Ages in Tenchi Muyo

[Fanatic]

The subject of ages in Tenchi Muyo seems to be a big puzzle, often with contradictionary facts. It doesn't help that the characters apparently measure time in two different calendar formats with no indication which they are using at any given time.


To start out with OAV, here it is especially the Juraian part of the alien crew which gives me trouble.
Ryoko is around 5000 Earth Years (EY) old if the encyclopedia is to be believed (it has been proven wrong on other accounts mind you). As far as I recall, RFFC calculates her age as 2017 Galactic Calendar Years (GCY), which equals 5042 EY, but is this any more accurate?
Washu is reported to be rougly 20,000 EY, but how accurate is this?
Yosho is good to illustrate the headache Juraian ages give me. Logically he is at least 700 EY, but it is Azusa's comment in "Here comes Jurai" which puzzles me. He (Azusa) states that he can wait another 2000 years for Yosho to decide. This implicates that the conflict with Yosho and the throne is at least 2000 years old, which would make both Yosho and Ayeka at least 2000 EY?
Ayeka is often stated to be around 723, but this sounds plain wrong to me. It sounds something like add her approx physical age to the length of Ryoko's imprisonment...
As with Yosho, Ayeka is implied to be 2000+ EY, but how much really? Also, if her search for Yosho was indeed spent in time freeze/suspended animation, her actual age would be rougly 700 less than this.
Sasami was looking much younger than Ayeka during the attack, but it is difficult indeed to tell a Juraian's age by their looks ^_^
Often stated to be 708 for the same reasons Ayeka's age is 723 (which it doesn't seem to be anyway). But what is the truth here?


In TM!Universe, things get even more confusing. Sometimes the characters seem to be their physical ages, and other times they hint that several hundred years of life is nothing. Anyone have any information on the ages in Universe?

[Grandis]

Yes it is a pain trying to tie up the ages in the OAV.

If you remember the flashback to Yosho and Ayeka on Jurai, he was already much older than her. The trees of Jurai extend life don't forget.

Washu, is probally a lot older as the 20,000 EY age refers to her youth IRC.

Please note that in all the Tenchi series the ages of the girls is very vauge IMO. So this complicates defining their exact ages.

Prehaps there's a more knowledge Tenchi fan who can help us both out.

[SSVegeta4ev]

wow, I didn't know Ayeka and Sasami were that old! but about the age stuff, i'm not to sure bout it.:confused:

[So Full of Mercy]

Hmmm, why does Ayeka have to be as old as Yosho again?

[Fanatic]

Originally posted by So Full of Mercy
Hmmm, why does Ayeka have to be as old as Yosho again?

She doesn't have to be *exactly* as old as Yosho - in fact she is probably younger. She does however have to be 2000+ years if that is how long Yosho and Azusa have been 'discussing' Ayeka's marriage to Yosho.

[Fungus]

yes, it is rther puzzling. I mean, after how many years to they turn "old" and if they seem immortal, do they ever need new kings? I'll just stick to the universe timeline

[iwakura]

Ages have bounds on them. I agree with Fanatic's numbers, for the most part. I don't trust the encyclopedia all that much since there isn't always an OVA reference attached to the fact.

Ryoko is at least 700 years old, since that's how long she was locked up for. Since she was created by Washu, who was held hostage for some 5000 years, she's also at least 5000 years old. Ditto for Riooki

Aeka has been pursuing Yosho for many years, perhaps 700, but may have been under suspended animation, so physically she could be much younger. same for Sasami, however, the folks back on Jurai haven't aged all that much, so maybe this didn't make all that much of a difference.

Yosho is older than Aeka. The last lines of the 2nd OVA imply at least 2000 years as pointed out by F.

Washu There are hints that she is as old as the Tsunami, which is really old.

othersI wonder how old Mishoshi is? That would be a good check and balance to compare how people aged.

I think the old age references in Universe are inside jokes for OVA fans.

[So Full of Mercy]

I get the idea Mihoshi is only like 25.

[Fanatic]

Well, Mihoshi's Great-Grandfather is Washu's missing child... and if this child was taken from Washu more than 5000 years ago, *some* part of her family has to be very old. Of course the missing child has noble Juraian blood, as has his wife (actually his half-sister...those Juraians...).

We also have to consider that Mihoshi has graduated the academy and "solved a lot of difficult cases I'll have you know!", so she is probably a bit older than her physical appearance...

[Grandis]

I've always placed Mihoshi at around 25-27. Just remember we don't know for sure from the OAV's, whether shes GP officer because of talent or who her Grandfather is (hmm Nepotism) IMO.

Although I have heard she did once have degree of smarts.

[So Full of Mercy]

I dunno, Mihoshi seems a little too dense to have more than 30 years of experience in life.

[silvermask]

Below is a post which I originally posted in the Tenchi Muyo OVA forum at AnimeGrapevine at some point. I thought it pretty relevant to the topic of discussion, and didn't really want to re-write it. ^_^;

Sasami grow up? 8 years? 800?
*Spoilers*


Well, wether or not Sasami will grow up that quickly is debatable.
It seems that full blooded Jurians age very slowly. Naturally, we know that they don't die under normal circumstances, or at least not for a very very long time (because the King did make a law stating that when he died Jurians were to mix with the blood of other planets and so on.... So, it can be assumed that Jurians die eventually... And besides, it'd be really crowded on Jurai if they didn't, ne?)
Now, we know for a fact that Sasami looked to be the equivalent of 3 or 4 when Ryoko attacked Jurai, 700 years from the present. Now she looks to be around 10-12, so, Jurains either age in one of a few ways:

1. They age at a constant rate, which has a constant ratio to earth years... An example would be 1 year of aging to 100 Earth years. This would mean that Ayeka and Sasami were not in any kind of preservation mode during their travels, which is hinted at by Misaki's comment, "You must have had such a hard life" Also, the fact that their ship had lots of living space and such that looked... well... lived in seems to help this theory.

