Episode 36: Ranma ½ Christmas OVA
Disclaimer: This review once again consists of material owned by Rumiko Takahashi, and Viz media the current right owners to Ranma ½ this review is my property and covered under the fair rights usage act.
Airnaruto45 woke up one morning stepped outside, took a deep breath and then screamed repeatedly; "CHRISTMAS!"
While still screaming Christmas he started putting numerous Christmas decorations all over his desk before settling down.
"That's right it's Christmas time, and today I decided to review one of the few anime Christmas specials in this case the Ranma ½ Tendo Family Christmas Scramble." Airnaruto said as the title appeared.
"I know I didn't really do the series justice when I reviewed it back in May seeing as how I only focused on the main cast but this time I plan to make up for it by taking a look at one of the better OVAs of the series, The Ranma ½ Christmas Special so role it JC." Airnaruto said as JC619 one of his camera men put the DVD into the player.
"So we open up to a beautiful landscape with snow falling in front of the camera, then reindeer pulling a sleigh through the fog and ride right past Kasumi Tendo." Airnaruto said as the sleigh went past Kasumi who was in her nightgown when she notices a small white package with a card and a red bow attached to it.
Kasumi: He dropped something, (She crouches down to pick up the box to find that the card has her name on it) for me? What is it?
"Suddenly the bow starts glowing before the screen fades to white to reveal it was all a dream." Airnaruto said as Kasumi wakes up and looks at her calendar.
Kasumi: That's right today's Santa day (A/N: I kid you not she actually says that)
The camera then cut back to Airnaruto who just looked at Kasumi weirdly. "Santa day, I thought she was 19 why did she say something you would expect to hear from a 4 year old?" He asked before getting cut off by Akane Tendo.
Akane: I'm finished (She holds up a poorly knitted scarf that she plans to give to Ranma) it may not look like much but it's the thought that counts.
"As you may have guessed already this our lead female character in the series Akane Tendo, Kasumi's youngest sister and unwilling fiancée to Ranma Saotome she's a nice girl but she's got a very short fuse." Airnaruto said as a montage of Akane kicking the crap out of the guys but mostly Ranma in either his boy or girl form ending with Akane punching male Ranma through a wall.
Captain Falcon: FALCON PUNCH!
"WHOA!" Airnaruto said ducking under his desk to avoid getting hit by the flying Ranma.
CRASH!
"You okay Ranma?" Airnaruto asked as the camera panned to the hole in the wall to show Ranma holding his thumb up.
"He's okay folks, he's okay!" Airnaruto announced before getting back to Akane; "Anyway I happen to have a list of things that you should not to or say around Akane." Airnaruto said as he pulled out his list and read it off.
Don't insult her knitting
Don't insult the way her hair looks
No perverse leering
Don't touch her
No wisecracks
No trying to feel her up
Don't insult her clothing
Don't insult her cooking.
Airnaruto finished reading the list before getting back to the OVA.
Kasumi to the family: I was told by someone to throw a Christmas Eve party here tonight and now he'll be able to come.
Nabiki: Who will be able to come and who told you that?
Kasumi: Santa Claus?
Everyone else: Santa Claus?
Kasumi then shows a handful of party invitations
Kasumi: Of course and I already made all the invitations you will help me pass them out will you?
Everyone else: Sure.
"I would also like to say stay away from Kasumi when she has something planned because she'll use her sweet innocent nature to pull you in hook line and sinker." Airnaruto warned the audience. "So Kasumi sends all the invitations out and all the other characters start showing up beginning with Ranma's eternally lost rival Ryoga, and the mentally dimwitted Tatewaki Kuno and his equally psychotic sister Kodachi.
Sasuke (Kuno's sidekick): Isn't this a little extravagant for a Christmas present master?
"Why does something tell me that Kuno got for Akane what Charlie Brown gets for Halloween every time he goes out to trick-or-treat?" Airnaruto asked himself as he showed the clip from the Peanuts Halloween special that reveals what Charlie Brown got in his bag.
Charlie Brown: I got a rock.
"Thankfully that thought gets tossed aside when Shampoo, Ukyo, and Kodachi show up, along with Mousse who ends up crashing into a wall." Airnaruto said waiting for said crash.
Ukyo to Kuno and Sasuke: What's going on, what are you all doing here?
Shampoo (In her own broken form of Japanese or English or whatever): What you all do here?
Kodachi: She's right isn't the service entrance to the rear?
Ukyo: holding up her invitation: I was invited same as you take a gander at this.
Kodachi (Pulling out her invite): You invited to the same party as I?
Shampoo (Showing her invitation): Shampoo is not only invited guest?
The camera cut back to Airnaruto; "Well considering it is a Christmas party, its obvious there will other guests aside from you Shampoo." Airnaruto said bluntly just as Mousse showed up and crashed into the wall.
CRASH!
"Remember what I said about this show having two love parallelograms well I meant to say that it's a gigantic love octagon and it works like this; Ranma, Tatewaki, and Ryoga all like Akane and want to marry her or in the case of Ryoga and Kuno go out on a date with her at the least, where as by contrast, Akane, Shampoo, Ukyo, and Kodachi all love Ranma and want to marry him, which more or less make Mousse the odd one out since he's more interested in marrying Shampoo." Airnaruto said before pulling out a skull and saying something in regards to Mousse.
