This is a character sheet for the Tenchi Muyo! series:
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The Main Characters
Tenchi Masaki Jurai
Voice Actors: Masami Kikuchi (Japanese), Matt K. Miller (English)
The main hero of the franchise, who is always presented as an ordinary high school student that ends up surrounded by women lusting after him as he struggles through various hijinks, and doesn't usually have much personality beyond that apart from being a nice guy, being the reason as to why he's such a Chick Magnet.
Armor-Piercing Slap: Tenchi did this to Ryoko in Daughter of Darkness, and to Yugi in the final episode ofTenchi in Tokyo
Author Avatar: Tenchi Masaki and Masaki Kajishima. It gets more obvious when you learn that the OVA is partly a showcase of Kajishima's personal harem fantasies. And the fact that the character essentially becomes stronger than the Chousin who created the universe is a strong hint too.
Bad Liar: Sakuya calls him this in episode 10 of Tenchi in Tokyo, when he went on a date with Ryoko instead of her:
Flat Character: In most continuities, Tenchi just seems to exist as a plot device to keep the girls together and beat the enemy with awesome power. It's not really his fault as we rarely get to see things from his perspective because once the female characters show up their competition for him pretty much takes over the spotlight until it's time for him to come in and save the day. Other than those moments he is a Butt Monkey who is Genre Savvyabout being aFlat Character, "Tenchi Muyo!" roughly means "No Need For Tenchi!" much to his chagrin. This is a bit more mitigated in Tenchi in Tokyo where he has a bit more of a personality, as well as Tenchi Universe.
Strong as He Needs to Be: His power is confirmed by Z to work exactly like this. This applies to each Alternate Continuity as well in a meta sort of way for viewers who were around during Tenchi's run on Toonami.
Took a Level in Badass: In the second OVA and the Tokyo series, Tenchi grows somewhat more assertive in his personality and isn't as afraid to give the girls hell (especially Ryoko) when he feels they've crossed a line.
An aggressive Space Pirate (who often doesn't do much of anything pirate related) and flirt that is usually the first girl Tenchi meets. Is by for the most flirtatious of the girls and most the most hotheaded.Is the most popular girl amongst western audiences.
Action Girl: Largely in the 'Universe' and 'Tokyo' series.
She's that in the [{OVA}]s too, but by the end of the second series she's largely out of her league, so she barely bothers anymore.
Blood Knight: Originally, and still loves to blow things up or get a good scrap. She tended to put in severe PowerLimiters, so anybody whatsoever could pose any challenge.
Bottle Fairy: Expect to see her with a bottle of sake.
Frothy Mugs of Water: In the Toonami-edited version, Ryoko's sake becomes "tea".
Cry Cute: In the OVA, also sheds Manly Tears, Tender Tears, and Ocular Gushers. Come to think of it, she cries a lot, especially for an uber-BadassSpace PiratePhysical God(dess). Then again, considering the nature of her mother (see Washuu's Abusive Mom entry below), the fact that she was locked in a tomb for 700 years, and spent a good amount of time before that as a psychotic killing machine massacring millions if not billions for Kagato, her options were probably either tears or Stepford Smiler. Probably both.
Distressed Damsel: In the first two OVAs, by Kagato and Dr. Clay, and in the SNES game.
Subverted in the first episode of the Universe canon, where she just plays the part in order to get Tenchi and his folks on her side.
Jerkass: Generally, but Washuu, and mainly the merger with Zero, rehabilitated her remarkably quickly, so Jerk with a Heart of Gold when we last see her.
Lethal Chef: Her first attempt at cooking created some kind of acidic pink froth that dissolved the stove - out of what appeared to be the ingredients for vegetable soup. Later incidents tone it down, but her cooking (which involved incidents like frying fish by hurling energy bolts at them) still gets divided between the things that turn out wrong and the things that nobody gets to try.
New Powers as the Plot Demands: She can basically do anything within scale limits, including constructing extremely advanced inventions of her mother's design out of thin air.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Lovesick, half-android, hyperintelligent, immortal demi-goddess, alien, drunkard layabout, bratty reformed space-pirate, child-soldier slave. To be honest, in-universe descriptions of her get very inclusive and vague. The Space and Time adventures make this even worse by selectively including and excluding various traits and associated names to suit whichever 'dimension' the characters are currently in.
