is a manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 series by Rumiko Takahashi

Rumiko Takahashi

is a Japanese manga artist.Takahashi is one of the wealthiest individuals, and the most affluent manga artists in Japan. The manga she creates are popular worldwide, where they have been translated into a variety of languages...

 that was later adapted into an anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 series. The series was adapted by Kitty Films

Kitty Films

Kitty Films is an anime production company established in 1972 in Japan. The company also operates a record label under "Kitty" or "Kitty Records" .-History:...

 into a 195 episode TV series that aired from October 14, 1981 to March 1986 on Fuji Television

Fuji Television

is a Japanese television station based in Daiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, also known as or CX, based on the station's callsign "JOCX-DTV". It is the flagship station of the Fuji News Network and the ....

. With the exception of episodes 10 and 11, the first 21 episodes were composed of two stories. The series aired on October 14, 1981 with the two part episode "I'm Lum the Notorious!" / "It's Raining Oil All Over Town". The first 106 episodes were directed by Mamoru Oshii

Mamoru Oshii

Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director, and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of popular anime, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Ghost in the Shell, and Patlabor 2...

 and the remainder by Kazuo Yamazaki

Kazuo Yamazaki

Kazuo Yamazaki is a former Japanese professional wrestler, who is known for his work in New Japan Pro Wrestling and UWF International.-New Japan Pro Wrestling :...

. Urusei Yatsura concluded about five years later on March 19, 1986 with the 195th episode "All-Star Banquet! We Are Immortal!!". Episode 194 "Urusei Yatsura Pre-Departure Special! Shine!" is a repeat of episode 44 "After You've Gone" with a special introduction and best episode countdown before the episode.

Six opening theme songs and nine closing themes were used during the series. was used as the opening theme for the first 77 episodes. It was replaced by Dancing Star for episodes 78 to 106. was used for episodes 107 to 127, and Chance on Love was used for episodes 128 to 149. The final 2 opening themes were Rock the Planet for episodes 150 to 165 and for the remaining episodes. A total of 9 ending themes were used. The first ending theme was which was used for the first 21 episodes. It was replaced by for episodes 22 to 43 and by for episodes 44 to 54. I, I, You and Ai was used for episodes 55 to 77, and was used for episodes 78 to 106. was used for episodes 107 to 127, and Open Invitation was used for episodes 128 to 149. The final two ending themes were Every Day for episodes 150 to 165, and Good Luck for the remainder of the series.

On December 10, 1983, the first VHS

VHS

The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

 release of the series was made available in Japan. The series was also released on fifty Laserdiscs. Another VHS release across fifty cassettes began on March 17, 1998 and concluded on April 19, 2000. Two DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 boxsets of the series were released between December 8, 2000 and March 9, 2001. These were followed by fifty individual volumes between August 24, 2001 and August 23, 2002.

During 1992, the series was licensed for a North American release by AnimEigo

AnimEigo

AnimEigo is an American entertainment company that licenses and distributes anime, samurai films and Japanese cinema. The company was founded in 1988 in Ithaca, New York by Robert Woodhead and Roe R. Adams, III. It is now based in Wilmington, North Carolina, and run by Natsumi Ueki, Robert's wife...

. Their VHS release began in October of the same year and was among the first anime titles to receive a subtitled North American release. However the release schedule was erratic. AnimEigo later released the series on DVD. The series was available in box set form as well as individual releases. A total of 10 boxsets and 50 individual dvds were released between March 27, 2001 and June 20, 2006. Each DVD and VHS contained Liner notes explaining the cultural references and puns from the series. In February 2011 AnimEigo announced that it would not renew their license to the series and that their DVDs would fall out of print on September 30, 2011. A fan group known as "Lum's Stormtroopers" convinced the Californian public television station KTEH to broadcast subtitled episodes of the series in 1998.

Season 1

Opening Theme:

sung by Yuko Matsutani and written by Akira Itō

Ending Theme:

sung by Yuko Matsutani

EP#	Title	Original Airdate

Season 2

Opening Theme:

by Yuko Matsutani

Ending Theme:

by Helen Sasano

EP#	Title	Original Airdate

Season 3

Opening Theme:

by Yuko Matsutani

Ending Theme:

by Virgin VS

EP#	Title	Original Airdate

Season 4

Opening Theme:

by Yuko Matsutani

Ending Theme:

by Izumi Kobayashi.

