> 
> From: JLHOnami@mchsi.com

>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"