is a Japanese anime television series animated by AIC and broadcast on NTV from April to September 2002. It is the fourth installment of the Tenchi Muyo! line of series, succeeding Tenchi in Tokyo, localized in North America by Funimation. On November 11, 2012, it began airing on Adult Swim's revived Toonami programming block. An anime OVA project titled Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Shidō-hen by AIC and Saber Project was released from May to October 2023.
Plot Seina Yamada is a young Japanese high school student living with his parents and younger sister in rural Okayama, Japan. One morning, following a hapless bike ride through the country, a large spacecraft crashes into the lake behind the Masaki residence, causing a violent tsunami that Seina is unable to escape from and he sinks, almost drowning. He regains consciousness shortly after, meeting Amane Kaunaq, the spacecraft's pilot, who gives Seina an application. Seina takes it, and shows it to his family at home. Mistaking it for a contest entry, his mother and sister aggressively force him to fill it out; afterwards he retreats to his room and falls asleep. The following morning, awakened aboard a vessel in orbit, Seina is informed by an official that he has successfully joined the Galaxy Police. It also revealed that the Galaxy Police originally meant to recruit Tenchi, but they got Seina instead.
Setting Unlike Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo, which are spin-offs of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki, GXP occurs during the same time period, making it a parallel series to the show. As such, the more-recognized cast do not play central roles, though they do make cameo appearances.
Characters
The unlikely protagonist of the series, Seina, a fifteen-year-old high school student with a supernatural penchant for bad luck (for himself AND for anyone around him), is mistakenly enlisted to the Galaxy Police after being coerced to fill out an application, which was meant to be given to Tenchi (his role model, who he addresses as "senpai"). His ultimate decision is to enroll, finding that, in the company of others and as the captain of his own ship, his otherwise unfortunate talent proves incredibly useful in rounding up pirates and other lawbreakers (leading to his nickname 'Lorelei Seina', as he is something of a siren in his ability to attract pirates).
Amane is a twenty-year-old Galaxy Police Detective 2nd Class whose crash-landing on Earth at the start of the series is solely responsible for the events that later ensue. Her mission was to give the application to Tenchi, but she mistook Seina as Tenchi's apprentice. In spite of her justified decision to give Seina an application, her long-awaited promotion to Detective 1st Class was postponed and she was temporarily re-assigned as a GP Academy instructor for the semester in order to personally supervise and train Seina. With a genuine crush and empathy for the boy, Amane grows to like her new responsibility, becoming Ship's Weapons Specialist (Tactical Officer) when Seina is given command of, first, the Kamidake and then later the Kamidake II, and the group are assigned their own patrol.
Kiriko is a twenty-four-year-old Immigration Officer for the Galaxy Police, whose double life in the agency is completely unknown to her family and peers on Earth (save for her mother and of-age members of the Masaki Village). Having grown up around Seina and developed a sympathy for his misfortune, she is the one most familiar with him and self-assigns herself the role of being his legal guardian and caretaker when he is accepted to the academy. In a manner identical to that of Amane (but with a suspicion that Lady Seto is behind it as a way to keep her close to Seina), she too is re-assigned to the GP Academy as an instructor for the semester. She becomes Ship's OS Officer when Seina is given command of, first, the Kamidake and then later the Kamidake II, and the group are assigned their own patrol.
Ryoko is a nineteen-year-old space pirate captain and member of the notorious Da Ruma guild, who in spite of her ruthless profile, exhibits behavior quite the opposite of her profession (even becoming something of a celebrity among GP members). She is introduced to Seina early into his travel to the academy, bestowing a humble, competitive respect for him when his paranormal luck aids in the arrest of several dozen pirate ships. Her admiration for him develops into a more passionate one, however, and Ryoko finds herself caught between her feelings and her allegiance to the guild (especially when the families of her crew are held hostage). However, events work out for the best and she becomes not only a full-member of the GP but also Ship's Pilot when Seina is given command of, first, the Kamidake and then later the Kamidake II, and the group are assigned their own patrol. As a part of her body enhancement (performed when she was a newborn), Ryoko is able to transmute her body to assume other guises, including the Wau Erma and a mermaid. Her parents named her after the legendary Ryoko Hakubi, the only space pirate to have ever taken-on planet Jurai's defences.
Neju, contrary to her stature and demeanor, is a two-thousand-year-old former priestess of Melmas, a distant planet of religious psychics. Following a brief, unelaborate encounter with Seina, she makes a more established presence when he and the group are asked to escort her aboard their ship. To the blatant annoyance of the other girls, she immediately grows fond of Seina, treating him as an older brother figure and even making plans to marry him. Having fulfilled her term as Melmas' high-priestess, Neju accepts Lady Seto's suggestion to enlist at the GP Academy, rather than return to secular life back on Melmas, as there was a hit on her. After a brief course at the Academy, Neju is assigned to the Kamidake II, and the group are assigned their own patrol.
