Urusei Yatsura (2022)

41 Years Later

Urusei Yatsura (2022) is a remake of the original Urusei Yatsura (うる星やつら) anime from 1981. However, it’s not as if it’s a 1-to-1 copy. The 2022 version of the series is only the first of two seasons, with the second season coming sometime in 2024.

Additionally, while the original series had 195 episodes, the remake is only going to have 46. The 2022 series contains the first 23 episodes. I had planned to watch the original Urusei Yatsura series at some point. But, now that we have this remake, I think I can skip the old series.

I get that there’s going to be a lot of content cut out when you’re going from 195 to 46 episodes. But, I can’t say I was really looking forward to watching all those episodes, in the first place. Also, as I’ll get to later on in this review, this isn’t a series I want to watch that many episodes of.

If you’re somehow unfamiliar with Urusei Yatsura, allow me to explain what it’s all about. An alien girl, Lum, comes to Earth and ends up engaged to a human boy, Ataru, due to a misunderstanding. Then, hijinks ensue. That’s it.

If that synopsis sounds familiar, it may be because you’ve watched To LOVE-Ru. In a lot of ways, To LOVE-Ru is an ecchi version of Urusei Yatsura. Both series have harems. Both have a main heroine who’s an alien with crazy gadgets. And both have a protagonist who accidentally becomes engaged to that alien.

Once you’ve seen both series, you’ll notice even more similarities. Almost everything in To LOVE-Ru is a reference to Urusei Yatsura. For example, Ran is a girl with two distinct personalities in Urusei Yatsura. And Run is a girl who can swap genders in To LOVE-Ru.

Main Characters

Ataru Moroboshi is the protagonist of the series. He’s a high schooler who can’t seem to stop himself from hitting on every girl and woman he sees. Despite this, he’s still somewhat loyal to his childhood crush, Shinobu. Oh, and he’s also an idiot.

Lum, sometimes called the Invader or Lum Invader, is the female lead of the series. She’s obsessed with Ataru and doesn’t like when he flirts with other girls. Lum is the princess of the Oni alien race. And as an alien, she can both fly and generate electric shocks.

Shinobu Miyake is Ataru’s childhood friend and crush. At first, she seemed to like Ataru, as well. But, she gives up on him once he becomes engaged to Lum. Of all the characters in the series, Shinobu is the most normal. Not only is she human, but she’s a normal human without any strange quirks.

Shuutarou Mendou is one of Ataru’s classmates. Although Mendou is a human, he’s not normal. Mendou comes from an extremely wealthy family, which makes him out of touch with reality. Like Ataru — or any boy his age — Mendou is interested in women. But, Lum is his primary crush.

Ran is an alien and childhood friend of Lum. Earlier, I said she has two distinct personalities. What I meant by that is that Ran is either very nice and sweet, or she’s enraged. There’s no in-between. And how she acts has to do with who she’s interacting with.

And I guess the last character I’ll mention is Jariten, who goes by Ten. Ten is Lum’s younger cousin. And by younger, I mean he’s a toddler. But, since Ten is also an alien, he crawls through the air instead of on the ground. He can also breathe fire.

A Good Series to Reference, Not Remake

Urusei Yatsura is one of those classic anime that gets referenced a lot by other series. Typically, these references come in the form of female characters wearing Lum’s outfit. Takagi-san has done this, as has My Sister, My Writer. And those are far from the only two.

Because Urusei Yatsura is such an iconic series, it makes sense for it to be referenced so often. And I like seeing references to it and other classics. But, that doesn’t mean I think Urusei Yatsura is a series that needed a remake.

There are a few anime that have received remakes, reboots, or reimaginings recently. One example is how Megalo Box was a spiritual successor to Ashita no Joe for its 50th anniversary. And I thought Megalo Box was a good anime. It works for a modern audience.

Urusei Yatsura (2022) is a remake, not a reimagining. And that’s a problem because it doesn’t change anything to make it work for a modern audience. It uses the same gags that the original did back in the early 80s. And, gags that may have been comical in the early 80s just aren’t anymore.

Another issue is the “plot” and structure of the series. It’s not a slice of life anime. But, that also doesn’t mean it has a plot. Instead, it’s a very episodic series, which can get pretty boring. Without a real plot or good comedy, it’s almost as if most of the content of the series is filler.

If this remake was 12 instead of 46 and only included the best/most important episodes, it could have been good. But, as it is now, it’s too long for how boring most of it is. Instead of this, invest your time into watching a better series like To LOVE-Ru.

Conclusion

In the end, I gave Urusei Yatsura (2022) a 5/10, which is much lower than its average score. I feel like people might be rating this series higher because it’s a remake of a classic. But, while it does look nice visually, there’s not much going on besides that.

Oh, but something this series does have going for it are the OPs and EDs. They’re all good. However, my favorite is ED 1.

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