Monday,
June 8th - 3:31 am
Update -
Andrew Floyd
Anime Recommendations:
Ranma nibun no ichi (1/2 - "one half") aka Ranma 1/2
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Special
graphics abound this time- Season 1's episode title card sans Japanese
text! Do you see this on your season 1 DVDs? |
How much of it exists:
161 Television episodes, 3 movies, a number of OVA episodes, and a handful
of special videos. ^_- 38 tankoubon in the original Japanese, who knows how
many Viz will end up with.
Goodies: Having been around so long (a bit longer than Sailor Moon), Ranma
1/2 is a veritable anime goodies factory. It would be impossible to list
everything, but it's enough to say everyone who has a favorite character has a
pretty good chance finding goods of those characters. CDs of music, even a 45
rpm record of the first opening theme song "jajauma ni sasenaide" aka "Don't
make me be a violent girl". (note to nitpickers: Viz screwed up their
translation of that title. ^_-) Figure kits, art books like the Graphic
Memorial book which is an excellent data collection of the entire manga series
(Viz produced a severely abridged version of the same book but at least
included the interview in the back), gachapon figures... A search on the net
or even Ebay will undoubtedly turn up lots of nice things you'll want to
have!!
Ranma 1/2 is not for everyone (see below), but everyone who does try it
out, especially the first season's 18 episodes, eventually finds something
they like about Ranma 1/2.
Story:
Do I really need to offer a short bit about it? Like Sailor Moon, Ranma 1/2
has been around since the early days (late 80s to early 1990s) of modern anime
and manga fandom, both here and in Japan. I would guess that Ranma 1/2 has had
about as many fan websites as Sailor Moon. Very few anime in my book are good
enough to rank up there with Sailor Moon in terms of popularity, and Ranma
fans are as dedicated. (Myself included. ^_^) In case you don't want to do a
search on Google, one good site for info is
http://www.furinkan.com. I found it when doing research for my Ranma panel
at this year's Anime North.
And in case you still don't want to load that up, here's a summary in a
nutshell. Saotome Genma took his then infant son Ranma on a martial arts
training journey. He promised his wife Nodoka that he'd train Ranma and make
him "a man among men" and to seal his promise, he offered to commit seppuku at
the hands of Nodoka's sword if she didn't approve of how Ranma turned out.
About 15 years later, Genma and Ranma return to Japan so that Genma could
fulfill a promise to his friend Tendou Soun in that Ranma would marry one of
Soun's daughters in order to carry on their form of martial arts, the
'Anything Goes' school of Martial Arts. But just before they returned from
their training journey, they visited a place in China called Jusenykou. Genma
had heard about the dangerous training area, and in spite of warnings from the
Jusenkyou Guide, they proceeded to train and... Well, Jusenkyou is littered
with little pools of water, springs if you like. According to the guide, each
spring has a tragic story associated with it. Now, when a person falls in a
spring, they take the form of whatever first fell in. Just as this info is
imparted to Ranma after seeing his father fall in, up comes a giant panda
which proceeds to knock Ranma into a spring - and comes out as an attractive
red-headed girl! Definitely not what a manly martial artist in training was
expecting!
So anywho, the stage is set, but in the first season's 18 episodes, the
stage is set even more so. Ranma comes to grips with his gender changing
curse, while at the same time starts to wonder if he really should marry Akane
(ah kah neh), the youngest of the Tendou daughters that he is betrothed to
marry. ^_^ There's more to that, so I won't spoil any more if you haven't seen
it and hopefully want to.
Now I'll try to get to some points of discussion I had written up for my
panel.
After Takahashi-sensei had wrapped up her parallel serializations of Urusei
Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku (doing both at the same time), she dived into doing
Ranma 1/2. So, the first bits of the series as well as the anime series' first
18 episodes reflects a lot of left-over drama mode she had from Maison Ikkoku.
It was also at this point that it seemed Ranma anime would get cancelled way
too soon, so her editor advised her to increase the action. Whether or not
people agree that was a good decision, it did save the life of the series
which went on for 5 years; the manga ran for 9.
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This
new title card graphic started off the Nettouhen series. |
Shampoo had been introduced in the manga during this period, so the 3
episode Golden Skating pair story arc was put off and Shampoo's introduction
in the anime moved up. Up to that point, the anime more or less relfected the
manga quite well. Then as the Nettouhen season came along, you see more zany
martial arts action. And for that matter, Ranma ends up fighting as a girl
some times and learning martial arts for girls. (ex. Rhythmic Gymnastics
martial arts, or later on Tea Ceremony martial arts, Cheerleading martial
arts, etc. ^.^)
Ranma 1/2 was quite popular - in fact it had a good deal of female readers.
