I think by now most otaku know the story, but for those few who haven’t watched the show, here’s a quick synopsis: Tenchi, along with his grandfather Yosho, and his father, live quietly in the Japanese countryside. One day, Tenchi stumbles into a cave that his grandfather told him is forbidden, and accidentally releases the ancient demon Ryoko. However, the demon part is something of a misnomer, as it turns out that Ryoko is a sexy woman with a temper. By releasing her, this sets in motion events that call other women to his house. From there, all sorts of hijinks ensues, with some being funny & fanservice-ey, and others being quite serious & dramatic. It is perhaps one of the most entertaining animes you’ll ever watch, and one that you won’t forget.
Let’s start off with the story itself as the first positive. There’s a lot of things going on, not only in front of the viewer, but behind the scenes. You have the standard boy meets girl(s) scenario, but there’s also searching for lost family members (and eventually finding said family members), hiding & discovering of secrets, lover’s quarrels, etc. There’s a bunch of stuff that goes on, but there isn’t so much that you get overwhelmed by it all (Even when there is an overwhelming moment, there’s usually something that offsets it soon after).
Next positive is it’s mastery of the harem genre. Let me just say that it’s my opinion (And perhaps the opinion of most fans of the series) that Tenchi Muyo is the foundation of the modern harem series. It uses the standard facets of the genre (1 boy, multiple girls with different personalities, etc), but there’s some interesting changes. For example, there’s the main boy Tenchi, but you also have his grandfather & father interacting with the girls as well. The grandfather is acting like the wise sage with occasional moments of perversion & silliness, and the father basically filling the role of comic relief.
The girls all fill the standard harem roles, but there’s something more to them as well. They are:
Ryoko Hakubi: The tomboy. Ryoko is a woman prone to carnal pleasures (drinking, overeating, trying to get into Tenchi’s pants), and is a galaxy-wide known space pirate.
Ayeka Masaki Jurai: The proper girl. The princess of Jurai (Her homeworld), he maintains a rivalry with Ryoko for Tenchi’s affection, and reluctantly decides to stay with Tenchi and his family, as well as Ryoko.
Sasami Masaki Jurai: The adorable one. The sister of Ayeka, she can occasionally be more mature than everyone else, and has actually bound herself to a goddess from her homeworld. She also cooks & cleans, and does other chores around the house to carry her share of the weight.
Mihoshi Kuramitsu: The lovable dits. She acts very clumsily, but has a surprising level of intelligence, and is a member of the Galaxy Police. She also has an incredibly streak of good luck, due to being distantly related to Washu.
Washu Hakubi: The absent-minded genius. One of the galaxy’s top scientists, her recent experiments/pursuits include investigating the gems that Ryoko uses, and creating entities that can harness the gems’s power. It’s also hinted at in later series that she’s a manifestation of a divine goddess, and it’s revealed that she’s the “mother” of Ryoko.
Tenchi Muyo’s 3rd positive is the voice acting. Ironically, the voice acting in the Funimation release is exactly the same as it was when it first came out back in the early 2000s. Essentially, you’re hearing the exact same voice cast in this edition. You have Matt K. Miller voice the lead male Tenchi, Petrea Burchard provides the sultry & sexy tone’s of Ryoko’s speech patterns, and so forth. If I had any other comment about the voice acting, it’s that it’s sounds slightly better than the original edition, thanks to the audio adjustments Funimation made. The voices sound a little more crisp & clean, and this also applies to the sound effects in the show as well.
The 4th positive of Tenchi Muyo is the animation. You might laugh, but I think the show looks better now than it did when it first came out. Thanks to Funimation’s work, it looks like a more modern show, despite the actual age of the animation (More on this a little later). The house where Tenchi and his family (Including the girls) live looks very believable, along with Washu’s laboratory, the various spaceships & spaceship interiors, etc. Tenchi was always knows for having some damn good visuals, and this release doesn’t disappoint.
The 5th positive of Tenchi Muyo is it’s length. Measuring in at 13 episodes, and running about 30 minutes each (This includes the opening, episode in question, ending, and preview), this show is great to watch over the course of a couple days. I watched it over the course of a week, watching 2 to 3 episodes a day.
The 6th and last positive of Tenchi Muyo is it’s availability. Having come out late last year (December 18th, to be specific), the series can be readily found in places such as Best Buy, FYE, and sites like Amazon. Prices will possibly vary between the retailers, but chances are that they’ll be a bit on the expensive side (More on this in a bit).
Tenchi Muyo is as close to anime perfection as Otaku can get. There’s so much going for it, how could anyone argue? Sadly, despite being great, there’s a trio of problems that seem to be permanently attached to the series. They range from meh, oh, and damn. So, let’s start with the meh.
The first problem, or the “meh”, is the pricing. At the time of this writing, pricing for the collection on Amazon is in the lower $40 dollar range, with pricing over in Best Buy in the higher $40 dollar range, possibly dipping into $50 dollars, and Fye is probably somewhere in the $40 dollar range. I recommend waiting until the show is on sale, regardless of where you’re trying to get it from.
Now it’s time for “oh”, aka the second problem. Despite having vastly improved visuals, Tenchi Muyo is still a show from the 90s. 1992, to be specific. It suffers from the standard problems that early 90s anime typically suffers from: rough textures, jagged edges, etc. Thankfully, the work that Funimation did on the series has severely reduced these things, but even some hard work can’t get rid of it all.
Here’s is perhaps the biggest problem of Tenchi Muyo, better known as “damn”. Despite how fun it is, despite the colorful cast of characters (Both good guys & bad guys), despite the setting, looks, and overall high quality, Tenchi Muyo for some reason hasn’t necessarily aged well over the years. Everything else with the show is great, but as a harem anime, it feels rather archaic, and isn’t quite as strong now that when it first came out.
Tenchi Muyo gets a 8 to 9.5 out of 10. The story is awesome, it’s a pinnacle of the harem genre, there’s the familiar & good voice acting, the animation looks fresh, it lasts for a decent amount of time, and it’s easy to find, but it can be a bit expensive, it still has animation problems despite the work done to it, and isn’t always on par with modern harem shows.
See you all later today, when I show off some more Borderlands 2 goodies, and see you all later this week, when there will be some celebrations on this blog. Until then, stay Otaku!
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