Forum - View topicREVIEW: Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OAV 3 DVD 3
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2262 Location: Online Terminal |
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I'm intrigued. 7th episodes have traditionally had some sort of redeeming filler value in addition to moving/resolving plot, and this seems to be no different. I'd never really though about Tenchi's mom all that much but I had a general idea of what might have happened. Guess I'll have to pick up the DVD and see if I had a clue.
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Seif
 Posts: 456 |
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I really loved the original, but was so severely disappointed with the first two DVDs of OVA 3 that I don't intend to finish it. If anyone wouldn't mind, could someone reveal what the big spoiler is?
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18202 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Really, you won't appreciate it if you don't see the episode for yourself. It's as much about the way it's revealed as what actually happened.
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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giberwitz
 Posts: 36 |
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the tenchi series holds a special place in my heart. the series introduced me to anime, I was blown away by the quality of the animation. that being said this episode was a welcome change from the monstrosity that was episodes 4-6 however it still lacked that tenchi charm, half of the episode was either flashback or eva stlye conference call. I know it's called no need for tenchi but these ova 3 episodes take this too literally. as for ma tenchi's death, I prefer the explanation given in tenchi in love to this one.
that being said I wanted to bring up something not touched on in the reviews, to any significant effect anyway, who does tenchi choose. I had read in an article a while back that masaki kajishima had said that the love triangle would be resolved in this set of ova's (it was either here or newtype). what do we get instead a new addition to the harem and the only people who get together are characters who have such little introduction you don't really care. sorry this is becoming an angry rant but I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. |
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giberwitz
Posts: 36 |
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spoiler[tenchi's mom was realy not that great of a mother. she was always making jokes and even wrote a script to be told to tenchi when he was old enough involving numerous near deaths and is overall more cruel than funny. tenchi's mom actually died of old age,] hope that clears things up for ya |
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Craeyst Raygal
 Posts: 1383 Location: In the garage, beneath a 1970 MGB GT. |
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Argh.
Tenchi doesn't choose anyone in the 3rd OAV. Instead, Kajishima did what he's said he'd do all this time; he continued animating the brilliant science fiction novels he'd written. The Tenchi canon is so much bigger than the seven members of the household that it's only equal is the epic Crest of the Stars (and its Banner of the Stars 1 & 2 follow ups). That there is romantic comedy in the series is actually fairly inconsequential when you sit down and look at the meat of the plot. The first OAV is about the introduction of the core family, and lays the foundation for the familial network that drives the series. The second OAV introduces the key figures of the universe - the Goddesses - into the scheme of things. (Anyone who bothered to REMEMBER the damned OAV's would have recalled that the romantic comedy aspects, save for the filler episode Here Comes Baby, were all but stripped in favor of the Washu/Dr. Clay arc, introducing Tokimi, the masu, and the Juraiian Royal Family). The third OAV finally resolves many of the key questions posed by the second, allows us a better viewpoint into the workings and makeup of the Royal Family, and serves as a great lead-in to GXP, which really dives headfirst into the complex political and social makeup of the Galactic Union that Kajishima created. Also, to fans of Kajishima's work, it's easy to notice that GXP ties the Tenchi canon into his other topnotch work: Dual. To dismiss the OAV's - especially the 3rd - because they didn't contain any of the bullshit spewed by the incorrect, ill-conceived, and flat-out worthless TV series, is foolhardy. The OAV's - the true story that Masaki Kajishima set out to tell - are sci-fi fantasy of a caliber we don't frequently get in anime. If you want endless slapstick romantic comedy that gets neatly tied up with the male lead choosing a girl at the end, go watch Urasei Yatsura. |
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giberwitz
Posts: 36 |
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you cannot deny however that the romantic tension between tenchi ryoko and ayeka is the driving force of the tenchi franchise. to trivialise that by claiming it's all about the overarching complexities of a galactic political structure is absurd. the joke of the title is that it's all about tenchi.
you want an epic tale of complex intergalactic political struggles go watch star trek deep space nine. the only overarching tones are a deep rooted shinto/harmony with nature viewpoint. and as long as I'm pissing people off...ahem we all know tenchi ends up with ryoko but it would be nice to see it. hah! |
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Craeyst Raygal
Posts: 1383 Location: In the garage, beneath a 1970 MGB GT. |
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HARDLY!!
