The Tenchi Muyo franchise has endured for almost 30 years. The series is a staple of the harem genre and has laid the path for the formula along with its predecessors such as Kimagure Orange Road and Ranma 1/2. The story revolves around the grandson of a self exiled galactic prince who is at first unaware of his lineage and his latent abilities. The series has seen a number of OAV's, TV series' and theatrical releases along with light novels and manga adaptations and expansions. It started out as an OAV series and garnered enough popularity to continue the story in additional OAV's and then retell it in a TV series.
Tenchi is the a-typical high school boy. Self reliant, somewhat a loner and interested in girls. While he is a harem protagonist he fits into the chivalrous category and does as much as he can to preserve the dignity of the women/girls who surround him. He lives with his architect/pervert father, Nobuyuki, and his elderly grandfather, Katsuhito, who cares for the family shrine. His mother, Achika, died when he was young. Through most of the stories the family and harem reside at the remote mountain location of the family shrine.
While the story and origins have been told more than once the space pirate Ryoko tends to be the first one to make contact with Tenchi and harbors the most aggressive attempts to make him love her. She is typically portrayed as a space pirate of shifting origins and deeds. While being a brash outcast she could be considered the most dependable of the harem.
The other main female vying for Tenchi's love is his distant cousin, the princess Ayeka. She is the complete opposite of Ryoko in pretty much every way and their rivalry extends well beyond their equal desire for the title character.
To be honest he rest of the female characters are not really potential love interest's of Tenchi. Sasami is Ayeka's younger sister and looks to Tenchi as a big brother. The mad scientist Washu has no interest in pursuing romance given her extreme and in some series her sad past in that regard. The last pair of women in the harem are members of the Galactic Police and harbor no romantic feelings for Tenchi. They are smart and dependable Kiyone and air-headed Mihoshi.
Beyond the harem and the main family there exists a large and fluctuating cast of support characters and antagonists, typically bent on erasing or abusing the power that lies deep within the main character.
The original OAV's, Tenchi Muyo 'Ryo-oki' deal with Tenchi unlocking a long trapped mummy demon from the family shrine, who turns out to me Ryoko. Hundreds of years prior Tenchi's grandfather chased the space pirate to Earth and imprisoned her once defeated. He decided to stay on Earth and live a simple life. Ryoko being released drew the attention of the royal family and the police and hilarity/action ensues. Tenchi learns of his interstellar and royal lineage and has to decide if he want's to remain on Earth. This series was released between 1992 and 1994. A third series was released in 1998 and a fourth installment in 2016-17.
In 1995 the story was retold in a 26 episode TV series known as Tenchi Universe. it followed a similar plot trajectory but dealt with the characters leaving Earth for the royal families home world Jurai. A spin-off series called Magic Girl Pretty Sammy was derived from an alternate universe episode of the TV series. It features Sasami as a magical girl with Tenchi as her older brother.
The first theatrical film, Tenchi Muyo In Love follows the story of Tenchi Universe and hit Japanese theaters in 1996. A second film, which was more on an extended episode for Tenchi Universe, was released in 1997 and was titled Tenchi the Movie 2: The Daughter of Darkness. A third movie, titled Tenchi In Love 2/Tenchi Forever was released in 1999.
In 1997 the Tenchi story was rebooted a third time in the second TV series, Tenchi in Tokyo. This one featured Tenchi moving to Tokyo to study to become a priest and the girls hanging around to annoy him. His latent abilities and intergalactic lineage were not are central to most of this story. I for one didn't like it and never finished the series.
The Tenchi universe saw a 4th TV series in 2002 with Tenchi GXP and was unusual in that almost non of the main Tenchi characters appear in it. This series directed by the notorious Sinichi Watanabe, centers around a classmate of Tenchi's named Seina Yamada. Through a series of misfortunes and extreme badluck and misunderstanding, Seina, a normal human, winds up being recruited into the Galaxy police. The story runs parallel with Tenchi Universe and greatly ramps up the harem aspects. You can read a review of the series here.
In 2009 a second spin-off TV series, called Tenchi Muyo War on Geminar was released. I honestly have never had any interest in watching it. It follows a half brother of Tenchi's, who's origins I am completely unfamiliar with.
Beyond the continuation of the OAV series and print editions Tenchi didn't see any screen time again until 2014 with the release of the strange and off putting Ai Tenchi Muyo. The series was a mass of short episodes with varying plot lines that apparently interconnected in some cohesive manner eventually. It deals with Tenchi being sent to an all girls school by Washu so investigate the shifting ad chaotic realities. In all honestly I couldn't get through much of this as the plot lines were hard to follow and the fan service exceeded levels I care to deal with. Not that fan-service shouldn't exist....it's just holds no attraction for me.