Psychopathic Manchild: Originally, but she didn't have much of a choice, paid enormously for her crimes, and is much nicer nowadays, really. Just a trickster troll, but don't attack her, or threaten anybody she cares about.
In the Mihoshi Special (a Tall Tale story Mihoshi told based on one of her cases, with the Tenchi-crew filling the closest roles of the participants), "Ryoko" ties Tenchi to her bed, proceeds to undress him, and was about to rape him, but she was stopped by Pretty Sammy. This is somewhat averted though, although her sexual advances are Played for Laughs most of the other characters are not okay with them.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: She became one with Zero, and could freely manipulate her body in extremely advanced fashions even before this, including duplication, phasing, regeneration, merging with inanimate matter, and so onwards.
Berserk Button: She hates being called an old maid. But more than that, Ryoko always brings out the worst in her.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In Tenchi Universe she can border on this. In the OAV she is simply a case of The Fettered. Almost manically attempting to manage a genetically very bad temper through excessive politeness.
The Woman Wearing The Queenly Mask: Especially in Tenchi Universe, where she shows genuine insecurities about her place and her duty within the Juraian royal family and considers herself as a mere puppet of them. Also see The Unfavorite.
In OVAs supplements it's mentioned that she originally had the same blue Kamiki hair as Misaki and Sasami, but dyed it to look more like Yosho's mother Funaho as an attempt to get closer to him.
Breakout Character: As the OV As became a set of anime series, her importance grew and grew until she became the main focus in Tenchi in Tokyo alongside Tenchi himself, don't get me start on the Pretty Sammy series where's she's the main character.
That Girl Is Dead: She believes so in the OAV, since as a little girl she took an almost fatal fall and Tsunami had to fuse with her. Actually, she *did* survive but barely.
An extremely clumsy and idiotic police officer that tends to end up on chasing Ryoko. She is extremely stupid and has numerous runninggags revealing around he airheaded nature and clumsiness.
Ambiguous Disorder: She takes ditziness and awkwardness to unprecedented new heights.
Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Played as a running gag in the manga and PC-FX games, as Mihoshi's addiction to soap operas made her mistake some of Tenchi's actions as if he wanted to elope with her or just rape her. The catch? Mihoshi was more than happy with the idea, much for Tenchi's puzzlement.
Born Lucky: And how! The laws of nature and causality bend around her to such an extreme that even higher-dimensional entities can't predict or do anything about her.
The manga dedicates a full chapter to try to explain Mihoshi's weird ability to set any probability to her favor and benefit even from accidents and blunders.
Bottle Fairy: In the OAV and manga, especially during the trip to Ryuten.
Imagine Spot: In the manga, they tend to involve some very lewd fantasies with Tenchi, which leave Mihoshi blushing and drooling, much for everyone's confusion.
Innocent Fanservice Girl: Played straight on the PC-FX and Sega Saturn videogames, where Mihoshi's clothes tend to be much more revealing and she displays little or just not concern whenever Tenchi catches her half undressed. This is especially noticeable during the hot spring scenes, where Mihoshi doesn't even bother to cover herself with a towel whenever Tenchi enters into the bath, and is cranked up to eleven on the Sega Saturn game, where Mihoshi spends a considerable amount of time and cutscenes completely nude, without thinking twice about it.
Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Mihoshi seems strangely attached to Kiyone, and even Kiyone has her moments, especially in episode 6 of the Universe series.
Satellite Character: In the Universe and Tokyo continuities, Mihoshi's whole purpose seems to revolve around hanging off Kiyone. Kiyone herself may fit to a lesser degree.
Summers Family Tree: Is Washuu's great-great-granddaughter, and Ryoko's great-grandniece. Allegedly (might just be a rumour) also supposed to have a relative who married one of Tenchi's family members at some point.
Took A Level In Dumb Ass: In the OVA 1 she went from a ditzy but focused officer to a lazy fool that couldn't remember her own brother's name by the end of OVA 3.
It was less that she couldn't remember his name and more that apparently her image of him is stuck on his teenaged self. He had to show a picture of him when he was younger for her to recognize him, but she recognizes other people from his crew with whom she has only occasionally interacted quite easily. Her backstory suggests her overall goofiness came about when a past Did You Just Romance Cthulhu? relationship went Horribly Wrong and she only survived with this much of her mind intact because she's Washu's descendant and has the luck to make a leprechaun jealous.