2. They age at a normal "Earth Rate" up to adulthood, when they slow down. This would mean that Ayeka and Sasami were in some kind of cyrogenic sleep during most of their voyage through space, and that they left around 6 or 7 years after Yosho left Jurai. This would mean that Yosho could be feasably unchanged, because he was already a mature adult when he left Jurai.

Now, it's most likely the first, because we see Juraians in many different walks of life. It may well be possible that Juraians do not notice the passage of time as readily as Earthlings. It may just be that they are accustomed to it, as it is part of their life and culture.
It's also quite possible that a Juraian can choose to accelerate their aging process if they so desire. If Ayeka (or Sasami) were to marry Tenchi (I'm not going to go into my preference on who gets Tenchi ^^;) they probably would not want to look 20 and be married to someone who is 80-something. It's quite possible that they would be able to make the decision to age like an Earthling.. But, there would also be the possibility of Tenchi going to Jurai and getting a tree of his own.... ^_^

[Fanatic]

What about Ayeka's flashback? She seems to remember Yosho at the exact physical age he is now when her own physical age was significantly less. Of course it can be hard to tell, but I think Yosho looks exactly the same all of the times we see him, lending support to theory #2.
(Also, the Guradian's remark of "Unlock the time-freeze now" hints at some sort of suspended animation during the voyage. Treeships may be habitable, but I don't think Ayeka and Sasami could stay sane with 700 years of nothing but each others company ^_^)

[So Full of Mercy]

So when does the aging decelerate (probably not a word)? Puberty? Has Ayeka stopped aging quickly?

[TenchiMasaki07]

i may be the savior for this thread......for i know relativity....Einstein's relativity..

here is what i know:
Ryoko is around 700 to 5700 years old...she may have had a long and homicidal life for that long...so her age is somewhere in that ballpark


now the space travelers:
Ayeka and Sasami were , as we know cryogenically frozen or put into suspended animation (a pun)
Ayeka may have been wandering around looking for Yosho for quite some time at light speed, so for her time goes slower, so she ages slower and stays young. The House of Jurai on Jurai may not have heard from her for a while so Sasami went to look for her several years later..to be also cryogenically frozen.....oh yeah when they go light speed, time goes slower for them right? so that time goes by faster for those stuck in EY. Generations may have passed on Earth as Ayeka and Sasami look around the galaxy...So to them they may only experience for example 10 years while we experience 100 to 100 years, depending on how many factors of the speed of light they are going.

and i think the Juraians live very very very long lives...either being close to the Trees or posessing a special power to allow them to live long...

but i am not saying this is the answer...i may be wrong...

[iwakura]

I think they age more closely to the second option.

They start aging at a human rate and then slow down. This is what we would do if we had the genetic engineering ability. It's pretty expensive to society to spend a century as a infant ^_^

Fanatic brought up Aeka's flashback which is consistent with this view.

I think the aging rate is more likely a curve, not a linear or an abrupt slowdown. My guess is illustrated in the table below:


Human age and what Jurian age looks like at that human age

-H -J---
01 01
05 05
10 09.5
15 14
20 18
25 20
30 21
35 21.5
40 21.75
45 22
50 22.2
55 22.3
60 22.35
65 22.40
70 22.44
75 22.46
80 22.47
85 22.475

Isn't this what we would really want to do if we could?

[MiruTenchi]

that would be awesome!

[So Full of Mercy]

No, what if you got a life sentence in prison?

[Fanatic]

The plot thickens.....

Following is from the Shin Novels by Masaki KAJISHIMA and Yosuke KURODA (thanks for the link, Wittman).

4years later-
Funaho's first son, Yosho was born.
By this she won more popularity and the people became to love her. As she was opposite with Misaki, the more Misaki became popular the more Funaho became, too.

5years later-
The marriage between Azusa and Misaki, who was now 19 years old, was held.

3years later-
The ceremony of selecting the Royal tree was held for the 8years old boy, Yosho. Called by the tree as his mother Funaho was, he got the first generation Royal tree, "Funaho". At the same time, Misaki's first daughter Aeka was born.

4years later-
The ceremony for the affiance of Yosho, 12 year old, and Aeka, 4 years old, was held. This was made by the wish of both of their mother, Funaho and Misaki. What a selfish thing of parents, but Aeka was pleased.

7years later-
Misaki's second daughter Sasami was born.
The time of fate is near-.


And 3 years later-
The happening which changed the history occurred.

Jurai planet was attacked by the space pirate called as the "Destroyer"- Ryoko with Ryo-oki.

This was 700 years before the time of Masaki Tenchi.


This gives the following ages:
Sasami: 703 (Some of which may have been spent in Time Freeze)
Ayeka: 714 (Also some in stasis)
Yosho: 722

From the same source I have it that Funaho is 746, which effectively means that Azusa's comment about waiting *another* 2000 years for Yosho to decide is wrong... 2000 years ago Funaho had not even been born! I'm not even sure Azusa had anymore....