OVAs
(often interchanged to OAV) stand for Original Video Animation. It's basically
how the Japanese refer to anime that goes straight-to-video. OVAs are
episodes usually from 30 to 60 minutes long that offer higher production
values than TV animation, yet they aren't movies. After the TV show ended,
the Urusei Yatsura manga continued to be written by Takahashi. The OVAs
served to animate some of those manga stories for fans.
This section
has short synopses for each Urusei Yatsura video release in the order
they came out. These include the OVAs, music video collections
and others.
Shinobu
meets a boy in a rabbit costume named Inaba who drops a key. This key
allows her to follow him into a strange dimension along with Lum and Ataru.
They come to the room of destiny, a dimension filled with infinate doorways
to possible futures upkept by a group of sentient rabbits. Lum, Ataru
and Shinobu try and find an ideal future for themselves with Inaba as
their guide but unfortunately each future is worse than the last. Soon
the rabbits find out and try and put a stop to Inaba's little escapade. This 1987 special debuted at the summer Kitty Animation Circle event held at Meguro Koukaido on the same day as its VHS release.
What's in a Name - Inaba's name comes from a children's story called "Inaba no shiro-usagi" (The White Rabbit of Inaba). Inaba is actually a place name, located in the eastern Tottori Prefecture. Found in one of the "Izumo-shinwa" (myths of Izumi) and in the "Koojiki" (Books of Ancient History), it is the story of a white rabbit who tricks a shark into taking him across the sea from Okinoshima Island to "Inaba-no-kuni" (the land of Inaba). Alas, just before they arrive, he foolishly tells the shark of his duplicity, and the shark skins him alive! Next, a group of rather mean gods, the Yasogami, seing the suffering rabbit, tell him that the way alleviate his pain is to soak himself with saltwater, and then let the wind to blow on him. Of course, this combination only causes him more pain. Finally, one of the Yasogami turns out to be a good guy named Ookuninushi-no-mikoto, who tells him the right way to cure his injury: wash in freshwater, and lie down in "gama" (cattails), because its pollen would make him feel better. There doesn't seem to be much connection between the story and the film, except that the story is fairly well-known among Japanese people.
Ataru and Kokeru - "Ataru" means "to be hit," and "Moroboshi Ataru" means "to be hit with a falling object, i.e., a star, meteorite, asteroid, etc." "Kokeru," the name of Ataru's future son by Shinobu, means "to fall down," often (but not always) referring to a pratfall. Since after you get hit, you often fall down, Kokeru is the perfect name for Ataru's son.
"When the translating gets tough, the tough fake it - "When the rabbits turn the giant key that causes all the doors in the Room of Destiny to fall, the lead rabbit says, in the subtitles, "...WE control your future!" But in the original Japanese, the line is "Kimitachi no mirai nanka!" which is not nearly as clear-cut in meaning as the subtitles might indicate. The difficulty in translating this comment comes from its not having a verb explicitly stated in the original. This does not impair its understandability in Japanese, where it connotes a sense of "THAT for your future!" But it does present some problems in translation, because English grammar typically requires a verb to make a complete sentence. Thus the existing compromise title, an attempt to the make the best of a difficult point in translation.
Oyuki is planning to make a business out of sherberts, little bird creatures who produce eadible sherbert cones out of their beaks. Ran takes one to make some money on earth, but she overworks it in the summer heat and the little sherbert begins to get really irritated. It breaks loose immediately causing havok all over Tomobiki. Because it destroys Benten's bike she intends to murder the obnoxious bird. Now Ran has to save the pesky bird from Benten and catch it for fear of Oyuki's retribution.
Raging Titles - The actual title of the first OVA is "Ikare! Sherbet," which directly translates as "Rage! Sherbet." However, we are as susceptible to punning as the original creators of Urusei Yatsura.
Move over, Col. Sanders - Yakitori is chicken, grilled or barbecued, skewered on a bamboo stick. It's often cooked with salt or sweet soy sauce, and is a popular fast food.
