うる星やつら episode 43 (2002)
Urusei Yatsura 43 (2022) review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Lum has a nightmare at school about a figure in black abducting her. In her UFO, Lum gets a call from her dad, explaining that they just released her grandfather from stasis, and he wants to meet Lum. Lum flies home while on Earth, Sakura-sensei senses something dark is coming. The feeling gets so bad, she doesn’t finish dinner and forces Cherry with her to consult a crystal ball. Ataru joins them and they learn that darkness will consume Lum.

Back home, Lum meets her senile grandfather. She learns that she’s been betrothed to the elderly, dark skinned man from her dreams. However, he is going to give Lum to his grandson. Back on Earth at school, a dark cloud arrives. A dark skinned teen emerges in a flying chariot, pulled by flying pigs. The teen mistakes Sakura-sensei as Lum, his fiance. Lum arrives and Ataru isn’t happy.

The teen, Rupa, tanks some of Lum’s electrocutions, but not all. He manages to get a ring on her finger, which she cannot remove. Rupa then leaves to return to his grandfather. His grandfather reveals that the ring will cause Lum’s horns to fall out, leaving her powerless. The next day, this happens and Rupa kidnaps Lum in front of Ataru. As such, Ataru picks up Lum’s horns.

Thoughts/Review:

The 2022 Urusei Yatsura 43 was adapted from source manga chapters 356, 357, and 358. As before, the OG anime adaptation  was done in The Final Chapter movie. When I looked back at my review of that movie, I seem to have enjoyed it. I can’t say the same for this British influenced subtitled mess, poppet.

Beginning of the End

I hate to say this, but I’m kinda glad Urusei Yatsura 43 is bringing us to the end of this series. Rubbish subtitles aside, I just don’t enjoy a series like this where everything has to be reset to maintain the status quo. Take Ataru. How many episodes have we seen where Lum annoys him? So he goes on a girl hunt. But when push comes to shove, he really does miss Lum when she’s gone. And he gets jealous if he thinks someone is moving in on Lum.

And that’s what this last story arc of the series is. Ataru does all the things he’s expected to do as part of the status quo. He goes after babes not named Lum. Rupa shows up, and Ataru gets jealous. And since I know where the story goes from here, I know Ataru will hit all of the other markers he’s expected to hit, all to give an illusion of character work, but in reality, nothing matters. The status quo must be maintained at all costs.

Not only that, but there’s the ridiculous elements done for comedy purposes, but which aren’t funny to me. For a start, there’s Lum’s grandfather. “Oh, isn’t it funny that we packed him in a stasis pod when we moved, then forgot about him?” No, that’s just dumb and makes no sense. It is a way of retconning in a character never mentioned before.

Likewise, Rupa’s grandfather’s claims on Lum are another massive retcon. In reality, they should have moved in on her ages ago. BUT, Takahashi-sensei wanted to end the manga with a bang, so lets do some retcons, stir the pot, but whatever you do, make things end with the status quo intact. Boring.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, I just didn’t enjoy Urusei Yatsura 43 that much, mainly because I know where things are going, and that nothing in this episode actually matters to the characters when all is said and done. Nevertheless, I’ll press through to the end.