History Manga / UruseiYatsura

The show centers around Ataru Moroboshi, an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent who happens to be both the unluckiest and most perverted man in the world, possibly the entire universe. He is chosen by lot to challenge a band of alien invaders from the planet {{Oni}} in a game of tag to decide the fate of the Earth. His opponent: the smoking hot Lum, daughter of the Oni leader. After several false starts, it takes a promise of marriage by his long-suffering girlfriend and [[ChildhoodFriendRomance childhood companion]] Shinobu to bolster him to victory. Unfortunately, after his triumphant declaration of "Now I can get married!", Lum thinks Ataru wants to marry ''her'', falls ''instantly'' in love with him... and the rest is history. Lum moves in with her "Darling" Ataru, and before long, the district of Tomobiki has [[WeirdnessMagnet become a hotbed for intergalactic weirdness]] involving Lum's friends and relatives, with Ataru stuck in the middle.

** Downplayed, with Jari-ten's mother. He's absolutely scared to death of her, due to her passionate ranting about how much she hates arsonists and pyromaniacs and how she loves to punish them for starting fires. However, she sincerely loves her son and has no idea that she scares him. Plus, the reason he's scared of her is because he's a ''SpoiledBrat'' who shamelessly abuses his fire-breath power, so he lives in fear of getting a well-deserved scolding and spanking when she finds out that he enjoys running around spewing flames at people for giggles.
* AccidentalKiss: In the "Indelible Lipstick Magic" story, Lum makes a lipstick that causes people who paint their lips with it to be pulled like a magnet to anyone else who has the lipstick on. Lum's plan was using it to make Ataru kiss her, but shenanigans happen and Ataru ends up kissing ''[[HandsomeLech Mendou]]'' while both are trying to kiss girls with the lipstick. The guys briefly go to a CornerOfWoe afterwards.

* AliensAreBastards: Downplayed, while the majority of the aliens are varying degrees of obnoxious -- few of them are truly hostile and the ones who are tend to be of the HarmlessVillain variety.

** Lum is very friendly to almost everyone, but there are two things that really set her off: Harming Ataru in front of her, in which case the threat will get zapped (so will Ataru); and Ataru propositioning other girls, in which case he'll get zapped.

* BlunderCorrectingImpulse: In one anime episode, Ran has a bad cold, and Lum comes by to help out. Among other things, she tries to cook some food, only to have the first dish overspiced. Directed to follow a recipe from "365 Recipes for the Terminally Ill", Lum finds it way too bland and tries to "improve" it. Ran catches her, and sees that Lum is not very good at vegetable chopping either. Soon, Ran's taken the whole cooking chore over, working herself back into exhaustion.

* {{Catchphrase}}: Several, most often a variation of the following:

'''Lum:''' DAAAAAAAAAHHHHHLING! / DIVINE RETRIBUTION! ''[while zapping Ataru]''\\
'''Shinobu:''' MEN BE DAMNED!!!\\

'''Mr. Fujinami:''' I LOVE THE SEA!!! ''[accompanied by a tidal wave, no matter where he might be]''\\

* CausticCritic: When Class 2-4 is holding a Talent Show, Lum brings an oval-shaped alien (who makes anyone who doesn’t live up to his standards vanish) to act as a judge. [[spoiler:But actually, girls are given preferential treatment by him.]]

** After a number of stories where Ataru traps Mendo in giant bells, Mendo eventually becomes able to crack said bells in half with pure arm strength.

* CloseEnoughTimeline: Lum drifts from AlternateUniverse to AlternateUniverse in a particularly dramatic {{Filler}} episode. The biggest scare she gets is from [[spoiler:an Ataru that openly adores her]], and though she seems to find her way back in the end, [[spoiler:the fact that the final Ataru doesn't reject her advances is definitely unnerving]], but not enough to make her leave.

* DaintyLittleBalletDancers: Averted in chapter 307. Hoshikuzu's (admittedly unconventional) ballet teacher, Ryuunosuke, is no delicate flower, and Hoshikuzu's tryout at the end of the chapter has her make a landing that breaks the floor underneath her.

