Tenchicast!

Tenchicast!

By TenchiforumTV & Film
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Tenchicast! episodes

  • Tenchicast EP7: No Need for a 20th Anniversary!


    In this episode we talk about

    •  A look back at Tenchi in general, what is Tenchi to you
    • The 10th anniversary set, and what would make a good 20th
    • What would really highlight Tenchi’s 20th anniversary

      • Coming Soon!

      The post Tenchicast EP7: No Need for a 20th Anniversary! appeared first on Tenchiforum.

      22 min
    • Tenchicast EP6: No Need for Tenchi Universe!

      In this episode we talk about

      •  How each of us got into Tenchi Universe
      •  How it compares to OVA1, which its based off of
      •  Where it shined, the new characters
      •  What (or If) we would like to see in a sequel

        • Coming Soon!

        The post Tenchicast EP6: No Need for Tenchi Universe! appeared first on Tenchiforum.

        43 min
      • Tenchicast EP5: No Need for Product Placement!

        In this episode we talk about

        •  An overview of the various Tenchi merchandise over the years
        •  How merchandising has affected Tenchi’s fandom and what could/should have made it over
        •  What products we would like to see in the future and why

          • Coming Soon!

          The post Tenchicast EP5: No Need for Product Placement! appeared first on Tenchiforum.

          33 min
        • Tenchicast EP4: No Need for OVA3!

          In this episode we talk about

          • The Plot, and how to follow it
          • Who are all these characters?
          • Our ultimate reasons for why it failed

            • Coming Soon!

            The post Tenchicast EP4: No Need for OVA3! appeared first on Tenchiforum.

            49 min
          • Tenchicast EP3: No Need for Fond Memories!

            In this episode we talk about

            •  How we got into Tenchi and what are favorite memories of it are
            •  Our favorite characters and what really hooked us with Tenchi
            •  How Tenchi inspired us: From Fanfics, to OC’s, to AMV’s
            •  Q & A Discussion
            •  Tenchi and Cons

              • Coming Soon!

              The post Tenchicast EP3: No Need for Fond Memories! appeared first on Tenchiforum.

              37 min
            • Tenchicast EP2: No Need for Multiple Universes!

              In this episode we talk about

               

              • Brief intros to each Tenchi Multi-verse and discussion about them
              • Which Incarnations are our favorites
              • The Spin-off and Alternate Universes (Which Include El-Hazard and Photon)

                • Episode

                2 (Remastered/Director’s Cut)

                Dagon:

                Hey guys, this is Dagon123, and

                welcome to…

                ALL:

                Tenchicast!

                (Intro

                Music)

                Dagon:

                Hey guys!Welcome to the next exciting

                episode of Tenchicast, presented by
                Tenchiforum.com.Tenchi’s
                universes span far and wide, and today we’ll be talking about the farthest
                reaching ones.Today I have with me Akawoa…

                Akawoa:

                How’s it going, guys?

                Dagon:

                …and Ryoko’s

                Stepdad.

                Stepdad:

                You’re gonna’

                learn to love me.

                Dagon:

                So, what is your favorite of the

                main cast universes, and why?

                Akawoa:

                My favorite is definitely Tenchi Universe. I’ve always felt that it was a little bit

                more exciting, more focused than the other universes, and I like the TV
                run-time, because it gave them more time to put in good, long-running jokes and
                character development.Obviously,
                there’s a pro-Ryoko ending that I can’t be mad at.

                Stepdad:

                I’m gonna’ have to go ahead and agree with the Universe sentiment.I have to say that, it was probably the most well-rounded of the three universes.It probably had the most excitement, the most

                variety, and I would say the best humor of the three.Everybody was involved, you know, it just…it
                just felt like everything was “clicking” on all gears, and it’s something I can
                easily watch over and over again, and if I were to introduce someone (in the
                twenty years the original OVA has been out) to the series (Tenchi)
                itself, I would say “start with Universe.”

                Dagon:

                And I will agree with that sentiment.To me,

                Tenchi Universe really captured what people
                loved about all the characters from the OVA, and fleshed those traits out.The word “filler” nowadays has come to have a
                negative connotation in contemporary anime fandom.But in Tenchi,
                those episodes really helped the characters gain more depth with the fans.Sure, they weren’t directly on the plot one hundred percent of the time, but you don’t
                need to be, because to me, that comes off as lame.

