Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki Special: Episode 7 Review

Welcome back to our second installment of the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki series reviews, tonight we have episode 7 the special: "The Night Before the Carnival!" This is a special because it was not originally part of the OVA series but was put in as a bridge between OVAs 1 and 2.

"The Night Before the Carnival!"

It is a fine spring morning and we start off with seeing Azaka and Kamidake at the front gate where we left them last time. It has now been a few months since the confrontation with Kagato and it would appear that everything has returned to normal or as normal as it can be with five alien women and a cabbit living in a house with a teenage boy who they are all madly in love with.

Tenchi wakes up to an exhausted looking Ryoko which scares the crap out of him. After regaining his wits, and a trip to the bathroom, Tenchi locks Ryoko outside his room so he could change in peace. While changing Tenchi notices the ring he got that allows him to activate his Juraian battle armor, he tries to take it off but instead activates it. After Tenchi is in his armor a seed falls out out of a fold in the fabric, there is no mention of this seed until now or how he got it. He then walks out into the hall, after changing into earth clothes, where Ayeka and Ryoko were having a stare off of sorts. Tenchi then shows Ayeka the seed and she says it is from one of the royal trees, Tenchi then states that Tsunami said it was Ryu-Oh's seed and had given it to him to give to Ayeka (months after the fact he remembers, really?). So now Ayeka is estacticed and is then seen entering Tenchi's closet under the stairs, which we then learn is Washu's lab (you may be wondering how this is possible, especially when you see how big the lab is on the inside, well Washu placed her lab in sub-space actually and placed the entrance at the door of the closet, if you have more questions feel free to contact the page or leave a comment below). Ayeka asks Washu to build her a container to grow Ryu-Oh in, after refusing to do so unless Ayeka called her Little Washu and a little joking, Washu accepts and is seen beginning to work on the project.

Next we visit the Ryo-Ohki's fields where Tenchi works looking around at the vastly large field it is hard to believe that Tenchi does all the work himself. The scene quickly changes to Ryoko, Mihoshi, and Sasami in the living room. Ryoko becomes curious about what the other two are doing, it turns out they are reading comics for girls or shojo manga. Sasami tells Ryoko that they are a handbook for gaining the love of someone earth-style.

We now revisit or favorite little genius in her lab to find out what happened to our friend Tenchi. Unfortunately he has found himself in quite a little predicament; Washu has him strapped down with wires attached to him. It turns out that Washu is harmlessly taking data samples from Tenchi, she is doing this to find out more about his Light Hawk wings and material conversion ability. But there is one sample left, the "most important one" in fact.

You should probably be able to tell what sample she is talking about, but if not I'll tell you: sperm sample. In order to get this sample Washu decides to dress up as a nurse (this is kind of a fetish of hers that even appears in the other Tenchi Muyo! continuities). This is one of the more perverted scenes in this episode, Washu makes comments about Tenchi's dick and is even seen grabbing and jerking it (NOTE: there is no nudity in this scene don't worry). Washu's fun is cut short when Mihishi arrives, by accident, to get everyone for breakfast. When Mihoshi asks Washu what she is doing Washu replies "we're just playing doctor" (this is also said in the second special: episode 13.5 "Here Comes Jurai 2"). 

After breakfast, which everyone but Sasami missed, Ryoko has finished reading a stack of shojo manga and begins employ what she has learned on Tenchi. I will not go into details during this part, mainly because: 1. there is a lot of detail 2. I'm a lazy ass 3. I'm sure you guys don't like long reviews. If you know shojo manga you know the jest of what they do, if not you can go to our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anime-Central/231887816966996 to see photos with quotes in the descriptions that should give you an idea of what is going on. Well after witnessing the premature ending of Ryoko's attempts at wooing Tenchi earth-style, at the hands of Mihoshi of course, and the discovery of her nephew's library of shojo manga, Ayeka decides to join in on the fun and try to woo Tenchi herself (Nobuyuki is technically Ayeka's nephew in law since he married Yosho's, or Katsuhito's, daughter). 

