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Thursday, 3 October 2013

Manga in the 80's Pt. 8

Lum. Written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Comics published 9 issues in a Monthly format in 1989, taken from serialized manga in Weekly Shonen Sunday spanning from 1978 to 1987.

Known as Urusei Yatsura (Those Obnoxious Aliens) in Japan this is a fanciful comedy following Ataru and his girlfriend Shinobu, who have relationship troubles like most young couples, but things are going to get a little bit more complicated, as Ataru has been randomly selected (by computer of course) to stop an Alien Invasion in proudly representing Earth as its champion in a competition of 'Tag'..! 

Faced with the world resting on his shoulders, and running out of time to tag the very cute Alien Lum (who could fly) Ataru only manages to grab hold of (and keep) Lum's bikini-top, his new found motivation of his girlfriend's offer to marry him if he wins, gets misunderstood by Lum as a marriage proposal! Now life for Ataru Moroboshi is all kinds of weird, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

[Note: In the back cover of Issue 1, a small Biography is printed “She attended a woman's college in Tokyo where she began studying comics with 'Kazuo Koike” (the writer of 'Lone Wolf and Cub', and Crying Freeman). By the late1980's Rumiko Takahashi was the most popular comic-book writer in Japan!]

[We in the West have come to know this female Manga artist and writer Rumiko Takahashi and her many works, both comedic and supernatural from 'Ranma ½' to the Mermaid Saga!]

[With a recognisable supporting cast of characters that rivals 'The Simpsons' in number, Lum (aka Urusei Yatsura) is a Japanese phenominum that is hard to miss, and even harder not to like.]

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