But fans of what? The argument can and has been made that current Tenchi and TU/OVA1+2/Tokyo bear little resemblance to each other. That shift point is clearly GXP which was more in our era.
Is it “Tenchi” simply because the original creator signs off on it, or because of the name? Or is it a veneer? Does it stand up to the litmus test? If a content “extension” doesn’t fall in line with the original works, consumers are understandably going to have some form of knee jerk reaction to it. People swallowed Pretty Sammy easier than this, and it was rightfully it’s complete own spin off. If AIC had come out and merged Sammy into the OVA, so we had 2 Sasamis and Ryo-Ohkis, it probably wouldn’t have been met warmly.
I had this problem with AI, which if you actually go and look at the posts here while it was coming out, there were criticisms of it. Post AI, badmouthing it was basically not tolerated. The same can be said of any of any Tenchi branded series, GXP being the glaring start point, although Tokyo could be a candidate, but to a much lesser degree. It’s divisive to the community, eventually you get the likes and don’t likes in their own groups and shots are fired, till you have people that can’t see eye to eye anymore.
Even among those that were here, the last bastion. Over the matter of the OVA continuation and his doujins, the fan community shattered. Particularly with niche series, and harem is now a niche, it’s hard to get the word out if a major release is made to the target audience. With no community hub, that just makes it all the harder. So here we are.
Granted, to your point, Tenchi got noticed when the bumper for OVA3 ran on Toonami. But the resounding reply by those that “had” seen OVA3 already was “not my Tenchi.”
