On Feb 2,  7:49pm, Steven Osman wrote:
> Subject: EPISODE 13 Questions [SPOILER WARNING]
> I have a couple of Epsiode 13 questions.
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> Ok.

> I'm pretty certain that the shadows in the background are Washu and
> Tsunami - they couldn't be her sisters, or could they?  Tsunami, I
can
> understand, but Washu?)

The laserdisc gatefold jacket makes it pretty clear that the
silhouettes behind Tokimi are in fact Washu and Tsunami. Beneath
a still showing Tokimi flanked by the shadows are three inset
playing-card-like illustrations showing Washu (holding Ryoko's
power gems), Tokimi, and Tsunami, each directly underneath the
appropriate figure in the larger picture.
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Much as I like Tenchi, there are times when I get a bit
annoyed with the creators' uneven pacing. The final battle
with Kagato in #6 seemed rushed, while in the second arc,
Dr. Clay is finished off in two episodes, and the final
episode is a lot of talk around the homestead serving to
fill in background details and set up the next arc, and
there's even a non-animated still-frame coda that would
have made a nice epilogue to episode #12 if the events
that are just talked about had been shown occurring in
real time. Then there's the whole matter of vital
information never being directly shown but relegated
to liner notes, if that, though that happens a lot in
OAV series that seem to be told by connecting the
dots between storyboard illustrations of keen scenes rather
than by a smoothly constructed outline and script.

Anyway...if the King of Jurai is allowed two wives and if
Ryoko can create the Light Hawk Wings herself, it seems to
me that Tenchi is going to end up married to Ryoko and
Sasami/Tsunami. That Light Hawk Wings angle suggests some
kind of common destiny binding Ryoko and Tenchi, while
Sasami/Tsunami is pretty much the real heroine of this series.
Aeka has some personality problems that Sasami doesn't. But
for all I know, Tenchi could end up married to _all_ of them...

By the way, did I understand the ending of #12 correctly?
Dr. Clay copied Ryoko's personality and gave it to Zero,
with the result that Zero became a second Ryoko, though with
the emphasis on the more loving side. And at the end, rather
than wipe out the copy, which would be like killing a Ryoko,
Washu chose to merge her with the primary, but for reasons
of her own Washu told the others she herself had split Ryoko's
personality, rather than telling the truth that Dr. Clay had
made an out and out copy. Washu's explanation doesn't jibe with
what we saw in episode #11, and Ryoko privately calls her a
"big fat liar" after Washu gives that explanation. Am I missing
something here?

--Dwight Decker