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"But the most important discovery he'll make is that six crazy women, living under the same roof, all have the hots... for him. Now he'll have to deal with bounty hunters, ancient demons, mad scientists... and shared bathroom time.
The universe needs a new champion — Tenchi needs some peace and quiet.
Good luck."

The OVA series Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki (simply Tenchi Muyo! in the United States) follows the life of Tenchi Masaki (voiced by Masami Kikuchi), the teenage grandson of a Shinto priest (who has taken it upon himself to teach Tenchi an ancient form of swordplay). When Tenchi steals the keys to — and intrudes upon — a sealed cave on the shrine grounds that legends say holds a sleeping demon, he accidentally releases Ryoko (Ai Orikasa), a Space Pirate who had lain in suspended animation for seven centuries. This lone act begins a cascade of events that results in Tenchi moving from Kurashiki to the Okayama countryside, acquiring a half-dozen alien girls in an Unwanted Harem, discovering his own secret heritage, and becoming involved in events of literally cosmic proportions.

Tenchi Muyo!, a classic "harem" anime of the '90s created by Masaki Kajishima, rose to popularity during the second major anime wave. The action/comedy science-fiction franchise started in 1992 as a six-episode OVA series by AICnote ; an additional seven episodes quickly followed after the first six's success, although the second set of episodes ended the OVA's story on something of a Cliffhanger.

Viewers did not lack for Tenchi material in the decade-plus between OVAs, however. In addition to the OVA, Tenchi Muyo! spawned:

  • At least two lines of manga by Hitoshi Okuda.note 
  • Several spin-off series:
  • True Tenchi Muyo!, a three-part light novel that revealed otherwise-undisclosed background information on the original OVA timeline.note 
  • 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 as an adaptation of the tenth light novel (Tenchi the Movie 2: The Daughter of Darkness).
  • Two TV series (Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo), both of which contain independent alternate continuities that share many of the same characters.
  • 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 (50 actual episodes + 10 recap episodes).

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. 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 on February 2020 and concluded in May 2021.

Throughout the majority of the franchise, the story revolves around the same basic core cast:

  • Tenchi Masaki, the Ordinary High-School Student and unintentional Chick Magnet
  • Ryoko, an uninhibited space pirate, madly in love with Tenchi
  • Ayeka, Royal Princess of Jurai, also in love with Tenchi
  • Ayeka's little sister, Sasami, with a crush on Tenchi
  • Ryo-Ohki, a hybrid rabbit-cat creature that turns into Ryoko's starship
  • Washu Hakubi, The Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe
  • Genius Ditz Mihoshi Kuramitsu of the Galaxy Police
    • ...and her partner, Kiyone Makibi, in the Universe and Tokyo continuities
    • ...or Noike Kamiki Jurai in the OVA canon, where she plays basically the same role as Kiyone in Universe
  • Tenchi's grandfather Katsuhito
  • Tenchi's somewhat perverted widower father Nobuyuki

The characters and the exact relationships between them may vary from show to show (in the OVAs, Washu is Ryoko's mother; in the TV shows, she's a simply a partner in crime; in Pretty Sammy, she's her high school teacher), but one thing never changes — Tenchi is always getting chased by far more girls than he can handle.

The series was one of the first anime titles to achieve major popularity in the United States, and one of the first to receive a straight English dub free of a bowdlerized script or any edits. Along with Ranma ½, Sailor Moon, and other series in the mid-'90s, it helped contribute to the early internet-age "Anime Boom" in the United States. It found an even larger mainstream audience when it premiered on Toonami in 2000 (in a package that included the original OVAs, Tenchi Universe, and Tenchi in Tokyo). The show was also what put Pioneer (later Geneon) on the map as a major anime distributor, and Tenchi remained their signature title for much of their existence. Funimation now has the American rights to the vast majority of the mainline Tenchi franchise. The group released Tenchi Muyo GXP, the third OVA series (as Tenchi Muyo Ryo-Oh-Ki), Sasami: Magical Girls Club (spinoff) and Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari (renamed Tenchi Muyo: War on Geminar for North America) on DVD (and Blu-ray for Geminar); it also secured the licenses for and re-released the original OVA series (a Blu-ray and DVD combo set), Universe (DVD), Tokyo (DVD), and the three films (a Blu-ray and DVD combo set containing all the films) after the original American licenses fell into limbo. With the series first arriving in the US in late 1993 on VHS and LaserDisc, Tenchi Muyo has remained in-print longer than few other anime series, surviving through many different home video formats (VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, Blu-ray, legal streaming). However the Mihoshi Special (a part of the original OVA series), the Pretty Sammy OVAs, and the Magical Project S spinoff remain in limbo, and can only be found through Pioneer's original now-out-of-print DVDs.

Although it features tropes from many genres (Sci-Fi, Action-Adventure, Slice of Life, Romantic Comedy) Tenchi Muyo is generally recognized as an influential title in the Harem Genre, and paved way for other major shows such as Love Hina.


Tenchi Muyo! provides examples of:

  • Absent Animal Companion: In the original OVA, Sasami has a cute ferret-like pet in her first appearance. It is neither shown nor brought up again, likely because it was functionally replaced with Ryo-Ohki.
  • A-Cup Angst: Ayeka gets a little of this when she realizes that Sasami will look like Tsunami when she grows up. In one issue of the manga, after some freakiness from Mihoshi breaking one of Washu's inventions causes Tenchi to revert to a baby and characters from one of Mihoshi's '50s sci-fi books to come to life, Ayeka complains that one of the sci-fi characters is suffocating baby Tenchi with her breasts and snatches him away. The character responds that there's "no danger of suffocation if he's with you" and Ayeka does not take it well.
  • Ace Custom: Any of the Royal Tree Ships, each of which is individually designed and tuned for their user and their Royal Tree partner serving as its power and control unit. It is actually common for the respective princes and princesses to design their ship themselves.
  • Adapted Out: While Katsuhito and Nobuyuki are present in most Tenchi installments, the two of them are noticeably absent in the latest Ai Tenchi Muyo series.
  • Alien Blood: Subverted in episode 3 of the first OVA. When Ayeka injures her leg, Tenchi is genuinely surprised to see that her blood is red.
  • Alien Princess: Ayeka and Sasami are both Humanoid Aliens from Jurai, with a host of strange powers and outlandish hair colors. Ayeka is more concerned with her royal status than Sasami is. The Juraian Emperor enters the story at one point, trying to get his daughters to return home, and setting up an Arranged Marriage to a Juraian noble named Seiryo, stating that Tenchi must defeat Seiryo in a duel if the girls wish to remain on Earth.
  • All There in the Manual: Masaki Kajishima, one of the creators, publishes tie-in novels and doujinshi introducing new concepts to the OVA continuity.
    • One of the most notorious manuals was the Tenchi 101 Secrets book, which received a partial Fan Translation and had parts included as an extra on the OAV DVDs.
  • Alternate Continuity: When the show was airing on Toonami, you can bet that children were deeply confused over the frequently changing backstories of characters. Especially Washu and Ryoko.
    • Ditto for those whose first taste of the franchise would have been the first Tenchi movie thru frequent airings on SyFy’s Saturday Anime movie block a few years earlier.
