For years Tenchi Muyo fans have been chomping at the bit for an affordable re-release of the eternally popular initial OVA (original video animation) that put harem anime on the board. Once the original DVDs released by Pioneer went out of print fans could only get the whole set for about $200 online, or, if they were lucky, find the used DVDs of Pioneer’s “signature” series (usually still at $25 or more). But! Funimation has rescued the franchise from oblivion and a new generation can enjoy the classic that begat multiple alternate stories, time lines, and spin-offs.
So, what is Tenchi Muyo? It’s the hard luck story of Tenchi Masaki, an average Japanese teenager. He’s so dull and straight-laced you wonder what kind of pheromones he gives off to be so desirable to alien princesses and space pirates. His life gets all sorts of complicated when he releases the demon (who really isn’t a demon) Ryoko from the sealed cave near his grandfather’s shrine. She tracks him down back at school after he returns home from summer vacation to reclaim the jewels that hold her power from the old sword hilt that was used to hold her prisoner. As if having a flying, indestructable and very ill-tempered woman trying to blow you up weren’t bad enough, enter Ayeka. Ayeka is the snotty eldest princess of Jurai (a planet far, far away) and she’s been traveling for hundreds of years in search of her fiance/half-brother Yosho along with her adorable little sister Sasami. Emperor Jurai, do you know where your children are? Between the pair of them alone, poor Tenchi can’t catch a break. When Mihoshi and Washu get thrown into the mix, things just go from bad to crazy and Sasami is the only one with any amount of common sense.
For an anime made in the early 1990’s, its animation has stood the test of time quite well. Not a lot of anime coming out these days can make that claim, much less claim a distinctive artistic style. Not only that, but it has one of the better English voice casts to come from that early generation of anime. Funimation, like with their other rescued re-releases, has left well enough alone on that score, which is awesome. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. (This also comes out cheaper for them.) It’s certainly one of the few shows where I enjoy the dub just as much as the original Japanese audio. It’s got decent background music, too, though the real gems there lie not in the BG music but in the soundtrack image songs, such as Ayeka’s “Call Me Queen!”
Tenchi Muyo took the harem comedy mold that the classic Urusei Yatsura (also with alien royalty and space pirates) set before it and broke it apart. It remains a fun show for old and new anime fans alike. Bonus is that the set includes the Mihoshi Special episode, where we meet her long-suffering partner Kiyone, and the Pretty Sammy OVA specials, which later spun off into the nearly obscure Magical Project S. Watching this OVA collection will also make the events of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki more cohesive. Tenchi Muyo is truly among the classics of modern anime that I’ve always found to be fun to watch over and over.