Happy 2022 everyone, I hope this year will be better than the last. Also RIP to Betty White, the last Golden Girl and beloved by the world. Today is her birthday and she would have been 100 years old. It sucks we lost her and Bob Saget? WTF is going on here? Also Sidney Poitier? My gosh, this is certainly turning into a sticky wicket! As well as Meatloaf, Gilbert Gottfried and some football players abruptly dying as well? Rest in paradise to all the fallen.
I haven’t been writing as much as I thought with all the time on my hands due to some blockage called fear. As some might know, my dream is to be a writer and to do this as a form of income so I’m going to use this as a way to start.
Ranma 1/2 holds a special place in my heart as it is one of the ones to really solidified my entry into the world of anime as a kid. It was different from any cartoon I saw at the time and there was something to it that I gravitated to due to the cover art.
To my surprise, there were two episodes for each tape and I was glued! I had my mom buy me Ranma 1/2 at points due to me loving it very much. Though of course, I saw boobs for the first time, even though it isn’t ecchi nor it was distasteful with showcasing naked teenage girls in the buff due to them either being in a bath and honestly, the show made sure to know when to lay out the fan service and I standby it’s the better way to do it compared to some other anime out there do it nowadays.
Rumiko Takahashi is the manga’s creator and is a Shonen series though it doesn’t really feel like it at times with the romantic elements spread out in the series depending on what’s happening. The author is also the creator of popular anime Inuyasha, Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, RIN-NE, and the dark anthology series Mermaid’s Saga respectively.
Each of the series uses the same character buildout but with slight tweaks in the design as you can at times tell that this is Takahashi’s branding.
The premise looked fun of the titular character named Ranma Saotome (16), who is a martial artist in training and goes to a place called Jusenkyo, located in China, is a cursed spring where no one trains due to having various pounds where animals and whatnot have drowned tainting the spring and whoever falls into it takes the form of the persona/animal.
There’s also the mention of his dad, Genma Saotome, a martial artist that is teaching his son the martial arts in order to carry on the Saotome school of martial arts is a negligent parent that isn’t the best in terms of being a kind of con-artist and a bankrupt moral compass, didn’t know a lick of Chinese and just knew it was a place to train.
Anyway, the show soon follows that Ranma is to be engaged to Genma’s best friend and former training partner, Soun Tendo, that runs the portion of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, Tendo’s branch. I could explain that however, it’s rather vague in a sense so just go with it.
Soun and Genma made a pact that when they had kids of their own and if they were the opposite sex that they would become engaged to keep the school going for the next generation and whatnot.
Ranma is to be engaged to one of Soun’s daughters; Kasumi Tendo (19) the eldest and caregiver of the family that takes care of the cooking, and cleaning and has a lady-like of talking. Nabiki Tendo (17) middle child and the most cutthroat when it comes to money and blackmail. Then the last child is Akane Tendo (16) tomboy and the only one of his children that took up martial arts. You can see where this is going and the two characters wind up being engaged to their annoyance and soon begins the story of Ranma 1/2.
This show captivated my young heart with the animation, voice acting, and how it is portrayed on screen. It is slapstick and has serious moments due to having martial arts involved. At times it’s not to be taken seriously with how some episodes end as it is a one-off deal though there are points in the series when a new character is introduced that it follows a small arc that can go on for a few episodes that explore how Ranma can get out of the situation. At times the show can get serious though in the anime, especially in later seasons, the stakes aren’t really bad and it usually works out.
I have to say though the true aspect of this series can be explored in the OVA, which uses higher animation quality for the time and big events puppet/demon possession, dealing with the legendary phoenix, or winning back the Tendo dojo. That has some of the best development for some of the characters, especially Ranma and Akane respectively.
Now, you might be asking about the duo that the majority have screen time; do they love each other? Not at first as Ranma was arrogant and Akane can be too stubborn and hated boys though she is able to get over that mindset and treats Ranma casually as time passes.
There are also the dynamics of the other characters getting involved with the romance as it’s not smooth sailings; Ranma and Akane have their fair share of suitors that want their heart and as Pat Benatar says “love is a battlefield!”.
For Ranma, he has captured the eyes of the amazon Shampoo, Okayumiyaki cook Ukyo Kuonji, and the insane gymnast Kodachi Kuno. For various reasons, these three have claimed Ranma as their number one, and nothing will stand in their way! Though it’s worth noting Kodachi is really never there due to maybe not being popular, so it’s mostly Shampoo and Ukyo being in the forefront.
