No Need for Tenchi!, Volume 5: Unreal Genius

This was a pretty good book. I've only read two other volumes, the first and the second. The first volume confused me utterly, because it doesn't start in a way that's very good for people who have never seen the series before (the "series explanation" is more confusing than enlightening). However, since that first volume, I've gotten to like these books much more. The art's great, and occaisionally there are some really funny moments. This book has some more Minagi scenes, which I thought was great since she's one of my favorite characters at this point. And, since I gather from the other reviews I've read that Minagi probably wasn't in the original series, I'll just say that she's sort of a second Ryoko, with a different personality. A good read. I recommend it, but it would probably be good to read one of the earlier books first, so that things aren't so confusing. That's this series biggest problem, I think. It isn't always very clear about things, and there's never a little section at the beginning explaining who all the characters are, like you see in other manga series.

No doubt about it...I love Tenchi! And I have really enjoyed the "No Need for Tenchi" series by Hitoshi Okuda. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Vol. 12 is the last of the "No Need for Tenchi" series. I was very sad to think that I wasn't going to be able to get a fresh Tenchi fix anymore! I have enjoyed the continuing adventures of Tenchi in this series so much that, as Ryoko says on the final page of the final story, "I can't imagine living apart from Tenchi...from everyone...anymore...."Then I discovered that Hitoshi Okuda has embarked upon a NEW comic series featuring Tenchi and company. Now I'm anxiously awaiting the next issue of "The All-New Tenchi Muyo!" Yippee!So get volume 12 of this great series, and enjoy -- there really is no need for endings!

If the answer is more Tenchi madness, this is what you'll get. I will admit that was was leery of any translation by Viz, but those suspiscions were put to rest after the first few pages. I managed to find a Japanese copy and worked out the translations on my own and was pleasantly surprised to find that the English version is farly close to the Japanese. I liked the direction the author was going with the series and look forward to more. If you are as big of a Tenchi otaku as I am, then you cannot pass this up. Go, buy it now! shoo shoo

I decided to buy a Tenchi book, so I got this one first because I like Ryo-Ohki, and because she was one the cover, I got this one. I was really confused to what was happening (2 Ryokos?) So until I got the first couple of books, I started to get what was going on. But the stories are what you would expect from a Tenchi story. The whole series of books is like watching another series of it on TV, except you don't feel so lazy reading it.

I fell in love with the anime series and thought the manga would be a big rehash of the plot, but it's not!! The story is original, the art is even cooler than the animation sometimes, and it's great to get in the graphic novel form!