Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari – 01 (Tenchi’s Half-Brother Takes Center Stage)

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari OVA Ep. 01
異世界の聖機師物語 OAV Episode 01 (Pay Per View version)
War on Geminar – 01

Note: The review of the Blu-ray version, which had extra scenes, can be found here.

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari - 01The flying palace containing Princess Lashara comes under attack by a white bio-mecha unit — a seikijin. The seikijin is odd because it is solid white but it is a threat to the princess, so her seikijin pilot, Chiaia, gets into her own bio-mecha unit to meet this threat. As Chiaia battles, she’s amazed that the pilot is using an unorthodox fighting style. However, a second seikijin has penetrated the palace determined to kill Lashara. This seikijin’s attack is thwarted by another, unexpected seikijin piloted by Lashara’s talented mechanic Wahanly. Their fight takes them out of the palace where Chiaia realizes she’s fighting the decoy.

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari - 01Wahanly unleashes a new weapon she’s created — a cannon — which does incredible damage to the 2nd seikijin’s body. Another rare seikijin in black comes in and rescues the damaged seikijin as Wahanly blasts away at it. Meanwhile, Chiaia continues her battle with the white seikijin and is joined by Wahanly. Together, they defeat the white seikijin but the young male pilot escapes, having been ordered to kill Lashara. He encounters her, determined to carry out his mission so he can “go back” but he’s defeated by Chiaia, who’s stunned to see that a boy piloted the seikijin — something very rare. Lashara forbids Chiaia from killing the boy, so they toss him into a cage which then is hung outside the back of the flying castle grounds.

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari - 01The following day, Lashara decides to put a plan into motion to obtain more information about their attackers. Chiaia is concerned since her seikijin suffered major damage, leaving only Wahanly and her seikijin. Wahanly comes in and reports that she’s brought her research lab with her, meaning that in addition to fighting, she’s also working on projects. Since more protection is called for, Chiaia’s older sister (and seikijin trainer) Mexiah comes aboard with her seikijin. Meanwhile, Lashara’s aide Ulyte is able to learn that the captured boy is named MASAKI Kenshi, leading Lashara to suspect that he might not be from their world.

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari - 01As night falls, Lashara’s trap is sprung when Kenshi’s companions come to retrieve him. Their appearance is also noted by the Dark Elves in their own hover ship, so their leader Aura dispatches in a seikijin. Meanwhile, Kenshi learns that he was just a pawn for the people who wanted to assassinate Lashara as they apparently have no way to send him back to his world. Rather than be killed, Kenshi fights his way out onto the deck of his former comrade’s ship. He’s attacked by the masked person who failed to kill Lashara, leading Kenshi to jump off the ship to avoid death from the masked person’s seikijin.

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari - 01Instinctively, Aura saves the boy in her seikijin and is met by Chiaia. Together they return to Lashara’s flying palace, where Kenshi is shown to be very ill. A rare herb is needed to heal him, so Aura and Mexiah set out to gather some. At this moment, the people who want Lashara dead attack. Chiaia takes Wahanly’s seikijin and Wahanly uses another of her weapons to defend Lashara. They are outnumbered but when Aura and Mexiah return with the herb, the enemy is forced to retreat. Kenshi is given the medication and recovers and Lashara’s palace continues on its way.

Thoughts/Review:

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari - 01Back in January, 2001 (sadly, the AIC site is no more), the creator of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki (KAJISHIMA Masaki) made an announcement that thrilled many fans — he’d been given permission to create three series — Tenchi Muyo! GXP, Tenchi Muyo! OVA 3, and Seikishi Monogatari, which would feature Tenchi’s half-brother (then unnamed). The success of GXP and OVA 3 guaranteed that Seikishi Monogatari would be created, but because of the time since Kajishima first wrote this story, he Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari - 01decided to rewrite it, which took more time. However, after all these years of waiting, the first episode of this 13-episode OVA series has now been released. So as I can, I will blog this.

