Characters / Urusei Yatsura - Main

Urusei Yatsura character index
Main | Tomobiki | Citizens | Weirdoes

The four main characters of Urusei Yatsura.

In General

• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The perverted Unlucky Everydude Ataru is Melancholic, the affectionate Genki Girl Lum is Sanguine, the overly violent Tsundere Shinobu is Choleric, and the suave Handsome Lech Mendou is Phlegmatic.
• Love Dodecahedron: For much of the series, these four characters are caught in a veritable Gordian knot of love:
  • Ataru is initially in love with Shinobu but caught in a loveless Accidental Marriage to Lum. However, both of these relationships are complicated by Ataru's unwillingness to commit to one girl, even though he does refuse Lum's initial attentions in hopes of getting back with Shinobu. Eventually, Ataru comes to love Lum back and accept that Shinobu no longer cares for him, but he still can't open up to Lum about his feelings, or stop the girl-chasing.
  • Shinobu initially loves Ataru, but once Shutaro Mendo arrives, she gives up on Ataru completely and becomes dead-set on winning Mendo's heart for himself, despite him never giving her any particular favor. Towards the very end of the series, she accepts Mendo is neither interested nor really a step up from Ataru, and gives up on him, finding her true love in Inaba.
  • Shutaro Mendo ardently pursues Lum, largely because she refuses to swoon for him the way every other girl at Tomobiki High does. He is pursued in turn by Shinobu, but regards her with no greater affection or attention than he does any of his legion of fangirls, barely even noticing when Shinobu gives up on him and turns to Inaba. He is also revealed to be in an Arranged Marriage with Asuka Mizunokoji, which is complicated immensely by her intense androphobia and her dangerously overpowered affections, to the point the engagement is canonically canceled at the end of its first appearance.
  • Lum has eyes for only one boy in the universe: Ataru. She's never tempted by any other guys, though she knows she's very popular with guys across multiple species. However, she used to be in love with, and even engaged to, a male oni named Rei, who she broke up with after she realized he was all beauty and no brains. Rei still wants to win Lum back, despite her open contempt for him. Lum's childhood friend Ran has also been in love with Rei for decades, and dedicates herself to winning Rei back, with at least some degree of success.

Ataru Moroboshi

Ataru Moroboshi

Voiced by: Toshio Furukawa (JP, original series), Hiroshi Kamiya (JP, All-Stars), Steve Rassin (EN, Movies 1, 3-6), Michael Sinterniklaas (EN, test dub), Wayne Grayson (EN, Movie 2), Matt Lucas (EN, BBC gag dub), Candice Moore (EN, Animax Dub), Nathan Wilson (EN, All-Stars)

^{Click here to see him in the 1981 anime}

"Miss! What's your address and phone number?"

The main protagonist of the series. A lazy student at Tomobiki High School, Class 2-4, Ataru suffers from an incredible amount of bad luck, having been born on Friday the Thirteenth of April during a major earthquake... which also happened to be Butsumetsu, the unluckiest day of the Buddhist calendar. Thanks to this lack of good fortune, his triumph in the game of tag that saved Earth from Oni invasion turned into a defeat for him. His victory statement, intended to confirm his then-girlfriend Shinobu's promise to marry him if he won, was misinterpreted by Lum to be a marriage proposal to her. Much to his chagrin, she accepted.

