うる星やつら episode 29 (2002)
Urusei Yatsura 29 Review (2022)
Summary/SPOILER Summary:
Kotatsu-Neko bought kotatsu from a thrift store. Later at Ataru’s house, the two are playing Othello while Kotatsu-Neko tries to cover the kotatsu with a blanket. Kotatsu avoids it, ruining the game. When the kotatsu is pinned, it will create a blizzard in Ataru’s room. Lum sees the Mendou family’s iconic squid symbol on the kotatsu.
Thus, Ataru shouted that Suutarou was a “bakayarou”. Shuutarou appears to attack Ataru. After calming him down, Shuutarou confirms that they own the kotatsu. He gives its backstory and why they failed to tame it. Kotatsu-Neko and kotatsu fight for a while. They come to an agreement, in which the kotatsu pulls a large sled piloted by Kotatsu-Neko.
Lum and Ataru go to a pet store. A cow there bit Ataru, then bit Lum. She fried the cow, then went to her UFO to treat herself. When Lum woke up, her oni horn had become a cow’s horn. Lum panicked and started skipping school. One day, Ten-chan comes to school and reveals that Lum is sick. Lum appears with her hair in a bun and she summons Ataru.
After visiting Sakura-sensei, Ataru and Lum walked home in the rain. Lum requests that if she goes missing and a cow shows up at his door, she wants him to name it after her and treat her well. She tried to run away but Ataru stopped her, causing her bun to deflate. When Ataru saw the bull’s horns, they both cried. Ataru vows to take care of her and soon begins making a cowshed. Meanwhile, Lum knows that her horn will soon return to normal.
Thoughts/Review:
And so we get a silly and wonderful story in
The Kotatsu-Neko story makes no sense
The first story of Urusei Yatsura 29 quite dull and boring to me. Kotatsu-Neko only serves as a background character or brief cameo. So centering an episode around this giant cat trying to conquer a magical kotatsu just makes no sense. I don’t care for Kotatsu-Neko’s efforts, and it doesn’t amuse me at all.
I rewatched my OG episode review and man, it was even worse due to the story padding. Luckily, I didn’t have to endure another heartless father. Still, even without the extras, this part of the episode still made me want to “go back” to skip it. ????
That aside, there is a funny moment. When Ataru shouted the insult “bakayarou” at Shuutarou, effectively summoning him, it made me laugh a little.
Lum the Cow
Second story in Urusei Yatsura 29 works much better. I found that Lum’s electric shocks weren’t as effective on me as they were in the OG anime adaptation. In the past, when Lum fried beef, I laughed out loud. This time, it just turned me on. I think the OG anime production team tried to find a more humorous approach to Lum frying things.
However, Lum’s modern adaptation of oni horns into cow horns is touching. Even without all the extra extras the OG adaptation did, the 2022 adaptation still does what it’s supposed to do. So I believe Ataru’s concern about Lum having the ability to turn into a cow. The fact that he is willing to build her a barn to take care of her shows that he really loves her, even if he doesn’t want to show it.
The strange part of the episode was the fact that Lum didn’t. I didn’t know that oni horns grow when the oni has harmful bacteria in its body. I noticed I didn’t comment on this the other day, so maybe I wasn’t thinking about it then. But for this current episode, I’m thinking, “How does she NOT know this?” Obviously, when Takahashi-sensei wrote the original chapter, that moment overrode the logic of everything. Well, it’s just a small point, but still…
Final thoughts and conclusions
Let me end my review on Urusei Yatsura 29 with some final thoughts.
I guess the current anime production team will continue to take segments from Onsen-sensei’s house visiting the story and use them to complete the short episodes. I’m okay with that. Cherry started reading the first story and it was too long. The official subtitles are trash as usual. That said, I was surprised to see the word “kotatsu” untranslated.
Final, Urusei Yatsura 29 is a mess. The first story is forgettable and boring, while the second story is touching, even if ultimately pointless.
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