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SOJ Urusei Yatsura · The Manga Gallery
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Urusei Yatsura: The Manga Gallery

All 34 covers, four Japanese cover programs: the gallery page for a series Shogakukan has kept in print, in one form or another, for over forty years.

The first program is the original: 34 tankobon under the Shonen Sunday Comics imprint, released between April 15, 1980 and March 1987, eleven chapters to a volume. Volume 1 (ISBN 4-09-120441-4) collects the earliest stories, from “Young Love on the Run” to “Showdown”, including the chapters in which Lum was still meant to be a guest. Every volume’s release date and ISBN is documented in the chapter lists this page is built from.

The reprint history is where Urusei Yatsura becomes a case study in Japanese publishing: a deluxe wideban in 15 volumes (1989–90), a pocket bunkoban in 17 (1998–99) whose volumes carry forewords by other manga creators on what the series meant to them, a budget “My First Big” line (2000–04), and a shinsoban in 34 volumes (2006–08) with new cover artwork by Takahashi and tribute art from current artists. The covers differ by program; the 366 chapters inside do not.

Urusei Yatsura volume 34 shinsoban cover
Urusei Yatsura, Vol. 34 (Shinsoban)
The final volume (of 34) of the shinsoban edition, closing the original run.

THE TANKOBON COVERS · 34

Shonen Sunday Comics, 1980–87
Volume 1 · April 15, 1980
ISBN 4-09-120441-4. Lum in front, Ataru behind: the cover of the first Takahashi book, collecting chapters 1–9.
Volumes 2–10 · 1980–82
The first ISBN block (4-09-120442-2 onward): nine more volumes as the cast assembles, Oyuki, Mendo, Ten, the Stormtroopers’ manga counterparts.
Volumes 11–20 · 1982–84
A new ISBN block from volume 11 (June 15, 1982). The middle run: the Miss Tomobiki contest, the Heian arc, Ran’s arrival.
Volumes 21–34 · 1984–87
The long back half of the run, completing in March 1987: the cover program that defined the series for its first generation of readers.

THE REPRINT PROGRAMS

Same 366 chapters, four more covers each
Wideban · 15 Volumes · 1989–90
Larger format on higher-quality paper with new inserts, about 25 chapters per book: the first deluxe afterlife, July 1989 to August 1990.
Bunkoban · 17 Volumes · 1998–99
The pocket edition, August 1998 to December 1999. Its distinguishing feature is textual: each volume opens with a foreword by another manga creator on the series’ influence.
My First Big · 2000–04
The convenience-store edition: tankobon contents on low-cost paper at a low price, July 2000 to September 2004.
Shinsoban · 34 Volumes · 2006–08
November 17, 2006 to March 18, 2008. New cover artwork by Takahashi herself, plus a section of tribute artwork from then-current manga artists: the edition Viz’s 2019 omnibus is based on.
Perfect Color Edition · 2016
Two books (January 18, 2016) collecting all of Takahashi’s color artwork from the series, with a new interview: the art-book capstone of the cover record.
The HistoryIn EnglishCollecting Takahashi
MORE FROM THE RUMIKO TAKAHASHI ARCHIVE →
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THE FIRST WORD

New pages and new pieces, first.