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Tenchi Muyo! American Comics Omnibus Edition's Kickstarter Surpasses Goal
posted on by Adriana Hazra
As of press time the campaign has raised US$106,088 from 1,099 backers with 11 days left. Armiger Entertainment states that the crowdfunding campaign is "part of an overall attempt to reintroduce the property to audiences outside of Japan." The company added, "The re-release of the American comic books is meant to mark the launch of an American Tenchi Continuity (ATC) to distinguish it from original creator Masaki Kajishima's Japanese Tenchi Continuity (JTC) and past iterations of the multitudinous franchise."
The company describes the comic book series' story:
The comic storyline, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki's Day, follows the Tenchi household as they return from another adventure, only to find that many in the galaxy have their eyes on them: A skilled hunter of cabbits after Ryo-Ohki, a wannabe space pirate obsessed with Ryoko, and the woes of the postal service as Sasami wonders if she'll ever receive the package she ordered!
Armiger Entertainment is a new company, with Wesley Vaughn as founder and president. Vaughn is a contributor to the "Tenchicast!" podcast and is the co-author of an upcoming book on the history of the Tenchi Muyo! franchise. ANN has confirmed that the company has the license to the comics.
Tenchi Muyo! Ryo Ohki is the original 1992 OVA series that started a long-running cross-media franchise, with numerous sequels and spinoffs. The original OVA received the Tenchi Muyo! Omatsuri Zenjitsu no Yoru! (Tenchi Muyo! The Night Before The Carnival), Tenchi Muyo! Ryo Ohki Dai-2-Ki (Second Season), and Tenchi Muyo! Ryo Ohki Dai-3-Ki (Third Season) sequels.
Tenchi Muyo! Ryo Ohki Dai-4-Ki (Fourth Season), the fourth OAV, debuted in 2016 as the first entry in the OVA series in 11 years since the last episode of the third OAV debuted in 2005. The fifth season of the anime had six episodes that debuted in home video releases from February to May 2021.
Anime production company AIC concluded an agreement to transfer partial ownership of some of its existing copyrights to Toei Agency in April 2021, with the two companies now sharing joint ownership of Tenchi Muyo!, among other franchises.
Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Starting (Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Shidō-hen) is the latest original video anime based on the Tenchi Muyo GXP franchise. It shipped on Blu-ray Discs in Japan starting in May 2023. Crunchyroll added the first episode of the three-episode OVA as it shipped in Japan. The second and third discs shipped in June 2023 and July 2023, respectively.
Sources: Press release, Tenchi Muyo! American Omnibus Edition's Kickstarter campaign
