#official cover art by rumiko takahashi
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autobots-one-half · 3 months ago
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the Nerima Wrecker Crews' Guide to Ranma Fandom for Newcomers
With the release this month of a brand new anime adaptation of the eighties manga Ranma ½, a lot of new fans are joining an older fandom that may leave them...confused about some details.
See, when the Ranma manga began in 1987, series creator Rumiko Takahashi was already solidly-established from her success with the runaway hit Urusei Yatsura. It only took two years for an anime adaptation to begin airing....for a mere eighteen episodes, before being canceled. If you go back to the '89 anime, you will almost certainly notice some drastic shifts in art style and tone from the first eighteen episodes to the remainder, and that's because only a single season was produced by Studio DEEN before production shifted to a new directorial crew, who dubbed the following season Ranma ½ Nettōhen (Fierce/Hot Battle Chapter).
The thing is, between the original eighteen episodes being made while the manga was still relatively early in its nine-year run, attempts to draw in better ratings by heavily promoting fan-favorite characters, a need for filler episodes to let the manga catch up to the pace of the anime's releases, and even the biases and friendships of the respective directors and writers...some things wound up being different.
And as a result, the Ranma ½ of the Eighties and Nineties is very different from what we're going to get with the 2024 anime. The 2024 series is based on a manga that had been finished for decades, and between the official releases so far and some unfortunate early leaks, it shows plenty of signs of being far more faithful to the original manga.
So, we of the Nerima Wreckers' Crew are here to introduce you to a few of the things you might run into as a new Ranma ½ fan exploring the existing fan content that has accrued over the past few decades!
Be aware: you're about to read spoilers for a four decades old manga. Questions about something that we don't cover in this post? Leave a comment asking for more, after the jump!
Something to get out of the way first: we're the NWC as an in-joke: as both Transformers and Ranma fans (and in some cases, fictive introjects), we wanted to combine the 'Wreckers' group name from Transformers with the English-language Ranma ½ fandom's nickname for the group of martial artists, students, teachers, monsters, and other characters who populate the series:
The Nerima Wrecking Crew.
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The principal setting of Ranma ½ is Nerima, a ward of the metropolis of Tokyo. There are 23 special wards, and Nerima is a real-life one that is found in the northwest of Tokyo—in fact, it was the 23rd and final ward! In English-language communications, the local government identifies the ward as Nerima City, so that's how we'll speak of it here.
Nerima is a large city that still retains a very suburban, even exurban character stretching back to its history of farming. There are even still farms within the city limits, including at least one dairy farm last we checked! It's part of Tokyo, but it has a kid of old-fashioned peaceful character...that makes it the perfect place for anime characters to disrupt. That kind of disruption led the English-speaking fandom to dub our favorite crew of violent martial artists the "Wrecking Crew", presumably after their propensity to bust down walls and buildings.
A lot of anime and manga take place in Nerima. Takahashi's previous hit series Urusei Yatsura, the cat-robot classic All-Purpose Cultural Cat-Girl Nuku-Nuku, the anime adaptation of Stop!! Hibari-Kun, even Tokyo Ghoul...okay, some of these are not quite the same genre as the others.
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This is often attributed to the large number of anime studios based in the city, but Ranma's adventures in Nerima have a special bond with the environment that seems to go beyond, stretching back to the original manga. Ranma is often seen walking along (or falling from) fencetops above canals just like the above image from Wikimedia, and scenes set in nearby parks map fairly well to specific ones in Nerima City, so we can generally assume that the neighborhood where the Tendō Dojo is found is roughly in the Ōizumi area along the Shirako River seen above.
More specifically, it's in an imaginary neighborhood somewhere nebulously within those boundaries, a neighborhood that parts of the older fandom know as Furinkan-chō, AKA "Furinkan Town", after the Furinkan High School that Ranma and Akane attend—drawing a connection to the more official identification of the cast of Urusei Yatsura as living in Tomobiki-chō and attending Tomobiki High School.
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A sober, dignified edifice to education...populated by a bunch of martial arts lunatics.
Some of whom are probably going to be pretty different in the new anime!
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Meet the principal of Furinkan High School. Yes, this is a native Japanese man. Yes, he has problems.
Principal, Headmaster, or in Japanese Kunō-kōchō (no given name provided) is, unfortunately, the unfortunate father of the equally unfortunate series mainstay Tatewaki Kunō. The Principal here visited the USA for a while in order to learn from our education methods and came back an even worse problem than he'd left, becoming obsessed with the trappings of Hawai'ian tourism and the English language. In the original Japanese, his dialogue is heavily peppered with random English words and phrases (and an obnoxious Woody Woodpecker-style laugh).
The thing is, it's hard to translate a character randomly speaking English...into English. So, the official English translations of the original manga and anime had the Principal badly pepper his speech with Hawai'ian Pidgin phrases. It's going to be a little while before he shows up in the new anime, so it's hard to say for sure how he'll be translated...but it probably won't be that. So, new fans: you're probably going to encounter a few fanworks where there's a random fake-Hawai'ian man threatening teenagers with bad haircuts.
