"Put weird and weird together... and get super-weird!" *

* from the end titles song for the Urusei Yatsura TV series

Our story thus far: The Tomobiki High crowd is down in Nara on a school field trip to see the shrines and temples. They cross paths with a young kunoichi (female ninja) named Kaede who is rushing to deliver a scroll of ninja secrets to her sensei, Mistress Yatsude. While barging through the group of students, she drops the scroll, which ends up in the hands of Ataru Moroboshi.

When Kaede reaches Mistress Yatsude empty-handed, she is berated and beaten as an incompetent. She has been considering a change of career anyway, but Yatsude admonishes her that she isn't leaving for anyplace until she recovers that scroll. Kaede finds the gang of students again and, seeing the lost document in Ataru's possession, delicately attempts to recover it. Moroboshi, who will pursue just about any appealing female, takes Kaede's efforts as flirtation, none of which escapes the notice of Lum...

Meanwhile, Mistress Yatsude, not trusting Kaede to accomplish her task, rather than simply run off, obtains the aid of two former students, Mukade and Kumade, who bear a more than passing resemblance to two Trouble Consultants of our acquaintance (as drawn by Yasuhiko Yoshikazu), allowing for a swap of hair color...

The two senior kunoichi track Kaede back to town, where they employ their cunning and skill to get their ninja, Kaede, who has already taken up a new job as a shop clerk...

Well, anyway, eventually things more or less work out... The anime episode, which appeared the following year in 1982 [available on the sixth Urusei Yatsura TV episode tape from Animeigo], makes the intended reference to the Lovely Angels even more evident, as well as giving them a larger part in the story. (I hope to get some screen captures someday...)

[Scans are from the translated manga appearing in the Viz Graphic Novel, The Return of Lum: Sweet Revenge ]

[Additional note: Kaede, Mukade, and Kumade make a brief cameo appearance during the climatic battle scene in the sixth (and final) Urusei Yatsura OAV, "Always My Darling" (1991)]