Ranma ½

Title:Ranma ½
Ranma ½ Nettôhen
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Notables: AKAHORI Satoru
AMANO Yuri
DAICHI Akitaro
HAYASHIBARA Megumi
INOUE Kazuhiko
INOUE Kikuko
KOYASU Takehito
OBAYASHI Ryunosuke
Original Concept - TAKAHASHI Rumiko
SEKI Toshihiko
TAKAYAMA Minami
TORIYAMA Akira
YAMADERA Kouichi
YAMAGUCHI Kappei
Saotome Ranma is a boy with a problem. He is cursed so that whenever cold water hits him, he turns into a young red haired girl. Further complicating maters is that his father Genma has arranged for Ranma to marry one of the daughters of Tendou Souun, his former training companion. Of the daughters Kasumi (the sweet one and homemaker), Nabiki (the scheming one), and Akane (the violent one), Akane is chosen to be Ranma's bride.

Genma is also cursed from his training with Ranma at Jusenkyo, a training ground in China filled with cursed springs. When he is splashed with cold water, he turns into a panda. But they aren't alone. It seems there are many others who have run into this father-son combo who've also fallen into one of the cursed springs at Jusenkyo. Not only that, but Genma has also engaged Ranma to be married to several girls. What's Ranma to do? And will he and Akane ever hook up?
[18 + 143 TV episodes (161 total episodes) covering TWO series. The first series is Ranma 1/2 (18-episodes, 1-season) and the second series is Ranma 1/2 Nettôhen (143-episodes, 6-seasons).]

2:48min Music Video Baka! - YouTube Video
[edit] The ↗Ranma franchise:
Episode Details 
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 6 5 6 5 5 5 Ggultra2764 [series:39#1552]
I've heard from enough folks over Ranma 1/2 being one of Rumiko Takahashi's most famous works and finally worked up the nerve to see what all the fuss was about getting all 161 episodes to the series (or 18 + 143 if you know they are two separate TV anime). Suffice to say, I don't really get what all the hype to the series is about since it has a good deal of issues I took notice of throughout its rather long run.

As the entirety of Ranma 1/2 is actually two TV titles, both carry with them different storytelling approaches and levels of quality to them. The first series appeared to have a more ongoing storyline as there was building developments with the characters Ranma interacted with and the introduction of new characters he confronted took place over the span of several episode arcs. While Ranma's cross-gender gimmick was milked for comedy at a number of points, the first series still created a balance of comical and serious moments with Ranma seeking a means to cure his curse, handling his relationship with Akane and dealing with the various rivals that get in his way. Due to low ratings however, the first series was abruptly cancelled and the second one took over for the rest of its TV run. The second series is more gag comedy driven and episodic in developments to a great extent. While having some developments with more characters introduced, it does not offer much in terms of advancement for the established character relationships in the series and advancement drags to a halt as many episodes felt more like filler. Also, much of the comedy in the series did not really grab my interest as it relied heavily on slapstick, perversion and the obnoxious or self-absorbed traits of many of its characters as such where I found myself struggling at a number of points just to press on with the series and it gets repetitious in a hurry since the same gags kept getting hammered for Ranma 1/2's 161-episode run.

In terms of visuals, Ranma 1/2 is on par with other early 90s anime titles with having low-budget animation with its washed-out backgrounds, minimalist details and plain-looking character designs. Animation shortcuts are liberally used throughout the series thanks to its long episode length, though the ridiculous fighting styles employed by some characters (tea ceremonies, skating, gymnastics, etc...) lend to some fun choreography at points despite the show's penchant for reusing many of its gags.

Overall, I just don't get why Ranma 1/2 is considered a classic by many anime fans. The show runs into quite a bit of filler that hampers its plot development (which I would assume is due to the anime surpassing its manga source material in plot as Inuyasha suffered), relies too heavily on the same annoying comedic gags and not offering enough fleshing out of its characters to know them beyond whatever character archetypes they are milking. Suppose your mileage may vary on how you warm to Ranma's comedy, especially if you've seen enough anime for a decade-plus as I have to see all the typical comedic gags that it milks.

