Tenchi Muyo! Episode Two: Here Comes Ayeka

As with the last episode, this episode is all about world building. What is world building? Well, it is basically the show taking the time to introduce the viewers into the world that the show is taking place in. You see, a major point that I brought up in the last review was that, outside of a single line, there was no mention of space or aliens. If we were to go on Episode One alone, this series could be about a teenage boy and a demon living in Japan and the relationship they bring. 

The first minute of this episode changes all of that.

We open our episode on a tree. It is illuminated by the night sky.

Could we be on Earth at night? We did just leave Tenchi and Ryoko alone at night time. Following that we see…blue things? That flash light?

But wait! Those lights are the same lights that giant tree let off last episode! And the sound effects are the same too! Could that mean…

 
Yes, we are in some kind of odd forest with another giant ass tree. If one were to come into this with NO PRIOR KNOWLEDGE of the series, this would be incredibly confusing. Are we on Earth? Are we in a space forest? Don’t worry, we will find those answers out shortly.

Following this, two logs turn around and glow. One has blue writing on it, the other has red. And then the tree births a woman.

Come on, you all were thinking it. At least your brain did.

A disembodied voice tells us that this woman was in a time freeze and they are thawing her out of a deep sleep. With that we have MORE QUESTIONS!

1)      How long has she been out for? Is this why she looks so young?

2)      Has any other living thing on the ship been frozen too?

3)      If not, who has taken care of these beings?
 

You know what? I’m just going to stop while I am ahead here. I’m just going to accept the girl was frozen and is now thawed. But now that she is among the land of the living, you know what that means:

 We do not know this purple haired girl’s name yet or her title. She asks where she is and one of the log things tells her that they are at “Colonized Planet #0315…Earth.”

"An obscure body in the S-K system, Your Majesty. The inhabitants refer to it as the planet... Earth."

The as of now unnamed woman is excited, as she thinks this is where her brother Yosho is. However, one of the logs points out that they have not picked up Yosho’s signal, but rather Ryoko’s. The woman’s response is this:

“Not that woman…what does this mean?”

In this single sentence, we can determine that this woman and Ryoko have some kind of past history together. We can also infer that she has to be at least 700 years old, as that is how long Ryoko has been imprisoned in the cave. 

See, world building!

The logs tell the woman that this Yosho fellow was in pursuit of Ryoko, and the woman, correctly, realizes that if Ryoko and something called “Ryo-Ohki” are here, they may know where Yosho is. She wants to see Ryoko tried for her damage to a planet called Jurai. However, she is informed by one of the logs (who also tell us her name is Princess Ayeka) that the statute of limitations on Ryoko’s crimes is about to expire…as in less than a minute.

Ayeka is pissed and demands to know why Ryoko’s crimes were even given a statute of limitations…which is a fair question that I will discuss later on. Ayeka then orders, statute of limitations be damned, that their ship go to Earth and force Yosho’s location out of Ryoko. It is now that we see exactly where this whole conversation has been happening:

It is a beautiful design and the art is fantastic. Enjoy this quality of animation now folks, because it only gets worse as time goes on…especially when we get to Tenchi in Tokyo.

Ugh.

We now return to where we officially left off last episode, with Tenchi discovering Ryoko in his bed. What is the first thing Ryoko asks for?

“Now, I want your balls please!”

Straight to the point Ryoko. Impressive. Tenchi, however, is less than thrilled about being propositioned by a woman who no less than an hour ago tried to kill him.

“What? No way! They are mine and I want to hold on to them!"

Told you I was going to miss snarky Tenchi.

Since Tenchi isn’t exactly on the up and up in this episode so far, Ryoko spells clarifies her request: she wants the gems in the hilt of the sword so she can control “Ryo-Ohki,” who is apparently the second demon in the legend. I would like to remind you that there was no second demon in the legend that Katsuhito recounted to us last episode, so this is an ass pull that could have easily been avoided in the English translation. Oh well.

Tenchi, after witnessing his school’s destruction at the hand of ONE demon, is rightly concerned about a second demon running around, so he refuses to hand them over.

“You made this mess all by yourself. You think I want to deal with ANOTHER monster flying around when you are already blowing things up?! Geez, that’s the last thing I want to see!”

