Wonderful Lum

When the ONI, a mysterious race of Aliens, come to repossess the Earth, they give us one chance to save our planet; a champion, selected at random, must defeat their princess, Lum, in their national sport - TAG! Unfortunately for Earth, the champion turns out to be Ataru Moroboshi, a lecherous lad whose lack of luck is legendary.

When Ataru lays eyes on the curvaceous Lum, he readily agrees to take on the task of touching the tips of her tiny horns. Alas, when the contest begins, he finds out that the Oni forgot to mention one small matter - Lum can fly! When all seems lost, his girlfriend Shinobu promises to marry him if he wins. Inspired to new lows of deviousness by the prospect of getting just to first base, Ataru pulls it off.

So Ataru ends up with Lum living in his closet, planning their wedding, and zapping him with high-voltage shocks if he even looks at another woman; Shinobu isn't sure if she's been jilted or she's been saved from a life of misery; his Lum-crazed schoolmates are plotting to get him "out of the way"; and his parents are loudly wishing he's never been born.

Ataru Moroboshi is possibly the unluckiest boy in the universe. Ever since he was born he's been a bane of the entire town of Tomobiki's existence. Born on a day that was simultaneously Friday the 13th, The date of a major earthquake and Butsumetsu (a very unlucky day in the Buddhist calendar). He has a knack for drawing bad luck to himself. He began to attract evil spirits, weirdos and then came the aliens. Starting with Lum, the alien girl that would change his life forever.

Ataru vehemently denies that he is married to Lum. He constantly runs away from her and rejects her affections. Partly because he feels that the restrictions of matrimony would put mean an end to his "girl-hunts." But also because Lum always zaps him with electricity everytime he does something stupid. Despite his protestations and poor treatment of Lum, Ataru really loves her. But his problem with commitment keeps their relationship from progressing. Once it a while he'll give indications that he loves Lum but then goes on to say that he also loves Shinobu, Sakura, Ran, Ryuunosuke, Ryouko, Oyuki, Asuka, Benten, Kurama (the list of women goes on and on). He is a polygamous man who's dream is to be master of his own harem. He takes Lum for granted, yet at times when he is faced with the possibility of losing Lum, Ataru's true feelings show itself. He realizes that she is the only one he truly loves. But can't admit it to anyone, not even to himself.

Above all, Ataru is an lecherous, tenacious skirt-chaser. He's a hopeless flirt, constantly lusting after other women. He relentlessly persues any attractive woman that crosses his path. He would do absolutely anything, no matter how absurd or physically impossible for a pretty face. Just about all women find his behavior utterly repulsive so his advances are consistently rejected. But none of this discourages Ataru. The more he's turned down the more motivated he becomes.

Ataru usually has an idiotic expression on his face. Yet he often spouts dramatic movie clichees and tries to look cool like a movie star. The problem is that Ataru isn't used to using his face muscles in a serious manner so it causes him great strain. Most of the time he uses this act to impress girls but it's pretty transparent to them that his intentions aren't so pure.

Ataru is just about the most tenacious boy you could meet. His libido gives him an incredible level of endurance that makes him seem almost inhuman at times. No matter how much he's smacked, punched, burned, blown up, shocked, pummeled or crushed he just keeps coming back for more. That's because Ataru can be such an idiot, that he never knows when to quit. He even seems to subconsciously enjoy getting abused by women. Ataru also has a lot of speed, especially when running away from something. He starts off as a rather cowardly figure, but soon after life with Lum, Ataru becomes quite fearless. He will attempt the most suicidal behavior without any regard of the consequences. Ataru appears to be an idiot, but he's actually very clever and can easily outwit anyone when it suits his purposes. But he's also a terrible liar so his attempts to deceive aren't always successful.

Being a lecherous fool appears to be Ataru's true nature. But look closer and you'll see that it's mostly an act. Ataru is convinced that this is who he is, so he acts as accordingly. Even so he has shown on many occasions that deep down, he is truly caring, intelligent and very noble. But Ataru tries to hide it, and usually succeeds. Only Lum seems to be the one who can see what a good soul he really has, which may be why she fell in love with him.

Lum is a girl who's irrevocably in love with that lecherous and luckless lout Ataru Moroboshi. One could argue that no one normal could love such a man but then again, Lum is not your ordinary teenage girl.

