Introduction:
The Tenchi Muyo series was
certainly the king of anime in the 1990s. So it goes without saying that after
a successful television series and first movie, there would be another movie.
But this film seems to follow the original OAV series, and instead of looking
at Tenchi’s past, looks to his future – as a father!
Summary:
As Tenchi (Matthew K.
Miller) is heading home one summer afternoon, he comes across a pretty girl sitting
on the shrine steps. She smiles warmly and calls him “Daddy”. Her name is
Mayuka (Julie Maddalena) and while she knows that Tenchi is her father, she has
no clear memories of her past. This is all very odd, since she doesn’t look
that much younger than him. Of course this puts Ryoko (Petrea Burchard) on her
guard, convinced that this girl is a threat to Tenchi. Washu (K.T. Vogt) starts
doing some research on Mayuka’s DNA to find out more, especially when Mayuka
displays the same powers as Tenchi.
But mostly everyone in the
house befriends the lost girl, especially Sasami (Sherry Lynn) and Ayeka
(Jennifer Darling). But evil is lurking in the background as a mysterious
figure called Yuzuha (Barbara Goodson) watches and waits. She’s got a few
tricks in store for Tenchi and the girls. All she has to do is let this Daughter of Darkness trap him.
Good Points:
- All the characters seem to
be their less intense OAV versions
- Mayuka is a likable
character
- Ko Otani provides a really
good musical score
Bad Points:
- Yuzuha’s motivations and
plan aren’t well developed
- Some confusion on what
continuity this takes place in
- Reduced scope compared to
the previous film
Overall:
For me this is one of the
most entertaining of the Tenchi Muyo incarnations. The characters seem like
friends, all dealing with the bizarre revelation of Tenchi’s daughter. Miyuka
is so sweet (if a little weird) that you really worry about her fate, and place
in Yuzuha’s plan. If only the script was polished a bit this could have been
the best of the movies. As it stands, it’s a bit confused, but still very
entertaining.
Scores
(out of 5)
Visuals: 4
Sound: 4
Acting: 4
Script: 3
Music: 4
Direction: 3
Entertainment: 3
Total: 3
In Depth Review
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| Tenchi is about to meet... his daughter? |
In the interest of full
disclosure I should say this was my first exposure to the whole Tenchi
franchise. I picked up this DVD on a whim. It was one of the few anime DVDs
available at Tower Records, and I was just getting back into Japanese
animation. I had heard about Tenchi, but hadn’t had a chance to see any of it.
The OAV series and television series would not come to DVD for many years. This
was the first bit of Tenchi to come out on a shiny disc in Region 1.
What I’m saying, is that Daughter of Darkness holds a lot of
nostalgia for me. Every time I watch it, I’m taken back in time to a lot of
good memories. That is one of the reasons why it gets regular play at Christmas
time, and why I still count it as one of my favorite incarnations of the
franchise.
That said, I’m going to do
my best to be level headed in this review. As a whole, this is entertaining,
but kind of a mess all the way around.
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| The Startica festival on planet Jurai. |
From an animation point of
view, things look pretty typical of the OAV continuity, looking a lot like the
animation style from the later half of Series 1. Some of the epic scope from Tenchi Muyo in Love is missing here. No huge space battles or massive destruction.
One of the most elaborate sequences is the star festival on planet Jurai called
Startica. The flashbacks on Jurai give us a little bit more of a peek at this
world and their tree based technology. Sadly, most of the footage is reused
several times in the film.
More time and design was
spent on Yuzuha’s dimension of darkness. It’s filled with bizarre tunnels,
deranged toys and moist and sticky television monitors (call David
Cronenberg!). It plays a large part in the finale sequence and the animators
get to have some fun with scale in it. Yuzuha’s obsession with Startica and
Christmas fuel her final attack and so you get scenes with a huge Christmas
tree, killer gift ribbon and a teddy bear the size of King Kong.
The English voice acting in Daughter of Darkness is pretty solid
all the way around. The cast has Tenchi and the girls down cold, and they
perform all their roles with skill. New to the cast is Wendee Lee playing
Kiyone. Lee was a veteran of anime voice acting, so I’m sure this was an easy
fit for her.
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| Yuzuha has a wicked plan that just doesn't add up. |
The two new roles, Mayuka
and Yuzuha are played very well. Maddalena brings an innocence and exuberance
to Mayuka. It’s critical that she come across as both naïve and yet mysterious.
Maddalena manages both. Her curiosity about the world around her as well belief
that Tenchi is her father are conveyed with sincerity. Contrast this to when Yuzuha
controls her and we can almost hear the demon speaking through her. It’s a very
good performance and key to the whole movie working as well as it does.
Goodson’s performance as
Yuzuha is just as effective. I love the maniacal glee at the mischief she is
creating. In flashbacks, she is sympathetic, until we learn more about her. But
it is her seething rage at Tenchi’s grandfather that becomes the key here. The
final scenes of the movie are driven by this rage. It’s an interesting
character with some twisted morals, and Goodson is really great in the part.
Ko Otani’s musical score is
probably my favorite of the three films (and probably my favorite of the
franchise). He creates three themes for the film. One based on Yuzhua and her
dark world. One based on the innocence of Mayuka (and seems very connected to
Yuzuha’s theme). Finally there is the theme for Christmas/Startica. All three
themes are woven into each other, given different variations and conclude in a satisfactory
way. Mayuka’s theme get the most airtime, with several variations throughout
her story as she arrives innocence and ends up twisted by Yuzuha in the finale.