  • Alternate Universe: The OVA and subsequent anime series are each based in similar but notably distinct universes. Tenchi Universe delved even further with a romp through alternate universes based around various genre and period pieces.
  • Anime Hair: This might be a sit-down read.
    • Ryoko really looks like she's in a hair metal band, or Sonic The Hedgehog. It helps that her hair's colored the ever-popular for Anime silver.
    • Washu's hair (which is really out of proportion with her usual body) combines an extreme version of Ryoko's style with apparent inspiration from the crablegs-design for a kabuki mask, and pink hair.
    • Washu's highly-appropriate nickname for Dr. Clay? "Octopus-head!" Clay's hair is unique, because he combines his admittedly epic curls with some kind of beard. (Ironic, because he's about as far from badass as Tenchi Muyo ever gets.)
    • Kagato gets some form of...Poofy mullet in the back when absorbing Ryoko's power. Somehow, he still manages to remain intimidating; despite looking less like he's cruelly draining Ryoko's energy and more like he stuck his finger in an electrical socket.
    • Seiryo Tennan, the man who was chosen as Ayeka's second fiance gets a mention because his hair is the exact same color as the sakura petals that he makes his entrance with. And is shaped exactly like Mihoshi's: like someone tied together the ropes of two identical loofas and stuck them on their head.
    • Yugi from Tenchi in Tokyo combines her Anime Hair with some form of headdress. The result looks startlingly like a palm tree.
    • Tenchi himself still manages to be somewhat of a badass despite having a rat-tail.
  • Art Shift: The third OVA, being produced some time after the rest uses a simplified art style that seems to split the difference between the normal style of the OVA's (and Tenchi Universe) and that of Tenchi in Tokyo.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: 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.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Ryoko becomes a massive stone version of herself while fighting Kagato, yet he's still able to defeat her.
  • Babies Ever After: At the end of OAV 5, Tenchi has fathered children with Ryoko and Ayeka, with the implication that he's also gotten Ryo-Ohki pregnant.
  • Balanced Harem: Even ending with Marry Them All in effect.note 
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy: Averted: During some of the female nudity scenes, the nipples are almost invisible.
  • Bat Family Crossover: The cast from Tenchi Muyo! GXP and the spinoff novel series Paradise War show up in OAV 5 to assist Kenshi's (from Tenchi Muyo: War on Geminar) training.
  • Berserk Button:
    • The wise know to not insult Ayeka or Sasami in front of Misaki if they value their lives, no matter how strong, as Misaki seems to have the ability to negate other people's super-strength and invulnerability.
    • Threatening Tenchi in front of Ryoko or Ayeka can be hazardous to one's health.
    • If you threaten anyone Tenchi cares about, he will cut you in half. Kagato learned this the hard way.
    • Do not, at any time, refer to Airi as a grandmother, or you will suffer, as Ryoko learned the hard way.
  • Bigger on the Inside: Any space that Washu has had a chance to manipulate. And in the OVAs, all Juraian tree-ships, which are about 170 meters long on the outside, while the interior is a subspace pocket containing several planets, star systems, galaxies or even entire universes with accompanying ecosystems and population. Galaxy Police ships are no slouch either, Mihoshi's patrol ship for example, which is no larger than your average sedan, has a subspace pocket containing a fully-equipped apartment.
  • Blade Run: Used by Yosho in his fight with Kagato. To stand on a Laser Blade!
  • Bland-Name Product: In Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo, the girls are watching a Samy-branded TV, a reference to Sony, as well as to Pretty Sammy (which is called "Pretty Samy" in Japan).
  • Born Lucky: Mihoshi in the OVA.
  • Bounty Hunter: Nagi in Tenchi Universe is a bounty hunter who has made it her goal in life to capture Ryoko.
  • Bowdlerization: In order to air on Toonami, lots of material had to be censored or excised from the OVAs (not so much with Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo, though they didn't get away scot-free); this notably included the hot tub scenes in the OVA, a problem which was solved by digitally-overlaying bikinis over the nudity (and thus, a trope was born).
    • When [adult swim] first started airing more anime than just Cowboy Bebop, they ran several Toonami shows that Cartoon Network still had the rights to; sadly, while they did air Tenchi Muyo!, they aired the Bowdlerized versions. Part of the problem was that the OVAs are 30-ish minutes long each (except for the 7th and 13th episodes). To make most of the series fit onto TV, enough had to be chopped to make room for commercials, resulting in about 3-5 minutes worth of material being lost per episode (the 7th and 13th episodes, when aired, had sort of the opposite problem, in that they left a GAP at the end that Cartoon Network had to fill with short subjects).
  • Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: 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.
  • Brawler Lock: Ayeka and Ryoko during the 7th OVA, The Night Before the Carnival. And other times as well.
  • Broke Episode: Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo have episodes related to this. The first manga series has this across a few volumes, too.
  • Brother–Sister Incest: For Juraians, inbreeding doesn't produce the same problems that it does for humans. Thus, they don't have the same cultural taboos against it, so nobody bats an eye at Ayeka and Yosho's betrothal.
  • Canon Foreigner:
    • Kiyone Makibi. She appears in many other Tenchi adaptations including Universe, Tenchi in Tokyo, and the Pretty Sammy series but was not from the OVA canon.
    • Sakuya from Tenchi in Tokyo was created specifically for that anime.
    • Momo, Hachiko, Hana, Tori, and many of the other girls at the all-girls school Tenchi teaches at in Ai Tenchi Muyo are original characters for that particular series.
  • Capture and Replicate: In the "Zero Ryoko" two part mini-arc, Dr. Clay becomes curious about Washuu's interest in Tenchi. So he kidnaps Ryoko, then has his android assistant (Zero) take her form and assimilate her memories, in order to spy on Washuu. Clay had intended to dispose of Ryoko immediately, once the replication was complete, but when Zero notes that a portion of Ryoko's memories was missing and couldn't be accessed, it piques his scientific interest again, so he begrudgingly decides to keep her alive.
  • Character Development: Both Ryoko and Ayeka received a significant amount during the OVA continuity — beginning as bitter enemies, then becoming romantic rivals for Tenchi's affections. Their fights progressively lose much of their earlier hostility and eventually settles into snark and bickering. Their development was further expanded in The Daughter of Darkness and Tenchi Forever (movies 2 and 3), by which time, they'd become friends. Ayeka even confides in Ryoko at one point, during the second film, by expressing her jealousy of Mayuka's closeness to Tenchi. Ryoko responds by telling Ayeka she was worrying for nothing and wagered Tenchi was probably out looking for her as they spoke. Ayeka thanks Ryoko for cheering her up, mere moments before Tenchi arrives, as Ryoko had suspected. By the third and final film, they'd become such close friends, that when Ryoko instigates a play fight, they laugh about it. Ayeka notes how long it's been since their last real argument and thanks Ryoko for it with a genuine smile.
  • Character Exaggeration: Some bits in Universe from Ryoko and Ayeka. For the latter, we have a case where Tenchi is kidnapped and Ayeka is more angered by Nagi referring to Tenchi as "Ryoko's man" than her kidnapping him, and the former has a case where she's given money to got and buy food for everyone and she uses all of it on herself, forgetting how hungry everyone else was.
