Urusei Yatsura

Urusei Yatsura (うる星やつら) is a comedic anime based on the manga series by Rumiko Takahashi, and produced by Studio Pierrot (Episodes 1-106) and Studio DEEN (Episodes 107-195). It originally ran from October 14, 1981 to March 19, 1986 on Fuji TV.

Synopsis

Ataru Moroboshi is the unluckiest and most lecherous young man alive, but when aliens decide to invade Earth, he is randomly selected to defend his planet by playing a game of the aliens national sport, tag. Should he win, the world shall be saved. However, Ataru is motivated for far less noble reasons, as the one he plays against is revealed to be the curvaceous alien princess, Lum. The game goes for 10 days, and on the last day, Ataru, motivated by his girlfriend assuring him marriage (and consequently, a marriage night one can assume) should he win, finally catches Lum. However, with his victory he gives a cry of joy for his coming marriage, which is misinterpreted by Lum to be a marriage proposal. She promptly agrees, beginning the two's "marriage" together.

Dubbing History[]

Urusei Yatsura is one of the only anime based on a Rumiko Takahashi manga to not receive a complete English dub in the U.S. (along with Rin-ne) though it has a history of attempts. The series was originally released in the United States by AnimEigo in 1992 in a sub-only format, though in 1995 they attempted a test dub of the first two episodes under the title of Those Obnoxious Aliens (which the title Urusei Yatsura roughly translates to). The dub was recorded at Southwynde Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina. Due to the poor sales and overall negative reception of their dub, AnimEigo did not dub the series any further. AnimEigo would later dub the movies (save for the 2nd, which was previously handled by U.S. Manga Corps in 1996) with most of the roles recast in 2003.

An improvisational gag dub of the first and third episodes of the series would later be broadcast on BBC Choice (now BBC3) in 2000 as part of a "Japan Night" special under the title of Lum the Invader Girl. This dub was recorded in the United Kingdom and featured English comedian Matt Lucas as Ataru and actress Anna Friel as Lum, while much of the other cast were British dubbing regulars. While the plot generally holds true, many liberties were taken with the translation; mainly played for laughs, with some bits descending into parody and local referential humor (Lum’s father, the working class Mr. Invader, is introduced as “the voice of Bert Fry in The Archers").

The show would later be dubbed in Hong Kong for airing on Animax Asia sometime in the 2000s under the title of Alien Musibat. Very little info about the dub is known and the exact number of episodes dubbed is unknown, though it's known to run as late as Episode 33. In this dub, Lum is referred to as Lamu (a more literal translation of her name).

An early known English dub is the Alaskan dub, Cosma the Invader Girl, which reportedly aired on local TV in the state in the late 1980s, but no footage of it has surfaced.

Cast[]

Image	Character	Seiyū	AnimEigo Dub (eps. 1-2)	BBC3 Dub (eps. 1 & 3)	Animax Dub (Complete Series?)
Main Characters
	Ataru Moroboshi	Toshio Furukawa	Michael Sinterniklaas	Matt Lucas	Candice Moore
	Lum Invader	Fumi Hirano	Martha Ellen Senseney	Anna Friel	Claudia Thompson
	Shinobu Miyake	Saeko Shimazu	Katherine Burton	Lauren Laverne	¿?
	Shutaro Mendou	Akira Kamiya			Russell Wait
Recurring Characters
Tomobiki High School
	Principal	Tomomichi Nishimura			¿?
	Onsen-Mark	Michihiro Ikemizu			¿?
	Ryuunosuke Fujinami	Mayumi Tanaka			¿?
	Megane / Satoshi	Shigeru Chiba	Marc Garber	¿?	¿?
	Perm / Kosuke	Akira Murayama		¿?	¿?
	Chibi	Issei Futamata		¿?	¿?
	Kakugari	Shinji Nomura			¿?
Aliens
	Jari-Ten	Kazuko Sugiyama	Mindi L. Lyons	Barbara Barnes	Sarah Hauser
	Benten	Yūko Mita			¿?
	Oyuki	Noriko Ohara			¿?
	Ran	Yō Inoue (eps. 18-103)			Andrea Kwan
	Ran	Kazue Komiya (eps. 109-195)			Andrea Kwan
	Rei	Tesshō Genda		¿?	¿?
	Princess Kurama	Rihoko Yoshida			¿?
	Lum's Father	Ritsuo Sawa	David Kraus	¿?	¿?
	Lum's Mother	Reiko Yamada			¿?
Citizens of Tomobiki
	Ataru's Father	Kenichi Ogata	Marc Matney	¿?	Darren Pleavin
	Ataru's Mother	Natsumi Sakuma	Dorothy Rankin	¿?	Andrea Kwan
	Sakuramboo (Cherry)	Ichirō Nagai	Eric Paisley	Sean Barrett	¿?
	Sakura	Machiko Washio			¿?
	Tsubame Ozuno	Kazuhiko Inoue			¿?
	Ryoko Mendou	Mami Koyama			¿?
	Tobimaro Mizunokoji	Bin Shimada			¿?
	Asuka Mizunokoji	Sumi Shimamoto			¿?
	Mr. Fujinami	Masahiro Anzai			¿?
	Soban	Kaneta Kimotsuki			¿?
	Inaba	Hirotaka Suzuoki			¿?
	Shingo	Tōru Furuya			¿?
	Nagisa Shiowatari	Mitsuki Yayoi			¿?

