View source for Tenchi the Movie: Tenchi Muyo in Love

{{Infobox film
| name           = Tenchi the Movie:<br>Tenchi in Love!
| image          = Mini TMiL.jpg
 
| alt            = 
| caption        = Region 1 DVD Cover released by Pioneer
| director       = [[Hiroshi Negishi]]<ref name="Beck">{{cite book|author=Jerry Beck|title=The Animated Movie Guide|url=https://archive.org/details/animatedmoviegui0000beck|url-access=registration|date=28 October 2005|publisher=[[Chicago Review Press]]|isbn=978-1-56976-222-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/animatedmoviegui0000beck/page/278 278]–}}</ref>
| producer       = Takeshi Yasuda<br />Hideki Aoyama<br />Shigeru Tsukamoto<br />Atsumi Okada<br />Yoshikiyo Arai
| writer         = 
| screenplay     = Ryoe Tsukimura<ref name="Beck"/><br />Hiroshi Negishi<ref name="Beck"/>
| story          = 
| based_on       = {{based on|''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]''|[[Masaki Kajishima]]}}
| narrator       = 
| starring       = 
| music          = [[Christopher Franke]]<ref name="Beck"/>
| cinematography = Hitoshi Satō
| editing        = Toshio Henmi
| studio         = [[Anime International Company]]<br>[[NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan|Pioneer LDC]]
| distributor    = GAGA Communications Inc
| released       = {{Film date|1996|04|20|}}
| runtime        = 95 minutes
| country        = Japan
| language       = Japanese
| budget         = 
| gross          = 
}}

'''''Tenchi the Movie: Tenchi in Love!''''', also known in Japan as {{nihongo|'''''Tenchi Muyo in Love!'''''|天地無用 IN LOVE!|Tenchi Muyō in Rabu!}}, is a 1996 Japanese [[animation|animated]] film and the first of three films set in the ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' multi-verse.

The film takes place after the conclusion of ''[[Tenchi Universe]]'', and so varies from the [[Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki|original OVAs]] at several points. Most noticeable of these is the inclusion of [[Achika Masaki|Achika]] as [[Tenchi Masaki|Tenchi's]] mother instead of [[Tenchi Muyo! (OVA)#Kiyone Masaki|Kiyone Masaki]]. It was followed by ''[[Tenchi Forever! The Movie|Tenchi Forever!]]'', released in 1999.

==Plot==
<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, plot summaries should be kept between 400 to 700 words. -->
After being defeated by the Jurai Emperor and the Galaxy Police centuries ago, the monstrously powerful Super A-1 class criminal Kain was imprisoned in the subspace room of the GP's headquarters, never to be released.

In the present (established to be 1996, the year of the film's release), Kain escapes his bonds, destroys the GP space station, and travels back in time to take his revenge on Jurai's royal family. The Galaxy Police only has time to send a short warning, which Mihoshi and Kiyone intercept.

The Masaki house, the shrine, and [[Tenchi Masaki|Tenchi]] himself all begin to fade out of existence. Washu theorizes that someone is tampering with the established timeline, and uses a shield to keep Tenchi from vanishing. The shield is only a temporary solution, so Washu sends the rest of the group back to 1970 to prevent Kain from killing Tenchi's mother Achika.

Tenchi's friends assume roles at Tenchi's father Nobuyuki and Achika's high school, while Tenchi himself stays hidden to prevent causing a [[paradox]]. Tenchi and his friends must also deal with a rogue GP operative bent on seizing glory by killing Kain.

After determining the exact time that Kain strikes in 1970, the group tries to defend Achika, only to see the villain escape into subspace with her and Nobuyuki. Tenchi, Ayeka and Ryoko follow and challenge Kain, but even with their powers boosted by Washu they are no match for him.

Washu sends a powerful "dimensional cannon" from the present, and Kiyone mans the weapon to destroy Kain. Tenchi is wounded, and Achika unlocks her latent Jurai powers to fuel his sword and deal a crippling blow to Kain. The group barely escapes in time before the dimensional cannon is fired into their pocket of subspace, finally destroying Kain.

