Message-Id: <200504100502.j3A525GI022498@mail1.atl.registeredsite.com> From: AstroNerdBoy To: Date: Sat, 9 Apr 2005 23:02:05 -0600 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO8859-1 Subject: [tenchi:105878] Re: Re:OVA 19 Reply-To: tenchi@gold.win.jp ML-Count: 105878 Precedence: bulk Nik -- I know you must be getting frustrated with TS and myself, but try not to take it too seriously. We are both attempting to show you the reasons behind what K-sensei did (and indeed has done). > And what is the excuse for that? Why can't he be expected to make his story LOGICAL? I don't see anything illogical about Misaki being the Counteractor. I do wonder why Tsunami didn't notice it since Tokimi was aware of it. Maybe Tsunami DID know about it, but since Misaki was her humanoid-form's mother, what was she going to do about it? Not much. Surpises like this are often unpopular though. Some fans like TS and myself don't have a problem with it and others find the surprise so surprising as to be unacceptable. I can certainly understand that. ^_^ >The fact that it is barely alluded to in a less popular medium gives him license to make the show non-sensical to regular viewers? Remember, these "regular viewers" are TM!R otaku who are willing to shell out ~¥4700 per episode. Considering Japan's crappy economy of the last decade, that makes it even more incredible that they can sell it at all. I suppose it goes to show you the power of the otaku market in Japan, something we in the US don't truly appreciate (I recommend seeing the 2-episode OAV "Otaku no Video" which tells the ficticious rise of Gainax but also includes live-action stuff with interviews with real otaku). > it's unreasonable and unfair to assume that people will be able to assume what is going on. Half the Japanese audience? What about the other half? They didn't buy the OAV. ^_^ I can promise you that anyone forking over that much money for the OAV had a pretty tight understanding of what was going on. Being a TM!R otaku is an expensive hobby (as is any true otaku fandom). >What about all the international fans who have no access to that information? The series wasn't written for international fans. It was written for Japanese TM!R otaku. There's a reason we international fans (and I'll narrow it down to just English-speaking fans) are hosed for the extra canon materials. Companies in the US don't see that they'll make money bringing the TM!R novels to the US. While the books have sold well in Japan, there's a feeling they wouldn't sell well in the US. Should the "Slayers" novels do well, TokyoPop may take a risk, but I'm not holding my breath. Anyway, TM!R was always written with a Japanese audience in mind and any international fans are just icing on the cake. >What about the Japanese fans who read that other material who didn't pick up on the vague hinting of the novels? Like TS didn't? TS thought the hint ment that Misaki would get drunk and terrorize the galaxy that way (or something like that -- not to put words in TS's mouth). *lol* But now that the truth has been revealed, he and other fans went, "Oh! So THAT'S what K-sensei was refering too. I get it now." > For Kajishima, it was not important to include any explanation, and that is poor storytelling. Like a joke without a punchline. I've already listed tons of stuff that could be considered poor storytelling in another post. Again, I've had major problem with K-sensei's minimalist approach to the OAV's. That said, I do understand that with only six episodes, you are limited in what you can and can't do, but even I say that he could have done better. So I don't want you thinking that I'm giving K-sensei a total pass here. I'm not. I do feel that I see the bigger picture and while I may not agree with it all, I do accept it. I find the TM!R story to be so facinating that it makes me want to dig deeper and find out more. I believe this was K-sensei's intent from the start. I believe he enjoys teasing his fans and generating huge amounts of discussion on BBS's and ML's. This approach has generated more revenue for himself as information-hungry fans pay him for more stuff. One thing you can say K-sensei does subscribe to -- always leave them wanting more. ^_^ Tenchi Muyo! FAQ http://www.astronerdboy.com/tenchi "...taking your attacks is as easy as farting." -- Genkai-san, "Yu Yu Hakusho"