HOME | DD

Description
I just thought I'd Finally make some fanart from Urusei Yatsura.

It's Ataru, and he's flirting with Lum.

The makings of this picture:
So simplistic, I did this with Copic markers then tweaked it in Photoshop. I wish I had more motivation to do more art, though I've been busy with other projects lately. This has been the only other anime I've been interested in besides a select few. I really love this couple's dynamic, and I love their personalities!

My Motivation:
To be perfectly honest, I think it's sad that there is so little fanart geared towards this series since it is from the 80's and all... Let alone this couple in general.

What pulled me to draw this was the constant sheer disappointment I felt when I discovered only a handful of Ataru x Lum art. Either the art was subpar or beginner level, or the good art of AtaruxLum were scarce to non-existent. I'm pretty damn serious about this. Most of UY fanart is a glorification of Lum and the dudes who like her end up cutting him out of the picture, or they make weird fetishy content of Lum. Also a lot of people prefer Ataru and Shinobu, which I don't care for. I partially blame the dudes who think they'd make a better boyfriend for Lum than Ataru or she deserves someone else. If you actually think that then you missed the point of the show and are weird, lol.

I think this is a great series. I just really wanted to see more pictures of Lum and Ataru interacting.

My opinion on the series Urusei Yatsura:
One thing that really gets my goat about this series is the gimmiky shit. Like the girl chasing that doesn't calm down at some point, or Lum never catching Ataru a break, or if they have an episode where the two are cool, Ataru fucks it up (naturally) but always. There's never a point where he doesn't fuck up once. Not even once. If there is then it probably is impossible to find such episodes and I can't find any where he or others don't overreact and muck it up.

It also boggled me a bit how Ataru could never admit he actually loves Lum at some point. (Which I completely understand that he doesn't want to commit to her and all, he is supposed to be the biggest lecher) it's just that I don't really like that Rumiko Takahashi makes all her characters similar in looks and behavior, and the repetitive predictable outcomes are all patterned. These characters never really mature or get developed past the first 50 or so episodes. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVED This series to bits, especially for some of it's more emotional episodes. Of course I get it, it's a comedy, it's supposed to be wacky hi-jinx, and all the characters are supposed to be shitty, Ataru himself and Lum too. It just wore on me out trying to sit through this show making an almost painful watch, So I didn't actually finish the series or watch all the movies. I only watched the important ones or the heart wrenching episodes. This show is so terribly dated, the humor especially so. Rumiko Takahashi's rehashed characterization style and minimal development is to be expected from her earlier works, so take this with a grain of salt if you start watching this Anime. More recent works of hers, like Inuyasha ( her more popular series) is the same predictable gimmicky shit going on but a lot more subtle and slightly less pronounced. With UY being her first is of course going to have developmental issues with it's story and characters. So this is a fair warning for those trying to get their hands on this, it is for the more acquired tastes of a throwback anime connoisseur.

I don't watch this series in consecutive episodes, I only did that in the first season and then watched the important ones that were heart wrenching and the good movies like Beautiful Dreamer and The Final Chapter. (Both awesome, you should watch Beautiful Dreamer even if you don't care for UY) Basically this series is a hit or miss but mostly a hit with me and I'm not sure why.

Every now and then I'll sit down and watch a few youtube episodes of the subbed/japanese spoken series since there was only a handful of english dubbed episodes in UK and US versions which are pretty bad. I love watching this anime, but I find myself annoyed or skipping through some of the episodes if they are stupid (most of them make no sense anyway because it is an 80's comedy anime after all).

If you're wondering what exactly this "hi-jinx" I'm talking about that severely irritates me about this series, it's basically a) Ataru acts like a moron. b) Lum gets upset at him c)People see lum upset or just get upset at Ataru either way and d)Everyone gets pissed off at each other and then we commence the looney-toon 80's style violence with goofy music, overly dramatic scenes and then usually nothing gets resolved in the end. Like I said, I tend to skip these types of episodes because they are mostly filler. This series is full of filler, but the really interesting stories and heart wrenching episodes is pretty much what hooked me in and you need to have the patience to sift through the filler bullshit. If you don't want to then this series is not for you, or you might enjoy this filler for all I care, lol.

I guess I'm drawn into Ataru's weird dynamic, I'll say that he is a really awesome character since he starts off as a real douchebag, but we discover through the series (of heartwarming episodes and movies) that he is a good person after all and even without words to tell Lum, it shows in his actions that he really loves the girl and wants to date her. I guess the one thing that holds him back, as it is glaringly obvious in the series is that he can't commit to one woman and wants to continue his (signature) "girl hunts" and harassment of women as she chases him electrocuting and biting him for cheating on her.

However I do realize that in the beginning of the series she imposed on his life and just assumed she was married to him which was pretty fucking stupid if you ask me. Lum can be really naive and ditzy, however she is smart and develops as well throughout the series.

