URUSEI YATSURA: Behind the Anime- Part 2
Based on the true story by Rumiko Takahashi
Narrator: By early 1982, the TV version of "Urusei Yatsura" had become a bona fide hit. Ataru Moroboshi, Shinobu Miyake, Shutaro Mendo, and a voluptuous alien girl named Lum were now celebrities.
Ataru: Suddenly everyone wanted a piece of us. Especially all the groupies and hangers-on who swarmed around the gates to Kitty Studios wanting our autographs, photos, or advertising deals. For the next near-decade, we were never really alone.
Mendo: As a TV star, you pretty much get used to being in front of a camera all the time, or being questioned by the media. But for me, my favorite guest appearance was our first one in America, on "The Tonight Show".
(1982 TV appearance- Courtesy of NBC)
Johnny: So, Miss Lum, I understand you're the first celebrity from another planet.
Lum: Well, considering your planet hasn't yet officially established relations with any other, I would bet any alien to appear on Earth would become an instant celebrity, t'cha.
Johnny: I've been a huge fan of your show. But tell me, Miss Lum, why do you keep saying "t'cha" after every sentence?
Lum: It's just an Urusian honorific used to symbolize friendly relations with whomever we're speaking to, t'cha.
Shinobu (reminiscing): And there was the music.
Narrator: And there certainly was the music. When the show's theme song, "Lum no Love Song", or "Lum's Love Song", was released as a single in fall 1981, it became an instant chart-topper throughout the world. Further, equally popular songs followed, such as "Space is Super Weird", "Forlorn, Aren't You?", "My Dream is Love Me More", "I, I, I, You and Ai", and "Dancing Star". Then came numerous albums by the cast, including "Best of Urusei Yatsura", "Urusei Yatsura- First Season Soundtrack", "An Urusei Yatsura Christmas", "Urusei Yatsura Sings Elvis", "Urusei Yatsura Sings the Beatles", "The Urusei Yatsura Karaoke Album", and many more. When "Lum's Love Song" swept the 1982 Grammy Awards, the producers decided that the show's green-haired female lead had much potential as a musical superstar.
(Clip from the 1982 Grammy Awards, courtesy of CBS-TV)
Barbara Streisand: And the nominees for Best Full-Length Non-Novelty Television-Related Entertainment Song are: The Waltons and Grandmaster Flash for "Walton Wap", Scooby-Doo for his version of "MacArthur Park", "Urusei Yatsura's" Lum for "Lum's Love Song", and Rocky the Flying Squirrel's version of the "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe". And the winner is..Lum, for "Lum's Love Song"! (Lum jumps for joy out of her seat, accidentally zapping some nearby visitors.)
Shinobu: So the next day, some execs come up to us and ask, would some of the women of the show like to form our own musical group? I had to give it some thought, seeing how I had never sung a note in my life before, but then one of them reminded me, when was the last time talent stopped a TV star from becoming a singer? Plus, seeing how I had broken up with Ataru and that Mendo didn't seem interested in me, I decided that maybe by being in a "girl group" then maybe I could attract someone.
Narrator: And so the show's producers teamed up Lum, Shinobu, Oyuki, Benten, and Ran in an all-girl pop group called "Darling". Although Lum's preference of wearing bikinis while onstage caused indecent exposure disputes at some venues, the group became a touring sensation. When they first appeared onstage in April 1982, they opened for The Cars.
Ric Ocasek (former lead singer of The Cars): I took one look at those girls, and I just knew they were going to be musical legends. They had that certain something; it was like a glow; a spark. Or maybe it was just Lum emitting electric sparks like she sometimes does; I dunno.
Narrator: Of course, the riches of success were already beginning to take their toll.
Ran: I first saw Lum snorting crack cocaine backstage in Miami. Of course, you know easy it is to get crack in that town. Of course, I was drunk at the time, so I didn't know how it would nearly destroy her later on.
Narrator: Unfortunately, Lum had discovered cocaine while on her first tour with Darling, and had developed a dangerous habit that would grow to consume her. But on a lighter note, by the summer of 1982, the TV show was recognized throughout the world, and the girl group Darling had become an international sensation. It was time to conquer the big screen. Production for the first "Urusei Yatsura" movie, "Only You" began in midsummer and lasted until the fall.
