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Tenchi Universe - Volume 1 - On Earth I

Tenchi Universe - Volume 1 - On Earth I

List Price: $29.98
Your Price: $26.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The OVA retold
Review: Tenchi Universe is a complete retelling of the OVA series, only with a few story changes, new twists, new adventures, and of course, new characters. The first new twist is the introduction of Ryoko and Mihoshi. Ryoko being found injured on the road under a tree by Tenchi, instead of in the cave as in the OVA series. Mihoshi appearing a lot sooner, trying to arrest Ryoko. At least the original characters haven't changed. Mihosho is still a ditzy, clumsy galazy police detective. Whose in the cave this time around? You'll just have to watch and find out. Charcter designs are the same as the OVA, but the animation is well ahead. Humour abounds, as does the action. You won't believe half the stuff that they get themselves into. A tremendous series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 10 Stars, not 5 stars!
Review: Tenchi Universe is the best Tenchi TV series. It stars everyone from "Tenchi Muyo!" and it's longer and better.
Tenchi is a teenage boy that finds two women from outer space. One of them is a space pirate, the other is a member of the Galaxy Police, looking for the space pirate Ryoko.
This is a fun series and I never tire of watching it over and over and over and over and over again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 10 Stars, not 5 stars!
Review: Tenchi Universe is the best Tenchi TV series. It stars everyone from "Tenchi Muyo!" and it's longer and better.
Tenchi is a teenage boy that finds two women from outer space. One of them is a space pirate, the other is a member of the Galaxy Police, looking for the space pirate Ryoko.
This is a fun series and I never tire of watching it over and over and over and over and over again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 10 Stars, not 5 stars!
Review: Tenchi Universe is the best Tenchi TV series. It stars everyone from "Tenchi Muyo!" and it's longer and better.
Tenchi is a teenage boy that finds two women from outer space. One of them is a space pirate, the other is a member of the Galaxy Police, looking for the space pirate Ryoko.
This is a fun series and I never tire of watching it over and over and over and over and over again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great For Any Tenchi Fan
Review: The only reason I've become an anime otaku was because of this series. It was the basis for my love for Japanese animation and its hilarious storylines.

Even though this series differs a bit from that of the OAV, you will definitely enjoy the endless humor extracted from the colorful characters and adventures they encounter. The story begins with Ryoko, who falls down to Earth after being chased by Mihoshi, a bumbling Galaxy Police officer. Tenchi finds Ryoko, who is suffering from a bad hangover. Tenchi reluctantly brings her home. Mihoshi eventually comes to live with them, despite her mission to arrest Ryoko. Mihoshi can be such a ditz ;_;. Aeka, the First Princess of Jurai, also comes to live with Tenchi and all the other girls follow. Sasami, the lovable girl with a hidden past. Washu, the brilliant genius. Kiyone, a determined Galaxy Police officer thirsty for a promotion. Even though she wasn't in the OAV, Kiyone is an essential part of Tenchi Universe.

I recommend this DVD for ages 13 and up. There's some mature content and jokes if you understand them. Especially when Ryoko trieds to get Tenchi in a cave, where Washu is imprisoned inside a meteorite. You'll love this DVD.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good enough DVD - but the OVA is superior
Review: The Tenchi saga retold, this series was made for broadcast television, and sadly, it shows. The animation is more limited than in the original OVAs, and the character coloring, while technically correct, seems too "Saturday Morning-ish". With 7 more volumes to go, the OAV is a much better investment.

However, this DVD does have its perks. The finger puppets included with the video are useless, but just the kind of kawaii(cute) extras otaku(fans) drool for. Also, like other Tenchi DVD's, this one contains lots of pencil sketches and the openings/endings sans credits. And if you're a Washu fan, take heart. She shows up by the 4th episode! ^_^

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Enter the Tenchi Remix
Review: There is a moment early in the first episodes of "Tenchi Universe" that is the key to understanding what drives "Tenchi Muyo!" in just about all its incarnations. The hero, Tenchi Misaki, and the space pirate Ryoko, are cornered on the edge of a cliff by a battle-mecha. All seems lost. Then the robot slips on a discarded soda can, flips over, and goes plummeting into the ravine below.

