うる星やつら episode 117 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura ep. 117
Urusei Yatsura – 117

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Lum and Ataru are at a pet shop looking over the animals when they come upon a cow. Ataru demands to know from the clerk why a cow is being sold at a pet shop. The clerk states that the previous owner had a problem with the cow. To illustrate this, the clerk instructs Ataru to place his hand close to the cow, which he does and it bites him. Lum frees Ataru but gets bitten as well. Since the cow won’t let go, she gives it a massive electrocution as Ataru gives it to the clerk verbally. They leave the shop and Lum returns to her ship to bandage up her hand. The next morning, she discovers that her horns have lengthened and become cow-like, making her afraid she’s turning into a cow.

Lum’s multi-day absence from school has Megane and Shuutaro upset and pestering Ataru about it. When a weary Ten-chan arrives at school, he lets Ataru know that Lum has been affected by the bite of the cow. For her part, Lum has gone to the countryside to observe a field of cattle where she imagines a time in the future when she has become mostly cow. She pays a visit to Ataru, who lives in the country in a poor hut. He does not know her but is kind and as they talk, Lum gets him to tell her that in his youth, he loved a girl named Lum. Lum is prepared to sacrifice herself so that Ataru can be fed but when Ataru sees this, he tells this “cow” that he loves her and makes her his wife on the spot.

With Lum’s continued absence, Megane and Shuutaro again hound Ataru, who directs them to Ten-chan floating above. Ten-chan won’t say what’s wrong but lets it out that Lum is sick. Lum appears in the window with her hair in buns, saying she’s OK and wants to speak to Ataru. She accidentally causes Ataru to fall to the ground and at the infirmary, Lum has to fend off Sakura-sensei’s questions about her condition. Lum finally gets Ataru off alone and she makes a strange request that if after she leaves a cow shows up at his door, he should name the cow “Lum” and treat it well. She attempts to leave but Ataru grabs her legs. Her buns drop, revealing her extended horns.

Lum weeps and tells Ataru she’s turning into a cow. Ataru is horrified by this but promises to take good care of her and to never eat beef again as he embraces her. The two come home where Ataru’s mother asks if Ataru can do the shopping. Lum volunteers but hearing that beef is one of the things she has to buy, Lum flees to Ataru’s room crying, causing Ataru to go off on his mother. Meanwhile, Ten-chan finds out from Lum’s father that the horns are a merely a symptom of Lum being ill and they’ll go back to normal when she’s well. However, since Ataru is so devoted to the idea of caring for Lum as a cow that he’s building a cow shed for her, Lum can’t bring herself to tell him the truth.

Thoughts/Review:

The way this episode started, I thought, “Oh boy — here comes a boring episode.” That’s because the beginning (and indeed the end) are parodies of melodramas and for me, it just wasn’t funny. (As an aside, I wonder why the AnimEigo translator felt the need to translate “melodrama” for since that was the term the Japanese used?) Fortunately, that was simply the only aspect of the episode that I didn’t like (though there is one disturbing part but I’ll mention that later) as the rest was pretty darned funny and amusing. I think back to how things wouldn’t have been this good before the current director took over.

I loved how Shuutaro used the argument of Ataru’s love of various beef dishes to “prove” Ataru loved cows. *lol* Those beef dishes came up again when Ataru tearfully swore off of them in a moment that while laced with sadness, also had me laughing at the same time. This may sound bizarre, but I loved it! I just like how the writers pulled off the listing of foods in a funny way. Not only that, but the writers did it three time.

Speaking of cows, Lum’s dream sequence at becoming a cow in the future and serving a piece of herself to Ataru was (and still is) quite disturbing. Almost equally as disturbing is when Ataru falls in love with this cow and decides to make the cow his wife in the manner men sometimes made women their wives ages ago with no preacher or justice of the peace around. ^_^; Despite shuddering at this implied bestiality joke, I couldn’t help but chuckle while being revolted at the same time. “Ewwww! Nasty, AstroNerdBoy!” ^_^;;;

Also absolutely hilarious is Megane’s breakdown in class at imagining that Ataru had done something horrible to Lum, such as force himself upon her. The more Megane went on, the more I laughed. ^_^ Then there was Lum electrocuting the cow that bit her, which would have the PETA folks in a tizzy for sure. *lol*

The other positive element this anime had was showing how much Ataru cared for Lum even while trying to play this down. When Lum attempted to fly off, he grabbed her and wouldn’t let go. When she broke down, he held her and comforted her, even encouraging her to continue jolting him as a means of release on her part. His telling off his mother in order to defend Lum, his swearing off of beef, and his building a cow shelter were all very sweet things that one wouldn’t normally expect from Ataru.

So another good episode in the chain, which makes me very happy. A series is much easier to blog when it is fun to watch. ^_^