Tenchi Forever! The Movie

Tenchi Forever! The Movie
Pioneer's North American DVD box cover. For alternate cover art, see the release's gallery.
Japanese	天地無用! in LOVE 2 遙かなる想い
Romanization	Tenchi Muyo! in Love 2: Distant Feelings
Directed by	Hiroshi Negishi
Screenplay by	Masaharu Ayano
Starring	Masami Kikuchi Ai Orikasa Yumi Takada Chisa Yokoyama Yuko Mizutani Yuri Amano Yuko Kobayashi Kikuko Inoue
Music by	Tsuneyoshi Saito
Production	AIC Pioneer LDC, Inc. "Tenchi Muyo Manatsu no Eve" Committee
Distributed by	Theatrical GAGA communications inc. Home Video Pioneer Entertainment (USA) L.P. (1999 - 2003) Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc. (2004 - 2007) FUNimation Entertainment (2012 - Current)
Release date	Theatrical April 24, 1999 Home Video August 25, 1999 (VHS, DVD, LaserDisc) September 14, 1999 (VHS) December 18, 2012 (Blu-ray)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Tenchi Forever! The Movie known in Japan as Tenchi Muyo! in Love 2: Haruka naru Omoi (天地無用! in LOVE 2 遙かなる想い, phonetic: Tenchi Muyou! in Rabu tsu Haruka naru Omoi) is the third and final film in the Tenchi Muyo! franchise, directed by Hiroshi Negishi and written by Masaharu Ayano. The film was released theatrically in Japan on April 24, 1999.

Titles

Title	Language
TENCHI MUYO in LOVE 2 遙かなる想い	Official title
天地無用! in LOVE 2 遙かなる想い	Japanese title
Tenchi Forever! The Movie	Official English Title
Tenchi the Movie: TENCHI FOREVER	English
Tenchi the Movie·3: TENCHI FOREVER	English
Tenchi Muyo In Love 2: The Movie	French
Chi ha bisogno di Tenchi? Memorie lontane	Italian
Tenchi Muyo in Love 2	Polish

Plot Summary

Ryoko and Ayeka are bickering over who should be doing chores when Tenchi runs into them. They both are insistent that he makes a choice to pick one or the other. Tenchi naturally decides to run away, heading into the forest. While there, he stumbles upon a huge tree covered in strange flowers, and vanishes without a trace. While asleep, Tenchi has a strange dream of floating through nothingness while surrounded by what he saw before he disappeared, and wakes up to find himself a completely different person. He's several years older, has long hair, and lives with a beautiful young woman named Haruna.

After this revelation, the film jumps ahead some time. Tenchi's family and friends have been searching in vain for him, with Ryoko and Ayeka moving to Tokyo to continue the search. While searching for Tenchi they've become waitresses at a small diner. Every spare moment not working is spent looking for any clues to Tenchi’s whereabouts. Completely by chance, Ryoko and Ayeka run into Tenchi and Haruna. The girls go to Washu to let her know what happened, and a plan is struck to get Tenchi back. This includes help from Mihoshi and Kiyone’s GP expertise, as well as Sasami’s own royal power.

Tenchi is now beginning to get severe headaches, which coincide with his memories. Haruna becomes increasingly upset when all Tenchi begins to draw are crude pictures of Ryoko. Afterwards, while Tenchi and Haruna are out shopping, they run into Ryoko and Ayeka. When Ryoko tries to address Tenchi, there is no response, and when she tries to touch Tenchi she passes right through him, which ends up causing Tenchi and Haruna to fade into nothingness.

Putting their plans into motion, Katsuhito harnesses the power of the trees around the shrine and Washu creates a doorway into the dimension Haruna created. Ryoko and Ayeka enter and confront Tenchi and Haruna and try to bring Tenchi back. However, Tenchi gets a headache caused by the clashing memories and tells them he does not want to go back. Haruna banishes them back to the real world. Devastated by Tenchi's rejection, Ryoko begins to cry.

Despite this small victory, Haruna’s facade begins to crumble around them. This whole time Haruna had been draining Tenchi’s energy to create this world, and small discrepancies begin to become too much to ignore, culminating with Katsuhito slicing into the tree. Haruna recognizes her true love Yosho, and remembers why she took Tenchi away in the first place. Yosho and Haruna leave together and Tenchi finally remembers who he is but now has no way of escaping himself.

Washu tells the girls that she can only send one in to get Tenchi. After a heart to heart talk, Ayeka tells Ryoko to go, that she’s the only one who could bring him back. Ryoko jumps in and meets Tenchi. After small banter, Ryoko lifts Tenchi into the sky to teleport them both back to their world.

The movie closes on Tenchi and Ryoko observing a quiet moment just as Tenchi’s parents did in the first Tenchi Muyo in Love film.

Cast

Main article: List of Tenchi Forever! The Movie crew members

Role	Japanese Actor	American Actor
Tenchi Masaki	Masami Kikuchi	Matt K. Miller
Ryoko	Ai Orikasa	Petrea Burchard
Ayeka	Yumi Takada	Jennifer Darling
Sasami	Chisa Yokoyama	Sherry Lynn
Mihoshi	Yūko Mizutani	Rebecca Forstadt
Kiyone	Yuri Amano	Sherry Lynn
Washu	Yuko Kobayashi	Kate T. Vogt
Katsuhito & Nobuyuki Masaki	Takeshi Aono	Bob Papenbrook
Haruna	Kikuko Inoue	Debi Derryberry

Reception

Aggregate Scores
Source	Rating
Rotten Tomatoes	82% (500+)
MyAnimeList	7.21/10 (7300+)
Anime News Network	7.13/10 (800+ / Mean Average)
Anime-Planet	3.66/5 (2800+)
IMDb	7.1/10 (700+)

Retrospective Reviews (After 10+ years)

Carlo Santos reviewed the film for Anime News Network on Jan 23, 2013 as part of a general review for FUNimation's Tenchi Muyo! The Movie Collection release. Carlo's review of the film was very positive, saying that the film was "the franchise's masterpiece". Carlo praised the writing in particular, noting that "So well-written is this story that even the one-time-only character, Haruna, goes through major changes: she starts as a mystery, develops into a villain, and finally becomes a sympathetic figure." Though no individual grade was given to each film, Carlo praised the movie as "The movie's finale pulls on the heartstrings in a way few other Tenchi works ever have, putting a perfect endcap on the entire series."

Music

Main article: TENCHI MUYO! in LOVE 2 ~Haruka naru Omoi~ original sound track

Tsuneyoshi Saito composed the music for the film. The soundtrack was released March 25, 1999 for ¥2,914. The theme "Love Song ga kikoeru" was released as a single on May 21, 1999 for ¥1,068.