"Ranma 1/2" (2024) Series Talkback (Spoilers)

Yojimbo

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Ranma 1/2 (2024)

Season One


ranma2024.jpg


Akane Tendo meets her new fiancé, Ranma Saotome, a martial arts prodigy with a twist: he magically transforms into a girl upon touching cold water.

Starring: Kappei Yamaguchi, Megumi Hayashibara, Noriko Hidaka

Episode 1 "Here's Ranma" - October 5, 2024
Tendo Dojo master Soun eagerly awaits the arrival of his old friend Genma Saotome and Genma's son Ranma. Instead, a teen girl and a giant panda show up.

Start Dates
-Sub: October 5, 2024
-English Dub: To Be Announced

External Links
-Netflix page

Related Links
-Ranma 1/2 (2024) News & Discussion
 

Classic Speedy

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I watched the premiere last night. It hit many of the same story beats as the original series premiere but it had enough differences that I didn't feel like I was wasting my time.

Dub-wise, it's going to be hard to fill Myriam Soris's shoes as Akane, but Valeria Rodriguez was a pretty good replacement. As for (boy) Ranma, it feels like they're going for a mix of Sarah Strange's and Richard Ian Cox's portrayals. Girl Ranma by Suzie Yeung was fine, no real complaints. Nabiki by Stephanie Sheh had more range than the old one, who was largely one-note, emotion-wise.

Great animation. But what was with the Barbie doll anatomy at the end of the episode? Was it censored for Netflix or did they actually animate it like that? And if the latter, why? The old series didn't do that. Whatever, it's not a deal breaker but it's odd.

Curious to hear from those who never watched the old show think of the new one.
 
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Golden Geek

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Great animation. But what was with the Barbie doll anatomy at the end of the episode? Was it censored for Netflix or did they actually animate it like that? And if the latter, why? The old series didn't do that. Whatever, it's not a deal breaker but it's odd.

It looks like an intentional choice, though I'm not sure why. Over the past few decades, the anime industry has become very accustomed to the Western way of thinking of "a whole boob is acceptable, but the nipple is indecent."
 

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Another one of Rumiko Takahashi's iconic series returns with phenomenal modern production values, only this time they brought back as much of the OG cast as possible !

The OP is pretty fitting! It won't beat the OG OP but it fits the show as a gender-bending, martial arts, Harem romcom with as many zany, madcap, antics with a colorful and quirky cast as you could expect! And it's just fun!

We return again to the Tenou household where the patriarch (now voiced by Akio Ohtsuka) receives word from his old friend that marrying off his daughters is back on the table. And now...the Tenou sisters! The Big Sis Kasumi (who is such a Kikuko Inoue character she's literally 17!), the middle sister who is trendy, forward, and has amazing thighs Nabiki (Minami Takayama), and the youngest sister who is a feisty, devoted, martial arts girl with an aversion to men...Akane (Noriko Hidaka).

What better way to show off the shows' phenomenal new action animation than watching our "female lead" kick a panda's butt in the streets of Japan! Also Megumi Hayashibara sounds like she's barely aged a day since the original show.

I love how Nabiki just can't stop poking Ranma's boobs.

It's all so wholesome and fun after Ranma and Akane get a sparring session between them and grow closer as girls! I'm sure nothing will jeopardize this budding friendship! Like the fact that Ranma is actually a boy voiced as smoothly as ever by Kappei Yamaguchi.

I love Koichi Yamadera as the Chinese guide who would literally have avoided the whole plot if the Saotome's had just listened to him. Granted it probably would have helped if Ranma's dad (Mugihito because Genma's OG VA is now the narrator!) could actually read Chinese, but all he cares about is fighting his son.

Akane and Ranma are one of anime's most iconic will-they-or-won't-they pairings, and that's on full display as they bicker and call each other out and walk in on each other naked multiple times...despite feeling some kind of affection/affinity for each other.

The ED is pretty cute! Focused on Ranma and Akane together in their daily lives.
 

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I watched the premiere last night. It hit many of the same story beats as the original series premiere but it had enough differences that I didn't feel like I was wasting my time.

Dub-wise, it's going to be hard to fill Myriam Soris's shoes as Akane, but Valeria Rodriguez was a pretty good replacement. As for (boy) Ranma, it feels like they're going for a mix of Sarah Strange's and Richard Ian Cox's portrayals. Girl Ranma by Suzie Yeung was fine, no real complaints. Nabiki by Stephanie Sheh had more range than the old one, who was largely one-note, emotion-wise.

