Take Tenchi and the girls, add a cute new girl, mix well and you have a new TENCHI MUYO! release. Its a formula AIC has been using to keep the TENCHI MUYO! franchise running successfully for several years now, and the TENCHI MUYO! - MANATSU NO EVE (MIDSUMMER'S EVE) feature film is the latest incarnation of that idea.
In this case the new girl is Mayuka (voiced by the very popular seiyuu Iwao Junko), a sixteen-year old girl who mysteriously shows up on the Masaki doorstep claiming to be Tenchi's daughter. Doubling the mystery is Yuzuha, an acquaintance from Youshou's youth, harboring quite a grudge...The film was released as part of a double feature along with Kadokawa's Latest SLAYERS movie. It is the first release in the Tenchi multiverse to be set in the OVA continuity since the OVAs themselves. This presents a slight problem for the introduction of Kiyone, so in true Tenchi fashion they don't try to explain things at all - she's just there.

Unfortunately there are a number of weaknesses with this film. The reviewer's main dislike was that the film is merely a vehicle for Mayuka, Tenchi and Ryouko. Aeka, Sasami, Ryo-oh-ki and most of the rest of the cast got very short shrift. The lack of a budget on the order of TENCHI MUYO! IN LOVE is also quite evident. This film was bankrolled by Kadokawa Shoten and was done much less lavishly. Character designs, by Nobuaki Nagano, are more simplistic, similar to those of SHIN TENCHI MUYO!.

The film is ostensibly THX and Dolby Digital (formerly known as AC-3) on its soundtrack. I did not find that the implied quality levels of the audio system were borne out by the actual audio track itself. There were scenes which appeared deliberately choreographed to try and show off the format, and even those seemed flawed. The flow of sounds from one speaker to another were abrupt and very discernable to even this reviewer's non-audiophile ear. The music is quite good however, and the soundtrack CD would be a good addition to any TENCHI fan's collection.

Overall the film really didn't add much to the OVA universe at all. There was not a great deal of character development, and this reviewer would recommend the ¥1800 as better spent on one of the other big summer films such as MONONOKE HIME.

The reviewer would like to thank AIC for allowing him the opportunity to see an advance screening of the film pre-release

TENCHI MUYO! MANATSU NO EVE Copyright © AIC/Pioneer/Kadokawa Shoten Released 8/2/97 Staff Info: Director: Satoshi Kimura Planning: Taro Maki Writer: Naoko Hasegawa Original Character Design: Masaki Kajishima Character Design, Animation Director: Nobuaki Nagano