Tenchi Universe - Volume 4 - Time and Space Adventures
In these linked episodes, supergenius Washu invents the Dimensional Cause and Effect Controller, a machine that produces a world corresponding to the user's desires. When she explains it to the other women from outer space, a five-way battle for the controls erupts. The machine overloads, sending the cast to a succession of alternate worlds that represent each woman's fantasy, but where their quarrels continue. Ayeka's servants, Azake and Kamidake, introduce the segments from a modified Kabuki stage. Ayeka imagines herself as a Japanese princess; Tenchi is a samurai; and Ryoko, a demon. Kinoye becomes a pulp-fiction Woman with a Past in a remote village, where Tenchi runs a noodle stand and Ayeka and Sasami are tavern keepers. As high school students, school president Ayeka and juvenile delinquent Ryoko (in matching plaid skirts) fight over Tenchi until Sasami intervenes as Pretty Sammy the Magic Girl. Tenchi becomes a salaryman and Ayeka a fussy sister-in-law in Mihoshi's fantasy of domesticity. Tenchi, incongruously clad in a fedora and bow tie, finds himself an unwilling Clyde to Ryoko's Bonnie in a spoof of crime movies. Seeing the characters in these parts is like watching familiar actors in a comedy sketch on a variety show, and very funny. Rated 13 and up for cartoon violence, drinking, and nudity.--Charles Solomon