Tokyo was Originally a Sequel to Universe?

[DishonorableKnight]

That Tenchi in Tokyo was originally a sequel to Tenchi Universe is plainly stated on Tokyo's page on the wiki, and that statement has been on the page since 2009. Yet... I'm not sure if it's actually true or not, which is rather concerning as one of the wiki's admins. We certainly don't want false information if we can help it.

Before they banned me, I once asked TenchiForum if they knew anything about this, but I never got a real answer from them, so now I'm asking uselesstenchi. Is it true that Tokyo was originally a sequel to Universe? More importantly, how do we know it's true? Is there any solid proof that we can point to, like an interview with one of the show's staff that confirms it? The only piece of evidence currently known is a promotional poster for Tokyo featuring Nagi as well as human Azaka and Kamidake (https://tenchi.fandom.com/wiki/Nagi?so=search&file=Nagi_in_Tenchi_in_Tokyo.jpg). The thing is though, I don't think that necessarily proves that Tokyo was a sequel to Universe; it could've been that they were just originally included as part of the cast but were removed. We can't be sure for certain.

[antvasima]

If there is no evidence for this information, I think that we should preferably remove it.

[WaitoKon]

That's a great question, DK. The thing about Tokyo's cast of characters, all of them, not just the villains, bumble about rather half-assed as far as keyframe animation goes. It resembles a brick-like Shank the cyborg physique paired with Daughter of Darkness Yuzuha's wind up toys. While this is a byproduct of the day's animation style and lower budget relative to Universe, I like to think it can link over to the OVA hub as if it were a pocket reality much like Geminar's kingdom of Swan.

That is, time or some other property merely behaves differently there.

It is not continuity for Universe, instead (per Funimation's back art for the late 2012 OVA BluRay release) the Tokyo, Geminar and Universe realities were inaccessible and likewise unable to influence the main series until much later.

[Nonsuch Ned]

While it ALSO doesn't cite a source- it's also described that way on Japanese wikipedia. (you have to open the contents and find it in the long list).
https://ja-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/%E5%A4%A9%E5%9C%B0%E7%84%A1%E7%94%A8!?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc#%E6%96%B0%E3%83%BB%E5%A4%A9%E5%9C%B0%E7%84%A1%E7%94%A8!

[DishonorableKnight]

While it ALSO doesn't cite a source- it's also described that way on Japanese wikipedia. (you have to open the contents and find it in the long list).
https://ja-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/%E5%A4%A9%E5%9C%B0%E7%84%A1%E7%94%A8!?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc#%E6%96%B0%E3%83%BB%E5%A4%A9%E5%9C%B0%E7%84%A1%E7%94%A8!

Yeah, I see it. It says:

Initially planned as the second installment of the Negishi version of the "Tenchi Muyo TV Series", due to the intentions of director Yoshihiro Takamoto and Mayori Sekijima of the series composition, only some settings related to characters and characters were used to create the top and bottom.

But that's all there is. No interview, no external article, no links. Nothing. Some person from Japan could have just written this on ja.wikipedia because it sounded right, and people have rolled with it because no one has bothered seeing if they were actually right.

If we can't find evidence that Tokyo was originally a sequel to Universe, we can't treat it as fact on the wiki. Still, since someone mentioned it to begin with, we might instead say as a trivia entry something along the lines of "There is some speculation that Tokyo was originally meant to be a sequel to Universe, but this can neither be confirmed nor denied due to a lack of information." 

[antvasima]

Knight makes sense to me above.