Lum Urusei Yatsura: Perfect Collection [Paperback]

Seeing as this is a Rumiko Takahashi product, you might come to expect some of her signature trademarks. While "Urusei Yatsura" isn't as action based as "Ranma 1/2" or "Inuyasha", what it does have won't disappoint. "Urusei Yatsura" turns up the stove on the slapstick comedy, with bizarre occurances and weird antics happening almost round-the-clock. Alien tag races, alien taxi cabs, snow princesses from Neptune, and hibernating crow princesses are just a sample of the things you'll encounter with this manga. Intrigued by all this? Good, then this is the manga for you.

I won't expand too much on the plot, since I believe that one of the strongest aspects of Urusei Yatsura is its wonderful characters (besides, you can find summaries on the net). If you are male, then there's a good chance that you will fall in love with Lum and/or Sakura. Lum is the epitome of the woman that every man dreams about: she's young, she's sexy, and best of all, she's in a bikini almost 24/7. Sakura would be the hot school nurse that you've fantasized about throughout high school.

For the ladies, there's the man-beast Rei, who looks like he should be in a boyband when he's under his normal form. But once he gets angry and/or hungry, he transforms into a huge tiger-bull creature with big eyes. Rei gets two stories in this collection, and some cameo appearances here and there. There's also Shuutaro Mendou, and although he isn't introduced in this volume, his presence seems to make the ladies drool when he does appear (at least, he does so in the manga). Last but not least, who can forget about Cherry? Male or female, everybody loves the short deranged monk from hell. Well, they should, anyway.

And then there's our protagonist, Ataru Moroboshi. He appears to be your everyday teen -- average looks, average height, insecure girlfriend, and even a nagging mom. However, as the manga progresses, we come to see that he's exactly the opposite -- lecherous, perverted, and as Lum would say, a philanderer. He's normally seen flirting (unsuccessfully) with any attractive female within his reach, and he usually ends up paying for it by means of ZAK ZAK. But don't be fooled by his supposedly repulsive ways -- Ataru is a far more complicated character than he lets on. While he appears to lack a brain most of the time, Mr. Moroboshi can be quite the manical genius when he needs to be.

There's so much more I'd love to say about this series, but I'll stop here. If you enjoy manga with weird instances and eccentric characters, all dashed a pinch of sci-fi and slapstick comedy, then "Urusei Yatsura" is for you. If you enjoyed the comedy featured in Takahashi's later works such as "Ranma 1/2" or "Inuyasha", then there's no doubt that you need to check out "Urusei Yatsura".