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Tenchi is your average kind hearted kid, who just happens
to live with a harem of alien girls. Living in a Shino shrine
with his father and Grandfather, Tenchi releases Ryoko, a
space pirate, and Sasami and Ayeka soon follow to live with
him. From an average life Tenchi is soon thrust into a world
of galactic strife and a house full of women...
This
box set represents the latest Tenchi offering and is
excellent value, given the amount of extras on offer. The
set consists of the three films Tenchi Muyo in Love,
The
Daughter of Darkness and Tenchi Forever,
as well as version three of the Tenchi Encyclopaedia.
When the evil Kain escapes prison he vows to destroy Tenchi.
The first thing our hero knows about it is when he starts
to fade. When Washu realises what is happening he erects a
temporal barrier to stop Tenchi disappearing altogether. Kain
has travelled back in time and intends to stop Tenchi from
ever being born; if Tenchi is to survive he must travel back
in time to 1970 to protect his mother. Back To The Future
anyone...?
Tenchi
Muyo in Love (1996) was directed by Hiroshi Negishi, with
music by Christopher Franke, who is better known for providing
the music for Babylon 5 and displayed many of the attributes
of the long running series. The main appeal of the show was
always its light-hearted touch, both in its comedic sensibility
and its attitude towards the characters. The story is Okay,
nothing that's going to blow you away as the plot device has
been used in numerous films before.
Audio
on the disc is English stereo, 5.1 or Japanese 5.1, with subtitles.
Picture quality is an excellent 1.85:1 print, with no noticeable
artefacts. There is a nice set of extras, especially considering
what you get on the bonus disc. There's the inevitable Theatrical
Trailer, TV Spots, and six pages of director's
comments. The interview with Christopher Franke looks like
it was originally a web cast, due to the poor quality and
that odd look that a poor frame rate gives you, but is still
a nice addition.
Tenchi's
life continues to be less than routine especially now that
Mayuka, another young and attractive young woman turns up
claiming that he is her father. Behind the seemingly bizarre
turn of events is a seven hundred year old demon that is using
the girl in an effort to enact her revenge on Tenchi's grandfather
Yosho...
The
Daughter of Darkness (1998) was directed by Satoshi Kimura
and in tone, pace and animation quality is indistinguishable
from the first film. For first time viewers it might all seem
a little confusing. Tenchi's tortuous continuity meant that
a lot of the films were relatively impenetrable to the casual
viewer.
Balancing
the shows plot gaps, and lack of context, are some fine moments
of animation and an overall feeling of wild exuberance which
the show oozes from every pore. The plot works well, especially
in the character of Mayuka who remains an enigma for most
of the show - never quite revealing if she is the threat to
Tenchi which some of the others believe, or an innocent victim
of an evil demon.
There is a nice selection of audio options with both stereo
and 5.1 English and Japanese tracks provided. The picture
is again crisp and clean with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The
extras are par for the course in an anime release consisting
of the theatrical trailer, a promo and the original Japanese
ending.
Following a fight, Tenchi disappears into the forest. When
he fails to return his father reports him as missing. Tenchi,
meanwhile, has woken up as a different person, older and married;
he dismisses his memories as fantasy and settles down to life
with Haruna. With Washu's help, Ayeka and Ryoko enter into
a parallel universe, but does Tenchi remember them anymore...?
Tenchi Forever (1999) was the last story in the Tenchi
continuity. Directed once more by Hiroshi Negishi, this is
an altogether darker piece than the preceding two films, you
get the feeling that the bittersweet melancholy, that the
creators must have felt about the ending of the show, has
been transposed to the screen.
The movie has less goofy comedy and much more drama. The portrayal
of Tenchi's loss on the other characters is very touching,
as is Tenchi's more adult relationship with Haruna. So, although
it remains a sad note to end the series, it still feels like
a worthy one.
Audio on this disc is only in English or Japanese 5.1, with
English subtitles. Extras are some line art and a couple of
trailers. The films print remains of a high quality, in line
with the other films in the set.
The main bonus in the box set is version three of the Tenchi
Encyclopaedia. This is a massive database of everything
Tenchi. From the main menu you can choose Personal
Files, which consists of biographical data for twenty
of the characters; two or three short animation clips of each
in action; and a varying number of stills. Under Visual
Records there are six commercials; four promos; four trailers;
two music videos; an interview with Mayumi Iizuka; six issues
of the American version of the manga; and three image galleries.
The content is generally excellent except for the manga which
is difficult, if not impossible, to read. After the plenty
that was Visual Records, the Geographical Data
is a bit of a let down consisting mainly of sketches of the
original locations, not great but a nice addition. Lastly,
we come to the Secret Files, which by the looks of
it is mainly those bits that wouldn't fit into any of the
previous categories. So we have some very interesting Pencil
Test's and Japanese trailer for Tenchi in Love II,
and some background information on the show.
To be honest MVM have really pulled all the stops out to make
this set a must have for any Tenchi fan, and great
value for anime fans in general. So the show is silly, but
that was the point, an honest attempt to make a show that
was amusing and sexy - without it being overly sexual - for
a teenage audience.
 
Charles
Packer
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