Manga Alphabet: U is for Urusei Yatsura

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Urusei Yatsura by Rumiko Takahashi

Urusei Yatsura is a weird rec for me, because almost all the stories I've actually enjoyed from it, I've read in scanlations only.The early years of Takahashi's breakthrough comedy never truly clicked for me, but that's all that came out in English translations before the title was cancelled due to poor sales. To me, the characters back then are all pretty unsympathetic people who just aren't funny enough to drum up much interest in their shenanigans; moreover, the stories all feel so abrupt, what with most of them being one-shots at around 15 pages each; and if you think Ranma 1/2 was big about status quo and the reset button, UY eclipses it easily.

The almighty status quo remains strong in the later stories, and there remains a certain abruptness when compared to later Rumic titles. But Takahashi's sense of comic pacing improves a lot, the dialogue grows funnier, and above all the characters start to feel less like unlikable caricatures and a little more like actual people you start to care about. Main character Ataru may remain a primarily self-centred anti-hero and a lech, but there starts to come more and more softer moments for him, even downright heroic ones where he becomes concerned for people in trouble and goes out of his way to help them. Lum arguably improves even more, becoming quite kind-hearted if still often oblivious and jealous; she now spends more time getting drawn into other people's hijinx than ruthlessly trying to make Ataru fall in love with her and only her (although, let's not kid ourselves, the latter never truly goes away either). Next-door-girl Shinobu and Mendo both get more time to shine, with Shinobu's likable traits coming out more and a genuinely nice, if rather odd, boy falling for her, while Mendo remains Ataru's richer and more handsome counterpart but nevertheless gets his share of woobie and Pet The Dog moments. Ten becomes a little more than just the eternal brat who constantly gets Ataru in trouble, as he gets arcs to himself where he gets to grow at least a little. Lum's pals Benten and Oyuki come across the scene more often to good effects (and remain wonderfully uninterested in romance); and even vengeful yandere Ran undergoes some character development and comes to a slightly less hostile position towards Lum. And so on.

Even better, the cast expands with some very nice additions, foremost among them the funny and touching Ryuunosuke Fujinami, a girl raised as a boy by her jerk of a father, and as a macho martial arts boy at that. All Ryuunosuke wants is to be a "real" girl; shades of Princess Knight but in an utterly different and much funnier character, and of course in this sitcom farce going about it in very different ways. There's also the Mizunokoji siblings, the brother a starry-eyed baseball fanatic who regards himself as Mendo's eternal rival, while the sister is a shut-away Shrinking Violet of phenomenal physical strength who cannot stand men.

These and other new characters together with the now more likable core cast and Takahashi's fecund anything-goes imagination all combine into its own blend of relentlessly unsentimental but now also rather goodnatured comedy in a cast that's still wacky but now at least seems to enjoy being themselves and show some kind of care for each other. I've seen hardcore UY fans argue that it's Takahashi's best title because she's at her most unfettered there, throwing up idea after idea that hadn't been done at the time and which she'd return to later in Ranma 1/2 and other titles. While I don't agree with them about the ranking (I think it's often more about execution than ideas and the Ranma 1/2 style of storytelling happens to fit me better), it's true that there's a lot of imagination running wild in these stories and that can be a fun ride.

With all of this, even the later Urusei Yatsura is still not my favourite Takahashi title and even if it were all available in English I doubt I'd buy every single volume of its later years. But I would certainly buy some of them and have on hand to re-read evry now and then for enjoyable entertainment, if the option existed.


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Creators

Chica Umina (Honey and Clover)
Naoki Urasawa
Yuki Urushibara (Mushishi)



Favourite characters

Usopp (One Piece)


What starts with a U in your manga/anime alphabet?