Urusei Yatsura to Return With New Anime Series

Urusei Yatsura announced its return with a promotional video that teases the first season of the manga's brand-new anime adaptation.

According to the mangaka, Rumiko Takahashi, the first season of the new anime is premiering in 2022.

The teaser serves as an announcement for the anime's main cast and staff. Hiroshi Kamiya is the voice of Ataru Moroboshi and Sumire Uesaka is the voice of Lum. Hideya Takahashi and Yasuhiro Kimura are co-directing, Yuuko Kakihara is serving as lead scriptwriter and Naoyuki Asano is working on character designs. Finally, David Production is producing the anime, which will adapt select stories from the manga and run for four cours. The first season of Urusei Yatsura will air on Fuji TV and other channels in 2022 and will mark the 100th anniversary of the manga's publisher, Shogakukan.

Urusei Yatsura is a manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi that began serialization in Shogakukan's Shonen Sunday and ran from 1978 to 1987. In the '90s, Viz Media licensed the series in North America as Lum and The Return of Lum but dropped it after nine volumes. However, in 2019, Viz re-licensed the manga under its original title and published it in 2-in-1 omnibus editions with new translations. The manga has since been adapted into various other media, such as a 195-episode anime produced by Kitty Films that ran from 1981 to 1986, various anime films and an OVA series. AnimEigo has released most of the previous anime by Kitty Films on home video, except for the Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer film, which Central Park Media released. After these companies' licenses expired, Discotek Media started reissuing the movies.

The manga is a romantic comedy that follows the story of Ataru Moroboshi and the alien, Lum. When Earth is threatened by a fleet of invading aliens from the planet Oniboshi, Ataru is randomly selected to represent humanity in a duel against Lum. The contest turns out to be a variation of the game of tag, where the human player must touch the horns of the alien player within 10 days. On the last day, Ataru catches Lum and proclaims his intention to marry his girlfriend back on Earth, Shinobu. Lum mistakes this as a proposal to her and accepts. She becomes smitten with Ataru and forcefully moves in with him. Now Ataru must balance his failing relationship with Shinobu and keep Lum happy, all the while flirting with other women.

Fans can expect Urusei Yatsura sometime in 2022.

Source: Twitter, via Anime News Network