Reply To: Ai Tenchi Muyo! Manga Translation

The chapter opens with Beni dreaming of a child crying, quickly identified as the child version of Momo from Chapter 1. She sees a felled tree behind the child and muses if the girl is crying because of the tree. Then, Hachiko steps into frame and blames the child’s tears on the ogre-like high-schooler. Beni just yells back for her to “shut up” repeatedly until she wakes, grabbing Tenchi’s shirt and yelling in his face.

As one might imagine, this scene is establishing Beni’s subconscious connection back to the opening scene, where she was seemingly depicted as the child’s guardian and chauffeur. Naturally, in the high-school setting, Hachiko has now taken that role, clashing with Beni’s previous incarnation.

This tension leads to an interesting rivalry between the two young women, both having filled the role of the child’s guardian, but in different ways. Hachiko is the more traditional loyal samurai, while Beni, in her current incarnation, seems more like a ronin or a yojimbo, a masterless or dishonored knight. The chapter continues this rivalry by having both Hachiko and Beni insult or condescend to one another, very reminiscent of the barbs thrown by Ayeka and Ryoko. Indeed, Hachiko’s arrogance and status could be easily compared to Ayeka’s, while the unrefined and blunt persona of Beni greatly parallels Ryoko. The anime lacks this verbal sparring, which is a shame.

After awaking, Beni tosses Tenchi aside before he and Hachiko explain their predicament. The manga adds that Tenchi also went out of his way to retrieve Beni’s iron club, which is a nice touch and gives Beni a reason to trust him. However, her leg is still injured from her collision with the iron boulder in the last chapter. Tenchi offers to help her, but she smacks his hand away, showing her defiance and self-reliance.

Since losing the guidebook, Hachiko thinks she knows the general location of the exit, a slight deviation from the anime, where she suggests following the sound of the school festival. As they proceed, Hachiko throws some shade toward the Science Club, to which Beni takes exception. The two ready to duel once again, and Tenchi interrupts them, again like he would halt arguments between Ryoko and Ayeka.

Eventually, the trio reach an impasse, a collapsed wall of crates. Beni steps forward and bashes through the blockage with her iron club, proudly declaring her ease at clearing the obstacle. To her surprise, her attack awoke a sleeping giant, the Science Club’s prototype robot Goriki, which had been put into storage after rampaging across campus. It shoots out a fork-shaped hand, knocking Beni away, and the chapter ends with Tenchi and Hachiko facing down their mechanical opponent.

While this chapter clung fairly faithfully to the anime, the additional banter between Beni and Hachiko served to contrast the two, as well as allude back to the classic rivalry between Ryoko and Ayeka, with our hapless hero still trapped between them. I am also glad to see Goriki finally arrive on the scene, ready to throw down with Tenchi and Hachiko.

— Rogue Thoughts