Urusei Yatsura is renowned for its references to past and present Japanese society and culture. It has storylines influenced by The Tale of Genji, the definitive classic of Japanese literature. And also has a fair share of references to Western and American pop-culture.
General
- Lum's name comes from Agnes Lum, a Hawaiian-Chinese model who was popular in Japan during the 1970's.
- The fish people in a space suit, the Dappya, come from Katte na Yatsura, Rumiko Takahashi's first manga to be published.
- Tobimaro Mizunokoji's entire character is based upon the characters and situations of Kyojin no Hoshii. Tobimaro is often portrayed as a Hoshi Hyuuma-like character treating baseball with a near-religious fervor.
- Also, his last name is a play on the real-life Mizuno sporting goods company, which is known best for their baseball equipment.
- Many of the manga's chapter titels, are references to various songs:
- Chapter 1 title "Young Love on the run", is the name of a song by "Beauty Pair" from 1976.
- Chapter 3 title "The Sad Sound of Rain", comes from a song by the Cascades called "Rhythm of the Rain" (the Japanese title "Kanashiki amaoto" is the Japanese translation of the song's title).
- Chapter 15 title "The Yellow Ribbon of Happiness", is taken from the song by the American group Tony Orlando and Dawn.
- Chapter 19 title "Disco Inferno", is an homage to a popular song of the same name by the American soul band The Trammps. The name was changed for the anime adaptation.
- Title of chapter 172 (and all anime adaptation of this chapter) "Indelible Lipstick Magic", is based on the 1982 song "I-ke-na-i Rouge Magic!!" (い・け・な・いルージュマジック！！) by Kyoshiro Imawano and Ryuichi Sakamoto (of Yellow Magic Orchestra). This song actually plays in the 2023 adaptation of this chapter.
1981 anime:
- To 2001: A Space Odyssey at least once, Blade Runner on another occasion, and to Star Wars several times (often in a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment.
- More specifically, one episode has Mendou, Megane, Kakugari and Chibi try to keep Lum from sleeping with Atarunote , after Lum bluntly tells Megane that her body belongs to "Darling"note , the four freak out and enter a lengthy Big-Lipped Alligator Moment that is literally nothing but one long hilarious love letter to the then newly-released Return of the Jedi.
- ET and the xenomorph both appear at Ryoko's masquerade ball.
- During Tsubame's duel with Cherry, he summons an American superhero named Super-Batman.
- Megane's room has a poster of Spock from Wrath of Khan (plus about a dozen posters of Lum, naturally). He also owns a model of the Enterprise-A, which has appeared in Ataru's room at least once as well.
- In a manga chapter, Sakura is dreaming a dream intended for Lum where Ataru gets married to her (long story). In that dream, Ataru has superpowers, can use Deflector Shields like Ultraman and shoots his punches while screaming "Rocketto Paunchi!" (whenever an anime character screams that while using a Rocket Punch, he or she is making a direct reference to the Trope Namer).
- In an Imagine Spot in the manga where Ataru is trying to describe to Shinobu how terrible life with Mendou would be, Mendou's mother looks like Ultraman.
- During one of the (many) instances where Shinobu hurls a desk at Ataru, a frightened classmate compares her to The Incredible Hulk.
- In the first film, when Lum arrives at the church to stop Ataru and Elle getting married, her pounding on the glass and yelling out "Darling!" numerous times is very much like the climatic scene from The Graduate.
- This gets repeated in an episode from the last TV season, this time with Mendou pounding on the glass to stop Lum and Ataru from getting married. The whole thing is a dream sequence, specifically Lum's.
- Godzilla often appears in small cameos in the movies, probably because Toho was among the studios producing them (they control Beautiful Dreamer outright).
- Any episodes dealing with boxing would undoubtedly make a reference to Tomorrow's Joe, such as episode 43 "Fear of Meow" in which even the animation style is reminiscent of the show.
- Particularly many of the fights between Ryuunosuke and her Father mirror fights that took place in Tomorrow's Joe (for example the famous cross-counter punch between Joe and Rikishi).
- Cyborg 009 is another series that is given parody. In particular episode 72: "Lum, Rebel Without A Clue" paid homage by turning Lum, Mendo, Shinobu, Perm and Ryuunosuke into a cyborg super team with similar powers. It shows up from time to time in other instances such as in episode 68: "The Groom's Name is Ryuunosuke" when Ryuu and her father were fighting and making blurry bionic movements just like Cyborg 009.
- Quite a few Space Battleship Yamato references pop up, including Kurama's sex-change gun, which is a knock off of the Yamato's particle wave cannon. The opening narration to episode 62 "Space Cold Panic!" is also a parody of the opening narration of Yamato.
