Tenchi Muyo! Tenchi Universe Episode 3: No Need for Worries!

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to Tenchi Muyo, the anime series about a kid who’s a lot like Charlie Brown if he were actually popular with the ladies. Last time we were introduced to Ayeka, a princess from the planet Jurai. Kind-hearted, even tempered and demure, Ayeka seems to be the exact opposite of the more unrefined and unpredictable Ryoko, which is probably why they hate each other so much. So great is their rivalry in fact, that a simple misunderstanding escalates into a life or death space battle in which both of their ships are destroyed, leaving Ayeka stranded on earth.

Today’s episode opens with Tenchi cooking some sweet potatoes for Ryoko and Ayeka. While Tenchi and Ayeka subtley continue to fall for one another, Ryoko continues to make her jealousy and possessive attitude towards Tenchi known. As Ryoko contemplates ways to keep Ayeka away from her Tenchi, she finds a strange red energy orb in the lake near Tenchi’s house.

Elsewhere, Tenchi finds a strange little girl in the woods who introduces herself as Sasami. However, just as quickly as she came, she disappears like Batman after talking to Jim Gordon. When Tenchi tells his grandpa what happened, Yosho says that the girl he saw may not have been a mystical being like he believes, and says so in a way that makes it clear he knows more about what’s been going on lately than he’s willing to admit. However, soon Nobuyuki shows up with Sasami who reveals that she’s actually Ayeka’s sister and she’s come to take her home. After Ayeka and Sasami have an absolutely adorable reunion, the Masaki family throws a going away party for Ayeka and Mihoshi, who plans to hitch a ride. The party is nice, but Ayeka is clearly sad that she’ll have to go. Ryoko, noticing Ayeka's sorrow, gets increasingly jealous and hatches her master plan to… weird everyone out I guess. Ryoko makes the claim that she and Tenchi made love and that she is now pregnant. To make things even crazier, and Tenchi even more frustrated, Ryoko goes into the other room and allegedly lays an egg. Ayeka, fed up with this nonsense, grabs the egg and smashes it, causing it to hatch into some kind of space bunny. You know, I really hope that that isn’t really Ryoko and Tenchi’s baby, otherwise, I’d seriously recommend they both get themselves tested. Anywho, Ryoko names the Space Bunny Ryo-Ohki, after her old spaceship and the adorable little rabbit seems to hit it off with Sasami, who feeds it carrots.

However, sadly, the time has come for Ayeka and the others to depart, Ryoko even offering to escort them half way to Jurai in her ship, quite a feat considering her ship was destroyed in a life or death space battle. However, now’s that we learn the secret of Ryo-Ohki. It seems the cute little bunny isn't just named after Ryoko's spaceship, It is Ryoko's spaceship, the egg actually having come from the red orb she got from the lake. However, before they depart, we get the funniest moment in the series so far. Mihoshi, before departing, asks Ryoko to keep an eye out for that space pirate, leaving Ryoko dumbstruck that Mihoshi actually forgot that she is the space pirate.

And so, as Ayeka departs, she begins to realize how much she’s going to miss Tenchi. Indeed, even though they’ve only known each other for two days, Ayeka’s and Tenchi’s feelings for one another have grown naturally and you can understand how they would come to care for one another in that way. Sasami and Mihoshi have figured out that Ayeka has a thing for Tenchi and since she can’t resist Sasami’s adorable puppy-dog eyes, she calls Tenchi, who’s currently on Ryoko’s ship. The two share a very heartfelt and genuine goodbye as Ryoko gloats over getting Tenchi all to herself. However, Ryo-Ohki gets a glimpse of the carrot Sasami brought with her and charges towards Sasami’s ship at ramming speed.

As you can guess, this now means Sasami is also stranded on Earth and we’re back to square one, our episode ending with Ayeka and Ryoko bickering and Sasami working her cute little girl charm on Tenchi.

This episode further develops the growing relationship between Ayeka and Tenchi as well as the lengths to which Ryoko will go to split them up and keep Tenchi all to herself. It makes for an entertaining love triangle dynamic between three fairly likeable characters. Ayeka and Tenchi’s relationship is really sweet, and while Ryoko’s infatuation with Tenchi brings her to borderline sociopathic tendencies, you still can’t help but laugh.

In addition, we’re introduced to two new characters, Sasami, who’s sweet and adorable, especially around her big sister, and Ryo-Ohki, who serves as the Pikachu of this franchise, so I’m told. Overall, this episode took a lot more time to focus on relationship building but never forgot to include the humor of Tenchi’s frustration.