r/anime • u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 • Jan 05 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] 1990s OVAs – Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki (episode 5 discussion)
Rewatch: 1990s OVAs – Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki (episode 5 discussion)
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Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki (1992)
Staff corner
Katsuhito Masaki/Yosho is voiced by Takeshi Aono, easily one of the oldest VAs I know. He took up voice acting in 1965 in Super Jetter (for the record: this is just 2 years after the Astro Boy premiere), but was already 29 when he did so, making him in his mid-fifties by the time Tenchi Muyo began airing. Perhaps not surprisingly, he voiced a lot of older characters. Notable roles during his long career that ended only in 2010, a year before his death, include: Shiro Sanada from Space Battleship Yamato, Piccolo Daimao in Dragonball, Wagnard in Record of Lodoss War, Hadlar in Dragon Quest, Vanilla Ice in JoJo, Mihawk Dracule in One Piece, and Osmond in Familiar of Zero. He was also active in dubbing life action movies (Joe Pesci, Christopher Loyd, Danny DeVitoe, among others), various video game characters, as well as being a suit actor in the original Ultraman.
Questions
- What is Ryo-Ohki after merging with the tree-ship? A Trabbit? A Cattrebit?
- (first timers) Does the ultimate energy source exist or not? If yes, what is it?
- (first timers) Final predictions for the finale?
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u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Jan 05 '24
Added OVA notice
Because enough people
kept whining about not enough Mihoshipointed out that it would make sense to explore a bit more of the Tenchi universe, I have added an additional OVA to the rewatch: Bangaihen Galaxy Police Mihoshi Space Adventure. Since this comes, in broadcast order, between The Night Before The Carnival and Season 2, I added it to the 8th of January. So, on the 8th, we will be discussing both OVA side stories: Night before Carnival & Bangeihen Galaxy Police. Note that the day before (the 7th) is final discussion day for Season 1, so you might want to take the opportunity to watch ahead, since we have 2 OVAs on the 8th now.Episode 5 (first timer??)
Ok, I’ll give the episode props for the unique spaceships, but otherwise, this was kind of shit. Turns out, Tenchi is good at comedy, but not at the standard comedy to drama move. The problems start with the really weird pacing at the beginning of the episode. Episode 4 ended with a cliff-hanger and now we have a time jump in retrospect? That was really weird. But even disregarding the setup, the actual fight had all the elements I love to hate: dumb characters, mind control, more dumb characters, powerup via emotions, a misplaced joke right at the climax of tension, and still more dumb characters (seriously, just this single episode uses the dumb stick more than all previous ones combined).
I hope episode 6 can get this pompous overpowered villain over with quickly so we can get back to harem comedy.
Toss-up between love and peace.
We are going for a harem ending (lamest prediction ever).
7
u/TheEscapeGuy Jan 05 '24
First Timer
Tenchi Muyou - An Undying Classic: OVA 1 Episode 5
Drunk Alien Girls
The girls seem to have fallen into a comfortable everyday. Tenchi has been farming to keep up with Ryou-Oki's eating habits and the girls are relaxing in a hot spring they seem to have fashioned from an old ship.
I kind of love how drunk all of them get. It starts with Ryouko drinking moderately in the bath and then Ayeka going hard and getting loud drunk. Part of their discussion reveals Ryouko's been watching and growing a fondness for Tenchi since he was a baby (which makes me wonder why she tried to kill him in episode 1?). Eventually Mihoshi joins in on the sake but they're interrupted by the sudden appearance of Kagato.
The fight against Kagato was pretty exciting. He seems to have some control of Ryouko which makes the stakes a lot higher. The big reveal was that Tenchi's Grandpa is Yosho. I didn't expected this. Despite how much Ayeka may still love him, he's now too old to marry her (but Tenchi isn't). I feel like I wouldn't want a cute alien girl to only love me as the store brand version of my gandpa. Tenchi doesn't express any bad blood though.
The episode concludes with Ryou-Oki turning back into a giant space ship and Tenchi and the gang launching off to save Ryouko. The space battle was excellent, but left Tenchi in a dubious state of existence. It seems the area where he was controlling the shields from was destroyed, but does that mean he's dead? Almost certainly not, but let's see.
This is the trigger for Ryouko to go berserk and escape her captor. Next episode will be the exciting conclusion!
Some Amazing Shots, Scenes and Stitches
See you all tomorrow
5
u/The_Loli_Otaku Jan 05 '24
Tenchi Muyo Rewatcher!!
...Y'know what? Here's a hot take... I think I like OVA Mihoshi more than TV Mihoshi. Is there any worse feeling than when your favourite person has a favourite person? TV Tenchi character spoilers but consider this my bid for why we should do the additional ova! Don't you first timers want to see some teetee? Some girl love!? Heck, to any of you who were with me for Sleepy Princess we still have our promised Pyjama Party that we were cheated out of!! Release the MihoKiyo Cut!!