Great animation. But what was with the Barbie doll anatomy at the end of the episode? Was it censored for Netflix or did they actually animate it like that? And if the latter, why? The old series didn't do that. Whatever, it's not a deal breaker but it's odd.

Curious to hear from those who never watched the old show think of the new one.


I believe the show is airing on Japanese tv as well and depending on the timeslot, they might have intentionally did that to get pass the censors. Censorship standards in Japan have tighten up compared to the 80's and 90's.


Just finished watching the first episode and I loved it. While it does follow the first episode from the original series, there's stuff enough differences to make it different. It was great hearing the original Japanese VA's voicing the characters again. Also, while I'm still used to the original series design, I do like the new series colorful and bouncy design.

While I'm happy it's on Netflix, I'm saddened that it probably won't ever air on Toonami(especially since it looks like Netflix is doing the dub rather than Viz). This, Slayers and Escaflowne were the anime titles back then that should have aired on the original block. Of course unlike with Escaflowne where Toonami was outbid by FOX Kids, the original Ranma would have been hard to edit with the nudity(so many digital bikinis lol).
 

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I love that it takes in the 80's, it is authentic. Though there might be some story lines in which modern day technology would get in the way like being trapped in the same space.

I do hope we find a way to get a Inuyasha crossover maybe as a season ending special. How that would work I don't know, Kagomi would be a little girl or some time travel shenanigans.
 

Classic Speedy

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I binged the original series a year or two ago, as well as Maison Ikkoku. I'm not sure that I'm ready to watch the reboot yet.
Honestly, I don't blame you. It's very easy to get burnt out on a franchise if you binge them like that. Come back to it later, it's not going anywhere.
 

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I watched the premiere episode last night. I'm watching "new" anime shortly after it premieres! That's progress, for me! ;)

I watched the English version. The new voice actors have enough personality that even though they don't line up with their old voice actors, it still works (for me, anyway). Really, the only one not working for me is Mr. Tendo, that voice just can't match the great David Kaye (this was one of his first roles, he went on to better roles, most notably Megatron in some versions of the Transformers cartoon)

Speaking of Mr. Kaye, while he's no longer voicing Mr. Tendo, he does show up in this first episode (as the delivery driver handing the mail to Mr. Tendo at the start of the episode). It's kind of a noteworthy way to hand off to voice acting to the new cast.

I know I complained about the theme song in the "News and Discussion" thread, but it kinda grew on me. It matches the zaniness of the plot. Also, it seems the first episode largely mirrors the plot of the old first episode, (which made for a nice trip down memory lane). I'm wondering if later episodes will break up the story beats of the old series.

Great animation. But what was with the Barbie doll anatomy at the end of the episode? Was it censored for Netflix or did they actually animate it like that? And if the latter, why? The old series didn't do that. Whatever, it's not a deal breaker but it's odd.

My memory (which could be wrong) was that the old TV series was somewhat restrained on showing nipples (while it was the Ranma OAVs that showed everything). But I could be misremembering. Not that I think about the old show a lot in that regards (*whistles innocently*)

But I'm fine with it. The nudity in the old TV series was always done for comedy's sake, not for fan service (you can't say the same for the old OAVs and movies, where the harem aspect became more "Tenchi Muyo" in style).

Curious to hear from those who never watched the old show think of the new one.

I'd be curious as well, but I suspect most here watched the prior version.

EDIT: Just to go down memory lane, I started collecting Ranma on VHS in 1994 (while still in high school) and collected from Vol. 1 onward, including all of the OAVs and movies, and finally stopped around early 1998 (around the time they switched voice actors for male Ranma). I was in college by that point, and I could only afford collecting one series at a time, and I switched over to collecting the Ocean Dub Dragon Ball Z series in late 1997 or early 1998 (starting with Vol. 1 of that series). I collected the Dragon Ball Z series until 2001 (ending my collecting with the Frieza Saga on VHS). At that point (in 2001) I switched over to recording Dragon Ball Z on TV. Good times.

I collected many other OAV's and anime movies and mini-series (Bubblegum Crisis comes to mind) over the course of the 90's/early 2000's, but Ranma and Dragon Ball Z were the two series I attempted to faithfully buy when each one came out. EDIT: Oh, and "Magic Knight Rayearth". I owned most of that (though that was kinda a short TV series in comparison). I wanted to get into collecting "Slayers" anime TV series, but never got around to that one. I got the "Tenchi Muyo" OAVs, but never the Tenchi TV series.

