1 The Main Characters

The names are in English order, with the surname after the given name.

• Tenchi Masaki (柾木天地 Masaki Tenchi), the hero and descendant of aliens from the planet Jurai. He has a lightsabre-like sword that bears the same name as himself. Currently he trains to be a Shinto Priest (and a Jurai Swordsman). He is a little clueless around women though. Tenchi has shown in the series three forms — his normal human form, a battle form, and a pure Jurai form. In his Jurai form, he has access to the ultimate power of the Jurai royal family — the Wings of the Light Hawk. In the OVA, at one time he lived in the city with his father and only went to his grandfather's shrine every summer. But when Ryoko beamed the house aboard her ship, while escaping from Ayeka, after it crashed it was permantly relocated right next to his grandfather's shrine. Is a victim who is forced to have all the girls live with him in his house. Though they tend to get on his nerves he would never forsaken them.
• Ryoko (魎呼 Ryoko), a girl who has fallen madly in love with Tenchi. Depending on the series, she is either a 5,000 year old wanted criminal ressurected by Tenchi, or a feisty space pirate. Ryoko has a lot of powers and has an angry streak, a lot of light-blue hair, and a ship named Ryo-Ohki that can turn into a "cabbit," a half-cat, half-rabbit creature of Washu's creation. She also enjoys drinking Sake and is a bit of a alcholic. In the OVA she merges with Zero a creaton from Dr. Clay, Washu's rival, who had impersonated her. The result is it allows for Ryoko to have more emotional feelings. "Ryoko" means "spirit caller".
• Ayeka (阿重霞 Aeka), Princess of Jurai, who has found her way to Earth. She is also infatuated with Tenchi. Her full name in the OVA is Ayeka Masaki Jurai (柾木阿重霞樹雷 Masaki Aeka Jurai). Ayeka is a bit snooty, but most of her bad qualities are drawn out by Ryoko. The two constantly bicker, often over who is going to marry Tenchi. In the OVA, Ayeka was once engaged to her brother Yosho (In the Jurai Royal Family in the OVA it is not uncommon to marry a relative). When she came to live on the earth she found her brothers tree alive which meant he must still be alive. She eventually found out her brother Yosho is really Tenchi's grandfather Katsuhito. Currently she has given up on him now that he is too old for her and is currently going for Tenchi in hopes of marrying him despite for Ayeka's problems with Ryoko. The romanization of her name in the English versions is "Ayeka" instead of "Aeka" to clarify its pronunciation. Her name is believed to be derived from "aekanaru", meaning "frail" or "delicate", which is her usual personality.
• Sasami (砂沙美 Sasami), Ayeka's little sister, a sweet soul who does all the cooking, and is often the most reasonable person in the household despite her young age. In the OVA, her full name is Sasami Masaki Jurai (柾木砂沙美樹雷 Masaki Sasami Jurai). Like all the other girls, she has a crush on Tenchi. She is Ryo-ohki's best friend when she is in cabbit form, and the two are usually found together. In the OVA her very being is intertwined with the main royal tree of Jurai, Tsunami, due to an accident that happened when she was young — when Sasami reaches adulthood, she will become Tsunami.
• Washu Hakubi (白眉 鷲羽 Hakubi Washu), Washu, the greatest scientific genius in the universe, is a different character depending on the series. In the OVA, she is over 20,000 years old. Also in the OVA, she is the mother of Ryoko, and creator of the Soja and Ryo-ohki. She constantly tries to get that "last" bit of data from Tenchi, failing usually due to Mihoshi when she enters the lab. She also has a bit of a crush on Tenchi, despite the difference in their ages, but her primary interest in him is scientific. In the OVA, Washu's origin is simple, yet complex — she is in fact an incarnation of one of the three godesses that govern the universe. Out of all the girls she is the most suspicious and doesn't fall into enemy traps as easily as Tenchi or the other girls would.