Well what do you know; we’ve still got sarcastic Tenchi!

Ryoko grabs Tenchi and informs him that another demon is approaching who is worse than her. How does she know this? Seriously, she has no connection to Ayeka’s ship so she should have no way of knowing that Ayeka was even after her, let alone that she is nearby. How does the show explain this? It doesn’t, but it does give us some suggestive imagery!

This shot managed to make it on Toonami. How it did, I will never know. Actually, how did THIS SHOW get on Toonami?

Ryoko gets the sword and discovers that she cannot physically hold it. Tenchi picks up on this and realizes he has leverage over her now. 

  

As you can see, he is very pleased about this new development.

However, their ruckus has drawn the attention of the other man who lives in this house: Tenchi’s Father Nobuyuki (whose name we do not learn for a few episodes, but for the sake of clarity I will just call him by Nobuyuki.) The man walks up the stairs and peers into Tenchi’s room and is startled by the presence of a beautiful woman that Tenchi snuck in without his permission.

“Oh my God! And I was too worried about him being too shy around women! Heheh now he’s gone and sneaked one into his room. If I were his mother I would find some excuse to barge in, but as his father it is my duty to respect his privacy.”

From this, we learn who this man is, what he feels about his son, and our first inkling about Tenchi’s mother. We will find out her whereabouts later on in this episode. Now, this episode of the English dub always bothered me and it is primarily due to Nobuyuki. You see, the man is voiced by Jay Hooper in his second role. This is fine, but remember, the cast is still trying to figure out their roles here. The voice Hooper uses is basically a higher pitched, whiny version of his Katsuhito voice. In Episode Four, he changes his voice significantly to something that I would basically describe as an impression of Ernie from Sesame Street.

It would be rude not to peek!

The lack of continuity is bothersome to me, but it isn’t an issue if you listen to the Japanese version. Oh well.

Tenchi agrees to give Ryoko back her gems, but Tenchi demands to know what is approaching them. Ryoko claims it is the Devil, and, since Tenchi is under the impression that Ryoko is a demon, is understandably freaked out.

Ryoko immediately clarifies that she is LIKE a devil and claims that Ayeka shoots first…

This was made before this was relevant. I’m not counting it.

We then cut back to Ayeka, who sneezes. For the longest time I did not understand this, but apparently it is said that if a person talks about you behind your back, you sneeze. Know I know!

"And knowing is half the battle!"

Anyway, Ayeka tells the logs (whose names we STILL do not yet know, now which log has which voice) to “begin the capture process” but to refrain from firing. After this we cut back to Tenchi and Ryoko…who are being spied upon by Nobuyuki.

“Yes, it’s my duty to respect his privacy but also my duty to record my son’s development in sex. Heheh I mean life.”

That line would have been 20x funnier with his final voice.

It is interesting to note that in these first six episodes, Nobuyuki’s role is mainly limited to this same gag: he just wants to see his son get laid…and I mean “see.” This gets dropped in the second OVA (where I think he only appears in one episode…which sucks), but I recall that nearly every early Tenchi website of the 2000s used this scene to label him as a lecherous pervert.

“Oh my wife in heaven, you should see how your son has grown.”

But hold on! What’s this? We now have confirmation on where Tenchi’s Mom is: she is dead! So Tenchi only has a Father and a Grandfather (unless there is a Grandmother floating around somewhere). This is a reason why it is not a bad thing that Tenchi gets his girls: he has no other female influence in his life. That probably makes him even more desirable and intriguing to all of these women. 

Well there are other reasons too, but I will probably point them out come Episode Seven when we have a fully formed cast.

Suddenly, Tenchi’s house is lit up and Nobuyuki sees the underside of a spaceship!

“Honey…is that you?”

Ayeka calls down to Ryoko, who does not answer her challenge, which is smart because it will make Ayeka look like the bad guy in front of Tenchi. Ayeka decides to have the logs fire a warning shot down at them.

"Fire a warning shot…across her nose!"

Tenchi ends up trying to take cover…in Ryoko’s cleavage…

You know, for a guy with a poster like that, this should be a dream come true…

And now the tables have turned back around into Ryoko’s favor.