Akane, the former boy hater has caught the likings of Ryoga Hibiki, Ranma’s main rival and physically stronger than him, Tatawaki Kuno the upperclassman known as “The Blue Thunder of Furuinkin High” (his newest name he gave himself) and not a love rival but rival of Ranma to gain favor with Shampoo, Moose wielder of many weapons.
All of them have good qualities and bad at times however some characters have got some of the viewers’ attention and various coupling’s have happened in the Ranma 1/2 fandom. Honestly, we all know that it’s Ranma/Akane for life and I’m one of them, though I have seen in my years Ranma/Shampoo, Ranma/Ukyo, and Akane/Ryoga.
As mentioned Ranma 1/2’s narrative is wacky moments with Ranma and Akane or spotlight on another character that the two wind up in to help out and comment on the randomness of the plight. Though I can’t help but bring up some parts of the story that don’t have consequences as the world ending, for example when Ryoga develops a new technique that he learns from Cologne (Shampoo’s Great-Grandmother) the Shishi Hakudan (think of it like the beam attack you see Ryu and Ken use in Marvel vs. Capcom) that uses a person’s inner sadness or depression to fire a powerful beam and in Ryoga’s hands, it’s detrimental as the boy has a lot of inner turmoil and it was powerful enough to destroy an entire city for comedic purposes yet all is good by the next time we see anything so that’s why I say non-consequential.
There’s also a little leacher named Happosai who is the master of the Anything Goes School of martial arts and taught Genma and Soun in their younger days before sealing him away for his perversion. Happosai appears in season 2 (Anything Goes Martial Arts) and is a powerful figure with his speed and is antagonistic with Ranma and a troll with everyone else, especially if they are women as he is a panty thief. He’s either in the background or central in episodes at times and that’s all I’ll say about that annoying character.
The manga mostly follows a straightforward look from Volume 1 up to Volume 38 which the last few volumes are all about the rather serious deal with the Jusenkyo springs being vacant the only thing that can break Ranma and some other’s curses along with at some point Akane getting kidnapped and her own body used to make a new spring for deception purposes. Honestly, it makes sense if you read the manga, which I highly recommend.
In the anime it does follow elements from the manga however it also has one-and-done episodes for it and by the last few seasons it’s a slog fest in my opinion. What captured my imagination was the opening and ending theme songs; they hold a lot of memories for me when I was getting into the world of anime and singing the songs as best I could. Given it is in Japanese my pronunciations were off and tried to make something up to match the beat. Spoiler alert, I learned to sing some of the songs nicely even if the wording is kind of ab-libbed.
Even though the songs were great and melancholy the episodes associated with the later seasons (I’d say 5-7) were boring and even the last episode didn’t adapt the last arc of the manga, which has agency of Ranma admitting his feelings for Akane and her knowing what he said without saying it when brought up. The anime fell hard for an ending yet I don’t dislike it though it took 30 years to finally read what the proper ending was for all the loved and infamous characters.
I watched the anime in its dub format for most of the time except for the first movie which I rented from Hollywood Video and the only version they had and I have no complaints in either version though I’m inclined to the dub as it was done by Ocean Studio’s in Canada and mostly Canadian’s VA did the characters.
For instance, Venus Tenzo voiced girl-type Ranma after the first VA was replaced due to fan complaints and it actually sounds better with her in it. Willow Johnson had her start in this series as Kasumi and would go on to voice Kikyo in Inuyasha. Cathy Weseluck voices Shampoo with a kind of “simplified” speech in the dub as she’s Chinese learning Japanese and for English speakers almost broken English though it’s explained she didn’t have enough time to study the language though it’s interesting that she didn’t do it after arriving.
Kelly Sheridan also comes in the third season voicing Ukyo Kuounji and also voices Sango in Inuyasha as well. Richard Ian Cox voices Ranma in seasons 4-7 for the remaining series and goes on to voice Inuyasha. The first voice actor for Ranma was Sarah Strange who can be heard in seasons 1-3, the OVA’s, and the movies and I will admit, I still use her voice as Ranma’s one as I’m more used to it and Richard’s took time to get used to for the hot-head character. The one to voice Akane was Myriam Sirois and I really enjoy it. She’s mostly heard doing the preview’s for the next episode and there’s so much fun involved, at least for me.
Ryoga is voiced by Michael Donovan who I recall was Sage Date in Ronin Warriors. Another one that stands out is Mousse voiced by Brad Swaile known for playing Quatre Rebarber Winner in Gundam Wing and most famously/infamously Light in Death Note’s dubbed version.