The score is heavy on electronics, but Otani uses them well, creating a
wonderful atmosphere, as well some excellent driving action when needed. The
end theme, Manatsu no Eve is based
off the Christmas/Startica theme is performed by Mariko Nagi and is a nice pop
piece.
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| Ayeka doesn't think Mihoshi or Ryoko have a clue. |
There are few things that
really appeal to me about Daughter of
Darkness. One is the entire summer atmosphere of the whole movie. The cast
is dressed in summer clothing and doing things around the house that are
typical of the season. The animation and action combine to create a real sense
of time, and a feeling of carefree summer days. No one is going to school.
They’re doing some chores, but then hanging out eating watermelon, watching
fireworks and trying to stay cool. This is well contrasted to the Christmas
flashbacks. Here everyone is bundled up, there are decorations all over the
house and the whole cast is celebrating. It’s no wonder that Mayuka wants to
stay with the gang and have fun all day long.
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| Ayeka opens up to Ryoko about her fears. |
In sharp contrast to Tenchi Muyo in Love, the cast here
seems to be enjoying each other’s company. Ayeka and Ryoko aren’t constantly
fighting. In fact the two rivals have a great scene together, as they talk
about the possibility of Tenchi not picking either of them as a girlfriend. Darling
as Ayeka and Burchard as Ryoko both get to show off some acting chops here,
letting the girls take things a notch down. It is this fellowship, as well as
the fact that Mihoshi isn’t a drooling moron that leads me to believe this is
supposed to fall in the OAV continuity. But more on that in a minute. It was
nice to see all the characters behaving like a family. Sure Ayeka and Ryoko
aren’t going to ever be friends, but here we see that they at least respect
each other.
Daughter of Darkness also drops a lot of the stupid comedic moments that
plagued Tenchi Universe and even Series 2 of the OAV. Humor comes out of
situations naturally, not because of some gag the writers tried to force into
the plot. Instead of going for full-blown laughs, the movie focuses on the
group dynamic once Mayuka is introduced, and how each character reacts and
changes because of it. It’s really more character-centric than the plot heavy
previous film.
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| Ryoko has had enough of Mayuka. |
But this second movie is far
from perfect. As I mentioned, no one really knows what continuity this event
happens. While it seems to fit the OAV timeline, and shares the one hour
running time, as well as the watercolor images during the end titles, a few
things don’t add up. First Kiyone did not appear in the OAV series at all. My
guess is that she was popular after her appearance in Tenchi Universe (gotta admit she’s one of the best parts of that
show), so they figured they couldn’t have a movie without her. The other
element is Tenchi’s energy weapon. In the OAV this was known as the Light Hawk
Wings, a kind of triple bladed thing he used against Kagato. But in Tenchi Universe it became the Light
Hawk Sword, and that is what the whole cast refers to it as in this film. It
looks much more like the blade in the television series. It’s a bit confusing,
but only for folks who have been following Tenchi closely.
More annoying are all the
odd little elements that just don’t add up from a script point of view. Most of
this revolves around Yuzuha’s plot. We know she hates Tenchi’s grandfather,
Yosho. But instead of focusing her attack on Yosho, she focuses it on Tenchi.
She never says why, but it’s implied that Tenchi looks so much like Yosho that
it makes her hate transfer to him.
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| Father and daughter about to disappear. |
So Yuzuha creates Mayuka to
go to the Tenchi household and … um… do stuff? Obviously Ryoko becomes jealous
of Mayuka almost immediately, and Washu and Yosho attempt to figure out more
about her. But the few times Yuzuha takes control of Mayuka it’s to have the
girl grope, kiss and lick a stupefied Tenchi. Um, yeah kinda gross if that
really is his daughter. Each time this happens, a dimensional doorway opens.
But usually another cast member comes in and sees the whole unpleasant scene
and it stops.
Two things could be going on
here – but again nothing is explained. I’m guessing Yuzuha wants to pull Tenchi
into her dark dimension to mess with. I’m also assuming that her love/hate of
Yosho makes her love/hate Tenchi. So she actually possesses Mayuka to exercise
her desires on Tenchi while he is in a trance. This is supported by the fact
that each time Mayuka does the forbidden dance with Tenchi her eyes are a
different color and she speaks more like Yuzuha.
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| Happy Christmas memories |
But it still feels sloppy.
The kissing, groping and licking aren’t necessary to open the dimensional door
because Mayuka doesn’t need to kiss Sasami to open the door and abduct her. I
don’t want to think it, but maybe the writers were just pervs and wanted to see
Mayuka get it on with Tenchi.
Part of the issue with Daughter
of Darkness is the really short running time of an hour. It must have been
tough to cram in all the needed exposition, as well as all the great character
moments they did come up with. The movie flies by a little too briskly, and if
they had another 20 minutes or half an hour, all these odd little script
moments could be resolved. Or maybe not, hard to say really. For what it is,
you get some solid entertainment and a few great character moments for just
about everyone in the cast. Yes, nostalgia plays a big part in my enjoyment
here, but still it’s my favorite of the Tenchi films. One more Tenchi film was released in 1999: Tenchi Forever.
