Achika Masaki: Steel Under Velvet

Who is Achika?
Achika Masaki was the daughter of Katsuhito Masaki (AKA Yosho of Jurai) and Itsuki Masaki, and the mother of Tenchi Masaki. She and Nobuyuki Masaki (Tenchi's father) met in high school and were later married; Tenchi was born in 1979, when Achika was 26. She appears in Tenchi Muyo in Love, the first Tenchi Muyo! movie, of which the majority was set in 1970; she was 17 and in high school at the time. Achika expended a large amount of energy fighting KAIN, a energy being that crossed space and time from 1996 to 1970 to destroy anyone associated with the Jurai, the ones responsible for its imprisonment. Achika was the target of KAIN, as she was directly descended from the House of Jurai. Tenchi was considered a target as well, but his apparent power paled in comparison to that of young Achika and even Yosho, who had grown old by this time. Achika possessed immense power, much of which was passed on to Tenchi as well, but she was forced to overexert herself to prevent herself, Nobuyuki, and her future son who had travelled from the future to protect her from being destroyed by KAIN. As such, her life was drastically shortened, and she died 14 years later in 1984, when Tenchi was 5 and she was only 31. If she had been still alive in 1996, when the Tenchi TV series took place, she would have been 43.

Series Appearances
Achika is mentioned by Katsuhito in Tenchi Muyo in Love 2 (AKA Tenchi Forever), and she is also referenced in the Tenchi Muyo! TV series (Tenchi Universe) in one episode when Tenchi, Nobuyuki, and Katsuhito visit her gravesite near the Masaki Shrine. She is also mentioned in the OAV series, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Oh-Ki, but only as a general reference to Tenchi's mother and not specifically by name. She may also be mentioned in Shin Tenchi Muyo (AKA Tenchi in Tokyo), but my opinion of that version of Tenchi is low enough that I do not even wish to look for references.

Being that the only actual appearance of Achika as a character in the animated series is in Tenchi Muyo in Love, all of the information given here pertains to that particular continuity. (Tenchi Muyo! is a special case as a series and I daresay that one could go insane trying to reconcile all the differences among the various versions of the story. Simply stated, there are multiple continuities involving the same characters that overlap and sometimes directly contradict. To make matters worse, the movies don't fall flatly in either the TV or OAV continuities - Tenchi Muyo in Love is meant to be in the TV continuity, but it has some inconsistencies, and Manatsu no Eve appears for the most part to be in the OAV continuity but is more of a mess with some elements of TV and OAV mixed. And then there is the matter of Tenchi in Tokyo and Pretty Sammy, yet more spinoff series. Luckily, both of the latter can be safely forgotten without losing anything important as they stray so far from the original premise that any reconciliation is impossible.)

I am not familiar enough with the manga series of Tenchi Muyo! to describe any specific references to her, although I know that she does appear in it at one point ala Tenchi Muyo in Love.

Tenchi Muyo in Love follows roughly the TV series continuity, with a few details that seem to vaguely allude to the OAV series, but for the most part can be considered part of the TV continuity. To further add to the confusion, the events surrounding her death differ in the animated and novel (yes, novel) versions of the story, and being that KAIN does not appear in the OAV continuity, the circumstances surrounding her death in that storyline were never explained in the animated series. (However, one could make that argument that it was explained in Naoko Hasegawa's novelization of Tenchi based on the OAV storyline, but even so it is never mentioned in the animated series and as such I consider it to be separate. This explanation greatly differs from the one put forth in Tenchi Muyo in Love and also in the manner that Achika and Nobuyuki met. I greatly prefer the Tenchi Muyo in Love version, as it is much more in the theme of the series and paints Achika as a much stronger character, in my opinion. One major difference is that Nobuyuki was quite a bit older than Achika in the novelization and she met him and later married after being betrayed by another man, but they met in high school and were roughly the same age in the TMiL version. Another glaring difference is that Tenchi was born only one year after they married in the novelization, but nine years passed between their marriage - assuming they married right out of high school, which is quite plausible - and Tenchi's birth as stated in TMiL. Therefore, Achika's age differs in the two versions; I based the dates and ages in this profile off of TMiL.) There is even one more difference of note - unlike all the other versions of Tenchi Muyo!, the alternate True Tenchi novel series states that Tenchi's mother's name was Kiyone Masaki rather than Achika (and as such it could be conjectured that Tenchi's mother in the OAV continuity is actually named Kiyone - for the purposes of this writeup I am including Kiyone Masaki as being the OAV continuity version of Achika). One common thread exists, however - in all incarnations of the Tenchi series, Tenchi's mother died when he was a child.

UPDATE: It appears that in Tenchi GXP, a new series, her mother Itsuki is still alive and is going by the name Airi at Galaxy Academy, and is a princess from a planet named Airai. I have not personally seen this series, which is supposedly in the OAV continuity. Thanks to Steph Conrad for this updated info.

Special Abilities
Achika, being the daughter of Yosho of Jurai, was a decendant of the royal House of Jurai and possessed an inherent power simply known as "Jurai power". Achika, like others of Jurai royal or court lineage such as Yosho, Tenchi, Ayeka, and the knights Azaka and Kamidake, had a transformed battle phase in which this power was more apparent. In this form, she wore Jurai robes, had the characteristic Jurai battle phase facial markings, and her hair became a silver grey/purple tone rather than the usual black. She was also able to cause the transformation of the Sword of Tenchi (Tenchi-ken) from a small light-saber type weapon to a much more powerful dual-handed spear/lance that was even able to repel much of KAIN's attack. Neither Tenchi nor Katsuhito/Yosho have demonstrated the ability to do this. She also supposedly had the ability to generate one Light Hawk Wing in the OAV continuity, and KAIN makes mention of "another" power that differed from the Jurai power in reference to Achika in Tenchi Muyo in Love, but this muddles the line between the TV and OAV continuities as Jurai power as described in the TV series does not exist in the OAV series and likewise Light Hawk Wings do not exist or are never mentioned in the TV series.

Character Stats

Age	deceased; 17 in Tenchi Muyo in Love, 31 at time of death (dates: 1953-1984)
Height	5'3"
Weight	unknown
Hair Color	black (normal), silverish grey/purple (when in Jurai battle phase)
Eye Color	red
Family	Katsuhito Masaki (AKA Yosho of Jurai) and Itsuki Masaki [presumed deceased, but may be going by the name Airi in Tenchi GXP], parents Nobuyuki Masaki, husband Tenchi Masaki, son
Voice	Megumi Hayashibara also known for other roles such as Lina Inverse (Slayers), Nuku Nuku (All Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku), Lime (Saber Marionette J), female Ranma (Ranma ½), and Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop)

Continue to page 2 of Achika's profile...