Thoughts on Tenchi/Ryoko

In another thread and time I would argue this point until the cows come home, but this isn’t the place… 😎

Anyway, as for the Tenchi/Ryoko question, I think a lot of that whole paradigm comes from OVA 1 and the way it was handled by the coalition of talented writers, directors, and storyboarders(?). Being the very first in the franchise it definitely set a lot of the trends and mindsets that developed later in the franchise. While OVA by no means centered on the Tenchi/Ayeka/Ryoko triangle to even a fraction of a degree that TU or Tokyo did, in terms of those two girls got the lion’s share of the romance development. I mean, with both Ryoko and Ayeka we had several episodes over which to see their feelings for Tenchi evolve, while as with the other girls we really only have one or two isolated instances in the whole OVA where their feelings are shown, i.e. Mihoshi’s tipsy “He’s my destiny” scene, Washu’s “I want to make him mine!” scene, etc. Being part of Kajishima’s grand haremy plan OVA1 doesn’t point to any one girl over the other (and I am in no way minimizing the importance of the feelings of the other girls for Tenchi), but because of the way the show was directed and put together only Ryoko and Ayeka come off as strongly developed love interests. This leads to the majority of the audience making a choice between the two, and for most people this is Ryoko. Of the two, Ryoko is the more brash and charismatic, and it is very natural for so many people to feel that she is the one for Tenchi. She, more so than any of the other girls, draws Tenchi out of his shell and challenges him to change the way he looks at the world and what matters to him. In so doing she isn’t without fault, often crossing the line into just plain meanness, but overall, at least to me, she comes off as the compelling, confident, and devoted “other half” that fits perfectly with Tenchi.

TL;DR The Ayeka/Tenchi/Ryoko dynamic is a natural development out of the Direction and Storyboarding of OVA1.

This is why I have conflicting feelings about the OVA material. I prefer the background and origin stories from the OVA, but would have rather seen something along the lines of Universe where there isn’t this whole incestual polygamy going on, it’s just too weird for me.

I don’t know what Japanese fans would think or how Kajishima thought they’d react, but I think especially for westerners, Ryoko having to settle with the rest of the girls for Tenchi is rather insulting and offensive than just him picking one girl.

The great thing about Tenchi is there is the OVA, Universe, Tokyo, movies and manga to choose from so it’s pretty open ended for the viewer to choose how things turn out.

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Good point. I think in Universe it’s more apparent she liked Tenchi since she spared him and flirted with him even before Ayeka showed up.

But in the OVA I’m not sure what would’ve happened had Ryoko gotten her gems back without the sword zapping her. Would she have killed Tenchi as she almost did earlier or abducted him or what?

Aww, you should know this one!

Ryoko had been trying to conserve/gather energy so as to break free from the cave and come to Tenchi, who she had been watching grow up. When he undid the seal early (only a day early, IIRC) she was angry at him for ruining her plans. (Not to mention being scared spitless of her as a mummy – versus being seduced. heh.)

Hence her mixed reaction when she finally finds him at the school, as well as her appearance at his house. (and her undone top button, doubtless.)

Such is what I have heard.

I’m still unsure whether it was teasing or not. She blew up the classroom that he barely escaped, almost cut him several times with the sword if he didn’t dodge or the sword unexpectedly protected him.

But I think your analogy is good, makes the most sense out of any I’ve read or thought of.

I’d be interested to know what, if anything he’s said about it. Perhaps if you linked us to said comments it would become clear, no? Anyway, I don’t see the harm in theorizing about her possible motivations, because even if Kajishima had a specific reason it obviously didn’t translate very clearly to most viewers. Plus, for all we know Kajishima might have had something in mind that was very different from what was actually shown in the episode, after all things have been known to change between writing and production in OVA 1.

I wonder if Ryoko ever got the memo that Tenchi’s grandpa is Yosho. She was unconscious and abducted by Kagato when that was revealed and you’d think there would be hostility between them (ep3 when she sees his hologram “Yosho, hmph good riddance! Although I kinda like him in that size”, as well as him locking her up for 700 years) but apparently not since she refers to him as “honorable grandfather” when asking to use his phone in ep7.

