History Anime / TenchiMuyo

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Music/JayZ "He's got ninety-nine problems]],[softreturn][[Creator/{{Toonami}} and these women are the main ones."]]]]

* Three theatrical movies, with two set in the ''Universe'' (see below) Timeline (''Tenchi the Movie: Tenchi Muyo in Love!'', and ''Tenchi Forever: The Movie'') and a third that functions standalone (''Tenchi the Movie 2: The Daughter of Darkness'').

* Three theatrical movies, with two set in the ''Universe'' (see below) Timeline (''Tenchi the Movie: Tenchi Muyo in Love!'', and ''Tenchi Forever: The Movie'') and third that functions standalone (''Tenchi the Movie 2: The Daughter of Darkness'').

* Three theatrical movies in the ''Universe'' (see below) Timeline (''Tenchi the Movie: Tenchi Muyo in Love!'', ''Tenchi the Movie 2: The Daughter of Darkness'', and ''Tenchi Forever: The Movie'').

* BoobsOfSteel: Surprisingly appropriate, by appearances -- [[MamaBear Misaki]] is not only older than the actual harem in general ([[spoiler:Save for [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Washu]]]]), but due to ''some'' circumstance, Misaki seems unbeatable by any of the other girls as far as protecting her daughters is concerned.
** Unsurprisingly, she is also head of the Jurai Royal Guards.
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* RestrictedExpandedUniverse: A major problem with the manga series, since this was AnimeFirst.

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* ''LightNovel/TrueTenchiMuyo'', a three-part light novel that revealed otherwise-undisclosed background information on the original {{OVA}} timeline.[[note]]Translated and released in English by Creator/SevenSeasEntertainment in 2018.[[/note]]

* OverprotectiveDad: Played comically in the manga, when Azusa threatens to kill a boy who flipped up Sasami's skirt. Washu later implants Azusa's angry face in the boy's mind, which triggers whenever he tries to do it again. It's an effective deterrent.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The Juraian Royal family is a royal family precisely ''because'' it consists of the most powerful living beings in the Galaxy (or even the whole Universe), their predecessor having entered into an eternal pact with one of the Goddesses who created the Universe, and the family translates this power down the line.

** The Kuramitsu family have a planet-sozed spaceship called that can destroy planets and seems to a nod to the Death Star from ''Franchise/StarWars''.

* TangledFamilyTree: [[http://tmau.fateback.com/articles/family_tree.html This says it all, really...]] The Masaki Family Tree is way tangled with Tenchi and Mihoshi being the further-est apart on the family tree.

* ''Ai Tenchi Muyo'', the newest show, where Tenchi must go undercover as a student teacher at an all-girls school in order to save the world (which is in danger thanks to Washu). Unlike the two previous television series, this one is composed of 60 four-minute episodes.

* OffModel: While the franchise as a whole tends to have consistently good animation, animators tend to forget whether or not Sasami has freckles. They can be there one episode, gone the next, and it can even change from scene to scene. This is most glaring in the ''Anime/PrettySammy'' [=OVAs=], where Sasami's freckles appear fairly consistently in episodes one and two, but disappear completely in episode 3, even though they appear in the opening sequence!

* BarbieDollAnatomy: Female genitalia is visibly lacking in scenes of nudity.

** It rips-off, er, ''does an homage'' of ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', compete with floating electric alien woman in love with an earthling who forms an intergalactic harem in the end (or at least on surface layer, that's the case).

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: [[FridgeHorror If you really stop and think about it]], Washu's attempt to get a sperm sample from Tenchi kinda wanders into this territory. But only slightly, since she doesn't get very far with it. Can also be considered BlackComedyRape.
** There's also Ryoko attempting to rape Tenchi in the Mihoshi special and in the Universe series.

** It rips-off, er, ''does an homage'' of ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', compete with floating electric alien woman in love with an earthling (or at least on surface layer, that's the case).

* ShoutOut: To ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and ''Franchise/StarWars'', at the very least.

* NamesTheSame: In a particularly confusing in-universe example, there are two Kiyones in different continuities (whose existence is thus mutually exclusive) but have absolutely nothing to do with one another.

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* {{Gainaxing}}: Ryoko on several occasions, chiefly in the OVA.

* DarkSkinnedBlond: Mihoshi Kuramitsu and her family, which is apparently an ethnic trait of all Seniwans.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: They probably don't actually exist but [[https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabbit cabbits]] are a type of cryptid that some people claim to have seen in real life.

A third OVA series, which continued the original OVA's plot -- and unveiled a ''lot'' of new surprises in the process -- was produced in 2004. [[SequelGap After a long absence]], a fourth OAV series was released starting on November 2016 to August 2017, with this series setting up the events leading to ''War on Geminar''. A fifth OAV series premiered in February 2020 and is scheduled to conclude in May 2021.

** ''Anime/TenchiMuyoWarOnGeminar'', a spin-off starring Tenchi's half-brother Kenshi and featuring his adventures TrappedInAnotherWorld. This is also set in[=/=]part of in the OVA continuity.