うる星やつら episode 09 (2002)
Urusei Yatsura 09 (2022) review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Ataru wants Lum to leave so he can study with Shinobu. Cherry arrives to warn Ataru of danger. Meanwhile, Shinobu encounters a giant, alien monster, yelling for Lum. Under her direction, the monster brings Shinobu to Ataru’s home, where the monster reveals itself. Lum recognizes it as Rei, her former fiance. He transforms into his handsome, oni form. Ataru’s mom comes in to see what the ruckus is about and is smitten by Rei’s good looks.

Shinobu thinks Lum should go for Rei since his humanoid, oni form is handsome. Ataru’s mom brings up some steamed sweet potatoes, which Rei gobbles up. Lum makes Rei jealous, so he starts pursuing Ataru, with Lum at his side. Wherever they go, Rei eats the food and causes the women to fall for him with proposals (for Lum). When they return to Ataru’s home, Ataru’s mom gets a similar proposal, ‘causing her to feel like a woman again.

The following day at school, Rei busts through the exterior wall and starts scarfing everyone’s lunch. When he turns into his oni form, the girls are all smitten. Even Shuutarou is taken aback. After consulting with Lum, Ran produces her bento, which Rei eats slower. Ran is ecstatic by this until Cherry produces a bento and achieves the same results. Not to be outdone, Ran makes another bento. After Rei finishes, he leaves to to get something to eat.

That evening, Ataru’s father is concerned about all of the Rei memorabilia his wife has put up. He thinks she’s about to divorce him, but she just wants him to attend the Parent’s Day event. Elsewhere in space, Lum’s mother prepares for the same event.

Thoughts/Review:

And so we are introduced to the “tigercow” Oni, Rei, in the 2022 Urusei Yatsura 09. And it is quite interesting to see how the OG episodes 3 and 36 covered this same amount of material. However, the 2022 version is much funnier and removes quite a lot of the story beats from OG episode 3.

Enter the Tigercow!

When I watched the OG Urusei Yatsura adaptation, I didn’t find Rei to be all that funny. So even though the the 2022 Urusei Yatsura 09 had most of the same, major story beats as the OG episodes, the modern version worked MUCH better. For a start, the effect Rei has on women is far superior, especially with Ataru’s mom. I laughed so hard at her “transformation” when she put on makeup for Rei. And her subsequent encounters with Rei just kept getting funnier to me.

Then in the first post-credit scene, I laughed pretty hard at how Ataru’s mom had not only made herself up for Rei, but she’d even put up posters and other memorabilia of Rei. And after witnessing his wife go so gaga over Rei, it is no wonder Ataru’s father though his wife was divorcing him. And I guess in the next episode, we’ll get the Parent’s Day event at the school.

I think the main reason that Rei’s antics in the episode are funnier is because Rei doesn’t come off as silly. In his Tigercow form, he is a force to be reckoned with, not just some silly buffoon. But where the OG anime made Rei’s eating something silly, the 2022 version just makes these moments a funny distraction for Rei. Having Rei portrayed in a bit more serious light makes the comedic moments funnier to me.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Egad! I’m really sorry this is so late. But let me wrap up my review with some final thoughts.

• Cherry is just about as annoying in the 2022 anime as he was in the OG version. And funnily enough, he took one of Ten-chan’s parts in this episode.
• This 2022 version of Urusei Yatsura is supposed to be set in the 80’s. But too often, it feels too modern. Sure, we see the box, boob-tube TVs, mini boomboxes, cassette tapes, and more. However, on the whole, it doesn’t feel very 80s. That’s why the final, post-credit scene with Lum’s mom scored with an 80s-sounding track was quite welcome. Music really sells things, and I think the series should do more 80s-sounding music.
• Adaptation is trash as usual, with so much “Oh look at how hip I am!” Its really like a bad fansub from back in the day.

In the end, Urusei Yatsura 09 was very funny and made Rei a more enjoyable character for me.