When the ONI, a mysterious race of Aliens, come to repossess the Earth, they give
us one chance to save our planet; a champion, selected at random, must defeat
their princess, Lum, in their national sport - TAG! Unfortunately for Earth,
the champion turns out to be Ataru Moroboshi, a lecherous lad whose lack of luck
is legendary.
When Ataru lays eyes on the curvaceous Lum, he readily agrees to take on the task
of touching the tips of her tiny horns. Alas, when the contest begins, he finds out
that the Oni forgot to mention one small matter - Lum can fly! When all seems lost,
his girlfriend Shinobu promises to marry him if he wins. Inspired to new lows of
deviousness by the prospect of getting just to first base, Ataru pulls it off.
Unfortunately, Lum misinterprets his victory cry as a proposal of marriage to HER,
and promptly agrees.
So Ataru ends up with Lum living in his closet, planning their wedding, and
zapping him with high-voltage shocks if he even looks at another woman; Shinobu isn't
sure if she's been jilted or she's been saved from a life of misery; his Lum-crazed
schoolmates are plotting to get him "out of the way"; and his parents are loudly
wishing he's never been born.
And that's the setup to Japan's all-time favorite Anime TV series, one that lasted
almost 200 episodes, plus 6 movies and 11 OVAs! Guess which Anime company was demented enough
to take on the task of releasing all but the one movie that got licensed to another
company?
There's so much of UY, in fact, that we've had to divide this page into three
sections, with links that let you easily navigate to the TV Series,
the Movies, and the OVAs.
And if you're thinking of ordering more than one UY DVD, you may find our
Complete Product List very handy -- you can just check off which titles you want, and add them to the shopping cart with a single click!
An insane masterpiece from Rumiko Takajashi, Queen of Manga and creator of Ranma 1/2" and "Inu Yasha".
Many episodes directed by Mamoru Oshii, the director of "Ghost in the Shell", which inspired "The Matrix".
The UY TV Series is available on 50 individual DVDs, each of which
contains 4 25-minute episodes. In addition to the individual discs, we also have limited
quantities of some box sets we produced; Box Set 3 contains discs 15-20, and Box Set 10
contains discs 46-50.
For a limited time, UY TV 1 is only 99 cents - order it, and when you check out, a $7.00 discount will automatically be applied! This discount may only be used once per customer.
During the run of the TV series, and for years afterwards, a series of 6 Urusei Yatsura movies
were released. AnimEigo sells all but the second movie, "Beautiful Dreamer", which was
licensed by another company (but AnimEigo did the translation and
subtitling of Beautiful Dreamer for them).
Lum doesn't need much assistance going ballistic when everyone in Tomobiki gets an invitation to Ataru's wedding -- and she's not listed as the bride! It seems that some 11 years ago, Ataru played "Shadow Tag" with a young girl named Elle and won. Unfortunately, Elle was yet another Alien Princess; and on her planet, if a boy steps on a girl's shadow, they have to marry.
When Elle's emissary comes to make arrangements, Lum redefines the term "the atmosphere was electric," but to no avail: a force-field now protects Ataru from her high voltage love-zaps. Lum's friend Benten suggests a pre-emptive wedding, and they proceed to abduct Ataru and all of the wedding guests. With some help from her parents, Lum manages to break the force-field.
However, before the emergency space wedding can occur, Elle's fleet attacks, and Ataru and the entire wedding party are re-abducted to Planet Elle.
While Lum & Co. plot to re-re-abduct Ataru, his rival Mendou and his long-suffering semi-ex-girlfriend Shinobu find out that Elle has a hobby: finding handsome men and freezing them! Alas, Mendou is slated to be slotted onto slab 100,000!
After Ataru finds out about Elle's side-line, he calls off the wedding on the grounds that she's been unfaithful (a real leap, considering he's been planning to turn Planet Elle into his own private harem!).
Needless to say, Elle doesn't take this well. She promptly claps him in irons and orders his friends shipped home in popsicle boxes.
And so, as the sky is lit up by colliding battle-fleets, the stage is set for the shotgun wedding of all time!
In the first Urusei Yatsura Movie, "Only You," Ataru found himself a reluctant bridegroom trapped between two warring Alien Princesses.
In the second Urusei Yatsura Movie, "Beautiful Dreamer," he found himself trapped in one of Lum's dreams.
Those were just warmups. This time, Ataru finds himself...
...Herbivorous???
It seems that when Lum was born, a postal screwup resulted in a witchy friend of the family not getting an invitation to the celebration. The witch put a curse on Lum -- that she would never be happy with her True Love.
In the present, a new Amusement Park has been built in Tomobiki, and opening day finds the whole gang sampling its pleasures. At a magic show, however, Ataru gets turned into a large pink hippopotamus -- FOR REAL!
When Lum attempts to track down the magician that transformed her Darling, things start to get very weird, very fast!
