Urusei Yatsura – Season 2 Episode 13 Recap & Review

Wretched Shutaro!!!

Episode 13 of Urusei Yatsura Season 2 begins at the Mendo Family Estate. Mendo’s currently breaking a few jars in a secluded area. While Mendo is preoccupied, Ryoko confronts two guards who deny her entry into Mendo’s training room. Mendo exits the room. He’s exhausted from all the training he did in the room. Ryoko confronts him about it but he ignores her. This persuades Ryoko to hit Mendo with a mallet, worrying the guards.  

Later, several of Mendo’s servants arrive at Ataru’s home. They inform Ataru about Mendo’s training regime and Ryoko’s concern for him. Then, we cut away to Lum, Ataru, and other classmates arriving at Mendo’s home to check on him. Lum asks Mendo why he’s training so hard. Mendo leads Lum to his training room. He tells Lum that he doesn’t want anyone to find out why he’s training hard. 

Mendo jumps into one of the jars and closes the lid. He’s trying to overcome his fear of being in dark places. Ataru, Shinobu, and Ryonosuke greet Mendo to his shock. While Shinobu comforts Mendo, Ryonosuke and Ataru belittle him for his phobia-conquering method. Although Mendo knows he’s attractive, wealthy, and powerful, he finds those positives useless next to his fear. 

Lum suggests Mendo travel to the spot that caused his fear. She says Mendo could escape this phase by reexperiencing what caused it. Lum uses the same quasi-time machine she used in a previous chapter. The five enter a dimension after Lum turns the device on. The five land in Mendo’s family’s fountain and encounter a younger version of Mendo. 

Lum’s overjoyed that the machine worked properly. Suddenly, young Mendo calls his family’s guards. He orders them to capture older Mendo and the others. While the guards pummel older Mendo, Lum grabs young Mendo and they all retreat to an undisclosed area. While Ataru and young Mendo argue, Lum covers young Mendo with a bell. Young Mendo reacts normally to the situation, signaling to Ataru and the others that he hasn’t attained his phobias yet. 

Ataru plans to straighten young Mendo out, but older Mendo intervenes. However, young Mendo wants nothing to do with his older iteration. This results in the three bickering and young Mendo crying. Shinobu grabs young Mendo and comforts him. Young Mendo finds Shinobu’s comfort appealing and declares he’d like her to become his future wife. 

Shinobu ponders this briefly. Ataru grabs young Mendo and yells at him for saying what he said to Shinobu. Lum grabs young Mendo and tells Ataru to relax. Young Mendo shares the same remark to Lum and Ataru hits him with his toy mallet. While Lum and Ataru chat over that fiasco, young Mendo wanders toward Ryonosuke. Ryonosuke comforts young Mendo. 

Unlike Lum and Shinobu, young Mendo calls Ryonosuke a man and a dirtbag, triggering Ryonosuke. Older Mendo tries defending young Mendo, but it results in more back-and-forth banter between the cast. Suddenly, young Ryoko and a guard arrive to stop the commotion. Young Ryoko greets her brother in a prank-like manner, startling everyone. 

Young Mendo asks young Ryoko to call for backup after she and older Mendo have an amusing discussion. Young Ryoko pushes young Mendo into the lake nearby and young Mendo exits the lake, enraged by her constant comedic actions. Young Ryoko informs young Mendo that he must take their octopi for a walk. Young Mendo sprays one of his octopus’s ink on Ataru and Mendo. 

This results in Mendo and Ataru chasing young Mendo down. Lum tells older Mendo not to hurt his past self, but older Mendo refuses. Ataru and older Mendo fall into one of young Mendo’s traps. Young Mendo orders his men to bury Ataru and Mendo. Lum, Ryonosuke, and Shinobu watch from afar. The girls agree to wait things out because they don’t want to get captured. 

We cut away to young Mendo, his guards, Ataru, and older Mendo in young Mendo’s room. Ataru and older Mendo are chained on top of the wall. Young Mendo shoots several arrows at older Mendo because he’s disrespecting him. Older Mendo catches each arrow. Somehow, Ataru breaks free and agrees to help young Mendo discipline older Mendo. 

