Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Starting Episode 2 Review
天地無用！GXP パラダイス始動編
Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Shidō-hen Ep. 2

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

As Tsukiko sweeps, Akie-obaasama and other women drive up in a van to see how she is. The cabbits and the A.I. Nayuta arrive at Tsukiko’s home. After Tsukiko serves drinks, the group discuss the living arrangements as well as Seina’s magic. Later, Akie and the women’s group throw a party for Seina and his new harem. At some point, the conversation gets around to Jovia, whom Tsukiko has issues with.

Akie gives a status update on the plan to cut off Masaki Village from the rest of Japan. There will still be limited trade with the outside world, and access to the Masaki Shrine will still be allowed. Further, the Yamada store requested help from Seina’s cabbit harem. And the girls will help in with the communal farm. While the cabbit’s short term housing is solved, long term, it has been decided to have Seina build a home near Tenchi’s. With that out of the say, the women of the group want to hear of Seina’s adventures.

Akie-obaasama decides to have a chat with Tsukiko about Seina. She understands Tsukiko is holding back because of her daughter, Kiriko. Akie acknowledges that Kiriko holds the position of first wife, and Kiriko’s also part of Jurai royalty. However, Akie feels Tsukiko will miss her opportunity to be in Seina’s harem if she doesn’t act now. To that end, Akie wonders if Tsukiko still sees Seina as a boy rather than a handsome, young man.

That evening after Seina is asleep, the cabbits and Nayuta discuss with Tsukiko the possibility of her entering the harem. They support it. The following day, everyone works the communal farm, where the girls are taught more about Masaki Village’s ties to the world. Seina learns about a project his sister is involved in, which includes Sasami. Sometime later, Tenchi and Seina discuss things. That evening, an apologetic Jovia returns home with bad news.

Thoughts/Review:

Since I won’t be able to do a video review of Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Starting Episode 2 for a while, I figured I may as well do an old school written review.

The Cabbit Harem and Lore

One of the things I liked about Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Starting Episode 2 is that the cabbit harem finally gets an anime explanation. I know some folks have asked from OVA 5 as to who these girls are. Or for those in a bit more know, why the cabbits look like characters from Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure. To that end, the staff at EXNOA (Kinematics) seem to have taken that aspect into consideration. As such, the characters obviously do not mention Dual!, but D does point to the characters and give them their Dual! names.

Further, Tsukiko relays what she knows of the precursor (prehistoric) civilization, which not that long ago, Kajishima-sensei revealed was “Earth” in Dual! And we hear the astral plane explanation on why the cabbits have taken on the human appearances they have (sans Fuku). Obviously, this level of exposition won’t answer all the questions, but I think it is a lot better than what has been done with OVA 4 and OVA 5 for sure. Then folks who are really curious can look it up and decide if they want to watch Dual! or not.

I did find it interesting that cabbits were fine with Tsukiko entering the harem. I find this amusing as Miki’s original self (Mitsuki) in Dual! wasn’t that keen on a harem. But, it has been eons since then. Further, Seina’s condition warrants special consideration. So I suppose that is why Miki is cool with it.

Finally, I think this is the first time we’ve seen cabbits speak proper English. Normally, cabbits do their cat meows.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I’m in the middle of nowhere as I write, so let me wrap up my review of Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Starting Episode 2 with some final thoughts.

• I’m not keen on Tsukiko entering the harem. I get that Kajishima-sensei wants the oyakodon fetish (mother and daughter), but it just doesn’t work for me. Within the lore, Juraians aren’t caught up in details like this. That’s why Akie pushes Tsukiko to make up her mind. But at least Akie recognized why Tsukiko would hesitate. Based on OVA 5, I don’t think Tsukiko joins the harem.
• The fact that Masaki Village is basically an alien commune colony struck me as odd. The whole Yamada store expansion seemed unnecessary. But, I’m informed that Kai’s plans for the Yamada “mall” is more so Jurai can move funds in and out of Earth without drawing unwanted scrutiny. Further, that’s the purpose of the communal farm. Frankly, I’d hate living in Masaki Village if I had to work a communal farm. 😅
• I felt that this episode made a small dig at Nabeshin when discussing the A.I. unit Nayuta. It is cool that KOBAYASHI Yuuko, Washu’s seiyuu, is also voicing Nayuta.
• There was the one gag about Seina’s bad luck, but it played less for laughs than to underscore the seriousness of Seina’s condition. I liked that.

In the end, Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Starting Episode 2 was a very enjoyable episode. I appreciate the production team attempting to lower the entry bar for this series. To that end, I think the writing is improved over more recent entries in the canon.