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March 18th
New Short Story - Riso no Musume

Rumiko Takahashi’s new short story Ideal Daughter (理想の娘/Riso no Musume) has been previewed for the April 5th issue of Big Comic Original. Source: Big Comic Original

March 14th
Urusei Yatsura Episode 33 Debuts
Mendo has a terrible encounter with the supernatural that involves his missing octopus, Akamaru. Then, the soul of a dead girl named Nozomi cannot pass on to the afterlife until she can fulfill her long-held dream of going on a date with Ataru. Source: Tomobiki-cho

March 12th
MAO Chapter 221 & Shonen Sunday's 65th Anniversary
This week's volume of Shonen Sunday celebrates the magazine's 65th anniversary and in MAO this week Daigo's memories fly to the fore of Natsuno's mind as he draws closer and closer to her after emerging from the five-sided temple. In the past, Daigo wonders why Mao was chosen to be the target of everyone's curses and realizes it has something to do with Haimaru. Source: MAO Online

March 9th
TARAKO (1960-2024)
Beloved seiyuu TARAKO has passed away. Best known as the star of Chibi Maruko-chan, to Rumic fans she appeared as Sugar in Urusei Yatsura, the other Akemi from the Bunny Cabaret in Maison Ikkoku, and most recently the Wishing Star in the new Urusei Yatsura anime. TARAKO was famous amongst fans as she originally audtioned for the role of Lum in Urusei Yatsura but did not get the part. Instead she appeared in almost every episode of the series as various background voices throughout the series run. Source: The Mainichi & TARAKO; What's Your Job?

March 8th
Rumiko Takahashi Manga in Stop Piracy Ad

A very creative ad campaign for the "Stop Pirate Edition" program to combat the pirating of manga ran in the Asahi Shimbun today. It has a number of panels from manga such as Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, One Piece, Banana Fish, Bleach, Golgo 13 and many others. The clever part is the video campaign's song by Vaundy 「ありがとう」(Arigato/Thank You) uses the words of the panels which match the song lyrics. You can see the video here. Source: STOP! 海賊版 on Twitter

March 7th
Akira Toriyama (1955-2024)
Terribly sad news to hear of the passing of Akira Toriyama at the age of 68. From his work on Dragon Ball, Dr. Slump, the Dragon Quest series and Chrono Trigger, he will always be one of the foremost mangaka in history. We'll share this 1986 interview between himself and Rumiko Takahashi and offer our best wishes to his family and fans. You can read the interview at the link below. Source: Rumic World

Urusei Yatsura Episode 32 Debuts
With seemingly no decent futures in existence where Lum, Ataru and Shinobu are all happy, Inaba shows them how to manufacture a personalized ideal future, however the other rabbits object to the idea and decide to destroy all of the potential futures. Then, in his quest to visit the homes of his students, Onsen-Mark arrives at Shinobu's house in rough shape. Source: Tomobiki-cho

March 6th
Rumiko Takahashi/Lum Appear in Grand Jump

In today's issue of Grand Jump (volume 7) Becoming the Landlord of the Oldest Western-style Home in Setagaya (世田谷イチ古い洋館の家主になる) by Kazumi Yamashita (山下和美) details the artist trying to preserve the antique home. In the latest chapter Rumiko Takahashi appears (in the guise of Lum) as she becomes involved in the process to save the house. The story is based on the true story that we covered in the article on the Theodora Ozaki house that Takahashi-sensei has contributed funds to help save. Source: Rumic World YouTube Channel

Megan Thee Stallion Talks Kagome
Megan Thee Stallion names Kagome the definitive anime 'hot girl'. “Definitely Kagome from Inuyasha,” “She got all the boys fighting over her; she’s running around with her jewelry around her neck trying to put it all back together, and she just always comes out on top. Also, she has good hair [laughs] that’s important.” Source: Polygon

March 5th
MAO Chapter 220
Natsuno grows weaker as Daigo's protection of her begins to wane when suddenly everyone is summoned once more to the five-sided shrine where the dark pact was once made to find the true successor to the Goko clan. Source: MAO Online

March 2nd
Week 2 MAO Volume 19 Sales
For the week of February 19-25th MAO volume 19 sold an additional 10,874 copies for a total of 23,2414 copies in its first ten days of release. It was in 50th place on the Oricon charts. Source: Manga Codex Twitter

