I guess I wasn't reading "in order to be competitive" as "in order to be the number one player in the entire world, with an unbeatable deck".  In that case, yes, expect to spend some money.
You know, it is possible to have clan loyalty simply because you like a clan; regardless of whether that clan is particularly powerful at the moment.  Even among tournament-goers, some people are out to bring glory to their clan rather than merely get the top prize.  Not everyone can be the top player, but everyone can have fun if they choose to; win, lose, or draw.

Does it bother anyone else that a card type "Province" can include things which conceptually are not Provinces?

The back of the card has this "mysterious paper wall" pattern IIRC. Of course you won't be able to admire this art in official play, but in casual games I think it could help to convey the idea you're suggesting.
Like, I think we all kind of understand that the events represent things occurring during the conflict at the province; it's just that it's weird that the card type is "province" while a lot of the card names don't fit this description. Perhaps they will be more of an exception than the rule and we'll be seeing more stuff like City of Lies and other "province-y" names once the full contents of the Core Set are known.

You could look at it as some sort of province event. Like you are attacking province X but as your army approaches it is attacked by a night raid or during your approach one of the younger members of your army commits a shameful display of one kind or another.
   Thematically it could work, the physical card represents the province while the content of the card represents the event. 

If (when) a gaijin invasion angle comes around, I'm going to use a Sharpie to rename this card Knight Raid.

Eh, I'm not outraged, I just think its odd to assign a category name to a game element , and then not fit the fiction to that category. It's like if they named a category of cards "characters" then proceeded to make those cards pieces of equipment that you attach to another category of cards called "lands", which are the people you control and play the game with.
There's no rage there, just a mild middle-aged confusion. Which is how I spend most of my days, y'know.
 
 
Yeah, fair enough. Though as I said, there's no rage anywhere. I'm 40 years old, I don't listen to Rage Against The Machine any more. I prefer my card game discussions set to the soothing tones of Birdie and Ed Sheeran.

Does it bother anyone else that a card type "Province" can include things which conceptually are not Provinces?

As someone who took part in a massive retcon, I would say the setting can take a lot and still remain true to itself. In its core, you really only need three things for the full effect:
- The Five Rings and stuff themed around them
- Color-coded clans with strong thematic emphasis
- Samurai (in some shape or form)
Once you have these, the setting can be about (almost) anything, and it will still feel like Rokugan. You can ditch the geography, the society, most of the political stuff, customs, families, even whole factions, and ultimately it will make little difference in the end. 
It isn't Hoturi being a dude that makes Rokugan, if you know what I mean. 

I'd assume many are disappointed with a reboot over a continuation. However, for the same reasons that Disney opted for its own timeline for Star Wars, I believe FFG decided to reboot L5R for similar reasons. So players who weren't even born when much of the old canon was written could start on a clean slate, and not be intimidated by literally a generation's worth of backstory. I may be disappointed with the decision, but I can acknowledge the logic and support it. 

Does it bother anyone else that a card type "Province" can include things which conceptually are not Provinces?

Honestly, for any game that's had numerous expansions, it's pretty unreasonable for someone to expect to have a fully competitive deck for really cheap.  If a new player is has his heart set on playing a championship-winning deck right from the get-go (after the game is well established), he needs to be prepared to spend money.
If he doesn't care about being super-competitive, then it suddenly gets a lot less expensive, anyway.  Once there are multiple cycles out, you don't necessarily need three cores.  Just get one and a couple packs that appeal to you.  Also, why buy the cycles that are about to rotate out?  Just focus on the most recent cycles and new cycles going forward, instead.
I don't see that we need to have a whole new set of products just because some people want to have a shortcut.

Hida Iseki
Other example, wouldnt consider her over sexualized, unless you have weird phantasies ...

If you want to truly listen to your 'inner feminist' I would recommend that you first try to stop googling 'young, skinny, beautiful oriental' women' so much.   

Sexy, skinny, scantily clad women are a male power fantasy.
Muscle bound, arms as big as tree trunks, stoic men are also a male power fantasy.
So, when you say "our wants and desires" make sure you are including everyone in "our".
That said, I don't think this is an issue L5R ever had in the past.  Sure, the art more often than not fits into the "cute girl, butch guy" stereotypes, but the fiction has rarely played out that way.  For those that don't know it, here is one of the first L5R fictions I ever read, and a great example of what I am talking about.  I have seen several people call it their favorite L5R fiction ever.
http://www.kazenoshiro.com/2009/01/15/a-good-little-wife-2/

Ah wow, loving Doji Hakuseki! That lady has attitude!