  • Chekhov M.I.A.: A very subtle example. In episode 4 of the OAV, Mihoshi's computer lists a few of Kagato's past crimes. If you pay attention to it as it fades into background noise, one of the crimes is the kidnapping of a "female student" from the Science Academy. Two episodes later, this turns out to be Washu (though she was actually a professor)
    • Mihoshi asks Washu if she is the student, and Washu face-faults. Her students are pranksters...
  • Chekhov's Gun: During the first part of the original series, Ryoko's earring flew completely under the radar. As it would be revealed in the final episode of the first season, it's actually a 'false gem' to balance her powers if she doesn't have all of the three gems that fuel her abilities.
    • The 3rd series has Chekhov's Death Star. Mihoshi's brother Misao brought a planetoid-sized battle station as part of his plan to "rescue" his sister. It goes unfired - in the first timeline. After the Z incident ends with the timeline reset, everyone just plays around once Misao's team shows up again - until Noike gets Mind-Control Eyes and sets the station's main gun to fire straight at Earth. Ultimately, the point was to make sure Tenchi got knocked out of space-time "again" by tanking the blast, so he could meet little-girl-Kagato on schedule.
  • Cherry Blossoms: Episode 8 of the OVA series, Tenchi Muyo! in Love, and episode 25 of Tenchi in Tokyo.
  • Chick Magnet: Tenchi, and later Seina in GXP. Also, Kenshi in Isekai Seikishi Monogatari and, generally, most of the protagonists in various Multiverse titles.
  • Children Are Tender-Hearted: Sasami, despite being hundreds of years old, still has the physique and mindset of a young girl about eight years of age. When Tenchi is supposedly killed in a space battle with Kagato, Sasami begins crying. But unlike most examples on this page, Sasami is linked to a Physical Goddess, Tsunami, and thus has the power to do something about it.
  • Children Do the Housework: Sasami is an 8-year-old who spent 700 years in suspended animation. She cooks and cleans for the household because Katsuhito, the closest thing to an adult there, lives in the shrine instead of in the house.
  • Comedic Work, Serious Scene: This is largely a comedic series, but it has its moments of seriousness.
    • Sasami is prone to eerie prophetic dreams that often have her waking in tears. This is not played for laughs at all.
    • In one episode, Sasami has to reveal to her sister Ayeka that "the real Sasami" died, and she was an artificial creation of Tsunami. After she falls asleep from exhaustion, Tsunami clarifies that Sasami was actually still alive, albeit gravely injured, and Tsunami was able to save her by binding herself to the girl, but that Sasami is too young to fully understand what happened.
  • Continuity Nod: Episode 7 of the OVA is filled with this: Mihoshi's spaceship being retrieved by Washu also brings back the demon Ryoko summoned in episode 4 - which is easily destroyed by Washu. Mentions of the Kagato incident, Tenchi shifting into his Juraian battle gear (accidentally), and Ayeka attempts to grow her Royal Tree, Ryu-Oh again.
  • Cool House: once Washu shows up, the Masaki residence is never the same.
  • Cool Starship: The Juraian Royal treeships/starships. Dear GOD the Juraian Royal ships.
    • The Galaxy Police shipyards are no slouches either. Though their products don't get to be powered by one of the Universe's creators.
    • Ryo-oh-ki.
  • Corrective Lecture: In the first movie, after Ayeka and Ryoko accidentally serve as Moment Killers to Achika and Nobiyuki, Tenchi has to remind the two of them that if they interfere with his parents in the past, he stands a good chance of never being born. They take the lecture to heart.
  • Cowboy Episode: Tenchi in Space. After Tenchi's been kidnapped by the bounty hunter bent on defeating Ryoko, the two agree to meet at a location suspiciously similar to a small western town, complete with tumbleweed, saloons, and an eerie sunset.
  • Creator Provincialism: Most of the names in the series are based on localities in Masaki Kajishima's native Okayama prefecture where the protagonists also live. Not to mention the fact that the most powerful royal family in the Galaxy, through the unlikely turn of events, just happens to descend from the ancient Japanese, and continues to recruit from there.
  • Crystal Prison: Washuu's holding chamber in the Souja, where she was held in a gem hidden in a Pocket Dimension, and which she designed herself. When she was later pointed to that, as its creator, she should've known of all its weakpoints, Washuu retorted that because she's its creator, it didn't have any weakpoints to begin with.
  • Cute Little Fangs: Ryoko and Mihoshi.
    • Subverted by Dr. Clay, whose occasional fangs-flashing makes him look like an especially ugly vampire.
    • Then played straight again by Washu. (Periodically, at least.)
  • Defeat Means Respect: Kagato expresses admiration and respect for both the hero, Tenchi, and the goddess Tsunami, who granted him his power. See the page quote for Graceful Loser.
  • Depending on the Writer: Ryoko and Ayeka's rivalry can vary between simply being a pair of bickering siblings to an all-out war.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: This could take a while...
    • Kagato was well on his way and able to smack around Ryoko and Ayeka while obviously not taking it seriously. Tenchi got smacked around, too. But throw in Tenchi's Lighthawk Wings, and we've got whipped Kagato.
    • Considering how dangerous they both are, Ryoko and Ayeka's war for Tenchi's love really amounts to some kind of Are Cthulhus Having A Catfight?
    • The results of anyone of unnatural strength that Misaki catches insulting/endangering Ayeka and Sasami. (Anyone of normal ability, it's just a regular smackdown.)
    • And again Misaki, once revealed that she would become the "counter-actor" in the future; she viciously (And almost lethally) attacked both Tokimi-kami-sama and Tsunami-kami-sama; Are You Choking Out Cthulhu? and Did You Just Bitchslap Cthulhu?, respectively.
  • Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?: Arguably the entire basis of the series. Up to and including, the concept that lesser Cthulhus are romancing a greater Cthulhu - Tenchi
  • Disney Death: Ryoko in episode 24 of Tenchi Universe.
    Ryoko: I'm lonely. [dies] Hey Ryo-oh-ki! Where shall we go next?
  • Double Standard Rape: Female on Male:
    • 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 Black Comedy Rape.
    • There's also Ryoko attempting to rape Tenchi in the Mihoshi special and in the Universe continuity.
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: Sasami has dreams of both Kagato and Tokimi before they are introduced in the OVA.
  • Drum Bathing: In Tenchi Muyo! In Love, Kiyone is seen in one just before being teleported out of it by Washu.
  • Dub Pronunciation Change: In the Latin American Spanish dub, Kagato's name is pronounced "ka-ha-toh", probably because the pronunciation of his name sounded too much like "cagado" ("shat", as in, "he cagado", meaning "I have shat").
  • Easily Forgiven: The Royal Family of Jurai (including Yosho, excluding Ayeka) don't seem too upset with Ryoko for basically laying waste to their planet 700 years ago. When they see her again, they simply hand her an bill listing the cost of the extensive damages she caused during that incident - which they were willing to ignore the whole thing provided Tenchi wins against the Emperor's chosen fiancee for Ayeka.
  • Epunymous Title: The title "Tenchi Muyo" [天地無用] is a Japanese phrase that is equivalent to saying "This Side Up." When [天地] and [無用] are interpreted as separate words (the former means "heaven and earth", the latter means "useless" ["no use"]), it can mean "No Need for Tenchi"/"Tenchi is Useless" or "No Need for Heaven and Earth"/"Heaven and Earth are Useless".
