A long time ago, in the 1990s, there was a little harem anime called Tenchi Muyo!. It centered around the misadventures of young Tenchi Masaki, a typical high school student. One day, he finds himself surrounded by alien women - somewhat terrifying alien women. Suddenly, Tenchi's ordinary, boring life becomes a 24/7 carnival of weird, inter-space madness.
The Tenchi storylines are difficult to keep track of. The creators apparently liked to tell the story over and over again with little twists in each "timeline", but the main idea is always the same: boy meets girl, girl, girl, girl.... you get the idea. Also: space alien god-royalty bloodlines are Important and Mysterious.
Now, this particular incarnation of Tenchi Muyo is 26 episodes long, and you would think that this would give them enough time to build something resembling a plot. You would be wrong. The first six episodes are devoted to introducing each of Tenchi's potential girlfriends. So, you have:
Ryoko - hot-headed sexy space pirate who likes booze, guns, and committing crimes.
Mihoshi - ditzy galaxy police officer who likes....well, pretty much anything, but especially karaoke and slacking off.
Ayeka - haughty space princess who wanted to take a vacation from the duties of being princess of the entire universe.
Sasami - Ayeka's adorable little sister, who came looking for Ayeka and got stranded on Earth
Washu - Mad scientist with a huge ego.
Kiyone - Mihoshi's long-suffering partner. All she wants is a normal life as far away from Mihoshi as possible.
Now, of the cast of potential girlfriends, only two of them actually express clear interest in Tenchi, the world's most bland and boring male protagonist. I mean, entire episodes can go by where he barely makes an appearance. I guess this is why the show's (and manga's) title was also called No Need for Tenchi. Despite that, the whole reason for the girls to be on Earth in the first place is some tie to Tenchi.
After the introductory episodes, all of the characters have to start interacting, so they go on wa-ha-ha-cky space adventures until suddenly (Dun-dun-duuuuun) a Wild Plot Appears!
Apparently, Ayeka's royal family, the Jurai family, has some unresolved issues regarding succession to the throne. In order to secure the order and restore normalcy to the royal family, and the universe, Ayeka had been sent to meet potential suitors when she decided that she was fed up with princessing and wanted to give loafing around a try. In the mean time, one of the lost Emperors of Jurai decided to show up and declare the members of the AWOL royal family criminals, so everyone has to go to Jurai to clear Sasami and Ayeka's names and figure out who this usurper actually is. More wacky space adventures ensue until finally, ta-da, they arrive to find out that Evil Usurper is actually Legitimate Heir to the Throne who Caught the Evil and is now hellbent on RULING THE KNOWN UNIVERSE.... unless his long-lost brother who was the only one who ever matched him in power makes a sudden reappearance.
What does this have to do with Tenchi, you may find yourself asking? Well, (spoiler-alert) it turns out that our bland, boring hero is actually a direct descendant of the Long Lost Prince, and somehow, mysteriously has awakened his own ability to manipulate Jurai energy and must carry out a Fight To The Death against his Crazy Evil Uncle (Great Uncle? I'm not even really sure at this point).
Honestly, this show was a lot better when I was in middle school. I mean, the plot is kind of...non-existent. But, it does have some good elements. I was particularly impressed with the space ships. Jurai space ships are grown like trees, so they can crash land on an alien planet and still repair themselves by (eventually) growing a new sapling space ship. Another space ship design is the Ryo-ohki space ship. When not being used to fly through space, the space ship runs around in this cute meowing rabbit form that likes carrots.
The character designs were pretty distinct, too. I loved Sasami and Ayeka's clothes, and if I had a better figure, I'd totally cosplay the bounty hunter Nagi. This show had a lot of characters, so it was nice to be able to easily pick one out based on a silhouette or color palette.
I did enjoy some of the humor of the show, but mostly this was all about nostalgia for a simpler time. I suppose exposure to this show did kick off the whole harem-anime craze in the States, whether current fans are aware of it or not. It wasn't the first show to feature a boring male protagonist that pretty, somewhat odd women are mysteriously attracted to, but it was the first one to really gain a strong foothold in the States because it was broadcast on the Toonami block back in the 90's.
Unless you're totally into retro anime and have a high tolerance for fillers, I really can't recommend this anime to most people. They really could have done a lot more with the pacing and world-building than they did, but I suppose they were trying to play up the fan service and fun of the series. Tenchi Muyo can be a really fun series, but it doesn't handle plot/drama very well.
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