うる星やつら episode 38 (2002)
Urusei Yatsura 38 (2022) review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Lum cons Shuutarou’s bodyguards to clean the mote while still in their animal costumes. She then fries them all, looking for Ataru. One makes a report to Shuutarou, causing Asuka to freak out and crush Shuutarou. Ataru takes advantage and “puppets” Shuutarou. However, Lum causes him to reveal himself, causing Asuka to send them flying. Asuka cannot stop panicking, so Lum decides to help her by showing her a tank. As such, Asuka tears it apart to make armor.

Ryoko decides to stop Asuka’s date by revealing to her that Shuutarou is a “man” and not an “oniisama”. Asuka’s mom decides to use Ataru since he triggered Asuka’s phobia. Asuka refuses, but she’s easily defeated by her mother and chained to Ataru. Lum tries to help by blindfolding Asuka, and binding Ataru in such a way where he can’t act. And she tags along with him and Asuka.

Naturally, Ataru messes things up, so Asuka crashes through multiple walls in the Mendou mansion, heavily damaging Ataru in the process. As such, her mom threatens to harm Tobimaru, to no avail. Asuka flees, but when her mom catches up, Asuka uses Ataru as like a flail. She’s defeated by her mother. Ryoko isn’t happy Tobimaru isn’t helping his sister, but she changes her mind when Lum mentions he could end up marrying Asuka.

Asuka uses Ataru on a chain as a helicopter and flees with Tobimaru in tow. Lum cuts the chain, and Asuka is forced to submit to her mom. However, her fear isn’t over, so she goes to sleep in the same futon with her brother. As a result, Tobimaru gets a beating from his mom the next morning, even though he did nothing wrong.

Thoughts/Review:

Taken from source manga chapters chapter 253, 254, 255, and 256 (OG anime episode 153), Urusei Yatsura 38 actually made me laugh.

More Asuka Antics

In the previous episode, I mentioned that I was rather weary of Asuka’s comedic antics. And yet for Urusei Yatsura 38, I actually found myself laughing at times. The first moment was the tea ceremony, where Asuka unexpectedly turned the bow into dust, and then remade it with the water for the tea. I didn’t remember this from the OG anime for some reason.

I did remember Asuka dismantling a tank to turn it into armor for herself. Maybe it was because of the first laugh, but I laughed here too. And then Asuka’s battles with her mother made me laugh, more so when she used Ataru as a weapon. Another big laugh I got came from Ataru taking damage going through wall after wall while Asuka drug him behind her as she ran. Basically, any time Ataru took damage, I laughed.

So maybe I wasn’t quite as weary of her antics as I thought. However, the gag joke of blaming Tobimaru for Asuka crawling into his bed does weary me.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, I liked Urusei Yatsura 38 way more than I thought I would after the previous episode. I needed the laughs.