So, been dead excited, as I've always loved this setting in the RPG, and never had the chance to properly get into this first time round. One thing I decided to do was googleimages Legend of the Five Rings, just to get more exposure to the game's aesthetic.
One thing that immediately struck me was that there's a load of pictures of young, thin and beautiful women who wouldn't look out of place in a J-Pop band or Korean modelling agency, if you replaced swords and kimonos with neon skirts. Male characters, on the other hand, seem to go across a larger variety of ages, levels of attractiveness and body types.
I think it's an excellent and positive thing that this game's world is full of kick-*** women in all arenas of life, from war to politics to magic. I also think it's great that they've managed to make them beautiful without going into fanservice.
However, I am wondering if ALL Lo5R women are skinny, young and beautiful.
 
So, question to the experienced souls from the CCG days: Are there many notable named female characters that are older, fatter, plainer looking, or all three? 
Don't misunderstand me here - my browser history will tell you that I have no problem with young, beautiful, skinny oriental women. However, my inner feminist is hoping that this setting and this game has a broader ranger of depictions for the female of the species than what is apparent from a cursory google search.
 
Look forward to hearing what y'all have to say on this.

So, been dead excited, as I've always loved this setting in the RPG, and never had the chance to properly get into this first time round. One thing I decided to do was googleimages Legend of the Five Rings, just to get more exposure to the game's aesthetic.
One thing that immediately struck me was that there's a load of pictures of young, thin and beautiful women who wouldn't look out of place in a J-Pop band or Korean modelling agency, if you replaced swords and kimonos with neon skirts. Male characters, on the other hand, seem to go across a larger variety of ages, levels of attractiveness and body types.
I think it's an excellent and positive thing that this game's world is full of kick-*** women in all arenas of life, from war to politics to magic. I also think it's great that they've managed to make them beautiful without going into fanservice.
However, I am wondering if ALL Lo5R women are skinny, young and beautiful.
 
So, question to the experienced souls from the CCG days: Are there many notable named female characters that are older, fatter, plainer looking, or all three? 
Don't misunderstand me here - my browser history will tell you that I have no problem with young, beautiful, skinny oriental women. However, my inner feminist is hoping that this setting and this game has a broader ranger of depictions for the female of the species than what is apparent from a cursory google search.
 
Look forward to hearing what y'all have to say on this.

So, been dead excited, as I've always loved this setting in the RPG, and never had the chance to properly get into this first time round. One thing I decided to do was googleimages Legend of the Five Rings, just to get more exposure to the game's aesthetic.
One thing that immediately struck me was that there's a load of pictures of young, thin and beautiful women who wouldn't look out of place in a J-Pop band or Korean modelling agency, if you replaced swords and kimonos with neon skirts. Male characters, on the other hand, seem to go across a larger variety of ages, levels of attractiveness and body types.
I think it's an excellent and positive thing that this game's world is full of kick-*** women in all arenas of life, from war to politics to magic. I also think it's great that they've managed to make them beautiful without going into fanservice.
However, I am wondering if ALL Lo5R women are skinny, young and beautiful.
 
So, question to the experienced souls from the CCG days: Are there many notable named female characters that are older, fatter, plainer looking, or all three? 
Don't misunderstand me here - my browser history will tell you that I have no problem with young, beautiful, skinny oriental women. However, my inner feminist is hoping that this setting and this game has a broader ranger of depictions for the female of the species than what is apparent from a cursory google search.
 
Look forward to hearing what y'all have to say on this.

Red fallen soldier
Honors the same battlefield
As empty white page

You remember that
Pretty girl draped in scarlet
Fever, lying dead?
 

On the bottom right hand corner of the Conflict cards you should see Bamboo pips, 1-3 of them, so far. The number of Bamboo pips represents the cards Influence cost.  These cards can be played by other clans and count towards the Clan's influence total which is found in each Clan's Stronghold.  So far we have seen both Lion and Crane have an Influence total of 10, so, they can include cards from other clans totalling 10 Influence.
You cannot include dynasty cards or cards without influence costs from other clans in your deck.  At least that is what we know so far.......and hopefully I explained that correctly.

The more experience x cards of various characters tend to be aged. In terms of body diversity for the most part there isn't much I think there is one card off the top of my head that broke the skinny woman mold.

Can I suggest that you look at the Doji Gift giver from this set as a starting point, then move on to the Otomo Courtier (who may or may not be an older woman).  There's also a piece of art called Isawa Atsuko
Then there's Moshi Jukio, from the old game.

I don't believe we should be afraid of this given what we have seen so far. 
I'm enjoying this new direction to the history of the game. 

He's the very model of an Honored Lion General!