Tenchi Muyo and the spin-offs...

Tenchi Muyo is far and away my favorite series... and there is so much of it!

My first ANIME experience came about one evening while I was bowling on a league in the late '80's. An amazing cartoon movie was on the overhead monitor. The incredible images blazed by and I had to watch. Wow! Surreal animation to the max.  It took me weeks to find out that I had been watching Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA. Up until then I had seen the TV releases of the cheap "fighting robot"  anime... but nothing else looked like this! My local video store had only a few Japanese animations... some that I consider pre-anime... like the GUNBUSTERS series... ground-breaking videos that were setting the style for the things to come.

Gunbusters was an early series of 3 tapes that followed a high school girl on her quest to become a Gunbuster pilot. It had simple art, robots doing calisthenics, a dad lost in space, mobile black-hole generators, and invading bug aliens. The final episode is done as a series of pencil sketches with a full sound track... as if the producers had ran out of money before the film was completed. Ground breaking.

My video store then got in a set of half-hour videos... Tenchi Muyo. This first offering was of six episodes. We meet Tenchi... your average Japanese high school student... and watch as he releases an entrapped demon from a cavern stronghold. The demon, Ryoko, takes the form of a beautiful young lady with wild, spikey blue hair. She vows to destroy Tenchi... but decides to hang around and torment him, instead! We then meet Princess Ayeka and Princess Sasami of the planet Jurai. We meet Ryo-ohki, the cabbit (a cat-rabbit and young space ship... you'll have to watch episode 3). Then we meet Mihoshi of the Galaxy Police. All of the women vie for Tenchi's loving attention... but... in true anime style... Tenchi is totally oblivious.

These first six episodes bond the characters to each other and wound up bonding me to all of them! I watched them again and again. I was watching the original Japanese language version with English subtitles. I am so glad I did! The original language has so much energy and flows so smoothly... plus I enjoyed the culture shock of the spoken language, the subtitles, and the few obvious mistranslations that are in those subtitles...

" ...you do love him don't you?"
"No."
"Then it is only natural that you'd want to be with him!"

Huh?... I could tell that some little bitty thing wasn't quite right, there... but that made it very interesting to me. I began to study the language. I did try to watch one of the dubbed episodes... but... forget it!  The character voice-overs were terrible. I did not like the voice talents and I had trouble with the stilted delivery of the dialog. Stick with the subtitles... there is so much energy and art in the original spoken Japanese.

Visit the Guest Book...

Episode 7 was released as a Speical: Night Before the Carnival. Extra length with lots of fun. More of the ladies vying for Tenchi's love... and we learn a little more about all of the characters.

Next came a quick release of the final gang of six episodes in the Tenchi Muyo series. Great stuff! A couple seemed kind of like "filler" episodes (I am thinking of #8 with baby Taro and #13 in which Ayeka's family visit from Jurai)... but I enjoyed them all.

I am not sure of the chronology after the release of those 13 original episodes. There seemed to be a flood of new releases. There was another special... Mihoshi's Space Adventure... and a new spin-off from that special... Magical Girl Pretty Samy. Mihoshi's special was a bit of fluff that had a lot of funny bits and showed us some exaggerated traits in our characters. We meet Kiyone, Mihoshi's reluctant partner.  We also meet Sasami's alter ego... Pretty Samy! Pretty Samy waves her magical baton and wields her magical weapon with the incantation: "Pretty Coquettish Bomber!"... and saves the day with a big explosive blast. She is real cute, though! In fact, CUTE is what the Pretty Samy series is all about. Lots of color, lots of sentiment, lots of "best friends" and broken hearts. Her archenemy is Pixy Misa... who is actually her very best friend, Misao-chan, in disguise, under the influence of an evil magic spell. I know... sounds weak... maybe it is... but so enjoyable.... beautiful, creative art, lots of "cute", and fun language.

