My thoughts on Ai Tenchi Muyo!

THIS IS ENTIRELY OPINION BASED. THE REASON I’M POSTING THIS IS SOMEONE WANTED TO KNOW WHAT I PERSONALLY THOUGHT OF THE SHOW. IF YOU DON’T AGREE WITH ME, THAT’S FINE, BUT DON’T POST HATE ABOUT IT LIKE A CRYBABY.

We good? We cool? Now gimme five.

So the newest addition to the Tenchi Multiverse has come and gone and after a few months of it sinking into Internet trending, I decided to give it my absolute honest thoughts to such a show to exist.

*Large inhale*

Meh.

That’s it. That’s my thought. Of course it’s only a short summary (one can’t get any shorter than that) so to enlighten you all… yo’all… Y’all, I’m gonna go more in-depth to reason on such a summary.

PROS: I just want to say up front, right now, that as much backlashing as I can (and will) give the show I will say that it tried. It tried to rekindle the nostalgic feeling given from Tenchi of old, and for that alone I’d give good marks for effort (Unlike some other series with the title sake) on top of that, a good amount of the time the writing does rather well in bringing me back to the reason I loved Tenchi in the first place, and not just with old characters; the newcomers and the way they interact and develop fit them right into the atmosphere of how a Tenchi show should be about. Sure, old Tenchi had fan service and odd plot points, but it was the deep Cultural atmosphere that brought me in and the humor and slapstick that kept me invested. The same goes for Ai Tenchi.

Then there’s Ukan, who may be the most outstanding of all the characters. Not because I liked her, but because I hated her, and the show made me feel horrible for it. Let me explain; throughout the first half of the series, I was expecting Ukan to be the final boss type (like Kagato) and that she was causing the rifts to create her own little world to command. But then came the reveal that she was working for the Galaxy Police, the realization hit me like a ton of bricks; She’s not wearing the pants in this operation! She’s Just a Pawn! This is an example of creating a great character; one that will break all boundaries and question the very ideals of the audience.

I could keep going on with Ukan, saying how she duped us into falling for the trap of ‘Conclusion jumping’, but I want to end this section with a few more neat little nuances of the series, like all the nods to Tenchi series past (that I won’t list down) and even the names of the new characters; the best one I think is Hachiko, named after an old Japanese Rescue dog, rather fitting. My favourite moments of the entire series will be towards the end, when a relieved Ryoko has Tenchi in her arms (I swore I could see her Blushing!!) and the Beauty contest; an annual event partaken by Junai’s (supposedly) most glamourous beauty queens… all beaten by Tenchi in drag. It’s like the writers took the cracks on the giant ugly block that is the Japanese anime Tabuu and filled them with trinkets that would surely stand out to those who know said trinkets well. This brings me swimmingly to…

CONS: For all the light hearted defence I can give to this series, the inner fan boy wants to be ripped out of my chest screaming “What have they done!?”. First and foremost, the designs; the moment I saw Ryoko’s new design I cringed, then I yelled, then I sobbed, then I cringed some more. I think I say for Most of the entire Tenchi fanbase (roughly 90%) when I say “Why did they change her hair!?” I get it, it’s 90’s hair, the trend died the moment The Simpsons became repetitive, but it was Iconic! You don’t change what’s Iconic! And this rant was just for one character; Sasami’s mini skirt, Washu’s Corset, Mihoshi’s Playboy outfit? What were they thinking!? Why was it so necessary for all these characters, who had lovably innocent designs, to be Fetishized!? Even the newer characters either show a cleavage or wear miniskirts! This is exactly the disgusting development that Haiyou Miyuzaki and the Me!Me!Me! Video are complaining about! It’s Sexual Depravity at its worst and it needs to stop! You think Tenchi got out of this Scot free? His Chin!! What happened to his adorably round baby chin!?

How could this show get any worse expectations than that? It’s set in High School! I HATE HIGH SCHOOL!! Not just High School in general, but High school in Media. Let me ask you this; when was the last time you got home from high school and immediately sat down to watch TV and catch up with a show set in the exact same place you just left? The answer should be NEVER!! The point of watching anything is to take a break from reality, not to be constantly reminded by it! But no, there’s High school media everywhere; Musicals, movies, kids shows, adult shows, videogames, anime! Was it really necessary for this show to be set in high school!? I bet you could have the exact same story with the exact same characters in a different setting; A café, A youth centre, A Public Bath, a Holiday resort, A prison hold, ANYWHERE BUT HIGH SCHOOL!!

And then there’s Momo; Peach girl herself. Dear sweet innocent little pink-haired Momo. I do not like Momo. She does not have so much a droplet of my sympathy. Just as Sakuya is everything wrong with Tenchi in Tokyo and Noike is that with OVA 3 and GXP, Momo sums up all of my discretion towards this show. Everyone is drawn to her, and the show expects us to like this girl because she’s innocent and childlike and will show off her peach-pink panties for the basement dwellers (You heard me!) You could argue that she matured during the political speech she had, but to me that only made it worse (Oh yeah! Politics In an anime set in Highschool; because apparently everyone does everything in that blasted school besides taking up an actual education!!) Hearing her talking about how we shouldn’t be afraid of falling in love reminds me of Bill Clinton, all for the wrong reason. She is right about one aspect of it; we shouldn’t be afraid of falling in love, and that it’s important to show it privately. But love has a time and a place, and that place is not in a high school, especially between a student and a teacher!

Most of the other newer characters I could also do without. Touri’s relationship with Sasami is just creepy, like even by Japanese standards. Hana is slightly less creepy, though she seems to be AIC’s answer to Panty; willing to get wet with anything. The most tolerable character in my opinion has to be Yuki; to me she’s a Japanese Dexter, with her short stature, cartoonish glasses and short orange hair. But even then I find a hard time getting over the cleavage of a flat chested girl no taller than a 14 year old.

Comparing this anime to many others before it has brought me to a gruelling conclusion, one that defends everything I hated of this series and answers the questions I would scream if given the energy; it exists because it’s Tabuu. Like Sonic Boom, the main reason Ai Tenchi exists so it can fit into the Tabuu of Televised media. But as I said before, it at least tried. This show filled what was untouched by Tabuu with that great, sparkling formula that made Tenchi Muyo stand out for so many people in the first place. Ai Tenchi Muyo is not the best in the series, but it’s certainly not the worst. We’ve seen the worst from Tenchi and this, if anything this is a step in the right direction, and if you really want to watch the series and come to your own conclusions, I see no trouble with that. But if AIC really want to bring Tenchi to its full glory, they are gonna have to re-evaluate everything they did wrong and get rid of it. It may not be ‘trendy’ or ‘hip’ or ‘successfully marketable’, but I say “Fuck the Trend!”

So that’s my thoughts on Ai Tenchi Muyo, the short answer is “meh” and if you want more out of me than here it is;

“It’s better than OAV3, but even that doesn’t say much”