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Lum Invader is the titular deuteragonist of the 1978-1987 romance comedy manga series Urusei Yatsura and its 1981-1986 and 2022 anime television series adaptations of the same name.
She was voiced by Fumi Hirano in the 1981 original series in Japanese and Sumire Uesaka in the 2022 reboot in Japanese and Shannon Settlemyre for Movies 1, 3-6, Roxanne Beck for Movie 2, Jade Kelly in the 2022 reboot in English.
Appearance
Lum is a beautiful slim alien lady with ears that are slightly pointy and she has long green hair. As a member of her species She has two tiny horns on her temples and fangs on the upper tooths of her mouth.
Outfit
Tiger-striped bikini
She wears a tiger-striped bikini (based on the tiger-striped loincloths of mythical oni, which were made out of man's bad karma). Her bra is also used to hold some of her special devices.
School uniform
When she began attending school, she wore a sailor suit and tried to act like a typical earth girl.
Personality
Lum is a very sweet, innocent, faithful, and good-natured girl but she can also be jealous and get a very hot tempered, usually due to Ataru and his incessant addiction of flirting.
History
Long ago, Lum was forced to engage marriage with Rei. However, she eventually broke the marriage and completely dumped Rei when she couldn't stand of his arrogance, ugly shapeshifting abilities and piggy glutton habits.
The owner of a very sexy body, she misunderstood Ataru Moroboshi's proposal and has forced her way into his life as his "loving wife".
Lum met Ataru when he was randomly selected by a computer to face her in a game of tag with the fate of the earth on the line. Ataru had been promised marriage by Shinobu if he could win, so upon catching Lum he declared "Now I can get married!" Lum mistook this as a proposal to herself and accepted it. On her planet engagements are sacred, she is completely determined to be married to Ataru for the rest of her life, falls completely in love with him, and refers to him as Darling. She violently shocks him whenever he looks at or flirts with another girl (or if he insults her or does something to make her unhappy), but almost always forgives him in the end.
Powers and other Abilities
- Flight: Lum can fly to various heights into the sky according to her own free will.
- Electric Shock: Lum can generate massive electrical discharges.
- Creates Various Devices: Lum usually creates various devices that almost always lead to turmoil, if not often, chaos.
- High-Chemistry knowledge: Lum is shown to be very good at chemistry and physics, as she was able to create her own lipstick (that attract its wearer like magnets) from various substance and really complex physics calculations. This was shown at the start of episode 18.
Relationships
- Moroboshi Ataru: In the beginning of the story, Lum is constantly hugging and kissing Ataru (whether or not he wants it), but by the end she has calmed down considerably and simply holds onto his arm whenever they are walking somewhere. She is usually together with Ataru and does almost everything with him, be it eating lunch, going to and from school, or going to a festival. Because of this, she has come to consider and treat his room as her home, though Ataru insists she sleep in the closet. Takahashi's reason for this is that two high school students shouldn't be sleeping together. They also share a kiss in the last episode of the series "All-Star Banquet! We Are Immortal!"
- Miyake Shinobu: She initially saw Shinobu as a rival that challenged her love for Ataru. However, as the story dragged on, they eventually become close friends and allies, using Shinobu's strength and Lum's electrical powers to accomplish things together. Shinobu gradually concedes and moves onto trying to build a relationship with Mendou, and then Inaba later in the series.
- Mendou Shuutarou: Lum has always viewed Mendou as a reliable and close friend. Although Mendou strictly loves just Lum, to where she is all that his eyes can perceive, Lum is only interested in Ataru. Mendou is very defensive and protective of Lum and is always looking out to assist her whenever needed, whether with his troops or with his own life. He treats Lum in a formal fashion and usually treats her to invitations and events.
- Benten: Lum and Benten are childhood friends that have always caused trouble and havoc. They help each other whenever it is needed.