                Tokyo had a lot of potential to be a

                great series, but started off with slapstick which, in small doses is fine, but
                as the main comedy source, turned people off.
                But having Sakuya be Tenchi’s
                main squeeze, right off the bat, when other girls were already there?At that point, no matter how good it is,
                it’ll never be remembered for what it did right.

                The OVA was absolutely great up until OVA3; then the sixteen-car pile-up

                happened.What were your favorite
                moments from each of them?

                Akawoa:

                Well, from Universe, my favorite moment was

                probably when they introduced Ryoko.It’s really tough to nail any one down, because the whole series was
                so good (I could probably give you five different ones for Universe) but for Tokyo,
                my favorite was the date between Tenchi and Ryoko.That was my
                favorite part, because I felt like that brought the most of the “classic Tenchi” aesthetic to us, and it just felt right the whole
                time.

                Stepdad:

                I’d have to say, starting with the OVA, obviously the scene where Washu ties Tenchi up to her machine

                the first time and attempts to get the, uh, “samples” with the infamous “let’s
                shake the dew off this lily” line.
                Anytime I watch that, I just say to myself, “This is why I started
                watching this show,” because that was just…it’s unexplainable, because I look
                at it, and it’s the perfect perversion that gave the series its “umph” and its staying power.I could re-watch that scene numerous times
                and still have a big smile on my face.

                Um, as far as Universe is concerned—it’s

                been a while since I’ve seen that—I would have to agree with another fan: the
                three “time and space adventures” episodes.
                They all provided a unique look into everyone else’s vision of how they
                saw Tenchi and where they fit into his life.Some of the girls felt that he was good
                husband material and, if I remember correctly, in the Kiyone
                arc he was just a restaurant owner as she was trying to find her way (or
                something like that) but anyway they were all good peeks into their character.

                And  I’ve… not seen Tokyo (I don’t remember most

                of it) but I would have to say, that, I remember watching it on TV one time,
                and it was something about Ayeka going off on some
                tangent about…I can’t remember exactly what it was, but all of a sudden,
                completely deadpan, Sasami comes out of nowhere and
                she says “he only likes you because you have those,” and there’s a big, red arrow that flashes on the screen
                for, like, three times right at her breasts.
                Every time I think of that, I just…I cannot stop laughing.

                Dagon:

                My favorite moments in the OVA would be much of the first episode, “Ryoko Resurrected.”

                I absolutely love that episode
                to death. The part where the gas line
                has just blown up: “Ryoko’s Theme” kicks on, Petrea delivers the line “Hey, that’s no way to treaet a lady!”It’s
                one of those moments that you come to immortalize as classic from the series.

                As for Universe: the last episode, right

                around the last five minutes, right
                when Tenchi turns Ayeka
                down on staying with her on Jurai, goes back to
                Earth, and because we had had that emotional low-blow when—spoiler—Ryoko “dies,” then for her to come back, Dimension of Love playing, and Tenchi embracing Ryoko in his
                arms…I can probably say, as a Ryoko and Tenchi fan, that is probably the greatest moment throughout
                any of the series for me.

                Tokyo’s favorite scene for me was

                probably the ending again.One of those
                really nice bonding moments between Tenchi and Ryoko, and so
                close to a kiss.It’s a really sweet way
                to end the series.

                You know, I want to go on the record right now, and say that I didn’t hate Tenchi In Tokyo

                whatsoever.Tenchi in Tokyo had the makings of an exceptional Tenchi
                series, but ultimately its downfall is that they decided to focus on the
                weakest parts of the series, as opposed to its strengths.From what I’ve heard (and seen from the
                series itself), it looks like Tokyo
                was originally intended to be a direct sequel to Universe (hence in promos we see Knight Azaka
                and Kamidake, Nagi,
                Ken-Ohki, etc.) and looking at Yugi and her
                backstory, as well as in the very beginning when they said “yay, we were
                celebrating our two years together.”For
                whatever reason, the creative staff thought it would be a good idea to add Sakuya, not only as a main girl, but she also automatically
                gets Tenchi’s affection and attention (so fans were automatically
                going to be against it).

                Akawoa:

                Yeah,

                I agree with that.I didn’t really care
                much for her at all.As a character, she
                was kind of like an empty shell that didn’t really—to me—bring much to the
                series.She wasn’t even like a villain,
                she was just a Mary-Sue character that just kind of takes the spotlight away
                from everybody.

                Stepdad:

                “Bella,” you say?

                Akawoa:

                Noike.

