> And what have you seen to tell that the fans ARE buying those extra materials
> (specifically, the ones which have clues about Misaki).  That stuff may be selling
well,
> but that is not to say that the majority of Tenchi fans go out and buy the written
stuff
> (and hence, were able to clearly comprehend what was going on with Misaki).  How
many
> people buy the book after seeing a movie?  Some, yes.  Does everyone?  No.  Do most?
Do
> most Tenchi fans buy that stuff?  The burden of proof would be on those claiming
that
> Japanese fans buy Kajishima's other stuff, not the other way around.
> nik
> 

I understand your frustration with the Misaki revelation (and to be fair, it was troubling
to me at first until TS showed me where K-sensei had hinted that there was more to
her). That said, you are looking at this through Western eyes.  :-)  Having
seen nearly 230 anime titles of various lengths, I can tell you that Japanese storytelling
is at times very different from American storytelling.  The Japanese aren't afraid
to limit a series to X-number of episodes.  They aren't afraid to leave a lot
of unanswered questions. 

Take the ".hack//SIGN" series.  There are tons of unanswered questions when that anime
is over.  So where did fans go to get those answers?  Why the ".hack//SIGN" game(s)
of course which also happened to carry short OAV episodes.  So to get the whole
story, you had to get the anime, the games, and something else (which eludes me since
I'm not a fan of the series).

I found it interesting that while accepting the fact that sales of TM!R novels are
good, you seem to indicate that it isn't the Tenchi "otaku" who are buying them, rather
normal everyday people.  It is the Tenchi otaku who buy the K-sensei doujinshi.
Those same otaku buy the novels.  Considering the popularity of Tenchi in Japan (which
is much greater than in the US), it isn't surprising that sales of TM!R novels are
so good.  But then sales of Hasegawa-sensei's novels (which are non-canon) are
also good. 

Further, there's the matter of the OAV's themselves.  I know the first episode of
OAV 3 sold for ¥4700!  Now who in the US would pay ~$45 for a single episode of ANY
series much less an anime one?  Yet DVD sales were good enough for AIC to greenlight

the OAV 3 Special (and this despite the fact that the episode was available for free
via BitTorrent).

All OAV series are geared toward the otaku crowd IMO as the DVD's are very expensive.
While we in the US have fans of series, we don't have the otaku mentality (for the
most part) that our Japanese cousins have.  It is a cultural thing and as I see
it, OAV 3 was done for the TM!R otaku crowd.  :-/ 

One more thing of note which may seem unrelated, but hang with me.  TM!R has strong
roots in the Shinto and Buddhist religion.  Thus is the basis for Tenchi's true identity,
the Choushin, and Counteractor, and more.  These points (much like Washu's
remarks about the flowers to Sasami-chan in episode 8) would have been known by the
Japanese audiences but complete mysteries to most of us in the West.  That's because
TM!R was written for the Japanese audience and not us Westerners.

Don't get me wrong.  There are things I wish K-sensei had done better with OAV 3 and
with the previous OAV's as well.  However, he has from the begining felt no need to
explain everything in the anime and chose to write novels, doujinshi, and do
interviews to get additional information to the fans.  He's done this for his other
series as well, though TM!R/GXP take up the majority of these additional works.

Anyway, I hope you won't get angry with me (or TS) for these discussions.  Personally,
I enjoy this.  :-)

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