* DepravedDentist: In one chapter, Ataru dreams that Lum will "help" him get over a tooth ache with some sort of dentistry torture chair.

%%* TheDitz: Tsubame and Rei.

%%* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale:
%%** Ryoko on Tobimaro.
%%** Lum on Ataru.

** Whilst Ataru does have a bit of a wandering eye, he's actually not presented as particularly perverted compared to any other healthy teenage boy of his age.

%%* EffortlessAmazonianLift: Shinobu.

%%* FusionDance: Ataru and a notebook. Seriously.

* TheGenericGuy: Ataru's friend Kosuke in the manga. Probably the reason he was AdaptedOut in the anime.

%%* InnocentBystander: Subverted, Ryoko often poses as one.
%%* InstantFanClub: Lum, Mendou.

* {{Kappa}}: An episode of the anime has Ataru being taken down to a Ryugujo inhabited entirely by kappa.

* LadykillerInLove: Shutaro Mendou towards Lum. But possibly subverted, since it's entirely conceivable he might want to marry Lum at least in part for the prestige of having an alien princess for a wife. Similar story with Asuka (only daughter of the second-richest family in Japan).
* LateToThePunchline: So many Anime pros grew up with the show that comic Shoutouts can be found in hundreds of shows. You may not recognize some of them until you see the episode they took it from. (e.g. The lipstick commercial, Ryoko's "operation")

%%* LoveableSexManiac: Ataru.
%%* LoveMartyr: Everyone considers Lum this.
* LoveObstructingParents: Jariten, of course, although he's not a parent...

%%* MagicPants: Pepper

%%* MegaNeko: Kotatsu-neko

%%* RedOniBlueOni: Ataru and Mendou; Benten and Oyuki.

%%* TheRival: Mendou to both Ataru and Tobimaro.

%%* RoyalBrat: Ryoko

* SceneryGorn: The fourth movie, in spades. It starts with a lovingly-detailed junkyard full of rats, then there are all the natural disasters that follow the death of the cherry tree, an underwater skeletonized corpse, and the pointless civil war that's devastating Tomobiki at the end. Oh, and the film the characters are making starts like a slasher movie complete with creepy masks.

* ScienceFantasy: The series technically may be a sci-fi, but essentially all of the aliens are some form of {{Youkai}} from Myth/JapaneseMythology: Lum is from the Planet {{Oni}}, Oyuki the YukiOnna is from Neptune, etc. In practice, anything from Science Fiction or Fantasy can happen from TimeTravel to UsefulNotes/{{Onmyodo}} exorcisms, [[RuleOfFunny so long as it's funny]].

%%* TunnelKing: The Prince of the Underworld.
* TwoTeacherSchool: The only teacher we regularly see is Onsen-Mark. Beyond him, the only school staff we see are the headmaster and Sakura. There was an additional female teacher who showed up in the early chapters of the manga, but she was mostly phased out as time went on.

%%* UnknownRival: Ran.

%%* WeirdnessMagnet: Ataru, supposedly due to the circumstances of his birth.

%%* WholesomeCrossdresser: [[spoiler:Nagisa]]

** In addition to the Kyoto story arc featuring a run in with an actual Ninja clan; during Mendo's introduction, Ataru not only used a Ninja style bare handed sword catch, but he also pulled the NinjaLog trick.

* OhCrap: Several. One of the most memorable being Megane when he sees Oyuki's yeti friend in episode 8.

** During the FreakyFridayFlip story (see above), Ataru takes advantage of Jariten's body to fondle girls' breasts, invoking the ChildrenAreInnocent trope (even Sakura, though her miko abilities still manage to help her keep her guard up). And after, he briefly take possession of Sakura body [[ManIFeelLikeAWoman enjoying this]].
* PragmaticAdaptation: The anime had to clean up a lot of the manga's EarlyInstallmentWeirdness – certain characters (particularly Lum and Ataru) had very different personalities at first, and some very popular characters didn't show up until much later in the comic's run – so it changed the order of many of the chapters to introduce major characters much earlier and used the more settled/iconic versions of characters' personalities.

