evilpii

Resuming from Chapter 8, Momo leads Tenchi to the arm wrestling booth, telling him that she wants to make memories with him that will last a lifetime. Her words have a sadly tragic ring to them, considering Momo’s eventual fate in the anime.

At the arm wrestling booth, Beni effortlessly wins every match presented to her and seems quite bored as a result. Interestingly, she appears to be quite popular among the other students, despite her aloof demeanor. Momo herself challenges Beni in order to have a moment to speak to the ogre-like high-schooler Beni is taken aback by Momo’s forwardness and desire to be friends, so much so that she has a flashback to holding little Momo’s hand and nearly losing the arm wrestling match. Although, Beni regains her wits and easily dispatches Momo.

While the arm wrestling competition is taken from Episode 18, Momo and Beni’s conversation is taken from the more ridiculous “butt wrestling” contest from Episode 27, where Tenchi served as referee.

After defeating Momo, Beni notices Tenchi. The anime has Beni directly challenge him, but the manga simply has the prince laugh that he would be easily beaten. In both media, Ryoko pulls Tenchi away and takes the challenge for herself, though the manga does not show the conclusion of the bout.

To the anime’s credit, Ryoko and Beni are shown on a even keel, the two straining and eventually destroying the arm wrestling table entirely. The competition then continues in Episode 19, where they take turns bending metal bars like balloons to demonstrate their strength and control.

The manga then has a page referencing some of the other events of the cultural festival: the maid cafe lead by Ayeka, Sasami sneaking into the festivities in a school uniform, and the play performed by Hachiko and the Drama Club. Sadly, due to the story’s compression at this point, the comedic adventures of the cultural festival are greatly abridged. The anime gives this story arc more time to breathe, letting it expand over eleven 4-minute episodes, roughly equivalent to two 22-minute episodes of a more conventional anime. The subplots interweave, as Tenchi is thrown by Ryoko from the arm wrestling booth to a rebuilt Goriki, who then tosses him into a coffin being used by the Drama Club’s play. Subsequently, he is forced into the Ms. Junai Contest by Ukan, before another day of athletic competition. All of these segments have a nice dose of comedy and action, as well as time to develop the characters and give them chances to interact with the classic cast of Tenchi Muyo!.

Afterward, Tenchi remarks, “Time flew by so quickly,” as Momo falls asleep on his shoulder, just as she does in Episode 28. As she sleeps, she dreams about her child form and Beni meeting the ship Toshika, bestowed upon them by the head of the Jurai royal family. The dialogue here seems taken from Episode 33, illustrating that Momo too shares some memory of the events 1300 years prior.

It is also notable that Momo also addresses the ship Toshika herself. A point established in both Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki and Tenchi Universe is that the trees of Jurai share some symbiotic relationship with the Jurai royal family, giving them great power, formidable capital ships, and ultimately their massive space empire. Indeed, the trees of Jurai are regarded as sentient beings in the OVA and can choose their masters in a system not unlike marriage. Consequently, Toshika is also a character in this scene, though in a nonspeaking role, and she plays an important role late in the anime.

Another point here is that Momo has some assigned duty to leave Jurai, and Beni serves as her guardian on this journey with Toshika. The dialogue here and in Episode 33 does not elucidate what this duty is, or why they happened to reach Earth when the dimensional rift occurred.

Waking from the dream, teenage Momo awkwardly bids Tenchi farewell as she leaves to ponder the dream she just experienced. Upon her departure, Beni confronts Tenchi, revealing her suspicions as she did in Episode 34 of the anime. This deviates from the anime in that it was Tenchi who approached Beni in the anime. The change puts Beni as the proactive party, wanting to understand who Tenchi is, and who she is. She seems far more sensible and thoughtful than her anime counterpart, who just attacks Tenchi to force him to reveal his true colors.

That said, the anime does have two interesting features to this scene. First, Beni sitting on the roof and looking at the stars is very reminiscent of Ryoko doing the same, again alluding to the parallels between the two. Second, as Beni is attacking Tenchi, Momo arrives and interferes just when Beni swings one last time with all her might. In that moment, a green light emerges and protects Tenchi and Momo from the impact, though they are tossed from the roof. The green light is very similar to the barrier used by little Momo in Episode 8 to fend off a parallel universe version of Ryoko. While left somewhat ambiguous, this is possibly a hint at Momo’s true identity.

As with the last chapter, I find this chapter very tight and focused on moving the plot forward. I certainly like the development of Beni to this point, as well as the shift of attention to Momo’s true identity. Sadly, however, the compression does mean many humorous moments and poignant allusions are lost for the sake of that tight and concise flow.

