#people loving ranma in 2024...whats better than this

[samipekoe]

I've been obsessed with Ranma 1/2 ever since i discovered the remake (I didn't know what it was and that it was a remake) and i love ur ranma art sm please keep spitting out fire after peak after peak

thank you!!! i WILL!!! 🫡🫡🫡🫡

[tendoujo]

HC 01 : A "short" analysis of Akane being a parallel to Ranma fighting gender norms.

Are we, in 2024, ready to accept that Akane Tendo is Ranma's perfect parallel when it comes to the symbolism of fighting against the gender norms of their time and the acceptance of one's true self ?

Ranma is a character that suffers from the consequences and expectations of a normalized TOXIC MASCULINITY IN THE LATE 80s - mid 90s. His transformation is one clever tool to show the viewer the change of treatment his male form gets from the female one, both having their own pros and cons according to the situation and beliefs the character gets into. This series heavily emphasizes the gained value Ranma obtains when he's a man, almost as if showing how people consider him less or weak when he's a woman. After all, Ranma 1/2 makes a constant MOCKERY of the injustices caused by sexism in a Japan of such era.

Ranma takes it from the point of view of a man trying to fulfill the expectations of a toxic masculinity laid upon him, a mere teenager that, when forced to be a woman, loses a supposed "value" and "strength". He NEEDS to break the curse not because he WANTS TO to but rather to keep the WORTH people see on him, a worth only relevant when he's a man.

And here's where Akane enters the picture. While Ranma's female form shows you a pinch of the unfair treatment women go through everyday ( the effect of sexism ), it is Akane's character the one taking it fully from the perspective of a woman. One that's not only dealing with the sexism of society but also one where her demeanor and appearance does NOT fit the traditional concept of FEMININITY.

Akane's described as a TOMBOY, or at least what people considered to be a tomboy in the 80s - 90s. For our current times, she's pretty feminine having a closet full of colorful outfits with skirts and dresses, plus an emotion-driven personality. Yet we are seeing it from the current values and agenda. Back then Akane was the perfect example of a TOMBOYISH CHARACTER, aka : a girl that had short hair, took roles mostly associated with men, "acted just as violent as a man", got into constant physical fights, and had the strength mostly seen in male characters.

She disregarded the usual "main female character" tropes, especially the one of the "main love interest" that we see of women acting all feminine, delicate, dependant, with the house wife attributes of cooking and taking care of others.

Throughout the story Akane is pint pointed as a girl less cuter than the others for acting like a "boy" or rather, not taking part of the girl stereotypes of those years. She's not good with cooking or sewing, her skills fall better in fields mostly dominated AND expected in men like martial arts and the display of one's strength. She has to constantly deal with others demeaning her as "weak", "uncute", "macho", "ugly", etc, during the story only for 1. being a girl, and 2. not matching the expectations ( both physically and mentally ) set on women.

Although Shampoo does know martial arts as well, it seems that the story "forgives her" for acting AND looking more traditionally feminine and knowing basic "housewives attributes" ( example cooking ). The fandom and manga calls Akane the "tomboyish" one for being so violent when in reality, Shampoo is just as violent or even more than her. But it's important to mention that Shampoo IS A VICTIM OF THE SEXISM throughout the story as well. Perhaps she doesn't have it as rough as Akane or rather, her problems set root in another topic compared to Akane's battle with her FEMININITY.

Physically, though having banger outfits in the manga, she doesn't match the "pretty feminine girl" concept. First, her body. It's taken as a JOKE in most instances with Ranma and other characters making fun of her body lacking certain. . . aspects. Later on in the manga, Akane finds herself being insecure of it to the point of starting to consider herself "not enough" or the fear of getting confused with a BOY.

Second, HER HAIR, a key element in her story. Some old folks still see short hair in women as something "masculine" and this alone shows another effect of TOXIC TRADITIONAL FEMININITY and how it impacted Akane's character. We see at the beginning of the series that her long hair represented her FEMININITY and how letting it grow was her solution to be seen AND accepted by others as a girl.

If she couldn't change her demeanor as a fighter then PHYSICALLY she tried to make it up for it in what she could control : her hair. So when it was taken away, it was as if she had been stripped of something that made her BE ACCEPTED. Like the title of the chapter says : A girl's hair is her life.

Akane losing her hair meant that she had to deal with a sudden supposed lack of femininity and it is exactly this what makes her confront herself and eventually, accept her own person regardless of what others think of her.

