Tenchi Muyo!/YMMV

• Alas, Poor Scrappy: Sakuya's death is pretty well done.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Yuzuha if you felt sorry for her, Kagato who might've set up the entire scheme in Tenchi Universe just so he can die again to make amends for his actions, Z and Haruna (if you don't see her as a selfish rapist).
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Yuzuha a Jerkass Woobie or a far gone Complete Monster? Her final moments lend credibility to the former.
  • Also Kagato's Universe, a take over the universe so he can have all the power in existence by killing off his rivals or a Blood Knight who felt guilty over his actions that left his best friend shaken by choosing to die at his grandson's hands. The episode of his death sort of leans towards the latter.
• Americans Hate Tingle: In the west, Noike is almost universally derided for her spotlight stealing role in OVA 3. In Japan, opinion of her is a lot more balanced, and is overall accepted and liked by the masses.
  • This is probably due to Kajishima's continued releases of doujinshi and novels that expand upon the 'verse. Americans were pretty surprised by Noike due to No Export for You.
• Base Breaker: Ayeka, Mihoshi and Ryoko fit in this tropes. Is Ayeka a sweet princess who cares about the others but doesn't really now how to express it properly, or a bitch who only cares for herself? Is Ryoko a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who did funny antics or an annoying Jerkass who constantly abuses others and did horrendous acts? Is Mihoshi a sympathetic Cloudcuckoolander or an irritating stupid character who always make her friends in trouble.
  • In Mihoshi case, it should be note some people likes her Genius Ditz OVA version and only dislike her TV version where she is more dumb.
• Better on DVD: Tenchi Muyo! GXP.
• Broken Base: Oh God.
• Complete Monster: Kagato in the OVA.
• Crazy Awesome: Mihoshi.
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: Has it's own page.
• Crowning Moment of Sadness: Manly tears were shed at the end of the first movie.
• Designated Protagonist Syndrome: Tenchi is boring for many fans.
• Die for Our Ship: Ryoko vs. Ayeka, though it is implied that Ryoko wins in the Tenchi Universe continuity. There is also Sakuya in Tenchi in Tokyo, and the Ryoko and Ayeka fandom rioted over this (until Sakuya died).
  • Misaimed Fandom: Both Ryoko and Ayeka are supposed to be viewed as comedically psychotic bitches when they fight with each other over Tenchi or whatever else. You're not really meant to root for either of them. The idea that there are fans who view one as in the right while the other is in the wrong is...strange.
• Dude, Not Funny: It seems the writers thought Washu's actions in 13.5 could actually be played for laughs and not destroy her character in the process.
  • Also many of Ryoko's actions in Universe. From mocking Ayeka and almost making her believe that Tenchi loves her the most when Ayeka is about to leave to Earth with Sasami and never return, to... well, see Moral Event Horizon.
• Ensemble Darkhorse: Mayuka, Minagi and Nagi.
  • Also Kagato from the Universe version to those who found him an even more intimidating villain than the original.
• Evil Is Sexy: Evil Kiyone in the Mihoshi Special.
• Genre Turning Point: Although Urusei Yatsura is generally credited as the first harem show, Tenchi really set the genre on fire, launching a host of imitators. Perhaps its biggest innovation was to make the male lead a soft-spoken, incredibly nice guy (and have this be why the girls all like him) as opposed to UY's Ataru, who is a sex-crazed Jerkass. It was easier for viewers to see themselves in someone like Tenchi, which amped up the wish fulfillment.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Ryoko's easily considered the most popular Tenchi girl in the west.
• God Mode Sue: Tenchi in the OVA. In fact Washuu, Tsunami/Sasami, Tokimi, Misaki, and potentially Ryoko or Mihoshi all qualify.
• Les Yay: Yugi with Sasami.
• Magnificent Bastard: Kagato. In the OAV he's a stylish, Evilly Affable Wicked Cultured Badass. In the Universe series, he sets up Ayeka as a treacherous usurper to the throne, causing the whole group to travel all the way to Jurai just to have a fight with Katsuhiko /Yosho by using Yosho's name as a way to get political power in order to force Yosho into action. He may have achieved this goal, by dying in a fight with Tenchi, Yosho's grandson.
  • Also, Yugi prior to her Villain Decay into Smug Snake.
• Moe: Sasami and Mihoshi.
• Moral Event Horizon: Not only does Yuzuha kill her "daughter" Mayuka, but she mocks Tenchi and the girls when they mourn her. There was no going back for her after that.
  • Haruna passes this for lots of people, when you see that in her despair to consummate her love for Yosho... she brainwashed and raped Yosho's innocent grandson Tenchi.
  • Hotsuma, Tsugaru, and finally Yugi from Shin Tenchi do this too. Hotsuma crosses the limits when he not only takes advantage of aof a (for once) truly distressed Ryoko and tricks her into abandoning the group, but also denigrates her when speaking to Yugi -- and that's when Ryoko was starting to like him quite a bit (and this makes Ryoko think that as bad as she can be, she'd never fall THAT low); Tsugaru does it when he laughs his ass off when Mihoshi choses to shield Kiyone and get badly injured in her place, instead of shooting him dead, and finally, Yugi (until then a Magnificent Bitch with a Dark and Troubled Past) crosses this when she first re-absorbs her "shadow" Sakuya while revealing her true origins to her and mocking poor Sakuya's distress as well as Tenchi's; and then when setting a Lotus Eater Machine for Tenchi... with Sakuya as the bait!
