Tenchi Muyo: Tenchi Muyo In Love
Publisher
US: Geneon Pioneer; UK: MVM
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Film
Running time
95 mins approx
Year
1996
Tenchi Muyo: Tenchi Muyo In Love
By otaku_kei
27th Oct 04  I never have had the opportunity to see any of the Tenchi series in full so this was a long overdue introduction into the Tenchi phenomena. Set after the events in the Tenchi OVA's this movie brings us straight into an intergalactic jailbreak by a fantastically-powered, vengeance fuelled super-being with a grudge against all those whose veins flow with the blood of the Jirrai! And as Tenchi fans already know or anyone can take a wild stab in the dark at - that means Tenchi, but more specifically his mother. Cue a Back To The Future-esque Tenchi disappearing trick due to the timeline being disrupted! Time for Tenchi and pals to take a jaunt through time and protect any harm from befalling his mother, or otherwise Tenchi can never be born! Shock, **GASP**!! Now for any fans of the Tenchi series all the cast regulars will be returning: Tenchi, Ryoko, Washu etc. but this causes problems for any newcomers to the Tenchi universe. Due to the fact that this movie builds upon the history of the series it may leave many newcomers stumped by what is going on, I know I was in many parts! The Jirrai? Never heard of them or Tenchi's connection to them so when it's brought up about halfway through the movie you just have to roll with it. Tenchi suddenly pulling out a lightsaber? Just get over it. The complete lack of introduction to the characters, their relationships and rivalries? People new to the Tenchi universe will just need to accept these things and sit back and enjoy the movie. Like I had to. But what is the movie like? Bit of a mixed bag actually. It starts off badly mainly due to an assumed level of knowledge for the viewer of Tenchi's past, but the longer it goes on this movie gets into its stride, and by the end I was down-right enjoying it. The movie tries to accomplish so much that it was bound to fail in certain respects: a space opera, a love story, a comedy... it tries too much! Yet no aspect of the movie is a complete failure. The comedy suffers the most, but still manages to get a few genuine chuckles! The love story as a sub-plot between Tenchi's parents is handled superficially at best but it was a nice touch to have the relationship equally threatened by Ryoko's interfering than by Kain the intergalactic criminal! But the sci-fi space opera aspect of this movie is pure gold - aliens, time travel, Jedi-like powers... it's a shame that this aspect of the movie doesnt really take off until the latter half of the show. OK so a few details about the disc. The animation is fine, but looks more like OVA quality rather than feature film. The sub is fine for this movie, but i warn you now the dub is atrocious! Stay clear of the English language track. This could just be because the ridiculous dialogue doesnt sound as bad in Japanese when reading but in English its just laughable! The discs extras are fine as well. The directors comments are OK, but the interview with Christopher Franke just bored me. Well I'm pretty sure that Tenchi fans are gonna love this release, and honestly I did find myself enjoying the movie by the end, but I cannot help but think that previous knowledge of the OVA series would bring an extra level of understanding to this film. Fans of Tenchi - you probably have already gone out and bought this, newbies - maybe try the OVA series first to test the water! 7/10
R2 DVD Notes
Features: English 5.1; Japanese 2.0; Director's Comments (not commentry); Production Notes; Interview with composer Christopher Franke; Theatrical Trailers, TV Spots
Release information: 4th October 2004 (out now)
Notes: The animation is fine with no encoding problems. The audio tracks are both great but I do recommend the sub for this one. The extras are OK, but nothing to write home about.
-- otaku_kei 27th Oct 04
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