Title - Ranma 1/2
Alternative title(s) - Ranma Nibun no Ichi
Genre(s) - Martial arts action, ren'ai and comedy
Every single anime and manga fan from North America and elsewhere must know what this series is. If you have no idea what this series is, what I am about to introduce to you is one of the most talked about series ever. Ever!
"Ranma 1/2" started out as a 1986 manga by Takahashi Rumiko-sensei. The anime came out shortly after. There are 160 plus television episodes with some OVA’s and a couple of movies.
Saotome Ranma is a 16-year-old boy who was training with Genma, his father, one time in China. As they were training, they both fell into the Jusenkyo springs. It is said that the springs are cursed. Certain creatures drowned in them. A panda bear and a cute girl once drowned in those springs a long time ago.
Since Ranma and Genma fell into the springs, they both carry a curse. Whenever Genma touches cold water, he turns into a panda and when Ranma touches cold water, he turns into a girl. To change back to their normal selves, they must touch warm water, but that’s only temporarily, as the curse stays with them. This is why the title is called “Ranma 1/2”.
As Ranma and Genma return to Japan, Genma and his friend, Tend
Soun, have
a discussion about the Tend dojo. To keep the tradition going, Ranma has
to marry one of the three Tend daughters. There’s Kasumi, the eldest at
19 and the maid of the house, there’s (my favorite character) Nabiki, the
middle daughter at 17 and the real money hungry girl and finally, there’s
the youngest daughter, Akane, at 16. So the fathers get Ranma and Akane
together, but the problem is that Akane is so much of a tomboy and she hates
guys. Thankfully, Ranma is able to turn into a girl.
Oh! I’m not done talking about the mess. There are other characters as well. Some of them want to make sure they get the person they want. Various girls are after Ranma and various guys are after Akane as well. Want more? Let’s throw in, oh, an old martial arts master who is also a real pervert. There are so many zany characters overall in this series.
"Ranma 1/2" is the big name seiy
’s anime. What I mean by this is that many of
the big name seiy are known because of this series. You have Doco, the
group of various female "Ranma 1/2" seiy who sang various songs in the series.
Here is the list of the members in Doco with some comments.
Hayashibara Megumi-sama - Ranma-chan - "Ranma 1/2" is the series that made people
notice her. Originally, Megumi-sama wanted to be Akane, but she ended up
as Ranma-chan. What can I say? She is the queen of seiy, during the 1990’s.
Hidaka Noriko-sama - Akane - Well, she’s Akane’s seiy. Since then, she went
on to have several well-known roles of her own.
Sakuma Rei-sama - Xian Pu - She played as a Chinese girl named Xian Pu, or Shampoo if you don’t know, Akane’s rival and one of the girls who wants to marry Ranma. She also went on to have several well-known roles of her own.
Inoue Kikuko-sama - Kasumi - Ah, “Osakana” or the merry little fish. (Word
has it that she was a fish in her past life.) Anyway, it is because of Kikuko-sama’s
role here as Kasumi that she got the nickname, “Onee-chan”. She went on to become
one of the most popular seiy ever.
Takayama Minami-sama - Nabiki - Ever since she played as Nabiki, she has had a few well known-roles of her own. In terms of her seiy career, many people will remember her as the seiy who played as Nabiki. Now these days, they know
her as one of the halves of Two Mix, a very popular music group who went
on to sing songs, not only on Japanese radio, but in various anime series
as well.
There is also a dubbed Doco group, but I won’t get into that. What else?
This is the series Yamaguchi Kappei-san made his debut as Ranma-kun. Hibiki
Ryga, Ranma’s rival, is one of Yamadera Kichi-san’s earliest roles. Many
people know Tsuru Hiromi-sama as the seiy of Kuonji Uky, Ranma’s childhood
friend and Akane’s rival, who will do anything to marry Ranma. Some people
will know Tma Yumi-sama as the seiy of Ninomiya Hinako, the English teacher.
I can go on and on, but I think that will be too much.
Fun - 7
Zany, zany, zany! That’s what "Ranma 1/2" is. The series has so much comedy. Whether you see Happosai being a pervert or Akane being the Dr. Jack Kevorkian of cooking or in other words, you would have her prepared food kill someone, you have a series that is so flat out funny.
Of course, besides that big fat flaw I have stated already, the manga is better than the anime in many cases. There’s more development there than here. The series can be a bit too long. Other than that, there’s not much else to rant about here.
Life - 7
It’s a good series to keep in the long run, but then again, there are those flaws to worry about.
Story - 3
If there is a flaw that hurts "Ranma 1/2" in the long run, it’s the fact that it lacks a sincere story. For a series like this, it is supposed to have a real bold story. Unfortunately, that’s what "Ranma 1/2" in general does not have. True, "Ranma 1/2" has a lot of comedy, but that’s about it.
Audio - 8
In terms of the original, the audio is real good. I have mentioned so much
about the seiy already. The music is really poppy and it really does bring
the spirit of the series. No doubt about that.
The dub is a question mark. Now, it has been about three years since I last saw the dub, but I can say that there are some characters I question here. I haven’t heard any songs from the dubbed Doco group though.
Art - 10
Wow! For a series that has been out for a long time, it looks straight up
good. Each of the Tend sisters look good. Yes, even Akane. The character designs
have a lot of spirit. Yeah, I know about how the art quality can vary from time to time, but then again, this is an old series.
Overall - 7
If you can get past the flaws, then "Ranma 1/2" is a series to get! Otherwise, the series is questionable for you. It all depends on what you can tolerate.
+
The art, the original version, this is a hilarious series.
-
The dub is a question mark, the series can be a bit too long, the manga is way better overall and the weak story or the lack of a sincere story prevents the series from getting a higher score. “All comedy and no story,” is the best way to describe the series in general.
Date of creation - 3/28/03
Last update - 8/10/04