From: Mark Crispin <mrc@Ikkoku-Kan.Panda.COM>
Subject: re: Lum the Forever -- help! 
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
To: Siman Wong <siman@banach.mit.edu>
Organization: University of Washington
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 23:25:52 GMT

Here is an explanation of LUM THE FOREVER that I posted to the Urusei Yatsura
mailing list some time ago:

     Urusei Yatsura 4: LUM THE FOREVER is the most bizarre of the movies
(but not the most bizarre UY story for those of us familiar with the manga
and TV series!).  Nobody (Japanese or American) really knows what the movie
was about.  It was an experiment in abstraction that didn't pan out (the
movie wasn't a big audience-getter).  At a casual glace, it makes sense,
but when you start delving into it you find inpenetrable plot twists, false
leads, etc. to bewilder anyone.  Believe me, a translation won't really
help.

     In brief, here is as simplified a description of the story (if there
could be such a thing) from memory: Rats knawing on a cable in the rain
cause a short circuit that rapidly spreads throughout all of Tomobiki-Chou,
as if a powerful pulse is wiping out an electronic circuit.  The gang
notices the blackout as they head home.  They are making a movie based on
an old legend of the Mendo^ family about Onihime (= devil princess).

     The next day, Megane and Mendo^ are filming Lum and Ran talking to
birds on the way to school; Ataru gets in the picture as usual.  He doesn't
like the birds and the birds repay the compliment.  Ran tells the birds
that Ataru isn't really all that bad.  Ataru is surprised that Ran and Lum
can talk to birds; Ran says that as the aliens get older (= more mature)
they can't hear the birds any more.

     Later, at a hanami (= cherry blossom viewing party) at Mendo^'s
estate, everyone is admiring Taro^-Zakura, the great Mendo^ family cherry
tree.  Mendo^ tells them that Taro^-Zakura has been the special protective
spirit for the Mendo^ family for centuries; however it is now old and
dying.  They plan to cut it down for a scene in the movie and graft a limb
onto a new tree.  Ataru feeds Lum an umeboshi (= sour pickled plum, it
makes aliens intoxicated) and runs off to meet Sakura.  Sakura has brought
her goblin friends; they want to visit Taro^-Zakura one last time.  First
Lum, then the goblins, then everyone is entranced by the music of Taro^-
Zakura.  Shinobu is troubled; "we are all on the StarShip Tomobiki-Cho^."

     They get on to making the movie.  In the legend, a group of students
were beset by mysterious killers.  One student survives and ends up in a
village of tanuki-like people whose chief is being made ill by the
influence of evil trees.  The evil trees demand that Taro^-Zakura (Taro^ is
a common man's name meaning "first son", sakura = cherry tree), their
protection, be cut down.  The student overhears other trees speaking to
Taro^-Zakura one night; Taro^-Zakura says that he is very ill.  One tree
reminds him that if he is struck by a salt-covered axe he will die
immediately and forever.  The student, learning the secret and promised a
huge reward, cuts down Taro^-Zakura.

     The chief recovered, but evil spirits arose from the bodies of the
villagers and became a nightmare.  The villagers prayed for deliverance and
it came -- the advent of Onihime!!!  Onihime's holy light banished the evil
spirits and they never troubled the village again.  The whole village held
a ceremony to celebrate deliverance.  When Onihime grew old, she projected
herself into the form of a cherry tree, so she could continue to protect
the village after she would have died.

     When Ataru cut down the cherry tree, the tree instantly collapsed and
most of the tree evaporated into mist.  From that point on strange things
started happening.  Ataru's ineptness ruins the celebration scene, and Lum
is left in a trance.

     Soon afterwards the whole earth rises up, leaving a volcano where
Taro^-Zakura used to be.  Sakura's goblin friends and Kotatsu Neko both
disappear.

     Afterwards things start getting worse and worse.  Lum is under attack
both direct and indirect -- she starts becoming an ordinary girl instead of
a powerful alien princess.  She hears the noise of Tomobiki-Cho^ that had
not been part of the magic world that she, the other aliens, and the
spirits had made Tomobiki-Cho^ into.  Tomobiki-Cho^ is becoming an ordinary
town again.  Lum gradually loses her ability to electric zap and to fly.
Ran and Ten are unaffected.  Meanwhile, other people are starting to forget
Lum.  Mendo^ takes serious interest in Shinobu, and even Megane &co. are
chasing other girls.  Finally Mendo^ makes a horrible discovery -- physical
evidence of Lum are disappearing and her image has even disappeared from
photographs!  Mendo^, Ataru, and Megane visit Mendo^'s grandfather; he
suggests checking out Taro^-Zakura.  They visit the pool in the volcano and
winch up the remnants of Taro^-Zakura, and uncover the skeleton of
Onihime!!

