Episode 28: Harem May part 2
Disclaimer: The following contains material owned by Studio DEEN, Rumiko Takahashi, and Viz Media, this review is my property meant for satirical purposes only and is protected by the fair rights usage act.
"Hello I'm the Classic Critic; I remember it so you're not required to and welcome to week 2 of Harem May." Airnaruto said as the same animated title screen from last week appeared. "Well after a nice long hot bath, it's time kick up the romantic giggle meter with one of the first anime to make it over to the US during the 80s, and that anime is this; , Ranma Nibun-no-Ichi or Ranma 1/2 ." Airnaruto said as the shows first opening theme played in the background.
Story:
"The plot revolves around a young martial artist named Ranma Saotome, heir to the Saotome Vale Tudo dojo, who finds himself, engaged to Akane Tendo, the youngest daughter of his father's old training partner via an oath that their fathers made in hopes of one day uniting both dojos." Airnaruto said before a subtext appeared above his head.
Vale Tudo: origin: Portuguese, Translation: Anything goes
"However there are quite a few problems; First off Ranma's dad had sold him off into numerous engagements to other women ever since his son was six years old." Airnaruto said as he showed an infamous scene of Genma Saotome Ranma's father explaining what he got out of one of the trades.
Ramna: You sold me for a few small fish?
Genma: He also threw in a bowl of rice and two pickles. (Laughing like an idiot)
"What a jerk!" Airnaruto said in reference to Genma. "The other major problem is that while training in China, Ramna and his dad visited Jusenkyo or the valley of cursed springs where anyone who's dumb enough to be knocked into or fall into one of the springs takes on the form of the person, animal, or deity that drowned in the spring they fall in." Airnaruto said before the camera cut back to him. "You want to know which springs Ranma and his dad fell into. Just watch." Airnaruto said as he rolled the flashback clip of Ranma and Genma standing on a pair of bamboo poles while the guide is standing on the bank of the springs.
Guide to both: Sirs please be careful, very bad if you fall in spring.
Ranma knocks his dad into the spring they're above.
(SPLASH!)
Ranma: Hey pop you done already?
Genma reemerges as a panda.
Guide: That one Shonmaoniichuan, Spring of Drowned panda.
(Genma then knocks Ranma into another spring)
Splash!
Guide: Too bad that one's Nyanniuchuan, spring of drowned girl; now whoever fall in spring take the body of a young girl.
The camera then cut back to Airnaruto who had a weird look on his face. "Are we even sure that this is a Shonen harem?" He asked his crew.
"It is? Then what's with all the fan service in the first two seasons?" Airnaruto asked before turning to the audience. "Yeah there is a bit of fan service in the first two seasons, but it's not the blatantly obvious and over indulging type that you see in anything that comes out of studio ARMS, this is more out of mistimed humor than anything if you ask me. Anyway the deal is that any time Ramna or his dad gets hit with cold water they turn into a girl and a panda respectively and go back to normal when they get hit with hot water." Airnaruto explained before giving his thoughts on the plot. "Well the plot I won't lie I found it to be a little cliché, I mean supposedly it follows Ranma and Akane coming to terms with their feelings for one another and Ranma trying find a cure for his curse but the latter of these two elements just ends up being little more than a plot device and the story doesn't really go anywhere after season two and that doesn't include the movies and OVAs of the series, other than that there's not a damn thing to say." Airnaruto said before moving on to the animation.
Animation:
"I can't really pick apart the animation since again this came out in 1989, but I was surprised at the production and animation budget that studio DEEN put into this thing, other than that it's not bad for it's time and the fight scenes regardless of how ludicrous they come, are rather impressive and entertaining but then again this is a Harem, Martial arts spoof comedy." Airnaruto said giving his short thoughts about the animation.
Voice acting & Characters:
"Earlier I said that this was a Shonen harem, well here are the other three members of Ranma's little harem whether through an arrangement done by his old man, or something he doesn't know about. First up is probably Ranma's most persistent fiancée Shampoo; a purple haired Chinese Amazon who Ranma fought and beat in his girl form which resulted in Shampoo trying to hunt Ranma down so she could kill him/her, and after following Ranma and his dad back to Japan, Ranma defeated her again but this time in his boy form which meant that Shampoo became engaged to Ranma." Airnaruto said before the camera cut back to him. "So in Shampoo's tribe any girl that beats her in combat she has to kill and any guy that does the same thing she has to marry, I wonder…" Airnaruto said before turning to his audience; "I'll be right back." He said before dashing off to Jusenkyo and finding the tribe.
Eleven hours later
Airnaruto returned with a bunch of cuts, bruises, and a black eye. "Ouch, as you probably would have guessed, I got my ass handed to me, well anyway Shampoo is also a Jusenkyo victim courtesy of her great grandmother Cologne who knocked into a spring where a cat ended up drowning so when she gets hit with cold water she turns into a…" Airnaruto said before JewWario cut him off.
