While not perfect, the second Tenchi Muyo movie impressed me. I was expecting a real melodrama of characters overacting, but instead there’s a lot of subtlety in this very emotional movie. That’s something I really appreciated, and I think that this is my favourite installment of the Tenchi Muyo! franchise because of that. But you don’t want to watch this movie as a Tenchi fan.
It’s a bit spoilerific perhaps, but imagine your average harem series: it’s been established that some of the characters are in love with the male lead, but nothing major happens. Then this woman comes out of nowhere, takes Tenchi and the two become full-fledged lovers. There is no action, hardly any comedy, no harem hijinks. It’s completely different from the rest of the tenchi franchise, which always had something innocent in it.
The high emphasis on drama makes it a great movie, though. It’s powerful and yet not overdramatic. The new girl, Haruna, is drawn beautifully, and well developed throughout the movie, and I especially liked the way her relationship developed with Tenchi. The animation is great, and if you watched the OVAs, then it’s a great recommendation if you’re looking for a good romance movie. There aren’t many good romance movies anyway, so it’s great to see one that’s worthwile.
I do have a complaint though. Ayeka and Ryoko feel a bit dumbed down in comparison to Haruna. When the movie focuses on them, they seem to lose their spark a bit, and I just didn’t buy their development at times. They didn’t ask enough questions and it just felt to me like they were somewhat different people from the rest of the Tenchi Franchise. Because of that, this movie seemed to lose my attention a bit, every time they came in the spotlight again.
Nevertheless, the rest of the cast does not have this problem and that’s why I enjoyed this movie a lot. It’s emotional, charming and mature, and shows why Tenchi is much more interesting than 90% of the other harem lead clones out there.
| Storytelling: | 8/10 – Quiet, subtle and engaging. |
| Characters: | 8/10 – Haruna and Tenchi are great; Ryoko and Ayeka disappoint a bit. |
| Production-Values: | 9/10 – Fluid and life-like animation. |
| Setting: | 8/10 – Adds quite a bit of depth to certain a certain character. |
“I think that this is my favourite installment of the Tenchi Muyo! franchise because of that. But you don’t want to watch this movie as a Tenchi fan.”
Yeah, most Tenchi fans either love this movie because Ryoko is their fave and it appears to hint at Ryoko eventually getting Tenchi; or hate it with a passion because Tenchi was with “girl X” and omigod had secks with her… Haruna gets called Whoruna and a rapist with very few bothering to try to understand her tragic character, and why Tenchi didn’t hold what she had done against her in the end. But I digress. I personally think it’s a good movie, and not a bad Tenchi movie either, just not the kind of Tenchi movie most fans were expecting. It’s definitely my favorite of them.
You’re awesome psgels! And I’m surprised you made no mention to the fact that Tenchi finally picked someone and the reaction from the other girl I thought was beautifully subtle, with just a kind smile acknowledging that she lost.
I don’t agree with Ayeka and Ryoko though! I loved them very much in the film, the sisterly relationship is what made me love the movie more than anything. Sasami being forced to become more mature was another nice subtle thing I like.
Haruna is a true tragic character, it was hard to hate her despite what she was doing. She was still a bitch, but in the end she returned to her sweet ways. She’s probably the best female character in an anime ever.
“the second Tenchi Muyo movie”
Isn’t this the third Tenchi Muyo movie? Cause there was Tenchi Muyo in Love (the first), then there was Daughter of Darkness (the second), and then this one (the third).
Actually from my experience most Tenchi fans love this movie. Its Tenchi in Tokyo that they hate. Now you said that Ryoko and Ayeka were out of character for this movie. Wait until you see Tenchi in Tokyo.
As I recall, I was able to enjoy this much more than the other two Tenchi movies. To myself, the pacing of the other two movies felt extremely rushed, and too unlike that of the anime series’ to keep me feeling comfortable while watching them. However I recall this movie moving along at an appropriate and comfortable pace, which is a big part of what makes it my favorite among these movies.