Lum is the alien daughter of an powerful space warlord, and more specifically she's an Oni. In ancient Japanese mythology, oni were evil demons which were a product of mankind's bad karma. Lum's race is an alien version of the same demons. Lum can usually be seen wearing her tiger-striped bikini outfit which always turns heads, especially in a conformist Japanese society. She has the power to fly and can produce high-voltage electricity. She uses these alien powers to keep Ataru from flirting. But that is always a vain attempt.

She is a vivacious and uninhibited extraterrestrial. She's full of sex-appeal, glamour and feminine charm. An honest and caring girl who isn't afraid to show her feelings. A firm believer in standing by your man (even if her man hardly ever stands by her). But she has another more frightening side to her. Lum has a very bad temper, and an extremely jealous nature. Her response to these feelings of anger are usually in the form of a massive electrical zapping (or even huge wooden hammers). Also Lum is very stubborn. When she sets her mind on something, she doesn't let it go. Even though Lum is quick to anger, she never stays like that for long. Most of the time she's very vibrant and carefree.

With her exotic alien beauty and cute pop-idol attitude, she's really popular with the boys. Any one of her male classmates would kill for a date with her. Even so, she is completely devoted to Ataru. She thinks of him as her husband and refers to him only as "Darling". Lum follows Ataru everywhere he goes. Soon Lum wanted to be with Ataru as much as possible so she enrolled herself as a student at Tomobiki High School in the same class as Ataru. Her Darling keeps running from her Lum knows that deep down, he really does love her.

Being of an advanced alien race, Lum is always bringing out peculiar alien technology. Shrinking rays, time traveling machines, portal openers, cloning guns and much more. Many more absurd gadgets she keeps in her bikini top. Lum's UFO which hovers over earth is filled with technological wonders which are often more troublesome than they are beneficial to earth culture. Often Lum will use her advantages in technology to try to control Ataru or make him more faithful to her, but it usually ends up causing more damage.

Lum is very intelligent but still very naive to earth's customs. Therefore she often misunderstands what people say, always with catastrophic results. One consequence of this was that she thought that Ataru proposed to her, when he never did. Also she thought it meant instant marriage. It wasn't until later when she realized that she would have to have a proper ceremony. But often Ataru has found that he could exploit her naivete as well as her love for him to suit his purposes.

The one thing Lum is not, is a good cook. Not only because she has a penchant for extraordinarily spicy food but mostly because her strange alien food doesn't go over too well with earth creatures. Often her Oni cuisine has disfiguring effects. This is something Ataru has learned the hard way.

It is often speculated that Lum's mere presence in Tomobiki has warped and altered the town and that's why weird things keep happening there. Because of this, the fates of the people and situations that occur daily in Tomobiki seem intertwined with her existence. If she was ever to leave, all of the weirdness would stop. It would just be normal. But that's no fun.

As an additional note Lum constantly uses an unusual dialect. She says "uchi" when referring to herself and almost always uses "tcha" as a verb ending (listen for it, it comes up A LOT). Her speech is patterned after a very cute saccarine-laden style used in Japan by young girls who are trying to be cute, almost sickeningly so.

Mostly Lum's name, character and...ahem, proportions were based upon a supermodel who was popular in the early 1970's named Agnes Lum. She was well known as a spokesperson appearing in many TV commercials usually wearing bikinis. Note: It had been said that Agnes Lum was a pop-singer from Hong Kong which seems to be incorrect. Chances are that they were mistaking her for Agnes Chan.

Yet many sources say that Takahashi has been directly quoted as saying that Lum was based on a Chinese singer named Lum. However, I have asked around and still I cannot find any native Japanese citizen who has ever heard of such a person. They all conclude that Agnes Lum, the sino-american swimsuit model is the only person who it could be. So after a lot of detective work, it's still a mystery. Let's just say that Lum was indeed based upon an actual woman and we'll leave it as that for now until I can get to the bottom of this.

It has also been noted in articles about Miss Takahashi that a nickname she had while growing up was "Rum" or "Lum" due to the interchangeability of the letters "R" and "L" to the Japanese ear. It's true that Takahashi views Lum as her alter-ego. So in a way the character of Lum is also based somewhat on Rumiko Takahashi herself.

