Kirati Laisathit wrote:
>
>I have to agree with Hitoshi. Because Tenchi is omnipotent,
> (snip)
>Mystery seems to be a commonality. However, El Hazard mystery is more story 
>related. In particular, Tenchi relies too much on the ambiguity about 
>character background and too little on motivation or development.

I would like to suggest another layer of mystery that I know was missed by
many in the American audience, and perhaps by many in Japan as well. There
is an old perceptual challange that some of my teachers and professors used
to play, in particular to get us to challange propaganda, in our own minds.
That is, to provide us with a good superficial explanation of the events,
then see if we could see what was really going on.
        For example, I am struck by how many fans persist in seeing that in
OVA 1, Tenchi was manipulated into waking up Ryoko, by Yosho. That is what
Tenchi believes happened, that is what we are repeatedly given as the
assumed event. I won't argue the point, just arrogantly assert it; that is
not what we were shown. We are told many things that conflict with what we
are shown in this story. This is one gripe I have with quotes from 101
Facts. One problem with this approach to storytelling is that it depends on
a high integrity  in the story-telling, once you do that, the audience has
to be able to "get it", a real tough proposition when you are dealing with
translation. 
>
>What you see with Tenchi is that layers upon layers of explanation will 
>be needed just to explain why someone chooses to do what he/she does.
(snip) 
>     ...poor writing. If it takes more than one or two episodes to explain a 
>simple motivation then the story fails to deliver it's message.
>
The audience didn't get it.
I suspect this is a major reason much of the creative team bailed out on the
second series and went on to El-Hazard. It was also my major frustration
with the pacing and cartoonish content of OVA's 8 thru 11. I am not
boasting, I am complaining: These episodes laborously pound home points
about the characters which I had written up in my personal journals, and
which I think the original team had vainly hoped the general audience would get.

>BTW, what are the questions at this point for Tenchi? I'm curious!
>
"Tenchi is omnipotent", exactly the dilemma of the Superman comics in the
late '50s and early '60s: But Tenchi is no eagle-scout. In fact, for a guy
who has opened up possibilities in his universe, he is positivily flawed, as
are all the other characters to a greater or lesser degree. Let me reel out
a few Tenchi-flaws, which sufficiently brave creative talent could use to
make continuation genuinely interesting.
        Did you notice Tenchi's flagrant vandalism in smashing the phoney,
rusty old blade that was provided for his staged ressurection of Ryoko? He
didn't know it was a prop!
        Did you notice how tenderly he treated ZeroRyoko when she was
vulnerable? (Granted this is partly Ryoko's flaw-fault) His real hang-up
about Ryoko, and all the other girls, is that they are not 100% human. (if
Ryoko is "damaged goods", who isn't?) He has yet to be forced to come to
terms with the fact that he is evidently no more "purely" human than Ryoko.
        Did you notice that after Mihoshi rescued Tenchi from Washu's
intended forcable molestation in OVA 7, by OVA 11, Tenchi has allowed
himself to be snared again by Washu? ( Tsunami, his moral guardian, and
probably creator, has no reason to concern herself with human sexual mores,
as long as the boy isn't harmed.) 
        Anyone who believes that Tenchi didn't agree to play doctor and
provide Washu-chan with a sperm sample, is herebye excused from the room
while I go off on this tangent. A pervasive aspect of Anime, and of Japanese
culture, in comparison to American culture, is the ability to incorporate
sexual and bodily matters in a story as a matter of course.( Admittedly this
ability is fading as world culture is more and more Americanized.) In an
American production, merely the sight of a naked female breast immediatly
results in IQs dropping into single digits, and the rest of the story going
into the trash. Our culture simply does not cope with issues of sexuality
and body. If there is anything wrong with the way quality anime deals with
these topics, Americans are the last ones who should try to object, on
grounds of incompetance.
        I feel sad for Ryoko.

                                Pardon my indiscretion,
                                Greg M

*A foolish consistancy is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little
statesmen and philosophers and divines. -Emerson*