Washu Hakubi
Voice Actors: Yuko Kobayashi (Japanese), Kate T. Vogt (English)
A mad scientist with various origins throughout the franchise. Is fairly childish and prone to fights with Ryoko, though not as much as Ayeka. Her inventions defy laws of physics and can often serve as plot points due his irresponsibility or deusexmachina.
Abusive Mom: In the OVA (where she created Ryoko), she once straps Ryoko into an apparently escape-proof lab-table, turns off the lights and then runs off and hides. Ryoko is so afraid of being trapped alone in the dark that she starts crying and pleading for Washu to come back and rescue her. Washu is not only well aware of how badly this scares Ryoko, but is actually just around the corner, gleefully taping Ryoko's cries for "mommy".
Zero (disguised as Ryoko): If I take you to Dr. Clay, then I won't have to kill Tenchi!
Washuu (having replaced herself with a doll of herself): What are you doing with that? I didn't know Dr. Clay went for that sort of thing! If it's a present, I can put a ribbon on it!'''
Later, when evading Dr. Clay's Combat Tentacles trap in exactly the same way...
Washuu: I even remembered the ribbon!
Dr. Clay: *growls*
Washuu: If you give back Ryoko and leave Tenchi alone, I'll give it to you as a gift! But don't do anything indecent with it, ok?
Compressed Hair: How does she get all that pink hair under that little green cap in episode 12, anyway?
Cute Bruiser: Even in her child form, she's capable of lifting a heavy chair and punching through solid concrete. In the manga, she even suplexes her Evil Counterpart. Would count as a Genius Bruiser if she was more muscular. But then again, Muscles Are Meaningless when you've got the power to shape the universe.
Demoted to Extra: Had a diminished role in both the 'Tenchi Universe' and 'Tenchi in Tokyo' series, to the point where she barely had an impact in the second half of both shows until their respective finales.
Omnidisciplinary Scientist: By her own words, she's created things from Ryoko to Souja, so she has a grasp of everything from genetics to engineering. She's also good at medicine if the infamous 'Nurse Washu' scene is any indication.
Rose-Haired Girl: Depending on the official artwork, her hair ranges from light pink to dark pink.
She Is All Grown Up: Looks like a teen girl, but has an adult form that is breathtakingly beautiful. And her Goddess, which is essentially her adult form with a Pimped Out Dress, fits what you'd expect from a Physical God(ess)
A rabbit like alien with a cat's head and ears as long as her body that makes cat noises. As such fans refer to her as a cabbit. She is close friends with Sasami and eats nothing but carrots, and transforms into a space ship.
Retired Badass: Not entirely by his own decision, though. Funaho (his tree, not his mother, mind you) apparently took root, and thus he cannot leave Earth anymore, because Juraian royalty is immortal only in the range of their trees. In the Universe version, it's because of the guilt of killing his best friend, Kagato.
Strong Family Resemblance: Subverted. He marries into the Masaki family (Achika/Kiyone was Katsuhito's only child) and took the surname so it wouldn't be extinguished, but he looks remarkably like his father-in-law. Katsuhito lampshades it in Tenchi Universe by saying no one would've guessed that Nobuyuki isn't related to him.
Justified in the OVA continuity where, though he married into the Masaki family, he was the descendant of the wife Katsuhito married and then buried before marrying Airi. In other words, he is also a grandson/great-grandson of Katsuhito.
A space cop that has the misfortune of being partners with Mihoshi, whose clumsiness continuous ruins any chances of of a promotion as well as making her life a living hell.
Flandarization: She went from being a likable and generally sympathetic character in her early appearances to an overall Jerkass in Tench In Tokyo until about episode 20.
The Not-Love Interest: Notable in that she's one of the few female characters who is exceptionally close with Tenchi without ever becoming infatuated with him, which gives the two of them a special relationship sometimes bordering on Platonic Life Partners.
Sherry Lynn: Kiyone's original dubbed voice actor.
The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: She wants to be the only person to capture Ryoko. So much that she's willing to help Tenchi's group when they're framed
A all round normal girl Tenchi's age that has no crazy personality traits that befriends Tenchi after he moves to Tokyo, so naturally he ends falling for her and she serves as his love interest for the series. Late in the series it's revealed that she was created by Yugi as an ideal girlfriend for Tenchi to drive a wedge between him and the other characters so they will leave and take the crystals that can stop her that they have with them.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Develops some traits of this, since she was created solely to love Tenchi.
