Ryoko is best girl.

The characters of Tenchi Muyo are more memorable than the plots they live within. Maybe that's why the series is rebooted every other installment.

I'm a simple man. If Tenchi Universe could have found a way to keep certain things from the OVA (like the Light Hawk Wings), I think we would have the ultimate version of Tenchi. But each new entry in the world of Tenchi is always different from the last, and some continuations are not as great as we hoped, and it just makes it harder to get into Tenchi these days.

Hilariously, I got into Tenchi completely backwards. Started with Magical Project, then Tenchi in Tokyo *shudders*, then Universe, then OVA. The movies were interspersed. The element I miss most in Universe that is in the OVA is the mother/daughter relationship between Ryoko and Washu. I always thought Washu's history was the most interesting element to the OVA series.

Think Washu ever turned herself in to a pickle, just cause science?

Also: Ernie Hudson as Winston saved that film. If it had been Eddie Murphy (as originally intended) it would have become exactly what you were describing, but Ernie Hudson as the calm, reasonable everyman brings a gravitas & rooting in reality which the film sorely needed.

I've never heard anyone claim the rebuild movies were better than the original series. I know Ben doesn't like it, but that just sounds crazy to me.

Saying that Ryo Ohki is better than Universe is a lot like comparing A New Hope to The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, Ryoki came first and laid the foundation for things to come, but Universe is overall a better told story that's been fully realized.

I have agree with one of the comments below, that the characters of the Tenchi series are better than the plots that revolve around them. Each is unique, memorable, and enjoyable in their own way, even Mihoshi. If we really think about it, the characters and their interactions with each other is why the series is remembered so fondly. Also, Kagato's design from the OVA is much sweeter than his design from Universe.

I would like if the creators of the tenchi series does something similar to tenchi universe. Muyo was entertaining but at times a mess. Universe did a much better job and as stated flushed out better.

Universe is my favorite of the Tenchi series.

Universe - more coherent

This Tenchi was my introduction to anime. First episode and everything. The dub too. Take it as you may.

For me, the OVA had some things I preferred over the series, but overall I like Universe more. I kinda wish they had been more raunchy in the series, though. In the OVA, they were more overt about the girls trying to get into his pants, and had more sexy scenes. Universe played the romance a bit more innocent, even with Ryoko. Although, I love the implication by the end of the season, that Ryoko is the one with the strongest emotional connection to Tenchi. But then, she's my favorite. And yes, the introduction of Kyone was very much needed.

I didn't get into Tenchi Ryo-Ohki until years later. My first glimpse of the series was Tenchi Muyo in Love on Sci-Fi Channel's Saturday Anime block around '95-96, then I got my first job in '96, which led to buying a VHS tape of TMiL, which had an ad on it for Tenchi Universe, and then I spent the next four paychecks buying two VHS tapes of Universe at a time, which came out to $60 for six-to-seven episodes. And this was at a time where our Suncoast considered unrated anime to be "treat it as R", so a sixteen-year-old needed parental accompaniment to buy the stuff. And then I'd watch it once through, connect my VCR and camcorder together, and use the record and pause buttons to make an edit trimming out brief nudity and a couple occasional violent bits so I'd have a copy I could show my younger siblings. No access to digital paint at the time, but yeah, this was my very first anime series I bought, and I still have those tapes today. Gets a vote of nostalgia from me over the OVAs.

Kiyone replaced Yukinojo. Though I admit, Mihoshi's backstory in the OVA is more amusingly tragic. She wasn't an idiot at all, she ended up that way due to being overworked and something else that the series doesn't quite reveal. It is one of the reasons she's on leave.

The best tenchi series. All the fun without the weird incest and more space travel

Tenchi Muyo Universe is my favorite of the series. I watched it and enjoyed it as a kid but didn't remember much.

I have to strongly disagree about the OVA being as flawed and poorly animated, personally. I think the fact Tenchi told such a large amount of story and lore in a shorter amount of episodes goes to show you how well executed the planning and plot development in the OVA was. Granted, season 3 went bat shit crazy, but the original OVA series made the Kagato story more engaging. Universe's Kagato bored me, he looked like every other Jurian character; a regular dick with nothing special to him. OVA's Kagato was a very memorable villain, appearance and how cruelly he tormented the characters. And the animation here blows Universe away in my opinion.

Funny you mention that bit about which one you watched first: I live in the country of Chile, in South America. And here when the anime boom started, many of chilean networks and dubbing companies decided to grab a plenty of them and distribute them. As such, we ended up getting a lot of stuff earlier or even stuff that never reached Cartoon network or other anime outlets in the US, all of which with very little censorship or editing (Openings intact and the like.)