At 11:15pm 3/31 Chae wrote:(in response to this)
>>The key point in recognition is Yosho's progeny. In particular he allowed
>>his designated heir to be raised as a loyal japanese citizen, now if he
>>could get Tenchi to renounce his citizenship...
>
>        I have no idea why that should in way be seen as what you're
>claiming...  What legal theory are you basing this under?  
>
Part international relations theory, part practical philosopy. It could be
argued that by deliberately raising his heir as a loyal citizen of Nippon,
he is extending de-facto recognition. We know this inside the story, he kept
Tenchi completely in the dark. Now, if Yosho, or the King, denied Japanese
sovereignty, it would surely result in a major rupture with Tenchi, with
whom even the privy council doesn't want a rupture.

>>>...If prosecution could
>>>show that Ryoko is destructive even when she retains all her faculty
>>>(probably not very difficult to prove ^_^;;), then I doubt if the court will
>>>buy the diminished capacity defense.  
>>
>>In fact, since recovering her full faculties (on witnessing the murder of
>>Tenchi), Ryoko has not engaged in promiscuous destructive behavior, and has
>>clearly learned considerable restraint. 
>
>        Umm, Tenchi's school might disagree.  And what are you basing on
>your position that Ryoko did not have her full faculty before witnessing the
>'murder' of Tenchi? (from her awakening to witnessing of the murder)
>
It could be argued that Ryoko existed under subconscious threat of Kagato's
return: But in fact I bet Ryoko would be unable to explain the school
episode herself. I think it would be easy to get a psychiatrist to testify
that there was a substantial rebound period when Ryoko was disoriented
emotionally. Yosho and his ship were well aware of Ryoko's likely condition,
and have assumed a sort of guardianship. They should be held responsible for
her conduct immediatly on release, as they took no precautions. I hope they
quietly compensated the municipal authorities.

>>The courts should show some
>>understanding of her need to recover from obvious psychic trauma, and give
>>her time. To the extent that Ryoko understands the consequences of her past
>>she has expressed regrets. 
>
>        I dunno about this.  When Mihoshi crash-landed and her watch started
>beeping, Ryoko seemed pretty tickled, finally to be noticed as the notorious
>space pirate she was.  I personally haven't seen anything from the anime (in
>OAVs as well as the TV series) where she had expressed regret over her past
>errors.  Ryoko was flabbergasted when Mihoshi guessed Ryoko was a clockmaker!

        I read that entirely differently. Mihoshi didn't seriously think
that anyone who could repair a proprietary piece of forensic identification
equipment was a clockmaker. She is depicted taken aback with fear,
confronting a powerful non-culprit, whom she wouldn't want to imply a false
accusation on. The clockmaker thing is purely her air-head psychological
self-defense at work.
        Ryoko has shown the most certain of demonstrations of regret. She
has changed her behavior. (a much more difficult feat than we usually
credit) She cooperated with Aeka, an acredited representative of Jurai, and
Mihoshi, an officer of the law, in fighting Kagato. She takes offense to the
borders of self control when Washu tries to shift the blame for Ryoko's not
knowing how to be human, clearly Ryoko understands that she now needs to
learn how to be human. She has adopted a moral stance with regard to Kagato,
and to Washu, that tells us that she values integrity and humanity above her
own pain. She has submitted to a pseudo-guardianship by Yosho and Washu,
living in the house and doing(grudgingly) chores, when it is easily within
her power to live in the woods, or under the bridge, or wherever, and just
hang around in the daytime chasing Tenchi.
        It is not her character to beat her breast and self flagalate. If we
regard what we saw in the OVA's as accurate recordings of events, it very
much appears that Kagato's control over Ryoko was absolute, enforced with
terror and deception. Someone, elsewhere, asked if his control was great
enough to make her dance in a minefield? Actually, he was able to get her to
put Tenchi in a sleeper hold, seconds after she had kept Tenchi from letting
him try to grab the sword. Ryo-ohki distracted him with a bite, and she
momentarily passed out from the strain of trying to resist him. He handled
her like a caged tiger. Her first impulse on seeing him was to flee for her
life. She believed he was her creator, till his lie got too large, at the
very end, and he tried to deny her her newfound humanity. Just how much
repentance do you expect from a person who apparently had absolutely no
control over her own actions or fate for 2000 years, a span we can't really
imagine?
        I say no to equity courts, simply because I don't believe that Jurai
would pay the price. Someone would make the Japanese citizenship argument,
and it would go back to Yosho-Tenchi-Tsunami-Ryoko-Ryo-ohki-Washu versus
Jurai. Not a desirable confrontation from Jurai's standpoint.

                                Greg M.