Customer Reviews

Lum Urusei Yatsura: Perfect Collection

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Anyone who is into manga and anime will probably be familar with the character of Lum. Sometimes, that familiarity will lead to curiousity (or infatuation), and as a result, the person will decide to check out the source manga. If you are one of these people (and you probably are, if you're reading this), then congratulations! Welcome to the wacky world of Urusei Yatsura.

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".

These are among the best of the classic manga: excellent comic artwork and clever plots, but what makes the Lum stories really remarkable are the inventive parodies of sex role, ethnicity, iconology and other aspects of recent Japanese culture. Much of what Takahashi works into these episodes will be missed by many readers, especially those who have no knowledge of the Japanese language originals or limited knowledge of Japan, but open-minded graphic novel fans of any background should enjoy much that lies on the surface. This particular collection seems to be a fair compendium of her work.
Why only four stars? Certainly the content deserves all five. Unfortunately, the book is poorly bound, so the cover AND the pages fall out within a couple of months of normal usage. If this book is just for you, fine, but if you're buying for a library (and what graphic novel collection would NOT have Takahashi's Lum?) or like to pass your books around to friends, it's going to fall apart.
Not unusual for good manga, unfortunately.

Perhaps I'm just too old, but I just didn't think too much of this book! I did not laugh once, or even smile at any of the stories. These characters are two-dimensional! There doesn't appear to be any character growth at all, and the premise is highly ridiculous! Why would Lum (or any woman) be attracted to Ataru? The only good thing about him is that he (probably) flushes the toilet! The only manga that I ever laughed out loud from reading was "3 X 3 Eyes", which has genuine comic elements (and character growth), even though it's mostly horror/action.

Lum and Ataru may be the stars of the Urusei Yatsura universe, but the supporting characters play an even bigger role. Mendo is to Ataru what Kuno is to Ranma-a rich playboy who wants the heroine so badly he'll sink to any level to get her. Shinobu is the long-suffering girlfriend of Ataru, who actually befriends her romantic rival Lum later in the series. Lum's younger cousin (Jari)Ten lives to make Ataru's life even more miserable than it was to start with. Lum's childhood friend Ran wants revenge on her for accidents that happened when they were young. The monk Cherry and his niece Sakura are constantly trying to exorcise Ataru, and his parents are always moaning about how he should never have been born.

But in this first collection, we meet a trio of ladies that are not interested in ruining Ataru's life. Benten is one of the Cosmic gods and her people wage a yearly battle with the Oni. Ataru (like always) approaches her in his own fashion, right in front of Lum. And Benten even flirts back!

Oyuki is the Snow Princess of the planet Neptune, and she meets Ataru and his friends when she has her subjects dump several tons of snow into Ataru's bedroom (not on purpose--the computer chose the spot). Her servant takes an instant dislike to Ataru and soon the boy is running for his life, much to the chagrin of the Princess, who actually wanted to get to know Ataru better.

Kurama wants nothing to do with Ataru, but due to a mistake made by one of her people, she is forced to deal with the boy. So, she proceeds to try and reform him, which doesn't work (who thought it would?)

These are all wonderful characters that don't get as much press as Lum and the others. They deserve recognition too!

So, get the Perfect Collection! You'll like it, Takahashi fan or not!

Lum is a totally loopy comedy in manga form. In this work Rumiko Takahashi happily combines the classic droll story themes of Boccaccio and Balzac with totally absurd and preposterous elements to delight the imp or the anarchist in all of us.

The plot draws on the eternal triangle: Ataru, a perennially prurient (and thus normal) teenaged boy, Princess Lum, a gorgeous alien who sports a tigerskin bikini and cute little horns, and Shinobu, a classmate of whom Ataru was originally smitten.

Ataru saves the Earth by winning a game of tag with Lum (an absolutely hilarious episode!), but in the process gives Lum the impression that he has proposed marriage. This provides the basis for a plot involving continual misunderstandings. Lum has to keep Ataru in line by occasionally giving him shocks and making him the guniea pig for her dubious culinary skills. Despite his success in saving the Earth, Ataru gets no respect but a lot of woe. Having two girls is always too many: when Lum and Shinobu are involved, it seems at times that Ataru has two too many! You see, Ataru has a permanently roving eye!

