Urusei Yatsura (2022) – Season 1 Episode 21 Recap & Review

Cosmo Teacher CAO-2 / Ooh Scary! Voodoo Doll

Episode 21 of Urusei Yatsura begins with Ran, Benten, Oyuki, and Lum discussing events surrounding Planet Urchin. Oyuki brings up a figure named CAO-2, and everyone starts panicking. We flashback to when Oyuki, Benten, Lum, and Ran are toddlers attending Planet Elementary School, home to the legendary robot teacher, CAO-2, the Cosmo Teacher.

CAO-2 notices the four girls causing problems and punishes them. Afterward, Benten and the others plan to get revenge on their teacher for making a fool out of them. They place a 500lb weight above the entrance and wait for it to land on CAO-2’s head when he enters the classroom. The plans work flawlessly, but CAO-2 doesn’t feel any pain. Oyuki leads everyone in the bowing routine, and the weight falls atop CAO-2’s desk. He punishes the girls again. In the present, Ataru and Mendo arrive to listen to their tale about CAO-2. Lum and the others continue sharing more narratives regarding them trying to destroy or cause CAO-2 pain.

After firing a missile at him, CAO-2 chases Benten, Lum, and the others off the school grounds and toward Planet Urchin. After maneuvering through its many spikes, CAO-2 gets trapped on the planet, so Benten and the others leave him there. In the present, the girls, Ataru and Mendo, wonder if CAO-2 will head to Earth for revenge. It turns out their hunches were correct as he comes crashing into the restaurant they’re chatting at to seek vengeance. The set piece concludes with CAO-2 punishing Lum, Benten, and Ran before leaving Earth. The next segment starts at the Mendo family mansion.

Ryoko shows Mendo that he made a voodoo doll of him. Ryoko starts torturing Mendo with it because she’s drawn by what it can do. However, Ryoko entrusts her men to give Mendo’s voodoo doll to Ataru. They don’t share what it’s for, but Ataru accepts. Mendo fears for his life at school, while Onsen-Mark shares a story with a premise similar to Ranma 1/2 (another work by Rumiko Takahashi). Throughout the day, Ataru makes contact with the doll unknowingly. Mendo suffers as a result. During class, Mendo figures out that Ataru has his voodoo doll. He has a hunch Ataru doesn’t know about its capabilities and plans to steal it from him.

After protecting Ataru from harm’s way many times, Mendo asks Ataru for the straw doll. Ataru refuses to hand it to him because it was a gift from Ryoko. One of Ryoko’s men arrives and tells Ataru what the doll can do. He starts hammering away at the doll to make Mendo feel pain. At the mansion, Mendo starts working on a voodoo doll for Ataru to make him pay. The episode concludes with Mendo and Ataru getting into a voodoo battle.

The Episode Review

This chapter of Urusei Yatsura continues to double down on the comedy. We get to peer into our characters’ toddler years and see them committing heinous actions toward their robotic teacher, CAO-2. Furthermore, we get some voodoo mischief with Mendo and Ataru. As for the series’s plot, we don’t get any relevant development for our main cast.

It doesn’t seem like we’ll be receiving any substantial drama, either. Although this is a bummer, the comedy still remains Urusei Yatsura’s best feat, even if it’s a tad much. The childish and absurd antics Benten and the others display in this episode were charming, outrageous, and humorous. If there’s anyone who changed, it’s Ran. She went from being this innocent follower to a rowdy person.

From Lum blaming her for wetting the bed to Benten getting her involved with playing pranks on CAO-2, she’s the one many fans will be feeling empathetic toward the most. The second chapter didn’t offer anything new. It was simply there to make people laugh at Mendo and Ataru’s grief. It would’ve been better if we received another segment dedicated to CAO-2 to learn more about him.

Overall, this was a decent chapter of Urusei Yatsura. It doesn’t offer anything integral to the plot and chooses to focus more on the show’s comedic side. With only two episodes left, I don’t see the show adding any relevant drama or substantial bits that’ll get viewers excited for another season. Hopefully, these final two episodes will surprise me and other watchers.