She has him pray the gems back to her, which he is happy to do…except sassy Tenchi rears his head back into the show and only gives her one gem. Though Ryoko is a bit upset by the lack of trust between her and the guy she was just trying to kill, she shrugs it off. She now has the power needed to resurrect Ryo-Ohki. She calls for it and we are treated with a shot of Katsuhito’s house and a bunch of crystals that float magically off of the floor…somewhere in the lake.

I would like to point out the crystals meow. Remember that point for next episode.

The crystals spin around and start to flash red. We are then treated to an object flying out of the lake. One of the logs tells us everything we need to know:

“Ryo-Ohki is here.”

 

“There you are you heinous criminal battleship! Attack that ship! Fire now!"

So instead of another “demon,” Ryo-Ohki is merely the name of Ryoko’s ship. Right? RIGHT?

I would also like to point out we have our next STAR WARS reference! Now, I am not going to add points purely because of the appearance of two space ships. That concepts predates Star Wars by A LOT. I will, however, add a point for a space battle like in Star Wars. Yes, we had fighting in Star Trek too, but Star Wars was always far more fast and engaging, while Star Trek was calculated and cerebral. 

Ryo-Ohki appeared above Tenchi’s house and Ryoko teleports her and Tenchi inside the ship. But what about the house and Nobuyuki?
 

Why, it shrinks it down and teleports it inside of it. How it does this, I have no idea. Can all ships shrink things or is that purely a trait of Ryo-Ohki? 

“Ryoko! My posters are in that house!”

Ayeka has Ryo-Ohki sealed up by small floating logs. This is another power I have never understood, but just accepted because…well…

 
Ryoko writhes in pain…

And FINALLY, we are told these two logs’ names:

“Azaka, Kamidake: Capture her!”

That’s great…but which is which? 

They capture both Tenchi and Ryoko as she informs the audience and/or Tenchi what these logs do:

“…the Guardians of Jurai.”

So what do these Guardians do? In every series, these two just kind of…exist. I know they have a purpose in Episode Six and in Universe, but besides that, what is their job? I guess it is just to protect Ayeka, but their purpose gets really diminished as time goes on. Oh well, good job you two. You are a credible threat in this episode.

I would just like to point out that I am doing all of this nitpicking out of love. I love this series, but again, this show can be confusing at times. This blog is just making me just realize that.

At this point, we are back on Ayeka’s ship. Ryoko is hanging upside down and Ayeka is having tea in front of her lifeless form. She gets up to ask Ryoko a question, one that will have great implications on the rest of the franchise:

“Why did that Earthling have this sword with him?”

Ryoko does not answer, so she has Azaka and Kamidake electrocute her. Ryoko, being awesome, laughs as if she were getting tickled. Ayeka is confused about the whole situation.

“This seems to have an opposite effect on you. You are behaving like a…a…umm…what’s that called?”

“A masochist?”

“Ah yes, that is what they call it.”

“Actually little princess, I’m more of a sadist.”

This piques Ayeka’s interest.

“Oh my does that mean you like to…”

“Never mind! That is completely unimportant!”

As unimportant as that may be, we have our first documented case of RYOKO AND AYEKA’S VERBAL SPARRING! That’s right, I’m gonna try to keep count about how many times these two ladies fight. It is going to be a long and arduous project, but someone has to do it.

So Ryoko calls Ayeka a bonehead, and I have just realized that the OVA uses this phrase a lot. Maybe I should keep a count of that too…

Okay, okay I won’t.

Ryoko explains that the sword is Tenchi’s but Ayeka points out that the sword belonged to Yosho, which, for the audience, means that Yosho is some kind of distant ancestor to Tenchi.  She demands to know where her brother is. Ryoko corrects her by pointing out that Yosho is her “half-brother.” Remember that kids; it will come up later in a terrible way. Ayeka decides to torture Ryoko with the sword.

Ayeka don't shiv.

Ryoko tells Ayeka to talk to Tenchi, and Ayeka is confused as to why the sword hilt would suddenly be sentient. It is here that we learn that the SWORD’S name is Tenchi too!

“Oh my goodness! What a coincidence!”

“Yeah right.”

Goodbye snarky Tenchi. Hello snarky Ryoko!

