Hooray for reasoned discourse! It has been known to happen in this fandom from time to time! 😆
Anyway, I
K: I had the ideas way back to “Tenchi Muyo! Ryohki” the 1st and I already knew how to end the story when I was directing “Tenchi Muyo! Ryohki” the 2nd. I just don’t have the detail about how to connect each images and fragments of the base storyline in my mind. It’s just an outline, not very specific.
T: Do you have it now?
K: No. (Laugh). I only know where the goal is, but have no clear idea how to get there. But, I have decided “where” I would or should pass to reach the goal.
T: In other words, you are going to enjoy the “fun” of connecting the images and fragments from now on.
K: Yes. That is right. I will fix or change the detail depends on my chose. But the basic concept of the ending had been made. That will never be changed.
Basically, Kajishima doesn’t sweat the little stuff in favor of getting to the end of the story, which is maddening from a fan’s perspective, and is largely why nailing down one true listing of what is “canon” is such a uniquely troublesome problem in Tenchi fandom. Finally, the “third tier” of your points, those dealing with the changes made to the characters’ personalities, such as Kagato being afraid of Seto, and Ryoko and Ayeka rolling over for Airi, Seto, and Noike, is where most of my frustration comes from. The only thing I can think of is that so much time had passed in real life between OVAs that the characters were simply not the same people in the mind of the writers and show runners as they were back in the 90’s. This led to a lot resentment, I think justly so, on the part of fans who had come to know and love every aspect of the characters, and were now seeing them through the eyes of a creator who’s interpretations had drifted quite significantly in the intervening years. I won’t defend or condemn any of these explanations/excuses (in this post at least, 😉 ), just wanted to throw in my two cents.