Honey vs. Vinegar, y’know.(even then, she’s overdoing it)

In one of the doujinshi, Kajishima-sensei has a different version of the onsen scene between Ryoko and Aeka. When Aeka asks Ryoko why she attacked, Ryoko says it wasn’t serious, but she also says that since Tenchi broke the seal days before Ryoko would have got out on her own, he foiled her surprise on everyone, so she felt like taking out a little frustration on Tenchi.

Ryoko didn’t get serious until Tenchi-ken revealed itself and by then, it was too late. ^_~

As an aside, in reality, I think the Ryoko attack on Tenchi was Hayash’s influence on the story. Kajishima then had to come up with a reason to explain this and why Ryoko would now be an ally of Tenchi, thus the whole, “I wasn’t being serious” stuff that’s in 101 Mysteries.

See now we’re just speculating. None of this was communicated through the anime which is the creators’ fault. I think it’s a bit silly to think she somehow over the course of 700 years gathered energy and was about to break free just a day before Tenchi stumbled into the cave. At any rate, it doesn’t make a difference to the show itself.

See now we’re just speculating. None of this was communicated through the anime which is the creators’ fault. I think it’s a bit silly to think she somehow over the course of 700 years gathered energy and was about to break free just a day before Tenchi stumbled into the cave. At any rate, it doesn’t make a difference to the show itself.

She needed the gem as a focal point to break free. She can make faux gems at will, but while sealed up, she could only draw power from the very limited sources available to her, mostly herself.

The power of the jewels would have pretty much had to run down by then for her to have been able to break free without Tenchi going into the cave.IIRC right she’s pretty much a mummy when Tenchi first sees her in

OVA 1.It’s only when he lifts the sword out that she begins to regenerate.

She’s a mummy because she’s using everything she can spare to create a faux gem. However, once Tenchi broke the seal, Ryoko did begin to regenerate because now she could draw in energy from the outside. She no longer needed to just draw energy from herself to put into a faux gem.

That’s another thing I wondered whatever happened to ryoko’s mask? was she wearing a mask when Yosho sealed her or something or did the townsfolk do that to scare off people from going to the cave and she just took it off after she regained her powers

I need to go back and rewatch the episode, but I think it is just a noh mask of some kind, likely an oni mask. After all, in the legend of Yosho, he fought an oni. So in terms of story, having Tenchi encounter a mummy with an oni mask makes it more terrifying for him.

As to what happened, that’s one of those things that the Japanese might say, “you aren’t supposed to worry about that.” *lol* But it would have been cool if the mask were hanging on the wall somewhere near Ryoko, or even inside Ryo-ohki.

Yosho (Katsuhito) and Kiyone did everything they could to pique Tenchi’s interest in the oni legend at the family shrine. As I understand it, Yosho’s plan was to have Tenchi go to Jurai with Ryoko and Tenchi-ken, thus proving himself to be the heir of Yosho and removing Yosho from his responsibility of succeeding Azusa in the future, which he would have to do as the partner of a 1st-generation Royal tree.

True Sheol and I disagreed about this, but I’ve always thought that Tenchi-ken was not just a master key created by Funaho-ki, but THE Master Key, giving it power over all other Royal trees, including 1st-gen ones. In my mind, this would give greater weight to Tenchi returning to Jurai and having claim to the throne, more so if the sword were passed down from Azusa (who either had Tenchi-ken or something so similar, it fooled Kagato), to Yosho, and then to Tenchi.

Of course, having Tenchi go to Jurai with Ryoko would be seen in the eyes of Jurai in general as a massive accomplishment, considering how easily she blew past the vaunted Juraian military defenses on every level.

Which upset Aeka when she learned the statue of limitations was over about five minutes after coming out of her hyper-sleep.

Well, she was looking for revenge on Ryoko for what she did to the unfinished Ryu-oh ship, as well as for Ryoko causing her beloved Yoshi-oniisama to leave. She had legal backing to support her revenge until the Statute of Limitations ran out, so yeah, she was very upset. *lol*

Man, I have to carve out time to rewatch the series again.

Yeah, that’s the consensus. I’m trying to remember if I have that sourced to something Kajishima-sensei confirmed or not.

I have always been a Tenchi x Ryoko shipper, they were my first OTP ^^ It’s beginning to be a little easier to accept that he marries all of them in the OVA (that’s hard to admit, LOL) because I do like the idea of them being this big, loving family…

You remind me of me several years ago when I was an ardent Tenchi x Ryoko shipper, but folks like True Sheol showed me how story-wise, the harem route was the one that would be done.

