うる星やつら episode 28 (2002)
Urusei Yatsura 28 (2022) review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Shuutarou decides to get out of his marriage to the suit of armor. Ataru, along with Shinobu and Lum, agree to help him flee. Ultimately, they fail. Meanwhile, Asuka’s bodyguards try to teach her about men. One vows to kill Ataru for what he did.The omiai proceeds, with the armored Asuka in a cage. Ataru enters, disguised as a servant, causing Asuka to break free and flee.

Lum finally realizes that the girl in the armor must be cute for Ataru to do everything he’s done. Asuka’s bodyguards try to kill him, but fail. Ataru makes it to the armor, so Lum fries both. This destroys the armor, revealing Asuka in her exercise gear. Asuka attacks and flees, running into Tobimaru. She attacks him, but discovers he has the same, unusual eyes as her. As such, she assumes he must be a woman. When he denies it, she flees again.

Elsewhere, Shuutarou, Lum, Ataru, and Shinobu learn why Asuka has been segregated from all men, including her brother and father. Asuka ponders Tobimaru, recalling her bodyguards teaching her about the male known as Oniisama. Ataru and Shuutarou find Asuka and start pursuing her. Asuka’s bodyguards shoot her with a tranq to stop her.

Everyone returns to the mansion, where Ataru and Shuutarou go at each other over Asuka. At the Mendou mansion, Ryoko learns what is going on with her brother. So she goes to the Mizunokouji estate. Meanwhile, Asuka starts falling for her Oniisama. When Ryoko shows up with great destruction, Asuka hears her addressing Shuutarou as “Oniisama” and sees him differently.

Thoughts/Review:

And so we get the conclusion to the Armored Girl story with Urusei Yatsura 28. Taken from source manga chapters 225, 226, and 227, the OG adaptation appeared in episode 132 and episode 133. Fortunately, the humor continues from the previous episode.

Oniisama!

The whole explanation as to why Asuka had to be segregated from all males was idiotic. Nevertheless, that’s the premise of Urusei Yatsura 28 just to have all of the various gags. So while so absurdly stupid, I couldn’t help but be amused at Asuka’s female bodyguards attempting to explain men in general. But not only that, they had to explain about the very special and trustworthy male–the “Oniisama”. Of course they are referring to Tobimaru, but it doesn’t come off that way.

I will admit, it is creepy for Asuka to start falling for her older brother. However, since it is played for a laugh, I let that slide. Tobimaru isn’t down for it. And the horrified reactions to this from Ataru and Shuutarou made me laugh.

Speaking of “Oniisama”, I forgot about Ryoko showing up at the end of the story. Her antics weren’t specifically funny to me, but Asuka’s reaction to hearing her address her brother as “Oniisama” did make me chuckle.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I need to wrap things up, so let me do some final thoughts.

• While this episode was way over the top in absurdity, Lum going along with Ataru was a different kind of absurd. In a weird sort of way, that amused me. Granted, I already knew the story, but it should have been obvious that Ataru wanting to help Shuutarou get out of his marriage was a ploy. And yet Lum didn’t catch on until later.
• This is going to sound sick, but Asuka’s bodyguards trying to shoot Ataru made me laugh the hardest.
• HIDIVE subtitles are trash. Just saying.

In the end, Urusei Yatsura 28 was pretty funny and very enjoyable for me.