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.

Actually, we don't know Shampoo never had a mother.  All we see is her
father, but that's not saying she never had one.

And here the most obvious counter argument for that statement:

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

--
Christopher "God-boy" Angel
cja124@mail.usask.ca      http://www.engr.usask.ca/~cja124
"The Man.  The Myth.  The Legend.
The Action Figure from Bandai!"