うる星やつら episode 41 (2002)
Urusei Yatsura 41 (2022) review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Shinobu gets frustrated by Lum and Ataru’s lateness for their meetup. When they finally arrive, Shinobu quickly grows weary of Ataru’s antics and leaves. On the way, she finds Inaba passed out from the heat. She gets him to a cafe, where he asks her to be his girlfriend. Ataru, who’s also there with Lum, objects. Inaba accidentally offends Shinobu by implying that any girl would do for his upcoming test. Eventually, Shinobu comes to realize Inaba’s sincerity and agrees to go with him.

In the alternate dimension, Lum and Ataru join Shinobu and Inaba for his test. The first door he unlocks opens to a woman’s bath, full of attractive, naked women. Ataru goes nuts, but Inaba freaks out, forcing Shinobu to force him through. Shinobu ends up getting bound to Ataru, and Lum to Inaba. Eventually, the path they race on has a divide between heaven and hell. However, an attractive woman cries for help on the hell path, so Ataru drags Shinobu there. Ataru frees her, only she turns into a fat, ugly man. However, this was the right choice.

The entity throws the key that unlocks their binds into a body of water. All four end up in the water, where a mermaid binds Shinobu with her hair. She indicates to Inaba that she’ll free Shinobu for a kiss. Inaba goes to do this, making Shinobu angry and freeing herself. Shinobu refuses to listen to his explanation. When she falls through a dimension hole, Inaba saves her. However, she still refuses to listen to his delineation.

Some attractive “bunnies” give Inaba the option of stairs without Shinobu, or fighting a giant, rock monster. He chooses to fight for Shinobu and despite taking a beating, manages to win. Shinobu gets the rabbits to tell her where the flower is that Inaba needs to pick. Unfortunately, it has wilted, meaning Inaba fails. He isn’t concerned since his main reason for this was spending time with Shinobu. Her tears of joy cause the flower to bloom. Inaba asks if he can see Shinobu again, and she agrees.

Thoughts/Review:

Well, another “new” story for yours truly, since this tale was never adapted into the OG anime series or OVAs. Urusei Yatsura 41 was adapted from source manga chapters 346, 347, and 348.

A New Romance Story

I never felt the 2022 adaptation of Urusei Yatsura did much to establish how Ataru and Shinobu were initially a couple, unlike the OG adaptation. And I don’t feel the new series did much to show how for a time, Shinobu had a crush on Shuutarou. However, episode 32 introduces us to Inaba, and Urusei Yatsura 41 continues the story of the romance between him and Shinobu.

Considering Inaba lives in some alternate dimension, is he even human? The men there where rabbit costumes, and the women just have the bunny ears. But assuming Inaba is human enough, I can buy Shinobu’s interest in him. And I can certainly buy his interest in her. What I disliked was abused trope when Shinobu refused to listen to Inaba’s explanation. Yeah, I get sometimes women get like this. But that doesn’t mean I hate the trope. And I realize there’d be very little story without her refusing to listen to Inaba.

Beyond that, I like the romance between Shinobu and Inaba. Considering how late this story was done in the manga’s life, I guess we don’t have to worry too much about the status quo red line. So there shouldn’t be any resets that happen between Inaba and Shinobu, which would be the normal course of action in any Hasegawa-sensei series.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, horrible official subtitles aside, I did mostly enjoy Urusei Yatsura 41. There is a certain cuteness to the Shinobu x Inaba romance.