A Spin-Off of the Tenchi Muyo! series (specifically, the original OVA incarnation), Tenchi Muyo GXP: Galaxy Police Transporter begins during episode 5 of the third Tenchi OVA and progresses further outwards from there, providing something of a detailed look at the series' Verse and life in "civillized" space, as opposed to the original, which by and large mostly takes place on Earth and in uninhabited space.The focus character is Seina Yamada, a young man with a kind heart, a spiky crewcut that is unusually pleasant to the touch, and the absolute worst luck ever (His bicycle frequently falls to pieces while he's riding it, doorknobs snap when he's trying to open them, windows and awnings collapse when he's under them, the horse you've bet on loses its jockey while you're listening when he passes, etc). The series opens with said luck bouncing him and anyone in his path around while he hurries to visit Kiriko, a childhood friend who just returned after months out of town. Tempting fate, he takes a shortcut by the home of Tenchi Masaki, whom he admires and respects — just in time to be knocked in the lake by a passing spaceship. This begins his chance encounter with Amane Kaunaq, a Galaxy Police officer who had stopped off on Earth to make a delivery to Tenchi. She assumes that Seina knows about Tenchi's houseguests, and she's impressed that he survived the crash in such good shape, so she gives him an application form for the "GP" and tells Seina to look her up.Seina finally meets Kiriko, and the visit goes fairly well — although he has trouble explaining the lipstick on his neck! Afterwards, Seina's family forces him to complete the form (they think it's a lottery application), and he's abducted and shanghaied into the Galaxy Police by the end of the episode. Luckily for him, his terrible luck makes him a natural-born magnet for Space Pirates, and he's soon convinced to try to use his "powers" for good. Before even finishing his training, he is assigned to the GP's decoy unit, which hopes to use his luck as a weapon in order to draw out more pirates and crush them. Of course, since Seina is Willfully Weak, he also accquires a sizable Harem, who, true to the spirit of Tenchi Muyo!, fight over and embarrass him at every possible opportunity as they hunt down pirates, deal with the intergalactic bureaucracy, and of course, enjoy lots and lots of Hot Springs.The characters who comprise the core cast are:
Seina Yamada - Cosmic Plaything extraordinaire. An extremely nice kid who just happens to possess the worst luck in the universe, though things eventually start going his way. Sports an ever-present band-aid on the upper-left side of his forehead.
Kiriko Masaki - A distant cousin of Tenchi's, Kiriko is Seina's Yamato Nadeshiko (with Tsundere qualities) childhood friend who has looked after him since they were little. Unbeknownst to him, she has also been working for the GP all this time.
Seto Kamiki Jurai - Feared by most of the galaxy as the "Oni (Devil) Princess of Jurai", she's a high-ranking member of Jurai's royal family, The Woman Behind The Emperor, and Tenchi's great-grandmothergreat-great-great grandfather's grandmother grandfather's stepmother's mother. She's infamous for her use and arguable mastery of both the Xanatos Gambit and Batman Gambit, and also loves messing with people and their love lives for the lulz. She makes Seina her special friend early on...
Ryoko Balouta - Named for theoriginalRyoko. She's an honorable space pirate who has somehow gained an immense fanclub among GP officers, who revere her as an idol. For undisclosed reasons able to shapeshift into female humanoid and hybrid forms, such as Amane, Elma, or a mermaid. Lost princess of Baluta.
Elma - A WauHot Scientist who often functions as Seina's nurse, and happens to have an interest in Seina, despite the species gap. Elma is actually Ryoko (the one above) in disguise.
Seiryo Tennan - A flashy, flamboyant man who serves as Seina's Sadist Teacher during his academy days. He's incredibly bitter about having "lost" a duel against Tenchi in the main OVA storyline, and as a result, has developed a particularly nasty hatred for earthlings. Despite ostensibly being one of the "good guys" early on, he pulls a Face Heel Turn for the sake of his family's business after being kidnapped by pirates, and attempts to make himself into Seina's Rival from then on.
