Ayeka Masaki Jurai
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| Ayeka Masaki Jurai | |
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| Code Name: | First Princess of Jurai |
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| Name Translation: | 'Frail' 'Delicate' 'Willowy' 'Requiring the assistance of a man' |
| Gender: | Female |
| Seiyū: | Yumi Takada |
| Voice actress: | Jennifer Darling (also known as Kristen Tanner) Rebecca Forstadt (credited as Reba West, GXP) |
| Height: | 5'6" |
| Hair color: | Dark Purple |
| Eye color: | Crimson |
| Bloodtype: | A |
Ayeka Masaki Jurai (柾木 阿重霞 樹雷 Masaki Aeka Jurai?), is a key character in the various Tenchi Muyo! anime series by AIC. While details of her character differ between the various series, Ayeka is typically shown as the beautiful first princess of the planet Jurai who has fallen in love with the series main character, Tenchi Masaki. In the various series, Ayeka is portrayed as being modest, well mannered, traditional, and aristocratic, but can also be perceived as snobbish.(Her proper accent is evidence of her aristocratic upbringing.) She can also be very fierce when she feels that anyone or anything she cares for is in danger, such as Tenchi or her younger sister Sasami, of whom she is very protective.
Ayeka is a rival of Ryoko, who also fights for Tenchi's affections. Often the conflict between the two comes out of their decidedly different personalties and backgrounds, with Ayeka being a woman of class and status while Ryoko is a blunt, ill-mannered troublemaker. The level of the rivalry can vary between being equatable to a pair of bickering siblings to an all-out feud. Often, Ryoko's teasing can bring out some of Ayeka's worse aspects. However, there are times when Ayeka puts aside her rivalry whenever Tenchi is in danger, such as the battle with Kagato.
The romanization of her name in the Pioneer/Geneon English subtitles is "Ayeka" instead of "Aeka" to clarify its pronunciation for Western viewers (ah-eh-ka). Her name is believed to be derived from aekanaru, meaning "frail" or "delicate", which is her usual personality. An old reading of aeka is "willowy", or "requiring the assistance of a man". The tree is of course referenced in the "soul of the ship", and further connects to "spring" and the "awakening of sexual desire". In Japanese mythology, the willow tree is known as a "demon repeller", so she is the opposite of Ryoko in this regard as well.
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[edit] OVA
Ayeka is the First Princess of Jurai's Royal Family. During this series, she was on a search for her missing brother, Yosho (she and Sasami are Tenchi's great aunts). When her search led her to Earth, she didn't find her brother or his ship, but did find Ryoko.
Her apparent age is 20, but her true age is uncertain. What is known is she was in a state of suspended animation for over 700 years when she and Sasami arrived on Earth. Her rivalry with Ryoko is supported by her background, in which Ryoko and Ryo-oh-ki attacked Jurai, nearly killed Sasami in accident, caused much property damage, and caused Yosho, her brother and fiancee, to leave the planet. Because of this, at the start of Tenchi Muyo, she hates everything about Ryoko, and considers her a monster.
Ayeka possesses various superhuman powers. She can fire energy blasts, summon a very powerful forcefield, and she also has the ability to summon guardians that can do various things like arc electricity and capture spaceships.
For the most part, Ayeka is very shy, demure and proper, but can become just as violent as Ryoko when pushed too far. When her temper is roused, Ayeka becomes very loud, aggressive and with no regard for current conditions. However, she only resorts to physical aggression with Ryoko, and even these fights have diminished over time.
She has a spaceship called Ryu-Oh, which she travels around in. Unfortunately, it is damaged in a crash landing on Earth after an escape attempt by Ryoko. It did start to regenerate, but it was totally blown away by Kagato ship, Sōja. However, with help from Tsunami, she received a seed that will grow into a new Ryu-Oh.
Ryu-Oh has the ability to produce three kō-ō-yoku ("light-hawk-wings"). Ayeka had bonded with the ship shortly before Ryoko and Ryo-ohki attacked the Jurain castle, Tenjyu. Despite warnings made by the castle's attendants, 14-year-old Ayeka launched the young, underdeveloped ship to fend Ryoko's attacks. According to the True Tenchi Novels "Ayeka had just finished the selection ceremony and didn't have the key to help her connect with Ryu-oh. Also her ship had just equipped, thus was not fully synchronized with the external armor, so Ayeka and Ryu-oh could not fully control the power of the Royal tree. But Aeka did not give up and continued the battle. However, she could not help the situation just by defending herself. It was only by virtue of the second generation Royal tree's power that she could hold off the attack, and it was also because Ryo-ohki and Ryoko were just teasing her and not fighting with full power." Ayeka was also able to use the Light-Hawk-Wings to attack (though it is purpose is for defense) and was able to hit Ryo-ohki which no other ship could do. This feat is noted by Noike when she speaks to Tenchi in Ova 3.
[edit] Tenchi Universe
Ayeka is still the Princess of Jurai in this series. As shy and demure as before, she seems to fall in love with Tenchi on the very first day she meets him.
Ayeka was drawn to Earth by Mihoshi's distress signal, but once again, she finds Ryoko there as well, and a massive fight eventually occurs. Here, the rivalry with Ryoko started back during their childhood, which was shown through flashbacks, with both Ayeka and Ryoko blaming each other for their problems.
Again, Ayeka has a ship, Ryu-Oh, which crashlands on Earth, however, it becomes incapable of flying when it begins to regenerate, taking root to the wreckage of her old ship.
Ayeka is a relatively minor member of the Jurai family, not the daughter of the Emperor like in the OAV. Still, after being kidnapped by Kagato and released by Tenchi, she returns to Jurai because she must remain with the Imperial Family from then on.
