Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar

Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar (Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari) is a Canon Spin-Off of the original Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OVA series, and takes place 15 years after Tenchi Muyo! GXP. The main character, Kenshi, is Tenchi's younger half brother and the anime depicts him being forcefully taken from his home and his family by unknown forces, and sent to a new Alternate Universe on a planet called "Geminar". There are a few thinly-veiled references and nods to the Tenchi Muyo series while Omake material released in Manga, Novel and Doujinshi formats expands the series and further fleshes out the overall story (something Masaki Kajishima is well known for).

At the beginning of the show Kenshi has been told he needs to help with an assassination plot in return for going home. The target of assassination is the newly-crowned queen of one of the lands in this world. When faced with killing a girl roughly the same age as him he can't do it. Eventually, he ends up being a servant of the queen while she is attending a super elite school that serves both the nobility and the pilots for the somewhat organic looking super robots. Being the little brother of the guy who pretty much made the Harem Genre what it is today, it doesn't take long before the good ole Masaki-charm goes to work. Soon, Kenshi is being chased by almost every girl in the school... literally.

First started airing in 2009 and was released in OVA format, one episode a month. It also aired on television through Japanese pay-per-view service, although the first episode was later "enhanced" with extra scenes for the Blu-Ray release.

WARNING! There are unmarked Spoilers ahead. Beware.

Tropes used in Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar include:

• Absurdly Powerful Student Council: Justified due to the fact that many world leaders' children go to this school. One episode they elect Kenshi to the school government just so that everyone's attention will be on him and they can actually get work done.
• Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male: Several members of his harem but in particular: Chiaia, whenever he appears happy, quota demands it, or just when she's bored or something good happens to him. Lashara and Mexiah whenever there's an opportunity to exploit him for their own gain or to make him unhappy, and Lithia who refuses to acknowledge him, and frequently puts him down (much like the others in this list).
• Accidental Pervert: Seems Kenshi's Massage Mode brings this up to some girls.
• All Amazons Want Hercules: As the series progresses Kenshi's harem keeps getting bigger until it pretty much includes everyone at the school. Keep in mind that the students at the school include the kids of all the top leaders of the world's governments.
• Almighty Janitor: Before Kenshi reveals that he's a Seikishi, he manages to earn this kind of reputation as Lashara's servant.
• A Mech by Any Other Name: The Seikijin ("Holy Machine Men").
• Amazingly Embarrassing Mother: Flora. BIG TIME.
• Anime Hair: Present and accounted for.^[context?]
• Animal Motifs: Not a real animal, but the girls at the school frequently compare Kenshi to the native Koro, a two-tailed white squirrel-like creature. It's one of the reasons that so many of the girls develop a crush on him.
  • That Kenshi acts like a male version of Ryo-Ohki much of the time doesn't hurt either.
• Background Magic Field: The "Draft of Ena", which supplies power to the Seikijin mecha and most of the Magitek in the series. It only extends to a certain altitude so some areas, like the highlands, are off-limits without special equipment.
• Badass: Kenshi, it runs in the family.
• Battle Harem: Most of Kenshi's harem are pilots.
• Berserk Button: Kenshi loves his crystals. Chiaia can make him do almost anything if she threatens his collection. On the other hand, Kenshi only forms the Light Hawk Sword in the final battle when she promises to let him dig all he wants if he beats Gaia.
• Beta Couple: Ceres and his girlfriend Hazuki, once they join the crew of the Swan.
• Beware the Nice Ones: DO NOT PISS OFF Kenshi.
  • Also, the students at the Holy Academy spend so much time acting like... schoolgirls, it's easy to forget that, say, Lapis is a fully-trained Action Girl who knows how to use a Humongous Mecha.
• Big Bad: Babalun who is being controlled by the core crystal of the Seikishin Gaia that was implanted in him at a young age. Gaia itself is The Man Behind the Man scheming to revive itself.
• Bi the Way: Mexiah might be one if episode 8 has anything to say about it.
• BFS: Some of the Seikijin wield these. In episode 12 Kenshi compresses a mountain to create a huge stone BFS. Which turns into an even bigger Laser Sword in the final episode. Which then turns into a smaller but far more powerful Light Hawk Sword.
• Bloodless Carnage: You can rip a Sekishi in pieces, but you never see anything else really bleed.
• Bludgeon Blade: The "sword" Kenshi creates for himself late in the series by compressing an entire mountain into a superdense rod a hundred or so feet long; only the Anti Gravity device that also serves as its guard makes it usable, even by his Humongous Mecha. Despite being universally described as a "sword", it obviously has no edges or point -- until the last episode.
