Tenchi Muyo: Ryo Ohki Volume 1
Hawkeye
Tenchi is anything but a normal boy. He’s found himself part of the bloodline of a royal space family, has caught the affection of a space pirate, and has become the fascination of a beautiful mad scientist. When he’s not fending off the ladies, he’s caught up in various nefarious schemes of those who wish to use his power for their own. Tenchi Muyo: Ryo Ohki carries on the Tenchi tradition in true fashion, even picking up the story line of the very first Tenchi Muyo series ever made.
The first episode, Visitor from Afar, reintroduces the fans to the characters from the first Tenchi Muyo. It recaps what happened in the previous series and tells how all of the characters met. It also gives the viewers a brief rundown of their interactions with each other. Tenchi also visits his father in an attempt to learn more his past, and a surprise visitor makes Tenchi wonder if his mother is alive.
The second episode, Fiancée, reveals that this strange new comer isn’t Tenchi’s mother, but the sister he never knew he had. However she doesn’t come bearing good news, in fact she only makes Tenchi’s life more complicated when she tries introduce him to his new fiancé. Of course, the girls of the house are upset and plot to ruin things. More secrets about his family are also unveiled to Tenchi during a chat with his grandfather.
Tenchi gets a bit over whelmed by the heat and the commotion the girls are making has a mild case of heat stroke in episode three, Strategy. The girls are banned from checking up on him and making him worse, meanwhile his new fiancé Noiki maneuvers the girls expertly into helping out around the house. However, is Noiki really Tenchi’s bride or is she simply sent there by Aikas grandmother to keep an eye on things?
The animation has a fresh updated look. It’s clearly more advanced then the previous series and uses a nice bright color scheme. It’s good seeing Tenchi advance with the times, but still managing to keep the original character concepts.
Almost the entire cast of voice actors is back, but there are some key characters missing. The voices for Mihoshi, Ryoko and Tenchi have been changed. Ryoko’s voice was fairly dead on, but the other two aren’t nearly as good as the originals. They’re tolerable but not as good as I would have hoped for. There also isn’t much to say for the music in the series. It didn’t overwhelm the scenes, but it certainly didn’t enhance them either.
There wasn’t much in the way of extras, which is disappointing but not surprising. Tenchi discs have never been known for giving a lot of fun goodies. The only thing of note was the character profiles, which were interesting and good for those who haven’t seen any of the Tenchi series before. It would have been nice had they had an interview or two, or at least a section about the first Tenchi Muyo series to give the new fans some back story.
Tenchi Muyo Ryo Ohki follows the same storyline as the very first Tenchi Muyo, which in my opinion was the best one. As most fans know, the first series cut off rather abruptly just when it was getting good. While Tenchi Muyo Ryo Ohki doesn’t pick up exactly where the series left off, it does refer to past events and offers flash backs for those who haven’t seen the previous series, making it also good for new fans as well as old. After Tenchi Muyo GPX, this series was a breath of fresh air. I have to admit I was vaguely terrified when I got the disc, after the horrible disappointment of the last series. But Tenchi Muyo Ryo Ohki gives the fans what they’ve been wanting, it goes into the seriousness of Tenchi’s past, has fun with the girls who are present, and offers snippets of plots and schemes in store for the gangs future.
Entertainment: 9
The story picks off pretty close to where the first series left off and continues on in true Tenchi Fashion.
Technical: 7
They need more extras on the disc, and I wish they had picked better voice actors for the three characters who had their voices replaced.
Overall: 8
DVD Features: Episode 1 Visitor from Afar, Episode 2 Fiancé, Episode 3 Strategy
DVD Extras: English and Japanese Extras, English Subtitles, Character Profiles, Trailers
