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

[Space Cadet]

Episode 3 was fun, we get Ranma beating Kuno again as well as finding out that Dr. Tofu has a crush on Kasumi and cannot function around her. So far, this adaptation is really good. Similar to the last episode, my only quibble is that I liked the battle with Kuno in the older series more as well as how it got to that point, but that's more about pacing and adaptation changes, which is very minor. Looking forward to next week.

 

[Frontier]

I'm just waiting for Akane to get her haircut...

Definitely felt like they were foreshadowing it with the way she played with her hair at the end...but I'm enjoying long-haired Akane while it lasts .

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 4 "The Hunter"

A mysterious martial artist arrives at Furinkan High looking to settle a score with Ranma. Later, the school becomes a battlefield.

 

[Space Cadet]

Episode 4 aired today and we get the introduction of everyone's favorite clueless navigator, Ryoga! I think the comic-style animation really shown in this episode. And RIP, Akane's long hair....

 

[Grenzer]

Episode 4 hit it out of the park with Ryoga's introduction. Yamadera does not sound like he has aged a day since he last voiced Ranma's rival. I was worried because Ryoga has such a distinct voice in comparison to most of Yamadera's other famous roles that it would have changed how he comes across to audiences if it was not the same. The much faster pacing really helped as well, since we do not have a whole episode of anime filler before Ranma and Ryoga square off. The fight itself was beautifully done but with a few changes to the panels of the manga to give a more 'big shonen' feel. Keep in mind that it was one of Ryoga's bandannas that chopped off Akane's hair in the manga and '89 anime, not his belt. I think it was done it give more impact to the image: this massive black blade smashing down from the top of the frame and just obliterating Akane's ponytail. The sound effects in this version emphasize just how heavy and massive all of Ryoga's equipment is and how no normal person could hope to lift them, let alone swing them with such ease.

I also really liked the opening sequence calling back to the SNES Ranma fighting games. That was how I was introduced to the franchise so it holds extra meaning to me. If there was anything off here, it was the shade-changing effect used during the fights again. This time it turned the sky orange despite the battle clearly taking place in the middle of the day. It's a small price to pay for the very complex fight choreography it allows, a level of movement that you never would have seen in the older anime, but it can get distracting. All in all, a big A from me.

P.S. I think Yamaguchi is finding his voice for Ranma again. He sounded far more natural in this episode.

 

[Antiyonder]

To go off course in that I'm taking about a character as opposed to story elements, some people think the Tsundere trope is never good or can be done right.

And since we are at an early stretch of this version of the tale, I can say still that Akane does it right or at least how a Tsundere of such should be approached.

More often than not, the problem with said trope is you often have the main character being too saintly, so instead of a character getting comeuppance for an insult or more, it feels like bullying.

Plus mainly poor uses entail the love interest to be a childhood friend of the main guy (As such should know her crush won't mistreat or hurt her) and also nothing in their background to back up why they feel the need to be heavily defensive.

So yeah even if Akane misunderstood Ranma, his insults even whenever is trying to be nice are on him. Plus she just met him and has had to ward off plenty of guys who don't take no for an answer at school. Plus a forced marriage.

Heck, as seen in the original anime and especially the manga, putting down people and such isn't her default way to treat another.

There can be room to critique her or any version of her, but there is some effort behind why she will get rough.

 

[Classic Speedy]

Ah yes, here's the moment I was waiting for. This show is moving a lot faster than the old one- it took 8 eight episodes to do it in the old one.

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 5 "Who Says You're Cute?"

Akane gets caught up in Ryoga and Ranma's fight and ends up with a shocking new appearance. Ranma, worried, abandons the battle and goes after her.

 

[zoombie]

I don't get the flashback of this week's episode, Kasumi is suppose to be 3 years older than Akane, but this flashback makes it look like they are at least 7 years apart.

 

[Classic Speedy]

Hey now hey noooowwww, my P-chan's back!

 

[Space Cadet]

We really get all the emotional points with Akane this week and a nice moment between her and Ranma. And of course, the introduction of P-chan!

 

[Frontier]

We now return to the aftermath of Akane's haircut! And she's in utter shock! And all the girls are faulting Ranma! While also wondering who the heck Girl!Ranma actually is.

Well, it's noble of Ranma and Ryoga to take responsibility for what happened and let Akane hit them...they're lucky she just slapped them. She hit a pole harder than she hit them! Even though Ranma was holding on to said pole.

What did Akane's long hair represent to her? An attempt to come off more feminine and more like Kasumi, so Tofu would look at her the way he looked at Kasumi. But maybe now it's time for Akane to just be herself and move on. And as such...welcome short-haired Akane.

Akane put on a brave face and like it didn't bother her...but all the emotions she'd been holding on finally burst out in front of Tofu. Sometimes you just need a good cry.

And now that Akane has short hair, it's a new step in her relationship with Ranma! Ranma who apologizes for what happened, finds her attractive as a short-haired tomboy, and finds himself more and more drawn to Akane! Akane for her part appreciates Ranma's sincere feelings...but she can't resist screwing with him. Hey, Akane finally beat Ranma!

