There's that scene where little Jinnai is lying in his room reading Tenchi (props go out to AIC for such a colossal plug XD)
and here's an image from episode 2 that further supports my idea that Jinnai was once just a regular guy:
(http://www.el-hazardonline.net/El-Hazard/temp/rob/makjin.jpg)
[click for large stock image] (http://www.el-hazardonline.net/cgi-bin/register/eholmemberfile.cgi?getfile=images_a2/054.jpg;type=jpeg)
Look at his face, the very normal eyes, the "thumbs up". He looks like a guy you wanna know! And right next to Makoto. No crazy rivalries here!
I saw this topic name on the "most recent post" thing on the main page and instantly my mind clicked "It's gotta be Xel..."
Rather than suggest necessarily that Jinnai had a love interest in Makoto or whatever by that memory of Nanami... perhaps rather we can deduce it actually was just trying to prove a point that Nanami stole all of his classmates at school (the "game" memory) and then that Nanami would also steal away his joy of torturing little Makoto, his nemesis from day 1. Makoto is just for some reason totally oblivious to Jinnai's dark-heartedness. Of course, yours is a unique look, and I certainly never mind a unique look.
Okay, but that's Wanderers. We have to remember that Hayashi had nothing to DO with Wanderers.
(Keep in mind, I'm listening to these and I can't understand a word of Japanese, but I pick up audio clues. :P)
And everything is going great until Makoto walked in on Jinnai doing some shady dealing with someone else. (Ishijima?) Makoto's surprised sounding reaction indicates to me that it was an accident, yet since Jinnai retaliated, he probably figured then that Makoto had deliberately eavesdropped on him. (This is where the drama ends, too.) Especially later when Makoto snitched. That would be where Jinnai would build up his actual hatred and paranoia of Makoto, who ruined his reign. "Why is he doing this to me!?" [since I thought he was my friend!]
I do think the dramas hold more real value than the Wanderers, since there's potential Hayashi had something to do with those dramas and it's known he had little to do with The Wanderers.
I also like this image that seems to support my idea. While the Alternative World series is only really as valid as The Wanderers for the same reason, it IS built on the OAV storyline, and here's an image from episode 2 that further supports my idea that Jinnai was once just a regular guy:
He looks like a guy you wanna know!
Jinnai's rivlary with Makoto is probably just something horribly misdirected. If Jinnai were to seriously sit down with Makoto and talk for five minutes and maybe cry a few more, he'd probably realize that the whole thing was a misunderstanding. But he's probably long-out snapped already.
(Oh, and my props to the guy who me and my brother and sister have dubbed "Young Jay Leno" in the middle there XD)
Something tells me I need to become a contributor, and fast. x_x You wouldn't count my inane ramblings as a contribution, would you?
[...] Jinnai's got issues. Big ones. >_> But I'm beginning to think that maybe it's like Nny's character from Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. No one knows why he's insane. He just is. And we love him for it. (a cookie for whoever knows what the hell I'm talking about. )
Oh, you love me. ;D
:o GAH! I LOVE YOU!!
Oh, and the picture... it's a picture. Even maniacs smile for pictures. ;)
[munches on cookie] Mmmm... that doesn't work. The thing with Nny is that he knows that he is insane and "the bad guy". He frequently says to victims, "at least, I'm under the dellusion of doing something productive" and other confusing contradictory stuff. Jinnai doesn't know he is insane. He just thinks he's doing what's right, and is convinced that he should be an ultimate ruler and Makoto is the anti-christ. There is no "to-ing" and "fro-ing" with it, like with Nny.