Even though she's over 20,000 years old, she still looks like a little girl. "Why?" you might ask. Almost 20,000 years ago, Washuu was the top student at the Galaxy Academy (right around the time the Academy changed its name from "Imperial Science Academy" to "Galaxy Academy"), and later became the first president of the Galaxy Academy. She fell in love with someone, and they had a baby.. but that baby was taken away from her by the man's family because he was from a prestigious family.

"Lineage, social status... Why should such things matter so much? That's how grown-ups are. If that's so... I'd be happier being a child, never, ever growing up."

-Washuu, OVA 8

But what of Washuu's history from before 20,000 years ago?

Before she became the number one scientist in the universe, Washuu was actually a goddess, one of Tokimi's sisters. For reasons yet to be revealed, Washuu's position changed from a goddess to a "normal" person, and even sealed the parts of her memory that relate to being a goddess. Based on Tokimi's comments, it seems that Washuu entered the lower dimension of her own free will, her reasons still uncertain.

The character background states for Tokimi to be the one who is always mysterious, so much that at times, even her sisters can't tell what she's thinking, while Washuu is the free-spirited type, with Tsunami being the most gentle and kind. Still, there's a lot more to these three goddesses than we know..

And so, we wait, for the next series of the OVAs to tell us more about Washuu-chan and her sisters.

In the TV Series

In the TV series, Washuu was a famous mad scientist who became exiled 700 years ago, which was how she came to earth. Somehow the earthlings of that time knew Washuu would be trouble (she was trapped in a cube of ice or something similar to it), and were able to seal her in a cave.. and thus the Masaki Shrine was created--to keep watch over the cave so that no one would free this "goblin." However, through the "assistance" of Aeka and Ryouko, Washuu was set free.

It should be important to note that, unlike in the OVA series, Washuu does not seem to come from a divine origin, she's not Ryouko's mother, and often her inventions are far from perfect. For these reasons, many Washuu fans choose to avoid the TV series like the plague (^^;

In Pretty Samy

In Pretty Samy, Washuu is a kid genius who graduated from MIT, and is now a teacher at Sasami's school. Therefore, she can no longer be called the number one scientist of the universe.. but she's still a genius, no matter what series she's in <g>

The Spelling War

Most of you probably noticed that on this page, "Washuu" is spelled with two "U"s, unlike the Pioneer rendition of just "Washu."

Why? It's very simple.. There are several standards for romanizing Japanese into English, and since "Washuu" is a Japanese name, and not really English, there are several correct ways of spelling her name; though if we were to get technical, the only correct way would be to write it in Japanese..

Anyway, because of the different romanization standards, you may see the following spellings on the net:

All of these can be considered correct ways of spelling her name, so let's not fight over it, ne?

©1996-2000 #WASHU#, Washuu's Academy of Science and Higher Understanding. Tenchi Muyo! and all its characters are copyright AIC and Pioneer LDC, used with permission. Special thanks to Achan and Yagami. Page created by Dr. Briefs, Capsule Corp. on Sunday, Dec. 22, 1996 Dr. Briefs is also a member of #SAS#, The Sasami Appreciation Society.

Winner of Woozles' "Washuu Award"