Here’s a fun deal, in the OVA series the opening and the endings are sung by the Japanse Seiriyu (voice actors) of the characters, and I, was always hooked to hear them sing. The group is known as DoCo and has Ranma (female), Akane, Shampoo, Kasumi, and Nabiki. I am forever amazed that Ukyo never made the cut!
The songs had a special deal for me as I had no idea they were the opening and ending themes for the half of the series as the production of the VHS had only two openings and endings for the series and those were added as a bonus for the tapes in like the last 5 or 6 volumes. When I watched it for the first time on DVD or Blu-ray I learned that it was cut back in its original format like how that had in Japan so I learned something new even though I’m a life-long fan.
One big deal for me is that in the sub-female Ranma is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara, a famous singer and voice actress for her various roles in anime like Lina Inverse from Slayers, and Rei Ayanami in Neon Genesis Evangelion to name a few.
This last bit gets a little personal on the matter of why I love Ranma 1/2; while I was a kid and learned of this series, Ranma had a quality to him that I really wanted to have; being fit, kind of witty, and could kick butt. I looked up to him as my Shonen protagonist deal while others picked the mid-tier ones like Goku or Vegeta from DBZ for example, Ranma just had a simpler deal to him.
He is a jerk and kind of a prude and shameless at points (I’m not those things though I do have bad days like anyone and can be a jerk) though he has a kind heart at the bottom of all his negative traits and honestly that’s what captured me. He is not flawless, all of the characters have traits that lead to the mania of the series yet when things do get serious (really there are points when it does and it’s wonderful to see) it always makes me feel I’m a kid again enjoying a medium which made me happy.
The love and care Ranma and Akane had are apparent though neither would ever admit it and given the clues sprinkled in the story and show (again those OVA’s go and watch) and not shown by the end of the anime, it is there in actions and temperament. Though Ranma calls Akane “uncute” and she him “a pervert”, they would never walk away from each other and have helped each other numerous times. I’d say given both personal deals regarding upbringing on both fronts, Ranma and Akane are an ideal match and it’s a very beautiful deal when it happens.
Ranma’s father is negligent and crooked and though he is decent once in a while, he is downright awful as a parent. Declaring that Ranma will be a “man among men” to his wife, the mother of Ranma named Nodoka, that if he’s not then they would commit seppuku (suicide) with Nodoka being the one to do it and she went along with this hair brain scheme of his. All this took place as soon as Ranma was born and even though he is heir to one part of the anything-goes school of martial arts, it’s rather shameful to deny Ranma an upbringing with his own mother and to get the social skills needed for schooling and the like. It is mentioned that Ranma did go to school at random as a kid and middle school though it’s not known if it was for a semester or a year.
On Akane’s end, she is the baby sister of the family to Tendo’s late wife and she is dead by the time the series starts up for about a decade. Kasumi and Nabiki have memories of her and not much of Akane. She lacks the feminine charm in terms of cooking, which she dislikes, and has tried but it always fails due to her own failings of not being patient and the like. Soun trains in the martial arts as a way of an outlet and she are happy being an heir to the Tendo training hall, though her fighting prowess is below Ranma, Ryoga, Shampoo, and others but she is not to be underestimated.
The two really match each other and through all the name-calling and misunderstandings, they will always be there for one another.
I could go into detail on the abilities of the characters yet I feel that would take away what you can learn by watching/reading the material. There are Ki-based attacks however it has rarely been shown. I know that it appears in the manga to a greater degree, in the second film and apparently in a season of the show but it was a one-and-done kind of deal from what I gathered. While Ryoga uses the Shishi Hakudan, Ranma uses Moko Takabisha, which uses his upbeat and confidence to wield. An added note the games also use these techniques. Ranma can also use the Hiryu Shoten-Ha which the user uses cool air (has to remain calm and cool) as he starts jumping around in a spinning formation like a twister as the opponent uses their heat (anger/strong emotion) as a source to clash and the user does an uppercut to send the enemy flying in a twister of ice or wind.
That was used in the 4th season and first movie. It’s sad these haven’t been seen constantly, I’d think it be a more stand-out show as active and not just known for a boy turning into a girl with cold water and hot water to return however it’s slapstick.
Anything else I should add? The place the show takes place is in Nerima, Japan, and in this universe all the shenanigans that occur, the people that live there just accept and treat it as normal, which itself is funny.
I think that’s all I’ll say to wind down. Ranma 1/2 has been a strong deal for me and I treat it with a lot of respect and spite that not many anime fans nowadays don’t know or choose not to, it’s one of the crucial shows for getting into anime.
Here’s to you Ranma 1/2.
Take care!
jmr1022 blog 