Tenchi Muyô! Ryô Ôki (1992– )

Tenchi Masaki is a normal high school student in Japan, who spends the summers doing chores around his grandfather's family shrine. One day, Tenchi manages to steal the key to a mysterious ... See full summary »

Creator:

Masaki Kajishima

Stars:

Masami Kikuchi, Yûko Kobayashi, Yûko Mizutani

Cast

Credited cast:
Masami Kikuchi	...	Tenchi Masaki
Yûko Kobayashi	...	Washu Hakubi
Yûko Mizutani	...	Mihoshi
Ai Orikasa	...	Ryoko
Yumi Takada	...	Ayeka Masaki Jurai
Chisa Yokoyama	...	Sasami Masaki Jurai
Petrea Burchard	...	Ryoko (voice) (as Celeste Burch)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dan Butler	...	Galaxy Police Officer (voice)
Zita Campisi	...	Innkeeper - OVA 1 (voice)
Lara Cody	...	Mashisu Makibi (voice)
Jennifer Darling	...	Ayeka Masaki Jurai (voice)
Debi Derryberry	...	Ryo-Ohki (voice) (as Marie Cabbit)
Mari Devon	...	Tokimi (voice)
Jack Fletcher	...	D3 - OVA 2 (voice)
Rebecca Forstadt	...	Mihoshi Kuramitsu - OVA 3 (voice) (as Becky Olkowski)

Storyline

Tenchi Masaki is a normal high school student in Japan, who spends the summers doing chores around his grandfather's family shrine. One day, Tenchi manages to steal the key to a mysterious cave where an oni (Japanese demon) is said to have been sealed away by his ancester Yoshou, whose sword still stands guard over it. When he enters this cave, he finds that, much to his surprise, the legend is indeed true when the oni's dessicated skeletal form ("mira"--Japanese mummy) comes to life and attacks him. Tenchi flees the cave in a panic, and later returns to high school, taking the hilt--seemingly all that remains of the ancestral sword--with him. At school, Tenchi is again attacked by the oni, whose name is Ryouko, who has now completely revived herself. Tenchi manages to defeat her with the sword's help, but this is only the beginning of a hilarious Japanese romantic comedy OAV (Original Animation Video, the Japanese equivalent of American made-for-video movies) series which has spawned...

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Plot Keywords:

sword | high school student | joy | demoness | spacecraft | 

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

25 September 1992 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-oh-ki

Company Credits

Production Co:

AIC Animate Film, FUNimation Entertainment, Geneon Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 30 min (20 episodes)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ryoko name is a common Japanese name, yet the kanji used to write it is far from being a common reading. Translated, Ryoko is "One who summons the spirits of rocks and trees". Ryoko tells Ayeka this fact during their duel in episode 4, when she summons a water elemental.

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Goofs

In Tenchi Muyo OVA 3 (which it was made around 2000) the sound effects, when you set your DVD language to Japanese, doesn't match the motions of the character at all. In the English one it does match.

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Quotes

Tenchi Masaki: What is that sound?
Washu: It sounds like Mihoshi's shuttle.
Washu: [Tenchi sits up pn his futon] This can't be good.

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Connections

Followed by Tenchi Muyô! In Love (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Tenchi Muyo! Theme Of Ryo-Ohki"
Written by Seikou Nagaoka & Kyoko Matsumiya
Performed by Chisa Yokoyama

User Reviews

Good , but a few adjustments would make this a classic.

With its active imagination and bright coulors , its easy to see why tenchi muyo is a firm favourite to many fans of Japanese animation . However , just because the adventures of tenchi and co are appreciated by many , that doesn't make it the best series you'll see. This isn't to say that tenchi muyo is bad , but it is to say that there are a lot of things wrong with it. Wrong things such as it being unoriginal : tenchi muyo borrows .. in fact , no STEALS ideas from star wars , urusei yatsura and sailor moon just to name a few. Another one of the shows negative factors is that it constantly moves from being sci-fi to a slapstick comedy to a romantic drama to an action drama , all very quickly , making the show feel uneven . Oh , and speaking of uneven , tenchi muyo doesn't keep the same pace throughout , resulting in a show that can be heart stopping and exciting some times , and just plain boring the next. And while we are on the subject of the shows bad points , ive got to say that the thinly veiled sexism that creeps up in the show is something that we could have done with out.

Wow . With all these bad points , it sounds like I hate tenchi muyo , doesn't it ? Well I don't , I think its very solid and its good qualities are very strong . One good quality is that from a visual stand point , tenchi muyo looks great - the animators and character designers manage to strike a good balance between cuteness and complex realism . Another strong point is that when the show is funny , it can get really funny , just like how it can get damn exciting when it puts its action gloves on , suggesting that being a straight action comedy would have definitely been the best way forward for tenchi muyo. But above everything the best thing about tenchi is easily its characters , something that any tenchi fan can agree with me on. From the destructive but sensitive Ryoko , to the eccentric Washu , the characters are developed and used well enough for you to care for them when any thing happens to them. And having characters that you can get behind and feel for is important in any story , anime or otherwise.

So in conclusion , it must be said that tenchi muyo has a lot flaws but still comes out as an intelligent and entertaining show that's definitely way above average . But if it focused entirely on action and comedy (its best assets) whilst still paying attention to character and plot then we'd be looking at a classic.

Knowledge gives this : 3(and a half ) out of 5