REVIEW: The Return of Lum * Urusei Yatsura #3

Story and Art by Rumiko Takahashi
Translation/ Gerard Jones & Mari Morimoto
Touch-Up Art & Lettering/ Wayne Truman
Review: Will Dubbeld

Welp, I got got by 4-for-a-dollar manga.
No lie; 25 cents a pop.
I’m not a full-blown fanboy otaku/weaboo/Japanophile, but there’s plenty to like about Japanese culture and media. Godzilla, for example...
Iron King, Battle Royale, and Matango! (Attack of the Mushroom People) are all fine bits of film.
And samurai! There’s plenty to enjoy about kabuto helmets!

I’m admittedly more familiar with Japanese cinema than comics. Outlanders was probably my introduction to what I can safely consider manga, and it certainly was enough to pique the interest of a 10-yr old me. Fantastically detailed art and world building peppered with an acceptable amount of gore and nudity sealed the deal.

I’ve acquired a modest collection since, but nothing adequate to slake the thirst for collecting. Akira, Samurai Executioner, Lone Wolf & Cub, and a few that are Absolutely Not For Children!, have made their way into my archives, but there’s always room for more.
Especially at 4/1 dollar... 

I’d been peripherally aware of Lum for years but had absolutely no clue what it was about aside from an archetypal cute manga girl in tiger-striped underpants.
As manga is wont to do.
A bit of homework revealed the comic fits the magic girlfriend invader from another planet who falls for the local boy schtick.
As manga is wont to do...

This particular issue has 2 chapters though I’ve no idea how the original Japanese serialization was handled.
The first is essentially a humorous tale and essentially is The Fly,
But with a physics book.
Our local boy done good needs a copy of his school notes and, lo and behold, Lum happens to have a matter replicator aboard her UFO.
Shenanigans ensue and Ataru, our hapless hero, is melded with his physics book while a duplicate boy is created, albeit one covered with physics formulae and largely an automaton.
Honestly, it’s a fairly humorous series of gags.
Not mind-blowing by any stretch of the imagination, but some good slapstick sight gags that are common in light manga and anime.

The second story was extremely mediocre, however, and utterly failed to capture my attention.
Oddly, because the focal points were baseball and cheerleader thighs.
And I’m fond of both subjects.
The long and short of it deals with rivals, presumably for Lum’s affection, and a baseball game betwixt said rivals’ teams.
There’s, again, some decent sight gags, but nothing as engaging as a high school kid getting melded with a physics book.

Rumiko Takahashi does double duty on both art and writing detail and I’m a bit puzzled.
Aside from Lum, Takahashi helms Ranma 1/2 and her most well-known work, Inuyasha.
Admittedly, the Inuyasha anime is one of my vices, and I’ve picked up a coupe of the manga volumes wherein the art is much more crisp than Lum.
I’m not sure if Lum was originally serialized in Shōnen Jump or somesuch periodical a few pages at a time or the stylistic change was a matter of taste or time, but the level of precision simply is not present.
It reminds me of daily black-and-white newspaper comics like Peanuts, with simple (sometimes blurred) line work and sparse backgrounds.

Not that that’s a bad thing; just slightly disappointing considering I’ve seen more concise manga cartooning.
But for a quarter a pop, I honestly can’t grouse about the development.
Especially since I have 50-some odd issues of Lum and Ranma 1/2 to burn through.
Four for a dollar, you guys.
Couldn’t help myself...