This is probably the first manga I read before buying that's not due to the fact the printed form is slower than what can be obtained online. In fact, this ended quite a while ago (probably at least 5 years). I like the Tenchi Muyo series a lot. The art is good, the characters are interesting, and the story is halfway decent, which puts it well above a lot of other stuff I buy on a regular basis.
But similar to why I didn't buy the newer Kingdom Hearts games, I don't like to chase after a series that cannot end well (taking too long counts as ending poorly). Tenchi Muyo is one series that obviously cannot end well, so I didn't buy any of the newer manga for a long time. Tonight I figured there must be some Chinese site that carries it, and sure enough, it's out there and it doesn't end well. But fortunately that's about the only thing that's not good. You have the three Goddesses coming out from literally middle of nowhere in the last 10 pages of the last part of the last volume, Tenchi defeats some guy with True Light Hawk Sword, and the order of the universe is restored. Tsunami, for once, didn't just completely pwn everything that got in the way. Washu FINALLY goes goddess mode, and Tokimi makes an appearance even though if you follow the manga, at this point there is absolutely no way you're supposed to have any idea who she is. For the final battle of the story, Tenchi didn't even do his usual "I stopped a black hole" trick.
The problem here is that very few authors are good at ending a series that's supposed to have an indefinite end. Rumiko Takahashi is the only one I can think of that does it well. Ranma 1/2 isn't supposed to have an end, but she can end it well. Inuyasha can literally go on forever, but she can end it too. I don't even like Inuyasha, but it clearly ended well for something that barely has a story. The problem for Tenchi Muyo is that the story pretty much never made any sense. Tokimi, Washu, and Tsunami are Deus ex Machina squared characters (their human avatars would be powerful enough to be a Deus ex Machina character in most manga). Also, Tenchi is ridiculously overpowered for a main character. I don't know why people always say Goku is the strongest character in Anime. He can't even stop a black hole which Tenchi did like 5 times or so. Nobody has even come close to hurting him when he has the True Light Hawk Sword. It's really not a surprise that when your main character is roughly as powerful as God and protected by 3 more Gods, it's really hard to have any suspense.
Thankfully most of Tenchi Muyo isn't focused on battle for the survival of the galaxy. Shin Tenchi Muyo tends to focus on one character at a time, though the number of character introduced gets pretty ridiculous after a while. Most of the stories are quite interesting and heartwarming, though the fact that any earthling girl Sasami befriends seems to immediately get run over by a car gets old really quick. Honestly the story would be better served if it just go on indefinitely and rotating each week focusing on one of the major girls. It'd be nice if Sasami's story isn't almost invariably about cooking or having a friend ran over by a car. One of the extra stories has Tenchi Muyo 100 years from now and has Sasami appearing as Tsunami. Honestly, why didn't they just do that? There's already an arc with Aeka having blue hair, so why can't Sasami ever be in her grown up form?
But similar to why I didn't buy the newer Kingdom Hearts games, I don't like to chase after a series that cannot end well (taking too long counts as ending poorly). Tenchi Muyo is one series that obviously cannot end well, so I didn't buy any of the newer manga for a long time. Tonight I figured there must be some Chinese site that carries it, and sure enough, it's out there and it doesn't end well. But fortunately that's about the only thing that's not good. You have the three Goddesses coming out from literally middle of nowhere in the last 10 pages of the last part of the last volume, Tenchi defeats some guy with True Light Hawk Sword, and the order of the universe is restored. Tsunami, for once, didn't just completely pwn everything that got in the way. Washu FINALLY goes goddess mode, and Tokimi makes an appearance even though if you follow the manga, at this point there is absolutely no way you're supposed to have any idea who she is. For the final battle of the story, Tenchi didn't even do his usual "I stopped a black hole" trick.
The problem here is that very few authors are good at ending a series that's supposed to have an indefinite end. Rumiko Takahashi is the only one I can think of that does it well. Ranma 1/2 isn't supposed to have an end, but she can end it well. Inuyasha can literally go on forever, but she can end it too. I don't even like Inuyasha, but it clearly ended well for something that barely has a story. The problem for Tenchi Muyo is that the story pretty much never made any sense. Tokimi, Washu, and Tsunami are Deus ex Machina squared characters (their human avatars would be powerful enough to be a Deus ex Machina character in most manga). Also, Tenchi is ridiculously overpowered for a main character. I don't know why people always say Goku is the strongest character in Anime. He can't even stop a black hole which Tenchi did like 5 times or so. Nobody has even come close to hurting him when he has the True Light Hawk Sword. It's really not a surprise that when your main character is roughly as powerful as God and protected by 3 more Gods, it's really hard to have any suspense.
Thankfully most of Tenchi Muyo isn't focused on battle for the survival of the galaxy. Shin Tenchi Muyo tends to focus on one character at a time, though the number of character introduced gets pretty ridiculous after a while. Most of the stories are quite interesting and heartwarming, though the fact that any earthling girl Sasami befriends seems to immediately get run over by a car gets old really quick. Honestly the story would be better served if it just go on indefinitely and rotating each week focusing on one of the major girls. It'd be nice if Sasami's story isn't almost invariably about cooking or having a friend ran over by a car. One of the extra stories has Tenchi Muyo 100 years from now and has Sasami appearing as Tsunami. Honestly, why didn't they just do that? There's already an arc with Aeka having blue hair, so why can't Sasami ever be in her grown up form?