She's dealing with toxic masculinity, as well as toxic femininity. Akane is seen as weak by men because of her gender, most not considering her an eligible rival. But they also see her as girl that "lacks" for not matching the traditional standards ( aka. stereotypes ) of a girl. It's truly sad to think that not only do the men judge her but so do women, even her own sisters feed onto such expectations.

Akane is a character that HAD TO TAKE THE ROLE OF THE "SON" of the Tendo family cause no one else would. Mostly so her father could be at peace knowing that someone capable was in charge of the family business and it seems that it wasn't enough with Soun WANTING a man in charge despite Akane's best efforts. Akane is STRIPPED AWAY from the family business, her future, just for being a girl. Unless she gets married, of course. . .

The STRUGGLES OF A WOMAN having to deal with that era's sexism, the imposed traditional femininity and toxic masculinity is translated better through Akane's perspective and her story than female Ranma's. She IS his parallel from another point of view and challenges when it comes to fighting gender norms and the eventual acceptance of one's true self because, despite being mocked every chapter, she CONTINUES BEING GENUINE TO HERSELF. She can doubt herself, change her opinion or try something new but at the end of the day, she always decides to BE TRUE TO WHO SHE REALLY IS AND CONTINUE DOING WHAT SHE LIKES DESPITE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF HER. Credit is due where credit is deserved and Akane does need to be recognized more as an actual character that broke barriers. Actually, it's ironic to think that Ranma is widely recognized as THE character that broke gender norms in the 80s while people poorly mention or even consider Akane one as well. Almost as if HER being exactly a GIRL gave her less of a value in her OWN FIGHTS against the gender norms and sexism. The joke writes itself.

[rainofbrasspetal]

Inuyasha: The Stitchy Retrospective

Started Inuyasha January 26 2024.

Finished Inuyasha May 24 2024.

Stitchy's Score: 6/10

As a huge fan of Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2, it seems almost sacrilege to have never read or watched Inuyasha in all my years on this earth. A series revered and loved by many anime fans. Yet, here we are. I decided to pick the manga up this year just to say I did, plus it's probably Rumiko Takahashi's most famous work. I went in excited to see how Takahashi Sensei would handle a long running over arching shounen plot. The chapters of Urusei Yatsura that are a lot more plot focused are really strong! Especially the last bit of the manga and when she first introduced Inaba. Unfortunately I left Inuyasha very underwhelmed, especially for something as revered as it is.

The main plot of Inuyasha is constantly hurt by how rough the pacing is. In my humble opinion, this 558 chapter manga feels more bloated than something twice as long like One Piece. It's meandering and it feels like a lot of the time, it doesn't really know what direction it wants to go exactly. It feels to me that all the people remember is their OTP. Now, there's nothing wrong with that but, it is quite telling to me that nobody really talks about the plot on the stan accounts. By far the worst part of this story is Kikyo. She constantly grinds character growth to a halt. Every time this woman is around, it's always the exact same song and dance. Inuyasha is understandably still working through how he felt about her, especially because he spent 50 years thinking she betrayed him for no reason. Kagome gets understandably jealous and even has the very normal reaction of worrying if Inuyasha likes HER or likes her because she looks like Kikyo. These are great tools for character arcs, in truth, Kagome is very young and Inuyasha is very immature. We want to see our characters grow and change in a story like this. 300+ chapters in, however, these arcs should be long behind us. Yet Kikyo, the dead woman, sticks around for SO LONG, bogging and slowing down the plot. Her long presence in the story also takes a lot from Kagome herself as well. I was really excited to see Kagome was the ace in the hole. She can see the shards, she can shoot light arrows, her ancestry is just really strong. I wanted to see her grow as a priestess and really make the power her own but, it really just ended up being she's a worse Kikyo until an arc that comes way too late in the story. Inuyasha and Kagome also have just an okay romance. It would be a lot better if Kikyo was not around bogging everything down. It was so hard to get through and I really wanted it to end about halfway through. Naraku is actually a fine villain but he too gets exhausting.

What about the good? The art is, as always, fantastic. Rumiko Takahashi is one of the best manga artists to ever do it and she really shows it off in Inuyasha. The horror elements are all incredible. Our four main characters all all distinct and very cute. Her expressions are fantastic. Shesshosmaru and his character arc were interesting and he proved a good foil for his younger brother. The real OTP for me was Miroku and Sango, however. Maybe it's my firm love for sleezy characters with hearts of gold, like Ataru Moroboshi or Spirit Albarn, but every time they were together was cute and fun. Sango ending up a homemaker was a little dissapointing but I'm very happy they ended up together happy and healthy.

