Two-in-One Review: The All-New Tenchi Muyo! Don and Randy present an all-new review of The All-New Tenchi Muyo! Don: OK, imagine, if you will, that the creator of The Waltons got together with Gene Roddenberry, and they had a love child. And imagine that love child growing up and dropping some serious acid. Now you're thinking along the lines of The All-New Tenchi Muyo! Randy: I get more of a Three's Company vibe as well, but you're right... this is one weiiiird book. Or at least, it will be, as it hasn't been published just yet. In fact, this is a black and white preview copy of the first issue sent to us for review by the good folks at Viz. The All-New Tenchi Muyo! Part 1 #1 written & illustrated by Hitoshi Okuda edited by Jason Thompson published by Viz Comics Don: Tenchi's a lucky man. He lives in a house he shares with a number of young women, most of whom desire him. Among his roommates are alien princesses Ayeka and Sasami, space cop Mihoshi, a mad scientist by the name of Washu and reformed space pirate Ryoko. Rivalries among some of these extreme roommates makes for anything but a boring household. Randy: Hey, I just realized something... this isn't The Waltons or Three's Company... it's the Real World with space aliens. More seriously, you've hit the nail on the head as to what intrigues me about Tenchi Muyo! The idea of these very energetic and odd characters living in a house together promises some unusual chemistry, especially given the sheer number of crushes that Tenchi gets to endure. Don: I don't get The Cartoon Network and don't read a lot of manga. So, this was my first exposure of the world of Tenchi Muyo, all-new or otherwise. To Okuda's credit, he seems quite prepared for readers like me. This first issue is basically an introductory course in the basics of Tenchi Muyo. The characters are presented clearly, but this doesn't come off as some kind of boring "who's who" story. There's a lot of energy, innocence and personality to the property... ... But I just don't get it. There's a surreal quality in a number of manga properties that have captured the imaginations of cultures throughout the world, but that quality usually strikes me as being weird just for the sake of being weird. The All-New Tenchi Muyo! falls into that category for me. The only normal character seems to be Tenchi, but he barely even speaks in the book, despite being the title character. Randy: I actually thought this first issue did come off a bit too much like a "who's who" story. The introduction of the various characters is fairly blatant, and though Okuda does deliver a believable framing device for all this exposition, I found myself wishing that more would actually happen. However, the weirdness didn't sit as badly with me as it did with you. Though I'm more fond of the genre-bending manga such as those that look into sports, politics or crime, Tenchi Muyo! strikes me as an interesting mix of science-fiction and slice-of-life. This issue really is little more than a primer on the characters and the basic situation, and I'm not sure I can fairly judge it without seeing more of the stories as they unfold. Don: Now I don't know how much of the design stems from creator Hiroki Hayashi's imagination or if these are new interpretations of the Tenchi characters from Okuda. Either way, there's a sharp design sense at play. The characters boast exciting looks, but it doesn't seem as though they're wearing costumes. The exotic designs come off as clothing -- unusual clothing, but clothing nonetheless. There's also a lot of energy in the visuals, and not just the pencilled art. Manga may not be my thing, but I have to admit that the lettering adds a charged feel to the already electric atmosphere of the book. Randy: I agree with you here. The design sense was good, although I did have trouble distinguishing characters at various points since they all seem to have the same generic cutesy face design that I associate with this type of manga. I also found that the storytelling was sometimes a little unclear, the price you pay for humorously exaggerated action in the storytelling, which is a part of the book's charm. At any rate, though The All-New Tenchi Muyo! is new-reader friendly, it doesn't seem to have sparked the interest of these two readers for the most part. For more information on The All-New Tenchi Muyo! and Viz Comics, visit www.viz.com. Email Randy and Don comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.