The hilarious manga classic featuring beautiful space alien princess Lum!
Beautiful space alien princess Lum invades Earth on her UFO, and unlucky Ataru Moroboshi’s world gets turned upside down! What unimaginable shenanigans will Lum bring to Ataru's life? One thing's for sure—nearly every moment is electrifying with her around!
A strange rumor ripples through the quiet town of Tomobiki—Lum is participating in an arranged marriage event! As Lum cheerfully gets dolled up for this intergalactic gala, Ataru pretends to be indifferent to the news. Upset that Lum might find the husband of her dreams, though, Ataru contemplates following her into outer space to check out the competition!
Rumiko Takahashi (高橋留美子) was born in Niigata, Japan. She is not only one of the richest women in Japan but also one of the top paid manga artists. She is also the most successful female comic artist in history. She has been writing manga non-stop for 31 years.
Rumiko Takahashi is one of the wealthiest women in Japan. The manga she creates (and its anime adaptations) are very popular in the United States and Europe where they have been released as both manga and anime in English translation. Her works are relatively famous worldwide, and many of her series were some of the forerunners of early English language manga to be released in the nineties. Takahashi is also the best selling female comics artist in history; well over 100 million copies of her various works have been sold.
Though she was said to occasionally doodle in the margins of her papers while attending Niigata Chūō High School, Takahashi's interest in manga did not come until later. During her college years, she enrolled in Gekiga Sonjuku, a manga school founded by Kazuo Koike, mangaka of Crying Freeman and Lone Wolf and Cub. Under his guidance Rumiko Takahashi began to publish her first doujinshi creations in 1975, such as Bye-Bye Road and Star of Futile Dust. Kozue Koike often urged his students to create well-thought out, interesting characters, and this influence would greatly impact Rumiko Takahashi's works throughout her career.
Career and major works:
Takahashi's professional career began in 1978. Her first published story was Those Selfish Aliens, a comedic science fiction story. During the same year, she published Time Warp Trouble, Shake Your Buddha, and the Golden Gods of Poverty in Shōnen Sunday, which would remain the home to most of her major works for the next twenty years. Later that year, Rumiko attempted her first full-length series, Urusei Yatsura. Though it had a rocky start due to publishing difficulties, Urusei Yatsura would become one of the most beloved anime and manga comedies in Japan.
In 1980, Rumiko Takahashi found her niche and began to publish with regularity. At this time she started her second major series, Maison Ikkoku, in Big Comic Spirits. Written for an older audience, Maison Ikkoku is often considered to be one of the all-time best romance manga. Takahashi managed to work on Maison Ikkoku on and off simultaneously with Urusei Yatsura. She concluded both series in 1987, with Urusei Yatsura ending at 34 volumes, and Maison Ikkoku being 15.
During the 1980s, Takahashi became a prolific writer of short story manga, which is surprising considering the massive lengths of most of her works. Her stories The Laughing Target, Maris the Chojo, and Fire Tripper all were adapted into original video animations (OVAs). In 1984, after the end of Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku, Takahashi took a different approach to storytelling and began the dark, macabre Mermaid Saga. This series of short segments was published sporadically until 1994, with the final story being Mermaid's Mask. Many fans contend that this work remains unfinished by Takahashi, since the final story does not end on a conclusive note.
Another short work left untouched is One-Pound Gospel, which, like Mermaid Saga, was published erratically. The last story to be drawn was published in 2001, however just recently she wrote one final chapter concluding the series
Later in 1987, Takahashi began her third major series, Ranma ½. Following the late 80s and early 90s trend of shōnen martial arts manga, Ranma ½ features a gender-bending twist. The series continued for nearly a decade until 1996, when it ended at 38 volumes. Ranma ½ is one of Rumiko Takahashi's most popular series with the Western world.
During the later half of the 1990s, Rumiko Takahashi continued with short stories and her installments of Mermaid Saga and One-Pound Gospel until beginning her fourth major work, InuYasha. While Ran
After about ten volumes and over 100 weekly episodes, this manga is finally starting to come together for me. Part of it, I think, is that there are now a few longer arcs in between the standalone, single-chapter stories. I was surprised how often the main cast ended up being a near-silent audience for the monster/alien of the week in this volume, but it's better than the constant shout-y slapstick of earlier books, in my opinion.
I rather like the pool/bath gremlin. Not enough that I'd like him in real life, mind you--Ataru and company are rightfully irritated with his hang-dog act--but he's fun to read about, and his character design is cute! Dracula's companion Batty is cute, too.
Containing parts 9 and 10 of the original series collected in this nice large print omnibus we get more randomness and fun from the crew of the town of Tomobiki and beyond. In addition to the various stories we also continue to get various information tidbits like some of the various visitors in the manga/the number of times Ataru falls ill in chapter 9 and a study about the love from Ataru's mother/the most common tv programs shown in the series as seen by the characters. :)
I like that we're getting more multi-chapter arcs instead of only one-offs. I think Rumiko Takahashi is having a lot of fun with all the weird monsters and spirits, as they're becoming more prominent while our cast of characters react to them. I think that's what is keeping it fresh, to me? Putting characters in these wacky situations and exploring the weirdness of it all instead of getting hung up on repeating the same tropes of the characters over and over.
Finally, I'm beginning to recognize some of Rumiko Takahashi's potential. The stories are getting better and Ataru and Lum are not quite so obnoxious that I don't want to relate to them.
I am ridiculously excited that these have been reprinted. My original copies have begun to fall apart from re-reading. I adore Takahashi-sensei's style, and this series does not disappoint. Slap-stick comedy, love triangles, and scantly clad, sexy aliens abound!