is a well-known late 1970s to 1990s manga (1978-1987) and anime (1981-1993) series created by Rumiko Takahashi. The show is also known as Lum/Lamu, the Invader Girl, and, Those Obnoxious Aliens. The English translation of the manga, published by Viz Communications, was short-lived, and was divided into two series titled Lum and The Return of Lum, named after the main character. The manga received the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1981. The series is considered an excellent source for references to Japanese culture and mythology.
The anime version spanned 6 films, 11 OVAs, and 195 half hour TV episodes (comprising 218 separate stories, as the first season's episodes consisted of two fifteen-minute segments), which originally premiered across Japan on the terrestrial Fuji Television network between 1981-1986, and was later aired across Japan by the anime satellite television network, Animax, who have also broadcast the series across its respective networks worldwide, including Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Asia and other regions. The series was also aired in France from 1988 on TF1 and later across the United States on PBS, from 1998. AnimEigo is the North American distributor for all of these except the second movie Beautiful Dreamer, which is distributed by Central Park Media. There were also two episodes (four stories) translated and dubbed in the United Kingdom and shown as Lum the Invader Girl on BBC Choice shortly after its launch.
AnimEigo did in fact release a few episodes in English-dubbed form under the title Those Obnoxious Aliens, but production of the dubbed version was aborted due to the voices not being well received by viewers (despite the dialogue being very accurate to the original Japanese script). Aside from this release and several of the movies, the series is only available in English in the United States in subtitled form.
Lum falls in love with Ataru after he accidentally proposes to her, while Ataru is always chasing after every girl he sees (despite them not being interested in him) leading to Lum physically punishing him with electric shocks. Lum never calls Ataru by name, even to other people she calls him "darling". This is the main reason for the many occurrences of the word throughout the titles and songs of the series. The series is heavily episodic, with only occasional plots spanning more than one chapter / episode. Each of these usually concerns Ataru's ill-luck, his lechery (and Lum's jealousy thereof) or the wide variety of weird humans and aliens who love, hate, or simply meddle with Lum and Ataru.
There are a few differences between the stories of the manga and anime series. The most noticeable (bar Lum's hair being green from originally being iridescent) is how some of the later stories and characters in the manga (such as Shingo, Inaba and Nagisa) are not part of the regular TV series, only appearing on the OVAs. Additionally, the anime officially ends with the fifth movie; the sixth was only an anniversary special.
Also missing from the anime is Kosuke, one of the students of classroom 2-4 and the only one outside the main cast who is reasonably developed in the manga. His character, in stories that called for Kosuke, is usually replaced by Perm. Further, Lum's Stormtroopers in general, who early on in the manga were dropped from the cast of regulars in favour of more dimensional characters (such as Kosuke) became major regulars in the anime and were used in many cases when it was necessary for Ataru and (especially) Lum to interact with school chums. Finally, some stories are slightly altered (mostly by adding or removing plot detail) to better suit the anime format.
Urusei Yatsura also has a number of direct-to-market video releases which include stories not covered in the TV series or movies. All but one of these were released after the ending of the series, so popularity may have also been a factor in the continued release of new animation. Also, unlike the others, Inaba the Dreammaker was first featured as a TV Special before being released on video. For the American release by Animeigo, they were released over 6 discs that were sold individually. In the Uk, they were released as a value boxset by MVM. Following is a list of these OVAs, official English title in bold, followed by the original Japanese, (a rōmaji transliteration in parentheses), and the original Japanese release date (also in parentheses):
| # | Title | Recording artist |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lum No Love Song | Yuko Matsutani |
| Episodes 1-77 | ||
| 2 | Dancing Star | Izumi Kobayashi |
| Episodes 78-106 | ||
| 3 | Pajama Jama Da | Kanako Narikiyo |
| Episodes 107-127 | ||
| 4 | Chance On Love | Cindy |
| Episodes 128-149 | ||
| 5 | Rock The Planet | Steffanie |
| Episodes 150-165 | ||
| 6 | Tonogata Gomen Asobase | Shoko Minami |
| Episodes 166-195 | ||
| # | Title | Recording artist |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uchū Wa Taihen Da! | Yuko Matsutani |
| Episodes 1-21 | ||
| 2 | Kokoro Bosoi Na | Helen Sasano |
| Episodes 22-43 | ||
| 3 | Cosmic Cycling | Virgin VS |
| Episodes 44-54 & Episodes 65-77 | ||
| 4 | I, I, You And Ai | Izumi Kobayashi |
| Episodes 55-64 | ||
| 5 | Yume Wa Love Me More | Izumi Kobayashi |
| Episodes 78-106 | ||
| 6 | Koi No Möbius | Rittsu |
| Episodes 107-127 | ||
| 7 | Open Invitation | Cindy |
| Episodes 128-149 | ||
| 8 | Every Day | Steffanie |
| Episodes 150-165 | ||
| 9 | Good Luck: Towa Yori Ai Wo Komete | Shoko Minami |
| Episodes 166-195 | ||
| Name | Publisher | System | Genre | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lum no Wedding Bell | Jaleco | Famicom | platformer | 1986 |
| Urusei Yatsura | Micro Cabin | MSX2 | puzzle game | 1987 |
| Stay With You | Hudson Soft | PC Engine | visual novel | 1992 |
| Urusei Yatsura | Nintendo | Game Boy | visual novel | 1992 |
| Dear My Friends | Game Arts | Sega Mega-CD | visual novel | 1993 |
| Endless Summer | Marvelous Interactive | Nintendo DS | dating sim | 2005 |
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