Otaku #04: The All-New Tenchi Muyo

Tenchi Muyo’s habit of chasing love comes back in new manga

Brandon Beatty, contributing editor

I’m dusting off a legendary anime throwback. Doing this brings back memories of Cartoon Network’s hit show Toonami, which brought its viewers the best action shows around. Of course, great anime helped complement Toonami, along with its host Tom the Robot and the baddest ride around, the starship Absolution. However, one of its anime shows had a guy who was not only the standard of what heroes should be, but he was also popular with women from outer space. Yes, otaku, I’m talking about Tenchi Masaki, and he and his friends are back in volume one of The All New Tenchi Muyo published by Viz Media.

The All New Tenchi Muyo is part of the original Tenchi Muyo storyline from which the series itself spans and contains movies, TV series and spin-offs. It is considered among the greatest anime series of all time. The entire main

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com

cast is back in this series, starring in several adventures in the first volume, which is subtitled Alien Nation. Each of Tenchi’s lovely lady friends has their own story from Ryoko getting a job, Sasami baking a delicious cake that holds a special meaning to her and Ayeka (Sasami’s sister) to Tenchi and Ayeka going on a date. Also Mihoshi, the galactic police officer, crashes her spaceship in Masaki Lake, the super genius Washu stops a burglary attempt by two space thieves, and in the final chapter, Ryo-oh-ki transforms into a sexy and adult form of herself to go on a date with Tenchi as a reward for learning to walk in her adult form.

As a Tenchi Muyo fan, I was very pleased that Hitoshi Okuda kept the formula intact that made this series loved globally by anime fans from the beginning. Each page is guaranteed to bring back the great memories fans have of seeing Tenchi and company’s adventures on Toonami. All the characters and settings stayed true to the original storyline without any missing links. To be fair, I must also give Viz Media’s Fred Burke and Lillian Olsen credit for a flawless English adaptation and translation in this return of Tenchi and company to fans outside of Japan.

In short, The All New Tenchi Muyo: Alien Nation did not let me down as a Tenchi fan. Until Tenchi and crew return to U.S. airwaves for their second conquest via Ryo-oh-ki Airlines, this volume will please all Tenchi fans who believe that this series is not a fad but a true icon among anime. Tenchi now, Tenchi tomorrow, Tenchi forever!

Brandon Beatty contributes Otaku each quarter of Gaming Insurrection. He can be reached by e-mail at brandongi@gaminginsurrection.com.

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