After the girls' first attempt to woo our main character they decide to do some more "research", after a failed stalking attempt mind you, where the two employ new tactics that fail before they can even be used on Tenchi (how sad, and they tried so hard too). *sigh* Back to the shojo manga for answers it would seem, this time Ryoko shows Tenchi a page that says they are the perfect match, while Ayeka has one that says that the love that is found now is an eternal love.The two then continue to try and woo Tenchi until he states that the books they have been using are at least ten-years-old, bummer for them. But my favorite red head has arrived with one that is "hot off the press" and states that both Ryoko and Ayeka are the worst matches with Tenchi and that the true "perfect match" is no other than her. 

This ushers in plan B or really plan E for Ryoko and for Ayeka it would also be plan E. For Ryoko's plan E she has decide to work on Tenchi's grandfather, while Ayeka has decided to write a love letter for Tenchi from a school girl who wants to talk to him "after school" (the ironic part is that Tenchi actually dropped out of school when he meet the three original girls in the first two episodes, if you want to know a theory of why he decided to drop out please contact the page or leave a comment I will be more than happy to explain). After both of their plans failed, Ryoko's was stopped by Mihoshi again however Ayeka's was foiled by Ryo-Ohki eating all the carrots forcing Tenchi to go back to work in the fields forgetting about the letter, the two decide to make a pact where they will work together to get Mihoshi back to the GP for awhile and to seal Washu up in her lab for the night, this couldn't go wrong in any way. 

Well for Ryoko's part she used Kastuhito's phone to call the Masaki home as Mihoshi's supervisor to get her to leave earth and make her report, Ayeka was able to get Mihoshi to ask Washu to find her shuttle that entered sub-space when she crashed (Washu does this with ease as well as defeat the monster Ryoko created in episode 4 that was with the ship). Mihoshi then leaves and off scene Ryoko and Ayeka place a seal on Washu's door, Ryoko then ties up Ayeka to prevent her from stopping Ryoko from being (intimate) with Tenchi. During a fight between Ryoko and Ayeka, after she escapes, Sasami has a nightmare, the poor thing, and goes to sleep in Tenchi's room with him. It would also turn out that Washu was the first one in there and had already made plans with Tenchi to sleep there with him, you could imagine Ryoko's and Ayeka's expressions when they found this out, or you could look at the photos on facebook when I finish uploading them. The episode ends with Mihoshi crashing into the Masaki house and forcing everyone to sleep over in Washu's lab, also Ryu-Oh has sprouted and Ryo-Ohki is talking to it.

Like the first OVA I enjoyed the plot, and the "plot". I thought this served as a perfect transition into the second OVA and can't think of watching the OVAs without it here. I give this anime a 10/10 even though they could done more with elaborating as to why Washu was the first one in Tenchi's room and how she got passed the seal on her door or if she was already in Tenchi's room when that was done. I would have also wanted to know what they were doing before Sasami came in. Other than that it was a good piece that I enjoyed watching and reviewing.

NOTICE: I will be taking a break from Tenchi Muyo! and the next review will for Hellsing and then for Hellsing Ultimate. This will happen in a few weeks, be sure to follow the page on face through the link above to be on top of news and information. Thank you for joining me and see you soon.

Happy Friday 13th!

http://evil-hell-slayer.deviantart.com/art/This-is-me-358720760

http://www.imgbase.info/images/safe-wallpapers/anime/hellsing/19922_hellsing.jpg

 

Happy Friday 13th everyone! Sorry, I don't have any dark anime to review this week but you should enjoy it all the same. Hope you have a fun 13th, look out for sadists XD
See you tomorrow night.

 

Okami-San & Her Seven Companions Review

Hello every one, this week I bring you the review for an anime that was going to be posted last week, but due to complications was delayed until this week, but at least it is finally here, Ōkami-San and Her Seven Companions. I sarted this anime shortly after I started Wakfu, I found out about it by seeing a cute photo of the main character on Facebook. And yes this is how I found most of the new anime I have to review for you, I start to watch for the "plot" but I stay for the plot. This was true with Haganai which I'm sure I told you already.

