It may sound funny to say about a series that was one of my very first anime, but Ranma ½ exceeded my expectations in a big way. I’m honestly not sure whether I just forgot how good it was, or this version is just better than the first one. Either way this reboot has been an absolute howl, delivering consistently week after week. Broadly speaking I do think early Ranma is better than late-series Ranma, but I’m still hopeful about the future (more on that shortly).
This first season finale was more of the same, which is a good thing. Akane has forgotten Ranma, but seemingly only Ranma. This is pretty obviously a Shampoo thing (though the reality is way hilarious-er than the obvious) but the only part of the confrontation P-chan caught was the soles of Shampoo’s shoes. All the “rhumba“, “menma” stuff was way funnier than it had any right to be. And then Genma (who must really love being a panda) reveals that he saw everything. And Shampoo turns out to be quite an apt name, given the styling job she did in 56 seconds while still managing to shiatsu Akane’s memories of Ranma.
Whenever Tofu-sensei gets looped in you know things are going to get even more head-desk. He declares that Shampoo used a special technique utilizing the “1110” formula shampoo, which only the “119” formula can counteract. He then declares that he has the formula in his little notebook (because of course) before proceeding to destroy said notebook when Kasumi-neechan shows up. Ranma heads off to look for Shampoo, who promptly turns up and gets announced as the new live-in nurse at the clinic.
The hits just keep on coming. Ranma declaring that he’s going to swim to China to hit up a pharmacy. Shampoo donning panda-paw gloves to surprise him from behind. All the antics with Soun because despite being one of the most revered seiyuu around, Ohtsuka Akio is severely underrated for his (outstanding) comedic chops. Eventually she winds up teasing Ranma with a bottle of 119, and he proposes a deal – he’ll grant her one wish in exchange for it, as long as it’s not “marry me” or “kill Akane”. So clever Shampoo comes up with a third option – “kill Ranma-chan”. Eventually Ranma talks her down to “half-dead” and proceeds to ask Ryouga to beat him up only to find himself incapable of not returning the favor, but getting lots of help from the dads.
In the end Akane remembers Ranma not from the shampoo, but the insults. This poses a new problem, because now that Akane has foiled Shampoo’s conditioning (pun intended) she has no choice but to re-engage the kiss of death. So Ranma pulls the nuclear option – he douses himself in cold water and declares that he’s actually a girl by default (both dads appear to be fooled too), which certainly has the desired effect on Shampoo and then some. She bids Ranma-chan a tearful final farewell in Mandarin, but really – isn’t the clinic like right down the street?
Now, in terms of the future… A second season was announced today, which was absolutely no surprise whatsoever. The first one is apparently only running one cour, which is. I mean, I don’t see any obvious point in rebooting an old chestnut like Ranma ½ unless you plan to adapt the whole thing, but what the hell do I know? If they’re going to do it a cour at a time though boy, it’s going to take a while. Unless of course they plan to severely cut, which I guess is possible. And within reason that could be done without inflicting huge damage, as there is a fair bit of bloat with this series (as is usually the case with Rumiko if we’re honest).
As ever, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. No official date on the second cour has been given, though it would surprise me if it isn’t spring, or summer at the very latest. By all accounts this remake has been well-received both here and abroad and I don’t see why not. Ranma is a series with a lot of nostalgia appeal both in Japanese and English, and in Ginga e Kickoff’s Uda Kounosuke’s capable hands, this version has been thoroughly excellent. Both the returning (I never imagined that would work as well as it did, but these are great seiyuu) and new cast is fantastic, and the overall experience has just been a tremendous amount of fun.
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