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• Abdicate the Throne: Parodied when he resigns from being class president after the end of the first semester, deciding to quit the job he never really wanted with a bit of self-perceived dignity and style. The way he does this just winds up creating a lot of confusion and only reminds his classmates that he was a rather bad class rep.
• Abhorrent Admirer: To nearly all every pretty girl he sees. He literally throws himself at the girls he likes and always gets beaten up as a result. There are exceptions — Oyuki and Benten both respond well to his flirtations in their introductory stories, and Benten's anime-exclusive biker girls gang are quite flattered by the attention, whilst in Shingo's introductory story he successfully picks up a random girl off the street — but for the most part, women are repulsed by his attention.
• Accidental Pervert: Even though he is a pervert, he wasn't intending to be one during some scenes, such as when he steals Lum's bikini top to win the tag game^note it was purely accidental in the manga, and in the anime it was a last-ditch desperation move and when he gropes Sakura's breast after bumping into her.
• Accidental Proposal: In the first chapter/episode, after he catches Lum in the game of tag, he yells "Now I can get married (to Shinobu)!". Lum misinterprets his statement as a marriage proposal for her and she considers him her fiancé from then on.
• Affectionate Nickname: Lum calls him "Darling".
• Amicable Exes: With Shinobu. Ataru was dismayed with her dumping him for good once she got fed up of fighting with Lum over him, but they stay on good terms and often hang out as normal friends.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: While he always returns to avoiding Lum, Ataru has often cried over Lum, put his life in danger for her, and refused to not have her in his life, even when several ways presented themselves for him to be rid of her for good.
• Bait-and-Switch Sentiment: When Inaba gives Ataru the chance to create his own ideal future, Ataru claims that he would be happy with a humble future where he gets to live in a cheap, one-room apartment with Lum, which makes Lum blush. Ataru then ruins the sentiment by going on to list all the girls he wants to add to his harem, something Lum will never approve of.
• Barehanded Blade Block: Ataru stopping Mendou from attacking him with his katana by snatching it between his bare palms becomes a Running Gag eventually.
• Beady-Eyed Loser: The unluckiest and most perverted man in the universe. And also the most beady-eyed.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: When Ataru sees his dream reality, he learns that in exchange of him getting a harem, Lum leaves him because he extorted and neglected her. He then realizes a harem isn't worth it if Lum isn't with him.
• Belated Love Epiphany: Every time Lum apparently leaves him, he starts missing her badly and realizes he can't stand to be without her. He returns to denial once she comes back, though.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Lum. He's a jerkish Lovable Sex Maniac and she's a short-tempered Clingy Jealous Girl. He does find Lum attractive, but her violent jealous behavior and refusal to let him have a harem cause the core conflict that keeps him from reciprocating her affections.
• Big Eater: When he's not chasing girls, his sole other interest is in food. He even manages to beat Rei in an Eating Contest in Rei's introductory story.
• Blessed with Suck: He got accidentally engaged to a beautiful Alien Princess who genuinely loves him and sees his better qualities. However, most of the time, he sees her as more trouble than she's worth because she's a Clingy Jealous Girl who will electrocute him every time he chases another girl and sometimes burns his mouth with her homemade lunches because her species likes their food way overspiced.
• Book and Switch: He is sometimes shown hiding a girly mag inside one of his books.
• Book Dumb: He's often shown to be a slacker and an underachiever with his schoolwork, but can be quite crafty when it comes to his schemes.
• Born Unlucky: His birthday is even April 13th, which is the highly unlucky day of Butsumetsu in the Buddhist calendar, and he was born on Friday^† (Takahashi either got lucky or did her research on this one; the manga began in 1978, and April 13th 1962 – when Ataru would have been born – was indeed a Friday). The litany of bad luck omens associated with him appeared before he was even born, such as being born during an earthquake. Hence his Meaningful Name (roughly translated, "hit on the head with a falling star").
• Brilliant, but Lazy: While he's most definitely not dumb, he doesn't care about school and just wants to live for the day.
• Butt-Monkey: This guy never catches a break. He gets better in later chapters where he actually becomes more clever and able to come out on top, especially in his petty rivalries with Mendou or Ten. Though he still gets a lot of punishment when he's being a Casanova Wannabe.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Ataru can't admit he really loves Lum because, if he did, he'd have to give up his dreams of a harem. Played for Drama in the final story arc when Lum threatens to erase the memory of herself from everyone on Earth if Ataru doesn't confess his love for her, but he still won't say it because he doesn't want Lum to think he only told her a lie under pressure.
• Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: Played with. Lum is the only woman in the universe he doesn't harass. Ironically, she is also the only woman who'd be happy to get his attention. However, the reason behind this is, at least in the beginning, that he simply doesn't want Lum as a Love Interest – at first, he prefers Shinobu, and later he'd prefer any other woman but Lum. It takes some relationship development before he properly fits this trope.
• Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: Ataru constantly chases all girls other than Lum. Yet whenever Lum disappears from his life, he'll instantly drop his perverted maneuvers and go to great lengths to get her back. That doesn't stop him from immediately resuming his lecherous ways the moment she's safely back.
• Casanova Wannabe: He is always ready to ask a random girl off the street for her address and phone number. This despite having an alien beauty (who has electric powers and is deathly jealous, to boot — just do the math) for a fiancée. His main trait, though, is Cosmic Plaything considering how much he pays for this.
• Cathartic Crying: In one story, Lum leaves Ataru after he yelled at her to just go. He seems to act normal, and even calls Shinobu up for a date... But he brings a doll of Lum with him and when Shinobu simply asks Ataru if he needs to talk, he loses the facade and simply says no before leaving, utterly defeated and eventually crying.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: A variant. When Ataru is highly motivated — usually by a pretty woman, but it does occasionally happen when he is particularly desperate, determined or afraid — he is capable of ridiculous feats of speed, endurance and even strength.
• Childhood Friends:
  • He's known Shinobu since they were in kindergarten. They tried having a Childhood Friend Romance early on until Shinobu dumps him over his inability to get rid of Lum. They remain normal friends for the rest of the series.
  • In the 1981 anime, Ataru is known the Stormtroopers since they were children as well, though their friendship is more vitriolic than most childhood friends.
• Class Clown: Ataru can get a good laugh out of his schoolmates. Sometimes even intentionally.
• Class Representative: Gets elected class president as a Dork Horse Candidate to prevent Mendou from coming to power. He's so ineffective that later on, everyone had forgotten it.
• Classical Anti-Hero: He's a good guy deep down, but is often a selfish, lazy, and lecherous Loser Protagonist.
• Combat Pragmatist: In the 1981 anime series, instead of the manga's Accidental Pervert moment, Ataru slyly steals Lum's bikini top with a device because he rationally calculates that Lum needs her four limbs to control her body in flight. As he expected, having to cover up her breasts by all means took both her arms out of the equation and made her solely focus on getting her top back, leading to her Defeat by Modesty.
• Commitment Issues: He does have strong feelings for Lum and wants her to stay with him, but still refuses to marry her because he hates the idea of settling down with only one girl.
• The Corrupter: If he's hanging with any males who don’t know any better, Ataru likes to bring them down to his level and teaches them about women... From the perspective of an irredeemable lech.
• Corruption of a Minor: He "teaches" little Ten how to court a woman by ghostwriting an obscene love letter for Sakura and making a dating plan that includes watching a porn movie and taking Sakura to a love hotel. In his defense, he was deliberatedly trying to fail and didn't expect Sakura to show up at the date at all since he didn't think his letter would make her mad enough as to come with the intention of beating up the sender.
• Cosmic Plaything: He was born on the second unluckiest day in the Japanese calendar: The thirteenth of April – the fourth month of the year, as well as the day remembering the death of Buddha. His name means "hit by a shooting star", which would take phenomenally bad luck. It's also noted his birthday was simultaneously Friday the 13th, a traditionally ill-omened day in Western beliefs.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: He won't admit it, even to himself, but he does not like seeing Lum with other guys.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He can stop Air Jousting Benten and Ryuunosuke in one move using bathing implements, in midair. He can also run 100m in 7 seconds as long as there's a girl involved.
• Deadpan Snarker: Often tends to make snide remarks at other characters, especially Mendou or Ten.
• Determinator: Whenever something tries to get between him and a cute girl or if he's faced with the chance of losing Lum, there's nothing that will stop him from getting what he wants.
• Detrimental Determination: Ataru insists on attempting to pursue his "life of freedom" even though it just earns him the scorn of those around him and repeatedly gets him blasted by Lum. It's not like it's any secret why Lum shocks him, but Ataru just refuses to let it put him off his unsuccessful girl-chasing efforts.
• Dork Horse Candidate: In Shuutaro Mendou's introductory episode/chapter, Mendou runs for class president on the platform of draconian punishments for misbehavior… except not for the girls (this is all it takes to win the vote of every girl in class). Ataru is pressed into running against him by the boys, leading to a tied vote. To resolve that, they duel and Ataru wins, making Mendou the vice president.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: He saved the world in the first episode/chapter, and Shinobu had promised to marry him in reward. Not only is he treated as a nuisance even by his parents, but Shinobu went back on her promise.^note  It didn't help that Lum misinterpreted his victory speech.
• Dumbass No More: In the early chapters, he's very much an Idiot Hero who hardly ever does anything smart. In later chapters, he's portrayed as a perverted but cunning trickster who regularly outsmarts people, and only has Idiot Ball moments when he's lusting after girls (very often, but still).
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • In the first Non-Serial Movie, he rejects Elle for being a Harem Seeker who collects handsome young men and keeps them in cryo-stasis. Whilst there is doubtlessly at least an element of hypocrisy in that he's almost certainly bothered on some level by the idea of a girl having a harem of guys, the crux of his disapproval centers around Elle's treatment of her almost literal boy-toys as literal trophies, which is more extreme than anything Ataru has been shown doing in his imagined harems.
  • For a long time he tried to hold over Kurama the Tengu law that states she has to have sex with whoever woke her up with a kiss, as it was him. The moment the idiotic origin of said law came out, he dropped that immediately, though he did still hit on her during her few subsequent appearances.
  • When the Spice Girls, three cute middle school girls tried to seduce him while wearing their names and addresses thinking it was his fetish he thought they were lost children and brought them to the police. And when they came back and with a chemical that increased his response to any form of sex appeal it turned out he considers a bowl, the pattern on Ten's diaper and a cat yokai far sexier than a middle schooler.
  • When he sees a timeline in which he finally gained the harem he so desperately wanted, seeing how he abused Lum to get that harem makes him destroy the possibility of that universe ever happening.
  • Despite genuinely not liking Lum at that point, he refused to let Rei use a misguided promise of hers to drag her away as his bride, because he could see how much Lum hated the idea of being married to a Brainless Beauty Big Eater.
• Fatal Flaw: Apart from his lecherous ways, Ataru often brings worse misfortune on himself because of his pride. He can't admit he loves Lum despite everyone being able to see it. In the final arc, he refuses to just say he loves Lum because she already told him he could lie to her and she'd accept it, drawing out their race rematch by several days so he could prove he means it to her.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Apart from Lum, none of the other characters like him that much. The guys are jealous of his relationship with Lum and the girls can't stand his perverted behavior — he does have two buddies called Kosuke Shirai and Hokuto in the manga, but they don't really get any screen-focus. And Lum's cousin Ten hates him because he is an "idiot". Even his parents don't like him very much, openly lamenting that they would have rather had a daughter.