When it comes down to the two girls, it always kind of irked me how quick Ayeka seemed to get over Yosho and into Tenchi. Maybe I need to sit down and re watch everything in order, but that seems to happen so quickly. Maybe she still has feelings lingering for Yosho, but… it still seems weird to me. I know they had that nice time together in the third episode, but still… she’s been wanting him for so long. and in that short amount of time she’s now competing with Ryoko for her great nephew?

You can blame Hasegawa-sensei’s influence for that. As I understand it, Kajishima-sensei didn’t want Aeka to be still hung up on Yosho in a romantic way, but Hasegawa-sensei, as script writer, added that element into the final version of the script because she saw Aeka as more of a tragic princess heroine. OVA 1 has three influences — Kajishima, Hasegawa, and Hayashi, which is why there are some inconsistencies.

…but it just feels like Tenchi and Ryoko are the best fit.

I always think about the episode where the two walk off together after Tenchi forgives her for damaging his mother’s kimono.

It’s always been between Aeka and Ryoko.I think the mistake was adding the other girls into the harem.I think it would have made more sense if he simply married Aeka and Ryoko.I think the only reason the others were added was to keep all of the fans happy.

I can understand this line of thought. Of course, back when TM!R came out, there were no harem titles (unlike today, where they are a dime a dozen). However, in terms of story, there is justification for Tenchi marrying the harem, at least as far as Jurai is concerned.

I always thought the story of the series was between Tenchi and ryoko and the others were added because it was a harem series

The story was actually all about Tenchi. Ryoko and the others were always there from the start, at least from Kajishima’s perspective. It is just that how things played out came off differently. (The Ryoko-Tenchi conflict at the beginning is Hayashi’s influence on the story).

This is another thing I wish the OVA would do, is actually take the time to explore the relationships that everyone has, and really go deep with them. Sadly I don’t think we will ever see any kind of real character development anymore. Barring some unforeseen miracles, I imagine anything like that will be in the form of physical plot points (aka “And then the characters did THIS”) and not about making the characters worth liking again, lol

That’s one of the reasons I wish the Shin Tenchi Muyo novels were adapted. Washu gets great character work in the novel Washu (as expected). Ryoko gets good background character work in Yosho (and a bit in Jurai as well). Aeka’s motivations are pretty clear due to Yosho.

But yeah, sadly, I don’t think we’ll get to see the kind of thing you (and me for that matter) want to see.

I didn’t know that at all! It would have been better for her not to have been… because she just feels a bit flakey to me because of that It just helps reinforce my love for the Tenchi x Ryoko pairing ^.^

This is another thing I wish the OVA would do, is actually take the time to explore the relationships that everyone has, and really go deep with them. Sadly I don’t think we will ever see any kind of real character development anymore. Barring some unforeseen miracles, I imagine anything like that will be in the form of physical plot points (aka “And then the characters did THIS”) and not about making the characters worth liking again, lol

I agree! T_T

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You know, I was thinking about this a lot last night, on why I like TenchixRyoko so much and instances of them being closer as a couple. I was just thinking, she gets most of the deeper moments with him, I think. I have most of the “No need for Tenchi!” manga, and I was going through the Tenchi in Love volume, and at the end after they defeat Kain and Ryoko says “good luck with Nobuyuki!”, Achika replies with “and you take care of Tenchi!”. and while Washu and Ayeka are there, those two pages feel a bit more focused on Ryoko and Achika than the rest, then it goes to Washu talking to Achika. Is this how it happened in the movie? lol it’s been so long since I watched it! Maybe I am looking too much into those couple of pages

The_evil_Genius

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Another reason is why I think tenchi/Ryoko was the choice tenchi would always would make in the end than the whole Ayeka/Tenchi pairing is because in the ova tenchi risked his twice to save Ryoko and in the tv universe he gave the whole throne of Jurai and went back to Earth and the whole time he thought about ryoko

Well that’s why Hasegawa was a script writer, lol What was Kajishima going to do with Ayeka in any kind of important capacity? Hasegawa understood that the main characters should probably have more personality, even shallow ones, then just being plot points and trophies in a harem on screen.

