Ryoko is a space pirate. However, in spite of her somewhat gruff disposition, she is very much in love with Tenchi. This causes her to quarrel with Ayeka incessantly. She also has the ability to fly and to teleport.

Mihoshi is a member of the GP (Galaxy Police). She is somewhat scatterbrained, which causes strife with her partner (and she thinks, best friend) Kiyone.

Kiyone is Mihoshi's partner in the GP. In some sense, she is exactly the antithesis of Mihoshi; very diligent and serious about her job, she is very intent on advancing in her career in the GP. However, with Mihoshi as her partner, this is not easy.

Ayeka is a princess from a planet called Jurai. She tries to be very demure, and is very much in love with Tenchi. Ayeka and Ryoko often quarrel (mostly over Tenchi), but it is eventually insinuated that the two of them are very good friends.

Washu is a scientific genius. She tends to be somewhat of a recluse, spending much of her time in her sub-space lab, concocting amazing inventions. She also often carries around a pair of talking puppets who remind her what a genius she is.

Tenchi Masaki believes he is an ordinary enough guy. However, the arrival of six alien women turns his life upside down. He eventually learns that he is actually descended from the inhabitants of the planet Jurai.

Ryo-Ohki (left) is a cabbit, a small rabbit-cat like animal. Ryo-Ohki is able to transform into a spaceship, and in Tenchi In Tokyo, a giant mechanized version of herself. She loves carrots, and she and Sasami are nearly inseparable.

Sasami (right) is Ayeka's perpetually cheerful little sister. She is an expert chef, and probably the most well adjusted of the women living in the Masaki household.

Katsuhito/Yosho (left) is Tenchi's wise grandfather, being Achika's father. He is very intent on training Tenchi in the martial arts, and tends to be the stabilizing factor in the Masaki household. In the first two series, Katsuhito is also the legendary warrior Yosho from Jurai.

Noboyuki (right) is Tenchi's father, and is widowed by Achika. In the past, he was quite a charming young man, but in the present, most of the girls in the Masaki household seem to regard him, as Ryoko puts it, as "that filthy old man he became".

Tsunami is the physical incarnation of the most powerful Jurai tree. In the OVA, it is learned that when Sasami was younger, she had a fatal accident; her life was saved when Tsunami merged her life force with Sasami's. Consequently, Sasami will become Tsunami when she grows up. Tsunami is also a main character in the Magical Project S/Pretty Sammy spinoffs.

Sakuya Kumashiro is a classmate with whom Tenchi falls in love with (in Tenchi In Tokyo), much to the chagrin of Ayeka and Ryoko. An attractive, bright young woman, she gradually realizes that she can remember none of her life prior to meeting Tenchi; it's almost as if she were created just to be with him.

Yugi is the main antagonist in Tenchi in Tokyo. She is a young girl from Jurai, who was infused with special powers. However, she could not control these powers, and as a result nearly destroyed planet Jurai. Thus she was sealed away and banished to space; her crypt landed on earth, and there she stayed until an earthquake freed her.

We meet Achika, Tenchi's mother, as a young woman in Tenchi Muyo in Love . She is a very demure young woman, and it is learned that she is descended from Jurai lineage. She is able to defeat the criminal Kain, thus restoring the universe's normal timeline. However, in doing so, se expends so much energy that she shortens her life considerably.

Tenchi Muyo!

The original OVA. Tenchi, while investigating a mysterious cave, accidentally frees Ryoko, a demon who has been sealed up there. Eventually, the rest of the characters arrive on earth, and the main plot element is that a man named Dr. Clay seeks to capture Ryoko, who in his mind belongs to him, and kill Tenchi in the process.

Trivia: Here, it is mentioned that all of the girls (except Mihoshi) are very old. In a flashback, we see that 700 years ago, Sasami was a toddler and Ayeka an adolescent.

Mihoshi was assigned to patrol Earth's solar system as a favor to her grandfather. He believed she would be least likely to get herself killed there.

It seems Washu used her ova to create Ryoko. Thus, Washu sees herself as Ryoko's mother.

Rumor: It is rumored that Pioneer/AIC are producing another OVA to tie up the loose ends in this series.

Cute image.

Tenchi Universe

The first TV series. In this series, we meet the characters again, with some personality changes, and the major plot element is a coup on the planet Jurai. It seems an evil entity has passed himself off as the legendary warrior Yosho, and he seizes power, causing Ayeka and Sasami to be wanted criminals. This series is probably the most 'fun' of the three Tenchi series, with, among other things, space adventures, alternate universes, and a swimsuit contest.