• Frying Pan of Doom: His weapon of choice against Jariten is one of his mother's long-handled frying pans, since it doubles as both a shield from Jariten's fiery Breath Weapon and a pounding club.
• Harem Seeker: His stated goal in life is creating his own harem with all of the attractive girls he knows. However, after seeing a reality where he gets a harem in exchange of Lum leaving him, he realizes he doesn't want a harem if Lum isn't in it.
• Has a Type: Typically a sucker for a pretty face, the type of girls Ataru tries to date more than once tend to be sharp-witted and strong in one way or another. Lum tidily fits this criteria, but unfortunately for her, so do most of the manga's reoccurring heroines.
• Heroic BSoD: In Beautiful Dreamer after he is shown a dream in which he and Lum were cryogenically frozen, but only he survived, Ataru broke down completely, just staring at the dreamscape for who knows how long. It took a subconscious representation of Lum in his mind to snap him out of it and back to reality.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: Played straight to an insanely ridiculous extent. Most teenagers in the series are like this, but none are as shameless as Ataru.
• Hypocrite: Back when he was dating Shinobu, he would check out and hit on attractive women right in front of her. When Shinobu starts to ignore him in favor of the more handsome Mendou, Ataru gets angry at Shinobu for being unfaithful to him.
• Idiot Hero: A very obvious example of the typical lazy and idiotic Japanese protagonist. Though he's not actually stupid, being rather intelligent but a complete slob.
• Informed Deformity: He's considered ugly in-universe, but is never drawn any uglier than any of the other men in Tomobiki.
• Insufferable Imbecile: He's a selfish pervert, and has several Idiot Hero traits to the point that he's considered a Dumbass Teenage Son even by his own parents. However, he becomes less dumb as the series goes on.
• Interspecies Romance:
  • He's a human guy who is chased after by an unwanted wife, Lum, who's an Oni. He has also chased after Oyuki (Neptunian), Benten ("God of Luck"), Kurama (half-human half-karasutengu), Ran (vampire-like alien) and Elle (human alien), amongst others.
  • Subverted in an early manga chapter when he seemingly becomes the love object of a female kappa, who basically looks like a slender, long-haired humanoid turtle. Ataru had absolutely no interest in her.
• Iron Butt-Monkey: It's even lampshaded in one book, where he gets a broken arm, and everyone is in disbelief.
• Jerkass to One: Ataru tries to woo and perv on every girl he knows, but acts like a real prick to Lum. Although, he has every right to be annoyed by Lum because she has basically intruded on every aspect of his life without his permission and acts like a possessive Clingy Jealous Girl.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ataru is very lecherous, lazy, rather selfish, and stubborn, but he has deeply buried noble qualities that most people, including himself, can't see. Most of all, it's shown many times he genuinely has a good heart and cares about people, especially Lum.
• Karmic Butt-Monkey: He gets a lof of physical abuse, in a comical way, but it's usually punishment for his selfish and perverted behavior.
• Kavorka Man: He's considered by most girls to be the most undesirable boy in Tomobiki – unattractive, lecherous, obnoxious, selfish, and a Jerkass to boot, but he does get the affections of a few attractive girls, most notably the beautiful Alien Princess Lum.
• Like an Old Married Couple: With Lum. They argue often because Ataru's lechery clashes with Lum's possessiveness, but no matter how much he tries to deny it, Ataru has grown to accept Lum's presence in his daily life and would never really want her to leave him forever. They get along surprisingly well in the rare moments where Ataru isn't chasing other girls and he eventually stops protesting against Lum's claims of being his wife, but he's still bothered by Lum refusing to let him have a harem.
• Like Brother and Sister: Ataru has this sort of relationship with Shinobu later on. Initially, they were meant to be the Official Couple until Lum's popularity forced the author to change the main heroine. Ataru still occasionally hits on Shinobu, but her reaction to Ataru's advances is the same he gets from every other girl who doesn't want him. As Ataru grows to only love Lum seriously, he and Shinobu become childhood friends who platonically hang out sometimes.
• Loser Protagonist: Mainly because of his lechery and other human faults. He was born on the most unlucky day of the year in Japan. His own parents often have no shame in saying how much they wish he wasn't born. He's unpopular with most of the boys and almost all the girls at his high school. Even when the beautiful female alien, Lum, comes into his life, he's still unlucky because of all the baggage she brings with her.
• Lovable Sex Maniac: In the 10th anniversary movie Always My Darling, Princess Lupika's computer pinpoints him as the most lecherous man in the universe.
• Meaningful Name: Ataru means "to get hit" and Moroboshi means "falling star". A metaphor for his cosmically miserable luck. Several opening and ending themes show a star smacking him in the head at the end. He also ends up with a beautiful alien girl "falling from the stars" to marry him.
• Noble Male, Roguish Male: The roguish (middle-class, rude and perverted) to Mendou's noble (rich, suave and gentlemanly). However, it's subverted to an extent since deep down Mendou is just as roguish as Ataru.
• No Guy Wants to Be Chased: He's always chasing women who want nothing to do with him, yet tries to get the hell away from the only girl who is always chasing him because she's a bit too possessive for his taste.
• No Sense of Personal Space: He's very... touchy with girls when he's flirting, and really enjoys it, even though he will always receive a violent punishment for it a second later.
• Offscreen Teleportation: In the later half of the manga, he can basically appear out of nowhere to hit on a girl and/or troll Mendou.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The contestants of the Miss Tomobiki arc fail to notice that instead of leering at any of them, he's acting like a completely professional MC. It transpires that he was focused on making it so that the competition went by without a hitch so he could receive a hefty amount of kickbacks from the event's various advertisers, slimy wrestling outfits be damned.
• Other Me Annoys Me: In Inaba's introductory arc, Ataru becomes disgusted with one version of himself in a future where he succeeds to create his own harem by chasing Lum away through treating her more poorly than usual without a shred of guilt or remorse, to a point Ataru considers that version of himself a Slimeball who is more selfish than his current self.
• The Peeping Tom: He is far from being above spying on women who are changing, bathing, or otherwise completely or nearly naked.
• Pet the Dog: He's a sleazeball through and through, but he does have some moments where he's shown to be capable of human decency and care for others, mainly when he protects Lum and/or fights to keep her at his side despite normally wanting her off his back.
• Pervert Alliance: Ataru often leads the other boys of the class when they see an opportunity to be perverted.
• The Pollyanna: Outside of a little grumbling and the occasional snide remark, Ataru takes his lack of money, rocky familial relationships, unpopularity at school, painful mishaps, and general bad luck in stride. Even getting rejected when he flirts doesn't engender much sadness or bitterness, and after such he's trotting off to try again or to go on a different, ill-advised youthful escapade.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The brash and impulsive Red to Mendou's calm and polite Blue.
• Samaritan Relationship Starter: Early in the series, Ataru sees Lum as nothing but a source of trouble and would happily let Mendou have her to get her off his back. However, he starts developing serious feelings for her after she goes out of her way to disguise herself as his fictional secret admirer to save him from getting stood up and humiliated in front of his male classmates. Afterwards, despite still disliking her clinginess, Ataru won't ever stand Lum leaving him forever.
• Second Love: Ataru and Lum are each other's second love. Lum broke up with her hated ex-fiancé Rei to be with Ataru. Meanwhile, Shinobu doesn't take long to dump Ataru after Lum claims him as her husband. At first, Ataru wanted Lum to leave with Rei so he could get back together with Shinobu, but despite both of them having plenty of glaring flaws, they're actually a better fit for each other than their respective exes were.
• Significant Birth Date: He was born on April 13th, the second-unluckiest day of the year in the Japanese calendar, and in the year he was born was also the anniversary of the Buddha's death.
• Smarter Than You Look: He's frequently referred to as stupid and is considered the village idiot by nearly everyone (including his own parents and sometimes Lum herself). But despite his usual foolish behavior, he can be quite cunning and resourceful. He has managed to outwit nearly everyone else in the cast at least once.
• Springtime for Hitler: He ghostwrites a love letter to Sakura on Ten's behalf, filling it with over-the-top lechery to drive Sakura away. Unfortunately, the letter works. Zigzagged as Sakura only showed up to meet up with her "admirer" to beat him up for being so disgusting.
• Super-Speed: When motivated strongly enough, Ataru is capable of moving at ridiculously high speeds. When he first meets Asuka Mizunokoji, he races to catch up with her and is said to have covered 100 meters in 7 seconds flat — for comparison, the real life world-record for the 100 meter dash is 9.8 seconds.
• Super-Strength: Although it is the most rarely seen of Ataru's attributes, given that Urusei Yatsura is not an action series, he has on some occasions demonstrated monstrous strength when supremely motivated. The best example is during the story introducing Ten's mother; at the story's climax, Ten ties Ataru to a tree and sets it on fire. Having only his legs free, Ataru braces them against the soil and rips the tree out of the ground, then goes lumbering off looking for someone to quench the flames. He ends up accidentally smashing the school with the tree when he instinctively bows to thank Ten's mother for saving his life.
• Super-Toughness: The most frequently displayed of Ataru's determination-fueled attributes is his ability to shrug off a ridiculous amount of pain, injury and damage. Whilst admittedly the series is a slapstick comedy, it is actually commented upon in-universe that Ataru's ability to tank punishment is absurd. One story involves Ataru coming to school with his right arm bandaged and in a sling after a fight with Ten, and nobody can believe it, bringing up all of the damage he has taken without any permanent injury up until that point.
• The Trickster: Eventually evolves into this, lampooning authority and making basically everybody around him look as foolish as he does.
• Tsundere: Towards Lum. Ataru is annoyed by her because she basically forced him to become her fiancé, but he does find her cute when she isn't being clingy and slowly becomes attached to her as time goes on. Later in the series, it's obvious that he cares about Lum and even has grown to love her, although he still hates to admit it and usually only shows his true feelings when he's afraid of losing her.
• Unlucky Everydude: He falls behind in the "Everydude" part, though, seeing as how he's a Determinator and Lovable Sex Maniac of such intense perversion he's outright stated to be the most concentrated source of lust in the known universe. He comes off as average because everyone else he hangs out with is even more bizarre…
• Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Downplayed, Ataru was actually attracted to Lum the first time he meets her, while Lum was indifferent to Ataru's shameless flirting. Lum falls for Ataru only after he defeats her in the game and, due to a misunderstanding, assumes he wants to marry her (when he really meant that he can marry Shinobu). From that point on, Lum is madly in love with him, while Ataru finds her annoying and only wants to avoid her.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: While he has his redeeming qualities (deep down), Ataru is a Jerkass and deserves about 80% of what happens to him. However, the rest of the cast isn't much better than him. This is even lampshaded in the first opening of All-Stars, which has Lum's part of the song stating that Ataru's misfortune is a direct byproduct of him being a Jerkass.
• Unwanted Spouse: To Kurama. Since Ataru woke her up from her sleep with a kiss, the Tengu tribe's customs dictate that Kurama has to marry him. Kurama, for her part, hates Ataru for being a perverted sleazeball and once she realizes she can't change him, decides to break with tradition and choose a husband of her own preference.
• Victory by Endurance: A key factor in his tag victory over Lum is how ten days of flying around to dodge him start to exhaust and frustrate her while he remains as stubborn and energetic as he did at the start.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Ataru and Mendou can't stand each other in many ways, but their dynamic is probably the closest thing to a Best Friend both have.
• Weirdness Magnet: Ataru is unlucky enough to catch the attention of all sorts of alien and strange beings. The Alien Princess who follows him around and calls herself his fiancée is just the start of it.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: At least, he wouldn't beat up a girl and, as seen in one of his Pet the Dog moments, he would even physically hurt himself rather than hurt Lum.