"Alas poor Mousse how much does it hurt to know you get virtually nothing out of this little octagon of a romantic comedy?" He asked before getting back on topic.
"Anyway A fight breaks out between the other guys while Ranma and Akane are putting the decorations up when Ranma says one of his dumbest lines in the entire OVA." Airnaruto said as the scene showed Ranma looking at one of the streamers Akane put on the Christmas tree.
Ranma to Akane: Oh yeah sure jolly green giant melt, down for sure. If you were cooking we'd all be in the hospital by now.
Airnaruto simply took cover under his desk while muttering; "Ranma you buffoon did you even read my list of rules on how to not piss Akane off?" He asked Ranma.
"Though to be fair I would agree with him in regards to the fact that Akane + a kitchen = a nuclear war zone, since Akane thinks she's trying so hard to cook something good that she ends up overdoing it and it comes out extremely terrible." He said before hearing the sound of Ranma flying through the room causing him to duck for cover again.
CRASH!
"You okay Ranma?" Airnaruto asked to get another thumbs up from Ranma before Ranma collapsed in a heap on the floor. Airnaruto sighed and then pulled out his cell phone to call up a certain doctor. "Hello Doctor Tofu Ono?" Airnaruto asked; "Yeah this is Airnaruto listen Ranma's here at my studio and he'll need some help getting back on his feet how soon can you be over here?" He asked the doc before getting his answer. "Okay, this won't cost much will it?" He asked the Tendo family physician. "Oh good I'm on a very tight budget thanks doc bye." Airnaruto said hanging up his phone and then waited for Dr. Tofu Ono to arrive.
6 hours later.
Airnaruto fell asleep at his desk waiting for the doc until finally he heard a knock on the door causing him to wake up and answer it. "Hey Doc he's right over there." He said pointing the wounded Saotome on the sofa.
"Thanks Airnaruto-san I'll take him back to Nerima now if you don't mind." Dr. Tofu said carrying the young martial artist out of the house with Airnaruto closing the door behind them.
"Now where was I?" Airnaruto asked himself before snapping his fingers. "Oh yeah, anyway Ranma ends up getting beaten up by Akane and tied to the Christmas tree, meanwhile Mousse and Ryoga are in the hot spring after their fight with Kuno ended with all three of them falling into the pond in the backyard causing Mousse and Ryoga to turn into a duck and a pig respectively before we cut back to the kitchen where Kasumi, Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi are preparing Christmas dinner when Ukyo asks…" Airnaruto said before Ukyo cut him off.
Ukyo: Where's the soy sauce?
Kasumi: Oh are we out, I'm sorry we're all out of soy sauce.
(Scene cuts to Mousse and Ryoga who over hear the girls followed by a dramatic pause.)
Both: Soy Sauce?
Both boys get up much Airnarutos disgust; "AAH MAN PACKAGE! IT BURNS!" He screamed.
"Moving on, Nabiki in her usual money grubbing ways makes deal with the other three bachelorettes to get them some individual alone time with Ranma for a price of course." Airnaruto said as the scene played out.
"This of course results in Ukyo and Shampoo fighting it out in the kitchen while Kodachi attempts to drug their drinks and it backfires on her. Meanwhile in another Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo are dressing up in a reindeer and Santa suit respectively as a means to push Ranma and Akane on the path to marriage." Airnaruto said before the camera cut back to him pounding his head on his desk at the sheer stupidity of Genma and Soun's plan.
"Okay I am aware of Genma and Soun's plans to have Ranma and Akane get hitched to unite the two families so the Tendo family can keep the dojo running but when you're so desperate as put on a Santa and reindeer costume that's not only desperate and creepy, it's also sexist." Airnaruto said before a photo of Rumiko Takahasi popped up on the screen.
"Actually now that I think about, the authoress of the manga Rumiko Takahashi has been known for having very compromising tastes as she has often said that she doesn't like working with men on most of her productions because she views them as troublesome and often at times despicable, which shown often throughout the course of Ranma ½ with most of the gags being either Ranma's gender bending, or Ranma getting the crap kicked out of him by one of the girls." Airnaruto said as he showed the scenes of said gags.
"Anyway, we then cut to the Tendo family party hall where the most memorable part of the OVA and perhaps the entire series occurs the equal romance song, and by the way for the sake of easy listening I'm going to switch it to the Japanese dub for this moment." Airnaruto said as the spotlight shined on the stage, the curtain pulled apart to reveal going from left to right; Nabiki, Kasumi, Akane, Ranma in his girl form, and Shampoo each with a microphone in their hands.
(The Girls start singing and sorry but I don't have the Romaji lyrics so I can't put the song down.)
