The Oni, a mysterious race of aliens comes to Earth intending
to simply invade and take over. But earth has one chance -- if Ataru Moroboshi
who was chosen randomly by computer as Earth's champion can defeat Invader's
daughter Lum in a game of tag by touching her horns, the Oni will just
pack up and leave quietly. Ataru, who has glandular drives undreamed of
by even the most lascivious of high school boys, is only too eager to get
his hands on the delectable Lum. This proves nearly impossible when he
discovers she can fly. Day after day, Ataru makes numerous attempts to
touch her tiny horns but miserably fails each time. The final day was approaching,
and earth's fate was hanging in the balance. A balance which depended on
the efforts of one hopeless loser.
The night before the final day Ataru's (semi)girlfriend Shinobu promises if he wins, she'll marry him. With this on his mind Ataru finally becomes serious about winning. Using dirty trickery, he steals Lum's bikini top and then grabs her horns as she tries to get it back. The Earth is saved thanks to Ataru. Now the Oni will leave and never again plague the people of Earth. But right then Ataru calls out "now I can get married!" Lum misinterprets this as a marriage proposal to her and eagerly accepts.
After undergoing so much pain and humiliation, and because she hinders his "girl-hunts", Ataru has lost all interest in Lum. At least that's how it seems on the surface. Lum however has fallen irrevocably in love with him. Now she's living with him, planning their wedding and giving him a dose of her high-voltage electric shocks every time he tries to flirt with another woman. Shinobu is constanly mad at him, Ataru's schoolmates want him out of the picture so they can have Lum to themselves. His parents begin to wish they never had him, and an annoying buddhist monk lurks around, intent on seeing through Ataru's downfall. And this is only the first out of 195 episodes.
Things get even crazier from then on as other aliens from
Lum's past drop in and that skirt-chasing Ataru's streak of bad luck continues
to attract all sorts of obnoxious weirdos.