     Meanwhile, Lum is writing a diary where she is expressing her thoughts
(I don't have the book in front of me right now).  A bird visits her but
she can't understand it.  Ten (dressed for winter weather even though it is
supposed to be summer) pesters her and she flees out the window,
discovering that she can't even fly.  Ten nudges her and discovers that her
horns have disappeared.  Lum presently calms Ten down and gets herself and
Ten back inside.  She puts Ten to bed and hears a call.  She looks outside
and sees Ataru holding the hand of Baby-Lum.  She follows him, and meets up
with Baby Mendo^, Baby Shinobu, Baby Megane,...  She follows the children
into the pool on the volcano.

     Mendo^ had called a town meeting where he announced his theory --
Tomobiki-Cho^ had developed consciousness and was shaping it to influence
external events.  Lum was an invader and Tomobiki-Cho^ was attacking it the
way the body attacks a virus.  Ataru announces that Lum has disappeared.

     Mendo^ has a strange dream of the future in which he is the "Battle
Champion" of Tomobiki-Cho^, surrounded by mistresses.  In the coloseum, he
fights and defeats Onsen-Mark.  Sakura wants to marry him, and his servant
Ataru checks his appointment book to find that she'll have to wait three
years for her turn (talk about egotism!!).  Mendo^ wakes up to find that
all of Tomobiki-Cho^ is in a frozen dream.

     To break the dream, he starts a war with the Mizunoko^ji family (the
second richest family in the world after the Mendo^ family); he and the
baseball-eating Ton-chan are old childhood rivals/playmates.  Mendo^ tells
Ton-chan that "for the sake of Tomobiki-Cho^ you must DIE!!"  Ataru is
unwilling to fight, but says he will run.  The two families demolish
Tomobiki-Cho^.  At last after days everyone gives up fighting.  Ataru
collapses from exhaustion.  He calls for Lum.

    Inside the pool, Lum is in a dream-world.  She meets an infant who
identifies itself as the memory of Tomobiki-Cho^.  When Ataru cut down the
cherry tree, the infant was born (or awoken) and it groped for how
Tomobiki-Cho^ should be.  It encountered the interference of Lum right away
and acted to neutralize it without realizing that the people of
Tomobiki-Cho^ wanted Lum.  The infant called Lum to the pool to capture her
and to study her.  The war confused the infant, but when Ataru called Lum
and Lum said "I must go home now" the infant decided to accept Lum as part
of Tomobiki-Cho^.  The infant tells Lum "The upper world is yours; you can
live with dreams" and ceases its interference.  As Lum returns, the frozen
nightmare collapses, Kotatsu Neko and the goblins return, and as a parting
gift the infant sends cherry blossoms as a sign that the effect of the
protection of Taro^-Zakura has returned to Tomobiki-Cho^.

     There is an interview with the director (Yamazaki Kazuo) that gives
some further light:
I;interviewr,Y;Mr. Yamazaki

I:Did your nostalgia make Tomobiki-cho^ happen to have its own ego?
Y:I have been interested in tales that each ground on which
people have been living has own will.  Each ground has traditions
and tales which are legacy of unknown ancient people.  I believe
that ground has been absorbing emotion of ancient people and
happens to have its own ego.

I:Please tell us why Lum lost her ESP, while accidents happened
in Tomobiki-cho.
Y:Lum is a stranger for Tomobiki-cho^.  It wanted to remove her
ESP and remove memory of herself from people's mind in
Tomobiki-cho^.  Consequently, Lum could not help confronting
Tomobiki-cho^.  Moreover, scenes where Lum was gradually becoming
an ordinary girl have a very deep meaning.  You saw a scene where
Lum talked with birds, which is a symbol that there is a world
based on Lum:URUSEI world.  After that, you also saw scenes where
Lum were aware that she lost ability to talk with birds and aware
of noise in Tomobiki-cho^ which had not been a part of URUSEI
world.  Those scenes mean that Lum was freed from URUSEI world
and girl's days.

Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime