Tenchi Muyo! Episode Three: Hello Ryo-Ohki

In my continuing quest to figure out what it is about Tenchi that keeps my interest, we have thus far met three of the known “Tenchi Girls.” There will be others, but typically these main three are the core of the group: the princess, her sister, and her rival. But as of these two episodes, have we really gotten to know these people? 

No. Not really.

We have gotten to know a bit about the world these characters live in. We know of Jurai, of the warrior Yosho, the demon Ryoko, and the sliding scale of age that these aliens have. But what do we know about Ryoko’s feelings? Why is Ayeka so motivated to be with her…fiancée? What role does Sasami have to play in this? 

And, more importantly, what about Tenchi? In the course of a single night, he has been attacked by a demon woman, watched his school burn down, been kidnapped by an alien princess, discovered he can wield a lightsaber, and had his entire house relocated to his Grandfather’s shrine. It makes you wonder what is going on in his head. 

In this episode, we are going to take a break from the action and focus on what I care about the most in this show: the characters and their interactions with each other. So, without further delay, let us look at “Hello Ryo-Ohki!”

 

We open up on the Planet Jurai where we see a young purple haired girl play with some flowers. We do not know who she is, but we can tell by her voice and her hair that she is a young Princess Ayeka. This plants this as a flashback of some kind. She spots a beautiful flower and picks it up.

 “That’s a Royal Teardrop.”

She is then called to a much older man and when you hear her call him “Yosho” you die a little on the inside.

Okay, so how much older is Yosho than Ayeka? Is he a couple hundred? A thousand? I know arranged marriages can happen at nearly any age, but that’s his half-sister man! 

 “One day I will be your bride…won’t I Yosho?”

Yosho tells her that it will happen when she grows up. Pleased with the response, Ayeka hands Yosho the flower, who recognizes it instantly. Yosho is disturbed by this gesture as the flower apparently is not to be used for happy occasions. This scene then shifts to a familiar laugh. Could it be…?

Yes, we are given a glimpse into Ryoko’s backstory! It seems that the legend that Katsuhito told Tenchi was not about his family in Japan, but on the Planet Jurai. Ryoko is gleefully wreaking havoc on the planet and Yosho is not about to take that kind of crap.

 “You devil! HAAAA!”

He runs toward the ship we now know is Ryo-Ohki while Ayeka begs for her brother to take her with him. Suddenly, the background disappears and Ayeka is running around, screaming Yosho’s name. She sees a figure in the distance and runs toward it.

But gasp! This figure is not Yosho! It is Tenchi! 

 “Here, take this to remember him by.”

Miller makes Tenchi speak very softly to show what Ayeka presently thinks of this boy. She does not trust him and seemingly cannot forgive him for telling her about the death of her half-brother. To Tenchi, he is just a name in a legend. To Ayeka, that is her whole world. All she has left of him is the sword hilt, which is the proof that Ayeka wished did not exist. Needless to say, dream Ayeka does not take this well.

The sword dematerializing is symbolic of her fading grip on her destiny. All she ever knew in her life was that she would marry her half-brother. In this striking image, we see Ayeka crying over the loss of that reality. Of course, this wakes her up from what we now can see is a dream. 

 

 Remember last episode where we were in full comedy mode?  There is not going to be many moments like that for the majority of this episode.

She holds the sword hilt close, begging to the world that Yosho isn’t dead. There is a stark contrast between the two sisters sharing the room. Let us look at them:

Ayeka is disjointed and cannot sleep peacefully. She does not want to be on this planet and wishes that she could return to Jurai. On the other hand, Sasami is sleeping peacefully and in some shots we can see that she is smiling. She has already become adjusted to her time in this house and is making the best out of the situation. 

However, something jogs Ayeka out of her introspective reflection and we can see that it is our resident mass murderer: Ryoko!

“Really, what a disgusting thing to see first thing in the morning. Oh that monster woman, yuck!’

Some people might think that Ayeka is just acting like she will later on in the series, but consider this: when she sees Ryoko, she sees the pain she brought on her people. She sees the blood spilled on the ground. She sees, quite simply, a monster. She is perfectly justifiable in her disgust of Ryoko.

At this point, Ryoko is walking on water…

So if you are the Christ, yes, the great Jesus Christ prove to me that you’re no fool, walk across my swimming pool! 

