After Lum has a nightmare about being pulled into the darkness, she clings a little closer to Ataru, but all he does is hit on other girls passing by like usual, invoking her rage and electricity. Clearly Ataru is once again in a place where he’s taking Lum’s affection for him for granted.
Ataru pops by Sakura’s just as Sakura is intent on using a crystal ball to divine the future after the strap of her brand-new sandal broke. After messing with her a bit, the crystal ball finally shows her Lum being drawn into the darkness—just like she described in her dream.
Sakura warns Ataru to keep Lum away from darkness, but she’s already offworld after being summoned home by her dad to meet her great-grandfather, who had been in cold storage and, er, misplaced during their last move.
The great-grandpappy is very old and his short-term memory isn’t so hot, but he does remember that his grandson having a daughter would spell disaster. In short, he made a very silly and shortsighted deal with someone from the Darkness dimension.
However, due to the darkness man’s advanced age, he instead betrothed Lum to his great-granson, Rupa. But while Rupa has known since he was a youngin’ that he’d be marrying the lovely Lum, Lum is just now finding out about all this, and is none too happy.
Worse still, when Rupa shows up at school in his purple pig-drawn flying chariot (knocking his head not once but twice on the window frames), Ataru is clearly miffed by this revelation, such that he’s actually angry at Lum. This, despite the fact she only just learned about all this and didn’t agree to marry anyone.
When Lum can’t get the ring Rupa gave her off her finger, the rift between her and Ataru grows, as he acts aloof but won’t admit his jealousy. There’s also the matter of admitting he doesn’t like the prospect of Lum being with anyone else.
If he did that, he’d have to admit to himself he only hits on other girls because he fears genuine commitment to someone he actually cares for. And say what you want about Ataru most of the time, he does care for Lum. He just treats her terribly most of the time and has become accustomed to rarely if ever suffering any real consequences.
This episode puts the Lum-Ataru relationship at the forefront, and as Rupa ambushes, drugs, and abducts Lum, their future as a couple is now at risk. While he doesn’t have a purple pig-drawn flying chariot, I’m sure Ataru can scrounge up the people and resources to pursue Rupa.
I don’t think it’s a question of whether he’ll take action to get her back. Scumbag that he is, he’s not about to stand by and do nothing while Lum gets drugged and kidnapped by someone who intends to marry her. That said, I’m sure this won’t get resolved next week, as three episodes remain. Only thing to do is see how this plays out.
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