I have also decided to make my blog mostly anime posts.
(DISCLAIMER: This post will contain some language read at you're own risk!)
Now i know jokes about the concept of this show are rampant, but for now try to stay serious.
After watching 3 movies,13 ovas, 2 specials, and 161 episodes, it is official that Ranma ½ is amazing. From comedy to drama, this show puts all of it together that in a way makes you like all the characters,
it pulls multiple aspects into the show to make it work like it does those being:Comedy,drama,love,story-line, and yes even FAN-SERVICE. Ranma is the original, being copied by kampfer. but what is the difference between them? lets find out in part one
Comparing Ranma to kampfer:
in kampfer the boy wears a bracelet, when the bracelet glows he transforms into a girl.
in ranma when the boy is doused with cold water he turns into a girl
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this is the first instance of fan-service for kampfer in ALL instances, and for ranma in some instances.
In Kampfer, during transformation his clothes break and are replaced by girl clothes, in ranma, when he transforms it is just his body and not his clothes so his surroundings stay as they were.
this is natsuru senou:
And this is his female form:
This is Ranma Soutome:
and his female form:
In my opinion ranma is better animated only by looking at these pictures, though kampfer is animated using a more advanced animation style ranma is DRAWN then animated, i know most shows have drawings to them but just look at these four pictures for a bit and tell me, witch do you like more?
Another thing is the story-line of these two shows are the next thing. Time to compare: Kampfer is a
descrase to storytelling everywhere. with a real story line of a maximum four episodes, the show is a fluke.
Ranma has a plot, he has a goal, a lot of conflicts, and story progression so good it puts Pokemon's story to shame. Now instead of continuing on about the flaws of kampfer and all that jazz, lets move on to another subject, Part two.
Important Characters:
Akane Tendo:
One of three sisters also Ranma's fiance.
Akane is short tempered and brute, using force instead of smarts, and according to anyone who has ever tasted her cooking, "If someone were to choke down a dinner made by her they would die." her and ranma are to inherit the tendo school of anything goes martial arts.
Genma Soutome:
Also known as Panda-man
Genma soutome is the father of ranma soutome, one day he and his son were travailing to jusynkio(a place in china with many cursed springs)
he was kicked off a bamboo poll (totally not ironic or nothin)
and fell into the spring of drowned panda, ad the guide then proceed to say "Uh oh, he fall in spring of drowned panda, tragic story of panda who drowned in spring two-thousand five-hundred year ago"
if you ask me, genma was saved the horrible fate of turning into one of the three things some more minor characters turn into (duck pig and cat). Though, personally being a panda would be like hell to me, you can't talk, you eat bamboo, and YOU'RE A PANDA.
The more minor characters i wont be talking about here sense i want most of this post to be ranma related,
so now it's time for
Ranma Soutome:
As the main protagonist ranma soutome also fell into a cursed hot springs:
once again after someone falls in a spring the guide chimes in: "that nanouchuan- spring of drowned girl, tragic story of girl who drowned in spring two-thousand five-hundred year ago, now whoever fall in spring, take body of young girl"
His one goal is to become only male again,(spoiler after 3 movies 2 specials 13 ovas and 161 episodes that did not happen)
Most of ranma 1/2 is an episode by episode basis of something happening to ranma that is either embarrassing or with the goal of being pure male again.
Here's my take on it, ranma fall into a cursed spring that turns him into a girl when splashed with cold water, to turn back into only a man again he wants to jump into a spring that turns things into boys, however would the spring not reject him? the way i understand it scene ranma has already fall into a spring once he should not be able re-curse himself, however stubborn he is, this is something to take into consideration, hence why i believe he will stay like this for the rest of his life, a curse is not something you can so easily remove.
Perhaps it is time for what i would call part 3 so... Part three, Ranma Soutome:
Ranma: Ranma Soutome, being the main protagonist has the most struggles, he gets in various "it's not what it looks like" circumstances, for example getting knocked out and a guy almost kissing him when he is a girl.(witch happens A LOT)
Though i have a theory of, when he is a girl he is knocked out easier, which may make sense considering when he is a boy he is slower but more powerful, and when he is a girl he is faster and less powerful.
Another thing, Ranma takes advantage of his curse, sometimes selfishly
Here's an example of the lengths he would go to be full boy again, putting on a dress and re styling his hair to get close to the guy that had some spring of drowned man water.sometimes he surprises me how far he would take it.(remember my theory from before?) Say he got this water, whats to say he would be able to use it on himself anyway? I've already expressed my say on the matter.
And if acting and dressing like that for being full time guy isn't selfish enough, he takes it a step further putting on a similar routine for free food or reducing the cost of food
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Not only is he a martial artiest he is also akane tendo's fiance witch makes for some rather embarrassing circumstances when akane and ranma(in his female form) talk to each other publicly
he isn't all bad though, he has been known for dressing up and doing things for Akane's sake, that including dating men or worse.
(Yes he did this for akane)
If you were in ranma's place would you be Tramatised by this or would you like it? at this point ranma had been through so much i don't think he took much notice to it anyway.
I know what you're thinking, "it would be cool to have ranma's curse!" but think again, sure you could be the opposite gender, and sure you could toy with people to get what you want easier, but here is one of many things that could go wrong.
he was trying to help akane practice for a scatting competition, when the guy on the other team grabbed him and kissed him, he proceed to run off the ice,crying as that was his first kiss.