Last updated Saturday, June 18 2016. Created Saturday, June 18 2016.
Buy Jan-Chan [series:39#967]
And some might ask why did I rate this series a BUY? Well I do own the entire series, but also if you have not seen this title, then you need to put it on your must-watch list. (At least for the first two seasons.)

Be warned that this series is older and you probably have seen many of the gags and jokes in other stories. Ranma 1/2 should best be considered a classic which has been parodied and copied many times. But being older also means that it is possible to find this series in a streaming format.

Last updated Sunday, June 06 2010. Created Tuesday, October 27 2009.
Rent 8 8 9 8 7 6 MIAddit [series:39#1227]
With so many reviews on this site. You'll know lots of people like this. so here's my quick 2 cents.
1) Read the manga. It's better.
2) This anime was finished 2 years before the manga was. A lot of the stories weren't transfered from manga. With lack of materials and animator doesn't want to contradict the undrawn manga with new stories, the last 2 seasons are filled with revisted old characters from the previous seasons with basically the same themes and plots with exception of a few episodes. And there was at least 4 clip shows I can remember where the whole episode is just flash backs, lazy animators..... Also most episode fall into this formula:
Someone found/did something that cause trouble for the cast. After everything is settled, not a single lesson is learnt and that someone is doing it all over again.
With that said, the 1st 2 seasons are without a doubt fresh, funny and well-drawn anime with good solid characters.
3) Read the manga.

Last updated Tuesday, February 17 2004. Created Tuesday, February 17 2004.
Buy 10 10 10 10 10 10 Ranma-Akane Fan [series:39#1169]
Well Believe it or not Ranma is the perfect series for me. I mean Characters were so perfect. I was actually in love with Akane. Well Ranma is the perfect anime series to laugh,cry and laugh.... you will never get bored. I love this Series

Last updated Tuesday, January 20 2004. Created Tuesday, January 20 2004.
Buy 6 6 7 8 9 Tom [series:39#1086]
First off, this is a fairly long anime, and is VERY different from the manga. The story is about Ranma Saotome, a martial artist who falls into a cursed spring and becomes a girl when hit with cold water, and hot water turns him into a boy again. He ends up making more enemies and having more fiances than should be legal, and there is never a shortage of really great (and really weird) martial arts action.
That being said, I also want to state that this anime can also be pretty lame at times. I think that the first three seasons are simply incredible, then it goes down hill from there (or jumping the shark, as I heard someone say once). Season four and five are decent, but six and seven are bad. How bad, you ask? Well, some sceens look like they were hand drawn with crayolas at times, and they deviant so much from the manga that it's not even funny (and worst of all, martial arts becomes a secondary thing and we focus on Ranma and Akane yelling at each other).
Go and watch the first season, I'm sure you'll love it, my favorite spot is when Ranma fights the rich man's body guards to rescue P-chan (it's a pretty good fight, even if it is short)!

Last updated Sunday, November 30 2003. Created Sunday, November 30 2003.
Buy 7 6 10 8 10 8 Buzze [series:39#1034]
I guess everything is said allready, but here goes:
This is the serie that got me hooked on anime and manga. I've seen the first 6 seizons, and some of seizon 7, and have read the entire manga collection.
What makes Ranma so good? It's not the art or the animation. There are lots of better ones (and even more worse, for that matter.) It's Rumiko's way of telling a story.
People have worked on this serie, and it shows. The music is good, the sound is good and the manga is great. The art is kept simple, which makes it easy to look at. And the story is quite original. Sometimes I wonder how they make this stuff up.
The serie is quite long, but doesn't become boring because new characters keep showing up and noone, not even one of them can be considered normal. Every character has one or more screws loose!
And how many types of martial arts can you get? Martial arts delivery, martial arts thea ceremony ...
There are some downsides though. The first few seizons, the art and story kept pretty close to the original manga. But later on, the art changes and some stories are new or changed so much from the original it became worse. The anime also focusses more on Ryoga for instance, Ukyo and Shampoo don't show up in the story with miss Hinako, ...
The only sad thing in Ranma 1/2 is Akane. At first, she practises some serious martial arts (and the boys at school can testify that), but later on she turns in some helpless girl that relies on her boyfriend (unless she gets mad enough!) and she keeps getting kidnapped.
Anyway, it's a great show all in all and for those who haven't read the manga: give it a try!
Best character: Genma and Soun
Best moment: Ranma explaining Soun how he lost the dojo to the gamling king.

