Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 4 (Crunchyroll Release Review)
天地無用! 魎皇鬼 OVA 4

As many longtime readers of my blog know, I’m a HUGE fan of the canon Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki series. Seven Seas even graciously allowed me to be the official adapter of the True Tenchi Muyo! novels. So even though I had already watched Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 4 when it was released in Japan, I jumped at the chance to rewatch the series when Crunchyroll licensed it.

 * * * S P O I L E R S ! * * *

The Story, in Brief

The story of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 4 begins with the Tenchi household preparing for the upcoming wedding of Rea and Tenchi’s father, Nobuyuki. Tenchi’s mother’s older sister, Minaho, arrives first with her staff. The girls on her staff had all been raised at Misaki Village as part of Yosho’s descendants. The elderly Akie puts people to work in preparation for the wedding.

Meanwhile, Tennyo is keeping her grandmother Airi busy in order to keep her from causing trouble at the pre-wedding festivities. At the same time, Minaho uses the time to bond with Tenchi and make inroads with his harem. Rea is officially accepted into the Earth Masaki Ladies’ Assembly. Afterward all of the Masaki women as well as Tenchi’s harem are invited to an onsen party. Elsewhere, the men hold a bachelor party of sorts, while Washu, Ryoko, and Noike have a mini-party.

Airi is finally allowed to arrive on the morning of the wedding. Sometime later, Emperor Azusa and Seto-sama are briefed by Airi, Minaho, and Washu about the truth of Rea and the alternate universe she originates from called Geminar. Because Rea is an artificial being who can procreate with humans, she’s been programmed to send her offspring back to save Geminar from a weapon of war called Gaia. As such, plans are made to train Kenshi to fill this obligation.

Better the Second Time Around

When I first watched Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 4, I have to say that I wasn’t that impressed. Indeed, I was so unenthused about the series, it took me a while to finish the fourth and final episode after its release in Japan. The main problem I had was that the series had a very high entry bar. While having viewed the GXP and War on Geminar anime series helped, one really needed to have read the first several GXP novels from Kajishima-sensei.

However, when I watched the series a second time, I found that it didn’t bother me as much. This was partially due to the fact that I already knew what OVA 4 had in store for me. Also, I became a bit more educated on the events from the GXP novels that are referenced in OVA 4. So that helped somewhat.

Still, the series is flawed in that it is designed for Japanese Tenchi fans. The requirement to be versed in the novels is still going to be a high bar for casual Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki fans. For people new the the franchise, I’m afraid the bar will be impossible to overcome. If you are a new arrival to the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki franchise via OVA 4, let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Crunchyroll’s Release

When it comes to the subtitles shown on Crunchyroll, one never quite knows what to expect. Sometimes, they are bloody awful. Sometimes, they are OK. And on rare occasions, they are pretty good. Fortunately, they mostly did a pretty good job with Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 4. The subtitles were accurate but readable. Further, they were ANB-approved, meaning the FULL usage of Japanese honorifics was employed.

There were two issues though. The first was the inexplicable use of the spelling “Ayaka” for Ayeka. Technically speaking, Ayeka’s name should be spelled “Aeka”, which is what I’ve done for the Tenchi Muyo! FAQ site. However, when I adapted the True Tenchi Muyo! novels, I left it the way fans are used to–Ayeka. That aside, I can’t figure out why “Ayaka” was used on more than one occasion.

The other issue is fairly minor. In fandom, we refer to the Royal Houses of Jurai as “House Masaki”, “House Kamiki”, “House Tatsuki”, and “House Amaki”. I suppose it hearkens back to Dune. That said, “House Masaki” became “royal Masaki household” or other such variants. It is a minor thing, but there you go.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 4 has a high entry bar for folks newly entering the canon Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki franchise. It expects the viewer to have read the first several GXP novels and be aware of the  War on Geminar anime series. For fans who can meet that high hurdle, it will be a fun series, filling in gaps. For fans that cannot meet that high hurdle, it won’t be as enjoyable.