                Stepdad:

                I’m gonna’ have to find that and re-watch it, because

                even though it wasn’t necessarily my favorite because I don’t recall a lot of Washu moments in there, but I feel I should refresh
                myself.

                Akawoa:

                Pretty much a large portion of the series, she’s just gone for no reason (well, for

                “that” reason).

                Dagon:

                Should each universe in the Tenchi saga have its own original characters?

                Akawoa:

                Uhh…that’s kind of a tough one for

                me, because it really depends on the execution.
                Like, for example, Tokyo has Sakuya (and nothing else does).I didn’t really think Sakuya
                was a good character, and I wish they didn’t even put her in in the first
                place.But, then, we have other
                characters like Yugi or Kiyone
                that aren’t in the OVA canon, but they’re really good characters and you almost
                wish they were in the OVA.I know I’ve said many times, I wish they didn’t
                even do Noike, because Noike
                is basically Kiyone, and I don’t care what the whole
                situation was with…“that” before, because I know a lot of people argue that the
                character idea of Noike was made before Kiyone, but Kiyone in Universe came out before Noike, so I don’t see anything wrong with putting her in
                something like the OVA.It’s kind of
                nice to see new characters, but at the same time if they’re crappy then you
                don’t really want to see them.It
                depends, I guess.

                Stepdad:

                If you do it, do it with precision, do it with tact, don’t do it all at once, have

                more than six episodes to do it, and I’ll be fine with it.But if you just start throwing all this stuff
                at me so fast in such little time, I’m gonna’ feel
                confused, and I’m gonna’ get frustrated, and I’m gonna’ wanna’ stop watching, or
                I’m not going to like your work or characters.
                You need to flesh out your characters, and you need to make sure that all of your audience—regardless of
                whether they live in Japan, the United States, Canada, England,
                wherever—understand where you are coming from.

                Dagon:

                Before I go into my answer to the question: Kiyone Makibi existed before Noike

                did.So many of the “canon elite” will
                try and make it out to be otherwise, but Kiyone’s
                first appearance in 1994 was March 25th.Noike’s was in late
                1993.But, as you know, anime is not
                made overnight, and if we use the argument of “idea conception” (like so many
                do for Tenchi’s mother in OVA3) she beats both.Besides, everybody cares about Kiyone because she fits.
                And if we elaborate on that, the reason characters like Kiyone, Nagi, the Knights fit is
                because they fit in with the story perfectly.
                They don’t change the dynamic of the show, they add to it.Kiyone was the
                perfect “ying” to Mihoshi’s
                “yang.”She was the strong-willed
                workaholic, Mihoshi the lazy goofball.Nagi fit because
                she accentuated and added to Ryoko’s character.So many times in anime (I’m looking smack-dab
                at you, Haruhi)
                the character is no different than any bland moe-tron
                character except that she’s a god,
                and that’s supposed to be the ultimate variable that makes them an interesting
                character, but there’s really no proof of that.
                It’s all bluffing minus minor coincidence.Ryoko is a space
                pirate, so surely she has enemies and rivals somewhere.Who comes out of the woodworks to legitimize
                that?The bounty hunter Nagi and her cabbit Ken-Ohki
                (again, another perfect circle).Why
                characters like Sakuya, and especially characters
                like Noike (and most of the characters introduced
                through GXP) don’t work is because
                we’re not allowed to have them work their way up to us, the fans.There’s no
                segue.We’re force fed these characters
                and told to “deal with it.”Characters
                who not only retcon and break the dynamic of the show,
                they’re quote-unquote “perfect” so they’re completely out of touch with the
                fact that every other character on the show has a flaw of some sort to make
                them associate-able, to make them real.

                Short of going into an OVA3 rant right now (we’ll save that for another podcast), Kajishima is just a terribly sh*tty writer.

                The spinoffs and alternate universes that Tenchi is

                related to: we have Saint Knight’s Tale,
                Dual, Photon and El Hazard, and
                while El Hazard isn’t technically
                related to Tenchi per say, it may as well be.It’s called its “sister series” (as so many
                have coined it).When Hiroki Hayashi,
                who was one of the original creators of Tenchi (the
                original director) was pushed out by Masaki Kajishima’s
                “George Lucas syndrome” he went on to do El
                Hazard.El Hazard had the same producer, and even had the same team AIC
                (and, of course, there’s the cameos that happen across both it and Tenchi).Saint Knight’s Tale follows Tenchi’s half-brother Kenshi on
                the world of Geminar.
                Dual (to describe it best in
                the shortest way possible) is “what if the creator of Tenchi Muyo! did his
                own version of Evangelion?”Great Mech series
                that follows the character Kazuki Yotsuga
                and his visions of giant Mechs from a parallel
                universe.I haven’t actually seen Photon so I’ll let you take the reins, Akawoa.