Lum Invader

Lum Invader

Voiced by: Fumi Hirano (JP, original series), Sumire Uesaka (JP, All-Stars), Shannon Settlemyre (EN, Movies 1,3-6), Martha Ellen Senseney (EN, test dub), Roxanne Beck (EN, Movie 2), Anna Friel (BBC gag dub), Claudia Thompson (EN, Animax Dub), Jade Kelly (EN, All-Stars)

^{Click here to see her in the 1981 anime}

"Darling no BAKA!!"

The female protagonist of the series^* (but started out as the antagonist). Lum is a beautiful Oni Alien Princess who can fly and can generate electricity from her body, up to and including lightning bolts. She falls in love with Ataru after she misinterprets his "marriage proposal" (referring to Shinobu) as one for her. Most of the time she's good-natured, sweet, innocent, and faithful… but she's also prone to intense jealousy and has a very hot temper, which never bodes well for her "fiancé".

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Downplayed. Lum is a beautiful and charming Alien Princess who is totally head over heels in love with Ataru, but she also is extremely jealous, possesses an explosive temper and is not afraid to use her explosive lighting powers on her "husband" whenever he tries hitting on other woman or just upsets her. Further adding problems to the mix, Ataru had a girlfriend already in Shinobu Miyake before she arrived; Lum simply mistook Ataru as proposing and forced her way into his life, which is later hinted as having been a way to make Rei stay away from her. Meanwhile, Ataru tries to stay as far away from her as he can help it. It's an interesting case, as Ataru does find Lum attractive and cares for her in his own way, but her demands to be the only girl in his life when he can't give up his Harem Seeker attitude is what keeps him from returning her affections.
• Accidental Kiss: One of the few times Lum and Ataru kiss in the anime is when she accidentally blows up something behind him (zapping Ten, of all people!) and this propels him face-first into her.
• Adaptation Dye-Job:
  • In the colored manga artwork, Lum was originally given iridescent hair. The difficulties faced in animating this caused the anime to replace it with a solid dark green color, which was later used in the manga as well.
  • The 2022 anime has turquoise as Lum's primary hair color, though as a nod to her original iridescent hair, it shifts between various colors when she's using her electricity powers. In addition, her eye color changes to amber as opposed to the blue-green from the 1981 anime.
• Adaptational Nice Girl: The 2022 anime omits Lum's mean-spirited moments from the early stories to avoid the Early-Installment Weirdness found in the original versions. She doesn't blackmail Ataru into letting her live with him, her animosity towards Shinobu is completely gone, she doesn't lie about being pregnant with Ataru's child just to annoy Shinobu and Rei, and her love for Ataru looks genuine from the start.
• Adaptational Sympathy: Inverted. In the original anime and the manga, Ran's mother would violently spank her daughter and threatened to do the same to Lum if she misbehaved. While it was still wrong, it was understandable that child Lum would be terrified of such a woman and force Ran to take the punishment for her. However, in the 2022 anime, Ran's mother just yelled at her daughter, which leaves Lum in a more unsympathetic light for framing Ran.
• Alien Catnip: Thanks to Bizarre Alien Biology, she famously gets totally smashed from eating umeboshi (pickled plums) — ironically, actual alcohol has no effect on her.
• Alien Princess: She's the princess of the Oni planet, sometimes referred to as "Oniboshi", and has plenty of gadgets of advanced alien technology.
• Ancient Astronauts: Lum is an alien from another planet who is clearly styled after the mythical oni. Her race is called "The Oni", they have a racial rivalry with a species called "The Gods of Luck" that plays out in a yearly contest that coincides with the Japanese festival of Setsubun, her horns and love of tiger stripe-patterns for decorations (her bikini, her UFO, her Chainmail Bikini), her tiger skin blanket, all of these are derived from her roots in the mythical oni. There are even more subtle elements at play as well; her Comical Angry Face is a reference to the mythological trait where female oni or hannya would normally look very beautiful, but would adopt terrifying visages when enraged. Likewise, her Shock and Awe powers are a subtle nod to Raijin, a Shinto storm god depicted as resembling an oni — she's even seen riding a cloud and with a Thunder Drum on her back, just like Raijin, in the nightmare world that Kurama creates to try and scare Ataru out of being such a pervert.
• Arranged Marriage: Her great-grandfather made an arrangement with Rupa's great-grandfather, with both agreeing that their descendants would get married when a girl was born in Lum's family. Rupa tries to force Lum into a wedding, but both ultimatelu agree they don't really want to get married and end up with their real love interests.
• Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Lum is a girly Alien Princess and her Iconic Outfit is a tiger-print bikini that reveals her midriff.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Ataru. He's constantly pissing her off by ignoring her and harassing other girls in front of her, which always results in Lum electrocuting him. They do have feelings for each other, but both refuse to reach a compromise between Ataru's lechery and Lum's possessiveness.
• Best Her to Bed Her: Ataru defeats Lum in a tag game to prevent her alien race invades Earth and due to Ataru saying he would get married if he won, Lum decides to make him marry her even though he was talking about marrying Shinobu instead. The 2022 anime adds to it by giving hints at Lum falling in love with Ataru when he won the tag game, because he managed to defeat her through sheer determination.
• Betty and Veronica: In the early parts of the series, Lum plays the Veronica to Shinobu's Betty. Completely opposite to Ataru's childhood friend Shinobu, Lum is a skimpily dressed, hot alien girl who falls for Ataru and tries to forcefully make him hers only. Once it was decided that Lum was going to be the main heroine instead of Shinobu, the Love Triangle was dropped.
• Beware the Nice Ones: She's quite sweet-natured, but that doesn't stop her from (non-fatally) electrocuting Ataru whenever he does anything perverted… which is nearly all the time.
• Big Sister Instinct: Lum is very protective of Ten, especially when Ataru picks on him, but she also scolds him sometimes when he's being too much of a brat. The 1981 anime even has an episode where she grows so frustrated with Ten that she shocks him in the same way she normally zaps Ataru!
• Birds of a Feather: It's subtly hinted that part of the reason why Lum is attracted to Ataru (the other part being that she can recognize his deeply buried noble qualities) is because they're much the same; Lum is also sneaky, mischievous, bad-tempered, and uninhibited. Also, in a way, she can be a bit of a lecher herself (though not at his level) and her ways of pursing him are a more downplayed example of how he asks girls out. She is constantly glomping him and invading his personal space, trying to steal kisses from him, make him take her out on dates and hates it when another woman gets his attention... which are things that Ataru has done in the past when he is girl hunting. Then there's her brazen offer of sexual activity, making it clear that if Ataru wanted to have sex with her, she would be more than happy to give it to him.
• Breakout Character: Lum was only planned to be in the first chapter, but fans (and Takahashi's editor) loved her so she returned in the third chapter and was placed in the role of the female lead's love rival. Since Lum was still massively popular compared to Shinobu, she quickly replaced her as the Deuteragonist, love interest, and poster girl for the series. In many foreign adaptations, she even becomes the title character and is often believed to be the main character due to this. To this day, she remains one of the most recognizable anime and manga characters ever created.
• Brought Down to Badass: In one story, Ataru gives Lum a ribbon that acts as a Power Limiter for her superpowers when he ties it around her horns. Once Lum finds out Ataru tricked her, he learns the hard way that Lum isn't completely defenseless without her powers as she subjects him to physical violence until he takes off the ribbon.
• Brought Down to Normal: If she loses her horns, she loses her electricity powers too. In the final story arc, Rupa makes her horns fall from her head, leaving her powerless until they grow back.
• Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: One possible explanation for a development that otherwise becomes Early-Installment Weirdness. If you believe the theory that Lum was initially only interested in Ataru as an excuse to never go back to Rei, but fell in love with Ataru over time, then her initially being quite sexually forward with Ataru, then growing more chaste, is an example of this trope.
• Can't Have Sex, Ever: Ironically for a Love Martyr acting as an attention-starved clingy girl, in a later chapter Lum has to admit that teenaged Oni can't fully regulate their electrical powers. When she asks Ataru to let her sleep in his bed, she hands him a full diving suit, telling him that until she'll be enough of a grown up to control her powers, sleeping together without electrical insulation will be dangerous for him.
• Catchphrase Insult: Whenever Ataru angers her, Lum yells "Darling, you idiot!" or "Darling, I hate you!"
• Chainmail Bikini: During her first Setsubun story, Lum is shown wearing a suit of "armor" that consists of a helmet, a metal miniskirt, and either a metal tanktop or just a set of metal cups over her breasts, depending on if you're looking at the manga or the 1981 anime version of it.
• Characterization Marches On: Early stories of the manga and the 1981 anime portrayed Lum as a lot more malicious, sneaky and abrasive towards others, especially Shinobu. As the series went on, Lum remained a violent Clingy Jealous Girl for Ataru, but became a more well-meaning if bumbling character overall. It's justified since Lum was originally meant to be a villainous love rival for Shinobu, but Lum's popularity forced Rumiko Takahashi to change Lum's characterization to fit her new role as the female protagonist.
• Childhood Friends: She has been known Benten, Oyuki, and Ran since elementary school. Although in Ran's case, the feeling of friendship isn't mutual.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: She is very possessive of Ataru and usually zaps him with lightning as a punishment for his "infidelity".^note  In quotes because Ataru never gets to date, much less have sex with, any girl. Not even Shinobu, the only other being in the universe to have ever been willing to put out for him. She also intentionally torpedoed his relationship with Shinobu out of pure jealousy. And in the first movie, she nearly started an intergalactic war to keep him from marrying another Alien Princess.
• Closet Sublet: When staying at Ataru's house instead of her spaceship, Lum sleeps in Ataru's closet since he refuses to share his bed with her.
• Cool Big Sis: To Ten. They're cousins, but she treats him like a little brother and he adores her.
• Covert Pervert: She might not be at Ataru's level, but it's been hinted at times that she can be a bit of a lecher herself, though it's only towards him. It's implied that she wouldn't mind Ataru's perversions if he only did it towards her and no one else. In Rei's introductory story in both the manga and the 1981 anime, she literally pulls out the futon, takes off her top, and beckons Ataru to join her.
• Crazy-Prepared: Lum nearly always carries around some kind of weird alien device useful to the situation at hand (but usually it makes the trouble one hundred times worse).
• Crocodile Tears: In the "It's Raining Oil All Over Town" story, Lum starts crying when Ataru keeps refusing to let her live with him, causing the Stormtroopers to beat him up until he yields. She also tries this on Ataru when he demanded she leave in the early story about Ataru trying to stay in contact with Shinobu over the phone, but he doesn't buy the act, leading her to shock him in anger before storming off.
• Cross Cultural Kerfuffle: Lum's limited understanding of human society is a common recurring problem between herself and Ataru. One notable early example is at the start of the 4th volume; when she gets mad and zaps her Stormtroopers, who then claim it feels good to be zapped by her, she wonders if this means Ataru is a "deviant" for not enjoying her zapping. She promptly electrocutes him into unconsciousness to try and "cure" him, only to then learn, to her horror, that humans can die from being electrocuted. The 2022 anime's first opening song clearly spells out the fact that Lum knows she can't understand most of human culture, and states that it's not her fault she can't fully understand Ataru and read the mood around herself, swearing she'll do better and pleading Ataru to be patient and explain himself more clearly.
• Custom Uniform: Her Sailor Fuku's necktie is yellow unlike the other girls' red one.
• Cute Little Fangs: Her canine teeth often stick out because she's an alien Cute Monster Girl. When she gets angry and screams, we see she's got an entire mouth full of fangs.
• Cute Monster Girl: Lum looks like a cute teenage girl with green/iridescent hair and little horns, but is explained as being an alien whose race is the inspiration for Oni. Her being such is actually lifted straight from Japanese mythology, where Oni women are supernaturally beautiful but capable of assuming fearsome visages when angry or jealous.
• Defeat by Modesty: Ataru defeated her in the tag game by stealing her bikini top and this made Lum let her guard down long enough for him to catch her horns.
