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    evilpii
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    Advancing to Chapter 3 of Haruna Nakazato’s adaptation of Ai Tenchi Muyo!, the third chapter depicts the events from Episodes 4 and 6 of the 2014 anime, with some notable deviations.

    After Hachiko thrust her bokken at Tenchi’s head, barely missing our hapless protagonist, Momo distracts the pugnacious young woman, only to leave the student teacher in Hana’s dubious hands. While she starts to disrobe Tenchi, he is able to wiggle free of the ropes around his wrists and break free. Bolting away, he quickly finds a secluded corner of the campus to replace his attire and regather his wits.

    This scene is another extended scene from the anime, which merely has Tenchi break out of the Student Council office in his underwear. Instead, the reader gets more detail into how the provisional teacher makes his escape. Also, Hana seems much more attuned to her anime counterpart here.

    Another notable change is that the manga only has Tenchi’s sweater-vest removed and his dress shirt opened, unlike the anime, where he is stripped completely to his boxers. The change does introduce a bit of a problem, considering that it would be far more embarrassing to be dashing about in his boxers as opposed to merely bare-chested. Rather than fully dress again, he could quickly button his shirt and slip on his sweater-vest.

    Hiding in a neglected school building, Tenchi explores for a bit before he hears some noise from under the floorboards. Couching down to listen, the floor suddenly gives way, and he tumbles into a dig site managed by the Science Club. Edging closer to investigate, he is noticed and apprehended by Beni and brought before Yuki and Rui. Upon being asked, Yuki explains that their purpose is to uncover a hidden treasure, which will fund the Science Club’s activities.

    Here too is a notable departure from the anime. While Tenchi gathering himself and being caught by Beni follows much the same in both versions, the anime has Yuki affixing Tenchi to a torture table, not unlike Hana’s iron maiden in Episode 2. She then has Beni put a ball-gag on him before coldly ripping all of his clothes off and tossing them aside, leaving only his boxers once again. Episode 4 ends with Yuki ordering Beni to remove his boxers. Though Episode 4 does touch on Yuki’s jealousy of the Student Council’s prosperity, Chapter 3 focuses much more on her desire to surpass the Student Council, omitting the torture table entirely. Indeed, Tenchi is never bound again like he is in the anime.

    That said, the anime does have a few glimpses of Mihoshi working covertly amongst the Science Club’s members, which the manga lacks.

    When Yuki grows suspicious of Tenchi, Momo and the Student Council trio arrive to retake him. They reveal that they had bugged his boxers while he was in their custody and followed him to the dig site. Yuki orders her team to escape, calling upon Beni to handle the Student Council members. With a slam of her metal club, Beni shakes the cavern, knocking Momo from her feet. Alone, the mighty young woman stands against the entire Student Council while Yuki and Rui escape.

    Some more liberties are taken here. In Episode 6, the Student Council does arrive to retake Tenchi, but Hachiko threatens the Science Club members, causing all the workers to flee, except Mihoshi. There is a little comedy with Momo trying to climb down the steep walls, and Hachiko helping her. However, Beni then strikes at Momo, who is guarded by Hachiko, spurring a duel between the two fighters.

    Admittedly, no hint is given as to how the Student Council bugged Tenchi’s boxers in either the manga or anime, but the anime does have the excuse that Tenchi was stripped to his boxers at least. However, one would think that he would have noticed a bug being placed over his groin. That said, the manga demonstrates Beni’s strength, having the impact of one swing from her club rending all her would-be foes from their footing. Considering also her tiger-striped leggings and bra, she appears as an allusion to the Japanese oni, much like Lum from Urusei Yatsura by Rumiko Takahashi, as well as Ryoko herself.

    In summary, I find this chapter more mixed than its previous two predecessors. I like how the manga depicts Tenchi escaping from the Student Council, though I think being stripped to his boxers would be much greater impetus for him to flee and hide as he did. Likewise, not stripping him to his boxers begs the question as to how the tracking device was placed where it was. While I could entertain an argument that the girls-only setting or his own personality might spur him to seek shelter, the issue of the tracker still remains.

    While I take issue with that change, I did like that the manga paralleled Yuki less to Hana, and more to Washu. Indeed, the anime itself later depicts Yuki as Washu’s protege, particularly their single mindedness, and the scientific schoolgirl even has some lines like the genius researcher, like using other people as “lab rats”. One could easily make an argument that Yuki and Rui are the high school version of Washu and Mihoshi, respectively. Also, I have always been amused by how Yuki’s glasses react to her emotional state, and I am pleased that the manga kept this property.

    And, yes, I am waiting for a certain spider to appear!

    I was a little disappointed not to see Mihoshi drawn in the background somewhere, but she will likely turn up like the bad penny that she is to Washu.

    Next, I do like that Beni is depicted as immensely strong from the start. This immediately draws attention to her, alongside her “feudal” counterpart shown in Chapters 1 and 2. On the other hand, the anime seems to put more attention on Hachiko, having her threaten the workers, help Momo down the steep incline, and block Beni without consequence. However, Hachiko has had plenty of presence in both the anime and manga by this point, as opposed to Beni who has been barely featured until this moment. This is the moment for the oni to block the heroes’ path, and she has to be imposing.

    As a final note, some of the changes seem to address the complaints with the early episodes of Ai Tenchi Muyo!, where the sadism and ecchi angle are played much more overtly.

    Rogue Thoughts