Rumiko Takahashi’s popular Urusei Yatsura manga series will receive a new television anime adaptation in Fall 2022. The announcement was made in a full-page New Year’s greeting advertisement, part of the January 1 issue of the daily newspaper Sankei Shimbun.
The official website for the upcoming series released a teaser video alongside the series’ cast and staff. The new anime will adapt various stories from the manga and is set to run for four cours, although perhaps not all of them sequentially.
New Series of Urusei Yatsura
David Production will be handling production of the series, with directors Hideya Takahashi and Yasuhiro Kimura spearheading the project. Yuuko Kakihara will be handling the scripts while Naoyuki Asano is in charge of character designs.
Takahashi and Kimura are both working on the anime adaptation of JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure: Golden Wind, while Kakihara has contributed to series such as Cells at Work!, and Heaven’s Lost Property. Asano is best known for working on the character designs for Mr. Osomatsu and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!.
Hiroshi Kamiya, best known for voicing Levi in Attack on Titan and Koyomi Araragi from the Monogatari series, will voice Ataru Moroboshi, with Sumire Uesaka, widely known as the voice behind Shalltear Bloodfallen in Overlord and Hayase Nagatoro in Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, will voice Lum.
The new series will be broadcast on Fuji TV’s Noitamina programming block alongside other channels. The famous programming slot has been home to a myriad of popular titles over the years, including Eden of the East, The Tatami Galaxy, Kids on the Slope, Erased, and many more.
Urusei Yatsura is the first serial series that Takahashi has worked on. The manga ran in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine from 1978-1987, accumulating the 34 volumes collected during its run.
Urusei Yatsura was one of the most successful and influential series of its time, having inspired other popular romantic comedies such as Love Hina and Tenchi Muyo!, with over 35 million copies in circulation.
The original anime series aired from 1981-1986. It was produced by Kitty Films, with Studio Pierrot handling animation until the 106th episode, and Studio Deen taking over until its conclusion.
Renowned director Mamoru Oshii directed the series while it was animated at Pierrot, and was eventually replaced by Kazuo Yamazaki after switching to Deen. Oshii is best known for directing Patlabor 2: The Movie and Ghost in the Shell.
Yamazaki has worked on numerous projects over the years, most notably Mobile Suit Gundam, City Hunter, and Takahashi’s other series, Maison Ikkou. A series of films ran from 1983-1991, with a number of OVAs released throughout the mid-80s to early-90s.
Takahashi has produced a number of successful manga series throughout his career. While still working on Urusei Yatsura, he started working on his Masion Ikkou series. The coming of age hit series ran from 1980-1987 in Big Comic Spirits magazine. Other notable series include Ranma and Inuyasha, both very popular manga with lengthy anime adaptations.
