うる星やつら episode 147 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura Ep. 147 review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Sakura-sensei has to break up another intense fight between Ryuunosuke and her father and is forced to kick the man out of the school building. As she treats Ryuunosuke’s wounds with Shinobu, Lum, Ataru, and Shuutaro watching, Sakura-sensei states that the fights between Ryuunosuke and her father have to stop. The injuries that Ryuunosuke takes to the face will make her undesirable for marriage. When asked if she’s ever fallen in love, Ryuunosuke tries to remember but only can think of girls including Shinobu. Shinobu protests and Ryuunosuke states that she didn’t mean it like that. Seeing that Ryuunosuke has never been in love, Sakura-sensei asks her ideal man. When she gives the description, it seems to match her father, whom Sakura-sensei kicks out again for raising Ryuunosuke so strangely.

Ryuunosuke’s father decides that he must remarry in order that Ryuunosuke’s supposed infatuation with him will end. His proposals to Sakura-sensei and Shinobu result in him taking more of a beating. When Ran-chan comes down to the store to buy an eraser, Ryuunosuke’s father attempts to give her a wedding dress, forcing Ryuunosuke to get involved and simply give Ran-chan the eraser for free. Ryuunosuke tells her father that his actions would sadden her mother, which causes him to remember the past. In his younger days, he’d spent the night doing the required drinking with co-workers while his wife stayed up. However, her feelings were hurt when after he finally gets home, he’s unable to eat the giant meal she’d prepared. Hearing the tale and seeing her father’s tears, Ryuunosuke is touched and quietly calls for her mother.

Fujinami is so distraught over thinking about his former wife Masako that he ruins dinner but eats it anyway. Sick and in his futon, he tells Ryuunosuke that he has a request for her to wear an outfit of her mother’s from when he met her. The following day, the two are at a theme park that Fujinami claims is where he met Ryuunosuke’s mother when they worked there part time. Ryuunosuke doesn’t know what to believe, but the lie detector brought by Lum, Sakura-sensei, Shinobu, and Ataru says he’s telling the truth. Going to a nearby restaurant, the girls go to help Ryuunosuke get dressed while Ataru and Fujinami wait. Fujinami also changes into the outfit he wore when he met his future wife. Ryuunosuke’s costume is of an action hero and Fujinami’s is of a monster. Ryuunosuke is angry and retreats to a Ferris Wheel while Fujinami makes his way onto the stage where the action hero show is about to start. He calls each one “Masako” and they give him a beating to a delighted audience.

Thoughts/Review:

Anytime there’s an episode featuring Ryuunosuke’s father, I automatically start off annoyed even if he does take some beatings. I’m so weary of this tired, non-funny joke. Fujinami was married to someone, raised Ryuunosuke as a boy, still claims his daughter is a male, fights his daughter, refuses to allow Ryuunosuke to wear female things, etc. Then when Ryuunosuke thinks she’s going to get to wear something feminine, it is a gag and she’s foiled again. Its not funny and as I said, I’m just tired of it. However, I guess this was a laugh a second in Japan since the writers often feel compelled to trot the bastard out over and over again. I’m bet Takahashi-sensei did something similar in the manga.