** An chapter/episode has Ataru finds the perfect part-time job -- a washing attendant at a bathhouse -- which he excitedly anticipates as being an opportunity to ogle and grope naked women. However, it doesn't turn out the way he expected.

* ReleasedToElsewhere: Non-lethal variant. Ryuunosuke goes missing after agreeing to take femininity lessons with Onsen-Mark. Her father gives [[OverlyLongGag an elaborate, detailed story]] (mostly parodying ''Literature/MobyDick'') about how Ryuunosuke moved to the west to become a sailor, and subsequently became embroiled in a hunt for a white whale. Ryuunosuke then bursts through the floor and reveals she was BoundAndGagged under there the entire time.

** In subversions of this trope, an English dub of the TV series titled ''Alien Musibat'' was aired in Asia on the Animax satellite channel, although it's unknown how much of the series was dubbed. Also, dubs of the TV series in other languages, including French, Italian and Spanish, exist.

** Ataru is a rare male tsundere. He ''does'' love Lum, but hates to show it to Lum or even himself. Its seen most clearly in the episode where Lum has to return to her home planet to renew her passport, and in the movie ''Beautiful Dreamer'', making him more the tsuntsun type

* AliensAreBastards: Downplayed, while the majority of the aliens are varying degrees of obnoxious - few of them are truly hostile and the ones who are tend to be of the HarmlessVillain variety.

** In Episode 23, Ataru, Lum, Shinobu, and Mendou – lost in a cave system that somehow led into a crashed alien spaceship – all dine on tins of alien food they found. It doesn't affect Lum, but the three humans all end up with Balloon Bellies, with Shinobu suggesting the food has expanded inside their stomachs and Lum noting that it mustn't be suited for human constitutions. When they realize they are literally ten feet from the rest of their class, they try to reach them, but fail because they're too engorged to fit through the exit tubes.

* CuteMonsterGirl: Lum, Oyuki (Yuki-no-Onna), Ran (Gaki) and arguably Benten (Fukujin), as well as the minor character Kurama (Karasu-{{tengu}}). Outside of Benten and a fully disguised Ran - none of these alien girls look fully human. But all of them had made the male population of Tomobiki town [[HeadTurningBeauty drop their collective jaws]].

** Nearly every Opening and Ending theme after the first — "Hoshizora Cycling", "Dancing Star", "Yume wa Love Me More", "Tonogata Gomen Asobase" ([-"You are watching me, I am watching you"-]), etc. Some of the songs are sung partially or entirely in English ("Chance On Love", "Open Invitation", "Rock The Planet", "Every Day" - the singer for the latter two songs, Steffanie Borges, is actually Japanese-Hawaiian and sings in perfect, fluent English).

* StalkerWithACrush: Played for laughs with Rei, who, despite apparently loving only food (and whatever else can be considered food) still has feelings for Lum, much to Ran's chagrin and rage. How Lum managed to get him to fall in love with her remains a mystery. With a few exceptions, the girls Ataru pursues consider him this.

** Ataru is a rare male tsundere. He *does* love Lum, but hates to show it to Lum or even himself. Its seen most clearly in the episode where Lum has to return to her home planet to renew her passport, and in the movie ''Beautiful Dreamer'', making him more the tsuntsun type

* ImmuneToDrugs: Lum and other Oni are immune to alcohol (and probably most poisons too, as seen with some badly-prepared fugu in a manga story arc) thanks to their alien metabolism. However, [[AlienCatnip eating plums will make them drunk]].

* IndyEscape: In one of {{Beach Episode}}s, Shinobu wants to play SmashingWatermelons, but nobody in the village is willing to sell them because of a curse from the Watermelon God over this specific holy day. Later, the gang stumble over a temple with a gigantic watermelon, which Ataru and Lum makes fun off. This result in the angry spirit within it to chase them, making the huge watermelon roll down the temple steps, and later in the streets, all the way to the beach. In this case, swerving is of no use since the watermelon does follow them. Lum could have just flown away, though, but she likely didn't want to leave her Darling.

