Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Starting Episode 3 Review
天地無用！GXP パラダイス始動編
Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Shidō-hen Ep. 3

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Jovia briefs Seina, the cabbits, and an annoyed Tsukiko on her trip back to her hometown. Despite her reincarnation, Jovia is seemingly recognized. Her old, wealthy friend Mirei snags Jovia and bribes her with desserts. Jovia confesses that she was reincarnated after her death by a powerful entity. Further, she shows off her mage skills.

Mirei takes Jovia to an old (now renovated) apartment where they used to indulge in hentai BL doujinshi works. Since Mirei bought the next door apartment to “hide the goods”, Jovia goes there, only to find her angry mother waiting. Jovia’s mother explains how she had to deal with the shame of learning from the police about Jovia’s massive, obscene collection.

Tsukiko, Washu, and company report the incident to Seto. She’s not too concerned since the two women had no issues accepting Jovia’s reincarnation and abilities. Seina is ordered to take the Kamidake II to the Juraian ship that is to become the foundation for Banjo Island. Jovia is unhappy to be assigned to this mission, but Washu shows her how she can indulge her debauchery on the island.

Seina’s crew, as well as the reinstated Tsukiko, head to the giant ship, commanded by Kuis. She transfers command to Seina and they are immediately attacked by pirates. After defeating them, the ship jumps to the farside of the moon. Once there, Jovia has an encounter with a ghost. When she reports it, the ghost reveals herself to be JURAI Masaki, the sister of the first emperor of Jurai, JURAI Shinou.

Thoughts/Review:

I don’t know when I’ll be able to do a video review of Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Starting Episode 3, especially since EXNOA slapped me with a copyright strike for my first episode review. So for now, it is the OG blog review. If YouTube restores my episode 1 review, I might get to do them later…maybe.

Improbable Recognition

I admit, I’m not well versed on the GXP novels. So I don’t know a lot about Jovia or her reincarnation that’s spelled out there. But we did get a fair amount of information in Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Starting Episode 3 and I am grateful for that. Some fans who’ve read the GXP novels have expressed disappointment that the anime is retreading some ground there, but I think it is good. It helps lower the bar for new and casual fans.

That aside, it is pretty incredible that Mirei and Jovia’s mom recognized her so easily. I did laugh when Jovia’s mom said that Jovia could reincarnate as a bug and she’s still recognize her former daughter. There’s no explanation as to why they felt this was Jovia beyond Jovia’s actions. But then the two women have to be somewhat special to not only accept Jovia’s reincarnation, but her magic abilities as well.

As expected, Seto sees an opportunity in partnering up Mirei with the Yamada Mall project.

Setting Up Paradise War

We get to see the largest, Royal Tree-ship ever in Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Starting Episode 3. Interesting that the Royal Tree is apparently named Banjou-tou, which would be “Banjo Island”. Further, it is an unpartnered, 3rd generation Royal Tree, which makes me wonder why the Paradise War information states that the artificial island that is created from this Juraian ship is powered by a 4th generation Royal Tree. I suppose at some point, the Royal Tree will be replaced or something.

I didn’t expect to see pirates show up in the episode. Of course as OP as Seina is, there’s no fight to speak of. Seina and crew are lures, just as they were in the OG GXP anime and initial part of the novels. Only now, Seina can use magic to teleport them to safety and Banjou-tou as a ship can easily destroy a fleet of pirate ships.

Still, it is interesting, though not surprising, that Jurai is going to bait pirates to come to their slaughter. Well, after trying to use negotiation tactics and failing, you go for what the pirates respect the most–strength.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

As usual, I’m insanely behind (and trying to get things together to move in the next couple of months), so let me wrap up my review of Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Starting Episode 3 with some final thoughts.

• Yes, that cute elf girl at the end was giant mecha Zinv. Why does Zinv have this appearance? Don’t know.
• Even though I shouldn’t have laughed, I couldn’t help find it amusing that Jovia’s mom is now into hentai, BL doujinshi.
• On that line, Washu showing Jovia how she could stay connected to that fujoshi world while working on Banjo Island made me laugh as well.
• I loved that Sasami got a vocal cameo in this episode.
• While I knew that JURAI Masaki would show up in this series, it was still neat seeing her appearance. EXNOA really needs to push to FAITHFULLY adapt, not only the GXP novels, the True Tenchi Muyo! novels, and the Paradise War novels, but also some of the materials from Kajishima-sensei done in doujinshi form. One of those things was the founding of the planet Jurai.

In the end, Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Starting Episode 3 was a fun episode. I continue to appreciate the production team attempting to lower the entry bar for this series. I look forward to the next episode.