For a real girl it would have mattered a lot but not as much as for him sense at heart he was a boy, and if hot water was available he could have avoided the whole incident, but they were on the ice at the time.
Witch brings up another subject,you would think after some time he would bring some sort of small container with him or something to use should he need to transform or turn back, but only once did he use hot water from out of his pocket, and that was on his rival, who was a pig at the time.
Witch reminds me, his rival "ryoga" also received his first kiss well in his cursed form,
Seems a bit fishy, both ranma and ryoga getting their first kisses in their cursed form, huh?
Ranma constantly goes against everything the people around him say, weather it be for the good or bad of him. A lot of the time ranma will be challenged for the love of a girl(or guy, if he happens to be a girl at the time) and accept gladly,not for the girl (or guy) but to prove he can't be defeated by anyone, and will go so far as to remove his shirt as a girl to win the fights, he wont wear 'ahem' "top undergarments" because as stated before his clothes take no part in his transformation, so he can easily stun his male opponents this way...cheep yet effective, for this reason akane continually yells at him for having no sense of "womanly pride."
However on the 50th anniversary ranma seemed to have a bit of it,
His words were:"Trying to grope ME?, i won't forgive you for that!"
No one seems to question the fact Ranma and the pig-tailed girl(ranma's girl form) are never seen together in the same place at the same time...except in the art they put into the intro sequences:
On another topic, ranma invented a move based off a move, he calls it the "lion's roar shot, Proud fierce tiger!"
he was only able to pull this off in his boy form however, that is until the 50th anniversary:
All these facts about ranma soutome, i think it's time for some opinion and hypothisisating (not a real word)!
Ranma started as a guy, once he fell into the hot spring and received the curse, his life turned upside down. perhaps the springs have even more to them than just what has been hypothisisisded(totally a real word)
From what ive already said here, you can see his life became more hectic after he was placed the curse on,so perhaps anyone who falls in the spring is not only cursed with a transformation, but also with a more "interesting" life. So that would make 3 curses in one 1.Transformation through cold water 2.first kiss in cursed form 3.more interesting life.
So, i have come to a conclusion: JUSYNKIO IS CONFUSING.
So continuing on the whole "ranma" thing
Despite taking his transformation to his advantage and using it to help his allies, he always has one goal in mind, to become COMPLETELY normal again. Though he never quite makes his goal as stated before, there are a few close calls that almost did the trick, like a jusynkio pond in japan, or a bar of soap that has the powers of jusynkio...yeah they went that far.
So... Finally Conclusion: i found this anime to be what i can only describe as Perfect, once i started watching an episode i normally wouldn't stop until i had watched at least around 13-20 episodes with intervals of checking Skype in between, however when the finale came i put Skype aside and watched the 2 part final episode of ranma 1/2 and for this part of my post, i will be covering it.
The episode starts out like any normal episode this time with akane and the rest honoring what seemingly is the grave of akane's mother, soon cutting to a scene of ranma walking along the fence as usual, when he comes across some lose ones he then falls into the water and transforms into a girl.
His mother attempts to pull him out not knowing who he is due to the fact she had not heard of the incident at jusynkyo, and instead she falls in with him, they talk and she proceeds to leave saying:"you're a little clumsy aren't you? i suppose that's alright though for a tomboy like yourself" (Don't ask me how ranma's mother came up with that, it could just be a joke the writers wanted to put in, or it could have some meaning to it)
Later, ranma was returning to take a shower (sense he was transformed from falling into the water) and his father scooped him up and started to run away, only to be stopped by akane's dad.
Eventually they all find out the reason ranma's dad was leaving so suddenly was because ranma's mom was coming to visit, and he made a vow that him and ranma would commit ritual seppuku(Suicide) if ranma was not a "man among men" and well...
another set of events occur and they manage to keep his secret hidden, by not allowing ranma's mom to see ranma in his male form and saying his name was "lanko" well in female form and telling her ranma and his dad were on a journey to improve their martial arts skills.
Eventually ranma's mom unknowingly sits on a water pump...for a hot spring and... this happens:
Long story short ranma jumps in as a girl, saves his mom as a boy and then comes the most touching scene ive ever seen in a anime EVER:
His mother believes it was a dream that ranma saved her and that he was a "man among men" and in truth it was ranma that saved her,but he transformed unwillingly back into "lanko" shortly after,
akane continues to try and say that it was ranma who saved her but ranma stops her and says
"It's ok, Let her keep dreaming"
Finally, Ranmas mother leaves and i am not afraid to admit i was tearing up at this point, but it gets even more touching by Ranma's final true words in this show, once Ranma mom is gone, the camera pans over, and Ranma says:
"Someday...I'll be just a guy. But until then, keep dreaming. For both of us"
I have watched this multiple times now, and every time it gets to me, i cannot put into words just how sad this ending truly is, leaving room for more, witch there will most likely never be, the writers left it up to the imagination of the viewer to think what would happen next, if it were up to me, this would not have ended in the 1980's and would still be going on today.
It is unfathomable how good the old anime shows can be, and as far as i'm concerned no show,game, movie will ever,EVER live up to what ranma has done. Should this show ever get a reboot, be it one episode,a fourth movie, or a new season, i will not hesitate to revisit it, but for now, this is it.
Now all that's left is to give you my rating,
What else can i give it? Rating:
/10
/10