Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 4 Episode 4
天地無用! 魎皇鬼 OVA 4 Ep. 4

Spoilers Summary/Synopsis:

A nervous Nobuyuki paces as his wife Rea gives birth to their son, Kenshi. Several years later, Seto calls a meeting of powerful women including her daughter (and 2nd empress of Jurai and wife of Azusa) Misaki, Galaxy Academy head (and Yosho’s wife) Airi, Minaho (Seto’s aide and daughter of Yosho and Airi), Washu, GXP Officer (and one of Seina’s wives) Amane, Tennyo (Nobuyuki’s first child with Kiyone), Amame (mother of Emperor Azusa), Funaho (1st empress of Jurai and wife of Azusa), Mikami (head of GXP), Mitoto (a very powerful GXP janitor and Mihoshi’s mother), Mizune (on Minaho’s staff), Gyokuren (another of Seina’s wives), Yuzaki (Hirata’s wife), and of course, Rea.

Emperor Azusa has his own meeting in Yosho’s office on the Masaki Shrine grounds. There he, his father Kazuki, Yosho (as Katsuhito), Nobuyuki, Tenchi, and Seina (GXP officer) decide to hack into Seto’s meeting using the power of his, Yosho’s, and Seina’s 1st Generation Royal Trees. Azusa is worried that Seto is planning something terrible for Kenshi. However, the meeting is basically a girl-fest, with spa treatments and a slumber party. However, the women do come up with a training plan for Kenshi before he is sent to Geminar. In the end, Azusa and the men have no objections to the plan.

Thoughts/Review:

Wow. Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 4 is pretty much a fanservice episode, both ecchi and non-ecchi. It also serves as the prelude to the War on Geminar series.

No Advantages for Kenshi

For those who’ve already watched War on Geminar, you already know that while Kenshi is very powerful and has been trained very well, he was given no body enhancements or the like to help him. Further, he was not given his own Seikishin mecha unit when he was sent from Earth to Geminar. I appreciated that Washu wanted to do these things for Kenshi.

Rea’s objections sounded more like, “If we give Kenshi these things, there won’t be an anime called War on Geminar as Kenshi will insta-win.” It was just weak. To me, someone being sent to fight some god-mecha should be provided all the tools to win said fight. Getting advanced training, while eventually proving successful, is not what I’d rest on.

Why Return to Geminar?

I hate to admit this, but I don’t even remember why is was “required” for Kenshi to be sent to Geminar. Yeah, I know Rea was designed to fight Gaia over there, but she ended up on Earth. And Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 4 talks about if Rea or Kenshi don’t go to Geminar, Rea dies. That sounded like a crock to me. I guess I need to rewatch War on Geminar as well as episode 3 of OVA 4 (I remember there was a meeting to discuss Rea at the end of that episode).

That said, why would Jurai and Galaxy Police care what happens in Geminar? The only thing I can think of is that there is a concern that when Gaia awakens over there, if it is not stopped, it might find a way to crossover as Rea did and cause all kinds of havoc. And yet I’m still thinking that with Tsunami, Washu, and Tenchi around (to say nothing of Seina and his battle harem), combined with the might of Jurai and Galaxy Police, Gaia shouldn’t be that difficult. But what do I know?

Emperor Azusa

OVA 4 has required viewers to have a heavy knowledge of canon Tenchi lore, including stuff from the GXP novels and the True Tenchi Muyo! novels.  Having worked on the novel Jurai (which you can purchase from Amazon.com by clicking the link), I at least have a complete understanding of why Azusa feels the way he does concerning Seto. As such, I found Azusa’s concerns to be amusing.

Probably the only weird thing was the inclusion of Azusa’s father, Kazuki. Kazuki only had a cameo in the GXP anime, but his story was told in True Tenchi Muyo! Volume 1: Jurai. And now we not only get to see him, but he has actual things to say. As such, it was strange but humorous that the Emperor of Jurai acted like a son a time or two. I loved that.

The Non-Ecchi Fanservice

In addition to Kazuki, I liked seeing Azusa’s mother Amame at Seto’s meeting. I’m not sure why she would be needed for Seto’s meeting. She may be a Masaki, but officially, she’s not a member of House Masaki. Kazuki was needed at Azusa’s meeting because Azusa considers Kenshi’s fate to be a matter for House Masaki. So even though Kazuki was never a member of House Masaki (he’s not Juraian), as Azusa’s father, that was good enough for Azusa. ?

I loved seeing Seina return. He too is a bit of good fanservice (as was seeing two of his wives  — Amane and Gyokuren). It may not have been clear in the GXP anime, but Seina went from being YAMADA Seina to MASAKI Seina Jurai, thanks to his partnering with a 1st Generation Royal Tree (Jinbu). As such, Seina is third in line to become Emperor of Jurai and as a powerful, official member of House Masaki, it made sense to have Seina there (aside from Seto’s fondness for the young man). It made me wish that the GXP novels would be faithfully animated.

We’ve already seen Funaho, Yosho’s mother and the First Empress of Jurai, in a previous episode of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 4. However, it was nice seeing her again in this episode. She really came off as a voice of reason in Seto’s meeting. Likewise, it was also good to see Misaki again.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

OK, time to wrap up my review of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 4 episode 4.

• It was kind of a bummer that Ryoko, Aeka, Sasami, and Mihoshi were relegated to cameo roles.
• Watching this episode makes me really wish that the GXP novels could be licensed for English consumption. I don’t say that as the person who would likely adapt the novels, but rather as someone who’d like to read the information provided in those novels. It would have made OVA 4 much more enjoyable.

In the end, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 4 episode 4 provides both ecchi and non-ecchi fanservice for longtime canon Tenchi fans. At the same time, it serves as the prelude for the War on Geminar series.