March 1st
Rumiko Takahashi's Train Mascot - Marin

We're taking a look at a very obscure part of Rumiko Takahashi fandom this month as we look at Marin, the train mascot Rumiko Takahashi designed for the JR Line's Keiyo branch running from Tokyo to Chiba. You can check out the video version by clicking on the image or you can read the article version here. Source: Rumic World YouTube Channel

February 29th
Urusei Yatsura Episode 31 Debuts
Shinobu ventures into subspace with Inaba, Lum and Ataru and they discover that their future happiness may not be what they hope for as they discover future lives where they are not married to who they might have hoped for. Source: Tomobiki-cho

February 27th
MAO Chapter 219
Yurako tries to silence Natsuno who has realized about Yurako's connection to Sana's death. Byoki allies himself with Yurako to ensure Natsuno is killed so that Daigo's soul can return to his body. Source: MAO Online

Yashahime Chapter 30
The battle against Zero reaches its conclusion, as the girls team-up to pierce her powerful defenses when Riku comes to their aid in the end. With Zero defeated, what becomes of Inuyasha, Kagome and Rin? Source: The Inuyasha Companion

February 25th
Mangaka Have Questions Following the Death of Hinako Ashihara
Following the January 29th suicide of mangaka Hinako Ashihara, many creators have shared their thoughts and feelings regarding the adaptations of their work in other media such as film, television and anime. This week Rumiko Takahashi's name came up in regards to her own long discussed issues with the adaptation of Urusei Yatsura in the early 80s. We examine the conversations that have been occurring in the wake of this tragedy. Source: Rumic World

February 24th
MAO Volume 19 Sales
For the week of February 12-18th MAO volume 19 debuted in the 27th position on the Oricon sales chart with a weekly total of 12,357 copies.

1. Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: Boukensha Bible Perfect Edition (ダンジョン飯 ワールドガイド 冒険者バイブル 完全版)
2. Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun (魔入りました! 入間くん) #36 (2 weeks)
3. Unmei no Hito ni Deau Hanashi (運命の人に出会う話) #5
4. Jujutsu Kaisen (呪術廻戦) #25 (multiple weeks)
5. Call of the Night (よふかしのうた) #19
6. Norakami (ノラガミ) #27
7. Hajime no Ippo (はじめの一歩) #140
8. Fall in Love, You False Angels (恋せよまやかし天使ども) #2
9. Tensei Kenja no Isekai Life (転生賢者の異世界ライフ 〜第二の職業を得て、世界最強になりました〜) #23
10. Rent-a-Girlfriend (彼女、お借りします) #35
27. MAO (マオ) #19

Source: Manga Codex Twitter

February 22nd
Urusei Yatsura Episode 30 Debuts
Ataru buys some mind-swapping earmuffs and trades places with Ten, allowing him to do all sorts of perverted things, then a subspace portal sends Ataru and Lum ten years into the future to meet Ataru's future son, Kokeru. Source: Tomobiki-cho

Rumiko Takahashi's Quote for Fist of the North Star
Rumiko Takahashi provides the cover quote for Fist of the North Star (北斗の拳) vol 13 of the 40th anniversary release. Previously cover quotes have come from Akira Toriyama, Hirohiko Araki, Osamu Akimoto, Masanori Morita, Yoshihiro Togashi, Yasuhisa Hara, Shinichi Sakamoto, Kenshi Hirokane, Toshio Sako, Ajichika, Tsukasa Hojo, & Gosho Aoyama. Source: Genicpress.com

February 20th
MAO Chapter 218
MAO returns after two weeks off. Natsuno and Byoki track down Yurako and confront her about what really happened in the wake of Daigo's death and how it connects with the murder of Masago. Source: MAO Online

February 17th
Takahashi Stickers in Women's Magazine

This month's issue (volume 8, Feb. 29th-March 7th cover date) of Women's Seven (女性セブン/Josei Seven) has stickers of various characters from Takahashi-sensei's series to promote the upcoming release of her Colors artbook. Source: Josei Seven

February 16th
MAO Volume 19

MAO volume 19 is in stores today. Source: MAO Online

February 15th
Rumic Mini 038

In this month's Rumic Mini, we explore a subtle edit that was made to the original Japanese edition of Maison Ikkoku between its original publication and later collected version. Source: Rumic World YouTube Channel

Urusei Yatsura Episode 29 Debuts
Kotatsuneko acquires a possessed kotatsu from an antique dealer that has connections to the Mendo family, then Lum is bitten by a cow and seems to be transforming, finally Onsen-Mark visits Mendo's home for a parent/teacher conference. Source: Tomobiki-cho