Before we move on to the next scene, I should probably talk about Ayeka’s voice actress. Ayeka is voiced by Jennifer Darling doing a proper accent. It’s not British, but it signifies some kind of nobility. It works well for the character. What is amazing is, unlike the majority of the voice actors on this show, I actually knew who she was. I listened to Jennifer Darling several times as a child in probably my favorite franchise as a kid, even probably overshadowing Batman and Star Wars at some point.

"Wazzzzzpinator is honored!"

Oh Waspinator, I wasn’t talking about Beast Wars.

"Why Drillmaster hate Wazzzpinator?"

I refer to, of course, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

This theme song will always be engraved in my head, and now it will yours.

Darling played several minor characters on the show, but was mainly known for Irma, the only other reoccurring female on the show that wasn’t named April O’Neil. Darling gave her an annoying, whiny voice to match her whiny, annoying character. Basically it was perfect casting.

Was it that hard to color her toy correctly?

I didn’t mind Irma that much as a kid, but she wasn’t my favorite Channel 6 member. No that honor goes to Vernon, the man who taught me it was stylish to wear pink.

Casting Will Arnett as Vernon: the only thing the new movie did right.

The other time I recognized Darling’s voice was as the mother in Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland…which also featured another well-known voice actress who I will be discussing in a few paragraphs. 

Jennifer’s role as Ayeka has been known to cause a divide in several reviews I have read about the series. People think it is annoying, over the top, and inappropriate for her perceived age. Personally? I love it. It is memorable and fitting for the character. She is stuck up and plays up her nobility. I think it is a perfect voice and Darling nails her deliveries perfectly in this episode. 

Thank you Ms. Darling. You are a highlight of this phenomenal cast!

Unfortunately it is time for Ayeka’s bed time. A bunch of little probes come out of the woodwork…

…and tell Ayeka that her mother has set a strict bed time for her. This is a pointless bit of comedy, but when we actually meet Ayeka’s mother, it is actually rather in line for her. 

“Wait, you have a bed time? Just how old are you to still warrant bed times?”

“I don’t even know anymore!”

We cut to…a bunch of Pokemon? 

Is that the Loch Ness Monster on the left?

Tenchi wakes up and realizes he is in jail. He tries to escape the tree branches, unaware that he is spied upon in the distance by a pink eyed girl.

"Stop skulking in the shadows! Come out! Embrace Anti-Life and be whole!"

Tenchi pulls out a knife (!) and starts cutting the trees. But as Tenchi started cutting the tree, as he started to shove, he heard a small sound like the coo of a dove. He looked up fast and saw a CHALLENGER APPROACHING!

She is here. The most famous Tenchi girl of them all. The icon for the extended franchise. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Sasami, Ayeka’s younger sister. She may or may not have freckles, but she will always have blue hair, pink eyes, pigtails, and a triangle emblem on her forehead.

 This show withstanding. And no, I will never watch it.

Sasami, who comes from a planet where trees are gods, is understandably curious as to why a person would want to cut a tree. Sasa…

Sherry Lynn.

Oh. I guess I’m talking about Sherry Lynn right now.

Damn right you are.

Readers, Sherry Lynn is a legend in the voice acting community. Now Sasami is her biggest role to date, but she is THE go to voice for little girl voices. But here is the thing: most of her work is just ADR background characters. She’s been in nearly every Disney movie since The Little Mermaid and you probably have never realized that it was her.

Yes, this is Sherry Lynn in Aladdin. 

Now this is the real kicker: in 2009, she was THE highest grossing actress in all of Hollywood. Note the fact that I did not say “voice actress.” No, she outranked Maggie Smith!

Take that McGonagall!

As of this year, she has been overtaken by Elizabeth Banks, Cameron Diaz, Helena Bonham Carter, Cate Blanchette, and…Maggie Smith.

Damn you Wendy Darling!

Regardless, that number is bound to go up when Inside Out comes out, where she is playing the role of “Mother’s Joy.” I hope she has some good lines, because I am rooting for her!

While Burchard’s role of Ryoko is probably the most iconic performance here, Lynn is probably the most appropriately cast and she is PERFECT. She gets some double duty later on, but she NAILS the role. In fact, when the entire cast came back for OVA 3, Lynn was probably the voice who changed the least. What I’m trying to say is, Sherry Lynn was born to play Sasami.

Get on already!

Okay, okay. So how far into the episode are we?

13:38. 

