#he won’t let her fight in the match with ryoga even though every bone in his body is damaged because 1) the rivalry 2) the jealousy

[galpalkirk]

ranma is so determined that akane will not be hurt in any way that he would keep her from getting a paper cut if he could

[ranma-rewatch]

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

It has been a heck of a week for me, how about all of you? But now it’s time to sit down and watch some Ranma 1/2, and this time we’re digging into season two, known here in the US as “Anything-Goes Martial Arts”. I actually do think I remember this episode, at least a little bit, though whether I liked it or not has been lost to my decaying neurons. Time to form a new opinion then, see you next paragraph!

I’ll be honest, that turned out better than expected. But before I get into that kind of stuff, let me talk about what happens in the episode. Sadly, starting with Season 2, they’ve added a little recap thing to the beginning of every episode. It’s the same animation and voice acting every time, just meant to catch up the viewer on the premise of the show. I hated it when I was younger, and I hate it more now. I have a hard time articulating why, it just rubs me the wrong way.

From there, the actual episode begins with a flashback to when Ranma was a baby, and his father carried him on his back in a martial arts pilgrimage. That turned out to be a bad idea, because at one point Genma was starving in an inhospitable wilderness. He did run into someone with food, and that someone also had a daughter around Ranma’s age. This man only agreed to share food with Genma in exchange for taking Ranma, so he’d have an heir to his school of martial arts. With pretty much no hesitation, Genma agreed, but later stole Ranma back when the man wasn’t looking.

It cuts to the present from there, where Ranma and his father are fighting over some pickles. This is interrupted when the man from the opening, Mr. Daikoku, shows up in a fancy car with his now teenage daughter, who is in a ceremonial bride’s dress. He hasn’t forgotten about the promise Genma made, and is ready to take Ranma to marry his daughter Kaori.

But Soun Tendo isn’t about to just let that happen, since Ranma is supposed to marry Akane. During the conversation there is a lot of bickering between all of them, much of it from Akane and Ranma about them even really being engaged, but Kaori can tell that Akane actually likes Ranma more than she says, and so challenges her to a contest for Ranma’s hand. There’s a Martial Arts Takeout Race going on soon, and the winner of that gets one year’s worth of ramen.

Even more than making sure Ranma and Akane get married, the chance to get all that free food nudges Soun and Genma into accepting the deal. It quickly turns out that may have been a bad idea, since Kaori removes the robe to reveal she is a powerful martial artist, specifically a master of Martial Arts Delivery.

It’s a chaotic race from there, but the long and short of it is that Kaori pulls out a bunch of secret techniques to try and win, including one that numbs Akane’s leg and another that strangles her neck with noodles until she forfeits. At that point, Ranma is seriously considering jumping into the fray to help, even though he’d sworn not to use his curse to enter the race. A nudge from his dad forces Ranma into water though, and from there Ranma and Akane work together to help her win. The Daikoku’s accept the defeat, the family has a bunch of ramen, and all’s well that ends well...at least until another man shows up claiming that Ranma is supposed to marry his daughter. Wap wap.

So, there wasn’t a ton of plot to speak of, but on the whole I quite liked this episode. First of all, it had a wacky energy to it unlike anything in the first season. The Martial Arts Gymnastic competition was the only thing that came close, but this episode from beginning to end moved at a quick pace, with lots of jokes, smooth(er than usual) animation, and a whole new over-the-top martial arts school. Not everything about it worked for me, some of the jokes felt like duds, but then there’s the Ramen Round-Up Noodle Noose, Akane skateboarding, and the fact that Genma sold Ranma for a single meal.

I am kind of sad I literally just did a Character Spotlight on Genma last episode, I should have waited. This is perhaps the first time we’ve really gotten a chance to see just how awful a father Genma can be. I love everyone’s reactions to the news of the trade as well, and Genma doesn’t even really have a defense for it. The interplay between him, Soun, and Mr. Daikoku was also just enjoyable.

Kaori Daikoku herself is also something interesting. Anime-only or not, she’s the first rival for Akane who was also bequeathed to Ranma by his father in the past, though she won’t be the last. Once she was in the fight, Kaori actually worked pretty well, for a single-episode character. I actually like her character design, and as silly as all her food attacks are, she uses them with a kind of ferocious glee that gives her a unique aura, even if she’s still not a particularly deep character.

It’s me, so I also have to comment on how much I liked the Ranma/Akane stuff in this episode, whether it was Kaori noticing that Akane doth protest too much, that Akane was actually arguing for marrying Ranma at one point in the big kerfuffle, or the ending tête-à-tête between them (though the shipping fodder there was a dub only line). Something about the teamwork they used to win at the end was adorable too.

As for my negatives, the big one is that, well, in any scene with a big crowd (and there were a few), the random people looked really bad. Or rather, they didn’t match the art style for the rest of the characters in this show, they felt like they were from a different show entirely. Another small one is that there was no opening theme, and that sucks because I was looking forward to covering it, but I’ll have to wait for it to actually be used in an episode. Other than that, my only other minor issues were the aforementioned jokes that didn’t land for me.

If it wasn’t obvious before, I am vibing with this episode. Not completely, but i was very unsure going in if I’d like it at all. It captured a kind of energy that I hadn’t realized I was missing, and was generally interesting enough that I’ll put it at #6 on my rankings, just above the second part of the Dr. Tofu mini-arc, and right behind the second episode, where Kuno was introduced.

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 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 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!?

Season 2 is here and there is so much more to see! We only had a break from her for two episodes, but next week is the start of a new arc that unveils the return of the amazon Shampoo, with “You Really Do Hate Cats!” What does that have to do with Shampoo? Well, you’ll just have to see next week, won’t you? Tschuss!