Universe-wise I always felt as if the show really was picking a side. It felt more blatantly obvious as to who he wanted towards the end, which is good and bad. Bad as in being that Ayeka never seemed to have much of a fighting chance.

See this is one thing that harem shows always get wrong, and ironically enough shows like Adventure Time and Regular Show are getting right (aka there’s more than DVD and Sales figures going into the writing of the show, lol)

This paragraph on AT might have spoilers so tread lightly, anyway, in the beginning of Adventure Time, Finn is infatuated with Princess Bubblegum, even to the point of loving her, but she turns him down for a couple of reasons, so Finn explores his other options (Marceline, Flame Princess) and so on. At one point Bubblegum has to confront the idea that maybe she likes Finn after all, but he’s already with Flame Princess, so they have a kerfuffle, this is great drama that explores open possibilities of multiple pairings, but also makes the show engaging on that front and gives the fans of all pairings what they want.

Tenchi is the perfect show for something like this, but they always play it too sterile because they are “afraid of hurting the fans” or Kajishima doesn’t care, well hell the fans have been hurt before and survived, how about we take the floaties off and actually get in the deep end huh? lol The times they attempted this, what happened? RYOKO BECAME A SPACE PIRATE AGAIN, and we had arguably the most touching moments between Ryoko and Ayeka (DoD), and Ryoko and Tenchi (TMiL2) EVER you want to tell me that THAT is a bad thing? (not you specifically shadow) HOWEVER, they still only went half in on the Tokyo one and never reciprocated that on Tenchi’s part (which I know many of us complained about in the Tokyo cast for).

So let’s say for instance, in OVA1, Tenchi outright picks Ryoko at first, or rather, accepts Ryoko’s affection despite the tender moments that Ayeka and him shared before. This breaks Ayeka’s heart, BUT it pushes her to grow as a character, she doesn’t need Tenchi to be happy, OR she decides to accept Seiryu’s hand in marriage, now Tenchi is feeling bad about it, so he speaks up, which could lead Ayeka to the finn moment I described above, but then Ryoko jumps in, etc, I mean it practically writes itself, and in a Universe as big as Tenchi, this could lead to all kinds of great space battles, and all of the adventure and action we love, but also giving us drama and character development. What do we love to watch more? World War 2 or the Cold War? WW2 because shit happened and it was exciting both positively and negatively, (and I’m sure Chuck will chime in and tell me that things did happen in the Cold War, but they weren’t as exciting “war wise” as World War 2).

Well said. It’s just inevitable at some point in a harem that you probably piss off fans because their character wasn’t chosen for reasons ranging from rejection (Tenchi chooses [name]) to complete disregard (Tenchi chooses no one and keeps them all in limbo).

Now this is just my opinion (biased of course), but Ryoko was introduced from the start whereas Ayeka showed up looking for someone else which to me indicates she’s the special woman out of them all. Both of them over time developed feelings for Tenchi, but Ryoko seems more genuine and affectionate whereas Ayeka just sees another Yosho so to speak. It’s all part of the incestuous arranged marriages within the monarchy. I’m not saying Ayeka didn’t really love Tenchi, but if Tenchi was in no way related to Ayeka whatsoever (discovered in Ep2 when she realized the sword works in sync with him), she probably wouldn’t have developed those feelings despite Tenchi being the same person he always has been. Whereas Ryoko doesn’t care if he’s Juraian or not.

I didn’t know that at all! It would have been better for her not to have been… because she just feels a bit flakey to me because of that It just helps reinforce my love for the Tenchi x Ryoko pairing ^.^

I agree with you. However, the “tragic princess” element is basically what became the standard after OVA 1. All of her other incarnations are rooted in that. ;

Another reason is why I think tenchi/Ryoko was the choice tenchi would always would make in the end than the whole Ayeka/Tenchi pairing is because in the ova tenchi risked his twice to save Ryoko…

Back in the day when I would get into shipping debates, this was one of the things I cited. Naturally, as usually happens with people who are emotionally tied to things/ideas, these citations were ignored. *lol*

OVA wise, I always found it interesting that when Ryoko was kidnapped by Dr. Clay, Tenchi felt it. Now as to whether or not that was his abilities of “Omniscience” coming to light, or he has a bond with Ryoko in a certain way that is stronger than the rest is purely debatable and subjective.