Last updated Saturday, October 18 2003. Created Saturday, October 18 2003.
Buy dhrachth [series:39#962]
I'm saying buy, because you should have some of the series in your collection, but you probably don't want all of it.
It's a straight comedy with a little romance added in and a good number of episodes are extremely funny, at least to start with. Then things start getting a little repetitive, then a lot repetitive, and then it's just not very good. Even in the seasons on the downward slope, there are some good episodes, but you'd have to slog through the boring stuff to get to them.

Last updated Thursday, September 11 2003. Created Thursday, September 11 2003.
Rent 7 7 9 7 6 7 AstroNerdBoy [series:39#436]

This show was brand new when I moved to Japan in 1989. Even though I wasn't into anime back then, seeing a giant panda drinking tea and doing other wacky things did seem funny. Fast-forward to today. Having enjoyed Inuyasha, I decided to start renting the series. While the series starts off strong, it finishes very weak.

The first two seasons of Ranma 1/2 are a "Buy" and have many laugh-out-loud episodes. We get introduced to nearly all of the huge cast of supporting characters during this time including the ultra-annoying and usless Happosai, the tiny old man who steals girls underwear for his "collection". More on that later. Despite him, the first two seasons work pretty well. With everything new and fresh, it is no wonder most everyone enjoys this part of the series.

Season three starts the drop off in the series. While still good, the weaker episodes come from the writers having to depart from the manga in order to produce an episode. However, we are introduced to Ukyo (U-chan) who is a favorite fiancee character of mine. By season five, the series has fallen off considerably with few laughs and the antics of the cast getting seriously old, especially those of Happosai. Gah! I suppose he is supposed to be funny, but he never was. Stealing underwear isn't funny.

Season 6 sees a slight upturn in the series with a few more laughs, but not many more. Season 7 is the farewell season, and it was bad. Man, I was mostly bored by the time we got to this point. The writers drug up uninteresting characters from previous episodes where Ranma-tachi meets various weird martial artists. By this time I'm so sick of seeing Ranma and Akane not progress beyond a certain point. Just when a tiny amount of progress is made, the reset button is hit and they go back to the status quo. And the same can be said for all of the other characters. Akane not getting that Ryoga was P-chan was annoying. Ryoga not being able to confess to Akane outright was annoying. Tofu-sensei (who was all but dropped after season 1) getting all flustered over Kasumi was annoying. Ranma-tachi being "stuck in time" for seven years was annoying. And of course the evil Happosai was always annoying.

You know, Happosai could have been more interesting had he had a running conflict with Cologne, Shampoo's grandmother. The show wouldn't have become so stale had the cast been allowed to grow. But we can't have that because then that would change the nature of the beast. So instead, we keep getting introduced to increasingly more bizarre folks in a feeble attempt to keep the series fresh. It doesn't work because the outcome is so blasted predictable. Because of this, the length of the series becomes a serious liability.

Bottom line: overall, I give this a "Rent" with the first two seasons being "Buy". I understand the manga is much better than the anime. I'll have to check that out.

Last updated Sunday, July 18 2004. Created Monday, June 09 2003.

Avoid 5 3 7 6 3 3 -picasso- [series:39#675]
It's nonsense, a boy who turn into a girl with huge breast when he's confrontated with water ...
senseless ... like the whole story