Airi Masaki - Chairwoman of the Galaxy Academy, and therefore the GP Academy. Yosho's wife, and therefore Tenchi's grandmothermother's mother. Runs a small restaurant in her spare time.
Neige Ma Melmas - A high priestess with Psychic Powers whom Seina first meets on Jurai. She falls for Seina and decides to join up with his crew after being released from her duties. Despite being Really 700 Years Old, she serves as the show's Token Mini-Moe.
Fuku - Expy and technical younger sister of the OVA's Ryo-Oh-Ki, Fuku is given to Seina after a particularly dangerous mission. Fuku acts as the mind and power source for Seina's second Cool Ship, the Kamidake II.
Cat People (The Wau are best described as a race of anthropomorphic mountain lions.)
Your Mileage May Vary on this interpretation. The pirates call them "dogfaces", and this troper found them far more canine than feline.
Chick Magnet (A rather strange version. Most girls on Earth don't particularly take notice of Seina, but once he's out in space...)
Not just his Harem too. After he gets into an accident while apart from the harem, a lady doctor shows more than a glancing interest in him and tries to jump him. He gets away, but not without a lip-stick stain on the cheek.
Continuity Nod (A lot, mostly towards the third Tenchi Muyo! OVA. For example, Minami Kuramitsu is seen running the GP spaceship mechanic team after having been sentenced to do so at the end of OVA 3, the planet-sized warship Chobimaru still bears all the grafitti/damage inflicted upon it during its Curb-Stomp Battle against Ryo-Oh-Ki, and Amane makes reference to having sung at the wedding of two characters who became engaged thanks to Tenchi and his harem.)
It's actually the other way around: the third Tenchi Muyo! OVA was made a year after GXP, even though in story terms it takes place before. It looks as if one of the primary goals of the third Tenchi Muyo! OVA was to heal all the continuity changes made in GXP.
It's actually a really bizarre continuity nod. The Tenchi Muyo OVA 3 was planned well ahead of GXP, and those changes where included to hype up the third OVA.
There is also one to Parallel Adventure Dual. At the Last episode of that series Zinv (the primary mecha said to have access to the Light Hawk Wings was sent to "another world" and in Ep 24 Seina gets his Crowning Moment of Awesome by being "sacrificed" to a mech that bears a very striking resemblance to Dual's Zinv (I don't think this was merely a coincidence).
This troper just wants to point out that he watch Parallel Adventure Dual, and while the screen said Zinv the main Charcters actually refered to it as Genebu in their verbal conversations
Cool Ship (The Mikagami, Kamidake and Kamidake II. The Unko is an inversion of this trope, being decidedly uncool in every single possible way.)
Does This Remind You of Anything? (Toyed with. An early Running Gag sees NB having large, pointy parts of spaceships jammed into his rear end (don't ask). He reacts just as you would expect. Also played with later on... When Seiryo talks about how his day with Seina has come, a droopy shock baton stands up firmly.
Ensign Newbie (Seina is given command over a decoy ship despite still technically being a cadet.)
Justified in that the higher ups were trying to weaponize his bad luck. Putting him onto a battleship might seem like a good idea until you realize his bad luck bleeds onto everybody (barring his harem), not just pirates.
Everything's Better with Princesses (Seto, the "Oni Princess of Jurai". Amane's a RebelliousHeiress. Partway through the series, Ryoko finds out that she's also related to a man about to become a king, which makes her a princess as well. Seto actually persuades Kiriko to be adopted into the Juraian royal family by pointing out the competition.)
Neige has just ended 2 millenia as head of state of a theocracy. Which doesn't make her a princess, exactly, but close enough for government work.
The opening credits show four silhouettes, The final three are obviously Aeka, Ryoko (Hakubi), and Tenchi, while the first is eventually revealed to be Neige in the episode that introduces her. Tenchi and co's silhouettes are revealed in the crossover episode. The Kamidake II appears at the end of the sequence after its introduction, and Neige, Fuku, and Ryoko are added to the Team Shot following Fuku's addition to the cast.