JewWario: Kitty!
"Yeah a kitty, however this is a major detriment to her because Ranma has a severe case of Allurophobia an intense fear of cats, and how did Ranma develop this intense fear of cats, let me allow his dad to explain."
Genma: It was the Cat-fu training that did this to Ranma. Training is deceptively easy; wrap the trainee from head to toe in Japanese fish sausage and then throw him into a pit of starving cats.
"Son of a bitch." Airnaruto said in concern to Genma.
"Shampoo and her great granny eventually open up a small Chinese restaurant to stick close around Ranma, of course joining Shampoo and Cologne is Shampoo's Childhood friend the near sighted hidden weapons expert and probably the only male Amazon in their tribe Mousse." Airnaruto explained before showing a photo of a long black haired thick spectacled boy, wearing purple pants, and a white long sleeved shirt.
"Basically Mousse hates Ranma but Shampoo hates Mousse because she thinks he's always getting in the way of her schemes to get Ranma to fall for her by any means necessary. Like Shampoo, Mousse is also cursed, however his curse came about because he wasn't watching where he was going and he ended up stepping into Yazuniichuan or spring of drowned duck." Airnaruto said before doing a double take. "Okay this defies the laws of nature how could a duck end up drowning?" Airnaruto asked. "Moving on to fiancée number three, Ukyo Kuonji." Airnaruto said showing a photo of a brown haired girl, wearing a purple gi with an arsenal strap holding a few mini spatulas and having a gigantic spatula strapped to her back.
"She's an old friend from Ranma's childhood who was very tomboyish and eventually ended getting engaged unknowingly when Genma ended up using his son as a dowry payment yet again for food this time off of her father's Okonomiyaki cart and then Genma took off with the whole cart." Airnaruto explained before the mysterious text appeared above him again.
Okonomiyaki: origin; Japanese, definition: A savory Japanese pancake containing numerous ingredients. Name literally means; what you want grilled.
"However over time she rekindles her feelings for Ranma and even opens up her own place not far from the Tendo dojo." Airnaruto said before moving on to the other more frequent members of the cast.
"Speaking of the Tendo family let's take a look at them; first up is the patriarch of the family Soun Tendo, the father of his three daughters, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane he spends most of his time sitting in the dojo reading a newspaper and playing a game of Shogi with Genma but unfortunately much like his old partner, he takes the oath both he and Genma swore a little too far, but I think he's been somewhat like that since the death of his wife." Airnaruto said. "Next up is the surrogate matriarch of the family and the oldest of Soun's daughters Kasumi. If you ask me she is probably the strongest character in the series. Not for physical strength or combat ability but for quickly she took charge and held the family together after the death of her mother, she's very perceptive and kind hearted towards everyone, in some ways I would compare her to Milly from Trigun in terms of her innocence and purity, not to mention that she's also a great cook." Airnaruto said before moving on to sister number two. "Tendo daughter number two is Nabiki Tendo and to keep it short and simple; she's a gold digger, all she wants is the money. I mean honestly why didn't she just team up with the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase?" Airnaruto said as we see one of Dibiase's famous promos.
Dibiase: Well that just goes to show you…Everybody's got a price for the million dollar man! (Laughs evilly)
"Finally there's our lead female Akane, a real tomboy who prides herself in her martial arts training and hates boys, heck the only guy she likes is the family physician Dr. Tofu but he's smitten with Akane's older sister Kasumi which ticks her off. Why does she hate boys, well that would be thanks to this jackass." Airnaruto said holding up a photo of a brown young man wearing a kendo gi named Tatewaki Kuno, the school Kendo captain who's so obbessed with trying to get a date with Akane that he even convinces the entire male student body to fight Akane everyday before school until she gets so fed up with it that she'll have no choice but to date him. However throw in Ranma's girl form and you have one screwed up Machiavellian Stalker if you know what I mean." Airnaruto said before going to the next character.
"By contrast Tatewaki's sister Kodachi is a certified nutcase I mean the first time she meets Ranma, she tries to rape him by paralyzing him with a poison so he can't get away. How can she not understand that Ranma doesn't even like her?" Airnaruto asked himself.
"Finally by far the most emotionally complex and role versatile character of the show; Ranma's old rival and occasional buddy Ryoga Hibiki." Airnaruto said showing off a photo of a young black haired boy, wearing purple pants, a yellow shirt, with a tiger stripped headband wrapped around his head, and a weighted umbrella in his hand.
"Ryoga has always viewed Ranma as the guy who took away any chance of happiness he had in his life. It all started when Ryoga challenged Ranma to a fight in his backyard but unfortunately Ryoga's sense of direction is so poor that he left Ranma standing there for three days and by the time he finally found his backyard Ranma and his dad had already left on their journey so Ryoga decided to track them down, and by track them down I mean go in the opposite direction as his quarry, get himself lost, and find his quarry many weeks later primarily out of sheer dumb luck." Airnaruto said before he heard a knock on his door. "Hold on folks." Airnaruto said heading for the door. "Now who could that be?" He asked himself and opened the door to find none other than Ryoga Hibiki himself.
