I Never Expected This ’90s Toonami Classic Would Make a Comeback, but I’m Here for It

This is the age of revivals, remakes, and reboots, so it’s only natural to see classic shows, games, and movies come back to life with renewed passion. We’ve seen the classic Toonami anime block make a return with the help of Adult Swim, Sailor Moon receive a remake with Crystal, and even saw Shenmue receive its own anime. However, most of those revivals were created because of the decisions of a company. Instead, Tenchi Muyo! took more of a risk by deciding to try a crowdfunding effort for its possible revival, and the turnout proves that we want more of this otherworldly adventure.

If you haven’t seen Tenchi Muyo!, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the number of options you have to pick from for which series or spinoff to watch. It doesn’t help that most of the anime shows for Tenchi Muyo! don’t feel like they have an actually conclusion, unlike the comics, which do have a conclusion. For a short summary of this series, it’s a mix of slice of life, sci-fi, comedy, and space adventure genres with a harem of women from space as Tenchi’s romantic partners.

Kickstarter Sets the Stage for a Tenchi Muyo! Revival

Armiger Entertainment started a Kickstarter campaign to fund the release of a definitive edition of the American Tenchi Muyo! comics. While the campaign has over two weeks left, it’s already passed its funding goal. Not only that, it continues to smash its funding goal by tens of thousands of dollars.

The original goal was $50,000, and at the time of writing this, it’s at $84,000 and still going up. Not only does this mean that release of a definitive edition of the comics shouldTenchi Muyo! even if it’s better access to the comics in order to see the ending that never made it to the anime version of the series.

At its current rate, we might even see the campaign raise double its goal, which is only about $16,000 away now. That could be enough to indicate that starting a new series as a reboot from the start might be worth the investment. It’s not a comeback that I ever expected to see, but I’m so here for it. Too many shows didn’t get the chance they deserved in the past, and Tenchi Muyo! felt like it was a story being told at the wrong time because of how much editing it received to be shown in the west.

Seeing how much popularity anime has gained since the original Toonami days in the west could mean that a series that wasn’t able to be shown without heavy editing, such as Tenchi Muyo! could have a second chance now that we have anime that more regularly includes subjects that ended up censored during Toonami’s days.

Tenchi Muyo! Is a Confusing Mess

Look, I love Tenchi Muyo! and its many spinoffs and alternative series. However, I can’t deny that the anime is confusing. There’s not really a standard way to watch all the available content, especially because they aren’t designed in a way that has one series lead into the next. It definitely wouldn’t be the first time that an older anime got a reboot for a new series that follows the source material more closely than the previous anime did.

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In some ways, it’s funny and adds to the series’ overall charm to have all these different versions of the same story told across spinoffs. The problem is that they’re confusing, which makes it tough for a new viewer to get into since there’s not a standard order for watching Tenchi Muyo! If you watched it on Toonami, it was somewhat coherent, so going back and watching any series that was made about Tenchi’s adventures is easier to jump into. However, I’d love to share this ridiculous series with new viewers, and it would be better to have a version of the show that follows the comics and actually includes their conclusion.

I feel like I’m living during an anime renaissance. It’s incredible to see that series I remember from decades ago are receiving attention again, and it’s exciting to think about the possibilities that open up for new content being produced for those older shows. Of course, releasing a new edition of the comics doesn’t mean that we’re getting new content that’s never been seen before. However, the Kickstarter campaign shows that there’s a demand for Tenchi Muyo! content, and that could be the start of a true comeback for its anime as well.