Tenchi In Tokyo

Original Title: 新 天地無用!
Romanized: Shin Tenchi Muyou!
Literal: New Tenchi Muyo! (New This End Up!)

Plot Synopsis

The time has come for Tenchi to leave home--he's off to Tokyo to training in the arts of temple caretaking with an old friend of Grandfather's. A new life, at a new school, far from the theoretical peace and quiet of the Japanese countryside. Of course, Tenchi's life was less than quiet, and going to school in Tokyo is practically a vacation compared to the daily catastrophes of living with Ayeka, Ryoko, and the rest of his harem. Well, would be a vacation, if it weren't for the fact that the crew isn't about to let Tenchi just leave. Thank goodness for Washu and her miraculous inventions...

Thanks to a handy dimensional tunnel that allows easy passage from the Masaki residence ceiling to the inside of Tenchi's comforter, Ayeka and Ryoko can visit any time... but things get ugly when they find out Tenchi's already found a new friend: Kumashiro Sakuya, number 3 on the "must date" list of Tenchi's school, and she's decided that Tenchi's going to be her new boyfriend (not realizing, of course, what kind of competition she has). Oh, yeah, and then there's this mysterious force passing the time by messing with the fates of Tenchi and his many loves...

Quick Review

Rating: 2.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2000-09-14

Another Tenchi series, another entirely new continuity. All the elements are here: superpowerful women, bizarre enemies, a love triangle (or square, or some more complex geometric shape, and not a pretty one at that), and poor, clueless Tenchi Masaki stuck in the middle of it all. Although there is no connection to any other Tenchi Muyo continuity, the series seems to assume you're already familiar with the characters--either marketing gone wrong, or writers so lazy they didn't want to bother reestablishing a new set of characters. Odd. Regardless, the series does spice the mix up by ratcheting up the slapstick and the violent personalities of Ryoko and Ayeka, and tossing Sakuya--a surprisingly likable normal girl--into the mix. On the negative side, it seems to be going in two directions at once--more seriously romantic and more stupid--and the two don't average out. The art and animation less impressive than previous incarnations, though the character designs have been adjusted a little and it's still reasonably good. The voice cast is the same as always--great in Japanese, distinctive but somewhat miscast in the English. Sakuya is impressively similar in both languages.

Tenchi in Tokyo is yet another Tenchi Muyo continuity with all the standard basics, with more silly and more romance to mix things up. Any fan should feel at home, even if it's below par for the franchise, but the unfamiliar would do better to start with the OAVs or TV series rather than here.

US DVD Review

The DVDs are rather minimal by Pioneer standards, particularly in comparison to previous Tenchi discs, but they get the job done. The discs include illustrated menus with access to the stereo Japanese or English soundtracks, an English subtitle track, and an English closed-captioning track (that transcribes the dub, rather than translating the Japanese literally). The only real extra is a few sketches of the main characters, although there's also a compendium of Pioneer's current and upcoming releases, with some text about each one. What there isn't is a scene index, though there is one on a card in the case. Some of the discs throw in a Tenchi in Tokyo postcard as a bonus in the box.

Content Guide

Pioneer calls it 13-up, which is about right on account of the occasional gross joke and bit of violence.

Violence: 2 - Plenty of fighting, but mostly very cartoony.

Nudity: 1 - The usual not-so-solid outfits.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - Nothing worth noting, other than occasionally raunchy jokes.

Language: 1 - Not noteworthy.

Notes and Trivia

This series sort of seems to follow the first Tenchi TV series, but it doesn't actually fit with either of the previous series or any of the movies (not that Pioneer has ever cared much about continuity anyway). Even so, some previous Tenchi experience seems to be a prerequisite.

Availability

Available in the US from Geneon (formerly Pioneer) on 8 bilingual DVDs. Formerly also available on 8 subtitled or dubbed VHS volumes.

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