You're joking if you think that the Ryoko/Ayeka/Tenchi triangle is the driving force of the series. Hells bells, I can give you the play by play of the "triangle" and if you remove "Night Before Carnival" from the episode list, the sum total of screentime devoted to this "driving force" is less than 1/2 an hour. The first example of the triangle doesn't appear until the 4th episode, "Mihoshi Falls From the Land of Stars", in which Ryoko teases Tenchi about being alone in the toolshed with Ayeka, stating "I want you to flirt with me Tenchi." Ryoko's desire to monopolize Tenchi's attention is clearly apparent throughout the series (in "We Need Tenchi", Ryoko declares she'll be the first one to hug Tenchi, going so far as to threaten Ryo-Ohki, for instance) however it's also clearly apparent that she views ALL of the girls as a threat (in "Sasami/Tsunami" she shows that she clearly has concerns about Tenchi's affection for Mihoshi, pinching Mihoshi when she clings to Tenchi during Katsuhito's story), not solely Ayeka. Very rarely, actually, does Ryoko actively try to divert Tenchi's attention from Ayeka as forcefully as she does Mihoshi. Instead - as a left over sentiment from Yosho and the attack on Jurai - she prefers ridiculing and humiliating the Princess and her proud Juraiian manner. Ayeka's own feelings towards Tenchi don't manifest until the end of "Kagato Attacks" when she is faced with his death. One can infer (although it's possibly too Freudian for the series) that it's the similarity between Yosho's disappearance and Tenchi's death that pushes her feeling's to the forefront, seeing that she was so fully engrossed in pursuing Yosho. Also, her feelings about Tenchi's death in comparison to Yosho's are obviously the same, as her reaction - denying that he's died - is exactly the same. (i.e. when Tenchi tells Ayeka in "Here Comes Ayeka" that Yosho "died a long time ago", she tells him she won't and can't believe him, whereas in "Kagato Strikes", Ayeka searches frantically amongst the wreckage for Tenchi, then tells Ryoko that they have to keep looking for him, not believing he could be dead until Ryoko hands her the bloody bandana) The first time these two feelings come to actual conflict is "Night Before Carnival", which also has the distinction of being an OAV unto itself - an extended length episode released separate of OAV1 and OAV2. In this, Ayeka and Ryoko CONSPIRE to get Tenchi's attention away from Washu and Mihoshi, both believing that without their added distraction, Tenchi will ultimately select them. Of course, Ryoko double-crosses Ayeka and this leads to one of the few house-wrecking fights between the two in the series, and in fact is the first time they fight within the house (their fight before having taken place at the bathouse in "Mihoshi Falls From the Land of Stars). After this sequence, the "rivalry" falls surprisingly silent for being a focal point. The "Zero Ryoko" and "Advent of Goddess" episodes replacing Ryoko's personality with the more meek Zero persona obviously takes it out of the equation for two. But aside from sniping at each other's potato peeling ability and an argument over each other's beauty at the end of "Sasami/Tsunami" and, in "Here Comes Jurai", Ryoko urging Tenchi not to fight the duel with Seriyo so that Ayeka would have to go home, there is precious little time devoted to Ryoko and Ayeka. Again, I say that your viewpoint on the OAV's is discolored because of your view of the TV series. Yes, by qualifying the statement by saying it's the driving force of the "franchise", you're quite correct. However, there are large portions of the franchise that are not the canon story: namely both of the TV, the Mihoshi Special, and all three movies. Only the three OAV's and the GXP spin-off are canon, and these are science-fiction fantasy. And, as far as Deep Space Nine is concerned, the series jumped the shark with the whole Dominion War deal. C'mon, spoiler[Nog losing his legs] was about as weak a reason to have an "inside the Holodeck" episode as has ever been dreamed up. |
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giberwitz
Posts: 36 |
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only a trekkie would have such a distorted view of entertainment. If you want me to believe that ayeka and ryoko aren't significant to the plot then you might as well stop right there. what pray tell do you believe the centeral axis of tenchi to be? Tenchi Muyo is meant to be an entertaining show not a socio-political study of intergalactic relations.
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Craeyst Raygal
Posts: 1383 Location: In the garage, beneath a 1970 MGB GT. |
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A: Having obviously never read any of Masaki Kajishima's interviews or even glimpsed his novels, your understanding of what is "meant" by the OAV's is stunted at best, so please try not to make any blind blanket statements.
B: I never said that Ayeka and Ryoko are not critical characters to the plot. Quite the contrary, Ryoko's presence is the catalyst for the entire series, creating a cascade effect throughout the universe of the canon. Ayeka serves wonderfully, not only as a comedic foil to Ryoko, but as Tenchi's ersatz "guide" to Jurai. In fact, each of the girls become a truly unique portion of the family unit on Earth that IS the series' focal point. Tenchi Masaki, a humble guy from middle-of-nowhere Southern Japan, is thrust into the limelight of a tremendous intergalactic society, filled with mystical forces and technological wonder the likes of which he's never imagined. It's only through the support of the women he's met - the friends he's made - that he's able to weather the dangers of this society and retain his grasp on the normal life he holds dearest. That is the real Tenchi Muyo story. The most telling line in the whole series is in "Kagato Attacks" when Tenchi says plainly to Kagato "I'd rather die than forsake any one of them." In anime, very rarely do you have such a close knit group of characters, so intricately created and so intimately involved. Everywhere you look in the OAV, you see the reliance these characters have for each other, the familial love that is shared amongst all of them. In my book, that's a far sight above the TV series' dragging over the tired "Bold and Sexual Girl vs the Shy and Reserved Girl" cliche that carried the genre for so long before the OAV's. |
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giberwitz
Posts: 36 |
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you obviously like to disect a show rather than be entertained by it. I grow bored, go watch enterprise or something
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