Thursday, June 24, 2010

Tenchi Muyo! This ain't no kiddy anime.




Tenchi Muyo!
(Going old school, baby!)

Tenchi Muyo! (天地無用!, Tenchi Muyō!?), is a Japanese anime, light novel, and manga series created by Masaki Kajishima and Hiroki Hayashi about a boy named Tenchi Masaki, which has grown into a larger franchise. Along with the likes of Moldiver, Tenchi Muyo! Was one of the early successes for AIC, the animation company behind it, which went on to create El-Hazard, Battle Athletes, Oh My Goddess!, Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure and many other anime series. The generally accepted translation of the title is No Need for Tenchi, though at the time of its appearance it was also translated variably as No Heaven and Earth and This Way Up due to the original title's pun nature and multiple meanings.

Masaki Tenchi is a typical high school teenager... until he finds out a little bit more about his grandfather and his lineage. Who could have guessed that he was a descendant of a Royal family from an alien planet? Things get even more out of hand when the Masaki household begins to get visitors of every sort, including a notorious space pirate and the beautiful heir to the Jurai throne... both of whom have their eyes on poor Tenchi!

Tenchi is probably the luckiest guy in the entire world….er…galaxy! He’s got a household full of alien women but, I’m sure he doesn’t look at it like that. Now that I think about it….being annoyed by five women ALL THE TIME sounds pretty exhausting. Regardless, the characters are what make this series, in my honest opinion. The storyline is a bit lacking, weaves in and out of WTF moments as well. Muyo! is followed by Tenchi Universe (a basic re-telling of Muyo! and modification of the original character’s personalities and introducing new characters to the mix), Tenchi in Tokyo (Tenchi graduates and attends college in Tokyo...of course, the ladies of the household want to keep an eye on Tenchi while he’s away and interfere with his daily life as usual), Tenchi Muyo! GXP (WTFFFFFFFF) and Tenchi Muyo: Ryo-ohki (Further messed up and WTTTTFFFFFFF…at least they give the three goddesses some screen time). They are also movies that were produced as well; Tench in Love (basically about how Tenchi’s parents meet and get it on), Tenchi in Love (alternate universe where Tenchi totally sexes up this hot woman) and Tenchi Muyo: Daugther of Darkness (Tenchi’s daughter comes from the future and everyone’s trying to figure out who the mother is….bad episode of Maury or something).

All in all, Tenchi Muyo! Is a great series to watch every once in a while. Not intended for the little kiddies, unless you show them the Cartoon Network version then, it’s suitable. However, I recommend watching the original you learn to appreciate the adult humor more. Oh, did I mention that there is full frontal nudity in this anime?

Perverts.

3 comments:

  1. WOW I didnt know they made so many spin off's. Good read.

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  2. there are no words to describe how i feel about this series....i could live without it. but it seems to have a MASSIVE following.

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