• Bodyguard Crush: Emera to Dagmyer.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Aura's father.
• Book Ends: The series begins and ends with screens of text representing a conversation between two unknown individuals who seem to be responsible for Kenshi's transportation to Geminar, suggesting that it is some kind of test or Rite of Passage for him. (The general opinions among the fandom is that the two "voices" are Washuu and Tokimi or Washuu and Kenshi's mother Reia, but there is no conclusive evidence either way.)
• Bookie: In episode 7, Lashara tries to run a bookmaking operation on a school-wide athletic competition and bungles it, ending up in the red when she has to make payouts on a large number of bets.
• Cast as a Mask: Used as a red herring when Mexiah had the same voice actress as the mysterious masked woman Neizai who tended to show up when Mexiah disappeared. Mexiah was actually the alter ego of Doll (different actress), and Neizai was actually Reia Second (different actress). The show actually throws a red herring in the Wham! Episode, when Ulyte talks to Neizai while the camera shows a closeup of Mexiah with Mind Control Eyes... with her mouth conveniently obscured.
• Character Development: The first half of the series is devoted to this (and Fan Service). Initially Kenshi just wants to go home. While he never really loses that goal, he also grows closer to his fellow students at the academy including the members of his Unwanted Harem. All so that by the time the series gets back to the mecha action, Kenshi actually has a reason to fight other than "I want to go home".
• Char Clone: Dagmyer. Masked blond, inspiring leader and idealist, Manipulative Bastard... he hits most of the criteria except that he uses a blue Seikishin. And that he's hopelessly outmatched by Kenshi.
  • Ulyte also qualifies; playing both sides against the middle for the sake of his own mysterious agenda. And he/she even has the mask aspect covered as Neizai.
• Chaste Hero: Kenshi shows some signs of it, but we can't blame him; he just wants to go home.
• Chekhov's Gag: Wahanly creates a generator for the training Powered Armor to use it to chase Kenshi down in the fifth episode. The modified armor gets used for guerilla warfare in the last episode.
• Chick Magnet: Kenshi of course.
  • Due to cooking skills, strength/speed, and all-round niceness.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Lashara when she actually sees affection that might get Kenshi out from under her thumb (especially involving her Rival). Chiaia whenever Kenshi appears too happy. Both whenever there's something to blame or exploit.
• Color Coded for Your Convenience: the various Seikijin have colors and outward appearances dependent on who is piloting them.
• Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story: Lashara and Chiaia decide to hide Kenshi's connection to the white Seikijin that attacked the Swan in the first episode by having him serve as one of Lashara's servants. Instead of revealing he's from another dimension (which would basically ruin the deception by itself), Kenshi hides his unfamiliarity with the customs of the world of Geminar by claiming to be from "Kouchi" -- the highlands above the Draft of Ena which powers the Seikijin and the other Magitek, and whose residents are conveniently isolated socially as well as physically.
• Cooking Duel: A literal example breaks out in the fifth episode when Maria tries to set a Honey Trap for Kenshi; Aura suggests that everyone gathers ingredients in the forest and cook a pot-dish with them. The best dish wins ownership of Kenshi.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Kenshi, Flora.
• Dark Action Girl: Lan. (Doll seems to be one at first, but after the reveal in episode 8 she's more of a Brainwashed and Crazy Femme Fatale.)
  • Faux Action Girl as well, as she hardly ever fights, and in these cases is usually completely dominated not only by Kenshi or Neizai, but bu Emera as well.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Mexiah is quite popular around the girls.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Ulyte seems a bit too friendly with Kenshi.
• Everyone Chasing You: This keeps happening to Kenshi as he gets more popular and in more important positions. By the fifth episode, Those Four Girls organize the student body to do it more efficiently, using tactics, radios, and Powered Armor.
• Everything's Better with Princesses
• Expy: To keep it short, Kenshi is Tenchi's half brother as such he has almost all the traits of his sibling in Tenchi Muyo!, only in a different world.
• Fan Service: Of course.
• Faux Action Girl: As mentioned above, Lan comes across as a Faux Dark Action Girl. More generally, the trope gets inverted here: most Seikishi (pilots) are female, and the few male pilots are coddled, condescended to, given substandard training, and treated like "stud horses". Dagmyer's rebellion is partially a Jackie Robinson Story, trying to prove that male Seikishi can hold their own on the battlefield -- but after a promising start, they get shoved to the sidelines and outshone by the women on Babalun's side. (Kenshi and Aura's father are full-fledged Action Guys, though.)
• Fetish Fuel Future: Some of the previous otherworlders brought to Geminar made their marks on the culture -- like the pillow fight in episode six. Kenshi's disturbed about how much of it he recognizes from his father's "library".
• Fish Out of Temporal Water: Kenshi -- from our world, into Lashara's.
• Freak-Out: Several, one that comes to mind when the girls find out Kenshi's secret ingredient for flavor in his soup.
• Free Love Alternate Dimension
• "Happy Ending" Massage: Turns out Kenshi's massages give the girls this feeling as an aftereffect.
• Holy City: The Holy Land, in which much of the series takes place, is a Vatican-like city state.
• Honey Trap: Maria persuades Yukine into trying to set one for Kenshi, to both help her bodyguard win Kenshi's heart and put one over on Lashara.
• Horrendous Home Remedy: The tea Kenshi provides to Ulyte and Lithia is both delicious and healing, but most of the other girls react with horror and disgust when he shows them the "raw" ingredients, including a lizard, beetles, and several noxious-looking fungi and plants. Overlaps into I Ate What? when they realize that Kenshi also used them in the delicious stew they just ate.
• Hot-Blooded: King of Shurifon, who's chewing the scenery in almost all his scenes. Quite an unusual behavior for an elf.
• Hot for Student: Mexiah and maybe Ulyte for Kenshi.
• Hot Mom: Maria's mother Queen Flora is pretty easy on the eyes.
• Hour of Power: Pilots can only operate Seikijin for limited amounts of time, dependent upon their personal endurance.
• Humongous Mecha: The Seikijin. Prominent in episode one. Then all but ignored until episode 8.
• I Ate What?: The reaction of most of the girls when they realize that the flavor of Kenshi's delicious stew is due to it sharing some disgusting ingredients with the Horrendous Home Remedy he made for Lithia.
• I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: Kenshi is a rather bizarre case. In episode 3, Mexiah somehow brainwashes him to make him turn into a "berserker massage machine" at her command. Then she gets Wahan, Aura, Lithia, Yukine, and various other girls to help him practice without getting into the specifics. Afterwards, all of them are left in states of heightened arousal and sensitivity; in Yukine's case, just being lightly tapped on the back nearly triggered an orgasm. In episode 6, Lashara and Maria trigger his "massage machine" state again to get payback from Queen Flora for their earlier humiliations in that episode -- knowing only that Kenshi's massages leave girls "paralyzed", and not the nature of said "paralysis". This backfires on them; they are forced to stay up all night to make sure Flora didn't take things any further, and from that moment on Flora has an interest in poor Kenshi.
• If It's You It's Okay: The girls like Kenshi so much they are willing to let him wash their backs, as in hot springs bath.
• In Medias Res: The action starts with Kenshi already in Geminar and pressed into service as a mecha pilot/assassin for the bad guys. We never find out how he got there (although there are tantalizing hints at the beginning of the first episode and the end of the last) or how the bad guys got their hands on him.
• Karmic Death: In episode 11, Cliff kidnaps Ceres and Hazuki and uses Hazuki to force Ceres to become an Action Bomb in a bid to kill Kenshi. Needless to say, Cliff meets his end less than halfway through the episode. Also a case of Laser-Guided Karma. Dagmyer, who reluctantly approved of the plan in the first place, suffers a milder karmic punishment in the form of a Freak-Out and Villainous Breakdown that he doesn't recover from until the end of the next episode.
  • This is a borderline example, since Kenshi did throw Cliff off a cliff. However, since it was Cliff's scheme that sent Kenshi into Unstoppable Rage in the first place it still fits.
• Kid Hero: Kenshi is 15, but looks and acts young enough to qualify.
• Know When to Fold'Em: Dagmyer's cronies (well, except Cliff) finally drop any pretense of loyalty to Babalun roughly at the start of the final episode, and only wait for the good moment to surrender, snarking all the time.
• Large Ham: Babalun, though the king of Shurifon also breaks out the ham and cheese quite regularly.
• Likes Older Women: Dagmyer apparently.
• Lonely at the Top: In the end, it's implied Dagmyer is pretty much alone except for his bodyguard.
• Lost Technology
• Love Martyr: Emera. She gets more and more disgusted at the whole hoopla as the series progressed, but stays out of her love to Dagmyer.
• Luminescent Blush: Spinoff of Tenchi Muyo! -- of course it has to have this.
• Mad Scientist: Wahanly, who is basically a more energetic version of Washu.
• Magitek: The Ahou-based technology used in most of the show.
• The Man Behind the Man: The Seikishin Gaia.
• Mental Fusion: Doll's mind essentially merges with Mexiah's in the aftermath of episode 8. Neizai/Reia implies that this is what happened to her and Ulyte after his "death" in the final episode.
