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天地無用! 魎皇鬼 [Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki] #7
No Need For Tenchi!, Volume 7: Tenchi In Love
A collection of stories about high school student Tenchi, space pirate Ryoko, Princess Ayeka and her sister Sasami, the scientist Washu, and Sasami's friend Ryoohki.
184 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1997
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48 people want to read
About the author
Hitoshi Okuda
100 books16 followersHitoshi Okuda (奥田ひとし) is a Japanese manga artist, most famous for his characterizations and stories set in the world of Tenchi Muyo!.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 2, 2020
Sometimes, I don't think I can put into enough words just how much I love the Tenchi Muyo! multiverse franchise, much less my love and adoration for the manga. And having recently rewatched the third OVA and come to the conclusion that 95% of everything in it is garbage, I've decided that in my heart, the manga is canon because it stays more true to the heart and soul of what the first two OVA installments were going for. This volume and its stories especially are no exception.
Let's start by covering some of the final points of the first so many stories. Among them, I do think the chapters "Phone Discipline" and "This Old House" are there more for the sake of the laughs and showcasing the various dynamics between the characters when antics get really wacky, though to be fair, the latter also gives a little more characterization to the Masaki home itself, which is nice. Both function as fun palate cleansers in-between the other two original stories, which, while fun, technically have a bit more of an impact when you take time to analyze how they showcase character depth.
Time to talk about the first chapter, "Puppet on a String". This one is absolutely meant to be more humorous than anything, what with Washu attempting to use science to bring out a more amorous side of Tenchi and collect data from his interactions with Ryoko and Ayeka, and of course, having the whole thing go awry. But the crucial thing to take note of in this particular chapter is that it captures in just a few sentences the true essence of who Tenchi himself is as a person. He makes a statement about how he likes all the girls equally and considers them family and that, that right there, encapsulates the core of his character and his character's theme throughout the franchise, all in just one panel.
While I have entire separate rants about the way the third OVA sort of stomps all over this original theme and renders it pointless, I'll save that for a different time, a different place. This is what makes the Found Family trope in Tenchi Muyo! work so well. Tenchi's grown up practically without a mother, at least for the majority of his life from the point of understanding and memory formation, and the addition of all of the girls to the family helps fill the void of a strong female presence in his life. He doesn't want to pick a love interest among them at this point in time, because he risks alienating the rest and thus losing all of them, in a way. His love for the girls is more familial than anything, because they bring to him something he needed, something he was missing and wanting in his life, and that's why he's happy to just have them in his life.
THAT is the core of who he is as a character, and I think the way Hitoshi Okuda executed this chapter is the perfect example of that to look to.
Now, as if I didn't wax poetic enough already (and let's face it, I didn't really wax poetic,) let's talk about the chapter "Defiance!" and how it's a wonderful example of the strength of Mihoshi as a character.
I will tout until the day that I die that each of the original core characters in "Tenchi" has/represents a unique theme that adds more depth to their character than people realize, and Mihoshi is no exception. "Defiance!" is a chapter that shows us an instructor from the Galaxy Police academy who drops in unexpectedly to evaluate Mihoshi's behavior while on Earth, as he has standing orders from her grandfather to find any excuse possible to bring Mihoshi back home. Of course, any of Mihoshi's everyday blunders qualify as excuses, and he makes good on the threat to take her back. However, along the way they encounter a rogue gang of space bikers, who are on a collision course with Earth. When the instructor orders Mihoshi to fire and destroy the bikers' ships, Mihoshi refuses and attempts to use their ship to slow the collision, in hopes of preventing any deaths at all. Ryoko and Ayeka show up in the nick of time on Ryo-ohki to assist, and the instructor is moved by Mihoshi's kindness and desire to do right by everyone that he allows her to stay on Earth and leaves with the promise he'll work her grandfather around.
And that definitely speaks to Mihoshi's personal theme, in my opinion.
Mihoshi is characterized by clumsiness and some ditzy tendencies, yes, but also by her unerring kindness, trust and optimism that she treats everyone with. Where many of the other characters have themes central to their personal growth, Mihoshi's theme is about how she impacts the growth of others, just by being who she is and doing everything with sincerity. This is not nearly touched on or acknowledged enough, even now; for years I've watched the fanbase treat Mihoshi as little more than the hot-but-dumb blonde bunny character, and it's disheartening when she's got so much more depth and impact than that.
-phew!-
And now finally, we come to the portion of the volume that's based on the plot of the movie Tenchi In Love!
This story takes place in the Tenchi Universe continuity, evidenced by the presence of Kiyone Makibi living in an apartment with Mihoshi separate from the Masaki home, as well as everything regarding Tenchi's parents. While I will rage at length about Tenchi's mother and heritage in the OVA continuity, I actually love and prefer what was done with his parents in this film and the TU continuity overall.
