Zinv

Zinv (ジンブ) is an alien mecha from Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure and later Tenchi Muyo! GXP, Paradise War and Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki.

Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure

The alien girl D escaped her war-torn world with a large group of colonists. They took the original core robots, Zinv, and HIMC. The GXP novels and supplementary Doujinshi offer slightly different explanations, revealing that the anime's version of events are a more simplified version than what was originally planned. The colony crashed on Earth. In one version of the story, Zinv was originally their starship, rebuilt into a robot form, as they felt it would act as an object of worship for the primitive society, an idol. The version in current continuity suggests it was always a mecha. Probably the most powerful, but still one of many strewn across the galaxy at that time.

In all versions, eventually the colony fractured and fought each other. D's group wanted to steer the group into one that returned to nature and gave up on reliance on technology, and HMC's wanted to expand on their technology, possibly returning to space. In the war, D's body was badly damaged and had to be put into a bioroid body. When her group warred against technology, she became afraid because her body was dependent on technology. She stole Zinv and tried to meet with the other group to negotiate peace. It was too late and the groups destroyed each other, with D as the only survivor. She gathered their ships, Zinv, and Himeko and went into suspended animation until found again.

It laid buried until accidentally uncovered by a construction crew's digging several years before the events of Dual! This was suggested to be the event that caused the divide in the two timelines: in one, Kazuki Yotsuga's father threw away a control mechanism for Zinv, in the other, he put it in his pocket and passed it on to Ken Sanada to study and recover Zinv and the other artifacts. It is suggested that, as a method of survival, rather than staying buried under the construction site, Zinv's astral reincarnated itself into human form, becoming Kazuki Yotsuga (only born in that world). After its discovery, it sat dormant in the Earth Defence Force's headquarters for years until Kazuki awakened it during Rara's assault.

Zinv has many unique abilities revolving around the manipulation of gravimetric forces, including gravitational projectiles, super speed, and crushing enemy mecha. Zinv also comes equipped with a nano-repair system that can fix any damage inflicted. Zinv only responds to Kazuki's Life Sympathy, and sometimes activates itself when Kazuki is not aboard.

Zinv defeats the lesser version of Himiko quite easily, but Himiko's final form takes the upper hand. When D removes the limiter preventing males from piloting it (Kazuki skirts this by BEING the parallel world counterpart to Zinv), Zinv instantly repairs itself and generates Light Hawk Wings. With this newfound power, Kazuki decimates Himiko and creates a black hole, reducing the Rara fortress to nothing.

With the two worlds dangerously close to oblivion, Zinv and Kazuki agree to destroy Zinv, ensuring that both worlds will live on. However, Zinv survives the explosion that consumes it, regenerating at the bottom of the ocean and returning to Kazuki in the third universe. It is decided that Zinv would be used for Kazuki and his friends to explore space.

Tenchi Muyo! GXP

Seina Yamada, who was trying to rescue Fuku from rogue elements of the Galaxy Army, was found by a tribe of Wau, who mistake him for their savior and threw him into an ancient mecha. Somehow, Seina was able to activate the mecha. In the GXP novels, Seina also encounters the Astral Body of D, whom has become an A.I.. Seina then used Zinv to save not only Fuku, but also cabbit clones made from Fuku's cells by Tarant Shank, who had allied himself with the rogue G.A. faction. In the GXP novels, there was a fourth clone, who had been dissected. Angered by this, Seina fought Shank and his allies. D, as well as the A.I. Kirche and Miki, were transferred into the surviving Fuku clones. The ancient body of Zinv began to break down during the battle with Shank's forces but with the help of the cabbits, the mecha was able to integrate itself to the Kamidake II, Seina's ship, which was captured with Fuku. And even more startling, the mecha formed Light Hawk Wings, even though it was not bonded with Mizuki, the Royal Tree of Kiriko Masaki, which assists in the control of the Kamidake.

Tenchimuyogxp24idol — Producing Light Hawk Wings

Afterward, it was revealed by the High Council of the Jurai Royal Family that the mecha, now known as Zinv, has as its power source, a first generation Royal Tree seed, with the seed bonding itself with Seina. The seed, while sentient, had been age stopped, preventing it from maturing any further.

An incredibly powerful robot, the Idol has many unique abilities revolving around the manipulation of gravimetric forces, including gravitational projectiles, super speed, and crushing enemy mecha. It also comes equipped with a nano-repair system that can fix inflicted damage.

Renza Arc and Paradise Starting

In the Renza Federation, people call Zinv "The Original," as they see it as the first example of the Holy Knights (Mecha) that they revere. Zinv's emergence is the main reason that Hakuren's group "kidnap" Seina in order to fight the pirates plaguing their space.

In the light novels, Zinv/Jinbu is badly damaged during Seina's battle with this universe's HIMC, and is forced to make an impromptu long-distance jump to avoid further damage. They end up landing on the magic planet Barrium to search for Airen, someone Seina believes he can trust.

Zinv is hidden in a lake but is fundamentally trapped in a forested area on the planet, unable to search for help. Seina is later told that technology left on a magic planet can fundamentally change that technology or make it inoperable. Other Holy Knights have been proven to have a "magical" component to their construction, so it's possible that Zinv has simply repaired itself and is patiently waiting for Seina's return.

In the 14th Volume of the GXP novels a new form of Zinv is hinted at, but this form is only confirmed in Tenchi Muyo! GXP Paradise Starting, showing that Zinv (or possibly a separate console form) can assume the humanoid appearance of a teen girl with long turquoise hair. This is probably due to Zinv being trapped on Barrium for so long.

Paradise War and Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki

After returning from Renza, Seina assumed the alias of Minamida and oversaw the events of Paradise War on Earth. While on Tabletop Island, Zinv was hidden away and only used occasionally in covert activities to keep Earth's military forces from sneaking onto the island. At the end of the story, Zinv does not participate in the battle with the space pirates, but uses its abilities to block Earth from noticing that there are aliens fighting in nearby space.

In the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki fifth season episode Paradise Paradigm, Zinv is seen recreating the undersea maneuvers he takes part in the Paradise War novels, ambushing submarines and beaching them on land.

Trivia

In Japanese, the sound made by the English letter "Z" is indistinguishable from the letter "J" and the same can be said for the letters/sound of "V" and "B." This means that the names ZINV and Jinbu are not actually meant to be two completely distinctive names, as they have become in English translations, rather, they are different spellings of the same name.
- However, the Japanese pronunciation does suggest that it's name is meant as a reference to the legendary (and likely mythological) first emperor of Japan, Emporor Jimmu. This is reinforced by the inference that ZINV's counterpart, HIMC, also seems to be a reference to another legendary early leader, Himiko.
In the Tenchi! Muyo! Ryo-Ohki episode "Good Days, Departure", it is confirmed that the name of the seed itself is Jinbu.
Tenchi Muyo! GXP reveals that while it uses an original Royal Tree seed as its power source, it is one Tsunami gave to a lost civilization that greatly predates Jurai itself.
A future scene in the novels reveals that, eventually Zinv will manifest a humanoid form of its own, in the shape of a woman with green hair.
Zinv's groans are actually a form of high speed language, similar to Ryo-Ohki's meows.