Tenchi Muyo Movie 2: The Daughter of Darkness Review by Rashad Moore
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	Audience:	16+
	Genre:	Sci-Fi/Action/Comedy
	Average Cost:	$20 U.S. -dubbed-
	Contains:	Intense Animated Violence, Mild Sexual Innuendo, Brief Nudity
	Usual Running Time:	60 min.
	Rating:	C+

Daughter of Darkness is a pretty impressive movie, on a technical level the animation is improved greatly over "Tenchi Muyo in Love." But what makes this sequel pale in comparison to that movie, is that everything about it feels very shallow, Daughter of Darkness only running at 60 minutes(there's that length problem inherent to anime.) feels more like an hour long TV or OVA episode. While it's nowhere near as bad as the grade my friend gave it, don't expect it to be as beautiful and memorable as the first film. But if you're a Tenchi Muyo fan or still new to the series, Daughter of Darkness is still worth renting, perhaps even buying.

It all starts on a hot summer day at the Masaki residence, Ayeka and Ryoko are still arguing, Mihoshi is still as ditsy as ever, and Sasami and the others are helping out at the house. After Tenchi returns from a visit to his mother's grave, a mysterious blue-haired girl named Mayuka arrives out of nowhere, claiming to be Tenchi's daughter! This causes quite an uproar, and everyone scrambles to find out what is really happening. But as they slowly start to accept her, strange things start to happen when Mayuka is around, and everyone starts to question whether Mayuka's intentions are good or evil, especially Ryoko....

Ironically, Daughter of Darkness follows the Western tradition of very good movies having average sequels. The only thing that improves over the first movie is the animation. But still, Daughter of Darkness is only a 60 minute film, and because of this, it doesn't take much time with it's characters compared to the first movie and everything comes off rather shallow and unmemorable. Another thing about this movie is that everything is fast. The animation is superior to the first and the action scenes move much faster. The movie also tries very hard to be as endearing as the first movie, but are cut short to the choppiness of it all. Scenes seem cut short and rushed, leaving no impression what so ever, when compared to the Tenchi Muyo in Love. The characters are still much more mature as was the first movie, but some were still a tad underused and Ryoko and Ayeka bicker even less than in the first film. (Good or bad depending on the fans.) But the only major jealousy was between Ryoko and Mayuka. (Call me heartless but I actually kind of agree with Ryoko.) Mayuka seems a little too innocent and immature for her age. Overall the characters lacked their exagerated personalities like they did in the TV Series and first movie. The content is a little edgier as well, the violence is even more intense than in the original(There's one scene during the climax where Tenchi really gets messed up.) and there's also some rather harmless nudity, and some mild sexual innuendo when Mayuka tries to seduce Tenchi. (Was it her dark side? Hmm.) But nothing major. The ending was also as well done as the first.(Watch the end credits.)

As I said before, Daughter of Darkness does contain better animation than the first movie. Everything is much more detailed, colorful and fluid and there are some really nifty effects as well. Plus the animation moves at a much faster pace. The music, while not composed by Christopher Franke this time around is good as well, it sounds like a much darker version of the first film's score. The dubbing is pretty good and the voice actors still manage to play their parts well.(Even though Mihoshi sounds even more ditzy and Mayuka's voice left a lot to be desired.) Overall either the dubbed or subtitled versions are worth it.

This sequel fails to live up to the excellence of the first film, but otherwise, if you're a Tenchi Muyo fan or still new to the series and you want to spend an evening with Tenchi and the gang, you can't go wrong with Daughter of Darkness.

 Image not created by me. Sept 99. Pioneer Ent.