うる星やつら episode 107 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura 107

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

It is hanami time so Lum and Ataru are walking to where people are gathered to view the cherry blossoms. When Ataru plucks a branch off of a cherry tree, a strange wind picks up and Ataru is not there. Everyone else seems to be there, including Lum’s Storm Troopers, who appear drunk even though they are only drinking cola. Onsen-sensei confronts them about getting drunk and gets stripped for his efforts. Meanwhile, Shinobu is walking arm-in-arm with Shuutaro through the park. He asks her if she’s still attached to Ataru. She tells him that Ataru is with Ryuunosuke and that she’d rather be with him, so they go off someplace more quite and cozy.

Lum finds Ataru trying to pick up Ryuunosuke at the yakisoba stand. Lum pays for the yakisoba that Ataru agreed to buy for some of Ryuunosuke’s time and leads him away. However, Ataru sees Shinobu and Shuutaro about to kiss and interrupts, not happy that his woman is about to be stolen. Lum and Shinobu speak in unison about this and Lum angrily takes Ataru away, leaving Shinobu and Shuutaro greatly puzzled. Lum takes Ataru back to the park, so Shinobu and Shuutaro follow. They along with Lum’s Storm Troopers are amazed to see Lum being friendly with Ataru. Ataru is not happy with Lum’s attention and demands to know what this “darling” business is all about.

Ataru is summoned to the group, where Megane demands to know what’s going on. Ataru is at a loss for an explaination. Shinobu wonders if Planet Oniboshi has decided that this Oni (Lum) should be with a human to make peace. Megane, Chibi, Perm, Kakugari, and Shuutaro decide to sacrifice themselves for Earth and race to Lum, clinging to her. So Ataru leaves with Shinobu to go have tea. Lum electrocutes the boys and wonders what’s going on. She eventually returns to Ataru’s home to find it in ruins. Inside, Ataru and his parents are eating a meager meal and Lum learns that she’s traveled to a parallel world where she won the contest against Ataru.

Lum returns to the park and finds the spot where she shifted worlds and re-enters it. It is day again and the hanami is going on in the park. Ataru is aggressively hitting on Ryuunosuke, causing her father to whack him with a big pot. Falling down, he manages to pull down Ryuunosuke’s pants, leading her to kick him into a tree while pulling up her pants. Her father asks what his son is doing wearing women’s underwear, so he gets kicked away as well. Lum arrives to retrieve Ataru, who’s happy that Lum is all over him. Ryuunosuke is shocked by this behavior and as Lum and Ataru leave, they are attacked by Shuutaro who demands to know what Ataru is doing with his wife. He gets electrocuted as a result but soon Lum realizes she’s still not in the right world.

Lum’s next world has the sexes reversed so that Lum’s storm troopers are all girls. Megane-chan proclaims her love for Lum despite being the same sex and Lum backs away, confused by it all. She see’s Ryuunosuke and is happy that Ryuunosuke got to wear a sailor seifuku. This makes Ryuunosuke cry because in this world, Ryuunosuke is a boy. Lum flees again and comes to another world. However in this world, Ataru is a perfect gentleman who is deeply in love with Lum and doesn’t mind showing it. Since this isn’t her Ataru, she tells him goodbye and once more changes worlds. She finds Ataru holding a cherry branch and he seems like her Ataru. However, he doesn’t immediately cringe when she clings to his arm, but if this isn’t her Ataru, it is close enough especially when he doesn’t like it that Lum asks him if he loves her.

Thoughts/Review:

Whoa! I had read that the animation quality would go up with this episode and man did it ever. Pretty impressive considering its age.

I liked the interesting look at alternate worlds and certainly they provided for a great deal of humor. I laughed at the female Storm Troopers and Megane-chan’s love confession for Lum.

I also liked how the team managed to get Ryuunosuke into that seifuku. I don’t know if this story is in the manga or not, but at least we got to see it (something I thought would never happen).

I when Cherry took a beating for starting one of his statements that for quite some time over previous episodes would lead to some story where the cast played different roles. I’d become quite weary of those things I can tell you.

It was funny when Ataru managed to de-pant Ryuunosuke and took a beating for it. The surprising part is the actual fanservice. Not only did we get to see Ryuunosuke in a shirt and panties, but we saw Lum topless as in the first alternate world, Ataru recounts how he lost the contest to Lum by seeing her naked breasts and fixating on them. Its been years since I watched the original so I checked. There was topless nudity there too, but there was more in this episode. Interesting.

One more thing before I forget it — there have been several Star Wars nods during the course of the Urusei Yatsura anime. This time, The Empire Strikes Back received a nod which I found amusing.

In the end, it was a pretty fun episode with several laughs for those who’ve stuck with the series this far. I hope things continue to be on this higher level in terms of story, laughs, and animation.