Spy x Family Season 3 – 01
I made it fairly clear after the finale of S2 that Spy x Family was just barely hanging on in blogging terms. On balance that season was a step down from the first, which wasn’t anything too spectacular itself. But in kaijuu terms this and Oshi no Ko (which trended in the opposite direction) are really the only ones I’m still covering apart from Boku no Hero Academia, and there are occasional bursts of material I really like with it. So I want to give it every chance I can.
That said, this ep was pretty much snooze mode for me. A chapter about saving the world (well, an old man and a chihuahua) from a cranky crane operator. And a chapter featuring Nightfall (who would be my least favorite character in many series without Yuri) and Franky dealing with (ironically) a forger. Neither of much interest to me, so I really don’t have a lot to say about either. I suspect if I do keep covering SxF it may be on an as merits basis – if it wanders into the areas where it does well, I might feel the urge to write those episodes up.
Ranma ½ (2024) Season 2 – 01
Ranma 1/2 was one of the surprise hits of 2024. At least it was a surprise to me – I really didn’t think there’d be that much interest in this old chestnut. But this reboot was extremely well-received and very popular. I saw a lot of merchandising tie-ins and popup cafes all over the place. I covered the first season so I won’t rehash my overall take on the franchise here, but suffice to say it was an important early foray into anime for me. I’d largely forgotten about it but the reboot comfortably exceeded my expectations. It was a terrific production and frequently the funniest show of the week.
That first season was also one cour, and it’s going to take MAPPA forever to adapt the whole manga at that rate. If that’s even something they plan to do, which I have no way of knowing except really, why bother rebooting otherwise? In any event one of the main joys of this series is hearing this august body of seiyuu – many of whom reprising roles from the 1989 version – let loose again. The latest to chime in is Ishida Akira, who joins the party as the eternal loser and Akane stalker Hikaru. Interestingly Ishida was in the 1989 but playing a different character (who should show up around 2029 at this rate), while Hikaru was played by Futamata Issei.
Hikaru runs the whole gamut of creepy loser-stalker behavior, not excluding a voodoo doll of Ranma (which doesn’t work). The joke eventually comes around to discovering Ranma’s weakness – Kunoh is especially keen to know it – which Ranma is desperate to keep hidden. As it turns out it’s cats – thanks to a catastrophically stupid training exercise Genma subjected him to as a 10 year-old. And the kicker is that when Ranma ODs on cat terror (like when confronted with a tiger), he lapses into a cat-atonic state where he acts like a cat.
The big twist here is that in one of those fugue states Ranma curls up on Akane’s lap and then proceeds to “kiss” her. She’s naturally quite taken aback by this, but the interesting question is just how much self-awareness Ranma really had in that moment. Based on Ranma-chan’s comments it seems he genuinely doesn’t remember, but it’s a safe bet Akane will never forget. Good to have this show back – it’s a kick back and relax sort of series where you can just laugh and not have to think too hard (much like the next series I’ll be posting on, actually).
The post Weekly Digest 10/05/25 – Spy x Family Season 3, Ranma ½ (2024) Season 2 appeared first on Lost in Anime.