- Episode 72 (adapted from manga chapter 78), in which Ataru and his classmates made an amateur film, featured several references, including to Gone with the Wind, Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (with Shinobu acting out the iconic "Kaikan!" scene), Cyborg 009, and (maybe) The Sound of Music.
- In the episode 82 appear Yu Morisawa and Creamy (with different hair color).
- Episode 118 featured another amateur film, this time directed by Megane, which featured a scene of Ataru running away from a bomber airplane while wearing a suit and tie — likely an homage to the crop duster chase scene from North By Northwest (at least, AnimEigo's episode notes identify it as such).
- Episode 121 starts with Princess Kurama's crows using a database of every male in the universe in an attempt to find her perfect mate. One of the candidates displayed for a split second is a Pierson's Puppeteer.
- Episode 122 (the episode that introduces Kitsune) features a Call-Back to the previously-mentioned one: Kitsune is looking through the window of a movie theater where the "Kaikan!" scene from Sailor Suit and Machine Gun is playing, and an Imagine Spot follows showing that it reminds him of Shinobu.
- In Episode 147, Ryuunosuke dresses up in an old Kamen Rider costume that once belonged to her mother (who worked as an amusement park performer to pay for school).
- Episode 158 has a memorable scene where Kotatsu-neko fights Kenshiro (from Fist of the North Star) and wins. This doubles as an in-joke, as Ken's voice actor Akira Kamiya plays Shutaro Mendou in this series.
- The same episode has Lupin III and Jigen appear in a car during a chase scene.
- The entirety of episode 162 is a parody of the Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
- The Beautiful Dreamer film has a scene from the school festival in planning that's chock full of Shout Outs as a number of people cosplay as other series popular at the time, such as a guy dressed as Darth Vader waiting in line at the school's infirmary.
- Toward the end of the 2008 It's a Rumic World OVA, Kyoko Otonashi and Yusaku Godai from Maison Ikkoku appear watching the fireworks display accompanied by a small child, whom one might assume to be their daughter Haruka but who looks more like Kentaro Ichinose. In the very next scene, Ataru is shown trying to hit on Kagome from Inuyasha and Akane Tendo from Ranma ½.
- Other references to Maison Ikkoku include Kyoko appearing as part of Ataru's harem in Beautiful Dreamer and Mrs. Ichinose appearing on a carnival ride in one TV episode.
- In the 12th OVA, Ryoko has a space satellite that has the head
◊ of the Scopedog◊ from VOTOMS attached to it and even references the beginning of the show's opening. Seeing as this OVA was animated by Sunrise and their tendency to sneak in references to previous projects into their shows (Sgt. Frog being a perfect example of this), it makes perfect sense. - In "The Horror of Outraged Oyuki," Ran-chan is recalling when she first saw Oyuki get angry when they were children. The monster chasing Ran-chan puts a hole in Oyuki's kimono, and the subtitles render her response as, "Of course you know, this means war."
- Rumiko Takahashi gives a nod to Vampirella, in Volume 14 of the manga. During the school cosplay event, Lum wore a Vampy costume with signature white lapels and bat insignia on the bikini crotch. The Vampirella outfit made Lum's usual tiger-skin bikini look tame in comparison. That same story also featured one of the female students dressed up as Wonder Woman.
- Among the chaos of the final episode, Kyoko from Maison Ikkoku appears, sweeping the floor in a strange slide across the screen. Kotatsu-neko notices and follows her out of the series to the warmth of her show
2022 remake:
- The 2022 remake's opening sequence starts out with a nice nod to Space Invaders, with Ataru representing the "spaceship" trying to shoot out his love towards the many, many girls featured in the show, only to fail. It re-appears near the end of the sequence, only with the enemy spaceships now being represented by a horde of Lums, heading towards Ataru.
- In that same opening sequence, there is a split-second shot of a visual novel-like scene of Shinobu glitching out, and being replaced by Lum. Given the pink textbox UI, classroom background and the fact that Shinobu glitches out of existence (and Lum taking her place afterwards), this is most likely a clever reference to Doki Doki Literature Club!, which also features two obsessive, romantic ladies- one of them in particular (Monika), is known to cause glitches.
- There are several references to the Rumiko Takahasi later series Ranma ½:
- The restaurant where Ataru eats in the 2-1 episode, is likely a reference to Cat Cafe (Nekohanten). However rather than this being "Nekohanten" (猫飯店) this is "Neko Shokudo" (猫食堂), "Cat & Caboodle Diner".
- The anime only seller from intergalactic shopping channel in episode 13-2, looks very similar to Principal Kuno.
- The English lesson Onsen-Mark is giving in 21-2 episode, has him saying (in English) "if he got wet, he transformed into a girl. Throw hot water at him...", which is a reference to Ranma Saotome curse. Mendo replies "when his dad got wet, he transformed into a panda." which in turn refers to curse of Ranma's father, Genma.
