Ask John: What is the Tenchi Muyo Continuity?

Question:
Is Tenchi Universe completely independent of the Tenchi Muyo! OAVs? Also, in what order should I watch the entire Tenchi saga? In what order was the series orginally released?

Answer:
The original Tenchi Muyo OAV series premiered on Japanese home video on September 25, 1992 and proceeded through 6 episodes and one 45 minute special, concluding in mid 1993. The second OAV series began with Tenchi Muyo OAV 8, released on September 25, 1994. The second OAV series continued the story from the first 7 episodes up through the release of the 13th OAV on September 25, 2995. Tenchi Muyo moved onto television with the April 2, 1995 premier of the 26 episode long Tenchi Muyo TV series (re-named in America as “Tenchi Universe”). For the benefit of fans that may not have seen the OAVs, the TV series established a new continuity, separate from the OAV series story. The new TV series continuity was loosely continued in the first Tenchi Muyo motion picture, Tenchi Muyo in Love, which opened to Japanese theaters on April 20, 1996.

A year later, on April 1, 1997, the Shin (New) Tenchi Muyo TV series established a strange new continuity merging elements from both the OAV series and the TV/movie storyline. Shin Tenchi Muyo (re-named in America “Tenchi in Tokyo”) concluded with episode 26 broadcast on September 23, 1997. Shin Tenchi Muyo earned relatively poor ratings during its Japanese television broadcast, but ironically was consistently a top seller on Japanese home-video. As Shin Tenchi Muyo was approaching its conclusion, the second motion picture hit Japanese theaters. Tenchi Muyo: Manatsu no Eve (Midsummer’s Eve), drastically re-titled in America as Tenchi Muyo: Daughter of Darkness, premiered on August 2, 1997. It’s affiliation to the previous continuities is a bit unclear, and not entirely essential as the film was a disposable, self-contained story. With the conclusion of Shin Tenchi Muyo, the franchise had lasted in Japan for five years, and its popularity among Japanese fans was beginning to dwindle. The third motion picture, Tenchi Muyo in Love 2, again re-named for US release as Tenchi Forever, was released on April 24, 1999 and brought a final conclusion to the TV series/movie storyline.

During the height of its popularity in Japan, the Tenchi Muyo franchise spawned a music video collection titled “Tenchi Muyo! Sound File,” released to VHS and laserdisc on January 25, 1994, and the spin-off stand-alone OAV “Tenchi Muyo! Galaxy Police Mihoshi Space Adventure,” released on March 25, 1994. One of the original music videos in the Sound File collection introduced Sasami’s alter-ego, magical girl Pretty Sammy. And the Mihoshi Special introduced new regular cast members Mihoshi and Kiyone and solidified Pretty Sammy as Tenchi Muyo’s third alternate continuity. Pretty Sammy herself had a respectable anime life through three annual OAVs released on August 25, 1995, June 25, 1996, and August 24, 1997, and a 26 episode TV series known in Japan as Magical Girl Pretty Sammy, re-named in America “Magical Project S.”

Tenchi Muyo also had several video games, some of which contained new animation created specifically for the games. There have been at least 8 console games for the Super Famicom, PC-FX, Turbo CD, Saturn and Playstation. Pretty Sammy had at least one game for the Saturn and two games for the Playstation. Many of these games were puzzle games or RPGs. At least one of the Saturn Tenchi Muyo adventure games was an entirely new hour-and-a-half long interactive movie (albeit with relatively limited FMV animation) that featured a completely new, self-contained story, characters from the TV series (Nagi) and new characters exclusive to the game (three cute bounty hunter sisters).

After lying in dormancy for three years following the release of the “final” Tenchi Muyo anime, the third motion picture, the Tenchi franchise was revived with the April 3rd, 2002 premier of Tenchi Muyo! GXP, the Galaxy Police spin-off TV series. GXP starred 15 year old Seina Yamada, one of Tenchi Masaki’s neighbors, who is invited to enlist in the Galaxy Police by Amane Kaunaq, a friend of Mihoshi. The familiar Tenchi Muyo cast including Tenchi Masaki, Ayeka, Ryoko, Washu and Ryo-Oh-Ki, appeared in only one episode of the GXP TV series.

But for die hard fans, GXP was only a warm-up for the long awaited premier of the third OAV series. The first episode of Tenchi Muyo Ryo-Oh-Ki OAV series 3 made its Japanese DVD debut on September 18, 2003. After an 8 year delay, the unresolved story from the original 13 episode OAV series continues.