うる星やつら episode 157 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura Ep. 157 review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

A hospitalized teen girl named Nozomi sees a boy running down the street daily and though she does not know his name, she dreams of him and his energetic, cheerful way and wants to speak with him if only once. She knits a muffler, gloves, cap, leg warmers, and starts working on a sweater and learns his name is Ataru. However, she dies several months later at Christmas. The following summer, Nozomi’s mother needs Sakura-sensei’s help as Nozomi’s spirit can’t go to heaven until she has a date with Ataru. Sakura-sensei arranges it and though Lum initially does not approve, reading the girl’s diary changes her mind. When Nozomi’s ghost appears, she’s able to give Ataru her gifts and despite the heat, he wears them all, including the unfinished sweater, pleasing Nozomi a great deal.

Ataru and Nozomi go on their date, Ataru still wearing her knitted items and she dressed in her hospital attire, trailed by Sakura-sensei, Cherry, and Lum. However, Ataru’s cheerful, flirty attitude is making Lum jealous so when they pass Megane and company and she hears them discussing her dumping Lum, she fries them in frustration. Nozomi, having been stuck in the hospital for years, is very happy to ride a train, walk in a crowd, take an elevator up a tall building, etc. Sakura has to remind Lum to be patient as they go to see a horror movie and then go to an amusement park. Nozomi’s final wish was to be with Ataru in the snow but the fireworks are close enough and she goes to heaven after taking his arm. Despite the heat, Ataru leaves, still wearing Nozomi’s outfit.

Sometime later, Nozomi’s mother heads to the sea-side graveyard at the top of a hill as Ataru and Lum depart it. She finds that they have left flowers and incense at Nozomi’s grave and so turns to where they have departed and bows in thanks for all they did for her daughter. Ataru walks on the beach with Lum hovering alongside. No longer jealous, Lum is proud of Ataru and tells him he is a kind person. Ataru tells her he is always kind and that he didn’t want Nozomi’s dream to go unfulfilled.  Ataru has a terrible itch and so Lum decides to help him scratch it. The two have a flirty, couple-like time of her scratching him and him laughing at being tickled by her.  Lum wonders if she should turn into a ghost (so that Ataru will pay as much attention to her as he did to Nozomi), which is an idea Ataru finds foolish.

Thoughts/Review:

Man, could this episode have started out any more depressing? Seriously, the second you see the teen girl in the hospital in a room that has been well-lived-in and she’s knitting to boot, that is an AUTOMATIC DEATH FLAG! Ugh. I’ve grown to hate this plot device but I admit that it almost always works to pull on the heart strings.Having such a sad story combined with the wacky humor Urusei Yatsura is know for at times was really an odd combination. One moment it was “fight the tears” and the next was laughter followed by more “fight the tears!”  That’s how it was for the whole episode and frankly, I loved every second of this emotional roller coaster of an episode. I also loved the ending with Ataru and Lum seeming like a real couple enjoying each others’ company.

There was only ONE bad moment and I have to think it was because the story came in just a tad short on time and needed a little filler.  While they were in the theater watching the horror movie, Cherry, who’d been pretty tolerable as a character unlike his normal appearances, briefly got to be his annoying self by loudly munching on rice crackers. Two thugs sitting behind him brandish a gun and a dagger and tell him to shut up, so he turns his head 180º like was done in the horror movie and the two thugs freak out. One starts shooting his gun all over and the other can’t brandish his long dagger from its sheath.  It was not only unfunny, but it was so out of place considering how the rest of the episode went in terms of humor, sadness, and overall story.

Other than that one scene, this was a great episode, perfectly melding the wacky humor with the tragic story of Nozomi.