Dark Washu
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| Dark Washu/Tama | |
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| Name Translation: | Dark Eagle Feather (Dark Washu) Jewel (Tama) |
|---|---|
| Gender: | Female |
| Age: | 5,000+ years |
| Height: | 5'2" (Dark Washu) |
| Hair color: | Light purple |
| Eye color: | Purple |
Dark Washu (闇の鷲羽 Yami no Washū?) is a fictional character in Tenchi Muyo!, a recurring character in Hitoshi Okuda's The All-New Tenchi Muyo! manga series, published in the U.S. by VIZ Media.
[edit] Origins
Dark Washu began her life as the Dark Crystal, a device which Washu Hakubi created approximately 5,000 years prior to the events of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki. The Dark Crystal was a self-evolving artificial intelligence with the rather unusual purpose of attacking its own creator by any means it could devise, in order to provide a worthy opponent to test the "perfect" security system that Washu was attempting to create. When Washu was sealed away by Kagato, the Dark Crystal had not yet been activated. However, it was discovered by Washu's jealous colleague Doctor Clay, who subverted the system to pursue his own grudge against Washu. When his attempt to abduct Washu on behalf of Tokimi was thwarted, just before being delivered to a Galaxy Police prison, he activated the Dark Crystal with orders to kill Washu. Shortly after its activation, the Dark Crystal reconfigured itself into an android copy of Washu, except with dark skin, purple eyes, and pale purple hair. This gave her most if not all of Washu's superhuman powers, theoretically allowing for an even contest. She also claimed that her personality was a copy of Washu's.
Rather than attempting to attack Washu in secret, Dark Washu instead openly announced her presence and intent. She followed this up almost immediately by attempting to kill Washu with a garrote, and then with a hand-held energy cannon. After being physically assaulted by Ryoko for the second attack (which if successful would have killed Tenchi as well), Dark Washu concluded that a continuation of direct attacks would soon destroy the Earth, and instead proposed a best of five competition between herself (and four duplicates) and Washu's "team", with the type of contest in each round being randomly determined. The first round, a cooking contest, was easily won by Sasami, but Dark Washu cheated to defeat Ayeka and Ryoko in a shoujo manga trivia contest and a foot race, respectively. Mihoshi tied the competition in a contest of drawing lots, leading to the final round: hand to hand combat between Washu and Dark Washu. Dark Washu used deceptive tactics, such wearing boxing gloves to present the impression of a boxing match and then using kicks, but was still defeated by her creator. She then conceded defeat and exposed a shut-off switch to Washu.
However, at this point an orbital satellite left behind by Doctor Clay fired on Washu, and while it was proptly destroyed by Ryoko, the satellite placed a more sinister personality, a copy of Clay contained within his removed left eye, in control of Dark Washu's body. Clay told Washu that he would continue attacking the entire Masaki household unless she would erase their memories and confront Dark Washu alone on Europa. Though Washu obeyed this demand, Minagi arrived on Earth shortly afterward and was able to get Tenchi, Ryoko, and Mihoshi to remember Washu's existence. They arrived on Europa just in time to prevent Dark Washu from inflicting a killing blow. Afterward, Dark Washu's true personality was able to reassert itself, weakening Clay's hold, and Washu defeated her with a German suplex. Clay's copy attempted to retaliate with a proton bomb, but Washu had already disarmed it. Minagi then destroyed Clay's eye, eliminating the copy forever. When Washu expressed reluctance to deactivate Dark Washu, the android grabbed her hand and forced her to do so.
[edit] Tama
Following Dark Washu's defeat, Washu repaired and reprogrammed her as Tama (玉?) to serve as a lab assistant. Tama appeared to be a smaller, more child-like version of Dark Washu and wore a red and white maid's outfit. When questioned as to why she had restored the former villain, Washu repsonded that "cute characters don't grow on trees", implying that this was done laregly on a whim. This was supported by the fact that she installed a very powerful self-destruct device in Tama because "it seemed amusing". Tama generally got along well with the other members of the Masaki household, but behaved antagonistically toward Ryoko, seeming to mimic Ryoko's own behavior toward Ayeka. Ryoko challenged Tama to a fight, with the loser being required to leave forever. However, Tama's self-destruct device was accidentally activated, causing her to forfeit the fight and flee into deep space. Upon realizing the reason for Tama's actions, Ryoko pursued her and sliced Tama in half, leaving behind her lower body (which contained the bomb) and bringing back her head and upper body to be repaired by Washu. Though Ryoko was still annoyed by Tama's attempts to steal her food, she no longer objected to the girl's presence. Tama has since played a minimal role in the story.
| 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 |
