Urusei Yatsura

Episode 7

I really have to give this episode credit; despite it being set up like a typical beach episode, I genuinely did not expect half of the punchlines in it. Part of that could be due to the episode's rather unorthodox structure, which turns the main cast into more like bystanders to someone else's story. We didn't even get a lot of the typical Ataru getting the shit beat out of him outside of the opening scene, and I don't think Lum let out a single bolt of lightning. It's rare to see a comedy like Urusei Yatsura drop its central gags and try something a little bit different, but not only do I respect that creative decision, I actually think it works in this episode's favor.

Instead of Ataru or Lum, the main character of this episode was a little blue demon named Pochi who likes to live underwater. I felt bad for him, but I also sort of understood why nobody wanted to put up with him since he's so bad at reading the room. More importantly, a passive and almost socially unaware character like him makes for a pretty effective contrast to our usual loud and intrusive main cast. The way his story concludes at the end with this random depressing story of a little boy that doesn't want to let his pet go away felt strangely satisfying. Sure, the punchline is really weird when you sit and think about it (especially the implication that the pet this boy was looking to get rid of was a small old man) but I have to admit, that's such an out-of-left field twist that perfectly matches the tone of the show so I don't even care that it doesn't make any logical sense. Besides, I guess if it was an actual animal that this kid formed an emotional attachment to then the ending wouldn't really work.

Aside from that, I guess it was nice seeing the main cast try to act like decent people by putting up Pochi even though they just couldn't help themselves when it came to potentially seeing two adults having a quiet romantic moment alone on the beach. It's made especially sad when you consider the fact that this couple probably haven't had a lot of alone time together prior to this point. I guess that just further cements the fact that this episode felt like a random collection of really sad stories with a bunch of comedic commentators reacting to them, and that's totally ok with me.

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Urusei Yatsura is currently streaming on HIDIVE.