Shinobu could be described as petite and wide-eyed school girl. Very thoughtful, pensive and often full of melancholy. Shinobu is usually very sweet and kind, that is until you cross her. Like Lum, Shinobu has quite a jealous streak and a quick temper. Mostly Shinobu really has a tendency to over-react to every little thing and go into a conniption fit whenever things get too weird. Anytime Shinobu becomes angry, frightened or excited, she gains infinite strength. She then goes into a screaming berserker rage, most often throwing desks and other types of furniture. This power stems from her jealousy of Lum when she was going out with Ataru. But it stuck with her long after she lost all romantic interest in him. This strength is one example of how Lum's presence effects Tomobiki. Thanks to Lum, Shinobu is one of the most physically powerful characters in Urusei Yatsura.

Early on in the series, Shinobu finally begins to lose interest in Ataru. There are mainly three reasons for this. She got tired of Ataru constantly jilting her, Lum was constantly causing aggravation for Shinobu, but mostly because Shuutarou Mendou came along. Shinobu was immediately captivated by this suave and handsome rich boy. Throughout the whole series Shinobu persues Mendou's love but with only moderate success. It's obvious that Mendou has some feelings for her, but Shinobu knows that he wants Lum more. It takes her a while, but soon Shinobu gets over Mendou since she begins to see how Mendou isn't much different from Ataru. Even after all that Shinobu still likes Ataru and Mendou, but only as friends.

Near the end of the series when Shinobu loses all hope along comes a bumbling but kind-hearted young man in a rabbit costume named Inaba. He loved her from the moment he met her and soon Shinobu began to fall for the earnest young man.

He's cute,he's tall...he's Shuutarou Mendou. Scion of the richest family on the planet, descended of the samurai cast. Shuutarou is heir to the 4 trillion dollar Mendou Conglomerate. His family owns much of Japan as well as chunks of many other countries. They are a militaristic government on their own. They have their own secret police, and even more spectacular is their highly advanced and powerful private army that could very well blow away the Japanese army if need be.

Mendou tries to live his life by the codes of bushido. He is well-bred, stylish, talented, athletic, handsome, chivalrous, disciplined, intelligent and wealthy. In short, he's everything the girls go crazy for...especially the part about money. Pretty much all females who don't know any better find him irresistible and Mendou doesn't do anything to discourage them either. He is an exceptionally active womanizer. He'll hit on just about any woman he sees. Mendou treats all women like they are goddesses, but similarly he treats men like garbage.

Mendou first arrived suddenly one day as a new student at Tomobiki High School parachuted from one of the Mendou private heavy bombers. Mendou who has no tolerance for idiots or ugliness immediately became rivals with our protagonist, Ataru Moroboshi. Mendou could easily have just about any woman he wants but he just leads them on. The only woman he truly wants is Lum. Suffice it to say, Lum's not interested since she is completely faithful to Ataru. This is the greatest factor in contributing to Mendou's enmity towards Ataru. Still even though he has power, honour and good looks, most of the time, Ataru can still get the upper hand over Mendou.

Without his power or genteel manners Mendou is more like Ataru than he'd readily acknowledge. Not the least of which that they have two of the biggest libidos in Japan. They always compete over women. Of course Mendou goes about it with far more tact than Moroboshi, but that's not always the case. As time passes Mendou turns out to be just as much of an idiot as Ataru.

Mendou's greatest fault is his pride. On the surface he seems to be as close to perfection as possible and he knows it. He's really full of himself. That being the case, it's easy to anger him with nothing more than a quick insult. When his honor is offended or if given the slightest provocation, he whips out his ancient katana with the intention to kill. In more dire moments he'll dispatch his army to fight his private battles.

Mendou has an acute fear of the dark and of cramped spaces. Any one of those things can cause him to go uncontrollably mad with fear. But staying true to his vain nature, this fear is nullified whenever he sees that a woman is present. Ataru loves to use this to bring Mendou down off his high horse by encasing him in a large shrine bell trapping Mendou in a terrified panic. While he's usually a pathetic, cowardly figure at such times, he sometimes becomes momentarily psychotic and goes completely berserk. Enough to rip through a thick solid steel encasement. It so happens that when Shuutarou was a child, a future version of himself caused his phobia to emerge.

