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(More customer reviews)Tenchi Muyo! is one of those legendary anime productions that continues to live on in the minds of fans. Essentially a fairy tale and a coming-of-age story, the plot revolves around the seemingly simple Tenchi who inexplicably finds himself surrounded by a bevy of beautiful alien women. Naturally, zany adventure and epic danger quickly ensue. For many, this now common "harem" style of anime was their first introduction to the art form during a time when it was still a rare commodity. And for most, the series' cast of lovable, fascinating, and unforgettable characters still remain indelibly etched onto their hearts.
The franchise is also a complicated one, with various alternate versions of the original series spanning nearly all forms of media, including television, manga, video games, and even novels. Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki - Box Set The Complete Series is the much anticipated seven episode continuation of the original OVA (original video animation, or direct-to-video) animated series, although fans expecting to find the show's earlier thirteen episodes will not find them here.
Misleading monikers aside, these newest installments to the Tenchi canon serve as perfect examples of how not to resurrect a series. After a thirteenth episode that ended on a rather inconclusive note, fans, after years of waiting, naturally imagined the new installments would contain the same heartfelt romantic intrigue, epic battles, and zany shenanigans associated with the earlier productions. Instead, they received seven boring, nearly humorless episodes that revolved around characters not even present in the earlier stories. Below are some of my more detailed complaints, but beware of spoilers:
Remember Ryoko, the awesome space pirate? She's now a weak, ineffectual whiner. Remember Noike and Misau? Of course not, because they weren't in the earlier episodes, but they dominate these. Remember the awesome battles in the climactic sixth episode? Not one is worth mentioning this time around. Remember wondering what Tenchi's mother must have been like? Well, you got your wish--she was a half-deluded prankster who enjoyed toying with Tenchi through trickery and gags. Remember thinking Yosho was an unmarried widower? Well, turns out he's actually married to a Jurain woman that he sees, hmmm, virtually never. Remember thinking Lady Seto, the Devil Princess of Jurai, must really be a force to be reckoned with? Nah, she's just a harmless, somewhat frail woman. Remember looking forward to a climactic showdown with the Goddess Tokimi? Never happens, turns out she just wants to be friends! Remember wondering about the identity of the Counter-Actor? Of course not, she never existed or was even hinted at in the earlier stories, nor is she well explained in these. And, of course, here's the biggest one--Which girl does Tenchi choose? Apparently, he will someday marry all of them! *sigh*
Couple all these complaints with just average animation and shaky writing, and you have what is possibly the worst continuation of a beloved series anyone could have ever conjured up. The show's only slightly redeeming quality is that certain long-held questions regarding some of the characters are finally resolved or explained (but whether anyone likes those "answers" is a different story).
The entire Tenchi Muyo franchise is special. Seek out the earlier episodes (known as Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OVA 1 and 2), check out the TV series Tenchi Universe (and its excellent sequel movies, Tenchi Muyo in Love and Tenchi Forever), and seek out Hitoshi Okuda's brilliant No Need for Tenchi manga novels. But as for the episodes in this set, they will only make you cry.
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