Ryoko Forever Fan Club
Ryoko's Age

"Erm... we don't really need to discuss this, do we? ha-ha..."

Long, long ago, in a mailing list far, far away, RP-Otaku asked:

What's the deal with the conflicting reports of Ryoko's age? I haven't seen OVA 8-13, maybe it's explained there, but some people say it's 2K, and some say 5K.

When the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OAV series was first introduced in 1992, Ryoko's age was given in various documents (such as Dragon Magazine) as 2,017 years; Aeka's as 720; Sasami's as 708. Basically, the writers took their physical apparent ages and added a convenient number of centuries.

However, if one tries to trace out the OAV timeline based on all the facts revealed in the series, one quickly runs into contradictions; it's impossible for Ryoko to be only 2,017 years old. This becomes very clear in OAV episode 12, where Washu states (and there seems to be no good reason to disbelieve her) that she had been in captivity for the last 5,000 years.

It's difficult to construct a perfect daughter while sealed inside a crystal cell.

Here is AIC's explanation:

Ryoko is actually more than 5,000 years old, not 2,000 as she told Washu (OVA Ep. 6). Subconsciously jealous of Ayeka's youthful appearance, she stated her age in galactic calendar years rather than Earth years.

So a Galactic Calendar Year is approximately 2.5 Earth years, and Ryoko was approximately 5,040 years old in 1992. Kagato must have kidnapped Ryoko very soon after she was created, which is one reason why she has no memories of her mom.

Ryoko's age in the TV series and in Shin Tenchi Muyo is not known, but she appears to age normally in both and presumably is about as old as she looks.

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