This isn't quite relevant to a Tenchi Muyo ML, but
since some of the same creative team were involved
with El-Hazard, maybe this is as good a place as
any. Apologies if I've strayed too far from the
topic.

1. The demon Ifurita. El-Hazard has an Arabian Nights
set design. It also happens that an "afreet" or "efreet"
is a demon in Arabic mythology. Pronounce it Japanese
style and what do you get?

2. I have this pet theory that Makoto looks like Princess
Fatora because he _is_ Princess Fatora, changed into a boy
and sent to Earth with a wiped memory to better hide her.
Unfortunately, there's been an embarrassing accumulation
of evidence lately that would seem to argue against it.

One is the time problem. Princess Fatora has only recently
disappeared, while Makoto seems to have a history of life
on Earth behind him (though we know nothing of his family
or other personal circumstances). On the other hand, the
demon Ifurita recognized him when he found her on Earth,
saying she had been waiting for him for 10,000 years,
but did not remember him when he saw her on El-Hazard.
The creators may be playing games with time here, so there
may yet be some resolution involving time travel and circular
rather than a linear progression of events.

The second problem is that Princess Fatora has now been shown
existing contemporaneously with Makoto, though that could be
resolved by the time-travel solution mentioned above. Has
anybody noticed how little we've been told about Fatora? It's
almost as if the creators are keeping something back here. Fatora
has only been briefly shown, and has yet to even speak. She exists
in the series mainly in her absence.

A third problem is that people from Earth develop special abilities
when they come to El-Hazard. Makoto has now been shown to have a
special ability, showing him to be an Earthperson, so he can't
be an exile from El-Hazard. Right? Or so I thought until I took
another look at the released episodes. Makoto's special ability
is the same ability that Princess Fatora has been shown to have
by the Phantom Race's analysis of her genes -- which ability has
also been stated to be gender-specific, and only female members
of the royal house have it. Maybe it's just a coincidence that
Makoto's special ability happens to be the same as Fatora's, but
at this point it could also be evidence for my theory.

After all this, somebody in Japan has probably seen the concluding
episodes and could tell me I'm all wet and my reasoning is utterly
bogus... And there are other possible outcomes (Makoto and Fatora
are twin brother and sister? Makoto is a disguised female but
Fatora's twin sister?)... Oh well, we'll know soon enough.

--Dwight Decker