Junior high school girls in Japan wore Ranma-chan's famous pig tail braid.
I've read where girls would make fun of any boys who liked the show, in
particular during that first season. It's interesting to see a manga
Takahashi-sensei was doing for a shounen manga publication would be so popular
with girls.
Interest on many levels
So what makes Ranma 1/2 so popular among fans who discover it? My own first
encounter was from tapes a member of a former computer user group I was in had
given me. They were nth generation bendy, included some of those wonderful
Japanese commercials (yes, they were off air recordings ^_^), but darned
fascinating. The guy I got them from just says to me one day before I got the
copies "You know, I got this one where this boy turns into a girl when he gets
splashed with cold water." Oh?? I must see this!
As it turns out, this was my introduction to a genre of manga and anime that
has its fans, too, namely the Transgender genre, characters who change gender
through some means of transformation. I've done some online research and it
looks like the majority of stories involve a male character turning female.
All I have to say is man those Japanese manga authors can come up with some
really good ideas. ^_^ I think that's one reason so many fans of Ranma are
female, because Ranma turns into a girl (and back to a boy with warm water
^_-) while others simply like Male Ranma, because as one female friend noted
"He's so studly". I wouldn't know... ^_^;;; Some others in this genre I've
liked are Futaba-kun Change! (Studio Ironcat has completed their work on the
manga), and one I see Viz has the rights to is Cheeky Angel (They listed V.1
of the manga recently). I'm looking forward to another I think I remember the
title right as "Yours and My Secret." ^.^ Takahashi herself did a story in
Rumic World V.2 called "1 or W" that if I remember right pre-dates Ranma 1/2.
^_^
But the cursed transformation of several of the series' regular cast is just
one part of my fascination, as I've come to learn from more exposure.
Takahashi-sensei has a definite talent for drawing interesting and attractive
female characters, so there's a draw for male fans, too. Female Ranma looks
stunning in the Chinese clothes she gets to wear from time to time. My
favorite, as well as the favorite of legions of male fans of Ranma 1/2, is
Shampoo. Ukyou is cute, too, and Kodachi while a twisted personality looks
great in her gymnastic leotard. But I hold onto my belief that strong Chinese
Amazon women do exist, especially cute girls with long purple hair. ^.^ (I got
2 resin kits of Shampoo and I've still not worked on them much!! T.T)
Then there's the wild and wacky at times Martial Arts techniques. I wonder if
Takahashi-sensei consulted with actual martial arts masters in order to come
up with her stories, or she's just some genius that comes up with these things
easily. The story arcs that involve Ranma doing intense training to beat an
opponent are often very good.
Then of course is the cross culture flavor of the series - Takahashi-sensei
weaved an intricate world for Ranma 1/2. Lots of the anime music has a Chinese
feel to it, having Shampoo in the series is a big plus. Female Ranma in
chinese clothing (dresses and the like) just keeps adding to the unmistakable
influence of Chinese designs. It's Japanese and Chinese at the same time. I
even have V.23 of the manga in a Hong Kong Cantonese edition. ^_^ There's just
so much to notice right down to the special fighting techniques.
Ranma 1/2 also seems to the Anime's Whipping Boy when it comes to parental
concerns. Just within the past 2 years, there was a sensationalized news item
that came up on a local TV station (I even have it on tape) - as it turned
out, a copy of the 2nd Ranma 1/2 movie turned up in the children's section of
a library, and the kids' closed-minded mother complained about the library
letting her kid check out "pornography". At some point during the opening bits
of the movie, Female Ranma has her top removed by the old lecher Happousai.
Now, her bare chest et al is not eroticized in any way, just matter of factly
she's topless, and taken out of context (ie you're not familiar with Ranma
1/2) it's unfortunately seen as something else. If you're considering showing
Ranma 1/2 to any kids, pre-screen the episode unless you're sure your intended
audience understands the difference between boys and girls and a little nudity
isn't going to scar them for life. Nudity does not necessarily "pr0n" make
it!! Also the people at that library need a boot to the head for putting a
video like Ranma 1/2 in the children's section - just because it's a
"cartoon!" Ooooh! People like that make me so mad! Not all Ranma anime has
nudity, and not all anime that has nudity is adult material!!
Now let's get to the anime and Viz...
