March 25th, 2023 
AstroNerdBoy うる星やつら episode 23 (2002)
Urusei Yatsura 23 (2022) review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Ataru is the MC and referee for the Tomo-1 Beauty Contest, featuring Ryuunosuke, Shinobu, Lum, Ran, and Sakura-sensei. The winner will receive a prize worth ¥150K. First contest is a mystery “box”, which Ryuunosuke wins. The second contest is to use items provided to get hanging lollipops. Again, Ryuunosuke wins. The third contest is a ramen eating competition, which Sakura-sensei wins without even trying.
For the next contest, Ataru gets the girls in swimsuits. Fujiyama forbids Ryuunosuke from wearing the bikini top, so she uses her wrap. Ran thinks this is going to be a free-for-all fight, so she kisses Ryuunosuke, Shinobu, and Sakura-sensei to weaken them. However, the contest is for the girls to fight rather large, vicious, zoo animals. As a result, only Lum is able to do anything. Shuutarou tries to enter the ring to assist, but is quickly thrown out by a gorilla.
Ran realizes they will lose if she doesn’t return the energy to the other girls. As such, she has to struggle to get to the girls to kiss them, all of whom are not keen on getting a second kiss from Ran. Once done, the girls defeat the animals. However, the prize ends up being a group prize — a mountain of taiyaki. The girls, sans Lum, are not happy and chase Ataru to give him a beating.
Thoughts/Review:
The adapted story of the 2022 Urusei Yatsura 23 is VASTLY different from the OG episode 91 adaptation. And the new version is superior.
Sponsorships
The funniest element of Urusei Yatsura 23 was the sponsorships. Every contest had a sponsor, who then dictated what the contest would be. I think of how many YouTube content creators do sponsorship segments, so in that light, it made me laugh. But, the notion of sponsorships pushing a product via something else isn’t new. As such, it is easily relatable. Likewise, Ataru’s payoff by said sponsors.
In the OG episode, there never was a contest as by the time the girls get to the ring, Ataru takes the money and flees to Osaka. As such, the entire episode is filled with sponsors attempting to bribe girls to do X or Y in order to be the winner. In my review, I seemed to enjoy that. Not sure I would so much today.
That aside, the 2022 version did like to push the suggested sexual elements. First was Ran snogging Ryuunosuke, Shinobu, and Sakura-sensei. But then it was the animals getting “frisky” with the girls.
Finally, I did like the 80s synth music that played during many of the sponsorship breaks. The show really needs more 80s elements in my opinion.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
In the end, Urusei Yatsura 23 was a silly outing in the 2022 adaptation of the manga. It was fun for what it was, with Ataru’s sponsor stuff making me actually laugh at times. Shame that Ataru and Lum didn’t get to have more of a moment at the end.
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I’ve been watching the new series and watched all of the old series. The new series is trying to do something very careful with the setting. Urusei Yatsura is very 1980s as a series. The writers of the 2022 series obviously didn’t want to do a big setting update for today’s kids because it would not be right and also be a lot of hard work to do properly. They also don’t really want to come out and say that Urusei Yatsura 2022 takes place during the 1980s so it doesn’t seem like too much of a period piece and not be that interesting for people without 80s nostalgia. So they don’t have any 21st century technology but they also try to avoid things that would make it scream 1980s too much like clothing or too much 80s tech. I am not sure whether this works or not. It’s probably fine if you don’t think about it too much but if you notice it, it comes across as glaring rathe than timeless. The animation style is also to crisp for a 1980s setting.
True. But at times, the production company did do things to make it feel a bit 80s. I just wish there had been more.