You’ve got to be kidding me.

We see that Sasami is a bit of a trouble maker herself in one of the few times we really see her “supposed” age. Remember, these girls are all over 700 years old, but Sasami looks to be about 8. TV Tropes even created a page based on the arguments as to why she is the perfect age for Tenchi: She is Really 700 Years Old.

I hope I don’t lose you all to TV Tropes now. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Tenchi asks if she has been kidnapped too, but Sasami clarifies that the ship they are on is her ship as well. This prompts probably the stupidest response Tenchi will utter in this show:

“This is your ship? So you’re an alien from the planet Sasami!”

Tenchi, I know you are having a very odd day and nothing makes sense to you right now, but where the hell did you get that idea? Whatever, he’s under duress so I’ll chalk it up to nerves. 

 “Will you play a game with me?”

The key…it’s behind your eye.

Tenchi is then freed by Sasami and Tenchi can’t believe how similar she looks to a typical human. He also compliments Sasami’s pet space ferret. 

Enjoy it now, because you will never see this thing or any of the other Pokemon again.

After he is licked by the space ferret, Tenchi realizes his sword hilt is gone and holy crap what happened to the animation?

I like the frame where he looks like Popeye.

That was…odd. Again, these early shows are animated a bit differently than later Tenchi episodes. So Tenchi asks Sasami to send him home…

“I’ll do you a favor if you do me a favor…”

I do not like where this is going.

We have no reached THAT scene. The scene where we learn why OVA Jurai is so…messed up.

Ayeka is viewing a holographic message from a person who we can assume is Yosho.

He tells Ayeka that he is leaving to do battle with Ryoko in the morning, but when he returns…

“When you came back I was to become your bride… but you never returned.”

Ho. Ly. Shit.

What the hell Jurai? You all know what this means right? Do I need to spell it out to you? 

Ayeka said that Yosho is her “half-brother.”

Ayeka JUST SAID she was engaged to Yosho.

Ayea is engaged to her “half-brother.”

Incest.

I love the OVA, do not get me wrong. I love the characterizations, I love the story line, and hell, two of my favorite characters are Ayeka and Yosho’s mothers, but this is just so disturbing. I'm not a fan of the incest aspect of this show. Not at all. Why did they need to have this? I…wait…

Oh. God.

Is this a Star Wars reference? Please tell me this is not a Star Wars reference. 

I…I’m gonna need a drink.

Let us draw the curtain on that sordid scene and see what Tenchi and Sasami are up to.

“My sister’s room is right over there, see? Hehehe she’s asleep now so you know what to do!”

And what, pray tell, does Tenchi need to do?

“Go in there and get her head ornament, is that right?”

Oh thank God.

Tenchi is a bit hesitant to steal something for no reason whatsoever, but Sasami is not going to take that shit from Tenchi.

 Bitch, I own you.

Okay?

Isn’t she supposed to be the sweet one in this show?

Our hero breaks into the room of a sleeping woman who he has never met and observes both the head ornament and his sword! I smell awkward situational comedy!

They are really going for it this episode, aren’t they?

“Azaka! Kamidake! I want you to put that scoundrel to death!”

An appropriate reaction to be honest. Again, Ayeka don’t shiv. Tenchi, not being a complete idiot, bolts the hell out of there.

“Oh my, how quickly he runs.”

So at this point Tenchi and Sasami are running away from the Guardians who are trying to kill Tenchi…this is getting confusing.  They go under a tree hole and enter…

Again? Didn’t I make this joke already?

They end up in Ryoko’s cell, who is bored because she hasn’t been seen or mentioned in about 6 minutes. 

I can assure you Ryoko, there is nothing boring about this episode. 

Ryoko is thrilled to see Tenchi, who is pissed at her for getting him kidnapped in the first place. As he is yelling at her, the wood in his pants.

PHRASING!

The sword hilt glows blue and releases Ryoko… Hold on. A jail break…with a Princess? 

Add it to the list.

Ryoko is then introduced to Sasami, who proceeds to insult her.

 “Who is this older lady? Is she a friend of yours also?”

Oh Sasami…you have so much to learn, especially coming from the girl who is over 700 years old.