Having the episode start not at the beginning but rather well into the story is not an uncommon practice. Sometimes this works and sometimes it does not. This time it works, fortunately, as we are introduced to many (if not most) of the core cast, we get an idea of their function in this world, we get an idea of the political situation, and we get an idea of what the series will be about. So while not majorly Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari - 01exciting, I did find this all pretty interesting even without the connection to Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki.

As to the episode specifics, the bio-mecha units are certainly very interesting. Again, Kajishima-sensei looks to Neon Genesis Evangelion for inspiration but rather than be a parody of Eva (as I believe Dual! started off as), this series feels like it is its own creation, but is simply advancing the bio-mecha idea to the next level.

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari - 01Those who are familiar with Kajishima-sensei’s other anime titles will clearly see his trademark ecchi humor here, primarily with Mexiah getting naked and under the covers with Kenshi. Kajishima loves his shoutacon humor and events (as seen way too often in GXP) so I expect a lot more of that before this series is over. That’s going to be a negative from the start for me, depending on how much of it Kajishima-sensei throws at us in his story.
Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari - 01
I was a bit disappointed that Kenshi’s ties to Earth and TM!R weren’t shown this episode, but then maybe that’s for the best. After all, ideally this series should stand on its own and the TM!R linkage can be explored later. I do hope to see cameos of Tenchi and company (via flashbacks if nothing else) before the series runs its course.

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari - 01I do wonder whom Kenshi was referring to when he called out for “neechan” though. Was it Sasami or possibly Ryo-ohki (Kajishima-sensei has a doujinshi story showing a young Kenshi and Ryo-ohki playing and surprising a teenage Sasami who was “meditating” under a tree)? Those are the two “big sister” types that Kenshi would have grown up with since any of Tenchi’s kids would be younger than Kenshi. Of course, there’s the possibility of a new character that Kenshi sees as an “oneechan” whom we longtime Tenchi fans haven’t been introduced to yet.

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari - 01I think it is safe to say that the character Doll is either a tie-in or a tribute to the character “D” from Dual!. Doll has more emotions than D did (at least, from what I recall) but I will be interested in seeing if Kajishima-sensei provides a greater link than the two characters looking similar.

My favorite character has to be Princess Lashara. Initially, I thought she’d be a stereotypical brat ruler. Instead, she showed herself to be a true ruler. She’s cagey and devious Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari - 01when it came to dealing with the assassins and gaining intelligence from them. She’s smart, clever, and funny and I’m delighted with her character.

As I said earlier, the first episode has nothing to mark it as some incredible anime, but I did find it interesting and fun to watch even without the Tenchi connection. So as I’m able, I’ll keep blogging this series. ^_^

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14 Responses to “Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari – 01 (Tenchi’s Half-Brother Takes Center Stage)”

  1. Anonymous says:

    I for one am glad to see this latest Kajishima title even if Tenchi isn’t in it.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Sorry, but what is shoutocon humor? People being loud and obnoxious for no good reason?

  3. AstroNerdBoy says:

    If you mouse-over the word “shoutocon,” you’ll see it defined. ^_^ I’m too lazy to try to find the long-o ASCII code so I’m using the “ou” Romaji to indicate this (which is also a correct Romaji). Also, if I put a strange word in italics, I’m using a Japanese term and have started using the mouse-over to throw up definitions for those who don’t recognize the term (educating the masses ’cause I care ^_~).

  4. Anonymous says:

    It’s a nice touch to provide definitions with mouseovers, but misspelling the defined word sort of defeats the purpose. It’s shoutacon, man.

  5. AstroNerdBoy says:

    Gah! You’re right. Ugh. I hate when I do that but I do appreciate the correction. That’s why if I ever become a published author, I’ll need an editor something fierce. *lol* ^_^;;;;;;;;;

  6. junior says:

    I was actually kind of surprised that you didn’t mention Doll within the summary itself, given that it looks like she’s going to be more important than her brief appearences so far would indicate. And no mention of Aura’s linking of the white and black seiki? I’ve got a feeling that’s also going to have a payoff down the road.

