うる星やつら episode 112 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura ep. 112

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

The leader of a motorcycle gang is retiring to lead a normal, respectable Japanese life but before he goes, he recounts the tale of a girl and a boy that captured his heart. Sometime back, Ryuunosuke is out jogging when a motorcycle gang comes through town. She saves a young girl and her kitten from being run over and to thank Ryuunosuke, the young girl sews up a tear in Ryuunosuke’s shirt. At school, Ataru attempts to hit on Ryuunosuke by using the shirt damage as an in, but before Lum can react negatively, Ryuunosuke punches him. Outside the class window, Benten arrives on her hover bike, so she, Lum, and Ryuunosuke head to a ramen place where Benten and Ryuunosuke really hit it off.

Returning home, they encounter the little girl again (who addresses Ryuunosuke as “oniichan”) but when Ataru arrives, it startles the kitten, who flees. The little girl is upset but Benten and Ryuunosuke promise to find the kitten (named “Mii”). As the duo track the kitten, they see it on top of a truck going down the road, so Benten “borrows” the bike of a gang leader. Enraged, he has the whole gang summoned and when one group catches Benten and Ryuunosuke, they find themselves defeated.

The boss takes the rest of the gang and is waiting for them. They all take a beating. Benten and Ryuunosuke get into the city and question a bar owner about the kitten when they are found by the gang again, resulting in another two beatings for the gang. When they finally find the kitten at the warf, another fight between Benten, Ryuunosuke, and the gang is thwarted when a giant wave comes in, ridden by Ryuunosuke’s father. The kitten is returned to the thankful little girl and Benten and Ryuunosuke’s friendship is established.

Thoughts/Review:

This is another pretty funny episode, even if predictable. I really loved the idea of Benten and Ryuunosuke being friends. They seem like they would be good friends so why not have them have a little adventure together. Maybe we’ll see another fun episode with the two working together.

The fights with the gang were the funniest stuff and of course the most predictable. Sometimes, old jokes still can be funny and somehow, the production team managed to pull this off for me. Maybe it is just the tough guys getting beaten up by a couple of girls. Of course this gang leader with a taste for various ice cream dishes going straight and becoming respectable is a chuckle too, once the episode is watched.

The strange parts of the episode had to do with Ryuunosuke’s dad. First, there’s a scene where he’s at the Moroboshi residence eating from a giant bowl while Ataru’s mother is highly annoyed. I don’t know where that came from. The other is the giant wave (I hesitate to call it a “tsunami” though it could have been I suppose) which ended the conflict between the girls and the gang. I know it is supposed to be funny seeing Ryuunosuke’s father surfing this wave, but it didn’t do anything for me.

So far, this current batch of episodes has pretty much lived up to promise in terms of being funny, better animated, and just better in general. I’m glad for that.