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

When Tenchi catches Ryoko during her battle with Kagato in episode 6, he tells her "I still have feet". This was Tenchi's way of reassuring Ryoko that he's not dead. In Japanese folklore, ghosts are typically portrayed as legless.

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Goofs

Kari Wahlgren was originally credited as as Kari Walhgreen in the first Dvd volume of OVA 3 that was released by Funimation. This was corrected in the second volume.

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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! Manatsu no Eve (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Talent For Love"
Written by Natsuko Karedo & Kyoko Matsumiya
Performed by Kit Thomas

User Reviews

The best Tenchi, and my favorite anime.

Amazing. Tenchi Muyo! is quite simply, one of the best anime out there (in my opinion, THE best). Why is this? It's certainly not because of the plot, which is full of holes (try to figure out the characters ages will lead you down a path to madness), it is currently incomplete (although the third OAV is on the way!), and there are certainly a lot of other flaws that I could pick out, but this is the kind of story in which you get so wrapped up in, you don't even notice any of the problems. It's the characters that really make this show. There is a surprising amount of depth here once you get past the terminally light tone of the show. The fact is, however, Tenchi Muyo! is incredibly touching.

Basically the plot is about 17-year-old Tenchi Masaki, a young man with hidden powers who suddenly finds himself surrounded by beautiful women from all over the universe who are all in love with him! There's Ayeka, the reserved dignified Juraian princess (and her younger sister Sasami, Mihoshi the clutzy Galaxy Space Officer, Little Washu, the genius scientist, and of course Ryoko, the demon space pirate who is released from a 700 year imprisonment by Tenchi which starts the whole saga rolling. One of the shows virtues is that Tenchi never even tries to decide, and the group becomes like a family with a common interest... The character of Ryoko is what really meant the difference to me, a 2000-year-old demon who is somewhat vicious and violent, but is truly humanized in her love for Tenchi. I couldn't help but root for her, and the scene in episode 5 where she remembers watching Tenchi grow up is truly touching. I won't really go into any plot cause that's not really the point. You get into this show because its light, funny, and touching.

I can't recommend it enough.