  • OAV!Kagato does this via mindcontrolling Ryoko to attack the group and Tenchi, then by killing Tenchi in the upcoming battle (with only the timely intervention of Tsunami bringing him back) -- while forcing a kidnapped Ryoko to watch!
• Nightmare Fuel: While being a provocative series, it definitely shows a few scenes that are just frightening: Toys that have blades emerging from their bodies, the black monster Kain who seems to do almost anything including the ability to turn into a black dragon demon, an evil Jurai knight decaying rapidly into a skull-faced corpse which you have can fun with being that it was shown everytime Tenchi starts, the earth being cut in half, Hotsuma turning into a monster, the eldritch-y dream realm (not the one with shards, but a weird black and white Picasso drawing type place) of Yugi, Kagato (especially his OVA incarnation), Ryoko's bestial form, and Sakuya being absorbed into Yugi against her will....Have fun with that.
  • Kain. He's a writhing mass of dark energy with a sadistic personality, takes on a pure white mask with a Slasher Smile, and later turns into a monstrous dragon, demon, shark thing.... one of the first things he does when he lands on earth is rip a guy in half and throw him at a small group of teenagers. Sheesh.
• Relationship Sue: Interestingly played with in regards to Sakuya. As a Tomato in the Mirror, she was created to be one of these by the Big Bad herself: Sakuya is explicitly mentioned to be Yuugi's modified Projected Avatar, who CANNOT imagine her life without Tenchi, has a total breakdown when she attempts to pciture how her life was like before meeting Tenchi, and disappears when he leaves her to save the world. She's basically the evil and Dangerously Genre Savvy Reality Warper's Mary Sue... and it's vital to the plot that she remains as one, or Yugi's plans will crumble and so will the story.
• Real Women Never Wear Dresses: The only excuse for fans to bash Ayeka that doesn't apply to Ryoko as well.
• Romantic Plot Tumor: Probably one of the shortest examples. Three quarters into OVA 3, an entire episode is spent exploring the budding romance between Misao and Mashisu. This might not seem like a big deal, but considering that OVA 3 is only seven episodes long and the love reveal distracted from other more pressing plot elements, this definitely fits.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Again, Ryoko in the Tenchi Universe continuity.
• Stoic Woobie: Katsuhiko/Yosho in the Universe version instead of leaving due to discrimination on his half human lineage and "women" in the OVA; he had lost his first true friend, a child eating monster who was about to change her ways, till the Jurai force came and beat the hell out of her, then calling her a freak when she revealed her true form and running away. Then in his adulthood, her's forced to kill his best friend who had become power-hungry and killing everything in site, next wanders across the galaxy out of guilt and finding a place for his lover who wasn't royalty, so that they can love each other without being social class discrimination. She up and dies before they even arrive there. When he finally has a kid, she dies from having to expel an immense Jurai Power to kill a black mass of demonic evil, she lives nine years later to have Tenchi and then dies when her son was very young, causing him and Tenchi's father, Nobuyuki to hate winter for a while, being the time she died. Then we get the present where that power-hungry friend has literally come back from hell to use his identity and frame one of his relations for treason, leading to a long chase until he finally meets him again and is understandably distraught about killing him again, to the point that he considers double suicide as a solution. After that mess, that first friend has returned to being a bratty trickster who's now Yandere for him, to the point that she creates a clone with her and his grandson's DNA and have that said clone rape and take him to her dimension till he comes over himself. And that lover I'm talking about, her ghost manipulates his grandson's memories and uses him as a substitute for her former lover. But he continues on being solemn and sometimes cheerful.
• The Scrappy: Noike for American fans but the obvious is Yugi for her smugness and the Karma Houdini for the truly monstrous acts she commits.
  • Both Mashisu and Misao from the OVA 3 are almost universally hated because one episode focus on them romance instead the plot. And Sakuya is seen as an annoying Mary Sue for a large portion of the fandom.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Western opinion on Noike is generally poor, but a lot more could've been built around her status as an official fiance for Tenchi and a spy for Jurai. The other girls' reactions to this would've made for good entertainment and development, and the spy angle could've introduced the political elements of the story in a more controlled manner. Instead, her status as a spy is just explained away to Ryoko and Ayeka after they basically just accepted Noike's existance. And despite having some episode focus, she still gets so little actual character progression she barely qualifies as a Satellite Character.
  • Hiwa Takahashi in the manga. She is Tenchi's childhood friend and has a crush on him. That's sound like potential for good stories, right ? Well, she was only a one-shot character and the story focus more on Ayeka and Ryoko and her relation with Tenchi is never really explored.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Haruna is such an Anti-Villain with a tragic backstory and the viewers are supposed found her sympathetic, but after seeing her raped Tenchi, many fans see this like her Moral Event Horizon and lost all sympathy for her. Yuzuha suffers from this as well.
• What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?: I have no idea what Toonami was thinking. They had to do a lot of censoring to be able to try passing it off as a kids show. Even when they moved it to Adult Swim they couldn't get away with showing the female characters frequently nude.
  • Funny truth is, most of the current US Tenchi fans are those kids from the Toonami era, having grown up after the end of the show's run, looking back one day for some reason to rediscover their fandom of this show… and then learn a few new things about it along the way.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Misaki as the Counteractor, Z,