Section 1.1: General Tenchi Information

 

What is Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki?

Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki started as a 6-episode OVA series launched in 1992.  It was created by character designer KAJISHIMA Masaki & producer HAYASHI Hiroki with the screenplay being written by HASEGAWA Naoko.  The success of this OVA series has led to an OVA Special, (the 7th episode, “Night Before Carnival”),  two additional, sequel OVA series (OVA2 with six episiodes and OVA 3 with six episodes and one extra episode), a canon TV spin-off-sequel series (GXP), and a canon spin-off-sequel pay-per-view/OVA series called Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari (or as it will be known in the U.S., Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar).  In addition, countless non-canon spin-off titles have been launched, featuring some or all of the original characters, but in different situations.

Who are the main characters of TM!R?

The main characters are as follows (in order of appearance):

• Masaki Tenchi
• Ryoko
• Masaki Aeka Jurai
• Masaki Sasami Jurai
• Mihoshi Kuramitsu
• Washu Hakubi
• Kamiki Noike Jurai

Mihoshi’s and Washu’s names are given in the Western way while the Japanese and Juraian names shown with family name first, then given name.  Juraians whom are partnered with a Royal tree gain the additional “Jurai” at the end of their name.

Who are the supporting characters?

• Masaki Katsuhito (aka: Masaki Yosho Jurai)
• Masaki Nobuyuki
• Masaki Funaho Jurai
• Masaki Misaki Jurai
• Masaki Azusa Jurai
• Masaki Rea
• Masaki Tennyo
• Masaki Airi
• Kamiki Seto Jurai

All names given in the Japanese/Juraian official order, family name first.  Those partnered with a Royal tree gain the additional “Jurai” at the end of their name.

How are all the characters related to one another?

The link below is an UPDATED family tree in PDF format, courtesy of Harinoue.

Canon Tenchi Muyo! Relationship Chart (PDF file)

If you’d like one that shows images of characters seen in either the OAV or GXP series, Tigercow (aka: Tigerstar) has created this family tree, seen below. This chart is not as complete as the PDF file from Harinoue, but it is nice to have some faces to go with the names.

What is the story of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki?

 OAV 1 — Episodes 01 – 06

• Episode 1 — Tenchi discovers the sword Tenchi-ken and frees the demon of legend (in actuality, a notorious space pirate) Ryoko. After over 700 years of imprisonment, her first act it to playfully attack him, resulting in his school’s destruction until Tenchi-ken defeats her.
• Episode 2 — Aeka and her sister Sasami arrive from Jurai on board Aeka’s royal tree-ship Ryu-oh looking for her half-brother and fiancée Yosho as well as Ryoko, who attacked her world. Tenchi gives one of the gem-balls embedded in Tenchi-ken to Ryoko (their former owner) who summons her pirate-ship Ryo-ohki. The resulting battle is a draw due to Tenchi-ken overriding Aeka’s control of Ryu-oh. Both ships crash back to Earth, destroying the Seto Bridge and landing at Tenchi’s grandfather’s (Katsuhito) shrine, leaving all three girls stranded.
• Episode 3 — Ryo-ohki’s computer core is reborn from the wreckage of the original Ryo-ohki and appears as a half-cat, half-rabbit creature. Aeka discovers flowers from Jurai on a walk around the grounds, then discovers that Katsuhito and Tenchi’s sword training is the same as those done by the royal family on Jurai. Tenchi shows her to the shrine tree, which she identifies as Funaho-ki, the core of Yosho’s royal tree-ship Funaho. She is able to witness the final battle between Yosho and Ryoko from Funaho-ki’s memory and now believe Yosho to still be alive.
• Episode 4 — The pirate Kagato destroys a Galaxy Police fleet on his way to Earth. Galaxy Police officer Mihoshi is in the Earth sector, but her ship gets trapped when a fight between Ryoko and Aeka turns ugly. The water monster Ryoko summoned is out of control and an energy vortex forms. The monster is sucked into the vortex, but Mihoshi is deposited. This leaves her stranded as well as her shuttle remains in the subspace vortex.
• Episode 5 — Kagato attacks, taking control over Ryoko and defeating Tenchi. Tenchi-ken flies to Katsuhito, who then defeats Ryoko and frees her from Kagato. He keeps Kagato from obtaining Tenchi-ken by throwing it and causing it to be embedded in Funaho-ki. Kagato retreats with Ryoko as hostage and Katsuhito is revealed to be Yosho. Ryo-ohki and Ryu-oh merge into a single ship to attack Kagato with Tenchi, Aeka, and Mihoshi on board. Kagato destroys the Ryu-oh portion where Tenchi was. The site is enough to cause Ryoko to generate incredible power from her grief that she frees herself from Kagato.
• Episode 6 — Sasami-chan runs crying to Funaho-ki where she speaks an incantation and enters Funaho-ki as energy. Ryoko, Aeka, and Mihoshi launch an assault on Kagato and board his ship. Tsunami rescues an almost-dead and legless Tenchi from space. She takes him into the tree-ship Tsunami, the most powerful in the Juraian fleet where she heals him. Mihoshi accidentally gets trapped in the mirror portion of Kagato’s ship and accidentally frees the famous scientist Washu, who’d been prisoner there for 5000 years. Kagato defeats Aeka and Ryoko in battle, but Tsunami sends Tenchi into the frey at his request. She’s forced to reveal her ship-form as she and her mirror image Sasami, wait. Tenchi is again defeated as Kagato cuts off Tenchi-ken from obtaining power from Tsunami. However, Tenchi activates his own power in the form of three Light Hawk Wings, something only Tsunami and her tree-children can produce (drawing power from Tsunami). With this, he defeats Kagato.