This is a very funny scene. In fact, it is even funnier the second time around, because by that time we have learned Ryoko can fly, project energy blasts, throw up force fields and do all kinds of other things that show up her crying out and cowering behind Tenchi to be thoroughly ridiculous.

"Tenchi Muyo!" (meaning "No Need for Tenchi!") in all its forms is about two things: behavior and defeated expectations. It is not about plotting, per se; none of the Tenchi TV series or movies are terribly thick with plot. They are basically about characters with Dickensian attributes -- Ryoko the pirate is greedy and lazy; Aeka the princess, haughty and self-important; Mihoshi the incompetent cop, good-natured and vacuous; and so on. But all of them do care about Tenchi, their somewhat gormless benefactor on earth, and the show is more or less about how their different forms of caring collide.

Seeing any of the other Tenchi series or OAVs is not critical, but it's useful for the sake of contrast. Like "Tenchi in Tokyo," "Tenchi Universe" takes the same basic characters and shuffles the situations around slightly to produce a different storyline. In the original OAV, Ryoko was the "demon" imprisoned in the Masaki family shrine; in this story, it's *Washu* -- but the changes are interesting and usually lead to developments that we might not have expected otherwise.

"Tenchi" is basically slapstick situational humor, but with some slightly somber touches. I always found it interesting that the one remotely sane person in the whole gang is Sasami, Aeka's baby sister, who runs around and keeps everyone else sane while they're all operating at cross-purposes anyway. She is also like Tenchi in that she sees some good in everyone -- even in a pathological liar, criminal, and con artist like Ryoko, which is saying something. In the same way, Tenchi finds it hard to actually tell Ryoko to just get lost -- she may be bad but she's got real emotions under her flirting and bluffing, and it comes out in the oddest ways.

As with other "Tenchi" stories, right from the start Ryoko and Aeka can't stand each other. In "Universe" this is set up through an amusing device where each of them relates an anecdote from childhood -- although both of them tell it completely differently, and it's probably a matter of speculation who's lying. (My money is on Ryoko, but that's only because she's a liar consistently, and not because Aeka is much better.) But the two of them are also shown as being in agreement on something: they care about this young man and will unite to protect him if they have to. Even if they wind up killing each other later. (Much to Tenchi's chagrin.)

I was reminded of the old Shel Silverstein song, about how some kind of help is the kind of help that helping's all about, and some kind of help is the kind of help we can all do without. The "Tenchi" stories understand that very well and spin great humor out of it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Enter the Tenchi Remix
Review: There is a moment early in the first episodes of "Tenchi Universe" that is the key to understanding what drives "Tenchi Muyo!" in just about all its incarnations. The hero, Tenchi Misaki, and the space pirate Ryoko, are cornered on the edge of a cliff by a battle-mecha. All seems lost. Then the robot slips on a discarded soda can, flips over, and goes plummeting into the ravine below.

This is a very funny scene. In fact, it is even funnier the second time around, because by that time we have learned Ryoko can fly, project energy blasts, throw up force fields and do all kinds of other things that show up her crying out and cowering behind Tenchi to be thoroughly ridiculous.

"Tenchi Muyo!" (meaning "No Need for Tenchi!") in all its forms is about two things: behavior and defeated expectations. It is not about plotting, per se; none of the Tenchi TV series or movies are terribly thick with plot. They are basically about characters with Dickensian attributes -- Ryoko the pirate is greedy and lazy; Aeka the princess, haughty and self-important; Mihoshi the incompetent cop, good-natured and vacuous; and so on. But all of them do care about Tenchi, their somewhat gormless benefactor on earth, and the show is more or less about how their different forms of caring collide.

Seeing any of the other Tenchi series or OAVs is not critical, but it's useful for the sake of contrast. Like "Tenchi in Tokyo," "Tenchi Universe" takes the same basic characters and shuffles the situations around slightly to produce a different storyline. In the original OAV, Ryoko was the "demon" imprisoned in the Masaki family shrine; in this story, it's *Washu* -- but the changes are interesting and usually lead to developments that we might not have expected otherwise.

