I've never understood if Ryoko's mother is dead, or what. I wonder if it was more clear in theoriginal where she was; whether she'd left them, or was committed to a mental asylum, ended her own life, or died from WAY too much BDSM. There's just one throw away line in the second issue where her dad says 'be sure to write your mother' or something, and Ryoko's just like "Dad..." which could mean anything from 'I don't want to', to 'that's not possible, you're crazy and it's sad'.