Before her memory is wiped along with Nobuyuki's, Achika asks Ryoko and Ayeka to take care of Tenchi, since she will not be there for him in their present.

==Cast==
* [[Masami Kikuchi]] as Tenchi Masaki <ref name="Beck"/>
* [[Ai Orikasa]] as Ryoko<ref name="Beck"/>
* [[Megumi Hayashibara]] as Achika<ref name="Beck"/>
* [[Yumi Takada]] as Ayeka<ref name="Beck"/>
* [[Chisa Yokoyama]] as Sasami<ref name="Beck"/>
* [[Etsuko Kozakura]] as Ryo-Ohki<ref name="Beck"/>
* [[Ryūzaburō Ōtomo]] as Kain<ref name="Beck"/>
* [[Toshiyuki Morikawa]] as young Nobuyuki Masaki<ref name="Beck"/>
* [[Yuko Kobayashi]] as Washu<ref name="Beck"/>
* [[Yuko Mizutani]] as Mihoshi<ref name="Beck"/>
* [[Yuri Amano]] as Kiyone<ref name="Beck"/>
* [[Takeshi Aono]] as Nobuyuki Masaki

==Music==
The music for ''Tenchi in Love'' was composed by [[Christopher Franke]]<ref name="Beck"/> (formerly of [[Tangerine Dream]] and the main composer for the ''[[Babylon 5]]'' series).

The end theme song is ''Alchemy of Love'', written by Franke and performed by [[Nina Hagen]], with [[Rick Jude]] on backing vocals.

There is also an Achika version of the song, with new Japanese lyrics, and is performed by [[Megumi Hayashibara]] (Achika's Japanese voice actress). The Achika version is available on a single mini-CD (''Pioneer PIDA-1033'') and on the Japanese LaserDisc version of the movie, as a music video, which also features the original English version.

==Distribution==
''Tenchi in Love!'' had its US television premiere during [[SyFy|Sci-Fi Channel's]] (now SyFy) Anime theme week on August 26, 1996.

In North America, it was initially released on home video in the '90s by [[NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan|Pioneer Entertainment USA]] with the US [[Constant angular velocity|CAV]] [[THX]] [[Laserdisc]] released on the 3rd of September, 1996 and the [[Constant linear velocity|CLV]] [[Laserdisc]] released on the 21st of October, 1997,  before they released it independently on [[DVD]] in 2003. This release was one of the few releases from Pioneer/Geneon to have [[THX]]-certified video, re-mastered for superior picture quality, and with the audio, remixed in [[5.1]] [[Dolby Digital]] AC3 surround sound. After Pioneer's shut down in 2007, [[FUNimation Entertainment]] announced the license of the movie, along with a handful of other Geneon titles. The movie is distributed by [[Madman Entertainment]] in Australia and New Zealand and by [[MVM Films]] in the United Kingdom. It was released on [[Blu-ray Disc]] in North America in December 2012 by FUNimation in a box set with the other ''Tenchi'' movies.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{anime News Network|anime|id=230|title=Tenchi Muyo Movie 1: Tenchi in Love}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.cjas.org/~echen/articles/fall96/10_26b.html|title=The Tenchi Muyo in Love Premiere at Anime Expo '96|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071104123842/http://www.cjas.org/~echen/articles/fall96/10_26b.html|archive-date=2007-11-04}}
* {{IMDb title|0117876}}

{{Tenchi Muyo!}}
{{AIC films}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1996 anime films]]
[[Category:1996 films]]
[[Category:Adventure anime and manga]]
[[Category:Anime International Company]]
[[Category:Fantasy anime and manga]]
[[Category:Animated films about time travel]]
[[Category:Films set in 1970]]
[[Category:Films set in 1996]]
[[Category:Films set in Tokyo]]
[[Category:Funimation]]
[[Category:Geneon USA]]
[[Category:Harem anime and manga]]
[[Category:NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan]]
[[Category:Shōnen manga]]
[[Category:Tenchi Muyo! films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Christopher Franke]]
[[Category:1990s films about time travel]]