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The
4th graphic used for title cards during the run of the TV series. I
haven't had a chance to work on the 3rd one with the yellow background
yet... gomen! |
Viz, being mostly owned by Shogakukan in Japan, which unsurprisingly also
holds the rights to Takahashi's properties, has held the rights to all English
version releases of Ranma 1/2 since 1992, possibly earlier. In fact, the first
3 monthly issues when Viz started producing the manga in English way back when
(and when they did monthly issues) are in full color. I managed to collect all
3 and it wasn't easy, being as old and as rare as they are. People at the time
cried foul and felt Viz was colorizing the manga and ruining something good.
Actually... when a big major title comes out by a big name in the industry in
Japan, often the first parts will be in full color anyway! So whether or not
you got an entire story or just a few pages, the bigger names like Takahashi
will get the color treatment especially for a new series. If you look at the
similar pages in the first tankoubon, you won't see the crisp black and white
artwork usually present but instead a bunch of grayscale toned artwork. If
Ranma 1/2 manga should ever get its turn, the wideban editions likely would
include the originally published color pages. That would be a big treat to
fans like myself. ^_^
Ranma both benefited and suffered from Viz's handling of the series. Viz at
least has the backing to completely release the entire series, and in fact,
almost all the anime has been. I feel their handling of the anime is less than
stellar, much less. As far as their VHS subtitled releases were concerned, I
felt they had a license to print money. Only dedicated fans like myself would
put up with continually shelling out $30 for each digitally mastered 2 episode
subtitled VHS tape, and I proudly own every VHS sub Viz produced. The only
holes in my collection are Martial Mayhem V.6 which for some stupid reason
doesn't exist as a sub but does as a horrible dub (more on that later), and of
course the episodes for Random Rhapsody and Forever don't have VHS subtitled
editions. WHY??? I refuse to shell out $30 for a DVD today because of this.
I think during the time Martial Mayhem V.6 was to be produced as a VHS sub,
Viz was juggling their production facilities away from what they had been
using to having Pioneer at the time do the work for them. So somehow and
blatantly MM 6 got lost in the shuffle. To this date I own only 2 Ranma 1/2
DVDs - V.6 of Forever (with the Decision! Miss Beachside episode after seeing
the Spanish dub from Mexican TV), and Forever V.8 which amazingly has 4
episodes on it. However, Viz's DVDs of Ranma 1/2 (Random Rhapsody and Forever
at least) default to what I call the fan-hating dub and subtitles off. Then
slapped Macrovision of some degree on discs from Random Rhapsody V.4 to the
end. Gee, thanks. The low audio level wasn't fun either.
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(recreated
using actual elements from the real thing) The title card for the last
season of episodes that didn't make it on Viz's DVDs. T.T All they had
to do is what I did, or get the original materials if they still
existed... |
Also a big sore spot with me is their replacement of the title card
graphics on the DVDs. Instead of the pink screen with P-chan in a corner (for
those episodes that originally had the graphic), there's some stupid graphic
that frequently doesn't have a translated title, and the dub actors are the
only ones listed in the end credits for each DVD episode. My Apex must be like
many other players since the picture also overscans a bit on the edges - a
formatting problem that could be easily solved during digital mastering. It is
for these reasons I strongly recommend people watch Ranma 1/2 on subtitled VHS
tapes. I don't play mine to death like some people, so I'm sure they'll be
around a while, at least until DVDs start rotting like some of my CDs made in
the late 1980s. ^_-
While Viz did in fact complete their release of the TV series, OVAs, and the
movies - there's a handful of special videos produced for Kitty Films'
animation club in Japan that Viz does indeed have the rights to. In fact, if
you own the tapes I do, you have copies of 2 of them already! The one tape Viz
called The Ranma 1/2 Video Jukebox (sold new for around $15 - very nice price)
was one of the special videos sold in Japan, and contains all the OPs and EDs
of the TV series sans credits. The other Viz has released is on various ends
of the subtitled OVA tapes - Yes, the OVA episodes often had their own opening
and ending animation, but for some reason when Viz released them here, they
got the same opening and endings slapped on them. But in pieces the original
OVA OPs and EDs got released here without giant credits obliterating the
artwork underneath. Just check some of the VHS subtitled OVA tapes. ^_^
So how many other special videos could they release? ^_^
Thanks to Furinkan.com for having the info I researched, to wit:
There's a 2 part special I have always called the Hot Song Fighting
Contest. There's a Chinese-flavor version of Little Date sung by Ranma-chan,
Akane, and Shampoo. In the 2nd part of the special, Shampoo sings a very
beautiful "wo de airen" and the video for this is absolutely stunning - a big
gift for Shampoo fans. And of course, there's a CD of music of some of the
songs from these 2 special episodes.
