''Tenchi the Movie: Tenchi in Love!'', also known in Japan as , is a 1996 Japanese

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

film and the first of three films set in the ''

Tenchi Muyo! is a Japanese anime, light novel and manga franchise. The original series began with a six-episode OVA called created by Masaki Kajishima and directed by Hiroki Hayashi, and released in Japan on September 25, 1992. The series was relea ...

'' multi-verse. The film takes place after the conclusion of ''

Tenchi Universe is a Japanese anime television series animated by AIC and produced by Pioneer LDC. It is loosely based on the first six episodes of the ''Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki'' OVA series. The series premiered on April 2, 1995 in Japan and concluded its a ...

'', and so varies from the original OVAs at several points. Most noticeable of these is the inclusion of Achika as Tenchi's mother instead of Kiyone Masaki. It was followed by ''

Tenchi Forever! ''Tenchi Forever!'', also known in Japan as , is a 1999 Japanese anime film based upon the popular ''Tenchi Muyo!'' series, and was directed by Hiroshi Negishi. It was released in America under the title ''Tenchi Forever!'', possibly because it w ...

'', released in 1999.

Plot

After being defeated by the Jurai Emperor and the Galaxy Police centuries ago, the monstrously powerful Super A-1 class criminal Kain was imprisoned in the subspace room of the GP's headquarters, never to be released. In the present (established to be 1996, the year of the film's release), Kain escapes his bonds, destroys the GP space station, and travels back in time to take his revenge on Jurai's royal family. The Galaxy Police only has time to send a short warning, which Mihoshi and Kiyone intercept. The Masaki house, the shrine, and Tenchi himself all begin to fade out of existence. Washu theorizes that someone is tampering with the established timeline, and uses a shield to keep Tenchi from vanishing. The shield is only a temporary solution, so Washu sends the rest of the group back to 1970 to prevent Kain from killing Tenchi's mother Achika. Tenchi's friends assume roles at Tenchi's father Nobuyuki and Achika's high school, while Tenchi himself stays hidden to prevent causing a

paradox A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically u ...

. Tenchi and his friends must also deal with a rogue GP operative bent on seizing glory by killing Kain. After determining the exact time that Kain strikes in 1970, the group tries to defend Achika, only to see the villain escape into subspace with her and Nobuyuki. Tenchi, Ayeka and Ryoko follow and challenge Kain, but even with their powers boosted by Washu they are no match for him. Washu sends a powerful "dimensional cannon" from the present, and Kiyone mans the weapon to destroy Kain. Tenchi is wounded, and Achika unlocks her latent Jurai powers to fuel his sword and deal a crippling blow to Kain. The group barely escapes in time before the dimensional cannon is fired into their pocket of subspace, finally destroying Kain. Before her memory is wiped along with Nobuyuki's, Achika asks Ryoko and Ayeka to take care of Tenchi, since she will not be there for him in their present.

Cast

Masami Kikuchi is a Voice acting in Japan, Japanese voice actor and narrator. He was affiliated with Troubador Music Office until March 2010. He then worked as freelance until April 2011, when he was employed by Kenyu Office. Filmography Television animation ...

as Tenchi Masaki *

Ai Orikasa is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer from Tokyo, Japan who is currently affiliated with Axlone. She has played a variety of characters, from young girls to women and boys, and is particularly good at voicing attractive, strong, and b ...

as Ryoko *

Megumi Hayashibara is a Japanese voice actress, singer, lyricist and radio personality from Kita ward in Tokyo and is affiliated with self-founded Woodpark Office. One of the most prominent Japanese voice actresses since the 1990s, Hayashibara is best known for he ...

as Achika *

Yumi Takada is a former Japanese voice actress employed by 81 Produce. Notable voice roles *Chitose Fujinomiya in Goldfish Warning! *Alice Knox in Power Dolls *Ayeka Masaki Jurai in Tenchi Muyo! *Ayeka Takada (OVA)/Romio (TV), Ghost Girl (TV; episode 8) ...

as Ayeka *

Chisa Yokoyama is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer from Tokyo, Japan. She was affiliated with Arts Vision but has since founded her own voice company called Banbina. When she was a high school student, she was an assistant of Jump Broadcasting Stati ...

as Sasami *

Etsuko Kozakura , better known by her stage name , is a Japanese voice actress from Mizuho. She was formerly with Ohsawa Jimusho, but now heads her own agency called Little Portal with husband Jin Domon. Some of her major roles are Ryo-Ohki in the ''Tenchi Muyo ...

