Tenchi Muyo! GXP

Original Title: 天地無用!GXP
Romanized: Tenchi Muyou! GXP
Literal: This End Up! GXP

Plot Synopsis

Harem show plot #3: Yamada Seina, a young, rather naive, generally nice boy from Earth, gets caught up in intergalactic mayhem at the Galaxy Police Academy, attracts the attention of several very attractive women from other planets, and spends his not-so-lonely days trying to either avoid their affections or keep them from killing each other over him. Oh, and there are also some space pirates with an unhealthy interest in any ship he's on.

But our young hero isn't just any old affection-showered schoolboy: He's known far and wide on Earth for having luck so bad that he's a plague to those around him, and he's about to introduce the unsuspecting GXP to misfortune like they've never seen before.

If you average it all out, I suppose he's just a normal guy.

Review

Rating: 1.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2002-12-31

I'm a huge fan of the original Tenchi Muyo OAVs, but not either of the later TV series, so I, as many others, have been eagerly awaiting a Tenchi series that actually follows the OAV continuity. As such, my checklist for any new Tenchi incarnation has, to this point, been:

1. Does it follow the OAV continuity?
2. Does it have the Tenchi magic?

My list actually should have included a third item, however:

3. Does it have anything at all to do with Tenchi and the gang?

Well, GXP manages one of the three, and adding insult to injury, it's #1. Yes, Pioneer finally makes a Tenchi series that most certainly is part of the OAV continuity, and it has absolutely nothing to do with Tenchi. Ryoko appears for all of two seconds in the first episode, the Masaki household and related folks are mentioned occasionally, and the main character, despite being of no relation whatsoever, is a dead ringer for a younger Tenchi (there's also a Mihoshi look-alike), but the only character from the OAVs who appears for any significant amount of time is the pink-haired loser from the the final episode. No Need for Tenchi indeed.

As if that weren't bad enough, GXP doesn't even stack up very well in the Tenchi-verse. By tacking this side-story onto the OAV continuity they set the bar pretty high, and GXP sure can't jump like that. To its credit, it's interesting to see some of the inner workings of the GXP and there are a variety of colorful folks, wild technology, and Earthling-torturing situations. However, the technology lacks that fanciful and imaginative flair, the nosebleed humor is quite a bit dirtier, and it feels more like the spin-off it is than a quality side story. Bottom line: The Tenchi Magic, GXP does not have.

But enough of my "It's not the OAVs" ranting. From a non-Tenchi-fan perspective, where does it stand? In a nutshell, on shaky ground.

All the basics for a decent harem show are here, and although there are plenty of in-jokes, you don't need to be a Tenchi expert to enjoy the series. GXP even offers a few twists on the standard inverted skirt chasing formula. But to be honest, the Tenchi in-jokes were pretty much the only thing I enjoyed. It has some funny moments, but for the most part feels like a Saturday morning cartoon with a 16-up rating--a lot of the story seems too childish for anyone old enough to be watching it. Maybe I'm just stodgy, and I'm sure there are plenty of male fans who'll have a ball, but other than bearing the Tenchi moniker and having an AIC touch, it does very little to distinguish itself.

The first thing you'll probably notice about GXP is the women: Compared to your standard harem-fodder they're significantly older (or rather, older looking--I don't think any of them are near the three or four digit ages of Tenchi's admirers). At least one features a far more sexually mature look and personality than I was expecting. This is a welcome change of pace, and coupled with a very young-looking hero makes for a rather interesting contrast. Unfortunately, the age (and experience) gap is so large it also borders on uncomfortable more than once.

Then there's the style of humor: Basic and a bit on the cartoony side. Our poor hero's terminally bad luck is the main ongoing joke (supplemented by plenty of nosebleeds, of course), and some of the early scenes involving his "problem" are hilarious. Sadly, impressively funny moments aren't as common as the first couple of episodes had me hoping for. More importantly, I found the first half of the series disappointingly lightweight; much of the humor seems to be aimed at rather young audience and the whole thing lacks both the substance in plot and the mellow "just another weird afternoon" scenes that made the OAVs so much fun even though they weren't spectacularly funny.

Put those two together, and you get back to my main gripe about the series as a whole: While the feel and style of humor led me to believe that GXP had a relatively young target audience, the nosebleed humor involves surprisingly overt sexual situations--one episode at least feels more like an H comedy than a TV series. The requisite inopportune interruptions to the Seina-targeted come-ons do happen, but usually too late rather than at the last possible moment.