Episodic Characters[]

Character	Seiyū	Dub Actor	Episodes
Governmental Godfather	Koichi Chiba	¿?	1
Space Taxi Driver	Kaneta Kimotsuki		1
Mr. Propane	Shigeru Chiba		2
Kintaro	Masako Nozawa		4, 8, 26, 45
Nursery School Teacher	Shinobu Adachi		4
Rocket Scientist	Shigeru Chiba		4
Sakura's Mother	Tarako		5
Mirror Demon	Kaneta Kimotsuki		6
Shinobu's Father	Shigeru Chiba		7
Shinobu's Mother	Shinobu Adachi		7
Karasutengu Elder	Kazuomi Ikeda		9, 12, 48, 68, 121
Karasutengu	Shigeru Chiba		9, 12, 48, 68, 121
B-Bo	¿?		8
Otoko Kumino	¿?		10
Ushiwakamaru	¿?		12
Sanjuro Kuribayashi	Tesshō Genda		16, 19-20, 23
Principal	Koichi Chiba		16, 20
Mendou's Mother	Akiko Tsuboi		16
Juliet	Yūko Mita		17
Demon Velial	Michihiro Ikemizu		17
Manchinrou	Kaneta Kimotsuki		20
Mujaki	Kenichi Ogata		21
Kaede	Yūko Mita		21.5, 55
Prince of the Underground	Shigeru Chiba		22
Prim	Machiko Washio
Yuni	Yū Mizushima
Diana	Run Sakaki
Master Kappa	Kenichi Ogata		23
Princess Kappa	¿?		23
Imo	Shiori		25
Count Dracula	Kaneta Kimotsuki	Darren Pleavin	27
Kōmori	Yoshiko Ōta	¿?	27
Flower Shop Girl	Mieko Nobusawa	¿?	29
Tsuyuko Amamori	Sumi Shimamoto	¿?	30
Tsuyuko's Father	¿?	¿?
Amefurashi	Masako Uetake	¿?
Ran's Mother	Yukiko Nashiwa	Candice Moore	31, 35
Wendy	Mika Doi	¿?	32
Hanawa	Rokurō Naya	¿?	33, 35, 46
Pool Demon	Jōji Yanami	¿?	34, 125
Dappya Monster	Makoto Ataka	¿?	34
Red Mantle	Junpei Takiguchi	¿?	37
Yoshiko	¿?	¿?	37
Miki	Yōko Asagami	¿?	39
Announcer	Bin Shimada	¿?	41
Misuzu	Eiko Masuyama	¿?	43
Yuki	Tomoko Ōtsuka	¿?	43
Director	Masahiro Anzai	¿?	47
Caster	Shigeru Chiba	¿?
Newscaster	Shigeru Chiba	¿?
Kotatsu-Neko	Tomohiro Nishimura	¿?	51
Oshima	Masako Sugaya	¿?	52
Hokuto	Akira Kamiya	¿?	158