February 8th, 2010 
AstroNerdBoy うる星やつら episode 129 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura Ep. 129 review
Urusei Yatsura – 129
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Sugar, Ginger and Pepper are each reminded of their inferior feelings with it comes to their senpai’s Benten, Oyuki, and Lum. So, the trio decide to get a Benten by sabotaging her bike, but it backfires on them. Then they try to nail Benten in her house, but she blasts them. So, the trio head to nail Oyuki by causing a giant icicle to fall on her as she goes for her daily walk. Unfortunately, that backfires on the trio, so they challenge her directly and demand an apology. She gives them one while freezing them in a block of ice. Having failed here, the trio decide that if they can defeat Lum, it will be the same as defeating all three women.
On Earth, Lum is punishing Ataru. Ataru convinces Lum to let him do as he will for three days as he bets she can’t control her temper. If she controls it, he’ll go on a proper date with her. Even though she knows this is an attempt by Ataru to flirt with other girls, she agrees. As a result, Ataru goes completely overboard to chase every girl in school. Lum has to go off to let off some steam and electricity which results in the thwarting of the trio’s plan. When they attempt to get protection from Lum’s electricity, her next release causes 
damage that thwarts the trio. As Lum’s frustrations grow, her “Darling no BAKA!” screams and subsequent releases of energy cause more and more damage around the city.
At the end of the three days, Lum comes to collect on her date but when Ataru feigns ignorance, he pays the price. Lum literally drags him on the date and when confronted by Sugar, Ginger and Pepper, she makes them pay dearly for daring to interrupt her happy date day with Ataru.
Thoughts/Review:
This was another episode that started out rather slow and in a manner that did not interest me. Seriously, I could care less about Sugar, Ginger and Pepper wanting to get at Benten, Oyuki, and Lum. So their schemes against Benten were a waste as far as I was concerned. Their demands that Oyuki apologize were amusing to me in that Oyuki’s apology came with a price. You just don’t jack with Oyuki, who looks sweet and calm and speaks softly, but that just masks the power within. *lol*
Where the episode picks up is Lum’s bet with Ataru about not going off on him for at least three days. Ataru’s actions are played so over the top that it comes off as funny, especially since Lum knows he’s doing it on purpose to tick her off. Naturally, no girl will have anything to do with Ataru, not that this stops him. Shinobu’s cameo helped add a little spice to things.
Lum’s growing frustration and larger bursts of electricity to blow off her anger were funny too, especially with her “Darling 
no BAKA!” screams. The fact that Sugar, Ginger and Pepper seemed to always get caught in the collateral damage was just extra icing on the cake. Lum doing what she did was funny enough without that.
I did like Lum getting her date though I couldn’t help but think, “Man, that has to be some kind of love to put up with Ataru, to say nothing of having to drag him on the date.” Yet, her expression is one of pure happiness. Kinda sad at the same time that it is amusing.
So in the end, a pretty good and funny episode once things shift to Lum and Ataru.
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I think Ataru and Lum have to most complex relationship in all of the Takahashi series. Technically, by Lum’s definition they are already a married couple. They live together and she considers him her husband. Ataru, by this point in the series, has “accepted” Lum into his life and realizes his life would be incomplete without her BUT he also does not want to be tied down/limited to her hence his behavior.
So a lot of Ataru’s behavior stems from wanting to get a rise out of his “wife”.
There is a later episode that comes around the final season that illustrates this perfectly where Ataru and Lum have a date set up and before the date Ataru goes on his usual girl-hunting shtick only problem is a girl actually accepts his request for tea time and Ataru basically has this moment of “Wait, this is not how it’s supposed to go.” which messes up his date with Lum (which on some level he was probably looking forward to but he had to go through the motions that was his programming).
I look forward to that episode. Since I’m not blogging too much current anime, I’d like to try to move ahead with UY and possibly finish it this year.
wow i nv realised that the animation of urusei yatsura was so good, considered it is more than 20 years old ^^
@BlackSun88:
Yeah…UY kind of pioneered the animation style for the later half of the 80’s era since after their upgrade a lot of series adapted ther style like Dirty Pair, Patlabor, Project A-ko, and City Hunter.
Speaking of “Dirty Pair,” I’m really disappointed that the TV series was never released in the U.S. I’ve never watched the whole thing.
iirc, the animation for UY got better as the series progressed. The earlier episodes don’t look quite as good as the later ones – not that it should stop you from taking a look at the earlier ones anyway!
The picture of Lum smiling just before the ‘Thoughts/Reviews’ break illustrates one of the reasons I still find Lum so adorable after all these years – it’s hard to find a character that looks so flat out joyful as Lum does whenever she’s with her “Darling”. Anyone in anime can look happy, and often for the wrong reasons (case in point – Ataru contemplating once again giving Lum the slip). But when Lum is with Ataru she’s so happy that she practically glows.
Lum certainly glowed at the end of this episode. ^_^