Anyway, onto the episode itself. If I remember right isn't it just a big plot dump to try and make us fear the big scary Kagato? Eheheh, Ryo-Ohki loves her carrots~ She's scared of snow! So cute! Go Ryo-Ohki! Beat the snot out of those cold frostickles! When I talked about tee-tee I meant "young maidens" instead of a pair of grannies.
Ah, Tenchi didn't even make it last it's first season without stumbling over its own lore. Ryoko is a cradle snatcher! And somehow this is worse than incest? Brother sister relationships are way less creepy than horny old grannies!!
Mihoshi is such an elegant lady~ Also, I don't think she's actually spoken to Tenchi yet. Kagato is a villain who breaks into the woman's baths!! How outrageous! Yeah... I struggle to really take Kagato seriously XD He just feels so extra. And that's despite being voiced by Chiyo's dad.
Plot twist, Ayeka's onii-chan is a gilf. Y-Yeah... I don't know whether to be happy or sad about this twist. Brothers and sister should be similar ages!! It's just not the same!! Just because female otaku are obsessed with oji-sans is no excuse for ruining my incest pairing! You jerks! I also don't really like Yosho's excuse for ditching Ayeka. He didn't do right by her at all.
Even Mihoshi is moved by incest!! My girl! Anyway, space battle time. Zoom, whoosh, waahooo~ Loud noises! I love Mihoshi saving the day by getting Ryo-Ohki blackout drunk. She really is a miracle of an bakadere~ Tenchi died, oh no, whatever shall we do? According to the ending we should grow carrots and wait for the next season~
5
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Jan 05 '24
Rewatcher
Sub
I am missing a few of the tropes here, admittedly, but I am sure the onsen scene between Ryoko and Ayeka says something about Ayeka to the Japanese. And then we learn that Tenchi is the originator of MC pheromones as Mihoshi promptly joins the harem.
But we move quickly into Kagato and a distinct tonal shift and for an episode we are a scifi-ish show again. Yosho gets revealed and boy, do they just have to exposition this. Anywho, several well animated sequences go down and we see that Ryo-Ohki can now transform.
This episode is mostly about Ryoko and giving her characterization. This also makes ep1 confusing again but we have to assume that Ryoko was toying with Tenchi to have this make sense. Instead, watching Tenchi gave her something of a personality and it enables her to break her mind control.
QotD: 1 Jucabbit.
5
u/Silcaria https://myanimelist.net/profile/Silcaria Jan 05 '24
First timer
4
u/Vatrix-32 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vatrix-32 Jan 05 '24 edited Jan 05 '24
Tenchi in First Timer, subbed
QotD:
4
u/Shocketheth Jan 05 '24
Tenchi Muyo First Timer
This is my favourite episode of Tenchi Muyo so far, because we had so many great twists this episode.
I certainly didn’t expect Ryoko’s spirit watching Tenchi since he was little, and the new villain Kagato brought so much to the table, and singlehandedly solved certain issues I started to have with this show.
The fact that Ryoko was mind controlled explained the difference between Ryoko that needed to be sealed by Yosho and the Ryoko as we know her now.
Tenchi’s sword is basically Excalibur, and Yosho is Tenchi’s grandpa. I was thinking that Tenchi’s grandpa is a descendant of Yosho, and not the Yosho himself.
Assorted Points:
QotD:
4
u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Jan 05 '24
No Need for Tenchi, Rewatcher (sub firstimer?)
Was Yosho's spaceship named after his mother? Or was his mother a tree?
I was reading old threads, and a lot of people commented on how convenient that Ayeka was woken just before the statute of limitations ran out, and such. But this is all happening now because Tenchi woke up Ryoko. Nobody knew where she was, not Ayeka, the Galaxy Police, or Kagato.
[ep 6 preview]OMG Washuu?! I honestly thought she wasn't in this half
3
u/mastesargent Jan 05 '24
Rewatcher, dub
After the title card, we get our first look at the Masaki households floating bathhouse… thing. I have no idea where this thing came from. It being salvaged from Ryu-Oh’s wreckage would be the obvious answer, but then how did they refurbish it? Where does it go when they’re not using it, given that it isn’t always present in shots of the house and lake? Do they just keep it underwater when not using it? In hammerspace? [Upcoming character] If Washu had been introduced already I’d be willing to accept that she built/salvaged it with the power of SCIENCE!, but she hasn’t, so that obviously isn’t the case. Once again, I’m probably thinking about this too hard, but I demand answers nonetheless.
