The truth about Tenchi Muyo!

[Animusubi]

Tenchi Muyo! was one of the first anime I got into, around the same time I got into Ranma 1/2. When the first OAV series ended so abruptly, I ate up anything Tenchi that came out after that. Collected the Hitoshi Okuda comics, watched Universe, watched Pretty Sammy, watched all the movies, and watched Tenchi in Tokyo (and gave up 3 episodes in because it disgusted me). I remember fondly in high school wearing a Washu t-shirt I designed for me and a friend. It has Washu on the front, and the definition of 'genius' on the back. Alongside Ranma 1/2, it's one of my favorite series.

When OAV3 came out, I bought it as soon as it was released...and ended up selling it shortly a week after because I simply couldn't get into it. Even if it was canon and came after the original, it just wasn't the same at all. And it only reminded me I needed to have the old OAV series on DVD as well as all the movies. And finish collecting the manga.

Fast forward to now, as I'm getting back into the anime series I loved so much, I found out that the creator of Tenchi, Masaki Kajishima, had novels and doujinshi with more canon information about the Tenchi world. But upon digging and looking for that information, I was absolutely disturbed.

Tenchi is kind of hard to follow if you go past the OAVs, so already that sort of annoyed me. I didn't like how Kiyone (Mihoshi's partner) wasn't even a canon character, and that there were so many other canon characters named Kiyone, that made it all the more confusing. And what I found out, was that Tenchi eventually has intimate relations with ALL the girls. And there's even a doujin where Sasami is basically masturbating outside of Tenchi's room while he's getting it on with Noike (a girl introduced in OAV3). And it's absolutely canon.

I know there's some character development and some real interesting info that goes on outside the OAVs, some of it I like. And while Tenchi was always a somewhat sexy series at times, I felt disgusted. I'm certainly not against characters sleeping with eachother, or anything like that. I don't mind mature or even adult situations, to a point. I like it when it's more like the reader or fan can imagine what happens, not have it straight up happen. I was just...disturbed to find out it had become so perverse. I guess I can only say now that I was a fan of the original OAV and the manga series. It's been mulling in my head the last few days and I had to share my feelings about it. >:

[greg]

How can a doujinshi be considered canon? I never really followed Tenchi Muyo (I was confused with how completely different the OVA was from the TV series), but Tenchi "getting it on" with the girls in the show doesn't sound like official stuff to me. Anything outside of the official shows or manga can't be considered canon, in anybody's opinion.

[Animusubi]

How can a doujinshi be considered canon? I never really followed Tenchi Muyo (I was confused with how completely different the OVA was from the TV series), but Tenchi "getting it on" with the girls in the show doesn't sound like official stuff to me. Anything outside of the official shows or manga can't be considered canon, in anybody's opinion.

The comics (which are confusing me because they are called doujinshi) and novels are by Tenchi Muyo's creator, Masaki Kajishima. He worked on the original OAVs and OAV3. Universe was created by someone else using the same characters. Basically anything with Kiyone in it isn't canon in the Tenchi series. He made a book called "101 Questions about Tenchi Muyo" that explains further the series, and there's 3 novels, as well as interviews that talk about his doujinshi and novels that continue the story.

Source for the novels and information on the canon doujinshi: http://tenchi.astronerdboy.com/
Where I learned about the doujin and what's canon: http://tenchiconfessions.tumblr.com

[usamimi]

Mmmm, see, that's one of the reasons I don't take much stock in creator's doujinshi...99% of the time, it just ends up being disappointing and/or stuff that you didn't want to see. I tend to feel like if it wasn't outright said/done in the animation or officially released books, I can chose to ignore it if I like.

Tenchi, while mostly enjoyable, is one of those series I have a love/hate relationship with. I love many of the characters, and a lot of the story is fun, but there's also a lot wrong with it. Not to mention the whole "oh, THIS storyline isn't cannon, but THIS one is!" BS...it got sort of ridiculous after a while. I haven't watched "War on Geminar" yet mostly because I'm like...do I REALLY want to try to watch MORE Tenchi? lol.

[Animusubi]

Mmmm, see, that's one of the reasons I don't take much stock in creator's doujinshi...99% of the time, it just ends up being disappointing and/or stuff that you didn't want to see. I tend to feel like if it wasn't outright said/done in the animation or officially released books, I can chose to ignore it if I like.

Tenchi, while mostly enjoyable, is one of those series I have a love/hate relationship with. I love many of the characters, and a lot of the story is fun, but there's also a lot wrong with it. Not to mention the whole "oh, THIS storyline isn't cannon, but THIS one is!" BS...it got sort of ridiculous after a while. I haven't watched "War on Geminar" yet mostly because I'm like...do I REALLY want to try to watch MORE Tenchi? lol.

