Damn, that sleep-inducing UM is indeed an affinity machine, so long as the two others in your party are the type to frequently auto-attack (e.g., if Melia or Sharla is involved in the bond, you should control them. Of course, Sharla has the double-whammy problem of auto-attacking from a distance)
How are you actually supposed to beat that guy, though? Any attack will see him put to sleep, unless perhaps you control Sharla, then toss in Riki and Melia for mad damage-over-time).
I've beaten the halfway point on pink bonds, gotten the High Entia Emblem and thus the La Luz Church Heart-to-Heart, isolated the one Heart-to-Heart that i haven't even found yet (somewhere in Colony 6, the Shulk-Sharla pink), and successfully beat one Aora Telethia. Two more days, perhaps three. It'll take me an hour at most to fix all remaining bonds, then a bit of time getting Alcamoth back in shape for the two locked-out H2Hs, then some running around to actually do the conversations, then, endgame.