February 11th
Rumiko Takahashi Attends Concert
Rumiko Takahashi has posted to X (formerly Twitter) showing the flowers she sent to the "Anime Orchestra Series - The Musical World of Kaoru Wada and Inuyasha" concert tonight. About the concert she said, "It was wonderful! I heard that the performance will be held in Himeji as well!" In addition to Kaoru Wada conducting the orchestra, Noriko Hidaka, Satsuki Yukino and Kumiko Watanabe were all in attendance on stage introducing songs. Source: Twitter

February 9th
God as Man - The Egotism of Osamu Tezuka
A curious side of the the most influential mangaka of all time is Tezuka's petty jealousies towards fellow artists such as Shotaro Ishinomori, Katsuhiro Otomo and Sanpei Shirato. Today, on the anniversary of his passing we wished to share a discussion of this rarely commented upon side of Tezuka's personality. Source: Rumic World

February 8th
Urusei Yatsura Episode 28 Debuts
Mendo cannot stand the idea of being married to a hulking, armor-clad giant, but when a stay bolt of lightning from Lum reveals Asuka is a gorgeous girl, he starts to rethink his marriage plans. Asuka's intense fear of men complicates things, however. Source: Tomobiki-cho

Theodora Ozaki Residence Preservation

A group of manga artists led by Kazumi Yamashita (山下和美) creator of The Life of Genius Professor Yanagizawa, and Nami Sasou (笹生那実) creator of The Rose is Born in Shuraba, held a press conference today at the unveiling of the "Ozaki Residence Preservation Project". Additionally, the group includes manga artists Rumiko Takahashi (高橋留美子, MAO), Norifusa Mita (三田紀房, Dragon Zakura), Nobuyuki Fukumoto (福本伸行, Kaiji), Tatuso Nitta (新田たつお, The Quiet Don) and Noboru Takahashi (高橋のぼる, Mogura no Uta) who all donated money. Osamu Akimoto (秋本治, KochiKame), Go Nagai (永井豪, Devilman), Tetsuya Chiba (千葉徹彌, Ashita no Joe) and Waki Yamato (大和和紀, Haikara-san) discussed the project with the gathered press.

The project is to purchase the property and historical home of Theodora Ozaki (1870-1932). Ozaki, a famed translator of Japanese short stories and fairy tales into English, was married to the former mayor of Tokyo. The 135-year-old building was in danger of being demolished in 2019 until Sasao and Nitta purchased the property, and then along with the five other manga artists, donated money to the restoration of the historic building. Rumiko Takahashi said at the event, "I thought it would be a dream if I could leave this kind of property (to future generations), so I didn't hesitate to get involved." The artists will auction off original artwork and setup a website to sale original art from the mangaka starting March 1st. You can read our translation of the original article here. Source: Comics Natalie

February 7th
New Urusei Yatsura Pachislot Announced
The brand-new Urusei Yatsura pachislot machine (known as "Pachislot Urusei Yatsura") is being released in parlors across Japan in April. Made by Excite and New Guin, the machine features new animation and a plethora of original cast members from the 1980s anime returning to voice their characters.

The actors lending their voice to the machine include Fumi Hirano (Lum), Toshio Furukawa (Ataru), Kazuko Sugiyama (Ten), Saeko Shimazu (Shinobu), Mayumi Tanaka (Ryunosuke) and Shigeru Chiba (Megane).

Some original actors are not appearing, either due to retirement or that they are now deceased. Mendo will be played by Takehito Koyasu, Cherry by Hideyuki Umezu, Sakura by Ayumi Tsunematsu, Benten by Yuko Sasamoto, Oyuki by Yuko Kato, and Ran by Masako Shiro. Source: New Gin.co.jp and Chonborista.com

February 1st
Urusei Yatsura Episode 27 Debuts
Kurama is still on the hunt for a man worth mating with and her search leads her to Rei. Also, the Mendo family is ready for Shutaro to settle down, and insist on a marriage meeting. When the mysterious girl turns out to be the sister of his rival Tobimaro, Mendo protests, but a visit to the Mizunokoji Estate only reveals stranger secrets. Source: Tomobiki-cho

Urusei Yatsura 1992 Calendar

This month we're taking a look at a very rare 1992 Urusei Yatsura calendar from 1992 that featured original artwork that has never been seen elsewhere. Source: Rumic World YouTube Channel

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Rumic World, online since 1996, is owned by Harley Acres and Dylan Acres.
All series copyright Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan and Viz.

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