Urusei Yatsura is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated Rumiko Takahashi that premiered in Weekly Shōnen Sunday in 1978 and ran sporadically until its conclusion in 1987.[1] [2] It follows the humorous adventures of Ataru Moroboshi, and the alien Lum, who believes she is Ataru's wife after he accidentally proposes to her. A total of 34 individual volumes with 11 chapters each were released in tankōbon format between 1980 and March 1987.[2] [3] [4] The series was printed in 15 wideban editions between July 1989 and August 1990.[5] [6] A bunkoban edition of the series was released over 17 volumes between August 1998 and December 1999.[7] [8] A "My First Big" edition was printed between July 2000 and September 2004.[9] [10] A shinsōban edition over 34 volumes was released between November 17, 2006 and March 18, 2008.[11] [12]
After requests from fans, Viz Media licensed the series for release in English across North America in 1989 under the title of Lum * Urusei Yatsura.[13] They released it in a monthly comic book format that contained two stories per issue.[2] Despite a strong start,[2] the series was dropped after eight issues and one graphic novel in 1990.[14] [15] The manga was then reintroduced in Viz's monthly Animerica magazine and was retitled The Return of Lum Urusei Yatsura because of the long gap.[2] The monthly comic books and collected graphic novels resumed in 1994 and 1995 respectively.[16] The English release stopped in 2000 after eight graphic novels.[16] Viz's release roughly corresponded to the first 11 volumes of the Japanese tankōbon edition, but with several chapters excluded.[1]
On July 19, 2018, Viz announced that they re-licensed the manga with plans to release it in a 2-in-1 omnibus edition with new translations.[17] Based on the Japanese shinsōban, the first volume was published on February 19, 2019, and the seventeenth and last on February 19, 2023.
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