-->"I am such a pitiful victim of my joy in others' suffering!"

** Ataru is a borderline example, though obviously not as much as he would like. Think about it – he not only got Lum (beautiful alien princess), but was previously engaged to Shinobu (considered the prettiest girl at Tomobiki High before Lum and Ran showed up).

* KidSamurai: Mendou, who keeps a katana in his locker; and Tobimaro, who leads a hermit lifestyle in the mountains and always wears a ragged samurai robe.
* KissKissSlap: Lum is very affectionate to her 'Darling', but doesn't hesitate to zap him with lightning whenever he hits on another girl, which happens a lot. In one early episode she actually throws a chair at him when she learns that he's invited Shinobu over, and once the chair hits its mark, is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horrified at the damage it caused]].
* KissOfDeath: Ran has the power to suck the youth from someone by kissing them. She tries to use the power on an unsuspecting Ataru, who just thinks she liked him. She can also reverse the process with another kiss.

** The Mendou Estate. Complete with ''multiple'' [[TheThingThatGoesDoink things that go doink]].

* TakeThat: Ryuunosuke and Mr. Fujinami are a merciless [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of ''Manga/TheRoseOfVersailles''.

* AnimationBump:
** There's a noticeable bump between season one and two, especially if you look at the chase scenes. Some episodes flash back to scenes from the first season, and the difference is obvious.
** [[OffModel Inverted]] a bit later on, as the animation quality drops somewhat after Oshii's departure and as animation production moved from Creator/StudioPierrot to Creator/StudioDeen. Additionally, the quality of animation in the OVA series, which utilized several animation studios, ranges from quite good to not so great.

An anime remake by Creator/DavidProduction that more faithfully adapts select stories from the original manga premiered on October 14, 2022, on Fuji TV's noitaminA block. It is split into two 24-episode seasons.

** Many of the manga's stories were given additional scenes and gags, in the 1981 adaptation. Mostly, where one manga chapter was made into a full 20-minute episode. It's almost impossible to count them all.

* AdaptationExpansion: Ataru's AccidentalProposal is expanded upon in the 2022 anime, in which he continually brings up marriage (with absoulutely no context as to why ''and'' with basically no mention of the fact that Shinobu is his wife-to-be, because ''this is Ataru we're talking about'') during the final round of tag, all of which Lum ultimately misinterprets as him intending to marry her following his victory.

An anime [[https://twitter.com/SugoiLITE/status/1476904120858542082 remake]] by Creator/DavidProduction that more faithfully adapts select stories from the original manga premiered on October 14, 2022, on Fuji TV's noitaminA block. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhLF0pjMwns Teaser Trailer here.]] It is split into two 24-episode seasons.

* LoveYouAndEverybody: Ataru loves Lum... and Shinobu, and Sakura, and Ran, and Ryunnosuke, and Benten, and Oyuki, and Ryoko...
-->'''Ataru:''' ...and Kintaro's teacher. In other words, I love you all!

* SlapstickKnowsNoGender: Ataru may get it the most, followed by Mendou, but Ran gets it just as bad when she appears. Even Shinobu and Lum are not immune.

[[quoteright:345:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lamu.jpg]]

** Downplayed, with Jari-ten's mother. He's absolutely scared to death of her, due to her passionate ranting about how much she hates arsonists and pyromaniacs and how she loves to punish them for starting fires. However, she sincerely loves her son and has no idea that she scares him. Plus, the reason he's scared of her is because he's a ''SpoiledBrat'' who shamelessly abuses his fire-breath power, so he lives in fear of getting a well-deserved scolding & spanking when she finds out that he enjoys running around spewing flames at people for giggles.

