Tenchi in Tokyo, Vol. 2: A New Friend
These three episodes of the extremely popular slapstick-romance  series were broadcast on Japanese TV during its second season. The  stories  center on four girls from outer space: Ryoko, the dangerous galactic  criminal; Ayeka, the proper Jurai princess; her more practical little sister,  Sasami; and Mihoshi, a bubble-brained Galactic Police Officer. Ayeka,  Sasami, and Mihoshi, who were trying to capture Ryoko, find themselves living  with  her on Earth after an unplanned landing. All four of them are  interested in Tenchi Masami, whose attraction has to be taken as a given--the viewer  sees very little of him.Director Nobuhiro Takamoto keeps the action focused on the girls, whose  adventures  juxtapose interplanetary intrigue with such mundane difficulties as  budgeting, keeping house, and cooking. Additional comedy is provided by  Ryo-Ohki,  Ayeka's spaceship, which has been transformed into a "cabbit," a fuzzy  cross  between a rabbit and a cat.The animation is minimal, even by anime standards, although  Takamoto  sometimes uses the limits cleverly, e.g., reducing a group of roommates trying  to borrow money to a clutch of begging hands. Many elements in the  stories  play off Shinto legends, references American viewers are not likely to  recognize; in the U.S.,Tenchiplays like a cross betweenThe ArchiesandMy Favorite Martian. In addition to the regular series, there  have been TV specials and direct-to-video adventures for Tenchi and the gang.--Charles Solomon