[edit] Tenchi in Tokyo
In Tenchi in Tokyo, she is still the Princess of Jurai. She teamed up with the Galaxy Police to capture the space pirate Ryoko and scientist Washu, who stole the Jurai Light Stone. After they crash-landed onto Earth, Ayeka manages to encounter Ryoko, and they fight, until Ryoko turns the tide in her favor by absorbing the light stone herself, and it wasn't until Tenchi's intervention that Ayeka was saved.
She is the pilot of the Ayesa (as shown in Pioneer's subtitles), which is identical to her Ryu-Oh.
Instead of being completely shy and demure, she's a lot more like Ryoko in terms of explosive emotions. She's a lot more gullible and occasionally ditzy. On the other hand, unlike Ryoko, she does seem to somewhat consider that Tenchi may prefer Sakuya in the end, as she confesses to a woman named Masayo whom she and Sasami aided once.
Her powers are still similar to the other two series, except we never see her fling any energy blasts. Instead, we only see her activate her forcefield on many occasions. Her Guardians, Azaka and Kamidake, take on a more combatative role instead.
[edit] Pretty Sammy
In the Pretty Sammy OAV series, Ayeka Takada (高田 阿重霞 Takada Aeka?) (she was given the last name of her seiyū Yumi Takada) is from a rich family, and is the class president. She also has a crush on Tenchi Kawai. She would send in her three female servants, Yuri, Yuka, and Yuma, to spy on Ryoko's activities (Ryoko also has a crush on Tenchi). She is skilled in martial arts. Ayeka was briefly transformed with Ryoko into a Love-Love Monster by Pixy Misa, and became more obsessive towards Tenchi, until Tenchi's feelings got through to Ayeka, enabling Pretty Sammy to restore Ayeka to normal. But even after that Ayeka's rivalry towards Ryoko over Tenchi's affections still continue.
In Magical Project S (Pretty Sammy TV), Ayeka is known as Romio (露美御 Romio?), the third candidate to be the queen of Juraihelm. After she lost, Romio disappeared from the scene for a while and later appeared before Ramia to help her become Queen after Pretty Sammy had restored the balance between Earth and Juraihelm and Tsunami was going to be crowned Queen. Much to Rumiya's protests Ramia accepted Romio's offer and Romio kidnaps Eimi Date (Sasami's classmate) and turns her into her own magical girl, "Love-Me Emmy", for her plan to drain Juraihelm and Earth of all magic.
When that failed, Romio revealed her true self to Ramia and attempted to drain off Juraihelm's magic with her NT System and use the stolen magic power to send Earth into the sun. It turned out that Romio was once a magical girl, but was unable to fix the balance between Earth and Juraihelm, and since then she felt the Earth is evil and wants to destroy it. Romio's plan was stopped by the combined might of Pretty Sammy, Pixy Misa, Ryo-Ohki, and Rumiya with the assistance of Professor Washu who developed her own NT System. After her NT System was destroyed, Romio was carried off into the distance, by an angry Ramia. At the end of the series, despite her defeat, Romio hadn't given up and was now leading the Martians against Earth, as Pretty Sammy and Pixy Misa move in to stop her.
[edit] Trivia
- Ayeka and other Jurai noblewomen are supposedly into bondage, discipline, and sado-masochism (BDSM). The Tenchi Muyo! music video "Oujo-sama To Oyobi" (English: "Call Me Princess") features Ayeka clad in a dominatrix-like outfit while she subjects Tenchi to tortures of whips, chains, and fire, to name a few. Sasami is also featured in the video, wherein she happily assists Ayeka in preventing Tenchi's escape. The video refers to "Jurai Royal Family Bridegroom Training", suggesting that all male members of the Jurai Royal Family must undergo the ritual when they wed. Other Tenchi series don't touch on it but for a few humorous references in passing, particularly Hitoshi Okuda's manga. Ironically, lines in the series suggest that RYOKO is the one into such things. Specifically, that Ryoko enjoys being electricuted, prompting Ayeka to call her a masochist. Ryoko quips back, "I am more of a sadist."
- As mentioned in the True Tenchi Novels, Ayeka's hair was originally blue and curly like her mother's and Sasami's, but she changed it to match Funaho's, an action that was meant to impress her fiancee Yosho.
| Tenchi Muyo! characters | |
|---|---|
| Main Characters | |
| Tenchi | Ryoko | Ayeka | Sasami | Mihoshi | Washu | Kiyone | Ryo-Ohki | Noike | |
| The Chousin | |
| Washu | Tsunami | Tokimi | |
| Villains | |
| Kagato | Dr. Clay | Z | Yugi | Kain | Yuzuha | Haruna | Seiryo | Tarant | Yakage | Shima Brothers | Yume | Mikamo & Yataka | Garyu | Dark Washu | |
| Masaki Family | |
| Katsuhito | Nobuyuki | Achika | Tennyo | Airi | Rea | |
| Guardians & Royalty of Jurai | |
| Azaka & Kamidake | Azusa | Funaho | Misaki | Seto | |
| Galaxy Police | |
| Seina | Minami | Misao | Sabato | |
| Pretty Sammy | |
| Sasami Kawai | Pixy Misa | Ramia | Rumiya | Chief Pretty Sammy characters | Chief Magical Project S characters | |
| Others | |
| Nagi | Sakuya | Mayuka | Zero | Minagi | Hiwa | Asahi | Kazuma | Tama | Chief GXP characters | |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki | Tenchi Universe | Tenchi in Tokyo | Tenchi Muyo! GXP | Pretty Sammy | Sasami: Mahou Shoujo Club |
