No Need for Tenchi!

Publisher
Viz
Writer
Hitoshi Okuda
Artist
Hitoshi Okuda
Country of origin
Japan
Length
12 volumes
Year
1989

No Need for Tenchi!

By Eric
24th May 04

If you didn't guess by the title that this manga is based on Tenchi Muyo, then you should be ashamed to call yourself an anime fan. Manga is a very competitive business. There are more mangas available than animes, and only the best will continue to stay in business. With that said, No Need for Tenchi not only has twelve volumes, but has begun a second series of mangas entitled "The All New Tenchi Muyo!" As you can see, Tenchi has lasting power.

Chances are that if you read the manga that you already have seen the show, so I won't bother you with a backstory. Something you should know, however, is that the stories in these mangas take place in between the Kagato and Dr. Clay sagas that are in the series. Sometimes the gang of beautiful aliens and their reluctant boytoy must face new and greater villains. Sometimes the mangas are just filled with silly yet hilarious stories. One volume in particular goes from Tenchi and the gang seeking out treasure to pay their debts to being locked in a battle for the fate of the universe with a spaceship's evil mobile CPU that has a rather disturbing snuff fetish. The moods can shift very quickly.

So what about the art? It's perfect. One reason that mangas are not something I read very often is because of visibility problem. Mangas come in three colors most of the time: black, white, and grey. When you attempt to make an elaborate landscape or action scene using only these three colors, it can quickly turn into a confusing mess that requires squinting and darting your pupils around until your brain cries for mercy. Thankfully, No Need for Tenchi does not have this problem, and the action is frantic but also easy on your poor retinas. The character drawings themselves are beautiful, with quite a few sexy poses of Ryoko to open up some of the chapters, if I do say so myself.

So what about the writing? No worries there. The manga is actually funnier than the series. It has plenty of humor which easily crosses hemispheres without getting mangled, although there is some offbeat Japanese humor that westerners might not understand if they know little about Japanese culture. This manga does not take itself seriously very often, but in the rare moments it does, it's dramatic and sometimes even a little touching. If I had to fault the writing at all, it would be the constant little hearts that the artist put into the women's (and the effeminate men's) speech bubbles. Still, that's hardly a big enough problem to justify passing this manga up. You have your directive. Go out. Buy No Need for Tenchi. Read it. Laugh. Wonder why you didn't buy it sooner.

9/10

-- Eric 24th May 04