Distressed Damsel: Not necessarily her fault, since she's the only one in the Unwanted Harem without powers, weapons, or superpowered mascots.
Heroic BSOD: Sakuya has one when she realizes that she has no memories of any family of her own.
Heroic Sacrifice: When Yugi locks Tenchi in a Lotus-Eater Machine with Sakuya as a bait, she ultimately chooses to sacrifice the last bits of her existence and willpower to give Tenchi a Rousing Speech and send him back to reality so he can reunite with the girls and defeat Yugi. Easily her Crowning Moment of Awesome.
Really Dead Montage: The special end credits for episode 24, with her image song, "Kataomoi (Unrequited Love)" performed by her voice actress, Mayumi Iizuka.
Kid from the Future: She shows up out of the blue one day calling Tenchi "Daddy" and forming a Laser Sword like Ryoko's, although she never explains any details, and Washu can't find the mother from her DNA. Subverted — she was created by Yuzuha, with no actual time travel involved.
Last Girl Wins: Politcally speaking, Noike is the last girl introduced to the Harem, and the first to actually be get engaged by Tenchi. Luckily for the other girls, Jurai standards will allow them to STILL be with Tenchi, and even marry him as well when they are ready in the future.
Well Done Son Guy: Devoted to Yakage and his memory, even after he's dead.
Kiyone Masaki (OVA 3)
Action Mom: She did a lot of things according to the story she left for Tenchi. However it seems most of it was made up.
Amazingly Embarrassing Mom: When your mother creates an elaborate practical joke concerning her death and wills her relatives to read it aloud to you, she probably qualifies as this.
Identical Daughter: She looks exactly like Airi with white hair, and apparently inherits her mother sense of humor as well: her practical joke about her death involved both Airi and Tennyo. And Rhea too, apparently.
Older than They Look: Standard fare for Tenchi characters. She died of old age at over 200, though apparently she still had the appearance of a young woman, for some reason.
She had some problems with her tree, apparently, and without it even the Juraian nanotech treatments can get only that effective.
Unlike her father and sister, Kiyone didn't become bonded to a royal tree and may not have visited Jurai at all (considering Yosho was still considered MIA).
Berserk Button: Don't insult Ayeka or Sasami in front her.
Cloudcuckoolander: Apparently thinks that her fling with Yosho (in the novels) is something absolutely normal. Her mother and husband emphatically disagree.
And there's the fact that when she first sees Ryoko in the OVA, she mistakes her for Sasami. Repeat, she mistakes a well-known criminal for her kid daughter.
Wicked Stepmother: Averted with the extreme prejudice. She was so nice that Tenchi's memories of his mother actually latched to her rather than his real Cloud Cuckoolander mom. And when Nobuyuki really got around to marrying her, Tenchi was already all grown up anyway.
Voice Actors: Norio Wakamoto (Japanese), Michael Scott Ryan (English)
Animal Motifs: It's more subtile than in Washu's or Clay's case, but OVA Kagato has a theme of snakes going on in his ship and even in his style of hair. The person whom he was based on, Naja, has a snake theme in her name.
Badass: Both versions, but only the OVA version is a
Evil Is Stylish: Meticulously stylised to the last fingerglove, with the cape just right for dramatic flair, and appropriate organ music to set the tone. In fact, according to Word Of God this part was a deliberate parody.
Genius Bruiser: He's a super genius to be sure, but he's also a very powerful combatant in his own right.
Hermaphrodite: Originally, but split in female and male halves. One of the more strange revelations given by OVA 3.
All There in the Manual: Makes total sense if one reads the OVA canon novel detailing his backstory.He started out as a clone of Washu's (presumably) dead best friend, Akara Naja, who Came Back Wrong and lacked Naja's playful and carefree personality. The Naja clone fused with a male Ryoko prototype, changed its name to Kagato, and the rest is history. So Kagato is the result of a female clone fusing with a male body. Of course, it would've been nice for OVA 3 to bring any of this up in some fashion...
In the OAV, things get serious once he appears, and he represents the only real time Tenchi was at risk of dying. Clay and Z have brief moments of tension surrounding them, but they never make the same impression that Kagato did.
