| Tenchi the Movie 2: The Daughter of Darkness Tenchi Muyō! Manatsu no Ibu 天地無用!真夏のイブ |
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North American release cover |
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| Directed by | Tetsu Kimura |
| Written by | Naoko Hasegawa |
| Based on | Tenchi Muyo by Masaki Kajishima |
| Starring | Masami Kikuchi Ai Orikasa Yumi Takada Chisa Yokoyama Yuko Mizutani Yuri Amano Yuko Kobayashi Junko Iwao Yō Inoue |
| Music by | Kow Otani |
| Editing by | Masashi Furukawa |
| Studio | Anime International Company Pioneer LDC |
| Distributed by | Toei Company Funimation Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | August 2, 1997 |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Tenchi Muyo! Daughter of Darkness known as Tenchi Muyō! Manatsu no Eve (天地無用!真夏のイブ Tenchi Muyō! Midsummer's Eve) in Japan is the second of three films set in the Tenchi Muyo! multi-verse directed by Tetsu Kimura and written by Naoko Hasegawa. The film was released in Japan on August 2, 1997 as a double feature, along with Slayers Great. The film was later released in North America on DVD on August 8, 1998. Tenchi Muyo! Daughter of Darkness was later re-released along with Tenchi the Movie: Tenchi Muyo in Love and Tenchi Forever! The Movie in a collectors' pack.[1] Funimation Entertainment announced distribution of the film, along with several other Tenchi properties, on July 2, 2010 at Anime Expo. [2]
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Prince Yosho met a young girl during the annual Startica celebration on Jurai. It turns out that the girl is actually a demon named Yuzuha and was driven away by the palace guards. Seven hundred years later, Yuzuha wakes up and discovers that Yosho is alive and on Earth celebrating Christmas with the family. Yuzuha believes Tenchi Masaki thinks he is prince charming due to the fact he is surrounded by a group of women. So, she decides to send Tenchi a present. She obtains a lock of Tenchi's hair and takes a piece of her own and places it in a container.
Six months later during summer; while walking down the steps of the shrine, Tenchi meets a teenage girl named Mayuka, who calls him daddy. Tenchi takes the girl back to the house where she introduces herself as Tenchi's daughter. This, however, angers Ryoko and she attacks Mayuka, who defends herself by summoning a faux-Lighthawk Sword; but before she can attack, Katsuhito stops her. Washu tells the group that Tenchi is in fact Mayuka's father and suspects that she is from the future. Mayuka takes Tenchi away from the gang and tries to transport him to Yuzuha. Before she is able to, Ryoko breaks the trance and carries Mayuka away. Katsuhito finds Mayuka and brings her back to the house, where she once again tries to bring Tenchi to Yuzuha. Katsuhito and Washu interferes and Mayuka runs off into the forest.
Yuzuha erases Mayuka's memories and takes Sasami hostage, which leads Tenchi and Ryoko enter Yuzuha's world so they can rescue Sasami. Mayuka attacks Ryoko and injures her. She then attacks Tenchi but after hearing Sasami telling her that the whole group loves her, she breaks free of Yuzuha's control and assaults her. Yuzuha kills Mayuka for her betrayal and transforms into a giant creature, but Ayeka appears and gives Tenchi a branch from the Tree of Light. He transforms, defeats Yuzuha, and they return home with Mayuka's crystal. During the ending credits, it is shown that Washu recreated Mayuka from the crystal as a baby.
Jared Wietbrock of Mania reviewed the film. While saying that Daughter of Darkness was a "fun movie", he commented on the film being "too short" and "rushed". He also said he still didn't know what Yuzuha's problem was claiming "for all I know she was just bored and picked Tenchi out of the blue to be her entertainment". Despite this Wietbrock gave the film an A and called the film a keeper and said no Tenchi fan should be without it.[3] Marc of Akemi's Anime World said the film was "[...] another confusing addition to the scattershot mess that passes for continuity in the series". He also said "[...] has the usual combination of touching sentiment, silly comedy, wild plot, and plenty of action". Marc praised both of Mayuka's voice actors, "[...] she sounds as sweet and naive as she looks, and you just can't help but like her".[4]
The music for the film was composed by Kow Otani and theme song of the movie is "Manatsu no Eve" (真夏のイブ Midsummer's Eve), which is performed by Mariko Nagai.[5] In Japan, the soundtrack was released a few weeks before the film's release; however, it failed to chart on the Oricon.[6]