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Ranma 1/2 | |
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Episodes Seen: Vols 1-9 (first season), Darling Charlotte, It's Fast or It's Free, Cat-Fu Fighting, Chestnuts on an Open Fire, Cold Competition, Goodbye Girl-Type (second season), Suddenly Sasuke, Pretty Womanhood (third season), Desperately Seeking Shampoo (OVA), Like Water for Ranma (OVA), Akane and Her Sisters (OVA), One Grew Over the Kuno's Nest (OVA), Big Trouble in Nekonron, China (MOVIE), Nihao My Concubine (MOVIE) |
A Quick Little Overview: Ranma 1/2 is a simple little story of boy meets girl, boy becomes girl when splashed with water. Okay so maybe it's not so simple. Ranam is a young martial artist who went on a training expedition in China and subsequently fell into a cursed spring that turns him into a girl when splashed with cold water, he can become male again by dousing himself with hot water. Returning to Japan with his father he meets up with Akane Tendo, tomboy and his new fiancee. They don't hit it off to say the least. Add in half a dozen more fiancees for both of them all with their own wacky martail arts technique (Martial Arts Rythmic Gymnastics, anyone?) and you've got one crazy romantic comedy. |
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What's to Love: Ranma 1/2 is funny! Besides all the crazy curses (people swap genders, become various animals, fall victim to ancient Chinese spells) there are the absolutely insane martial art techniques (Everything from Martial Art Rythimic Gymnastics to Martial Art Take-out Delivery). Then we have all the strange ways people get betrothed to each other, interfering parents, trial by battle and knocking some one off a roof to name a few... The romance of the series is nicely integrated as well. Never intrusive or too sweet, it strikes just the right cord making the characters extremely likeable and endearing. The animation is excellent and extremely detailed, as are the characters. Those strange martial arts moves might be kooky but they are extremely pleasing to the eye. Also first-rate are the voices, both in the dub and in the original. No flat or wooden readings in the dub, and no super screechy high pitched voices in the sub. |
What's to Hate: This is not a series that you can just jump into anywhere. You pretty much have to start at the begining and go from there. If you miss a chunk you might get lost. Suddenly there is a new fiancee, a new technique, a new villian, a new curse. Some strange new connection has been forged between characters and you are left in the dark. And even if you don't miss any you have to keep track of the whose fianceed to who, who wants to be fianceed to who, who hates whos guts and who has friendly rivalry going with who (and just why does Ranma freak out when he sees a cat??). It can all get very confusing. The cast is huge in this anime and there are very few one-shot characters. This is not a "newbie" friendly series. |
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What's the Final Say: This series is excellent, just about every aspect of this anime is crafted well. The humor can't be beat, the romance is tender, and voices and animation are consistantly good. The only thing that keeps this from getting a masterpiece rating (and it was close) is its top heavy cast. Unless you see this anime from the begining you're gonna get confused, you'll probably enjoy yourself but you'll miss some of the humor. | |
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Rating: A+ (if you see it from the beginning) , B if you don't. | |
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