Urusei Yatsura – Season 2 Episode 6 Recap & Review

Kotatsu Love / Lum Becomes a Cow / The Home Visit Blues: Luxurious Mendo Edition

Episode 6 of Urusei Yatsura Season 2 starts with Kotatsu visiting a shop. The shop’s owner notices something’s caught Kotatsu’s eye, so he offers to sell that item to Kotatsu for a good price. Kotatsu shows the owner a knife, and the owner interprets this gesture as Kotatsu wanting to “cut a deal” with him.  

At Ataru’s home, Ataru and Lum bicker over a game they’re playing. The two stop arguing and continue playing the game. Simultaneously, Kotatsu is having problems with the magic table he got from the shop owner. Kotatsu’s fiasco ruins Lum and Ataru’s game, resulting in the two arguing with each other again. 

Ataru tells Lum that they should focus their anger on the magic table. This leads to a scuffle between Lum, the others, and the magic table. Meanwhile, Ataru’s mother tries to prepare tempura for dinner. She yells at Ataru from the kitchen, telling him to stop moving around because she doesn’t want dust particles entering her food. 

Cherry arrives and tells Ataru’s mother that he’ll protect her tempura from danger. Additionally, Cherry says he sensed an ominous presence coming from Ataru’s room. Ataru’s mother tells Cherry to check it out. Cherry examines the table briefly and Kotatsu decides to hold the table down. Ataru places a blanket on the table while Lum plugs its cord into an outlet. 

The table causes a blizzard to occur in Ataru’s room and manages to get Kotatsu off of it. Ten tells Kotatsu it might be best for him to ditch the table, but Kotatsu refuses because he doesn’t want to hurt his pride. Lum analyzes the table and her and the others realize it has Mendo’s family’s emblem on it. Ataru summons Mendo to his room amusingly, resulting in a scuffle between the two. 

Lum uses Cherry’s horrid appearance to calm Mendo down. Mendo analyzes the table and confirms it’s one of his family’s precious treasures. He says it’s made from a rare south pole tree species that despise heat. Mendo encourages Kotatsu to show this table the joys of warmth and leaves. Later, Ataru and his family have dinner together. 

Before Ataru digs in, Kotatsu and his table enter the room and ruin his and his family’s meal with their cat-and-mouse-like chase sequence. We receive a montage of this fiasco occurring over many days. One night, Kotatsu and his table appear on a random house’s roof. Kotatsu drops the blanket and he and his table settle things. 

The next day, we see Kotatsu and Lum traversing Tomobiki Town with the magic table. The segment closes with the narrator revealing that Kotatsu turned his magic table into a magic sled. The next set piece starts with Ataru and Lum visiting a pet shop and observing a cow. The owner tells Ataru to be careful around the cow, but Ataru ignores him. 

The cow starts nibbling on Ataru’s hand, so Lum tries forcing Ataru’s hand from the animal’s mouth. The cow starts biting Lum, resulting in Lum electrocuting the Cow with her powers. Lum and Ataru leave the shop. Lum heads to her spaceship and Ten notices the wound she received from the cow. 

Lum ensures Ten that she’ll be okay. She and Ten watch several TV shows and fall asleep. While asleep, Lum has a nightmare that depicts her transforming into a horrid beast because of the cow’s actions. Lum wakes up and heads to her ship’s restroom to brush her teeth. Lum notices her oni horns look similar to cow horns. 

Ten notices Lum’s changes and freaks out. Lum tells Ten not to tell everyone about her appearance. Three days pass, and we cut to Ataru and his friends discussing Lum’s absence. Ataru spots Ten and Ten’s infuriated that Ataru’s not going through the same cow-transforming fiasco as Lum.

Lum arrives and everyone notices she has a new hairstyle. She tells Ataru she wants to discuss things with him privately, so she grabs Ataru and the two depart from the school window. Ataru plummets to the ground, so Lum takes him to Sakura’s office so he can receive a quick health check-up. 

Sakura notices something is bothering Lum and Lum reveals she got bit by a cow. While Ataru says Lum shouldn’t worry about it, Sakura says Lum could have strange symptoms since she’s an alien and not a human. Ataru and Lum depart from Sakura’s office. Ataru asks Lum to tell him what’s on her mind. 

Lum asks Ataru several questions concerning cows. Afterward, Lum says if she ever goes missing and a cow arrives at his doorstep, she wants Ataru to name the creature after her and treat it with kindness. Lum tries to leave, but Ataru attempts to tussle with her. This results in him learning about Lum’s horns. 

Lum cries and shares her concerns about becoming a cow to Ataru. Ataru says if that occurs, he promises to take care of Lum. The two hug it out and we cut to Ten conversing with Lum’s father about her horns. Lum’s father tells Ten that Lum will be okay and her horns will eventually return to normal size. 

Ten returns to Ataru’s home to inform Lum about what her father told him. At the same time, we see Ataru building a barn for Lum because he’s unaware that she’ll be okay. Although Lum feels bad for Ataru, the segment closes with her smiling because she’s happy Ataru deeply cares about her. 

The final segment follows Onsen-Mark continuing his home visit mission from a prior episode. Onsen arrives at Mendo’s Family’s Estate, and his family’s servants humbly welcome Onsen inside. Onsen’s not too concerned about this home visit since he knew Mendo’s heirs from a pleasant household. 

Mendo’s father greets Onsen and Onsen slightly panics due to how uncomfortable he feels around Mendo’s gun-carrying bodyguards. Onsen spots Mendo and flocks toward him. This results in Mendo’s bodyguards pummeling Onsen with their mallets. Later, Onsen leaves with several bandages wrapped around his body. 

After sharing his grievances about this home-visit expedition, the chapter closes with an indication that Onsen will be visiting Shinobu’s family in a future episode. 

The Episode Review

Urusei Yatsura’s back with another jam-packed episode this week. As always, the comedy hasn’t gotten stale, as there are many interesting and amusing developments scattered throughout this one that’ll make fans chuckle. The segment titled “Lum Becomes A Cow,” is a major standout. 

This one, surprisingly, carried a bit of that wonderful Rumiko Takahashi romance and drama fans love to see. This will catch many fans’ by surprise, since moments like those feel like a rarity in this anime. Others will appreciate seeing Ataru showcase proper care and support for Lum in that segment, too. 

The other segments involving Onsen and Kotatsu were funny but didn’t offer much value in the grand scheme of things. However, that second set piece will instill hope in audiences that more meaningful chapters will be heading their way soon. This would make Urusei Yatsura an anime worth fans’ time, especially when one compares it to other romance anime airing this season. 

By and large, this was a decent chapter. It had the usual exaggerated humor fans have come to expect with the show. The episode threw in some nice and dramatic curve balls that’ll entice folks to continue observing Lum and Ataru’s connection, too. While it’s not a spectacular showcase, it’s an enjoyable one at least.