Tenchi Muyô! Manatsu no Eve

this is my second favorite of the three. at first, it was kind of hard to understand what was going on, i mean, with the little demon. i knew about mayuka and all, but that little goblin girl kinda threw me off. anyway, the animation is good as always, the character development is as good as the first movie, and the story is interesting, throwing some more aspects of yosho's past. overall, manatsu no eve is a good tenchi movie to see (hell, its better than the third one!).

Tenchi Muyo! Manatsu No Eve had the opportunity to surpass Tenchi Muyo! in Love, but it failed miserably. The over-all plot was completely overlooked and there's a lot of things that remain un-answered. It was undeveloped and way too short. It needed more detail. I love the Tenchi Muyo! series and I like all the movies, including this one, but it could have been so much more.

I love Tenchi Muyo, don't get me wrong. It's one of my favorite Anime/Manga series, something I enjoy. However, Manatsu no Eve was a very giant disappointment, especially in comparison to its predecessor, Tenchi Muyo: In Love. The only saving grace for this Anime were a couple of scenes and some tracks on the soundtrack. Mayuka has potential. They threw in Mihoshi and Kiyone for seemingly no reason, however, and they turned Tenchi into a complete jerk. The plot was rather shallow, and Yuzuha, the 'villian' was laughable. I don't know what to say... I'm very disappointed.

The story is basically that of Yuzuha, a demon, trying to abduct Tenchi, a prince, in revenge for past events. To do this, Yuzuha creates Mayuka genetically from a bit of Tenchi's hair and from her own hair. The arrival of Mayuka, who immediately calls Tenchi "Daddy!", causes a whole chain of events that are lots of fun to watch.

The reason for Yuzuha seeking revenge is told in flashbacks. Although an attempt is made to make Yuzuha appear evil, she actually comes across at times as rather cute, when not grimacing.

Tenchi 2, better known as Daughter Of Darkness, skips back and forth from present day Earth to the homeworld of Jurai in the distant past to a young Prince Yosho (Tenchi's Grandfather) during a festival of the planet's living, sentient trees and a young girl Yuszhuka, who was a playmate with the boy prince, and a terrible incident that seperated the two friends.

We switch forward to a typical day in the Masaki household. Sasami cooking, Washu blowing things up, Ayeka sneaking around looking for Ryoko while the space pirate looks to get into Tenchi's bed when a mysterious stranger arrives. A young girl claiming to be Tenchi's daughter!

Her presence sends the more jealous women into a spin cycle of recriminations and energy bolt battles, Sasami taking the child under her wing, super genius Washuu looking to perform tests on the girl's veracity and Tenchi wandering dazed, confused and downright mystified at the miraculous birth considering he is a virgin.

The story's flashbacks begin to tie in the past with the present as the true nature of the girl becomes clear and her connection to Yosho's young ladyfriend from eons past come to light.

It takes a different tack than most Tenchi adventures, and is rather short in comparision, but it offers up another look at one of the most dysfunctional extended "families" in Anime history, with clever and amusing results.