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New Urusei Yatsura Anime Apologizes for Using Pre-Existing Design in Background

The official website for the new television anime of Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura manga issued a statement on Monday saying that the anime's 17th episode used a pre-existing design within a scene's background without permission. The staff apologized for the mistake, and added that the specific background will be edited for all streaming, broadcast, and home video versions of the episode.

Illustrator Chikuwa claimed on a Twitter post on Monday that the anime's 17th episode used one of their dōjin circle's advertising material for Comiket 97 (December 2019). In a later post that day, Chikuwa acknowledged the apology, but stated that the anime staff did not contact them.

A reply to Chikuwa screenshotted the scene in question from episode 17 of Urusei Yatsura. Chikuwa's claimed advertisement poster can be seen to the left of both screenshots below.

Chikuwa's post from October 2019 provides a closer look at their advertisement poster used in the background (second image below).

The anime premiered in the Noitamina programming block on Fuji TV in October 2022. HIDIVE is streaming the anime, and it is also streaming an English dub.

The anime will run for half a year, or two cours (quarters of a year), without breaks. The entire run of the anime will adapt selected stories from the manga and last four cours, or a full year, although not consecutively.

Takahiro Kamei (episode director on Strike Witches: Road to Berlin, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind) is serving as the series director. Masaru Yokoyama (Horimiya, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, 2019's Fruits Basket) is composing the music.

Viz Media began publishing the manga in 2-in-1 omnibus editions in spring 2019 with new translations. Viz describes the series:

Revisit the acclaimed romantic comedy about an unlucky human boy who meets a beautiful space alien princess in this large trim size edition with all-new translations and new cover designs. In the series, Ataru Moroboshi's supernatural encounters with the feminine kind all start when he's chosen to play tag with an alien princess named Lum who invades the earth on her UFO. Ataru has ten days to touch Lum's horns or aliens will take over the earth! As it turns out, the game of tag is only the beginning of Ataru's troubles, as he continues to attract strange encounters with otherworldly beings like beautiful snow spirit Oyuki and the sexy crow goblin Princess Kurama!

The manga series ran in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine from 1978 to 1987. Viz Media previously released part of the series in English under the titles Lum and The Return of Lum in the 1990s.

The manga inspired a television anime series that ran from 1981 to 1986, various anime films, and an original video anime (OVA) series. AnimEigo released most of the previous anime on home video except for the Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer film, which Central Park Media released. After these companies' licenses expired, Discotek Media has been reissuing the movies.

Source: Urusei Yatsura anime's website via Hachima Kikō