September 18th, 2020 
AstroNerdBoy Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 5 Episode 03
天地無用! 魎皇鬼 OVA 5 Ep. 3
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Tenchi is with Washu in space, dealing with pirate ships coming to Earth. Sometime later, Fuku, in humanoid form, comes to the Tenchi household. Rea and Tenchi observe Fuku, Kenshi, and Ryo-ohki play from within the house, along with Jovia and Miron Pham, a teacher and doctor for Banjo Island (Tabletop Island). Since the battle contests on the island are all but over, Tenchi expresses an interest in visiting.
The four have tea and are joined by Sasami, Noike, and Washu. They discuss the situation on the island as well as Kenshi’s training. That evening, Washu, Tenchi, Miron, and Rea continue to chat in Washu’s lab (?). Plans are finalized for Tenchi and his household to take a trip to Banjo Island.
Someday later, Tenchi’s household take a ferry to Banjo Island. Also joining them is Kenshi. The boat captain is Minamida, who’s actually Seina in disguise. Tenchi and Seina discuss things until the boat arrives. The ferry is greeted by island residents KUKOMA Shou (human), Dird Shank (pirate), Alea Balta (pirate), Apusesa Daluma (pirate), Paltry Jurai (Jurai), and eventually Miron and Fuku. Washu arranges for Kenshi’s continued training while the others find ways to relax and amuse themselves.
That night, they have a feast outdoors. Kenshi decides he wants to sleep in a tent rather than a room, so that is arranged. He’s joined by cabbits Ryo-ohki, Fuku, Miki, Kirche, and “D”. The next day, Kenshi’s training continues while the others continue their relaxation and fun. That night, Tenchi spots Ryoko on the beach. They have a chat where Ryoko opens up about how she enjoys life in Tenchi’s household. The other girls show up, so Tenchi decides to say something to them.
Thoughts/Review:
While this episode did require some knowledge of Paradise War to get the context of things, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 5 Episode 03 also had a very lovely ending.
Banjo Island and Paradise War
In many ways, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 5 Episode 03 is an advertisement for Kajishima-sensei’s series Paradise War. From what little I know, a Royal Tree was used to create the island, hence why we see Washu and Miki head there during one montage. I believe that because of how Tenchi handles pirate ships without breaking a sweat, each of the major pirate guilds agreed to send a representative to Banjo Island on Earth. There, they can “duke it out” as it were.
Jurai also sent one, though we don’t know which house Palty belongs to. The fact that her last name is Jurai suggests she has a Royal Tree partner. Shou, who’s human and the only male participant on the island, arrived there by a mistake, similar to how Seina ended up in GXP. Miron is the island’s doctor, but she’s also a teacher for the kids on the island. She’s also the official Earth observer. And Seina, as Minamida, is also on the island with his cabbits Fuku, Miki, Kirche, and “D” as observers for the Galactic Alliance.
I don’t understand why Crunchyroll decided to call Banjo Island “Tabletop Island”. I’m trying to find that out now, but it makes no sense to me. After all, we don’t translate the names of other islands on Earth to English, do we?
Heavy Ties to Other Series
The biggest weakness of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 5 Episode 03 is its heavy ties to other series in the Kajishima Universe, specifically Paradise War in this case. War on Geminar is also tied to as the episode lightly shows Kenshi being trained for his eventual mission to Geminar. After OVA 5 completes, I plan to go back and rewatch War on Geminar to see how things fit together.
That aside, we in the West who can’t read Japanese are screwed as we have no context to the Paradise War discussions. And it is doubtful that Seven Seas will touch the series, which is currently on hiatus. (Buy the True Tenchi Muyo! novels and send a message to Seven Seas!) For Japanese fans of Kajishima-sensei, this crossover stuff is awesome. They get to see Paradise War characters show up and be given voice and animation. And more casual Japanese fans are now encouraged to go buy the three Paradise War novels and get that aspect of the story.
Still, it is a shame that we in the West are left in the cold with OVA 5 (and OVA 4 as well). I know AIC’s only money maker is the Tenchi franchise, so they only have limited budgets to do stuff. Plus, I’ve long believed that Kajishima-sensei isn’t a big fan of recovering old ground he’s done elsewhere, sans doujinshi works.
