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 spacewarlord , 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 naivety 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 prescence in Tomobiki has warped and altered the 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 norma,  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 come sup 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.

The Story

       The Oni, a mysterious race of aliens comes to Earth intending to simply invade and take over. But earth has one chance: if Ataru Moroboshi who was chosen randomly by computer as Earth's champion can defeat Invader's daughter Lum in a game of tag by touching her horns, the Oni will just pack up and leave quietly. Ataru, who has glandular drives undreamed of by even the most lascivious of high school boys, is only too eager to get his handsom the delectable Lum. This proves nearly impossible when he discovers she can fly. Day after day, Ataru makes numerous attempts to touch her tiny horns but miserably fails each time. The final day was approaching, and earth's fate was hanging in the balance. A balance which depended on the efforts of one hopeless loser. After undergoing so much pain and humiliation, and because she hinders his "girl hunts", Ataru has lost all interesting Lum. At least that's how it seems on the surface. Lum however has fallen irrevocably in love with him. Now she's living with him, planning their wedding and giving him a dose of her high voltage electric shocks everytime he tries to flirt with another woman. Shinobu is constantly mad at him, Ataru's schoolmates want him out of the picture so they can have Lum to themselves. His parents begin to wish they never had him, and anannoying buddhist monk lurks around, intent on seeing through Ataru's downfall. And this is only the first out of 195 episodes.

Ataru Moroboshi

"Oneesan!...Jyushoto denwa bangou ha?!"

         At first glance Ataru might seem like the average 17 year old high school boy, but Ataru is just about the most notoriously unfaithful, unlucky and lecherous idiot to have ever 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 existance. 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 every time 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 realises 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 peruses anyattractivewoman 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 consistantly 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 clichés 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 in human 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.

Notes about the name

 

       Ataru means "to get hit" and Moroboshi means "falling star." The chances of a star hitting someone are pretty rare. His name is a metaphor for his miserable luck.