challenge to read one volume of Urusei Yatsura a day meaning reading the whole series in 34 days. I started yesterday on the flight back to Japan and really want to read more of it now so I'm going to attempt to read a full volume a day.

I think it would be cool if other people took the challenge as well, but many of you have quite busy lives I'm sure and may not have a good way of reading the manga, but if anyone else is interested it would be cool I think.

I'll also post updates here rating each volume and saying my thoughts on it and stuff.

Status: 3/34

Vol. 1 Thoughts: I love the first few chapters of Urusei Yatsura. I've read the opening chapters at least 5 times before and hey make me laugh every time without fail and it's just the perfect wacky opening to the series I think. The following chapters continue to make me laugh and I think the character introductions are done well. They don't introduce too many characters at once and the spacing is just done well I think. The only introduction I think could be done a bit better in volume 1 is benten, though she doesn't become a main character 'till much later in the series. My favorite char. in volume 1 has to be Cherry. Rei was funny at first but I think his character gets a bit dry by the end of the 2 chapters he's in.
Rating: 10/10  It's the perfect introduction to the amazing series.

[Kasaioni]

You're joking right? I would do this actually, but I just finished ready all 34 volumes a couple of weeks ago.

[swizzle]

Haha nope, definitely not joking. xP
I read all of volume 2 yesterday and will be starting volume 3 shortly.

Vol. 2 Thoughts: I love the introduction to Oyuki. It's got a lot of funny moments and is just fun to read. I also love the chapter after that which is the one with the giant egg that hatches into all the crazy stuff taken from Ataru's personality.
Heck, I actually love every chapter in this volume. Every one made me laugh and makes me wonder how the heck Rumiko came up with some of this stuff, like the dried up frog being lord of the underwater dragon palace and stuff like that.

Rating: 10/10 Every chapter made me laugh multiple times and this was a great volume to read.

Finished Vol. 3. This one took me a long time to read because it had a ton of words I had to look up. All in all it probably took me around 5 hours to read and I still have volume 4 to read today.

Vol. 3 thoughts: Volume 3 is probably my favorite so far. It has a lot of my favorite stories in it and has the first moment where Ataru actually wants to be with Lum a bit. My favorite chapters in this volume are the one where they go back in time and Ataru tries to teach Kurama's father about women, the one where Sakura's boyfriend is introduced and they go to the disco, and the one where they go on a ski trip. This volume also has Mendou's introduction. I think it could have been done a bit better as he just kinda randomly shows up after saying he's switching schools, though I do love when he comes to school by helicopter and parachutes into school. I think his character adds a lot to the story as well so I'm definitely not complaining, I just wish that he didn't seem so forced into the story at first and had a bit more explanation as to why he's switching to that school.

Rating: 10/10 (I promise not every volume will get a perfect score)

[veehive]

How much different is the manga from the anime?

[swizzle]

The manga is actually a lot more different than I thought it would be. It has mainly the same stories but in a much different order. I've read 3 volumes and Ten still hasn't been introduced while he's introduced in episode 3 in the anime. There's some more subtle differences as well like the way things are done in the first chapter are different than the anime (for example, in the anime Ataru wins right after he takes lum's bra off and he uses a contraption to do it while in the manga he physically takes the bra off and still has a couple days to go after he does it and still doesn't win right away after getting the bra but it takes him a couple more days). I haven't seen the anime episodes in a while so I can't say how different it usually is but there are definitely differences and the manga makes me laugh more than the anime for the most part. I think the pacing in the manga is much better as well. Don't get me wrong, I still love the anime to death, I just think the manga is a bit better in this case. Of course, if I hadn't seen the anime first it might be a bit different because I can hear the character's voices in my head while I read the manga since I've heard them so much in the anime.

[Kasaioni]

The manga is quite good. In terms of ordering etc it's very different. And I'm pretty sure there's a couple of stories that were not animated. In terms of style it's pretty much the same as the anime. Same kind of comedy and character patterns.