OAV 1 Night Before Carnival — Episode 07

•  After defeating Kagato, Aeka and Ryoko set upon the task of winning Tenchi’s heart. Washu performs experiments on Tenchi in her subspace lab to learn more about his powers until Mihoshi somehow finds her way in and brings the matter to a halt. Tenchi gives Aeka a seed from Ryu-oh, given to him by Tsunami. With this seed, Ryu-oh can be reborn as Ryo-ohki was. Washu has a special container in which to plant the seed. Aeka and Ryoko decide to get rid of Washu and Mihoshi as competitors for Tenchi’s love. They get Washu to extract Mihoshi’s shuttle from subspace so she can make a report to her supervisor at Galaxy Police. She does so, and her very detailed report is secretly reported to Jurai while the contents are hidden from others at Galaxy Police. As Aeka and Ryoko continue to fight over Tenchi, their battle is brought to a halt when Mihoshi returns and crashes into the house, destroying it. Thus the family is forced to sleep in Ryu-oh’s new container with the seedling tree.

 OAV 2 — Episodes 1 – 6.5 (overall, episodes 08 – 13.5)

• Episode 8 — Sasami enters puberty and becomes depressed while the girls have to learn to live with a baby boy who is staying with the family for a while. Washu reveals that she was married and had a boy of her own many, many years ago.
• Episode 9 — The family returns to the onsen resort that got heavily damaged in episode 4. A ghostly image is seen around the resort and Sasami appears more depressed than before. While the girls relax in the onsen, Tenchi flees there thinking he’s seen the ghost. When Tenchi’s father gets the lights back on, the ghost turns out to be Sasami, only her reflection in the water is that of Tsunami. Tsunami later appears in a holographic form and reveals that she and Sasami are the same person as Tsunami assimilated Sasami during Ryoko’s attack on Jurai to save Sasami’s life.
• Episode 10 — The method of how Washu created Ryoko and Ryo-ohki is revealed to be in part from a creature known as Masu. When Ryo-ohki-chan is depressed at not being able to spend more time with Tenchi, the Masu Washu has in her lab react to this and escape. While not evil, they are very powerful and dangerous and they could react negatively to Tenchi if they sense his power. Ryo-ohki-chan saves the day by joining with the Masu, thus she obtains a humanoid body of a furry teen girl, then a furry little girl.
• Episode 11 — A former colleague of Washu’s, Dr. Clay, has hijacked a powerful Galaxy Police battleship. He is working for a high-level being known as Tokimi-sama and at her orders, he is moving an entire galaxy to another location. He and his android Zero return to Tokimi-sama’s realm where they talk with another high level being, D3. Tokimi-sama grants them an audience and since she wants to talk to Washu, she permits him to go after her. On Earth, Zero captures Ryoko and assumes her form, but can not copy Ryoko’s gem, even with the power of Tokimi-sama. Clay decides to keep Ryoko for study on his ship. Zero-Ryoko takes Ryoko’s place within the household, but finds herself distracted by feelings for Tenchi. Clay orders her to kill Tenchi to remove that obstacle.
• Episode 12 — After Zero-Ryoko is unable to bring herself to kill Tenchi, Washu confronts her along with Aeka. Seeing Tenchi again causes Zero-Ryoko to flee in tears, so the girls (sans Sasami) go off to free Ryoko from Clay’s grasp. Aeka, Tenchi, and Mihoshi rush to assault Clay’s ship but end up trapped. Washu finds Clay and the captured Ryoko. Washu doesn’t appear to know Tokimi-sama, but Clay is determined to unlock Washu’s memory. While Washu has the ability to defeat Clay, she’s forced to concede as she waits for Zero-Ryoko to do the right thing. She does, and Clay attempts to destroy Zero-Ryoko as a result. Washu uses the moment to attack Clay, who sets off the ship’s self-destruct, allowing him to escape. The self-destruct opens a black hole, but Tenchi’s powers awaken and he and his three Light Hawk Wings overcome the event while rescuing Aeka and Mihoshi. Ryo-ohki captures Clay before his escape shuttle can get away. Washu convinces Ryoko to be joined with Zero-Ryoko, giving Ryoko a new understanding of emotions. Washu turns the captured Clay to Mihoshi to take to Galaxy Police HQ.
• Episode 13 — After dealing with Mihoshi’s report, three members of the High Council of Jurai are coming to Earth — Azusa, ruler of Jurai and his two wives. Funaho, Yosho’s mother, pays her son a visit where she forces him to drop his old man disguise. In their conversation, we learn that the gems Ryoko owned have the same power as Tsunami and that with them, Ryoko could generate Light Hawk Wings. Aeka and Sasami’s mother Misaki purposefully mistakes Ryoko as an adult Sasami and uses it as an excuse to cry and squeeze Ryoko tightly while pulling her “rough” hair. When Sasami shows up, Misaki throws Ryoko into the wall and when Ryoko begins to tease Aeka over her reaction to her mother, Misaki gets rough with Ryoko again until Ryoko apologizes. Funaho returns to the main house with Tenchi, hoping to convince him to return to Jurai with them. Washu interrupts and sends Tenchi down so she can talk to Funaho. She refuses to aid Jurai with Ryo-ohki type ships (the only ship ever able to attack Jurai with success), but she also agrees not to help anyone else either, thus a truce is made. Azusa arrives and wishes Aeka and Sasami to leave. When they refuse and his wives side with them, Azusa will only agree if Tenchi can beat Aeka’s new arranged fiancée Seiryo, a rich, pompous man. Before the duel can start, Mihoshi returns from GP HQ and crashes into the lake, causing Seiryo to be washed away in defeat.
• Episode 13.5 — Washu is experimenting on Ryoko in her lab when Mihoshi comes in to report on what happened with Dr. Clay. Apparently he lost his memories concerning Tokimi-sama as did the Zero-Ryoko part of Ryoko. In the realm where Tokimi-sama resides, D3 and she watch how Tenchi generated Light Hawk Wings with his own power, yet only used three blades. Tokimi-sama addresses a humanoid male with five Light Hawk Wings, known as Z, not to harm Tenchi.

 OAV 3 — Episode 1 – 6 (overall episodes 14 – 19)