* MaybeEverAfter: In the final story, Lum tries to force Ataru into a LoveConfession for her and if he doesn't give in, everyone on Earth will forget about the aliens. However, Ataru keeps refusing because saying he loves Lum under those circumstances could make her think he's lying. [[spoiler:Although he doesn't verbally confess, Lum seeing that he kept keeping her horns with him is more than enough proof for her to know he does love her. The series closes with Lum swearing to make Ataru admit he loves her one day, but he claims he'll "say it on his deathbed".]]
* MeaningfulName

* MiddleOfNowhereStreet: Tomobiki, a (previously) boring suburb of Tokyo.

** Averted, or at least downplayed, with Jari-ten's mother. He's absolutely scared to death of her, due to her passionate ranting about how much she hates arsonists and pyromaniacs and how she loves to punish them for starting fires. However, she sincerely loves her son and has no idea that she scares him. Plus, the reason he's scared of her is because he's a ''SpoiledBrat'' who shamelessly abuses his fire-breath power, so he lives in fear of getting a well-deserved scolding & spanking when she finds out that he enjoys running around spewing flames at people for giggles.

%%* GenericCuteness: Shinobu.

* MeaningfulName: Plenty.

* BerserkButton:
** In the "Kotaru the haunted kotatsu" storyline, information from Mendou is required. He arrives, in full samurai garb, katana at the ready, 0.1 second after Ataru yells out, [[NobodyCallsMeChicken "MENDOU YOU SISSY!!!"]]
** Call Ryuunosuke a "boy" at your own risk.
** Do ''NOT'' spill the principal's tea.
* BettyAndVeronica: In early stories, Ataru is pursued by the sexually alluring {{Oni}} AlienPrincess Lum (Veronica) and his much more modest childhood friend Shinobu. Although, this case doesn't last long and Shinobu eventually kicks Ataru to the curb.

* DancingTheme: The first opening and a couple of the endings fit this.

* DeliberatelyCuteChild: Ten. He plays it up to attract cute girls.

* TheDitz: Tsubame and Rei.

* DysfunctionJunction: Where to even ''start''? Of course, it's all PlayedForLaughs.

* EffortlessAmazonianLift: Shinobu.

* ExtremelyDustyHome: In one of {{The Movie}}s.

* FakeMystery: The anime-exclusive episode, "And Then There Were None", is a spoof of the Creator/AgathaChristie novel [[Literature/AndThereWereNone of the same title]], where the main characters are picked off one by one while they're staying at a mansion. Obviously, this being a comedy show means that none of the deaths are real, and by the end of the episode, it is revealed that the group staged the prank against Ataru as a "shock treatment" to cure him of his lechery.

* FireBreathingDiner: Lum's cooking will do that to you.

* HaremAnime: '''Sort of'''. Ataru wants one, but none of the girls want to be in one. Could be considered the UnbuiltTrope version where ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' was the [[TropeCodifier Codifier]].
* HaremSeeker: Ataru, to the horror of all women, including Lum (who wants him all to herself).

* LicensedGame: Quite a few over the years, the first one released as early as 1982. One partial inversion: the arcade game ''Momoko 120%'' (1986) was intended as an ''Urusei Yatsura'' game, but had to be redeveloped when the producers were unable to secure the license, even though it retained "Lum's Love Song" as the BGM. The developers finally were able to license the franchise for the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Nintendo Famicom]] port, which was released as ''Urusei Yatsura: Lum no Wedding Bell''.

* NoAccountingForTaste: Ataru's parents and both of his girlfriends. To be fair, he does have his PetTheDog moments.

* PrincessProtagonist: Lum, although her status as Oni royalty is rarely brought up.

* RedOniBlueOni: Ataru and Mendou; Benten and Oyuki.
* RedStringOfFate: Ataru has one on each of his fingers.

* TheRival: Mendou to both Ataru and Tobimaro.

* RoyalBrat: Oh Ryoko, how we love you and your kabuki stagehands.

* SeriesContinuityError: It's established early on that Lum's mother cannot speak Japanese, leading to a misunderstanding where she thinks Mendou's mother is hitting on her and wants to marry her. There's at least one episode from later in the show's run that shows her both speaking and understanding Japanese without any difficulty.
** However, that could be a scene where only Oni are around, in which case TranslationConvention applies.