as Ryo-Ohki *

Ryūzaburō Ōtomo is a freelance Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator who was formerly affiliated with Aoni Production, 81 Produce and the Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society. Due to his deep voice, he often plays villainous characters like fellow ...

as Kain *

Toshiyuki Morikawa is a Japanese voice actor, narrator and singer who is the head of Axlone, a voice acting company he founded in April 2011. His name is also sometimes mistranslated as Tomoyuki Morikawa. In 2003, he and Fumihiko Tachiki formed the band "2Hearts", ...

as young Nobuyuki Masaki *

Yuko Kobayashi is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator, currently affiliated with 81 Produce and married to voice actor Mitsuaki Hoshino. Filmography Television animation *'' Attacker You!'' (1984), You Hazuki *''Ranma ½'' (1989), Atsuko, Anna and L ...

as Washu *

Yuko Mizutani Yuko may refer to: * Yuko (judo) (''yūkō''), a score in judo competition * Yuko (Ukrainian band), a Ukrainian band * Yūko, a Japanese female given name (including a list of persons with the name) * Yuko, a Belgian band * Yuko people, an Amerind ...

as Mihoshi *

Yuri Amano is a Japanese voice actress who is affiliated with Arts Vision. Her real name, as well as her former stage name is . Her best known role is Kiyone Makibi in the ''Tenchi Muyo!'' franchise. Other major roles include Asako Nakamura in ''Ushio and ...

as Kiyone *

Takeshi Aono was a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Asahikawa, Hokkaidō. He was attached to Aoni Production at the time of his death. He graduated from Hokkaidō Asahikawa Higashi High School. Career Aono was most known for the roles of Shiro ...

as Nobuyuki Masaki

Music

The music for ''Tenchi in Love'' was composed by

Christopher Franke Christopher Franke (born 6 April 1953) is a German musician and composer. From 1971 to 1987, he was a member of the electronic group Tangerine Dream. Initially a drummer with The Agitation, later renamed Agitation Free, his primary focus eventua ...

(formerly of

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...

and the main composer for the ''

Babylon 5 ''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tel ...

'' series). The end theme song is ''Alchemy of Love'', written by Franke and performed by

Nina Hagen Catharina "Nina" Hagen (; born 11 March 1955) is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rose to prominence during the Punk subculture, punk and New wave music, new wave movements in the late 1970s a ...

, with

Rick Jude Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

on backing vocals. There is also an Achika version of the song, with new Japanese lyrics, and is performed by

(Achika's Japanese voice actress). The Achika version is available on a single mini-CD (''Pioneer PIDA-1033'') and on the Japanese LaserDisc version of the movie, as a music video, which also features the original English version.

Distribution

''Tenchi in Love!'' had its US television premiere during Sci-Fi Channel's (now SyFy) Anime theme week on August 26, 1996. In North America, it was initially released on home video in the '90s by Pioneer Entertainment USA before they released it independently on DVD in 2003. This release was one of the few releases from Pioneer/Geneon to have

THX THX Ltd. is an American company that develops the eponymous high fidelity audio/visual reproduction standards for movie theaters, screening rooms, home theaters, computer speakers, gaming consoles, car audio systems, and video games. Founded ...

-certified video, re-mastered for superior picture quality, and with the audio, remixed in 5.1

Dolby Digital Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, the audio compression is lossy ...

AC3 surround sound. After Pioneer's shut down in 2007,

FUNimation Entertainment Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

announced the license of the movie, along with a handful of other Geneon titles. The movie is distributed by

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatri ...

in Australia and New Zealand and by

MVM Films MVM Entertainment, also known as MVM and MVM Films, is a British licensor and distributor of Japanese animation. The company also sub-licenses anime titles from US anime companies such as Media Blasters, Geneon, Nozomi Entertainment, Urban Vision, ...

in the United Kingdom. It was released on

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

in North America in December 2012 by FUNimation in a box set with the other ''Tenchi'' movies.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 1996 anime films Adventure anime and manga Anime International Company Fantasy anime and manga Animated films about time travel Films set in 1970 Films set in 1996 Films set in Tokyo Funimation Geneon USA Harem anime and manga NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan Shōnen manga Tenchi Muyo! films Films scored by Christopher Franke