Ranma ½

A person needs good taste and a sense of humor to enjoy Ranma ½. If you possess these attributes then Ranma ½ should appeal to you. Don't expect it to be like Akira or Death Note because this is a true comedy. If you enjoy Monty Python then Ranma ½ will entertain you. If you aren't amused by it then you have no sense of humor. Story: The episodic format often prevents a long story arc from developing but most of the story arcs that occur throughout the series developethe overall plot with the character learning new techniques although some of the story arcs bring the story back to square one. The main form of plot developement that happens is cast expansion which means more and more characters are introduced that can later be used in subsequent episodes. This massive cast of characters eventually developes a complicated web of relationships that change very little but the web does continue to get larger. In other words the situation grows more than it actually progresses. Art: The art quality was magnificent early on in Seasons 1 and 2 and later on in Seasons 6 and 7 but Seasons 3, 4, and 5 were inconsistent. This inconsistency is because different animators with varying levels of skill animated different episodes throughout these middle seasons. Asami Endo worked on way too many episodes and her style detracts from the quality of the seasons that she worked on extensively. Atsuko Nakajima was the greatest animator and every episode she made was entertaining and her style of art and animation was perfect in every way. Yuka Kudo and Chi Isono were also excellent animators. Sound: The sounds effects and music are perfect and they fit the series well. Character: Above all else the characters are hilarious, charming, and unusual. The characters are actually extremely deep and most of them have extensive back stories that provide extensive information about their past. Whoever said they're not deep is completely wrong and obviously didn't pay any attention to the comprehensive background information that was given to tell about the events that led up to the ongoing circumstances of the series and give depth to the characters by telling parts of their life story. The characters are extremely eccentric but they have believable personalities because they almost always act in character. The characters have consistent personalities that make them believable and insanely hilarious. The characters are this anime's best characteristic. Enjoyment: Enjoyment is what this anime is all about. You should chill out and make sure you have a sense of humor before you watch this anime.

Ranma 1/2 is something that is difficult to pin a single description on. At times there are lots of action scenes, explosions, and various attacks flying around. At other times it is side splitting humor due to an awkward time and place for Ranma to transform, or situations he gets roped into, and still other times where Akane's explosive temper or jealousy takes us by surprise. Scattered here and there are some genuinely sweet and tender moments as well. (8) Ranma 1/2 is episodic. It has no overarching plot other than to perhaps reverse the curse placed on Ranma and several others we meet along theway. We have our core group of Ranma and friends, and a number of other characters that come and go. (8) The art is generally very good. Age is no qualm here as an excuse for sloppy art. The animation quality is a bit simple at times. But at others, especially during fight scenes, is very good. Quality overall is still very good though. Although in rare occasions, the art quality drops significantly. (9) The sound quality suffers a little bit due to age. Especially having been on VHS for over half of the series lifetime. But otherwise the sound quality is still very good to great. Surprisingly enough the core group of characters have very good English dubs. Even a lot of the supporting and background characters have good voice overs. Occasionally we run into a bad voice over, but by far that is in the minority. ( 10) The characters here all have a healthy dose of insanity. With few exceptions most of the characters have some unique personality traits that either put Ranma and crew in massive trouble, or cause such an awkward scene that you can't help but burst out laughing. Also with few exceptions most of the characters are so tenacious that they just cannot give up. ever. It doesn't matter how many times they get pounded into the ground, or launched into the sky, or made a total fool of, they just keep coming back for more. But it fits with those characters personalities and makes them what they are. We do have a number of one or two shot characters that appear for a scene or two and are never seen again. (9) Ranma 1/2 is a very long series, 161 Episodes, 12 (now 13) OVA's and two movies are a lot to watch. This series is no exception to getting a bit burnt out on itself. I won't lie and say I enjoyed every single one of the stories, but I'm willing to forgive them in light of the insane fun of the majority of the set. (9) Overall I loved Ranma 1/2 and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a bit of insane fun mixed with various action bits and a romance plot that is extremely warped due to the number of opposing parties involved. Not to mention that Ranma is both a boy and a girl, and with the plentiful insanity, various people either love him or hate him depending on which he is at the time. The only bad things I can say about the series is that sometimes enough is enough. Ranma's immaturity, and Akane's explosive temper can get a little old but still. 9/10 without a doubt. Bias included. *This could easily be a solid 10, but the series was never finished. The anime cuts off roughly in volume 22 (out of 38) of the manga. The OVA's only take on a few more stories but leave a substantial number untouched. There are still a lot of interesting characters that we never see, and a lot of fights, plots, and other bits that I would have loved to see animated. Not to mention the resolution of the series as a whole.*

