Classic Review - Tenchi in Tokyo

NOTE: Please keep in mind that this review is old, so while some editting has been done to make it read a little more timelessly, a lot of it is obviously dated. As such, where some things may be noted as 'spoilers', they probably no longer are.

Tenchi in Tokyo is the second TV series created based on the original OVA series, Tenchi Muyo!. Whereas the OVAs and the first series (Tenchi Universe) open up with Tenchi meeting the girls for the first time through a series of events, Tokyo opens up after the fact - the girls already know Tenchi, are living at his house, and giving him all kinds of mayhem and chaos on a daily basis. That's where things take a sudden turn through - Tenchi has to leave their small town and move to Tokyo, in an apprenticeship to a shrine-keeper there, to learn better how to take care of the Masaki shrine. The girls don't take to this obviously, forcing Washu to make an inter-dimensional portal to get them to Tokyo quickly so they can visit him. Things aren't exactly as they seem however - a mysterious girl named Yugi, capable of amazing psychic feats, seems dead-set on separating Tenchi and the girls forever. Making her task easier is a girl named Sakuya, who seems to be quickly capturing Tenchi's heart.

I can't say for certain that I'd ever seen all of this series prior to now, but I did remember before-hand that it's the weakest of the Tenchi titles. But, the same can be said for Dragon Ball GT in regards to the DB franchise. That being said, I wanted to give Tokyo another chance, to see how it would stand out with me now. What I found quickly was this - comparing Tokyo's status to the Tenchi franchise to GT's status with the DB franchise isn't fair at all. GT is actually enjoyable if you look past it's faults and just take it as another DB title. Tokyo, not so much.

Now don't get me wrong, Tokyo is worth seeing if you're a Tenchi fan, but do not expect much from it, especially not early in it. The first half of the series is done in a 'monster-of-the-week' fashion, each essentially being a stand-alone tale about Tenchi and/or one or more of the girls taking on some baddie sent after them by Yugi, with them none-the-wiser.

In-between these adventures, there are a few adventures that are great to see, like how the gang all met in this universe, and one that sets up for the later half, where Yugi directly confronts the girls at the shrine. Other than that though, I don't really say there's much going for this series early in.

The latter half is interesting enough,b ut only if you like Sakuya, which it seems most fans don't. To be honest, she's my favorite Tenchi girl, even if this is her only appearance. And it makes perfect sense to me that, with all the razy abnormal girls chasing after him all the time, Tenchi would be attracted to the normal girl. The twist involving her is a bit of a surprise, even with the hinting, but I can also see how that would ruin it for some too.

I'm normally not one to notice such things, but even I noticed the less than stellar animation for this title. I can't say for certainty, but I swear I see white lines at the top of some scenes. And the opening theme, near the end, has a particularly bad cel movement, where Sakuya keeps jerking around sporadically.

Overall, it's hard to say I liked this one, but I do plan on keeping it and probably even watching it again someday - so I can't say it was all bad. Again, if you like Tenchi at all, you'll probably like this at least a little. It is another fun romp in that world with those characters again, but other than that, it's not particularly memorable.

Tenchi in Tokyo isn't garbage by any means, but if you're not already a Tenchi fan, it's probably not worth seeing.