YMMV / Tenchi in Tokyo

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Just how serious was Kiyone when she proposed that she would make a much better girlfriend to Tenchi in front of Ryoko? While a likely answer is that she only said that to goad Ryoko into coming back and only saw Tenchi as just a friend, it's also possible that she really was warming up to the idea of getting together with Tenchi. Alternately, she could also be seen as genuinely being receptive to the idea of being Tenchi's girlfriend but still wanted to provoke Ryoko into coming back all the same.
• Audience-Alienating Era: While not without some fans, Tenchi in Tokyo is generally seen as the lowest point of the franchise due to its Denser and Wackier humor, the perceived lower quality animation, missed plot and character opportunities for Tenchi himself, and a really controversial new romantic interest in Sakuya.
• Broken Base: Fan reaction towards this series is mixed. On paper, it seemed like something that fans would want, especially since Tenchi has always been seen as a Satellite Character for the girls and people wanted to see him go on his own adventures and do his own thing without always being defined by his Unwanted Harem. In practice, the show proved to be one of the most divisive Tenchi series out there due to the art style, the humor, the new love interest in Sakuya, and just about anything you can imagine.
• Die for Our Ship: Poor Sakuya. If there's any one thing Ryoko and Ayeka fans can agree on, it's that they don't want Tenchi ending up with her.
  • Alas, Poor Scrappy: For some. Whether you liked her or not, it can't be disagreed that having Yugi break her by talking right before re-absorbing her by force (and when the poor kid is crying and begging Tenchi to help her!) was really cruel.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Hotsuma
• Growing the Beard: The second half of the series, which actually features Tenchi growing a spine and telling the girls to leave him the hell alone.
• Les Yay: Between Masayo and Ayeka in "Tokyo or Bust". Sasami lampshades this.
• Recycled Script: The way the script ends, it could be called "An extended version of the Tsunami/Sasami" episode in the original series. With Yugi instead of Sasami one day becoming a romantic rival as well.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The series has elements of Romantic Comedy and Monster of the Week, which led to a very forced-in plot, which would've been better had the show either tried to be more realistic and focus more on the relationships off Tenchi and his harem and have Sakuya being a normal girl instead of the villain's conjured shadow made to keep Tenchi away from them and go into the depths of their feelings about the whole matter and led to a sound resolution; or focus on fighting spirits and limit the romantic themes significantly in order to present a very action packed story. Instead the story ends with another romantic rival for Tenchi with the very same reactions from the girls of Yugi growing up and becoming a threat to their confession of love and Tenchi returning to the chaos of the screwed up family in the Masaki shrine.
  • Alternatively, it could've shown how Tenchi would be as a normal student instead of an insanely powerful hero.
  • Also, the fact that this series is yet *another* AU storyline, rather than being a direct sequel to the previous Tenchi Universe series. It failed to capitalize on the previous TV series' blatant sequel hook ending, and the whole idea of the show (Tenchi deciding to move away from his crazy harem and go to school in the city; introducing a Muggle love interest outside of the Masaki harem...) feels like a sequel and deliberately plays off of the audiences' assumed familiarity with the characters and their relationships. Even the show itself seems to want to confuse the issue, what with its In Media Res opening episode, and not getting to the characters' origin stories until episode 7. Also not helping matters is one episode having Nobuyuki mention Achika and an image of her younger self from the first Tenchi movie appearing.

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