うる星やつら episode 115 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura ep. 115

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Shuutaro goes to see his “ailing” grandfather, who wants Shuutaro to go find the family treasure. This somehow brings Lum, Shinobu, Ataru, and Lum’s Stormtroopers around with Ataru sucking up to Shuutaro’s grandfather to Shuutaro’s annoyance. The group of students set out to the arctic-climate building on the Mendou Estate which houses the Australopolar Octopus (which naively lives at the South Pole) named Matsu-Chiyo, as this octopus has the first clue. Seeing this octopus, Ataru and company end up insulting it greatly and it flees. Shuutaro calls for an estate-wide search.

In the Jungle Dome, Ataru and company encounter lots of animals, including a giant octopus which grabs them all and strips Shinobu of her shirt and bra. Lum is not happy with Ataru and electrocutes the lot of them, which also frees them all. When Shuutaro arrives to help the topless Shinobu, he’s attacked by the other guys and then captured by the giant Matsu-Chiyo. Ten-chan discovers a map drawing on the back of the octopus and takes a Polaroid that Ataru promptly steals. Ataru then grabs Shinobu and they are off to find the treasure to the annoyance of Lum and the others.

Ataru and Shinobu find a cave which leads to an abandoned amusement park, complete with rides. When Lum and the others arrive, Megane is distressed to learn that the park was a gift to Shuutaro for his fifth birthday. A ride on the carousel ends when Lum gets jealous over Ataru riding the same horse as Shinobu. Her jolt of electricity turns on the rest of the theme park though and the race is on to the Mirror House. Lum blasts away, destroying the mirrors and revealing Ataru and Shinobu. However, Lum’s actions have caused the Ferris Wheel to fall and chase them. Ataru and Shinobu make it to a roller coaster car and are off again, followed by Lum and her boys in a 2nd car. Again, Lum’s electric blasts cause problems, this time causing the tunnel for the roller coaster ride to flood.

Eventually, Ataru and Shinobu find a labyrinth and enter, chased by Lum and Ten-chan. Lum flies high overhead while Ten-chan decides to let off some steam and burns his way to Ataru. Unfortunately, Ten-chan also burns the Polaroid but fortunately, there’s a sign that points to the Mendou treasure. Shuutaro rejoins the group and their path leads them right back to Shuutaro’s grandfather’s room. Shuutaro reports they’ve found no treasure. When asked what the treasure is, Shuutaro’s grandfather says it is a mask, the very octopus mask that he’s wearing at the moment.

Thoughts/Review:

I have to say that this episode made me laugh quite a bit. There’s a lot of physical comedy and slapstick moments which work pretty well. Of course the end joke was lame, but we’ll let that slide. Regardless, Lum’s electrocuting everyone to get at Ataru made me laugh. Ataru somehow ending up running from place to place with Shinobu made me laugh. Ataru using Ten-chan as a flamethrower made me laugh a lot (I still don’t like Ten-chan as a character so when he gets abused, its funny to me). I hate to say it, but Matsu-Chiyo’s giant form stripping Shinobu had to be the funniest moment for me, mainly because the guys suddenly forgot their own peril and start chanting for more “strip-age.” ^_^;;; I also had a laugh at everyone’s reaction to what the treasure actually was.

Speaking of that, yes there was some nipple moments. This episode would have to be edited for American TV for sure, but when it aired in Japan, Shinobu’s toplessness was fine (that kind of thing was a culture shock for me when I first came to Japan way back in the day).

While we are on the subject of Shinobu, she seems to have received a makeover for this episode. She looks very cute and almost unrecognizable at times. I wonder if this is a permanent change or just a one-time thing for this episode.

Regardless, I loved the laughs here. I’m glad the series has improved so much. ^_^