Oyuki: Oh Kami-sama, don't remind me of that period. We had to juggle shooting the movie and the TV series.
Mendo: I had received offers to play Rambo's sidekick in what would be the first "Rambo" movie, as well as offers for cameo appearances in "Magnum, P.I." and "The A-Team". I was obviously upset at first- ended up firing the first of many agents (laughs)- but in the end I guess it was worth it.
Narrator: Directed by Richard Lester of "A Hard Day's Night" fame, "Only You" opened in late February 1983. Even critics who thought the slapstick Japanese sitcom could never effectively cross over into a serious movie were quite surprised at the witty, avant-garde picture.
(Clip: Shows a bunch of girls running down a street towards the camera, screaming. The camera then shows them running past, followed by Ataru, Mendo, and the Gang of Four, who are all mysteriously clad in dark suits and wearing "mop-top" haircuts. Background music: A Japanese-accented version of "A Hard Day's Night".)
Megane: I loved being able to film that movie. It gave me a chance to get out of the cramped studio and run around outside. Sure, there was a camera in front of us, but at least we got the chance to actually run around.
(Clip: Shows the cast running around in a large field, filmed from above. They're just aimlessly ambling around, and at one point lie down to make grass angels. Background music: A Japanese accented version of "Can't Buy Me Love".)
Megane: You know, a lot of you don't know, that famous scene where I'm wandering around the streets of Tokyo, along the Nerima storm drain, looking all dejected; that wasn't me just acting. I had been out partying all night before; had a bit too much sake, and so that was just me.hung over.
Narrator: The film was an instant smash, and the gang soon found themselves rolling in dough. The series was now one of the world's most successful enterprises. But the television industry was a rather different one from the comics industry, as creator Rumiko Takahashi was about to find out.
Rumiko: Yes, I knew that some of my original story ideas had to be changed to better suit TV. But I'm just a manga writer, not a television writer. I didn't know that all popular sitcoms have to have at least one character die or at least be critically injured.
Narrator: On the season's finale, May 25, 1983, the megalomaniacal intentions of ultrarich Shutaro Mendo went too far, on the show's plot.
Clip: Courtesy of Fuji TV
Mendo: Watch this model on my floor, Ryoko! I just press this button on my desk and.this huge disk comes out of Mount Fuji, blocking out the sun from all Japan! All this country will be forced to use power from the Tomobiki Nuclear Power Plant! Mwahahahahaaaaa!!!
Ryoko: Gasp! Even someone as sadistic as I cannot bear such a thought! I.I can't allow you to do this!
Mendo: Then get out of my sight! I shall sign the forms to legally disown you from our great family!
Narrator: And at the end of the afternoon, Mendo left a town meeting where he had revealed his sun-blocker to the people of Tomobiki. But after he left the building.
Mendo: Oh hello, what are you doing there? Don't you think you should leave? What's that you've got in your hands? I think you'd better drop it. I said drop it! Give me itttt!!!! (BANG!)
Narrator: It was the series' first cliffhanger. The main suspects for attempting to murder Mendo were: Ataru, for Mendo's always addressing him by his last name, Shinobu, for cheating on her while on a date and rejecting her, Lum, for the Mendo's construction of an oil well on Planet Uru which leaked and caused an environmental disaster, Megane, for Mendo upstaging him on Lum's birthday, Oyuki, for Mendo Enterprises shipping toxic waste to Triton, Rei, for Mendo's stealing a cake baked by Ran, the entire population of Japan, and the Space Taxi Driver for the Mendo Enterprises spaceships clogging the intergalactic space highways and making his customers late. For the rest of the summer of 1983, all the world would be asking, "Who shot Mendo?"
Coming up:
Ataru: Well, my agent told me, women are going to want to have sex with me, and we want them to think they still can. So I would have to keep the fact that engagement with Lum was real a secret. Oh, and I'd like to set the record straight.I thought the PCP was just Quaaludes. (Smiles at the camera.)
