REVIEW: ‘Urusei Yatsura,’ Episode 7 – “Marine Garbage Disposal”

Urusei Yatsura Episode 7 thesci-fi romantic comedy based on the original manga and anime series created by Rumiko Takahashi. The series centers on girl-obsessed Ataru Moroboshi and the alien princess Lum who believes she is Ataru’s wife after he accidentally proposes to her. Urusei Yatsura is produced by David Production and directed by Hideya Takahashi and Yasuhiro Kimura, with scripts written by Yūko Kakihara and character design and illustration by Naoyuki Asano. Takahiro Komei serves as series director, and Masaru Yokoyama composes the music. The leading voice cast consists of Summer Uesaka as Invader Lum, Hiroshi Kamiya as Ataru Moroboshi, Maaya Uchida as Shinobu, and Mamoru Miyano as Shutaro Mendo.

In Urusei Yatsura Episode 7, Ataru, Lum, and their friends take advantage of their summer break from school. While enjoying the pool at Mendo’s family hotel, Ataru and Lum meet a fish-like monster noticing that lives at the bottom of the pool. The tiny creature is surprisingly delighted by Ataru’s appearance since no one has visited him in a very long time.

Urusei Yatsura does a fantastic job of making simple slice-of-life situations, like a visit to the beach, into something extraordinary.

The animation in Urusei Yatsura Episode 7 is excellent and offers a nice change of pace for some character designs. For example, when it comes to Lum, we mainly see her dressed in a bikini. So it was surprising in Urusei Yatsura Episode 7 to see her dressed in a one-piece swimsuit and dresses for once. I am not complaining, but I really like her usual attire. However, I appreciated the animator is switching things up with Lum’s wardrobe to match the summer break theme. 

Additionally, when I saw that this episode would feature a visit to the pool and beach, I half-expected there to be a lot of fan service. Since beach and pool episodes in anime are typically full of fan service moments, they sometimes can tend to over-sexualize young characters. That is not to say that all forms of fan service are wrong. I prefer fan service that does not feature underage characters, especially if it puts characters under the legal age in some overly-sexual situations.

Surprisingly enough, Urusei Yatsura does not do this, and I love this series even more for it! All the characters, especially the female ones, are tastefully designed and animated in their swimsuits. For example, characters like Lum and Shinobu bodies are not overly sexualized just because they are wearing swimsuits. Additionally, their character designs look like the teenage bodies they have always been drawn in the series. It is great to see a romantic-comedy anime like Urusei Yatsura take this kind of direction with their character designs.

Urusei Yatsura Episode 7 carries some fourth-wall-breaking humor previously shown in Episode 6. For example, Episode 7 opens with Ataru admiring all the beautiful women at the pool. However, something seems off as every male is replaced with vegetables. This is because we are swinging everything through Ataru’s eyes, and he does not want to see half-naked men, so he replaces them with vegetables in the show. Seeing the scene through Ataru’s mind was an exciting way to introduce the episode and grab the audience’s attention.

Lastly, I love how Urusei Yatsura manages to make the most simple or mundane slice-of-life moments into something extraordinary to the audience but seems ordinary to the main characters. Episode 7 is an excellent example of how the show does this masterfully.

For example, in this episode, Lum and Ataru meet a friendly little sea monster while on their trip to the pool. Initially, this discovery is bizarre to most of the cast, but they just as quickly accept the monster’s existence as the norm. Granted, in a show with aliens, trans-dimensional travel, and demon exorcisms, it is easy to see why these characters accept bizarre happenings as the norm at this point. It is moments like these that make Urusei Yatsura stand out amongst other anime this season. 

Urusei Yatsura continues to deliver a delightfully entertaining and funny and each week. You never know what to expect with a show like Urusei Yatsura. Episode 7 truly surprised me by not going heavy with the fan service in the beach or pool episode. This show manages to make ordinary slice-of-life moments into extraordinary entertainment. 

Urusei Yatsura Episode 7 is streaming now on Hi-Dive.