The Old School Otaku Lounge

I enjoyed the original Tenchi OVA's and the films but I really haven't gotten into the other series. "Tenchi Muyou!: War in Geminar" was a bit confusing because there is no Tenchi and friends in the OVA. I realized it was a sequel to the GXP storyline and Kenshi is a half-brother of Tenchi and is a teenager. So, at first, I wondered if I missed out on something because I was not aware of Kenshi.

But I think back then, what drew me to Tenchi was the fact that it was one of the series released on LD in CAV format and some looked at Tenchi as a reference quality anime LD release. I was influenced by the hype that I purchased an LD player and a Tenchi OVA on LD. Lol... But man it was so darn expensive!

_D_ wrote:I never liked Tenchi. I preferred Urusei Yatsura.

While I still enjoy Tenchi for sentimental reasons, I probably agree with this. While MUCH longer than Tenchi, UY had more consistent laughs (and even a lot more weird stuff on occasion!) and a much clearer/less confusing storyline. And while it did have movies and OAVs, they generally didn't mess with continuity (or when it did, it was easily forgotten or just viewed as a "non-cannon" story).

You also have to give it to UY that, no matter how many female characters were introduced for Ataru to gawk at, you knew eventually he was obviously going to chose Lum. No constant flame-wars from fans over which female was best, or who the main character should fuck/marry/kill. Sure, fans had their favorites, but Lum was always the most popular, anyway.

Not to say it's "better" than Tenchi, but it's obvious that Tenchi was heavily inspired by it. I wish they'd tried to take a few more pages from UY's book for some of the more problematic parts of Tenchi. Having a storyline that was more linear would've helped.

Man...it's hard to believe we spent $35 or more on a one episode LD here in the US! Lol... I know Heibi has spent a lot more on a single episode LD and the majority of his are from Japan!

usamimi wrote:Not to say it's "better" than Tenchi, but it's obvious that Tenchi was heavily inspired by it. I wish they'd tried to take a few more pages from UY's book for some of the more problematic parts of Tenchi. Having a storyline that was more linear would've helped.

It does all make sense if you do go read the extra stuff that was put out for Tenchi Muyo outside of the OAVs. I started reading it, and I'm not lost anymore, it just sucks that it was never released earlier and as anime, and that the company decided to do so many spinoffs. The only problem I have with it is the hentai doujins and how some of it was handled, even if it's canon. I like UY and Tenchi, I feel like it's comparing apples and oranges though. UY is comedy. Tenchi is harem/comedy/action.

Actually, in an interview with Tenchi Muyo's creator I recently read in Animerica, Tenchi was surprisingly mainly inspired by Bubblegum Crisis (and another series, I can't remember which), there wasn't a mention of UY, though I do see the resemblance. I'll see if I can get a scan of this article, it was an interesting read.

kndy wrote:

Man...it's hard to believe we spent $35 or more on a one episode LD here in the US! Lol... I know Heibi has spent a lot more on a single episode LD and the majority of his are from Japan!

I think I used to have 2 Tenchi LDs, but sold em when my parents sold the LD player. I actually want to collect LDs now also.

ryoran wrote: It does all make sense if you do go read the extra stuff that was put out for Tenchi Muyo outside of the OAVs. I started reading it, and I'm not lost anymore, it just sucks that it was never released earlier and as anime, and that the company decided to do so many spinoffs. The only problem I have with it is the hentai doujins and how some of it was handled, even if it's canon. I like UY and Tenchi, I feel like it's comparing apples and oranges though. UY is comedy. Tenchi is harem/comedy/action.

Actually, in an interview with Tenchi Muyo's creator I recently read in Animerica, Tenchi was surprisingly mainly inspired by Bubblegum Crisis (and another series, I can't remember which), there wasn't a mention of UY, though I do see the resemblance. I'll see if I can get a scan of this article, it was an interesting read.

Well, that's cool, but I meant like...I wish it didn't come down to "Oh, if you go read this, then things will make more sense." Y'know? It's nice that they DID put out the effort to do put out the extra stuff to explain or elaborate, but it would've been nice to not even NEED all of that. XD Of course, they might not have been thinking that far ahead, or had anticipated that Tenchi would grow and branch out the way it did...the anime industry WAS a lot different back then.

I don't mean to make it sound like UY is "better", like I said, but they do have an awful lot in common, so I don't think that I'm really that far-out there comparing the two. UY is credited as being the granddaddy of all harem series. And there was "action" here and there (the bulk of it for comedic effect, esp. in the TV series, but it was there). I can kind of see how Bubblegum Crisis could be an inspiration in the "here's a bunch of ladies with different personality types" sort of way, but just because they might not have outright mentioned UY doesn't mean the similarities aren't there. ^^; BUT that in NO WAY takes away anything from Tenchi because it has pleeeeeeeeenty of stuff to make it unique in it's own right, which is exactly why I enjoyed it.

$35 for an OVA episode is actually really cheap. Some episodes of Giant Robo were $100 each in Japan. Tenchi Muyo was about $50 there and it was a budget release.

It's still a budget release. Japanese copies of TM OVA are basically free now, like 35 yen or something.

Current episodes of Gundam Unicorn are about $60. This stuff isn't on TV or theaters. It costs a million bucks an episode. The money has to come from someplace.

Yeah, I've heard that most LDs in Japan are ridiculously cheap for the most part, now that it's a "dead" format (unless it's something stupidly rare).

$35 isn't bad, really, considering some VHS releases were like $39.99 if I recall...

Yeah, even at $35 an ep US Tenchi LDs were cheap. Bubblegum Crisis was $40 per ep...on VHS even.

After the midway point the US Tenchi OVAs went up $5 per disc but contained two eps instead of one.

Japanese anime LDs have plummeted in price. Most things can be had for $15. Most LD boxes are $25-50 even the ones originally priced at nearly $1000. Stuff like Tenchi Muyo is total dumpster fodder though. They printed SO many copies that there are probably more copies of EP 1 than there are LD collectors left in the world. The LDs that still get money are things like theatrical releases, high budget 80s OVAs, etc. The big sellers from the 90s are basically worthless.

My main worry is that these shops in Japan will throw all their LDs in the garbage before I can buy them all up.

I would actually love to buy some old LDs mostly for the awesome artwork and such that came with some of them. Some of those are frame worthy, imo. <3