#and can i just say that i love seeing girl ranma being flirted with and seeing a piece of his soul die internally every time

[interdimensionalpancakes]

i love that ep. 8 basically confirms that akane and ranma are unofficially dating.

akane immeadiately goes to ranma to help her find p-chan and his heart literally can't take it when she's upset.

i love the way they handled ranma's jealousy in the remake, with the death glares/ darkened expression when mikado was trying to kiss akane & akane notices this.

akane is also willing to help ranma learn how to skate without judgment or insults.

when ranma got kissed, he was more bothered by the fact that it was in front of akane than for any other reason.

the highlight for me was when they were by themselves, he swept akane off her feet (literally!) he asked for her consent to kiss her and asked if they shared mutual feelings (if it weren't for the audience, i think they would've kissed. considering he was so close to kissing her too!).

this remake is literally such a masterpiece.

[danaty-consolation]

What do you think of all stars so far? Most of the "old school" fans criticize that it's lack luster and that the pacing is horrible and, of course, comparing it to the original adaption.

It may be impopular, but I actually like that Davidpro decided to mostly only adapt directly the chapters, they haven't really added extra scenes compared to how the original did. I think the fast pacing suits UY weirdness very well and, overall, it just gotta show that the manga was already very good. I love the original and I'm glad it exist and it had the luck to have so many talented people that contributed to make such an iconic and timeless adaption, but I disliked how some of the old fans worship Oshii to the point of saying it was thanks to HIM that Urusei Yatsura was an icon and most of them even forget that Rumiko's manga was already an acclaimed masterpiece way before the anime adaption began, so All-Stars wanting to keep the adaption as similar to the manga as possible warms my heart. It will never replace the original, but is a good adaption for the fact that it's made as tribute to the manga instead of try to compete with the original.

Hi!

Well first, as you said the old anime had really good animation and they added a lot because they had liberties.

Even though it was aesthetically incredible and had some interesting concepts, there was a fatal error.

Their inconsistency with the characterization. Sometimes I liked Ataru's character and other times I freaking hated his actions and over-the-top rudeness. Lum was also very bland sometimes like the perfect girl men would worship, her sparky attitude most of the time forgotten.

Mendou was a war freak, something that made me uncomfortable because tanks are no laughing matter.

Shinobu also was sometimes unnecessarily mean and rude to Lum.

Megane's as a character just irks me because he never saw Lum as a human being, she saw it as someone to worship. As if she was an idol, an obsession. Let's not forget the abuse and torture he applies with his group to the main protagonist.

The characters were hurt just for "comedy", for Oshii's comedy that was all over the top. Oshii may be a incredible in animation, but he fails really badly in Urusei Yatsura and it's characters.

He tried to compete with the original Urusei Yatsura with his "male vision" but failed to appreciate the heart and complexity of Rumiko's Takahashi pen.

Oshii may be a person and legend in the animation industry but it has never been well known to such a degree as Rumiko Takahashi, her characters while flawed GROW in their own way. Her characters in Inuyasha, Mermaid Saga, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2. Kyokai no Rinne and Mao are diverse and flawed but they become better as the story goes.

The character in Urusei Yatsura don't grow as the story goes on, one episode Ataru grows, and the next episode after that one keeps him softer with Lum and then his character goes back to the next one to 0.

As if the episode before it never happened.

People don't remember the 80's anime because of the characterization normally, no they go for the aesthetic. We see the characters like buffons and over the top most of the time and laugh about their bad luck. Most of the time don't feel like real people since their flaws over shade their good points in a lot of episodes.

They are good episodes also, one's that show the characters good points but they can be counted, like 4 or 5...even 7 of 195 EPISODES!.

And with David productions, we have fun and the characters are flawed but lovable? They are more human! They respect their characterization, we know how each one is.

We know that Ataru is a flirt but a loyal guy with a girl he openly dates, that Lum is a lovable but jealous person, that Shinobu is cute but also goes with the looks sometimes rather than the feelings and Mendou is a rich boy who is trying to have a normal School life while having the mentality of a person feed with a golden spoon.

They had their errors but we also see their good side, we see them as friends.

The 80's anime is mostly another version of Urusei Yatsura. Less true and more experimental but lacking.

We are grateful that it exists because as I said, there are some good ones and cool concepts.

Oshii never perfected Urusei Yatsura, he played with the concept but never topped it. People who love Oshii's work are perfectly fine in liking that experimental face more but saying that he perfected Urusei Yatsura is a slap in the face for Rumiko Takashi.

Rumiko Takahashi, the princess of manga didn't write and draw Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2 (These two works were known globally and without Oshii's help) Maison Ikkoku, Kyokai no Rinne and Mao (which one's stood by themselves with little or no filler in their anime adaptations) just for people to call Oshii the one that gives her exposure and makes better her work.

I am so grateful the new anime adaptation is following the manga more closely and adapting the characters in a way that stay true to their original characterization while making them better as if Rumiko was writing them today with all her new experience.

I love UY All-Stars so much and I agree with your opinion because it is a love letter for Rumiko Takahashi's work rather than one where you only remember the art rather than the characters.

[mysticdragon3md3]

Ranma ½ is GENIUS. Here’s Why by  Bonsai Pop

The thing I really appreciated about Ranma ½ when I was younger, was that it was a discussion about gender without getting sidetracked by sex, the way most “sex comedies” did, especially at the time.  At the time, publishers tried to market Ranma ½ as a “sex comedy” in the vein of raunchy college-setting Hollywood movies or fanservicy Male Gaze series (compare “Futaba-kun Change” or the proceeding “harem genre” that Ranma ½ started).  But Ranma ½ felt more like a discussion about gender more than sex, or even more than sexuality.  And being an AroAce kid, who didn’t know what AroAce was at the time, but was very confused about my gender, I really appreciated Ranma ½’s focus on gender over sex, fanservice, and heterosexuals navigating (sexual) relationships—which, I *cannot* express enough, was the saturated majority of all anime/manga, that even came close to discussing gender, at the time.  I just wanted a discussion about gender, gender roles, complaining about presumed traditional ideas about gender, and how to define one’s own gender despite society’s pressures about gender.  I wanted a discussion about Strength, that the martial arts genre did so often, without an advocation for sexist ideals, toxic masculinity, stereotypes about “feminine” being weaker (even as warriors), fixated only on romance, or any number of female stereotypes, etc.  I feel like I can’t remind people enough of how it was back then, when not only were these toxic mysoginist ideas portrayed frequently, but they were also portrayed as good, true, “right”, or unquestioned.  At least when Ranma Saotome was being a sexist jerk, he was punished for that terrible thinking or eventually had to reconcile with his dissonance.  And Akane Tendo was revolutionary at that time too.  It used to be that on the Shonen genre side, we had only hyper fem, passive, romance-fixated, love interests, OR nagging, cold female characters that really felt like the author was conveying all their horrible views on women in general, OR sexy eye-candy that had close-ups on their boobs or butt so frequently, that it completely made their lack of focus on romance or anything else in their personalities, secondary.  Then on the Shoujo genre side, we had girls who were fixated on nothing but romance, constantly jealous and possessive—and often over guys who hadn’t even proven themselves worthwhile to pursue romantically.  Let’s face it: A lot of Shoujo leading men were often jerks, treated their female love interests badly, and for some reason, she was just supposed to play the devoted “Lady Murasaki” and be totally “in love” with him.  Whyyyyyyyyyy?????????????  Even worse on the Shonen genre side too, because he treats her badly, it doesn’t get portrayed as bad treatment, he doesn’t understand why she’s angry, so she just looks like a volatile nag all the time, often existing only to be objectified or serve as a flimsy motive for his character arcs and actions. It was a pretty bad time.  Not that now has eliminated those problems, but when Ranma ½ and Akane Tendo seem like the shining lights of something different, maybe then you can understand how much I sorely needed Ranma ½ and Akane Tendo at that time.  

Really surprised that this video essay didn’t mention Jackie Chan.  The thing that differentiated Ranma ½ from so many martial arts battle anime/manga at the time, was that Ranma ½’s style of martial arts was inspired by Jackie Chan.  Meanwhile, all the other Shonen martial arts manga/anime were so serious and based more on “cool”, “action” genre toned martial arts movies.  

I’m intrigued by this video essay’s idea that Ranma ½ the series isn’t sexist, but rather, characters within the series are sexist, and are so in order to make a point about how them being like that is messed up.  I need to grapple with this because one of my problems in looking back at Ranma ½ is that it can be a little transphobic and/or homophobic at times.  Like, I’ll never forget when Tsubasa Kurenai was introduced and, Akane, this character that we’re supposed to completely sympathize with during this series, just keeps screaming in Tsubasa’s face that they are a “pervert”, simply because it’s revealed that Tsubasa identifies as a boy but dresses as a girl.  I think the episode just ended like that, and that was supposed to be a joke, but I don’t know whether the reveal’s shock intended on the audience was supposed to be conveyed through Akane and we were expected to have the same reactions as her, or if we were supposed to be shocked at Akane’s reactions and her reactions being ridiculous were the joke.  I dunno; it was a long time ago, I don’t remember much context, and I really should look it back up.  But frankly, there’s a lot of Ranma ½ to sift through and that’s more time than I have, writing this post.  Akane does seem to repeatedly have instances of being perfectly nice to characters, but when she discovers they’re actually guys, she spends a lot of time yelling “pervert” in their faces.  Sometimes I don’t know if we’re meant to see how ridiculous Akane is being or if we’re meant to agree with her.  Again, I watched/read the series a long time ago, and maybe if I re-watched/re-read it now, it would be clear to older me.  Because, when it happens between Akane and Ranma, Ranma has a specific line, grummbling about how Akane was perfectly nice to him, up until she found out he was actually a boy.  And Ranma was a bit nice in his characterization up until that early line of dialogue, so maybe we were supposed to be on his side in that thought.  So maybe Akane spending the rest of the series yelling “pervert” at Ranma (repeated so often it’s essentially their running gag), is supposed to be a joke laughing at how irrational Akane is being.  o.o?  I’d hate to think we’re supposed to be on Akane’s side, repeatedly calling Ranma a “pervert” over a curse that he had no control over getting, and early on was portrayed as a misfortune that the audience was supposed to sympathize and pity him over.  Maybe the whole thing is supposed to point out Akane’s flaws, since everyone in the series is pretty messed up.  (Even Kasumi unsettled me a bit when I was younger, in that she dropped her entire life, to replace her mother’s role when she died.  For me, being a young girl who didn’t buy into those traditional female roles, that were still at the time, strongly pushed onto girls in society, that was a little unsettling.  Still love Kasumi as a person though.)  Akane did have reason to “hate boys”, as the series specifically states early on, but I’d like to think that she was given this flaw as a point to grow away from.  Just as this video essay calls to attention Ranma being sexist and, over the series, eventually growing out of it.  But back when I was young and initially into Ranma ½, I feared that some of these sexist or even homophobic ideas in Ranma ½ were actually reflective of thoughts that Rumiko Takahashi advocated.  After all, there’s a point in Maison  Ikkoku where Kyoko berates herself by saying all women are fools.  Maybe I was too young to see the nuance in a character berating her own mistakes in her love live, vs the implication that all women are “properly” stereotyped into being obsessed with love and end up acting foolish for it.  Nowadays, I can see how we can berate ourselves whenever our specific actions can slot us into generalized stereotypes, and we curse ourselves for falling into proving stereotypes true on occaision.  But back then, when I was younger and watching Ranma ½ for the first time and reading Maison Ikkoku for the first time, I was afraid that such lines were reflective of Takahashi believing such stereotypes as truth.  Which is why I was so happy when sometime after Ranma ½, Inuyasha had a canonically gay character, and instead of Inuyasha calling him a pervert the entire time, he just got exasperated with his non-stop flirting, the way that all the female characters from Ranma ½ are tired of guys who won’t take “no” for an answer.  At the time, I thought, “Yay!  Takahashi has evolved to a less homophobic stance!”  But maybe, all this time, she was always against such things, and merely portraying them, even through characters we were supposed to sympathize with, merely to show how messed up such ideas are.  I really like that thought which this video essay presented.  

But I will disagree with this video essay on 1 thing:  The manga is better.  I’m not trying to be elitist.  I realize that comedy has a very subjective sensibilities, and the anime leans into awkward silence type comedy, whereas I am sick of that type of comedy.  But so many visual gags and jokes in the manga, and Rumiko Takahashi’s style in general, involve panels that are almost completely re-drawn, with only 1 element changed—the gag element—suggesting that the eye is supposed to read from panel to panel quickly (since the human eyes/brain filters out a lack of change, and is hard-wired to focus on changes from previous conditions).  To me, this suggests quick punchlines, whose sudden oddity is supposed to shock, implying an intended fast pacing to the jokes.  And yeah, Takahashi will draw seemingly normal scenes, detailed with all the normalcies of a commonly recognizable environment, then suddenly the next panel is exactly the same except a character is contorted into a silly pose or an absolutely ridiculous creature with an intentionally nonsensical facial expression has suddenly appeared, amid that completely “normal” scene, with all its “normal” details _redrawn_.  It’s why the “evil oni” episode in Ranma ½ had a ridiculous face, despite its supposedly ominous background.  In fact, anywhere Takahashi can fit a gag face, especially if it contradicts the surrounding scene’s/story’s serious tone, she will do it.  She has even said in interviews that if scenes are too serious, she will try to put in a gag in the corner.  I remember reading Maison Ikkoku during a depressive episode (for both me and Godai) and suddenly Yotsuya had poked his head through a hole in the wall, into the scene, shining a flashlight onto his own face, like a kid telling a ghost story, all while he made funny faces and Takahashi’s typical gag with the sign language “I love you” gesture.  The woman cannot let things stay serious (except for Mermaid Saga, parts of Inuyasha, and some short stories), and I love her for it!  ^o^  But the way she suddenly injects ridiculousness into scenes and character designs, suggest, at least to me, an intended fast paced delivery with the jokes.  That sudden shock when you notice Yotsuya making faces in the corner of a depressing scene. That sudden shock, when Ranma is hiding from his mother, and is clinging to the ceiling or futons like Spiderman, and Akane is just supposed to act natural so Ranma’s mom won’t notice where he’s hiding.  To me, this suggests the punchline is supposed to come at you like a sudden punch, unlike awkwardness that hangs in the air.  So when the anime tries to make the joke linger, I just don’t enjoy it as much as when my brain can dictate the faster pacing I want (and believe better fits) while reading the Ranma ½ manga.  

Also, the manga is better because those manga filler episodes were not as well written as the manga.  Rumiko Takahashi is a master of short stories.  And that shows when you run into the less-effective filler anime episodes–even when you don’t know they’re filler episodes!  I remember watching the Ranma ½ anime before reading the manga, before there was even internet lists of which were the filler episodes, and coincidentally, all the filler episodes did not make me laugh out loud, whereas every episode up until that point, had made me uncontrollably laugh.  I feel like the anime thought that because Ranma ½ was an episodic, very silly series, they could just insert anything and it would fit.  But clearly, only  the manga-based episodes—and even individual scenes!—had the nuance of Takahashi’s writing and pacing, to make even an episodic, ridiculous series work.  

  Also, I love how this video essay just lavishes the love on Rumiko Takahashi.  ^o^  

Another thing this video essay pointed out that I appreciate about Ranma ½ is how indifferent Ranma is to all the advances of his suitors or even accidental fanservice.  All the consequential “harem genre” series that tried to emulate Ranma ½ always seemed to include male protagonists who were surrogates for the audiences’ intended horny reactions.  But Ranma was neither turned on, enticed, nor tantalized by even accidental fanservice falling into his lap.  (As Mother’s Basement has noted, harem genre protagonist have a penchant for accidentally falling and grabbing a girls’ boobs, or their face falling into her boobs, or accidentally put into a position to forcibly see up her skirt, etc.)  If anything, he’s more embarassed that he accidentally walked in on girls in undress, rather than enjoying the view OR reacting so long, that the scene drags on, fixating on the accidental nudity/groping/fanserivce.  And I was about to postulate that maybe because most harem genre and fanservice series are usually made by straight men for an audience with a Male Gaze.  But Takahashi wrote Maison Ikkoku’s Godai, right before she created Ranma ½, and he very much enjoyed the view, took peeks, and fixated on any accidental fanservice.  So it’s actually Ranma himself who had reactions and a perspective that were very agreeable to this asexual.  

I hadn’t noticed before this video essay said it, but Happosai really is condemned much more for being the “pervy old man” archetype, whereas other series are very permissive towards that same archetype, even when they’re being sexual predators.  I’d like to attribute this to Takahashi bringing a woman’s perspective, but Sailormoon was also written by a woman and (if I remember correctly) Rei’s grandpa’s pervy ways were reprimanded in only 1 episode then permitted as a running gag in the rest of the series (thankfully, not often).  Then again, lots of the Shoujo genre also advocated for many toxic traditional ideas about gender (like girls picking romantic partners who don’t respect them, and girls being fully devoted/invested in such guys, because they “once” meet the bare minimum for human decency by being nice to them once).  So maybe it was uniquely Takahashi’s prerogative to not let the “pervy old man” archetype slide as supposedly “endearing” silliness.

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 25: The Abduction of P-Chan

Y’all, it has finally COME. The arc I have been wanting to rewatch for ages. One of my favorite arcs in the series. It’s time for figure skating, I’m pretty sure I remember this arc very well, and I look forward to seeing if I still love it as much as I used to.

Oh, but before I do that, I just want to go over something. I already talked about this during Season 1, but some of you might be confused why I’ve waited so long to cover this arc. It’s because the original broadcast order and the production order are different, and Hulu has things in the production order. I wanted to cover the series by broadcast date, so even though this takes place right before the original Shampoo arc, we’re not watching it until, well, now. But anyway, that done, let’s watch the episode!

I am not disappointed.

The episode starts at an ice-skating rink, where Akane is there with a few unnamed friends who want her to join the skating club, because she’s genuinely that good. However, she brought P-Chan with her and left him on the ice. Before she can get back to our transformed lost boy, someone else finds him and takes him away, calling him ‘Charlotte’.

From there, we cut to a ramen shop where Ranma is getting grilled by his friends Hiroshi and Daisuke, who want to date ‘the other Ranma’. That request goes as well as you can expect (though I do have to wonder, since it’s unclear if they think the ‘other Ranma’ is Ranma’s girlfriend or his sister, and they both want to date her, if this would be an actual polycule), but just as Ranma starts walking away, insulting Akane because his friends brought her up, she appears, looking upset.

Ranma immediately regrets that and starts backpedaling, only to realize she doesn’t care about that, she wants his help finding her pet. Luckily, that won’t be too hard, because the thief enters the same shop they’re in, carrying Ryoga around with her. Akane tries taking him back, but the girl resists.

That’s when someone shows up to help Akane, a tall attractive young man who acts like the ultimate pretty boy romance option. He apologizes, explaining his friend has a bad habit of taking things she finds cute and naming them. That just sets the girl off though, whining more and more about the matter until she challenges Akane to a figure skating match.

It’s then that we learn who these two are: Mikado Sanzenin and Azusa Shiratore from Kolholtz High School. Together, they’re a figure skating duo known as the Golden Pair, and they’ve won 950 matches with no losses. Despite this, Akane is ready to fight.

Mikado starts putting the moves on her, causing Ranma to flick some food at him. The figure skater takes that as a challenge, so it’ll be a doubles match of Ranma and Akane versus Mikado and Azusa, and it’ll be in one week.

That night at dinner, Ranma and Ryoga argue over who gets to skate with Akane, each bragging over what they can do...the only issue there is that neither can actually skate at all. Akane starts helping Ranma after he goes into the bathroom and activates his and Ryoga’s curses, since he feels like failing so badly at skating looks worse when he’s masculine.

The Golden Pair return, with Azusa snatching P-Chan to put a new collar on him, one only she can unlock, and Mikado now trying to flirt with Ranma. It’s revealed that they’re both masters of Martial Arts Figure Skating, and that’s what the match really is, as they train by defeating a hundred opponents in just nine seconds. Things get worse when he actually steals a kiss from Ranma, causing Ranma to go use hot water to turn himself back and enter the ice rink ready to fight. He punches the ice so hard that he leaves an enormous crack in it, and he claims it’s the first time in his life he’s been really mad.

That’s where the episode leaves us! But wow, I still feel like a lot happened in this one. There’s a heck of a lot for me to cover, but let’s just start with, well, all the Ranma/Akane. I’m sorry! I can’t help myself!! There was just so much of it! Whether it be Ranma worrying about making Akane mad from another “she’s not cute” kind of thing and being ready to take it back, to how annoyed he gets from Mikado flirting with her, to how after being kissed by Mikado one of the first things he worries about is that it was in front of Akane.

It was adorable!

I also think it’s remarkable how this story is just carried by the personalities of its characters. This isn’t some plot that happens to have the Golden Pair in it. The conflict is driven by Azusa’s strange kleptomania and my Mikado’s predatory behavior. Compared to some other storylines I can think of, this approach makes this one feel much more focused, as well as emphasizing the antagonists of the arc.

I’m going to give each of them their own Character Spotlight in coming weeks, but I did want to say here that I think it’s really interesting how Mikado is frequently animated to make his possessive behavior clear just through visuals, like how he holds Ranma’s arms while carrying him, to keep him from resisting his advances.

The comedy felt strong in this episode, as did the action. I wasn’t laughing the whole time or anything, but I was entertained throughout, and that’s not something I can say for a lot of episodes, sadly. It’s a strong start to this arc, and it just gets better from here...or at least that’s what the opinions I formed in high school tell me, from across the vast distance of time.

Instead of doing a Character Spotlight, I’m going to FINALLY talk about Season 2’s Opening! Since, for some reason, this is the first episode to have it...when due to broadcast order versus production order a lot of places don’t even have it in Season 1!

This song is called “Little Date”, performed by the band Ribbon. It’s a very cute little song, with elements of lighter and sillier moments but also of more emotional ones. I like it a lot more than the first opening’s song, and while I’m not sure if it’s my favorite opening, it’s one of the ones I love going back to listen to the most.

The visuals are...okay. The first half is pretty meh, a combination of original art, images from the manga, and overall less animated stuff. It’s also kind of infamous for showing Ranma’s cursed form topless, right at the start. The second half is better, and I especially love Shampoo’s introduction. The way she and the music fit together is really good, and the fact it’s at the bubbliest part of the song works really well.

On the whole, even with some more lackluster visuals, I’d still put it above the first seasons’s OP.

If it isn’t obvious, I’m very happy to be starting the Martial Arts Figure Skating Arc. I don’t know how popular it is in the larger Ranma fandom, but I know I’ve always been a big fan of it, and this time around it’s still good, at least so far. Honestly? I’m actually going to put this as the second best episode so far, I liked it that much.

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’  

Episode 25: The Abduction of P-Chan

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 15: Enter Shampoo, the Gung-Ho Girl! I Put My Life in Your Hands

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 19: Clash of the Delivery Girls! The Martial Arts Takeout Race

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 13: A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 23: Enter Mousse! The Fist of the White Swan

Episode 17: I Love You, Ranma! Please Don’t Say Goodbye

Episode 20: You Really Do Hate Cats!

Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 22: Behold! The 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire' Technique

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Episode 21: This Ol' Gal's the Leader of the Amazon Tribe!

Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'

Episode 14: Pelvic Fortune-Telling? Ranma is the No. One Bride in Japan

Episode 18: I Am a Man! Ranma's Going Back to China!?

Episode 24: Cool Runnings! The Race of the Snowmen

This arc continues next week, and if I’m being honest, I think it’s going to top this. But maybe I’m wrong! We’ll see with “Close Call! The Dance of Death... On Ice!”. Can it be as good as Reptaur on Ice? I doubt it.

[bloodberi-arts]

Ranma and Akane Moments

My favorite Ranma and Akane moments in the anime. Though there are tons of amazing episodes, below are my ultimate favorite scenes. Sweet moments that are too cheesy to ignore.

Season 1 Episode 1: The Strange Stranger from China

Akane and Ranma’s unforgettable awkward meet cute.

Season 1 Episode 6: Akane’s Lost Love… These Things Happen, You Know

Akane gets depressed about Kasumi and Dr. Tofu’s relationship, Ranma tries to cheer her up with his crazy antics…

Ranma: “You’re Really Cute When You Smile”

Season 1 Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl’s Hair is Her Life

Akane finally sorted out her feelings for Dr. Tofu who on the other hand now finds her shorter hair attractive, this brings Ranma into deep thoughts and realization…

Ranma: “I Like You Better in Short Hair”

Season 2 Episode 21:  Close Call! The Dance of Death… On Ice!

Mikado kisses girl type Ranma causing him to rampage, charging Mikado like a madman. Ranma felt humiliated after the incident.

Akane: “You Got Kissed So Easily”

Ranma confidently declares in front of the public that Akane is his fiancee.

Ranma: “Akane is My Fiancee”

Season 2 Episode 39: Kissing is Such Sweet Sorrow! The Taking of Akane’s Lips

Akane has been chosen to play the part of Juliet. Upon hearing that the person who plays Romeo gets to see China, Ranma vies for the role too.

Akane: “I’ll Send You to China”

Season 3 Episode 43: Sneeze Me, Squeeze Me, Please Me! Shampoo’s Recipe For Disaster

Ranma is under a hypnotic command, who unwillingly hugs anyone who sneezes near him. To make matters worse, Akane is coming down with the common cold. 

