By Rumiko Takahashi. Released in Japan in two separate volumes by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Camellia Nieh.

After the soft reboot of this series with the arrival of Shutaro Mendo, Takahashi is going back and trying to see how she can work the pile of characters she introduced at the start back into the series, while also introducing new and hilarious regulars. Sometimes this works and sometimes it does not. The first half of this volume succeeds in re-integrating Sakura into the cast, now the high school nurse in addition to a shrine priestess, and we also meet Mendo’s rival Tobimaro Mizunokoji, a baseball-obsessed samurai type who is after revenge but is too dim to get it. (He’s also really obsessed with his childhood friend/rival, and has a passel of gorgeous female bodyguards that he barely pays attention to. I don’t think Takahashi intended him to have gay overtones, but…) Sakura will stay a regular, and Tobimaro will pop up now and then throughout the series. But not every new character is destined to become part of our beloved cast.

(The cover art, which has Ryuunosuke and her father; Sugar, Ginger and Pepper; and Kotatsu-neko – none of whom are introduced yet – is a tad spoilery. As are the endnotes, which discuss Ran before Ran is introduced.)

The second part of this volume seems like a series of failed cast introductions. Hanako-sensei is introduced to be a variation on the “well-meaning teacher who wants to inspire youth”, but he’s honestly pretty dang dull, and will quickly be replaced by Onsen Mark (who we’ve seen before) becoming a regular. (I will gloss right over Onsen Mark’s name in this omnibus, thanks much.) Natsuko’s volleyball-obsessed girl filled with rage is a very amusing arc, with great facial expressions, but she’s not someone you can imagine showing up over and over again. The same with Kaede the runaway ninja girl, who honestly seems like she’d be better off far away from Ataru and company. Fortunately, at the very end we meet Lum’s cousin and childhood “friend” Ran, who arrives with a cute act and a thirst for revenge, and is easily the best part of the back half of the book. You can see why she sticks around.

As for our regulars, they do pretty well. Ataru and Lum are fighting less, and frequently team up against common enemies (my favorite part being “Cry, Lum.” “Waaaaaaahh!” “See, you made her cry!”). Now, Lum still gets angry, and can be seen hear biting Ataru on the arm in addition to shocking him, but Ataru doesn’t seem to resent her presence anymore. Which is good, as she transfers into his school in this volume, thus helping to avoid finding reasons for her to show up in the classroom. The addition of the other cast members also helps take the focus of the manga off “will Ataru choose Lum” and focus more on “this obnoxious cast of obnoxious humans and aliens”, which will help it survive for the remaining fourteen omnibuses.

So there are some growing pains in this book, but it’s still highly entertaining, and Takahashi’s art has gotten to the point where you don’t have to apologize for it anymore. Still essential.

By Rumiko Takahashi. Released in Japan in two separate volumes by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Camellia Nieh.

UY gets a bit of a reboot about a quarter of a way into this omnibus. The cast is streamlined, with a lot of the alien girls after Ataru vanishing (some will be back – Benten, Oyuki – and some won’t – Kurama), and Megane and his three friends also vanishing from the manga (the anime will keep them around, for good and ill). In their place we get Shutaro Mendo, and he immediately shows us that he is going to be a main cast member fot the long haul. Indeed, after Ataru, Lum and Shinobu he’s the biggest member of the cast, and much of this volume is dedicated to showing off his best features (his money, his looks) and his worst features (everything else about him). Takahashi makes a point of showing early on that without his wealth and good looks, he’d be just like Ataru – but of course, he DOES have wealth and good looks, so the girls all fall for him anyway.

This includes Shinobu, who the endnotes at the end of the volume call out for having bad taste in men, and it’s hard to deny, as Mendo will forever be willing to abandon her at a moment’s notice if he can get Lum instead. (Shinobu will get a happy ending, but you may have to wait till Omnibus 16 or so to start seeing it.) There are a few chapters that show off Mendo trying to woo Lum, but he’s at a huge disadvantage, as Lum’s love for Ataru never really wavers at all – even when she’s dating others, it’s in an effort to make him jealous. Here we see her even disguising herself to save Ataru from his own foolishness, or alternatively so he can pretend she’s a real Japanese girl when they go out. As for Ataru, at the start we see he has the same attitude about Lum as he did before – he wants her gone – but this also changed as the story moves forward.

