In Tenchi Muyo or in general?

Canon used to be real important to me. But that view changed over time. I guess I liked the OAV a lot better than TinT or TU, so canon became real important to me because of that. I see TU and TinT being similiar but still different characters. But then OAV3/GXP took directions that I didn't like, so my attachment to canon eventually slipped.

There are a lot of fanfictions and doujins I like. I know they'll never be regarded as canon by the greater community, but sometimes they're almost as important to me as any manga or even the anime itself and bring me a lot of happiness. My own fantasies and speculations, too, about the characters. It really doesn't matter if anybody else accepts them in that sense. They'll have their own speculations which amuse them.

People should enjoy what they're fans of, which is the whole point of the matter. In our favorite characters, there's often something distinct but undefinable that draws up to them, beyond the reach of canon-approved facts and figures; the very essence of a character. OTOH, without a line drawn somewhere on what is canon and what isn't, it would be hard to build fan communities on something so indistinct and blurry. If a series can be anything, it really isn't anything; it wouldn't have an unique identity.

What you think?

If I can use another franchise as an example I will take a look at Star Trek. Star Trek as a media franchise has been taken far beyond anything done with Tenchi Muyo. After almost 50 years, a half dozen TV series and 11 movies the storyline "canon" had been so well developed that the possibilities for creativity had been severely limited. So where do you go from there? The Star Trek film made last year is a good example what needs to happen when creativity can no longer happen because of past storyline restrictions - take the existing canon and toss it out. That gives the writers and directors some freedom to be creative again.

Obviously some storyline rules need to be kept to prevent total chaos, but the less rules there are, the more room there is to come up with new things no one has thought of yet and could be quite entertaining ... or not depending on the writer of course.

You know, I respect canon, but It's never really bothered me if the series has an alternate universe. I can understand why it matters to others, but I'm fine with enjoying things for what they are. Like others, I have my speculations about each individual series I watch. I try my best to keep up with the canon facts of the series, if only for the sake of understanding the original creator's vision for the series.

I don't mind AUs but I just don't consider them an actual part of the series/story. I just see canon as what really happened, good or bad.

I don't care much about canon. It's all just fiction anyway. Just because the OAV is "canon" doesn't make it any more real or enjoyable than Universe or TiNT. But I do give more weight to what happened in-series (whichever series it is) than I do to fanwork or fan speculation.

Absolutely.

I've been reading marvel comics for a good while now and I get pretty pissed off when a new writer comes along and makes everyone forget what spidermans done for the past 20 years through a deal with the devil.

Double for that in Tenchi. The creator has spent time making a universe and putting pieces of that universe together. It is his story and they are his characters and he is allowing me to enjoy HIS stories.

They make things like Tenchi in Tokyo, Tenchi Universe, ultimate spider-man, x-men: age of apocalypse, etc. so we can enjoy non canon stories. If you like writing fan fiction, that's cool, but it is part of your story and not the creators. It's fun to make assumptions about why you think ayeka and ryoko hate each other or whatever, but in the end, if the creator didn't say it, then it didn't happen.


You can be one of those people that is "like...well none of it happened..it's fiction," which is a great straw man tactic, and as a guy with philosophical ideals that tread in empiricism, I would half agree, but the stories (whether it be star wars, tenchi, or x-men) belong to no one but the creators and they can bend them however they want. If you decide to bend them yourself, then you are just making a new story and adding characters you didn't create.

For me canon is only important in that it lays down the groundwork for a series.

I see the Tenchi OVAs as the main(canon)series. I see Tenchi Universe, and Tenchi in Tokyo as having there own canon storylines.
But that does not make one series better then another. I myself like Tenchi Universe, and Tenchi in Tokyo more then the OVAs. But just because I like one more then the other doesn't make any of the others bad, they all have there good and bad points to them.

Well yes canon is important to me, but not really anymore important than anything else.
I just see it as alternate universes really. I think TU was an improvement on the OVA anyway
because it took out of the complications that the OVA had.

i dont take fanfics literally at all though, again i just see them as separate universes or an alternate way
things could have transpired.

so in whole i consider it all equal. i dont consider anything more valid as anything else.

Yes cannon is important to me. I know without fans, people's work couldn't flourish, but fans shouldn't dictate to people how their work should turn out. They should be allowed to give creative criticism, and perhaps it could give the author direction should he like it, but fans shouldn't have a say in what is cannon and what isn't. Yes, I'm looking at you Jibril! You totally dismiss OVA 3 and GXP just because it didn't turn out like you wanted, and because they weren't made by both Kajishima and Hayashi. Hayashi turned over all control to Kajishima, so he doesn't get a say anymore! OVA 3 and GXP are cannon.

PS - I do hate the politics of OVA 3 though.