As an added note, the symbol of Mendou is the octopus. The family crest is an octopus face, much like those on festival masks. The octopus is his biggest hobby and he has a large number of octopi as loyal pets.

Mendou's orders are followed out by his personal retainers who all wear black shades and look highly professional. But despite their looks, they are all good-for-nothing incompetents. Mendou still has to do everything for himself.

He has a lot to deal with in his life. The fate of trillions rests on his head, but Mendou biggest troubles are with the people he deals with daily. His insane parents, his sadistic sister who delights in torturing him, a bodyguard who is more dangerous to him than helpful, a girl who outdoes him at charming women, a fiance that could either kill him in fear or crush his spine with a single hug, and most of all his biggest enemy, Ataru Moroboshi who stands in the way of his happiness. Still he and Ataru do become best friends, even though neither of them would ever admit to that. It's still a very destructive kind of friendship.

Jariten, known to everyone as "Ten" is Lum's little cousin. Ten is a bratty and smart-mouthed alien toddler. Like all oni, Ten has powers of his own. He can fly and breathe fire. But he is an inexperienced child so his flying is awkward and slow, and his fire breathing isn't always effective.

Ten is a child, but sure doesn't act his age. He has a certain level of adult intelligence which is quite shocking for someone still in diapers. One result of being precocious is that Ten only has eyes for older women. He once had a crush on Sakura as well as the woman who ran the flower shop, Kurama and a few others. Yet Ten is still essentially a child and quite naive. Around women he is usually cute and diminutive. When he's near men he's his usual self. Loud, pesky and often aggressive.

Ten came to earth to meet Lum's new husband but was disappointed at what he found. From the moment they've met, Ataru and Ten have been at each other's throats. Ataru bullies, Ten flames his head. Ataru tricks Ten and makes fun of him, and he makes fun of Ataru. A real brotherly relationship.

Because Ataru is such an idiot, Ten doesn't think he deserves Lum. Therefore he decides to live with them to keep an eye on Ataru. As for Ataru, he is jealous of a baby's ability to use cuteness to get close to girls but mostly he feels that Ten is a major nuisance.

But with all of the constant fighting between them, the truth is that they have a lot in common. Later on in the series they learn to live with each other, even though the insults still fly. If you didn't know any better, by the way they act with each other you might get the impression that they were brothers.

Ten's parents are always busy so he never really got to spend much time with them and was instead raised by a robotic nanny. In a way his cousin Lum is the only consistent mother figure he has ever had in his life. She's his legal guardian and takes care of him almost as if he was her child.

His name is Sakuranbou, but he insists on being called Cherry. Cherry is a highly obnoxious and creepy buddhist monk. A travelling priest who has a habit of popping up out of nowhere when you least expect it, often scaring the living daylights out anyone unfortunate enough to warrant his attention.

Just about all of the characters of Urusei Yatsura loathe him and dread his presence. Cherry is always passing judgment on people and predicting doom. He sees bad omens in just about everything. Usually his ill-fated predictions come true, even if he himself has to give fate a helping hand. Of course everyone hates his stupid jokes.

But no one dislikes Cherry as much as Ataru Moroboshi. For reasons known only to the annoying monk himself, Cherry constantly interferes in Ataru's life and gives him grief for his corrupt personality, base desires and bad luck. He has taken a vested interest in seeing through his downfall.

When Cherry is not travelling, he lives in a vacant lot, residing in his makeshift tent. Cherry, a hopeless moocher is always trying to turn a bad situation into an opportunity for a free meal. Eating and being a jerk seem to be his reasons for living.

He is highly arrogant. He carries himself with an air of snobbery that comes from being a priest. Despite his arrogance, Cherry is in fact a highly qualified monk. He has an in-depth knowledge of the supernatural and knows of many mysterious arts. He is good at finding evil spirits (hence his fixation with Ataru) and exorcising them. His exorcisms don't always work as intended though.

Mystical forces are strong in her family. Her uncle Cherry is a prime example of that. Sakura has many powers such as ESP, conjuration abilities and control over demons and spirits. Sakura and Cherry do a lot of purifying and exorcising of demons together. Just like her uncle she sees bad omens everywhere and is always forcing spiritual advice on Ataru. Even though she has much in common with her uncle, she dislikes Cherry just as much as everyone else. In fact she beats up on him more than anyone else, but Cherry pretty much deserves it.

