うる星やつら OVA episode 06 (OAV anime)
Urusei Yatsura OVA Ep. 06 review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

As Lum and Ataru are on their date to see a movie in Shinjuku, Shuutaro’s father decides it is time for Shuutaro to have his own oniwaban (ninja guardian), whom the Mendou clan have employed for ages. However, upon being summoned, no oniwaban show up, and none are hidden in the floor or ceiling. Eventually, the old man gardener Saizo and his grandson Shingo show up, both of whom Shuutaro recognizes immediately. Shuutaro isn’t too thrilled by this, but goes along with his father’s plan.  Meanwhile, Ataru and Lum come out of their movie, where Ataru immediately starts hitting on girls. Lum gets mad and electrocutes him, but Ataru manages to lose her, so she returns to the Moroboshi residence angry and frustrated.

Back at the Mendou estate, Shuutaro summons Shingo, who’s delayed in arriving, and orders Shingo to go investigate what his sister, Ryoko, is up to. Shingo has to be forced to do this task, and he doesn’t know what Ryoko looks like. On cue, Ryoko shows up on a pantomime horse “powered” by two of her guards while a third walks in front. Ryoko laments not having family time with her “oniisama,” but is interrupted when the infatuated Shingo accidentally kicks her off the horse, then catches her. She thanks him for saving her and gives him a sweater, which unravels as Shingo returns to Shuutaro. Ryoko has one of her guards follow him to learn more.

Upon learning that Shingo is Shuutaro’s oniwaban, she immediately drafts a letter and has it delivered to Shingo. He can’t really read, but Ataru, who’s just shown up, decides to read it for Shingo, discovering that it is a love letter. Shuutaro is not pleased by this, but Shingo goes to find his “Ryoko-dono.”  However, Ataru is determined to get their first and does, where he proceeds to hit on Ryoko. However, Shingo’s ninja-like arrival knocks Ataru down and the two leave to elope, but not before Ataru gives Shingo a sweater that immediately starts unraveling. The two flee through the city as Ryoko leads them to the Moroboshi residence to hide. Lum is surprised to see Ryoko, but more surprised to see Shingo, who’d kidnapped her on their previous meeting.

Ryoko is not happy about learning about the kidnapping attempt, aided in this by Ataru’s prompting. Ryoko leaves in a norimono (palanquin), and is chased by Ataru and Shingo. Shuutaro chases them to keep them from Ryoko, and Lum chases Ataru for the same reason. They don’t reach the Mendou estate until the gate closes, but the group jumps up on the wall. Ryoko has the wall electrofied, frying Shuutaro and Ataru, but charging Lum and Shingo. Lum shows how powerful she can be when fully charged while Shingo decides to sabotage the estate’s electricity. Shingo and Shuutaro fight until Saizo traps him and drains him of power, restoring it to the estate grounds and buildings.

After Saizo leaves, Shingo grabs the fully charged Lum to absorb power from her. Shuutaro and Ataru are not happy, nor is Ryoko, who leaves again in her norimono, dropping a flood of grenades in her wake. Lum tries to get away, but not before he’s drained enough power to return to normal, and make Lum normal as well. Shuutaro and Ataru show up, as does Ryoko, who drops a ton of grenades while promising she’s not holding a grudge. The chase after Ryoko resumes, with the chasers passing her in their eagerness. Ryoko has her guards speed the norimono up so she can again catch them and drop more grenades on them. Thus the chase continues with Lum trying to fry Ataru, Shuutaro trying to attack Shingo, and Ryoko dropping grenades on everyone.

Thoughts/Review:

When Shingo was introduced in episode 192 of the TV series, I didn’t find anything worthy of bringing him back, but this goes to show what I know.

I didn’t take the time to go back and rewatch that episode, so I don’t remember how Shingo spoke. I did notice that for this episode, he does speak the more classic Japanese, as is common for ninja and samurai, including addressing Ryoko as “Ryoko-dono.”  Regardless, it just seemed weird for “jungle boy” to now be “ninja boy.”

That said, the episode itself wasn’t too bad. The usual chase stuff works pretty well here, though it is fairly predictable, especially with Ryoko’s saying one thing and doing something completely opposite. It was clear to me that there wasn’t enough material to completely fill the episode, thus we got the filler at the beginning, and padding of moments from time to time in the episode.

There was one thing that was different about this episode; Lum takes rare damage during the shenanigans, which was kind of fun to see.

One thing I liked on a personal level was Lum’s and Ataru’s date in Shinjuku. When Lum passed by Studio ALTA, I smiled since I’ve been there a few times back in the day.  Lord willing, I’ll get to return once more for a visit.

Otherwise, not much to say here.  The episode is a pretty typical Ryoko episode with Shingo added for the heck of it.  I was entertained and even chuckled, but it wasn’t anything special.