Ryunosuke's father opens an abandoned tea shop on a remote island which Ryunosuke, Ataru, Lum, Shinobu and Mendo soon find out is still inhabited by the ghosts of it's former owners. The ghosts are none other than Mr. Fujinami's best friend and his lovely "daughter" named Nagisa who seems completely infatuated with Ryunosuke. It comes as a surprise to Ryu that their two fathers had them engaged. Even after Nagisa is able to come back to life, it seems that "she" doesn't realise Ryunosuke is a girl, but there's an ironic little story twist here.
An advertisement for this OVA appeared in Shonen Sunday 1988 volume 51. Ranma 1/2 was on hiatus at the time due to Rumiko Takahashi's appendicitis.
Hama Teashop (Hamajaya) is used in Urusei Yatsura both as a proper name and as a description of a type of shop. "Hama" is Japanese for "beach," which is generally where one finds such shops, but Ryunosuke's Father isn't particularly discriminating about where he sets up. When Ryunosuke starts attending Tomobiki High (in the TV series), her Father sets up shop there.
Another related pun is the name of the Hama Teashop which Shiowatari and Nagisa set up. "Uni ga suki" literally means "I love sea urchins," and is a pun on "Umi ga suki," or "I love the sea," a phrase Ryuunosuke's Father is rather fond of repeating.
Nagisa's name is also somewhat meaningful. A girl's name (the way Ryunosuke is a boy's name), when used by itself it means "seashore."
Ryunosuke's Father saying to Nagisa's Father that he is "as funny as ever" is itself funnier in the original Japanese. Ryuunosuke's Father refers to Nagisa's Father as "Ochamena," which is normally used to refer to little girls who are funny and charming without intending to be. Used to refer to a grown man, it may seem funny, but can take one aback if unprepared.
Sea urchins are typically used in sushi or sashimi. The mere thought of putting them in a sno-cone is disgusting. However, currently there are a lot of bizarre ice-cream flavors being made, like "ham sherbet" (yes, you read that right), so it may not be entirely inconceivable.
In the original Japanese, Nagisa's Father refers to his "daughter" as his "Kamban Musume," something which has no easy equivalent in English. "Kamban" means "sign (as in for a shop or restaurant)," and "musume" means "girl" or "daughter." Essentially, this is a girl who works in a shop (usually her parents') and who is herself an attraction for the shop, bringing in customers who want to see her because she's so pretty.
When Ryunosuke says, "A...Are you gay?" the original Japanese entails a somewhat more complicated concept. "Okama" is slang for a man who dresses and acts like a woman, but who is not necessarily homosexual. However, the concept is not equivalent to the western "transvestite." "Okama" is also often used to insult a man's masculinity.
Mendo's father has gotten him a private bodyguard who turns out to be the brainless, illiterate and rather unintuitive Shingo, now a ninja. Shingo meets Ryoko and she decides to use him to cause some fun-filled trouble. She convinces Shingo to elope with her which causes Mendo and Ataru to follow in hot persuit. Of course Lum comes along to keep Ataru away from Ryoko. But as usual Shingo gets carried away and starts using his power and ninja tricks to fight back, with Ryoko intently helping to make things worse.
The word "guard" is the Japanese word "onibawan". More broadly speaking an onibawan (御庭番) is soemthing of an undercover agent who reported directly to the shogun. The kanji in their name has "niwa" (庭/garden) in it because they were quartered in the garden of Edo Castle. Many of the onibawan were ninja before being appointed to this position. Humorously in Urusei Yatsura Shingo and his grandfather are ninja gardeners to blend the pun of the original word.
Mendo's Father's joke about what a guardian is, is funnier in the original Japanese. The puns involved are the following:
There's no pun in his first choice; it is there to set up the next two puns.
Niwa no Banchoo: "Bancho" is a leader of a gang of high-school toughs. So "niwa no bancho" is the leader of a gang of high-school toughs in the garden.
Niwa no Bandai: "Bandai" is the person at a public bath who collects money. So "niwa no bandai" is the person who collects money at the public garden baths.
