Indelible Lipstick Magic!! / Lethal Attacks Yaminabe!
Episode 18 of Urusei Yatsura begins with Lum creating lipstick on her ship. Once it’s complete, Lum leaves and heads to Ataru’s home. When she arrives she attempts to put lipstick on Ataru’s lips. Suddenly, Ten arrives and gets roped into their antics.
Lum marks Ten with lipstick and accidentally kisses him. Ataru realizes Lum’s lipstick has a type of magnetic pull. Ataru grabs Lum’s lipstick and throws it. Lum and Ten head after the lipstick, but Ataru reveals he has the lipstick. At school, Ataru looks for a girl to put lipstick on and spots Ryonosuke. He tells Ryonosuke to put it on since he knows she’s unaware of how to act feminine. Ryonosuke puts it on and hands the lipstick back to Ataru. He puts it on and tries locking lips with her, but Ryonosuke punches him. Lum arrives, and Ataru gets attracted to her since she’s still wearing the lipstick.
Before they’d kiss, Ataru’s male classmates’, grab him, upsetting Lum. Eventually, everyone discovers the lipstick’s power. Ataru’s female classmates grab it and try putting it on Mendo. Mendo refuses but warms up to the idea since it’ll help him get close to Lum. After Mendo puts the lipstick on, chaos ensues, leading to Mendo and Ataru kissing each other. The segment concludes with the students, teachers, and Ten getting pulled to each other and trying to flee. The next set piece starts with Ataru’s classmates deciding to play Yaminabe for next week’s recreational activity. Lum asks what it’s about, and Ataru explains it to her.
It’s food Russian roulette where everyone throws random items into a hot pot and then eats it in the dark. Lum questions the game’s validity, but Ataru says not knowing what it tastes like is the thrill of the game. At Ataru’s, Lum makes some strange alien food and tries feeding it to Ataru. After some cat and mouse chase segments, she gets him to eat her food. It causes his lips to swell up, infuriating Ataru. At night, Ataru asks Lum what her least favorite food is. He wants to know so he can get even with her. Lum tells him she hates Chomchomp and points toward the planet that carries it.
The next day, Ten says he’d get Ataru the Chomchomp, but it’ll take him ten days. Ataru settles on getting Lum to eat weird Earthly concoctions in hopes that it will cause her pain. Ataru takes Lum to different eateries to see if she finds anything disgusting. Surprisingly, nothing affects Lum. He asks Lum about her taste in Earth food, and she says everything on Earth has mild flavoring and doesn’t know what it tastes like. Two men order some Gyoza, and this causes Lum to flee because of its horrid smell. Ataru examines the dish and wonders if Lum doesn’t like the smell of garlic. He eats the customers’ dishes and departs.
After testing out his horrid breath on a few women, Ataru arrives home and tries engulfing Lum with his garlic breath. Lum retaliates by spraying air freshener. At night, Ataru finds some leftover Gyoza in the fridge and plans to put it in the Yaminabe pot for tomorrow’s event. At school, everyone starts putting their ingredients into the pot. Ten arrives at the school with the Chomchop because he ran into a vegetable salesman who sold it to him. The lights turn off and everyone starts eating. Ataru’s teacher arrives after getting a whiff of the classroom. Ataru, Shinobu, and Lum are left unfazed while the others are knocked out from the food they’ve eaten.
Ataru ends up grabbing the Chomchompo which turns into a carnivorous plant. The episode concludes with Lum telling the audience not to be careful when playing Yaminabe with their friends.
The Episode Review
Chaos and hilarity are what you’ll find in this week’s episode of Urusei Yatsura. While the gags and jokes are nice, many might want the anime to start feeling more dramatic again. It’s been a while since fans’ received a chapter that felt more serious regarding Lum and Ataru’s relationship. The previous chapter revolving around Ryonosuke’s desire for a bra was a step in the right direction though.
It contained lots of humor but felt more significant. The episode we receive today feels more of the same. It’s just Ataru and Lum getting roped into more funny scenarios. A few people may enjoy those aspects of the anime. However, others may want our characters to endure circumstances that will help them grow and feel more relatable.
While I find the anime’s comedy silly and enjoyable, it’s a bummer that it’s not giving fans more emotionally-driven scenarios like in the past. Hopefully, future episodes can steer us in that direction. Otherwise, I can see many people abandoning the anime for feeling stagnant and dull.
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Episode Rating -
(2.5)