Tenchi Muyo! Mihoshi Special

Galaxy Police Detective Mihoshi is well known for her tendency to eat and sleep all day, but in an attempt to show Tenchi and the girls that she actually does have some measure of competency, Mihoshi decides to describe of one of her successful cases. With the other Tenchi characters cast as the heroes and villains of her story, Mihoshi relates the increasingly improbable account of how she and her partner Kiyone handled the “Ultra Energy Matter Robbery”.

The origin of this 27 minute special is something best left to an article of its own; suffice to say that the Mihoshi Special is not intended to be a continuation of any of the OVAs or TV series, but rather a stand alone featuring the characters Tenchi fans have come to know and love. That being said, if you aren’t familiar with the world of Tenchi, there is really no point watching this, because most of the humour depends on the viewer being familiar with the personalities and backgrounds of the main cast.

Conversely, seasoned Tenchi fans need only sit back and go with the flow. The main story, a tongue-in-cheek parody of space-based adventure movies, isn’t really anything special, but it does the intended job of providing an excuse for the usual round of Tenchi gags. Everything from Ryoko and Ayeka fighting for Tenchi’s affections to Mihoshi’s trademark clumsiness is present and accounted for, and for every scene where you might be tempted to hit the fast forward button, there are an equal number of scenes where you’ll be hard pressed not to let out a good chuckle. Admittedly, it all gets a bit over the top in the closing minutes, but the modest runtime means there isn’t really time for the episode to outstay its welcome.

With the special having been made over a decade ago, it isn’t surprising that it looks a little dated animation-wise. Character close-ups have stood the test of time reasonably well, but some of the group shots and action scenes look a little rough around the edges by today’s standards.

In Summary

Despite being a mildly entertaining half hour that should raise a few smiles here and there, the Mihoshi Special is one of those things that turns out to be a lot less interesting than it initially sounds. Unless you consider yourself a hardcore Tenchi fan or just want to pick up the title for completion’s sake, you needn’t worry about giving this one a miss.