½           Zhentarim DivX Presents

Title:		Tenchi Universe
Parts:		01-26 (complete)
Genre:		Action / Humor / Drama
Release Date:	July 9th, 2002

Feature Length:	All Episodes around 0:23:20

Episode 1: "No Need For Discussions!"
Episode 2: "No Need For A Princess!"
Episode 3: "No need For Worries!"
Episode 4: "No need For Monsters!"
Episode 5: "No Need For Partners!"
Episode 6: "No Need For Resident Officers!"
Episode 7: "No Need For A Carnival!"
Episode 8: "No Need For A Genius!"
Episode 9: "No Need For Memories!"
Episode 10: "No Need For An Arch Rival!"
Episode 11: "Time and Space Adventures Part1"
Episode 12: "Time and Space Adventures Part2"
Episode 13: "Time and Space Adventures Part3"
Episode 14: "No Need For A Rebllion!"
Episode 15: "No Need For An Escape!"
Episode 16: "No Need For Hiding!"
Episode 17: "No Need For Hunger!"
Episode 18: "No Need For Ghosts!"
Episode 19: "No Need For Runaways!"
Episode 20: "No Need For Swimsuits!"
Episode 21: "No Need For A Checkpoint!"
Episode 22: "No Need For Knights!"
Episode 23: "No Need For Karma!"
Episode 24: "No Need For Ryouko!"
Episode 25: "No Need For A Showdown!"
Episode 26: "No Need For A Conclusion!"

Size:		All Episodes around 233 MB

Audio Languages:	English and Japanese
Subtitles:		English
Audio Encoding:	Ogg Vorbis VBR
Video Frame Rate:	23.97 fps (IVTC via Decomb3.8)
Video Resolution:	640x480
Video Codec:	DivX 5.0 with b-frames
Video Bitrate:	1175
Source:		NTSC DVD
Ripper:		MentarOmega

How to use divx5.ogm files: If you haven't set up your system for
Ogg and DivX5 playback, check our FAQ on this URL:

http://zhentarim.caeli.cjb.net/divx5faq.php

Encoding Notes:  Fairly complex video encode using Smartripper,
DVD2AVI, Avisynth, Decomb, TemporalSmoother,
TemporalSoften2, Tim Park's Anti-Rainbow filter,
Warpsharp, VirtualDub and DivX5. The source (R1 DVDs)
was fairly noisy, so I had to run a gentle smoother over it to
stabilize the picture. It also mixes alot of 30fps with 24fps and
even 12fps content, so finetuning decomb was a real chore.
It's not yet perfect and occasionally you'll see the typical
smartdeinterlaced "crap frames" shine through, but most of
the video is as clean as it will get now.The Anti-Rainbow
filter was a tremendous help.

Standard audio encode using HeadAC3HE to Ogg Vorbis VBR.
No big drama attached here, both tracks are fairly good.

Credits: Come visit our web page at http://zhentarim.cjb.net or
on IRC at DALnet channel #zhentarim.

BUY it!  If you like this, please support  the creators of this anime
by purchasing it.

=-=-=-=-=-=- DVD Review Ripped from AnimeonDVD.com -=-=-=-=-=-=

http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews/viewreview.php?review=742

With the successful Tenchi Muyo OVA series on DVD and the love
it or hate it Tenchi in Tokyo series also completed, Pioneer has set
its sights on the middle ground of the two, Tenchi Universe or simply
Tenchi Muyo TV as it is originally known.

Thankfully, similar to other recent releases by the folks at Pioneer, the
audio for this disc is recorded at 384 Kbps, which means to you and
me that it generally sounds more full and less compressed. It sounds
quite good in fact. The best test of this disc is what I consider to be the
best Tenchi song, the opening for this series. Crank it up, sit back and
hit play. Both audio tracks sound good. As is to be expected from an
earlier Pioneer release, the opening song on the dub track is done in
English, and quite well. During normal playback for the episodes
themselves, we did not notice any distortion and dialogue sounded
good. There's a decent amount of directionality on the front soundstage
with nothing that I noticed going to the rears. A slightly better than
average TV soundtrack kicked up with a good bit rate.

