December 22nd, 2022 
AstroNerdBoy Tenchi Muyo! GXP: Paradise Begins Anime Announced
Some exciting news from Japan regarding the 30th anniversary celebration for Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki. We are getting a new GXP anime series called Tenchi Muyo! GXP: Paradise Begins (literal translation was GXP: Paradise Start-up Edition — 天地無用！GXP パラダイス始動編).
I am seeing a lot of snark from Western fans about this. There’s disbelief that Kajishima-sensei isn’t catering to Western demands, thus he’s creating stuff “no one watches.” And yet folks in Japan are watching and reading. The Tenchi franchise is still a big money maker. And that’s why EXNOA (not AIC) are producing a new series.
Sadly, we don’t have access to all of the canon materials the Japanese have. That’s why they didn’t have the problem that we in the West had with Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 4 and Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 5. (I include myself in that number.) We were very fortunate to get the True Tenchi Muyo! novels from Seven Seas, for which I was the adapter. But outside of that, we don’t have access to the GXP novels, doujinshi, etc. So for us in the West, we are kinda hosed.
I’d love for Seven Seas to reach out to me and say, “Hey! Would you like to adapt the GXP novels we’ve just licensed.” But I don’t see that happening. Maybe I better check my e-mail. 😅
That aside, what are your thoughts on this. Are you excited for more canon Tenchi stuff? Or is this a “meh” thing for you. Let me know in the comments.
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I love anything and everything to do with GXP. I wish they would release the novels in English but seeing as it’s been so long I would think the chances are low. That being said, every time I see Seven Seas put out a reader survey asking what people would like to see licensed, I always put the Tenchi GXP novels on the list (and will continue to do so until they finally take a hint). Seven Seas, how many copies of each book do I need to buy to make this happen? Is five enough? Just let me know and I’ll make it happen.
Oh and if I ever got a magic lamp I wouldn’t mind wishing for them to re-do the anime to be closer to the novels.
As for western fans, it seems to me that many folks saw Tenchi way back in the day on something like Toonami (I’m one of them) and that’s what they expect Tenchi to be. Meaning, if it isn’t a story directly revolving around Tenchi, Ayeka, and Ryoko, they squawk. GXP isn’t for everyone, but the Tenchi universe is really cool (and many times confusing) even when it doesn’t directly involve Tenchi and his household so it would be nice if people wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand.
That being said, I don’t think a whole lot has been done to keep the western audience up to date with the series and its overarching story. I noticed a lot of people commenting that they were confused about what was going on when the OVAs were posted to Crunchyroll. But I guess that’s going to be expected if you just stumbled across them after having not having watched Tenchi since the 90s.
Anyway, more GXP is amazing. I continue to hope the novels get adapted to English someday so I can finally get the whole story rather than what was just presented in the anime or on wiki sites. Plus I’d just like to support the series to keep the books coming. I own them all in Japanese but all I can do is forlornly look at them on my bookshelf.
Haha! So do I.
Yeah, there’s a lot of lore there, enough to almost rival J.R.R. Tolkien and Middle Earth.
There are two factors at play here. First is the multi=media approach to the canon Tenchi stuff in Japan. Since we don’t get all of that in the West, we are severely limited.
Second is that anime in the West is still niche. There’s no mechanism in place to keep things going because a Western licensor has limited rights on what they can do. So for example, Tenchi doesn’t have the same weight in the U.S. as it does in Japan as there aren’t things to keep it in the mind of Western fans. The Slayers franchise is very niche in the West, but in Japan, is is still a massively popular franchise.
The only exceptions to this rule are something like Pokemon, where there are games and anime still released in America as well as Japan to keep things more in American minds.
Heh. Likewise.
Thanks for writing! 😁
I have mixed feelings for Tenchi Muyo, like I think that first two seasons of Ryo Ohki were awesome. Season 3 was bad, but it have small good moments and season 4 is rushed and there is not much going on. Season 5 starts also very bad, too much talking heads and short action that means nothing when Tenchi is too much over powered. I like spin offs like GXP and War on Geminar, I like how they focus on different characters and relationships between them, there is a time to have normal live chores and activities and time for action. Season 3 do a lot of harm with plot, and season 4 toss a lot of characters I do not know. They should carefully introduce each one new character and let the old gang find place for new ones. I am not interested in novels and how they change plot, introduce those characters, I like anime, I like plot, it is perfect mix of s-f, romance, comedy, ordinary life. Season 5 bring answer to what Tenchi will do with relationships to his girlfriends but I find it weak how short time Tenchi need for that decision.