• Mook Horror Show: Kenshi, both in and out of his Seikijin, is a fearsome opponent...and that's before you piss him off.
• Ms. Fanservice: Mexiah. By far. All the women in the cast have their moments, but Mexiah particularly enjoys driving Kenshi nuts.
• Mythology Gag: Kenshi's constant musings about his older sisters, who are obviously Tenchi's harem. None of them have shown up in the show yet, except for a silhouette of Washuu hypnotizing Kenshi. In addition, Kenshi behaves like Ryo-Ohki when upset, and has a shard of crystal from Ryo-Ohki in a necklace. Doll is very similar to D of Parallel Trouble Adventure Dual both in terms of appearance and origins.
  • In the last episode, Kenshi transforms his Seikijin's BFS into a giant Light Hawk Sword and cuts through the "invincible" Gaia's Shield like a hot knife through butter.
  • There are also multiple references to Kajishima's Photon: The Idiot Adventures. The Koros are more realistic versions of the animal mascot from Photon; Lashara's name is a reference to both Photon Earth and Lashara Moon, while Flora and Maria share the surname Nanadan with the villain Papacha. Also, Ahou magic was the MacGuffin of the Photon series.
• The Ojou: Aura, Lithia, Morga.
• Old Maid: Mexiah can be considered part of this as at her age she is still not married.
• Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The text conversations at the beginning of the first episode and the end of the finale.
  • According to Word of God, they are two of the Goddesses from the OVA continuity (Tsunami, Washu, or Tokimi).
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Turns out Kenshi is one of the weakest members of his family, imagine the others then.
• Our Elves Are Better: The Dark Elves of Shurifon such as Aura are physically superior to everyone on the planet -- at least until Kenshi appeared. They do possess an Achilles' Heel a period of time in the day when they are incredibly weak, which according to a Mr. Exposition scientist in episode 11 may be because their bodies are still adjusting to life on a planet other than their homeworld. Despite the name, they're textbook Wood Elves, living in harmony with the forest -- another thing Aura and Kenshi have in common.
• Punch Clock Villain: Kenshi in the first episode. It doesn't last.
• Puppeteer Parasite: Gaia's core crystal became one of these for both Babalun and his father.
• Rape as Drama: It's implied that the female Seikishi hunting Ceres at the start of episode 11 "had their way" with him beforehand. Everybody seems to get over it after his girlfriend is rescued, but this seems to be part of what drove Kenshi berserk.
• Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Mexiah, aka Doll. Also, Wahanly's actual age is 97. Kenshi at one point wonders if Lashara belongs to this trope (she doesn't) because of her mature attitude and his experience with the person whose picture is currently on said trope's page.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Kenshi can cook, clean and kick your ass 12 ways to Sunday.
• Red String of Fate: Invoked in episode 4; Chiaia spends the episode trying to weave a (red) cord to replace the chain of Kenshi's pendant (which she broke while scolding him). She's embarrassed and horrified when Lashara's Old Retainer tells everyone about this otherworld custom, and immediately tries to make Kenshi give the cord back. A few episodes later (after she gives up on Dagmyer) when she sees the pendant again, she decides she doesn't mind anymore.
• Rescue Romance: In a sense -- in episode 3 Kenshi gets Lapis her handkerchief back after it's thrown from a cliff. Without ropes. Using a vine to climb down. While Chiaia utterly freaks.
• The Resenter: Dagmyer becomes more fearful and resentful of Kenshi as time passes, and it shows.
• Rie Kugimiya: As Lan.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Lahara does accounting of her country's finances, and later on Kenshi becomes king.
• Running Gag: Relentless attempts of the older heroines (mainly Mexiah and Flora, but it's not only them) to have their way with Kenshi.
• Sequel Hook: Nothing else can be said about the ultra-ambiguous ending. The jewels still glowing, ends with the antagonists, etc, etc.
• Sharing a Body: After Neizai/Reia's core crystal was implanted in Ulyte, they ended up switching forms depending on whose will was stronger. Neizai eventually took permanent full control of their body when Ulyte's strength and health gave out.
• Shotacon: Mexiah's and Flora's interest in 15-year-old Kenshi is a little disturbing at times.
• Shout-Out: Morga's Seikijin in the last episode is an ersatz Getter-1, complete with double tomahawks. And she uses it in the appropriate manner, too.
• Shut UP, Hannibal: Kenshi uses this on Babalun when he tries to add More Than Mind Control to his attempt to use the same brainwashing that he used on Mexiah/Doll.
• Slasher Smile: Kenshi of all people sports one in episodes 11 and 13.
