And now we get our first double length story. And in many ways the blueprint for the series once it moves to full episode length stories later on.
It introduces a Lum who is written as being genuinely in love with Ataru. Before this episode she’s seemed more simply possessive of him rather than in love. Here her tears seem genuine rather than manipulative.
We have an Ataru who’s an unrepentant woman chaser, rather than just trying to see Shinobu behind Lum’s back. This has been there before, but the absence of Shinobu makes it more obvious and Lum more sympathetic.
And finally, we have Megane as an actual instigator. By making Megane the manipulator & villain, Ataru gains sympathy as a character as well. This step is a great improvement for the series, without Megane frequently out-sleezing Ataru, it might be hard to watch.
Anyway this episode revolves around an elaborate plan Megane hatches to break up Lum and Ataru, and completely discredit Ataru with the girls of Tomobiki while he’s at it. On Christmas Eve. What a jerk.
The Stormtroopers write Ataru a fake love-letter, luring him to a date with a fictional girl at Cafe Pigmon. Megane then hires a girl to play this girl, who will elbow him when he tries to kiss her, a wrestler to then beat him up, and a photographer to put all this in the school newspapers. He also gets Ten to arrange for Lum to see all this.
Ataru of course falls for all this, however Lum spots Perm in the hustle and bustle of Xmas shopping and follows him. She then eavesdrops on Megane ranting about how his plan is going to completely humiliate Ataru.
At first Lum thinks he deserves it for going on this date with another woman, however her love for him makes her decide that he shouldn’t be humiliated like this. She intercepts the girl hired by Megane, electrocutes her, and takes her place. Thus saving Ataru from Megane’s trap. She then gives Ataru the scarf we had seen her knitting at the start of the episode, and the pair share a romantic moment in the Christmas snow.
The episode does a great job of getting over Lum and Ataru as a couple. The next episode sort of introduces the last piece of the puzzle (“sort of”, because his proper intro isn’t until episode 14), a true rival for Lum’s affections from Ataru’s POV and a new romantic opportunity for Shinobu. Once he’s in place the series is pretty much in the swing of things.
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Perm, the fourth Stormtrooper, is played by Akira Murayama, who is the Japanese voice of Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons, as well as being the voice of various railway announcing systems. As he has done announcing work in real life, he’s often cast in similar roles in anime and live action. Also, he had parts in two of the J9 series I wrote about last weekend.
The episode was written by Yu Yamamoto, Mamoru Oshii was directing and storyboarding, and Asami Endo was the animation director. This far into the series, this feels like the “A” team of the show.