Tenchi Muyo: Ryoko

Ok... Today's featured tribute is to Ryoko Hakubi, a sexy space pirate from the anime series Tenchi Muyo. ^_^

(These are a combination of artwork and cap from the Tenchi Muyo Pretty Sammi Series OVA Episode 1. Tremendous Thank yous to Match25 the "Legendary Master of Sole Shots" and Boss aka Skull for sending in the images for this tribute.)

I only got the chance to watch a couple of episodes of the series Tenchi Muyo when it aired on Cartoon Network awhile back. It's  a difficult series to classify mixing comedy, action and sci fi elements into it. It also sort of falls into the category of Harem anime; a genre where the lead character (in this case Tenchi) has a variety of women fall for him.

The original story arc for the Tenchi anime (which spanned several OVAs and series) was that the title character (a teenager) accidentally releases Ryoko from captivity. Yeah... I know the premise is a pretty common Asian story motif dating back as far as Journey to the West but for series like these it is more about delivery. Anyway, Ryoko, a dangerous space pirate was sealed in a cave for about 700 years. Releasing her draws the attention of many different space beings leaving Tenchi to deal with the aftermath. As the series develops, Ryoko becomes madly in love with Tenchi competing for his affection with several different female characters that the anime introduces.

As a character, Ryoko is really entertaining to watch in action. She's really powerful being able to create energy and manipulate matter using those skills both offensively and defensive. In a fight she can create energy blasts and explosions or focus them into blades (think lightsabers). She can also teleport and summon demonic spirits. Physically she has superhuman speed, strength and stamina and she doesn't need to breathe or eat drawing her energy from three power gems that she controls. 

Personality-wise Ryoko tends to act pretty wild. She's a self proclaimed sadist and tends to be pretty rambunctious. She also very hot tempered and volatile though she seems to know how to have a good time. She can also be pretty playful and mischievous and can be known to tease her allies quite a bit. I think that she would be a lot of fun to be around if you didn't have to worry about her destroying everything in sight. Her affection for Tenchi sort of tempers her a little so when she's around him the universe is significantly safer. :-)

Ok everyone that's basically it for now. As always more to come soon. ^_^

-KSC