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Only You
Onri yuu
オンリー・ユー

Eleven years ago a young Ataru played a game of "shadow tag" with an alien girl. After he stepped on her shadow she told him that on her planet, stepping on someone's shadow is a marriage proposal. She went away but told him that she'd return and pick him up in 11 years.

The present.

Everyone in Tomobiki has been recieving inviations to a wedding between Ataru Moroboshi and a woman named Elle. But no-one, including Ataru has any clue who this "Elle" is. Ataru undergoes much interogation and punishment by the hands of the Stormtroopers, Shinobu, Mendo and Lum but he still can't recall any woman named Elle. Then a the clouds split open and a gigantic starship touches down. Here we see the captain and Elle's nanny Babara who are here to pick up Ataru and bring him to planet Elle. Babara puts a sheild around Ataru to protect him for the ceremony so even Lum's electric zaps don't affect him. Ataru fully intends to marry this Elle and won't listen to Lum's pleas. Heartbroken, Lum flies off.

As the ship takes off, and people are blowing away like leaves, Sakura quotes one of my favorite lines in the movie. "The universe is truly vast. To think that someone could compeat with Lum's bad taste in men." Later that night we see Lum wandering the streets with nowhere to go. From out of the shadows comes Lum's friend Benten who flushes out one of Babara's spies that had been following Lum. They sit down at a diner and Benten coaxes Lum to act and take back her Darling. And so Lum runs off to do just that.

We come to the Moroboshi residence. Ataru is all cheerful as he irons his pants for the big day. His mother is in hysterics because he's leaving her. Ataru's father and Cherry aren't helping the situation either. Then Lum appears and tells Ataru that they are going to her planet where they will married. She then proceeds to suck up everyone into her ship with a huge vaccum device. Lum meets up with Benten who has rented a shuttle from the Space Taxi Service. They then abduct the rest of the reluctant gang who are to attend the marriage of Ataru and Lum.

Later Lum meets up with the other aliens such as Kurama, Oyuki, Ran and Rei. And then out of warp appears the huge warship of Lum's father. Everyone boards onto the ship. Ataru's shield is removed and is swiftly brought to an omiake in which Lum's and Ataru's parents pressure him into accepting marrying Lum.

Lum and Ataru sit together in a private room. Lum's thoughts go to that of their marriage while Ataru's thoughts turn to that of impending doom and how he wants to see Elle. Lum soon finds out what he's thinking. Lum takes out two engagement rings that she calls Tiger Stars and somehow forces the struggling and suddently horrified Ataru to wear one.

The scene shifts back to the space shuttle in which everyone had been abducted by Benten. We see the female spy named Rose from before emerge from a raccoon statue. She then begins to make her way through the ship.

The spaceship from Elle that had appeared before, appears out of warp. To defend his son-in-law, Lum's father deploys his forces and an all out war takes place between the Oni and the subjects of Elle.

As the war wages Ataru tries to weasel out of his marriage with Lum and they argue which ends with Lum knocking Ataru unconscious with a mallot. But just as she does that another figure, Rose, the Elle spy sneaks in and knocks Lum unconscious with her mighty supersonic hammer. She they proceeds to exchange their outfits and take on Lum's identity while taking Ataru with her.

Rose had no luck in fooling the ship's crew as even with green hair and tiger-skin bikini she bears no resemblance to Lum. Therefore she has to fight her way through the crewmembers. but has no trouble dealing with them. Ten finds her doing this and goes to find help. He doesn't find Sakura but tells the rest of the gang who are watching the battle of what is going on.

Rose has found a getaway ship and prepares to take off when she is identified. Invader panics to capture her and save his son-in-law when Ataru now awake starts thanking her for saving him from Lum and that he looks forward to his new life with Elle. Of course everyone hears this over the ship's speaker system and pretty much give up. Rose begins to take off with Ataru. Strangely enough the room with Ten, Shinobu, Mendo and the Stormtroopers is attached to the getaway ship and so they are taken along for the ride as the spaceship takes off.

Lum awakes to find her Darling is gone, and so are her clothes. She rushes to catch them but took a malfunctioning fighter. As Lum attempts to use the after-burners the fighter blows up. Luckily Lum ejected safely but now Ataru is long gone as they rendezvous with the Elle vessel and transport away.

We now come to the planet Elle. Ataru, Mendo, Ten, Shinobu and the Stormtroopers all of whom are now stuck on this planet are to be taken to meet Elle. Megane is hysterical from grief as he realises he'll never see earth again. But Ataru tells him of his plan. Since he'll be the ruler of this planet that means that everything on it will be his, including the women. As king, Ataru plans to build the ultimate harem. Maniacal laughter ensues.

They are brought to Elle's palace where they finally get to meet her. All of the guys are awestruck as she is one of the most beautiful women they have ever seen. Elle runs toward Ataru but mistakes Mendo for Ataru. That mix-up is soon remedied.

A bit later the Stormtroopers in the garden watch in disgust as Ataru and Elle flirt incessantly. Megane gets to thinking that if she'd settle on Ataru that maybe he'd have a chance. Similar thoughts go through Mendo's head as he intends to make a move on her. Elle and Ataru talk. She relates to Ataru that his been 11 years since that shadow tag race. Ataru obvioulsy has no idea of what she's talking about but plays along. Elle skips off but is greeted by Mendo with the intention of putting the moves on her. But Elle beats him to it. She invites him to meet with her that evening.

Later that night she takes Mendo to her private inner sanctum. He opens it with a key and is horrified by what he finds inside. Thousands and thousands of handsome men all frozen in cryogenic sleep. Elle calls it her refrigerator of love as to ensure that love stays fresh, she freezes any handsome man who has ever loved her. And she plans on making Mendo the 100,000th addition to her collection.

Megane, Ataru, and the others who had followed Mendo overheard everything. They all plan to get the hell away from the planet when they hear Mendo's screams. Mendo's about to go under when Shinobu comes and rescues him destroying the freezing machine in the process. But she doesn't get far as Elle's guards show up. Everyone is surrounded. Elle sees that Ataru has heard her and tries to beg for forgiveness. Ataru however is repulsed by it all and wants the wedding to be cancelled indefinately. Still Elle is intent on marrying Ataru even if by force. By her orders the wedding will proceed.

On planet Uru, we see Lum's alien friends talking about going back to their planets now that Lum's fiance is long gone. They see Lum fly by and can see how heartbroken she is. Lum tries to throw away those Tiger Star wedding bands but can't bring herself to let it go. A musical sequence plays as Lum is filled with memories of Ataru.

Back on Elle, Ataru and Ten are being held in a dungeon. Ten is insulting Ataru and chastising him for his foolish treatement of Lum. But Ataru actually shows remorse. He puts himself down for being such an idiot, for mistreating Lum and for rejecting her.

The planet is bustling with activity as thousands of guests from all over the galaxy arrive to attend the wedding. The wedding begins as Ataru and Elle come out and glide towards the altar. Elle looks beautiful, however Ataru who has a ball and chain around the ankle (a metaphor?) looks like a wreck.

Outside Benten, Oyuki, Ran, Kurama and Rei are planning to crash the party. Benten knows that Lum will probably show sooner or later. And show she does. On the top of a city scape, Lum swipes an Elle airplane, as she does we see Benten zooming through the sky on her airbike with a with a of air patrol planes in hot persuit. Elsewhere Oyuki's snow storm is causing trouble as is Rei in Tiger-Bull form eating all of the food from all of the restaurants in town. The worst blow is struck as Kurama releases all of the frozen hunks in Elle's collection. A sea of men rush out of the refrigirator towards the chapel each one planning to smash the wedding.

While all of this havoc ensues Lum flies towards the chapel. But time is running out as the exchange of vows has begun. Of course Ataru isn't given a choice. Lum gets closer to the chapel, but now the patrol planes are trying to shoot her down. Elle tries to finish the ceremony with a kiss but Lum shows up. Rapping on the stain glass window yelling "Darling!" (obviously a spoof of The Graduate). She crashes through and she and Ataru embrace.

But the reunion is cut short as Elle gets Babara to order the guards to capture Lum. Just then the rampaging hunks knock down the door and begin beating up the wedding guests. While this is going on Lum tries to fly off with Ataru but Elle is holding on. Benten arrives with the space taxi and vaccuums them up. The taxi driver accidentally hits the warp button to close to the planet and they are thrust into a weird dimension going back 11 years into the past. They find themselves at the exact place and time where Ataru and Elle had played shadow tag.