— Rogue Thoughts

The chapter opens with Beni dreaming of a child crying, quickly identified as the child version of Momo from Chapter 1. She sees a felled tree behind the child and muses if the girl is crying because of the tree. Then, Hachiko steps into frame and blames the child’s tears on the ogre-like high-schooler. Beni just yells back for her to “shut up” repeatedly until she wakes, grabbing Tenchi’s shirt and yelling in his face.

As one might imagine, this scene is establishing Beni’s subconscious connection back to the opening scene, where she was seemingly depicted as the child’s guardian and chauffeur. Naturally, in the high-school setting, Hachiko has now taken that role, clashing with Beni’s previous incarnation.

This tension leads to an interesting rivalry between the two young women, both having filled the role of the child’s guardian, but in different ways. Hachiko is the more traditional loyal samurai, while Beni, in her current incarnation, seems more like a ronin or a yojimbo, a masterless or dishonored knight. The chapter continues this rivalry by having both Hachiko and Beni insult or condescend to one another, very reminiscent of the barbs thrown by Ayeka and Ryoko. Indeed, Hachiko’s arrogance and status could be easily compared to Ayeka’s, while the unrefined and blunt persona of Beni greatly parallels Ryoko. The anime lacks this verbal sparring, which is a shame.

After awaking, Beni tosses Tenchi aside before he and Hachiko explain their predicament. The manga adds that Tenchi also went out of his way to retrieve Beni’s iron club, which is a nice touch and gives Beni a reason to trust him. However, her leg is still injured from her collision with the iron boulder in the last chapter. Tenchi offers to help her, but she smacks his hand away, showing her defiance and self-reliance.

Since losing the guidebook, Hachiko thinks she knows the general location of the exit, a slight deviation from the anime, where she suggests following the sound of the school festival. As they proceed, Hachiko throws some shade toward the Science Club, to which Beni takes exception. The two ready to duel once again, and Tenchi interrupts them, again like he would halt arguments between Ryoko and Ayeka.

Eventually, the trio reach an impasse, a collapsed wall of crates. Beni steps forward and bashes through the blockage with her iron club, proudly declaring her ease at clearing the obstacle. To her surprise, her attack awoke a sleeping giant, the Science Club’s prototype robot Goriki, which had been put into storage after rampaging across campus. It shoots out a fork-shaped hand, knocking Beni away, and the chapter ends with Tenchi and Hachiko facing down their mechanical opponent.

While this chapter clung fairly faithfully to the anime, the additional banter between Beni and Hachiko served to contrast the two, as well as allude back to the classic rivalry between Ryoko and Ayeka, with our hapless hero still trapped between them. I am also glad to see Goriki finally arrive on the scene, ready to throw down with Tenchi and Hachiko.

— Rogue Thoughts

The chapter opens with Tenchi speaking with Ukan Kurihara, presumably his teaching mentor at Junai Academy. Just as in the anime, they converse briefly about the prince acclimatizing to his student teacher position, and Ukan notices Tenchiken sheathed in a decorative cloth pouch. Naturally, Tenchi fabricates that his signature and namesake weapon is just a talisman or charm from his family’s shrine. However, Ukan insinuates that it is something far different with her dialogue in both the anime and the manga.

The art in the manga seems to depict Tenchi as being more perturbed by her taunts, but the anime shows him merely annoyed by her juvenile humor.

In this scene, Ukan takes Tenchiken in hand and presses its hilt against Tenchi’s face as she needles him. Interestingly, the design of the Juraian key in both is taken from the Tenchi Universe TV series, its pommel much more like a closed flower than the rounded design of the OVA Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki. Moreover, the sword does not attack Ukan when she holds it, as it did Ryoko and Kagato in the OVA, and even Tenchi when he was to prove himself worthy of it.

Naturally, this does imply that Ai Tenchi is not a continuation from the OVA series, but it is also not a continuation of Tenchi Universe either. Please refer to the first chapter, where Ryoko’s backstory lists her seal being broken by Tenchi as in the OVA, rather than her drunkenly crashing on Earth as Tenchi Universe depicted. Again, as Hiroshi Negishi said, Ai Tenchi is a “celebration of the franchise”, paying homage to most, if not all, incarnations of the characters. Consequently, it will likely not fit nicely into any one continuity.