Most people can't believe that she is related to that disgusting monk, since she's so gorgeous. All of the boys at Tomobiki High School have a huge infatuation with this mature and intelligent woman. They have been known to willingly mutilate themselves, just so they have an excuse to visit Nurse Sakura's office.

Sakura herself has absolutely zero tolerance for the lecherous tendencies of teenage boys. She finds it infuriating and her responses to these perversions are almost always in the form of violence. But no amount of violence can keep the boys away for long. It certainly doesn't have any effect on our resident lech, Ataru Moroboshi.

Among her many spiritual powers, she also has the strange power to eat mountains of food, without gaining any weight whatsoever (to the envy of other women around her). Sakura isn't exactly a glutton, but she has a very large appetite as she'll scarf down on enough food to feed an army.

She's a bit of an old soul, elderly before her time. As young and beautiful she is, Sakura seems to have the thinking patterns of an old spinster. Her way of speaking is very old fashioned. She's often cranky and authoritative. She's completly out of touch with the younger women of today. It seemed that even as a teenager, Sakura carried herself like an adult. It's hard to believe she was ever a little girl.

Sakura is undeniably powerful but also a bit of a quack sorceress. Ever since she was a child, Sakura always had a very weak constitution and was susceptible to illness. She became plagued by all kinds of diseases. As recommended by her uncle, she set out to exorcise Ataru and because of Ataru's knack for drawing evil spirits, the disease demons that had been plaguing her since childhood left Sakura and attacked Ataru. Now she's perfectly healthy. But this wasn't the last time she tried to cure him of his bad luck. Sakura thinks of it as her duty to tend to Ataru's spiritual needs whether he wants it or not.

Ran was Lum's childhood friend on planet Uru. As kids they were an inseparable pair. But one day when Ran came to earth, Lum soon discovered that she had obtained a frightening split personality and a bitter hatred towards our green-haired heroine.

This all started way back many years ago. As children, Ran was always being punished for Lum's mistakes and was always getting a jipped indirectly because of Lum. But these were just leading up to what drove Ran over the edge.

Both Ran and Lum were interested in same guy; that handsome shapechanger, Rei. Ran was completely crazy about him, but Rei only had eyes for Lum. Then one day Rei and Lum got engaged and Ran was crushed. Hearing that he got dumped soon after didn't help any either. As Ran pined over all that had gone wrong in her life, she became twisted and bitter, and began to see Lum as the source of all her problems.

A while later she heard of Lum's engagement to an earthling and decided that it was time for revenge. Lum stole Rei from her so it was only fitting that she steal Lum's "Darling." Ran came to earth disguised as a human. Her plan was to steal Ataru from Lum or more precisely, she was going to steal his youth. Ran's kiss has the power to take away a man's (or even woman's) youth. She sucks it right out of their lips. And that's exactly what she planned to do to Ataru. To make sure Lum wouldn't blow her cover she threatens to tell everyone about the time she slept over and wet when the bed when they were children. This keeps Lum from blabbing about Ran being an alien, but she tries as best she can to keep Ran's plan from being realized. Lum's work was cut out for her since Ran can be extremely deceptive and Ataru is really intent on giving Ran a kiss.

But Ran doesn't rely only on her power and feminine charm to get what she wants. She's also been known to use black magic heavy artillery, a plethora of alien oddities, and her master cookery as means to extract her revenge. Ran's primary target is Lum, but she is usually a mean little witch to anyone and everyone who gets in her way.

Ran behaves all cutsie-cute and innocent, but it's all an act. Under that girlish facade she's cynical, mean, vengeful, maniacal and obsessive. The cuteness act was one part of her plan to get revenge but after doing it for so long it had become ingrained in her personality. The two sides of her personality constantly compete for dominance. Because of that she switches from psycho-bitch to airhead and vice-versa rather suddenly and frequently.

As the series moves on and Ran's bitterness towards Lum wavers, until they once more become friends. Time heals wounds, but also she mellows out because Rei and Ran become closer later on in the series. Rei begins to pay more and more attention to Ran and less to Lum. But it would be more accurate to say that Rei's attracted to Ran's cooking rather than Ran herself.