  • Everyone Is Related: In the fourth OVA series it's revealed that almost everyone who lives in Masaki village with some exceptions including Seina's family until his marriage to Kiriko is, in fact, a Masaki in the fact that they are related to the Jurian royal family in some shape or form. Due to a Jurian's normal life expectancy being ~200 years without (And even then they don't look older than 40 as was the case of Tenchi's mother) the aid of GXP body modifications or the nigh-immortality granted by being bonded to a first generation Jurian Tree seed many of the Misaki family go into space upon reaching adulthood in order to keep The Masquerade.
  • Evil Redeemed in a Can: Ryoko was reputed to be a demon, who was sealed beneath Misaki Shrine by Yosho after she attacked Jurai. Somewhat subverted in that Ryoko wasn't inherently evil, but under Mind Control from Kagato, and she had become quite enamoured of Tenchi as her disembodied spirit watched him grow up. When she was freed, she was free of Kagato's control, though she still has a devilishly mischeivious side and a bit of a temper.
  • Excalibur in the Rust: When Tenchi first sees the Master Key, a physical blade had been affixed to the hilt. This blade was in a state of extreme disrepair, prompting Tenchi to exclaim, "What a rusty old piece of junk!"
  • Facial Markings: Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ayeka get these whenever they transform into their battle stances, and Achika gets some in her Juraian form in Tenchi Muyo in Love. Sasami is also capable of this as revealed in Tenchi Ban 13.8
  • Fantastic Racism: In the OAV, Yosho is half-human. Thus the prejudice he suffered on Jurai, and the reason for his marriage with Ayeka. Another reason why he never returned. Ayeka was more than upset when she learned of this.
    • Not exactly racism, but a case of status/cultural discrimination. The founders of Jurai were human as with most Jurians (and genetically Japanese at that). However, they are also enhanced, near-immortal humans with some bound directly to a literal goddess. Moreover, Jurai is the absolute dominate power of the galaxy, whereas Yosho's mother, Funaho, was a commoner from a backwater Jurai colony inhabited by a backward civilization where basic technologies such as a 'light bulb' would seem utterly alien & unfathomable.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Kagato has wiped out planets, wreaked chaos throughout the galaxy, enslaved Ryoko, and come very close to killing Tenchi. However, that doesn't mean he can't apologize to the girls for walking in on them in the Onsen, tossing off one liner's in battle, or even congratulating Tenchi on his victory after he is mortally wounded and just before he evaporates.
    Ayeka: Scumbag
    Kagato: Is that a term of affection, Princess, or do you just not like me?
    • Or:
    Kagato: Tenchi, same name as the sword. Tenchi can't be copied. Very clever, Tsunami...You've won, boy.
  • The Federation: The Galactic Union in the OVA canon is a textbook example of the "United Nations" type, consisting of a number of human polities in an uneasy truce, including the protagonists' native Empire of Jurai; their rivals, the theocratic nation of Airai that worships the Choushin, and the oligarchical polity of Seniwa, whose ruling families (especially the Kuramitsu one) are very influential in the Galaxy Police. With them are allied several non-human nations, most important of whom are the powerful race of humanoid felines called Wau. (It should be noted that rivals to the Jurai are only rivals not because they actually pose any threat to Jurai, which they don't, but a steady relationship is necessary to maintain order within the galaxy and beyond. Militarily speaking, Jurai is absolutely peerless.)
  • Filler: Inverted and a major problem with the manga series, since this was Anime First.
  • First Girl Wins: Ryoko in the Tenchi Universe continuity. Though it's not directly stated, the implication isn't exactly subtle. Especially after the second movie in the continuity.
  • Flying Firepower: Ryoko in most iterations of the franchise can both fling some kind of energy blast and fly, among her other powers.
  • For Science!: Washu's desire to experiment on Tenchi (and sometimes even Ryoko, despite the fact that Washu should know everything about Ryoko's body, having designed it herself). For Tenchi she probably wants an excuse to see him naked, and it's been established that she gets her kicks by tormenting Ryoko. She's even worse in Universe, to the point she created many Weapons of Mass Destruction to see if she could in her backstory.
    • In Episode 07 of the OAV, Washu, in full nurse outfit and latex gloves, has Tenchi completely restrained to a medical device and directly tells him that she is going to collect a sperm sample "for research". Fortunately for Tenchi, Mihoshi's Born Lucky power kicks in and causes her to drop in on them, interrupting Washu before the procedure can start.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • Katsuhito's real identity as Yosho is hinted by his playing up of Dirty Old Man tendencies towards Ryoko by touching her breasts and effortlessly blocking her punch in response. Remember that Ryoko is a notorious Space Pirate who laid waste to 700 planets and has Super-Strength (which he demonstrates later in the episode by knocking down a wall), and this seemingly ordinary old man (albeit Tenchi's Old Master) residing on Earth was able to get the better of her. Something only Yosho was known to have done. Ayeka is also reminded of Yosho from meeting Katsuhito and observing the swordplay he was teaching Tenchi. The most definitive, though subtle, clue comes from a close-up that reveals Katsuhito's eye color is the same as Yosho's, as shown in Ayeka's reminiscence earlier in the episode.
    • In the second OVA, Sasami has a nightmare about Lady Tokimi, who would not be introduced until much later.
    • Sasami's connection with Tsunami.
    • Washu's connection with Tokimi, and by extension, Tsunami. When she makes her presence known to Dr. Clay, two silhouettes where Washu and Tsunami should be appear, suggesting their divinity and relations with each other.
    • Z, the Big Bad of the 3rd OVA, was framed in a silhouette (with five Light-Hawk Wings) near the end of "Zero Ryoko" during the conversation between Tokimi and her subordinate, D3.
  • Framing Device:
    • Tenchi Universe.
    • Tenchi Muyo Extra Chapter: Galaxy Police Mihoshi's Space Adventure (aka The Mihoshi Special).
  • Free-Love Future: Polyamorous incestuous marriages are common amongst Juraians and Tenchi Muyo! GXP confirms a lot of other races are like that.
  • Frothy Mugs of Water: Part of the Bowdlerization of the various series for American television included turning all references of drinking saki to drinking "tea". Must have been pretty strong tea to lay the entire cast out like that.
  • Future Spandex: Ryoko's skintight battlesuit.
  • Genius Ditz: Mihoshi.
    • In the OVA continuity, at least — In other series, she kinda drifts more in the 'ditz' direction.
    • One episode of Universe had her become a liability in three different ways, one of which could've ended quite badly if they hadn't had some inside help. In Universe at least, she's graduated to a full-blown case of The Millstone.
  • Generation Xerox: Doujin images from Kajishima show images of life with Tenchi's kids is much the same as their dad's. Especially with three Childhood Friend Romances between Tenchi's daughters(Ryoko and Ayeka, triplets with Ryo-Ohki, and Mihoshi and Noike) and the sons of Seina Yamada(Kiriko, Amane, and Ryoko(Balouta)).
  • Genre Shift: The series is a romantic comedy with plenty of action. The first movie is an action drama with limited comedy. The third and final movie is a romantic drama with zero action.
  • Godiva Hair: Most females in the franchise have absurdly long hair, which in many cases would drag on the ground if it weren't spiked up to heaven.
