And the fight with her brother.... even tho the TV Ryoko is 
down-powered compared to her OAV self, I thought that things >were going 
*way* too well for Takeshi.

Since this takes place after the end of the first TV series, you could make
the case that Ryoko was still weak from the wounds she sustained in
storming the planet of Jurai.  I remember that most of the cast thought she
had gone off into spce and died from them.  Regenerating herself at that
level probably drained her power substantially.