Ask John: Why Are There So Many Continuity Issues In Anime?

Question:
Why are there so many continuity issues in anime? Take for instance Tenchi Muyo! First you have the OAV series which is it’s own continuity. Then you have the T.V. series which has it’s own continuity. It’s understandable why these two would have different continuities because the original was only released to video and Pioneer felt that in order to win over new fans of the series who had never seen it, it had to start from the beginning. Then you have the second T.V. season which starts a new continuity, followed by the theatrical releases which sometimes don’t make sense when compared to any of the pre-existing continuities, and let’s not even start with the Pretty Sammy series. You also have a series like Utena or Escaflowne which, when they end, leave the fans eagerly anticipating more, only to find out that the movies are starting from scratch with a totally different continuity. Why?

Answer:
Honestly, I really don’t know the answer to this question. This trend has occurred since at least the early 1980s when each Yamato movie seemed to create a new continuity. I don’t think anything really beats the multitude of continuities and continuity errors established by the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. The only explanation that I can suggest is that each of the installments in a particular franchise may be made by a different crew with their own ideas for how a particular show or series should be handled, as is the case with Gundam, or that the crew may have had different but equally appealing ideas for a show so, instead of choosing one over the other, they do both, as is the case with the staff that made both the Nuku-Nuku TV show and the totally different Nuku-Nuku Dash OAV series. Along with this is the fact that Japanese audiences seem to be much more adaptable to dramatic alterations to anime series than American fans are, who usually prefer more consistency in their anime. Japanese fans also seem to be much more accepting of series ending with cliff-hangers, or non-conclusions than are their American counterparts. It’s just a difference in culture.