Ryoko Forever Fan Club
Ryoko's Room

According to the 101 Tenchi Secrets, Ryoko sleeps on a beam above the lounge. This has generally been taken as gospel by Tenchi fandom, since we often see her relaxing in that place.

However, the 101 appears to be very questionable on this point. There is strong evidence that, at least during the second OAV series, Ryoko had her own room of sorts, and this room was also used in the manga.

It should also be considered that at no time in the OAVs do we find Ryoko sleeping by night on that beam - only dozing during the day.

The alleged OAV Pre-Mihoshi Room

To be honest, I don't believe a word of it. This room looks as if it was lifted wholesale from Shin Tenchi Muyo (see below), and I recall no indication whatsoever of Ryoko having her own room in any of the OAVs until episode 8. Since the 101 was written before the second OAV series, it's my suspicion that the 101 is correct as far as it goes, and that Ryoko really did sleep on the beam, moving to the area shown below after the house was rebuilt. One wonders if she fell off the beam one night.

The OAV Post-Mihoshi Room

This is a design sketch for her new room, published in the Tenchi Muyo! Manatsu no Eve Dragon Special, ISBN 4-8291-7359-9. A similar drawing appears in the second Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki Anime V Special (Gakken Mook). Here's my best guess at a translation of the captions:

And here is the room's first known appearance, with Ryoko in mid-teleport. It's from episode 8, Hello Baby, and it's also the first time Ryoko appears in her "mothering" outfit. The wooden rail just behind Ryoko is the bannister of the second floor landing; immediately following this frame, Ryoko flies down into the living room where the others are looking after the baby. Note the drying rack/extra storage hanging from the ceiling (now used to provide extra storage) and the vegetables hanging from the rope.

Now this is a revealing scene from episode 12, Zero Ryoko. It's the middle of the night, so you have to look hard, but the tell-tale rack and hanging vegetables are still there. Yet there are a few differences in detail, such as the bannister; but given how well it matches up overall, this can be put down to either differences in artist or perhaps even the consequences of an Aeka-Ryoko tiff. It's shortly after Zero's abortive attempt to assassinate Tenchi and kidnap Washu (who is out of picture to the right). Zero is standing on a beam over the lounge. The previous scenes make it clear that the wall behind Aeka (the one that Azaka and Kamidake have just been embedded in) separates Aeka's bedroom from the area she's currently standing in - Ryoko's area. And Tenchi is descending what is, according to the second series house plans, the only internal staircase from his 3rd floor bedroom (in this version of the house, the only things on the 3rd floor are Tenchi's room, the open space filled with carrot cushions, and a large outside deck). So it's quite possible that Ryoko chose that rather non-private area as her sleeping quarters for one reason: Aeka can't get to Tenchi without going past her!

If nothing else, I find it very hard to believe that Ryoko would have accepted a lowly place like this as her bedroom if, previously, she had been used to a luxurious room like the one the Tenchi Encyclopedia claims she had.

The Manga Room

The Tenchi Muyo manga (published in the US by Viz, and not to be confused with the P-Anime comics) is based on the first OAV series with elements imported from the second OAV series. There are several scenes in the manga which show Ryoko in a room very similar to the post-Mihoshi room described above. The scan at right is from the Viz graphic novel, and has been re-reversed to match it up with the original manga. It should be noted that this scene is not really happening; it's a simulation created by Washu, and Ryoko is experiencing it as a kind of dream. Note that the staircase is behind Ryoko, indicating that this image is seen from the right hand side of the design illustration above.

The second known appearance is in volume 7, and depicts Ryoko preparing for bed. Notice that all the drawings from the manga are viewed from the right hand side of the design sketch at the top of the page.

The third appearance is at the start of volume 9, when Ryoko wakes up from a strange nightmare. Her scream has already disturbed everyone else in the house. (For more scans from this volume, go to the Manga Gallery).

My thanks to everyone who contributed to the discussion of this on the RFFC mailing list, and in particular Greg Matteson, Luriko-Ysabeth, Happosai, and Zorba the Hutt.

The Shin Tenchi Muyo Room

At the start of episode 5 of Shin Tenchi Muyo (Tenchi in Tokyo) we find Ryoko in her room, avoiding the rent collector (Sasami), Notice how closely this room resembles the sketches from the Tenchi Encyclopedia.

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