The video overall is very clean and free of nicks and scratches. The
opening sequence (again) is a high point of the series with some
really great looking animation that's very vibrant and comes across
so much more clearly and detailed than my previous laserdisc
edition. It's almost night and day in my mind. There are a few spots
where the image jitters slightly and some pixellation here and there
alongside some line noise, but nothing that will detract from normal
viewing for the majority of those who are getting this. Tenchi Universe
has never looked so good as it does here.

When the show was released on laserdisc, Pioneer went the extra
mile and made box sets for all eight releases. While the DVD doesn't
have the big "oooo, shiny" factor of that release, they've updated the
entire layout by giving it a new logo and doing some new backgrounds
for the same cover artwork. I'm looking forward to seeing if they continue
this with future releases. The back cover gives a quick rundown on what
Tenchi is as well as the episodes included on the disc. There's some
screenshots and the usual technical information on the disc. Inside, a
completely different image is used for the chapter list insert. The insert
itself lists the 7 chapters for each episode. Very nice looking and
definitely good to not see the same cover art inside as outside. The
disc itself is the usual etched type, nothing too fancy there.

Having been spoiled by recent releases from Pioneer in terms of the
menus, the Tenchi Universe ones seem to lack a bit. There's no
animation, but there is music playing in the background. Selections
are accessed quickly and the menu is laid out pretty well. Language
selections are cute in that the mini Washu's are used for the markers.
It's quite cute.

Pioneer has also included a bunch of goodies on the disc and in the
package. On the disc itself, they've provided a non-credit opening and
ending. The ending is the one for the first episode only, not the second
episode (with the floating Ayeka). There's also 25 pieces of conceptual
artwork for the series as well as Character Data pages for some of the
cast.

One of the truly cool goodies is the "while supplies last" extra of...
finger puppets! This disc includes Tenchi, Ryoko and Mihoshi. Sorry
Ayeka fans... I immediately pulled these out, clipped 'em and played
with them with my 3 month old daughter. She's a Tenchi fan now!

Back when this show was coming out on laserdisc, I was beginning
my downward spiral of anime viewing. Fewer laserdiscs were coming
out and I couldn't go back to VHS, so my interest waned. With Tenchi
Universe, we never got past watching the first box set; repeatedly.
We tried several times before we ended up just sitting down and
watching all eight boxes at once.

Since it's been a few years and my perceptions on things have
changed again, especially after taking in the very different Tenchi in
Tokyo, watching the variations of the first TV series so far has been
pretty interesting. While it does stray fairly well from what many
consider the masterpiece of Tenchi, the OVA series, the TV series
does a very good job of holding up on its own. It pays respects to
what made the OVA's good and then goes and does its own thing.

The first four episodes are all about establishing the characters and
their personalities. By the end of these episodes you'll know the basics
of all of them, though some surprises certainly do remain. The world
that Tenchi inhabits is one that I'm sure plenty of guys wish they
could join, with women fawning over him for no apparent reason.

Tenchi's the lucky guy, if you really want to call it that, who has the
infamous Space Pirate Ryoko end up on Earth and ends up entangled
with her as she escapes Galaxy Police Officer Mihoshi. Things run
afoul as they so often do with Mihoshi in the same spiral arm of the
galaxy, and they both end up as residents at Tenchi's house.

Over the next couple of episodes, more women from space end up
taking residence there, all with varying degrees of affection for Tenchi.
Even the cute Ryo-ohki will end up with some kind of infatuation with
the poor boy!

With Tenchi Universe coming to DVD, some newer Tenchi fans may
get a bit overwhelmed with it all and find a lot of the early episodes
similar and repetitive to both the OVA's and the other TV series. It's
not for everyone, but this Tenchi series overall does please and
contains a fairly complete storyline from beginning to end.

Pioneer has released an excellent disc, though with a few very
minor faults. If I was to make only one true gripe about it, it's the
lack of subtitles for the opening and ending songs. Try as I might,
I could not find them. Tsk. Otherwise, Tenchi fans will be pleased
with the release of this disc, especially if all they've had over the
years is the VHS release.