Narrator: When "Behind the Anime" continues.
Narrator: By early 1982, the TV version of "Urusei Yatsura" had become a bona fide hit. Ataru Moroboshi, Shinobu Miyake, Shutaro Mendo, and a voluptuous alien girl named Lum were now celebrities.
Ataru: Suddenly everyone wanted a piece of us. Especially all the groupies and hangers-on who swarmed around the gates to Kitty Studios wanting our autographs, photos, or advertising deals. For the next near-decade, we were never really alone.
Mendo: As a TV star, you pretty much get used to being in front of a camera all the time, or being questioned by the media. But for me, my favorite guest appearance was our first one in America, on "The Tonight Show".
(1982 TV appearance- Courtesy of NBC)
Johnny: So, Miss Lum, I understand you're the first celebrity from another planet.
Lum: Well, considering your planet hasn't yet officially established relations with any other, I would bet any alien to appear on Earth would become an instant celebrity, t'cha.
Johnny: I've been a huge fan of your show. But tell me, Miss Lum, why do you keep saying "t'cha" after every sentence?
Lum: It's just an Urusian honorific used to symbolize friendly relations with whomever we're speaking to, t'cha.
Shinobu (reminiscing): And there was the music.
Narrator: And there certainly was the music. When the show's theme song, "Lum no Love Song", or "Lum's Love Song", was released as a single in fall 1981, it became an instant chart-topper throughout the world. Further, equally popular songs followed, such as "Space is Super Weird", "Forlorn, Aren't You?", "My Dream is Love Me More", "I, I, I, You and Ai", and "Dancing Star". Then came numerous albums by the cast, including "Best of Urusei Yatsura", "Urusei Yatsura- First Season Soundtrack", "An Urusei Yatsura Christmas", "Urusei Yatsura Sings Elvis", "Urusei Yatsura Sings the Beatles", "The Urusei Yatsura Karaoke Album", and many more. When "Lum's Love Song" swept the 1982 Grammy Awards, the producers decided that the show's green-haired female lead had much potential as a musical superstar.
(Clip from the 1982 Grammy Awards, courtesy of CBS-TV)
Barbara Streisand: And the nominees for Best Full-Length Non-Novelty Television-Related Entertainment Song are: The Waltons and Grandmaster Flash for "Walton Wap", Scooby-Doo for his version of "MacArthur Park", "Urusei Yatsura's" Lum for "Lum's Love Song", and Rocky the Flying Squirrel's version of the "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe". And the winner is..Lum, for "Lum's Love Song"! (Lum jumps for joy out of her seat, accidentally zapping some nearby visitors.)
Shinobu: So the next day, some execs come up to us and ask, would some of the women of the show like to form our own musical group? I had to give it some thought, seeing how I had never sung a note in my life before, but then one of them reminded me, when was the last time talent stopped a TV star from becoming a singer? Plus, seeing how I had broken up with Ataru and that Mendo didn't seem interested in me, I decided that maybe by being in a "girl group" then maybe I could attract someone.
Narrator: And so the show's producers teamed up Lum, Shinobu, Oyuki, Benten, and Ran in an all-girl pop group called "Darling". Although Lum's preference of wearing bikinis while onstage caused indecent exposure disputes at some venues, the group became a touring sensation. When they first appeared onstage in April 1982, they opened for The Cars.
Ric Ocasek (former lead singer of The Cars): I took one look at those girls, and I just knew they were going to be musical legends. They had that certain something; it was like a glow; a spark. Or maybe it was just Lum emitting electric sparks like she sometimes does; I dunno.
Narrator: Of course, the riches of success were already beginning to take their toll.
Ran: I first saw Lum snorting crack cocaine backstage in Miami. Of course, you know easy it is to get crack in that town. Of course, I was drunk at the time, so I didn't know how it would nearly destroy her later on.
Narrator: Unfortunately, Lum had discovered cocaine while on her first tour with Darling, and had developed a dangerous habit that would grow to consume her. But on a lighter note, by the summer of 1982, the TV show was recognized throughout the world, and the girl group Darling had become an international sensation. It was time to conquer the big screen. Production for the first "Urusei Yatsura" movie, "Only You" began in midsummer and lasted until the fall.