                Akawoa:

                Alright, well Photon’s kind of a more obscure

                spinoff (to most people).A lot of
                people haven’t really heard about it, and I believe it’s out of print right
                now.But it’s about a guy named Photon
                (Photon Earth) and he lives in a small village on…I don’t remember the name of
                the planet.His friend writes with a
                marker the word “baka” on his head (Japanese for
                “idiot”) and then he goes out into the forest, and he’s just kind of screwing
                around, and then he ends up falling into this cave, and in the cave he finds
                this person named Keyne in a…it’s almost like a
                pod.He has a marker in his pocket, and
                when he sees her, he writes “baka” on her forehead,
                just for fun, and apparently, on her planet where she came from, if two people
                have the same thing written on their head, they’re engaged.So she sees that they both have the same
                thing on their heads, and she…she’s kind of like a Ryoko
                character.She takes it to mean they’re
                engaged and just latches onto him, hangs around him and for the rest of the
                series they’re…well, they don’t really know it for most of the series, but
                there’s a guy who’s kind of like Kagato, but goofier, and he has goofy alien minions that
                kind of look like weird, chibi-monkey things.He’s trying to take over the world with this
                orbital-array device and…it’s all craziness from there…but, it’s kind of like Tenchi, but more goofy, more slap-stick, more fun (not that
                much ecchi, but kind of like GXP without as much ecchi.

                Dagon:

                And then there’s El Hazard, which follows

                Makoto, a young boy who finds the ruins of an ancient civilization in his
                school—or, stumbles upon them, rather—after being attacked by Jinnai (one of
                the show’s main antagonists) and is transported to the mystical magnificent
                world of El Hazard.The show is great,
                and it’s one of those shows where the dub is so good that it’s considered
                unanimously among the anime community as being better than the sub.

                So, what is your favorite of all of these?

                Akawoa:

                My favorite—which, if anybody talks to me for any period of time about Tenchi spinoffs will know—is always going to come back to Saint Knight’s Tale.I just felt like that series was Kajishima channeling his “inner original OVA Tenchi” in a more modern setting.I just love all the characters, the villain

                is great, the story is great…there’s ecchi in it, but
                not to the point that it made me tune out the series.The comedy is great too, it’s very
                reminiscent of early Tenchi comedy…and it has Mechs, too, so I mean, it really covers all the bases.There’s not much more I can say other than I
                want a U.S. license release so I can buy the box set, because I would buy it
                right now if they released it.

                Stepdad:

                The only thing I can be able to say is I probably have three or more series I need to watch.

                Dagon:

                Which one is my favorite? Oh man…that’s a

                tough one…see, I’m an optimist; I try to find the good in everything,
                especially when it comes to anime.Each
                of the series here had something about them that made me like them: Dual is for the Mech
                junkie, but it’s funny, and Eva fans
                will greatly appreciate it.Saint Knight’s Tale (also a great Mech series) is set in a nice fantasy setting, and has
                great characters.El Hazard is phenomenal as well.
                If anybody could stand toe-to-toe with Tenchi,
                it would be El Hazard.So, I think that’s my answer.From the moment I saw El Hazard I was captivated.
                The characters are awesome and unique, and the dub hits an absolute
                grand slam between Jinnai’s one of a kind laugh to Mr. Fujisawa.Any downsides, in my mind, are completely
                swept under the rug with the outstanding performance the dub cast did.

                What were your favorite, or most stand-out moments, from each series?

                Akawoa:

                Uh… that’s a tough one.You know, there’s going to

                be a couple of them, but if I had to nail one down, just off the top of my
                head, blind-fire, I would say…there’s this really awesome fight scene (I think
                it’s either episode seven or eight, it’s been a little while since I watched
                it) where Kenshi just destroys so much, and you’re just like “holy crap, dude, he’s such
                a beast!” and then all of a sudden, he goes into “rage mode” and he just grabs
                this other Mech with his Mech,
                and the guy’s just got snot pouring down his face, he’s like “Aaaah!Oh my
                God!Oh!” [laughs].I don’t know, for some reason I found it
                humorous, but…it just really stuck out in my mind as a really epic, badass
                “holy sh*t that guy is cool” moment.That was really exciting to me.As for Dual,
                my favorite moment is…there’s this really epic final moment at the end where
                they—I don’t want to spoil it for anybody (if you’ve seen it, you’ll know what
                I’m talking about)—kind of relate to the bigger picture.They’re talking about Zinv
                (Jinbu, however you want to say it) it’s just
                really…it feels really reminiscent of an Evangelion moment, the way he
                hints at it, and it just kind of takes your head and turns it upside down.That really solidified it for me, after I
                watched the series, and looking back on it, I really love that series.I love all
                the spinoffs (aside from GXP).

