Gyokuren is a character in the Tenchi Muyo! OVA continuity, mainly appearing in Tenchi Muyo! GXP, featuring much more prominently in the novels. She, along with her partners, Hakuren, Karen, & Suiren, eventually becomes a wife of Seina Yamada.
History
Gyokuren is the unseated Queen of the Masui Kingdom in the Renza Federation. Her real name is Shinjyu Rensa Makyoku, if crowned she will inherit the name last of Masui. The kingdom has an odd rite of succession, Gyokuren is actually the King's 13th princess.
She, along with her Renza partners, becomes a Lady-in-waiting to Lady Seto. This was initially part of a plan to steal secrets, possibly a Juraian Royal Treeship, so they could gain enough power to battle the pirates in their home territory.
According to a report Seto had done on her, Gyokuren seems to have been raised in a "toxic" environment that betrays the gentle image she initially projects.
Gyokuren has a dark side to her and often gives off a frightening atmosphere. Few have seen the full darkness of her mind. Karen did once and it left her traumatized.
Gyokuren can use her beauty like a weapon and has been the end to many a happy romance. She caused a small disaster once when they had to infiltrate a ship full of newlyweds.
Her bio-enhancement level is 6, she doesn't have any special strengths but is good at reading the psychology of others.
Meeting Seina
Gyokuren and the others meet Seina much earlier in the novels than the anime, in fact the four of them escorted Seina and the others to Mikagami after he had gathered the pirates for Seto to capture and she had them follow him almost constantly. She served as a secret guard to Seina at the Academy, crew on his ships and even a maid in Amane's house with the other three.
Gyokuren once showed her darkness to Seina, triggered by a want to keep him to herself, but the strength of Seina's purity and kindness calmed her. At the time, others in the household walked in on this situation and her partners had to warn the ones that didn't know to stay back because she could be deadly to those that tried to intrude. This darkness has diminished greatly with her continued time with Seina.
A Scandalous Wedding Day and Escape to Renza
On the day Seina was to marry Kiriko, Amane, Ryoko, and Neju, the girls revealed their true identities to him just as he was about to be married and took him aboard their ship to go to the Federation. The brides, infuriated, chased after on the Kamidake II.
In the anime, to make themselves faster, the girls got rid of their and Seina's clothes, as well as several items on their ship, The brides demanded him back, but they refused, claiming Seina had "eloped" with them and to prove it, proceeded to molest him on video in the full view of the various delegates and dignitaries who had been invited to the wedding. The anime ends with a flash forward of them all working together on the Kamidake II.
In the novels it was a more conventional kidnapping. The quartet escaped to Racepshi, a planet sized entertainment starship that they contracted to jump them from the Galactic Federation to Renza Federation territory, with Kiriko and the girls barely sneaking in before the jump.
Being a neutral area, both they and Kiriko's group can set up their headquarters there without having to commit to one Renza nation or run afoul of Galaxy Federation policies.
Upon arriving in Renza she announced her intention to take the throne as queen. Many in Renza refer to her as "the witch queen" or by other dark terms.
Gyokuren and the others only got a few fruitless trips with Seina and Zinv to find and take out space pirates, (being stopped each time by royal forces who claimed the pirates were their prey) before Seina was lost in a fight with HIMC, having to randomly jump to a location no one else knows the location of. Seina landed on the planet Barrium, which seems to a world in her kingdom (but he has lost his way to contact anyone).
Gyokuren and the others now work with Kiriko and company on two fronts, to continue battling pirates and also to search for Seina.
Flash forward sections do show all get back together and fight in tandem.
Trivia
- In the anime, after their reveal as Renza Federation Agents, Gyokuren and the other girls wear nearly identical uniforms with only their sleeves having a different color. The colors are the same colors as the other girls' GP uniforms. Gyokuren & Ryoko in orange, Karen & Amane in red, Hakuren & Neju in yellow, and Suiren & Kiriko in green. In the final scene on the Kamidake the pairs a seating next to each other and appear to be doing the same duty. This does not correspond well with the situation in the novels where their specialties in these pairings do not exactly correspond to the girls they are paired to here.
- Gyokuren's beauty is often compared to Amane's but it is said that she is beautiful like the moon and Amane is beautiful like the sun.
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