 This is the picture I saw that "sparked" my interest. *Ryoko does not act like this in the anime*

This anime has fairy tales twisted into it, what better example than that of our main character Ryoko Okami, her last name means The Wolf. Our next main character and fairy tale friend is Ringo Akai or Little Red Riding Hood. Next is Ryoshi Morino who plays the role of our fairy tale Hunter. 

Now as always, our characters:

Ryōko Ōkami- The protagonist who is fierce, like a wolf, and flat-chested, fights thugs using special Neko Neko Knuckles developed by Majolica ( I'll explain in a bit). She tends to put up a strong and fierce front to disguise her inside nature, where she is a bit more kind and frightened of certain things. Although generally hostile about Ryōshi's wimpiness, she soon accepts him as someone who can watch her back in fights. Later in the series, she would sometimes blush when she sees Ryoshi. It should be noted that Ōkami-san's character fits into the tsudere category. She is a close friend of Ringo Akai and is based on the wolf from the fairytale Little Red Riding Hood, though on several occasions she is shown to be very different from her base character; she mostly tries to act and be like the wolf, "wearing a wolf's clothing". She'd originally been an honest and innocent girl, but in Junior High her former boyfriend Shirō attempted to rape her, and when she told her friends, they refused to believe her and accused Ryōko of fabricating the story in anger after being dumped. After this, she transferred schools and struggled to be "strong" enough that she would need no one and not risk being betrayed again. She develops feelings for (Ryōshi) Morino later on in the anime. Her last name, Ōkami, means "wolf".

Ringo Akai- A petite red-haired girl who has been longtime friends with Ryōko. She is the one who recruits Ryōshi into Otogi Bank. She is a close friend of Ryōko Ōkami, and is always trying to involve herself with her best friend's love life. Like Ryōko, she tends to smile to hide her true feelings, and admires Ryōko for trying to become stronger. She is based on the Little Red Riding Hood from the folktale of the same name, though some aspects of her scheming, manipulative personality closer resemble the poisoned apple ("Ringo" means apple) of Snow White, a fact which is occasionally referenced by the narrator and other characters. She is also the half sister of "Snow White" Shirayuki Himeno and feels responsible for her past. However, thanks to Ryōko, she moves on from the past.

Ryōshi Morino- A shy boy who cowers when confronted by other people and so keeps his distance. It is explained in the anime that he suffers from Opthalmophobia. He has a crush on Ryōko and following a failed confession to her, he is somehow enrolled into Otogi Bank, where the others hope to use his low noticeability to avoid being detected. However, Ryōshi is much braver when hidden in darkness, and fights from afar using a wrist-mounted slingshot armed with pachinko balls with extreme precision, as shown when he knocks a baseball flying in midair about to hit Otsū. He is also known to perform well in fist fights if Ryōko is in danger. He is based on the hunter in the fairytale Little Red Riding Hood who captures the wolf or Ōkami-san.

Liszt Kiriki- The president of the Otogi Bank. His skill is cross-dressing, which he uses to gain information normal men cannot obtain. He is almost never seen working. He is always seen with his eyes closed, but he would open them when he's dead serious, revealing gold eyes. He is most likely a parody of the Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper as during the opening and ending scenes he is shown playing a violin while his usual pairing, Alice, is working on her computer, and in the closing sequence he is further shown buried under snow while Alice is in an underground "nest".

Alice Kiriki- Liszt's cousin and secretary in the club. As said above she most likely fits the ant description in Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper as she is shown working and usually in a serious manner. Also, her hair's front resembles the antennae of an ant, and the first two syllables of her name, "Ari", is the Japanese word for "ant" ( I explained the resemblance in Liszt's description).

Otsū Tsurugaya- The club's maid who has an obsession for returning favors. When she was young, she was saved from a car accident by a boy who died before she could thank him, resulting in her having a fear of not being able to return a favor, this lands her in the hospital because she refused to rest while trying to return a favor. She is based on the crane from the Japanese tale Tsuru no Ongaeshi.