"Ryoga what are you doing here?" Airnaruto asked.
"I finally found you Ranma now you're gonna pay!" He said in a dehydrated and exhausted state of mind.
"Ryoga, you're not in Nerima, you're in North Carolina." Airnaruto explained which snapped Ryoga out of his state of anger.
"What?" Ryoga asked before he slumped his head down.
"Ryoga if you want to find Ranma try South Korea, I hear that's where most of the Tsunami refugees are located, either their or you should try going to China." Airnaruto said.
"Really, thanks Airnaruto I'll head there right away." Ryoga said before Airnaruto grabbed his shoulder.
"Hold it Ryoga maybe I should walk you down to the edge of the driveway first." Airnaruto said and after doing so the eternally lost boy was back on his way. Airnaruto soon returned to his desk and addressed the audience; "Anyway when Ryoga did finally find Ranma, Ranma's girl form ended up accidentally kicking Ryoga into Heituanniichuan or spring of drowned black piglet. Which of course turned him into a black piglet anytime he got hit with cold water, a piglet that Akane would later adopt for a pet and name P-Chan which also led to Ryoga developing a crush on Akane." Airnaruto said. "He's also a man who holds himself to a strict sense of honor and for him having to find safety in Akane's bosom while he's in his P-Chan form is disgraceful he knows that when it comes to that situation that he has no other choice." Airnaruto said.
"There are other characters in the show, I've already mentioned a good chunk of the major cast and some of the supporting characters already so now let's move on to the voice acting." Airnaruto said. "The voice acting both languages is okay but the English dub comes out a little stiffer in delivery, if you ask me basically due to it having the same problem as Berserk did, lip synchronization. Voice actors though in both languages I can only make note of three people in this series." Airnaruto said; "First up is Ranma's male form seiyu; Kappei Yamaguchi. Most people know Yamaguchi as Inuyasha from the namesake anime based on another Rumiko Takahasi manga of the same name, Ussop from One Piece, and in one of his more surprising roles "L" from Death Note." Airnaruto said. "As far as I know, this was Yamaguchi's first role in voice acting for anime and in my opinion his standard archetype of character to play; you know the loud mouth, arrogant, cocky slightly insensitive jerk hero characters except for Ussop of course." Airnaruto said, "My opinion of him is that he actually does pretty well in this role so thumbs there." Airnaruto said holding his thumb up for Yamaguchi. "Voice Actor number two is Ranma's male form voice in English starting in season 4 and that man is Richard Ian Cox, who like Yamaguchi also went on to voice Inuyasha." Airnaruto said before looking at his notes. "Talk about ironic, anyway Cox's delivery is good but he still makes Ranma sound a little older than he's supposed to be and it just doesn't sound right but he at least tries." Airnaruto said before moving on to the final voice he could recognize. "The final voice actor I could notice was the English voice actor for Mousse, and the one behind character is none other than Brad Swalie but if you're not familiar with him maybe these will help." Airnaruto said rolling a familiar clip.
Light Yagami: I'll take a potato chip…and eat it! (Crunch!)
Light: That's right I am Kira
"That's right it's Kira himself aka Light Yagami from Death Note." Airnaruto said "Now that will mess with your mind won't it." He said before giving his final thoughts.
Final analysis:
Overall this anime sucks…though to be honest I don't find it that bad but the show is extremely goofy, the quality of each episode and season varies, the plot ends up getting stuck after season 2 and most of the cast is either stupid or just bat shit crazy, but hey to it's credit it's not from studio ARMS I would say rent this one if you want to get a few laughs out of it but skip the third season I've heard that's where the worst episodes are with that said I give Ranma ½ 2 and half stars out of 5." Airnaruto said
"Well that's it for now folks coming up next week, I'll look at one I really don't want to do but for the sake of those who love Seinen anime/manga, I'll look at one of the CLAMP team's cult favorites…Chobits, I'm the Classic Critic; I remember it so you're not required to." He said before he got up and left.
Recap
Pros: Animation is good for it's time
Some of the characters you'll come to love
Fight scenes are pretty well choreographed
Numerous martial art styles that look unique even if they are down right ridiculous
Voice acting is not bad
Cons: Plot that doesn't go anywhere after Season 2
Most of the voice cast is made up of unknowns
Half the cast is either stupid or just insane
Episode story quality varies from episode to episode
Main drive for the hero gets turned into little more than a plot device
None of the problems are fixed in the anime or left on a cliffhanger.
Final Score: **1/2 out of 5
A/N: With apologies to all Ranma ½ fans either way read and review