A Lovely Episode Ending
I don’t think folks will disagree, but the best part of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 5 Episode 03 was the final segment. When Tenchi saw Ryoko alone on the beach at night, I thought, “PLEASE let them have a conversation that isn’t rooted in GXP, War on Geminar, or Paradise War!” And thankfully, my wish came true.
Back in the day, before I accepted the truth of a harem ending for TM!R, I was a Tenchi x Ryoko shipper. On a personal level, Ryoko isn’t my kind of girl. But within story, I love Ryoko and thought that if Tenchi picked a single girl, Ryoko was the best match for him.I think in part, it is because he’s the most casual with Ryoko. After all, he addresses all the other girls in his harem with either “-chan” (Ryo-Ohki, Washu and Sasami), or “-san” (Noike, Aeka, Mihoshi). But for Ryoko, its just her name sans an honorific, signalling a closer relationship.
As such, I loved hearing Ryoko and Tenchi talk about the stars and such on the beach. And this moment allowed us to see how far Ryoko has come from those early days. She may have been sealed away for over 700 years, but she understands that her life as it is now is a good thing that came about from that imprisonment. And that even includes living with Aeka.
The ending of the episode all but confirms a harem ending. While Tenchi asking if he can make a selfish wish was nice, I wish we’d actually heard him say what we know he’s going to say. And based on how Kajishima-sensei does things, I suspect that we won’t hear the question. It will just be Tenchi with his harem where some of the girls are pregnant or have given birth (Aeka and Ryoko getting that ball rolling).
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
It is already 2am as I write this, so I desperately need to wrap up my review for posting today with some final thoughts.
- This may seem weird, but I’m glad OVA 5 has the characters in different outfits. I think this series may rival OVA 2 in terms of making the characters seem like their outfits are actual clothing rather than costumes.
- It is a shame that AIC is so poor. You can really tell at times that they didn’t have a high budget for this episode. It isn’t hideously bad like some series, but you can tell.
- Outside of the Banjo Island rename, Cruchyroll’s subtitles are ANB-approved and continue to make full usage of Japanese honorifics.
- I wonder why D didn’t revert to cabbit form, unlike Fuku and the others.
- I loved how the episode gave a nod to the Aeka and Ryoko fights without doing them. Both characters have grown beyond that and it is lovely to see.
- When it came time for Tenchi to face the Borg, they didn’t stand a chance. 🤣
In the end, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 5 Episode 03 still has a lot of high hurdles to cross for us Western fans who cannot read the Paradise War novels. However, the final few minutes of the episode are pure Tenchi goodness, making this the best episode of the lot so far.
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Hey good review, im too a tenchi muyo fan and yes i was very upset about the adgresive time skips we are having with this last batch of ovas, but oh well, at least finally we are getting into the end of the series, its just a shame that we dont have a localized version of paradise wars novels, the good stuf, Grown Up Sasami.
The time skips didn’t bother me. There should have been more of a noticeable advancement of time, even with OVA 3 or GXP. But I guess AIC or whomever wanted to keep Sasami as a loli character for as long as possible so…
The Paradise War novels aren’t on hiatus, they are finished.
I was under the impression that the reason Kajishima-sensei stopped writing them was because he had too much on his plate. But that they would resume after OVA 5 and such were done.
The GXP novels are on hold but Paradise War has been finished since 2014. Kajishima wasn’t even the one writing Paradise War. He just plotted it whil another author wrote it.
Interesting. I wonder why some folks think Kajishima will return to Paradise War. I’d always heard that he stopped working on it ’cause of OVA 4, then OVA 5.
Thanks ANB for your patience with my blather about “Bloom into You.” Here’s more, at the end of it in volume 8 several prior missteps are corrected. For example, during the field day in volume 3 Touko runs the 400 meter sprint as the anchor of the medley relay team. Now, that 400 is a real killer. Even at the world class level only the runners who slow the least can win. But in the original, Nakatani-san has Touko with her mouth closed, sometimes with and sometimes without the baton! However, now on page 184 near the end [ I number the pages, starting with inside surface of the cover as page 0], she has Touko with the right posture. Erect, full knees-high stride, mouth wide open and the baton in her left hand, not the right hand because, being the anchor, she doesn’t have to pass it. Correct. Also, I’ll let it pass that they had five runners in the four leg medley relay. Just artistic license because they wanted to get all five student council members in.