• Mihoshi Kuramitsu (九羅密 美星 Kuramitsu Mihoshi), quite possibly the dumbest blonde in the galaxy, who also happens to be a Galaxy Police detective. In the OVA, she constantly enters Washu's lab and breaks things, sleeps often, and is the most lucky of the Galaxy Police. Mihoshi is probably the one of the girls who is least interested in Tenchi, although she has her moments of infatuation as well. In the OVA, in what has to be one of the best examples of "sometimes the apple does fall far from the tree", Mihoshi is actually a direct line descendant of Washu. In the OVA, the only reason why she is still with the Galaxy Police is because her Grandfather is the Grand Marshall. Also has a weird form of luck where it may give her good luck, towards others however it gives them bad luck. Like Sasami she is also a carefree person. In the TV series and movies, Mihoshi is partnered with a woman named Kiyone Makibi.
• Kiyone Makibi (真備清音 Makibi Kiyone) Kiyone, who first appears in the OVA special "Galaxy Police Mihoshi's Space Adventure" and later became a staple in the TV series timeline, is Mihoshi's partner. Long-suffering and constantly dragged down by Mihoshi, (Even though she graduated from the Academy with Honors) who gets on Kiyone's nerves more than anyone's. Unlike Mihoshi she is a good detective and does know how to use the Galaxy Police Equipment properly. One thing she has in common with Tenchi is she is also a victim that is forced to live with him and the other girls on earth (In the first TV Series she and Mihoshi move into a low cost apartment because she doesn't want to be a burden on Tenchi). Kiyone does not appear in the OVA Canon — In the OVA continuity Tenchi's mother is named Kiyone and Mihoshi's old partner is Noike)
• Nobuyuki Masaki, Tenchi's father, who is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Is also a Peeping Tom and tries to encourage Tenchi to be more active towards women. (Though he is a minor character in the OVA's only in both of the TV Series however he is more of a support character.)
• Katsuhito Masaki, Tenchi's grandfather (on his mother's side). In the OVA, Katsuhito Masaki, also known as Yosho, fled Jurai over 700 years ago to "retire" on Earth was once the greatest swordsman on Jurai. Tenchi's mother died when Tenchi was young. Currently Katsuhito is a Shinto Priest who is not only training Tenchi be a Shinto priest but also the knowledge of his Jurai Swordsmanship skills so Tenchi can be his Sucessor. Was arranged to be married to Ayeka but left because since he is half Human, it would have caused a controversy because not all Juraians liked the idea of mixed blood heritages, he used Ryoko's attack as an excuse to slip away to earth. In the OVA, he really did not expect that Ayeka was trying to track him down though he concealed his new identity at first when she came to live on the earth. In the first TV Series he is still known as Yosho and is related to Jurai its just the only difference that he isn't a close relative to Ayeka or Sasami.
• Ryo-Ohki (魎皇鬼 Ryo'oki), the cabbit. Ryo-Ohki is Ryoko's pet in the OVA and the Tenchi Universe series while Ryo-Ohki is Sasami's pet in Tenchi and Tokyo. In the OVA, when not being used for transport, Ryoko's ship transforms into a cabbit, a cross between a cat and a rabbit. Like her feline half, she is insatiably curious and constantly getting into trouble. Like her rabbit half, she can eat several times her own weight in carrots. In the OVA, Ryo-Ohki prefers to hang out with Sasami rather than Ryoko because Sasami is much nicer to her. Later in the OVA and manga, thanks to an incident involving the raw material she was made from, Ryo-Ohki gains two "cabbit-girl" forms — an adult form and a child form. However she chose to remain with the child form because the adult form is too hard to walk with. The child form is considered unstable where the slightest shock will cause her to revert back to her cabbit form. In Tenchi in Tokyo she can transform into a giant pink mecha-like cabbit robot.

2 External Links

• AIC's Official Tenchi Muyo! Site
• Anime on DVD Essential Tenchi Muyo! — the brief overview of the series
• Tenchi Muyo! Primer - the overview of each series of Tenchi Muyo!
• Tenchi Muyo Another Universe — Very Useful Resource Site coving all of the Tenchi Series, Movies, and Spin-Offs as well as the latest news.
• Tenchi in Tokyo — Wiki dedicated to the Tenchi anime series.
• Tenchi Muyo Information Archives — Has a archive of screenshots from Tenchi Episodes and has a Character Guide that explains the character differences between each of the Tenchi series.

Anime Manga

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