All in all Tenchi hold's a place in my fandom, ever since watching Tenchi In Love back in the mid 90's. The story and characters grabbed on to me. Unfortunately most of the franchise has done little for me. The second Tenchi in Love movie is my favorite of the entire universe and I feel it puts a really nice cap on the story. unfortunately everything that has come out since then has devolved into tropes and stereotypes that didn't exists when Tenchi first graced out homes.
Tenchi is the a-typical high school boy. Self reliant, somewhat a loner and interested in girls. While he is a harem protagonist he fits into the chivalrous category and does as much as he can to preserve the dignity of the women/girls who surround him. He lives with his architect/pervert father, Nobuyuki, and his elderly grandfather, Katsuhito, who cares for the family shrine. His mother, Achika, died when he was young. Through most of the stories the family and harem reside at the remote mountain location of the family shrine.
While the story and origins have been told more than once the space pirate Ryoko tends to be the first one to make contact with Tenchi and harbors the most aggressive attempts to make him love her. She is typically portrayed as a space pirate of shifting origins and deeds. While being a brash outcast she could be considered the most dependable of the harem.
The other main female vying for Tenchi's love is his distant cousin, the princess Ayeka. She is the complete opposite of Ryoko in pretty much every way and their rivalry extends well beyond their equal desire for the title character.
To be honest he rest of the female characters are not really potential love interest's of Tenchi. Sasami is Ayeka's younger sister and looks to Tenchi as a big brother. The mad scientist Washu has no interest in pursuing romance given her extreme and in some series her sad past in that regard. The last pair of women in the harem are members of the Galactic Police and harbor no romantic feelings for Tenchi. They are smart and dependable Kiyone and air-headed Mihoshi.
Beyond the harem and the main family there exists a large and fluctuating cast of support characters and antagonists, typically bent on erasing or abusing the power that lies deep within the main character.
The original OAV's, Tenchi Muyo 'Ryo-oki' deal with Tenchi unlocking a long trapped mummy demon from the family shrine, who turns out to me Ryoko. Hundreds of years prior Tenchi's grandfather chased the space pirate to Earth and imprisoned her once defeated. He decided to stay on Earth and live a simple life. Ryoko being released drew the attention of the royal family and the police and hilarity/action ensues. Tenchi learns of his interstellar and royal lineage and has to decide if he want's to remain on Earth. This series was released between 1992 and 1994. A third series was released in 1998 and a fourth installment in 2016-17.
In 1995 the story was retold in a 26 episode TV series known as Tenchi Universe. it followed a similar plot trajectory but dealt with the characters leaving Earth for the royal families home world Jurai. A spin-off series called Magic Girl Pretty Sammy was derived from an alternate universe episode of the TV series. It features Sasami as a magical girl with Tenchi as her older brother.
The first theatrical film, Tenchi Muyo In Love follows the story of Tenchi Universe and hit Japanese theaters in 1996. A second film, which was more on an extended episode for Tenchi Universe, was released in 1997 and was titled Tenchi the Movie 2: The Daughter of Darkness. A third movie, titled Tenchi In Love 2/Tenchi Forever was released in 1999.
In 1997 the Tenchi story was rebooted a third time in the second TV series, Tenchi in Tokyo. This one featured Tenchi moving to Tokyo to study to become a priest and the girls hanging around to annoy him. His latent abilities and intergalactic lineage were not are central to most of this story. I for one didn't like it and never finished the series.
The Tenchi universe saw a 4th TV series in 2002 with Tenchi GXP and was unusual in that almost non of the main Tenchi characters appear in it. This series directed by the notorious Sinichi Watanabe, centers around a classmate of Tenchi's named Seina Yamada. Through a series of misfortunes and extreme badluck and misunderstanding, Seina, a normal human, winds up being recruited into the Galaxy police. The story runs parallel with Tenchi Universe and greatly ramps up the harem aspects. You can read a review of the series here.
In 2009 a second spin-off TV series, called Tenchi Muyo War on Geminar was released. I honestly have never had any interest in watching it. It follows a half brother of Tenchi's, who's origins I am completely unfamiliar with.
Beyond the continuation of the OAV series and print editions Tenchi didn't see any screen time again until 2014 with the release of the strange and off putting Ai Tenchi Muyo. The series was a mass of short episodes with varying plot lines that apparently interconnected in some cohesive manner eventually. It deals with Tenchi being sent to an all girls school by Washu so investigate the shifting ad chaotic realities. In all honestly I couldn't get through much of this as the plot lines were hard to follow and the fan service exceeded levels I care to deal with. Not that fan-service shouldn't exist....it's just holds no attraction for me.
All in all Tenchi hold's a place in my fandom, ever since watching Tenchi In Love back in the mid 90's. The story and characters grabbed on to me. Unfortunately most of the franchise has done little for me. The second Tenchi in Love movie is my favorite of the entire universe and I feel it puts a really nice cap on the story. unfortunately everything that has come out since then has devolved into tropes and stereotypes that didn't exists when Tenchi first graced out homes.
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