In short, Tenchi Muyo! is a very popular Japanese animation (or anime, as they are more commonly called). It's about a teenage boy named Tenchi Masaki and the women who love him. All of the women are space aliens from distant planets and galaxies, and each has her own way of trying to win Tenchi's heart. The show gained a great deal of popularity here in the US when the Cartoon Network began airing the series weekday afternoons in the summer of 2000. I hear that it is still quite popular in Japan, too. Cartoon Network put the show on hiatus for awhile, but it returned to US televisions just in time for the New Year, though it was a tragically short run due to low ratings. It ran for awhile on Adult Swim Action as well, but it was later replaced by Mobile Suit Gundam. It may return to Cartoon Network at a later date unless their contract with Pioneer expires. There may be renewed interest in airing Tenchi when the 3rd OVA series comes out.
There are multiple differences between the OVA (the direct to video series) and the two TV series. The most important differences are:
*In the TV version, Ryoko is a space pirate of her own choosing, not because she's Kagato's pawn*Tsunami and the Light Hawk Wings went mysteriously missing
*Washu isn't Ryoko's creator and has become a true mad scientist
*Kiyone becomes a bigger player, rather than the bit part she had in the OVA
*Mihoshi doesn't have a relative in the Galaxy Police
*Yosho isn't Ayeka and Sasami's half-brother, although he is still a Juraian
*Everyone (except maybe Ryoko) became less powerful in the TV series
I probably missed a few things, but you get the idea. Most Tenchi fans prefer the OVA's anyway, since it was the first series and had a better plot overall. Sasami really got jipped in the TV series, especially when you consider how important her role was in the OVA! :(
Actually, AIC is hard at work on a third OVA series, so we're not going to be left out in the cold for much longer. This new series is supposed to wrap up the dangling Three Goddesses plotline, which left us all in suspense after episode 13! Rumor is that Tenchi will finally choose his love at the end of this series, so let's hope that it gets here soon! Although, judging by AIC's later work in Shin Tenchi Muyo (Tenchi in Tokyo), it's difficult to say if we'll like what we see! (that wasn't meant to offend any Tokyo fans, by the way. That's just my own opinion ^_~*)
This little chart pretty much sums up how fans of the Tenchi girls are divided. (I judged this by the number of fansites I've found devoted to each character) Too many people are infatuated with Ryoko! She has such a big piece of the pie that many fans seem to have forgotten that she's not the only character in Tenchi's world! Now, I could go into a long, boring rant about why Sasami/Tsunami is such a better person in comparison, but I think the chart explains it all. Ryoko and the others have much larger chunks of the fanbase, and Sasami deserves the chance to catch up. Besides, this is my site, and I like Sasami! And to those of you who asked me this question, if you love Ryoko (or whoever) so much, go make your own webpage! I mean, come on, who out there really believes that sending the webmaster a nasty e-mail will make him or her change the entire purpose of his or her site? I'm certainly not going to write to every Ryoko shrine owner and rudely demand that they make their sites Sasami shrines instead. That's just plain stupidity.
There really aren't any official spellings for the Tenchi characters since the sounds of Japanese vowels can be spelled multiple ways in English. For example, the sound "oh" in Ryoko can be spelled "o", "oh", "ou" or even "ough." These spelling discrepancies have lead to multiple ways of writing the same character name. But I used the spellings that Pioneer used in its English translation of the Tenchi/Pretty Sammy series. I did this for the sake of consistency. Yes, some places say it's "Pretty Sami" or "Aeka," but I figured that Pioneer knew best, so I wrote "Pretty Sammy" and "Ayeka."
I've recieved several compliments about the design of my site, and I really appreciate those compliments! My whole web philosophy falls back on one word: simplicity. I mean, why make a page any more complicated than it has to be? While it's fun to show off mastery of HTML, there's really no need to use complex techniques when simple ones will do. Likewise, there's nothing like looking at a page and feeling proud of the work you did with your bare hands. So many people build crappy web pages with those stupid pre-made templates provided by many free webspace providers (my former host Geocities included). Others take the equally dumb route and use visual editors like Front Page to make their websites. Personally, I think that is the loser way out, and one of the primary reasons why there are so many poorly designed sites on the web. Real web designers use HTML to make their webpages. I hold firm to this belief, so you'll never find me using Front Page or a Geocities template to make this site. These are all the programs I used to make this website look the way it does:
- NoteTab Light (for writing the HTML--a great, free HTML editor)
- Paint Shop Pro 7 (for making graphics and touching up screen caps--kudos to my mom for helping me pay for it!)
- Internet Explorer 6.0 (for testing the pages)
- CuteFTP 5.0 (for uploading the pages and graphics to Midcatwmn.com)
The Applets I used came from The Java Boutique and Virtual Max's Applet Cafe. The Falling Flowers script on the main page, of course, came from KatC's Sailormoon Goodies, though I modified the flowers to make them fit in with my color scheme. It's really not that hard to make a cool-looking site using stripped-down tools. If I can do it, anyone can! :)
Everything in the webgraphics section is up for grabs. I only ask that you not link to those images directly. I'd also appreciate some credit for making those things, so write somewhere on your page "Such and such provided by The Sasami Sanctuary (midcatwmn.com, etc...)" and/or make a link back to my site (please?). Plagerism isn't appreciated in the real world, so it's a good idea to get into the habit of giving credit where credit is due.
Lately, I've been getting lots of e-mails asking the same questions about how I created this site. Before you send me a question related to HTML or what-not, please refer to my Tutorials and see if that clears up your question. If it doesn't, then by all means e-mail me.
*Invest in a really good HTML reference book
*Never stare at a computer screen for too long
*ALWAYS double-check your spelling!
*Ad-laden hosts are evil--it is worth paying for better service if you're truly dedicated to the project
*Remember that a site can always be better
*Be patient--a good site isn't built in an hour
*Practice, practice, practice! ^_^