Afterword

Afterword:
Their Big Show + One

 

On June 3 1997, at the AIC Tenchi studio, where things were hectic with the production of the anime Tenchi in Tokyo, Kajishima Masaki and Yosuke Kuroda, who had just finished writing this novel, sat down for a ten-minute interview.

By the way, this novel was created by taking the expansive plot by Kajishima Masaki, the creator of the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OVA series, supplemented by scenes and dialogue by Yosuke Kuroda, the scriptwriter for OVA episodes seven through thirteen, and adapting it into a novel. The duo developed the anime scripts in the same way. What do they think of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki in this new format? We don’t have much time, so let’s begin.

 

Kuroda Yosuke: Well, it’s finally come out. True Tenchi Muyo! in the style of The Anatomy of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki 2.

Kajishima Masaki: Finally. (laughs)

Kuroda: Different format and publishing company, though.

Kajishima: This is a novel after all.

Kuroda: We tried to do this story that takes place in the past with the CD drama series Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki Dash put out in ’95, right?

Kajishima: If we had really put it to CD, it would’ve been a helluva set. Like ten CDs.

Kuroda: But we’ve been working on this for over three years, so we’ve naturally added to the story over time.

Kajishima: The general gist of the story hasn’t changed, but we added a lot of details. It’s been so long now that there may be some
parts that no longer make sense alongside the anime. (laughs)

Kuroda: That’s not true. I had a rougher time than you. I worked on Magical Girl Pretty Sammy, but the last time I wrote for Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki was the side story for the PC-FX version. And it was a romantic comedy. (laughs)

Kajishima: I hadn’t drawn the manga in a long time either. The plot for this novel I wrote a long time ago, also.

Kuroda: Sorry I was so slow.

Kajishima: It’s all right. After I wrote the plot, I occasionally reread it, and even I thought it was interesting. (laughs)

Kuroda: Ha ha ha!

Kajishima: I read the manuscripts for novels 1 and 2 back to back. They’re really good stories. (laughs)

Kuroda: That’s right, everyone. The first two novels are already written.

Kajishima: Most of them are short stories, though.

Kuroda: Please stick with us for four or five books… Actually, people who are watching Tenchi in Tokyo on TV right now might get confused because of the differences.

Kajishima: Maybe, but the Tenchi OVA series is coming out on discount reprints.

Kuroda: Ooh, a subtle advertisement. (laughs)

Kajishima: Well, I just want people to read the novel and watch the anime.

Kuroda: But it’s pretty daring to publish a novel of something old enough to get discount reprints, not to mention a story that takes place 750 years before the main plot.

Kajishima: These days, the period to get discount reprints is shorter. The first arc (episodes 1-7) may be fine, but the second arc (episodes 8-13) might be a tad early.

Kuroda: That makes me feel really old.

Kajishima: Ha ha ha!

Kuroda: But this novel is chock full of tidbits that are shocking to the anime fans.

Kajishima: I’m looking forward to hearing the reactions from the people who only know Tenchi from TV.

Kuroda: I bet they’ll be okay. The first book is a story about the Emperor of Jurai and stands alone as a complete story by itself. Well, there are plenty of Easter eggs to please long-time Tenchi fans.

 

Kajishima: Once this series of novels is published, people will understand what went through my mind as I created Tenchi. Especially why the video called “Here Comes Jurai 2” that came after the second arc took the form it did.

Kuroda: The original Tenchi story was a selection of all the good parts, and it was missing a lot of anecdotes, so this novel supplements what I wasn’t able to fit in… Or rather, the story of Masaki Tenchi is just one highlight of the grand world of Tenchi, so stories exist in the past and future, too.

Kajishima: I considered including the story of Azusa’s youth when the No Need for Tenchi! manga was greenlit, but it had to star our main characters… So that’s how it started where episode 6 left off.

Kuroda: Oh, is that right? You’d been planting seeds for this novel since that long ago?

Kajishima: Yeah.

Kuroda: Well, readers would’ve been confused by a manga full of characters they had never seen before, so you didn’t have a choice.

Kajishima: That’s why we were going to do a drama CD, but again, they were complaining that the main characters weren’t in it…

Kuroda: So we suddenly had Manny Otaku appear in Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki Dash.

Kajishima: And it finally became a novel.

Kuroda: It was a long road.

Kajishima: Very long.

Kuroda: I think it was a good thing to put it in a print format. When you write, you often have multiple meanings in a single line of dialogue. Like in episode 8 of the anime, Washu told Tenchi that she’d been watching him, but it meant that Washu was watching Tenchi through her link with Ryoko. It’s all in the outline, but it’s hard to put it in dialogue. People watching wouldn’t really get it. (laughs)

Kajishima: Yeah, that’s true. (laughs)

Kuroda: But you can write it out in print.

Kajishima: There are more serious developments in the past. In that sense, it was probably a good thing to do it in a novel.

Kuroda: It was very serious. That’s why I tried to write it like a historical novel. I tried to leave the parts you wrote like commentary as much as I could.

Kajishima: It didn’t seem to belong in the Fujimi Fantasia Bunko line. (laughs)

Kuroda: It’s true, it’s very different from Pretty Sammy, which I’m also writing. It’s so serious throughout, and above all, Azusa is awesome!

Kajishima: Maybe too awesome. (laughs)

Kuroda: What’s wrong with that? Oh, I rewatched episode 13 after I wrote this, and I saw it in a new light. How did Azusa turn into such a crotchety old man? (laughs)

Kajishima: But he just came to get his daughters back.

Kuroda: I guess fundamentally he hasn’t changed.

Kajishima: I think so. You’ll see by reading the novel, but the men on Jurai are all under their wives’ thumbs. (laughs)

Kuroda: It’s a society dominated by women. (laughs)

Kajishima: Yeah, the women are strong.

Kuroda: Some people read the afterword first, so let’s avoid spoilers. So, shall we do a subtle trailer for volume 2?

Kajishima: The second volume is about Yosho, Azusa’s son (Masaki Katsuhito) going to Earth, chasing after the Demon of Destruction. In that sense, it’s an important story that leads into episode 1 of the anime.

Kuroda: Ryoko is a major character, so please look forward to it. The highlight is seeing how Ryoko was like before she met Masaki Tenchi. Is it shocking?

Kajishima: Yeah. It’s turning out like Star Wars. (laughs)

Kuroda: The Tenchi saga. It’s like Locke the Superman. (laughs)

Masunari Koji: Good morning. Sorry I’m late.

Kuroda: And here Masunari Koji-san, the anime director, makes his entrance.

Kajishima: Ha ha ha!

Kuroda: We’re actually doing this interview during the down time of the script meeting for the Photon radio drama. Masunari-san came in late.

Masunari: What are you guys doing?

Kajishima: The interview for the afterword for the Tenchi novel.

Masunari: Oh yeah? It’s finally finished? Congratulations!

Kuroda: So with that message, we’re returning to work mode. Please enjoy the grand Tenchi world only Kajishima Masaki-san can create, with all kinds of differences from the previous titles. Let’s meet again at the afterword for volume 2.