Young Mendo tells Ataru he’s starting to warm up to him. Elsewhere, Lum and her allies attack three guards and steal their clothes. Their clothes are too big for the three, so Lum tells Ryonosuke and Shinobu to stand somewhere. She uses a device to shrink their stolen clothes. Then, the girls enter the Mendo Family Estate and catch a guard’s attention. 

He asks them to follow him somewhere. Lum tells the others they should comply. In young Mendo’s room, older Mendo is enraged that Ataru switched sides. Ataru whispers to older Mendo, informing him that he must gain young Mendo’s trust. Older Mendo doesn’t believe Ataru and thinks he’s helping young Mendo because this will give him a chance to harm older Mendo without suffering repercussions. 

Ataru convinces young Mendo and his staff to look the other way. Next, Ataru hits young Mendo on the head with his toy mallet when young Mendo and his staff turn around. Ataru hopes this will convince older Mendo that Ataru is on his side. However, older Mendo’s still not buying it. Young Mendo asks Ataru who hit him and Ataru says older Mendo did. 

Young Mendo’s father and mother arrive. His father approaches older Mendo and says he looks familiar. Older Mendo thinks young Mendo’s father will catch on. Unfortunately, young Mendo’s father mistakes older Mendo to be his son’s tutor, angering older Mendo. Everyone is disturbed at the thought of young Mendo’s father being a cheater. 

Young Mendo’s father turns to his wife, promising her he’s the only woman he needs. The two depart the area and more of young Mendo’s guards arrive with a giant bell. Lum and the others are with them. The guards drop the giant bell on older Mendo and he starts crying since he’s trapped in a dark place. After Ataru and young Mendo laugh, Shinobu, Ryonosuke, and Lum start attacking the guards, instilling fear in young Mendo.

Young Mendo asks Ataru to capture them but Ataru refuses. Young Mendo wanders in front of the bell and pulls out a stick of dynamite and a lighter. He plans to blow this place up. Before he sets it off, Lum heads toward him and tries to persuade young Mendo not to do that. Seconds later, Mendo breaks free from imprisonment and stares at his younger self menacingly.

Ryonosuke and Lum believe Mendo’s training helped him achieve superhuman strength. Older Mendo chases Ataru and young Mendo to his jar training room. Ataru and young Mendo hide in one of the jars. Older Mendo arrives and grabs one of the area’s nearby axes. Ataru toys with older Mendo. Then, older Mendo sets his sights on young Mendo.

Shinobu and the others arrive and tell older Mendo to stop. However, older Mendo wants to enact his revenge. Ataru drops a jar on his head. While older Mendo is unconscious, Ataru drags older Mendo away from the room and our protagonists leave the past via Lum’s device. As they leave young Mendo trembles inside a jar.

Later, older Mendo wakes up and Lum informs him he’s in the present. Ataru places a jar on older Mendo and he continues screeching in fear. Mendo’s upset that they couldn’t discover what triggered his phobias. In the past, we see young Mendo’s guards freeing him from his jar hideout.

The episode closes with young Mendo uttering the same terrifying remarks older Mendo utters when he gets trapped in a dark place. 

The Episode Review

After a week’s break from Lum and her friends, Urusei Yatsura returns with a Mendo-focused outing. Although this episode doesn’t give fans the true answer to Mendo’s phobias, it leaves fans with an important message. That message is to remain doubtful toward others and oneself. Life messages aside, this episode went full-force on one of the series’s best aspects, which is its humor. 

From tense banter to the satisfying slapstick, fans will find this chapter’s content absurd and hilarious. At the same time, fans will enjoy seeing Lum display some sense of wisdom and encouragement in this chapter. From the quasi-time machine’s success to Lum’s comforting words toward young and older Mendo, many folks will classify her as the MVP of this episode. 

Also, this episode shows that Ataru, though spiteful and rude as always, isn’t fully heartless. While previous episodes highlighted Ataru’s admirable qualities better, fans will cherish seeing Ataru showcase slight concern for Mendo’s well-being during this episode’s early portions.

All in all, this was a fun way to get fans in the mood for Lum, Ataru, and the other’s future outings.