• Demon Head: On rare occasions, when extremely angry, Lum's face takes on a more monstrous mien with prominent fangs and sometimes even elongated horns.
• Depending on the Writer: Her own view on her "marriage" to Ataru. At times, she insists they are married in every possible way and views him as her husband, yet when given the chance, she will try to drag him down the aisle.
• Deuteragonist: The female lead character and love interest of the protagonist.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Lum uses her electricity to shock Ataru multiple times a day.
• Drunk on Milk: Courtesy of her Bizarre Alien Biology, she gets drunk (with some elements that almost seem like getting high, at least in the 1981 anime) when she eats umeboshi, or sour pickled plums.
• Dude Magnet: Almost every named male teenager in the series is in love with her, and therefore intensely jealous of Ataru. Even Rei, despite being only interested in food and largely indifferent about girls, is seemingly in love with her. Ironically the only one who is not interested in her is Ataru himself, or so it seems (deep down he is).
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • In early stories of the manga and its 1981 anime adaptation, Lum literally blackmails Ataru into accepting her as his wife by offering to bail him out of an exorbitant alien taxi fee, is often nakedly hostile towards Shinobu, and even tries to use an alien Voodoo Doll on Shinobu (admittedly after Ataru gave her the idea). After Lum saves Ataru from a phony date and Shinobu moves on to Mendo, Lum becomes much nicer. It's widely accepted that she was originally supposed to be a flat-out antagonist, but Takahashi changed her mind (possibly at insistence from her editors) and made her a co-protagonist and the female half of the Official Couple.
  • In the earliest chapters/episodes, Lum is very sexually provocative towards Ataru, at one point even going so far as to slide into a futon, take off her bra, and wave it whilst begging Ataru to join her. In later chapters, she's far more chaste; in the story where Lum's dad comes to stay at the Moroboshi household after a fight with his wife, in the anime adaptation she gets very embarrassed and protests that she and Ataru don't sleep in the same bed when he assures them that he won't get in the way of their "fun", and in one chapter she invites Ataru to sleep with her, only for her to clarify that she meant that literally rather than as an innuendo.
• Elemental Hair Colors: The All-Stars anime adds the effect of Lum's hair turning yellowish when she's charging her electric attacks.
• Elemental Personalities: She's an alien girl with electric powers and an energetic troublemaker personality.
• Embarrassing Damp Sheets: As a child, Lum used to wet the bed whenever she had a sleepover with Ran. She's so embarrassed about it even now that Ran can use it to blackmail her into not telling anyone she's an alien.
• Everyone Has Standards: She is a Love Martyr who is eternally devoted to a loser like Ataru, getting a What Does She See in Him? reaction from everyone. However, it's revealed that her ex-boyfriend Rei was even worse (a complete idiot and even more selfish than Ataru) and Lum actually broke up with him because she couldn't stand his behavior. This proves that she still has more standards than many other girls (especially Ran) who are more than willing to date someone like Rei, just because of his good looks. Likewise, she has no interest in Shutaro Mendo; when her computer claims he is more compatible with her than Ataru, she does investigate, but quickly concludes that of the two, she prefers Ataru.
• Exposed to the Elements: Although Lum might sometimes don winter clothes, it's more to fit in than from any need of protection. She's seen wearing her tiger bikini whatever the weather, including while flying on a windy, snowy night, with no sign of discomfort.
• Fake Pregnancy: In Rei's original introduction, Lum lies about Ataru getting her pregnant to have a good excuse for not getting back together with Rei. This part wasn't included in the 2022 anime, though.
• Fish out of Water: A good part of her comedy comes from her unfamiliarity and obliviousness to Earth's customs.
• Forceful Kiss:
  • In Sakura's introduction story, Lum forcibly kisses Ataru right in front of his entire class, to Shinobu's fury. The jealous guys still pretend that Ataru forced Lum into it.
  • Later on, Lum makes a magic lipstick with a magnetic effect just to get a kiss from Ataru by force, but her plan fails.
• Fur 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).
• Generation Xerox: While Lum's mother looks every bit as an adult Lum, in their few interactions Lum's parents act as an older version of Lum and Ataru. Lum's mother is more than willing to spoil, love and shower her husband with affection, but is also quick to punish him wherever he steps out the line.
• Genki Girl: She has a cheerful but feisty personality.
• The Glomp: She likes to greet Ataru with a fierce hug. Initially, this would also trigger a painful electric shock, but the gag swiftly vanished and became Early-Installment Weirdness.
• Hide Your Otherness: In the few occasions where she disguises herself as a human, Lum hides her horns, either by changing her hairstyle or making them look like ornaments.
• Horned Humanoid: Being an Oni, she has two small horns.
• Human Alien: Like most aliens in the setting, Lum looks almost exactly like a human, only with two small horns and green hair as a reminder that she's an alien.
• Iconic Outfit: She's widely recognizable because of her tiger-patterned bikini and go-go boots. The tiger pattern is a reference to how oni are typically depicted wearing loincloths made of tiger skin.
• Image Song:
  • The 1981 anime had Lum no Love Song which is Lum singing to Ataru to stop looking at other girls because she's the one he loves the most.
  • aiue, the opening song of the 2022 anime, is sung from Lum's perspective as she expresses frustration with Ataru's wandering eye while wondering why she's in love with him at all before resolving that she's not going to leave his side until she finds the answer.
• Instant Fanclub: Lum's Stormtroopers, a band of losers from Ataru's class who instantly became enamored with Lum.
• Interspecies Romance: She's an Oni alien who is in love with and wants to marry a human, Ataru. She was also engaged to marry a guy from a different race of Human Aliens, Rupa, when they were children.
• In the Blood: Her mother is also an oni with Shock and Awe powers. Additionally, what little we see of the relationship between Lum's mother and father suggests it has some elements in common with Lum's relationship with Ataru, particularly in the 1981 anime adaptation of the story when Lum's mother kicks her father out of their house for being a Jerkass.
• Irony: While she adores spicy food, she can't stand garlic, a very basic seasoning.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Lum is clingy, possessive, controlling, and can get violent when she's angry (one of the anime opening songs directly compares her to a landmine). But she's also sweet and loving towards the people she cares about. In later chapters she Took a Level in Kindness and, despite her many flaws, she's a friendly and nice person (nicer than Ataru, at least, who still remains a Jerk with a Heart of Gold).
• Kaleidoscope Hair: In the manga's colored pages, Lum was given iridescent hair, which got changed in the 1981 anime to its iconic green because iridescence is next to impossible to animate. The 2022 anime, on the other hand, does have Lum's hair shift between colors, but only when her electricity powers are on or when the lighting of the scene changes.
• Kiss-Kiss-Slap: She's very affectionate to her 'Darling', but doesn't hesitate to zap him with lightning whenever he hits on another girl, which happens a lot.
• Lacerating Love Language: Early in the series, it's set up that Lum's affection for Ataru is as harmful for him as her wrath, as whenever she passionately embraced him, she would release her electric powers and shock him, which Lum called her "expression of love". However, this idea very quickly went out the window; she does this to Ataru a grand total of six times in the manga, half of them in her return chapter, and once whilst drunk. The two anime adaptations use it a couple of times, but it still appears very rarely.
• Lethal Chef: There's nothing technically wrong with her cooking; it's just that she tends to overuse the spices to make it taste like the food on her home planet. It's implied that, by Oni standards, she's actually a good cook... the problem is, not even fellow Human Aliens like Ran can withstand her cooking.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The sexually aggressive Dark Feminine to Shinobu's demure Light Feminine.
• Like an Old Married Couple: With Ataru. Despite Ataru's resistance, Lum is already his wife all but officially. Although she would like Ataru to stop chasing other girls, Lum stays faithfully by his side because she knows he does have feelings for her deep down and appreciates the rare moments Ataru expresses it.
• Limited Wardrobe: Aside from her school uniform and occasional street clothes, the only outfit she owns is her trademark bikini and go-go boots combo. When it gets stolen by Tobimaro and his henchwomen, Lum angrily chases them down while screaming about how that's her only good set of clothes.
• Love Forgives All but Lust: Lum isn't bothered at all by Ataru being a selfish, lazy, idiotic and gluttonous Jerkass. However, she is driven wild with fury by the fact he brazenly hits on other girls in front of her, to the point of literally refusing to go on dates with her to instead ask out girls who clearly aren't interested in him. This typically leads to her blasting Ataru with lightning, biting him, or both.
• Love Hungry: She is very desperate for Ataru's love and has done rather questionable things in order to have him all to herself.
• Love Martyr: Ataru is lecherous, obnoxious, selfish, and a Jerkass to boot, but Lum still loves him and would do anything for him despite him having no problem chasing after other women, even in front of Lum. Lampshaded in the 2022 anime's Character Song for Lum which has her sing about how she knows Ataru has a horrible temper and he could avoid most of his misfortune by growing up with her help, but she just believes her love will reach him and make his life better.
• Love Revelation Epiphany: She fell in love with Ataru after she misinterpreted something he said to himself as a marriage proposal to her.
• Mad Love: Particularly in early stories, Ataru keeps yelling at Lum that he would rather be with Shinobu or any other girl, tries getting away from her and treats her as a nuisance in general. However, Lum doesn't seem to get Ataru doesn't like her and continues calling him her husband. It's true Ataru does develop genuine feelings for her eventually, but his treatment of her doesn't improve much so it's hard to see why Lum stays in love with him.
• Magical Girlfriend: A famous parody. Ataru is an Unlucky Everydude whose life gets turned around when the beautiful Alien Princess Lum falls in love with him. Ataru is also a slovenly, pitifully-desperate pervert who usually deserves all the trouble he goes through, and Lum is a Tsundere/borderline-Yandere who loves him despite his lechery but isn't averse to zapping him with her electrical powers when he strays. She's also somewhat bumbling, usually causing more problems than she solves. Add to this that when she showed up, he already had a girlfriend he liked better.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Subverted and possibly deconstructed. On the surface, she plays the role of the energetic and quirky alien girlfriend who turns Ataru's life more exciting by dragging him into crazy adventures. At the same time, some of the antics she brings along often cause more trouble than they're worth and Ataru initially wanted her to get out of his life because of it.
• Marriage of Convenience: In the manga, it's somewhat vague how much Lum liked Ataru when she accepted his "proposal" as marrying him was the easiest and quickest way for her to get out of her engagement to her stupid ex-fiancé Rei. By the time Rei tries to reclaim her, however, Lum does want to stay with Ataru and it's made clear she has genuinely come to love him throughout the series.
• Modesty Shorts: A teacher once gave her a pair of gym shorts to wear under her skirt after noticing that she was flashing her classmates whenever she would fly.
• Monster Roommate: Zigzagged. Depending on the chapter, she switches from living in Ataru's closet to staying in her spaceship.
• Mood-Swinger: Lum is a very sweet, innocent, faithful, and good-natured girl, but she can also be jealous and has a very hot temper.
• Ms. Fanservice: One of the most famous. She is a beautiful Alien Princess who wears a tiger-striped bikini, and Ataru stealing her bikini top leaving Lum with her naked breasts exposed in the first episode is one of most iconic scenes in the anime world.
• Mundane Utility: She uses her ability to fly to cheat at a tennis match.
• Mythology Gag: In the 2022 anime, Lum's "Otoko Kumino" disguise's hair color is the non-iridiscent dark green of the old anime.
• Named After Somebody Famous: She's named after Agnes Lum, an American gravure idol, singer, actress, and bikini model popular in Japan in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
• Never Gets Drunk:
  • Due to Bizarre Alien Biology, alcohol has no effect on her, so she can outdrink any human.
  • Averted in Always My Darling, which shows Lum Drowning My Sorrows in an alien bar with alien alcohol that does work on her.
• New Transfer Student: She eventually transfers into Ataru's class to spend time with him at school without getting yelled at by the teacher for not being a student.