Tarō Urashima- A first year transfer student who is a year older than everyone else. He shows no interest in men but goes completely amorous towards girls. Although he is very flirtatious, he seems to have special feelings of love for Otohime. He is based on the title character from the Japanese tale Urashima Tarō. It is heavily implied that he is in an intimate relationship with Otohime, and he occasionally enters a "gentleman mode" after Otohime drags him off and "extracts various things" from him.

Otokima Ryūgū- A girl with an obsessive crush on Tarō, who cares for her greatly but on some occasions, is scared of her. It was thanks to Tarō's motivation that she changed from a chubby bullied elementary student to a thin beauty. She constantly grabs Urashima and drags him into the closet, and the narrator remarks "I'll let your imagination figure out what they're doing", giving hints that they have some kind of sexual relationship. Although Tarō often runs from her advances, he does have special feelings for her, and can even be considered her boyfriend. She is based on Princess Otokime from the Japanese tale Urasima Tarō. The reason she is called turtle is because Otohime from the legend was a turtle on land when she met Tarō. Her relationship with Mimi Usami is also resemblant to the fable, The Tortiose and the Hare.

Majolica Le Fay- Called Majo for short, she is a self-proclaimed mad scientist who builds various devices such as Ryōko's Neko Neko Knuckles special boxing gloves that are shaped like cats and even meow when they make contact, one pair even acts as a taser when Ōkami hits someone. She is based on the sorceress Morgan Le Fay. She also takes the role of a fairy godmother at times.

Saburō Nekomiya- A third-year student at Otogi described by the narrator as a "pretty boy." Knowledgeable about Ryōshi and the Otogi Bank, he takes it upon himself to "train" Ryōshi, even taking part in joining Ryōshi and company to Onigashima High School to save Ōkami because when he was younger, he was saved by Ōkami from a bunch of delinquents. His hair is shaped into cat ears, and his name, attitude and mannerisms are catlike (i.e. meowing after every sentence). He is apparently a skilled fighter who easily overcomes Ryōshi. He is based on Puss in Boots. He is first shown in episode 6 where Ryōko saved him from the delinquents in a flashback. Neko means cat in Japanese. He is not a main character but I included him because he is a cool character and is voice by my favorite voice actor Jerry Jewell.

And now with the characters out of the way ( Im sorry if there is any repeated information anywhere, I'm pretty tired when I write these and I try my best not to repeat myself but I'm sure something's still slip through), the actual story of Ōkami-San and her seven companions. Again, like the last anime I am unable to do it justice and won't beable to explain everything since there is literally a different plot for each episode.

In order for me to give my review I must tell you about the one who tells the story I can not, the narrator. The narrator apears to be a women by her voice and loves to criticize the main three characters. A running joke through the anime is the narrators jokes about Ryokō's and Ringo's flat chests, this begins with the quote "unfortunately the flat chested wolf and little red riding twerp are this shows eye candy, hmm, heroines." She quickly changes what she has to say about the two of them when they stare angerly at the camera/sky indicating that she exists as a true disembodied voice the main characters, or at least the wolf and little red, can hear.

Both Ryokō and Ringo work at the Otogi bank, "it's like a yearbook club, but of a different kind" (narrator). Like a normal bank students can take out loans in the form of favors that must be paid back in full at a later date. The bank will handle any favor, meaning the loanee must too. I believe, if memory serves me correctly, that there was a favor in every episode, with the exception of one episode. 

The underlining plot that carries through the series is Ōkami's ex boyfriend keeps trying to ruin her life and has her kidnapped twice, Ryōshi and the bank come to her aid. During the second time Ryokō was kidnapped the bank called upon many of their favors. 

I enjoyed the workmanship and the individual plots per episode, I also enjoy the character's personalities. Having the main character as a tsudere really appealed to me. I give this anime an 8/10 : it could have been longer and I would have liked to see a real admittance of love from Ryokō. ( I am rating each anime/anime season from now on will go back later to rate the past ones).

I know it's a little late but Toonami was on and I need my two and half hours of anime. See you next week for a new anime review. Thank you for reading.