* ShelteredAristocrat:
** Both Mendou kids.
** The Mizunokoji kids even more so.

* SpoiledBrat: Mendou, '''TEN''', and most of all, Ryoko.

* SqueakyEyes: Lum and Ataru do this at least once.

* ThemeNaming: The Spice Girls. Pretty much any Oni, for that matter. Also, Lum's Stormtroopers.

** Lum is a Type B. She's very sweet and affectionate, but Ataru chasing other girls brings out her hot-tempered and possessive side.
** Shinobu "MEN BE DAMNED!!!" Miyake, idem. Like Lum, she's normally nice and sweet, but she's also short-tempered and violent. Ataru sure knows how to pick 'em.
* TunnelKing: The Prince of the Underworld.

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Ataru, most of the time.

* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Where Lum usually keeps all her useful alien gizmos.

* WeirdnessMagnet: Ataru, supposedly due to the circumstances of his birth.

* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Jariten. [[ZigZaggedTrope Sometimes.]]

* [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign As Long As It Sounds Chinese]]: The Oni language, in which Lum's mom is monolingual, is portrayed in the manga as [[{{Wingdinglish}} mah-jong tiles]]; in the anime it's a random gibberish complete with weird subtitles that make no sense. The first chapter also features a French announcer saying stock phrases like, "Where is the pencil?" "It is on the table." The Chinese announcer, meanwhile, is listing items from a Chinese take-out menu.

* BettyAndVeronica: Shinobu and Lum, respectively. Although in this case, Betty eventually kicks Archie (Ataru) to the curb.

* SnapBack: What do you ''expect'' from a long-running Takahashi romantic comedy?

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: Chapter 82/Episode 2b involves the neighborhood being overrun with them. Although the "penguin" was actually a swallow that had [[IncrediblyLamePun swallowed]] some of Ten's candy.

* SettingUpdate: Downplayed. The 2022 remake of the series follows up on the story and seems to still be set in the 80s, however, the OP of the series is distinctively upgraded to reflect TheNewTwenties, featuring things like Ataru using Tinder and Lum making [=TikTok=] videos, as well as dressed in modern fashion, which is shown to be a dream Ataru woke up from near the end of the OP.

* SettingUpdate: Downplayed. The 2022 remake of the series follows up on the story and seems to still be set in the 80s, however, the OP of the series is distinctively upgraded to reflect TheNewTwenties, featuring things like Ataru using Tinder and Lum making [=TikTok=] videos, as well as dressed in modern fashion.

* RelaxOVision: The 2022 adaptation of ''A Date for Just the Two of Us'' has footage of the blue movie Ten, Sakura, Ataru, and Lum are watching replaced with visual metaphors for the sex scenes such as depicting its female protagonist stuffing a huge makimono sushi roll into her mouth.

** In an early story, Ataru was worried because Lum had apparently disappeared. Since Shutaro seemed smug on seeing him alone, Ataru began daydreaming with Shutaro blackmailing Lum in leaving Ataru for him, in exchange for landing Ataru in a fist-rate college. Then Ataru yelled "And with that garbage you talked Lum into it, didn't you? Give back her now!" loudly to an angry and puzzled Shutaro genuinely had no idea of what Ataru was talking about.
** In another story, Tomobiki's principal got knocked out while several students were cleaning his office. Onsen-Mark suspected them and started to imagine possible motives to each one of them. Lum's alleged motive was the principal had threatened with getting Ataru expelled from school, unless she slept with him. Everyone – including Lum – said that story was stupid and ridiculous.

* ScrewDestiny: In what is possibly the greatest example of this trope ''ever'', the characters ''physically destroyed the Doors of Fate and wrecked the place that creates them'', thus unfixing the future. Doubles as AuthorsSavingThrow: Early in the manga a time travel chapter had shown that Ataru was destined to marry Shinobu, but by the time the manga actually got to that point, Ataru/Lum was the alpha coupling and Shinobu had given up on him.