Ranma

FInal Rating: 4.3/5.0

I adore Ranma. Both the anime and the manga are classics in my opinion. The series that popularized the gender-bender convention, Ranma 1/2 is one of the funniest series I have ever laid my eyes to. The comedic timing is perfect, the characters and their interactions with each other is hilarious and though the set up is kind of absurd, it surprisingly plays well with the comedy.

I'm going to talk about the anime specifically. Ranma 1/2 follows a premise where two friends, one with three daughters and one with one son, promise each other to marry their children and become one family dojo. This however backfires as the one with a son brought in a girl instead of a boy. The reason is that he fell into a pool of water that is cursed, turning him into a girl. After that, hilarity ensues.

The comedy relies on the gender-bender situation Ranma, our male lead, is in. We follow his mischievous antics and relationships with characters, mostly encountered because of his double gender. Misunderstandings builds and builds and it becomes utter chaos and I love every bit of it and it's all thanks to its cast of nearly insane yet enjoyably likable characters. The male lead, Ranma is an egotistic and mischievous jerk but his ego always backfires on him and almost always gets the wrong end of the stick. Akane, the female lead, is hot headed and jealous ridden but is a great foil for Ranma's antics. Other insane characters are Ranma's selfish and uncaring dad Genma, Shampoo, the psychotic Chinese girl, Ryoga, the lost warrior and so on because I could talk about the other characters and their personalities all day but its best if you watch it to see.

Oh wait, I forgot to mention that its a romantic comedy. Other than the gender-bender set-up, the comedy also relies quite heavily on Ranma's unintended romantic involvements. Throughout the anime, Ranma becomes unintentionally romantically involved with many women either because his dad is a complete douche bag or he is a complete douche bag and these moments are the best in Ranma 1/2. Even though a lot of women are attracted to Ranma, Ranma and Akane are always the obvious top pick and in my opinion one of the best couples in anime. Their chemistry is perfect, comedy and drama wise.

Animation wise, it is from the 80's and it is easy to tell that it's a bit low quality but you can appreciate the nostalgia of it. The English dubbing is quite bad so I recommend watching this in Japanese with English subtitles. The music however has held up quite well even though some are hit and miss and even if I don't watch Ranma 1/2 for maybe 2 years, I would still remember the songs.

Bottom line, Ranma 1/2 is a classic. I loved it as a kid and I love it more as an adult. The comedy is top notch, the characters are unforgettable and the story is as ridiculously enjoyable as it can get. If you love anime at all, you have to give this a try.

Overall: A comedy classic and one of my favourite animes ever.
Story: Has an absurd set up but it works extremely well with the comedy and it brilliantly builds up and becomes ridiculously enjoyable.
Music: Listening to it now, it's kind of nostalgic, which is charming in itself. All the openings and closings are nostalgic 80's j-pop.
Characters: Unforgettable. Each has their own unique comedic traits and personality and each of them work off each other extremely well comedically.
Animation: It's an anime from the 80's so expect low quality animation but it doesn't bring the anime down that much.

Well… it’s alright, though it has a lot of… fan service (Ya… we will call it that for now). Everything seems to be leading up to times when Ranma turns into a girl. It doesn’t help that there are a lot of perverts in the show as well. They show breasts in every show. Ranma throws his clothing off a lot or has it token off; sometimes it’s only showing the breasts popping from under tight clothing. There is always someone getting naked from being turned into an animal then back again. I think most of the girls would be scared for life if they were innocent. But no one is innocent! They seem to be ok with the whole naked thing. It seems also normal that property and people get hurt by all the different attacks that they did. Some of the attacks seem more fantasy then actual attacks. The artwork is ok…. But not all that good, but it’s ok for a vintage.

Awesome show i watched it when i was 8 years old
i really wish i could still watch it!!!
i love all the characters all of them are soo funny!!
I love all the love triangles
n all the food looks great!