Anime: Tenchi Muyou!

Disgraceful, simply disgraceful! After watching the first 3 Tenchi Muyo OAVs I expected a follow-up which would present at least the same amount of quality, alas, I was sorely disappointed. I do realize that Tenchi Universe is an alternative setting that shows a different story involving the Tenchi Muyo characters, but with the change in the story, I did not expect to encounter a change in performance. The OAVs are already mediocre, and to dilute mediocrity into something worst is an obscene act that should be declared illegal on grounds of exposing viewers to unworldly bad taste. I did see other animes that were far worst then Tenchi Universe, but they sucked on their own, Tenchi Universe sucks in comparison to something else that isn’t good, which just infuriates me. I believe Tenchi Universe to be an affront to the Tenchi brand name! I intend to watch Tenchi in Tokyo despite this failure and I hope to be greeted with a higher quality of entertainment. If I do, it will prove that Tenchi Universe is a sham that should have never been created; if not, then it will show that the whole Tenchi family is worthless and the OAVs were ok only coincidentally (I’ll report my conclusion in my review of Tenchi in Tokyo, if I review it).

And now for the in-depth segment of this review, note that I will make a lot of comparison to the Tenchi Muyo OAVs and thus it would be somewhat difficult for someone who hasn’t yet seen them to understand me. I do, however, discourage those who have already seen the OAVs from watching Tenchi Universe for it will very likely ruin your impression of Tenchi Muyo.

Animation (3):
I would first like to congratulate the creators of Tenchi Universe for their accomplishment: taking 3rd rate animation and making it look even worst is quite an achievement. The OAV animation, although not even remotely professional, was at least a bit presentable, but by fading the colors, destroying the esthetics and making the motions significantly choppier, Tenchi Universe exhibits animation that is almost as bad as Berserk's. Was it really such a big deal keeping the quality identical to the OAVs? Did they really have to ruin it? I have no answer for that.

Sound (7):
Ok, I gotta give credit where credit is due, the opening song for Tenchi Universe is by far one of the best I’ve ever heard – it’s fluid, it’s hip and it’s fun to listen to time and time again, 2 thumbs up! But this is where my praise ends, for, you see, the sound effects are pretty lousy: they’re dull, dry and very uninspiring (not that I expected anything more).

Story (3):
…zzzZZZzzz…zzzZZZzzz…zzzZZZzzz…zzzZ* - … eh? What? Is it over yet? No? Ok then… zzzZZZzzz…
Jeez this thing is boring, at least the OAVs were eventful, this thing doesn’t show anything of interest until the last few episodes. Nothing but tacky slapstick and corny sitcom junk. Absolutely nothing worthwhile to talk about. And also, whenever there’s any action, it’s so lacking in realism that it can be described as nothing more then a farce (I mean, come one, how many shots would it take to bring down that galaxy police battle cruiser? One million? Two million? Seriously, that thing is damn near invulnerable! You could sick that thing on an entire goddamn armada and it would come out without a scratch! And those Jurai ships, what a joke, it’s one shot one kill against those guys. The weakness of their fleets should probably be like an open invitation to attack and conquer them, I just don’t understand how Jurai survived for so long.).

Characters (4):
I don’t have much to say here, the same one-dimensional characters you grow to expect from Tenchi Muyo.

Overall (4):
Tenchi Universe is nothing more that someone’s laughable idea of a 3rd rate TV show that couldn’t even strive to attain mediocrity. It wounds me to see to what extent the potential of this show was wasted. A teenager could have done a better job.

... After a long while I realized that I was ruthlessly harsh in this review, and perhaps it really isn't as terrible as I've described... but it really does suck, just so you know.

Funny, but hopelessly drifting around without a clue of the story it's supposed to tell.

The animation is good; more detailed and much cleaner than the OVA was - but you shouldn't compare them after all. The animation is still the typical Tenchi-style, which is pleasant to see and doesn't feel odd at any way. The colors and happenings feel good, so there's not much to say bad about this series in animation. There are not many reused frames either, except for the Ryo-Ohki transformation, which does become a bit annoying after a while, but not too early, so that's not too bad.

The OP is typically American, for some reason. It doesn't feel exactly Japanese, although I can't point out the reason why. At least it's upbeat and it sounds pretty good. The ED though is sung by the voiceactress from Ayaka, which results in a pretty ... bad ... performance. Although it's original to use such a song, I can't say I appreciate hearing it after the end of every episode.
The voiceactors do a good job and none of the voices are annoying (except for Mihoshi, but hell - that's the only reason for her to exist in the first place, so she's excused) and a couple of them are pretty well done. Ryoko is one of the voices which suit pretty well.

The story is somehow vague. While the series does have a story, they really tell it slowly. This results in lots of filler episodes, which all seem to be random funny side-stories without any importance to the main plot itself. Although it's not bad to have those since the stories vary between decent and funny, it tends to get annoying when the series itself is getting to a climax and they just want to stretch it a bit more in order to get to the 26 episodes by making sidetrips.
In the end, the series could've been told in 18-20 episodes as well, without losing anything important. In fact, it might have made the series more interesting when they tried to keep the pace, instead of disrupting the pace after every episode when they should keep the pace to build up the tensity.
But still, the episodes itself are pretty entertaining. The only drawback I thought this series has, was that it sometimes had jokes which were announced so long beforehand that it was hard to laugh when it actually happened.

The characters are all good, except for Ryoko and Ayeka. Although the characters are good, the series managed to make the everlasting bickering between the two archenemies kinda boring/annoying after a while. Also, eventually you tend to feel seriously sorry for Kiyone, even though she shows her feelings really well and might even be considered mean.
The only thing which was bad about the characters is that they kind of feel 'empty' at times, as if they are restrained and not allowed to develop as much as they could, in order to keep the comedy.

The rewatch value of Tenchi Universe is pretty high because of all the fillers and the really spread plot which doesn't really seem all too important throughout the series. But beside that, the series is pretty lighthearted and funny at times, enough to watch again with a bunch of friends, especially since it's an easy series which doesn't need your full attention.
I did like it at times, but since I watched the OVA before, I compare them to each other. Compared to the OVA, the OVA comes out as the winner in every single bit except the animation. The difference between the OVA and this series is that the OVA doesn't have that many fillers and introduces either the character in the series, or gives out some development (either story-based or character-based) which keeps a much better pace. That's why Tenchi Universe doesn't get a better mark for enjoyment because it all looks 'watered down' to spread it over 26 episodes instead of just 15.
In the end, my conclusion is to watch the OVA and stick to that one. Watch Universe only if you have nothing better to do and your friends drop by.