Sorry for the lull between reviews again guys, but had a lot on my mind to say the least. Anyway, let’s jump right back in with a series I haven’t seen in ages, since it aired on the Toonami block - Tenchi in Tokyo.
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) opens 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 though - 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 can’t really say there’s much going for this series early in.
The latter half is interesting enough, but 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 crazy 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, braves being a much better judge of these things than I - 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 (I believe that’s how braves explained it to me), 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.
I give Tenchi in Tokyo a 4 out of 10 - Not garbage by any means, but definitely not worth seeing if you’re not already a Tenchi fan. Gyt, out.
4 comments:
I think in my non-stop, 24-7 discussion of Tenchi, I haven't discussed Tenchi in a while...days even. ^_~
Regardless, good review here. I'm with you in that I like Sakuya. It is just unfortunate that I knew what was going to happen with her character from the moment she was introduced. :-(
I remember episode 10 being a favorite of mine, since it had the Ryoko-Tenchi date.
I loathed Yugi as a villain and what happened with her at the end annoyed me to no end. I wanted something more akin to a boot to the behind but oh well. *lol*
You are right about the animation and low-budget quality aspects of this anime. That was rather unfortunate IMO and just screamed that Pioneer and AIC didn't care about quality but only putting out another Tenchi title. I think TnT is what was the beginning of the end of Pioneer's involvement with the Tenchi franchise (other than retaining a death grip as Geneon Universal on the stuff they co-produced). Tenchi Forever did come out a couple of years later, but that was it.
I no longer have this on DVD. I sold it years ago to help pay medical bills and just haven't considered rewatching it.
Thanks for blogging this. ^_^
Hm, I can't say that I remember anything from Tenchi in Tokyo and I guess that's for the best judging from the review. While my rewatch of Tenchi Universe left me sour, I'd still pick up the OVAs if they were re-released.
And yeah, the OP has a serious problem when they went to record the cels. All they had to do was slide both of the characters' cels across the background and towards each other, but they managed to screw that up.
@ Astro - No problem. I had this written a while back after I initially watched it and never got around to putting it up till now. ^_^;
Here's hoping I actually do stick to my guns this time.
Yeah, having remembered the ending may have hampered some of my enjoyment this time, but I still enjoyed some of the early stuff, like the Ryoko-Tenchi date. Other than Sakuya, she would be my favorite pick for him.
I have a feeling you'll pick it up again eventually. It's a Tenchi title, it calls to you. :P
@ Braves - I still need to get and re-watch Universe, I recall it being my favorite Tenchi storyline actually. Though, I'm not sure I ever saw it in it's entirety either.
Yeah, it doesn't seem like it'd be all that hard, but it just looks wonky how it came out. I think ANB pegged it, it was about gettin another title out there on the shelves more than it was doing it right.
I forgot to mention in my earlier remarks that the ED theme for TnT is a favorite of mine. I think it is the banjo usage. *lol*
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