While these two characters developed over time It could have been better if there was a point where Ataru calms down on his antics. I know a lot of people say "well he should have just quit chasing girls if he just had Lum" Yeah, no duh. But it's part of his personality, he is considered the "most lecherous man on earth" in the series. I think it could have been toned down. I really fucking hated how after a heartwrenching episode or movie he was always back to what he was doing before as if it never happened. None of it really changed him, and even if it did barely enough to notice enough development.

I would, and I bet some other fans would have been content if he at least did a little more, but he was still a stupid teen and portrayed that way for comedic reasons.

I really think this series is great as it is, by no means am I knocking it. For what it's worth, it's a fantastic series if you like kooky anime that you don't need to take seriously. I guess Rumiko Takahashi was adamantly trying to avoid the serious realms for the episodes, but they put them in so sparsely and if there was anything serious it would go back to non-serious again. I didn't quite like that, though sometimes it made me chuckle, but over and over again it got old. You get me.

I love how Takahashi made this series open ended, since I didn't expect her to change the characters drastically and I didn't expect her to, because I know some fans disagree with the other fans who want Ataru to change, however in my thoughts they could have fleshed him out a little more and made him more reflective and responsive in regards his behavior and treatment of Lum and himself.

I'll end this TL;DR rant, but I must admit I love this couple and I think they are freaking awesome. I wish I could have seen more reciprocation from Ataru towards Lum. I guess this is more of an "After series" picture.

Edit: After doing some research on TV Tropes on UY, it is stated numerous times in "Reset Button" and "Ship Sinking" both areas of these articles claim that Takahashi indeed hated Lum and Ataru together. She intended for Shinobu and Ataru to be together even though the fans were totally head over heels for Ataru x Lum. Takahashi deliberately tortured her fans with the possibility of Ataru x Lum being an official couple, but really wanted Shinobu with Ataru at the beginning of the manga and anime. So honestly she was a hardcore shipper of Ataru and Shinobi which really sucks to me.

So after browsing the forums on Perfectedition.com a user claim that Lum was meant to be a one shot character. That's actually quite interesting! Perhaps Lum was just a selling point for the series and the board went with it. If Takahashi wasn't so hardlined in cliche's, one-trick-ponies and her OTP, this might have been a much more different and perhaps better series, to say the least.

Urusei Yatsura belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

Description
I just thought I'd Finally make some fanart from Urusei Yatsura.

It's Ataru, and he's flirting with Lum.

The makings of this picture:
So simplistic, I did this with Copic markers then tweaked it in Photoshop. I wish I had more motivation to do more art, though I've been busy with other projects lately. This has been the only other anime I've been interested in besides a select few. I really love this couple's dynamic, and I love their personalities!

My Motivation:
To be perfectly honest, I think it's sad that there is so little fanart geared towards this series since it is from the 80's and all... Let alone this couple in general.

What pulled me to draw this was the constant sheer disappointment I felt when I discovered only a handful of Ataru x Lum art. Either the art was subpar or beginner level, or the good art of AtaruxLum were scarce to non-existent. I'm pretty damn serious about this. Most of UY fanart is a glorification of Lum and the dudes who like her end up cutting him out of the picture, or they make weird fetishy content of Lum. Also a lot of people prefer Ataru and Shinobu, which I don't care for. I partially blame the dudes who think they'd make a better boyfriend for Lum than Ataru or she deserves someone else. If you actually think that then you missed the point of the show and are weird, lol.

I think this is a great series. I just really wanted to see more pictures of Lum and Ataru interacting.

My opinion on the series Urusei Yatsura:
One thing that really gets my goat about this series is the gimmiky shit. Like the girl chasing that doesn't calm down at some point, or Lum never catching Ataru a break, or if they have an episode where the two are cool, Ataru fucks it up (naturally) but always. There's never a point where he doesn't fuck up once. Not even once. If there is then it probably is impossible to find such episodes and I can't find any where he or others don't overreact and muck it up.

It also boggled me a bit how Ataru could never admit he actually loves Lum at some point. (Which I completely understand that he doesn't want to commit to her and all, he is supposed to be the biggest lecher) it's just that I don't really like that Rumiko Takahashi makes all her characters similar in looks and behavior, and the repetitive predictable outcomes are all patterned. These characters never really mature or get developed past the first 50 or so episodes. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVED This series to bits, especially for some of it's more emotional episodes. Of course I get it, it's a comedy, it's supposed to be wacky hi-jinx, and all the characters are supposed to be shitty, Ataru himself and Lum too. It just wore on me out trying to sit through this show making an almost painful watch, So I didn't actually finish the series or watch all the movies. I only watched the important ones or the heart wrenching episodes. This show is so terribly dated, the humor especially so. Rumiko Takahashi's rehashed characterization style and minimal development is to be expected from her earlier works, so take this with a grain of salt if you start watching this Anime. More recent works of hers, like Inuyasha ( her more popular series) is the same predictable gimmicky shit going on but a lot more subtle and slightly less pronounced. With UY being her first is of course going to have developmental issues with it's story and characters. So this is a fair warning for those trying to get their hands on this, it is for the more acquired tastes of a throwback anime connoisseur.

