No Need For Tenchi!

The cover for issue 1 uses the same art used for the 6th ova.

by Eugene Cheng

Most Anime OVA's are based on a manga or live action series. TENCHI! is among the few series in which the anime paves the way for the manga. The manga series takes place in the same Tenchi universe as Pioneer's 13-part OVA series. It occurs in the time gap between the sixth OVA and the Ryo-oh-ki Special.
In the first four issues, Tenchi and company have returned from their battle against Kagato when the mysterious Minagi appears. Minagi looks like Ryoko and defeats her--or so it seems; Ryoko returns after a clever trick. Minagi, now stricken with amnesia, is a guest in the Masaki house, but she leaves because she thinks she's being a burden. She runs into Yakage, who attacks the Masaki house in search of the secret of the 'Lightning Eagle Sword'. Yakage kidnaps Ayeka and gives Tenchi ten days to train before he returns. Tenchi, impatient, decides to go rescue Ayeka, but he is knocked out by Ryoko, who goes in his place.
Art and story chores were handled by Okuda Hitoshi. His grasp on the look and feel of the characters is very good, while still allowing his unique style to come through. The characters retain the appearances which the OVA series established. And he draws a really cute Ryo-oh-ki, too. The layouts are good, though fairly standard. But the elements that really stand out are the full character shots which break out of the panels. Okuda's breaks are very well done and placed in appropriate places which help to move the story rather than hinder it, and are occasionally, quite humorously accomplished.
The humor is pretty average, but it has its moments as well. Sasami blackmailing Ayeka was priceless! "Clutch-Pig." I still laugh when I read that. And the "business transaction" between Tenchi and Ryo-oh-ki in issue 4 is hilarious. The comic strips in issues 2 and 4 are funny, and serve to add a little something special to the book.
While a competent adaptation by Burke and Shikata, the text does not seem to flow as well as other Viz English-language version books. One element that I did like was the humorous sound-effects used throughout the book. I did not like the fact that they kept the honorifics used by Pioneer in their English-Language versions of Tenchi Muyo (Miss Ayeka, Mr. Tenchi). But overall the dialogue flows well.
I have a few other minor complaints about this book: the art used for the cover has already been overused (it's the cover art for the sixth TENCHI! OVA). And that weird "no smoking" log is just plain strange. And the letterer is constantly adding these little hearts into the word balloons. I like the hearts, but they tend to be overused and also are not very cleanly done.
My biggest complaint has to do with the size of the book: why isn't there more in here? Viz usually puts 2 chapters in their comics. Granted, the TENCHI! chapters tend to be longer page-wise than other titles, but I don't think the story advances far enough in one chapter to take up a whole book.
The first issue is 32 pages of great stuff (there are an additional 7 pages for the summary of the OVA story line). But issue 2 and up are each a mere 24 pages of story, despite a numbering trick and an old Hayashi Hiroki interview taken from Animerica. It hardly seems fair to charge the same $2.95 per issue. But fair is not an issue in today's comic industry, where many books far worse get away with charging far more.
This book is witty, charming, well drawn, and well written. It's also very different from the American comic book style. The bottom line is: If you want to own a great TENCHI! story, buy this book. However, if you can't afford it, I'd still recommend that you sit down and read through it. It's definitely a fun, albeit short, read.