Fuku is an infantile cabbit, developed as the nucleus of Seina's succeeding vessel, the Kamidake II. As the heart and powerhouse of the ship, Fuku exercises superseding control over its entirety, most notably its energy output, which is influenced by her emotional vigor. She is initially troubled by the stress of belligerence, stunting her from exercising full potential, but soon thanks to Seina's affection and support (later backed by that of the other girls) finds the strength to rise to the occasion and become a vital member of the crew. NB
NB was originally a "NB Reasoning Unit" A.I. helper robot, specifically a new test model likely modified for Seina (according to Seina's dormmates, Kenneth and Rajau), that Seina was issued when he enrolled in the G.P. Academy. During Seina's re-training after his body-enhancement, Kiriko and Erma (Ryoko), not trusting Amane alone with Seina, added a video camera for surveillance; however, a short circuit, caused by Amane's modifications and some weird extra installed programming, altered the personality of the robot. NB's still the helper robot it was originally designed for, but now it has the personality and motivations of a voyeuristic pervert. NB is almost never found without its camera, hoping to catch girls in various stages of undress (and a weird obsession with chikuwa (a Japanese fish sausage). Unfortunately for NB, the girls usually do catch it, and the end result is NB getting dented. He finally meets his match in Nabiko, a female version of himself that has been programmed to be "intimate" with him and which, despite his desperate attempts to flee from her, finally catches him and makes him, to his horror, "impure". In the series' epilogue, it is shown that he ends up the father to a huge family of little NB's and a henpecked husband.
Airi Masaki was first introduced in the third series of the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OVA and becomes a regular member of the Techi Muyo! GXP cast in Episode 4. She is Tenchi Masaki's grandmother, but anyone mentioning the fact that she is a grandmother had better run fast...she never likes to hear that she is a grandmother; Seina found this out when, as part of a joke played on him by Amane, he called Airi 'Granny' when her back was turned to him. When Seina found out, he was terrified (mostly because Airi was holding a chef's knife at the time), and she made him write lines as punishment. She is the chairwoman for the Galaxy Police Academy and works closely with the Academy's headmistress Mikami Kuramitsu. She also has a love for cooking, and would be found in one of the GP Academy's restaurants practicing her skills. While a tough but fair administrator, she demonstrates some affection for Seina (feeling jealous of Seto for being able to hang around with Seina while she (Airi) is stuck doing paperwork and crying out for Seina to come back to regular GP duty when she gets overwhelmed by the mountains of paperwork) and shows respect for his being able to take Tarant Shank out by himself.
Lady Seto is the mother of Empress Misaki, the adopted mother of Noike Jurai, the grandmother of Ayeka and Sasami and a very powerful 'behind the scenes' figure in Juraian politics...so much that because of her political craftiness and occasionally violent temper, she is referred to as "The Devil Princess of Jurai". She is married to the Kamiki clan head Utsutsumi Kamiki. Her tree/ship, Mikagami, is known for her special attack: The Triple Z (AKA the "Genocidal Dance"), which literally causes all enemies to freeze in their tracks; either due to an Electromagnetic Pulse or some other mechanism (though the effect of this is left to the viewer's imagination) followed by almost total obliteration, and this attack is as much feared by her allies as her enemies because of her enjoyment of using it. Due to her past (see her entry in "List of Tenchi Muyo! supporting characters", she has an intense hatred of pirates. Seto has a reputation as an unofficial "matchmaker" in the Jurai empire and has been known to arrange marriages either to cement alliances or just to see happens for her own amusement. She is behind the four-bride wedding at the close of the series, While a lesser character in the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki series, Lady Seto has a bigger and more influential role in Tenchi Muyo! GXP, first meeting Seina Yamada when his transport ship was under attack by pirates. Seeing how Seina's bad luck could be useful not only for the GP but for herself, she effectively takes Seina under her wing by helping him enter the GP Academy (feeling like the academy could use a little chaos once in a while) and requesting Mikami Kuramitsu to have Kiriko Masaki reassigned as an instructor at the Academy in order to train Seina to become a man. She enjoy teasing Seina (by sending her handmaidens to romantically harass him and once even offering to scrub his back!) but also has a great respect for him and seems to enjoy that Seina is a constant surprise to her: first, in their initial encounter by rounding up a huge batch of pirate ships that the Juraian fleet hadn't been able to capture for months; next, by dealing with the Daluma pirate guild's Good Luck Fleet in the first encounter (after it had escaped from her own fleet); finally, by bringing back the mecha that he found on the Wau planet, which turned out to contain a first generation Juraian seed and which meant that since the seed had bonded with Seina, he was now part of the Jurai royal family and third in line for the throne. Seto is suspected of being aware of her handmaidens' true loyalties when they kidnap Seina and prefers to see how the chase turns out rather than interfere.