There are three episodes of the "Pretty Samy" specials. Then there is a kind of Saturday-morning TV series of Pretty Samy entitled Magical Project S. It has even more color (if that's possible!) and 26 (?) episodes... enough for two seasons on TV. Better and better... but, yes... childish. Still with the culture shock of it all... I would not really recommend it for American children. I think the show could be seen as being a little harsh or cruel by our standards.  I think I feel this way because American animation has done everything with cats and dogs and cows... and you don't mind seeing them beat up on each other on Saturday morning. But Pretty Samy is third grade kids facing physical and emotional obstacles and moral dilemmas in a cruel (?) situation... they are pawns of the sorceress Ramia of the Magical Kingdom (yeah, I know...). Cute, though... with funny twists along the way.

Tenchi Universe was the next release... 26 episodes. It was a re-release of the Tenchi Muyo series... but with a slightly different character history for the main characters. Ryoko falls from space and into Tenchi's back yard while being chased by a robot battle suit... instead of being released from a tomb as in the original episodes. We meet everyone in short order... they all move in to Tenchi's house.
"Let the Fun begin!"
Tenchi Universe has a lot of adventure. It generally flows from one episode to the next... but each could be enjoyed by itself.

Tenchi in Tokyo became the next release. In Japan it was released as Shin-Tenchi (New Tenchi). Again 24 (?) episodes... with the accent on FUN. (Sasami is a riot in the first episode!) Again... the flavor is that of a Saturday morning program. Lots of action... a little more crazy than the previous series... but still keeping with the emotional designs of the original characters. (Gotta love 'em!) We meet Sakuya-san... the new love interest for Tenchi... and... amazingly enough... Tenchi IS interested! This drives the other gals crazy! Watch out!

Scattered somewhere in all of this were three full length feature films... "Tenchi the Movie: Tenchi Muyo in Love", "Tenchi the Movie 2: Daughter of Darkness", and "Tenchi Forever". Tenchi Muyo in Love (1996) was a sweet treatment of all of our original characters... they have to go back in time and save the young lady, Achika, who will become Tenchi's mother, from an evil being, Kain, who seeks revenge against all of those of Jurian blood. It's a long story... maybe too long (and a little slow)... but for Tenchi lovers... a masterpiece!

Daughter of Darkness (1998) was released in Japan as Manatsu no Eve (Midsummer's Eve) and the Japanese posters pictured a gentle scene of our favorite characters sitting under a shady tree and eating watermelon. In the USA it was released as Daughter of Darkness! with a poster of a battle-dressd Tenchi smacking an evil visage... more culture shock! The video box pictured the new character... the daughter of darkness, herself... Mayuka-chan... and a group of Tenchi characters romping around a Christmas tree... (possibly a Jurian summer festival "Startica" tree). The movie featured lots of action and was very much like an extra-length Tenchi episode. I enjoyed it right up until the final few minutes... the ending was a little too crazy... goofy fight scenes with flying Christmas ribbons and tree roots(!). Daughter is a keeper... true to the characters and to the Tenchi traditions... good emotional energy.
 

Tenchi Forever (1999) is touted to be the final bit of Tenchi that will ever be produced. It was a very gentle and loving treatment of the Tenchi crew. A "spirit" enchants Tenchi and removes him from his home and friends. He awakens into a new life in which he is an art student sharing an apartment with a young lady/lover. He is very happy here... but something is not quite right. Back in Our world, Ryoko and Ayeka search relentlessly for Tenchi. Always competitors for Tenchi's love... they join forces, now, to find him. We can enjoy the love and friendship of all of the players. We discover the sadness that empowers the "spirit". The film ends with Tenchi coming home and the "spirit" being freed. Again... this movie is very sentimental...  warm and friendly... with no villain. Even the "spirit" is not a "bad guy"... just a lonely heart. Tenchi Forever is slow paced... very much aimed at real Tenchi fans... and a nice close to the Tenchi series.

 

See my Anime Cel collection...

Tenchi Muyo     Ryoko     Aeka    Pretty Samy - Sasami
Shin Tenchi     Yugi     Devil Hunter Yhoko     Card Captor Sakura     El Hazard
Silent Mobius    You're Under Arrest    Vampire Princess Miyu
Burn-Up W     Miscellaneous     YAT    Cyber Team in Akihabra
Magic Knight Rayearth     LA Blue Girl