Yupa's Gallery Updates

[sensei]

Although this background is from episode 16, the top right corner states "#17". I think I've seen the same thing in other TnN backgrounds before, the number seems to be one higher than the actual episode. Does this imply there originally was an extra episode that didn't air or did they change the order of the episodes?

Yeah, there's a "missing Tennimon episode" somewhere after ep. 5 (my sketch set is numbered correctly) and before Ep. 12 (my bgs and sketch set from this episode are all labeled "#13"). All of the art I've seen from episodes 12-26 that contain an episode number are misnumbered +1, so it's not a reordering of episodes.

My guess is that it was planned, sketched, painted, and then perhaps never filmed. If it was planned to go between Ep. 5 and Ep. 12, that would make it one of the extremely random adventures like the ones with Milk Man, Squid Noelle, and Bun-bun. Perhaps it was so random that the director or producer axed it. (The one with the guitar player who turns people into frogs with his song comes pretty close to being too random, even by the Tennimon standard.) Or maybe in some Studio Pierrot archive the unseen footage remains intact, ready to be issued when the 25th anniversary deluxe Bluetooth-with-simulated-3D edition is released in 2024.

[Yupa]

Wow, I almost can't believe it's been more than 1.5 years since my last update. 2011 really was the 'golden year' for me, when I could find many sketches for low prices. Sketches from recent shows only seem to become less frequent and the occasional set is sold for a high price. This meant I had to rethink my selection criteria. From now on I first look at the art, not just the few series that I've watched. So last month I won a large sketch set of Rocket Girls, a show I knew nothing about.

Well, I do now. I watched the show and I like it, but I can see it's not something most people remember after six years. I currently have four complete cuts from this show: two OP cuts and two... well, what is it? For a long time I did recognize the scene in those two cuts, but could not find those precise cuts in the anime. What's even stranger is that they don't have an episode number on them. But most of all, after studying them closely I found out the character designs were totally different! Where are these cuts from?

I eventually found the answer on the Japanese Wikipedia page. In 2001, six years before the anime was made, the studio released a 3-minute pilot showcasing scenes from the light novels and talking with the voice actors. It seems they were all ready to go, so the only reason for the huge delay I can think of is not enough funds. But in 2007 the anime finally got made, with one big change. The character designs were changed drastically into something more... moe. Those designs certainly are popular with the otaku crowd, so they thought it was necessary.

If you go to my newest gallery you'll find two cuts of the 2001 pilot and two cuts of the 2007 anime OP. Those OP cuts are not as nice as the pilot cuts, but they clearly show the change in character designs, which probably was decided after the genga (and even some douga) were made.

Well I've talked enough here, to find out more visit my gallery. I hope you like my unusual presenting style.

[Quacker]

Wow! Those are some nice new pieces you were able to collect Yupa. Thank-you for putting them up (and animating the cuts too!) as well as going the extra steps to dig up their history, that is fascinating.

I prefer the Original designs over the new ones shown; one has to wonder why the delay from the original project announcement through to the actual production of the series. Six years is a very long time for an anime project to be placed on hiatus - but there could be any number of reasons why that occurred?

[teggacat]

Wow, that's quite an interesting update, very well laid out, nicely done!
Thanks for sharing