                In El Hazard, my favorite moment was

                probably when they introduce…I’m sorry, I forget the name, I’ve watched a lot
                of things since then…the teacher?Dagon,
                if you could help me here—

                Dagon:

                Mr. Fujisawa?

                Akawoa:

                Mr. Fujisawa!When they discover that his

                powers only work when he’s sober (or work best when he’s sober).That was just hilarious to me, because he
                obviously loves to drink…it’s so ironic to me, I just loved it.

                Photon…uh…for most of the series, it’s

                kind of…I don’t want to say small-scale, but…it’s kind of like Tenchi, where it doesn’t shove anything big in your face
                for a while, and then at the end, you see the bigger picture.Anyway, at the end there’s this really great
                moment when they’re in space, and you just see this giant Mech
                thing, and you just kind of really get this sense of scale as it pans back: you
                can see the planet in the background, and there’s this giant Mech, and you’re just thinking in your head “how is he
                going to beat that?” and it just looks really
                cool.It’s really hard to explain, but
                yeah.

                Dagon:

                In Dual it’s more of a small-scale

                moment, but when Kazuki gets knocked down in the Mech for the first time, and he has this moment of complete

                helplessness.His eyes are shaking back
                and forth, and everyone’s screaming at him to get back up.It’s moments like that that I love, because the mask is taken off; there’s no script,
                per say, it’s just “what the hell do I do?” It gives him more humanity.

                I haven’t seen Photon, so I can’t

                answer there.

                In Saint Knight’s Tale (I don’t want to

                give away too many spoilers, so suffice it to say): when the character Dagmyer gets his comeuppance…oh man, is that a good
                moment!One of those “I’ve been waiting
                the whole show for this moment”
                moments.

                Finally, at the end of El Hazard 2 (or,

                towards the end of the second OVA), I don’t want to give spoilers away again,
                but Makoto is being chased by the girls, Fujisawa also happens to be running
                away from someone, and they run into each other, and Fujisawa says, “What do we
                do?” and Makoto says, “Sensei, what did the Confederacy do when they were
                losing?” They both look at each other and yell “Retreat!” and they book it in
                the other direction, and I laughed so
                hard at that.Just the way the music
                was, and the goofiness…I was almost in tears from that scene.Of all the references, just a hilarious
                moment I’ll never forget.

                Well, thank you guys for coming in.Do you

                have anything you want to add?

                Akawoa:

                I would say, if anybody hasn’t watched the spinoffs to the series, and is looking

                for something good to watch, then they should definitely look into all of the
                spinoffs we mentioned here today.If not
                for the sake of watching a new show, then for the sake of catching the
                references to different series, and just for the fun of it.You get to see similar character development
                in each of them.So I’d go for it.

                Stepdad:

                Don’t do drugs.Stay in school.And always, always listen to your grandparents (even if he is a perverted old

                man).

                Dagon:

                Until next time…stay gold!

                (Outro

                Music)

                The post Tenchicast EP2: No Need for Multiple Universes! appeared first on Tenchiforum.

                23 min
              • Tenchicast EP1: No Need for the Future!

                In this episode we talk about

                • Other anime being brought back and where Tenchi is at on the list of reboots, and what would be the likeliest remake possibility
                • The newest Tenchi segment, Saint Knight’s Tale, good or bad, and where Kajishima can go from here

                  •  

                  Ep 1 (Remastered/Director’s Cut):

                  Dagon:

                  Hey guys, this is Dagon123, and welcome to…

                  ALL:

                  Tenchicast!

                  (Intro Music)

                  Dagon:

                  Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the first ever episode of Tenchicast: No Need for a Podcast, presented by Tenchiforum.com.  Today with me I have two great members, Akawoa and Devilbecka.