• Smug Snake: Lan
• Spider Tank: Wahan's Kikoujin/Mechanoids.
• Stalker with a Test Tube: After Kenshi reveals that he's a Seikishi, he starts to run into this trope from the various nations of Geminar (mostly in the form of various factions of his Love Dodecahedron); Lashara's mostly happy at the chance to play middleman.
• Super Breeding Program: In order to ensure a strong future generation of future pilots, all of the Seikishi are effectively in one of these; they're required to have children with multiple designated partners before finally being allowed to marry. The male Seikishi have it worse, being treated like "stud horses" before ending up in Bureaucratically Arranged Marriages.
• Supreme Chef: Turns out the secret ingredient Kenshi needed to make his soup better was adding dried and powdered lizards, fungi and bugs.
• This Cannot Be!: Cliff has a Freak-Out when he sees that Kenshi escaped his "perfect" plan to kill him. Babalun has a similar reaction in the final episode when Kenshi cleaves the "unbreakable" Gaia's Shield.
• Those Four Girls: The four Holy Academy students with multicolored hair who make several appearances through the series (and have crushes on Kenshi, naturally.)
  • Big Damn Those Four Girls: In episode 12, when Lan attacks Kenshi's group while they're creating the Tenchi-Ken; they arrive in the nick of time, giving Kenshi enough time to finish the sword and save the day.
  • Colourful Theme Naming: Those Four Girls have names loosely based on their hair colors in English -- Yellis, Bwoole, Gryino, and Wreda.
• Toxic Phlebotinum: A lesser variation -- most Ahou technology makes normal people ill without shielding. Seikishi (pilots) are people who can use the Seikijin mecha for a useful amount of time before becoming sick.
• Tsundere: Lashara, Chiaia, and Lithia all fit the bill to some degree.
• Unlucky Childhood Friend: Chiaia to Dagmyer; among other factors, the fact that he wasn't allowed to marry for love as a male Seikishi complicated their relationship. It comes to a head in episode 9 when Dagmyer tries to exploit her crush by asking her to kill Kenshi. In a Shout-Out to an incident in the original Tenchi Muyo! OVA, she nearly goes through with it but backs out at the last moment. Even after this she still tries to persuade Dagmyer to change his mind before it's too late. During a very tense situation she ultimately chooses to go with Kenshi to save Lashara instead of staying with Dagmyer. This just causes Dagmyer to resent Kenshi even more.
• Unlucky Everydude: Kenshi appears to be this at first, what with the whole "launched into a strange world surrounded by crazy women thing... until he starts proving how vastly superior he is to almost everyone around him. The funny thing is that, as he mentions himself, he isn't used to this, since he was always weak compared to the outrageously powerful "sisters" he grew up with. However, put in a more "downscaled" (read, "human-normal") environment, only Doll and the strongest dark elves even come close to his abilities.
• Unstoppable Rage: Subverted. Kenshi's rage does give him the power to escape from a deadly trap on his own and grants his Seikijin increased strength, but it also causes the mecha to reach its operational limits even faster.
• Unwanted Harem: It is a Tenchi spinoff, after all. Kenshi manages to top his big brother by unintentionally getting a good couple hundred girls after him.
• Villain Decay: If he didn't Kick the Dog so many times, you'd almost feel sorry for Dagmyer.
• Villainous Breakdown: Dagmyer has one spanning most of the series due to growing fear and resentment of Kenshi. It culminates in a Freak-Out and complete mental collapse in episode 11 after Kenshi goes berserk in his Seikishi, brutally kills one of his comrades, and nearly does the same to Dagmyer, scaring him shitless.
• Villainous Valour: Dagmyer's duel with Kenshi in the final episode is made of this trope. He's still hopelessly outmatched, but he faces his fears head-on and meets defeat with honor.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Lashara and Maria.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Mexiah/Doll. And Ulyte/Reia.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Dagmyer wants to change the status quo because he's sick of being treated like a stud horse. Too bad he's doing this by following Babalun's orders.
• Wham! Episode: Episode 8. All Your Base Are Belong to Us, Dagmyer's plan is revealed, Doll makes her triumphant return, the audience gets their fill of Humongous Mecha action... and everyone finds out what Kenshi can really do.
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Kenishi using his Super Strength, speed, and Badassness to do chores around the school. A lot faster than the staff can handle (for example, in the time it took a maid to finish half her room cleanings, he finished the same number and came to help her). And that mosaic on the arch. While the three artisans are discussing how to replicate the original mosaic on one tower, Kenshi was already done.
• White-Haired Pretty Girl: Yukine, a combination of The Stoic and a Shrinking Violet.
• World of Action Girls