The ending credits intially use an Idiosyncratic Wipe which causes the background to change each time copies of Seina's trademark band-aid fill the screen. Halfway through the series, the band-aids are replaced with multiple Fukus. Nude images of Amane and Kiriko (Nipple and Dimed for your convenience, naturally) shown towards the end of the sequence are replaced with ones of Ryoko, and for some reason, Mitoto.
Not so strange, really. It would have been a bit Squick to have nude Neiges floating around. I don't think fans would have objected to Seto or Airi though. :3
Expy (Fuku, as mentioned above. Alan, Cohen, and Barry are expies of a Yuppie Trio from Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Most of the main cast are arguably Expies of Tenchi and his harem.)
The combat uniform Amane wears in episode 19 is nearly identical to the Kazuki wears in Dual!
Arguably, a lot of characters are based on the cast in Dual!, if only to some amount of appearance. Kiriko = Mitsuki Sanada, Amane = Yayoi, D = Neige, Ryoko = Mitsuki Rara. Seto = Ayuko.
Eye Catch - Of the "General Footage" variety. When going to a commercial break, it has footage of something occurring later in the episode, and when returning it shows a quick clip of something that already happened.
Fetish Fuel (The female Waus are somebody's, considering how often they show up scantily clad. An In-Universe example occurs when NB makes Seina go out and purchase literal Fetish Fuel that he had ordered, while Amane and Kiriko try to follow him. Hilarity Ensues.)
Gag Boobs (Vega, a Rich Bitch rival of Amane's from her model days, has a rather impressive pair.)
Genius Ditz (Mitoto Kuramitsu, daughter of Minami and mother of Mihoshi and Misao. She's a bubbly, airheaded lady who has as much navigational sense as Seina has luck, but is frighteningly competent when it comes to spaceship systems and repelling pirates. She also is able to enter hyperspace on foot, leading to her finding herself in the most interesting places.)
She seems subject to quantum uncertainty when it comes to her location.
Genre Savvy (Seiryo. After besting psycho Tarant for captaincy of the most powerful ship in the fleet by using the blunt side of a laser sword, Seiryo nonchalantly replies "Yep, I'm a Badass." Wouldn't have qualified for the trope were it not for the very unexpected competency in casually besting a foe who was presented as very frightening when he'd been the Butt Monkey of the show up until that point.
Alan, Barry, and Cohen have a brief Fourth Wall-breaking moment of this when one heads off on his own and the other two protest that he can't, because the three of them together comprise a single character.
In the English dub, Seina is voiced by Tony Oliver ("Rick Hunter", "Lupin III"). Elma is Rebecca Forstadt, a.k.a. Reba "Minmei" West; Rebecca also voiced Mihoshi.
Hijacked by Ganon (In a heroic variation, Seina is relieved of command of the Kamidake II during the raid on Da Ruma's hideout because Seto wanted to ruin the pirates personally.)
Hot for Student (Most of Seina's harem is visibly older than him, and serve as his instructors at the GP Academy for most of the series.)
Hot Shounen Mom (Mitoto is Mihoshi's Hot Shounen Mom, while Airi and Seto are Tenchi's Hot Shounen Grandma (* a-HEM* ) and Great-Great-Grandma, respectively.)
Infinite Supplies (Averted in episode 12 in which Seina's ship is being tracked by pirates who are preventing them from resupplying at at a space station, and after a few days the characters are shown gazing longingly at the last of their rations; a glass of water and a single cracker.)
The Jinx (Seina's bad luck often bleeds off onto those around him)
Jumped at the Call (Seina, as soon as he realizes he can actually accomplish something with his bad luck.)
However, this was due to goading by Seto and she specifically catered to this idea to so she would have a new toy to wreck havoc with. One of her attendants (the guy that's usually seen with her along with Minaho) lampshades how he she did the same thing with him.
Kick the Dog (Tarant attempts this multiple times, and probably would have gone through with it if the Scale sliding over to Idealism didn't always throw a monkey wrench into his plans.)
Knight of Cerebus (Tarant Shank, as much as the plot allows him to be.)
Meaningful Name (Fuku's name is a shortening of Koufuku (Good luck).)