Teenagers like Hikaru Gosunkugi.
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This is Gosunkugi. You'll probably see him next season, because we're going to perform acts of supervillainy if they don't make a second season. He shows up pretty early on in the manga, and has an important role to play in a major storyline...but he didn't show up in the original anime for 94 episodes after he was supposed to appear.
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What we got instead was Sasuke Sarugakure. There's some debate about exactly why the anime-only character Sasuke was added: a diminutive ninja with thick eyebrows, prominent whiskers, buck teeth, and a miserable lot in life as the Kunō family servant. Seemingly...the only servant. Sasuke's role in the original anime seemed to have been not only to fill in for Gosunkugi in an early storyline, but to act as a comedic foil to the overblown antics of the Kunō family—especially absurd since the anime took the already comical wealth of the Kunōs from the manga, and exaggerated it to an absurd degree that seems all the more ridiculous when you learn that Sasuke sleeps in the crawlspace and gets by on fewer than three meals a day.
Oddly, this characterization as a comically impoverished ninja is a recurring bit in Takahashi's stories: Urusei Yatsura featured the job-hunting missing-nin Kaede, and the last few volumes of the Ranma ½ manga introduced the threadbare kunoichi Konatsu.
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Get used to this image. It's probably all you're going to see of Konatsu for a good few seasons...because the original anime never got to that part of the manga.
Konatsu is a thorny topic in the fandom due to matters of gender that aren't helped by the original anime never getting to those stories, and the original manga chapters taking forever to be available in English. What can definitely be said is that Konatsu A: identifies as a kunoichi, specifically a title for female ninja, and B: is AMAB.
But this is a series that's all about playing with gender.
For example...
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The Girl. An anime-only episode of Nettōhen presented a story of Ranma taking a blow to the head, waking up not long after and insisting on actually being a girl—identifying her life as a boy as being something akin to a bad dream. This version of Ranma knows she was assigned male and turns back into a male body when splashed with hot water, but she demonstrates a visceral dysphoria about it that is painfully relatable. The episode's plot is concluded and the status quo is restored when the pacifistic girl is struck once more in the head at the end, restoring the Ranma who is a confident martial artist and self-identified man among men...but an increasing number of highly-rated fanworks reference this single-episode anime-only story.
This isn't the only time an anime-only episode touches on the idea of Ranma who is solely identified as a girl:
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Ranma and the Evil Within starts off with Ranma joking about staying a girl forever, only for it to be taken seriously by the recurring problematic antagonist Happōsai (seriously, he's just the worst, and for some reason the original anime production team decided to make lots of anime-only episodes featuring him). A magic incense is brought into play, splitting off all the femnine 'yin' from Ranma's masculine 'yang'.
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This split-off half is characterized as unbalanced, magically powerful, and a threat to Ranma's life. So of course, she looks sick as fuck. But just like The Girl, she's a one-off character. Don't worry: if the anime runs long enough to cover all the manga storylines, we'll still get a story about a female-only duplicate of Ranma. But it's going to be a little while.
Speaking of girls in Ranma ½, let's touch on Akane's female friends!
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Mostly going unnamed in the manga, Akane has several female classmates and friends who received more prominent roles in the old anime.
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(gif by @roseillith)
The two most notable of these are Yuka (lighter brown hair), and Sayuri (darker brown, often in a ponytail). These names do get called out in the old version of the anime, though they don't seem to have much personality beyond "girls who are friends with each other and Akane".
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This role is sometimes filled by others in the old anime. It's much harder to find episodes where any other girls in the class are named, but due to two of them recurring, fanworks often bring them up as Akane's other friends:
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Meet Asami (wavy shoulder-length hair) and Hiroko (short hair and freckles)...or is that Makoto and Shikako? Sources vary on these names, and English language websites disagree on which are the 'official' names. If anyone can track down an episode where either one is named on-screen, we'd appreciate it!
Akane isn't the only one with school friends: Ranma's got a few recurring acquaintances among the male students, as well.
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In the old anime, these two are specifically named as Hiroshi (lighter colored hair and wider eyes) and Daisuke (dark hair and narrow eyes). They're often treated by both the source material and fanworks as Ranma's sole "normal" guy friends, and in general behave like stereotypical high school boys...including openly lusting after Ranma's girl form, even after they learn that she and the male Ranma are one and the same.
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Hiroshi and Daisuke show up more consistently as a pair than Akane's friends in both the manga and the original anime, and fanworks often pair them romantically with Yuka and Sayuri. But even with how common Hiroshi, Daisuke, Yuka, and Sayuri are (down to their incredibly average names), they deserve mentioning for new fans...
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...Because the new anime renamed them all! "Hiroshi" is now "Shingo" (しんご), "Daisuke" is now "Kiichi" (きいち), "Yuka" is now "Noriko" (のりこ), and "Sayuri" is now "Tomoyo" (ともよ).
