Urusei Yatsura  by Joseph Okin

Urusei Yatsura is about a boy Ataru Moroboshi who has the worst luck in the world, he is chosen to play a game of tag with an alien girl to save the world from an alien invasion, he wins, but the girl he beats (Lum) ends up falling in love with him and ends up chasing him everywhere, to his chagrin. Lum also has electrical powers, and shocks Ataru anytime he does something that angers her.  Ataru is extremely girl crazy, and chases after any good looking woman he meets. Because of Lum’s chasing him, and her alien connections and technology, he ends up getting into all kinds of wacky bizarre situations. The story also incorporates a lot of mystical elements and creatures from Japanese folk legends, which are also the source for crazy situations and plot lines. The plot mainly involves getting into some kinds of crazy situation or mess, Lum chases after Ataru and tries to get him to like her, and Aataru runs after the Attractive women of the weak

. As the series progresses, the plots involves a myriad of interactions between a number of characters. Ataru and Lum are the main characters; Lum who is an alien is also a demon, or rather an alien race that has strong demonesque qualities. Other main characture include Cherry, a monk that always seems to worsen the situation for ataru, always after a free meal, he always predicts more misfortune befalling him. Shinobu, Ataru’s former girlfriend, who frequently gets mixed up in his troubles, a typical girly girl,  she used to be angry with lum, but later loses interest in ataru. Sakura, a priestess and school nurse, extremely attractive, she is cherry’s niece and a foil to ataru, the young adult has a stern personality, and is always fending off kids chasing after her, especially ataru, she has the ability to exorcise spirits. Shutaro mendou, a super-rich class mate and rival of Ataru, smooth noble and refined, he is extremely popular with all the girls, he is from a noble lineage, and can wield a samurai sword, which he carries all the time, he has a vast army of resources at his disposal, literally. Ran, Lum’s childhood friend, and also an alien, on one side of her personality she appears a sweet soft and delicate dainty and fine pretty little girl, but underneath she is vacuous forceful loud angry and vindictive she blames lum for ruining her childhood and stealing her crush and vows revenge. She has the ability to steel someone’s youth and vitality by giving them a kiss on the lips. Jaraten Lum’s younger cousin he’s bratty and mischievous, and contantly fights with ataru, he has the ability to breathe fire. This story was started in 1978, written in japan; it takes place in a wacky sci-fi fantasy and mythical japan. The series ran to 1987, and takes place in the then contemporary 1980’s. 

The series was written by Rumiko Takahashi, one of, if not the first major female comic artist in japan, and perhaps the world.  She is the original creator of this work, both writes and draws the whole series. Urusei Yatsura was her first major work, other significant works she’s done include, Maision Ikkuko, Ranma ½, and Inuyasha, currently she is working on a comic called Rin Ne. This work is an excellently balanced blend of words and pictures, the pictures are blended with a substantial amount of text in word bubbles, a full blend. The art is more toward the cartoon side, and not so realistic, except for the background which is pretty realistic. The characters are drawn more cartoony but the background is more realistic. It is also stylized in a unique way.  If anything it this style helps the story and exhibits its events vividly. This story comes together excellently the art style is vivid and full, the characters are written very well; their personalities are built so fully and drives rub together well. The stories are very funny and extremely entertaining, their twist and turns unfolding rapidly revealing spectacular occurrences. The plots, characters, intrigue, writing and style work together so well. I really can’t think of anything that doesn’t work, everything about it seems successful. This work was done from 1978 to 1987. It was written at a time after manga in Japan had been established after the tezuka era; and was the leading work in a boom that saw the medium continue to grow and soar upwards. Every work in japan made after the early 80’s holds a huge debt to this series. It was the biggest work in japan at the time, innovative and sensational, it was much more spectacular and outlandish, with its wild comedy and faced paced plots and intricate characters, then other works in the same country, and was certainly more so than comics anywhere else at that time.