EP#	Title	Original Airdate

Season 5

Opening Theme:

by Yuko Matsutani

Ending Theme:

by Virgin VS

EP#	Title	Original Airdate

Season 6

Opening Theme:

"Dancing Star" by Izumi Kobayashi

Ending Theme:

by Izumi Kobayashi

EP#	Title	Original Airdate

Season 7

Opening Theme:

"Dancing Star" by Izumi Kobayashi

Ending Theme:

by Izumi Kobayashi

EP#	Title	Original Airdate

Season 8

Opening Theme:

by Kanako Narikiyo

Ending Theme:

by Rittsu

Episode	English Title	Original Airdate
107	Dimensional Switch, Where's Darling?	April 11, 1984
108	Crash! Her Ladyship and the Football of Love	April 25, 1984
109	Ran-chan, Tasting the Tearful Love of a First Kiss	May 2, 1984
110	The Indelible Magic Lipstick	May 9, 1984
111	Deadly Combat! The Mendo Family's Flower Display Death Match	May 16, 1984
112	Benten & Ryunosuke; Run for the Morrow	May 23, 1984
113	Great Horrors! Oyuki is Finally Angered! - NOTE: This is the only episode which doesn't contain Ataru throughout. There are only female characters throughout.	May 30, 1984
114	Ten-chan's Wonderful Love Story	June 6, 1984
115	Haunted House Special! Quest for Mendo Estate Treasure!	June 13, 1984
116	Love and War! Battle of Glove vs. Pants!!	June 20, 1984
117	Lum-chan's Becoming a Cow? - Lum and Ataru are both bitten by a cow in a pet shop. Shortly afterward, Lum's horns begin to grow and resemble a cow's horns, and a horrified Lum believes she is turning into a cow.	June 27, 1984
118	Great Achievement! The Film of Lum-chan's Youth	July 11, 1984
119	Ghostbusting! Exorcising the Beautiful Sakura!	July 18, 1984
120	Attack of the Protozoa! Panic at the Poolside	July 25, 1984
121	Here Again! The Hunter of Love, Princess Kurama	August 1, 1984
122	The Fox's Unrequited Love	August 15, 1984
123	Ryunosuke Confused! Solid Rock Mother Cherishes Her Young Pebble!	August 22, 1984
124	The Stairs! Footsteps in the Girls Dorm!!	August 29, 1984
125	Pool Spooks! Burning with Forbidden Love	September 12, 1984
126	Ran-chan's Panic: No Tomorrow for Tomobiki	September 19, 1984
127	Where is Love's Home? Kuriko and Chojuro	September 26, 1984

Season 9

Opening Theme:

"Chance On Love" by Cindy

Ending Theme:

"Open Invitation" by Cindy

Episode	English Title	Original Airdate
128	Man or Bird? Gokakenran, Champion of Justice!	October 17, 1984
129	Attack your Seniors! Revenge of the Infamous Three Daughters	October 24, 1984
130	Blaze, Secret Powers! Stick to the Straight and Narrow Path	October 31, 1984
131	Don't Die! Ryoko Special Straw Doll	November 7, 1984
132	Hell Encounter! Armored Girl; Beauty or Beast? Part 1	November 14, 1984
133	Love of the Armored Girl! Maidenly Feelings Reeling Part 2	November 21, 1984
134	I Dearly Need You! Return of the Honest Fox!	November 28, 1984
135	What Do I Care for Talking Flowers!	December 5, 1984
136	The Birth of Ten-chan's Son? I Didn't Know a Thing	December 12, 1984
137	Lum's Courageous Duel! An Ironic Victory	December 19, 1984
138	Job Hunting! Sneaky Return of the Reject!	January 9, 1985
139	Tomobiki High School Survival! Who Are the Survivors!	January 16, 1985
140	The Mysterious Giant Cake! Love's Fleeing Panic!!	January 23, 1985
141	Underground Reincarnation! What's Darling Thinking Of!?	January 30, 1985
142	Snow Panic? The Mendo Family Cherry Blossom Display Banquet!	February 6, 1985
143	From the Far Spring! The Tale of the Lonely Fairy!	February 13, 1985
144	To Dreamland! Darling Battle Royal Abduction	February 20, 1985
145	Return of the Three Daughters! The Great Scheme to Seduce Darling!	February 27, 1985
146	The Scampering Kotatsu Cat! Anything to Get Warm	March 6, 1985
147	Ryunosuke's Father's Self Sacrificing Devotion! His Wife is Within Images!	March 13, 1985
148	Spring Blossom! Frozen by Oyuki's Cold	March 20, 1985
149	Panic Among Friends! I Love to Eat Blowfish	March 27, 1985
150	The Armored Girl Returns! Plenty of Older Brothers	April 3, 1985

