Subject: [tenchi:105862] Re: Re:OVA 19
From: AstroNerdBoy <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 11:04:28 -0600

> 
> From: [email-masked]

>And telling your story on the assumption that the
viewer is going to have to do supplementary reading...sounds too much like a homework assignment. No thanks; I watch these shows to be entertained.  

Jeff -- you have to understand what led to the creation of the supplemental reading material -- the Japanese fans & Kajishima-sensei setting the record straight.

TS (and others) can correct any facts that I have wrong but after OAV 1, Japanese fans had TONS of questions they wanted answered.  At the same time, K-sensei had stuff he wanted to get out.  So one of the early doujinshi told us the stuff K-sensei 
wanted in OAV 1.  "101 Secrets" (which is still being printed in Japan) was written to then answer Japanese fans' questions. 

"101" sold quite well.  K-sensei's doujinshi sold quite well.  OAV 2 started and when it completed, K-sensei knew it would be a while before he could do another OAV.  All he had to do was look at the hunger of the Japanese fans and see that the print 
media would continue to tell his story, entertain TM!R fans, and he'd get paid to boot.  It was a win-win strategy. 

As K-sensei continued to do doujinshi, those continued to be snapped up.  As the novels were published, sales were good (and the books are still in print).  Further working K-sensei's marketing power, the "Tenchi in Tokyo" artbook (I don't have the 
book's name in front of me) was all about TinT, BUT they had a small section with K-sensei.  He produced three new art pieces including one of Choushin Washu.  He also did an interview which provided more information about the series.  Thus an artbook 
about the subpar TinT was assured of additional sales from the fans desperate to know more. 

So for the Japanese fans, grabbing this printed material and reading it was not a chore and not a homework assignment.  Doing these things willingly goes against that idea.

The real problem, as I've stated before, is the English audience's lack of access to the extra materials.  So we are at a sore disadvantage to our Japanese cousins.  But we are trying to make more of this material available to the English audiences by 
translating the novels and the doujinshi (some of which we can't even score because they are rare and sell for outrageous sums of money). 

I will say that if American fans have seen GXP, they will be introduced to enough elements so that many things in OAV 3 won't be a surprise (Seto-sama, Misao, Mashisu, Airi-san).  There will still be surprises in OAV 3 though no matter how much you 
read.  There were two big surprises by my reconning -- Tennyo and Misaki. 

Don't get me wrong, I have problems with TM!R as a whole.  I never liked the minimalist approach to providing information going back to OAV 1.  While I liked K-sensei providing little clues to things even in what would normally be classic humor 
moments, I disliked not having a couple of throw-away lines explaining the appearance of the floating onsen (for example).  In OAV 3, K-sensei virtually removed all of the conflict in the series until episode 19. 

That said, episode 19 did a lot to redeem OAV 3 for me.  Also, there were other good things that happened in OAV 3.

*shrugs*  I guess in the end it doesn't matter.  I've had entertaining discussions on another board with some people who slam K-sensei for retconning (without providing examples though).  So we all have things we may or may not like about  the world 
of TM!R. 

Tenchi Muyo! FAQ
http://www.astronerdboy.com/tenchi
"...taking your attacks is as easy as farting." -- Genkai-san, "Yu Yu Hakusho"