AMINE AND MANGA

The canon accepted by series creator Kajishima are the three Ryo-Ohki OVAs, the Tenchi Muyo! GXP: Galaxy Police Transporter series and associated novels, and the novels Shin Tenchi Muyo! Jurai, Shin Tenchi Muyo! Yosho, and Shin Tenchi Muyo! Washu. There are also a number of dōjinshi by and interviews with Kajishima, as well as a companion book, 101 Questions and Answers of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Oh-Ki.

Ryo-ohki OVA 1, the 'Mihoshi Special', the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki Manatsu no Eve film, the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki Manatsu no Carnival radio drama, and thirteen self-written novels.Hasegawa also worked on the TV series, which includes her characters Kiyone and (in the movies) Achika, but the TV series is not considered to be in the same continuity as the film. Notably, Hasegawa considers the Mihoshi Special to be canonical, with the other two versions of the canon of the series declaring the storyline to be, for different reasons, non-canon.

The original series began with a six episode OVA called Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki (天地無用! 魎皇鬼, Tenchi Muyō! Ryōōki) released in Japan on September 25, 1992. The series was released by Pioneer LDC in the United Kingdom on 1994. As its popularity grew, it spurred a seventh episode titled Tenchi Muyo! Special: The Night Before The Carnival (also known as the Tenchi Special) and a stand-alone Mihoshi Special. The second OVA series was directed by Kenichi Yatani and released on 1994, featuring episodes 8–13. The third OVA series was also directed by Kenichi Yatani was released on 2003, featuring episodes 14-19 followed by a special twentieth episode.

Mikuru Asahina: Mikuru is a time traveler from the distant future who is assigned to investigate the reason behind the inability to travel to any point in time before three years prior to the present story. Mikuru is a soft-spoken girl who almost always willingly follows Haruhi's demands. She is the lowest in her Time Traveler's Committee. She often tries to explain what is going on, but will heavily censor it by saying "classified information". Haruhi loves dressing up Mikuru in various (sometimes embarrassing) outfits, claiming that she is the "mascot" of the SOS Brigade. Kyon appears to have a bit of a crush on her (this is somewhat more apparent in the novels, as are Mikuru's feelings for Kyon), and for her part Haruhi seems quite jealous of her and Kyon's relationship. In both the anime and the novels Mikuru discourages Kyon from acting upon any feelings that he may have for her, explaining that he is Haruhi's "chosen person," and in The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya light novel she implies that if he is nice to her, bad things will continue to befall her.

Itsuki Koizumi: Itsuki is an esper who, like the other members of "The Agency", suddenly acquired the power to explore the "Closed Space" and combat Celestials three years prior to the present story. He is fairly carefree and can be found always smiling. However, Kyon always seems to be annoyed by him, and in the light novels expresses his urges to want to hit him. Itsuki brings up many points that have multiple sides, and even explains to Kyon that Mikuru, or anyone, could possibly be putting up a fake personality and deceiving everyone. Yuki and Mikuru are somewhat aware of what Itsuki's role and concept is. They have Itsuki convey messages to Kyon when Kyon and Haruhi vanish from this world into a closed space.

Kyon: the main protagonist of the series, Kyon is a student who unintentionally runs into Haruhi and is the only normal human in the SOS Brigade. Even though Haruhi is the title character, the story is told through Kyon's viewpoint. Through narration and dialogue he provides his insight, perspective, and opinions on events. Kyon is often annoyed by Haruhi's demands, but also thinks that a world without Haruhi would be uninteresting. Kyon is also "John Smith" from Haruhi's earlier memories, and was the one who painted the hieroglyph in the field. Very early on Yuki, Mikuru and Itsuki each, individually, revealed what they are to Kyon.

Haruhi Suzumiya is the title character and leader of the SOS Brigade, whose energetic and eccentric character proves to be the driving force for the series. She has a mind for adventure which often leads her subordinates to be swept into her plans. While being smart, beautiful and energetic Haruhi was eyed as an oddball ever since middle school: she had set all the desks from her classroom out into the hallway, painted stars on the roofs, and even painted a huge hieroglyph out on the school field. Haruhi cannot stand boredom so she comes up with various activities for the SOS Brigade, making them participate whether they like it or not. In the 6th grade Haruhi felt she was no longer special after going to a baseball game and realizing she was one in a sea of people. After that she set out to make her life interesting and unique. What Haruhi does not know is that she has an outstanding power to change the environment around her as she pleases, and by subconsciously using it she gathers Mikuru Asahina, Itsuki Koizumi, and Yuki Nagato into one place, the SOS Brigade. The story is indirect in saying how much Yuki, Mikuru and Itsuki know about each other.

Yuki Nagato: Yuki is a bibliophile humanoid interface, created by Data Integration Thought Entity, whose responsibilities involve monitoring Haruhi and the investigation of an unexplained "explosion of data" three years prior to the present story. She possesses an ability to manipulate her surrounding environment, or "data" as quoted by her. Yuki is very quiet but can speak at length when it has to do with her mission or a problem that has arisen. While she always seems to be engrossed in her reading, she comments that she is only relatively interested in them. Yuki gives hints and aid to Kyon throughout the series. She almost never shows any emotions, but there are times when she shows interest in certain things, such as programming computer games and playing them, as well as reading (in the light novel The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi it is further revealed that she may have developed an interest in writing). It is revealed in The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi novel and film that she does develop emotions. In her context, developing emotions is like accumulating error data which will cause a bug to trigger anomalous behavior. The unpleasant emotions developed throughout the series (caused by the people around her) makes her wish for a normal world, whereby she finally takes action in the 'Disappearance' episode. Yuki is well-acquainted with time travel and that Mikuru is a time traveler. Mikuru and Itsuki are aware that Yuki can do amazing things, but know far less about it than Kyon does.