The second production batch begins!
Visually the changes are slightly different character and background designs. The differences are subtle but definitely there. For instance the proportions of Ataru have changed slightly, as has the size of his bedroom.
Mr Invader plans a matchmaking party to find Lum a more suitable husband than Ataru. He swears Ten to secrecy, but Ten almost immediately gives it away to Sakura, Cherry and Ataru. Ataru mulls over losing Lum, and as we are now in the series proper and deep down he loves her, decides to put a stop to the party.
Ataru and Ten decide to travel to the party in Ten’s spaceship, a duck shaped affair that Ataru struggles to fit into (he spends the rest of episode stuck in a crouching position). During their trip we get a preview of the new ending theme, “Kokorobosoi na”.
Meanwhile Lum arrives at her party unaware of her father’s intentions. Various weirdos then begin to try to court her such as Rei and the Prince of the Underground (his talent is digging holes!). Despairing at the weirdos gathered, Mr Invader tries to push Yuni, a chap who looks a lot like Ataru with a unicorn horn, onto her. But Yuni is in love with Diana.
Seeing Diana’s distress at seeing Lum with Yuni, Ataru, Ten and a mystery man recruit her into their Anti-Matchmaking Operation. When Mr Invader announces Yuni and Lum’s engagement, the Anti-Matchmaking Operation attack, rescuing Yuni and Lum. We then begin, with assistance of the Prince of the Underworld, that UY standby, THE CHASE.
It turns out the Mystery Man is acually Prim, the Prince of the Underworld’s fiancée. Unfortunately the Prince has no direction sense and they end up back with Mr Invader. Lum is able to talk sense into her father and by the end all the couples are back together!
Writing-wise the big advantage of the full length story is that there’s more time for the story to breath. Which means you get better execution of gags. Ten accidentally giving the party away is fantastically written, staged and acted, with a pacing I don’t see them being able to do in the half-episode stories.
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And talking of the writing, this episode has a big name writer on it – Masaki Tsuji. Tsuji is a mystery novelist and TV writer. He was awarded a Special Award last year in Animation Kobe for his writing career in animation. I suspect had he not won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1982, we may have seen more episodes of UY from him than the three he wrote.
Unsurprisingly this first episode of the new batch was a Mamoru Oshii and Asami Endo episode. Compared to their last episode, let alone the very first one, this episode is far ahead in terms of animation quality.
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The change in ending made me realise I’d not actually talked about the opening and ending themes (and related animation).
The animation for the UY openings and endings are supplied by Koji Nanke (he also did the Maison Ikkoku and Ranma 1/2 ones). And Koji Nanke is great, more in the mould of a independant animator like a Bill Plympton than your usual anime staffer. He produces both personal and commerical material, but both very much has the same touch to it. The opening and ending played a big part in getting me hooked on the series to begin with.
The opening, “Lum no Love Song” by Hiroko Matsuya will run for 77 episodes. And it goes a little something like this:
The ending for the last 21 episodes has been the slightly demented “Uchuu wa Taihen da!” also by Hiroko Matsuya:
And with this episode the ending theme becomes “Kokorobosoi na” by Helen Sasano: