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Ah, Kodachi finds the loophole in her promise. Ranma’s not thrilled with this, understandably. The poor fella has two people doggedly pursuing his hand, on top of P-chan’s torment. It’s not easy, being a guy-turned-girl!

With that, we’ve come to the conclusion of the martial arts rhytmic gymnastics arc! It’s been a lot of fun, even if I don’t love Kodachi. To be fair though, I think she’s at her best here, relentlessly cheating and proving a difficult foe already. This is the first time girl-type Ranma is featured in a martial-arts battle too. While uncomfortable, Ranma handles his cursed body with skill and power.

But this is the last episode featuring “Let’s Keep it Platonic!” Guess that means I’ll take a moment to cover it.. and perhaps in more ways than one 😉 stay tuned!

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Two sides of the same coin

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With little room left to fight, Kodachi just applies more pressure to her pigtailed opponent. Ranma tries to kick her, but misses anyway, while Kodachi taunts her because she need to use a tool to win. Ranma doesn’t lose his cool and finds a win condition in using the very posts against her opponent. Flying through a barrage of clubs to land the deciding blow, Ranma succeeds!

This is Ranma at his/her best. He’s fighting for Akane (and his ego) and is using his brain and skill to outsmart his foe. Kodachi has been difficult because of her skill and excessive cheating, but Ranma has countered her every move, even if it was close. What a fun battle this has been!

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The mid-air specialty line!

This moment does a lot to establish Ranma’s fighting prowess throughout the series. That’s not to say I wouldn’t have appreciated the fun aerial moves anyway, but it shows how much care went into Takahashi’s manga and the early season of Ranma 1/2

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Sure enough, even tossing Kodachi across the room isn’t enough to win! The ring moves in response to a whistle. But what is the cause of this?

Ranma doesn’t take very long to figure it out. He destroys the ring floor and sure enough, he finds those girls who we randomly cut to moments ago!

They’re Kodachi’s cohorts! Hence the leotards! They scatter like insects under a flashlight and leave only the ropes and posts to fight on.

Pretty cursed face in one of those magazines

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Whoa wait why did we suddenly cut to a bunch of girls gossiping in darkness? This scene was very confusing on my first watch, because it seems so out-of-place and tonally different from the rest of the match. However, their presence is explained when Ranma tries to throw Kodachi out of the ring...

Also the magazine is titled “meme.” Pretty dank title if you ask me.

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The irony is so thick I can taste it

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Girlboss moment. Well, except for the whole being a boy thing...

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We are saved from seeing Ranma in a leotard and Ryoga in the buff by ...Akane! Fianceé or not, she really has been reliable when it’s come to protecting Ranma’s secret identity. She’s a phenomenal friend.

And because of the massive stream of water, Ranma’s forced to swim up it to stay in fight! Very cool

The wiki claims Ataru is in the crowd but I can’t find him for the life of me

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So in a surprising but welcome bit of continuity, we flash back to Genma, who had been knocked out by Kodachi’s poison. He grabs a kettle and heads over to the match. But the contestants have been wrangling objects from the crowds to hit each other with... you see where this is going.

Ranma’s secret - and his pride - are in peril!

This is what I like about the early episodes. They really structured interesting and comiedic scenes around the main gimmick of the show. It’s a fun fight, yeah, but having to handle the curse in the middle of it all adds some fun tension.

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P-chan is a clever handicap for Ranma! It’s essentially being chained to someone who’s trying to sabotage you at every point.

But you forget... Ranma is cleverer! At least when martial arts is involved. P-chan becomes a weapon and a shield in Ranma-chan’s hands. This fight is pushing Ranma to innovate, which is really interesting to watch.

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More foreshadowing? Anyone smell roasting chestnuts?

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Do you think the Kuno siblings never figure out this curse because of this poor description? I really think it’s just because they’re in denial.

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Just in case you forgot she’s Kuno’s sister...

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Akane’s been relegated to a coaching role. She takes an active part in helping Ranma, including protesting the use of Kodachi’s interesting props. The joke comes when the ref just preemptively lets Akane know it’s legal

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Kodachi’s use of tools is a little odd... in particular, how straight the rope stays in her hands. Turns out,