Ataru is, for the most part, a womanizing creep, and this won’t change, though it’s worth noting that even with these traits he’s still one of the better catches in the class. The ‘fake girl for Ataru’ chapter, which the anime put at Christmas and expanded greatly, is the first time that he actually realizes that Lum is gorgeous, and that plus the fact that she clearly went out of her way to help him leads him to soften his stance on her. He still declares that they aren’t going out or married, but she’s become an ally to him now. Two chapters in a row show this off best. In one, he befriends a caterpillar that wants to eat everything – and we do mean everything – and he and Lum try to protect it from the rest of the class, who find it creepy. This works out better than anyone could expect. In the other, possibly the most famous chapter of the series (its anime adaptation was voted the #1 episode by Japan), Lum vanishes, leaving behind only a cute little doll that looks like her, and Ataru worries that he genuinely drove her off.

Heartwarming moments like these are far more common in the anime than in the manga, but they do happen, and for a good purpose – now Ataru is fighting against his affection for Lum, rather than just seeing her as an invader. Now that the core cast of four has been solidified, we can also start to expand the world once more, and we’ll see that in the next volume. Also, Takahashi’s art settles down here – there are some gorgeous pieces of art on display in these pages.

By Rumiko Takahashi. Released in Japan in two separate volumes by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Camellia Nieh.

I had reviewed the first five volumes of UY back in the days before my blog was part of Manga Bookshelf. At the time, it seemed like a pipe dream that we’d ever see more of it over here. It was started by Viz then cancelled, then put into Animerica Magazine and then cancelled there, then it was back to 32-page floppies, and finally it ground to a halt after 9 volumes (which covered up to about Book 11 in Japan owing to them skipping a bunch of chapters). It was the classic “how many times do you want us to beat our heads against this wall?” series. But now the manga market is stronger, Takahashi’s reputation is super high, and so not only do we get the return of UY, uncut and in omnibus format, we also get it released digitally, the first time this has happened for her series over a multi-platform format. It is truly a love song for Lum. Of course, new readers may be wondering: what’s the big deal?

The manga was originally supposed to be about an unlucky boy (whose very name loosely means “born under a bad sign”), his long-suffering and hot-tempered girlfriend, and the amusing situations that happen in their hometown of Tomobiki. Ataru Moroboshi attracts trouble. In the first chapter, that trouble is aliens, as he has to run a tag race against alien ogres so the Earth is not taken over. His opponent is Lum, who is a hot babe but also has a volatile temper. And can fly. After defeating and accidentally proposing to her, the next chapter is Lumless, and you might be deceived (if it were 1978, which it isn’t) into thinking that Lum would be a minor one-shot character… sort of like many of the other girls introduced in these two volumes. That said, the series is translated as “Those Obnoxious Aliens”, and it’s clear in the third chapter that Lum is back to stay. And also insanely popular.

As with a lot of long-running series, the characterization at the start is a bit off. Ataru is almost sympathetic at times, and occasionally makes the effort to be faithful to Shinobu and not be what he is famous for being, a giant horndog. By the end of this omnibus, that’s mostly worn off. Lum too is far nastier than we’re used to seeing, clearly an antagonist. As for Shinobu… well, no, she’s pretty much the same, though she too is unsympathetic much of the time. In fact, if you’re looking for anyone to root for, “look elsewhere” might be the best answer. This series runs on pure comedy, and Takahashi’s brand of comedy means watching people be terrible for fun. It works. These are terrible people. It’s fun. Ataru’s parents constantly wish he’d never been born. The town despises him (because he brings massive property damage). Cherry is possibly the most irritating character in the entire 34-volume series, which says a LOT. But the humor is there. This is a romp. You’ll find yourself laughing, but also slapping your forehead.

We do meet a large number of the main cast in this book, but they won’t last long… for now. Benten and Oyuki are oddly there to be Lum’s rivals for Ataru’s affection – that will change soon. Ataru’s friends aren’t even named (one is definable by his glasses… and not, thank god, his love of Nazi memorabilia), but they too won’t last long. Much as Viz attempted to reboot the series a couple of times here in North America, Takahashi will also reboot her own series starting in the next volume, with the introduction of the fourth and final “main” character. As for whether you should buy it again… yes. The quality of the reproduction is MUCH better than the original Viz volumes, especially the digital version. The translation is also less intrusive than the original, retaining puns when they’re obvious, but not feeling the need to make more jokes than Takahashi already is. It reads very smoothly.

Again, if you find yourself wishing “I wish everyone was a smidge less awful”, the second omnibus may help a bit. Only a bit, mind. These are characters to laugh AT, not with. I can’t wait for more.