Ranma 1/2

From OtakuWiki

Synopsis

Although not exactly a sci-fi adventure like Urusei Yatsura, not as long-lived as the time-spanning InuYasha or as heart-warming as Maison Ikkoku, Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma 1/2 is in fact, one of the most groundbreaking of all anime/manga series, and the first of such gender-bending titles like Birdy the Mighty and Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~.

Ranma Saotome was trained extensively in the martial arts by his father Genma Saotome, although an attempt to teach the boy the "Cat Fist" left Ranma with a great fear of cats. While still a child, Ranma befriended Unko Kuonji, the daughter of an okonomiyaki chef (okonomiyaki basically is a Japanese cabbage pancake, sometimes called 'Japanese pizza' in Osaka), who later takes up her father's profession (even though, because Unko dressed masculinily, he was unaware she was a girl).

But sometime later, Ranma and Genma found themselves training in China, in an area known as Jusenkyo, a place usually avoided by the locals because of the cursed springs. Each of the springs takes their name from whatever had drowned in it originally, and whoever falls into a certain spring will be transformed into whatever creature had drowned in there in the first place (all very sad stories, indeed). This transformation usually takes place when the cursed one is splashed with cold water; hot water reverses the transformation.

It was during a day of training that the two were undertaking when Gendo accidentally fell into the Spring of the Drowned Panda – and came out of it transformed into an anamorphic giant panda. Startled, Ranma stumbles backwards – and falls into the Spring of the Drowned Girl. Now as a result, whenever the black-haired Ranma is hit with cold water, he transforms into a red-haired (and buxom) teenaged girl.

Things get further complicated when Gendo persuades Ranma to help honor a promise he made to Gendo's widowed friend Soun Tendo, the owner and operator of "The Anything-Goes Martial Arts Dojo" – to marry one of Soun's three daughters. Since the two oldest girls, the family homemaker Kasumi and the financial genius Nakibi, were uninterested in marriage, they foist the duty to their younger sister, the boy-hating tomboy Akane (they figured that, since Ranma was half girl anyway, maybe Akane would be interested in him/her). It turned out they were right about it.

But soon, Ranma ends-up with a rival for Akane, Ryoga Hikibi, who often challenges Ranma for Akane's hand. However Ryoga, a.k.a. "The Eternally-Lost Boy", also has a terrible sense of direction, and often gets lost somewhere in the world. Ryoga is also a victim of the cursed Jusenkyo springs, having fallen into the Spring of the Drowned Pig. The one up-side of this curse is that, while transformed into a small black pig (called P-chan), he ends up as the occasional pet of Akane.

Now, even though Akane often regards Ranma in his male form as a perverted numbskull, she would jealously try to keep him/her from other girls. And that would soon become a problem when Unko returns on the scene... as well as an uninhibited Chinese Amazon named Shampoo, who originally came to kill Ranma for ruining a celebratory banquet in her honor (he/she ate all the food), as well as other girls coming out of the woodwork looking for his/her affection. She is also a victim of Jusenkyo - and to Ranma's horror, she fell into the Spring of the Drowned CAT!!!

And there's still Ranma's curse to deal with, but as long as Nakibi can get a few yen out of it, she'll make sure there's plenty of hot water for Ranma – to get him/her out of the occasional "hot water" he/she usually finds himself/herself in.

Characters

• Ranma Saotome
• Genma Saotome
• Soun Tendo
• Akane Tendo
• Kasumi Tendo
• Nakibi Tendo
• Shampoo
• Ryoga Hikibi
• Kodachi Kuno
• Tatewaki Kuno
• Mousse
• Cologne
• Dr. Ono Tofu
• Unko Kuonji
• Jusenkyo Guide
• Hikaru Gosunkugi
• Happosai
• Pantyhose Taro
• Sasuke Sarugakure

Screenshots

Related links

• InuYasha
• Maison Ikkoku
• Rumiko Takahashi Anthology
• Urusei Yatsura