Ranma: “She’s Got Thin Wrist”

Season 3 Episode 47: Transform! Akane the Super-Duper Girl

Akane accidentally eats the “super Soba noodles” made by Happosai, which is made to give anyone who eats it super strength.

Ranma: “Whiskers Look Cute on You”

Season 3 Episode 53: All It Takes is One! The Kiss of Love is the Kiss of Death

Learning about the love pills, Shampoo seizes the moment to make Ranma fall for her. However, things doesn’t always end up as planned…

Ranma: “That’s a Love  Potion?”

Akane accidentally swallowed the lifetime love pill, Ranma felt the responsibility of saving her from a disastrous future and so….

Ranma: “Are You In Love With Me?”

Season 3 Episode 58: Two, Too Violent Girls: Ling-Ling & Lung-Lung

After going through a lot of trouble with Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung, the two sisters of Shampoo, Ranma comfortably chats with Akane about relationships and engagements…

Ranma: “I’m Off The Hook”

Season 4 Episode 68: Eureka! The Desperate Move of Desperation

During the lowest times of Ranma, Akane does her part and try to help him continue fighting. However…

Ranma: “I Never Wanted You Here”

Season 4 Episode 69: Showdown! Can Ranma Make a Comeback?

Akane is caught up in the whirlwind while trying to secure the moxa-burn chart to help Ranma…

Ranma: “I’ll Get Akane Safely to the Ground”

Season 4 Episode 84: Mousse Goes Home to the Country!

Akane and Ranma talks about how Mousse’s love for Shampoo. Ranma being Ranma remains oblivious of his surroundings.

Akane: “You Never Were In Love”

Season 4 Episode 86: Kuno Becomes a Marianne

Ranma and Akane spent the day spying on an odd couple Azusa and Kuno…

Ranma: “I Won’t Hafta Worry About Y…”

Season 5 Episode 100:  The Frogman’s Curse!

Ranma became restless when a strange old man who has abilities of turning men into frogs suddenly showed up…

Akane: “You’re Not So Brave Are You?”

Akane shields herself to prevent Ranma from turning into a frog…

Ranma: “Akane! Don’t Turn Into a Frog!!!”

Season 5 Episode 102: Ranma the Lady-Killer

Under the influence of a magic love-potion bandage, Ranma starts to flirt with every girl in sight and that includes Akane…

Ranma: “Why Didn’t I See It Before?”

Ukyo and Shampoo attempts to get Ranma for themselves to the point of causing trouble towards others…

Ranma: “You’re Cute When You Cry”

Season 5 Episode 110: Nabiki, Ranma's New Fiancée

Furious at both Ranma and Nabiki, Akane tells them to go marry each other. Things get complicated as Ranma realizes what Nabiki's true intentions are.

Ranma: “I LOVE YOU!!”

Season 6 Episode 114: Enter Gosunkugi, The New Rival!?

Just when Akane was about to give up on her pursuit to becoming a better cook, Ranma comes into action..

Ranma: “Make Sure You Read It”

Season 6 Episode 115: Ranma’s Calligraphy Challenge

Ranma wants to challenge the Calligraphy Master Sotatsu, before doing so he has to learn the basics of calligraphy…

Ranma: “What About Your Penmanship?”

Season 6 Episode 125: A Xmas Without Ranma

Ranma tells Akane to head back home during their Christmas shopping at the mall. Worried about him, she begins searching for him around town…

Ranma: “Snow’s Kinda Perfect Right Now”

Season 6 Episode 127: Akane Goes to Hospital!

Akane spent a few days in Dr. Tofu’s clinic. Everyone comes to visit her, with the exception of Ranma, inasmuch as being indecisive of what to say to her...

Ranma: “The Humble Approach”

Ranma: “Maybe I better keep it things light.”

On the day of Akane’s discharge, Ranma waits outside Dr. Tofu’s clinic. Akane is overjoyed at Ranma’s surprise…

Ranma: “I Messed Up. Sorry, Akane.”

Season 6 Episode 129 : Legend of the Lucky Panda!

After Genma’s adventure in an unfamiliar place, he suddenly appears in front of the bickering Akane and Ranma…

Akane: “It’s Lucky I Didn’t Fall for You”

Season 6 Episode 132 : “Ukyo’s Secret Sauce - Part 2

Following Nabiki’s suggestion, Ranma spends the night at Akane’s room in an attempt to convince Ukyo about their “true” relationship.

Ranma: “Is This What I Get for Bein’ Nice?”

Season 7 Episode 145 : Let’s Go to the Mushroom Temple

During a fungal training at the Mushroom Temple, Ranma and Akane absentmindedly ate the poisoned mushroom which enhances intimacy.

Ranma: "Won’t You Marry Me?”

Season 7 Episode 149 : Wretched Rice Cakes Of Love

Akane urges Ranma to taste one of the sakuramochi in order to find out if he’s the one destined for her.

Akane: “I Guess I’ll Still Have to be Your Fiancee”

Season 7 Episode 153 : Gosunkugi’s Summer Affair 

Akane and Ranma are both caught in the middle of Kogane and Gosunkugi’s strange love affair…

Gosunkugi: “Akane, Don’t Do That!”

Ranma tries to convince Gosunkugi to continue pursuing Kogane even if she is a ghost to the point of indirectly confessing or realizing what he feels…

Ranma: “If You Love Her, What Can You Do?”

Season 7 Episode 161 : Boy Meets Mom - Part 2: Someday, Somehow…

Akane schedules an appointment between Ranma and Nodoka.

Ranma: “Will She Know I’m Her Son?”

OVA Episode 2: Tendo Family Christmas Scramble

Amidst ruckus during the Christmas party at the Tendo Dojo, Ranma and Akane got their lone moment and exchanged their gifts with one another.

Akane: "Thank you, Ranma. It means a lot to me."

OVA Episode 8: Reawakening Memories (2)

On their way home, Ranma reaches out for Akane’s hand as she apologizes for making him worry.

Akane: "Sorry to Have Worried You.“

OVA Episode 11: The Two Akanes! ‘Ranma, Look at Me

The possessed Akane takes Ranma deeper into the woods. Trying to seduce him in an attempt to put her vengeance in action. 

Akane: “Ranma, Close Your Eyes.”

As Ranma wipes the dirt off the doll he remarks that it resemble Akane and then suddenly notices tears coming out of the doll.

Ranma: “You’re Cute In a Tomboy Fashion.”

P.S. I will continue adding the screencaps and links for each conversation as I publish each.

[straightfacedstrangeness]

Shampoo/Ukyo headcanon: Always super catty with each other, getting into knock-down drag-out fights even when Ranma isn't around. At some point heated fights consistently devolve into fierce hate-makeouts/hate-sex. Both girls are kind of embarrassed about this at first but insist (and convince themselves) that it's a way of working out their Ranma-based sexual frustration while humiliating the other (Ukyo's still got some heteronormativity issues so on her side it's like "HA, YOU were intimate with ANOTHER GIRL" [Ukyo's actually on the NB spec but takes a while to fully realize it and that's another story], while on Shampoo's side Amazons having non-hetero intimacy and/or venting sexual frustration on each other in a non-romantic way is totally normal so she's like "HA, YOU were intimate with someone OTHER THAN RANMA, and ALSO a girl, take THAT you monogamous heteronormative type") And they wind up consistently doing villain team-up stuff when not arguing/making out, scheming together to break up Ranma and Akane, fighting the other suitors together, going together to see Ranma and flirt with him at the same time, all while still being really catty and argumentative with each other. Slowly it evolves into them hanging out without any mention of Ranma, the insults becoming less sharp and more sarcastic/playful, but still hooking up every time they remotely get mad at each other At this point literally everyone they know thinks of them as a couple, talks about them as a couple, and refers to them as a couple to their faces. (Mousse cries about it a lot but convincing himself "well I guess I never had a chance cus she Actually Likes Girls" [Shampoo's actually pan and Ukyo's actually on the NB spec but whatever] helps him get over it more healthily than when she was pursuing Ranma.) Both Ukyo and Shampoo start out being like "WTF, that's a really weird thing to joke about" before slowly realizing "wait a minute...we ARE a couple?" Then it gets really embarrassing and awkward (cus Ukyo's still figuring out her gender/sexuality---her previous stance was "hooking up with Shampoo Doesn't Count As Real Sex cus We're Both Girls"---and Shampoo's like "wait I thought this was purely professional stress-relief sex, are you telling me this was the LOVE kind of sex all along??"---and neither is sure of how the other views what's apparently their relationship so they're both really self-conscious) They resolve some stuff and officially get together, except nothing changes, they're both really salty and playfully insult each other and keep annoying Ranma and Akane for fun, literally the only thing that changes is instead of picking a fight as an excuse to hook up one of em can just say "Hey you wanna hook up" and the other can say "OK" Eventually they get married in China in an Amazon ceremony and then come back to Japan and open a restaurant together

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 21: This Ol' Gal's the Leader of the Amazon Tribe!

*checks watch* Oh, hey, it’s time for more Ranma 1/2! Hope things are going well for you, person reading this. I’m...fairly sure I know what’s coming? I just don’t really remember exactly how it happens. Will I like it? Will I not? We’ll have to see, next paragraph, after I’ve seen the episode again.

That was...not what I was expecting? This storyline is both moving much faster and much slower than I remember, if that makes any sense. How? Well, let me recap it a bit first.

The episode starts with someone flying into the city on birds. More specifically, a bunch of small birds supporting a larger bird who doesn’t seem to fly, and the person is riding on that bird. It’s weird. She arrives in a construction zone, an old woman with a walking stick taller than she is, and she says something about looking for her son-in-law. Actually, she says it a lot. A steel girder almost falls on her head, but she hits it with her stick in mid-air, shattering the metal into dust, before running off.

It cut from that to Ryoga attacking Ranma. Why? Well, Ryoga doesn’t really need a reason, but this time he does. Namely, the whole Ranma kissing Akane thing from the last episode. Of course, Ranma was in cat-mode at the time and doesn’t remember it at all, no matter how much Ryoga tells him it’s real. After Ryoga gets splashed with cold water, Ranma is then attacked by Sasuke and Kuno for the same reason, and combined with piglet-form Ryoga’s help, Ranma actually gets kinda beat up in the process.

Heading back to the home, he realizes that Akane’s probably mad if it is true, and we see her in the dojo, but she isn’t really working out the way she usually does when she’s mad. If anything, Akane seems conflicted. Ranma shows up to talk about it with her, and immediately apologizes. Akane asks if he remembers doing it, and he admits he doesn’t. Then, Akane wonders, did it not matter? Would Ranma have kissed anyone, and it just happened to be her?

Not understanding what is going on, Ranma stumbles over answering too long, until Akane starts actually getting riled up, calling him a flirt. That pisses Ranma off, so they get into an argument. There’s also a scene where their dads are playing shogi, and they wonder about that pink cat Shampoo sent them, especially since it’s unlikely she knew about Ranma’s fear of felines.

The answer to that comes as Ranma goes to take a nice, hot bath to clean off after the fights he’s had. The cat jumps in with him, and before he can freak out about his greatest fear being in the room, Shampoo emerges from the bath right where the cat had been, and she’s very naked. Yep, the cat was her that whole time!

In a case of Ultimate Bad Timing, Akane comes to take a bath herself and sees Ranma in the bath with a naked Shampoo. We cut directly from that to Ranma practicing what to tell Akane later. Namely, that he won’t apologize or back down, instead being firm on the fact that it wasn’t what it looked like and he did nothing wrong. And we wonder why Ranma has relationship problems.

Akane appears, and she seems fine...before knocking Ranma into a pond. Not long after the water changes him into his cursed form, the old lady from the beginning appears, and Ranma has a very hard time fighting her. She won’t explain who she is or why she’s fighting him, then disappears. That felt...a bit pointless, honestly.

Later, Shampoo comes by the house again, with food. It seems she has moved to Japan officially, and lives and works at a nearby ramen shop. As everyone’s eating the food, the old woman shows up again, taking a place at the table to eat. It’s revealed that she is Shampoo’s great-grandmother, named Cologne, and she’s there to make sure that Shampoo and Ranma get married. Soun fires back about the engagement Ranma already has to Akane, but Shampoo seems to think she has a good argument for why she should be the one to take Ranma’s hand.

She takes him into the bathroom and uses cold water to turn back into a cat, and it’s revealed exactly what happened. Heading back to China, she was shamed for failing to either kill or marry Ranma, and thus had to train with Cologne. They did that at Jusenkyo, for some reason, and Shampoo fell into the Spring of Drowned Cats. So, apparently the curse is Ranma’s fault, and thus he has to marry her. He rightfully points out that’s utter nonsense, but Cologne doesn’t care.

They fight for a bit, with Cologne showing off one of those moves where it looks like there are a bunch of her but only one is real. Ranma uses food and Cologne’s hunger to figure out the real one, but that doesn’t really matter. She’s a bit impressed by him, but still knows he’s far too inexperienced to ever really stand a chance against her. Then she hits him with her stick, and says something about how he’ll be begging to marry Shampoo in a few days.

Why is that? Well, it seems she did something quite diabolical. She apparently hit a pressure point that has caused Ranma to be incredibly sensitive to water. Even cold water feels boiling hot, but it still activates his curse. To turn back to his preferred form, he’d need to use hot water, but with how sensitive his skin is, hot water would be torture to endure. Thus, he can’t turn back into his uncursed state unless he does exactly what Cologne tells him.

Let me start with the stuff I like about this episode. First off, this is a really interesting way to build a story arc that’s very different from the ones that came before. All the story arcs in season one were pretty typical for anime. Each event led directly to the next, it all felt like single stories that just took multiple episodes to tell.

But if you didn’t know the last episode was part of a story arc, you wouldn’t guess that to be the case. It felt like a single-stand alone episode. And it kind of was. Only two things really carried over: Shampoo the Cat being mailed to them, and Ranma kissing Akane at the end of the episode. In fact, when I saw Ryoga and Ranma fighting, it took me a second to realize what they were talking about, because I didn’t think that event from last episode would be carried over.

I really like how it was done, though. The show made it pretty clear that Akane was feeling some feelings about the whole thing, but Ranma was too caught up in the idea that she’d just be plain angry about it to miss what she was really telling him. She wanted him to tell her that actually it did mean something that in his cat-state, he still sought her out and was affectionate towards her. She didn’t want it to be meaningless. That’s really cute, and the miscommunication there was less annoying than it sometimes is and more adorable. Free relationship tip: learning how to properly communicate to your partner is really important!

The concept of finally introducing a character who is actually a better fighter than Ranma is good. Cologne isn’t Ryoga or Shampoo or Kuno. He can’t just beat her in a cool fight, she’s far more experienced and skilled, something that from here will kind of drive the entire arc. The fact that Shampoo ended up with a cursed form that Ranma finds so terrifying is also interesting. She’s kind of scary to him anyway, this unrelenting force who won’t leave him alone no matter what he does, so making her cursed form that but to the tenth degree is pretty neat.

Last good thing: I really love how nonchalant Kasumi is with Shampoo. Like, to her it’s just like, “Oh, Shampoo! You’re back, that’s lovely, do you want to stay for a meal?” Either Kasumi doesn’t understand the complex romance plot going on, or she does and finds it not reason to stop being a good host.

What didn’t I care for? Well, like I said at the start, it feels like this arc is moving too fast and too slow at the same time. In one episode, this story resolves the Akane/Ranma kiss from last episode, the mystery of the pink cat, introduces a new focal player in the story, and curses Ranma with something he’ll have to fix. That’s a lot to happen, and I was really shocked the pressure point thing happened in this episode too.

But at the same time...I really found my interest waning in the back half of this episode. The Cologne fight just isn’t super gripping, to me anyway, especially when the technique she uses just feels very bland. There’s a good five or so minutes, about a quarter of the runtime of the episode, that I was just bored in.

I also like reintroducing Shampoo, only three episodes after she left, was a bit of a mistake, especially when she’s basically a main character from here on out. I know she was very popular, but even then giving the audience some time away from her let’s them miss her, if that makes any sense.

There was originally going to be a Cologne based Character Spotlight, but then I decided not to because we still haven’t seen a lot from her, and also I’m very tired and my birthday was Monday please stop bullying me

So, yeah, if you couldn’t tell I’m kind of meh on this episode. It’s not bad. It’s not great. I enjoyed the first half quite a bit, but the back half was a little more of a struggle. It was in fact a big enough dip that I’m putting this episode fourth from the bottom, just above the P-Chan introduction episode.

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’  

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 15: Enter Shampoo, the Gung-Ho Girl! I Put My Life in Your Hands

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 19: Clash of the Delivery Girls! The Martial Arts Takeout Race

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 13: A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 17: I Love You, Ranma! Please Don’t Say Goodbye

Episode 20: You Really Do Hate Cats!

Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Episode 21: This Ol' Gal's the Leader of the Amazon Tribe!

Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'

Episode 14: Pelvic Fortune-Telling? Ranma is the No. One Bride in Japan

Episode 18: I Am a Man! Ranma's Going Back to China!?