Ukan then shifts to discussing the Miss Junai contest, suggesting not so subtly that Tenchi himself should participate. As opposed to the anime, where Ukan seems to want to dominate our hapless hero, the manga depicts her more subtle, using backhanded compliments about his beautiful plainness.

There is also a slight discrepancy between the manga and the anime. The manga states that the Miss Junai contest is the 20th, while the anime has it be the 22nd, the same as Tenchi’s age from Episode 1. Recalling that Ai Tenchi Muyo! is a celebration of the franchise, the difference could be explained due to which series one regards as “first”. The first episode of the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OVA series was released on 25 September 1992, which is 22 years before the 2014 release of Ai Tenchi. On the other hand, the TV series Tenchi Muyo!, or Tenchi Universe as it is also known, ran from 2 April to 24 September in 1995, which is nearly 20 years before Ai Tenchi. Considering that Hiroshi Negishi directed both Tenchi Universe and Ai Tenchi, the manga might be paying homage to the director’s involvement in both, rather than the franchise as a whole.

In both media, a rumbling disrupts Ukan’s tormenting of Tenchi, and he takes the moment to escape, and swipe his weapon back from her. Dashing into the hallway, the undercover prince finds Beni and Hachiko dueling once again, with Yuki and Rui cheering on their bodyguard. Tenchi interrupts the fight, incurring Beni’s wrath as she swings a back-fisted strike at him. However, he catches it effortlessly, surprising her.

The manga adds two particular details to this scene. First, as Tenchi approached Beni, the manga has him reach for her shoulder, which could have been interpreted by Beni as aggression, resulting in her attack. Second, Beni wonders how Tenchi could have blocked her punch, given that she has knocked people from their feet and leveled a cave in the previous two chapters. As a test, she punches a nearby wall, leaving a fair-sized hole, much to Tenchi’s exasperation. Realizing that her strength had not diminished, Beni seems more curious in Tenchi’s abilities.

The latter of these two details is clearly a homage to the episode “Hello, Ryo-Ohki” from the first OVA series of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki. Here, Ryoko exaggerated her woe over Tenchi giving his namesake sword to Ayeka, along with Ryoko’s coveted gems of power. In so doing, she walked backward into Katsuhito, Tenchi’s grandfather, who groped her breasts. Furious, Ryoko spun to punch the shrine priest, who blocked her effortlessly with a single open hand. The space pirate was perplexed and proceeded to punch the nearby stairs to test her strength, demolishing them.

Here is where the anime and the manga have a notable difference. The anime has Rui and Yuki pleading with Hachiko to give them some materials, even just a little book. However, Hachiko barks back about “making light of some great crime”. When Tenchi arrives, Rui and Yuki both grab Tenchi’s ankles and claim that the Student Council is bullying them. Transitioning to the Student Council office, Hana and Tori both address the matter as a “crime”, or at least planning to commit one. Yuki retorts, stating that the Student Council is biased against them, while Rui nearly lets slip that they were hoping to unveil their “treasure” at the coming festival. The argument gets heated, and Beni and Hachiko nearly come to blows again, only being stopped by Ukan. Even after the Science Club leaves, the Student Council discusses “forgiving” them. When Tenchi inquires, his questions are disregarded, and Ukan orders that he not discuss the matter in class. Her reasoning is that speaking out would give the Science Club the ability to take over the school. Instead, Tori says that they want to find proof of their rivals’ crimes, a task Hachiko gladly accepts. Tenchi, the kind soul that he is, volunteers to join her.

On the other hand, the manga again has Rui and Yuki pleading with Hachiko to have some materials, while Hachiko retorts that all materials will be used for the upcoming cultural festival. Tenchi scolds Yuki and Rui as Beni tests her strength. Transitioning to the Student Council office, the Science Club do not attend the meeting. Here, Hana and Tori discuss a request of materials from the Drama Club, which they accept. Tenchi points out that this is unfair to the Science Club, but Hana substantiates her claim by saying that the Science Club has not adequately explained their club’s purpose. Tori seconds this by stating that one of the roles of the Student Council is to allocate materials without being wasteful. Momo interjects that they are out of materials, so Hachiko volunteers to head to the warehouse to acquire more. As above, Tenchi volunteers to join her on her noble quest.

The manga handles this scene far better, having Hana and Tori explain their reasons for not allocating materials and funds to the Science Club, rather than making some nebulous claim of criminal conspiracy. Indeed, the anime seems to depict the Student Council as very biased against the Science Club, particularly as the club is not shown to have committed a crime. Indeed, Tenchi’s helpful attitude about assisting Hachiko seems far more natural than him helping her find proof of a nebulous claim. Moreover, Ukan’s order for Tenchi to keep quiet on the matter only seems to show conspiracy on the part of the Student Council.

