Tenchi Muyo GXP Volume 1: Out of this World (2002)
Released by: Funimation
Animation Production: AIC
Running Time: 125 Minutes
By Kakumei Shojo

The Premise

Unlucky Seina Yamada’s life is turned upside down when he becomes a member of the Galaxy Police! He finds himself surrounded by beautiful women all fighting for his attention, including his childhood crush Kiriko.

Story

Seina Yamada is the most unlucky person in the world! Not only does bad luck follow him, but it is inflicted upon anyone he comes into contact with! But Seina’s bad luck is about to change, well….sort of. Seina is rescued from a near death experience with a spaceship by its beautiful pilot, and shortly after he finds himself a candidate for the Galaxy Police!

His new life as a student at the Galaxy Police academy reunites him once again with his childhood crush Kiriko, along with a whole cluster of women all vying for his attention! Set in the Tenchi OAV world, Tenchi Muyo GXP follows the misadventures of Seina Yamada as he makes friends, enemies, and admirers throughout the galaxy.

Review

This 1st volume in Funimation’s release of Tenchi Muyo GXP features episodes 1 through 8 in the series, which include:

Episode 1: Seize the Day
Bad luck seems to follow Seina Yamada wherever he goes! Seina’s bad luck is inflicted upon his family (who want to be able to just run their business and cannot with his bad luck lingering whenever he is around) neighbors, and friends. But on his way to see his best friend Kai and Kai’s beautiful sister Kiriko (who Seina has had a crush on since they were children), Seina meets a strange woman from the most unlucky of circumstances. She is with the Galaxy Police and she hands him a file, which unbeknownst to Seina is about to change his life forever.

Episode 2: Invasion
Seina finds himself aboard a transport spacecraft of the Galaxy Police and is being considered for a position within it! Seina has little time to be impressed though, as the spacecraft he is traveling on is attacked by Space Pirates! It seems that no matter where they try to escape to the pirates pursue them with ease. Can Seina and his bad luck be the answer to escaping?

Episode 3: The Devil Princess of Jurai
Seina’s unfortunate “gift” ends up warping them into a section of space occupied by hundreds of pirate ships! Luckily, Mikigami, the princess of Planet Jurai and leader of their strongest military force arrives and disposes of the ships. She requests a meeting with Seina, and approves of him going to the Galaxy Police academy. It seems that the devil princess of Jurai has her own reasons for wanting Seina there…

Episode 4: True Love, Truly Painful
After an encounter with the infamous space pirate also named Ryoko, Seina is brought to the academy headquarters, where he runs into the mysterious pilot who handed him that pamphlet, Amane, and… Kiriko?! She is an Inspection Officer for the GP. Amane is delighted to see Seina, but Kiriko fears for his safety and demands he return to earth. The choice is up to Seina and he must decide what he wants for himself.

Episode 5: Seeing is Believing
Seina chooses to stay and take the Galaxy Police exam, but instead of studying Seina and his new dorm mates sneak off to go to a party! While on their way to the party they bump into Amane who has other ideas in mind…

Episode 6: First Tests
Seiryo, an old rival of Tenchi is now Seina’s athletic teacher, and does he have it in for Seina! For some reason, all the other students in class have undergone physical enhancements except for Seina. No matter how hard he pushes himself he just cannot keep up. Amane is assigned to put a stop to this unfair treatment and supervise the enhancement procedure for Seina. Kiriko intercepts him before the procedure is done, and tells him once again that she fears for his life and he should return home. What will Seina do?

Episode 7: Moving In
Seina, now physically enhanced, is sent to live with Amane his trainer so he can learn how to function with his new enhancements. But Amane isn’t the only one there. Both Elma, another teacher and admirer of Seina AND Kiriko (who has assigned herself to be guardian to Seina) are living there too! Seems like things are about to get even more interesting!

Episode 8: Meet the Parents
Amane continues training with Seina, but she decides to have her fun with him, causing tension with her other housemates Elma and Kiriko. But the girls have more pressing matters as hand, as Amane’s parents stop by for a visit, and her father tries to get Amane to leave the Galaxy Police and return home with him! Will there ever be peace in their home?

I already know what you’re thinking at this point. It was the same thing I thought when I got this DVD. HOW COULD THERE POSSBILY BE YET ANOTHER STORY IN THE TENCHI UNIVERSE???!!!!! Well, there is. If you are an avid fan of Tenchi then you know the order of things here. If not, then I will tell you! Tenchi the TV series was created first in Japan, but the OAVs (1 and 2) were released in the US first. Then the TV (Tenchi Universe) series, then the first Tenchi movie, second, then Tenchi in Tokyo, the third movie, Tenchi GXP, and then Tenchi OAV 3. Whew! Confused yet? Don’t worry you will be! You see, The Tenchi Muyo/ Ryo-oh ki OAVs follow a different story than the Tenchi Universe TV series, which are both blended together for the movies 1 and 2. Then, Tenchi in Tokyo has its own order of events and completely different story than all the aforementioned series. The 3rd OAV follows the original OAV story. Of course, somewhere in the middle you have the Pretty Sammy series, which spoof Sailor Moon.

Finally, we come to Tenchi GXP. This is a series about a very unlucky boy named Seina, who grew up in the same town as Tenchi. Tenchi GXP follows the storyline of the OAVS. However, this story introduces completely new characters and follows their adventures within the Galaxy Police, which is the same organization Mihoshi hails from. Tenchi is mentioned, but has yet to be seen, although we do see Ryoko sailing over Seina’s head on her way back from the store with some Sake in hand!