    I got a very definite “5 Star Stories” (FSS) impression from this episode, though that might be linked to the floating palace that we see (Amaterasu’s capitol in that manga series is located on something similar, albeit on a much, much, much more massive scale). And then there’s the large blade on Kenshi’s seiki that somewhat resembles the one found on the LED Mirage Mortarhedds in FSS. Mind you, the story here doesn’t appear to have anything in common with that series.

    My primary complaint with the first episode is the mecha fighting choreography. It seemed as if there was too much “make a move, pause, make another move” animation, and it slowed down what should have in theory been fairly fluid fights. Contrast that with the scene of Kenshi performing his martial arts and defeating all of the bad guy’s lackeys in mere seconds.

    Hopefully this series ends up having more in common with Tenchi Muyo (particular the first two series) than it does with GXP. It’s got definite potential so far.

  7. AstroNerdBoy says:

    I’ve REALLY been trying to cut back my summaries of late, lest I write too much. ^_^;;; So yeah, I missed her in the summary but I did make sure to mention her in the analysis.

    And I agree — I hope it is closer to TM!R than GXP but I know Kajishima-sensei and I’m expecting a lot of GXP-styled ecchi humor. *_*

  8. Anonymous says:

    Out of interest, do you happen to know how much director Shinichi Watanabe had to do with Tenchi Muyo GXP turning into Benny Hill GXP? Lots of the bawdy humor seemed very akin to Watanabe’s other projects like Puni Puni Poemi or Excel Saga, so I always tended to believe that the way GXP turned out was largely his fault (including that horrid horny robot).

    Considering how other projects based on Kajishima’s work turned out (Isekai included), GXP seemed so unlike all his other series, so I’m not quite sure how much blame for the style of execution and forced humor can go to Kajishima. Any ideas?

  9. AstroNerdBoy says:

    I think it is a mixed bag. There’s no doubt that Kajishima-sensei loves shoutacon humor as well as harem situations. Both of those are in play in GXP. However, Nabeshin’s influence comes in the form of NB, which takes the perversion stuff to another level. If you’ll notice in the Kajishima-directed episode 17, the NB character is in the doghouse. Rumor is that Kajishima did this on purpose because he didn’t like some of the stuff Nabeshin did (I’ve long said that Kajishima is a prima donna). In fact, Kajishima-sensei decided to write the GXP novels supposedly because of some of the stuff Nabeshin did. The novels tell the same GXP story, only with a lot more detail and I hear a lot less NB (in fact, almost none from what I hear, but not having read them myself, I don’t know for sure).

    So yeah, there’s a lot in GXP that can be traced to Nabeshin.

  10. Anonymous says:

    Pity, really. I think GXP could have been a hell of a lot better with a different director, someone who’s not as bent on imposing his personal brand of humor/style over whatever he happens to direct (something Studio SHAFT is also guilty of doing). Then again, whoever chose to hire Watanabe in the first place should have known better.

    Either way, back on topic. I enjoyed the first episode of Isekai (and the 2nd for that matter) and think it’s off to a pretty nice start. It stands well on its own so far and the setup seems promising.

  11. Anonymous says:

    well it really interesting…. the ova i’m quite looking forward to the next episode and the next hopefully there is a tv series for this one and plus i read the blog dual!….. love the series even though its old i really love the anime….!!

  12. muhootsaver says:

    It’s sad how little attention this series is getting. I think it really is a hidden gem. BTW, unlike the PPV ver.(I think this is the one you watched), Blu-ray/DVD ver. has 3 min added in the beginning, which shows coronation ceremony that occurs just before the actual story begins.

    About the usual Shouta-love, following episodes have more than enough of it ^^(not so much mecha though…) And I think there will be some Tenchi cross-over as we already got a glimpse of Washu-chan in ep4.

    Anyways, someone should license the series for the sake of Tenchi fans, though I’m already collecting the Japanese BD at the moment.

  13. AstroNerdBoy says:

    FUNimation is aware of the title but whether they go for it or not is another question.

    Regardless, I hope to get to watch some more episodes at some point.

  14. […] Since the Blu-ray version of the first episode of Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari contained extra footage, I decided it was time to go back and watch this episode again. However, I’m not going to post a summary on this episode as I’ve already done that for the pay-per-view version. […]

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