"Christopher Angel" <cja124@mail.usask.ca> wrote:

Actually I have the sneaking suspicion that Takahashi does think that
having a mother is necessary to be well-adjusted.  Ranma effectively 
didn't have a mother.  The Tendo girls don't have a mother.  Ukyo 
didn't have a mother.  Shampoo doesn't have a mother.  The Kunos don't 
seem to have a mother.

And here the most obvious counter argument for that statement:

Gosunkugi.  Hell, we don't know about Mikado, or Azusa, or even Tarou.

Not only that, look at some of her characters who *do* have visible
mothers: Ataru; Lum; Yusaku Godai. I wouldn't call them well-adjusted.
:)

The fact is, almost *no one* in Ranma 1/2 has a visible mother -- even
normal types like Hiroshi & Daisuke and (maybe) Kasumi. You have to go
to one-time only characters (like the guy who did the martial arts tea
ceremony) to find anyone whose mother (1) appears in the series, and (2)
raised him/her.


Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics