Tenchi is a young man who lives on a carrot farm in the middle of nowhere (with two talking outdoor toilets), together with his pet rabbit/Mogwai hybrid (who occasionally turns into a diamond), four big girls (who all fancy him) and one little girl who is not what she appears to be. Yep, it’s another slice of Japanese weirdness, and yep, I don’t have a fucking clue what it’s all about!
Although there is an ongoing story connecting Tenchi Muyo!, it doesn’t really matter and each of these episodes can be enjoyed individually rather than part of a series, playing more like some surreal, fantasy sit-com than as “proper”, serious sci-fi. Most of the fun comes from the girls all battling it out for Tenchi’s attention (one of them even offers to tug him off!), whilst Tenchi, inexplicably, wants nothing to do with them, and to watch them spitting snide, sarcastic comments at each other provides plenty of laughs, especially in the English-dubbed version (although the bubble-gum theme song is best in its original Japanese). You may already have guessed that this veers over to the “cute” end of Japanimation, something I don’t usually like (the end credits are simply sickening!), but I have to say I think this may have melted my heart – I really enjoyed it. I have to ask Tenchi though: Why keep running away? Most of us would kill for a girl with green hair, a cat’s tail, super-powers and an unquenchable libido. Get it while you can!