•  Episode 14 — Z destroys a fleet of ships invading Tokimi’s realm without breaking a sweat. Returning to where Tokimi-sama and D3 are, he remarks on Dr. Clay’s mission and shows images of Sasami and Washu. Here, D3 and Tokimi-sama witness Tenchi overcome the black hole and she warns Z not to harm Tenchi. D3 suspects Z is planning something, but Z isn’t concerned as he doesn’t believe they can stop him. Meanwhile, Tenchi reflects on how he met the girls in his new family before meeting with his father, who now lives in town. His assistant, Rea, is someone who helped raise Tenchi after the death of his mother. Tenchi’s father isn’t ready to answer the question of what happened to his wife Kiyone, but promises Tenchi to do so later. Z pops in and intercepts a transmission from Mihoshi. He modifies it before leaving again. Later Ryo-ohki gets lost in the woods and when Ryoko is forced to go get her, she finds a mothering instinct has kicked in, much to the surprise of the family. The next day, a visitor arrives, who looks exactly like Tenchi’s mother.
• Episode 15 — The visitor turns out to be Tenchi’s unknown sister Tennyo, who’s over 80 years old. Because she looks so much like her mother combined with her actual age, she’s been forced to stay away until Tenchi was old enough. She’s there to announce the arranged marriage of Tenchi to Noike, the adopted daughter of Seto, Sasami and Aeka’s powerful grandmother. Yosho’s wife Airi transports down, thus Tenchi is able to meet the grandmother he never knew he had, only he dare not call her grandma! Noike arrives, but doesn’t come to the main house. She goes to the carrot fields where Tenchi has quietly fled to work. The two work together without properly introducing themselves but eventually learn the truth. Later, Tenchi goes to Katsuhito’s residence where he sits with him, Airi-san, and Tennyo. Katsuhito reveals his true appearance and the Masaki family secret to Tenchi who’s amazed by everything that has happened that day.
• Episode 16 — Noike appears to do something to Tenchi during the night and the next morning, Tenchi falls over from exhaustion. Since Noike is a registered nurse, Washu puts her in charge of taking care of Tenchi. Noike quickly takes control over the household and keeps Ryoko and Aeka from moving against her. After Tenchi recovers, Noike takes him to her royal tree-ship Kyouko, an experimental 3rd-generation tree-ship who is as powerful as a 2nd-generation tree-ship like Ryu-oh. Tenchi is impressed, and Kyouko-ki is very excited to meet Tenchi. Meanwhile, Mihoshi’s grandfather Minami, the head of Galaxy Police, has secretly dispatched the Chobimaru, a Death Star-like ship he built, to Earth, commanded by Mihoshi’s younger brother Misao, who’s also in Galaxy Police. They fear for Mihoshi and will destroy Earth to save her. Minami learns that Seto-sama is aware of his scheme as is his sister Mikami, head of Galaxy Police Academy, but more shocking to him is learning that Earth is actually a primitive planet.
• Episode 17 — The Chobimaru arrives at Earth and a team of Galaxy Police Special Ops are given modified orders now that they know the truth of Earth. They must kill Tenchi and Ryoko while saving the members of the Juraian royal family as well as Mihoshi. This plan will be executed within 24-hours. Meanwhile Seto-sama arrives and meets with everyone. While Sasami and Noike prepare a lavish feast, Seto becomes ill and Washu treats her. She recovers when she begins to smell the good foods, and she and Washu retire to Washu’s Lab. Noike enters to pick up their empty snack plates when they suddenly find themselves in a subspace trap. Washu and Seto-sama are unconcerned, but Noike is. Meanwhile, Aeka and Ryo-ohki are caught in a similar trap on the shrine grounds where Aeka narrowly avoids taking