Lum Is Coming!

Translated by: Dylan Acres
Thanks to Mitchell for scans and transcriptions.

The animated adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura has been decided. The production is by Kitty Enterprises, which has brought a breath of fresh air to the movie industry with The Man Who Stole the Sun (太陽を盗んだ男/Taiyo o Nusunda Otoko) and The Flying Couple (翔んだカップル/Tonda Couple). ^[1] We spoke with producer Shigekazu Ochiai about the project, which is his first animated TV series. ^[2] "I wanted to do something experimental to some extent," he said. "Urusei Yatsura has a new style of humor. It's not a manga for good kids. However, the humor is very energetic, so the question is how energetic can we make the 30 minutes of Urusei Yatsura each week. To this end, I would like to introduce Ten-chan and other cute characters first, and make the program bright and fun, yet loud and boisterous."

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Footnotes

• [1] Kitty Enterprises began as a record company, and Urusei Yatsura is indeed the first its first anime production. For more information on Kitty Enterprises, which would later become Kitty Films, please see our article.
• [2] Shigekazu Ochiai (落合茂一) was a producer for Kitty Animation, who got his start as an assistant to Kazuo Koike (小池 一夫) and helped manage Gekiga Sonjuku, the training school run by Koike that Rumiko Takahashi attended prior to her debut. Eventually Ochiai left Koike and found himself working for Kitty Music as they transitioned into the anime business. Because of his connection with Takahashi prior to her debut he was able to use those connections to bring her on board with Kitty Animation. This proved to be a very fortuitious partnership as Kitty went on to produce Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku and Ranma 1/2. A later interview with Ochiai can be found archived here on the site.

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