This essay is dedicated to that most underappreciated
of Tenchi Muyo villains, Dr. Clay.

I know that compared to Kagato or Kaine, he's a bit
dull. You know, no special powers or cool abilities.
He's not a ladykiller (in both senses of the word), he
has no cool signature line or verve with dialogue, and
he's pretty freaking ugly. In fact he could just as
easily be an animated rendering of your perverted,
fat-assed uncle, the one who keeps getting busted for
cavorting in public in woman's lingerie after getting
stoned.

But its Clay's ordinariness that makes him so
interesting. Because he has one supreme ability that
makes him so dangerous. He has a taste for kitsch.

If you have never heard that term before, one
definition for kitsch is "art that is made in poor or
objectionable taste." Actually kitsch is worse than
merely being bad art, or just mediocre art reproduced
in large quantities. No, kitsch is bad art that is
proud of its atrociousness. Its crap that wants to put
its puke-ugly ass on the same pedestal as good art.
For example, a Hustler centerfold doesn't necessarily
constitute kitsch, unless you frame and display it
with the same care and attention of a Monet, in which
case it is.  Kitsch then is an attitude that destroys
those distinctions that qualify the good from the bad.

Kitsch is made distinguishable from good art by its
three main techniques. Firstly, it attempts to capture
or copy the form of legitimate art, but divorces the
substance. No one will ever accuse Jackie Collins of
writing the Great American Novel, of writing words
that nourish the soul. Real art has a theme, a
progression of composition, and a point to its
existence. Kitsch is simply empty calories, that never
goes anywhere. And this leads to the second
distinction: kitsch, like sugar, tends to tweak or
dull the emotions rather than attempt to challenge us
intellectually. We value kitsch because like a drug it
makes us feel good. Finally, kitsch is simply a
repetition of stock characters and counterfeit
situations, and frequently lowers itself to the lowest
common denominater.

Of course this all explains Dr. Clay and his "Tao." 
This is the self-proclaimed great genius that feels
that he was robbed of his rightful rewards and
greatness by that evil Imp Washu, yet cannot tell that
his most cherished "artifact" is a cheap counterfeit
with a "Made by Washu" tag on the bottom. Nor does he
seem to know that his most cherished treasure is
supposed to be a CHAMBERPOT! This is the same guy who
flies around in space with a ship shaped like a large
nude woman, and who populates his den with other
tasteless nudes and other crap found on sale in
"Franklin Mint" bin at the 99 cent store.  

In fact, "Dr. Clay" is aptly named, and his character
design is so scathingly appropriate: he's an indisinct
blob. His fat wattling form seems to reflect his
personality. Nothing he does or sets out to do is
original or distinguishable. His desire for kitsch
underlines his desire to internalise the world into an
amoral version of his own devising. And he's a selfish
egotist, who steadfastly refuses to believe that his
poor fortunes is the result of his own twisted
ambitions, but would rather believe that his "genius"
is underappreciated or has been targeted by a
conspiracy that he refuses to name. And this is what
makes him so dangerous.

Remember, Clay steals an entire Galaxy Police
battleship for himself. For the simple reason that is
name can be taken phonetically for the Japanese word
for pornographic pictures. That's it. He breaks the
law, and disrupts the operations of the forces of law
and order simply because there's a ship whose name
could be confused for pornography, and could therefore
be thematically included (somehow) with his idiotic
collection.  And his justification for this act is
based upon his egotistic sense of self-worth, that
mere laws and conventions of society have no hold upon
his soul; besides they're another part of that
conspiracy that prevents the true appreciation of his
genius, his beauty....etc, ad nauseaum.  But despite
his lack of superpowers or cool gadgets, he more than
makes up for it with his cold calculating persistence,
and his inability to recognise norms or authority. 
What he wants, he will take, which is the definition
of amorality. And kitsch is the art of the amoral, a
reflection of the childish selfishness that feeds it.

The reason that this essay has been written is to
counterpoint Dr. Clay against his antithesis, Washu.
For in confrontation between the two of them aboard
his ship, she comes through as a defender of every
value and principle that repels him. Ultimately, the
battle between stems from their diametrically opposed
views on scientific creation. If she is yang to his
yin, and her creations are a work of love and
highmindedness where his creations are septic and
mistreated, then a couple of questions arise from
their exchange:

What is it that Washu created? What is Ryoko?

The answer to that is revealed by Zero, Dr. Clay's
cloning machine (and ultimate expression of his rotten
soul) and will be dealt with tomorrow under "The Value
of Zero: The Soul of Ryoko."

Peter Gray