Ryuunosuke looks like an ideal young man. Athletic, honourable, attractive, confident, manly. A perfect specimen of masculinity if in fact Ryuunosuke was a man. The strange truth of the matter is that Ryuunosuke is not a man...She's a woman.

From her typical male behavior, her boyish clothes, her sloppy language, her tendency to get into fights, her brutish temper and even her masculine name, you would think that this must be a mistake. Practically everything Ryuunosuke does is intrinsically male. But Ryuunosuke is woman and what's more she isn't happy at all about how she has turned out. But right from birth she's been conditioned to be like a man and now she can't help it, no matter how much she wants to be a girl.

Ryuunosuke was born into a poor family that lived by the beach. There her father ran the family teashop, Hamajaya. It never made much money, but was his pride and joy. His intention was to have a worthy son who could inherit Hamajaya and one day take over for him. But his wife never gave birth to any sons, only a little girl. Wanting a boy for so long he wasn't about to let the fact that she was female get in the way of his plans. And so when his wife died he promised himself to raise Ryuunosuke to become a man among men. So for most of Ryuunosuke's childhood, her father made her dress and act like a guy and would beat her up if she ever behaved like a girl.

But Ryuunosuke is fully capable of fighting back. Her greatest desire is to be more like a woman. Her father's greatest desire is for her to be more like a man. With these directly conflicting agendas, you can bet it leads to a lot of fights. They break into fights almost every few minutes. They never cease their knock-down, drag-out brawling. These fights are often a showcase for many humorous martial arts parodies. Often the fights end with her father telling Ryuunosuke to act like a man or something sexist and it ends with Ryuu sending a flying punch to the face yelling "Ore wa onna da!" (Translation: I'm a woman!) She's been constantly fighting her whole life. Living in such an environment has made her into an exceptionally skilled martial artist.

Ryuunosuke makes such a handsome man that all of the girls she meets want to date her. She attracts more girls than even Mendou could hope to, and she's not even trying either. She has a hard time convincing them that she's actually female. Strangely enough, even after she convinces them, they still swoon over her. That lecher Ataru who can instinctively spot a female a mile away, knows full well of her true gender. He harasses her just as he would any other girl. But few girls can deliver a powerful right uppercut to the jaw the way Ryuunosuke can.

Fully clothed she has that barrel-chested look that re-inforces the notion that she would have to be a man. But that's not really the case. Underneath her clothes Ryuunosuke is forced to conceal her bust under a tight chest-wrapping bandage just because her father won't let her get a bra. Once she had misplaced her wrap and was forced to go without it. The barrage of guys trying to feel her up was relentless so she still forces herself to wear it.

Ryuunosuke just wants to be feminine. She wants to wear dresses, put on makeup and date just like normal girls do. It's difficult since her overbearing father keeps foiling her every effort to be like a woman. It so happens that on the rare occasions where she is able to look female, she's actually a very attractive girl. It's hopeless though, her overpowering male tendencies always bring it to a screeching halt.

She is yet another alien vixen who visits Tomobiki on a regular basis. From a planet were everyone seems to be a cross between traditional Chinese gods and motorbike punks. Every year at Setsubun (a Japanese holiday in February) Benten's people, the Fukujin (Lucky Gods) wage a competition with Lum's race, the Oni and they play a giant game of "fill up the basket". The Oni and the Fukujin have an ongoing rivalry. Often Lum and Benten get together to play violent, yet friendly setsubun war-games in the spirit of this rivalry.

Benten is Lum's most loyal friend in the galaxy. Benten, Lum, Oyuki and Ran have been together since they went to school together as young children. Although she can be impulsive, unpredictable, and has a really short fuse, Benten's a really good friend to have. She's sassy, smart and easy going. She's also has a good sense of humor and an even greater sense of honor. She's always willing to help Lum whenever she's gets in a tight spot. She certainly doesn't take Ran's crap. Benten puts more gusto into fighting Ran than Lum ever could.

The violence-loving Benten revels in fights. But a fight with Benten is the equivalent of a full-scale war. She has a multitude of weapons at her disposal. She uses her bazooka, machine gun and explosives to cause massive destruction. Most often she'll just resort to using her favorite possession (other than her airbike), her chain which she always wears around her body.

Oyuki is always proper and ladylike. She never shows strong emotions and remains the picture of demurity under any circumstance. She is nearly always very kind and sweet to others and speaks in highly dignified and polite manner. While everyone else around her tend to lose their tempers and lose their rationality, Oyuki is the only one who keeps her cool.

But never, ever get on her bad side. When Oyuki becomes angered you better run for the hills and keep running. On the rare occasions where Oyuki does get mad she doesn't appear to be angry on the surface but she gets a serious look on her face as the temperature surrounding her starts to drop drastically. Suddenly her ice powers go absolutely haywire. Ice, wind and snow rage causing unparalleled carnage and sealing any unfortunate passers-by in a block of ice.

Clearly Oyuki does have emotions like everyone else but her expression never changes much. It's almost scary because you never know what's really going on in that head of hers. Often it's obvious that what she's saying doesn't necessarily reflect what she's really thinking.

The ice queen is also a very skilled business woman. She is a bit stingy with her money though. She is hesitant to lend out anything of hers, and anyone who tries to swindle her even out of some pocket change will be subject to her icy retribution. Oyuki is knowledgeable of many alien races. This is because of her many business transactions with beings from all regions of the universe.

yuki means snow and the O as a prefix is an honorific character which is one way of adding a level of politeness when referring to a certain word. Oyuki means "honourable snow." Oyuki isn't an uncommon name in Japan and it fits her perfectly.

Onsen-Mark is the homeroom teacher to what has been dubbed as "The Classroom of Failure." The 2-4 homeroom. Among his students are Lum, Shinobu, Megane, Kakugari, Chibi, Perm, Mendou, Ryuunosuke and his greatest nemesis as a teacher, the infamous Ataru Moroboshi.

All in all, Onsen is a born loser. He is a middle-aged man who lives all alone in a shabby boarding house. He puts all of his energy into teaching but has absolutely no control over his students. They just run amok while he desperately tries to keep them in line. But it's an exercise in futility. They throw parties, skip classes, eat and talk during lessons. Then there's those uninvited guests that keep showing up. Almost every week the school ends up being demolished, and he ends up getting the blame. His students find it all too easy to make a fool of him, but he is also quick to retaliate and often uses ruthless tactics to try and control the students. He often puts his class through boring and unenlightening English lessons which are a hallmark of Japanese teaching. There is no bigger loser on the face of the earth than Onsen-Mark.

Onsen are Japanese hot-springs. Onsen-Mark has little hot-spring symbols on his clothing which alludes to the meaning of his name, "Mark of the Hot Spring." His name is tricky to translate. In one respect the "mark" is a suffix on his name. But in another, it's also his given name. It doesn't translate well to the english naming convention of given-name/family-name.

Rei is an alien heart-throb who is not at all what he seems. Rei is incredibly attractive to most women, but that's only when he's in his normal, humanoid form. To clarify things it should be known that Rei has a strange shape-shifting power. He can transform himself into a goofy looking and gigantic rampaging tiger-bull monster.

Rei is a threat to every man's love life. He has inadvertently broken up countless couples. Although he's handsome most of the time, it is soon apparent that Rei is all looks and no personality. He doesn't seem to have a brain in his head as he is so clueless. He only has one thing on his mind...food. Rei lives to eat and rarely thinks of anything else. He's a non-stop eating machine that is hardly ever seen without food.

Lum is all too familiar with of Rei's shallow personality. He was Lum's former fiance and short-term love interest back on their home planet of Uru, the Oni star. But soon Lum saw him for what he really was and dumped him. Now Lum can't stand Rei, but he still persues her heart which is quite a pathetic display to see.

Rei doesn't speak much. Whenever he does speak, he is only capable of uttering one word at a time. This is mostly because Rei doesn't know how to speak Japanese. But also because he's just so incredibly, unbelievably stupid.

Later on in the series Rei hardly ever reverts to his human form and spends most of his time as the tiger-bull monster. When he's like that, girls aren't attracted to him at all. The only person who loves him, even with all of his flaws is Ran but Rei is completely insensitive to her feelings.