The allusion to the Tenchi classics is delicately handled. Tenchi GXP does not seem to use the original characters as a crutch to draw the audience in too much, although seeing the characters you know and love offers a bit of familiarity to what would otherwise be a completely foreign series.

There are also some characters that made cameo appearances in the Tenchi OAVs who are reintroduced into Tenchi GXP. One particular example is Seiryo, who in the OAV is chosen by Ayeka’s father as a suitor for her. Tenchi must duel Seiryo in order to prove he is worthy as a guardian of the Juraian princesses. Seiryo plays a miniscule although memorable part in the OAV, but in Tenchi GXP he has a much more important and entertaining function! Seiryo’s appearance as a teacher at the academy was unexpected, and cleverly worked into the story! He is also trying to pursue Amane, who brutally turns down every advance he makes at her.

As for the new cast of characters (and there are quite a few) you see personas somewhat similar to those of the original Tenchi characters. This time, the main triangle focuses upon Seina, Kiriko, and Amane.

Seina is an incredibly likeable character so far. He is decisive in what he wants, and goes for it regardless of what others tell him to do. He is not whiny in the least, and he is kind, although a little awkward around women. Although Seina is cursed with the worst luck in the world, he takes it all in stride.

Kiriko, Seina’s love interest since childhood is older than he. She is reserved most of the time, but speaks her mind when something bothers her. She tends to see Seina as more of a kid brother, although deep down she is attracted to him. Kiriko is patient and understanding especially in regards to Seina’s bad luck, but is quick to lose her temper when Amane interferes with or takes advantage of Seina.

Amane is a buxom and rebellious woman who is a detective and pilot in the Galaxy Police. She is immediately attracted to Seina, but likes to toy with him too, which in turn causes friction between her and her housemates. Amane is crass, loud-mouthed and hot tempered, but underneath it all she is surprisingly responsible and kind.

Of course, the differences in personalities cause bickering between the girls, but in Tenchi GXP it takes a lot longer to get into the cat fights than the other Tenchi series did. One of the reasons is that the girls are briefly introduced in the first episode, but do not become an integral part of the story till episode 4.

If the style looks familiar that is because all the visuals were done by AIC. This is the same studio that did Tenchi in Tokyo. However, since I had watched the OAVS first, followed by the TV series, the drastic change in style from the TV series and OAVS took some getting used to. AIC does a good job of continuing the same kinds of site gags and basic style as the original Tenchi animators. The animation style works much better for Tenchi GXP, since this is a new story with new characters and style. The use of cell shading is fantastic, as the animation style is fairly simplistic. The artists use bold colors and dark outlines around the characters to make them stand out, but the cell shading provides a subtle way of incorporating a very different look to the series.

As for the voices, both the English and Japanese casts hold their own admirably, but I was especially impressed with Amane’s Japanese voice actress, who can rant a million miles per hour. I didn’t know it was possible for anyone to babble that fast and still sound coherent! From what I have seen, everyone seems to be well-matched vocally to their characters, but I will need to see the rest of the series to determine if they handle the serious aspects (which remain to be seen) of the story well.

Like Tenchi, the events that cause the complete upheaval of Seina’s life are introduced rather quickly. The series is fast paced, light-hearted, and humorous. The fact that Seina carries bad luck around him like a curse that not only affects him, but everyone around him adds a clever and incredibly humorous touch to this series, and provides some unpredictability as to what will happen next.

Very nice transfer. Good picture quality, clear lines for the characters, and only a minute bit of color bleeding on the outlines around the characters. The CG (cell shading in this case) was clean and not too stark against the animation either. The sound quality for this DVD was nice. The music and dialogue were well-balanced, so that the music was background, but still very audible. Both the English and Japanese were mixed very well.

This DVD has fairly standard extras including textless opener and closer, and character profiles for over half a dozen characters, which consists of a single screen with a picture of the character and basic information.

Final Thoughts

I admit it! I was worried about yet another Tenchi story to follow. The thought of the exact same thing the original Tenchi series accomplished with different characters was just aggravating. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised by the independence this series exhibits from Tenchi Muyo. Although there are references to Tenchi, Ryoko, Ayeka, and the rest, they are subtle. So far, Tenchi GXP does not have nearly as many catfights between the girls as the other Tenchi series do, which in my opinion is a good thing.

In episodes 7 and 8 of GXP, there are some blatantly sexual scenes to the point of bordering on “pink” hentai. Amane decides to seduce and tantalize Seina, bathe him when they are both naked, and give him full bodied massages. Necessary? Not at all. In fact, I felt this was just downright creepy, as it is evident that Amane is significantly older than Seina. Its even more inappropriate once she becomes his trainer because then they share the teacher student relationship, which she oversteps. I am hoping the rest of the series will tone down the blatant sexuality. Although its funny and entertaining in small doses, it will fast become an annoyance if it’s a constant in the series.

I will say that I definitely like Seina much better than Tenchi, although Ryoko still remains my favorite in the Tenchi universe and one of my all time favorite characters! As for Amane and Kiriko, we don’t really know too much about them yet, but I am hoping for more back story and character development on them.

If you are a fan of the Tenchi series do not expect Tenchi. If you do, you will be disappointed. Just take GXP for what it is, a standalone sci-fi comedy series set in the Tenchi Universe, which is what it should be. Although the OAVs still remain my favorite of the Tenchi chronologies, GXP is fast paced and entertaining. I definitely recommend seeing it.

Kakumei Shojo