…and she goes under the sea…

…

…

Oh. Okay.

So she goes under the se…

You are a little late on the joke Sebastian.

…and finds a brown sphere. What is this sphere? We have no idea, but Ryoko cuddles with it before we cut to our episode title.

When we return to the episode proper, Sasami is being rather demanding with Ayeka. It turns out that our resident princess has not left her room in a week! Wow. Remember last review where Kajishima told us that Ayeka literally kept herself frozen to preserve her beauty? Would Ayeka really go a whole week without, say, bathing? Ayeka’s pity party is having an adverse effect on her sister, who is not pleased with her attitude.

“This is very, very hard on me.”

Ayeka finally builds up the confidence to leave her room and is making a lot of progress until…

“I hate this!”

Good one Ryoko. Just existing is enough to cause Ayeka to freak out.

Our purple haired princess is acting rather selfish and childish. This is critical to understanding her character development throughout the OVA series. She starts off rather snobby and full of it, but we shall see where she ends up as the show goes on.

Sasami is disappointed that Tenchi is not around, but is distracted by the sphere that Ryoko is holding. We then get a rather nice bit of scripted animation. Sasami asks what Ryoko is holding and this occurs:

  “You really want to know?”

  

 

See that? Ayeka looked over for a half of a second before turning away, but that was all Ryoko needed. She saw the momentary interest and decided to capitalize on it immediately. Ryoko claims that “it” was born this morning. As Ayeka proceeds to yell at Sasami to get away, her screams wake up Tenchi…who is rather out of it initially.

Our hero ladies and gentlemen.

He snaps out of his sleep and is amazed to see Ayeka out and about.

“Please allow me to express my sincere gratitude for your hospitality that you have kindly offered to the Jurarian royal family…”

Tenchi is rather humble about the whole situation and has no idea how to properly respond. Ryoko tried to kill the moment, which succeeds due to Sasami actually holding “Ryoko’s baby.”

 “So, are you married Ryoko? Who’s the father?”

Ryoko whispers in the little girl’s ear and I think I’ll let the pictures speak for me…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, Ryoko has claimed that Tenchi is the father of her “child.” Sasami is amazed, Ayeka is pissed, and Tenchi is clueless. Ryoko, playing up on that, gets really close to our boy.

“I’m so happy to be able to bear a child with the man I love!”

Tenchi then runs the gambit of feelings that come with an unannounced pregnancy which is then compounded by the fact that the egg starts to shake. Finally a fuzzy leg jets out from inside.

What does Tenchi do in this situation? Why, throw the egg to the floor of course!

Tenchi Masaki: Father of the Year!

Remember: for all Tenchi knows, Ryoko may have a different reproductive system then an Earthling does. That MIGHT have actually been his child. But let us not think about the horrific ramifications that may have had and focus on the newborn creature. What is it?

Hello Ryo-Ohki! That’s right, meet the cabbit (half cat/ half rabbit) that inspired a thousand plush dolls! When people think of Tenchi, odds are they think of THIS animal. But wait? Isn’t Ryo-Ohki the name of Ryoko’s spaceship? Well, Tenchi and Sasami ask the exact same question, so Ryoko kindly explains what the hell is happening to us all.

“My spaceship was totally destroyed, so it reproduced itself. You must be crazy to think its Tenchi’s child.”

Petrea Burchard delivers that line with a subtle laugh as she says “Tenchi’s child.” It is a fantastic piece of voice work that makes me sad to think she retired from acting to focus on her writing career. On that note, click here to buy one of Ms. Burchard's novels. It is the least we Tenchi fans can do.

One thing to note is that Ryo-Ohki the cabbit was also merged with the cat, Chibi, from Episode One! According to Kajishima, Ryoko kept the cat alive for a long period of time for Tenchi's sake. However, when she was resurrected, the cat died. Thus, we get a half cat/ half rabbit hybrid that turns into a spaceship! 

Since Ayeka is still acting very childish and immature in this episode, she thinks everyone is trying to make fun of her. Tenchi tries to explain that she is overreacting, but is met with a five fingered slap to the face.

Ayeka don’t shiv.