  • Godzilla Threshold: In order to finally get rid of Kain in the first movie, Washu resorts to using a Doomsday Device designed to wipe out a galaxy. Fortunately, they're able to chuck Kain into an alternate universe before it goes off.
  • Gone Horribly Right: Dr. Clay's plan to have his robot assistant Zero transform into an exact copy of Ryoko backfires when Zero also acquires Ryoko's love for Tenchi, which eventually overrides her base programming of absolute obedience to Dr. Clay.
  • Gratuitous English: Here's an example from episode 14 of Tenchi in Tokyo:
    Ayeka [in English]: Yes, but I have no money! Okay? Thank you! Yay!
    Sasami [in Japanese]: What's with the English all of a sudden?
  • Harem Anime: Although not quite the first one, this was the series that opened the floodgates for the harem genre and codified most of the standard conventions.
  • Higher-Tech Species: Pretty much Jurai in a nutshell. Jurian technology is so advanced that their closest thing to a rival, the Galactic Union, cannot even hope to catch up. The Galactic Union, despite being technologically sophisticated themselves, could only look upon Jurian tech in awe as if witnessing Clarke's Third Law in motion.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Washu was able to be imprisoned inside Kagato's ship because she designed it too well and then let him get control of it.
  • Hot Springs Episode: Two in the original. The first causes massive property damage. The second? Hammers are passed around... Special note to Washu's personal hot-spring, which is definitely a sight to behold...
  • Hotter and Sexier: Masaki Kajishima's series of self-published Light Novels and Doujinshis, not only it is made all too clear than Tenchi does Marry Them All, but also doesn't hold back in showing/narrating him consummating with his harem.
    • Since Kajishima doesn't actually own the series (his employer does), this puts him in the somewhat unusual situation of essentially writing fanfics of a series that he created. A situation that, presuming the continuation of the series, allows him to definitively canonize more and more of his self-published stories by linking events in the anime.
  • How Dare You Die on Me!: Manga-only antagonist Yume's response to one of her genetically engineered villains sacrificing himself to save her? Angrily declaring that she hadn't given him permission to die, then breaking down in tears.
  • Human Aliens: Most of the cast even Tenchi as it turns out, except in Tenchi In Tokyo.
  • Humongous Mecha: Ryo-Ohki in Tenchi in Tokyo and the Galaxy Police powered armour in Tenchi Universe.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming:
    • In Tenchi Universe, the episode title is referred to as "No Need For (today's episode theme)!".
    • The original Japanese titles in Tenchi in Tokyo take on the form of haiku.
  • Image Song: Most of the major characters have at least one.
  • Implied Love Interest: Ryoko in the Tenchi Universe continuity. The series ends with Ryoko showing up at Tenchi's house after supposedly dying, and vowing to him that she's going to win his heart fair and square. In the second movie in that continuity, Ayeka basically concedes defeat to Ryoko and allows her to be the one to rescue Tenchi from Haruna's alternate dimension. The film then ends with a shot of Tenchi and Ryoko enjoying a quiet moment together as a wind shakes the trees, mirroring a scene involving Tenchi's parents from the film Tenchi Muyo in Love. Although it's ambiguous in other continuities which girl Tenchi likes the most, the Tenchi Universe continuity drops some pretty big hints that he will end up with Ryoko - though the author later wrote material implying that he'll end up marrying both Ryoko and Aeka - and both the resulting daughters will end up marrying the son of Seina and Kiriko.
  • Inappropriate Pride: Mihoshi protests that there must be some way to escape the shadow dimension aboard Kagato's battleship, and that as the inventor, Washuu should be able to find it. Washuu boasts that it's because she designed it that the trap is so perfectly inescapable (even though she herself is trapped within it). Of course, it means they're powerless to aid in the fight against Kagato.
  • Inconvenient Summons: Kiyone gets a rare non-magical example; she's Drum Bathing when Washu yanks her through time and space to give her an Infodump on Kain. When you're friends with a mad scientist with a teleporter, this is to be expected.
  • Insistent Terminology:
    • "No! I'm not gonna help you unless you call me Little Washu!" (Replace "Little Washu" with "Washu-chan" in the Japanese version.)
    • Misaki practically demands that her daughters Ayeka and Sasami call her Oka-san ("Mommy") in a high-pitched voice with Tender Tears, though this applies more to Ayeka. Failure to do so invokes a Death Glare.
  • Kabuki Sounds: Tenchi Universe would use them for the title card, and for the eyecatches.
  • Karaoke Box: Happens in Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo
  • Large Ham: Kagato. And he plays a pipe organ like only a super villain can, too.
  • Laser Blade: Many, most notably the Tenchi sword in the OVA continuity.
  • Lethal Chef: Ryoko. Her first attempt at cooking in the OVA ends up foaming up an odd pink froth that dissolves the stove. Judging by the ingredients, she was trying to make vegetable soup. It gets toned down considerably in the manga (though she still does things like fry fish by hurling energy bolts at them), which also created the character of Asahi, who meets this criteria with her belief that each helping of dinner should be seasoned with four or five tubes of wasabi, something that makes her cooking inedible to anyone other than her and her boyfriend.
  • Lightning Glare: Aykea and Ryoko often engage in this, to the extent that they are actually the page image.
  • Living Ship: Ryo-Ohki is a living crystalline ship which prefers to laze around as a carrot-eating cabbit.
    • Also, Tsunami and her offspring, the Ouke-no-ki (Sentient trees), that more or less run the Juraian ships just as much as the actual Juraians. However, they're no longer ships, and can never be again, once they take root on a planet's soil.
  • Long-Lived: Jurai, or at least their royalty, live for hundreds to thousands of years and beyond thanks to the Water of Life, as well as their symbiotic link to their trees. As a result, Tenchi has a very extended family.
    • This also extends to citizens hailing from member states of the Galactic Union, where life-extension technology and other enhancements are commonplace.
  • Lost Colony: Earth is a colony of Jurai, formally known as Colony World 0315. The case is somewhat mixed in that Jurai is fully aware of the colony and some governments even maintain contact with their homeworld.
  • Lover Tug of War: Seen in the opening for the original OVA with Ayeka and Ryoko on either arm of a flustered Tenchi.
  • Loyal Phlebotinum: The Tenchi-ken will only activate for a member of the Juraian royal family.
  • Maligned Mixed Marriage: Mixed marriages are looked down upon by Jurai in the OVA continuity. Its the main reason why Yosho left Jurai because he couldn't stand the prejudice. When Ryoko attacked Jurai, he saw it as an opportunity to leave and never return despite his promise to Ayeka that he'd return and marry her.
  • Market-Based Title: In the Philippines, both of the Tenchi Muyo television based anime (Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo) are aired together as Tenchi Muyo TV!.
    • Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo themselves are this for the Anglosphere as well, the original Japanese titles for them were Tenchi Muyo! and Shin Tenchi Muyo! note  respectively.
  • Meet Cute: Parodied; Ayeka and Ryoko try using shojo manga as a relationship guide. ... A month or so after they'd already met Tenchi. Ryoko does Crash-Into Hello and Ayeka does the "minor medical aid" variation (using a snare to ensure that Tenchi is in need of aid). Noike plays it straighter by meeting Tenchi in passing and trying to buy some carrots from him and offering to help in the fields as payment, not knowing he's her fiance.
