うる星やつら episode 19 (2002)
Urusei Yatsura 19 (2022) review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Shuutarou invites Lum, Ataru, Shinobu, Ryuunosuke, and others to the Mendou estate. He wants to show them his family’s pride, a group of small octopi. The group aren’t that impressed, so Shuutarou takes them to a building that replicates Antarctica. There, he has his prized octopus, Matsuchiyo (Matsu Chiyo). Ataru insults the octopus, enraging Shuutarou. Matsuchiyo flees in depression.

Shuutarou believes Matsuchiyo is in the jungle building, so the group changes to see it out. After some searching, the guys discover some of the Mendou security forces knocked out with sucker marks. Elsewhere, the girls discover Matsuchiyo, who’s now a giant and captures them all. The guys rush in and are also captured. Lum gets enraged and fries Matsuchiyo, electrocuting everyone in the process.

Sometime later at school, Ten-chan pays Ataru a visit while Ataru attempts to eat lunch. Ten-chan annoys Ataru with his questions about Ataru’s lunch. As such, Ataru gives Ten-chan his umeboshi. This makes Ten-chan drunk, thus willing to use his fire breath. Lum accuses Ataru of doing something to Ten-chan. Therefore, Ataru “borrows” an umeboshi from another guy’s lunch to give it to Lum. She gets drunk and immediately strips to her bikini.

Lum then demands everyone give up their umeboshi. She then becomes depressed that Ataru seems to like Ten-chan more after he goes to find the drunk little boy. Onsen-sensei discovers the drunk Lum and begins a search for contraband booze. Lum starts electrocuting everyone to get to Ataru. Cherry shows up with a jug of shochu, which Lum takes. Onsen-sensei has his forbidden booze and Lum constantly fries Ataru in drunken happiness.

Thoughts/Review:

Two stories comprise Urusei Yatsura 19, both of which I remember from watching the OG anime.

Giant Octopus

The giant octopus story in Urusei Yatsura 19 was originally adapted in episode 115 of the original series. I remember liking the OG episode quite a lot as I found it very funny. And it was certainly more risque than the modern version. Shinobu actually had her top removed in the OG episode. The 2022 version had Matsuchiyo start stripping Ryuunosuke, who replaced Ten-chan from the OG episode. As a result, Ryuunosuke had the bandages underneath her shirt and thus, we get around the topless issue.

The scope of the 2022 episode is different. Instead of the treasure being Matsuchiyo, it ended up being some mask in the OG version. As such, after the group’s encounter with Matsuchiyo, they are going through the Mendou estate looking for it, which included going on the rides at the private, Mendou amusement park. To be honest, I have zero problem with all that not appearing in the 2022 episode.

Finally, I had recently stated that Lum wasn’t doing as much electrocuting in the new series as the old. To that end, Lum was not causing collateral damage either. However, that all changed with this episode as Lum fries everyone to get the giant octopus to free them. I remember that making me laugh in the OG episode. Here, I just smiled. But it was appreciated.

Drunken Antics

The second story of Urusei Yatsura 19 featured the drunken affects the oni experience after consuming an umeboshi. The first half of OG episode 42 first adapted this story. For the most part, the stories were the same, including Ten-chan and Cherry. What was “Lum’s Stormtroopers” in the OG anime are here, but it is funny how they are just normal, background students. But to be honest, I’m fine with that.

Pressing on, one thing I liked in the new episode is that the guys didn’t pretend to be unconscious to avoid Lum electrocuting them. While Lum certainly fried a lot of guys in the OG episode, she fried more in the new one. Or at least, that’s how it seemed to me.

Nevertheless, here too, it wasn’t as funny to me. Sure, I was amused, but I didn’t have the laugh out loud moment that I recalled having in the OG episode. Maybe that’s because while some scenes played out differently, the end result was still the same. I was really hoping that later when Lum grabbed Cherry’s shochu and fried Ataru, Sakura-sensei would have been fried as well. Alas, that didn’t happen, as it didn’t in the OG episode. Oh well.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Urusei Yatsura 19 was an amusing episode, where Lum’s powers of electricity start frying all kinds of folks. While the stories didn’t make me laugh the way the OG versions did, I still enjoyed what I got.