This was back when anime on VHS could be combined together to form artwork (example: here and here.)

Also, around 2001 is when DVDs were truly taking off, so yeah, 2001 was right around when I stopped buying anime on VHS.
 
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Yojimbo

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Episode 2 "I Hate Men!"
On Ranma's first day at Furinkan High School, a group of boys — including the sophomore Kuno — ambushes Akane at the school's entrance.
 

Space Cadet

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Watched episode 2 today and compared to the original series, this one combined episodes 2 and 3, so the pacing was much faster. I personally didn't mind it, it didn't feel rushed for me. I will say the one thing I did prefer in the original series was the joke that Ranma wrote on Kuno's forehead. He spelled Kuno's name wrong and when he wrote the correct kanji, Nabiki basically wrote "idiot" next to it. To me, that was much funnier than what the new show did(although it might be closer to the manga, not sure). Still enjoying the remake so far.
 

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In it's first full week, it comes in at #5 on Netflix's top 10 for non-English titles with 2.5 million viewers. Did not break into the top 10 in the U.S., hoping that will change in the coming weeks. Outside of Asia, it's highly ranked in Central and South America, which should be no surprise.

 

Classic Speedy

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I'm still watching the new show but I doubt I'll be commenting much unless something really unexpected/noteworthy happens. So far the plot is very similar to the first series so there's not much to say.
 

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That's a cute little intro with Ranma and Akane's parents basically forcing them together and them caring for it about as much as you'd expect. Also, Ranma checking out his boobs after transforming.

So Akane and Nabiki go to the same school...though honestly the uniform covering up so much of Nabiki's legs is a crime. Though she's still as much of a sassy sis who saddles her sister with anything she doesn't want to deal with.

I imagine a lot of Ranma and Genma's conversations/arguments ends with the two of them forcing each other to transform.

So Akane doesn't hate ALL men, she's got an obvious crush on the local chiropractor Tofu (now voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa!) and acts like quite the maiden in love around him. Which just makes her dynamic with Ranma stand out even more.

To be honest if I had an army of guys accosting me every morning to try and defeat me in battle for the sake of a relationship I want nothing to do with...I would probably dislike guys too. Not that Akane can't beat them solo, but it's a lot for one girl just trying to go to school.

And the leader of the pack is none other than Kuno, now voiced by Tomokazu Sugita, who will broker no rivals for Akane's heart, even if it means taking on the freeloader at her house Ranma Saotome. And to his credit, while Ranma seems to have the lead, Kuno actually does some damage! He's not just all talk!

Kuno's all focused on Akane but honestly his dynamic with Nabiki and them just sassing each other is perfect!

All that work and they were still late to school and have to stand outside the classroom with water buckets...which with Ranma's situation is all the more precarious, especially when Kuno challenges him. Kuno even did a Superman transformation in a locker! He's serious!

Random Tomokazu Seki as radio club guy.

Ah yes, the perfect place to take this fight, the pool. Where Ranma transforms and Kuno gets to cop a feel on female Ranma. I'll give this round to Kuno.

Pantsless female Ranma! Though even without pants, Fem!Ranma can still kick butt! So much so that Kuno changes his affections from Akane to Ranma without even realizing it's the same dude he was trying to kill moments ago! That's a gender-bending romcom for you.

I love Nabiki doing stretches with her legs just for the sake of showing off said legs.

The thing about Ranma and Akane is no matter how much they snipe at each other, they still go out of their way to take care of and support each other, even if they won't be honest about it.

The one fight Ranma can't win...finding out a dude is in love with his female form.
 

Yojimbo

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Episode 3 "Because There's Someone He Likes"
To Ranma's horror, Kuno falls head-over-heels for Ranma's female form and starts a relentless pursuit. Meanwhile, Akane deals with unrequited feelings.
 

Grenzer

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Okay, I held off a bit on commenting because I wanted to watch three episodes to get a feel for the direction of the remake. Just finished episode 3 and enjoyed it a lot, so let us break down how it compares to the 1989 series.