• No Accounting for Taste: No-one can figure out why such a beautiful girl as Lum is in love with a lecherous loser like Ataru. This includes Ataru himself.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Early in the series, she's very touchy with Ataru, eager to smother him in hugs and kisses at any given chance (whether he wants it or not). It's downplayed after Character Development, and Ataru himself doesn't mind when Lum holds him as she hovers.
• Nurse with Good Intentions: As Ran knows from experience, whenever her friends are ill she comes to help... but only causes more trouble, up to blowing up their home.
• Otherworldly Technicolour Hair: To make her stand out as an alien, Lum has shiny, electric-green hair which contrasts with the human characters', particularly the brown-haired Ataru's, dull hair colors.
• Parental Favoritism: Two surrogate examples:
  • Initially wary of her due to her being part of an attempted alien invasion, the Moroboshis come to view her as the daughter (if not necessarily daughter-in-law) they never had, sometimes showing preference to her over their actual child.
  • Ran's mother likewise preferred Lum over Ran, her own child, and abused Ran while questioning why she couldn't be more like Lum.
• Parental Substitute: Lum is Ten's legal guardian and takes care of him almost as if he was her child.
• Power Dyes Your Hair: In the All-Stars anime, Lum's hair changes colors when she's using her electricity powers.
• Power Floats: She'll often use her flight to casually hover above the ground, and will sometimes cross her legs while doing so.
• Power Incontinence: In the manga chapter "A Night Alone" (183) and its anime adaptation, she persuades Ataru to sleep with her, then makes him wear a shockproof suit, sheepishly explaining that she sometimes releases electricity accidentally in her sleep, so it's for his protection.
  • Early chapters/episodes imply that she can lose control of her powers when she's too happy, resulting in her giving electrified hugs to Ataru, but this idea was soon adapted out.
• Power Limiter: In an early story, Ataru forces Cherry to give him a set of yellow ribbons that, if tied around Lum's horns, make her lose her powers. When Lum finds out about it, she forces Ataru to take the ribbons off her horns.
• Pretty Freeloader: She stays for free at Ataru's house.
• Promotion to Parent: In a way, Lum is the only consistent mother figure her little cousin Ten has ever had in his life due to his mother being too busy with work to raise him and so leaving him to robot nannies.
• Rejection Affection: Ataru constantly rebuffs Lum's displays of affection and ignores her to hit on other girls, but nothing can stop her from chasing after him.
• Required Secondary Powers:
  • Alongside with her ability to generate electricity, she's naturally immune to electric shocks herself. She in fact can absorb electricity from other sources, which can result in her getting supercharged — afterward, she'd shock anybody she'd touch, even involuntarily, until enough is discharged. Of note is that her iconic tiger-striped bikini is impervious too; in one occasion, generating a stronger discharge than usual has vaporized her clothes, but not the bikini she uses as underwear. This certainly explains why she's so attached to it.
  • Additionally, when questioned about her attire while out in a snowy landscape, Lum replies she is extremely resistant to cold and wind. This makes sense as she's commonly seen flying high up in the sky in the aforementioned bikini, perfectly comfortable, despite being Exposed to the Elements.
• Samaritan Relationship Starter: In the manga, it's implied that Lum initially pursued Ataru mainly to use him as an excuse to get away from Rei, but genuinely fell for him when Ataru (albeit unintentionally) saved her from Rei trying to take her back by force.
• Sarcasm-Blind: Lum can sometimes have problems understanding when somebody (especially Ataru) is being sarcastic. In the story when Lum and Ataru are left home alone together for the first time, she asks Ataru what he wants for dinner, and when he sarcastically asks for "wasabi rice, cayenne and mustard spicy cod roe, and tabasco soup", she immediately jots that down, promising to get the ingredients on the way home, and goes on to make that exact dinner, despite Ataru loudly complaining that he was being sarcastic.
• Second Love: Lum and Ataru are this to each other. It's played with: Lum openly loves Ataru and flat-out hates her First Love Rei, but Ataru would never admit that he loves Lum and still tries to win his ex-girlfriend back (while hitting on all the other girls he meets).
• Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: She considers herself to already be engaged/married to Ataru, even though he flees at the mere mention of marriage and commitment from her.
• Shipper on Deck: Lum supports Ran pursuing her ex-boyfriend Rei because Ran is her childhood friend and Lum wants her to be happy despite Ran's antagonism towards her because of Rei.
• Shipper with an Agenda: Since Kurama is also officially engaged to Ataru, Lum tries to set up her with Mendou to make sure she doesn't marry Ataru. Kurama couldn't be happier with this since she hates Ataru anyway, and initially thinks Shutaro looks like a much better catch, until she discovers he's as lecherous as Ataru and claustrophobic to boot.
• Shock and Awe:
  • Lum can generate electricity, both shocking whoever she touches and launching lightning bolts from her fingers. Lum routinely uses this to punish Ataru for angering her, but she can also summon it when she otherwise feels a need for it.
  • One chapter shows that she actually will generate electricity as a form of affection. In the chapter, she will fall for whoever holds her heart and act like a smitten teenager around that person. Several people got her heart, but she only electrocuted Ataru, even claiming that to be special exclamation of love.
• Single-Target Sexuality: While she has an ex-boyfriend (Rei, whom she can't stand), Lum never shows interest in anyone but her "Darling" throughout the series.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Even though the manga was originally supposed to have Ataru and Shinobu as main characters, Lum gradually came to overshadow them both to the point she became the Series Mascot and it's a common misunderstanding to think she's the protagonist because of it. Lampshaded when Ataru tries to give up one of his positions (class representative) and everyone assumes he's giving up his spot as the main character, she says it can't be that because she is the main character.
• Stalker with a Crush: Since she insists on always being by the side of her "husband" Ataru, she's constantly following him around, ruining his dates/flirting and even forcing him to let her live with him. She can't even leave Ataru alone without giving him a doll with a hidden microphone to spy on him.
• Stalking is Love: Downplayed. Ataru initially is very annoyed to have Lum invading his personal life and following him whenever he goes. However, if Lum isn't following him, Ataru starts to miss her to the point of wanting to cry because she became a big part of his daily life without him realizing.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Lum and her mother look very similar to each other.
• Supering in Your Sleep: She releases electric charges while she's asleep, so Ataru needs a special bodysuit to protect himself when he shares a futon with Lum.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: She has amber eyes in the All-Stars anime, further emphasizing her alienness.
• The Tease: Early in the series, she tries to get Ataru to sleep with her, only to be denied by him, even waving her bikini top in the air while she laid under the covers of the futon. Another instant is when she and Ataru are fighting, as in a "roughhousing" sort of way, Lum only complains that he should just let her pull out the futon first.
• Token Non-Human: Out of the four main characters, as well as Ataru's classmates, Lum is the only one who is an alien Oni instead of a human.
• Tough Love: She loves Ataru, but she recognizes that Ataru tends to listen to his loins rather than his brain, and she's not above using pain to try and get through to him, whether it's by zapping him for constantly hitting on other girls, or the Mendou masquerade brawl story, where she attempts to club him unconscious and drag him home rather than let him get hurt in Ryouko's latest sadistic game.
• Town Girls: She's neither tomboyish nor girly when compared to the demure Oyuki's Femme and the tomboyish Benten's Butch.
• Translator Buddy: Since her mother can only speak alien Starfish Language, Lum has to act as her interpreter whenever she needs to communicate with humans. However, Lum doesn't do a good job when translating human language for her.
• Tsundere: Sweet type. She's very open about her feelings and affectionate, but Ataru chasing other girls causes her to get hot-tempered and possessive often.
• Turn the Other Cheek: She always forgives people who are close to her, even if they always treat her badly, like her "boyfriend" Ataru or her childhood "friend" Ran.
• The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: The huge, monstrous king of the alien Oni looks nothing like his green-haired bombshell of a daughter, Lum, who definitely takes after her mother. Although, Lum's dad used to be a looker and his current appearance is the result of Lum's mother constantly spoiling him with food and attentions.
• Unaffected by Spice: Thanks to her Bizarre Alien Biology, Lum can eat extremely spicy foods with no effect. She's fine eating any standard Earth dishes, but finds them very bland. On the other hand, anything she cooks is way overspiced by human standards.
• Unwanted Spouse: Ataru is engaged to Lum because of a misunderstanding on her part and he's very open about not wanting to marry her, which she continues to ignore.
• Uptown Girl: Lum is still the princess of her people, and in the first chapters of the manga casually mentions she's able to afford buying the entire oil supply of planet Earth out of her pocket money. However, after falling in love with the dirt poor Ataru, she moves with their family, starts living in Ataru's blanket's closet (sometimes returning to her starship) and helping around his parents while getting used to a middle impoverished class lifestyle.
• Verbal Tic: "-datcha" (or "-tcha") at the end of almost every sentence.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: She occasionally pulls some Oni-tech gizmo from her bikini top.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Zigzagged. If she thinks it's just a bit of "playful roughhousing", she can let Ataru endure some pretty rough treatment, usually at the hands (and mouth) of her beloved cousin Ten. If she realizes that Ataru is in legitimate trouble, she will come down on the dumb bastard to threaten him like the wrath of an angry storm goddess, and even Ten has pushed her to the brink sometimes.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Benten and Oyuki like to punk her sometimes as a way of getting back for having to endure her mischief when they were all children, and even Ran still considers Lum a friend to some level.
• Walking Swimsuit Scene: When she isn't wearing her school uniform or street clothes, she goes around in her famous tiger-striped bikini. Ironically, the 2022 adaptation has an episode where she goes to both the swimming pool and the beach - and in both locations, she changes into a (different) one-piece swimsuit that's substantially more modest that what she usually wears in public.
• Wasted Beauty: Lum is one of the most beautiful girls in the series, to the point all guys adore her except for the only man who has all her attention. From Ataru's perspective, Lum is undeniably hot, but he's turned off by her clinginess, possessiveness and tendency to zap him with electricity whenever she's angry or excited.
• Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: A Trope Codifier. As Ataru's self-proclaimed wife, Lum believes she has the duty to let him realize he isn't bound to be an unlucky loser and pushes him to strive for a better life by changing his Casanova Wannabe attitude and becoming her faithful husband. However, Ataru's Commitment Issues keep him from giving up his skirt-chasing ways and settling down with Lum.
• What Does She See in Him?: No one seems to understand why Lum is in love with Ataru, particularly her many admirers. For the record, Ataru has no idea either. In the 2022 Image Song aiue, Lum claims that even herself is unsure about that. All she knows is Ataru managed to win her heart and she decided to spend her entire life trying to understand him.
• Wife Husbandry: Gender-inverted and Played for Laughs. Lum once tries to travel back in time to train Ataru's younger self to be more obedient and faithful to her.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Leaving aside her Clingy Jealous Girl antics, Lum is a beautiful Alien Princess who seeks to devote her entire life to spoil and pamper her future husband Ataru, but is more than willing to use an iron fist to put him back to his place wherever he steps out of line. She takes after her mother in this aspect.
• Yandere: While it's Played for Laughs, she's determined to keep Ataru to herself no matter how much it literally hurts him or others. This includes jamming his phone conversations, throwing things at him, biting him or beating him up when she is not electrocuting him for being unfaithful, blackmailing him with the world's entire oil supply to force him into letting her live with him, and drugging him with a Love Potion to keep his eyes on her only.
• You Didn't Ask: How she justifies not telling Ataru about her power to fly (or in the case of the 2022 series, the additional ability to shoot electricity) before he agreed to play tag with her for the fate of planet Earth.