"Tenchi" is basically slapstick situational humor, but with some slightly somber touches. I always found it interesting that the one remotely sane person in the whole gang is Sasami, Aeka's baby sister, who runs around and keeps everyone else sane while they're all operating at cross-purposes anyway. She is also like Tenchi in that she sees some good in everyone -- even in a pathological liar, criminal, and con artist like Ryoko, which is saying something. In the same way, Tenchi finds it hard to actually tell Ryoko to just get lost -- she may be bad but she's got real emotions under her flirting and bluffing, and it comes out in the oddest ways.

As with other "Tenchi" stories, right from the start Ryoko and Aeka can't stand each other. In "Universe" this is set up through an amusing device where each of them relates an anecdote from childhood -- although both of them tell it completely differently, and it's probably a matter of speculation who's lying. (My money is on Ryoko, but that's only because she's a liar consistently, and not because Aeka is much better.) But the two of them are also shown as being in agreement on something: they care about this young man and will unite to protect him if they have to. Even if they wind up killing each other later. (Much to Tenchi's chagrin.)

I was reminded of the old Shel Silverstein song, about how some kind of help is the kind of help that helping's all about, and some kind of help is the kind of help we can all do without. The "Tenchi" stories understand that very well and spin great humor out of it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Enter the Tenchi Remix
Review: There is a moment early in the first episodes of "Tenchi Universe" that is the key to understanding what drives "Tenchi Muyo!" in just about all its incarnations. The hero, Tenchi Misaki, and the space pirate Ryoko, are cornered on the edge of a cliff by a battle-mecha. All seems lost. Then the robot slips on a discarded soda can, flips over, and goes plummeting into the ravine below.

This is a very funny scene. In fact, it is even funnier the second time around, because by that time we have learned Ryoko can fly, project energy blasts, throw up force fields and do all kinds of other things that show up her crying out and cowering behind Tenchi to be thoroughly ridiculous.

"Tenchi Muyo!" (meaning "No Need for Tenchi!") in all its forms is about two things: behavior and defeated expectations. It is not about plotting, per se; none of the Tenchi TV series or movies are terribly thick with plot. They are basically about characters with Dickensian attributes -- Ryoko the pirate is greedy and lazy; Aeka the princess, haughty and self-important; Mihoshi the incompetent cop, good-natured and vacuous; and so on. But all of them do care about Tenchi, their somewhat gormless benefactor on earth, and the show is more or less about how their different forms of caring collide.

Seeing any of the other Tenchi series or OAVs is not critical, but it's useful for the sake of contrast. Like "Tenchi in Tokyo," "Tenchi Universe" takes the same basic characters and shuffles the situations around slightly to produce a different storyline. In the original OAV, Ryoko was the "demon" imprisoned in the Masaki family shrine; in this story, it's *Washu* -- but the changes are interesting and usually lead to developments that we might not have expected otherwise.

"Tenchi" is basically slapstick situational humor, but with some slightly somber touches. I always found it interesting that the one remotely sane person in the whole gang is Sasami, Aeka's baby sister, who runs around and keeps everyone else sane while they're all operating at cross-purposes anyway. She is also like Tenchi in that she sees some good in everyone -- even in a pathological liar, criminal, and con artist like Ryoko, which is saying something. In the same way, Tenchi finds it hard to actually tell Ryoko to just get lost -- she may be bad but she's got real emotions under her flirting and bluffing, and it comes out in the oddest ways.

As with other "Tenchi" stories, right from the start Ryoko and Aeka can't stand each other. In "Universe" this is set up through an amusing device where each of them relates an anecdote from childhood -- although both of them tell it completely differently, and it's probably a matter of speculation who's lying. (My money is on Ryoko, but that's only because she's a liar consistently, and not because Aeka is much better.) But the two of them are also shown as being in agreement on something: they care about this young man and will unite to protect him if they have to. Even if they wind up killing each other later. (Much to Tenchi's chagrin.)

I was reminded of the old Shel Silverstein song, about how some kind of help is the kind of help that helping's all about, and some kind of help is the kind of help we can all do without. The "Tenchi" stories understand that very well and spin great humor out of it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: TENCHI!
Review: This DVD, is a MUST for any Tenchi fan! So, Ryoko swears a few times. It's all part of the fantastic world of Tenchi! I especially like the part where Ryoko and Tenchi are in the cave alone...and they almost...! Curse you Aeka!


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