Visuals: Wow, maybe it is my bias for Ranma 1/2 in general, but this show looks amazing. Dandandan may have a slight edge on it overall, but this is still one of the best looking anime shows of the Fall 2024 season, itself one of the strongest anime seasons in quite a while. Again, the 1989 series was no slouch with its animation, but it still had its limitations tied to that era. Everything here is so crisp and every fight scene is filled with little details in how Ranma maneuvers around his opponents and then suddenly strikes. He has possibly never looked this good outside of some of the higher budget OVA episodes and movies. And the animation is still strong outside of battle sequences too. Little things like Nabiki counting her money in episode 3 are done with great deftness that allows the characters to express their personalities without saying a word. Very impressive work. The brighter color pallet is not distracting like I feared it would be, in part because the show still shows a lot of depth and shading in the backgrounds to signal when day passes into night, or the characters are inside a building instead of outside. The 1989 series may still have an edge there, but by that standard every anime from before 2002 also has that advantage, so no sense dwelling too deeply about it.

There are some other stylizations in this show that Uda added in order to make his vision stand out. The most obvious one is the visualized sound effects that show up and often interact with the backgrounds when someone is screaming... or being punted through a brick wall. I'm not sure it adds that much to the humor but it did make me laugh at least once so it is not totally flat either. The other choice is to have certain sequences change shading to resemble a manga panel, like when a battle is about to begin, or characters are trying to describe something in an overly dramatic fashion. It is a little inconsistent on when it appears, but I do like the retro vibes it gives off in fighting sequences. The show also copies Takahashi's drawing style very effectively in a way that the 1989 series never quite pulled off, but back in those days directors often tried to put their own footprint on the aesthetics of a show regardless of what the source material looked like. I think it about evens out there.

Music: The great thing about Kaoru Wada's music is that it has a very distinctive tone to it that always stands out compared to his peers. The major problem with Kaoru Wada's music is that it is often so distinctive that it sounds similar regardless of the show he works on, often sounding out of place compared to the theme or tone of the show's setting. That is still an issue here to some extent, but I am happy to say that he does seem to be branching out a little bit and making his version of the Ranma soundtrack sound different from his work on Inuyasha when it would have been easy to borrow some themes and not get much push back on it. He is definitely bringing his A-game here, but I am not sure he is doing better than Kenji Kawai's near legendary work on the old series. It is probably the weakest part of this adaptation at the moment, but it would be wrong to call it average, let alone bad. It is just not as strong as the other elements in this show.

Voice Acting: Full disclosure, I am only watching this in Japanese. No knock against the new English voice cast but it is too weird to me not hearing the Ocean Group actors voice these characters. I did watch some clips of the dub and though Stephanie Sheh as Nabiki and Jonah Scott as Kuno were good at their roles. David Errigo as male Ranma was a little iffy though, and even a legend like Fred Tatasciore as Genma seemed off. What can you do, stuff like this happens.

With the Japanese cast we have a lot of reprisals mixed in with a number of recastings. Obviously the show hinges on the performances of Kappei Yamaguchi (Usopp from One Piece, L from Death Note, Shinichi Kudo/Kaito Kid from Detective Conan, Inuyasha in Inuyasha, and many others), Megumi Hayashibara (Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Musashi/Jessie from Pokemon, Lina Inverse from Slayers, Faye from Cowboy Bebop, and many others), and Noriko Hidaka (Kikyo from Inuyasha, Noriko from Gunbuster, Bellemere from One Piece, Sojiro Seta from Rurouni Kenshin '96, and again many others). The last time these three reprised their roles as male/female Ranma and Akane was back in 2008. Do they still sound in character after all these years? Yes and no. Hayashibara is the most on point, and basically sounds like she did 30 years ago. That is a real accomplishment given she is now 55. Hidaka is almost as good but it feels like her Akane is just a slight bit lower-pitched than in the old series. But Akane in general sounds calmer, more gentle, and less abrasive. This is in line with her portrayal in the manga where most of her violent antics are at the beginning of the story; she calms down greatly after the first few volumes. This is okay in my book, and Akane in general still sounds like herself if not as convincing as a teenage girl.

Yamaguchi on the other hand... it's on and off. Not bad, but it is a similar situation to how Kotono Mitsuishi sounded as Usagi Tsukino in Sailor Moon Crystal. When he is good, Yamaguchi is really good and sounds like Ranma. But it often seems like he has to force that voice and cannot hit the higher range of Ranma's pitch anymore. Ranma isn't Usopp, he is funny but not a ham so it is harder to cover up when Ranma says something irreverent or mocking and his voice barely raises above his normal tone. Watch clips from the old series if you need a comparison. It is sad but the man is almost 60-years old and it was inevitable. Honestly, it would have been weird to hear anyone else voice male Ranma so I still support this return.

