Urusei Yatsura Top 10 Highest Rated Episodes
By: Harley Acres & Dylan Acres
It's interesting to be able to chart the audiences following a show over its life, which shows started slow and built an audience, or which were strong out of the gate and held their audience until the end? To give context, the numbers here are a percentage of total television owning households in the Kanto region which is the largest television market in Japan. It is important to note that comparing ratings from similar days, months and years is somewhat useful, however it would be unfair to compare ratings from the 1980s to thows from the 1990s, 2000s or later due to the fragmentation of the television viewing audience (due to the addition of more and more television channels, streaming services, and video games).
When possible anime programs that aired in the time slot before
Urusei Yatsura and anime that aired against
Urusei Yatsura on other networks are cited to give further context. Here we examine the highest rated episodes of
Urusei Yatsura (and the lowest rated episode as well).
Director: Tamiko Kojima (小島多美子)
Animation Director: Asami Endo (遠藤麻未)
Script: Kazunori Ito (伊藤和典)
Storyboards: Motosuke Takahashi (高橋資祐)
As we discuss in our directors guide, Asami Endo is one of the most prolific directors of Urusei Yatsura even working on the 2022 adaptation of the series thirty years later. Kazunori Ito is a name known by many for his involvement with the .hack//Sign series, Mobile Police Patlabor (機動警察パトレイバー/Kido Keisatsu Patoreibaa) and Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊/Kokaku Kidotai) the latter two involved his Urusei Yatsura colleague Mamoru Oshii.
That night, Urusei Yatsura's lead in, Dr. Slump Arale-chan (Dr.スランプ アラレちゃん), scored a 27.6 with episode 78, "Happy Date in Mystery Land". [1]
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Director: Tamiko Kojima (小島多美子)
Animation Director: Asami Endo (遠藤麻未)
Script: Akira Nakahara (中原朗) (7-1) & Takao Koyama (小山高男) (7-2)
Storyboards: Tamiko Kojima (小島多美子)
In ninth place we have another paring of Kojima and Endo. Kojima would go on to storyboard episodes of Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha and Oishinbo (美味しんぼ). Throughout her career she worked almost exclusively as a director and storyboard illustrator however she did write a single episode of Urusei Yatsura, episode 102.
Urusei Yatsura's lead in, Dr. Slump Arale-chan, scored a 36.0 with episode 32, "Arale's Lullaby Dream". [2]
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Director: Junji Nishimura (西村純二)
Animation Director: Kazuo Yamazaki (やまざきかずお)
Script: Kazunori Ito (伊藤和典)
Storyboards: Kazuo Yamazaki (やまざきかずお)
At the end of the series' original broadcast run (March, 1986), the viewers voted this episode as their favorite, perhaps it should come as no surprise that it was written by prolific scriptwriter Kazunori Ito, who we mentioned before having worked on the 10th highest rated episode. Kazuo Yamazaki hardly needs an introduction having worked on Maison Ikkoku, Please Save My Earth (ぼくの地球を守って/Boku no Chikyuu o Mamotte) as well as directing the fourth Urusei Yatsura film, Lum the Forever.
Airing immediately prior to that night's Urusei Yatsura was Dr. Slump Arale-chan episode 77 "Suppaman of Justice VS Senbei of Love" which scored a 27.5. [3]
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Director: Keiji Hayakawa (早川啓二)
Animation Director: Asami Endo (遠藤麻未)
Script: Kazunori Ito (伊藤和典)
Storyboards: Keiji Hayakawa (早川啓二)
Handling director and storyboard duties is Keiji Hayakawa who had an impressive resume before joining Urusei Yatsura. He had storyboarded and directed over a dozen episodes of Future Boy Conan (未来少年コナン/Mirai Shonen Konan) alongside Hayao Miyazaki.
In the prior Fuji TV timeslot, Dr. Slump Arale-chan episode 87 "Arale the Super Prize Girl" scored a 26.4. [4]
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Director: Keiji Hayakawa (早川啓二)
Animation Director: Hayao Nobe (野部駿夫)
Script: Kazunori Ito (伊藤和典)
Storyboards: Keiji Hayakawa (早川啓二)
Autumn and winter of 1982 proved to be the rating high-point of Urusei Yatsura as one might notice from the cluster of episodes from that time period that are all in the top ten. Familiar names Hayakawa and Ito appear again on this episode.
Airing immediately before Urusei Yatsura's episode was Dr. Slump Arale-chan episode 79 "Energetic Arale" scored a 26.5. [5]
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Director: Mamoru Oshii (押井守) (18-1) & Keiji Hayakawa (早川啓二) (18-2)
Animation Director: Hayao Nobe (野部駿夫) (18-1) & Asami Endo (遠藤麻未) (18-2)
Script: Yuu Yamamoto (山本優)
Storyboards: Mamoru Oshii (押井守) (18-1) & Keiji Hayakawa (早川啓二) (18-2)
Mamoru Oshii appears for the first time on our list with the debut of Ran. [6] Hayao Nobe, who has also appeared on the list before has worked as an animation director on Miyuki (みゆき) and character designer on Maya the Bee (みつばちマーヤの冒険/Mitsubachi Maya no boken).
