Reply To: El-Hazard: The Magnificent Thread

I had always heard tell of the many similarities and “connections” between EH and Tenchi, but I held off actually watching it for over two years. Easily one of the dumbest choices I’ve made since getting back into anime! El Hazard OVA 1 is so incredibly like Tenchi Muyo! it’s clear as day that they are both children of Hiroki Hayashi. I agree entirely with Who and Nobuyuki in saying that El Hazard ≥ Tenchi Muyo!, broadly speaking. It’s so refreshing to find another series that radiates all the same qualities that make TM! so engaging and fun. I CANNOT recommend this series enough for fans of Tenchi, or fans of fun and fantasy in general!

Currently, I’ve only seen the two OVA series (of which I enjoyed the first slightly more), and half of the TV series, which is LITERALLY El Hazard’s equivalent of Tenchi Universe. I’m probably getting redundant at this point, but watching this franchise all the way through is like rediscovering Tenchi. Two OVAs, two TV series, released in almost the same order, and each possessing the nearly the same qualities! I just wish that El Hazard had gotten a movie or two, like Tenchi and AIC’s other big 90’s franchise, Ah! My Goddess, did. And boy oh boy, could they have made one hell of a movie!

I’ll wrap up this post (the first of many, I’m sure), with a brief recounting of my favorite characters from the show. First and foremost there is Katsuhiko Jinnai. This guy. He is so hilariously over-the-top evil, and so ridiculously convoluted in his scheming that he unintentionally becomes the most lovable and charismatic character in the show! Plus, his laugh is without a doubt the greatest laugh in all of anime! Next up is the perpetual boozer Masamichi Fujisawa. A history teacher ( ) and chronic alcoholic, Fujisawa is the ultimate bro. While everyone around him is freaked out about the craziness of the world, he’s just looking for his next drink. He and the MC, Makoto Mizuhara, develop such a great rapport that their banter by the end is legendary. Finally, is the bombastic priestess of fire, Shayla Shayla. Cut from the same cloth as our own hard playing space pirate Ryoko, Shayla is a brash, hot headed tomboy who prefers to charge headlong into a fight. These three are far from the only great characters from EH, but they are the ones that never cease to entertain!

Well, that’s it for now. What about everyone else?