Dear Internet,
Are you
doing well? I am not, so I will have to
keep this brief.
I split
watching "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki" between yesterday and today for two
reasons. The first is the very obvious
reason that it took about ten hours to watch everything. The other more important reason is that the last
seven episodes were made eight years after the previous batch. This gap of time creates a few differences. The most notable is the different visual
style. While both sets of animation draw
inspiration from the same source material, the minute differences stand
out. The differences are especially
apparent in episode 14 which uses a number of flashbacks. Each flashback is footage taken from earlier
episodes rather than creating new material.
While I understand that there is a need to refresh the memory of the
viewers, the fact that they decided to recycle footage worked against
them. It is not a big problem, but since
even the process of making animation had changed so much since then, the change
in style becomes an itch brought to the foreground very early.
Style
is a big thing when it comes to "Tenchi." Whenever the setting is taken away from the
farm or house and brought above the stratosphere, there is a grandeur that
naturally comes with space operas. Space
operas deal with the romanticism of exploration and the vastness of the
universe. You could probably trace it
directly to the same romanticism that makes sweeping narratives of conquistadors
and sailors who brought back tales of adventure to a new world. "Tenchi" is a space opera no matter
how you look at it. The only difference
is that it tries its hardest not to be. Whenever
"Tenchi" moves to space, mentions space, or deals in any way with
space, the viewer is treated with space fleets cruising through star studded black
velvet which explode in deathly blooms of red.
Giant trees take root on a planet half its size. Whales the size of battleships swim through
an ocean in the vacuum of interstellar space.
There is a beauty to each scene that occurs in space. However, "Tenchi," like I said,
does not want to be a space opera, despite being one.
 |
| Hundreds, if not thousands, of spacecraft next to a ring shaped world. |
Numerous
characters are introduced. You can look
up "Tenchi Muyo family tree" and pick some of the first links. You will find a collection of relationships
that rival the complexity of the average South Korean weekday drama. A close inspection makes the
"Tenchi" family tree start to seem like some sort of redneck family
convention the way it keeps linking back on itself. There are family members whose lineage dates
back hundreds of years and is not even a generation skip. The point of all of this is to maximize the
amount of characters that one show can possibly obtain. Is there a point in having all of them be related
somehow? The show could easily have had
all the characters meet through unconnected circumstances. At first the show comes across as such, but
as time continues, characters start making direct connections with each
other. There are numerous "You mean
you are my ___" throughout that would make a soap opera have a go for its
money. After a while it begins to look
like the family lineage of certain feudal European kingdoms with siblings and
cousins marrying nearby to keep the political power from escaping. One would think that having an entire universe
of people would allow more disconnected individuals to come together, but
"Tenchi" wants to illustrate how small the universe can be.
The
show makes an entire universe of connections fit within a single house. However, this is somewhat impossible
considering that the source of all conflict in the show comes from without
rather than within. All the show's
problems stem from space. All the
enemies, evil doers, and mistakenly intended come down to Earth to destroy the
various characters or in the least wreak havoc.
They come from that great unknown beyond the sky. Space is just filled with trouble, and
perhaps that is why Tenchi stays on Earth instead of going off into it. But alas, trouble eventually comes to
him. Tenchi would be quite content with
plowing his fields of carrots and continuing with the status quo of his growing
household. By the end of the show, there
are over eight people living at Tenchi's house.
Every one of them has no expressed dream or desire save for one,
continuing to live with Tenchi. Washu
might have some other final goal, considering that how the series gets an
almost shoehorned final plot, but I can go into that later. The point is that space is a reluctant possibility
for a majority of the cast.
"Tenchi" treats space as a dreadful thing filled with things
waiting for Tenchi to have to fight against. However, it is from space that all the major female
characters come from. These same
characters are what make "Tenchi" what it is.
"Tenchi"
is a harem show. There is no two ways
about it. One guy somehow gets a menagerie
of females flocking to him. There are
like chicks scurrying to a farmer carrying a forty pound bag of feed. Japan harem stories can go at least as far
back as "The Tale of Genji."
The important thing is that all harem stories are dramas. Even the comedy harem shows are dramas. Harem stories are filled with unrequited love
for another individual who might not understand the feelings of the other, know
about those feelings, or might not care about those feelings. There is pining for the love of another. There are the repeated situations with minimal
difference occurring time and time again.
All of these are elements of dramas.
"Tenchi" does have some problems that all harem shows are
filled with. The problem is that they
never quite give enough credit to the female conscienceless. All it takes for the women in this show to
fall for Tenchi is a few kind words and a tender moment. It is somewhat of an insult to think that the
hearts of women are so easily won across the board. Ryoko has about the only viable excuse since
she had watched Tenchi grow up. With so
many characters hoping that he falls for her, we get numerous elements found in
soap operas. Coincidentally, all of
these elements can be in space dramas.
The only difference is, well, space which comes from the reluctant plot.
The
plot is one of the most complex ones I have seen. I do not want to spend time going over it,
since it would take about three more paragraphs just to cover the basics, so
all I will talk about is how the show addresses the plot. There are quite a number of times that foreshadowing
occurs throughout the show. I am sure
that if I were to watch it again, I could spot even more forward
references. There is a constant
understanding on the part of the viewer that there is a bigger story going
on. The show only allows very brief moments
where the overarching plot seeps through.
The majority of the time, the show wants to play up the character
interactions that occur at Tenchi's house or spend time introducing another
character. It is like the show is
teasing the audience like one might do with a cat and a cattail. It can get a little frustrating when the
show spends only a glimpse at the bigger picture. I might not feel this way if it was not for
episode 19. In episode 19, the show
decides to lay everything onto the table to the point where one can feel bludgeoned
with information. Ulterior motives are
revealed, galaxies unravel and space goddesses appear. It all connects perfectly in the end, so I
cannot complain about many missing pieces.
However, the magic tricks I mentioned yesterday are pulled for a full 30
minutes. It all feels forced because the
show is trying to make up for all the time it could have spent slowly feeding
the information to the viewer but was instead showing hot springs.
 |
| At least the show is willing to admit its viewers might have trouble following the plot. |
In the
end, "Techi" refutes its identity as a space opera. It wants very much to stay on Earth and keep
making harem episodes. It does this to
the point where the underground plot had nowhere to go until it all accumulated
into one episode. It prefers to spend time
showcasing quiet moments of rural life than the giant spaceship battles that
take the lives of hundreds of people, something that often seems to get
trivialized. "Tenchi" prefers
to keep the status quo just long enough to introduce another girl to repeat a formula. Eventually "Tenchi" would return to
space, but I constantly felt that it just wanted to portray domestic life
rather than accept the grandeur of the sky above the sky.
"Tenchi"
is a good show. There is something there
for most everyone. I would even go as
far to say that I wished it lasted longer, but that would stem more from the
fact that the plot feels super concentrated.
If it took the all the time it spent on going in a circle with the harem
plot device and utilized it to portray the underlining story, the pacing would
be a lot better. The show weaves together
a story with enough coincidences that the eventual reveal required a hat trick
to pull everything together. You can
take it for what it is, but in the end it still is somewhat enjoyable if not a bit
unfulfilling.
Yours in digital,
BeepBoop
P.S. Tomorrow is an entry for a music album. I Might pull another card and work on another
entry because the album is so short.
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