The female protagonist of the series*. Lum is a beautiful Oni Alien Princess who can fly and can generate electricity from her body, up to and including lightning bolts. She falls in love with Ataru after she misinterprets his "marriage proposal" (referring to Shinobu) as one for her. Most of the time she's good-natured, sweet, innocent, and faithful… but she's also prone to intense jealousy and has a very hot temper, which never bodes well for her "fiancé". Alien Fair Folk: Lum is an alien from another planet who is clearly styled after the mythical oni. Her race is called "The Oni", they have a racial rivalry with a species called "The Gods of Luck" that plays out in a yearly contest that coincides with the Japanese festival of Setsubun, her horns and love of tiger stripe-patterns for decorations (her bikini, her UFO, her Chainmail Bikini), her tiger skin blanket, all of these are derived from her roots in the mythical oni. There are even more subtle elements at play as well; her Comical Angry Face is a reference to the mythological trait where female oni or hannya would normally look very beautiful, but would adopt terrifying visages when enraged. Likewise, her Shock and Awe powers are a subtle nod to Raijin, a Shinto storm god depicted as resembling an oni — she's even seen riding a cloud and with a Thunder Drum on her back, just like Raijin, in the nightmare world that Kurama creates to try and scare Ataru out of being such a pervert. Alien Princess: Zigzagged. Whilst Lum is often thought of as a princess of the alien Oni race, to the point that Viz Media's English releases of the manga literally describe her as an Alien Princess in the series summary on the back cover, she's never actually stated to be any kind of royalty in the manga itself. In contrast to how Oyuki is explicitly the Queen of Neptune, Kurama is the Princess of the Tengu. That said, even if Lum isn't literally royalty, she still fits many aspects of the trope. She even turns out to have an (unwanted) Arranged Marriage with the prince of another alien world in the series' final story. Alien Catnip: Thanks to Bizarre Alien Biology, she famously gets totally smashed from eating umeboshi (pickled plums) — ironically, actual alcohol has no effect on her. Adaptation Dye-Job: In the colored manga artwork, Lum was originally given iridescent hair. The difficulties faced in animating this caused the anime to replace it with a solid dark green color, which was later used in the manga as well. The 2022 anime has turquoise as Lum's primary hair color, though as a nod to her original iridescent hair, it shifts between various colors when she's using her electricity powers. In addition, her eye color changes to amber as opposed to the blue from the 1981 anime. Adaptational Nice Girl: The 2022 anime omits Lum's mean-spirited moments from the early stories to avoid the Early-Installment Weirdness found in the original versions. She doesn't blackmail Ataru into letting her live with him, her initial animosity towards Shinobu is completely gone, she doesn't lie about being pregnant with Ataru's child just to annoy Shinobu & Rei, & her love for Ataru looks more genuine from the start. Arranged Marriage: Her great-grandfather made an arrangement with Rupa's great-grandfather, with both agreeing that their descendants would get married when a girl was born in Lum's family. Rupa tries to force Lum into a wedding, but both ultimately agree they don't really want to get married and end up with their real love interests. Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Lum is a girly Alien Princess & her Iconic Outfit is a tiger-print bikini that reveals her midriff. Becoming the Mask: There are hints Lum was originally looking for any excuse to dump Rei & latch onto Ataru's declaration of marriage to escape from Rei. However, she soon falls for him for real. Catchphrase Insult: Whenever Ataru angers her, Lum yells "Darling, you idiot!" or "Darling, I hate you!" Lum was your sweet 3-year-old little sister. They were in the house but suddenly Lum slipped & fell, & started to cry. But luckily ok