That night's episode of Dr. Slump Arale-chan was episode 45 "The Devilish Transformation" which scored a 32.3. [7]
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Director: Tamiko Kojima (小島多美子)) (16-1) & Motosuke Takahashi (高橋資祐) (16-2)
Animation Director: Asami Endo (遠藤麻未)
Script: Shusuke Kaneko (金子修介) (16-1) & Shusuke Kaneko (金子修介) (16-2)
Storyboards: Tamiko Kojima (小島多美子) (16-1) & Motosuke Takahashi (高橋資祐) (16-2)
Motosuke Takahashi would go on to direct and animation direct all three of the Rumic World OVAs, Fire Tripper, Maris the Super Gal and The Laughing Target. Mamoru Oshii called Motosuke Takahashi "Studio Pierrot's trump card" [8] and Hayao Miyazaki was said to have praised his depiction of waves on Urusei Yatsura episode 63. [9]
That night's episode of Dr. Slump Arale-chan was episode 42 "Parzan: King of the Jungle" which scored a 33.3. [10]
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Director: Mamoru Oshii (押井守)
Animation Director: Asami Endo (遠藤麻未)
Script: Yuu Yamamoto (山本優)
Storyboards: Mamoru Oshii (押井守)
Yuu Yamamoto is a scriptwriter who's name appears frequently in this list. He is best known for his scriptwork on Fujiko Fujio anime projects such as Perman (パーマン), Obake no Q-Taro (オバケのQ太郎) and Jungle Kurobee (ジャングル黒べえ). His other work includes Mobile Suit Gundam (機動戦士ガンダム/Kido Senshi Gundam), Jetter Mars (ジェッターマルス) and Time Bokan (タイムボカン).
That night's episode of Dr. Slump Arale-chan was episode 35 "Sad Sad Santa" which scored a 33.9. [11]
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Director: Junji Nishimura (西村純二)
Animation Director: Kazuo Yamazaki (やまざきかずお)
Script: Kazunori Ito (伊藤和典)
Storyboards: Junji Nishimura (西村純二)
Junji Nishimura is perhaps best known in Takahashi-circles for coming onboard the later latter episodes of Ranma 1/2 Nettohen as well as the third Ranma film. Following Ranma 1/2 he moved on to work on You're Under Arrest (逮捕しちゃうぞ/Taiho Shichauzo).
Lead in Dr. Slump Arale-chan aired episode 84 "Big Head Cometh" which netted a score of 24.9. [12]
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Director: Tamiko Kojima (小島多美子)
Animation Director: Hayao Nobe (野部駿夫)
Script: Shusuke Kaneko (金子修介)
Storyboards: Tamiko Kojima (小島多美子)
Urusei Yatsura's rating were at their highest in 1981 and 1982 within the first two years of the series' debut. Scriptwriter Shusuke Kaneko was a younger member of Mamoru Oshii's Visual Arts Research Society at Tokyo Gakugei University and after working on Nikkatsu studio's Nikkatsu Roman Porno (日活ロマンポルノ) he followed Oshii to work on Urusei Yatsura. With the previously mentioned episode 16, Kaneko was reponsible for setting the tone for the rest of the anime-original episodes. He eventually transitioned into live action work with feature films such as Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (ガメラ 大怪獣空中決戦/Gamera Daikaijyuu Kuuchuu Kessen) and the live-action Death Note (デスノート/Desu Nooto) film.
By comparison, airing immediately before that night's Urusei Yatsura episode was Dr. Slump Arale-chan episode 37 "Arale's Musical: Cinderella" which rated a 35.4. [13]
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Director: Naoyuki Yoshinaga (吉永尚之)
Animation Director: Masami Abe (アベ正己)
Script: Toshiki Inoue (井上敏樹)
Storyboards: Naoyuki Yoshinaga (吉永尚之)
There is nothing in particular that speaks to this episode's low rating; other episodes in the weeks prior and following were typically in the range of 13 to 15. Urusei Yatsura's lead-in, Dr. Slump (Dr.スランプ), scored a 10.2 with episode 285 "The Miracle Grilled Fish Meal". [14]
It is clear both Urusei Yatsura and Dr Slump had seen a decline in viewership compared with the 1981 and 1982 ratings of the previously mentioned episodes. Looking at the comparisons for these episodes may leave the incorrect impression that Urusei Yatsura never beat Dr. Slump in the ratings, but by 1985 there were occasions where that occured.
For context, the highest rated anime of this year (1985) was the February 17th episode of Sazae-san (サザエさん) which scored a 33.6%. [15]
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Dylan Acres is a psychology professor at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Harley Acres is an art history professor at Pikes Peak State College. The brothers founded Rumic World in 1996.