a blast from her opponent and his mecha units. By the same token, Sasami attempts to enter Washu’s Lab, only to find herself caught in another subspace trap and face-to-face with Mashisu, the leader of the GP Special Ops team. Finally, Ryoko is ambushed at the same spot Zero captured her and finds herself in a trap. She’s unconcerned, knowing her powers can get her out. While this is happening, Tenchi and Mihoshi are surprised to find the house empty. Misao contacts Mihoshi, then invites the pair to his ship. Meanwhile, Ryoko’s GP opponent unveils some small mecha units that Ryoko dispatches with a blink. He then summons several large units, one of which connects with Ryoko and draws blood.
• Episode 18 — With the GP forces defeated, they, Tenchi, the girls, and Seto-sama all go to the ship Tsunami where the GP people are treated to some excellent saki. While Ryo-chan (in child form) parties with the others in Tsunami, Ryoko and Ryo-ohki continue to trash the Chobimaru. Mashisu and Misao have a romantic moment and Z realizes that Misao won’t do what he wants. When all is said and done, Washu asks Noike her name. Noike is puzzled but Washu is referring to the person looking through Noike’s eyes. Noike’s eyes go dull and as Washu screams a warning to Tenchi, a massive energy attack sends him into space where his LHW’s are activated and the devastation to the Earth is beyond belief.
• Episode 19 — Earth is mostly destroyed and Tenchi confronts Z. Z reveals the secret of the Choushin to Tenchi, but his attempt to kill Tenchi fails when Tokimi-sama stops him. Z continues to press in his attempt to kill Tenchi and is blocked by Tsunami-sama. He brings in the Counteractor, a force that can apparently counter the power of the Choushin. Washu-sama emerges after the two gems leave Tenchi-ken. Z explains more about the Choushin before being attacked by Ryoko and Ryo-ohki. He kills Ryo-ohki and is about to kill Ryoko when Tenchi saves her by coming between her and Z’s LHW. Tenchi is sent out of time and space where he then finds a young girl and rescues her. She refers to herself as Kagato and refers to Tenchi as “oniichan.” As Tenchi and “Kagato-chan” travel through space and time, they are separated and as Tenchi returns to his own time, an energy burst from the cut Z made slays Z. The Choushin attempt to contain the energy Tenchi is putting out as it threatens the multi-verse. However, the Counteractor begins to attempt to strangle Tokimi-sama, leading Tsunami-sama to discover the that Counteractor turns out to be Masaki Misaki Jurai, mother of Aeka and Sasami-chan. Tenchi-kami-sama emerges from Tenchi and converses with Tenchi, assuring him that the little girl he rescued is safe. Tenchi-kami-sama then calms the Counteractor down and they leave. Tokimi-sama loses focus with the Counteractor’s departure and the containment field is breached with a massive explosion of power. Washu-sama and Tsunami-sama are surprised but relieved that the universe is still intact, and then set out to repair the galaxy. They then explain their purpose to Tenchi and the girls, which is brought to a halt when Mihoshi discovers the egg of Ryo-ohki is hatching. Ryo-ohki Mark III is born and Aeka marvels that they are in the presence of the Choushin, yet no one finds it strange. The Choushin repair the space-time continuum and Tokimi-sama returns Z to his proper time, only this time he won’t be born with LHW’s. The Choushin then reset time back to the beginning of episode 14 where Tenchi and the girls retain their memories of what happened previously. Noike from the future along with Fuku-chan from GXP arrive in secret to modify Mihoshi’s mail to her brother, thus ensuring that the Chobimaru will return to Earth and that Noike will be a member of Tenchi’s household to live with her “oniichan.”

