Monday, August 22, 2022

Tenchi Universe Part 3 Episodes 11-13

When Washu creates a machine capable of making alternate realities out of the users wishes, Ryoko and Ayeka cant wait to create their ideal realities with Tenchi.  But before you can say “of course”, the machine goes haywire, sending the gang into a bevy of alternate realities.  From Rashomon to Magical Girls; from high school romance to feudal politics; from endangered drifters to carefree thieves; the Tenchi Universe is about to explode in a big way…literally if Washu cant find a way to fix her machine and recover the others in time.

I’m gonna wonder why this wasn’t a movie.  The second arc of Tenchi Universe, aka Tenchi Muyo: Time and Space Adventures, feels like a 3-part cinematic event with Tenchi and the gang being flung into different realities of their own making.  Some are stronger than others, some are actually weaker than they should be.  But I’m here to break everything down about this fun little diversion before we jump into the much more serious, story driven arc next week.  Let’s take a looksee.
 
First off, let’s hash out each reality.  All five worlds were based around the Tenchi Gals save for Washu, who was sadly criminally underutilized.  Ayeka’s world saw her and Tenchi engaged in Feudal Japan…but Tenchi was still friends with Ryoko aka the Demon of Rashomon.  Kiyone’s world saw my second favorite Tenchi girl wandering into a town to start a new life before Mihoshi catches up with her.  Sasami’s World found the Tenchi Gang as high school students (with Mihoshi and Kiyone as faculty) and Sasami as a Magical Girl (with a talking Ryo-Ohki).  Mihoshi’s World featured Mihoshi married to Tenchi but a slave to the overbearing whims of her sister in law-Ayeka.  And finally, Ryoko’s world had Ryoko dragging a hapless Tenchi along on several bank robberies, Bonnie and Clyde style.  Meanwhile, Washu was working to repair her reality altering device and wiping out each world one at a time before she could properly track down the gang. 
 
Most of these short stories were fun little diversions but not all of them seemed to match the ideals of the characters who created them.  For example: Why would Ayeka and Kiyone have Ryoko and Mihoshi, aka the people they cant stand the most, in their worlds at all?  Ryoko’s fantasy saw Ayeka far away from her and Tenchi and not interfering, so she had the right idea.  Same with Sasami, who clearly wants everyone to get along a little too well but it was well within her character.  Probably the most disappointing of the five worlds is Mihoshi.  Why would she envision a life with Tenchi that was a major hassle?  Shouldn’t Mihoshi’s World have been the exact opposite of Kiyone’s and have the two of them together always without Kiyone raising too much of a fuss.  Plus since when has Mihoshi ever been in love with Tenchi?  I mean I kind of understand Sasami crushing on Tenchi since they do spend a lot of time together.  Mihoshi though? I don’t get it.
 
My gripes aside, these were some fun little mini tales of Tenchi Universe and each had their own charm and loveable moments.  Tenchi Muyo in a Feudal Japan setting is perfect and we got a great duel between Ryoko and Ayeka out of it.  Magical Girl Pretty Sammi is exactly as it sounds and while it didn’t focus on every Magical Girl trope, the payoff at the end was crazy and worth it.  Plus we got a talking Ryo-Ohki who sounded so cute.  I so felt for poor Kiyone, finding a nice life in a fishing town with that worlds Tenchi and the others, only to have to run off when Mihoshi finally tracked her down, my girl cant catch a break.  Ryoko’s was probably the most emotional as half of it was the world itself but then we had to close out this mini arc as well.  I’ve always seen Ryoko as Tenchi’s true love in every version.  Despite her penchant for fun and mayhem, deep down, Ryoko loves being around Tenchi and genuinely cares for him.  While Ayeka doesn’t have the Yosho baggage tying her to her romance with Tenchi, I still think she’s too high strung to really be his one.  Ryoko refusing to end her world because she thought Tenchi would come to like it is very much in her character, as is her coming to terms with this not being real.  The concluding scene with Tenchi and Ryoko enjoying apples back in the real world was a perfect way to close everything out and show that Tenchi and Ryoko could be a solid pair. 
 
Hm, thought I’d have more to say but I think I’ve talked about everything.  Hope you enjoyed this fun little diversion, cause when we return to Tenchi Universe Next Monday, looks like the fun carnival might be over…or at the very least the settings gonna see a major change.  See ya then, right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.

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