Z could have been a really neat character, full of pathos and angst and 
unbridled animosity towards the Chusin.  Phhht....

Tenchi's "new family" is pathetic, particularly the bit about his mother. 
Why couldn't she have died in an act of heroism, leaving behind that Space 
Tree wreckage seen at the dimensional portal whenever Z drops in to report 
to the boss?  What a story  that would've been: Tenchi trying to exact 
revenge for his mother's death at Z's hands, and Z trouncicng him as well --  
it would've taken the whole family to bring Z down.  Now *that* wouldve been 
an epic.

But no, we get Z hiding under a sheepskin while the Chobi-maru sails past.

It was irritating enough that the female cast of the first two OVA's got 
regulated to bit-player status, but I thought the total dumbing-down of 
Mihoshi was reprehensible.  I liked the ditzy-but-but-immensely-competent 
portrayal of her in the first two OVA's, the shapely Columbo rather than the 
blombe bimbo, who's sole purpose is to write letters home and baby-sit 
Ryo-ohki.  Sad.

Whenever I feel a need for a TM!R fix, I go back and reread my own 
fanfiction, or those stories that inspired it.  It's much easier to 
recapture the ambiance of adventure and chaos that first caught my eye, than 
to rely on the third OVA.  I almost hope that a fourth is never produced...

                Jeff

Jeffery (Jeff) Harris
JLHOnami@mchsi.com

Author of "The Harem Saga": http://www.tmffa.com/member.html?id=524
"Harem Saga" background data: 
http://home.mchsi.com/~jlhonami/JeffsNotebook.html



----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "nik" <silvourbolt@yahoo.com>
To: <tenchi@usagi.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 8:53 PM
Subject: [tenchi:106070] Re: One Quick Question


>
> --- Jeff Harris <JLHOnami@mchsi.com> wrote:
>
>> I, personally, think that Kajashima dropped the ball with OVA 3.
>
>
> Big time.
>
> There were
>> so many way he could have gone with this,
>
> Yeah... over a decade of fanfics are a good sign that the 2nd OVA was 
> wiiiiiide open.
>
> and it just fell flat.  He has
>> spent a decade or more writing an epic that spans tens of thousands of
>> years, with a tremendous amount of back-story available for animation --  
>> and
>> he wasted two episodes out of six on Mashisu and Misao.  I rest my case.
>
> I motion for directed verdict in favor of striking the last OVA 
> altogether.
>
> The 1st ep was a recap-cute, but I've seen this before-, the next episode 
> is a cheap
> con-job.  No Kiyone, but Tenchi's sister?  Laaaame.  Glad to see she 
> contributed *so*
> heavily to the series and *clearly* had great purpose and was *not* a 
> gimmick in any way.
> Then, we get Tennyo, Airi, Noike, Seto in short order... all of whom are 
> pretty much the
> same kind of personality with no time to develop any of their characters 
> well enough for
> me to care, and none of whom are particularly interesting.  I couldn't 
> care less about
> Mashisu or Misao, or the ridiculous plot that Z comes up with.  The only 
> episode worth
> watching is "Z" but that episode is a gigantic narrative mess.  Why 
> couldn't THAT episode
> have been dragged out over several episodes?  Don't even get me started on 
> the last ep,
> which turns Tenchi's mother into a complete joke and is disrespectful to 
> the image
> portrayed in not only the viewer's mind, but Tenchi's as well.  Boo.
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________

>