                  No Need for the Future: a multitude of anime are getting rebooted, getting new story arcs animated, and of course, Saint Knight’s Tale.  So, in this episode we will be talking about the future of Tenchi.  We see a lot of anime being brought back from what seems like the dead: Berserk Golden Arc is being animated, Trigun is getting a new movie called Badlands Rumble after ten years…what are your thoughts on that?  And what do you think the likeliest Tenchi remake possibility would be?

                  Akawoa:

                  That’s a really good question.  If they were to go back and remake anything, I think the most likely thing that they might want to remake would probably be the OVA, just because, I don’t know, it’s hard for me to say why, I just feel like they might not give the other series as much attention (like Tenchi in Tokyo or Tenchi Universe).  I don’t know, I think it could benefit from a reboot, you know, go back and, rather than making more and twisting the story up in all these side plots like it’s kind of been doing recently, just go back and update it and put a new spin on the animation and maybe get younger people into it that missed out on it last generation.  Yeah, that’s a good question.

                  Devilbecka:

                  So we’ll probably have a scenario where you have the ova—O-V-A, sorry—and Tenchi in Tokyo, or Tenchi Universe, where I think it would be something like Final Fantasy, basically.  You know?

                  Dagon:

                  I’m glad you brought up that point, Akawoa about bringing Tenchi to a new generation of people.  The last time that we saw animation from Tenchi was the OVA (the main cast, anyway), even though it hadn’t really been all that long since Tenchi Forever…I’m gonna exclude GXP for now, but even taking that one into account, the style in three or four years was radically different, and with the way Moe as a design choice has taken over the market, will that affect Tenchi’s design?  Even though Tenchi’s designs are by Masaki Kajishima, looking at Tenchi in Tokyo, AIC had a very distinct style around that time, which reflected all of their series for a while—from Tenchi to El Hazard to a little bit of Dual.  If Tenchi was made today by AIC, would the designs for Tenchi be different?

                  Akawoa:

                  It very well could be different, just because the old character designs were made in the nineties, and back then it was a little bit different with how they did character designs (as far as I know, I’ve kind of looked into it a little bit).  They aim for a different look now than they used to, and they might want to—I’m almost afraid to say that, if they did do something, they might want to update everyone—make them look less “crazy,” less “out there” with their hair and stuff, and I can’t really say I’m all for that, because I do like the original character designs a lot.  I just don’t know how well or how much respect they might give to it or not, or if they might just try to do what the new Devil May Cry is doing and just kind of revamp the character look and keep the story, or something similar.

                  Dagon:

                  That’s a good point, and as we’ve seen from the Tenchi fan base, they’re very fierce when it comes to even the simplest of changes.  For instance, let’s look at pronunciations: when FUNimation decided to go with “SA-sami” instead of “Sa-SA-mi”… yes, it’s phonetically correct, but people didn’t like it.  They very much did not like it, because that’s how they had always heard it.  And if we look at OVA3…well, that pretty much speaks for itself.  You have to be mindful of the changes you make.

                  Akawoa:

                  Absolutely, yeah.

                  Devilbecka:

                  Yep.

                  Dagon:

                  Well, as for me, I think if it was made by AIC, it would be hard to tell whether or not we would get a design change.  Looking at Saint Knight’s Tale, the designs resemble OVA3, but of course, it’s not the same as it was years before.  But you have to keep things comfortable for the fans.  As we all know, even the smallest changes like Sasami’s name change in Magical Girl’s Club can be hugely negative.  Looking forward at what we should see from Tenchi, it’s not so much “what” but “who.”  The biggest reason people are negative at the OVA line now—besides the ham-fisted, convoluted story—is the characters: Ryoko laying down for Airi, for Noike?  Pft.  I’m not really watching “Tenchi” anymore at this point.  It’s become way too cluttered with new characters, and we need to focus on what’s already there in the OVA, and what plots and subplots we need to wrap up (I’ve always been a fan of, and have pushed for, the throne of Jurai plot that arises at the end of OVA2).

                  Akawoa:

                  Certainly, I think that’s a good way to put it.  I think really the only way that they could even go back and efficiently do something without going forward would be if they animated the True Tenchi novels (that’s the only thing that comes to mind that they could do), and try to fill in the backstory.  But I’m almost afraid that if they did that, then the canon might get really cluttered up, and then we’ll get a bunch of people coming out and complaining about it.

                  Devilbecka:

                  Yeah.

