Is El-Hazard connected to Tenchi? I always heard it talked about with Tenchi, but never really understood the connection, thanks!
Good question! Though we often call it the “sister series” of Tenchi Muyo!, El-Hazard is not directly connected to the former franchise—at least, not in-universe. So, why the nickname? Let’s delve into it!
Like Tenchi, El-Hazard began as an OVA series (produced by AIC and Pioneer) that quickly expanded into a multifaceted franchise which includes a TV series, audio dramas, and several sequel OVAs. The original OVA, El-Hazard: The Magnificent World (1995), was created by none other than Hiroki Hayashi, director of the first Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OVA and co-creator of the overall franchise. Thus the “sister series” comes from the shared lineage the two OVAs share: and, as you might expect, there are some similarities (aesthetically and thematically) between the two OVAs from the 1990s. (I won’t spoil those for you here, so you’ll just have to check it out yourself!)
When Hayashi parted ways with character designer and fellow Tenchi Muyo! creator Masaki Kajishima after Tenchi OVA 1 (technically, the Mihoshi Special, which you can read more about here), Kajishima continued expanding the world of Tenchi Muyo! (that is to say, in this context, the OVA continuity, not any of its many alternate timelines) to include every subsequent work he has ever had a hand in crafting since then via spin-offs (e.g. Photon, Dual, GXP, War on Geminar). Hayashi, however, took another path, choosing to explore new realms and introduce audiences to a fresh story. In doing so—with the help of many other talented individuals like screenwriter Ryoe Tsukimura, and funding from Pioneer in its economic heyday—he recreated the magic of Tenchi by spawning yet another flagship franchise for AIC by way of fascinating characters and a fantastic sci-fi setting. (Just imagine how much bigger it would have ended up had it aired on Toonami in the early 2000s like Tenchi did!)
So the short answer is “no” but that doesn’t mean El-Hazard had nothing to do with its “big sister” series in the real world!
Oh, but wait (as though Tenchi continuity or El-Hazard canon isn’t confusing enough): There are some other fun connections that could be more accurately described as “Easter Eggs” than outright crossovers. For example, in an episode of The Wanderers (the TV version of El-Hazard), a young Katsuhiko Jinnai can be seen reading what appears to be a Tenchi manga. Even more interesting is the case of Tenchi in Tokyo, where Tenchi’s teacher is one Mr. Fujisawa; he is even portrayed by both Koji Ishii and Michael Sorich, the respective Japanese and English voices of Masamichi Fujisawa in other animated iterations of El-Hazard.
And if that isn’t enough to tickle your fancy, get this: it turns out there is indeed an official crossover between El-Hazard and Tenchi Muyo! of sorts. At one point, Pioneer produced an audio drama CD in which the well-known characters of both series appear together!
This was meant only for the PAC (Pioneer Anime Club), but who knows: perhaps one day, the fandom at large will hear these lost tales—and maybe, just maybe, have some written translations to go along with it!
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