Overall, I think Inuyasha was pretty mid. Now that's mid as in okay not as in grabage, like so many use as short hand. It was an okay story with great art and lovable characters (except Kikyo) and overall I'm glad I read it. Will I again? Most likely not but, again, I'm happy that I have read it to say I have. Think this manga would have really benefited from being a lot shorter or with some better pacing.

Hopefully her newer series, Mao, fixes some of the problems I had with Inuyasha. Especially since from the description, it really just sounds like Inuyasha but again. We will cross that bridge when we get there, I suppose.

[uchuukaijugundan]

Ranma ½

らんま½

(original Anime)

Martial arts romcom by Rumiko Takahashi

Era: 1980s, 1990s

Rating: C

Plot: Master of the Anything-Goes style school of martial arts Soun Tendo receives a postcard from China from his old friend Genma Saotome saying that it is time for his boy Ranma to get married to one of his three daughters, ensuring the continuity of the Tendo family dojo. When they arrive, however, the Tendos only see a panda dragging a girl with red pigtailed hair.

Length: 161 episodes

Thoughts: Alright, this is the one that's getting me in hot water but I don't think the original adaptation is that great as an whole, or at the very least squanders a great start by running well past Best Before date. The premise is great and shows the versatility Rumiko Takahashi has, and it might be the most interesting cast of characters she put on paper - we have our gender-flipping titular character and the mutually tsundere love interest Akane. Nabiki, the shameless opportunist, always proves to be a great source of entertainment when given a chance, and entering the whole assortment of fiancées and pretenders, from the completely delusional Tatewaki Kuno and his sister Kodachi with her incredible ojousama laugh, Ryoga, the only character who can stand up to Ranma but could get lost walking in a tunnel, Shampoo, the clingy Chinese amazon who generally acts like a wrecking ball opposed to the more reserved Ukyo, the only of Ranma's pretenders to act relatively normal (and with whom Ranma feels more at ease)... at least for someone who's a master of Okonomiyaki-based martial arts, because imagining normal activities with martial arts thrown in is a delightful plot device. All this (without accounting for one-off and other secondary characters) gives room for plenty of different dynamics, most of them have that that frenemy vibe to it, in the sense that yes, they'll help each other if the occasion demands it, but always looking for an opportunity to get ahead on their goals. Giving some room for kung-fu treachery is always good.

It has, however, some characters who are also on the bad kind of annoying - sure, Gendo Ikari Lifetime Award recipient Genma is annoying - after all, most of Ranma's misfortunes lie on his terrible decision making (such as training in China without knowing how to speak or read the language) but is usually never too far from being kicked into a body of water by Ranma, who is also never that far from being drenched in water as payback. On the other hand, Happousai in particular kills dead any episode he's on for more than two minutes and later the new school principal and estranged patriarch of the Kuno family adds more duds to the story at a point it started to feel thin. Finally, I'm not a fan of overly long shows, and I feel Ranma played a big part of that, there's just too too much of nothing in long stretches of the show, and the animation quality drops to very low standards by the end. Once again, I feel this is might have a case of "ran too long", and drops what would have been an easy A. I'll probably look at the OVAs and movie at a different time, as I don't think they'd do enough to help improve the rating here, but would get a better grade together.

It's a show that I've found *severely* dragged down by these factors, here's to hoping the 2024 series (which will be on its own post soon) gets 40-something episodes and keeps doing a smoother and more streamlined version of the story - reminding people of what they liked while discarding what they didn't - which from the start certainly will be rated much, much higher. As for the classic adaptation... I'm sure someone has compiled a list that lists the decent-to-good episodes that runs a bit over 70 or so.

Recommended to: fans of Rumiko Takahashi, but generally everyone who feels they can hit the low point and call it quits instead of sticking until the end (also, it doesn't have one).

Plus:

It's still a classic for very good reasons - it has an incredible cast of unique characters who are in their own way being all sweet or at least normal and then turn into the worst backstabbing assholes once situation changes.

Ranma might be the most interesting character concept RT did as far as what you can do with.

Minus:

Once again, i feel it touches extremes: what it does well, it does really well, but what's annoying about it is past deal-breaker point.

I don't mind filler if it's used to, you know, fill a short production blank, but in a show that starts to drag after the midpoint, you can probably attribute that to a substantial number of episodes being filler.