Cereal-Killer

Let me start out by saying that the audio and video quality(THX certified) is excellent. Although it really is lacking in the supplement department(teaser, trailer, and pecil sketch gallery) when compared to the two previous films. Having said that I'm a little upset by the "final" Tenchi movie.

I'm a big Tenchi fan. I have the box set and the first and now the last movie. I'm planning on getting the Tenchi In Tokyo series but, I don't know how I feel about the whole alternate reality stuff. I'm also well aware of the other installments of this franchise. While I realize that the series is more character and narative based(which is why I love it) it just seemed to me that the supposed last movie was too lacking.

The film is beatifully executed, but It seemed like a dragged out episode of the series. It's poetic and a turing point in a few characters lives but, when all is said and done the movie never really added anything new to the series. Not to mention all the questions it leaves hanging. Is Tenchi and Ryoko now an item? Why is Ayeka now so accepting of the closeness of the two of them? Where is Ryo-Ohki? Plus a few more that I can't think of right now.

Don't get me wrong I did like the film, but it leaves me wanting more rather then satisfied. Any other Tenchi fans have any opinions?

Cav829

For a spoiler free version of this review you can check out this review on the movie.
http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews/re...himovie3-4.htm

Lots of spoilers in the below.

I thought it was quite frankly a severely lacking and poorly executed film rehashing a whole set of old storylines and ideas and just putting a new spin on it. Most of the storyline is lifted from the first two movies and TiT. There is virtually not one new idea in it. Not to mention you wonder if the rest of the cast outside the love triangle mattered to the writers when they did this. I mean jeeze this is the final movie for the tv series (a 3rd OVA has virtually already been announced) and they got about a combined ten minutes of screen time! And don't get me started on how awful Haruna was. Not only was little accomplished in the movie, but then at the end it went and voided the entire movie, which unfortunatly was necessary due to the ludicrous plot they cooked up for this fiasco.

Plot summary : "Old girlfriend of Yosho's kidnaps, brainwashes, and rapes Tenchi for six months, while the girls try to rescue him."

Now that may sound idiotic, but that is the plot of the movie! An entire movie designed for one specific thing i.e. to force Aeka to give up. Then Ryoko and Tenchi are an item at the end, but they couldn't even bother to show them doing anything and they toss Aeka aside like she didn't even matter anymore. Meanwhile Haruna got to have her way with him during the movie and we're supposed to all feel bad for her because she had a "rough life." She whined so much she should've been on Oprah. Meanwhile her whole character keeps contradicting itself throughout the entire movie to a point that you have to believe the writers lost track of what they were doing with her from scene to scene. I guess the fact she returned him with the whole 6 months never happening for him (they didn't even bother to explain any of this so I'll just assume that his body in the dream world wasn't even his) was supposed to redeem her and make the whole situation ok, but then they blew it with how poorly the ending was done. It seemed like it was almost an afterthought. I mean the big advertisement for the movie was Tenchi was going to choose so you had to figure they'd do something more then what they did here.

There are a few salvagable things from this. The first being it is finally hinting at a possible final resolution of the love triangle sometime in the future (OVA 3 please!). The Ryoko/Aeka scenes were actually quite entertaining and usually well done although the material for it is mostly based off that scene in the second movie. We also got to see human Azaka and Kamidake for a brief appearence. Damn I miss those guys.

The serious spin on it could've been an interesting approach had they actually had enough to pull this off, but since when has Tenchi been an interesting enough character to have him be the driving force behind a movie? He's about as interesting as the weather channel, which is why the girls are always the driving force behind the series . That or he feeds off other characters. Here he only had Haruna to feed off of and that was only some of the time. But Haruna was such a poor character that it didn't exactly help that situation. And a lot of the time he was on his own anyways. I mean if they were going to evolve his character it would've been one thing, but he's still the same moronic, naive twit at the end of the film he's always been in the tv series (in the OVA thanks to the second movie I'm actually beginning to like that version of him). "Golly gee Haruna, I'm so glad you're happy. I mean you only kidnapped, brainwashed, and raped me for 6 months and made all my friends and my one true love go through hell, but that doesn't matter because you're happy now." Atleast the second movie evolved his character and made him actually somewhat likable, although of course that is the OVA where the characters have 10x as much depth as their tv counterparts.

My advice? Rent it first and see if you like it before buying it. I've had dozens of people tell me they wished they hadn't blown their money on the movie. First two movies were much better. I didn't think they could make a movie where Ryoko and Tenchi became an item that I wouldn't like, but they managed to do it. Remember this thing bombed big time in Japan if that's any indication to you.

[This message has been edited by Cav829 (edited 10-24-1999).]

Rastan

I like the movie. Although it was much different most other Tenchi features, it had very high production values and a good story. It was a lot more serious then the OVA's and TV series although Tenchi in Love 1 was also pretty serious. In comparison to most anime out there it is a very good title, but it doesn't have that perfect meld of action, comedy, and drama that Tenchi in Love 1 had. Slightly disapointing in that sense, but definitely worth a spot on any Tenchi collector's shelf.

Merlinthemage

I did enjoy the movie, I do agree that it is missing a lot of aspects of Tenchi that you'd expect and it is kinda slow, but overall as an actual movie it was enjoyable and just plain had a sweet feel to it. Obviously all the questions posed about Tenchi aren't answered, but at this point, I really don't expect them to ever resolve a lot of the issues.