I haven't been making many reviews, recently. I've been going through some personal issues, as of late. I was in rehab for a couple of months, because I got addicted to soap, but now I'm clean. HA! You see, that's how you start off the new year, son! Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki. My second favorite harem show next to the Monogatari series. At first glance, Tenchi Muyo seems like a trashy harem comedy that just happens to be a sci-fi. However, if you peel back all of the layers and take a deeper look you get...a trashy harem comedy that just happens to be a sci-fi. In all seriousness, Tenchi Muyo's story and lore is so unbelievably dense that you could use it as a weapon and bash the skull of a Puma. There's a lot to explore with this one. Let's get into it.
Many centuries ago, a horrible monster terrorized the planet and brought suffering to the entire world. One day, out of pretty much nowhere, a legendary warrior by the name of Yosho fought the beast and sealed it in a wooden sword and hid it within a deep, deep cave. That story is not inaccurate. Our main lead, Tenchi Masaki, wants to find that sword more than anything. You see, that story was told to Tenchi by his grandfather, and of course, Tenchi finds the sword and releases the dreadful monster. But wait, that monster turned out to be a super hot kawaii desu ne girl. Ryoko, that golden godde- I mean, she's okay. I don't like her or anything. Y-yeah. That's what I meant. She has caused me to spill more seed than Muhammad Ali punching a birdfeeder. Don't fucking judge me.
Without her powers, Ryoko is pretty much harmless at that point, so they keep her around the house. She also has a pet/spaceship named Ryo-Ohki, who is just the cutest little thing. After Ryoko becomes part of the main cast, we're introduced to a gaggle of new girls who will be a part of the harem. You have Ayeka and Sasami Jurai. These girls are Juraian royalty with Ayeka being the older sister and Sasami being the younger sister. Ayeka is on a personal quest to find her older brother, Yosho. That legendary warrior I mentioned earlier, who was next in line for the Juraian throne. I don't know if "Juraian" is an actual word, but I'm keeping it in anyway. Yosho left planet Jurai to defeat Ryoko, since she's a space pirate and tried to conquer their home planet. Sasami doesn't do much. She typically keeps Ayeka under control when Ryoko pisses her off. She does all of the cleaning and cooking, and is just a genuine sweetheart. She also wants to see her brother, but she doesn't care as much as Ayeka. Next we have Mihoshi. Mihoshi is a galaxy police officer who is hunting down Ryoko. Ryoko's influence in the story really creates a domino effect for introducing these characters. Many of them would not even be in the story if it weren't for her evil doing. Mihoshi is terrible at her job and the only reason why she's in the position she's in is because she has family connections. She is such a blatant airhead and is probably my least favorite character in the series. If I had to say one positive thing about her, it would be that she's kind of cute. A lot of the women in this series are pretty cute, honestly. And finally, we have Washu. She's considered to be the greatest scientist in the entire known universe and is thousands of years older than the rest of the cast. OVA Washu is far better than TV Washu. I'm not sure why they did this, but TV Washu is just insufferable in the TV series, because they changed her personality. They gave TV Washu a very smug and egotistical attitude. She knows she's incredible and that's all she spouts. It makes her character more shallow compared to her OVA counterpart who's a lot more entertaining and humble.
I did a surprisingly good job not giving away spoilers. I will admit, a non-spoiler review of a series like this is not very convincing. I'm fully aware that harem shows have a bad reputation in the anime community. Please trust me, this one is exceptional. Watch season two after this one, it does a better job at explaining the world of Tenchi Muyo and gives more context to the first season. And it even foreshadows some future events later in the series. Sadly, it does go downhill after season two. Season three is the proper conclusion to the OVA's, so you have to watch it. Everything after that is a stupid cash grab that you shouldn't watch at all. One last thing, the OP for season one is awesome. It's just a sweet ass nineties jam session and I love it. I don't know who's playing that fretless bass in the background, but that person deserves a medal. My scores:
Story: 8/10
Art: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Characters: 7/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