I have hundreds of manga volumes but this is the only title for which I bought two copies, one to archive and one to read, just to look at the author’s art — especially those interesting Nakatani specials: details that are sometimes plot driven, sometimes not. With that exquisite line-width variation, beautiful shading and accurate foreshortening she draws unique fascinating stuff. The best example of her details is that tiny drop of water not quite falling from the cleansing faucet at the cemetery where Touko visits her sister’s grave. This on page 17 in volume 5. It’s easy to miss.
Off satellite radio a couple more love songs from the war years: “I’ll Be Seeing You” Bing Crosby 1944, and “Sentimental Journey” Doris Day 1945. They had genius lyricists back then.
No problem.
From reading some entries at the several BiY sites on the net I see that very few commentators talk about Nakatani-san’s art; it’s usually remarks about plot and characters. To see a complete copy of BiY look at the site: “Nippon manga/Dynasty Reader/Bloom into You-Linkis.com” The color pages are worth the trip.
Consequently and finally, to include more about her exquisite work . . .
On the end page, right before the Afterward Manga chapter in volume 8 Nakatani-san displays all of her great repertoire on a simple, inanimate subject. On an otherwise blank page she has drawn the two girls’ house keys, undoubtedly for Touko’s apartment, each with a charm attached from the aquarium in volume 5. The sea ray is on Yuu’s key and the dolphin on Touko’s. Note the carefully drawn slip ring on Yuu’s key. It’s got the tight wire loops and the small second ring EXACTLY right, which nobody else would have bothered with. She used her super line-width variation on a detail like the dolphin’s tail! Also notice that the lateral edges and shaft of Touko’s key are very slightly short. That’s not a mistake; it’s just her great foreshortening (near objects drawn slightly larger to show three dimensions; it’s very difficult to get the proportions right. In grade school I had two terrific art teachers and they both taught us first and second graders foreshortening etc.) The subtle shading on the key bodies finishes the last of this magnificent work, “Bloom into You” by Nio Kakatani-sama.
Unfortunately, this last page with the keys didn’t make the cut on the internet. You have to have access to the volume 8 paperback, which I very strongly recommend.
The fact that you have to be familiar with the novels to avoid being locked out of the loop is a major obstacle to enjoying the new OVAs. I keep having to ask “Who are these people?” when someone shows up without proper introduction. This was clearly made for people who already knew who these characters are.
Also, I can definitely tell that AIC does not have the budget it once did. The animation quality is lacking not only compared to many modern TV anime, but also to the old Tenchi OVAs from the 90s.
I will say that I did like that part towards the end. Ryoko, and the other members of Tenchi’s harem in general, have been largely relegated to side characters in these recent OVAs, so it was nice seeing them get some attention, and for best girl Ryoko to finally have some alone time, however brief, with Tenchi.
And this is how you kill a series, GXP ended in a harem so tenchi didnt have to, he had zero romantic interest in any of them but Ryoko and Ayeka and now suddenly he wants to go to pound town on Ryo-ohki?
They should have stopped with OVA 3 which only had some boring exposition between characters you’ve never seen before or don’t care about and a decent conflict with an ending. I’m out before even watching all of the third ep of OVA 4.
Back in the early 2000s i wanted them to just continue the OVAs rather than remake the same story but worse another 20 times, Now in 2020 I just want them to make a Tenchi Universe 2 so I can forget they continued making the OVAs.
The plan was to have Tenchi end in a harem from the start. And story-wise, it makes sense as politically, Tenchi marrying the entire harem works to Jurai’s advantage. Through Aeka, Sasami, and Noike, Jurai has a way to influence Tenchi, if needed. Plus, this shores up House Masaki and House Kamiki.
