うる星やつら episode 111 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura ep. 111

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Kotatsu-neko is not afraid of a large stray dog but a mysterious shape leaving a single sakura petal has him very afraid. At the Moroboshi residence, Ataru’s parents are angry about Ataru having eaten every bit of food in the house and leaving a pile of trash in its place. Lum defends Ataru, citing the fact that when he sneaks food, he hides the evidence. His parents agree that this is the case and so Ataru blames Cherry, who immediately shows up. Cherry says that if he’d done it, there would be nothing left. With sakura petals at the scene of the crime, Lum, Cherry, and Ataru go to accuse Sakura-sensei, whom Cherry says has a voracious appetite but she did not take the food either.

Meanwhile in class, Megane, Shinobu, and others talk about the mysterious creature that has been seen and the sakura petals. Ataru reports that it is a “Sakura Monster.” Shuutaro hears this and after he returns home, consults his grandfather about the legendary monster named Konohana, which is supposed to bring bad times to the Mendou family. Shuutaro’s grandfather isn’t concerned but Shuutaro is and places his military and security forces on alert. Elsewhere, Ryoko is harboring the monster and promises it a delicious meal. The next morning, Shuutaro’s security discovers a problem with Shuutaro’s octopi pool. They plan to destroy the evidence but Shuutaro arrives, so they play dumb. When Shuutaro decides to feed his octopi, he discovers they are each missing a leg.

After a complete search of the mansion and grounds is completed, Shuutaro confronts Ryoko since her living area is the only thing left to search. Sure enough, she is hiding a giant sakura tree which Shuutaro sees is eating octopus legs. Shuutaro’s grandfather arrives and says it is time for a hanabi — a flower viewing. After inviting select people over, including Ataru, Lum, Cherry, and Sakura-sensei, this “hanabi” turns out to be a caged wrestling match with Ataru and the Sakura Tree on one side and Shuutaro’s best
security people on the other.

Ataru is about to leave when one of Ryoko’s bodyguards promises a hot kiss from Ryoko if Ataru fights. Ataru stays and when the match starts, none of Shuutaro’s security will touch Ataru, only going for the tree which proceeds to school them all. Ataru wonders if anyone will fight him and discovers that Lum has joined Shuutaro’s team to keep Ataru from scoring that kiss with Ryoko. A few of Shuutaro’s men manage to get to the tree and pour sake down its “throats,” causing it to fall over and pin them. Ataru is pinned by Lum so in effect, Shuutaro wins.

Thoughts/Review:

What a nutty episode. *lol* It didn’t seem like much at first (though I did like the accusation trail of Ataru, Cherry, and then Sakura-sensei) until Shuutaro starts feeding his octopi and discovers them all to have missing limbs. That wasn’t so funny, but his security insisting that an octopus has only seven arms followed by an angry Shuutaro being trailed by an army of angry, small octopi was and the animators used that gag quite effectively. The whole conflict between Ryoko and Shuutaro is amusing, especially since Ryoko knows that pulling in Ataru will make Shuutaro go nuts.

The wrestling caged match parody aspect was completely unexpected, which is why I found that so darn funny. The idea of a large (alien?) sakura tree wrestling is just nuts. *lol* I also loved how Ataru gets talked into the match with the promise of a hot kiss from Ryoko and how Lum gets into the match to keep Ataru away from Ryoko. What helped is that Lum didn’t do her standard jealously sequence complete with electrical discharge but instead played it cool like a female wrestler. *lol*

So while nothing deep or special, there were laughs and smiles to be had, which equates to entertainment. ^_^