Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Tenchi in Tokyo ::
by William the Bloody
Two years ago...
The space pirate known as Ryoko has stolen the Jurai Lightstone from the Jurai royal family. The Juraian first princess Ayeka is so outraged that she chases down Ryoko in the royal battleship with Galaxy Police officers Mihoshi and Kiyone backing her up. Ryoko's science officer Washu has done a great job protecting their ship from the onslaught, but unfortunately their defenses require much energy, and their resources are quickly depleted. In the middle of nowhere and under fire, Ryoko and Washu trace a large energy source on the small planet known as Earth and swoop in for an emergency landing. The energy they need takes them to the Okayama countryside, specifically, the Masaki shrine. Ryoko, now cornered by Ayeka, does the only thing she can think of to defend herself: she absorbs the Jurai Lightstone into her own body to boost her power. This proves too much for her to handle, and she is transformed into a powerful, lumbering beast about to slaughter everyone in sight. Tenchi Masaki, the young heir to the Masaki shrine, is drawn to the scene. Tenchi's necklace, an heirloom from his deceased mother, somehow senses the imminent danger Ryoko poses and suddenly transforms itself into a great weapon Tenchi didn't even know he had. When the beastly Ryoko attempts to harm Tenchi, his weapon acts on its own to defend him. There is a great explosion, and the Jurai Lightstone is expelled from Ryoko's body. Everyone is injured and Tenchi takes care of them all until they are healed, not only out of guilt for causing their injuries, but because that's just the sort of person he is. During the course of the healing process, these women from outer space all develop a fondness for Tenchi and his gentle nature of varying degrees. Ryoko, the tough as nails space pirate loner, has never had anyone treat her with unselfish kindness before and falls in love with him. However, Tenchi's necklace proved her undoing, so she separates the gemstones which compile it, and keeps a piece. The other girls like this idea, and each keep a gem. Out of affection for Tenchi and the appeal of the beautiful Okayama countryside, the six alien women decide to settle here on Earth and live on the Masaki shrine.
Present Day: In order to better prepare for his future duties as the head caretaker of the Masaki shrine, Tenchi must move to Tokyo to study as an apprentice to a well respected Shinto shrine keeper, and get an education at a proper high school. The six girls from outer space, pirate Ryoko, princess Ayeka, her sister Sasami, galaxy police officers Kiyone and Mihoshi and scientist Washu are all furious at this idea. They eventually cede to it though, as they see it isn't something they can change. Tenchi gets a modest apartment in Tokyo, very far away from Okayama, but his pals back home are never so far off, as Washu invents a dimensional tunnel to bridge the gap between them. Unfortunately for Tenchi, this portal happens to open in his bed sheets! His dreams of finally having privacy are shattered, with one girl or another constantly coming by at all hours. This is an inconvenience made even worse when Tenchi meets Sakuya Kumashiro, a beautiful classmate. Sakuya is very much drawn to Tenchi, but spending time with her is hard when you have several alien women who are insanely jealous, always poking around, and have dangerous super powers. Matters are even worse when a mysterious young girl named Yugi appears, with nigh omnipotent powers and seems to have it in for Tenchi and his friends. Who is she? What does she want? And what are her motives for trying to sever the strong bonds between our main characters? Find out as the series goes from hilarious to all out drama as we explore the pains of loneliness and the strength of not only true love, but also true friends.
The Good: The characters are great! They are all not only delightfully unique, but also multifaceted (including the villain, Yugi!). Ayeka and Ryoko by far have the strongest personalities and are constantly at odds with each over Tenchi, which is very fun to watch. Their intense jealousy and mistrust of any woman who speaks to Tenchi, looks at him or is even in his remote vicinity can be very funny. The animation in most of the episodes is quite good, and I like the style. The character designs were also very good. I like their clothes and how as the seasons change, they wear summer outfits instead of the same thing over and over. It's a nice detail. Also, the writing is very good. As the series progresses, it changes from being a flat out comedy, to a drama nicely evened out with a bit of funny. By the end, the mood is so strong, that it did in fact tug at the heart strings, and if the episode "Yugi's Shadow" doesn't evoke some kind of response from you, then you must be some sort of robot. It does have recycled music clips, but for the most part the music is pretty good, especially the haunting "Yugi's Theme," and "Love Theme." Both the English and the Japanese language voice cast do excellent jobs, which is a big plus.
The Bad: Unfortunately, this series does fall victim to animation reusing. GRRR! I can't tell you how much that pisses me off. The version I have is the 4 disc DVD box set, and for some reason, the subtitles never go away. No matter how many times I select "Subtitles: none" they don't disappear, even when I watch it in English, which can get annoying for some people. Also, this collection for some reason does not have a Chapter Selection Menu!! You have no idea how inconvenient this is. There are about six episodes on each disc, and each episode has at least six chapters within it, so if you only want to watch the last episode on the disc you have to hit Skip like 30 times!
Overall, this series is masterful. It successfully blends both comedy and drama, which is my favorite thing to watch, but not always executed properly by other shows. The characters are great, and the writing is even better. The animation slips occasionally, but not much. Yes it's sci-fi based, but that's not the main theme of the show, merely a background for a wonderful story to unfold. Because it spans so many genres, this series quite possibly has something to for everybody.
A+
