Name of series: Urusei Yatsura
Licensed by: AnimEigo
Genres: action, comedy, romance, science fiction
Age rating: Teenagers
Number of episodes: 195 (I saw the first four)

Urusei Yatsura follows the story of Ataru Moroboshi. He seems to be your average boy. That is if you can count average as being a flirtatious pervert that talks to any girl he sees disregarding that has a girlfriend. One day aliens attack the Earth and Ataru is chosen as the one to save it. The catch is, in order to save the Earth Ataru must compete in a competition for ten days. The competition is tag and the person he has to catch is the beautiful Princess Lum.

He agrees to take part in this competition thinking it will be easy but the aliens forgot to mention that Princess Lum could fly. Day after day he tries to capture her and on the tenth day fueled by his girlfriend’s desire to marry him he finally captures the princess and proposes to his girlfriend. The only problem is Lum misheard and thinks that Ataru wants to marry her and thus she seals their marriage. This starts a downward trickle of bad luck that lasts as long as Lum is around.

Urusei Yatsura is a lighthearted fun anime that might be found on Saturday morning television. It has some adult themes and a lot of Japanese culture in it. (I found myself looking at the guide cards that came with the DVD often to figure out what they were talking about.) Each episode breaks off into two stories each fifteen minutes long and this is where the show suffered a little bit.

Each problem seems to happen and be solved in fifteen minutes leaving no room for explanation. For an example there’s an episode where the character Ten is introduced. This is Lum’s cousin who has decided to come to Earth to check out who it is that Lum has married. In that episode Ten gets mad at Ataru and the house burns down. In the next episode the house is back to normal and it is as if nothing has happened. This is of course a work of fiction and everything should not completely be explained but some things could have been expanded upon or connected just a little bit more to keep the person watching more engaged.

The show itself has a few funny moments and a few moments where it just seems the show is trying to be funny but it doesn’t work. This is an anime that can be watched at any point in time and could be understood but yet there’s still a point where the person watching wants more story and less action or at least action that has something to do with a larger story instead of mini-stories.

This anime just shows the craziness of the life of someone with really bad luck. The show is just as unpredictable as life itself. While that may be good for some others might want a longer and fleshed out story.

If you want to check out Urusei Yatsura, the 4 episode discs are currently on sale at RightStuf for $9.99.