There's one if I remember the title right goes "The Tendou Family's Strange
Acquaintances" and has new animation of Nabiki showing you around the Tendou
household, taking a bath, and wondering about the real identity of P-chan. Ya
know, I would love to see this special!! How about it Viz? $15 VHS sub! I'd
buy it!
Then there was a preview video for the first movie as another special video. I
can see why Viz would elect to not put this one out, but it would have made
for a nice extra on something, like a DVD edition? Heck, the movie's not that
long, it could have been tacked onto any of the VHS editions...!
Then there's one I also have a copy of which I've always called the Music
Calendar. It's one of the memories tapes where you get presented with a 'Ranma
VS' screen and then instrumental music to clips from the TV series. Nothing to
sub actually, and it definitely doesn't have a language barrier from enjoyment
for English speaking fans. Why not release it?
And then one I have had the good fortune in finding, actually I owe the person
something in trade for it now. ^_^ It's called "Lots of Battles, 29
unteachable fools". Some new animation along with clips from the TV series.
This would be an excellent final tape as a Thank you from Viz to everyone who
bought their releases for the past 10 or so years! 25 minutes long and would
be a nice $15 VHS sub!!
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One
image from the 29 Unteachable Fools tape. |
Why doesn't Viz acknowledge these videos? Doesn't that make you feel mad
you're still not seeing everything Ranma that's been animated and produced?
And why did they replace the original title screens on their DVD editions? I
have yet to get an answer from Viz, who in my view seem to think they're doing
something incredibly good when they're not and in few occasions do actually
listen to fans.
Another way Ranma 1/2 has suffered at the hands of Viz is their continual "Viz-itis"
and now I get to explain what I mean by that if I haven't already. Undoubtedly
I have run into a little opposition to this, but the roumaji of the name kanji
prove me right on this every time - Viz (and a few other companies as well,
but Viz started it) tends to romanize long O sounds with just an O. But if you
can read kana characters, look closely at name kanji in original Ranma 1/2 in
Japanese. You'll see "Tendou", "Ryouga", and "Uykou", "Kunou" among others.
This is so fricking annoying!!! It doesn't help they "re-write" their
translations either. I have a good deal of original Ranma 1/2 manga, in fact I
translated books 34 to 38 myself, so I have a pretty good idea when I see
their staff doing something I consider wrong. Anyone who wants to chew me out
on any of this will get their email laughed at and deleted without a reply. So
don't bother. ^_^
Ranma 1/2 is still well loved even today, and in Japan, too. It recently got a
DVD release there, a recent gachapon series came out, and Viz offered
polystone figures here in the last year or so of Ranma-chan, Ranma-kun, and
Akane, but I'm holding out for a 12 inch Shampoo doll with removable clothes.
(Hey, I got an Aeka doll (Tenchi Muyou!), so why not??) Actually, if you watch
any of Digi Charat Nyo! - You'll hear a familiar Ranma 1/2 ending tune during
the end credits - namely Equal Romance! ^_-
Viz is close to finishing up their first run through of the manga and are now
also offering 2nd edition books of the earlier bits. I still say collect the
first 3 monthly issues, and if you can find the first printing of V.1 with the
red cover that Viz gave it, good luck. I don't know why they didn't use the
original Japanese covers...
One of the interesting things I've collected for Ranma 1/2 are trading cards.
I have no fewer than 5 Italian sets, most of the 100 card Mexican set, and
some of the Japan produced Takahashi set. I have some of these others I find
interesting - the card is printed in blue hues, but comes with a clear sticker
with the same image but in a magenta and yellow separation. Line up the
sticker over the card and you get a full color image. Anyone else seen these?
I'd like to get more because there's a puzzle on the back. ^_^
Another reason to get the first season as VHS subs - Viz did a really nice
thing and wrote up LINER NOTES! Holy Animeigo, Batman! In those 6 clamshells
should be nice liner notes that explains lots that fans would want to know. My
First tape of the first season is a limited edition 1994 Anime Expo copy. ^_^
Am I ever at the end of my quest for Ranma 1/2 goodies? Not ever. There's 2
books I seriously want, and at this point I'd accept photocopies of them. One
is a Datahouse book I think is called "Secrets of Ranma". I want to translate
it. And then there's a settei or Creation Materials collection for the anime.
I saw it once on Ebay last year or so but got horribly outbid. Grrr.... I
deserve to have that book!!
Excuse me while I conduct my own expedition to China to find the Bayankala
mountain range... Where's that guide... ^.^
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