  • The Millstone: Mihoshi, as far as Kiyone is concerned. So long as the two are together, Kiyone's career seems to only slide further into ruin.
  • Mind Screw: The last OVA, to the point where some fans prefer to pretend it didn't happen because they couldn't make sense of it.
  • Modesty Towel
    • Aeka and Sasami used these at times, even in the hot spring. This would be more of a character decision, though; it's hard to call it censorship when everyone else around them goes without. Ryoko once took the chance to humiliate Aeka by undoing the tie on her towel, exposing her in front of Tenchi who predictably had a Naked Freak-Out.
    • In Tenchi the Movie: Tenchi Muyo in Love!, Kiyone is bathing in an oil drum when she's suddenly teleported to Washu's laboratory. Washu then gives her a towel to cover herself as a half-hearted apology for the Inconvenient Summon, which Kiyone wears for the rest of the scene.
  • Mood Dissonance: During her introduction, Mihoshi's scanner discovers "the infamous criminal" Ryo-Ohki in the immediate vicinity, and she seriously lists the atrocities committed by the ship (and Ryoko), including blowing up a few hundred planets. She then realizes that Ryo-Ohki is the cabbit sitting on Sasami's head. An incomprehending Ryo-Ohki happily eats her gun.
  • More than Three Dimensions: In-Universe, there exist 22 dimensions, each with a 'supervisor' that oversees it. The Choushin Goddesses exist in the 'hyper-dimension' beyond dimensional space, and created the 22 dimensions as an experiment. This is a major plot point of the third OAV.
  • The Movie:
    • 1996's Tenchi Muyo! in Love and 1999's Tenchi Forever!, both of which were set in the Tenchi Universe canon, and 1997's Tenchi Muyo! The Daughter of Darkness, set in its own continuity but based mostly on the OVAs.
    • Daughter of Darkness is actually set in the continuity of a series of novels that spun off from the first OVA series. Though those novels (unlike the prequel novels by Kajishima) are fairly obscure even in Japan.
  • Multigenerational Household: Tenchi, his father and his grandfather living together before all the girls arrive.
  • The Multiverse: By Word of God, all Alternate Continuities and many other works of Kajishima, including Dual! and all incarnations of El-Hazard: The Magnificent World, are alternate realities in one big Multiverse.
  • Murder the Hypotenuse: Ayeka and Ryoko are involved constantly in this with each other, while their power levels makes it closer to Wile E. Coyote vs. Wile E. Coyote.
  • My Biological Clock Is Ticking: Although all of the girls want Tenchi (even Sasami likes him), Washu makes the most blunt advances on him in the eighth episode of the OVA series when she assumes a more adult form at the end of an episode and states she wants him to get her pregnant.
    • And eventually succeeds, being the first of his wives to bear a child, if Kajishima's LNs and doujinshis are to be trusted.
  • Naginatas Are Feminine: When Tenchi or his grandfather uses the weapon Tenchi, it's used as a sword with a Laser Blade. When his mother Achika uses it in the first movie, its handle extends to naginata-like lengths.
  • Named After Their Planet: A lot of the aliens. Juraians come from Jurai, Seniwans from Seniwa and Airi from Airai. Notably the Juraian royal family have Jurai as their surname.
  • Never Trust a Trailer: This early Toonami promo uses clips from the OVA, Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo, giving the impression that it's one continuous show.
  • Noblewoman's Laugh: Ayeka, in the Japanese version.
  • Non Chalant Dodge: Yosho's first move in the fight against Kagato. Kagato fires an energy beam at Yosho's face, and he dodges it by simply tilting his head a little to the side.
  • Noodle Incident: In OVA Episode 3, Tenchi and Ayeka talk in a remote work shed during a rainstorm. Nothing terribly affectionate is seen happening, but in Episode 4, Ryoko (who read Ryo-Ohki's memory) claims Ayeka was "rather aggressive" with him. While it could be a joke, Ayeka's flustered reaction suggests it might have credence...
  • No Periods, Period: Subtle hints are dropped with this for Sasami in OVA Episodes 8 and 9.
  • The Nose Bleed: Tenchi, especially when looking at a nude Ryoko.
  • No Sense of Direction: Mihoshi, as well as her mother Mitoto in GXP. In Mitoto's case her lack of any sense of direction seems to extend to accidental teleportation.
  • Not Quite the Almighty: The Chousin are a trio of super-dimensional gods that are The Omnipotent for all intents and purposes, but theorize there's a deity as above them as they are mortals. They're proven right with the Supreme Being or "Kami Tenchi".
  • Older Than They Look:
    • In the OVA, EVERYONE except Tenchi. This includes his father. There, Tenchi's older sister is over 80 years old...
    • Tenchi too, considering that he is the being that created the Choushin. Sort of.
    • Mihoshi seems relatively normal, agewise. (One manga scene has her claiming to be 24, take that how you will.)
      • The fact that Mihoshi's grandfather is several thousand years old (and the immortal Washu is her great-great grandmother) indicates that she'll get to be older than she looks eventually, even if she's not currently.
      • Her mother looks not a year older than her, as do her great aunt (centuries old, see below).
    • Generally, it is played with in that the most characters are essentially immortal, and medical technology being what it is in their universe, everyone just adopts the appearance they find the most convenient. For example:
      • The three Great Princesses (Seto Kamiki, Airi Magma and Mikami Kuramitsu) all naturally look in their thirties, despite being hundreds (or thousands) years old, but Mikami, being the Headmistress of a Galaxy Police Academy, adopts a guise of 50-something matron when on duty, because it helps to keep the unruly cadets in check.
      • Yosho (who's pushing 1000) and his granddaughter Tennyo (80) all wear elderly guises on Earth, despite their natural youthful appearance, while his son-in-law Nobuyuki (200+) usually looks forty-something.
      • Washu favourite appearance is twelve, despite her being one of the creators of the Universe.
  • Old Master: Katsuhito/Yosho may be grey-haired and wrinkled, but he's still able to take down trained Juraian guards with a wooden sword. The only reason Tenchi can do the same is because Katsuhito trained him. Well, officially.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Nagi in Tenchi Universe; she wanted to be the only person to defeat Ryoko, and she would even help Tenchi's crew just to protect Ryoko from her other enemies.
  • Organic Technology:
    • The Juraian spacecraft are powered by living, semi-sapient trees. The parent of them all is not only fully sentient, but a goddess - and the alter ego of a main character. Also, Ryo-Ohki, who is the cute mascot character that transforms into a Living Ship.
    • All Royal Trees down to the third generation (great-grandchildren of Tsunami-no-Ki) are fully sentient and have an absolute authority in selecting their partners — which is actually a sole qualifying characteristic defining the Juraian royalty: that they are partnered with a Royal Tree. However, while they serve as power and control unit of the individual Prince's (or Princess') ship, these aren't truly organic, just stylized as such, and must be designed and built in the conventional way. Still, they're all Ace Custom units and are head and shoulder above the rank-and-file ships. Past third generation, though, the trees' power and sentience rapidly drops, and while fourth-generation trees are still capable enough to power and control the Juraian rank-and-file warships, fifth generations have little use beyond being stationary power generators and sixth generations are but ordinary trees.
  • The Original Series: Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki (the OAV episodes continued / finished).