So, how long did it take Ryoga to get from that beach to the Tendo Dojo? Also, dude just let people get their beauty rest.

Is Kasumi super strong!? She thought a giant weight that even Akane could barely lift was a better choice against a burglar than Akane's wooden sword.

Ranma and his father weren't the only ones that ended up dipping into a Jusenkyo pool. Only instead of a cute girl, Ryoga became...a cute little piggie! Who Akane promptly adopts!

Okay, so...Ranma not showing up for their duel is kind of on Ryoga, but Ranma knocking Ryoga into the Jusenkyo pool and his grandfather almost cooking with him with the tour guide...is kind of on him. And what a crazy, chaotic clash while Ranma is naked!

Look at Akane being a chad! Copping a feel on Ranma's boobs and kissing Pig!Ryoga.

Maybe Ranma should've left well enough alone. Now his attempt to expose Ryoga have seemingly exposed him as a pervert trying to force himself on Akane.

They updated the ED with short-haired Akane!

 

[Grenzer]

Episode 5 was very good. Not much to say this week beyond the music during the scene where Akane comes to terms with Tofu not returning her feelings was superb. Maybe the best work I've ever heard from Kaoru Wada.

Overall this episode covered about 3.5 chapters but cut some minor gags from the manga. It definately seems tailored to focus more heavily on Akane's perspective and feelings, but the subplot of Ranma discovering Ryoga's curse was still handled very well. I laughed out loud during the flashback to Ryoga almost becoming a meal for Genma and the Jusenkyo guide, and it continued through Genma poking his head into the bathroom and quickly slamming it shut when he realized what was going on. Not many anime these day make me do that.

I also am pleased to see that a lot of younger fans who never watched the original anime or read the manga are discovering this franchise for the first time and expressing how great this show is. Not sure just how big this exposure is, but it scores very high on all of the major English-language anime community sites and that rating seems to get higher by the week. If they like it now... well good things come to those who wait.

 

[Light Lucario]

I've been meaning to check this remake out since it was announced and I finally binged watched the first five episodes. I might be the only person here who hasn't had much exposure to the original series. Like I mentioned in the News and Discussion thread, I've only seen the old ad for the Ranma 1/2 movie on old Pokemon VHS tapes and that song was really catchy. I knew the general premise, but I've never seen the original series dubbed or subbed.

So far, I really like this series. It has a pretty interesting setup and they really went all out with the animation for the fight scenes. The visuals themselves are just really nice with bright colors everywhere. It really makes both the characters and setting pop out. I'm not too into the opening theme, but it does fit with the tone of the series and the ending theme is pretty good.

It's still early on with establishing the cast, but so far, I like Akane the most. I like that she's still clearly feminine while also being tough and aggressive. I didn't realize how much I like the tomboy archetype, or perhaps that I just like ones that are really handled well. She feels like a more realistic tomboy than I've seen in other anime. Even her aggressive attitude towards Ranma is pretty understandable. She fought off boys asking for her hand in marriage all the time and while I don't think it has been stated yet, I can easily believe that she'd have to put twice as much effort into her training to be taken seriously just because she's a girl. I also really preferred her longer hair over her hair cut. I understand the symbolism since she finally let go of her crush on the doctor and I was glad that the crush was one sided given he must be at least ten years older than her anyway, but long blue hair is just taliored made to appeal to my personal designs tastes. I'm sure that it is a lot easier to animate Akane with short hair though.

Ranma himself can be a bit too clueless about how he treats Akane, but neither of them want to be in an arranged marriage, so that can be understandable. It's clear that he has a lot of skill as a martial artist and he's a good fit as a lead for this series. While I can understand why he's upset over his curse, I kind of hope that he'll have more conflict beyond that going forward, if only becaue that doesn't feel like a huge obstalce for him to overcome yet. The relationship between Ranma and Akane is in the early stages, but they're clearly the "couple who argues all the time and develop real feelings for each other" troupe. They do still have some nice moments where there is some genuine connection, like Ranma trying to cheer Akane up or Akane being worried about Ranma during his fight with Ryoga, but then quickly set things back with more bickering. This would be more of an issue if the series wasn't a comedy. They'd obviously want to take their time with building up the romance anyway.

The humor is pretty great too. Episode 4 in particular was so great with Ryoga's sense of direction being so bad it puts Zoro to shame and the Radio Club. I also loved the whole "Oh no, Pandas can't talk" sign. The flashback where they were so calm about nearly eating Ryoga before he transformed back from a pig was really funny too. I decided to check out the series in part because I could always use a good laugh and the comedic timing here is really great, especially when they need to get Ranma to transform. Sometimes its a bit contrived, but that's part of the joke. There has been a couple of times where some jokes feel a little force or the setup is too weird to where it takes me out of it. Ranma being righ outside Akane's room when she's checking her smile or Ranma being unable to tell Akane the truth about Ryoga's pig form are some examples where I thought to myself that this felt off or felt like extended the joke too much in a contrived way.

