Monday, August 29, 2022

Tenchi Universe Part 4 Episodes 14-17

Far across the galaxy, a change in leadership rocks the Planet Jurai and finds Ayeka, Sasami and Ryoko now wanted criminals.  When the Juraian Military comes looking for the trio on Earth, Tenchi and the others beat a hasty escape that results in trouble for Mihoshi and Kiyone too.  Now everyone on the run from the Royal Jurai Empire and the Galaxy Police.  There’s only one way to end this: get to Jurai and find the one responsible for all of this-the new Emperor Yosho.

For a series called “Tenchi Universe” a lot of the action and story has been kept pretty local, on Earth.  Well this week that changes as the third, and last, major arc of Tenchi Universe, The Space Arc, kicks off with a big change in the status quo before returning to the usual formula, just in space now instead of on Earth.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved the slice of life approach Tenchi Universe has taken to the characters and the series overall so far.  It’s really helped it stand apart from its far more complex OVA counterpart.  But now that a new game changer has been introduced and the series is changing locations and upping the urgency, does it feel wrong that the same old, same old isn’t really stacking up against the more serious elements?
 
Our new direction for Team Tenchi finds Ayeka and Sasami wanted for treason by their home planet, Jurai, courtesy of a long lost warrior suddenly reappearing and taking the throne.  Ok, my moneys on this being Kagato or some version of him cause im pretty sure Katushito’s Yosho role is still intact from the OVA, minus the icky Ayeka love interest angle.  It’s interesting how fast the planet turned on its twin Princesses, and what about their parents?  Less surprising is Ryoko being a target of the Jurians on the basis that, like Lina Inverse from Slayers, Ryoko being Ryoko is enough to put her on anyones watch list.  Still, now we have a main goal for the second half of the series: get to Jurai, clear Ayeka’s name and oust Yosho from the throne. 
 
The first two episodes of this new start point are great with a tone shift that’s serious but still retains the fun and levity of the first half on Earth.  We get to see Tenchi finally put that sword training with his grandfather to use taking down an entire Juraian guard squad.  Kid is no pushover, even when his own series really wants to make it seem that way.  The rescue of Ayeka, Sasami and Ryoko also gave us the pretty boss execution of having Ryo-Ohki transform inside the Jurai Ship as a means of escape.  There was also added tension on the Galaxy Police front as Kiyone and Mihoshi found their HQ had been infiltrated by members of Jurian Secret Service (or whatever they are).  Mihoshi coming to the rescue gave the normally bumbling beauty a chance to do something that she couldn’t screw up.  That sounds too mean, I like Mihoshi and despite her being a walking disaster, she’s there when it counts and Kiyone owes her for the save, even if her career is kind of in the toilet right now.
 
So after all this excitement, it’s made clear the gangs not getting to Jurai anytime soon.  While it hasn’t been outright explained it looks like hyperdrive and warp speed and the like aren’t that common in Tenchi.  So the journeys gonna take a while…so it’s back to the normalcy of comedy in space and I have mixed feelings about this.  The first of the last two episodes in this set had some amusing bits with the gang having to open a bar to make money for fuel, overcharging Nagi for a single drink, and enjoying some Karaoke together, it was classic Tenchi fun.  The last episode though, Ryoko’s mission to get food, could’ve been ignored altogether without anything lost.  As much as I love Ryoko, she’s still an incredibly selfish person…so naturally if she was sent to buy food for the starving crew, she’d just goof off regardless of the wellbeing of her so called friends.  I could just throw shade at Tenchi and Ayeka for not going with Ryoko to make sure she stayed on task.  But after the growth we’ve seen from Ryoko in the Time and Space Adventure Arc and her first series run in with Nagi, I guess I expected more from Ryoko…not out right maturity but definitely not living it up while the others are about to die of starvation.  And on top of that, the episode dragged like nothing else so far has.  So yeah, Ryoko’s food run could’ve been cut without consequence.
 
As I said, no ones getting to Jurai tomorrow.  So I hope we get to see some more good Tenchi humor among the stars, even if it downplays some of the new urgency of why the gang needs to get to their destination.  Then again, you know the old saying, “It’s about the journey, not the destination.”  Here’s hoping it’ll be worth the wait.  Tenchi Universe’s galactic odyssey continues Next Monday right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.

No comments:

Post a Comment