Tenchi marrying Washu means that the only person to have created technology (Ryo-ohki) to defeat Jurai’s OP fleets is now married to a Juraian, and thus they secure themselves that way. And of course Ryoko is an extension of that, since she carried out the attack. For Mihoshi, Tenchi marrying her means that Jurai and Mihoshi’s powerful family have closer bonds, including within GXP.
Heh. You remind me of me when I first became a Tenchi fan years and years ago. I made this very argument and folks with the knowledge at the time walked me through how Tenchi would end up with all the girls. For a start, all of the girls like Tenchi romantically. Tenchi is a teen male, living with all of these girls. And to top it all off, because these girls aren’t tied by Earth ideas on romance and stuff, Tenchi became open to that idea. Thus the only way to keep this new family of his is to marry all the girls.
Still, I can understand your frustration with the canon story. The Japanese love it because they have access to all of the novels and such we don’t have. And TM!R has become a way for Kajishima-sensei to bridge to all of his other stories, like GXP and Paradise War.
I’m at least glad there is some type of conclusion.
The original two OVAs are special to me. One of my favorite animes. I think in that case Masaki Kajishima didn’t have full control, which I personally think helped a lot in every respect. It mirrors what happened with the Star Wars prequel films compared to the originals. Once Lucas got full control there was a definite change.
My opinion is that the many of the original characters were sidelined from OVA 3 onward. They seemed like shells of their original selves at the end. So in a way the harem ending fits with how their individuality and relevance were taken away. Even Tenchi embracing the entire idea made him counter to how he was and how I though he might develop. His earthling traits were gone by the end. It would have been much more interesting had he pushed back from Juri’s traditions and expectations. Given how powerful Tenchi is, Juri’s needs or desires feel pretty irrelevant.
I know I’ll never get the type of Tenchi I’d want to see. Such as going into the stores of the Ryoko and Mihoshi especially. Watching Ryoko grow from her tragic past of being controlled and abused. Seeing Ryoko with the three gems. Figuring out and seeing the crew help Mihoshi get fixed from whatever happened to her mentally. Seeing Sasami grow up and maybe break away from the group to do her own thing. I was never a big fan of Ayeka, but maybe there could have been more to her too. Washu… well doing more Washu things.
I know for sure in OVA 1, he didn’t have full control. But Hayashi left before OVA 2, so unless someone in AIC was blocking Kajishima-sensei, I think he had control over OVA 2.
I don’t think OVA 3 sidelined them that much. But, Kajishima-sensei couldn’t be bothered to do new (and awesome) fights for Ryoko and Aeka, so we got an introduction to a fight, then nothing. But at the same time, we saw Aeka and Ryoko come to terms with their issues with each other and grow as characters. I liked that.
That aside, I think Kajishima-sensei always intended for Tenchi to have a harem.
As to the rest, I don’t disagree that some of this back history in anime form would be lovely.
You definitely have a lot more Tenchi knowledge than I do, so I’ll take your word on OVA 2 and him having creative control. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t super thrilled with the Zero Ryoko parts back then, haha. Seemed to me like a quick and dirty way of putting a Band-Aid on Ryoko’s original personality without letting her actually work through a past of being abused by Kagato on on her own, but there were good aspects about how he approached it too.
Yeah, you are probably right about the harem ending. Coming in from the start with the censored Toonami version I found the Ryoko/Ayeka/Washu wanting Tenchi part amusing at first, but then it scaled a lot in counter to my personal preferences related to that and fanservice (Geminar especially), so… it is what it is. I’m glad he probably got some resolution getting his universe animated to this point.
Overall, I think me not being thrilled with how it all turned out is my excessive fondness and own ideas for characters that were never meant to be featured to the degree I would have liked. I’d rather have animes for Ryoko, Mihoshi, and Washu than a Tenchi anime, haha.
I think a lot of us were disappointed Mihoshi didn’t get the rumored love we thought she’d get in OVA 3. There was talk of doing another True Tenchi Muyo! novel centering on Mihoshi. But that never materialized as the Kajishima anime titles went into production. But it would have been interesting to know what happened to Mihoshi.
As to Washu, she does have a novel about her life from Kajishima-sensei. (Seven Seas licensed the three True Tenchi Muyo! novels.) But it would be cool to see it animated.