Last updated Sunday, May 04 2003. Created Sunday, May 04 2003.
Buy 6 7 9 10 9 BigPants [series:39#243]
*Note: This review is only based on the complete first season.*
Meet Ranma. He's your over-average martial artist. He can also turn into a girl with cold water. Well, then again, half of the cast can turn into something with cold water, and back with hot water. It's wacky, I tells ya!
Ranma 1/2 has one of the craziest casts of characters I've ever seen. Man-of-action Ranma, tomboy Akane, greedy Nabiki, wordsmith Kuno Tatewaki, deadly Shampoo, crybaby Soun Tendo, simple-minded Kasumi, and so on. Not only does every character have a distinct trait, but pretty much every character is involved in some sort of love triangle. You can only imaging the amount of suitors Ranma has being both, male and female.
The art is rather average, but it's rather unique still just like its great character design. The only thing I don't like about the characters (when I'm paying attention to it anyway), is the poofiness of the characters hair (dumb thing to point out, I know).
The music ROCKS. Then again, the Japanese voice cast is really good too and they can all sing (Nabiki's voice actress is the singer for Two-Mix, Ranma is Megumi Hayashibara (enough said there) and don't forget Kasumi, or, Inoue Kikuko from the Goddess Family). They don't sing ALL of the songs from the show, but a good portion of them.
Anyway, I HIGHLY reccommend the first season of Ranma 1/2. New fan or an old fan, this is one of the shows that EVERYBODY needs to see.

Last updated Thursday, December 13 2001. Created Thursday, December 13 2001.
Buy Robbie [series:39#192]
What can I say about this series? The only thing I can possibly say is that it one of the best anime series out there! Ranma 1/2 is an addicting anime that can instantly get you hooked after watching only a few episodes. I mean it has everything in it: romance, comedy, adventure, martial arts, drama etc.
The storyline, which can be a little confusing at first, is simply pure gold in anime. The fact that people change into different things with a splash of cold water makes out for a very magical and fun adventure. All the different plots lines make an extremely interesting and exciting series!
Ranma 1/2 definatly is a classic and is highly recommended!
The 1st season boxset is now available on DVD and at a "retail" price of $99.99, it's a bargain compared to the price of buying the VHS boxset! ($200 for VHS, that's crazy!)

Last updated Saturday, July 06 2002. Created Saturday, July 21 2001.
Rent 5 5 7 5 7 5 Mark Clifton [series:39#126]
With a total of 161 episodes (Both Ranma 1/2 [18] and Ranma 1/2 Nettôhen [143]), this is one of the longer anime series to checkout. It is an excellent comedy and is hilarious to watch... for a while.
After the first two seasons, the series takes a slump from after Ukyo Kuonji is introduced till Pantyhose Taro enters the series. It gets boring when Ranma must enter every Martial Arts Tournament that seems to fall on his lap. And most are basic repeats from the last... The bad guys or gals always use tricks to win while Ranma uses Kuno as a shield. But luckily the series gets finally better in the last season when it again (like the first two seasons) deals with Ranma and Company learning new tricks and skills as well as introducing better characters.
Don't try to get every Ranma episode, unless your rich. The must haves in my opinion are the first two seasons and the very last... everything in between you should just watch. Don't worry if you decide not to watch all those episodes, the storyline doesn't change till the seventh anyway.

Last updated Wednesday, May 09 2001. Created Wednesday, May 09 2001.
Rent 5 5 7 6 Black Panther [series:39#142]
Ok, when i first started watching this anime i thought is was soooo dumb, but it grows on you by the 2nd or 3rd maybe even by the end of the first tape you are hooked!!!! Good anime, NOT FOR KIDS!!!!! Very good character plots and even better romance. Its does go round and round, but it always keeps you wanting more and wondering "WHEN WILL THEY GET TOGETHER!!!" Very good comedy and always a fun story line! The nudity I could very well live with out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last updated Tuesday, February 20 2001. Created Tuesday, February 20 2001.
Buy 6 6 9 CatWoman [series:39#65]
Sigh, I really thought this was weird when I started watching it! But it is SOOOOO addicting!!!!! The story line is fun and the romance is sweet (still weird but really REALLY sweet!) The comedy is great! But the nudity is BAD (though none of it is sexual, he just has no female modesty!)! DO NOT WATCH THIS WITH KIDS! (If not for the nudity, for the fact they would be so screwed up after watching this!) And if you want to stay away from nudity, don't start watching this series! You will have a very hard time stopping! But I must say that it does get A LOT better about that as the series goes on, *smile* and they change Ranma into a girl less and less, witch is nice too!