She runs off, angry at everyone, but runs into Katsuhito himself. She stares into his eyes, which are ALSO the color of the Royal Teardrop, and leaves while blushing. We then see Ryo-Ohki and Sasami interact with each other for the first time, solidifying a friendship that will last several continuities. 

Tenchi, meanwhile, decides to take this moment to chew out Ryoko for her attitude toward the princess.

 “What kind of mischief are you up to now? Don’t you have any conscious at all?”

Oh Tenchi, just you wait. These ladies haven’t even actually FOUGHT in this episode yet. 

Ryoko proceeds to ask Tenchi for the sword, but is shocked to discover that he gave it back to Ayeka. Thus, she goes from groping him…

…to getting groped by Katsuhito!

“I guess I’m just lucky.”

This was not a good idea whatsoever. Ryoko, feeling violated, goes to punch Katsuhito with all her might and he…

…holy shit, he blocked it!

Ryoko is just as surprised as I am. She stares at her hand in wonder. 

 

 

This subtle action lets us know that Katsuhito might be stronger than he let on. We don’t need any dialogue to explain what happened; the visuals do the work for us. This is one of the strengths of having an anime that is not explicitly tied to a manga. 

Katsuhito takes a moment to joke with Tenchi and Sasami, playing up on the “Tenchi is a father” angle. Tenchi gets pissed and leaves, but not before Katsuhito yells to him that they have “practice” later. 

“Don’t mind him. He’s the serious type, just like his mother.”

Remember that line for later. There will be a test.

Ryo-Ohki, sensing Ayeka outside, goes to comfort her at Ryu-Oh’s crash site. Sasami is about to join her when she is suddenly startled by a loud explosion.

 

This is brilliant. Ryoko has just destroyed the stairs, seemingly for no reason. But what she is actually doing is checking the strength of her punch to see if she got weaker since her last fight. Clearly she has not, but it most certainly causes Ryoko to reconsider her stance about Katsuhito. Of course, none of this is spoken out loud, but is all conveyed to us visually. 

Let’s focus back on the plot, shall we?

Ayeka continues brooding about her ship until she feels something nudging her. Who is it? 

 Sarge? 

Rosemary the Telephone Operator?

Oh, it’s just Ryo-Ohki, #1 Super Gal.

Ayeka tries to get Ryo-Ohki to leave her alone, but the animal just wants some love. She follows her all the way up the stairs to the shrine until something catches Ayeka’s eye:

Yes, it is a Royal Tear Drop! Interesting that a Juraian plant is on Earth, isn’t it?

Regardless, Ayeka starts to cry and once again tells Ryo-Ohki to leave. The cabbit, acting like a persistent teenager trying to ask a girl to the prom, tries giving her a flower to make her feel better. 

Ayeka is moved by the gesture and starts to warm up to her. This shows us, the audience, that this animal is rather attuned to the world and can do a bit more than the average cat or rabbit, despite it only speaking in “meows…”

Oh, I nearly forgot.

The American voice actress of Ryo-Ohki is a woman named Debbi Derryberry. Ms. Derryberry is probably the voice actress on this show that has the most named acting credits under her belt. Though she has done a lot of voice work (my favorite is probably Wednesday Addams), she may be most well-known for playing the title role of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and all of its spinoffs. 

 Co-starring Frank Welker, a literal voice acting GOD, as a robot dog. It is not the first time nor the last time he would play a robot, a dog, or even a robot dog.

Now you might find it strange that Ryo-Ohki would even be cast at all when the producers could have just kept Kumi Domon’s work from the original voice cast, like how Ikue Otani’s voice was retained for the English Dub of Pokémon. I think this was done primarily so they could use Debbi’s range for one off characters later on down the line. 

I’ve got a whole drinking game lined up when we get to Tenchi Universe. Just wait.

But wait! What has Ryoko been doing all of this time? Why, she is searching for the sword so she can regain her gems! Let’s see how she is doing, shall we?

What’s the story with the dolls in the last picture? Are they Sasami’s? Juraian Hasbro is weird man.

 “Yosho! Good riddance. Although I kinda like him in that size!”

So not only are you a sadist Ryoko, but also a macrophile? We are finding out so much about Ryoko in these recaps, aren’t we?

Dropping that particular subject, we see Ayeka has been discussing her life with Ryo-Ohki. It seems that she is finally accepting of her half-brother’s death, but Ryo-Ohki decides to lead her somewhere. Where? Why straight to Tenchi’s “practice!”

