Tenchi In Tokyo Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2000-09-14 (updated 2000-09-14)
• 2.5 stars out of 5 (?)

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.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2000-09-14 (updated 2000-09-14)
• 2.5 stars out of 5 (?)

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.

The odd thing about this series is that it's obviously targeted at existing fans, but isn't connected to any of the other continuities. It has zip to do with any existing continuity, yet it feels like you're already expected to know who all the characters are. They don't bother explaining the entirely new backstories until a bit into it, and even then it's perfunctory at best. Not that it's new for Pioneer, but something really bugs me about re-using the same set of characters in a completely new story--it strikes me as either terribly lazy or shamelessly commercial that they couldn't even be bothered to cook up some new character designs and reestablish the stereotypes for a new story.

Anyway, putting that aside, this time Washu and Ryoko are stock space pirates, Ayeka is even ornerier, and Tenchi is more of an average guy, but fans should feel right at home. The noteworthy addition to the mix is Sakuya, a normal girl (she'd be more at home with the Kimagure Orange Road crowd), making for an initially amusing contrast to the usual harem. In fact, about the only thing Tenchi Muyo was missing was an old-fashioned cute girl, as opposed to the cute but extremely violent (or too young, or too dumb, or... whatever Washu is) potential mates that he's usually stuck with (we should all be so lucky). This addition to the cast makes for a whole new set of bizarre situations inspired by Tenchi's attempted escape, and some more down-to-earth romance.

Now, some fans may be as disappointed as Ryoko and Ayeka are at this addition, and in truth I would have to partially agree. Yes, this is a standalone continuity, but honestly most Tenchi fans have already picked a favorite mate, so it's a little harsh to go and fix him up with somebody entirely different. Probably worse, she's a very appealing character. She inspires a lot of funny situations initially, but doesn't really bring any humor to the mix, just relatively serious romance. What that means is that fans of Ayeka and Ryoko not only have to feel a little bad for them if Tenchi does something with Sakuya, they also have to feel bad for Sakuya if he gives time to any of the original crew.

The Tenchi Muyo motto is basically "the more the merrier," and the fact that this "more" definitely doesn't make for "merrier" was a real disappointment to me. Too bad, because I liked the character. It's just that her presence unnecessarily complicates the dynamic, and adds seriousness to a series that's otherwise leaning toward a more humorous mode. Otherwise, Tenchi in Tokyo is comparatively heavy on the slapstick, and there are more frequent cartoony touches and use of bits of SD style art. The two do not average out--it seems to be going in two different directions at the same time and is a bit emotionally confusing as a result.

Moving on. The character designs are slightly different (mostly in the eyes) from other Tenchi Muyo series, but not notably or detrimentally so. The art, as with previous outings, is clean, attractive, and well done, if somewhat simpler than usual. The animation is also a little lower budget than the previous TV series, but still reasonably good. What isn't the same are the fanciful locations, fanastic technology, and colorful costumes--there's a little of each, but nowhere near as wild or creative as in the past.

The voice cast is the same as always--great performances in the Japanese, and distinctive but somewhat miscast performances in the English dub. Sakuya is fine in both languages, and the two voice actors have strikingly similar voices (more so than any other cross-linguistic pair I can think of). The opening and end themes are certainly distinctive--a punchy rock intro quite different from the sort of music the franchise usually has, and a maddeningly catchy end theme belted out by the entire cast--even better than the TV series' hilarious outro.

Summing up, Tenchi in Tokyo is yet another very funny Tenchi series with all the great characters and bizarre situations that have kept fans coming back through continuous re-envisionings. It's also somewhat sillier than any previous series, and in my opinion hindered somewhat by unnecessarily serious romance, but any Tenchi fan should feel at home. Note, though, that you shouldn't start your Tenchi obsession here--even though this is completely unrelated to any of the other Tenchi series plot-wise, some existing familiarity with the characters seems to be expected. You'll be doing yourself a disservice by not acquainting yourself with the characters through either the OAVs or the first TV series.

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Related Recommendations

Obviously, if you liked any of the other Tenchi series, you'll enjoy this one. I wouldn't recommend starting with this, though; you might be able to figure out what's going on, but it'll be a while before you really appreciate the cast of characters. If you're looking for something a little different, Dual is a relatively similar harem show with the addition of (more serious) giant robots and El Hazard is in the same vein (and has its own random continuity issues).