Since that day, the signal from various satellite uplinks of the broadcast is estimated to have traveled as far as nineteen light years by now. It would have traveled as far as binary star system Eta Cassiopeiae A, available to any who could intercept the signal. Here on Earth, though, accessing that edited version of the show has proven to be a challenge. The many flavors of the Tenchi anime franchise , have, for the most part, been readily available to fans on home video in their unedited forms. The Toonami edits of the show, though, only ever partially available on VHS and never on digital media in any official capacity.

In July 2019, Tenchiforum.com founder and owner Michael “‘Dagon123”’ Perge, as well as other devoted fans, finally managed to resolve that. Together, they compiled home recordings of Toonami’s Tenchi Muyo!, Tenchi Universe, and Tenchi In Tokyo and began the arduous process of dumping them to digital formats for redistribution.

Perge wrote a lengthy article on the effort, which can be found on TenchiForum.

Michael was kind enough to speak with me about the influence that Tenchi had on himself as a fan, as well as his motivations in preserving and sharing Toonami’s version of these classic titles.

Ashley Hakker: So, I imagine that Tenchi had a significant impact on you, to have you focusing so much energy on it specifically?

Michael Perge: Absolutely. It’s kind of cliche to say, but I saw Tenchi Muyo! on its first run on Toonami, and it was the first show that really grabbed me, my heart, my mind, my soul. It had a little bit of everything for everybody, and it pushed the boundaries for what I perceived as entertainment. I’m a huge lover of cartoons and animation, old and new. I watched Thundercats and early [Dragon Ball Z] and what not, and those were great, but when Tenchi came on, it was something completely different. I never missed an episode.

Ashley Hakker So, your effort to preserve and share the Toonami Edit of the Tenchi franchise, can you briefly explain that, for those who haven’t seen your detailed article?

Michael Perge: Basically, Toonami in and of itself is revered. Every person who came from that generation watching Toonami looks back at that time in almost a spiritual way. I wanted to bring that back for people to watch again, and to also show everyone who had heard about it, what it was all about. Why people talked about it so much. After I acquired a collection of tapes from a member of our forum, Talos, and ripped them, through trial and error and a little elbow grease, it’s now back.