Here Tenchi's mother is a half-Juraian, half-human girl named Achika, and from either the art here or from screencaps from the movie, it's easy to see how well both she and Nobuyuki were rendered so that they both resemble their son. Additionally, while the Masaki Found Family travels into the past in order to prevent a mysterious disaster from befalling Achika and altering the timeline, we find out that Achika herself is quite the capable and brave, self-sacrificing young woman that Tenchi deserves to have as a legacy in a mother. Yes, she's adorable and sweet, and surprisingly a little bold, but the depth of her character shines in her self-sacrificing nature and her raw willpower when everything is on the line. She's an incredible character, and everything about this story is one that I still love.
Now that I'm done rambling, if I've not convinced you to pick up the manga by this point, then I don't know what to tell you. If you're just content to keep reading my reviews and you somehow made it to the end of this one, then don't be surprised if I get verbose and passionate again with future reviews.
Let's start by covering some of the final points of the first so many stories. Among them, I do think the chapters "Phone Discipline" and "This Old House" are there more for the sake of the laughs and showcasing the various dynamics between the characters when antics get really wacky, though to be fair, the latter also gives a little more characterization to the Masaki home itself, which is nice. Both function as fun palate cleansers in-between the other two original stories, which, while fun, technically have a bit more of an impact when you take time to analyze how they showcase character depth.
Time to talk about the first chapter, "Puppet on a String". This one is absolutely meant to be more humorous than anything, what with Washu attempting to use science to bring out a more amorous side of Tenchi and collect data from his interactions with Ryoko and Ayeka, and of course, having the whole thing go awry. But the crucial thing to take note of in this particular chapter is that it captures in just a few sentences the true essence of who Tenchi himself is as a person. He makes a statement about how he likes all the girls equally and considers them family and that, that right there, encapsulates the core of his character and his character's theme throughout the franchise, all in just one panel.
While I have entire separate rants about the way the third OVA sort of stomps all over this original theme and renders it pointless, I'll save that for a different time, a different place. This is what makes the Found Family trope in Tenchi Muyo! work so well. Tenchi's grown up practically without a mother, at least for the majority of his life from the point of understanding and memory formation, and the addition of all of the girls to the family helps fill the void of a strong female presence in his life. He doesn't want to pick a love interest among them at this point in time, because he risks alienating the rest and thus losing all of them, in a way. His love for the girls is more familial than anything, because they bring to him something he needed, something he was missing and wanting in his life, and that's why he's happy to just have them in his life.
THAT is the core of who he is as a character, and I think the way Hitoshi Okuda executed this chapter is the perfect example of that to look to.
Now, as if I didn't wax poetic enough already (and let's face it, I didn't really wax poetic,) let's talk about the chapter "Defiance!" and how it's a wonderful example of the strength of Mihoshi as a character.
I will tout until the day that I die that each of the original core characters in "Tenchi" has/represents a unique theme that adds more depth to their character than people realize, and Mihoshi is no exception. "Defiance!" is a chapter that shows us an instructor from the Galaxy Police academy who drops in unexpectedly to evaluate Mihoshi's behavior while on Earth, as he has standing orders from her grandfather to find any excuse possible to bring Mihoshi back home. Of course, any of Mihoshi's everyday blunders qualify as excuses, and he makes good on the threat to take her back. However, along the way they encounter a rogue gang of space bikers, who are on a collision course with Earth. When the instructor orders Mihoshi to fire and destroy the bikers' ships, Mihoshi refuses and attempts to use their ship to slow the collision, in hopes of preventing any deaths at all. Ryoko and Ayeka show up in the nick of time on Ryo-ohki to assist, and the instructor is moved by Mihoshi's kindness and desire to do right by everyone that he allows her to stay on Earth and leaves with the promise he'll work her grandfather around.
And that definitely speaks to Mihoshi's personal theme, in my opinion.
Mihoshi is characterized by clumsiness and some ditzy tendencies, yes, but also by her unerring kindness, trust and optimism that she treats everyone with. Where many of the other characters have themes central to their personal growth, Mihoshi's theme is about how she impacts the growth of others, just by being who she is and doing everything with sincerity. This is not nearly touched on or acknowledged enough, even now; for years I've watched the fanbase treat Mihoshi as little more than the hot-but-dumb blonde bunny character, and it's disheartening when she's got so much more depth and impact than that.
-phew!-
And now finally, we come to the portion of the volume that's based on the plot of the movie Tenchi In Love!
