OVA
Description
Dr. Clay is a renegade scientist and a significant antagonist in the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OVA series. He is a humanoid male, over twenty thousand years old, with gray hair and beard styled into eight long curls, giving his head an octopus-like appearance. He is short and stout, standing five feet two inches tall, and his left eye is artificial.
Dr. Clay was originally a student and later a colleague of the super-genius Washu Hakubi at the Royal Science Academy. They once competed for the position of academy director, a contest Washu won. Clay had to settle for the post of head of the graduate school and eventually left, harboring a deep and irrational jealousy towards Washu that festered for millennia. He is convinced that Washu was responsible for his failures and his departure from the academy, though in truth he left of his own accord. This inferiority complex is the core of his personality. He is immensely egotistical, possessive, and filled with a paranoid belief that others mock him. Clay is also a degenerate voyeur with a notable appreciation for the female form, as reflected in the design of his spaceship and his treatment of captives. He has a compulsive habit of marking his favorite possessions with his personal logo, a character meaning "ku", which ultimately proves to be a critical flaw.
Driven by his envy and a desire for revenge, Clay's primary motivation is to prove his superiority over Washu and to gain the power to rule an entire galaxy. To this end, he came into the employ of Lady Tokimi, a mysterious and powerful extra-dimensional being. Tokimi tasked him with capturing Washu, promising him control of a galaxy in return. In the story's second OVA arc, Clay travels to Earth to execute this plan. His central role is that of an adversary who uses deception and advanced technology to infiltrate the Masaki household. He dispatches his android servant, Zero, to kidnap and replace Ryoko, one of Washu's creations, in order to get close to and abduct the genius scientist.
His key relationships are defined by his obsessions. His rivalry with Washu is the driving force behind his every action, and he blames her for all his hardships. He serves Lady Tokimi with a mix of awe, fear, and ambition, viewing her power as the key to his own desires. Zero is his creation, whom he treats as a mere tool, a marionette to be controlled and discarded. His relationship with the protagonist, Tenchi Masaki, is indirect but pivotal; Tenchi emerges as a significant obstacle when Zero's copied feelings for him, inherited from Ryoko, cause her to fail her mission, and again when Tenchi demonstrates the extraordinary power of the Light Hawk Wings.
Over the course of his confrontation with Washu and her allies, Dr. Clay experiences a definitive downfall. His intricate plan unravels due to unforeseen emotional variables and his own hubris, specifically the revealing of his logo on Zero's person. When defeated, he attempts to escape after setting his ship to self-destruct, but he is captured by the cabbit Ryo-Ohki and arrested by the Galaxy Police. Following his capture, his memories of Lady Tokimi are erased by her servant, D3, to conceal her existence. In later novel continuations, he is broken out of prison and continues his work as a scientist for hire, selling his skills to various criminal organizations.
As a scientist, Dr. Clay's genius is said to be second only to Washu, making him a formidable inventor and strategist despite his personal flaws. His notable abilities include the creation of advanced technology, such as the android Zero, who can perfectly duplicate the appearance, powers, and memories of another being. He also commands a massive, stolen Galaxy Police battleship called the Shonga, which he incorporated into his own vessel. After serving Tokimi, he gained the ability to duplicate anything, a power which he utilizes extensively. His ship is equipped with a self-destruct mechanism capable of forming a black hole, a final act of spite he is willing to use.
Dr. Clay was originally a student and later a colleague of the super-genius Washu Hakubi at the Royal Science Academy. They once competed for the position of academy director, a contest Washu won. Clay had to settle for the post of head of the graduate school and eventually left, harboring a deep and irrational jealousy towards Washu that festered for millennia. He is convinced that Washu was responsible for his failures and his departure from the academy, though in truth he left of his own accord. This inferiority complex is the core of his personality. He is immensely egotistical, possessive, and filled with a paranoid belief that others mock him. Clay is also a degenerate voyeur with a notable appreciation for the female form, as reflected in the design of his spaceship and his treatment of captives. He has a compulsive habit of marking his favorite possessions with his personal logo, a character meaning "ku", which ultimately proves to be a critical flaw.
Driven by his envy and a desire for revenge, Clay's primary motivation is to prove his superiority over Washu and to gain the power to rule an entire galaxy. To this end, he came into the employ of Lady Tokimi, a mysterious and powerful extra-dimensional being. Tokimi tasked him with capturing Washu, promising him control of a galaxy in return. In the story's second OVA arc, Clay travels to Earth to execute this plan. His central role is that of an adversary who uses deception and advanced technology to infiltrate the Masaki household. He dispatches his android servant, Zero, to kidnap and replace Ryoko, one of Washu's creations, in order to get close to and abduct the genius scientist.
His key relationships are defined by his obsessions. His rivalry with Washu is the driving force behind his every action, and he blames her for all his hardships. He serves Lady Tokimi with a mix of awe, fear, and ambition, viewing her power as the key to his own desires. Zero is his creation, whom he treats as a mere tool, a marionette to be controlled and discarded. His relationship with the protagonist, Tenchi Masaki, is indirect but pivotal; Tenchi emerges as a significant obstacle when Zero's copied feelings for him, inherited from Ryoko, cause her to fail her mission, and again when Tenchi demonstrates the extraordinary power of the Light Hawk Wings.
Over the course of his confrontation with Washu and her allies, Dr. Clay experiences a definitive downfall. His intricate plan unravels due to unforeseen emotional variables and his own hubris, specifically the revealing of his logo on Zero's person. When defeated, he attempts to escape after setting his ship to self-destruct, but he is captured by the cabbit Ryo-Ohki and arrested by the Galaxy Police. Following his capture, his memories of Lady Tokimi are erased by her servant, D3, to conceal her existence. In later novel continuations, he is broken out of prison and continues his work as a scientist for hire, selling his skills to various criminal organizations.
As a scientist, Dr. Clay's genius is said to be second only to Washu, making him a formidable inventor and strategist despite his personal flaws. His notable abilities include the creation of advanced technology, such as the android Zero, who can perfectly duplicate the appearance, powers, and memories of another being. He also commands a massive, stolen Galaxy Police battleship called the Shonga, which he incorporated into his own vessel. After serving Tokimi, he gained the ability to duplicate anything, a power which he utilizes extensively. His ship is equipped with a self-destruct mechanism capable of forming a black hole, a final act of spite he is willing to use.