Rumiko Takahashi employs incredible imagination in this work: sweet potato-eating duels, a shower of oil, a short monk, disappointed parents, a crow queen, an ex-fiancé of Lum, and a host of other characters. But the plot centers around the threesome: the fickle Ataru, the long-suffering Shinobu, and the naive yet provocative Lum. You have to like the characters; but secretly feel the most sympathy for the innocent Lum, whose qualities are not recognized by the blockheaded Ataru and who persists in being attracted to Shinobu instead (when not distracted by the babe de jour).

This is about as agreeable an introduction to manga as you might find; and most people will find the story to be hilarious and entertaining, the characters to be appealing and well-drawn, and the pacing to be effective. Read this one first, and then read Ranma 1/2. Both are worth reading.

I used to live in Italy... they showed the Anime of this every night. AND I LOVED IT!!!!!
Two years later I spotted this book... I wanted to know how it all started and... THE MANGA IS WAY BETTER THAN THE ANIME!!!

Ataru is a normal girl-chasing teenager. he has a girlfriend named Shinobu, although they usually fight.
One day, he's coming home and then, he finds in his home A GIANT!!! No, he isn't a giant, he an Onu, an alien.
They wanted to take over the Earth, but insisted to play a game of "tag" with Ataru. Ataru had to catch one of the Onu's by the horns, to keep their world safe... he didn't want to, until they showed his the Onu!!! It was a girl, named Lum (Or Lamu in the Italian version).
Ataru saw that catching her was hard, but on the last day, he caught her (How, I cannot tell you, it's so ... funny!) and, since Shinobu said that if he won she'd marry him, he shouted "For the marriage" before catching her, Lum thinking it was Ataru confessing his love for her. And now they are "married".

HILARIOUS! ONE OF THE BEST ANIME EVER!

Urusei Yatsura is my favorite series created by Rumiko Takahashi, and it is even more amazing when one considers that Takahashi-sensei started this series when she was only 20 years old back in 1977. This series is the perfect conglomeration of Takahashi's talents she mixes folklore, japanese lliterature, and almost everything else in an insane mixture of pure chaos. Try this series Ranma and Maison Ikkoky might be better known but this series will blow your pants off. Viz give us more Lum!!!

This was my first Rumiko Takahashi book, and i liked it very much. The whole story is totally crazy. It is about a boy named Ataru Moroboshi, and an alien named Lum. She falls in love with him, and through her alien powers, she tries to keep ... Ataru from cheating on her. then her fiance comes to visit. The other characters are Ataru's parents(they are cursed with their son's bad luck), Shinobu(Ataru's REAL girlfriend), and a whole lot of underdressed women, including one with a pet Yeti, and one with a magic cannabis leaf who is also a crow queen... a great comedy ^.^

Let me get this straight: This is an excellent series. I really do enjoy it. However, it lacks the sweetness of Rumiko Takahashi's other works. While the insanity and confusion is defintely hilarious, there is very little character development beyond that Ataru is a ..., unlucky skirt chaser, Lum is an alien completely devoted to Ataru who hates being hit on, etc. etc. whereas Ms. Takahashi's other series have more character development, actually romantic romantic comedy, stuff that makes you alternately say awwwwww and gasp with startlement, drama, and all those good things. So I subtracted a star. If you want a series to get involved in, with deep characters and emotional attachment, don't read this one. Go get Ranma 1/2 or Maison Ikkoku or Inu-Yasha. If you want a lighthearted comedy with funny characters, then this is the series for you.

I write this in response to reviewer "Steve Miller," who expressed an obvious dislikeing towards the earlier Rumiko Takahashi work like Lum: Urusei Yatsura. Personally I completely dissagree with him. If you can't appreciate the old works, how can you appreciate the new?

Anyone who know's Ms. Takahashi's history will completely understand why many of the chapters in this book don't relate to one another (if you look carefully you can see in-jokes from her "rumic world" series), and why it's not untill the second graphic novel that they start to have some correlation. (mostly because her work was being published irregularly and inconsistently)

This book is a fine example about how things so completely bizarre can be taken so seriously. Her writing, although somewhat primitive (obviously showing how her writing has developed) is still as charming and exciting to read as any of her later work like Ranma, or Maison Ikkoku.

All of Rumiko Takahashi's work should be read, and one should not simply quite reading them because of computerized text or primitive drawings. Her work should be enjoyed and not dismissed.