Sasami realizes that the sword belongs to Yosho too and is amazed that Tenchi can use it. Ryoko, seizing the opportunity, tries to seduce Tenchi into giving her back her gems…

…but then is cockblocked by Ayeka. 

Sasami apologizes for releasing a prisoner who may or may not have been a dangerous criminal because she was bored. Ayeka correctly scolds her for it, which brings up yet ANOTHER point: why would Sasami release a criminal? Is it just because she is a young girl? That is pretty poor judgement for a princess of an entire planet. This leads to the defining moment in the episode for Ayeka: 

“Where is the owner of that sword you hold?”

“Well…I think he died a long, long time ago.”

Ayeka, desperately hoping for some kind of clue about her brother, begs Tenchi if he knew the owner’s name. Tenchi claims it was Yosho, which is interesting because he made no reaction to the name Yosho when Sasami brought it up not even 5 minutes earlier.  Ayeka is now in denial and orders Azaka and Kamidake to attack them, but Ayeka isn’t the only one who don’t shiv:

“Order your blockheads to pull back!”

Of course, Ayeka is in control in this episode, so she uses her head ornament to sting up Ryoko like a puppet. 

There are no strings on me!

You see that joke right there? Come back and revisit it when we get to Episode Five. You are going to regret laughing at it, trust me.

Sasami notices that one of the Guardians is closing in on Tenchi, so she shields the teenager.

 “Get back Azaka! No!”

Holy crap, we now know which log is which! Oh frabjous day! Azaka is blue, Kamidake is red. Speaking of blue…

Tenchi’s sword turns it again and repels the Guardians away. Ayeka is confused until she realizes to her horror:

“The sword…The Master Key is in sync with him. But it shouldn’t react to anyone but those of royal blood…so why is it…it can’t be…”

"And I swear by the spirits of my parents to avenge their deaths by spending the rest of my life warring on all criminals."

While Ayeka is playing Bruce Wayne, Ryo-Ohki decides to be useful again and punctures itself into the ship. Ryoko and Tenchi enter it, with Tenchi reminding Ryoko about his house.  The purple haired princess vows vengeance on Ryoko.

“I will never forgive that woman!”

Ryoko wants to draw Ayeka to Earth, but Tenchi is afraid that the wanted criminal will hurt the Princess who kidnapped him not even two hours ago. 

“Hey, who’s side are you on anyway?!”

That, Ryoko, is a question that fans will ask until the end of time.

Ryo-Ohki and Ayeka’s ship, which we are told is named Ryu-Oh…

Which is the name of my Lucky Bamboo plant.

…are still linked together and, thanks to Tenchi’s sword (which, as we learned earlier, is known as the Master Key), they are helpless to do anything about it. Ayeka begs Ryoko to stop, but she is not going to have any of that.

Finally, they land back in Japan and destroy the Great Seto Bridge in the process. 

Thankfully, it was at a time of day that the bridge was evacuated so nobody was injured…except the tax payer’s wallets.

We learn of this through a news story that Nobuyuki is watching with Tenchi as they eat. Tenchi is obviously depressed at the amount of damage he accumulated in less than a day, but Nobuyuki shrugs it off.

“Cheer up! We got back safely didn’t we? You should be thankful for that. Of course, now our house is right by your Grandfather’s shrine, but I sure think that’s kind of convenient in a way, don’t you think so Tenchi?”

I love that the show is all “Well, now we have all of our characters in one place. Don’t worry about logistics. It’s all good.” I can appreciate that.

We then see that they are not only joined by Ryoko, but Sasami too! Nobuyuki points out that there should be another girl at the table too. Ryoko points out to the lake and we see the last ALLY Tenchi acquires in this episode: Ayeka, desperately trying to fish Ryo-Oh out of the water. But, since we are still in comedy mode, Ayeka actually CAUSES the ship to sink MORE!

 “I can’t get stranded on a remote planet like this!”

Meanwhile, all of Sasami’s pets have drowned. 

REVIEW

This episode is important for introducing a lot of concepts that will become major Tenchi staples in the future. These include:

Ayeka

Sasami

Azaka and Kamidake

Tree Ships

Jurai

Ryo-Ohki

Nobuyuki

Tenchi’s house at the Masaki Shrine

However, as an episode this one is not as strong as the first. The animation, while good, is not as great as the first. Ayeka’s ornament tends to appear and disappear at will, as does Sasami’s freckles. The writing is not as strong and will require the next episode to strengthen Ayeka as a character.

