What would you do if a tiger skin bikini-clad alien followed you to school every day? Poor Ataru's life has never returned to normal since volatile extraterrestrial princess Lum fell for him. Now an excruciatingly wealthy and genteel rival, Mendo, adds to Ataru's torment. Not to mention an unending stream of extraordinary classroom visitors and educational materials including incompetent cherry blossom spirits, a legendary nightmare-eating tapir, and a fourth-dimensional camera that breaches alternate realities.

Urusei Yatsura was awarded the 26th Shogakukan Manga Award for best shounen and shoujo manga in 1980.

A 15-volume wideban edition was published from July 1989 to August 1990 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the series, an 18-volume bunkoban edition was published from August 1998 to December 1999, a shinsoban reprint with the same volume count as the original was published from November 2006 to March 2008, it included new cover art and a section displaying art work from modern manga artists.

The series was published in English by VIZ Media as Lum*Urusei Yatsura in 1989 for 7 comic book size issues each covering two chapters until cancellation in 1990 due to poor sales. Publication was relaunched in VIZ's monthly publication Animerica where it was renamed to The Return of Lum*Urusei Yatsura, 8 collected volumes were published from June 5, 1995 to April 5, 1999. Roughly 11 volumes were covered in all, with some chapters being skipped. VIZ Media published a new release of Urusei Yatsura under the VIZ Signature imprint as 2-in-1 omnibus volumes from February 19, 2019 to February 28, 2023. It was also published in Spanish by EDT/Glénat España from April 2005 to March 2008.