OAV 3+1 (overall episode 20)

• Episode 20 — Noike comes from the future and causes Tenchi to travel in time once more. Punishment is given to Mihoshi’s grandfather and brother for their roles in the attack on Tenchi’s home. Tenchi learns the secret of his mother’s death (Kiyone). Nobuyuki marries Rea. The link between Noike and Kagato is revealed. And Tokimi-sama (mostly in chibi-form) learns why her sisters enjoy their time on Earth.

What is Tenchi Muyo! Galaxy Police Transporter (GXP)?

Visit the GXP section for more information.

What are the other Tenchi titles?

Please visit the Tenchi Continuities section for more details here.

101 Secrets of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki?  What’s that?

Sometimes called Tenchi 101 or just 101 Secrets, or even 101 Mysteries, this is a book of questions posed to Kajishima-sensei about OAV 1 and the OAV 1 Special.  In addition, interesting extra materials such as unused storyboards and the like were included in the book (this is where fans first learned that Ryoko was with young Tenchi when his mother died). At present there are no official translations of the book and none are planned. Eventually, an unofficial English translation will be hosted here if all goes according to plan.

Some people claim 101 Secrets is nothing but a joke or that it is not canon.  Can you help?

I’m always glad to clear things up.  First, 101 Secrets is very much canon material.  The answers were given by Kajishima-sensei and while some of the answers were not as helpful (to avoid major spoilers), other were.  There are some legitimate questions about the accuracy of the fan English translation. True Sheol had planned to read the original Japanese book, but then real life set in and well, I’ve lost touch with him. As an owner of the book, I can say that the entire book was NOT translated, as it is much more than just 101 questions.