This chapter seems to be much tighter and focused than its anime counterpart, streamlining the plot and making it flow better. I also very much enjoyed Beni’s homage of Ryoko, especially given what is to come in this story.

— Rogue Thoughts

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

As with many manga with a fair-sized cast, the first two pages give portraits and brief descriptions of each of the main players. Tenchi fans will readily recognize the descriptions of Tenchi Masaki and his companions (Ryoko, Ayeka, Sasami, Washu, and Mihoshi) from their previous incarnations. Notably, Tenchi himself is described as an “ordinary high school student”, who is now mysteriously a “girls-only high school teacher”. This main conceit is the impetus for the hilarity that ensues in the following pages. Likewise, observe that Ryoko’s description mentions that “Tenchi broke the seal that was placed on her”, which is a particular plot point only seen in the original OVA, as opposed to later reimaginings, including Negishi’s own TV series. Moreover, notice that Kiyone Makibi, a character first introduced in Hasegawa’s light novels and prevalent in later incarnations of Tenchi Muyo!, is absent entirely.

The action opens with a space scene where a strange space vessel is being affected by a nearby spatial anomaly. The young pilot, whose eyes are silhouetted but is immediately identified as Beni Kinojyou from the introduction, is at a loss as to what to do. In a monitor, a passenger aboard the ship, a child very reminiscent of Momo Kawanagare also from the introduction, calls for Beni to come with her. Beni addresses her as “princess” and proceeds to jettison the girl toward the planet below, quickly recognized as Earth from the Japanese and Aleutian island chains pictured. Watching over all of this, Washu admits fault and that Tenchi will have to deal with the fallout.

This opening scene is an abridged version of the opening segment of Episode 8 of the anime, though here it serves to implicate Washu’s culpability, as well as the need for someone to intervene. Moreover, this is more chronologically correct, as opposed to the anime, which often alternated between action in the present and action in a feudal time period. The ship’s design and the styles of dress for both child-Momo and Beni are consistent with the anime, as is the spatial anomaly.

The next scene shows a residence in Okayama, notably not the Masaki household from any previous incarnation. Here, Tenchi is being seen off to work by his friends, each bestowing him some foodstuff for lunch. Naturally, Ryoko and Ayeka’s conflicting affections for the young man drive them to fight in trademark fashion, leaving Sasami finally to give him lunch and send him away. As an extra treat, Ayeka’s guardians, Azaka and Kamidake, support their mistress and even get a line of dialogue.

This scene was not in the anime, but feels appropriate, giving the reader a snapshot of familiar characters and familiar actions. The character designs match those from the 2014 anime, which were updated by Suzuhito Yasuda, and the interactions are in tune with previous versions of the characters from the 1995 TV series or other earlier works.

After leaving his friends, Tenchi travels to Junai Academy, becoming lost in the woods outside the school. He then encounters the teenaged Momo Kawanagare, who knocks him over as she escapes Yuki and Rui of the Science Club. They, in turn, are chased away by the rest of the Student Council (Hachiko, Hana, and Tori). At last, Tenchi arrives at work to meet his supervisor, Ukan, who escorts him to his homeroom class to introduce himself.

The end of the chapter essentially mirrors Episode 1 of the 2014 anime, matching story beats and most lines of dialogue. However, unlike the anime, the space scene and house scene give more context into why Tenchi Masaki is present at Junai Academy early on, rather than waiting until Episode 3 to do so. An interesting point is that Ukan is pictured and interacts briefly with Tenchi and the class, but is not named in the story or the cast introduction. Likely, given her role in the anime, this is done to keep her true purpose obscure for the moment.

The art of the book is quite nice and captures the new character designs well. Though I do prefer the moving images of the anime, seeing a slightly different interpretation of the art is appreciated.

In summary, I rather enjoyed this adaptation of the Ai Tenchi Muyo! opening chapter. It remains consistent with the anime, while taking some liberty with the story. In particular, I think that the inclusion of the space scene and the house scene alleviate some common complaints with the anime. Some comments on the early episodes of the 2014 anime criticized not seeing Ryoko and the other original characters until Episode 7. Others wanted to know why Tenchi was at this girls-only school. Having child-Momo and Beni above Earth in the first few pages immediately address the latter issue, while the house scene between Tenchi and his friends sort the former complaint.

Here’s to a good start to this manga adaptation, and to the next chapter.

— Rogue Thoughts