うる星やつら episode 143 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura Ep. 143 review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
During English class, Ataru finds himself thinking about a fight he had with Lum and Shinobu detects the rift between them. On the way to PE, Chibi sees what appears to be a female ghost behind Ataru. During PE, Shuutaro takes out the whole class in kendo until it is Ataru’s turn. As Ataru continues to avoid Shuutaro’s attack, Lum and Shinobu talk with Shinobu telling Lum to not apologize about the fight and be cold to Ataru. Meanwhile, Ataru sees the female ghost and suddenly has a flashback to the day before when he was waiting for Lum at the part at 4pm. By the time Lum shows up at 5pm, Ataru has been hit by all sorts of things and is soaked and angry as he expected to see Lum at 4pm. When Ataru awakens, he’s home and decides to return to the park. There he sees the ghostly girl who flees but asks for him to return the following day. He agrees and when he returns home, he ignores Lum.
The next day at school, Ataru ditches class early for his “white date.” As he trudges through the snow to meet the girl, Shuutaro comments on how unnatural this snow is. Around the coal stove, Shinobu tells Lum’s Stormtroopers and Shuutaro the story of the Winter Fairy while Ataru meets the mystery girl who leads him into the woods. She reveals herself to be the Winter Fairy who was sent to gather Ataru because of his fight with Lum and the troubled nature of his heart. Hearing he’ll forget his previous life, Ataru isn’t thrilled with this but the Winter Fairy proceeds. Ataru remembers his life and remembers that while his date with Lum was to be at four, he’d moved it to five. As such, Ataru finds the strength to return home to a happy Lum. He starts to kiss her but then returns to his normal self as the Winter Fairy observes outside. Lum and Ataru’s actions cause the fairy to laugh, which causes her to change into the Spring Fairy.
So, we have a Lum-Ataru relationship episode, eh? I think it has been a while since there’s been one of these but as usual, they mean nothing since nothing changes.
Anyway, I was surprised that Ataru had agreed to go on a date with Lum at all. Yeah, he’s done that before but often as a lark or to try to distract Lum from his purpose to score with some other babe. Even more surprising is that Ataru is there on time and waiting for Lum. For him to get angry with Lum for supposedly being late was even more surprising to me even though I was sure Ataru had told Lum to meet him at five. Of course in true Ataru fashion, whenever babes come around, Ataru is after them.
I sorta hoped that Ataru and Lum would have kissed but alas, that didn’t happen. Oh well. It will have to be enough that Ataru returned to Lum at all.
Due to time constraints, I didn’t look up the Winter Fairy aspect of the story though at some point (assuming I remember at all), it would be interesting to learn more about that, assuming it comes from actual Japanese mythology.
The only humor of the episode came from when Ataru was waiting and getting accidentally knocked into the swan fountain pool at the park. Just classic slapstick stuff but still done well.
On the parody front, the production staff shows their affinity for Western sci-fi classics. This time, Robbie the Robot (Forbidden Planet) shows up as a toy. ^_^ I often smile when I see these little tributes.
Onsen-sensei again goes for a well known English song for his English class. This time, it is “Fly Me to the Moon.” While I certainly am versed with the Frank Sinatra version of that song (and there were others who sang it before him), naturally, the song has a stronger tie for me as the ED theme for Neon Genesis Evangelion.
So, this episode is a low-comedy fare that touches on the Ataru-Lum romance without taking it anywhere.
“I think it has been a while since there’s been one of these but as usual, they mean nothing since nothing changes.”
Welcome to the world of Rumiko Takahashi, my friend. Where relationships go to be dragged out and frustrate audiences. Lum and Ataru are actually NOT the worst offenders of this and at least this episode shows the two have grown into a more typical couple (albeit a dysfunctional one).
I think I’d long ago given up on the relationship. *lol* I think that may have been why that aspect even being touched struck me enough to make mention of it.
I’m sure this is likely well past your radar and you’ve moved well far away onto other things, but I wanted to disagree with you on one aspect of this episode. I think it took the relationship a step forward at the very least. At the end when his memories flash before his eyes, the focus shifted completely to Lum and from what I read into that, it’s what made him able to resist.
I’m actually watching this whole series 30 years too late, but 20 years after I personally discovered UY. I have rips with subs I’m watching on from my PC before I shift to the mother of all hauls – I bought all the Blurays direct from Japan with no subs (the movies are literally taking the slow boat though). I found your site by accident while doing a search on how to get those discs and I use your reviews as a benchmark and comparison to those on the grand old Tomobiki-cho site. You’re definitely more honest in yours though, and I like that.
It’s too bad this is just one in a long string of Rumiko’s unresolved relationships that she created, as this one is near and dear to my heart, I would have liked a better answer than ‘it’s up to us to determine how it ended’. But such is life.
Thanks for doing this back when you did!
Sorry for the delay. And I can always be brought back to something old I watched or read. 🙂
My feeling is based on the fact that in the next episode, it is as if the events in 143 didn’t happen. The status quo had to be maintained at all costs, which I was never a fan of.
Thanks. ^_^ It is at times like this, I wish I had episode blogged the whole series. However, there’s so much anime I’ve never watched and my free time is limited, so I never went back to rewatch those earlier episodes.
I too used Tomobiki-cho to make sure I had character names spelled right and such. Great place!
I agree. I think Maison Ikkoku is the only series she did where she gave a proper resolution, but she waited until the final volume to really allow that series to move forward in a meaningful way.
Technically, she gave Inuyasha a resolution of sorts, and that was expounded on in the special omake chapter she did after the Touhoku earthquake for charity.
You’re welcome and thanks for reading. Sorry I was so delayed in responding to you.