Season 10

Opening Theme:

"Tonogata Gomen Asobase" by Shoko Minami

Ending Theme:

"Good Luck: Towa Yori Ai Wo Komete" by Shoko Minami

Episode	English Title	Original Airdate
151	The Boredom Syndrome! Is Tomobiki Wasting Away?	April 10, 1985
152	Look Out, Ran! Kotatsu Neko's Primary Love is Oden!? NOTE: Mendou and Ataru make brief appearances.	April 17, 1985
153	The Armored Girl Returns Again! A Storm Raising Date	April 24, 1985
154	Arrival of the Mysterious Priest! The Bell Battle Royal	May 1, 1985
155	First Love Relived!? A Return to the Past for Lum and Rei	May 8, 1985
156	Appearance of the Youthful Old Man! Shine, Great Teahouse of Dreams!	May 15, 1985
157	I Love Darling's Sincerity	May 22, 1985
158	The Honest Fox Again! I Love Shinobu	May 29, 1985
159	I Love the Sea! Prayers for the Thriving Hamachaya!?	June 5, 1985
160	Ryunosuke vs. Benten! The Fruitless Duel of Passion	June 12, 1985
161	The Magic Bottle! What's to Become of Me?	June 19, 1985
162	The Great Devil's Debut! Lum's Dangerous Purchase!	June 26, 1985
163	Goodness! Words Aren't Getting to Darling	July 3, 1985
164	The Devil's Summer! Ten-chan's Eel Lunch Plot!	July 10, 1985
165	Visitation Panic! I Didn't Mean Any Harm	July 17, 1985
166	Scary! Is That an Octopus on Shutaro's Head?	July 24, 1985
167	Invader From Space! He's After Lum's Lips!	July 31, 1985
168	Space Survival! They are the Eaters	August 7, 1985
169	It's a Thrill! The Terrible Overhead Cooler	August 14, 1985
170	Love Attack! The Romance Never Stops!!	August 21, 1985
171	Rare Form! Worries for Mother the Firefighter!!	August 28, 1985
172	Hardselling Happiness! Out of Focus Bluebird!!	September 4, 1985
173	Great Uproar! Ryunosuke's First Time Wearing a Swimsuit!!	September 11, 1985
174	I Want a Bride! The Fox's Love Adventure!	September 18, 1985
175	How Persistent! The Three Daughters' Great Animal Plan!	September 25, 1985
176	Fast Money in Fast Fighting! Hamachaya's Forbidden Business	October 2, 1985
177	Wish Upon a Star! The Winning Family's Consumer Panic	October 16, 1985
178	Special Delivery Kiss! Darling's First Jealousy!	October 23, 1985
179	Scary Sake! Sakura's Possession a Big Failure	October 30, 1985
180	It's Strange! Cherry's Yoga School!	November 6, 1985
181	Good-bye Onsen-Sensei!? Tearful Good-bye Marathon Banquet!	December 4, 1985
182	Pure Love Sakura! The Slippery Soap of Separation?	December 11, 1985
183	Asuka vs. Older Brother! Battle for Certain Love!	December 18, 1985
184	Darling's Ill Omen! The Dreaded Shijimoto Oracle!!	December 25, 1985
185	New Years Panic! The Mendo Family's Human Parcheesi Tournament!	January 8, 1986
186	Dreaming Ten-chan! The Great Adventure at the End of the Rainbow!	January 15, 1986
187	I Want to Date! Ataru's Test Program!	January 22, 1986
188	Darling Said He Loved Me	January 29, 1986
189	Death-Defying House Call! A Teacher Life is Dangerous too	February 5, 1986
190	Total Chaos! Ran-chan's Double Doll!	February 12, 1986
191	Blind Love! You Bet Your Life, Honest Fox	February 19, 1986
192	Come Quickly, Darling! Lum's Dangerous Marriage Talk	February 26, 1986
193	It's Unbearable! Ran's Mischief Campaign	March 5, 1986
194	Urusei Yatsura Pre-Departure Special! Shine!	March 12, 1986
195	All-Star Banquet! We Are Immortal!!	March 19, 1986

Specials

EP#	Title	Original Airdate

OAVs

EP#	Title	Release Date