I didn't like this for a couple of reasons, and I apologize if this comes across as Tenchi-fanatic-tinged ranting, but I've still got some to get out of my system. One, the maturity gap made things feel kinda weird; I wasn't entirely sure whether the women were actually interested in Seina (and if so... why?) or just playing with a borderline-pedophilic toy. More importantly, though, the titillating situations end up feeling unnecessarily dirty (something which the Tenchi OAVs somehow managed to avoid completely), and frankly less fun. Snicker-inducing, eyebrow-raising scenes degrade into blatant ogling and blunt fanservice, and once you've gone just about as far as you can and still sell it a TV show (even in Japan), there's too little left to the imagination. After a while, I started to wonder why our "naive" hero would even take notice of your average nosebleed moment anymore.

Again, maybe I'm getting stodgy, and the fanservice isn't the only thing in it, but I still thought it hurt more than helped. More importantly, it just isn't that much fun, so it doesn't matter even if I am a prude.

Ok, now I feel better. Where was I... oh, the visuals:

As far as the look goes, GXP is definitely a Pioneer series: Lively colors, reasonably good art, a variety of creative bits of technology (not nearly as effortlessly imaginative as usual, but better than nothing), and lots of very attractive (female) character designs. Certainly no complaints on that last one. The animation isn't spectacular, but good enough to get the job done, and there are a few humorous little scenes with wonderfully timed visual jokes. The music is similar: Decent if unremarkable background tunes during the series, but a lively, fun end theme.

The Japanese acting is solid all around, though the cast doesn't have anything close to the distinctive variety of the classic Tenchi cast. There aren't any standout voices, although I will give some points to Seina for the appealing way he resigns himself to his constant misfortunes without seeming either too depressed or overly cheerful.

In all, I just can't recommend Tenchi Muyo: GXP, either as a Tenchi series or on its own merits. Overly lightweight, not terribly funny, and a bit dirty to boot, it seems to narrowly miss the mark in every area, and definitely wasn't my thing. On the other hand, it isn't outright bad, either, and you don't need to be a Tenchi initiate to enjoy it, so if it sounds appealing or you're just curious, it's not a complete waste of time, and you might enjoy it more than I did.

Related Recommendations

If the fanciful technological flavor and fun romping of this series appeals to you, you'd darned well better be a fan of the other Tenchi series already--if you're not, go get some. Photon also has a bit of flavor in common, though is also all-around better.

US DVD Review

FUNimation's DVDs, regardless of the packaging (8 individual discs, 8-disc box set, or four 2-disc sets), include English and Japanese audio and English subtitles, but don't boast of any special features.

Content Guide

Parts are relatively clean, but I'd call it 16-up based on a couple of episodes. At the least, expect a variety of suggestive situations and a lot of borderline nudity.

Violence: 1 - There's a lot of fighting, but it's all pretty bloodless.

Nudity: 2 - A whole lot of skin in some episodes, but you don't technically see many "important bits."

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - At the very least, several naked massages and a lot of suggestive behavior.

Language: 1 - Apparently pretty mild.

Notes and Trivia

If you haven't at least heard of the Tenchi Muyo franchise, then you're probably not an anime fan. But, not everybody is an expert, so if all my talk of "OAV continuity" has you confused, it goes like this: First, Pioneer produced the Tenchi Muyo OAV series (two series, actually, but they pretty much fit right together). Everybody loved it. Then, they made a TV series (generally called "Tenchi Universe") that involved different versions of the same characters, in a similar but somewhat different plot. Everybody liked it. Then they made a couple of movies that sort of fit in with the TV series. Then they made another TV series ("Tenchi in Tokyo") that involved yet another unrelated version of the same characters, in an entirely different plot. Finally, there was a "final" movie. Plus, there's the random, completely unrelated (except for the fact that it involves yet another version of... yes, the same characters) spin-off series "Pretty Sammy."

Though each of those series has a following, most "True Tenchi Fanatics" (or at least the smart ones who agree with me) consider the OAVs to be the original and best incarnation of Tenchi Muyo (partly because of the very inconclusive stopping point to the story). This series clearly fits into the same continuity as the OAVs, but involves completely different characters, hence my violent knee-jerk reaction.

Also, in a small stroke of insulting irony, Pioneer did a little online poll a while back asking fandom "If there were a new Tenchi Muyo series, what universe should it take place in?" The OAVs won by a vast margin, but this being the apparent product leads me to believe that they'd already decided on a story and didn't really care whether the fans wanted yet another continuity or not.

Availability

Available in the US from FUNimation on bilingual DVD, currently in your choice of four 2-disc sets or a box set of the works. It was previously available on 8 individual DVD volumes.

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