Urusei Yatsura (2022) Seasons 1 and 2 Collection Review

Many of you will already be familiar with Rumiko Takahashi’s Urusei Yatsura, either through the original manga or the 1981 TV adaptation. Today, I’m here to review the newer 2022 adaptation of the series, which comes to the UK thanks to MVM. As I was entirely unfamiliar with Urusei Yatsura until now, let’s see if I found it to be a good introduction.

Our story revolves around Ataru Moroboshi, who is chosen to save planet Earth when it’s invaded by aliens from planet Oni. To protect the world, Ataru plays a game of tag against the Oni princess, Lum. While Ataru does manage to win the game, he also accidentally gets engaged to Lum due to a misunderstanding! Now, Lum intends to stay and enjoy her new life with Ataru, but our protagonist is less than thrilled by this, since he’s already in love with his classmate Shinobu Miyake.

From there, Urusei Yatsura becomes a romantic comedy filled with the random events and strange people Ataru encounters in his day-to-day life, including other aliens from Planet Oni and the handsome heir to a large corporation, Shutaro Mendo, who believes Lum would be better off with him. The stories are generally episodic, which suits this adaptation in particular. They can be simply tales of Ataru getting into trouble for flirting with other women, or crossing the cosmos as they get wrapped up in drama involving the other alien visitors. Life is never boring for Ataru, that’s for sure!

Rather than tell the story of Urusei Yatsura from beginning to end, the team at David Production envisioned the 46 episodes as a ‘Best Of’ collection (in comparison, the 1980s series was 194 episodes!). I think even the episodic nature of most of the series means that this choice has worked out well. It never feels like we’re missing anything, and it seems that the most important storylines for progressing Ataru and Lum’s relationship are still present, so while most episodes are simply fun, you still have those emotional beats to hold your investment in the long term.

I was surprised but pleased by how well this worked for someone like me, who has never read the manga or watched the original anime. Throughout the first 23 episodes included in this set, I grew very attached to the flirtatious and troublesome Ataru as well as Lum and the other members of the cast. You can tell that David Production worked hard to keep what made the original work so engaging, right down to preserving the original style of the character designs and setting while making some adjustments for the current era.

The series is also graced with a terrific set of voice actors on the Japanese side. Hiroshi Kamiya (Levi Ackerman in Attack on Titan, Ranpo Edogawa in Bungo Stray Dogs) takes on the role of Ataru, while Lum is played by Sumire Uesake (Suzuna in Princess Connect!, Mia Luna Tearmoon in Tearmoon Empire), and both do an excellent job in the lead roles. They express a wide range of emotions, with great comic timing for the comedic scenes and plenty of emotion for those that are more heartfelt and important to the narrative.

There’s also Maaya Uchida (Hiyori Iki in Noragami, Catarina Claes in My Next Life as a Villainess) playing Shinobu Miyake and Mamoru Miyano (Osamu Dazai in Bungo Stray Dogs, Kei Kaname in Oblivion Battery), both of whom contrast well with Kamiya and Uesake. I was especially happy with Miyano’s performance as Mendo is the kind of overly dramatic character that Miyano is perfect for, especially in a comedic series like this one. For this release, there is also an English dub, led by Nathan Wilson as Ataru and Jade Kelly as Lum. From what I sampled, this sounds fine, but as a Kamiya and Miyano fan, I chose to watch it in Japanese instead.

Music for the series is handled by Masaru Yokoyama (Your Lie in April, Horimiya), and while I was initially unsure that Yokoyama’s work would suit something less emotionally driven than other projects he’s worked on, the soundtrack turned out great! Each cour of the season also has different opening and ending themes, with the first 11 episodes featuring “Aiue” by Minami and Sakuramoti, while the ending theme is “Tokyo Shandy Rendezvous” by Kaf and Tsumiki. Episodes 12-23 feature “Love Trap Muchu” by Asmi and Surii, while the ending theme is “Not Enough” by Yama and Nito. Generally, these are all catchy songs that visually and musically fit the series well.

As mentioned, Urusei Yatsura Seasons 1 & 2 Collection comes to the UK thanks to MVM, who have released the collection on Blu-ray. This release includes the first 23 episodes with both the Japanese audio and an English dub. Extras include trailers and clean opening/ending videos. The company has recently announced that they’ll be opening pre-orders for the Urusei Yatsura Seasons 3 & 4 collection, but the release date hasn’t been confirmed at the time of writing. Still, knowing MVM, it won’t be that far away!

Overall, this first collection of the 2022 Urusei Yatsura anime proves a delight as it introduces us to the world of Ataru and Lum’s adventures. It’s chaotic, charming and sometimes quite heartfelt while being an obvious love letter to the manga that started it all. Certainly, it leaves me eager to see more when the second collection is released!

Our review copy was supplied by MVM.