It’s finally here! The top 10 episodes of Tenchi Muyo! as voted on by YOU, the fans. Here’s what you chose!
10. Tenchi Universe EP12 – “Time and Space Adventures Part II”
The things that will never get old to fans of any franchise are what-if scenarios featuring their favorite characters, whether that’s Marvel’s own 2021 series or the Time and Space Adventures arc in Tenchi Universe. Starting its life as a radio drama of the same name a few years prior, the Time and Space Adventures start because Washu has built a device that can give the end user their perfect fantasy world based on their own input. Naturally, this goes awry when every Tenchi girl tries to input into it at the same time. Episode 12 starts us off in Kiyone’s world, a world where she’s given up her life as a detective and is trying to find a new life in a small little town. However, the part of this episode that most will remember is the next world, Sasami’s. Not only was this part of the episode featured in Toonami’s iconic two minute promo of the series, but it also introduces Sasami’s alter, Pretty Sammy, into Universe and ends on one heck of a shipping tease.
9. Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki: OVA1 EP6 – “We Need Tenchi”
The follow-up to “Kagato Attacks” and finale to the first OVA, “We Need Tenchi” features the climactic battle against Kagato, a sneak peak into some more hidden elements we would later see in the Ryo-Ohki OVA, as well as the introduction of franchise regular, Washu. This episode would be the last contribution to the Ryo-Ohki OVA by original co-creator and director Hiroki Hayashi before he went off to more magnificent worlds. Before he did though, he gave us one heck of a send-off, and an episode that pulls at the heart strings and ends with a bang.
8. Tenchi Universe EP25 – “No Need for a Showdown”
Following in the footsteps of its OVA counterpart episode but pushing the stakes to 11 for the whole galaxy, “No Need for a Showdown” sees Tenchi, Azaka, and Kamidake storm the Jurai royal palace to confront Kagato. As Nagi and the others are dealing with Jurai’s fleet in space, Azaka and Kamidake deal with Kagato’s dark knights, Tetta and Tessei, leaving Tenchi to the final showdown in the throne room. While each Tenchi series has some degree of action in it, “No Need for a Showdown” is easily the high-water mark for the franchise.
7. Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki: OVA1 EP5 – “Kagato Attacks”
In the 30 years that Tenchi Muyo! has existed, every single one of its villains have fallen short of its first, Kagato, and Episode 5 of OVA1 shows us why. Calm, collected, but infinitely intimidating, Kagato’s entrance shows just how far ahead he was of everyone, both in power and authority. Quickly taking control of Ryoko and besting Tenchi like the novice he was, his appearance would end up causing another revelation in the series that same episode, as well as initiating arguably Katsuhito’s most iconic quote.
6. Tenchi Universe EP1 – “No Need for Discussions”
One of the many things Tenchi Muyo! is good at is its opening episodes, and episode 1 “No Need for Discussions” from Tenchi Universe can be considered among the best. Starting with Tenchi reminiscing about events we the viewer don’t know about, it sets the tone for the series in such a way that you can’t help but be enthralled by it from start to finish. Because it was Tenchi’s first time on the airwaves, it had to make a splash, and right from the get-go, Tenchi sees a falling star that ends up being Ryoko. Instead of being trapped in a cave, she’s being pursued by none other than Mihoshi. “No Need for Discussion” ends with Ryoko repeating the name of the episode, perfectly encapsulating what Tenchi Muyo! is and what Tenchi Muyo! is about.
5. Tenchi in Tokyo EP10 – “Ryoko’s Big Date”
Back in 1997, Tenchi in Tokyo was largely misunderstood. It featured a new girl in one, Sakuya Kumashiro, who would somehow strike the fancy of Tenchi despite him being surrounded by so many fan favorites. Yet, despite its differences to the tried and true methods Tenchi Muyo! had used as a franchise up to that point, some of the things it did were instantly loved by those who watched, enter episode 10 “Ryoko’s Big Date.” It goes without saying that Ryoko is the fan favorite of Tenchi Muyo! fans by a large margin. To quantify that for those looking to push their glasses back and “well ackchyually“, in its August 2005 issue, Anime Insider showed the results of a poll that had asked readers “Which girl should Tenchi end up with in Tenchi Muyo?” Ryoko not only handily won, but she beat every other girl on the list combined. So it’s no wonder that an episode dedicated to our favorite couple having a good time would be beloved.
4. Tenchi Universe EP13 – “Time and Space Adventures Part III”
The last two fantasy worlds in the Time and Space Adventures belong to Mihoshi and Ryoko, and as one might imagine the latter has become a fan favorite for a myriad of reasons. In Ryoko’s perfect world, she and Tenchi are bank robbers (though Tenchi might argue that label) similar to the infamous and highly romanticized American bandit couple, Bonnie and Clyde. For American fans in particular, this episode and its homage playing during prime time on TV made Tenchi right at home with its western-produced contemporaries. No fantasy lasts forever though, and the moments that Tenchi and Ryoko share as Ryoko comes to terms with the fact she has to let this fantasy go solidified it forever as one to remember.
3. Tenchi Universe EP24 – “No Need for Ryoko”
If it wasn’t obvious to you before reading this, Tenchi Muyo! fans love Ryoko, so any episode that features Ryoko is always going to score highly, even more so if her name is in the title. It just so happens that this episode also is one of the most heartfelt and heart-wrenching in the entirety of Tenchi. Ryoko has agreed to take Tenchi to Kagato, but she’s keeping a secret from all those around her, a secret that Nagi very easily points out. Considering that it’s two episodes from the finale, by the end of the episode you can’t help but ask yourself, “Wait, two more episodes!? Surely they wouldn’t!?” Making the upcoming favorite on this list “No Need for a Conclusion” just that much better of a conclusion in the process.
2. Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki: OVA1 EP1 – “Ryoko Resurrected”
The episode that started it all. An episode that features mainly Tenchi and Ryoko and yet it is Tenchi near its zenith. A teenage boy from Okayama prefecture with a seemingly uninteresting life unleashes an extraordinary demonic character who follows him to school, a character who would capture our hearts, change our lives and the course of anime forever. Many have cited Urusei Yatsura or even Ranma 1/2 as being the true “pioneers” of the hybrid love-comedy genre, but like Neon Genesis Evangelion would later do in the mecha genre, which spawned its own clones therein, Tenchi Muyo! became the bar by which so many series in its orbit of genres would follow. Perfect pacing and casting in both English and Japanese, it’s hardly a wonder that the majority of fans would rate this among the best even 30 years later.
1. Tenchi Universe EP26 – “No Need for a Conclusion”
Tenchi Universe‘s last episode is arguably the ending Tenchi Muyo! as a whole should end on, period. No other ending episode ends, well, as perfectly as this one. That’s really it, it’s the perfect ending. For the uninitiated who haven’t watched Tenchi Universe in the 27 years it’s been in existence, it’s the culmination of all the drama and all of the emotion of the series, and pulls you back around to the first episode in such a way that’s so feel good that quite frankly anyone who argues against it is wrong. The music, the pacing, the voice acting, the directing, if there’s a better send-off in Tenchi Muyo! it hasn’t been made yet, and according to the fans who participated in our poll, there’s no episode that can top it either.
