The Great Kiyone Conspiracy

[retrosofa]

I've been rewatching a lot of Tenchi lately, which has made me think a lot about my home girl Kiyone. No, I'm not talking about Tenchi's mother. This is about Mihoshi's long-suffering partnet, Kiyone Makibi. As we all know, she was a creation of Naoko Hasegawa (script writer for OVA 1~6) and first appeared in her spin-off novel One Visitor After Another: Hexagram of Love. She's not apart of the Tenchi canon, which has caused a bit of an uproar with some American fans.

I have questions.

1. Who exactly was behind Kiyone's character design?

Hasegawa's first novel featured three different artists providing illustrations; Masaki Kajishima, Hiroyuki Horiuchi, and Hiroki Hayashi. Kajishima and Horiuchi are credited for the colored images (I'm guessing Kajishima only did the cover, and possible the first colored image). Hayashi was behind the black and white images, which features the first look for Kiyone. Her hair looks a bit different (it seems to be in a long pony tail), and she's missing her signature hairband. Now, are we to say Hayashi did the original character design for Kiyone?



I'd also like to mention Kiyone's first animated appearance was actually in the Pretty Sammy music video (featured in the SOUND FILE) released in January, 1994. However, she appeared as "Evil Kiyone" looking fairly different from how we usually see her. I'm not sure who the animation director was for that video.

Now, the first animated appearance of the normal-long-suffering-first-class-detective Kiyone was of course in GP Mihoshi's Space Adventure. There's been some confusion, with fans saying Kajishima did her design for this OVA. While he is credited as "original character design", I believe that's only in regards to the already existing Tenchi cast. The character design sheets for the special (featured on the original Pioneer DVD release) are clearly done by Wataru Abe, who was the animation director. Abe is most likely the one who came up with the finalized design of Kiyone which would be reworked in various audio dramas, publications, and later inspire Horiuchi's character designs for the TV series.



2. Who came first, Noike or Kiyone?

Here's the biggest debate of them all. Fans claim Noike was conceived from the beginning by Kajishima. I can believe that, except for the fact I can't find any images of Noike earlier than 1996. The doujinshi Tenchi Shuuou shows the earliest art of Noike (as well as other characters) released to the public. This was released in April, 1996. So far, Kiyone has her beat by 2 years. I'd also like to mention a very early image of Tenchi's "Wedding" to the girls by Kajishima, dated July 1993, does not feature Noike. Thus, I'm having a hard time believing Noike was created before Kiyone.

3. The name of Tenchi's mother

Another hot debate. For years, we knew Tenchi's mother as Achika. The name first appeared in Hasegawa's original novel. However, once the third OVA came out years later, her name was revealed as Kiyone.  Again, fans love to say that was her intended name from the get-go, but I'm having a hard time seeing any proof. All character design sheets from the original OVA, list her as simply "Tenchi's mother". So what is the truth? Did Hasegawa take the name Kiyone for her own character? Or did Kajishima steal the name from Hasegawa?

[shades of blue]

TL;DR

Noike (Sakatsu) Kamiki Jurai first made her public appearance in Chousen Ame ver,4.0. Which was sold at the 1993 Winter Comiket event. In that issue Kajishima dropped a few hints as his future plans for OVA3.

[Zigra]

As far the name of Tenchi's mother goes, I don't know whether or not MK always intended Kiyone to be her name, but I should point out that Kiyone is a fairly common name for women in Japan, so neither MK nor Hasegawa are likely to have "ripped off" the name from one another. It would be like two American writers giving a character the name Sara, and claiming that one ripped it off from the other.

And, while we're on the subject, one thing that has always bugged me about the Kiyone Makibi character is that both her fans and haters alike treat her as though she's a TU exclusive character, or a character that originated from TU. This isn't even remotely true. As was pointed out earlier, Kiyone actually originates from Hasegawa's novels. And, even if you wanted to brush those aside, TU is not even Kiyone's first animated appearance. She was in the Pretty Sammy music video, The Mihoshi Special, and the Pretty Sammy OAV series all before she was in TU. So, treating the TU Kiyone like she's somehow the "true" Kiyone is ridiculous, regardless of how you feel about her character overall.

[جبريل 無道]

1. Who exactly was behind Kiyone's character design?

Hasegawa's first novel featured three different artists providing illustrations; Masaki Kajishima, Hiroyuki Horiuchi, and Hiroki Hayashi. Kajishima and Horiuchi are credited for the colored images (I'm guessing Kajishima only did the cover, and possible the first colored image). Hayashi was behind the black and white images, which features the first look for Kiyone. Her hair looks a bit different (it seems to be in a long pony tail), and she's missing her signature hairband. Now, are we to say Hayashi did the original character design for Kiyone?

True Sheol told me sometime in the 00s that Hayashi drew the first picture of Kiyone, w/o hairband and not quite the GXP uniform.  And Kajishima gave finalized Kiyone with her hairband and finalized GXP uniform.  Also showed me pics, I have to see if I even saved them.

Many of the character names in TM!R are based on places in Okayama, where MK is from.  Kiyone station puts Kiyone on the list of probable future names:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyone_Station

[جبريل 無道]

TL;DR

Noike (Sakatsu) Kamiki Jurai first made her public appearance in Chousen Ame ver,4.0. Which was sold at the 1993 Winter Comiket event. In that issue Kajishima dropped a few hints as his future plans for OVA3.

Oh look Shades, Kiyone (清音) is named too there!  Right at the end of the first paragraph beside her on the first page.  Heh heh

[retrosofa]

This is why I love Tenchi fans! If you do find that image of Kiyone's design please post it!

[shades of blue]

Oh look Shades, Kiyone (清音) is named too there!  Right at the end of the first paragraph beside her on the first page.  Heh heh

Ah yes, I forgot to point out Kiyone being named there as well. In addition to that, we're shown Kasumi (霞), Yosho's first wife. Who creepily looks like Tenchi... in a wig.



Then there are a few other extras hidden away, like in the one sketchbook showing us what'd have to be Tennyo making a surprise visit near the end of OVA2, had funding not stopped due to the cost savings of producing low budget television series adaptions.

[retrosofa]

Here's an interesting find! This site has a doujinshi (presumable about Hasegawa's novels) that has Kiyone "stealing" her name from Tenchi's mother.




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[جبريل 無道]

I saw that picture before, just never that big.  Neat.  The author/artist or circle did at least 4 more Tenchi doujins, listed as 本条るり丸:  http://tenchi.org/dou_ni.htm

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll find the character drawings.  This was before I saved stuff.  Amazing how fast stuff disappears and how little the japanese internet has in comparison.

[retrosofa]

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll find the character drawings.  This was before I saved stuff.  Amazing how fast stuff disappears and how little the japanese internet has in comparison.

Bummer. It's different from the actual character design sheet used for the Mihoshi Special, and reused for the TV series?