Both of the above are nonsense, of course.
The scene with Mendo and his father poking the ceiling and floor is a play on a long-standing ninja (and ninja movie) tradition. Ninja would often hide in the ceilings of houses, and people sitting in the regular rooms of those houses would throw sharp objects like shuriken or daggers into the ceiling. Blood would then slowly start to drip through the hole, as the ninja, silent to the last, met his end. Of course, in Urusei Yatsura, the ninja are never where you expect them to be, and never around when you want them to be, especially if you want them to be around so you can kill them.
Moral: if your Japanese host's ceiling is full of knife cuts, use any excuse to leave early.
Kuroko were originally stagehands in Kabuki and performers in Bunraku (Japanese puppet shows). Dressed all in black, they are officially "not there" to everyone else in the theatre.
Ryoko's mispronunciations of the word "oniwaban" (guardian) are amusing as well. She ends up saying "obanniwa" and "obaniwan," both of which mean nothing in Japanese.
Shingo's attempt to read Ryoko's letter fails because he cannot read kanji. What he says out loud is the hiragana in the message, which is all he can read. However, this is not nearly enough to enable him to make sense of the message. In the subtitles, we tried to connote this same sense by having him "say" only the small words or small, simple parts of larger words in the message's translation.
Lum makes Ataru some sakura-mochi for a night time picnic watching the cherry blossoms. But Lum had made a mistake and accidentally made tsukimi-dango instead (which are traditionally eaten during moon viewing). Supposedly when eaten at the wrong time, it causes lycanthropy in humans. The next day Ataru finds himself becoming a werewolf along with Onsen-Mark who also ate some. Lum must now force Ataru to take the antidote before 24 hours are up, or he'll remain a wolf forever. Ataru however doesn't realise this, so he keeps evading Lum all night.
Episode Staff:
Director: Setsuko Shibuichi (四分一節子)
Animation Director: Yukari Kobayashi (小林ゆかり)
Script: Machiko Kondo (近藤真智子)
Storyboards: ---
Character Designs: ---
Music: Shinsuke Kazeto, Fumitaka Anzai, Katsu Hoshi, Mickie Yoshino, Koji Nishimura, Izumi Kobayashi, Bun Itakura, Masamichi Amano (風戸慎介、安西史孝、星勝、ミッキー吉野、西村コージ、小林泉美、板倉文、天野正道)
Yukari Kobayashi, who worked as the animation director on this OVA, also served in that role for movie 5. Decades later she would serve as animation director on two episodes of Kyokai no RINNE as well.
Hanami - Japanese have a particular interest in seeing the cherry blossoms bloom in Spring. Therefore, in the brief period that this occurs, people get together and head for the park and picnic, often at night. Once there, they get drunk, sing, and generally behave obnoxiously, in accordance with a tradition going back centuries. The competition for good spots is intense, with party groups often sending one or two people the night (or day) before to hold a particular spot for them. During cherry-blossom season, all the weather fore- casts depict the south to north advance of the "cherry-blossom front."
The Joy of Lum's Cooking - Sakuramochi are bean-paste cakes (mochi) wrapped in cherry leaves, made for eating in Spring. Kashiwamochi are bean-paste cakes (mochi) wrapped in oak leaves, made for Children's Day (May 5). Tsukimi-dango are dumplings (dango) made as an offering to the Moon while looking at, and appreciating, it (Tsukimi) on Aug. 15 and Sept. 13, according to the old Chinese calendar. On these nights, parties would also be held, involving drinking, composing and reading haiku, and offering ominaishi (decorative flowers) and potatoes (in addition to tsukimi-dango).
Tezukuri literally means "handmade," but in this case, Lum used a pedal-operated cooking machine, so she said that the "sakuramochi" she made were "ashizukuri," or "foot-made."