That's it for now, because there's a brand new episode out that we haven't had a chance to watch while we wrap up this post on our lunch break. Until next time, this is the Nerima Wrecker Crew, signing off!
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sketchygoo · 22 days ago
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I've been a fan of Inuyasha for a little while now. Unsurprisingly, I was super happy to have finally completed the manga collection, though a little let down when I realised it didn't contain the Since Then chapter and the gallery was a little lacking. My disappointment grew when I couldn't find an officially translated copy of Since Then and the Art Books of the series were a tad lacking. Even now you can't collect every colour chapter without requiring some Shonen Sunday magazines. So I decided to make them myself.
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Since Then wasn't too hard, as I took the english fan-translated version and printed it out (ensuring the proper acknowledgements were included, god knows I can't translate for shit). Now I have a cute, but wonky copy of a chapter that I think is cute, but flawed.
The Artbook was a little harder, but I ended up with an extensive collection of Rumiko Takahashi's coloured illustrations for the series. Including, but not limited to:
All of the coloured chapters
Extra illustrations from the Tankobon
Magazine covers and extra artworks
Illustrations from the supplementary material, such as the novelization
Shikishi Illustrations shared online
Illustrations for Yashahime because fuck it, I'm thorough
Some bonus black and white illustrations not in the official english print
I'm pretty proud of them, and I'd be more than willing to share the documents. I'd also love hearing from people on some alternatives they may want, like an original series only version, or a coloured illustration exclusive. However, I do have some concerns. Neither the illustrations, nor the translations are done by me. I have simply compiled them, and cleaned a few when necessary. I don't want to make money off this, but I'm aware by sharing this project, others may take it and try selling it off as their own. I don't really know how to reduce this risk, so I figured I wouldn't post anything until I heard from the community.
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inuyasha-valentines · 7 years ago
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Valentine’s Day is finally here!
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kagomeforever · 7 years ago
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Some of my favorite Inuyasha cover art from Rumiko, part 2. (Part 1)
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twin-azure-dragon-wave · 3 years ago
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I've been at work all day and I just the SessRin cover!!!!!!!!! Rumiko Takahashi herself is giving us official ship art. I swear to God, all we do is win.
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kstarlitchaotics · 3 years ago
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You mentioned “no news, no official art, no etc.” and days later we get an official artwork as a cover from Rumiko Takahashi herself…. >.>
By chance…..can you see the future? XD
I honestly don't know what to tell ya perhaps just a coincidence...? Though it wouldn't be the first of something like this. Of me "predicting" the future. 😆
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dutiifully · 8 years ago
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So I just got back from Anime Expo this weekend & that was the main reason I’ve been MIA most of this week. I have seen all of the likes/comments on my starter/plotting call though and will get to all of them as soon as I’m fully recharged & reenergized! (Cons are tiring stuff, especially when they’re big af!) In the meantime please enjoy some pics & a recap of my con haul & experience.
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From left to right: Sen No Kiseki artbook Super rare official Suikoden dictionary (this was an ultra rare find that I happened to find at the booth where I got my import games from!) Two Indie Lolita dresses from the Lolita Collective booth both by Sweet Mildred An assortment of J-fashion accessories from the Lolita Collective Booth & another This year's Snow Miku Nendoroid from the GSC booth Import Sailor Moon Another Story SNES game Import Fire Emblem 4 (MAJOR rare find & score!! Can't wait till the fan translation is finally done so I can play it!) Official Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary Memorial Guide Since I couldn't find any doujins of my rare OTPs, decided to just buy three doujins of one of my rare fandoms in general, Fruits Basket! (I srsly still can’t believe I found Furuba doujinshi in this day & age, Furuba fandom cry with me! Hoping they're based on the manga and not the crappy anime tho.) Overall a pretty good haul this year, I broke $1000 including the shit I bought for a friend too, I didn't get EVERYTHING I wanted due to it not being available/out of time/out of money but still made off with quite a lot that covers most of my fandoms! (JRPGs/Sailor Moon/Fruits Basket/J-fashion) For those that are curious here's the shit I wanted to get but couldn't: Dollfie Dream BJD (however my parents said if I got this I couldn't buy anything else due to how expensive they are so in the end I decided on the 'everything else' bit since the Volks store is in Torrance and I live in LA so I could always just swing down there for my b-day if I really wanted to) Xenogears Perfect Works guide (couldn't find at ANY of the booths carrying art books) FFVII Complete works (See Xenogears Perfect Works) Sora No Kiseki/Trails In the Sky Artbook (See Xenogears & FFVII above) Sora No Kiseki SC & The 3rd Import games/ Zero & Ao No Kiseki Evo (import booth sold out of Falcom games) Rumiko Takahashi fandom shit (not enough time/money) I also was really hoping to get autograph signings from both Sakaguchi and Kondo (this year was like a Christmas for us gamers at the con) but unfortunately I was only there one day and fuck autograph lines lol.
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kagomeforever · 7 years ago
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Scroll 73 - Young Souls
Illistrated by Rumiko Takahashi 
From “The Are of Inuyasha 
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