Introduction

Ranma 1/2 is an anime and manga series that follows the titular Ranma Saotome who after falling into the spring of the drowned girl is cursed to switch forms when splashed with different water. Nevertheless, he has been engaged to the tomboyish Akane Tendo in an arranged marriage intended to join their Dojos. It uses this situation to tell a punchy and light-hearted romcom with action elements that stand the test of time with this adaptation.

Animation

The animation style used for the remake is simple and colorful and is unique among the modern slate of shows. The closest neighbor that I could see was the Urusei Yatsura remake by David Productions which I haven’t watched but appears to use a rainbow-colored shadowing style and slightly different linework. This is probably attributable to the style being an attempt to merge the motifs of the 90s era that director Kounosuke Uda worked on with the style of the original manga.

Color language is used well to distinguish characters with each being given an iconic color to use for themselves (Ryoga’s yellow bandanas, Shampoo’s purple hair, etc.). Backgrounds are lighter with a watercolor-esque style designed to make the characters pop out with white outlines used to accentuate breakpoints between objects. Despite this light coloring, they are vividly detailed and the world feels alive and reactive. Action words pop out visibly over the top of these colorsets with the highest saturation and look great with their fun lettering.

Moving on to movement the style changes depending on the scene. The most notable shift is when Ranma suddenly jumps into the air during a conversation or takes a sudden slapstick hit from Akane. Watching Ranma's dynamic movement was a ton of fun and the style made the combat scenes feel great. Comedic timing for the slapstick works well and I have no complaints there but it didn’t stand out to me as something notable.

Adaptation

The frills on this adaptation add a lot in my opinion. I love the opening songs' cutely voiced beat and it helps me get into the feeling of the show. Similarly, for me, the intro-prerolls which introduced the store in a Simpsons couch gag style are a cool way to let animators draw the group in a bunch of styles and I like it a lot. The biggest change is that from what I’ve heard the broadcast commentators are a unique addition to this adaptation. To say the least this change is great and though I haven’t directly compared I found their narration lead to a great flow in combat.

Characters

Character designs here are great and the aforementioned color theming adds a lot to distinguishment. Along with the distinctive personalities and weapons I was able to immediately
latch onto characters and recognize them even as personal dynamics get quite complex. Particular favorites among the supporting cast are Ryoga, Akane’s sisters, Shampoo, and Tatewaki. The dynamics between characters are well done and provide a ton of ground for comedy and I love that so many integrate Ranma’s switching mechanic. One example of this is Kodachi the black rose whose love (male) and hate (Female) relationship with Ranma creates great comedy with her cruel and underhanded personality.

Treatment of women

As expected (though not always found) considering the mangaka Rumiko Takahashi is a woman, Ranma is very normal about women and I don’t have much to say here in either direction. There are a few bits that could stray close to the line but in my opinion, manage to avoid being problematic or uncomfortable.

Affection with consent bits are treated differently for Ranma compared to Akane and this is a very good thing. Shampoo grabbing onto Ranma is funny because there is a vastly different power dynamic there and the inverse would be extremely uncomfortable. Ryoga’s P-chan bit is similar where past some initial scenes he isn’t shown to gain sexual gratification from being close to Akane. The choice to make him pathetic and end up wanting to get close to her in the same way as an actual pet would save the audience from constant pig curled-in boobs gags which other shows such as One Piece which I otherwise love uncomfortably engage in.

Romance

I don’t have a lot of experience with this era of romance anime which might explain my difference in opinion but I found Ranma 1/2 to be very refreshing. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about will they/won’t they stories being grating but to me it’s very clear here they will it’s just a matter of being along for the fun (and cute) ride. Akane and Ranma’s misdirected feelings are fertile ground for the show’s comedy and I find their slapstick dynamic a lot of fun.

Comedy

Speaking of the show’s comedy I think this is where the show really excelled for me. I really enjoyed the character bits like Ranma’s forms, environments where the entire fighting stage is transformed for a joke and slapstick gags. For the sake of not ruining their punchy nature, I don’t want to say too many specifics but I want to call attention to two missed pitfalls that stood out to me.

First off, There are a lot of points in the show where they will toss away information via a gag for the sake of progression and this is especially true with Rana’s identity and water origins for transformation. I think that this is something many people might find annoying as “illogical” but it saves the show. It lets them make funny jokes -- the most important thing -- while preserving the show’s continuity. As someone prone to the inverse in my writing, I appreciate how well it was executed here.

The second bit was the amnesia plot point utilized towards the end of this season which I usually loathe. However, Ranma managed to make this extremely fun by keeping things punchy and funny without being frustrating. It’s a hard balance to strike and I like how they handled it.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, the Ranma remake is a great standalone piece and managed to draw me in as someone who isn’t a fan of the series at all. The poppy animation and colorings serve to accentuate a comedic style that makes great use of slapstick and character comedy. As such I’m rating it a 9/10 as a show that is consistently great but doesn’t have the massively unique never-before-seen elements in high enough quality for my personal 10 criteria. I’ll see you all in July for season 2 :3