Lum's saying she was finally able to make something Ataru liked is a reference to her (lack of) cooking ability. In the series, it's a running joke that her cooking is hazardous to the continued health and well-being of Earthpeople, and Ataru is quick to relate several examples of this: For example, the "Monster Making Candy" appeared in TV series Episode 2, Story 4, "Mrs. Swallow and Mrs. Penguin" (Tsubame-san to Penguin-san), and resulted in a tiny swallow and her chicks growing to Tokyo-trashing proportions. The spicy antidote to her Tsukimi-dango is probably one of her more benign creations.
He's lower than dirt - When Cherry says, in the subtitles, "You finally fell victim to deviltry," his original comment is, "Tsui ni onushi mo chikushoodoo ni ochiyota ka no." "Chikushoodoo" is "the way of the animal," one of the "Rokudoo," or "six ways" of Buddhist reincarnation. The six ways, in descending order, are: Ama (heaven), Ningen (human), Shura (where the constantly warring Ashura creatures exist), Chikushoo (animal), Gaki (the "hungry ghost," a skinny devil with a throat so constricted that it has great difficulty eating and drinking), and Jigoku (Hell). In Buddhist mythology, the acts one performs in life will determine which level one will be reincarnated into. If one does really good or bad things, then one will be reincarnated on a higher or lower level than in the previous life. Thus, when Cherry thinks that Ataru has eaten food he picked up off the ground, he says that he's not only been reborn as an animal, but as a Gaki as well, to add insult to injury.
On a hill within the Mendo estate there is a statue of a goat. Mendo tells his friends that it is forbidden to take a picture in front of that statue for it brings bad luck since the real life goat hated getting his picture taken. But Mendo's father takes a picture of them together anyway. According to his father, a phantom of the goat will come to eat the photographs and when that happens, those in the photo will die as a consequence. So with the help of Sakura they watch over the photographs all night. A night of terror they would never forget.
The previous four OVAs were handled by the animation studio "Magic Bus" while this marks a noticable transition to "Madhouse".
The title of this episode is a pun. Goats produce cheese, and "Cheese" is universally used to signify that one is about to take a photograph. That is the connection.
The reason why Lum is surprised that the statue on the hill isn't an octopus is because the octopus is the crest of the Mendou Clan, and is normally the only animal that would be so rendered on the Mendou Estate.
The captions in the old photographs are as follows:
Photograph 1: Yookan: Western-style Building; Zangiri-atama: Western-style haircut, specifically, cutting off a samurai's topknot; Gastoo: Gaslight.
Photograph 3: Denwa: Telephone; Rokurenpatsu: Six-shooter; Rokumeikan: place where Japanese aristocrats in Meiji era would dress up and dance as Westerners in order to show Japan's civilization by Western standards, so that they could undo the unfair (to Japan) treaties imposed by the West. Rokumeikan is a Government building, and normally could not be owned by an individual, but the joke is that, even back then, the Mendo family was so rich that they could even buy Rokumeikan. Teikyuu: Tennis; Aisukurin: Old-style pronunciation of Ice Cream; Sukiyaki: See Episode 15, Story 29, "The Great Setsubun War."
The scene with the newspaper is a reference to a long-running occult manga series, Kyofu Shinbun (Terror Times), created by Jiro Tsunoda. Each time the main character reads an edition of Kyofu Shinbun, it shortens his lifespan by 100 days. The expression on Ataru's face when Mendo picks up the paper is much the same expression as that on the face of Kyofu Shinbun's main character when he reads that paper.
What Cherry and Kotatsuneko are Tayaki (Tai: "red snapper"), a sort of pancake with anko (red bean paste) inside, baked in the shape of a red snapper.
The special effects and muzzle design of the phantom-exorcism raygun are those of Hadoo Hoo (the Wave-Motion Cannon) from Uchuu Senkan Yamato.
The goat ghost becoming gigantic and breathing fire to shoot down the Mendo fighter jets is straight out of any film by Tsuburaya Productions that you care to name.
In the credits, you may notice that Sakura gets credited twice. This is due to a misprint in the original titles on the part of Maki Productions, the title makers. Just goes to show that nobody's perfect.
