Well having some free time, I looked at some ova 1 on my computer, and while going through, episode 5 really had me noticing the fight between yosho and kagato. Really pay attention to their fight, the sword techniques they use is amazing. Kagato does this really cool sword twirl thing before yosho stands on his sword....and yosho was really on par with kagato, he maybe could have one if it was one on one.

Agreed. Yosho-san is a master swordsman, boosted by the power of Funaho-ki. He could have easily won against Kagato-san, and probably against him and Ryoko-san. But him winning wasn't the point. It's a common theme in shonen stories, a wise mentor that could defeat the villian, but instead trains the hero to do so. Surpassing the mentor is a sign of growth for the hero.


Of course, this show subverts this in that, while Tenchi-san may be infinately more powerful than Yosho-san, he still hasn't surpassed him in swordfighting.

Yosho could have easily overpowered Kagato, but I agree with AstroNerdBoy Yosho must have felt it was essential for Tenchi's training for him take on the this extreme task.

i reckon kagato had it other yosho even ryoko struggeled to saty alive afta fightinh him..........

Kagato-san wouldn't have stood a chance. Yosho-san was just toying with him.

Hmmm.....It's a good point, but Tenchi-san was never really afraid of Kagato-san. He was quiet willing to fight him head on, and later after being restored by Tsunami-kami-sama, he showed no hesitation in walking right onto Kagato-sans ship and fighting him again. In fact to my recall, the only time he's every really shown fear is back in episode 1, against Ryoko-san. And even then it seemed mostly like shock at the fact that reality wasn't what he thought it was. Once he got used to the idea of aliens and superpowers, he never seemed afraid of them.

This was also the first time that Tenchi got a good look at "Kagato's Ryoko" and I am very certain that this was something that Yosho wanted Tenchi to see. Tenchi probably had a lot of questions as to why Ryoko had been imprisoned and why Ayeka had been hunting her. After this fight I'm sure that Tenchi was convinced that their reasons were justified.

I dunno, he's been raised on stories about the demon ryoko and by this point he's been living with her for a couple of months. Ryoko doesn't exactly hide who she is.

I do agree with Kamiki on both points, but I'm putting a little different spin on it I think. It's true that Tenchi knew about the legends of Ryoko the demon and also knew Ryoko personally. Yes, Ryoko did battle with Tenchi at his school and battle against Ayeka. For an ordinary high schooler those would have been rather extreme experiences, but she certainly wasn't the destroyer of worlds that the legends made her out to be. To me, it seems like Tenchi would see a bit of a contradiction there. Ryoko has her powers, but she does not have the mind of Kagato. So what Yosho did in episode 5 began to open up for Tenchi the real story behind the legends and how to reconcile that with the Ryoko he knew in the present day.

I agree with mjhennessey on this one. I think the entire point of the fight in the first place was for Yosho to stall Kagato untill he used Ryoko. If you notice, the fight ends right after that.