They watch them run and play around the park. But right when young Ataru says he steps on little Elle's shadow, present day Ataru comes running out and yells for them to stop. He shows that he didn't step on her shadow after all. He recalls that he had made it up so that he could win. That means the engagement is null and void. Of course everyone's pissed at Ataru, which in return he blames his child self for causing the trouble as he hits him on the head and makes him cry. Lum tries to console little Ataru but big Ataru keeps beating up on him. Young Elle skips away.

Suddenly they are brought back to the planet Elle. Elle stays behind and the rest of the gang take off in the space taxi. Elle walks to the elevator and as she turns around, you can see that she's crying.

Everyone is in the taxi. Ataru about to kiss Lum when the he hits the floor face-first as the taxi has landed. Ataru steps out of the ship, relieved to be back on earth. But as he looks around he finds that he's in a wedding hall with all of the people he knows gathered together. They're on planet Uru for their wedding Lum informs him. Ataru seems nervous but doesn't seem to mind this sudden surpise.

They begin exchanging vows. Lum accepts but it looks like Ataru is having problems. They wait for his answer when he screams at the top of his lungs, NO!!! Ataru throws off his tux and runs at breakneck speed out of the wedding hall while everyone else chases after him, but he just keeps running.

Film Details

Film Staff: Director: Mamoru Oshii (押井守) Screenplay: Tomoko Konparu (金春智子) Music: Fumitaka Anzai, Koji Nishimura & Masamichi Amano (安西 史孝, 西村コージ & 天野正道) Character Designs: Akemi Takada & Magoichi Takazawa (高田明美 & 孫一高沢)