On her way to a date with Rei, Ran obtains a pouch of heart candies that cause a heart to appear over whoever eats one. That person will fall in love with whoever takes that heart. But when the heart is let go, that person will return to normal. Ran tries to use the candies on Rei, but fails completely. In exasperation she gives them to Lum. After the candies cause a situation between Ataru and Lum, he takes to fulfill for his own lewd wishes. Soon these candies are cirulating around the school as everyone else tries to use them for their own ambitions.
The word "Dakkonto," or "Heart-stealing candy," is a pun on "Kakkonto," a well-known brand of cold medicine.
The book Mendo is reading when he first appears in this story, Tako to Watashi--seishunhen, translates literally as Octopi and Me--the Youth Edition. Note that the octopus is the crest of the Mendo Clan, and Shutaro in particular has an obsession with them.
Megane's lines, "Oh come quick, oh Spring! Come soon, for Megane, who has started to walk," are a take-off on a popular children's song, "Haru yo koi, hayaku koi, arukihajimeta Miyo-chan ga akai hanao no jojohaite, ommo ni detai to matteiru." It basically means that a little girl named Miyo is anxiously awaiting the arrival of Spring, so she can go outside wearing her new shoes, which are similar to geta (traditional Japanese wooden clogs). Megane substitutes his own name for that of Miyo.
Ten asking the two girls, "Would you like oshiruko or ammitsu?" refers to the following: oshiruko is hot anko (bean-paste) soup with mochi (rice cakes), and ammitsu is a mixture of kanten (seaweed made into gelatin) with fruits and anko mixed in. The reason Ten offers them is that they may be desserts that high-school girls supposedly like to stop and eat on their way home from school.
Ten has the measles and is trying to stay away from Lum who wants to give him a shot with a very big syringe. Because Ten may have given the measles to Ataru she wants to give him a shot too. Ataru runs away, not knowing that he's carrying the alien "girly-eyes" measles strain, which gives men big cute anime-girl eyes. Now Ataru has girly-eyes and can not pick up girls without scaring them away. What's worse is that Ataru is spreading the disease all over town. Try to imagine Cherry, Onsen-Mark, Ryunosuke's Father and the Principal with girly eyes. It is not a sight for the faint-hearted.
Published in Newtype 1990 volume 12 this month is an article entitled "Variety of Rumiko Takahashi" which details the various anime based on her work that were coming at at this time. This included the Ranma 1/2 television series and Hot Songs Contest, the Mermaid Forest OVA and the Maison Ikkoku OVA and the Urusei Yatsura OVAs (Date with a Spirit and Terror of Girly-Eyes Measels).
The "communicable disease" joke was an attempt to deal with another pun that has no convenient English equivalent. The original term, "Densenbyo," literally means "contagious/communicable disease." But the word "Densen," which means "contagious/ communicable," can also mean "(Electrical) power line(s)," when written with different Kanji. Since it's often hard to tell a power line from a telephone line, we took a liberty with the dialogue and made it a "communications disease." Also, on one of the poles appears the kanji "bun," which, when displayed in such fashion, indicates to drivers that a school is nearby, and that they should drive with caution.
When Lum first expresses her full concerns about the spread of Girly Measles, saying what might happen if Cherry, Ryunosuke's Father, Onsen-Mark or the Principal were to catch it, the sound that the four of them make in the original, "Uru-uru," is a Japanese onomatopoeia roughly equivalent to "limpid" in English, when used to refer to someone's eyes. It's a common device used to indicate the twinkly, limpid eyes of young girls in girls' manga, the sort of thing which this story is parodying most brutally.
Lum's line, "What kind of sickeningly-sweet cliches are you spouting?" is another attempt to deal with an idiomatic expression in Japanese. The original, "Nani ha ga uku uwagoto o itteru," literally comes out as "What sort of nonsense that makes your teeth float out of your gums are you saying?"
The statue with which Ataru saddles Lum in one of his attempts to escape her is a "Shiragataki-yaki Tanuki," a type of good-luck statuary originally made by the reknowned potters of Shiragataki.