  • Parental Abandonment: Ayeka and Sasami were pretty much ignored by their parents, as Azusa was constantly busy with the matters of state, and Misaki… well, calling her a Cloud Cuckoolander is actually quite generous. So, in effect, those two were Raised by Grandparents.
  • Pirate Girl: In the various continuities, there are more named female space pirate characters than male ones.
  • Planet Spaceship:
    • The Kuramitsu family have a planet-sized spaceship called that can destroy planets and seems to a nod to the Death Star from Star Wars.
    • Some Space Stations are larger than planets, like the Galaxy Academy being the size of a solar system.
  • Power Dyes Your Hair: When Kagato starts draining Ryoko's energy, his hair floofs with power.
  • Power Perversion Potential: Ryoko can create copies of herself and likely shapeshift.
  • Precursors: A "Great Prehistoric Civilization" that seeded all the Human Alien planets in the galaxy is occasionally mentioned. The Tenchi Muyo! GXP novels reveal that the civilization originated millions of years ago on the Earth where Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure is set and that Tenchi's Earth isn't the original.
  • Pre-Explosion Glow
  • Product Placement: Pioneer camcorders are prominently featured. And are generally very detailed pieces of electronic hardware while onscreen.
    • One notable example is a scene where Ryoko is playing video games on a Nintendo Game Boy.
  • Ramming Always Works:
    • In the OVA, Ryoko uses Ryo-Ohki to ram Ayeka's Ryu-Oh, sending both of them plummeting to Earth in order to either kill her or remove her as a serious threat. In Universe, Ayeka snaps (with maniacal laughter) during a ship duel and rams Ryo-Ohki out of the sky. Both ships in both situations end up out of commission for a long while.
    • This also serves to strand the both of them on Earth.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Or Really Twenty Thousand Years Old Really Older Than the Universe in Washu's case. Sasami also serves as the Trope Namer.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Ryoko and Ayeka, respectively. Ryoko is brash, quick to action, openly seductive, and loves baiting Ayeka. Ayeka is cultured, restrained, proper, and found of subtly sniping at Ryoko.
  • Red String of Fate: This happens in episode 2 of Tenchi in Tokyo.
  • Relationship Sue: In-universe, subverted in a most awesome way in Tenchi in Tokyo. Sakuya Kumashiro initially comes across as the poster girl for the trope, snatching Tenchi's interest away from Ryoko and Ayeka... but it was revealed later that she was created to do so by the Big Bad Yugi. And as icing on the cake, Sakuya actually does NOT make it to the end of the series.
  • Remember the New Guy?: The third OVA introduces Rea, Nobuyuki's assistant and long-time friend of the family, who has not been seen or mentioned previously (although Nobuyuki's business was out-of-focus beforehand).
  • Removing the Rival: Being a harem anime, this happens quite frequently in both the original and its various spin-offs. Ryoko and Ayeka in particular often try to use all manner of underhanded tricks to dispose of one another and get Tenchi to themselves.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Ryo-Ohki... who knew that a hybrid of a cat and bunny would end up mixing pretty well?
  • Royally Screwed Up: Again, Juraian royalty. Other royal families also qualify.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: The Jurainote  and Kuramitsu clans. Seto, for example, is actually much more effective in a fight than the whole fleet of Federation warships. And let's not start on Tenchi...
  • "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: In the True Tenchi Muyo! novels, a young Azusa has to rescue Funaho from being sacrificed by bandits to the Orochi... which was actually a robot used by Space Pirates to help capture valuable primitive slaves.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: The Galaxy Police often finds themselves pissing in their pants after finding out they were messing with Jurian royalty, or Seto, especially Seto.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!: When you are a faction that is backed by actual super-dimensional beings that can manipulate physics, reality, time & space at will, rules are more like an afterthought.
  • Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: The Juraians, particularly its royal family, are responsible for many of the norms, laws and regulations in this galaxy and beyond. Though the Juraians aren't warlike and would prefer not to dictate rules upon anyone. On the other hand, they are often exempt from many of the very rules they had a hand in creating.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can:
    • Ryoko, who (In the original series) was sealed in the Masaki family shrine; she turned into a "good guy" pretty quickly, although isn't always 'good'. Also in the original series, Washu was trapped within a crystal in the Soja's reverse-dimension; that could be a subversion of the evil part, depending on how far Washu is willing to take the Mad Scientist thing.
    • In Universe Washu was the one sealed in the shrine. In this continuity she is also far less responsible and far more destructive than in the original OVA - she apparently got sealed for inventing world-destroying superweapons just because she could.
    • She does that kind of stuff in the OVA too. See 'Washu's Pore'. She's just nice enough not to USE it.
    • Yugi in Tenchi in Tokyo is eventually to have been this before Tenchi moved away from the other girls. Also, she ends the series sealed again, in the shrine, of her own volition as part of a finale Heel–Face Turn.
  • Shared Life Energy: A non-romantic example. A kitten that lived around Masaki Shrine was gravely wounded, and Ryoko lent it life energy to spare it, because Tenchi was fond of it. After Tenchi broke the seal that restrained her, Ryoko took back the life energy to help restore herself. However, she was able to incorporate the kitten's DNA into Ryo-Ohki, which is where the Cat part of our Cabbit comes from.
  • She's All Grown Up: Sort of; Tsunami has said that Sasami will grow up to look like her. And, needless to say, this bit of information completely demoralizes Ayeka and Ryoko.
  • Shout-Out:
    • To Star Trek and Star Wars, at the very least.
    • It rips-off, er, does an homage of Urusei Yatsura, compete with floating electric alien woman in love with an earthlingnote  who forms an intergalactic harem in the end (or at least at the surface level, that's the case).
  • Show Within a Show: The unnamed alien Soap Opera.
  • Sigil Spam: In the OVAs, Doctor Clay imprints his personal mark on virtually everything he owns. Washu knows this, and is able to first identify his clone of Ryoko thanks to his symbol on her ass, then locate the bridge of his spaceship because it is right behind said mark on the hull.
  • Skinship Grope: The baby does it to Mihoshi in episode 8 of the OVA.
  • Small Universe After All: The galactic civilizations seem to run on The Milky Way Is the Only Way but the Choujin have Dr Clay moving galaxies around and offer him rule of one if he manages to capture Washu.
  • Sneeze Cut: Ayeka does this in episode 2 of the OVA.
  • Smart Cop, Dumb Cop: Mihoshi and Kiyone. Depending on the continuity, Mihoshi can be anything from a Bunny-Ears Lawyer to a complete idiot. Kiyone isn't quite a genius, but she is very intelligent and has more common sense than anyone else in the cast.
  • Space Opera: Most of the spinoffs, but especially Tenchi Muyo! GXP.
  • Space Pirates: Ryoko, though she's never doing much of anything pirate related apart from robbing a bank.
  • Spanner in the Works: Mihoshi often plays this role in any continuity.
  • Spell My Name With An S: The character Aeka, whose name is spelled as "Ayeka" in the English version; this has the unfortunate side effect of altering the pronunciation of the character's name.
    • In a similar vein, Washu; her name is often spelled "Washuu".
  • Tangled Family Tree: 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.
  • Teleportation: Some characters like Ryoko can do it and Tenchi at a push. Larger spaceships are usually left in orbit with people beaming down to planets Star Trek style.