Shinobu Miyake

Shinobu Miyake

Voiced by: Saeko Shimazu (JP, original series), Maaya Uchida (JP, All-Stars), Danielle Sullivan (EN, Movie 1, 3-6), Katherine Burten (EN, test dub), Jeannette Ann Wallace (EN, movie 2), Lauren Laverne (EN, BBC gag dub), Andrea Kwan (EN, Animax dub), Cat Thomas (EN, All-Stars)

^{Click here to see her in the 1981 anime}

"MEN BE DAMNED!!!"

Ataru's childhood friend and classmate. Until Lum showed up she was also Ataru's girlfriend. As encouragement for Ataru during the tag game, she promised him that if he won she would marry him. This did indeed spur him to victory, but it also resulted in his victory cry that led to Lum deciding to stay and claim Ataru instead.

Shinobu is a neat, sweet, petite young lady of above-average physical attractiveness. Despite these very feminine characteristics, however, she has an extremely short temper and often displays superhuman strength — she's one of the strongest characters in the series, able to easily throw classroom desks or any other large/heavy object/structure on-hand as needed.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: Her eye color is black in the first anime series, brown in the 2008 OVA and emerald green in the All-Stars series. Similarly, her hair is auburn red rather than brown in the All-Stars anime series.
• Amicable Exes: After she and Ataru break up for good, they remain on very good terms. When it seems Lum left, Shinobu is the one to console Ataru.
• Beta Couple: With Inaba. They're the only couple in the series that's actually functional and don't have any abusive moments between them. They're also officially dating by the end, while Ataru and Lum don't seem even close to settling down any time soon.
• Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Lum's Veronica. She serves as the down-to-earth childhood friend to Ataru who dated him first, in contrast to the glamorous and sexy alien Lum who spends the early parts of the series trying to steal Ataru away from Shinobu. This lasted until the romantic relationship between Shinobu and Ataru was abandoned so Lum could be the main heroine.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Shinobu usually acts like a cute, fragile teenage girl who still likes to speak her mind. However, when her temper is pushed too far, she gets violently mad, easily able to lift heavy objects and throw them at her target (usually Ataru).
• Brainy Brunette: She has brown hair and it's mentioned she's a pretty good student.
• Catchphrase Insult: "Men be damned!"
• Childhood Friends:
  • She has known Ataru since they were kindergarteners. There were meant to have a Childhood Friend Romance early in the series, but by the time Lum establishes herself as the female protagonist, Shinobu becomes a regular friend to Ataru.
  • In the 1981 anime, Shinobu has also known the Stormtroopers since she was seven.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Early chapters have her constantly fighting with Lum over Ataru, as well as punishing him for always chasing after other girls. After she moves on from Ataru to Mendou, Shinobu threatens to beat him up when he makes moves on other girls in front of her.
• Cute Bruiser: She is a cute girl, but also inhumanly strong.
• Demoted to Extra: Thanks to Lum becoming the Breakout Character and replacing her as the other half of the Official Couple, Shinobu loses prominence later in the series. In early stories, she's The Rival to Lum for Ataru's affections, but eventually loses interest in him and becomes just The Generic Girl who often hangs out with Ataru and his friends.
• Engagement Challenge: She used this to encourage Ataru during the game of tag. It worked, but it led to Ataru's Accidental Marriage with Lum.
• Establishing Character Moment: In the manga and 2022 anime, Shinobu's first scene has her delivering a Bitch Slap to Ataru for ogling another girl in front of her. The 2022 anime upgrades the slap to a Megaton Punch to establish Shinobu having Super-Strength from the get-go.
• Everyone Has Standards: While she has a shallow crush on rich pretty boy Mendou, she's one of the few girls who are not attracted to Rei. She admits Rei is handsome, but his greedy and brainless behavior along with his beast transformation are enough to turn her off.
• Fatal Attractor: The only guys who have any interest in her are perverts and weirdos. Shinobu even comes to think she might be cursed, but Sakura confirms she just has bad luck with men. Fortunately, she meets Inaba near the end of the series.
• Fiery Redhead: In the All-Stars anime, she has auburn red hair to complement her hot temper.
• First Girl Wins: Subverted. Shinobu is the first girl introduced in the series as well as Ataru's childhood friend and first girlfriend. She was supposed to end up together with Ataru, as shown in an early chapter where Ataru's future son was revealed to be hers. However, Lum's massive popularity resulted in her supplanting Shinobu as the main heroine and Ataru's love interest. Shinobu ultimately ended up with a new boyfriend.
• First Love: She and Ataru were this to each other, but they eventually get over it.
• The Generic Girl: Aside from her comical Super-Strength, Shinobu is the only completely ordinary girl in the main cast.
• Girl Next Door: She's Ataru's pretty-but-down-to-earth childhood friend.
• Girly Bruiser: She's a feminine young girl who packs a powerful punch and tends to throw very heavy objects around when she's angry.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: She genuinely tries to be a serious, polite, and ladylike girl who thinks about romance and wants to find the best boy for her. However, her bad temper and violent tendencies combined with Super-Strength are not very ladylike.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: She has a tendency to get angry and overreact to the littlest things.
• Has a Type: As stated in side materials, Shinobu feels attracted to perverted idiots. She liked Ataru since they were children, but is ready to ditch him as soon as she meets Mendou who is basically a richer and more handsome version of him. However, near the end of the series, Shinobu falling in love with the sweet and innocent Inaba ultimately subverts the trope.
• Hopeless Suitor: Toward Mendou. While he likes to woo Shinobu as he does with most girls, he won't seriously return her feelings because he's much more attracted to Lum and is just as much of a flirt as Ataru.
• Hypocrite: Even though Shinobu would condemn Ataru for checking out other girls in front of her, she's a sucker for very beautiful people of the opposite sex too and ends up dumping Ataru because Mendou is more handsome and richer than him.
• I Can Change My Beloved: Early in the story, it was obvious Shinobu really cared about Ataru. Unlike Love Martyr Lum, she actually wanted him to change his obnoxious ways and become a better person (Lum wouldn't mind Ataru's perversion if he directed it toward her). This obviously never happens and Shinobu gradually loses interest in him.
• Informed Attractiveness: She's explicitly said to be the third most beautiful girl in the school before Lum enrolls, but compared to the more exotic and skimpily dressed Lum and the other alien girls, she's quite plain-looking.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The demure Light Feminine to Lum's sexually aggressive Dark Feminine.
• Like Brother and Sister: With Ataru, eventually. They were the original Official Couple, but due to Lum replacing Shinobu as the main heroine, Shinobu's relationship with Ataru loses all romantic overtones early on. From the moment her romantic interest switches to Mendou, Shinobu's attitude towards Ataru resembles a sister who gets exasperated by her goofy brother's antics. This is especially true in the 2022 anime where Shinobu moves on from liking Ataru even more quickly and genuinely treats him as a stupid childhood friend rather than an ex-boyfriend.
• Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: She certainly has bad luck with men.
• Meaningful Name: Shinobu means "to endure" and she truly has endured a lot.
• Megaton Punch: A specialty of hers, particularly towards Ataru and Soban.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Shinobu has a slight, slender build. She can also heft full grown men when riled enough.
• Nice Girl: She's usually very kind and friendly, at least when you don't make her angry.
• The Obstructive Love Interest: Early in the series, Shinobu is Ataru's girlfriend, but frequently yells at him and beats him up whenever misunderstandings happen and she thinks he's cheating on her with Lum or some other girl. It's subverted once Shinobu breaks up with Ataru for good and both end up with different love interests.
• Official Couple: She starts dating Inaba towards the end of the series.
• Only Sane Woman: When not angry, she is one of the most normal characters, at least compared to the rest of the cast.
• Prone to Tears: Particularly early on, Shinobu cries easily, either out of concern for Ataru or anger at seeing Lum all over him. She grows out of it after she stops liking Ataru.
• Satellite Love Interest: Compared to the more rounded and exuberant Lum, Shinobu's early characterization is centered around being Ataru's temperamental love interest and chilhood friend. By the time Mendou is introduced, however, Shinobu stops fixating on Ataru and becomes a regular main cast member without romantic interest in him.
• Shipper with an Agenda: In an episode of the 1981 anime, when she hears the rumor that Ataru and Lum are about to break up, Shinobu fears that Lum could start to like Mendou instead, so she teams up with the girls of the class (who all want a chance with Mendou too) to make Lum stay with Ataru. Quite ironic since Shinobu originally wanted Lum to get away from Ataru back when she was dating him.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: In the All-Stars anime, she's a green-eyed redhead and Ataru's childhood friend and Love Interest. However, she gradually loses her prominence as Ataru falls for Lum.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Shinobu is sincerely caring, dependable, and well-mannered, but she'll stand her ground for herself and her friends in a pinch. Ataru, her ex-boyfriend, favorably describes her as "the master of power and prettiness" during the Miss Tomobiki competition.
• Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy: When Mendou joins the school, Shinobu immediately joins the crowd of girls fawning over him and she's pretty enough to at least get him to consider her.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man:
  • Subverted with Mendou. Initially, she tells Ataru that she prefers Mendou because he's more polite and respectful than him, which may be only Horrible Judge of Character since Mendou is just much better than Ataru at pretending to be nice. However, as she discovers Mendou's scummy and cowardly sides, Shinobu admits that the only thing that still attracts her to Mendou is his physical appearance.
  • Played straight with Inaba. Near the end of the series, Shinobu starts dating Inaba because he's probably the only true Nice Guy in the series.
• Super-Strength: Her super-strength evolved from sight gag to full-fledged superpower.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After having such terrible luck with men throughout the series, she finds a true Nice Guy to be her boyfriend.
• Took a Level in Kindness: In the first volume of the manga, Shinobu is a lot nastier, being short-tempered, violent, suspicious and distrustful of Ataru even before Lum arrives. While she always keeps her temper, she softens later on, especially after she gives up on Ataru and stops acting as Lum's love rival.
• Tsundere: Sweet type. She's normally nice and sweet, but she's also short-tempered and violent.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: She considers herself a responsible and ladylike Japanese girl. She's not completely this because of that temper.

Shutaro Mendou

Shutaro Mendou

Voiced by: Akira Kamiya (JP, original series), Mamoru Miyano (JP, All-Stars), Robert Rogan (EN, Movie 1,3-6), Wayne Grayson (EN, Movie 2), Brian Hudson (EN, test dub), Russell Wait (EN, Animax Dub), Jack Stansbury (EN, All-Stars)

^{Click here to see him in the 1981 anime}

"Waaaah! It's dark! It's cramped! I'm scared!!!"

Heir to the Mendou Conglomerate with staggering wealth and its own private army. He commutes to school in a gigantic helicopter that is more like a flying mansion. A descendant of a samurai family, Shutaro often carries a katana with him, which at any moment could be flying at the face of Ataru, who has become adept at blocking it with his bare hands. Although very handsome and intelligent, he is truly just as foolish and lecherous as Ataru, just much more sophisticated in his approach.