Fridge Brilliance in-verse example: it's brought up why he didn't name her "kou" instead (because both "Kou" and "fuku" can be used to mean luck). He explains it's because "kou" can also be used in "fukou" for bad luck.
Meet Cute (Parodied by Gyokuren, Hakuren, Suiren, and Karen when they try seducing Seina.)
The Omniscient Council of Vagueness (When Lady Seto, Airi, and Misaki get together to discuss the plot. A more traditional version appears in the kidnapping arc.)
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything (Technically subverted, since we do see pillaging aplenty. However, Seina is only seen in class once in the entire series.)
In front of a massive audience. With audio. With major political figures attending.
And his parents.
Really 700 Years Old (Pretty much every Juraian character shown. Neige trumps everyone else by being somewhere over two thousand years old.)
Considering Tenchi's older sister is over 80 years old and his father is said to be 200 (due to the same treatment that Seina got), one has to wonder about Kiriko as well. A flashback shows that Seina remembers her being younger when he was very little, but who knows if his memories aren't colored by his assumptions and preconceptions?)
Seina's family has pictures of Kiroko as a young girl with Seina (naturally, injured in each one).
Rebellious Princess (Amane ran away and joined the Galaxy Police to get away from the shadow of her overbearing father. He's still trying to get her to come home until the second half of the series.)
Required Spinoff Crossover (Ryoko shows up in silhouette in the first episode. Two later episodes feature Washu and Ryo-Oh-Ki, and then along comes episode 15, in which Seina hangs out with the entirety of Muyo's cast.)
Tenchi Solution (Seina winds up marrying all eight members of his harem.)
Nine, if you include the questionable case of Fuku. This makes it symbolic as nine is an unlucky number in Japanese (similar to four)
The Other Darrin: Most of the original Tenchi Muyo! dub cast (Matt Miller, Petrea Burchard, Jennifer Darling, etc.) did not return to reprise their roles for the one episode where Seina visited Tenchi.
Those Two Guys (Kenneth and Rajau, Seina's pals during his stint at the academy are the initial set. They eventually get replaced by Alan, Barry, and Cohen, a trio of male bridge operators.)
Took a Level in Badass: Seiryo was introduced in an OVA episode as a hyper-effiminate throwaway adversary who could be defeated by a splash of water. He was reintroduced in this show as a comic relief stalker villain whose role consisted largely of getting his butt kicked by Action GirlAmane. Later, he actually beats the Big Bad in a fight! He says, "Yep, I'm a badass" afterward.
Took a Level in Jerkass: In the OVA, Seiryo was a slightly snobbish but reasonably respectful man who wanted to marry Princess Ayeka with her father's approval even if she was very reluctant. In this show, he's a stalker and a racist with a sadistic attitude toward one of his students. He eventually becomes one of the leaders of a crime syndicate that literally fights battles with the police force he used to be part of.
Unexpected Successor (By gaining control of the Zinv-look-alike which has a First Generation Juraian tree seed in it, Seina becomes third in line for the Juraian throne. However, because Tenchi and his grandfather do not really want to succeed the throne, this effectively puts him first.
Unfortunate Names (Due to the fact that every other "lucky" name was taken at the time, Seiryo is forced to christen his ship the Unko, which is supposed to mean "bringer of fortune", unfortunately for Seiryo, "Unko" also means, and is more commonly used to refer to, poop. Hilarity Ensues.)
Unknown Rival (Seina never really perceives Seiryo as an enemy; despite this, he's one of the few people on the show who takes Seiryo seriously.)
Wrong Genre Savvy (Tarant. He keeps trying to be a very, very dangerous foe. He keeps trying to cross the Moral Event Horizon. But this isn't that kind of show, so he's never allowed to be as evil as he wants to be.)
He abused cabbits. That automatically makes him worse than Kagato in many fans' eyes.
Xanatos Roulette (It's been theorized that Lady Seto had planned for most of Seina's career since their first meeting — including the wedding fiasco.)
Especially the wedding fiasco. When called out on it, she only responds by laughing. She had a Psychotic Smirk right before laughing as well.
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