But hey, maybe things will be different next time? I’m actually pretty sure I’ll like it better, because now we’re really getting into the stuff I can remember. Namely, Ranma is going to be introduced to what will be his signature technique in “Behold! The 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire' Technique”. I’ll be there next week, and I hope you will too.

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Well, howdy there. I’m up to episode 8 of Ranma 1/2, the second episode of the introductory arc for the best boy in anime history, Ryoga Hibiki. Last episode gave us a general idea of who he is, but it’s this one where we’ll get to see him and Ranma actually fight, as the title gives away. I’ve said it before, but I absolutely adore titles like this. One time I was writing a fanfic for this series, and I won’t lie, making up similar styled titles for chapters was one of the best parts. So, excited to watch it, next paragraph I’ll have done just that!

That...was kind of disappointing. I was really looking forward to this episode, and while there was a ton of stuff I really enjoyed about it, there was a lot I did not care for in the slightest. But before I talk more about that, I’ll do my recap.

Though there is a bit of an issue there, too. About half or more of this episode is Ranma and Ryoga fighting. I’m recapping the episode to you in a text-based format, so going blow-by-blow to describe every move of the fight would be pretty boring, I’d imagine, even if a lot of what happens is actually really great and ties together well. But on the other end of the spectrum, a lot of the plot momentum in the story is carried by the ebb and flow of the fight scene, so just glossing over it wouldn’t work either. I’m going to try for a middle path, but I apologize if I don’t stick that landing.

The episode starts at Furinkan High School, in the middle of the night, as the school’s Chemistry Club is secretly meeting to put their finishing touches on an...explosive mine? Which then blows up? I’d love to tell you this makes sense later...but it does not.

We cut from there to Ryoga, who is dramatically monoguing about how badly he wants to kill Ranma. NEXT SCENE. At the Tendo Household, Ranma and Akane are discussing again why Ryoga wants to beat Ranma up so badly. He’s still confused, since he was sure it was because of the bread. Speaking of Ryoga, Kasumi shows up to deliver a letter that arrived from Ranma, from his rival. It’s a letter of challenge, but the date on it was the day before. Ranma doesn’t think that’s a problem though, considering Ryoga’s relationship with timeliness. To accentuate that point, we get a small scene of Ryoga misunderstanding someone’s directions and going the wrong way, again.

The next day, in what looks to be between classes or during lunch or something, one of Akane’s friends comments on how long her hair has grown out. Akane notes in narration that it’s “finally” longer than Kasumi’s, to really connect the dots we see she’s thinking of Dr. Tofu. But there’s no time for that, Ryoga is back again! In the sports field! While sports are going on! He gets knocked out by a stray ball, but in no time Ranma is down there to fight him, and most of the school has gone down to watch.

Nabiki and her henchwomen, which she has apparently, smell an opportunity, and organize a betting ring on the fight. There’s some brief banter between Ranma and Ryoga, during which it’s revealed it’s actually been a month since the last episode and Ryoga ended up on Okinawa while lost (meaning he’s now been to all four of Japan’s main islands), but then the fight finally begins. Ryoga starts by mainly using his umbrella, and Ranma sticks to dodging.

From there, we get a few audience cutaways. It turns out everyone put their money on Ranma, so Nabiki realizes she’ll need to do something to make sure Ranma loses and she doesn’t lose a ton of money on the bets. The Chemistry Club shows up, and they realize that if Ranma dies, they’ll have a chance to...do something to Akane they never clarify, but is implied to be somehow taking ownership of her. Yeah.

Back to the fight, Ryoga tosses his umbrella at Ranma as a distraction, then pulls out a length of wire and throws a handcuff onto Ranma’s wrist. Now they’re chained at the hand, so they’ll have to fight close quarters, which favors Ryoga more. The umbrella ended up landing near the audience, and some of them try to lift it, only to realize it weighs an incredible amount. Even Akane, who is quite strong, can barely lift in less than a foot off the ground. Realizing that Ryoga’s been carrying this monster of a weapon with one hand this whole time, seemingly with no difficulties, Akane tries to warn Ranma that his opponent is far stronger than he seems.

We cut from there to a student running to see Kuno, and let him know Ranma is fighting some really strong guy who seems to be around Ranma’s level. Kuno claims he is “meditating”, which turns out to just be looking at posters of Ranma in his cursed form and Akane while trying to decide if he likes one more than the other.

Ranma finally decides to take this fight seriously, and uses Ryoga’s trick to his advantage by tangling Ryoga into being grappled, with only one hand to use and Ranma sitting on his back. It’s a great move, but Ryoga is in fact so strong that, with one hand, he can throw both of them dozens of feet into the air, where they start fighting mid-air. That was a miscalculation on Ryoga’s part though, as Ranma is basically built for air juggling.

They end up outside the initial fighting area, right where the Chemistry Club hid a bunch of their explosive mines. They don’t blow up as they’re stepped on though, and after several gags they end up trying to beat up Ranma by jumping out with mallets...right as the fighters dart away for somewhere else, setting off their mines and blowing themselves up. And that was the last anyone heard of them. I guess they’re actually dead. It’s canon now.

Nabiki runs after Ranma and Ryoga as they leave the school entirely for their fight. They’re just on some random street of the city now, and the handcuff tether broke as they left the filler characters behind. Nabiki approaches Ryoga as they’re fighting, offering him what she claims to be a steroid, but is actually just some vitamin pills. Ryoga takes them anyway, and with that plus Nabiki’s thorough encouragement, he acts as though he’s suddenly far stronger. Thanks, Placebo Effect! In fact, he lefts a cement telephone pole out of the ground and uses it as a melee weapon. Amazing.

Ryoga chases Ranma through the city and into the zoo, where some animals are let out from the carnage of their battle. By this point, Ryoga is getting tired of Ranma running away all the time, and says he’s acting like a girl. That hits Ranma’s Berserk Button, and he starts fighting back, breaking the weaponized piece of public property and several other things just as the other students start arriving to keep watching the fight.

The only problem is that A) Ranma broke a water fountain, making it spray water everywhere; B) Ryoga dodged the water using his umbrella, but Ranma got splashed and his curse activated; C) Ranma’s favorite shirt was slashed in the chest area earlier, meaning now parts of his breasts are showing. Ryoga is confused for a second, and Ranma actually gets really emotional, making it clear how much he hates his curse, how much of a struggle living with it is. From Akane’s face in the background, she finds it a bit overwrought. Kuno also briefly shows up to leap at Ranma, only to be taken out with a kick.

If Ranma thought the reveal of his curse and his explanation of how bad it makes him feel would make Ryoga take it easy on him, he thought wrong. In fact, Ryoga seems even more angry now, pissed off at the idea that looking so attractive could be a genuine problem. (Some fuel for you Ranma/Ryoga shippers out there.) Ryoga reveals a new trick. Apparently he has a bunch of bandanas, and he can throw them as sharp boomerangs? Okay.

Worried about him, Akane tries to help Ranma get out of there, sure he wouldn’t be able to win in his cursed form, only for Ranma to have to protect her, picking her up into his arms to run away to get some room away from their assailant. They then have a brief moment of realizing how close they just were, and each struggling with whether to go into why they’re upset at the other or say something about their cute moment. They both decide to go with the former. Oh, and there’s a brief cutaway scene of some zoo person trying to catch an animal, seeing Mr. Saotome come out of a store in his cursed form, and assuming he’s an escaped animal too.

While Ranma and Akane argue in a tree, or as Ryoga accurately calls it, “flirting”, he cuts down the tree using his best, which can apparently become tense and really sharp? Anyway, he’s on the attack again, and in the heat of the moment Ranma says a very bad thing, insinuating that he doesn’t like Akane. She slaps him, absolutely done with him. After all, she’s been worried about him, tried to help him, and in response he’s gotten angry and insulted her. Ranma tries to recover, going after her, but she dramatically turns around to say she is done caring about what he thinks...right as one of Ryoga’s sharp weapons falls from the sky, cutting off a large chunk of her hair mid-turn.

That’s the end of the episode! It was a lot, but it also wasn’t. Hmm...where to start, where to start...should I begin with what I didn’t like, or what I did? I think I’ll actually get the rougher parts out of the way first, so then I can relish talking about what I enjoyed.

There are no two ways about it: this fight, which I had remembered so fondly over the years, is full of filler material. To no one’s surprise, the Chemistry Club are anime-only characters, and unlike other such new elements from later in the series, which I enjoy to certain extents, these characters are nothing. Actually, nothing would have been better. They add no stakes, nothing worthwhile at all, they break up the fight in the process, and what we see of their characters is genuinely despicable, even worse than Kuno. It is left vague exactly what they want Akane for, but it’s left open to interpretation enough that it could be anything from getting her to join as their only girl club member, to being their shared sexual object. If you think I’m reaching for that, please, watch the episode. These are the inceliest incels who ever inceled, and they kind of scare me.

They’re not the only rancid fat in this episode. Kuno did not need to be here. At first, I was happy to see we’d get a little bit of him during this story, but his first scene was just a boring repeat of an already becoming stale joke (Hahaha isn’t it funny that he’s in love with two people at the same time?) and his second scene lasts for about four seconds and is a dull moment in the middle of an emotional scene for Ranma. Genma’s cutaway scenes aren’t as bad, but they’re not really good either. They’re the most neutral.

Of all the side-stories going on here, the only one I actually liked was Nabiki’s. It affected the plot a little, it was in-character for her while driving further to show how money-obsessed she is, she got some anime-only henchwomen out of it (Kikuko and Ryonami for those who care), and I never felt like it was hurting the fight itself. I get that a lot of these other elements of the episode were there for comic relief, but in my opinion it was bad comic relief. It undercut what the other parts of the episode were trying to do, not accentuating them like they should have, and they were just unappetizing. My last complaint would just be a lot of the opening scenes, which were basically mini-recaps about who Ryoga is and what he’s like, didn’t really feel needed.

All of that out of the way, allow me to now gush over what I love about this episode. This fight isn’t the best Ranma vs. Ryoga fight in the series (In fact, I don’t think it would make my Top 3. Yes, if you haven’t seen this show, they really do fight that many times over the course of it.) But it is still a pretty good fight with lots of memorable moments. Ryoga is the first opponent to actually test Ranma’s strength in any real ways, and there are some really killer bits of action here, such as the grappling, the mid-air fighting, and the telephone pole weapon.

What makes this more than just a cool looking fight are the emotional aspects to it. On Ranma’s side, he doesn’t really care about fighting Ryoga, up until his pride is hurt by Ryoga’s comments. For the first time, it’s Ranma getting mad, and from that we get to see how Ranma feels about his situation. That draws out some hints to the mystery behind why Ryoga is angry as well, if you’re paying attention to the clues. (I couldn’t think of anywhere else to mention this, but I am still reeling from how often Ryoga this early in the series relied on weird weapons. Where does he get them? I am quite glad (if I remember correctly) that they phased that part of him out with time.)

On Akane’s end, in addition to another case of Ranma saying the wrong thing to really hurt their attempts to connect with one another, we also learn more about her hair. While a little clumsy, early on it’s made clear, without being outright stated, that the reason Akane wears her hair long, and has been actively growing it out, is so she looks more like Kasumi, hoping to catch Dr. Tofu’s eye. Thus, when the episode ends with that hair being accidentally rendered far shorter, we know that means something to her.

I’d also say this episode does a good job of getting us further into the idea of a status quo developing. After all, it’s apparently been another month of Ranma living with the Tendo’s now, and the school at large seems to be settling into what Ranma brings to them with his presence. They’re not stunned by someone showing up to fight Ranma, they’re chasing after them to watch it. Only other thing to note is, in addition to Nabiki’s minions, Akane’s best friends finally appeared, Yuka and Sayuri. I actually wasn’t sure at first, since Yuka’s hair is a lot shorter than will be her norm later on, but I did confirm that they are in fact her equivalents to Ranma’s Hiroshi and Daisuke. They get even less characterization than those guys do, but they’re a nice addition to the growing cast regardless.

I still have a few characters who have shown up that I haven’t done a spotlight on, but none of them really featured in this episode, so I decided to do my first repeat. That’s right, we’re talking about Ranma again, and because I’ve already discussed his voice actors and actresses, I won’t need to go over them again, except to say I still love his Japanese voice actor for his uncursed state, but find his actress in that language to not quite work for me.

So, it’s been a little while since the first episode, and we’ve gotten to see Ranma a little more. Since this was an action-heavy episode, I think I’ll start with talking more about his fighting style. I said in that first episode that Ranma is fast, and he is. So far, he’s spent most of his fights dodging his opponent, rather than attacking them, and when he does it’s sometimes with such speed that they don’t even see it happening. It’s the very fact he’s more defensive that is occasionally shown to annoy Akane, and you can see it having another layer to it: Ranma would much rather avoid things he doesn’t like, rather than face them head-on.

But he’s not just quick, he’s quick-witted. To match his meticulous mobility, Ranma thinks on his feet, always looking for ways to outmaneuver or outsmart his opponents. We can see from how easily he lifts Ryoga’s umbrella, even in his cursed form, at the end of this episode that Ranma is also very strong, but he doesn’t rely on that strength, he uses his brain instead. Personally, I’ve always thought that was evidence that, at least with Ryoga of all people, he would probably lose a straight-up strength vs strength fight, but I’m not sure if that’s ever openly stated. Still, I also don’t see Ranma lifting telephone poles out of the ground.

In terms of his personality, I’d argue that through the episodes thus far, Ranma has shown to be a complex protagonist. On the surface layer, he’s a fairly abrasive person. He enjoys nettling people, at least those he knows are easy to rile up, and frequently says the worst possible thing to someone without realizing the damage his comment will do.

But there’s also more to him than that. Whether he wants to admit it or not, and he clearly doesn’t want to, Ranma does care for Akane. He does go out of his way to try and comfort her, cheer her up when she’s down, give her advice with her problems. When she might be in danger, Ranma runs in to help, and is upset that she’d endanger herself during his fight with Ryoga. In other words, Ranma is a tsundere, leaning fairly heavily on the tsun side.

One other important piece of who he is that we’ve gotten only hints of here or there so far is his pride and how it relates to his masculinity. Ranma is a very proud person, and he’s clearly not a fan of people taking him lightly or treating him in a way he doesn’t like. That includes being treated as though he was a girl, because he isn’t.

That is honestly understandable. Sometimes, completely outside of Ranma’s control, his physical body changes into something he doesn’t feel comfortable with. When he’s in his cursed form, people see him and treat him differently, and he keeps trying to assert his masculinity, to no avail. Ryoga gets Ranma angry by saying he was acting like a “girl”, completely unaware of the curse at the time. As I’ve said before, I think this actually relates quite well to the transgender experience, in these cases specifcally gender dysphoria and midgendering. I can’t remember how much we’ve seen of it up to now, but Ranma’s rejection of femininity in any way, something he does to try and preserve his masculine pride, often leads to him acting rude or even misogynistic to others. It’s an interesting part of his character, but I do feel the need to say right now that I absolutely hate the stereotype with trans men where some people claim they act misogynistic to try and be more masculine. Like, I know some people do it, but using that brush on all trans men is just wrong and transphobic, no thank you.

Welp, that certainly was an episode. Even after going into all the really interesting and good parts of this episode, I am still left with a bad taste in my mouth. By no means did the bad outweigh the good, but the fact the worst parts of the episode were frequently interspersed among the best parts of it broke up the pacing in a bad way for me. It’s still in the top half of the episodes so far, as I’d put it between episodes 6 and 4. The current ranking is now:

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

This storyline isn’t over just yet though! Next week, we’ll be looking at the fallout of Akane’s impromptu haircut in episode 9, “True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!”. See you all then!

[danaty-consolation]

HUMAN BY ACCIDENT!

A/N: This is a birthday present for @artistefish, happy birthday arty!

-,-,-,-,-,-,

Sakura Oozuno has been married since a half year now with Tsubame and the married life made her happier than ever, Lum felt really happy for her, she deserved to be loved and to be more relaxed after of the craziness her life is connected to.

That’s why when Lum received a call from her old friend to visit her the next day to show her some old artifacts that she found while cleaning her uncle’s house when she went to check on her mother, she couldn’t help to say yes.

“The artifacts are really old, I found a manuscript that had an old date, it was made 506 years ago!”

“That’s almost the period where Inu-chan comes from!”

“Yeah, I thought it was interesting so I decided to give you a call, maybe Inuyasha knows more about them”

“Sure, we will go at 2, love ya!”

“See you then, Lum!”

It wasn’t hard to convince Inuyasha to go with her since the others were busy; Ranma and Akane went to help Rinne and Sakura out in a martial art case where ghosts were craving to had one last match before they passed away, meanwhile Ataru and Kagome went to buy the supplies for their next nightstand.

Lum was happy to see darling being friends with Kagome, they were smart and had an incredible authority, but it was a fresh air to her to see him  be actual friends with girls, with no flirting and he didn’t ask any of them to a date after the events of when they all had their first adventure together; when they broke Tomobiki’s seal.

And Darling even became more open with her, the guys were his friends and he didn’t felt so left out anymore, it was all going great.

“So, do you think it’s okay to walk around like this?”

“It’s okay Inu-chan, I have seen a lot of persons wearing weirder stuff in these last two days”

And it was true, unknown for the two youkais there was actually an Anime Con in the prefecture, where there was a contest for the best cosplay so there was a lot of cosplayers walking around.

“Hey, both of you have a great cosplay; can I take a picture with you two?” A person wearing what it looked like an armor went to them, Lum nodded and Inuyasha didn’t say no, so the person asked a person nearby to take a photo of them.

“Thanks guys!”

Inuyasha and Lum looked at how happy the person was while he said to them and the person who took the photo goodbye.

“You see?”

“Keh, this era is weird”

As they walked around and got closer to the Ozoono residence, she remembered what her Darling warned her to not touch any artifacts, after his last case with the gloves of hate and love, they decided to be more cautious about those kinda things.

“Oh, Inu-chan, promise me to not touch any of those things!”

“Why, are they dangerous?”

“Not exactly but the last experience we had without being prepared wasn’t good”

When they entered the residence they were received by Cherry, Miss Ozoono uncle and Lum decided to be on guard.

“Where is Sakura, cherry?”

“My dear niece will come back shortly, she asked me to guide you to the living room, where the things where”

Inuyasha hasn’t treated cherry, but he couldn’t help to feel wary about him, his atmosphere was like Myoga or Happosai, it spelled problems to him.

Both at them sat down next to each other at the Living room where a box was, cherry stood in the table on flipped it down, a lot of artifacts went down.

“Look how weird these look even the touch is weird!” Cherry said holding a dragons jade statue on his hands, making it obvious that he wanted to make them hold it.

Don’t touch it Inu-chan

Inuyasha and Lum had a good intuition that told them what the other was referring to or even thinking with just one glance, their connection made their loved ones surprised, calling it ‘sibling intuition’, assuring their special connection.

As if!

Cherry noticed that his plan wasn’t working, it was time to think in something else, cherry knew he wasn’t a bad person, he was a monk who gave himself to Buddha and he couldn’t help feeling curious on these artifacts, he bought a long time ago and he forgot about  them until his niece found them again in the attic, he knew that when humans touched them nothing actually happened but what could happen if youkais touch them or interact with them? Lum was an alien but she was clearly an ogre and her new friend was an interesting person, a half-breed born from a human and a dog demon, so he had the perfect people to satisfy his curiosity.

“Well, this one is really interesting too, it’s an old mirror that belonged to an old Chinese emperor, the legend says that it shows a point of yourself you never saw before” cherry said holding a circular mirror that had gold dragon ornaments around it, Inuyasha and Lum let their guard down a little and came closer to see their reflections, it was ok if they only see right? After all they won’t touch it.

“UNCLE, NO!” They heard a voice said but it was too late, when they saw their reflections the mirror glowed making Inuyasha instantly put an arm in front of Lum in a protective manner, the light was strong enough to make all of the people on the room momentary blind.

When the light dissipated Inuyasha felt different but  at the same time he was familiar with this feeling, he opened his eyes and looked around, two surprised persons were looking at him, the old man being one of them, he was ready to shout at him when he saw the reflection in the mirror the old man still hold, it was him but he had his human appearance.

Inuyasha cursed, that’s why he felt different, dammit!

“What happened?” A female voice said, coming from beside him, Inuyasha noticed a girl with black hair, with a similar appearance as him, she opened her eyes slowly, her aquamarine blue eyes were gone and were replaced with a soft blue, her horns and fangs were nowhere to be seen and her electric aura disappeared.

She looked human.

“Inu-chan, you’re in your human form!” Lum looked at Inuyasha surprised, she knew that Inuyasha transformed into a human in some nights when the moon was in a certain position, but they just passed that day a few days ago and it wasn’t even night!

“Yeah” Inuyasha said slowly, he was used to looking like this but Lum was a pureblood ogre and he wasn’t sure how to say this without scaring her off ”I could say the same thing to you”

“What?” Lum was confused, she then instantly went to touch her horns, she didn’t find them, next were her ears, they’re also different and finally her fangs weren’t there either as she touched her teeth slowly.

Lum then looked at the mirror and gasped, the reflection couldn’t be her! A human girl with black hair and pale blue eyes looked back at her, it was her reflection, she made expressions to confirm that the reflection was her, and it really was her!

Lum touched her face, still in shock.

“Oi, Lum!” Inuyasha moved her shoulder, this was bad.

“Lum!” Miss Oozuno said going towards Lum, her worried tone was evident as she saw that Lum didn’t respond.

“Interesting, so this mirror makes the youkais turn humans” Cherry said looking at the mirror surprised ”this is amazing don’t you think niece?”

“You fuc-“

“UNCLE, YOU DON’T SEE WHAT YOU JUST DID?!”

“What?”Cherry said taken back by the shouts of his niece” they will be fine, it was just bad luck”

“YOU’RE THE BAD LUCK, I EXPLICITLY SAID TO NOT SHOW THEM THIS ONE!”

“You said that?” Cherry felt a bit guilty now.

“I DID AND WHAT DID YOU DO?” Miss Oozuno took the mirror from cherry’s hands and hold cherry’s clothes from the back, she carried him to the open door, he let him down and hit him with her leg strong enough to make him fly to another neighborhood.

Inuyasha was surprised to see that and felt more respect for the priestess; the damn old man deserved it.

“I can’t use my electricity” Lum said staring at her hands and Inuyasha looked at her again, she looked so vulnerable in this state” and I probably can’t fly either”

Miss Oozuno told them that there was an opportunity to revert back to what they were thanks to some manuscripts; in a night of the new moon they needed to see their reflection before the morning came.

They called Ataru and Kagome to meet them at the Higurashi temple and they told them everything that happened.

Inuyasha and Lum excused themselves for the Oozuno residence while Miss Oozuno still apologized; they told to her to not worry and that they will come back to break this curse.

As they walked Lum felt different as she hugged herself, she felt vulnerable, she couldn’t use her powers to defend herself if the situation needed it and she couldn’t fly either, the electricity aura that always makes her secure and warm wasn’t there, making her feel naked.

Inuyasha noticed right away that she felt uncomfortable and the looks some men were giving her wasn’t helping either, he took his haori off and put in on her shoulders.

“You should wear it, since it’s cold now” Inuyasha said with a soft tone.

“But…”

“Don’t worry, you can put it on yourself, you can do it in that part between the buildings, I will guard”

Lum nodded and went in the closest alley, Inuyasha was on guard until he saw her walking off, how she could make his haori to something she looked decent with it was incredible to him, that was enough proof to him that she was friends with the girl he loved, she had the same sense of style.

“Keh, not bad”

“Thanks, Inu-chan” Lum gave him a smile, feeling more relaxed and secure.

Then he gave her his arm and she hesitantly took it, Inuyasha wasn’t strong in this form but at least he was still stronger than her, so he could protect her.

“Inu-chan, is it okay to walk together like this?” Lum said while looking at him” People could misunderstand”

“Moron, have you seen yourself?” Inuyasha said” We already looked related and now, being all human and with the same hair we actually look like we came from the same mother”

“Really?!” Lum said excited, she always liked it when people said to them that they looked like brother and sister, after all she looked at him as her stubborn but good big brother.

Inuyasha always treated the oni girl like his sister, it was when he was with her his parental side shined through, maybe it was because they personalities’ and looks were similar, but he didn’t mind people confusing them as siblings.

“Hey beautiful, let’s ditch your big brother and have some real fun” a guy with a cap and street clothes came closer to them, Lum held his arm tighter.

“Nah, My sister has better tastes and more important things to do than losing time with bastards like you” Inuyasha almost hissed.

“Oh, I was suspecting why both of you looked so similar, so you’re brothers” The guy said still looking at Lum” Man, your sister looks finer than wine”

Inuyasha was losing it.

“You should leave your brother and be my girlfriend, I can teach you new things” his tone made her shiver in the wrong way, the guy remembered her of Megane.

“Listen, Man” Inuyasha said holding the collar of his clothes, raising him up the floor” My sister has already a boyfriend, who is miles better than you”

And with that he threw the guy to the wall, satisfaction filling his body, at least he was stronger than normal humans.

 Ataru wasn’t prepared for what he saw.

Lum was different, her beautiful aquamarine hair was replaced with a pretty black hair, and her electrifying Aquamarine eyes were now a cute blue.

She looked so shy and vulnerable, he couldn’t contain the urge to hug her when she came closer to him, he will definitely thank Inuyasha the whole night for protecting her in this state, she looked so out of place and boy did that make him overprotective.