Yes, Tenchi is being trained in the art of swordplay by Katsuhito. But the swordplay reminds Ayeka of something…but what? 

 

 “That’s just like…the sword play that they teach the Jurai Royal Family.”

The plot thickens now doesn’t it?  

Tenchi is distracted by Ayeka and gets whacked in the head by Katsuhito…who is in a most interesting position.

 “Is that part of the routine?”

 “…nope.”

That’s…actually funny. 

Tenchi goes to see what Ayeka wanted and notices that her leg is bleeding. Then he does something I honestly did not pick up on:

“Red blood…”

Tenchi is clearly surprised that Juraians have red blood like Earthlings do. THAT is a clever observation Tenchi.  Katsuhito informs Tenchi that Ayeka’s leg is sprained and tells his Grandson to carry her home on his back. He looks thrilled.

 During this time, Ayeka tries to ask him about Yosho, but Katsuhito just ignores her and leaves the two to be on their way. Somebody call Ralph Dinby!

“Honey, your nose is twitching!”

It starts to rain and we learn from Sasami that Jurai has the ability to control the weather. Ryoko takes this opportunity to ask about the sword again, but to her displeasure it turns out that Ayeka is carrying it on her. This saddens Ryoko a lot.

While this is going on, a wet Ayeka gazes on a shirtless Tenchi.

 PHRASING!

“I guess I’ll go outside for a little while.”

Ah Tenchi. You always take the high road, don’t you? You really are a nice guy. Speaking of nice, we get some more really well done animation. Ayeka takes off nearly every layer of clothing and it is animated really nicely. However, Ayeka is not alone in there…

Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time,
Ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime.
They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed.
Speak not a whispered word about them, or they'll send the Talon for your head.

The creature lunges itself at Ayeka, whose screams cause Tenchi to reenter the shed. Ayeka tells Tenchi of the situation, and we see who our culprit was: 

“And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!”

Tenchi goes to return outside, but Ayeka tells him to stay with her. The two, who are both blushing and rather awkwardly talking to each other, start talking about Ryoko. Ayeka thought that Tenchi was friends with her, but Tenchi immediately clarifies that he isn’t her friend but he started everything by releasing her from the shrine.

Meanwhile, Ryoko has nearly died from a sneeze.

Tenchi asks Ayeka what her plans are now. The princess is saddened by everything, but decides that since she cannot go back home she will search the land to find some inkling of information about her brother’s fate. Tenchi, however, will not stand for her tears!

 “Please, stay with us as long as you’d like! I’m responsible for all of this and besides…we are related too…I guess.” 

Tenchi, don’t! You are falling into the incest trap! 

“Yosho is my half-brother. Here on Earth you might find it odd to marry your brother, but on Jurai it’s not. Even though my parents arranged it, I was happy about it. Just to think I won’t be able to share these feelings with my brother…I…I don’t know what to do anymore…”

Darling acts the hell out of this script and, honestly, is the VP of this episode. She gets a lot of room to act her character out through a series of emotions. Of course, it doesn’t change the fact they tried to justify the incest crap by claiming that “it is okay on their planet.” Come on, just say Yosho was in an arranged marriage with you and be done with it! It is that simple! 

"Confound you incest!"

 

Oh look! Tenchi gave Ryo-Ohki a carrot! 

I am sure that we will never see a carrot on this show again.

The rain finally stopping, Tenchi carries Ayeka away into the woods. He offers to take her to Ryoko’s cave to dig up some clues, but Ayeka is more interested in the giant tree in the distance, which we are told is the “Holy Tree of the Masaki Shrine.” This is the same tree we saw all the way back in the first episode. Ayeka wants to investigate it and is shocked by what she sees.

 “There is no doubt about it. This is Funaho, she’s alive…”

We are then informed that this is Yosho’s spaceship, or more accurately the control unit of the ship. Tenchi is amazed to think that the tree he grew up seeing can actually turn into a spaceship, but Ayeka tells him that since it has taken root, Funaho is stuck as an ordinary tree. She knocks the tree with the sword hilt to punctuate her point, but is surprised to see an electric reaction between the two!