I don't watch this series in consecutive episodes, I only did that in the first season and then watched the important ones that were heart wrenching and the good movies like Beautiful Dreamer and The Final Chapter. (Both awesome, you should watch Beautiful Dreamer even if you don't care for UY) Basically this series is a hit or miss but mostly a hit with me and I'm not sure why.

Every now and then I'll sit down and watch a few youtube episodes of the subbed/japanese spoken series since there was only a handful of english dubbed episodes in UK and US versions which are pretty bad. I love watching this anime, but I find myself annoyed or skipping through some of the episodes if they are stupid (most of them make no sense anyway because it is an 80's comedy anime after all).

If you're wondering what exactly this "hi-jinx" I'm talking about that severely irritates me about this series, it's basically a) Ataru acts like a moron. b) Lum gets upset at him c)People see lum upset or just get upset at Ataru either way and d)Everyone gets pissed off at each other and then we commence the looney-toon 80's style violence with goofy music, overly dramatic scenes and then usually nothing gets resolved in the end. Like I said, I tend to skip these types of episodes because they are mostly filler. This series is full of filler, but the really interesting stories and heart wrenching episodes is pretty much what hooked me in and you need to have the patience to sift through the filler bullshit. If you don't want to then this series is not for you, or you might enjoy this filler for all I care, lol.

I guess I'm drawn into Ataru's weird dynamic, I'll say that he is a really awesome character since he starts off as a real douchebag, but we discover through the series (of heartwarming episodes and movies) that he is a good person after all and even without words to tell Lum, it shows in his actions that he really loves the girl and wants to date her. I guess the one thing that holds him back, as it is glaringly obvious in the series is that he can't commit to one woman and wants to continue his (signature) "girl hunts" and harassment of women as she chases him electrocuting and biting him for cheating on her.

However I do realize that in the beginning of the series she imposed on his life and just assumed she was married to him which was pretty fucking stupid if you ask me. Lum can be really naive and ditzy, however she is smart and develops as well throughout the series.

While these two characters developed over time It could have been better if there was a point where Ataru calms down on his antics. I know a lot of people say "well he should have just quit chasing girls if he just had Lum" Yeah, no duh. But it's part of his personality, he is considered the "most lecherous man on earth" in the series. I think it could have been toned down. I really fucking hated how after a heartwrenching episode or movie he was always back to what he was doing before as if it never happened. None of it really changed him, and even if it did barely enough to notice enough development.

I would, and I bet some other fans would have been content if he at least did a little more, but he was still a stupid teen and portrayed that way for comedic reasons.

I really think this series is great as it is, by no means am I knocking it. For what it's worth, it's a fantastic series if you like kooky anime that you don't need to take seriously. I guess Rumiko Takahashi was adamantly trying to avoid the serious realms for the episodes, but they put them in so sparsely and if there was anything serious it would go back to non-serious again. I didn't quite like that, though sometimes it made me chuckle, but over and over again it got old. You get me.

I love how Takahashi made this series open ended, since I didn't expect her to change the characters drastically and I didn't expect her to, because I know some fans disagree with the other fans who want Ataru to change, however in my thoughts they could have fleshed him out a little more and made him more reflective and responsive in regards his behavior and treatment of Lum and himself.

I'll end this TL;DR rant, but I must admit I love this couple and I think they are freaking awesome. I wish I could have seen more reciprocation from Ataru towards Lum. I guess this is more of an "After series" picture.

Edit: After doing some research on TV Tropes on UY, it is stated numerous times in "Reset Button" and "Ship Sinking" both areas of these articles claim that Takahashi indeed hated Lum and Ataru together. She intended for Shinobu and Ataru to be together even though the fans were totally head over heels for Ataru x Lum. Takahashi deliberately tortured her fans with the possibility of Ataru x Lum being an official couple, but really wanted Shinobu with Ataru at the beginning of the manga and anime. So honestly she was a hardcore shipper of Ataru and Shinobi which really sucks to me.

So after browsing the forums on Perfectedition.com a user claim that Lum was meant to be a one shot character. That's actually quite interesting! Perhaps Lum was just a selling point for the series and the board went with it. If Takahashi wasn't so hardlined in cliche's, one-trick-ponies and her OTP, this might have been a much more different and perhaps better series, to say the least.

Urusei Yatsura belongs to Rumiko Takahashi