Mahjong terms:
Pon: Picking up a tile just discarded, whether or not it is one's turn. You must be able to use tile at time of drawing.
Ron: Same as Pon, except when it is one's turn, and one picks up the tile just discarded by the person whose turn just ended. Again, you must be able to use the tile.
Lichi: said when one is only one tile away from completing a hand and winning. Saying it enables one to double one's score.
Menchin ittsuu ii peh kou doradora banban!" is an extremely high hand, roughly equivalent to four-of-a-kind or a royal flush in poker. It's nearly impossible to achieve, and isn't the kind of thing one normally talks about, if one actually has it. Ryuunosuke's Father actually saying that he does is mere boasting, trying to scare the others off. The joke is that everyone knows that that combination is effectively impossible (the odds against are ridiculously high), but he's saying it just to be saying it, deliberately trying to get a laugh. Describing the exact combination would require a fairly detailed description of the rules of Mah Jongg, as well as graphic depictions of the markings on Mah Jongg tiles, both of which are, conveniently for us, beyond the scope of these notes.
On the day Tsubame is supposed to meet Sakura for a date, he wakes to find a young teenaged girl in his bed. Dragging Ataru and Lum along, Sakura finds Tsubame with the girl and is angry, until they find out she's a ghost. The ghost girl is infatuated with Tsubame and doesn't want to leave his side so she decides to haunt him. Sakura begins to get jealous and question their relationship.
"Jibakurei" is a term that has no easy English equivalent. It means "a spirit bound to a specific place," and unable to leave it, for whatever reason.
Sakura's comment about every one of her dates with Tsubame being plagued with interference is a reference to their luckless dating history.
Typically, just when they are about to get into a serious clinch, Lum, Ataru, Mendo, Shinobu, and just about everyone else comes by to watch. When Sakura and Tsubame notice, the mood is immediately shattered.
The card Sakura wields in her first attempt to dispel Maiko is called an "Ofuda" in Japanese, and it is the string of Kanji written on it that give it its power: they translate as "banish evil spirit."
The Gyokuro Tea to which Cherry refers is the brand name of the highest grade of ocha (Japanese green tea). Gyokuroen is the name of the company which manufactures it. The scene is essentially a parody of product placement in movies and TV shows.
Mamoru saying, in the subtitles, that he doesn't "know Tsubame from chopped liver," was our best effort at finding an English equivalent for a Japanese idiom. The term Mamoru uses in the original, "Kimpiragobou," is Japanese for chopped burdock root cooked in soy and sesame oil. His meaning is that he doesn't know who Tsubame is, and couldn't care less.
The students of Tomobiki High find themselves forced to compete in a swim meet from hell. The animation was handled by Sunrise who were animating Inuyasha at the time, and eschews Lum's Guard and replace them with Kosuke Shirai (Perm) to remain more faithful to the manga.
The first new piece of Urusei Yatsura animation in 17 years. This was made as part of the 30th anniversary celebration of Rumiko Takahashi's career and initially shown at the gallery show alongside the other debuting OVAs for Ranma ½ and Inuyasha.
The below releases are video specials that are not technically classified as OVAs. Many of them contain music videos, openings, endings, clip shows and documentaries from various phases of the series.
A VHS release that contained the TV Specials "Urusei Yatsura All-Star Bash" and "Grade School Excursion! Run For It!" which could subsequently be found with most TV collection releases.
An hour long special with music from the series overlayed with scenes from the show and narration by Fumi Hirano. The songs include (in order) Lum no Love Song, Kokorobosoina, Lum no Ballad, Ucchu wa Taihen da!, Dancing Star, Symphony Douran (First Movement) Margarita, Kage fumi no Waltz, Hoshizora Cycling, Yume wa Love Me More, Moonlight Coaster, and Symphony Douran (Second Movement).
A documentary on the making of the fourth Urusei Yatsura film, Lum the Forever featuring narration by Toshio Furukawa. The documentary deals with the writing, animation, music and voice recording of the film.