                  Dagon:

                  It would be a great way to introduce Azusa as an antagonist.  He fits the bill (after the end of OVA2).  You know, do the whole “Funaho-Misaki visiting” then do a plot kind of like the end of Universe: somehow the throne comes back into everyone’s mind (probably through Funaho and her sister’s visit).  Turmoil on the way, tumultuousness ensues, people love it.  Tenchi gets nerfed to give him the underdog appeal, which gives us a great avenue to introduce the OVA’s narrow “everybody wins” scenario (in a way people can stomach).  It’s certainly better than two episodes of soulless recap, three episodes of characters no one cares about, and one episode of “oh shit, we forgot the plot!”  Tenchi’s been shoe-horned into this corner where it can’t be itself in the name of posterity, and it sucks.

                  Akawoa:

                  Absolutely.  I kind of feel like…like you said, it was shoe-horned in, and kind of half-arsed, because it seemed like, at the time, he was fixated with doing GXP and he really just used it as a filler to bring in some GXP cameo the whole time.  He put an awful lot of emphasis on Misao.  He even had some references to GXP characters that were more-or-less random and just didn’t need to be there.  I can understand if he wants to do GXP, but don’t give us Tenchi and half-ass it and ruin the series for us.  I think that was an excellent point you made.

                  Devilbecka:

                  I think they ruined it when they introduced Airi….

                  Dagon:

                  Our next point: Saint Knight’s Tale (Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari), the latest installment in the Tenchi universe, follows the accolades of Tenchi’s half-brother Kenshi Masaki—son of Rea and Nobuyuki Masaki—as he is transported to the world of Geminar, where we follow his adventures.  What are your thoughts on it?

                  Devilbecka:

                  It was pretty good.  Really good, actually.

                  Akawoa:

                  I thought it was pretty good.  I mean, I thought in a lot of ways it felt like “old Kajishima style” like he was really trying to channel that old Tenchi feeling.  He made it a bit more edgy in terms of fan service than he normally would, but I think that’s just kind of the direction he’s gone.  He’s matured, gotten a little older, he’s gotten a little bit more into including that sort of thing (and maybe it’s better for the market if that’s in there) but I thought it was really good.  It was a lot of fun, and being an OVA, it was a little bit shorter, but it had the longer episodes (forty-five minutes per episode) so it felt more like you were watching a big TV special; every time you’d get that new episode, it was really exciting to see how much they could do with that time slot.

                  Dagon:

                  I like that you brought up that “it feels like Tenchi” (or how Tenchi used to) because it does feel very much like Tenchi used to.  It feels like Kajishima really put a lot of effort into it.  The show itself is great: I love the Mechs (our main White Mech of course being a reference to Dual’s Heartzina) and Kenshi himself.  You know, it’s funny, we look at Kenshi and…I don’t want to use the word “god” but, I think it’s in episode seven or eight where he walks on the ceiling and kicks that guy in the face and…that’s normal for him, like “Meh, defying gravity…all in a day’s work.”

                  Akawoa:

                  Yeah, it’s almost like he’s an amalgam of the entire Tenchi household.  I’ve seen some people mention it before, they say he’s got traits of all the other characters (almost) as though he’s learned the skills from them (like maybe they taught him).  He brings this up an awful lot, too.

                  Dagon:

                  Oh, definitely.  In the first couple episodes, we see cameos of Washu and Ryo-Ohki, as well as constant references such as “oh yeah, that reminds me of my sister who’s lazy all the time,” or “oh yeah, just like my sister who loves to cook,” and that’s a grab at the Tenchi fans Kajishima knows are watching, because…duh, Kenshi is related to Tenchi.

                  One interesting point on that is that he references the girls as his “sisters,” and we know in Japanese culture that younger boys often refer to older girls as their “onee-chan” (or “older sisters”) but this also has relevance because of Tenchi’s foreshadowed wedding to everybody.  So that begs the question: has it already happened at this point?  Did he already go to Jurai, are they all doing with him what we saw in that omake that nobody wants to remember?  It’s a great rib on Kajishima’s part, because it does drive us fans nuts; we’re going back and forth and discussing it (of course, he knows we’re going to do that).

                  Akawoa:

                  Yeah I noticed that as well, it was really interesting how they did that.  He described them so that you could generally tell who he was talking about, but he never referred to them by name.  Hopefully we’ll see maybe a license or something in the future, and then a little bit more information about it.

                  Dagon:

                  I’d love to see a license.  SKT also had a very great cast of characters.  I loved everybody, and that’s kind of surprising from a show that’s related to Tenchi.  Even Maria, who I thought was going to be the “archetypal Ayeka” character, ended up being really cool (every character was, except for Dagmeyer).