"Now this is probably one of the best part of this ova simply because the Japanese dub has the voice actresses of Nabiki, Kasumi, Akane, girl-type Ranma, and Shampoo all singing in perfect, beautiful harmony." Airnaruto said before the camera cut back to him. "The only problem with the song, the English cover of it sucks major amounts of ass through a straw." Airnaruto said bluntly before pulling out deck of poker cards. "Who's up for poker?" He asked as the scene changed to most of the major characters as we hear some of their thoughts.
Ryoga (thinking): I've got to find a way to get Akane alone with me.
T. Kuno: Avengers are neither in one bottle trustworthy nor in one place (A/N: Where does Tatewaki come up with half shit he soliloquizes?)
Mousse (thinking): Spending Christmas with Shampoo what bliss.
Akane looks at Ranma
Ranma starts sweating bullets
Akane (thinking in regards to Ranma): you dolt.
The camera cut back to Airnaruto who had his own hand of cards and a Rock Band game guitar controller. "Does anyone have…The Ace of Spades?" He asked before pulling said card out of his hand causing a montage of the party to start up to the sound of The Ace of Spades by Motor head with Airnaruto rocking out using his guitar as well.
(Guitar solo)
If you like to gamble, I tell you I'm your man
You win some, lose some, it's still the same to me
The pleasure is to play, it makes no difference what you say
I don't share your greed, the only card I need is
The Ace Of Spades
The Ace Of Spades
Playing for the high one, dancing with the devil,
Going with the flow, it's all a game to me,
Seven or Eleven, snake eyes watching you,
Double up or quit, double stake or split, it's
The Ace Of Spades
The Ace Of Spades
Eventually everyone at the table that was part of the poker game revealed their hands.
Sasuke: I have one pair
Kuno: Two pair
Mousse: I have two pair as well
Akane: (Groans)
Ryoga: Three of a kind
You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby,
I don't wanna live for ever,
Ukyo: Full House
Ranma: Junk
Shampoo: I have four kind.
The scene cut back to Airnaruto, "Don't forget about the gambling king!" He said as the scene cut back to the game to show the hand of a middle aged portly man with blonde hair and a face that reminded people of the King of Clubs known as the gambling king
Gambling King: Royal Straight Flush…you all lose.
The Gambling king then gets wrapped up in sushi casing before we hear the final guitar solo of the song. "So Nabiki finally gets to giving the girls their alone time with Ranma which goes as well as you would expect; the three of them beating the crap out of each other before turning their attention to Ranma who tries to get away only for Akane to unknowingly get caught in the crossfire and Ranma having to save her." Airnaruto said as Ranma grabs Akane bridal style while managing to avoid Kodachi's ribbon, Ukyo's mini spatula, and Shampoo's baton respectively. "Ranma and Akane end up crashing through the roof and into the attic and Akane finally gives Ranma her scarf as Ranma makes a stupid remark.
Ranma: Oh I see it's a fishing net right?
Akane: It's a scarf you lame brain I made it myself
Ranma: Oh Akane we all know you're all thumbs and here you insist on huh? (Ranma notices his initials stitched into the scarf)
Akane: If you're gonna make fun of it give it back!
Ranma: Hey don't be stupid do you think there's anyone in the world that could stand to where something like this?
"I don't know maybe the Jackie Earl Haley version of Freddy Krueger that was shat out of Michael Bay's anus last year." Airnaruto said bluntly before getting to Ranma's present for Akane.
"Anyway Ranma gives Akane a frame containing the group photo that had taken place during the second Ranma ½ film Ni-Hao my Concubine which happened to be the only photo Ranma could find, and just as they were about kiss the ceiling gives way and they fall right in front of everyone at the party and so the party ends with Kasumi spotting the same gift from her dream, she opens it up to reveal a shooting star , and thus the ova ends with a sweet song with the two lead characters standing together amidst the falling stars." Airnaruto said as the camera cut back to him.
"So that was the Ranma ½ Tendo Family Christmas Scramble; so how does it hold up?" Airnaruto said before giving his verdict.
"I would say that it was pretty good to be honest; it's a nice way to get the massive cast of characters from the series together for a non-confrontational reason, heart warming, funny, and the songs are actually quite soothing to the soul…At least in the Japanese dub." Airnaruto said pointing out the positive of the ova. "However most action fans will be turned away from it due to the lack of fight scenes overboard amounts of slapstick, and the English dub just sucks, but I still recommend this ova for anyone who can't find any Christmas related episodes from any of their favorite anime shows. I give the ova a rating of 4 stars out of 5." Airnaruto said before wrapping it up.
"Well that's it for now folks so until next time Merry Christmas folks, I'm the Classic Critic and I remember CHRISTMAS!" Airnaruto said shouting Christmas repeatedly before the camera faded to Black.
Final analysis of Ranma ½ Tendo Family Christmas Scramble
Pros:
Good way to get the series cast together without it breaking out into an all out fight
The songs are rememberable in the Japanese dub
The Japanese dub on the whole for this ova is perfect
A good balance of humorous and heartwarming moments
Very little fan/man service
Cons:
English Dub sucks
Some action fans will be turned off by the lack of actual fights.
Some slapstick moments are a little too much
Final Rating: **** out of 5 stars
Happy Holidays everyone read and review until next time.