Yeah. I mean, regardless if some of the rabid fans are very judgmental about what's canon and what isn't, the best version of Tenchi is the one YOU like, right? I am choosing to ignore the doujinshi and OAV3. XD;

I'm curious about War on Geminar, I am going to give it a try.

[greg]

I didn't find a lot of information on the doujin stuff on either website (despite the fact that one specializes in FAQs), but I'm just guessing that as with most doujin, it was probably introduced at Comiket and smut was added to boost interest and sales with the retarded Japanese otaku crowd. "Cute Sasami flicking the switch? OOH, gotta see that! (I'll never know the touch of a real woman...)" Part of the interest of harem anime is the whole sexual frustration thing. You got all these girls hanging all over a guy, and nothing really happens. That's what keeps the show going. "Oooh, which one will he eventually pick?" Yes, the obvious conclusion is that Tenchi is bound to marry one of those girls and have sex, and yes any young girl in real life is going to be sexually curious and even touch herself. But that's not what the show is supposed to be about. What you have here is just a doujin catering towards the lousy lonely loser crowd, even if it is made by the original guy.

I have an open invitation from my J-friend in Tokyo to go to Comiket with him, but I am so skeptical if I will even enjoy it much. It seems that so much of it relies on sleazy sex crap as a vehicle for sales.

The truth about Tenchi Muyo is that some official doujin features some randy stuff. The truth about Star Trek is that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier really sucked, plus there were a few embarrassing episodes from the first few seasons of TNG that nobody would like to admit existed, plus the TNG movies were kinda dumb. The truth about Alien is that everything after Aliens was crap and you're better off only acknowledging only Alien and Aliens. The truth about Star Wars is that the prequels were crap and they ruined the originals with Greedo shooting first and putting punkass at the end of ROTJ along with Ben Kenobi and Yoda. The truth about Highlander is that they should have just stopped after the first movie.

Being a nerd/fan can be frustrating, and often requires having a selective memory to hold dear that which you like and are interested in.

[usamimi]

It's true--I was just talking to Nitro the other night about Tenchi, and we were both talking about how it seems like whatever version of Tenchi you're exposed to first is usually your favorite one. People who saw the original Tenchi OAVs first generally like that one best. People who started out with Universe, same thing. So everyone's always arguing over which one is best because of that, mostly. I started out with the original OAV, but I think there's redeeming factors in each of the timelines (well...not so much in GXP. I never finished it because I just plain didn't like it at all. ^^; ) Though I fully admit that if Tenchi was released today? I probably wouldn't be interested in it at all. Tenchi seems to be one of those series that I like mostly for sentimental reasons and certain characters...not because it's groundbreaking, or even all that interesting (since really, it's not much of either XD).

Being a nerd/fan can be frustrating, and often requires having a selective memory to hold dear that which you like and are interested in.

This is SO true. Rewatching old series I haven't seen in years really made me realize that my fond memories of some shows could be very selective at times...some anime really was not as great as I remembered it to be. But regardless, it's ok to still be fond of a problematic series as long as you can admit that, yes, the series is far from perfect and has it's share of flaws. (Tenchi definitely being one of those.)

[danth]

I hear ya Ryoran. I fell in love with Tenchi Muyo back when it came out, and I have all the DVDs and comics and artbooks, but the doujinshi shit is weird and OAV 3 sucks. I think it's funny when they show the old animation in the first episode of OAV 3 and it looks so good, and then they return to the new animation and it looks shitty.

Basically OAV 3 took a shit all over my favorite characters.

[SignOfZeta]

Tenchi Muyo was a really original thing when it first came out. The animation was pretty decent, the character designs were very very cool, and the story was decent. It was Pioneer's idea (in order to sell more LDs at a higher margin) to fund "new talent" via a new anime division of the company. Green Legend, Kishin Heiden, Tenchi, Moldiver, all of this stuff was at least decent if not great.

Eventually though Tenchi became the most played out tired overdone thing in the history of anime. Personally, I thought the original OVA was only good up through the mid point and the two specials. The TV series was OK but had a really padded middle. The first movie was...OK, I guess, second one, not really. By then I was really done, and there are like 200 hours more of this crap!

I'll always love my Tenchi OVA LDs but I have no interest in the Pretty Sammy pedophile stuff, the 5th alternate universe, etc. There are better shows to watch.

[_D_]

I never liked Tenchi. I preferred Urusei Yatsura. So, though I am familiar with the character, there is little appeal to me.

I'm not certain of numbers but I don't think Ecchi Doujinshi make up as large a proportion of total circles as you might imagine. It's all been done before anyway in one form or another. Nothing I'm going to go seeking out anyway. If you really want to know numbers though I can probably get some numbers if you like as there are people I know in Japan who follow such things. Just little interest myself...