Name: Tenchi Masaki

Occupation: Japanese boy/Prince of Jurai/Unlikely girl magnet

TENCHI's AGE
Well, there are probably plenty of teenage boys who'd like to live Tenchi's life - inundated with beautiful women who all want a piece of him! But Tenchi's age is hard to pin down. I'm informed that the OVA canon pitches him at fifteen when he releases Ryoko from her prison - although I'm a big fan of canon being formed from what's in the shows, not what's written behind the scenes, and there is nothing actually in the show itself to say Tenchi is ten, twelve, fifteen...you name it. Personally, I'm not convinced. I'm not sure where this assertion came from - however, (and I hate to bring the OVA3 into anything, but) I'm sure that in the early (maybe first or second) episode of OVA part 3, his school is mentioned by name (the one he categorically blew up with Ryoko's help right at the start of the OVA). I'm almost 100% certain that this was Kurashiki High School. Which raises an interesting cultural point. From evidence gleaned elsewhere, I've discovered that in Japan, High School apparently starts at 16 and not at 15 like in US schools. They are at High School for three years, and if Tenchi was fifteen, he would surely be in the final year of Middle School. So this means he's probably older than fifteen after all. Also,  - and this is a random bit of evidence - but in the intros to the Tenchi Muyo Live Concert that was performed by the Japanese cast members in 1994, it gives both Tenchi's age and Ryoko's as "17". This is based on OVA canon, because it also discusses Ryo Ohki's Masu properties. And since the songs performed are from the official soundtracks, it looks likely this is in keeping with officialdom too. So, in short, with all the digging I've done, I've yet to find a source which proves definitively that Tenchi is fifteen in the OVA.

It's generally accepted that the Universe and Tokyo series move away from OVA canon in some regards, so even if Tenchi is 15 in the OVA, it doesn't necessarily follow that he is the same age in these. In fact, in Tokyo, it's fairly certain that he is seventeen or almost eighteen, since he has his own apartment in the city and he's high up in the high school strata. In THIS one, we do know therefore that he met the girls aged fifteen...but that the story itself takes place two years on At one point one of his teachers actually says something along the lines of "I wish I was seventeen again!".

Universe is impossible to tell. There is nothing whatsoever which tells us Tenchi's age. However, he 'blends in' with his mother's age group in the Tenchi Muyo In Love movie, and she's about 17 or 18 in that film. So I think it's not unfair to pitch him at seventeenish when all the Universe stuff comes about.  It also seems logical since they are talking about Tenchi as a potential Emperor of Jurai - it seems unlikely that Jurai would crown a child after so much instability, so he must be verging on eighteen. He is still in school, of course, but the same issues apply as with the OVA when considering which year of school he's attending. His uniform, classes, etc. indicate that he's not in Middle School and therefore cannot be as young as fifteen years old when all this is taking place.

Really, it's up to the viewer to determine whether or not he's fifteen or older. But to me he has to be around 17 years old for the plot to properly work. (Plus if you've heard his voice artist in Japanese, no way is he that young a kid :P:P). 

He also drives in Ryoko's world - which seems completely stupid even for an 'alternate universe' if he's only 15 years old. You have to remember too that Noboyuki discusses the idea of him marrying Ryoko and says that he is 'slow with girls'. True, Noboyuki is something of a pervert much of the time - however, this seems less of an odd observation if he's talking about a boy of seventeen rather than a boy of fifteen. Then of course, there is the 'aging' Haruna does to him in Tenchi Forever. If he's been missing six months, the girls don't think it's odd that he's aged as much as he has to begin with. He can't, therefore, have jumped too many years up the ladder. He's still in education, but it seems likely to be college education, studying art. So he's about twenty or so in Haruna's estimation.  Three years vs five years is a big difference...^_^.

The one other thing which indicates to me that Tenchi is older than fifteen is the fact that on occasion his grandfather, his father or Ryoko send him out to buy sake. The legal age to buy alcohol in Japan is 20. Obviously, Tenchi is not 20 - but it seems less likely he would be able to con a storekeeper if he was fifteen than if he was in his latter teens. Although there are vending machines in Japan which sell alcohol, I think it significant that, when Tenchi returns from town with his sake in No Need For Memories, the bottle is in a shopping bag, And, of course, the nearest city is a long bus ride away - since he catches the bus to school on a daily basis. I think it unlikely that there's a vending machine in the middle of the mountains providing drinks in fancy carrier bags!

Of course, it's possible that the storekeeper turns a blind eye because he knows the family - but that would be very speculative and there is no evidence to back that up!

Depending on how seriously you take the year of production, there is a piece of evidence within the TU timeline which backs up my theorising to some degree. In Tenchi Muyo In Love, the gang go back to 1970 to save his mother Achika from the criminal Kain. At the close of the movie, the prequel-like epilogue (wow, that's complicated) says 'nine years later', announcing the birth of Tenchi. That would make him born in 1979. TMIL was produced in 1996, making Tenchi seventeen when this took place. It would also suggest that he is seventeen or thereabouts at the close of Tenchi Universe, and sixteen almost seventeen in Tenchi Universe itself, since this was produced in 1995. Of course, that's only a rough guide...but it does at least support the theory that by the time Tenchi Muyo In Love happens, Tenchi is seventeen.

 But hey, it's all down to personal opinion anyway - since nowhere in any of the shows does it actually state for sure how old Tenchi is. (So if you want to make him thirteen, go right ahead...)