Tenchi Muyo
(MVM Region 2 PAL 4 Disc Boxed Set)
(2005)
review by Blackgloves

Since the series began back in the mid-nineties, the complicated world of the long-running anime, "Tenchi Muyo", has spawned numerous alternative universe versions and various spin-offs, all of which have served only to make an already fiendishly intricate and labyrinthine mythology next to impossible to decipher by all but the most committed of fan boys. Now, with this four disc box set featuring all the episodes of the original OVA, we get the chance to go right back to the beginning -- when hapless young schoolboy, Tenchi, first found himself the subject of fascination, infatuation and even experimentation by a galactic gaggle of big-haired alien women -- to discover that this zany early example of the "harem" anime sub-genre is just as impossible to make sense of as its later instalments hinted!

The earliest episodes begin serenely enough: while spending the summer holidays with his grandfather in his country home, young teenager, Tenchi, cannot resist the urge to explore a hidden cavern found beyond the sealed borders of the ancient family temple -- despite his elder's express warning not to trespass on the site. Legend has it that a great demon once lay waste to the very area on which the humble temple building was later erected. The creature's reign of devastation was eventually halted only by the intervention of a "warrior from the skies" whose glowing sword somehow contained the fiery demon via some sort of force field. Tenchi's grandfather warns him that the demon is rumoured to be entombed in the temple shrine and will be unleashed if anyone ever removes the sword which is buried in the ground there! Not believing in such superstitious nonsense, Tenchi removes the sword and is immediately attacked by a terrifying demonic vision of Hades! The ensuing battle leaves Tenchi's school a smoking wreak, but it transpires that the "demon" is really a mercurial space pirate by the name of Ryko who soon takes on the form of a cyan-haired young firebrand. The beautiful alien also develops something of a crush on young Tenchi, and insists on moving in with the bewildered boy!

The legend spoken off by Tenchi's Grandfather was really a mythological description of a space battle between the fleeing criminal, Ryko, and a representative of the Jurai Royal family called Yosho, whose efforts to bring the spiky-haired pirate to justice took him to Earth. The release of Ryko alerts the Jurai and pretty soon, Tenchi finds himself also playing confused host to two Jurai princesses: the girlie Ayeka (former fiancé of Yosho), and her younger sister Sasami who are left stranded on Earth after the destruction of their spacecraft. Given their past history, Ayeka and Ryko have "issues" and when both develop an intense infatuation with the awkward Tenchi, living under the same roof with them becomes a daily ordeal filled with wacky adventures and embarrassing situations for the befuddled boy.

If this weren't enough, scatty blonde Galaxy Police officer, Mihoshi, who is in pursuit of another space criminal called Katgato, also ends up living with the group! And when they all become involved in helping her catch this rather operatic villain, they find an eccentric and diminutive female scientist called Washu on board his ship, who turns out to have created Ryko from genetic experiments! With this lot all taking up residence at Tenchi's home, the poor fella's life becomes one long catalogue of whimsy, hilarity and complicated alien girl trouble!

The show's format has become quite familiar of late, with anime like "Love Hina" imitating the awkward-boy-surrounded-by-eccentric-women gimmick along with the cute pets, catchy music cues and crazy (mostly unintelligible) escapades. Another shared factor is the amount of sexual innuendo -- this "harem" sub genre is noted for it, and "Tenchi" features a very large amount of it! All of the female characters appear nude quite a lot (although it is a curiously asexual type of nudity which doesn't include nipples or any representation of genitalia!) and there is copious risqué dialogue. Tenchi's sci-fi backdrop allows it to veer into all sorts of otherwise unexplorable byways of oddness though; the weirdest thing about the show is the casual disregard for the normal distinction between living beings and inanimate objects or, indeed, any distinction at all between one object and another! Ryko's battleship can also be a weird half-kitten-half-bunny creature called Ryo-ohki (which provides the show's cutesy factor with it's large-eyed furry frolics) and, in later episodes, a sort of animal-like toddler as well! A tree in Grandpa's garden is also a spaceship in disguise. People and objects have a habit of merging or existing in two different states simultaneously throughout the series, making the task of following the show quite taxing. One suspects that the English subtitle translations (and English audio dub which is pretty bad by the way) find it quite hard to give an accurate sense of the intended original meaning of many of the goings on here.

As the episodes go by, it is revealed that all is not what it seems and that Tenchi's Grandfather was, himself, once a Jurai prince who gave up his claim to the thrown for the love of an Earth woman; he now lives as a human -- without the benefit of ageless immortality shared by all other Jurai. This means that Tenchi also has Jurai blood in him -- and may even be related to Ayeka! After facing down various criminals such as Katgato and Dr. Clay, the final episodes see Ayeka and Sasami's parents turning up to take them home, but will this unruly gaggle of unpredictable galactic females wish to be broken up?

"Tenchi Muyo" offers a perplexing mix of head-scratching frustration, childish titillation and endearing wackiness. The many questions posed by the sprawling plot -- with its ever-more complicated tangle of related characters -- are never entirely wrapped up (who would expect them to be?) but events are brought to enough of a conclusion for those who favour this brand of whimsical anime to be satisfied with the colourful hodgepodge of elements featured over the course of the thirteen episodes included herein.

The Tenchi OVA fills three volumes which can be all be bought as single editions; those who buy the box set version though, will also receive a fourth disc exclusive to the set, that features one, half-hour episode of a spin-off show about Galaxy Police Officer Mihoshi called, "Mihoshi Special -- Galaxy Police Mihoshi Space Adventure"!