Tenchi Muyo GXP

Out of this world.

Review by Matthew Anderson

26 Episode TV Series

Company: FUNimation

Running Time: 125 minutes (5 episodes)

Region: 1

Rated: PG-13 (Adult situations, partial nudity)

EXTERNAL EXAM

Seina Yamada is the most unlucky boy in the universe. No matter what he does, or where he goes, something bad happens.

While taking a short cut to visit his friend Kiriko, Seina is nearly killed when a spaceship crashes near by. When he comes to, he learns that he was "rescued" by the ships pilot, the beautiful Amane. Impressed with his survival abilities, she invites him to join the Galaxy Police.

Thanks to his mother's meddling, Seina winds up on a spaceship, in route to the GP Academy. Along the way he meets a vast assortment of people, including the "Devil Princess" Lady Seito, beautiful space pirate Ryoko Balta, and the universally known Mitoto, ship cleaner extraordinaire.

Oh, and lets not forget the armada of space pirates that are chasing after him.

For a normal person, this situation would be an easy thing to get out of. With Seina's bad luck, he may not even make it to dinner.

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: The quality is excellent. There are no pixels or errors noted. The colors are solid, and the motion, fluid.

AUDIO: The English 5.1 is a good mix, with plenty of surround sound effects during the action segments. The music is blended quite well, and does not over power the dialogue.

The English and Japanese 2.0 is pretty evenly matched. It too has a decent surround sound mix.

EDITS: The best of both worlds. Thanks to the use of multiple angels, you can watch the open and close with English titles, or the original Japanese versions. No edits to the episodes have been made.

EXTRAS: Pretty standard in the extras category. Clean open and close, character bios, and previews for the next volume.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: This is a great story. It's nothing but fun, fun, fun. Chief Director Shinichi Watanabe along with the writing staff have recaptured the spirit that made the original Tenchi Muyo so entertaining.

ACTING: The cast is excellent, on both sides. On the English dub, it's like a "Robotech" reunion. From Tony Oliver doing the voice of Seina to the wonderful Reba West as the voice of Erma, it's great hearing some of the best voice actors in the world together again. Add into the mix the awesome Wendee Lee as Kiriko, the sexy Dorothy Melendrez (Amane) and the grand Sonia S. Fox and you have a winning show.

Let's not forget the Japanese Cast. Most recognizable is Yuko Mizutani, who played our favorite bubblehead Mihoshi in the original series. Here she plays Mitoto in the same manner. Shigeru Mogi is damn funny as the unlucky Seina, and Mariko Suzuki is very sexy as the hot Amane.

FAN SERVICE: There are tons of references to the Tencho Muyo OVA series through out this volume. There are also in-jokes about Captain Herlock, Yamato, Star Trek, and other classic Science Fiction series.

While there isn't any direct nudity or panty shots, there is plenty of fan serve. Every single woman is well endowed, with bouncing bust lines to keep you happy.

FINAL EXAM

Who would have ever thought about having a Tenchi Muyo spin-off series with out the main cast? Well, the folks at AIC did, and they managed to hit a home run. Tenchi Muyo GXP is everything we have come to expect from this venerable series, fun, babes, and non stop entertainment.

Our hero is the extremely unlucky Seina Yamada. His bad luck is like an energy wave. Not only does it cause him woe, it causes problems for everyone near him. In the opening episode, he causes a man to loose a bet, run one friend off the road, get another friend covered in mud, disconnect a cell phone, and cause a schoolgirls panties to fall down.

His luck doesn't run any better with Kiriko, the sister of his best friend. Every time he tries to get with her, something or someone gets in the way. Poor Senia wouldn't have to jump through so many hoops if she just tell him her feelings. It's obvious that she likes him, but she won't let him know. For now at least, their love will be unrequited. The up shot of that is we get to see Seina in plenty of comedic situations.

Like any series bearing the name "Tenchi Muyo", there has to be a love triangle. The third member in this particular triangle is the lusty and busty Amane. The very definition of "sexpot", this oversexed girl is everything the sweet and fastidious Kiriko is not. She doesn't hide her attraction to the young boy, which naturally infuriates Kiriko. So, we have to wait until Tenchi....err I mean Seina makes up his mind.

Fortunately, GXP isn't just about the love triangle. The focus (at least with this volume) is on Seina joining the academy. Totally by accident, he makes a name for himself before he even arrives at the Galaxy Police base. He also earns the respect of some unlikely people, including space pirate Ryoko Balta and Devil Princess Seto. His roommates, Kenneth and Raja, are pretty cool as well. They welcome our hero with open arms, totally unconcerned with Seina's bad luck.

Little do they know what they are getting into.

In case you were wondering, GPX does indeed take place in the Tenchi OVA continuity. The show is peppered with references, even going as far as to explain the lineage between the Masaki and Jurai royal families. The addition of Seryo, Ayeka's former suitor who appeared in the last OVA episode, helps to solidify its place in the storyline. With all the references, I wonder if GXP was AIC's way of "testing the waters". I guess there was enough of a reaction, because the second Tenchi OVA was announced soon after GPX concluded.

I was quite pleased with the work FUNimation put into this release. The video and audio are both excellent. The extras are entertaining, if not plentiful. The alternate angles are a great way to please both the hardcore fans, and the moderates. The only technical problem we encountered were during the segments with alternate angles. On my Samsung, the disc would freeze up when the angle icon appeared. With my Pioneer 525, the sound would drop out for five seconds as soon as the track started. Depending on your system, you may experience these technical issues.

The English dub cast was also a good choice, with many of my personal favorites appearing here. Everyone truly understands how much fun this series is supposed to be, and just go for it. Like Excel Saga, the ADR writers did make some changes in the script. The good news is, they still kept with the satirical bent of the source material.

I like that FUNimation went the "Pioneer" route and dubbed the opening and closing themes. I actually prefer the dub opening to the Japanese (please don't hurt me for saying so).

I really can't rave enough about Tenchi Muyo-GXP. After having to put up with "Magical Project S" and "Tenchi in Tokyo", GXP is a welcome addition to the Tenchi universe. I eagerly await the next volume!

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