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• Academic Athlete: It's mentioned in the manga that he does well in school and sports.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: He doesn't get introduced until Chapter 22 of the manga and Episode 11 of the first anime. The All-Stars anime moves his introduction to as early as the end of the second episode.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In a 1980s anime-only episode, Mendou reveals he's perfectly willing to take advantage of Lum having amnesia, implicitly with the plan of tricking her into believing they're a couple, and was also willing to kill the Stormtroopers and Ataru to prevent them from rescuing her.
• And Now You Must Marry Me: In episode 106 of the 1980s anime, Mendou takes advantage of Lum having amnesia to trick her into marrying him, pretending she was his fiancée.
• Animal Motifs: The Mendou family crest resembles an octopus, and Mendou himself keeps several as pets.
• Berserk Button: Because of his great love for octopuses, he's offended if people eat takoyaki in his presence, as they're made of octopus.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: Even before he levelled up to get Super-Strength, he was always more formidable than his hordes of incompetent, foolish, sunglasses-wearing security forces. It's so bad that the security team actually begged Mendou to protect them from Asuka when she was rampaging at the Mendou residence. That said, they are loyal and will gladly do whatever minor but labor-intensive job Mendou requests of them. It's even noted in-series that his sister Ryoko's kuroko assistants are far more competent than Shutaro's goon squad.
• Broken Ace: Introduced as The Ace (and his clueless fangirls still see him as such), but it's very obvious he's anything but. He frequently makes a fool of himself, especially when he's being too vain or Holier Than Thou, and Ataru is able to use Mendou's claustrophobia and ego against him.
• Butt-Monkey: His claustrophobia and fear of the dark put him in embarrassing situations as a Running Gag. He also gets caught up in almost as much slapstick humiliations as Ataru (such as when rumour-spreading alien flowers convinced the whole town, including Shinobu, that Mendou is a bedwetter).
• Charles Atlas Superpower: He eventually develops massive strength in his arms as part of an attempt to cure his nyctophobia and claustrophobia by repeatedly trapping himself in giant clay pickling pots. This puts a new twist in the Running Gag of Ataru humiliating him by dropping an old-fashioned temple bell on him, as he became permanently able to break out of them afterwards.
• The Charmer: In contrast to Ataru, he knows how to approach a woman, thanks to his suave and sophisticated manners.
• Chick Magnet: He is very popular with all the girls at school, except Lum.
• Claustrophobia: Whenever he's trapped in a dark and enclosed space, Mendou'll start crying like a baby and screaming "Waaaah! It's dark! It's cramped! I'm scared!!!". Except anytime a hot girl's looking at him – his ego is stronger than his fear. Ataru likes to mess with this weakness by trapping Mendou inside a giant bell.
• Custom Uniform: He wears a white gakuran instead of the standard black one other male students wear, just to show off how rich he is.
• Dogged Nice Guy: To Lum. He attempts to win her over by playing up his gentleman act around her and tries convincing her to leave Ataru for him, but he never succeeds.
• Easily Forgiven: In the 1981 anime, Mendou once tried to murder Ataru and the Stormtroopers for attempting to rescue Lum from his estate after she developed amnesia. Both Lum and Ataru forgive Mendou immediately. Lampshaded by both Ten and Megane, who are both incredulous at how quickly Mendou was forgiven.
• Foil: To Ataru. Ataru comes across as a moronic, lecherous, selfish jerk but he has more Hidden Depths and Hidden Heart of Gold than expected. By contrast, Mendou seems a handsome, suave, intelligent gentleman, but he's actually just as petty, foolish, and lecherous as Ataru, and in many ways is an even bigger jerk.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Downplayed. In his class, all the girls (except Lum) love him but all the guys hate him. Out of the people he frequently hangs out with (Ataru, Lum, Shinobu, Ten, Ryuunosuke, Sakura, Megane, etc.), only Shinobu likes him. He largely brings it on himself thanks to a combination of his ego and his blatant favoritism towards girls; the guys can't stand him because he tries his best to run roughshod over them. They put up with him because he's rich and so can score them nice food and fun places to visit.
• Gentleman and a Scholar: Downplayed. Mendou is responsible, one of the best students in the class, and acts polite and well-mannered to girls, but he's too much of a stuck-up Spoiled Brat to qualify.
• Handsome Lech: Mendou is the same kind of lecher as Ataru, except he's also rich, handsome, and suave, giving him much more success in charming girls.
• Hate at First Sight: From the moment he first meets Ataru, Mendou is repulsed by his idiotic face.
• Hopeless Suitor: He's pining after Lum who completely ignores him because she's faithful to her "husband" Ataru.
• I Hate Past Me: In one chapter/episode, Mendou travels back in time and meets his own child self, who acts like such an obnoxious brat to his future self that he provokes the latter into attacking him with an axe. The young Mendou hides in a jar until the older Mendou returns to his own time, but that experience was what gave him his claustrophobia and fear of the dark. And what's more, the reason he traveled back in time in the first place was to prevent himself from getting said phobias.
• I Love You Because I Can't Control You: What sparks his interest in Lum largely seems to be that is that she's the only girl at school who won't swoon over his rich status and good looks, since she insists Ataru is the only man for her.
• Iconic Sequel Character: He is Ataru's main foil/rival, the second most important male character, and probably the Tritagonist of the entire series (replacing Shinobu in that role), but he isn't introduced until the third volume. Both anime adaptations bring him in sooner as a result.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Anytime he finds himself second best at something he feels he should be best at, he tends to collapse. The time Rei turned up and was better looking then him (Mendou's response after coming out of shock "Money is more important than looks!!"), and all the times Ryuunosuke winds up getting a bigger pile of fan mail then him, are particularly iconic examples.
• Instant Fanclub: His army of fangirls sprang up the instant he arrived, since he's handsome and rich.
• Jerkass Ball: In an anime-original 2-parter story, Lum's UFO crashes on the Mendou estate, causing her to lose her memory. Shutaro takes advantage of this by isolating her from outside contact, implicitly trying to convince her that they are together. When Ataru demands Mendou tell her the truth and send her home, Mendou refuses and warns Ataru that he has deployed his private army with orders to kill anyone who tries to rescue Lum from his estate. When Lum's Stormtroopers get ready to launch a rescue mission anyway, Megane even leaves behind a will because he's convinced that Mendou's threat is genuine — and he turns out to be right to do so, as Mendou deploys rifle-armed soldiers, tanks and attack helicopters to thwart their efforts. But, at the episode's end, Ataru and Lum treat Shutaro no differently than they did before, and Mendou in turn acts like they're still buddies, something an increduous Ten and Megane lampshade.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Subverted. On said occasions, Mendou draws his katana (in the anime it is called Murasame) and attempts to slice Ataru in two, but he never succeeds.
• Karmic Butt-Monkey: Whilst not the magnet for trouble that Ataru is, Mendou suffers alot of humiliation and abuse, but this is usually punishment for his arrogance and jerkassery.
• Ladykiller in Love: He'll woo every pretty girl he meets, but Lum and Asuka seem to be the only ones he has serious feelings for.
• Last-Name Basis: Everyone calls him Mendou (except Lum).
• Lord Error-Prone: He's incredibly wealthy, carries a sword everywhere he goes, and generally acts the cool sophisticate, an act for which the local girls fawn over him in adoration. Scratch the gloss, however, and he's really no better than Lovable Sex Maniac Ataru Moroboshi himself. In fact, he's arguably worse, given that he's utterly afraid of the dark, claustrophobic, and a Dirty Coward, while Ataru is capable of insane acts of bravery and determination.
• Love Martyr: A mixture of honor and fraternal instinct sees him constantly protect and even take the side of his little sister Ryoko, a mischievous young noblewoman who would (and does) inflict cruel pranks on her older brother such as trapping him in a block of cement.
• Madness Mantra: "Waah, it's dark! I'm scared!" he'll break into this line and keep repeating it while he's trapped in a dark, cramped space.
• Meaningful Name: Mendou means "trouble", and he causes a great deal of trouble for Ataru by seducing away Shinobu and actively trying to woo Lum.
• Mirror Character: Take away his power and sophisticated manners, and Mendou is the same as Ataru. If anything, one could argue that he's worse, since Ataru has a noble side he buries deep down, whilst Mendou, under his superficial charm, is an arrogant, self-entitled lech who looks down on his own gender, is blatantly biased in favor of women, and is a Dirty Coward.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: He tends to beat up any guy that shows interest in Ryoko. Ryoko takes advantage of this by pretending to be interested in other guys (usually Ataru or Tobimaro) to arouse her brother's wrath on them.
• New Transfer Student: In his introduction, he joins the main characters' class as a transfer student.
• Noble Male, Roguish Male: He acts as the noble (rich, suave and gentlemanly) to Ataru's roguish (middle-class, rude and perverted). However, deep down Mendou is just as roguish as Ataru.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: With Asuka Mizunokoji. Their parents want Mendou to marry her to bring the two families together. After seeing how she really looks like under her armor, Mendou becomes very motivated to marry her. Asuka, on the other hand, comes to accept him after she finds out he's a "big brother" like Tobimaro. There is still the problem that Asuka's affection is as dangerous as her wrath.
• Pride: He's so terrified of dark places that being trapped in one causes him to cower and weep like a baby. But that's only if he's alone or in male-only company. If there's girls watching him, he'll keep a cool front because he can't allow himself to look bad in front of them. They have to look like a girl, however; the androgynous Wholesome Crossdresser Ryuunosuke doesn't restrain Mendou's phobias at all, which she finds very insulting.
• Prince Charmless: At first glance, Mendou seems like the man any woman would want to marry; handsome, rich and good with the ladies. However, beneath that facade, Mendou is a goofy lecher and coward who is only more successful at attracting girls than Ataru because he has money, superficial charm, and good looks. Despite wanting a handsome husband, Kurama ditches Mendou as soon as she realizes he isn't that much of a trade up for Ataru.
• Privileged Rival: He's filthy rich, handsome and popular with girls; pretty much everything Ataru wishes he was. Even Ataru's first girlfriend Shinobu ditches Ataru the moment Mendou arrives because she sees him as superior to Ataru in every way. Lum, however, still prefers Ataru and this is the main cause of Mendou's bitter rivalry with him.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The calm and polite Blue to Ataru's brash and impulsive Red.
• The Rival: He clashes with Ataru fairly often. At first, he appears to be the Always Someone Better to Ataru's loser, especially when it comes to girls, but their rivalry is actually balanced, as Mendou has his own weaknesses and Ataru knows that.
• Royal Brat: Mendou is first introduced to the series proper by hitching a ride to school... in a massive heavy bomber jetplane, out of which he skydives while several jets/helicopters fly in escort. In the original manga, there is no escort, and he comes by helicopter instead of a bomber. That said, the helicopter used is the massive and extremely rare Mil V12, which just so happens to be the biggest helicopter ever made!
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: In addition to commuting to school via aircraft, he regularly summons his family's private military to the school if something doesn't go his way.
• Selective Obliviousness: Never realizes that his sister isn't being seduced by other men, and that actually she's pretending to be interested in other men to annoy him as part of her cruel games.
• Serious Business: Octopi. The entire Mendo family is obsessed with them, to the point they maintain a large pool just for them and a gigantic reproduction of the antarctic environment for sake of a single Antarctic Octopus, but Mendo is the one who shows this trait the most. It's justified in that their Funnel-Mouthed Cephalopod appearance makes them look a lot like their family crest, which is based on the comic character Hyottoko.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: He's the pompous and mean-spirited buffoon kind.
• Spoiled Brat: Mendou's wealth, power and privilege means he has gotten whatever he wants whenever he wants through his entire life, and it makes him quite insufferable, as he enjoys rubbing his many blessings in the faces of other. In fact, Shutaro might border on being a Royal Brat, due to the fact his family is insanely wealthy (among other things, they have their own private army and own a considerable chunk of Japan).
• Suicide as Comedy: After he loses his duel for the Class President position to Ataru because of Lum, Mendou feels so humiliated that he attempts to commit Seppuku to not dishonor his family name.
• Token Rich Student: Mendou is the heir to the richest family in Japan, who has its own private army. Despite this, he goes to the same middle-class public high school as the other main characters, and he's frequently seen parachuting from his private jet/helicopter to go to school.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: During his debut, he ran for the role of Class President, promising to install a torture chamber to punish tardy students, rip out the tongues of students found guilty of lying, and execute students who cheated. But only male students; the girls would be exempt.
• Unusual Pets for Unusual People: Mendou is quite the eccentric multibillionaire and has a big pool where he keeps his many pet octopuses. Because his family crest looks like an octopus head, Mendou believes octopuses are a symbol of happiness and prosperity.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Whilst he and Ataru often do things together and even act almost like friends, neither of them particularly likes or respects the other.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He has intense, near-crippling nyctophobia and claustrophobia, causing him to revert to a wailing, blubbering wreck when trapped in a dark and/or cramped space. In one story, he travels back in time to try and cure his phobias, only to end up causing them when he loses patience with his bratty younger incarnation.