                  Akawoa:

                  Yeah, I mean, I can’t think of anybody I really hated except maybe Dagmeyer (or as I call him “Douche-meyer”).  Everyone else was pretty much spot-on, and cool, and granted I liked some more than others—it’s no secret I’m a big Chiaya fan—but Lashara’s really cool, and Aura…I noticed a lot of people gravitated towards Yukine, but other characters as well.

                  Devilbecka:

                  My favorites were Chiaya and Kenshi.

                  Dagon:

                  The way Chiaya was set up, she felt like she was going to have that “Ryoko attitude” (very strong and true to her values).

                  Akawoa:

                  Yeah I kind of felt like she has one of the more active roles in the story.  I thought that towards the end, it seemed like we saw a little bit less of some of the characters, like Yukine; I felt like we saw less of her as it went on.  There were a few episodes where she really didn’t make too many appearances.  It seems like they kind of took the spotlight from her, because it seemed like, as they went through the story, each of the girls had at least one deep, emotional “moment” with Kenshi.  I’m not sure if you guys caught that, but Lashara had one, Aura had the kiss in the running episode…I can’t think of the others because it’s been like three or four months since I saw it, and it was Chinese fan subs the last couple episodes so I’m not even a hundred percent on what all happened for a while, but…I think you guys know what I’m talking about.

                  Dagon:

                  Yeah I think Chiaya’s was when she decided not to kill him, you know, I don’t remember if he was awake or not, but I mean…it’s Kenshi, he knew what was going on, he has eyes in the back of his head, but that was a very strong emotional moment for her.  I think overall Saint Knight’s Tale (Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari) was a great inclusion into the OVA line; I think it was a step in the right direction.

                  Akawoa:

                  Yeah, I kind of think of it as, if Kajishima were to make another OVA and rejuvenate the Tenchi franchise’s roots, I would like to see something of a similar vein in style, you know, the way he handled the harem setting was a little bit better, for the most part, and it had some good humor in it, and I think if he brings it back…it felt more like Tenchi’s original OVA’s where it was like “what’s going to happen today?” in their slice-of-life world, you know?  And occasionally they toss in a baddie, you know, it wasn’t always just like “Oh, Jurai!  Politics!  Political intrigue!  Gundam Wing!”

                  Dagon:

                  They also did a good job with all the action.  The Mecha action was extremely well done.  It was balanced very well.

                  Akawoa:

                  Absolutely.  I love seeing some of the scenes in particular where Kenshi would be fighting somebody, and he’d just kick the crap out of them, and then they’d get so scared they’d have snot running down their face, or they’d be crying, like in a couple of the earlier episodes.

                  Dagon:

                  Well, I know I look forward to seeing more great things from Tenchi in the future.  You know, people have always said, after OVA3, “Well, there’s nowhere else for Tenchi to go, you’re beating a dead horse, you’re beating a dead horse,” but I don’t believe that at all.  I think there are many, many doors, and many directions Tenchi can go in.

                  Devilbecka:

                  Yeah, because remember, the guy’s about fifty-something, so I think he’s got a long way to go.  It’s not over yet!

                  Akawoa:

                  Yeah I think there’s a lot they can explore still, and I can’t help but mention how many people, when Saint Knight’s Tale was coming out, were asking after every episode “When’s the Tenchi cameo?  When is the Tenchi main cast going to come in there and make their cameo?” and it never happened (we saw Washu and Ryo-Ohki in the one episode, and everybody got really excited), it ended up being a big tease.  I’m hoping that means he’s not giving them the cameo because he’s going to put them in “something” soon, because I would love to see more.  In fact, I’d love to see more of all the alternate universes too, not just canon, like something in the same vein as Universe like we were talking about a little while ago, with characters like Kiyone or Nagi or Ken-Ohki in it.

                  Dagon:

                  Thank you guys very much for coming in and doing Tenchicast today, Akawoa, Devilbecka.

                  Devilbecka:

                  No problem!

                  Akawoa:

                  Anytime!  It was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it.

                  Dagon:

                  Until next time…stay gold!

                  (Outro Music)

                   

                  The post Tenchicast EP1: No Need for the Future! appeared first on Tenchiforum.

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                A shinto shrine, deep in rural Japan, a boy trains diligently. Little did he know he would become one of the most fondly remembered anime of all time. Tenchicast! The one and only Tenchi Muyo!…