The first thing that hits you as the episode opens are those backgrounds! Specifically the sky, a hazy mix of oranges and blues, creating a wonderful after-school twilight. Both stories in this episode were directed and storyboarded by Oshii himself, with Asami Endo as Animation Director (she seems woefully under credited over on ANN, wikipedia indicates her heavy involvement in 80s Studio Pierrot titles.). They were both written by the late Hiroyuki Hoshiyama (creator of Round Vernian Vifam).
This first story in this episode introduces seven of our recurring cast.
Ataru Moroboshi, our “hero”. A lecherous 17 year old cursed with supernaturally bad luck. He has been chosed to represent Earth in an intergalactic game of tag against The Invader’s representative…
Lum Invader. The Invaders are based on the Oni of legend, dressed in tiger skin and with horns on their head. Due to a misunderstanding Lum finds herself betrothed to Ataru at the end of the episode, much to the annoyance of…
Shinobu Miyake, Ataru’s current girlfriend. The original intention seems to have been to make a love triangle between these three. However not enough time was given to establish Ataru and Shinobu as a couple, and there isn’t enough at stake to make Lum a threat. In fact due to Ataru’s personality, they both seem victims of his behaviour. The Ranma/Akane/Shampoo relationship in Ranma 1/2 can be read as an revised take on the same idea.
We also also get a brief glimpse of ascetic Buddhist monk Cherry, a diminutive, wizened old geezer who frequently proclaims doom for Ataru. More on him in later episodes. And finally, we meet both Ataru’s parents and Mr Invader, Lum’s dad.
This first story sets a lot of the tone for the series to come. Military vehicles in suburban Tokyo. Spaceships flying in the neighbourhood. Selfishness all around, from the Earth’s governments haranguing of Ataru, to Ataru’s lechery, to Lum assuming that a proposal must be for her, to Ataru’s mother wishing she’d never had him.
As I discussed a while back when I was talking about Sgt Frog and its relationship to this earlier work there’s a misanthropy to Rumiko Takahashi’s worldview that sets it apart from the bulk of anime comedy. It’s particularly true in these early episodes, where Lum’s own rough edges are there to be seen and she has much more mean and manipulative nature.
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The second story at first doesn’t really involve Lum, but by the end the basic setup for the remaining 195 episodes is in place.
We open with the four characters that represent the biggest change in the anime to the manga, Lum’s Stormtroopers. We also get the first glimpse that Ataru’s school is pretty damn weird to begin with they have a Torture Club! And we get the example that, when angered, Shinobu possesses super human strength.
Anyway, back to the Stormtroopers. They have only a small role in the manga, but in the anime they are a big part of the main cast. Four of Ataru’s classmates (friends seems too strong a word) are basically Lum’s fanclub, they want Lum to be happy, however their motives are always less than pure. They are otaku for Lum, and they are terrible people. The worst of which is their leader Megane, a true monster of a character, given to making noble-sounding speeches fueled by teenage libido and appealling to Ataru’s worst nature.
In this story they are worried Lum has left Earth and attempt to summon her, instead they end up hailing a space taxi. They get the taxi to take them to the Moroboshi house. The fare? All of Earth’s oil supplies.
There’s a couple of narrative devices used in this episode that recur throughout the series, and having sold what I had of the manga a few years back, I can’t recall if they are unique to the anime. They are good though.
The first is having the Tomobiki neighbourhood housewives act as a Greek chorus to whatever chaos Ataru is causing. The second is using news reports to move the plots along, normally involving overly emotional TV presenters.
There’s also a shot that I recall getting reused a lot to great effect, a pan across the Moroboshi’s living room to reveal a lot of people sitting behind their table.
Anyway, by the end Lum pays the taxi fare and moves into the Moroboshi household, and we have the sit of our sitcom established! Teenage boy with unwanted alien girlfriend/wife.
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Ataru is voiced by Toshio Furukawa, who was very prolific during the 80s and is still in demand today. He’d work with a number of the UY staff again as Asuma Shinohara in Patlabor. Other famous roles include Piccolo in Dragonball, Leon in Bubblegum Crisis, Taro in Dr. Slump, Shin in Fist of the North Star, Kai Shiden in Gundam, Ace in One Piece, Asura in Soul Eater, and so on. The dude has put work in.
Lum is voiced by Fumi Hirano and this is pretty much the role she is famous for, at least in the world of cartoons. She’s still doing non anime voice work, narration, radio and dubbing (she’s the voice of Sarah Jane Smith for the Japanese dub of Doctor Who!), as well as writing about the Tsukiji fish market.
Shinobu is voiced by Saeko Shimazu. Other notable roles include Yuri in Dirty Pair, Kodachi Kuno in Ranma 1/2, Megumi Ayase in Creamy Mami (another Studio Pierrot show that shared staff with UY), Miz Mishtal in El Hazard, and Four Murasame in Z Gundam.
Cherry is voiced by Ichiro Nagai. Similar “old man” roles he’s performed include Jigoro Inokuma in Yawara!, Konaki Jijii from GeGeGe no Kitaro, and Happosai in Ranma 1/2. He was also Dr. Sakezo in Yamato. Yamato is always worth noting.
Ataru’s Father is voiced by Kenichi Ogata. Notable roles include Prof. Agasa in Detective Conan, Father in ATASHIn’CHI, Myoga in Inuyasha, Genma Saotome in Ranma 1/2, and Analyzer in Yamato.
Ataru’s Mother is voiced by Natsumi Sakuma. The only other anime role of note I can find is Robotchi in Cybot Robotchi.
Lum’s Father is voiced by Ritsuo Sawa. He appears to be more famous for a variety of roles in the Kamen Rider franchise, though he has a lot of guest roles across many anime series.
Megane is voiced by Shigeru Chiba, who would go to be a frequent collaborator with Oshii as well as continue to be an in demand performer in his own right. He is Koichi Todome in Oshii’s Red Spectacles and Stray Dogs. Vanilla Vartla in Armored Trooper Votoms, Pilaf in Dragonball, Nezumi-Otoko in GeGeGe no Kitaro, Yotsuya AND Soichiro-san (the dog) in Maison Ikkoku, the suspiciously named Shigeo Shiba in Patlabor, Kazuma Kuwabara in Yu Yu Hakusho and Buggy in One Piece.