Modest by today's standards, Lum was pretty daring by early 80s standards.

Meet the girl in girl in the itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny tiger-striped bikini.

November 9, 1999

Arguably, the one person responsible for the "beautiful girls fall in love with less than useful man" genre that dominates Japanese romantic comedy is Rumiko Takahashi. This one-woman whirlwind is the force behind some of THE most popular anime and manga today, including Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, Innu-Yasha, Mermaid Forest, and Laughing Target.

But every saga has a beginning, and Takahashi's beginnings start with Urusei Yatsura, or as it's known in the States, Those Obnoxious Aliens. Making the transition from manga series to anime in the late 70s, this series established many of the classic anime archetypes: Lum -- the beautiful alien high school girl from space who wears as little as possible. Ataru -- lecherous boy with a heart of gold. Lendo -- the rich boy with an incredible arrogance disguised as chivalry. Virtually every character in UY has evolved and traveled into all walks of anime. Watch Tenchi Muyo or El-Hazard, and you'll see echoes of this sereis. Heck, when a series has 220+ episodes, 6 OAVs, and 6 movies, it's bound to have some influence on the medium.

Things to Watch for:

This intro sequence dates itself. This is back when the first Star Wars trilogy was still fresh in the minds of the world and sci-fi was still stuck in its neon roller skates and stretch Lycra phase, so you'll see plenty of Star Wars references and classic space opera poster poses. Also, you'll notice that in this era, the women, while scantily-clad, are classier in presentation than a couple Pioneer productions we could name.

The Introduction