Kikuko Inoue is still Kasumi, the role that typecast her as Yamato Nadeshiko-types for decades afterwords and is as good as ever. Minami Takeyama as Nabiki is sort of halfway between Hidaka and Yamaguchi. Mostly good but it clear that she is trying to dial in her natural raspiness to sound more like she did thirty-five years ago. It is alright but I am not sure how many more seasons she could keep this up for if they adapt the whole manga.

The recasts are all very strong. Akio Otsuka and Chou fit as Soun and Genma and play off each other quite well. Toshiyuki Morikawa does a great job as Tofu-Sensei, and gets another opportunity to stretch his range out from his typical roles as calm, sonorous villains and anti-heroes. Tomokazu Sugita's performance as Kuno-senpai started out very odd. It sounded like he was trying to directly copy Hirotaka Suzuoki's very distinctive voice and it threw me off. After a few minutes it seemed like he settled into his own groove for Kuno that sounded distinct enough from his usual roles that the character has its own identity. But I protest too much; he was hilarious and captured Kuno's mix of regal pompousness, bone-headed stupidity, and cringe-worthy perversion perfectly.

The next big test will be when Koichi Yamadera returns as the Eternally Lost Boy Ryoga Hibiki in next week's episode. Which brings me to the next point...

Pacing: Mercifully the new version is moving through the early material at a brisk pace. We just got into the start of Volume 2 (of 38) with the end of episode 3. In comparison with the 1989 anime, it is adapting the manga at around twice the pace. I think this is a solid rate. We know this season has at least twelve episodes, which would get us to the end of Volume 4 and would be a good cutoff point if that is all that has been produced by now. If this is a full 24-26 episode season, we could get to the end of Volume 8 if the pace is really pushed, but for thematic reasons it might be better to end it with the climax of Volume 7. Who knows how many seasons this will get, but I think it can be done in five if Netflix continues to fund it. Ranma is a long runner, but compared to some other shonen it would not take hundreds of episodes to adapt. I think 150+ episodes would be really pushing it. Overall though, the current pace is fine as is and should not be tinkered with.


Right now, I'm giving this an A-. It is very good. Is it necessary? Maybe, although I'm not sure how modern audiences are connecting to the material. The 2022-24 remake of Urusei Yatsura was very well made too but did not capture a wide audience. However, Ranma 1/2 does have the advantage of starring fundamentally more likeable characters who do not seem as dated by modern standards. At the very least the slick presentation of this new series will give it a fighting chance. I look forward to watching it every week.
 
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Ranma, horror upon horrors, has an admirer! Of the male variety!

I have to admire Kuno's persistence in pursuing both Ranma AND Akane, even if it means two-timing (Naoya would approve). And while his dynamic with Nabiki is great, her being willing to throw her sister and her fiance under the bus by selling candid pictures of them is even better.

Nabiki just loves stirring things up and making people misunderstand things for her amusement. One minuet you think she's trying to get Kuno to realize Ranma's gender-switches, the next she makes it sound like Ranma is stealing Ranma from Kuno.

It's nice to see despite how much they bicker with each other how considerate Ranma and Akane are too each other, even during a fight, minus Ranma commenting on Akane's panties and Akane thrashing Ranma more than Kuno did.

Kuno may not be able to beat Ranma, but being able to land a good hit on him is still an achievement.

Tofu isn't just Akane's crush, he's actually a skilled chiropractor even if his methods seem as hardcore as Akane's fists! But he gets the job done, and he really seems to appreciate Akane and wants people to cherish her, like Ranma. Even if it means sabotaging Ranma's legs so Akane can carry him home. She's a really good girl when you get to know her.

I really thought Genma was just going to be mooching off the Tendo's this whole time, but props for getting a job! Even if a panda working at a chiropractor is kind of surreal.

Ranma really loves casually flexing that rack, huh?

Well, the good news is that the boys are going to give up on Akane! The bad news is, Kuno is more determined than ever to date both her AND Fem!Ranma! At least the one thing that can bring these two together is their mutual dislike of Kuno.

It's no wonder the boys can't believe nothing is going on between Ranma and Akane...I mean, have you seen her in her gym clothes and bloomers?

Ah, that's why Akane is so awkward about her crush. She knows Tofu doesn't see her as anything more than a kid and is crushing hard on her big sis Kasumi. Crushing so hard he probably should not be working in her presence.

Akane channels a lot of her frustrations and anger into her martial arts, but Ranma is actually willing to be there for her and hear her out...and without even throwing a punch manages to land a critical hit on her heart when he calls her cute. Still ruins the moment in the end, but it's a good first step in their relationship.
 

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