Customer Reviews

The Return of Lum * Urusei Yatsura, Vol. 3: Sweet Revenge

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4 star:		(4)
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Sweet Revenge is a title that may mislead some poeple into the story. Any revenge doesn't show up till half-way through this Takahashi work. But some of the stories are interesting. Tomobiki High holds a parent's day, and we see the introduction of LUm's mother, who speaks in Mahjoung tiles. There's also a funny little story of a female ninja, but this book is notable for the intro of Lum's childhood and revenge-bent friend Ran. A person who borders on ultra-cute and Frightening madness.

Everybody has some skeletons in their closet -- and it's not surprising that alien princess Lum's are a little crazier than normal. In Rumiko Takahashi's "The Return of Lum: Urusei Yatsura," the extraterrestrial gets a nasty shock from her past, which threatens to affect her "darling."

A very enthusiastic young teacher comes to Tomobiki High, and receives a shock when the new transfer student has horns and can fly. Lum soon joins the girl's volleyball team, not knowing that the captain LOATHES all men. Not to mention the parent-teacher day, when the cast's assorted strange moms arrive. Ataru's love for all things female pops up when a pretty female ninja, Kaede, desperately tries to get a secret document from him. He continues pursuing her when she leaves her job and is pursued by a number of inept ninja.

And then a new girl, Ran, arrives at the school -- and turns out to be an old pal of Lum's. Unfortunately, she has a split personality -- one side is sweet and cute, the other is completely insane and vengeful. And because of some unfortunate childhood incidents (involving bedwetting and ice cream), she plans to get revenge on Lum, by stealing Ataru's youth. Since she does that with a kiss, Ataru is all too willing....

Ran is one of the most entertaining characters in the "Urusei Yatsura" series -- she's completely insane. As a result, Takahashi's stories with her are among the most entertaining (with the exception of Rei, whom Ran has a "thing" about). When you have someone who's out for revenge and comically crazed, expect fun.

This is one of the rare collections that has not a dud story in it -- Takahashi veers from strength to strength, be it psychotic ninja hags or a school play disrupted by Ataru and Ran. We also get the entertaining spectacle of Lum being joined to Ataru's hip even at school.

We also get introduced to new characters, such as Mendo and Lum's moms. One is snotty, autocratic and abhors machinery, and the other is an upbeat older version of her daughter. And despite only brief appearances by fan faves Cherry and Sakura, we get Kaede the job-seeking ninja, and Mr. Hanawa, the overenthusastic young teacher who speaks in cliches.

"Sweet Revenge" is indeed a sweet collection of "Urusei Yatsura" stories. And it introduces one of Takahashi's most memorable characters -- definitely not something to miss.

I won't review the story since others have done it for me. What I will do is talk about the design of the book itself.

For one, the binding on all of the Urusei Yatsura/Lum books is substandard. My copy of 'The Return of Lum' has the cover coming off of it, from the binding, like it's just peeling up. 'The Perfect Collection' is losing pages in the center of the book, and I have to replace my copy of 'Sweet Revenge' because it has lost EVERY SINGLE PAGE in it! There is just no excuse for this! I'm afraid to touch 'Trouble Times Ten' or 'Ran Attacks' for fear that they will come apart too!

I'm not saying that you shouldn't get the books; this is a wonderful series and everyone should read it, Takahashi fan or not. But just be warned that the books will fall to pieces on you.

Another day, another Urusei Yatsura book. Oh how I wish this series would never end... In this book we start by introducing a new teacher to the ranks of Tomobiki High school, then a nice two part tale of the girls' volleyball captain's love for Mendo (her and every other girl...ever), then move onto a long-winded multi-part story about a ninja. This is a nice story, and it contains the seeds of what eventually became Takahashi's popular series Ranma 1/2. After the ninja stories comes the main event.

Ran-chan

A sweet, demure red head with her heart set on Ataru.

No, wait.

An evil conniving alien from Lum's past with her heart set on stealing Ataru's youth so she can have revenge on Lum-chan. THAT's it. Ran is a fantastic character, who has two personalities, the sweet endearing Ran and the evil murderous Ran.

Ran works so well in the story because she adds another level of sheer twisted brilliance, she's totally insane and her plans are completely off the wall, resulting in more trademarked Urusei Yatsura slapstick.

Another book you need to own. But you knew that already.

So order it before I zap you all.

I loved the pictures and the story line! I have four other Revenge of Lum books on hold for me (I didn't bring much money the day I got this book, so I ended up getting whichever graphic novel was thickest!) It was GREAT. A really fantastic book with captivating plots. I felt, however, that the Ninja chapters ended up slightly...unfinished. Oh well! Does anyone know what order this series goes in? Does it even have an order?

Of the three books in the 'Lum' series that I've read (The Return of Lum, Lum in the sun, Sweet Revenge), this one is the funniest. This book starts out with a new teacher to Tomobiki High school - boy is he in for a few surprises! Ahh, the foibles of a new teacher. The next story revolves around Kaede the ninja. Kaede is very cute, and the story is hilarious. Finally, the book ends with a meeting between Lum, and her childhood friend, Ran. The first too stories were funnier, but this one certainly provides plenty of fodder for laughs. This book, though not one of my all-time favorites, was still very funny. I recomend it.