Tenchi Muyo!
Absolute Anime; Anime Galleries; ANN; IMDb; Otakuphrenia Gallery; Retro Junk; TV.com; Wikipedia
For more links see anime links.

The title means "No Need For Tenchi." Actually there are several Tenchi series. I've only seen three of them (and I'm sure I must have some details of the first and second series confused in my mind). But the first one (Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki) is the best. And it's actually an OVA series, though I first saw it on TV, and it was like 20 episodes long, so it seems like a TV series. The other two series actually were TV series... Anyway, the main character is Tenchi Masaki, who lives in Okayama, Japan, with his grandfather. Um, in at least one series his grampa is called Katsuhito, but his name is actually Yosho. He is from the royal family of planet Jurai, which Tenchi will become aware of in the course of the series. He came here like 700 years ago and fell in love with a human woman and married her. Now, um... Tenchi's dad is Noboyuki. He's kind of clueless. He was married to Yosho's daughter, who died when Tenchi was young.

Anyway, eventually six girls from outer space show up. Princess Ayeka (who we kinda like) and her little sister Princess Sasami, from Jurai. The space pirate Ryoko (who we like), is my favorite of the girls. Two Galaxy Police officers, Mihoshi and Kiyone (both of whom we kinda like). And Washu (who we like), the greatest genius in the universe! She's my second favorite. She's insane. Kind of evil, but fun. Ryoko is the best, though. Ayeka was supposed to marry her half-brother Yosho 700 years ago, but he disappeared. She came looking for him, but now she falls in love with Tenchi. All the girls do. Or most of them, anyway.

Ayeka's no fun, she's a total... princess... in the worst sense of the word. But she's still a friend and basically a decent person. I guess. Her sister is just this cute little kid who's the most sensible and helpful of the bunch. She does all the cooking and alot of the cleaning and she's very friendly. Mihoshi is a total ditz and clumsy and annoying. She'd rather watch fictional Space Police on TV than actually do any police work herself, although she does try, but she's pretty inept. She's totally loyal to her much more professional and competent partner Kiyone, who really wants to be reassigned and get away from Mihoshi. Also there is a cabbit (mainly looks like a rabbit, albeit a space rabbit, and loves carrots, but sounds more like a cat, has a gem on her head, and turns into a big spiky space ship) named Ryo-Ohki who is extremely cute and adorable.

Anyway, it's a terribly funny show and they all have plenty of strange adventures and stuff, and Tenchi isn't really interested in being more than friends with any of them, which I guess means that despite seeming to be the sanest character on the show, he's actually the craziest. Oh well, more Ryoko for me, then.

The other two series I've seen are Tenchi Universe (Absolute Anime; ANN; IMDb; Wikipedia) and Tenchi in Tokyo (Absolute Anime; ANN; IMDb; Wikipedia). Each series basically has all the same characters, although it's kind of like parallel universes or something. I mean their backgrounds and personalities are basically the same, but the way they all ended up together and what they do once they all meet is different. There are perhaps a few other minor differences, but nothing too serious, except that in the Tokyo series, instead of just turning into a big, spiky space ship like she does in all the series, Ryo-Ohki also sometimes turns into a giant pink battle mecha. Plus there's an extra girl, Sakuya (who we like), who wants Tenchi's affections, which makes all the other girls even more jealous than usual. Anyway, that series is generally more childish than the others, in various ways, including lots of super-deformation and such. It's my least favorite of the three I've seen, but it's still fun.

There are also a few movies, I guess. So far I've seen one of them, Tenchi Muyo! In Love.