Urusei Yatsura – 42 – Stolen Hearts

This week starts off with Lum finishing a personalized scarf Lum poured all of her love into. Watching her hop up and down in joyful anticipation of giving it to her darling simply melted my heart. But when she gives it to Ataru he’s in the midst of a fiery argument with Ten, and Ten destroys the scarf with his flame breath. Ataru uses this to make Ten feel bad and run off.

While Ataru tries to impress upon Lum the importance of disciplining the brat now and then, and Lum struggles to summon the same intensity she does when disciplining Ataru, Ten consults with others about the proper way to apologize. Shuutarou isn’t capable of bowing, while Ryuu bows then gives her dad a cheap shot. Sakura suggest he write her an apology, which he does—on the back of Ataru’s sweater.

In part two, Ran buys some red heart candy that conjures a floating red heart over the head of the one who eats it. That person will fall instantly and madly in love with whoever “steals” the heart from their head. It doesn’t work for Ran on Rei, since he’s able to eat the heart on his head before she can reach it. But when Ataru takes it, Lum loudly proclaims her love for him while shocking him worse than ever.

Turns out whoever takes Lum’s head heart gains her sudden undying love. Ataru first tries to get Shuutarou shocked like he was, but ultimately all the boys get shocked when they try to make Lum fall for them. Ataru gives all the boys candy to prevent Lum from telling his heart from the others, but then Onsen-sensei confiscates those hearts, making all the boys in class fall for him and forcing him to take a leave of absence.

Those two segments only take up three-fourths of an episode. After the credits we check in on Lum’s dad as he finds a suspicious character in stasis, while at the same time Oyuki and Benten find a gift with the same mushroom symbol. It’s the symbol of the World of Darkness, from a universe with no sun. Their patriarch encountered Lum one day when she was little and promised her he’d be back to turn her into a bride.

That day seems to be drawing near, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes the main focus of the remaining episodes. As always, Ataru has taken Lum’s presence in his life and her love for him for granted. What if someone tried to snatch her away to marry her off? From what we’ve seen in his better moments, I don’t think Ataru will take that sitting down.