A documentary made at a 1986 Urusei Yatsura fan gathering in Japan to say goodbye to Urusei Yatsura at the end of the television series. Released on VHS only, the show features a number of songs by the cast. At the end Fumi Hirano (Lum) highlights Issei Futamata (Chibi) and Sumi Shimamoto (Asuka) as they take on the lead rolls of Yusaku Godai and Kyoko Otonashi in Maison Ikkoku which was replacing Urusei Yatsura on television.
A laserdisc to accompany the CD release of the same name. It contains highlights and reflections from the TV show put to a scored symphonic version of various background music pieces. The music was preformed by a group known as "Apricot Systematic". Also available on VHS.
A highlight reel with approimately 15 minutes of all new animation. The old footage highlights the guests at Ryoko's tea party, with the new footage comprising the actual party.
This was originally made for the Third Urusei Yatsura Fan Tournament (第3回うる星やつらファン大会).
Kuroko, Ryoko's ever-devoted servants, originated in Kabuki theater and Ningyo Joruri, or Bunraku (traditional puppet shows). In Kabuki, they did all the actual stage and prop work, often right in the middle of an ongoing scene. In Joruri and Bunraku, they were the puppeteers. Their all-black garb, including their veils, signified to the audience that they were officially invisible.
The line with which Ryoko starts her letter, "In this time when the dead leaves dance...", or, "Sozoro ni kareha mau kono goro," in the original, is an example of "kisetsu no aisatsu," or "seasonal greetings," often used as the opening of traditional, proper, Japanese personal letters. When writing such a letter, the correct way to begin is with an old, flowery, poetic phrase regarding some facet of the season in which one is writing it. And Ryoko is nothing if not traditional, when it suits her to be so.
Oshiruko is hot anko (bean-paste) soup with mochi (rice cakes), and ammitsu is a mixture of kanten (seaweed made into gelatin) with fruits and anko mixed in.
Chibi saying to Megane, "Am I pretty?" is a reference to an urban legend which circulated among Japanese children in the mid-to-late 1970's, about a woman known as "kuchisake onna," which roughly translates as "the woman with a slashed mouth." Supposedly, this woman, who wore a veil over her face, would walk up to schoolchildren (up to and including high-schoolers) and say, "Atashi kirei?" (Am I pretty?) No matter what answer she got, she would keep asking it over and over again. Eventually she would take off her veil, revealing a mouth the corners of which were slashed back to her ears. She also supposedly carried a kama, or grain sickle, which might have been used as a weapon. No confirmation has ever surfaced as to this woman's existence.
The Kuroko calling out "Yo! Tamaya!" at the sight of the fireworks is a sign of appreciation for a good pyrotechnic show. Tamaya is the name of one of the two major Japanese fireworks manufacturers. The other one isn't slighted, as often, people call out "Yo! Kagiya! Tamaya!"
Ataru shouting at Ten, "It's common sense to visit with a gift, even just once, isn't it?!" refers to two related Japanese customs, Temiyage and Aisatsu. Basically, Aisatsu is visiting someone, especially someone who has done something for you. When you go on such a visit, you bring Temiyage, usually cake, cookies, or some kind of food, typically wrapped up in a nice box.
Ten saying, "That's Mother's personal express courier robot, you jerk!" is a reference to an Edo-Period institution called "Hikyaku." Hikyaku were high-speed (for the time) mail couriers, who would run for miles, delivering messages when they needed to be delivered (relatively) quickly. They carried their messages in boxes at the ends of heavy poles, just as the Hikyaku Robot does.
Ten's mother is revealed to be a woman firefighter in the subtitles. The original, "Hikeshi," was a term used specifically in the Edo Period, to describe someone who bears a staff of the type she is bearing. Such staves are signs, which the bearers carried up atop houses on fire to attract others to pour water on them, as well as to pull down the houses around those houses which they had been paid to protect, so that fire wouldn't spread to them. Firefighting techniques were extremely primitive in those days, and fires were an extremely common hazard, because most structures were made out of wood. Such rudimentary firebreaks were about the only effective way of keeping a fire from spreading once it started.