His Universe version fits the trope even better. Things were fairly light hearted until he appeared... he cleanly defeats Tenchi's grandfather, kidnaps Ayeka, and gravely wounds Ryoko. From there, Tenchi is forced into a life or death struggle to rescue Ayeka and save Jurai. Azaka, Kamidake and Ryoko all seem to die but manage to recover.
Unfortunate Names: Unko, the name of Seiryo's ship. It was the only luck-based name that wasn't claimed already, it means "bringer of fortune". Which works really well for how it looks on paper. Unfortunately…it also means poop. More commonly, in fact. Which works really freaking terribly for actually speaking it aloud.
Dude Looks Like a Lady: Is often mistaken for Mihoshi if one doesn't look closely enough.
Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Say what you will about Clay, at least he was fairly effective when all was said and done. Misao is treated as a joke from his first appearance and it only gets worse from there.
Sissy Villain: Misao actually wears boots with high heels.
Mashisu Makibi (OVA 3)
Bodyguard Crush: Elects to work with Misao largely because she loves him.
Love Makes You Dumb: Knows that Misao's plan could lead to war with Jurai...and generally thinks that Misao is stupid but puts up with all of that for love.
Blessed with Suck: He views the power to destroy planets a burden because it was given by the ones responsible of his family's deaths, which is why he wants to kill Tenchi in order to spare him of this burden.
The Chessmaster: Being the mastermind behind the events of OVA 3.
No Sell: To Tenchi's powers by surrendering one of his wings for each power.
Person of Mass Destruction: He is a higher dimensiona anomaly, which would give him limitless power by our measuring, despite that the Choushin rank far higher still. He once destroyed most of the Earth and the Moon on a whim, but was going to rewrite time to undo the damage afterwards.
Too Powerful to Live: Although Tokimi resurrected him, and his civilisation, and sent him back thousands of years into the past, to live his life normally with his family.
Story Breaker Power: He could destroy entire planetary bodies, manipulate dimensions, negate Tenchi's abilities that curbstomped Kagato, and by taxing himself to his limits even caused Tokimi pain. It took GOD Tenchi himself to finally kill him.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: He wanted to stop Tokimi from interfering and killing any more mortal civilisations, including his own parents, and intended to kill Tokimi, save Tenchi from the same fate he suffered, and undo all of the deaths he had caused, including Tenchi himself after he cut off the connection with his higher self.
Implacable Man: Gun lasers phase through him. Even Achika using her full power and making mincemeat out of him can't destroy him, and in the end, he had to be hit with a Galaxy destroying cannon to finally kill him.
Omnicidal Maniac: He's mentioned to have rampaged across the universe and doesn't appear to have any motive his actions beyond simply being evil.
Only One Name : Justified as he's a living mass of dark matter.
One-Winged Angel: Into what could be described as a black demon dragon thing.
Person of Mass Destruction: It took the Juraian Emperor and the entire Galaxy Police fleet to capture him for the first time, and...
Sealed Evil in a Can: At the start of the movie, and he breaks out and lays waist to an entire fleet that tried to stop him.
Rape Is OK When It Is Female On Male: Tenchi is brainwashed by her and made to live with her as her lover. In favor of telling Ryoko and Ayeka they're Not so Different from her, the fact that this is rape is ignored by the story.
Easily Forgiven / Karma Houdini: Have your minions kidnap a major Jurai official? Check. Have said minions hunt down the Jurai official's daughter? Check. Brainwash another Jurai official and have him instigate unrest on Ryuten? Check. Personally order your minions to kill the daughter of your rival? Check. Kill dozens of soldiers while you steal a royal tree and nearly collapse the galaxy? Double Check. What do you get for all this, Yume? Not even a slap on the wrist. In the Shin/New manga, she suffers Redemption Demotion.
Kick the Dog: Is very abusive to her creations and puts Clay and Washu to shame by comparison. Though when one of her creations (Takashima) sacrifices its life to protect Yume, she suffers a Villainous Breakdown that reveals herself as a possible Jerkass Woobie.
Smug Snake / Bad Boss: While she is pretty powerful and smart, her cruel treatment of her subordinates (including Sakuya) and how smug she is makes her much less effective as a villainess.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Matori and Sakuya. The latter also doubles as a Moral Event Horizon due to cruelty potential that even rivals video gamers, but remarkably she becomes a rare example of someone who was able to cross back.
Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Matori questions Yugi when she decides to only capture Sasami instead of killing her, but Yugi gets pissed off at that and she has to comply.
