Ranked #1496

Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki 3

*sighs* I have to begin by saying that I adore the original OVA. So, this review might be a bit biased.

I am huge Ryoko fan. I did not enjoy the fact that the producers threw in a "fiancee" into the mix especially when it feels like a lot of the fans of the other girls where cheated on by this decision. Most of the first 5 episodes have to do with us getting to know Noike and an overzealous brother of Mihoshi (this is pretty much the only romance we truly get to see panned out in the OVA). There isn't much of a point in this OVA to me. Except to shake things up and explain a little bit about the Great Goddesses.

The only thing that saved this series for me was the very ending of the 5th episode and the entirety of the 6th. As as true fan of the original OVA, getting to see the Goddesses in full force was a great treat. Also, getting to know more about them was beyond belief. If I was to recommend this part of Tenchi to a new fan, I would only send them to the end of the episodes I enjoyed and explained to them what happens in the other episodes so they just get to see only the great in Tenchi. Over all, I didn't like the series as much. The final episode was the best part about it. read more

Anyone who has ever so much as scanned my anime list here on MAL knows that I have a peculiar fondness for the OVA format of anime, particularly of that era in the late 80's and early 90's when the format was at its height. In a decade of being an anime fan, I've completed well over 200 series of this type, and to this day I still kind of prefer it just because of the superior quality you tend to have when animators can concentrate their time and energy on a small episode count.

That being said, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki 3 easily wins my nomination for Most Disappointing OVA Ever.

Maybe my hopes were too high. I did go into the series with certain expectations. It's hard not to have expectations when the first episode of the series is littered with unedited footage borrowed from its parent series. (See my MAL blog for a sample screen capture. Both images are mere minutes apart within a single episode!)

Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki 1 was classic, must-watch anime, and TMRO3 ep. 1 reminds us why: The animation in the original series was juicy and detailed, the story had a natural flow from one event to the next, the characters defined one another through their interactions, and there was plenty of action and motion that held onto our attention on the screen from the beginning to the end.

It wasn't Gone With the Wind, but it was decent entertainment. It knew what we wanted and it did the best damn job it could of staying focused and delivering the goods.

Ryo-Ohki 2 was not as focused. It was more episodic like the Tenchi Muyo! TV series, with lighthearted episodes centered around babysitting and Ryo-Ohki having a crush on Tenchi too. But it was still pretty good. Some episodes were pretty funny, and there were still fight scenes and energetic activity on-screen most of the time. Well… except for that last episode. Remember that episode at the end, where Ayeka and Sasami's parents came to Earth, and there were a bunch of boring introductions and talking that never really lead to anything consequential? Yeah... That episode...

Unbelievably, the events of TMRO3 march proudly forward in the footsteps of that boring final episode of series two. There are a lot of introductions. There is a lot of eating and tea drinking. We meet Tenchi's really dumb school friends, his long-lost sister, his dad's new (Earthling) fiancé, Tenchi's own Juraian fiancé, Grandpa's Juraian wife, Ayeka & Sasami's grandmother, Mihoshi's brother, Mihoshi's brother's fiancé. (I wish I was joking.)

From episodes 2-5, while all of these characters are being introduced, nothing really happens. A lot of cooking. A lot of eating. A lot of small talk and dry chatter about relatives. No sealed demons being unleashed from ancient shrines, no crazy invaders from space to chase them, nothing reminiscent of the best parts of the original series. There are a couple of token space battles in TMRO3, but they're small in scale and only last a few minutes before changing direction to something less interesting.

And what's worse, with nothing interesting going on and no real source of conflict to make them butt heads, the established cast become lifeless paper dolls forced into predictable, monotonous roles while the writers focus on the dry backstories of all the new characters. Ayeka and Ryoko only have a few mild, token arguments. Gone are the days of "You go that way, I'll go this way." "..." "...That way was a dead end you idiot!" Sasami does nothing but cook, play with Ryo-Ohki, and talk about loving Tenchi. Washu walks around and makes small talk with the Juraian folk. Mihoshi shows her tits a lot and is still stupid, but not in the funny way she used to be. It's literally like their souls have been sucked out and they don't care about living anymore. And actually, that's a lot like how I felt when I realized I'd just watched two hours of people eating and drinking and chatting up their in-laws.

Watching this series was a truly horrifying experience, and if I had known this series was this boring and ridiculous going in, I never would have bothered. The final episode is more mind-boggling and Evangelion-wannabe than exciting. (Giant white human monster hurr!) There's not a single episode I can really honestly point to and say "This was okay" or "This made it worth it". Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki 3 is a long, grinding parade of military grade boring, and it's only because the series invoked my admiration for the original that I feel bad about burying this sequel at the bottom of the ratings barrel. If you're looking for something to reignite your love of things Tenchi-related, this fan would recommend looking up some old manga scanalations or something instead of wasting your time on this snorefest. read more