A comedy/romance based on the manga by Rumiko Takahashi, Ranma 1/2 revolves around the arranged marriage of Ranma Saotome, a boy who has been trained by his father in martial arts since childhood and Akane Tendo, an average girl who is also a martial artist, living with her father and two sisters. Although their relationship starts off rocky at first, over time they begin to grow close to each other, but not without complications brought about by many of the other characters. Story: The premise of Ranma 1/2, that makes it unique to other comedy/romance anime, are the many Jusenkyo springs which, if fallen into causethe person to be cursed. Ranma is cursed and turns into a girl whenever he is splashed with cold water, and is changed back to a boy when splashed with warm water. The story focuses on the many love webs between the numerous characters, with most of them being in love with either Ranma or Akane. This leads to various conflicts which are usually resolved through martial arts or other supernatural elements. Although the first few seasons introduce new characters and elements, the latter few become stale and repetitive and fail to rap up many of the plotlines. You could almost say that nothing much drastically changed from season 3-4 to season 7 Animation: Hard to comment on the animation of an anime from the late 80's early 90's. However I have to say that it seems very well done for its time, The character's appearence are consistant and the fighting scenes, like I said, for its time, seems well done. Although in some instances they seem to come off a little choppy or with recycled animation. Sound: The sound is fitting to the tone of the show, music for battles scenes come off as both serious and silly at the same time, which many of the battles are. The opening's and ending's also fit the show very well and were enjoyable. I watched the show in japanese, and although the voice acting was average, it gets extra points for having the great Kappei Yamaguchi as male Ranma, and Megumi Hayashibara as female Ranma. Character: The anime feature various characters, alot of which have feelings for either Akane or Ranma, and spend alot of their time trying to wedge them apart and win the favor of the one they love. Like Ranma, many of the characters also have Jusenkyo curses and change their form, some curses include a cat, duck, pig and panda. There are also many minor characters who appear only a few times, usually they present some type of martial arts, or perhaps supernatural challenge. Enjoyment: I was disapointed with the way the repetitive plot and shallow ending, but overall I did enjoy it. Many of the situations were very humorous as well as the over the top personalities of alot of the characters. If you are a Rumiko Takahashi fan (although if you are you have probably seen this already) or just like overly silly comedy/romances with quite a bit of action then I would have to recommend this to you.

Oh, where to start..? Well, I give credit for at least trying to make a good anime; however, this was far from it. I don't mean to offend any lovers of Ranma 1/2, but the story was very poor. The plot, however, was imaginative, and it was enjoyable for a little while. The episodes kept drawing me back again and again, even though sometimes I'd yell out to myself "That was the worst episode EVER!" The creator tried too hard to make Ranma 1/2 funny, so it fails dramatically later in the series. The events begin to be extremely predictable, and although sometimes the humor made melaugh my heart out, most of it was simply annoying. With my taste in anime (I like to see adventure, occasional humor, and a LOT of character development), I found this show to be somewhat... Annoying. All right, maybe very annoying. Some of the episodes are like a pornographic version of Looney Tunes (what with all the slapstick humor), and it really got on my nerves. Not to mention that the characters NEVER develop. This makes for fun characters at the beginning, but the quality of events and story begin to fail later on. However, I still finished the series, and found some episodes very fun and hilarious; but when I finally reached that last episode, I breathed a sigh of relief and moved on to different anime. I have to give the plot some credit. It's fairly original and even cute sometimes, and pretty inventive (I mean, Ranma turns into a girl when splashed with cold water, and this makes for some very humorous moments). The music is fun and catchy. Not cool or exciting, just catchy, and sometimes a bit... Weird. But it's fun nonetheless. The art fits the plot very well. It's fairly cute and an original way to illustrate, and I somewhat like it. Depending on your taste in humor, characters and their development, you may want to give this anime a try.