Name: Noike Kamiki Jurai
Occupation: Annoying additional character/Adoptive daughter of Seto Kamiki Jurai
REVIEW
Now, in the interests of being unbiased, I really shouldn't begin this review by calling her an annoying additional character. However, its difficult to see her in any other light, since she kinda sticks out like a sore thumb in whatever scene or episode she happens to be in.
Noike Kamiki Jurai is the adoptive daughter of Seto Kamiki Jurai, the grandmother of Ayeka and Sasami. Seto doesn't seem all that discriminate about who she adopts, probably since she was adopted herself, and we learn that Noike grew up originally in an orphanage, because she was abandoned there by her mother. Things grow a little bit strange around that point for although she met her mother and discovered she was not a very nice person, she was - apparently - regressed into a baby at one point by Dr Clay and somehow fused with the female cells from Kagato, giving her something of a split personality beneath her nice calm exterior. Why the heck anyone would do any of the above is beyond me...but I didn't invent her, so don't blame me :P
The thing about Noike is that she basically has no flaws. As a character, she can cook, clean, and organise the Masaki household. It's even hinted that she might be a better cook than Sasami at one point. She can manipulate the existing residents and she is capable in the fields as well as being a trained nurse and a former Galaxy Police officer. She is also apparently the 'only one' who can give Tenchi good advice regarding his mother and his perceptions of what Kiyone Masaki was like. She's also able to help deal with the young Ryo Ohki and appears to be something of a secret crush for Mihoshi's brother Misao at one point. All of those things make her one of the most infuriating characters ever to step into the Tenchi series, and the fact that most of OVA3 is spent explaining her and her background/story really detracts from the plotline in a big way. However Noike's introduction seems to have been strategical in many ways. All of her positive attributes, coupled with her hair colour and the fact she is Mihoshi's former 'partner' in the Galaxy Police is blatant evidence that Noike exists for one purpose and one purpose only. To finally and firmly shut the door on Kiyone Makibi where the OVA is concerned. The reason for her many perfections, presumably, is to try and stamp down a claim that Noike is better than Kiyone, and that the OVA doesn't need non-official canon characters to be added in order to make the plot work. The problem is that the OVA never needed anyone to be added to make the plot work. Noike's introduction only detracts from all of the original characters and their chemistry, not to mention the fact that most - if not all Tenchi fans I've spoken to prefer the imperfect, very human Kiyone Makibi to the adoptive daughter of Jurai's mad Princess Seto. In a sense, it backfired in so many ways. By wasting time on stamping out Kiyone Makibi from the OVA, the series itself has begun relying on an even more non-original-canon character. And that in itself is a major weakness. Since OVA3 is the Noike show and since Noike is really quite an annoying character in many ways - it just doesn't work.
One of the major themes of Noike is the whole connection to Mihoshi and the Galaxy Police. Interestingly enough, her attitude towards Mihoshi is a little like Kiyone's sometimes is in the Universe series. However, the OVA misses the plot again, because Noike is ALWAYS hostile to Mihoshi and really, is quite cold and abusive to her on many occasions. She yells at Mihoshi constantly, even when Mihoshi wants to help - and there are none of the more gentle, friendly interludes that Mihoshi and Kiyone often share. You get the feeling that Noike is just irritated by Mihoshi and is not ashamed of showing it. Despite her apparent compassion for Tenchi and for the young Ryo Ohki, Noike's callous attitude towards Mihoshi does call into question whether she is being genuine on other occasions, also.
Like the other women in the 'harem', Noike falls in love with Tenchi, although her engagement to him is not genuine and was a ruse cooked up by Seto to keep an eye on Tenchi and his powerful companions. There are websites out there which still claim the engagement exists. It doesn't. Don't believe them :P Noike is not Tenchi's official fiancee. Actually she's a spy for not just Seto but also for Z, although his connection to Kagato's female cells is not entirely clear and how he is able to manipulate Noike on occasion isn't, either. It seems likely that it is Noike who causes Tenchi's fever in the third episode, although what isn't clear is whether this is driven by her own thoughts or whether she does it on the impulse of someone else. It's possible that she infects Tenchi deliberately so that she can ingratiate herself into the household further and make herself seem more indispensable to the residents. It's true that she seems able to magically manipulate both Ayeka and Ryoko into working harder by playing on their love for Tenchi. The implication is that she's at best a very manipulative person...or at worse borderline sociopathic, whereby she'd make someone ill deliberately in order to advance her own claims. However that is just speculative, since a lot of the more important things in the OVA 3 are not very clearly explained and Tenchi's sickness is one of those times.
Another indication that she plays Tenchi's sickness to her own advantage is that she forbids anyone from visiting him, but lures him away aboard her own spaceship Kyoko. Here he takes a bath and she decides to take it with him - much to his dismay. I feel a mite aggrieved here since this is a Ryoko tactic - just another piece of evidence as to how much Noike dominates the OVA 3.
Noike is a practical woman, and almost tomboyish on occasion. She has her hair cut short and she has a past of military training before the Galaxy Police. It's to be assumed that this is the Jurai military, although it isn't really clarified. It's also to be hoped that it isn't the military force who turn traitor and work with Shank in the later Galaxy Police series, since Noike also plays a brief role in this series also. Noike can drive an earth vehicle - although how she can do so when she's never been on the Earth before is a bit mysterious - but it does further indicate her practical skills.
In conclusion, the main problem with Noike is that she's there at all. Her existance damages the roles of all the other characters with the series preoccupation with introducing her and pushing her into every possible situation. I admit that it's not really possible for me to remain unbiased about her, because I still feel that the OVA would have done better to continue along the lines it had begun with and not tried to satiate/quiet the fan obsession with Kiyone by introducing a wannabe. It really does the show no credit at all. To my mind, Noike is only interesting if she really is borderline sociopathic and the manipulative creature she occasionally appears to be. But since that behaviour - and in fact, pretty much all of her behaviour - seems pre-planned and too perfect, or to be controlled by outside forces - it's impossible to know what kind of person Noike Kamiki Jurai really is, anyway.
Perhaps more will become clear if there is another OVA series, and maybe she'll actually become likeable in the long run...but every time she yells at Mihoshi, I really want to shake her silly...