Trivia: This time, Washu is the one sealed up in a cave; by creating fantastic weapons, she has been deemed a menace to the universe.

Notable alternate universes in this series: Kiyone traveling the earth attempting to fake her own death (and get away from Mihoshi), Sasami as Pretty Sammy, Ayeka, Tenchi and Ryoko in 1920's-mobster mode, and Mihoshi and Tenchi as a married couple.

Tenchi in Tokyo (a.k.a. Shin Tenchi Muyo)

The latest (last?) TV series. Here, we do not meet the cast 'fresh'. The girls are already living with Tenchi, but in no small part due to Ayeka and Ryoko's meddling in his life, he decides to move to Tokyo to go to school.

Once there, he meets another student named Sakuya. Slowly the two of them develop a deep relationship.

However, all is not as it seems. A mysterious alien is gradually working to drive all of the characters apart. It seems this alien has designs on taking over Earth, and Tenchi and the others together have a fantastic power that will only be overcome by splitting them apart.

All of these plot elements, of course, ultimately converge and the ending to this series is very melancholy (almost tragic), but well done.

See also my Tenchi in Tokyo episode guide

Ryoko witnesses this scene and is so distraught that she leaves earth to resume her previous life as a space pirate/outlaw.

Pretty Sammy/Magical Project S

The former is a 3 episode OVA, and the latter is a 26 episode TV series. Both series deal with the adventures (in yet another alternate world of course) of Sasami's alter ego, Pretty Sammy.

The overall tone is whimsical, as the series are really not supposed to be anything more than spoofs of the many 'magical-girl' anime series out there (Sailor Moon is probably the canonical example).

Trivia: There are changes in the roles of the characters. Tenchi is Sasami's brother, Mihoshi is a college student (but still a thorn in Kiyone's side), Ryo-Ohki can talk, and so forth.

Neither series is yet available in DVD, but both presumably will be at some point.

Pretty Sammy, as in episode 13 of the Tenchi Universe series, preparing to use her 'Pretty Archery' attack.

Tenchi Muyo in Love (1995)

An infamous criminal named Kain escapes from the GP and destroys the GP headquarters. He has a grudge to settle with the planet Jurai, and heads to earth of the past to destroy the first Juraian he can find, namely Tenchi's mother Achika. Apparently he succeeds, as 25 years later, Tenchi nearly disappears; Washu discovers that in 1970, Achika was killed, and hence Tenchi was never born. Thus, the gang travels to 1970 to foil this plot.

Comments: This was a theatrical release in Japan, and the film looks and sounds very nice. As with all the Pioneer DVD's, there are quite a few extras on the DVD.

The Daughter of Darkness (a.k.a. A Midsummer Night's Eve) (1996)

A young girl named Mayuka arrives at the Masaki house, claiming to be Tenchi's daughter.

Ayeka and Ryoko are furious of course, and they speculate that Mayuka may be from the future (is one of them her mother?), but eventually it is learned that Mayuka is only a shill, and an alien with a grudge against Tenchi's grandfather is behind the plot.

Comments: This movie is a bit schizophrenic. There seems to be a bit more content than can be done justice to in 60 minutes, and the climactic scenes contain a bit more violence than anything in any other the other series or films. However, for the DVD-enabled, the DVD release features a very slick Tenchi encyclopedia, which is by itself almost worth the purchase of the film.

Tenchi Forever (1999)

One day Tenchi walks into the mountains and vanishes. Eventually, it is learned that a mysterious woman named Haruna has taken Tenchi into a parallel dimension, where he can not remember his old life, and is in the midst of a relationship with her.

Ayeka and Ryoko thus attempt to travel into this parallel dimension to bring Tenchi back. However, it seems that Tenchi may not want to leave.

Comments: My favorite of the films. This is a very subdued movie; there is no fighting, no space battles; rather, it is more of a character study/Ayeka-Ryoko 'buddy movie'. The music is outstanding, and the end of the film strongly insinuates which of the characters loves Tenchi the most, and vice versa, giving nice closure to the Tenchi saga.

More Comments: Unlike the first two films, which were drawn more-or-less in the "Tenchi Universe" style, the animation in this film looks more like the "Tenchi in Tokyo" style.