Secondly, the issue of the joke.  As best as we can tell, the answer to question 88 contains a tongue-in-cheek answer.  So you know exactly what I’m talking about, here is the translated version (translated by Nobutoshi Ito):

88. What has happened to the White Rock Fleet?

Answer:

All the crew were evacuated or rescued safely.

More details:

The White Rock Fleet, which tried to stop Kagato in ep.4, was completely devastated but all the crew escaped in safety. Kagato was just passing by and did not attack them. If he had done, all the crew would have been killed. Of course, Kagato did not care for their well-being, either.

This is an odd answer when you consider that the Spock-looking GP officer clearly looked like he was killed and the fleet was utterly destroyed.  In fact among English-speaking fans, this was heavily debated.  While I am unable to source this at present, it appears that Kajishima-sensei was taking a jab at American domestication of anime, specifically the title known as Gatchaman (aka: Battle of the Planets).

Briefly, this series was released in America in 1978 and massively domesticated the Gatchaman anime series to turn it into the cartoon known as Battle of the Planets.  The original Gatchaman was deemed as to violent for American children, so much of those scenes were removed.  However, this caused episodes to come up short.  Cashing in on the popularity of Star Wars, the American distributors inserted new animation which featured an R2D2-styled robot known as 7-Zark-7.  This droid would make hideous statments like, “the people flying the fighters are really just robots” or “don’t worry kids, all of the people in the city that was just destroyed were evacuated to safety.”  In addition, the stories were completely re-written so that instead of the battles taking place on Earth, they all took place on alien planets that all looked like Earth.

As I understand it, the Japanese were horrified at what Sandy Frank, the person who licensed Gatchaman for America, had done to the series.  As such, licensing agreements are now written in such a way to prevent an American company from doing what Sandy Frank did without their express permission.  This incident is reportedly still a joke amongst anime creators in Japan, thus explaining Kajishima’s answer.

It should be noted that some American companies do still heavily domesticate Japanese anime (4Kids being the biggest culprit).  Titles such as Pokemon, Cardcaptors (the American version of Cardcaptor Sakura), and other “kids cartoons from Japan” are examples of heavily domesticated anime titles in America. However, this is done with Japanese blessing.  That’s why Tomoya in CCS becomes Madison in Cardcaptors and Kasumi becomes Misty in Pokemon.

Who is KAJISHIMA Masaki?

He was the primary designer of the characters and the concept for the Tenchi OAV series (although OAV1 director HAYASHI Hiroki is also listed as a co-concept creator since he went with Kajishima-sensei to pitch the series to AIC, and he was instrumental in keeping Kajishima-sensei’s stories focused). Rightfully, Tenchi Muyo! in all its various incarnations, is the product of many, many creative minds, too numerous to list, but Kajishima-sensei is the man who started it all. His word is usually considered the final one on a Tenchi issue relating to the canon series (the canon consisting of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki, Tenchi Muyo! GXP, Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar, the Shin Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki (True Tenchi Muyo) novels, 101 Secrets, and the various doujinshi and other materials Kajishima-sensei has put out). He was not directly involved with the story/writing of the two first two Tenchi TV series (Tenchi  Universe, Tenchi in Tokyo) or any of the movies. For those series he is only credited as “original character concept designer” because as the OVA came first, he did design most of the main characters in the spinoffs.

Kajishima-sensei has created several other anime titles.  They are listed below.

• Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventures (TV series)
• Photon (OVA)
• Masquerade (OVA, hentai)
• Spaceship Agga Ruter (OVA, hentai, incomplete)
• Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari  (OVA, aka: Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar)

Is there any way to contact Kajishima-sensei?

Other than the Kajishima Onsen, the only way to contact Kajishima-sensei is through AIC, who has stated that he will only reply to messages written in Japanese.  If you can read and write Japanese and send him a message, let us know what he says!

Are there any pictures of Kajishima-sensei?

To my knowledge, there are only three as Kajishima-sensei is a very private person.  Considering the psycho nut jobs in this world who now blame Kajishima-sensei for their own inadequacies, I don’t blame him.  Here are the images I have.

The image below has been reported to be Kajishima-sensei at the 2012 Winter Comiket (C83). I am informed that in fact this is a troll image done by someone looking to do what trolls do. I include it for the record.