- Oyuki: Lum and Oyuki are also childhood friends, but Oyuki in contrast to Lum has always held back and usually exhibited good behavior, although she has participated in the troublesome activities that Lum has participated in. Oyuki comes to Lum's assistance whenever she needs it, usually through the classroom's closet, freezing everything in her path.
- Ran: Lum and Ran are childhood friends, but they share a great rivalry that is largely based in vengeance. Lum respects Ran and is fearful of her tantrums, often "forgetting" events in the past where she got Ran in trouble. As a child, Ran looked up to Lum as a protector, but she felt victimized by all the numerous times that Lum has gotten her in trouble, such as blaming bed wetting on her, or almost allowing her to get eaten by a dinosaur. She also despises Lum for having stolen Rei's love in the past, and feels threatened that Lum may be trying to steal Rei again. Ran followed Lum to Earth to plot her revenge. Initially, her plan was to take Ataru away from Lum, and potentially poison him with her lips. At other times, she plots to poison her herself. Despite all the hostile ambitions, Ran views Lum as a friend that is always there for her, such as during the time when she was sick and Lum stayed by her bedside all night long.
- Ruu: He is Lum's and Ataru's descendant in this movie. Ruu and Lum meet each other.
- Rei: Lum's ex-fiance. She used to fall in love with Rei and was going to engage a marriage with him, but she eventually broke marriage off and dumping Rei because she now hates Rei when she had quite enough of him due to his arrogance, ugly transformation and disgusting gluttonous habits. Rei attempted to get Lum to return with him but only for her of telling him to get lost when she prefers Ataru over Rei. She hates him as always even like last time when she broken their engage marriage due to his arrogance, ugly transformation and disgusting glutton habits.
Trivia
- Her Second Japanese voice actress, Sumire Uesaka, also voiced Mai Kawakami in Myriad Colors Phantom World, Yuni in Star☆Twinkle Pretty Cure, Luna in MFKZ, Bubbles in The Powerpuff Girls (2016), Pipimi in Pop Team Epic, ChuChu in Show by Rock!!, Sanae Dekomori in Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions, Hayase Nagatoro in Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro.
- She may be an inspiration for Lala Satalin Deviluke, the main heroine of To Love-Ru, due to their similar backstories of being alien princesses who flee from a royal obligation to Earth, have different standards of attire that provoke attention, and end up accidentally engaged to an Earthling. Similarly, they both have a suitor from the stars that is interested in them, but they do not reciprocate; Lum more from disgust, and Lala out of obliviousness.
- Although, they have significant personality differences, as Lum is frequently proactive in pursuit of her human love interest, and displays violent jealousy, whereas Lala is affectionate but too innocent to comprehend the realities of romance, while also being happy and even encouraging to share her human love interest.
- Lum is considered "The mother of all waifus" or "The first waifu", due her traits, and the fact that upon debuting on Urusei Yatsura, Lum quickly became UY's most popular character. And laid the groundwork of what a "Wife-material character" should be like.
- Lum's popularity even re-scripted Urusei Yatsura's original plot as a whole, since it was originally designed to portray Ataru and Shinobu as the main couple, where many alien girls would try to steal Ataru's love, with Lum being the first of many, and according to Rumiko Takahashi, Lum was not destined to last more than 15 chapters in the manga, with some cameos over the run of the original plot.
- Rumiko Takahashi's editors suggested that she change the main female character from Shinobu to Lum, as she was "better in every way" (having an untapped potential), coupled with the fact that readers absolutely loved her. This happened in the first few chapters of the manga, so such an abrupt change was still very possible.
External Links
- Lum on the Urusei Yatsura Wiki
 Heroes
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Ataru Moroboshi |
Lum Invader |
Shinobu Miyake |
Ten |
Shūtarō Mendō |
Sakura |
Benten |
Oyuki |
Ran |
Cherry |
Ryūnosuke Fujinami |
Kotatsu-neko | ||