Premiere: February 11, 1983

Themes: I, I, You & Ai Kagefumi no Waltz

Adapted from: Anime Original Film

Notes: "Is that a sexual perversion?" - During the students' gossip sequence after the opening titles, one of the students wonders if Ataru is committing bigamy by marrying this Elle person when he's supposedly already married to Lum (or at least, things are close enough that they might as well be). Another student follows that up by asking what bigamy is--"is that a sexual perversion?" In the original Japanese, these lines were a pun (as so many conversations in this series are). The joke is that the word for bigamy in Japanese is "juukon," and the person responding wondered if it was like "lolicon," which is Japanese shorthand for "Lolita Complex." The "con" in both words is different, meaning "marriage" in the first one and "complex" in the second. Bearing the Unbearable - During the Inquisition in the Tomobiki High School Clock Tower, when Megane says to Ataru, "Ataru, do you know why... we have borne the unbearable...?" he is making a reference to the famous radio speech by the late Emperor Shoowa, on Aug. 15, 1945, when he announced Japan's surrender to the Allies, ending World War II. Specifically, he is quoting the oft-quoted phrase (Megane quotes it again in Movie #2, "Beautiful Dreamer) "taegataki o tae, shinobigataki o shinobi," which is usually translated as "[Japan] must bear the unbearable..." meaning, in the original, surrender. In the case of Lum's Stormtroopers, however, "the unbearable" is seeing Lum hopelessly in love with Ataru. Puns in character names - Many of the character names in Urusei Yatsura describe the characters very well in the original Japanese. "Moroboshi Ataru," for example, means "to get hit by a star." And since "star" is at least partially synonymous with "alien" in this series, it means that he attracts aliens and other weirdos, like it or not. "Shinobu" is another good example, for a different reason: the word means "patient," but in actuality, she is anything but. As for the Stormtroopers, their nicknames come from their looks: "Megane" means "glasses," "Chibi" means "runt," and "Perm" and "Kakugari" get their nicknames from their hairstyles. The normal writing of "Mendou" means "trouble," but in the case of the Mendou family, the name is written with a different set of characters, giving a different official meaning ("face" + "temple," which in itself is somewhat descriptive), but nonetheless, the Mendou family lives up to the traditional reading of the word that is a homonym of their family name: they are lots of trouble. Benten is actually one of the seven Chinese gods of luck, Oyuki is a takeoff on the classic snow princess of Japanese myth, and Princess Kurama and the Karasutengu ("Crow Goblins") are also based on the mythical "crow people" that are their namesakes. A Rose, by any other name, would be as funny. - There are also numerous references to roses in this film, starting with the rose-shaped starship from Planet Elle, showering rose petals everywhere in its first appearance. The name of the visitor this ship brings, Babara, is also a rose pun in Japanese, being a hybrid of the words "Baba" (a derogatory term roughly equivalent to "Old Bag" in English) and "Bara," which means "rose." The name of the spy who trails Lum and eventually abducts Ataru and his friends from Lum's father's ship is named Nanabake Rose, and "nanabake" means "shapechanger" (though she proves amazingly inept). Then there is "Baran," the capital city of Planet Elle (another "Bara" pun), and last is "Baragumi Elle," which is written on the tag which the little Elle wears in the flashback sequence. The joke here is that Japanese kindergarten classes in the same school are often distinguished by names such as "Baragumi (Rose Class)," "Sakuragumi (Cherry Class)," "Momogumi (Peach Class)," etc., and Elle would naturally be in the "Rose Class." Vacuum Cleaners from Hell. - "Uzushio" means "an eddying current," and as such, is the sort of name that might be used as the brand name of a washing machine made in Japan. For this reason, it is funny to Japanese audiences when used as the name of the suction device which Lum uses to gather up Ataru and his family (and Cherry, too), especially because that name includes the word "zenjidoo" (fully automatic) which is the sort of descriptive word that would also tend to be used as part of the name of such an appliance. Maitta, maitta, tonari no jinja. - "Maitta" is a word one says when one is having trouble. It also means "to visit," as in "visiting a shrine." The word for shrine is "jinja." So when Ataru says to Babara, "Maitta, maitta, tonari no jinja," he is having fun by confusing the two meanings of the word "mairu (maitta)," which are both written the same way, adding to the fun. Children Who Know War. - "Senso o Shiranai Kodomotachi" (Children Who Don't Know War) was a popular folk/protest song in Japan in the late 1960's-early 1970's. It was about the generation gap between the pre- and post-World War II generations. The latter says that even though they do not know war, having been born and raised after its end, nonetheless they love peace, and want to live in a peaceful world. The song ends with a plea by the younger generation to call them "Children Who Don't Know War." The joke here is that, during the "space dogfight scene," Megane is happy to tell Shinobu that they are now, instead, "Children Who Know War," at last. "Say something Fatherly" - Ataru's Father telling Ataru not to take out a loan for his wedding to, or honeymoon with, Elle, is a reflection on the expense and payment schemes typical of Japanese weddings. They tend to be more expensive than American weddings, and whereas, in the U.S., the bride's family typically pays all the wedding expenses, things aren't nearly so cut and dried in Japan, where either or both families may pay the expenses, or the bride and groom may pay their own expenses. Taking out such loans is at best uncommon, but it is the sort of thing that this family would do (In "Beautiful Dreamer", Ataru's father takes out a 500 year loan in Ataru's name!). Home Cooking - Megane mentions a lot of foods in his first tirade on Planet Elle: Takoyaki is a pancake-like batter, rolled into balls containing octopus and vegetables, and baked. Gyuu-don (short for "Gyuuniku-Domburi"), which we refer to as "Beef-bowl," is beef boiled in sauce (usually soy sauce) with onions, on top of rice, in a bowl. The flavor of the sauce seeps down into the rice, which is what Megane is so excited about. Just about everybody knows what ramen is. The point is that these foods are "everyday foods," equivalent to hot dogs, hamburgers, and pizza in the U.S.; to wit, the foods you grew up with and miss the most. As for the gyuu-don restaurant Ataru points out on Planet Elle, the joke here is that these places are like McDonald's: i.e., they're EVERYWHERE. What will become of me? - About Ataru's Mother crying about what will become of her in her old age: typically, in Japan, children take care of their parents when they get too old to take care of themselves, and those children will live with their parents more often than in Western countries. Certainly, Ataru's Mother and Father are the kind of people who expect that treatment from their son. His mother in particular is concerned with her own well-being, and given how badly her husband and son are taking care of her now, she's got good reason! The Matchmaking Incident - The matchmaking "incident" that Lum's father refers to is recounted in Episode 22, stories 43-44, "The Great Space Marriage Plan," which is available in subtitled form in AnimEigo's UY TV series tape #6. In 2022 Rumiko Takahashi revealed on Twitter that Benten began to be featured more in the manga due to how large of a part she had in this film. You can read Mason Proulx's review of the film here.

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