  • Theme Naming: A lot of characters' names come from locations in Japan.
  • Third-Person Person: Sasami, in the Japanese version, which is a common way to shows the character's youth and innocence in the Japanese media.
  • Those Two Guys: One of the first anime series to introduce the trope. Tenchi's two schoolmates serve the purpose to various degrees on Earth, as do Ayeka's bodyguards, Azaka and Kamidake off-Earth.
  • Threesome Subtext: Ryoko x Tenchi x Ayeka, and Ayeka and Ryoko hate each other, but plenty subtext occurs in universe.
  • Time Travel: The plot of Tenchi Muyo! in Love.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: Most of the population of Masaki Village are of Juraian descent but aren't told until they're 18 to preserve The Masquerade.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Ryoko, who's generally a boorish Lad-ette and Ayeka, a Proper Lady. Subverted in that Ryoko is actually really sensitive and sentimental, while Ayeka is quite a prissy bitch under her prim and proper mask.
  • Too Kinky to Torture: Ryoko's screams when Ayeka is torturing here sound rather more orgasmic than pained. Justified in that her body isn't capable of feeling much of anything, including pain.
    • Subverted almost immediately after that scene in episode 2; Tenchi (the sword, not the boy) makes a good point on how it doesn't allow anyone unworthy to so much as touch it.
    • Also subverted in episode 13. Washu got some good film of it as well.
  • Tree Vessel: Juraian ships are all made of wood, and empowered by royal trees (the children of Tsunami).
  • Trope Codifier: While not the first Harem Anime, Tenchi Muyo did more to codify and normalize certain harem conventions in anime than Urusei Yatsura did, most importantly having a Humble Hero who's surrounded by beautiful women who all like him precisely for being a decent guy. Since then, most anime with harem elements have taken more cues and basic story/character blueprints from Tenchi than they have Ataru.
  • The Unfair Sex: Notably averted for all the universes. In fact, more often than not, the protagonist is put off by any of the girls' overt advances. Additionally, (most) of the other girls realize this and tend blame each other more than him, and Tenchi is usually portrayed as being in the right.
  • Universal-Adaptor Cast as exemplified by the Spin-Off of Magical Project S.
  • Unwanted Harem: The definitive example, and arguably the firstAtaru did want his harem, he just always failed relating with all the girls in it, due to his Jerkass personality, while Tenchi appeals to more of its target audience. Arguably an Unbuilt Trope; Tenchi Masaki is literally an Unlucky Everydude - he is both a Butt-Monkey and a Nice Guy. Being a Nice Guy means he's too ethical to abuse the girls' affections, let alone Marry Them All with any kind of speed. Also, every one of the girls is both jaw-droppingly gorgeous and a prime example of a certain fetish... but they're also actual people with all the complications thereof. As he's a Butt Monkey, those complications threaten his life - along with the entire planet and occasionally universe - on a regular basis.
    • Manic Pixie Dream Girl Ryoko? A Space Pirate with a price on her head several dozen orders of magnitude greater than Earth's combined GNP.
    • The Princesses? Elegant and refined Aeka is a bossy, prudishly-repressed proto-dominatrix, while adorable homemaker Sasami is a little girl who happens to be the avatar of one of the three goddesses who created the universe, and they're both half-sisters of his grandfather.
    • The cute lil' Mad Scientist? She's really 20,000 years old, is the mother of the Space Pirate, she wants him anyway, and she's another of the three goddesses who created the universe.
    • Oh, and Word of God says that the third goddess wants in as well.
    • There's also two Galaxy Police Detectives; both are interested, but the sensible one is Married to the Job and the other is an absolute ditz who clears cases mostly through blind luck. The ditz is also the grandchild of the Mad Scientist's disastrous first marriage.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Ryoko and Ayeka seemingly make a favorite sport out of arguing and with each other about Tenchi and everything else, and in all continuities their hatred for each other started out as legitimate for some reason or another. Kiyone thinks of Mihoshi as nothing more than the incompetent idiot holding her career back, and no matter how many times she says this or how much she criticizes or chastises Mihoshi over some blunder, Mihoshi just agrees or apologizes and goes right back to merrily assuming their friendship. Despite all this, in both cases we see occasional moments of genuine friendship and whenever things get sticks and the time calls for it, they and everyone else in the Unwanted Harem usually tend to put themselves on the line for each other and fight together without question.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Zero (later merged with Ryoko); Washuu (sort of; it's more like Volunatary Ageshifting)
  • We Are as Mayflies: All of the alien characters live much longer than humans. The ultimate example is Washu, who looks like she's 12 and actually has been around since before the dawn of time, making her older than dirt.
    • Of course, it has been established that it is possible for a person to extend their life artificially and some of the characters are long-lived because of this.
      • Juraian royalty have the Royal Trees, which further extend a person's life when bonded to them.
      • Washu's long life span may be due to her divine personage and it is implied Ryoko's long lifespan was due to her having Washu's gems.
    • Actually, if you are from part of the Federation, you are almost guaranteed a natural lifespan significantly longer than humans due to readily available genetic enhancement technology.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Katsuhito's cat appears only in the first episode of the OVA. It was never seen again through the rest of that series. It is implied that Ryoko, upon her release, killed it. Also, Sasami's pet weasel-thing wasn't seen again after Sasami and Ayeki's introduction, it may have died in the crash.
    • Chibi, the cat, was a stray that Tenchi had found and Ryoko was using her powers to keep it alive. She later reabsorbed the power she gave it and used it as the base for the reborn Ryo-ohki. It made a cameo in Tenchi Universe.
    • The weasel can't be dead...the main part of the ship where it was, was in a pocket dimension. It's probably fine, and goofing off in Washu's lab. Offscreen at least.
  • White Mask of Doom: Kain from Tenchi Muyo in Love! has one of these; it's also an empathic mask. It becomes more creepy as he becomes more desperate in the final battle.
  • Wondrous Ladies Room:
    • Washu sticks a spa in a pocket dimension for the women to use.
    • In the OAV continuity Ryoko used her molecular manipulation, and Washuu's designs from her and Ryo-Ohki's mental database, to create a giant luxury onsen, including waterfalls, hovering in the open above the house. However, it also has a smaller section for Tenchi's use only, according to the writing on the entrances. Somehow, the outside world never notices.
    • They live out in the countryside. Also, it's anime; Japan is such a Weirdness Magnet (possibly because Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe) that the spa probably doesn't even register as being unusual.
    • Going by Tenchi Muyo! GXP it's probably simply a typical Galaxy Police-fare visual distortion field, and the onsen definitely isn't visible to Seina when he first visits.
    • According to the True Tenchi novels, a large section of the Tenchi 'village' is concealed by Yosho, because his descendants were steadily expanding in numbers. To further remedy the problem, many of Yosho's descendants returned to space.
  • World of Action Girls: Most of the women that appear are pirates, police officers, or users of advanced magic and science, while the guys are bumbling through.
  • World of Technicolor Hair: Ryouko has cyan hair, Ayeka has purple, as does her father, Azusa. Sasami and her mother, Misaki, have light blue, Kiyone has forest green, Washu has a deep red, and at one point we meet a rival Juraian suitor with cotton candy pink hair. This is not treated as anything remarkable.
  • You Are Number 6: Z's full/real name is Z-0001332536893.


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