Ai Tenchi Muyo! – 4.5

Momo narrates a recap of the events so far.

Thank you, Ai Tenchi Muyo!, for showing me something I’d never seen before: a recap episode of a four-minute-long show, only four episodelets in. Bravo!

Ai Tenchi Muyo! – 03

The scientist Washuu captures Tenchi and sends him to the past to retrieve two “dimensional castaways” who are the result of a slight error in her experiment. The first person he finds is a younger Momo. He agrees to help her look for someone, assuming it’s the second castaway.

Again we’re bombarded by stuff we’d probably understand if we’d watched other Tenchi Muyo works, but never mind: we also get echoes of the first episode, only in the seemingly distant past (owing to the garb), which suddenly expands the breadth of the show.

It also suggests that the show will hae no qualms jumping between times and places without regard to where the last episodelet ended. That could potentially work in the show’s favor by mixing up Tenchi’s situations and keeping things fresh.That spaceship, for instance, could be a lark.

Ai Tenchi Muyo! – 02

Momo, the student council president, shows Tenchi around the school, but her many admirers follow close behind. Concerned for Momo’s safety, they lock him in the student council room and commence torturing him.

After this second episodelet, I’m a lot less confused about what the score is: Tenchi is obviously a kind of magnet for girls for whatever reason, and they gang up on him here to do unspeakable (and unshowable) things to him.

That last part seems counterproductive at first, but it’s actually kinda clever: because we can’t see exactly what they do to him, it’s left up to your own depraved (or undepraved) imagination. In that regard, Ai Tenchi Muyo! asks for viewer participation in crafting Tenchi’s story.

Ai Tenchi Muyo! – 01

“‘Scuse me, Ma’am!”

My very first taste of this new project by a franchise celebrating its 20th year is a mere sliver of the first day of school for trainee teacher Masaki Tenchi. For some reason he ends up stranded on a mountain where his compass goes haywire. There, he bumps into one different color-haired girl after another, all of whom end up attending the class he’s teaching back at school.

I’m guessing this is Hakubi Washuu.

Without any research, watching this is a waste of my time. But I did find out a few interesting things, like the show’s plot, from a trusted source:

In this story, the world is in chaos, thanks to Washu. Now in order to save it, Tenchi Masaki must go undercover as a student teacher at an all-girls school. Unfortunately for him, trouble always comes his way.

Oh, so he’s undercover? The episode didn’t make that clear, but I’d probably know that if I knew the character from other stuff, of which there is much. And he does look a little out of sorts at school.

As for the world in chaos, well, it’s certainly chaotic for me, being new to the franchise. And that class had Sayonara Mr. Despair written all over it: full of eccentrics. It kinda begs the question: how does teaching at this all-girls school save the world? I imagine I’ll find out.

I also learned that the series (which will consist of 50 5-minute episodes) is sponsored by the city of Takahashi in Okayama Prefecture, in order to promote tourism for the city. That is an awesome idea. I want my city in an anime.

But yeah, this is just an introduction, and it wasn’t interested in cluing noobs in on what was happening. That being said, I can’t say I disliked it. So I will see where it goes.