We don’t really get to know either Sasami or Ayeka in this episode. Sasami is just the cute one and Ayeka is prim and proper. We see Ayeka’s desires, yes, but she is not likeable in this episode. We have to wait for the next episode for that. 

Now, earlier I posed a question about Ayeka being frozen. Amazingly, Kajishima acknowledged this question in his “101 Tenchi Questions" (which is currently being properly translated at Tenchiforum by the talented Nil Admirari) where he and scriptwriter Yousuke Kuroda tries to answer little questions about the OVA continuity (or handwave any issues that might come up in the series). Let us see what he has to say, shall we?

"Question: Why did she freeze herself for a long time?
Answer: Complicated female instincts. Ayeka rode on Ryu-Oh and followed her elder brother Yosho's whereabouts. Although a being of Jurai lives a long life, what is the reason for the 700 year (!) time freeze?
Kajishima: "If I remember correctly, for Ayeka 700 years is what 2 or 3 years would be to an earthling. Although, Ayeka did not immediately follow Yosho, who departed the Jurai star for the destructive evil sprit (Ryoko). Ayeka had faith in Yosho and waited. However, Yosho never returned. Moreover, the condition where communication cannot contact continues, the heart of Ayeka fills with anxiety

.
Kajishima: "While waiting for Yosho, Ayeka grows up as well. Which may be overly self-conscious...... The girl who falls in love is a complicated one......"

That… really doesn’t answer my questions. In fact, it brings up more questions!

1)      How does Kajishima view women in general? His comments at the end seem sexist...

2)      How old is Sasami? I always thought she was about 900, going off of the manga which wasn't written by Kajishima so it isn't canon, but that would make her only 5 and we will see later on that she cannot be a 5 year old girl.

3)      How…

Again, I’m just going to stop there and realize that if I am going to enjoy this, it is best not to question it.

Just repeat to yourself “This is just a show, I should really just relax.”

The humor is all over the place. Sometimes it is subtle while other times it beats you over the head. This includes the sexual overtones. Again, who saw this and thought it would work on CARTOON NETWORK?! Admitedly, I am grateful that they did, but they just had to cut out SO MUCH.

Wait until Episode Four.

Then there is the incest. Why? Why did this need to be here? This is literally the first thing that Universe changed and it was better for it. I have no problem with Tenchi having some Juraian ancestry, but there was no need for an alien culture like Jurai to be based in this. I know that it will inevitably be chalked up to inbreeding to “keep the blood pure,” which worked so well in Harry Potter, but just wait as the convoluted inbred family tree grows. Just wait.

The voice acting has already improved from the firstepisode. Miller is getting far more comfortable in the role and it shows. Darling and Burchard prove that they can work well off of each other. As for Sasami? Perfect.

Damn straight.

The show is still finding its footing, and as iconic as this episode might be, it is not perfect.

Animation: The animation took a bit of a downgrade in certain aspects, like the aforementioned disappearing Jurain articles, but the ships are gorgeous: 16/20

Main Characters: Tenchi is starting to lose a bit of his snarky charm, but there is some still there. He still does a good job as our everyman.  Ryoko is still the stand out character of the show and gets most of the best lines. The new girls, as I mentioned, don’t really do much this episode but will grow as the show goes on. Still, I’m very happy to have them: 16/20

Supporting Characters: Nobuyuki doesn’t really have a character in this episode short of his desire to see Tenchi get with a woman. He’s not mysterious like Katsuhito was…he’s just kind of there to make a joke and to provide exposition. Give him time, though. He will grow on you: 15/20

Music: Of all the tracks that stand out, I think Ayeka’s Theme was the most memorable. It uses strings and drums to explain to us that she is a proper Japanese-esque woman, which works well. I will say the best track NAME is Sneaky Tenchi: 18/20

Story: World building at its finest, but I am docking points for the inclusion of incest: 15/20

Overall Tenchi Rating: 80!

Star Wars References: …3?

Monomyth Progress: Collecting Allies!

Ayeka and Ryoko Verbal Sparring: 3!

 Join me next time as I discuss a more character driven episode: "Hello Ryo-Ohki!"