Debatable, yeah, but there’s plenty of evidence to support such a bond. After all, Yosho wanted Tenchi to go to Jurai in his stead with Ryoko. Yosho and Kiyone did things to pique Tenchi’s interest in Ryoko. As a child, it is believed that Tenchi could sense Ryoko (in astral form) outside the cave. When Kiyone died, Tenchi fled to Ryoko’s Cave, where Ryoko used her limited abilities in astral form to shield him from the snow. Ryoko put a part of herself into Chibi, the cat that was near death which Tenchi rescued.

So yeah, I think it is safe to say there’s a deeper bond between Ryoko and Tenchi, but since Tenchi was raised with Ryoko around (in astral form), I think that is understandable.

Ryoko is my personal favorite of the two, though, so initially I am happy at the thought of the Ryoko/Tenchi pairing. Ayeka doesn’t exactly need to be left in the dust though. Of course, that’s my personal opinion.

In the canon, Aeka isn’t left out due to the harem ending. ^_~

You can blame Hasegawa-sensei’s influence for that. As I understand it, Kajishima-sensei didn’t want Aeka to be still hung up on Yosho in a romantic way, but Hasegawa-sensei, as script writer, added that element into the final version of the script because she saw Aeka as more of a tragic princess heroine. OVA 1 has three influences — Kajishima, Hasegawa, and Hayashi, which is why there are some inconsistencies

Well that’s why Hasegawa was a script writer, lol What was Kajishima going to do with Ayeka in any kind of important capacity? Hasegawa understood that the main characters should probably have more personality, even shallow ones, then just being plot points and trophies in a harem on screen.

“Script polisher” would be more of what she did. After all, the earlier versions of the script were written by Kajishima-sensei. I’ve seen some of them. Episode 2 and 5 were the ones that Hasegawa-sensei did the final version of the script for.

I would disagree that Hasegawa-sensei understood the characters more. After all, Kajishima-sensei is the one who created the characters. She had her vision of the characters and her vision of where the story should go. Because she changed things to her vision, vs what Kajishima had envisioned, that’s why she had no role in the rest of the canon and went to do her own, very successful, spinoff line.

When Hasegawa-sensei started writing her spinoff novels, she when to Kajishima-sensei to ask some questions. She admitted that she had no understanding of the Choushin, nor Washu. Her vision of Washu, which is carried on in her novels, is that Washu was simply a mad scientist.

@Dagon123 – I think that Hayashi would have preferred a Ryoko x Tenchi pairing and my understanding that this is his influence on OVA 1. Kajishima-sensei apparently always wanted a harem ending. He structured the story so that such an ending works (Jurai would heartily approve of Tenchi marrying the harem for a whole host of political reasons).

It’s just inevitable at some point in a harem that you probably piss off fans because their character wasn’t chosen for reasons ranging from rejection (Tenchi chooses [name]) to complete disregard (Tenchi chooses no one and keeps them all in limbo).

And that showed up in the TU spinoff, as there were people upset with how the 3rd movie (which wrapped up the TU timeline anime-wise) paired Tenchi off with Ryoko.

…if Tenchi was in no way related to Ayeka whatsoever (discovered in Ep2 when she realized the sword works in sync with him), she probably wouldn’t have developed those feelings despite Tenchi being the same person he always has been. Whereas Ryoko doesn’t care if he’s Juraian or not.

You might be right, but I’ve suspected that the reason Tenchi attracts the girls is that they are subconsciously reacting to the power within him.

I wonder if that is true though,seeing as in the first ova it is evident that it’s Yosho himself who is pushing the whole Aeka/Tenchi relationship.

True. Of course, Yosho was married and didn’t want Aeka still interested in him, so why not use the Katsuhito persona to accomplish his mission. *lol*

But yeah, after Aeka (and Sasami) showed up, that changed the dynamics of things. Every subsequent girl continued that change.

Well, they are briefly alone together in OVA 2 when Ryoko wears Kiyone’s kimono and Tenchi is very admiring until Ryoko rips off the sleeve. At the end of the episode, the two are shown walking off together as Tenchi has forgiven her and I think Ryoko is carrying the big basket of carrots.

You’d have something akin to El-Hazard…maybe. ^_~

Isn’t there a saying “men marry women who remind them of their mothers”? (fortunately for Tenchi, none of the girls quite fit the bill there)

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