Series Background:

A simple average high school student, Tenchi Masaki had lived a quiet life until he accidentally revived the space pirate Ryoko who was trapped in a cave by his grandfather's temple.  Searching for the pirate, the princess Ayeka came to Earth, and so did her sister, and the space police.  The next thing you know, easy going Tenchi is living in a house full of beautiful woman and having to play referee between Ayeka and Ryoko who are always fighting over him.  Over the course of the first two OVA series, Tenci discovers that he's not just a regular kid, but actually of royal blood, and in line to become the Emperor of Jurai, the most powerful empire in the galaxy.  Of course, with the super scientist Washu living with Tenchi, along with Ryoko and the others, Tenchi's household is rated as the third most powerful force in the galaxy.

This volume:

This final episode is an epilog to the third OVA.  It answers a few questions that no one really had (like if Misao ends up marring Mashisu?) and muddles the story further.  After the Jurai and Kuramitsu families settles some differences that have been bothering them, the focus of the show returns to Earth, where Tenchi's father and grandfather sit him down to reveal something they've been holding back for a while:  What really happened to Tenchi's mother.  We also discover a secret that Tenchi's dad was keeping.  Nothing Earth shattering, and nothing that really deserves its own episode.

I was really disappointed in this show.  The writing was pretty poor and it didn't wrap anything up.  It doesn't bring any feeling of closure to the OVA or the franchise, and it just makes me realize how inferior this series was when compared to the two that preceded it.  Most of the main female characters spend the episode tied up, (literally) and a lot of the events are just filler.  The plot about Tenchi's mother was really poor too, and though I laughed at some parts, when all was said and done I thought the direction they took with this little sub-plot was all wrong.  This entire series was too rushed and the same can be said of this episode.

This single episode which runs about 25 minutes, comes on a single-sided DVD in a clear keepcase with a reversible cover.  Being a FUNimation disc, there is a trailer before the menu.  Unlike their earlier discs tough, this trailer is skippable!  Thanks FUNimation, this makes the discs much more user friendly.  The disc comes in a very cool tin case that has room for the other two volumes.
 
Audio:

This disc offers the choice of the original Japanese audio track in stereo or an English dub in stereo or 5.1.  I alternated between the original language and the 5.1 English dub track.  I liked both equally well, though all of the English voice actors from the OVA were not able to come back for this dub.  Both of the tracks were free from drop outs, hiss, and other audio defects.

Video:

The full frame image looks very good.  The colors are bright and the level of detail was fine.  The lines were tight too.  Digital defects were almost nonexistent.   A very nice looking disc.

Extras:

While there's only one episode on this disc, there are some neat bonuses.  First off is the Himitsu Nabe Tenchi Special.  This is a live action show which runs for 40 mintues and tries to fill viewers in on some of the details of the Tenchi mythos while also bridging this OVA series with the Tenchi GPX show. This definitely falls in the 'extra' category.  The show doesn't cover any new ground or reveal anything that people didn't already know.  The high squeaky voices that the girls have is incredibly annoying too, and hearing them reveal that the Tree of Jurai is powerful doesn't really do anything for me.

There's also a Tenchi "radio show."  I'm not a huge fan of these, and this one was about average.  It is illustrated by still images.

Final Thoughts:

One of the worst episodes in what turns out to be a mediocre OVA series; this single episode DVD doesn't have a lot going for it.  The tin that it comes in is very cool, but only getting 25 minutes of real content for nearly $30 is stretching it.  Neither of the bonus items were really earthshaking either.  They should have included this on the last DVD.   If you have the first two discs, you really don't have to get this one.  I'm a big Tenchi fan and I was pretty disappointed in it.  If you're really curious and have to see everything Tenchi related, make it a rental.