Urusei Yatsura

Episode 3

Episode three of Urusei Yatsura continues the pattern of introducing a new character in order to shake up the main cast dynamic. However, unlike the previous episode which mostly confined this new character to about one skit, Shutaro Mendo occupies most of this episode's screen time and, as a polar opposite to Ataru, he is used pretty effectively. He's flashy, handsome, and proper, and the scene where he nearly killed himself was absolutely hilarious. The unremarkable protagonist and his much more gentlemanly rival that's better than him in almost every way is a trope as old as time, but there are two standout elements in this episode that I think make it that much funnier.

The first is the obvious love square that kind of appears out of nowhere. The fact that Shutaro, Shinobu, Lum, and Ataru all have their own objectives to pursue a different person while all sort of failing miserably was pretty funny because it goes beyond the typical misunderstanding trope that usually gets set up. There really aren't any misunderstandings between any of the characters except for maybe Lum—they're all direct and brazen about who they're trying to get with but they're all just so bad at it! The universe might hate Ataru, but that doesn't mean it isn't having its fun with everyone else. Kind of funny that the sleazy goofy protagonist is simultaneously the straight man of the show while also constantly being the butt of the joke. Shout out to the whole class giving their occasional bits of commentary as well.

The other part I liked about this episode was something surprisingly subtle that is foreshadowed at the beginning of the episode with an unexpected payoff at the end. Shutaro is Ataru's opposite in almost every way, but we find out that he's only competent in the presence of women because his pride allows him to ignore the many fears and character flaws that he has that would kind of put him on the same level as Ataru. When he was trapped in the cave but didn't have any women nearby to impress, Shutaro fell apart like a house of cards. Ataru, on the other hand, is actually quite capable when you think about it. He has an impressive amount of stamina, he can be very quick-witted, he can see through people's bullshit pretty easily, and apparently he's also good at ninjitsu! However, these skills only surface when he is trying to protect himself, and he kind of sucks whenever he tries to impress women. I thought it was nice that the episode went all the way with the polar opposite trope and showed a legitimate weakness in Shutaro that could very easily be exploited. In fact, my favorite bit of the episode was the quick changing back-and-forth he kept going through in the cave when Ataru was making it so the girls couldn't look at him. Overall, this is a solid episode and unlike Sakura from episode two, I definitely see a lot more comedic potential with this type of dynamic moving forward!

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Urusei Yatsura is currently streaming on HIDIVE.