Oyuki: Oh Kami-sama, don't remind me of that period. We had to juggle shooting the movie and the TV series.
Mendo: I had received offers to play Rambo's sidekick in what would be the first "Rambo" movie, as well as offers for cameo appearances in "Magnum, P.I." and "The A-Team". I was obviously upset at first- ended up firing the first of many agents (laughs)- but in the end I guess it was worth it.
Narrator: Directed by Richard Lester of "A Hard Day's Night" fame, "Only You" opened in late February 1983. Even critics who thought the slapstick Japanese sitcom could never effectively cross over into a serious movie were quite surprised at the witty, avant-garde picture.
(Clip: Shows a bunch of girls running down a street towards the camera, screaming. The camera then shows them running past, followed by Ataru, Mendo, and the Gang of Four, who are all mysteriously clad in dark suits and wearing "mop-top" haircuts. Background music: A Japanese-accented version of "A Hard Day's Night".)
Megane: I loved being able to film that movie. It gave me a chance to get out of the cramped studio and run around outside. Sure, there was a camera in front of us, but at least we got the chance to actually run around.
(Clip: Shows the cast running around in a large field, filmed from above. They're just aimlessly ambling around, and at one point lie down to make grass angels. Background music: A Japanese accented version of "Can't Buy Me Love".)
Megane: You know, a lot of you don't know, that famous scene where I'm wandering around the streets of Tokyo, along the Nerima storm drain, looking all dejected; that wasn't me just acting. I had been out partying all night before; had a bit too much sake, and so that was just me.hung over.
Narrator: The film was an instant smash, and the gang soon found themselves rolling in dough. The series was now one of the world's most successful enterprises. But the television industry was a rather different one from the comics industry, as creator Rumiko Takahashi was about to find out.
Rumiko: Yes, I knew that some of my original story ideas had to be changed to better suit TV. But I'm just a manga writer, not a television writer. I didn't know that all popular sitcoms have to have at least one character die or at least be critically injured.
Narrator: On the season's finale, May 25, 1983, the megalomaniacal intentions of ultrarich Shutaro Mendo went too far, on the show's plot.
Clip: Courtesy of Fuji TV
Mendo: Watch this model on my floor, Ryoko! I just press this button on my desk and.this huge disk comes out of Mount Fuji, blocking out the sun from all Japan! All this country will be forced to use power from the Tomobiki Nuclear Power Plant! Mwahahahahaaaaa!!!
Ryoko: Gasp! Even someone as sadistic as I cannot bear such a thought! I.I can't allow you to do this!
Mendo: Then get out of my sight! I shall sign the forms to legally disown you from our great family!
Narrator: And at the end of the afternoon, Mendo left a town meeting where he had revealed his sun-blocker to the people of Tomobiki. But after he left the building.
Mendo: Oh hello, what are you doing there? Don't you think you should leave? What's that you've got in your hands? I think you'd better drop it. I said drop it! Give me itttt!!!! (BANG!)
Narrator: It was the series' first cliffhanger. The main suspects for attempting to murder Mendo were: Ataru, for Mendo's always addressing him by his last name, Shinobu, for cheating on her while on a date and rejecting her, Lum, for the Mendo's construction of an oil well on Planet Uru which leaked and caused an environmental disaster, Megane, for Mendo upstaging him on Lum's birthday, Oyuki, for Mendo Enterprises shipping toxic waste to Triton, Rei, for Mendo's stealing a cake baked by Ran, the entire population of Japan, and the Space Taxi Driver for the Mendo Enterprises spaceships clogging the intergalactic space highways and making his customers late. For the rest of the summer of 1983, all the world would be asking, "Who shot Mendo?"
Coming up:
Ataru: Well, my agent told me, women are going to want to have sex with me, and we want them to think they still can. So I would have to keep the fact that engagement with Lum was real a secret. Oh, and I'd like to set the record straight.I thought the PCP was just Quaaludes. (Smiles at the camera.)
Narrator: When "Behind the Anime" continues.