Last updated Tuesday, January 08 2002. Created Friday, February 09 2001.
Buy 7 5 9 7 Midnighter [series:39#94]
The first season of Ranma is one of the funniest peices of anime ever made. With lovable characters, smart-ass writing, and a demonically catchy theme song, Ranma is just all around great fun. Unfortunately the actual animation is only fair to good (though it does improve in later seasons.) The stories, while servicale are nothing special, and it does become cliched and even forced at times, but the dialogue always crackles. This is one of the few animes in which the dub is actually far superior.
The characters are excellent, from Akane Ranma's reluctant fiance to Genma, Ranma's father who turns into a Panda(!), unfortunately, as the series goes on, more and more characters are introduced, most of them annoying or just plain stupid. Still, the first season is a fun and surprisingly good time-passer.

Last updated Tuesday, December 12 2000. Created Tuesday, December 12 2000.
Rent 7 6 5 4 7 7 Kaneda [series:39#87]
Well to start off I would have to say the Ranma is one of the staples in the diet of most good animefans. Even if you havent deined to watch it yet you have most likely have heard of it at one point or another. Ranma is one of those infamous animes that stcik out in the mind when it comes to true anime, along with Akira, and Ninja Scroll, and all some of the animes for yougers Generations such as Dragonballz and smoon. My personal opinon is that it is extremely mediocre, its a good starter for anime fans, it has a good mixture of action, comedy, and nudity, however for the true fan theres a lot better stuff out there, however on the flip side theres also a lot worse stuff. All in all id suggest this as a renter for anyone interested into getting into anime but as you get deeper into the gnre it will begin getting lamer and lamer.

Last updated Monday, November 20 2000. Created Monday, November 20 2000.
Buy 6 6 9 7 9 9 Courtney [series:39#80]
I cannot believe no one has reviewed RANMA 1/2 yet! Oh well, probably because it's just redundant at this point since RANMA is just one of those names that comes up in most anime discussions and any fanboy worth their salt at least knows of it.
To entertain the idea that some people might just not know because they're new to the anime game (no one blames you, we were all there once)you could do a lot worse when it comes to comedy than RANMA 1/2. Usually the stories are painfully funny in a slapstick kind of way and the dialogue is very snappy itself. There seems to be no end in the parade of neuratic characters that are loveable (or just damn obnoxious!) in their own way. My only warning is that sometimes it can get a little dragged out because of the love octagons, slow learning curve of the characters, deja-vu like scenarios, and the "will they/won't they" feel. But as annoying as this all might be it also is the charm, soul, and general reason to keep up with RANMA 1/2. As repeatitive as it can seem Rumiko Takahachi(the series creator) has yet to run out of new angle to approach an old subject and clever ways to exploit her characters. In so many words, it's nevery really the same thing the second (or 11th) time around.
I'd recommend for people to have some basic knowledge of the characters and storyline before going in otherwise you'll be really confused and won't get a fair feel for the show. Read the mangas (funny, funny, funny) if you can or just cruise the web and get an idea of what you're going to watch before you watch it. I recommend starting with the OAVs or movies. The animation is just lovely and the stories are really clever (though it's a painful transition back into the animation of the TV series...shudder...) Basically do your homework, kids, and you get more out of the class.
RANMA is best described as a love it or leave it anime. You can still be an anime fan without being a Ranma fan and any reasonable person won't tell you otherwise. I think it's a great show and I still laugh at episodes I've seem a couple of times before. It's fun and goofy, don't look for a deeper meaning than that and you might end up loving this show that has a lot of fans under its banner. Not a must see, but you should give it a chance.

Last updated Wednesday, September 27 2000. Created Wednesday, September 27 2000.
Buy 4 4 9 7 10 The Coyote [series:39#64]
Well after actually sitting down and watching this I found it very addicting the caracter interaction is very good if you like romantic anime this is a classic. The more I watch it the more I want to see. how do they keep it interesting? ya got me but they do it splendidly. Actully the charaters are some of the best anime has to offer Ranma is just that good folks it could go on forever. (and it dose)

Last updated Tuesday, December 04 2001. Created Saturday, September 02 2000.

Other Sites
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IMDB http://us.imdb.com/Title?%22Ranma+1/2%22+(1989)
Ranma 1/2 Perfect Edition http://www.furinkan.com

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