Customer Reviews

Tenchi Universe - Volume 4 - Time and Space Adventures

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The OVA series was byfar the best offering incredible character development, excellent animation, and great fight scenes. Tenchi Universe for which this DVD is, takes place under a different universe. Tenchi Universe is a series that is clearly 'stretched out' the filler episodes in the middle of the series are quite easy to pinpoint-and get quite old. However a Tenchi fan can easily appreciate the humor, and the characters. Tenchi OVA being the best of all the Tenchi series, Tenchi Universe cannot be overlooked. The ending of Tenchi Universe is my excellent (Mind you the OVA series was never finished so not much to compare). The music is fitting and superb, even in the dub. That brings me to the dub. I think most every anime fan would agree Pioneer did a fantastic job dubbing Tenchi, the variations in voices, the acting, and the effects make it seem like English was it's intended language. Pioneer does an excellent job making the actors speech sync with the Japanese mouth movement. The only reason I deny this anime five stars is because the quality of the Tenchi Universe DVD is blurred, and gets rainbowy much like a copied VHS, I hope Tenchi Universe IV fixes this, because looking at the OVA boxed set, this is hardly impressive. But then again if your a Tenchi fan, then BUY it!

Not sure if Tenchi Universe is for you? Try these 3 episodes which make up a self-contained adventure in the midst of the Tenchi Universe story. In other words, seeing these episodes out of sequence from the rest of the series will not leave you completely baffled to the whole plot, as is often the case when seeing anime series out of order. Also, since these episodes are not central to the main plot of Tenchi Universe, if you don't feel like investing into the 8 dvd set, they stand on their own as a 'mini-series'.

Anyway, after that unusually long introduction, here is the main idea of "Time and Space Adventures"...

Washu has invented her latest amazing technological wonder, a machine which can alter time and space to anyone's idea of a 'perfect' world. Leave it to Ryoko and Ayeka to sneak in at night to try and use the machine for their own 'perfect' worlds with Tenchi. After all the noise that ensues, and all the girls are fighting over the machine (much to Washu's horror), the button gets pushed, and space-time is changed around. Each girl is cast off into their own 'perfect' world except Washu, who manages to stay in 'reality' and has her work cut out to eliminate the fantasy worlds one by one and get everything back to normal. Everything goes smoothly until one girl has second thoughts about giving up her fantasy... you can guess who. -_^

In all, a fun way to spend 3 episodes, and a bit of a side excursion if you are watching the entire series in sequence.

This is volume 4/8, but it's by far my favorite of the series.

The base story
Washu's most recent ingenious invention is hijacked by the dreams of Ryoko, Aeka, Mihoshi, Kione and Sasami. Washu's device is one that creates alternative realities based upon the wishes of the user. So, the girls' deepest desires (ummm, basicly involving Tenchi) become manifest...

Poor Tenchi. Now the girls are chasing him across alternate dimensions of spacetime! Each alternative reality is a stand-alone mini story in its own right. Nice segway between the "on earth" and "in space" Tenchi Universe episodes.

My favorite is Sasami's reality, where she becomes Pretty Sammy. (This is the 2nd instance of the Pretty Sammy character. She first appeared in the Mihoshi Special and later got her own OVA and TV series.) In this story, she comes up with a most interesting strategy to win Tenchi's affections while addressing the emotional needs of Ryoko and Aeka! Absolutely hilarious! Perhaps the funniest moment in the entire series.

Must buy for dedicated Sasami/Pretty Sammy fans.

Action, laughter and an emotive ending to a short hiatus in the daily life of Tenchi and the gang. Washu, the mad genius scientist, creates a machine that can make your dreams come true. But, unbeknownst to Washu, her invention turns out to be too big a temptation for everyone, except forTenchi of course. One night, disaster happens when the machine is left unattended and the girls poise themselves to be the first ones to use it. The fight results in a terrible accident that hurdles our heroes through time and space; condemning them to live the lifes and fantasies they could only wish for. Would Washu fix the machine on time to save her friends from ever wonder uncontrollably into parallel worlds? Of course she will, but not before everyone learns a valuable lesson about being more caring about those they love and true to their own feelings.

In the fourth DVD of the Tenchi Universe Washu has invented the Dimensional Cause & Effect controller. It allows you to shape the world into any form you want. When the girls ALL try to use it at the same time it, of course, goes haywire and ends up putting them all into one parallel universe after another. Each world SHOULD be the ultimate fantasy world, but these dreams seem to end up as nightmares. The first world seems to be old Japan, where Ayeka is a noblewoman and Tenchi is engaged to marry her. When Tenchi is sent by the Emperor to deal with a demon, Ryoko, things are not what they appear to be. Ayeka's world becomes a nightmare when she finds out that Ryoko is Tenchi's mistress!
The next world is just as weird. Kiyone has escaped Mihoshi by leaving her career as a police officer behind her. She ends up getting a job in a sleeply port town at a diner-tavern. But Mihoshi finds her. It turns out the dimwit has been searching for her and plans to be her "Partner forever..."
As Kiyone runs screaming into the night we pop over to the next world - Sasami's world of the Magical Girl Pretty Sammy. She uses her magic power to make Ryoko and Ayeka stop fighting over Tenchi. In fact she uses too much magic and they fall in love, but the episode ends before they can kiss. The next two worlds are just as interesting. Mihoshi's world is one where she and Tenchi are married, yet her sister-in-law is Ayeka and Ryoko, a widow from next door, comes to flirt with Tenchi. Mihoshi cries. Ryoko's world is set in the roaring twenties, with Ryoko and Tenchi as bank robbers. The interesting thing here is that, while Ryoko is having great fun she figures out that everything is fake. She allows Washu to cancel her world, like the redhead did to the others as they came to a end, and everything is back to normal. This DVD is just pure fun. It not only allows you to dive right into the characters' minds, but really allows you to laugh at events that would never of happened without Washu's weird machine. Kind of a "What-If" series of episodes.

Washu invents a machine that can create alernate dimensions, such as the Pretty Sammy universe where Sasami rips of Sailor Moon and Ryo-ohki can talk. Ryoko, Kiyone, and basically everyone get sent to these weird dimensions, in the meantime, Washu is trying to bring everyone back to their own dimensions. Time and Space Adventures Parts 1,2 and 3 are all on the DVD.

This is one of the best animes I have ever seen! This version is a lot like the OVA but it has a begining middle and end. The OVA was very choppy in its plot line. This is a very funny anime.