The tree lights up like it did in the first episode…

Remember when I told you we would learn more about this in Episode 3? Did you doubt me?

It turns out that the ship is about to show Ayeka and Tenchi its memories of the final fight with Ryoko and Yosho.

 Apparently Juraian trees also have the ability to invert a person’s appearance in Microsoft Paint.

We are shown several things here. Let us break it down with some pictures:

 

Ryo-Ohki in space…

Funaho in space…

The descent to Earth…

Evil Ryoko…

Yosho counterattacking…

The destruction of Ryo-Ohki…

…which is how the Masaki lake was created (!)…

Yosho subduing Ryoko…

Ryoko losing her gems…

Yosho adding them to the sword…

…and finally the completed sword hilt.

That is a lot of information to be conveyed. Tenchi and Ayeka narrate a little bit, but again, most of the storytelling is left to the visuals. Beautiful work.

What does all of this mean? Well if Funaho is alive then Ayeka reasons her brother is out there somewhere. Now that she has a reason to go on, she realizes how terrible she has truly been to the Masaki family.

 “I’ve been cold to you. I’ve been nasty and I am sorry for that. I believe this is yours. You are related by blood to Jurai’s Royal Family and I am asking you to protect us until the time when my brother is found.”

She returns the sword to Tenchi, who explains that he is terrible at using it. But before Ayeka can boost his confidence, Sasami comes skipping alone with Ryo-Ohki. But they aren’t alone…

The gang’s all here!

Ryoko is amazed to see that Tenchi got the sword back…but her mood quickly turns sour when she realizes that the two had a moment.

“You ingrate! And I came all this way just to help you!”

Ryoko leaves, leaving everyone confused. Tenchi wants to go after her, but Ayeka pulls him away, telling him to forget it. She teases him as they head back toward the house, ending out episode on a high note.

 Ayeka don’t shiv.

REVIEW

This episode is a hell of a lot better than what I remember it being.

I used to always skip this episode as it really seemed like pure exposition, but looking at this closely has shown me that there is a lot to love about the episode. The animation is beautiful, Ayeka has become a full-fledged character, and we learn more about the backstory of Ryoko. 

Oh, and I guess we meet Ryo-Ohki’s cabbit form too.

This episode was fantastic from beginning to end and honestly, I don’t have much to say about it. It is an important episode in the long term narrative as it further explains key bits of history that will come into play in the coming episodes. As a standalone episode, it fails, as it requires you to know a little about what had happened in the previous episode. However, the writing and characterization make this episode critical for OVA fans.

Animation: Top notch. The visuals told us everything we needed to know, from the humor to the seriousness of the flashback: 20/20

Main Characters: Tenchi and Ayeka get a chance to shine in this episode. Ayeka becomes her own character and Tenchi starts to mature a bit into a more respectable person. It is a shame that he isn’t as snarky as he was in the past, but for this episode it marks a small turning point for the character. In addition, we get to know Ryo-Ohki a bit, and we can see that she has her own personality. She is a very empathetic little cabbit: 19/20

Supporting Characters: Surprisingly, Ryoko is a supporting character in this episode! She really isn’t given much to do beyond search for her gems. Sasami is also given a diminished role as well, who does nothing except meet Ryo-Ohki. The key supporting player is actually Katsuhito, who strikes a good balance of humor and mysteriousness. Just what is he hiding? It makes you want to watch more: 17/20

Music: The two main tracks of this episode are Ryo-Ohki’s theme, which is rather upbeat, and Tears of the Royal Family, which is the main theme for the Ryoal Teardrop and Ayeka’s sadness in general. It is a fitting song and one that will be heard again throughout this series: 18/20

Story: A very good character story for Ayeka, but again I am docking points for the incest. At least they try to explain that it is okay because they are aliens 17/20

Overall Tenchi Rating: 91!

Star Wars References: 0! (1, if you count Ryoko standing in as a Sith and Yosho as a Jedi, but it is loose at best)

Monomyth Progress: Collecting Allies!

Ayeka and Ryoko Verbal Sparring: 0! (I’m not counting Ayeka’s outbursts earlier as they were directed toward the entire household and not specifically Ryoko.)

The series is starting to pick up in the next episode as we reach the most infamous Tenchi episode of them all! Join us next time for “Mihoshi Falls to the Land of Stars!”