The second Tenchy Muyo Movie is a step back from the first. The action is fun, the comedy is good, but the drama is cheesy. It jumps from one thing to the other without much subtlety, and it becomes a bit hard to care about the characters when they just keep overacting to the slightest things. I would have given this movie an extra half an hour and much more subtlety to make it work properly.
This movie focuses on a completely new character, and doesn’t really contribute to any existing character other than one line of background for Tenchi’s grandfather. The new girl’s back-story is interesting, but at the same time also feels too much like a recycled plot from the second OVA!
Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable movie because of the quick pacing and existing characters. They become hard to buy during the melodrama, however during the fun and upbeat parts I really have no complaints. It’s really one of those movies that’s great to watch if you’re stuck at home on a rainy day and have no idea what to watch.
The visuals are pretty good for an anime, but a bit rushed and unrefined for Tenchi Muyo. the new girl in particular probably has the worst character-designs of any Tenchi Muyo character I’ve seen yet. The soundtrack however is the best of the Tenchi series I’ve seen so far. Outani Kou really did a great job with it.
Overall, this is a movie that didn’t impress me. It did, however, entertain me.
| Storytelling: | 7/10 – Fun, but the dramatic parts don’t work. |
| Characters: | 7/10 – They overact too much during the drama parts. |
| Production-Values: | 8/10 – Good, though not the best for a Tenchi Movie |
| Setting: | 8/10 – Nice background story though. |
The weakest of the Tenchi films, the atmosphere was uncomfortable and the drama felt awkward. The dark feel of the movie also had potential but again, just ended up feeling awkward. This movie I believe fits into the OVA storyline while the 1st and 3rd films fit into the TV series and are directed by a different person.
Seems like a pretty fair assessment. Honestly, I feel the quality of the three Tenchi movies goes down with each one – I enjoyed the first movie MUCH more than the other two, and I enjoyed this one much more than the third.
I think you, however, will really like the third. For me, though, it just didn’t feel “Tenchi” enough.
-Tom
Re: Chris, this movie follows the first OVA series as if the others never happened.
^I see thanks for clearing that up, I know the other films can basically fit into any of the Tenchi series whether it be TV, OVA or Tenchi in Tokyo, the OVA director sadly got worse as he went along with the OVA and in my opinion did a horrible job in the 3rd OVA series.