I'm not a fan of the girls touching Ranma's breasts. It is for comedic effect and hasn't happened too often yet, but that kind of humor has never been my cup of tea, righ along with girls in anime complaining about their breast sizes. I will say that Ranma walking around shirtless as a girl is a good example of fan service that makes sense. Of course a teenage boy who is used to wearing no shirt after training wouldn't think of his breasts when transformed into a girl. Even that is used more for comedy than just pure fanserivce, but it's still something I appreciated with this setup. Ranma's girl form is really cute too.

The series seems pretty fun with some great animation, fun characters and great humor, so I'll keep checking out the series.

 

[wonderfly]

I'm caught up on this series now (watched the first 5 episodes). Episodes 2 and 3 felt a bit rushed, but it wasn't as noticeable to me in episodes 4 and 5 (which were great episodes). The end of Episode 5 lines up with the end of Episode 9 or 10 of the original series. I understand some aspects of the old series were "filler", so I guess we can consider this new series to be the "Dragon Ball Z Kai" version of Ranma.

I love how the end credits changed - the ending of episode 4 (with the traumatic "cutting of the hair") had a version of the song without lyrics. Episode 5, the end credits animation changes, showing "short hair" Akane.

I don't have much more to say, it's still classic, it's still funny, and the animation is beautiful.

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 6 "Kodachi, The Black Rose"

When the Furinkan High rhythmic gymnastics team is injured by a rival school's captain, its members beg Akane to take their place in an upcoming match.

 

[Space Cadet]

Today's episode we get introduced to Kodachi, the "black rose" and otherwise known as Kuno's younger sister. Which means we get another character added to the love triangle. Had some real laugh-out-loud moments with Ranma and P-chan/Ryoga. Another good episode from the show.

 

[Grenzer]

Episode 6 is the start of a new arc and the introduction of yet another rival/love interest for Ranma, Kodachi Kuno. For those of you who are watching this for the first time, she is the character who normalized that whole 'Noblewoman's Laugh' among insane upper-class anime villainesses. A shockingly influential character in her own way considering she is rarely brought up these days. How does she hold up after more than thirty years after her debut? Honestly, pretty well. Never was a big fan of Kodachi while growing up, but I have to appreciate how she manages to be so legitimately vile as a person and yet still funny in the classic Rumiko Takahashi mold. It helps that Ranma 1/2 is a show where slapstick knows no gender and this little witch is put in her place just as often as she assaults others. That she makes her older brother seem like a bastion of sanity and reason by comparison hints at just how screwed up the Kuno family must be. Ayane Sakura's take on Kodachi is even deeper and more melodramatic than Saeko Shimazu's performance in the 1989 series, but with a character like this there can never be too much ham.

We also see the development of the whole Ranma/Ryoga/Akane triangle start to take form. Who could have guessed when first introduced Ryoga would be a master of rhythmic gymnastics? Which starts a running gag about him being a surprisingly sensitive and gentle person regarding any topic that does not involve martial arts and Ranma... but given this show revolves around Ranma and martial arts, we don't get to see it that often. Akane's utter lack of finesse in any situation not involving martial arts is also introduced in this arc, and yes it will become another established running gag as we move forward. Ranma 1/2 being essentially a mashup between an old-fashioned weekly sitcom and a wacky shonen series practically runs on these tropes.

The big battle is set for next week, so I'll have more thoughts on the animation after episode 7 is released.

 

[Classic Speedy]

So Kodachi appears in episode 6. In the earlier series she didn't show up until episode 11.

At this pace I'm betting we see Shampoo in episode 8. (here's hoping)

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this week's episode was pretty good. I wouldn't have expected Kodachi to be the character that normalized the dramatic laugh that was so popular among female villains. It kind of makes sense given when this series came out. It's a good thing that this show is largely a wacky comedy or else her attack on Akane would have been treated as a more legit threat on her life. Leading into her falling for Ranma does create some easy love triangle gags too. While forcing herself onto Ranma isn't really a great first impression, the more over the top comedic tone helps you to not look into it that seriously.

I wouldn't have expected Kodachi and Kuno to be related either. I thought that the little sister he was referring to was initial Ranma's girl form, even though that wouldn't have made sense with his crush on her in mind. Even though it was an attempt to avoid Kodachi, Ranma bringing up his engagement with Akane does seem like a subtle and slow buildup to him developing more feelings for her. The whole concept of martial arts gymnatics seems rather impractical realistically, but I suspect that they want to keep martial arts at the center stage.

I really don't understand why Ranma doesn't just explain that P-chan is actually Ryoga. Initially, you could say that he was too flustered to tell Akane the truth, but this has been at least a few days and P-chan sleeps with Akane every night. I'm probably overthinking things since this is most likely a running gag for Akane to still banter with Ranma or maybe there's going to be some payoff to this gag down the road, but it just felt so weird to me. Ranma going up against Kodachi in his girl form should be fun and prime for some comedic gags too.