The Masaki Household is rocked to the core when Tenchi
announces he’s moving to Tokyo for School and Shinto Studies. Naturally, the six Alien beauties living with
him take this very well…or not at all.
Despite his attempts to find a normal, quiet life, it isn’t long before
Ryoko and the others find a portal to Tenchi’s new home. But anxiety separation might be the least of
everyones problems. Something sinister
is planning something in the heart of Tokyo and has their eyes set specifically
on Tenchi. Oh and there’s a pretty girl
named Sakuya in Tenchi’s class who is immediately smitten with our hapless hero
in training. It’s a new city but the
crazy life of Tenchi Masaki is about to get even crazier.
What…what is this?
This is a Tenchi series?
Why does
it look so…ugly?
What’s happened to
everyones personalities?
Why is everyone
hornier for Tenchi than ever before?
Why
are we starting in the middle of something without establishing how everyone
showed up at Tenchi’s doorstep?
Who are
these weird Sailor Moon Villains sending Monsters of the Week after
Tenchi?
Where’s the Sword of Jurai?
Where’s Kagato?
WHY IS RYO-OHKI TURNING INTO A GIANT PINK
BUNNY MECHA!!!!???.............Welcome Dear Readers to the final chapter of
The
Tenchi Toonami Saga.
This, Dear God
Help Me, is Tenchi in Tokyo.
Like Tenchi Universe, Tenchi in Tokyo is meant to be its
own little…well universe…separate from either of its two TV predecessors.
The only difference is that while Tenchi
Universe used the roadmap from the first Tenchi Muyo OVA and expanded on it,
Tenchi in Tokyo sets out to tell an entirely original story devoid of any
connection to its source material outside of the returning cast.
As of right now, we know that Ryoko, Ayeka,
Sasami, Washu, Mihoshi and Kiyone have been living at the Masaki House for a
while but we don’t know how they got there.
Tenchi and his grandfather, Katsuhito, seem to have no initial
connection to Jurai and act as Spiritual Guardians than secret heirs to an
intergalactic kingdom.
And honestly, the
change to Tenchi’s lineage might be the least offensive thing about this
terrible opening act.
Let’s not waste
any more time.
First, the choice of artstyle.
While it wasn’t quite as pretty as the OVA,
Tenchi Universe still looked more like it than it needed to.
Tenchi in Tokyo (need to find a short hand
for that) looks so bargain bin its embarrassing.
Character designs are as horrendous as their
newly warped personalities and there’s an overly comedic vibe to everything…not
helped that everything is written, animated and edited together by one person
who is having the ultimate sugar rush in order to get this project done
literally at the last second.
This show
is ugly, pure and simple.
The girls
suffer from this as their attractiveness feels warped and dialed back (poor
Kiyone doesn’t hold a candle look wise to her sexy Universe counterpart).
Even Tenchi looks far less heroic than he
ever has.
Newcomer Sakuya probably looks
the cutest of the entire cast…but that’s kind of where any potential praise for
her ends.
Let’s talk about how the cast is portrayed in Tenchi in
Tokyo.
Now, this is a harem Anime.
So you expect romantic rivalries and several
attempts to be made to woo the gentlemen at the center of everyones affections.
Ryoko and Ayeka have been Tenchi’s main
romantic rivals since day one.
While that
aspect between them hasn’t changed, I have never seen them so freaking hot and
horny for Tenchi ever.
Tenchi Muyo and
Tenchi Universe presented strong arguments for both girls to be with Tenchi,
though Ryoko will always be my personal choice.
Here, it’s a miracle Tenchi lasted so long around them before he moved
to Tokyo partly just to get away from all the attention.
Ryoko and Ayeka aren’t simply trying to
romance Tenchi, they want to get him into bed and keep him there at all
times.
And God help anyone who gets in
their way or hinders their goals.
Honestly, this is the first time in any Tenchi series where, right now,
I don’t think ANYONE should end up with Tenchi out of the core group.
Everyones way too hyperactive and desperate
for Tenchi that the very act of him leaving to strike out on his own sends
everyone into a deep depression.
In the
past, Tenchi was a critical part of their lives but Sasami, Kiyone, Mihoshi and
Washu all had their own independent ventures.
But if Tenchi’s not here in this iteration, their world is boring and
they have to get him back at any cost.
What’s worse, they have a portal directly into his bed and you know
Ryoko and Ayeka will be trying to use that as often as possible…to the point
where Tenchi is actively trying to block it so he can have some freaking peace
and quiet.
Tenchi’s new animal magnetism extends beyond the girls
back home.
Enter Sakuya, who is set to
be Tenchi’s newest and most important love interest to date.
I didn’t like Sakuya’s initial intro: sitting
next to Tenchi in class and saying, “Hi lets be friends and im so into
you.”
That might work in Disney movies
but even they’ve evolved past that “love at first sight” mindset.
Sakuya sudden appearance raises red flags,
not helped by her matched “Tenchi will be mine no matter what” mentality that
she shares with Ryoko and Ayeka…who are certainly not happy to have another
romantic rival for Tenchi.
To what
little credit I can give, they do dial back Sakuya’s advances a smidge to allow
for her and Tenchi to have more build up to their inevitable romance and allow
Tenchi to like her naturally.
Sakuya is
cute and her character design is the only one that doesn’t really bother
me.
But that’s not enough to make me
like this series instantly, not even a little bit.
The last major change to the Tenchi formula I’ll touch on
is the Villains.
There’s a tiny spiky
haired blonde girl in another dimension, called Yugi, sending demons and
spirits to Tokyo for Tenchi and the gang to battle.
That ISNT Tenchi Muyo…that’s Sailor Moon,
Cardcaptor Sakura, even Power Rangers.
I
get not wanting to rehash Kagato and the Power of Jurai a third time but come
on.
This is series came out in 1997 and
even by then this was a played out trope (Sailor Moon was actually wrapping up
iirc).
Yugi even has three “generals”
who have various encounters with Team Tenchi.
What are their odds and ends and end goals?
Honestly, I don’t care, probably has
something to do with world domination or grabbing the energy from helpless
students at the nearby school or something.
Kagato for a third time would’ve been better than this barebones bargain
bin villain that Sailor Moon didn’t have time for during her five year show
run.
Tenchi in Tokyo is a mess right out the gate and I cant
believe we could potentially close out our year long Tenchi Toonami Saga on a
bad note…thank God we have The Movies to look forward to after this.
But first…ugh, we’ve gotta get through the
one of the most insultingly ugly looking Anime I have ever had to endure.
This is gonna be a tough one folks…see a Next
Monday for more Tenchi in Tokyo right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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