This story takes place in the Tenchi Universe continuity, evidenced by the presence of Kiyone Makibi living in an apartment with Mihoshi separate from the Masaki home, as well as everything regarding Tenchi's parents. While I will rage at length about Tenchi's mother and heritage in the OVA continuity, I actually love and prefer what was done with his parents in this film and the TU continuity overall.
Here Tenchi's mother is a half-Juraian, half-human girl named Achika, and from either the art here or from screencaps from the movie, it's easy to see how well both she and Nobuyuki were rendered so that they both resemble their son. Additionally, while the Masaki Found Family travels into the past in order to prevent a mysterious disaster from befalling Achika and altering the timeline, we find out that Achika herself is quite the capable and brave, self-sacrificing young woman that Tenchi deserves to have as a legacy in a mother. Yes, she's adorable and sweet, and surprisingly a little bold, but the depth of her character shines in her self-sacrificing nature and her raw willpower when everything is on the line. She's an incredible character, and everything about this story is one that I still love.
Now that I'm done rambling, if I've not convinced you to pick up the manga by this point, then I don't know what to tell you. If you're just content to keep reading my reviews and you somehow made it to the end of this one, then don't be surprised if I get verbose and passionate again with future reviews.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 7, 2019
2,5 stars
February 26, 2016
There's some backstory and then Washu starts up her 'love love' plan for Tenchi. Washu's plot is to have Tenchi wear something on his head that is basically cause him to be more attracted to Ryoko and Ayeka. Things don't work out the way Washu planned, though, thanks to Mihoshi's clumsiness.
A couple sales calls come over the phone so Washu redoes the phone. Now a person can listen to a sales pitch and then cause the seller's phone to explode. Tenchi tries to teach all the women the proper way to use a phone. It doesn't go well.
Then Washu comes up with a second phone, but Ryo-oh-ki gets affected by it. A giant carrot ends up in the lake.
A camera team comes to make a film about Tenchi's house but everything goes crazily for them.
Mihoshi's boss comes to check on her. He's actually coming to force her to return with him. Then there's an invasion of space bikers that Mihoshi doesn't want to kill.
The series then goes on to serialize the movie Tenchi in Love. It's about a time-changing thing so Tenchi's family will die and he won't exist in the present reality. Some of them go back in time to find out what happened and change it. There they encounter Tenchi's yet-to-be parents. The evil villain is Kain who has escaped from custody.
Kain arrives in Tokyo at the Tokyo Tower. His to-be parents are taken prisoner. The group works to save them and in the process Achika, his to-be mother, defeats Kain. Her memories, though, have to be changed to she doesn't remember (it would mess up the time line)
A couple sales calls come over the phone so Washu redoes the phone. Now a person can listen to a sales pitch and then cause the seller's phone to explode. Tenchi tries to teach all the women the proper way to use a phone. It doesn't go well.
Then Washu comes up with a second phone, but Ryo-oh-ki gets affected by it. A giant carrot ends up in the lake.
A camera team comes to make a film about Tenchi's house but everything goes crazily for them.
Mihoshi's boss comes to check on her. He's actually coming to force her to return with him. Then there's an invasion of space bikers that Mihoshi doesn't want to kill.
The series then goes on to serialize the movie Tenchi in Love. It's about a time-changing thing so Tenchi's family will die and he won't exist in the present reality. Some of them go back in time to find out what happened and change it. There they encounter Tenchi's yet-to-be parents. The evil villain is Kain who has escaped from custody.
Kain arrives in Tokyo at the Tokyo Tower. His to-be parents are taken prisoner. The group works to save them and in the process Achika, his to-be mother, defeats Kain. Her memories, though, have to be changed to she doesn't remember (it would mess up the time line)
October 26, 2014
About half of this book is one-shot comedy stories, with the other half being a manga adaptation of the first movie, Tenchi Muyo In Love.
The one-shots are... okay. They kind of simplify out what makes the characters interesting in favor of broad goofiness and sitcom routines. The best is the last, Mihoshi-centered one, and even that operates on the standard plot of "oh no, one of the cast has to leave!"
The adaptation is... also okay. The problem is, TMiL is a good movie - but good because of the sheer style it layers over a pretty basic plot. The manga isn't capable of replicating that style, so it moves through the plot as best it can. It's sort of like doing a MIDI cover of Queen.
The one-shots are... okay. They kind of simplify out what makes the characters interesting in favor of broad goofiness and sitcom routines. The best is the last, Mihoshi-centered one, and even that operates on the standard plot of "oh no, one of the cast has to leave!"
The adaptation is... also okay. The problem is, TMiL is a good movie - but good because of the sheer style it layers over a pretty basic plot. The manga isn't capable of replicating that style, so it moves through the plot as best it can. It's sort of like doing a MIDI cover of Queen.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews