The following contains spoilers for Episode 8 of Urusei Yatsura, “Transfer Student Close Call…/Farewell Party Close Call…,” now streaming onHiDive.
Another Urusei Yatsura episode, another classic character returning to the big screen. Ran is yet another of Lum’s many childhood friends, and of the three introduced, is the most involved and frequently recurring. Ran is a lot of fun, and new fans are sure to find out quickly just how much chaos she adds when she’s thrown into the mix.
Ran is a fan-favorite character, and those who loved the original series have been waiting for her to finally return. Her two-faced demeanor that switches between adorable and vicious is a sight to behold, andher dynamic with Lumis one of the funniest in the series, with this episode being a great example.
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“Transfer Student Close Call…”
The first part begins with Lum officially transferring to Ataru’s school, which may not feel like a big deal since Lum shows up there so often anyway. After reintroducing herself to Ataru’s class, the school holds a sports festival, where Ataru learns that the class next door received a transfer student of their own, a cute girl named Ran.Ataru immediately rushes to put the moves on her, but he is swiftly taken away by an irritated Lum. When Ataru calls out Ran’s name, Lum gets suspicious and tells Ran to meet her behind the school.
Ran heads to the back of the school, where she seems to have a friendly reunion with Lum. Not only is Ran an alien like Lum, but she is one of her childhood friends as well. Initially, the two seem to get on well as they begin to reminisce about the past. However, Ran soon brings up Rei, the boy that both of them fell for while in their youth, but ended up getting engaged to Lum. Lum claims that it was all in the past, but Ran’s grudge gets the better of her, causing her to reveal her more vicious and vindictive personality. Ran reveals that her true reason for coming to Earth was to get revenge on Lum by stealing her current darling. She plans to lure him in with a kiss, with which she can drain his life energy. Lum says she’ll reveal that Ran is an alien, but Ran threatens to reveal that she wet her bed as a child if she does.
Lum and Ran return to the sports festival, where the scavenger hunt race begins. Ran pretends to need Ataru for the race, and despite Lum’s best attempts, Ataru leaps at the chance to be with Ran. Ran leads him to a secluded area to kiss, but Lum interrupts. The cavalry race soon begins, and Ataru runs straight for Ran’s team to get that kiss, but Ran’s team and Lum get in the way. Ran tries again, but she ends up kissing another one of Ataru’s classmates by accident, and he begins acting like an old man. Lum explains to Ataru that he’ll end up like that if he kisses Ran, but he refuses to listen. Ran, meanwhile, swears to get revenge on Lum somehow.
“Farewell Party Close Call…”
Lum is called out to the back of the school by Ran, who sends a robot explaining that she is leaving Earth, having given up on getting revenge. However, she asks Lum to come to a farewell party, inviting Ataru to come along as well. Lum is suspicious, but she nevertheless brings Ataru along to Ran’s UFO, which she is pretending is a house.
Ran offers cookies to Lum when they arrive, which Lum later finds out are laced with sleeping medicine. Lum then goes to wash the dishes, but sticks behind to catch Ran seducing Ataru behind her back. To her surprise,Ran actually refuses Ataru’s advances. Lum quickly heads back to wash the dishes when Ran comes back to the kitchen, now doubtful that Ran was actually still trying to get revenge on her.
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However, once Lum is gone, Ran takes out a copy of Ataru that she was cooking in the oven, part of her plan to mess with Lum. However, Lum comes back into the kitchen when she finds out that Ataru has left the room to explore the house. Ran pushes the copy out of the room, unwittingly placing it right in front of Ataru, who happened to be walking by. Ataru goofs around with the copy for a bit before noticing an odd apostrophe floating around its head. He takes it right when Ran pulls him back into the kitchen and hands him off to Lum, believing that she managed to swap Ataru for the copy. She then goes to find who she believes is the real Ataru and plants a kiss on him. As Lum drags Ataru away, Ran emerges from the house furious that the swap ended up failing.
Later that night, Lum regrets being suspicious of Ran and wishes they had gotten along better while she was still around. However, Ran shows up to school the next day, surprising Lum. Ran reveals yet again that she still plans to get revenge on Lum, leaving her exasperated.
A Contentious Friendship
Out of Lum’s many childhood friends, her relationship with Ran is easily the most hilarious and ridiculous. The pleasantness of Ran’s kindly facade is easily outmatched by her vindictive rage, and the lengths she goes through to mess with her “friend” Lum are unhinged. Ran also brings with her mentions of Lum’s childhood, as well as Rei, a character who has yet to be reintroduced into the new series (though he is sure to come sooner rather than later).
This episode was a lot lighter on characters than usual, especially when compared to last episode. Lum, Ran, and Ataru are the only focal characters, but that is what allowsthe dynamic between the three charactersto shine. Ran is sure to show up again soon, so fans will get a lot of time to get acquainted with this ridiculous character.
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