Despite his best attempts to do so, Tenchi Masaki’s new
life in Tokyo as a Student and Apprentice at a Shrine isn’t as peaceful as he’d
hoped. Still caught in the crosshairs of
Ryoko and Ayeka’s war for his heart, Tenchi finds surprising solace in Sakuya,
his beautiful classmate and our hero might be falling for her too. But Ryoko and Ayeka aren’t about to let a
newcomer steal their Tenchi. Meanwhile,
the mysterious Yugi and her underlings observe at a distance, causing new
disturbances in Tokyo for Tenchi and his friends and observing with invested
interest. Can Tenchi and the others look
past their own endless bickering to deal with a threat that has yet to reveal
itself?
Let’s start with arguably the biggest part of this set of
episodes: The Origin. We got a two part
episode (that maybe could’ve been one) detailing the very question I asked last
week: just how did everyone come together two years prior? The answer was an amusing and unique take
that saw Ryoko, Ayeka, Sasami, Washu, Mihoshi and Kiyone all crash land on
Earth at the same time. We had Ryoko
partnered up with Washu, running away from a heist while being pursued by
everyone else. This is probably the only
time Tenchi in Tokyo felt like original Tenchi so I can only imagine just what
happened over two years to give us the insane versions of everyone we have in
present day. Ryoko benefited the most
out of this as we got to see how her bond with Tenchi formed out of guilt from
the latter nearly killing Ryoko when she went berserk. While shown in a flashback montage, we did
see that Tenchi sat in with Ryoko constantly while she healed, hoping to get
her forgiveness and make it up to her as best he could. It’s moments like this, and something that
came later, that reminded me why I always root for Ryoko to be Tenchi’s main
girl.
The Ryoko and Tenchi magic continued later on when Ryoko
appeared in Tokyo to take Tenchi on a date.
To my immense shock (and Tenchi’s), Ryoko went the distance…mostly. Her using makeup couldn’t hide her usual
“Ryoko-isms”. But even with the Tenchi
in Tokyo eccentricities she’s been given, the date still seemed like it could
have been a continued plot point from Tenchi Universe if Ryoko and Tenchi did
end up together past the finale. I know
that this more thoughtful and caring Ryoko might not last as there was plenty
of the hyper selfish version still around (I’ll come back to that). But for this one episode, it was good to see
Tenchi notice Ryoko trying to not totally crazy and take her up on a day of
genuine fun…even if that fun came at a surprisingly emotional cost.
Despite her Disney Princess Love at First Sight start,
Sakuya is growing on me a bit and I feel like part of that has to do with how
Tenchi in Tokyo has treated the rest of the cast. Sakuya might be too quickly in love with
Tenchi but I do buy that she really likes him.
She is full of energy but Sakuya isn’t trying to drive Tenchi up a wall
like everyone else back home. The only
selfish thing one could accuse Sakuya of is that she’s trying to muscle in on
territory being fought over by at least two girls…and in this universe I still
don’t think Ryoko and Ayeka deserve Tenchi given how cruel and greedy they’ve
been portrayed. At one point, the two of
them plus Washu, Mihoshi and Kiyone tried to steal money from Sasami cause they
were dirt poor…that might be the most despicable thing ive ever seen them all
do at once. The sad thing is: all of
this character assassination is sort of working. Sakuya’s sad acceptance that she isn’t the
one for Tenchi had emotional weight.
Even if she isn’t somehow tied to all the Yagi nonsense, it cant be easy
coming into a guys life when he has numerous other love interest with some
being stronger prospects than others.
Tenchi might have history with Ryoko and the others but Sakuya really
wants to try something and feels like a breath of fresh air for the guy worn
out by six girls constantly trying to jump into his pants and have them all to
themselves 24/7…well played Tenchi in Tokyo, well played.
But this is still Tenchi in Tokyo and the problems of last
week are still here. Everyones still a
crazier, borderline psychotic version of their former selves with few redeeming
qualities. Sasami might be the only
character who is even likeable and that because everyone tried to rob her in
the middle of the night. Of all the
origin stories in the flashbacks, I get why Ryoko, Ayeka, Sasami and Washu want
to stick around but I feel like Mihoshi and Kiyone have ZERO reasons to stay on
Earth. Everytime they’ve been around
they’ve felt entirely wasted, having next to little interactions with Tenchi
himself, or the plot could go by without them (anyone could’ve made that hole
in the giant they had to fight at the end of last weeks set of episodes). For all the good Ryoko got out of this set,
there was still plenty of terribleness to her character. Case in point, Ryoko nearly pummeling Sakuya
when she thought she’d stolen the gems given to Team Tenchi…while Ayeka
actually backed up Ryoko’s claim just to get Sakuya out of their love square
with Tenchi. That’s just low, even for
Ryoko and especially Ayeka and she isn’t even my favorite character by any
stretch in any series. I don’t like how
Tenchi in Tokyo is treating this cast I’ve looked at quite fondly for two other
series just for the sake of humor that isn’t funny.
Speaking of the crystals, those were the least addressed
element of the origin story. Tenchi says
they belonged to his Mom and apparently they can become a special sword that
Tenchi used to fend off Berserker Ryoko.
Nothing more is made of it and the crystals splitting into seven shards
for each of the main cast isn’t explained either. I guess that’s being saved for later but it
bugs me we’re just supposed to accept this when we still don’t have better
reasonings for Tenchi’s new, non Jurai standing. Who does get a tad more clarification is big
bad Yugi, who got a bit more active trying to seduce Sasami to her side. We learned through a random discovery that
Yugi is tied to Jurai itself…in that she was a prisoner held there for several
thousand years until a bolder smashed her prison open. Oh and apparently while she observed Sakuya’s
heartbreaking confession to Tenchi, she actually shed a tear. It isn’t much and it hardly makes Yugi a
worthy adversary for Team Tenchi (her underlings aren’t much better either)…but
development is development I guess.
Any good that came out of this set of episodes clearly
isn’t enough to pull Tenchi in Tokyo out of the doghouse for me. At the very least it might be reason enough
not to award this show a super low score…for the moment. But anything could change between now and the
end of the series. But if Ryoko can be
redeemed a little (while being character assassinated further in other
episodes), there might be hope yet…I’ll stay cautious though. See ya Next Monday for more Tenchi in Tokyo
right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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