Kokeru Moroboshi (諸星こける, Moroboshi Kokeru?) is a young boy who is a possible future son of Ataru Moroboshi and Shinobu Miyake.
Biography[]
He first appears when Lum attempts to help Ataru late to school for the 5th day in a row, by using her space-bridging technology to create a portal shortcut and makes a mistake causing a rift in the space-time continuum and sending herself and Ataru through time to 1991, over a decade in the future. Kokeru, having escaped from the protective care of his mother, discovers the teenage Ataru whilst he is trying to eat his lunch bento, spooking Ataru sufficiently that Kokeru has a chance to eat the bento himself. Ataru is initially hostile towards Kokeru, disliking the small child, but Lum takes a shine to him and offers him comfort. Ataru reluctantly buys the boy an ice cream cone before they decide they need to find his parents. Kokeru, whilst able to talk, is unaware of his parents' names, but does know his own. Ataru is startled to realize that Kokeru is his son, but Lum, noting the boy lacks horns, is devastated to realize he can't possibly be her child, breaking down in tears. Intrigued, Ataru decides to take Kokeru to his mother, so he can learn which woman will be his wife in twelve years, but upon actually reaching the class reunion, he worries about being mistaken for a kidnapper as the adults look for the kid. He initially tries to hide with Kokeru, but then releases him as the young boy wets his pants and inadvertently urinates on Ataru in the process. Kokeru promptly goes into the schoolyard and, much to Ataru's horror, he initially goes up to a very homely-looking woman, calling her mother. But it turns out that Kokeru is unable to identify his real mother, a matured Shinobu who promptly appears to collect him, although a disappointed Ataru asked Lum to take him back to his time before he could know it.[1]
He reappears in another possible future explored by Ataru, Shinobu and Lum after they plummet through the Room of Destiny, by opening a door with a key Inaba dropped during his first meeting with Shinobu. Once Ataru and Lum drift away due to Ataru spotting a pretty girl, Shinobu stumbles across two mature women, one of them leading a small boy by the hand. She overhears one of the women call the other "Shinobu", and then note that her son is also the son of Ataru. Hiding, Shinobu watches as the apparent older doppelganger continues on her rounds, scolding her son Kokeru when he flips up the skirt of a similarly young girl and demands she play. Wondering if they have somehow traveled to the future, she follows the pair whilst remaining in hiding. The older Shinobu and Kokeru head straight to the Moroboshi home, where they greet an aged version of Ataru's Mother and Ataru's Father. Shinobu is horrified, since this seems to confirm that she and Ataru are destined to marry, but Inaba emerges from a subspace portal nearby and they start talking. After reuniting with Ataru and Lum, who have had their own unpleasant encounters with this future, Inaba explains that this is a possible future, and that the Destiny Production Management Bureau can technically create alternative futures for them.[2]
He also appears in one of the nightmare sequences of Ataru's Mother where unlike the other versions of Kokeru, he is the son of Ataru and Lum.[3]
Personality[]
As a young child of about four years old, Kokeru doesn't really have much of a distinct personality. He is fond of food, very friendly with women, drools, and has poor bladder control. Various elders in his different appearances all note a very distinct resemblance to Ataru when he was about that age, and like Ataru he does show some distinctly perverse inclinations even at his young age; he gropes Lum's bosom in the manga, and flips up a female toddler's skirt. He is unable to identify his mother.
Trivia[]
- Kokeru's name is a pun playing on his father's name; whilst "Ataru" means "to hit", "Kokeru" means "to fall".
- Upon first meeting Kokeru, Ataru mistakes him for a zashiki warashi (座敷童子, ざしきわらし). The name means "zashiki child" (a zashiki being a formal reception room), and they are a breed of yokai comparable to the house spirits of Western mythologies, such as the Slavic domovoy or the British brownie. They take the form of male and female ghostly children, about five or six years old, with blushing red faces, and have the personality of mischievous but loving children. They love to play games and pull petty pranks, but they are also bringers of good fortune; a household guarded by a zashiki warashi will prosper, but should it leave, then misfortune and disaster will quickly follow. Japanese households traditionally make great efforts to attract a zashiki warashi, such as by laying coins in the foundation of a home or leaving out food in the zashiki.
- Kokeru's existence represents that Urusei Yatsura was originally intended to focus on Ataru Moroboshi and Shinobu Miyake as the protagonists and love interests. Although fan response and editorial suggestions prompted Rumiko Takahashi to bring Lum back in Chapter 3 instead of making her a one-shot character like she had originally intended, she remained determined that Lum would be an antagonist character for much longer. Hence, Kokeru's future, where Lum is gone without a trace and Ataru is married to Shinobu. It wouldn't be until after Kokeru's debut chapter that Takahashi would change her mind and elevate Lum to the role of female lead character and love interest. This in turn inspired Takahashi to ultimately have Kokeru's timeline return as a potential (and subsequently erased) timeline during the Destiny Production Management Bureau arc, which ran from Chapter 330 to Chapter 333, thus removing his original intended status as Ataru's canonical future son.
- Due to being produced well-after Lum was cemented as the series' female lead, both the 1981 and 2022 animated adaptations made changes to Kokeru's story in order to avoid the more blatant retconning of his manga incarnation. The 1981 anime simply dropped the idea of adapting Chapter 12 entirely, instead only featuring Kokeru as a cameo figure in a nightmare had by Ataru's Mother in Episode 78 before featuring him in the OAV adaptation of Inaba's debut. In contrast, the 2022 anime adapted Chapter 12 quite faithfully as Episode 30, but moved the story's position in the timeline so that it occurs after Lum is well-established in Tomobiki, and tweaks the mutual discontent of Ataru and Lum with their first foray into Kokeru's timeline to directly set up their subsequent encounter with Inaba in the very next episode.
Gallery[]
Reference[]
- ↑ Chapter 12 (13 in wideban)
- ↑ Inaba the Dream Maker (OVA), Chapters 329-330 (331-332 in wideban)
- ↑ Episode 78