Ten and his mother both speak Japanese in the distinctive Osaka dialect.
A highlight special that uses scenes from the series to highlight the Mendo Family, with new animation to fill in the segues. Narrated by the Mendo family's personal satellite.
This special was originally shown at the first Kitty Animation Circle event entitled "KAC Opening Tour" (KACオープニングツアー). Kitty Animation Circle was a fanclub for Kitty Animation that was actually a renamed version of the Urusei Yatsura Fanclub.
"Mendo's back tattoo, in the cyborg war scene, is the logo of a famous candy in Japan, Morinaga Caramel. The pose that the figure in that logo strikes is the pose that Mendo strikes in that same scene. Also, note Mendo's flying fists, or, more accurately, "Rocket Punch," which is a nod to Go Nagai's giant robot classic, Mazinger Z. The pose Mendo strikes when the fists return to him is also identical to that of Mazinger Z's in the same circumstances.
"In his "Testament," Megane mentions several Japanese foods: "Natto" is the infamous fermented soybeans, "Sudako" is pickled octopus, and strangest of all, "Sukiyaki no aburami" is the "Sukiyaki fat," chunks of pure fat separated by the butcher from cuts of meat and used primarily for greasing the pan in which the sukiyaki will be cooked. However, some people also like to eat the chunks themselves.
""Beef-bowl Mask's Bigfoot Beef-kick!" is a reference to the legendary Japanese pro-wrestler Giant Baba, at one time the tallest Japanese, at some 205cm, and possessing an equally impressive pair of feet. His unique special technique was called the "Juurokumon kick," or "16-mon kick" (one mon roughly equaling 2.64cm), after the reputed size of his feet, 16 mon, or some 42cm. What the technique consisted of was Giant Baba throwing his opponent into the ropes, and sticking out his big foot so that said opponent would smack into it when he came bouncing back. In the video, the word "Juurokumon" is changed to "Gyuurokumon," where "Juu" means "10" and "Gyuu" means "beef," (as in "Gyuudon," or "Beef-bowl") making a pun that is, as usual, almost impossible to translate.
""Beef-bowl Mask's Cobra Twist" is another wrestling in-joke. The "Cobra Twist" was the special technique of Antonio Inoki, a pro-wrestler equally as famous as Giant Baba. Inoki later went on to become a member of the House of Councillors, the Upper House in Japan's Diet, as a member of the "Sports Party," which he founded. Recently, however, he has become entangled in a corruption scandal (an occupational hazard of being a Japanese politician).
Technical Note:
"This video was the first piece of Urusei Yatsura anime to be recorded in stereo. For the portions of the video which were re-edited from the TV series, the voice actors re-recorded the dialogue specifically to fit the stereo soundtrack. Also, the version of "Hoshizora Cycling" which was used here was the stereo version, not the mono version used in the original TV series.
A karaoke laserdisc set featuring, "Lum no Lovesong," "Dancing Star," "Pajama Jama Da!," "Chance on Love," "Rock the Planet," "Tonogata Gomen Asobase", "Ai wa Boomerang", "Good Luck," "Uchuu wa Taihen Da!", "Remember My Love," "Suki Kirai," "Hoshizora Cycling," "Ai, Ai, You and I," "Love Me More," and "Open Invitation".
A VHS release that was a compilation of Urusei Yatsura's "Terror of Girly-Eyes Measles", "Date with a Spirit" and Maison Ikkoku's "Shipwrecked on Ikkoku Island".
A special released to coincide with the release of the final film, Always My Darling, which marked the 10th Anniversary of the series. This special is now included as an extra on the Japanese TV DVD Boxset. A live action special featuring the cast, this was filmed at the legendary Budokan in Tokyo.
A video-only release that was a companion piece to the music calendars that were popular during this period. The VHS cassette box has interchangable slip covers that feature an image on one side and a monthly calendar on the other.