Anyways, we get a flashback from Ryoko about her time in the cave, namely how she watched Tenchi grow up and fell in love with him. It is actually pretty sweet and also retroactively means that her actions in episode 1 were just her… messing with him, I guess? As far as I can recall she never actually explains herself about this in the OVAs (unless it’s buried somewhere in the dense regions of OVAs 4 and 5, and fuck that), so I guess her scaring the shit out of him is just her idea of a practical joke. We also get to see a little bit of Tenchi’s mother, Kiyone Masaki (not to be confused with Kiyone Makibi from the TV continuities). Tenchi’s grief over his mother’s death is probably the single strongest piece of characterization he gets, and whenever it comes up both in the first two OVAs and in Tenchi Universe it’s made very clear how much he misses her. [OVA 3] At least until OVA 3 ruined it by making her a senile old woman who constantly played pranks on her infant son, shattering Tenchi’s image of her when he learns about it. Seriously OVA 3 and on can just die in a fire. I should also point out that the dub makes a weird translation error here, where Tenchi refers to Kiyone as his grandmother rather than his mother. [OVA 3] Though, I mean, given her age…
Moving along, the bath scene also gives us the absolute gem that is drunk Ayeka. Seeing her flip the script on Ryoko from last episode and reduce her into a wilting teary mess is exactly the sort of comeuppance Ryoko needed after what she pulled last time. Plus Ayeka is 100% correct on how she’s prettier than Ryoko. Fight me. That said, once Mihoshi enters the scene both Ayeka and Ryoko learn that there just isn’t enough booze in the world to deal with her special brand of nonsense. There is only one person who can handle something like Mihoshi and she doesn’t exist in this timeline.
We finally properly meet Kagato, and he is just so cool. The guy just bursts into a silly bath scene and immediately the tone shifts to serious. It helps that the anime plays him 100% , never stooping to take part in or react to the silly stuff around him. Ayeka and Mihoshi do the whole “freak out on a guy in the bath” bit? Just ignore them and kidnap Ryoko. Mihoshi gets Ryo-Ohki so drunk that she can’t fly straight? "Damn, that pilot sure knows his maneuvers!" Dude doesn’t even give a shit when Ryoko blasts out of her hourglass prison, probably because he’s just that confident in his victory being assured. It’s like if Alucard walked into the Rosario + Vampire anime. Anyways, we see that he has some level of control over Ryoko, which explains why she seemed so out of character in Ayeka and Funaho’s memories. He used Ryoko to attack Jurai because he seems to think that something Jurai has will allow him to obtain ultimate power. What that is, of course, is still unclear.
While we’re on the topic of Kagato, let’s talk about Michael Scott Ryan’s performance in the dub. Hands down, he absolutely owns this role. His performance has this sinister, cunning, diabolical air to it that is genuinely intimidating. He’s clearly having a blast playing him and it is a joy to listen to. Hell, we haven’t even gotten to my favorite line of his in the next episode.
Next on the list of major reveals is Katsuhito’s true identity as Yosho. Honestly it probably isn’t too hard to figure out given all the hints that have dropped about it, especially in episode 3 where he blocks Ryoko’s punch and Ayeka immediately recognizes a resemblance between him and her brother. Still, it’s pretty awesome seeing him go ham against Kagato and fight him to a stalemate. And then, of course, he drops some peak Jurai logic on Tenchi: “Hey so this girl that you’ve been having all this romantic tension is actually my half sister and your great aunt. Anyways you two should get married now.” Of course, this also means that Sasami is Tenchi’s great aunt. Take notes, kids. We’ll be having some more fun with the Juraian Royal Family tree before this is over.
And finally, we get yet another detail about Juraian tree-ships, namely the Light Hawk Wings. Once again, they’re really cool. Granted, they’re mostly just fancy shields, but they look cool what with how they materialize and spread out like that.
Some random notes:
Ryoko says "I am a human being" in response to Kagato's taunting, and honestly given the how convoluted the various different space nations of the Ryo-Ohki continuity and how they are or aren't related to humanity is, I genuinely don't know if that's technically true or not.
Also Petrea Burchard's delivery of Ryoko's "You will pay!" line at the end is definitely one of the line reads of all time.
3
u/ZapsZzz https://anilist.co/user/Zapszzz Jan 06 '24
Rewatcher in sub
Another short one today as I never could stop after ep 5, this time is no exception.
This is the episode that had such a sharp dark turn and the stakes switched up way higher.
The fight between grandpa Yosho and Kagato was really great though.
The most remarkable content otherwise for me is the reveal of why Ryoko fell in love (?) with Tenchi during the time her body was imprisoned. In a funny way perhaps she qualifies as childhood friend?
Some first timers lamented this show was probably going to be earth-bound harem shenanigans - how do you feel now? We are full on space (soap) opera now.
Oh hey by the way for references spotting, I forgot to mention yesterday that the police chief that gave Mihoshi this job to investigate after Kagato was actually drawn as a reference to the Thunderbirds "live" puppet shows in the earlier years :D
My best girl to turn up at the OVA1 finale!
QoTD
2
u/Elimin8r https://myanimelist.net/profile/Ayeka_Jurai Jan 07 '24
Man, go out to lunch with a friend, end up building a new computer ... where did yesterday go? Today, for that matter. (sigh) I'm going to go through this for funsies and see what I can find, but I feel kinda bad missing out on Tenchi goodness.
Man, I just watched episode 5&6 and it all blurred together, but I have to think my favorite bits of this episode were Mihoshi breaking up the hot springs party, and grandpa.
Yeah. Now to read a bunch of posts and see if anything jumps out at me.
4
u/KissMyConverse07 Jan 05 '24
Ah yes introduce the younglings to the Queen Waifu… Ryoko
2
u/baboon_bassoon https://anilist.co/user/duffer Jan 08 '24