Strange things begin to happen in Tomobiki Town. When a great cherry tree, "Tarozakura," is cut down while Lum&Co. are making a
movie, Lum loses her horns - and her powers!
Thus begins the strangest and most lyrical of the Urusei Yatsura movies. To
explain any more would be to do you a disservice.
The Urusei Yatsura story comes to a climax in this animated retelling of the
final Manga story.
Lupa, yet another one of Lum's fiances, arrives on the scene, and Lum and Ataru
have to repeat their game of tag in order to prevent the Earth from being destroyed.
All Ataru has to do to win is say "I Love You," the three words he has
steadfastly refused to say to Lum. Will he admit his true feelings and save
the Earth? Or will his pride doom it to destruction?
Lupica, another one of the Legion of Space Princesses that all seem to have found
out about Earth in some tour book, appears and abducts Ataru. Needless to say, Lum,
assisted by her friends Oyuki and Benten, gives chase.
Also needless to say, Lupica isn't after Ataru for his great looks or charming
personality (because he doesn't have either).
Lupica's goal is the greatest love-potion in the galaxy, which she intends to use
to induce her sweetheart to tie the knot. To get it, she needs the possessor of
the greatest libido in the Universe.
After the run of the TV Series, in addition to the movies, a series of
Original Video Animations (OVAs) was produced. These are direct-to-video
episodes, with higher budgets than the TV series.
What would you do if you found a boy in a bunny suit lying in a
trashheap? That's what happens to Shinobu on her way back from
the market. Fortunately, she has a carrot! When he's finished
eating, Inaba the bunny-boy tries to hit on Shinobu, and Shinobu
demonstrates her own version of "hitting on someone!" When the
dust settles, Shinobu finds a strange key that dropped out of
Inaba's pocket.
What do you do if you have a key but no door? Build one, of
course! Unfortunately, it is Lum decides to build the door, and
when the key does indeed fit, Shinobu, Lum and Ataru go through
the door -- and literally fall into their own futures!
Meanwhile, Inaba's co-workers are unanimous in their
opinion that since he screwed up in the first place, he should be
the one to fix things. When he arrives on the scene, everyone is
coming face to face with futures they really hadn't bargained for.
When Inaba risks his life to show them how to create their ideal futures,
will they really get what they think they want? Will there be a future
where Lum and Ataru can get married after all?
In "Raging Sherbet," Lum, Benten and Ran decide to beat
the Tokyo heat by taking a summer vacation with Oyuki
on Neptune. There they learn about the fabulous Sherbet
birds, which produce icy treats upon demand. Ran
wheedles a bird out of Oyuki, but when she gets it back
to Earth, her dreams of getting rich quick melt when
the over-worked avian loses his cool and goes on a
rampage!
Then, in "I Howl at the Moon," Ataru learns to think before
he eats when he gobbles down some of Lum's Cherry Rice
Cakes -- and promptly starts turning into a wolf!
In "Catch the Heart," a mischievous spirit gives Ran a heart-shaped
candy that causes a magical heart to appear over the head of whoever
eats it. And whoever catches that heart captures the heart of the
person who ate the candy! And if there's one thing the Urusei
Yatsura crowd can do, it's play catch!
Then, in "Goat and Cheese," Mendou recounts an old story that warns,
"Don't take pictures in front of the statue of Great-Grandfather's
Goat, or terrible things will happen!"
When his father does just that, only Sakura and Onsen-mark the
Teacher can ward off the horrifying consequences of an
ancient family curse... or can they?
OVA 4: Date with a Spirit / The Terror of Girly-Eyes Measles
In "Date with a Spirit," things get crazy when Ataru tries to hit
on a beautiful ghost who has attached herself to Sakura's
sorcerous fiance, Tsubame
Then, in "The Terror of Girly-Eyes Measles," Ten gives Ataru
an alien disease, the contagious "Girl Measles," (which
makes the victim's eyes turn big and twinkly, like
the eyes of young girls in much of manga and anime),
and when Ataru's girl-hunting spreads the virus all
over Tomobiki Town, chaos ensues!
OVA 5: Nagisa's Fiance / The Electric Household Guard
In "Nagisa's Fiance," Lum, Ataru, Mendou and Shinobu visit an inn
which Ryuunosuke and her father have opened. But when it turns
out to be on a haunted desert island, the stage is set for some
serious silliness!
Then, in "The Electric Household Guard," Mendou hires a new personal Ninja with some very unusual abilities, only to have
him fall head-over-heels for his manipulative sister, Ryoko.
OVA 6: Ryoko's September Tea Party / Memorial Album
In "Ryoko's September Tea Party," some of the best
scenes of the original TV series are combined
with 15 minutes of new animation to reveal the
pasts of each of Ryoko's guests.
Next, in the "Memorial Album," the Mendou clan's personal
satellite narrates the story of the Mendou family,
again using a mixture of new animation and scenes from
the original series.