Two sides to every coin (Ranma 1/2 Comics in general)

Member Name: chooflafla

Product:	Ranma 1/2 Comics in general
Date:	22/05/03 (176 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, Addictive, Original

Disadvantages: Confusing, Pricey if you want to see them all, Contains mild nudity (it is actually relevant to the storyline)

There was only a section for Ranma under "printed books" and it seemed too much hassle to get a new one created for the animé, so, without further ado...

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I've always been a fan of Japanese films, and now my interest has transcended into the weird and wonderful world of animé.

In short, animé is a genre of film that is completely animated with no need for human actors; however, Ranma ½ is more accurately a cartoon series with two spin-off films to boot.

Ranma ½ is the creation of Rumikio Takahashi and began life as manga (the printed version of an animé, I guess a comic would be the best way to describe it). Thanks to the bizarre nature of the manga, it was given a new lease of life in the form of animé way back in 1992. There are seven series to date and after only watching the first three (only?!) I feel that I know enough about the animé it to bring to your attention about the trials and tribulations of Ranma Soatome.

First things first, Ranma ½ is available on both DVD and VHS can the best place to buy them is from http://www.ebay.co.uk or from the main stockists, http://www.viz.com. When I did a search for it on ebay, the amount of results were staggering, which just goes to show how well received it is over here (I've recently won a bid for all seven series on DVD!).

It's hard enough being a teenager in today's world, what with having to deal with hormones, school and puberty, however, Ranma has one extra dilemma to deal with that a typical teenager would never normally have to endure, that is to say that he is half male, and half female! No, I don't mean that he's a hermaphrodite, I mean that 50% of the time, he is his own male form and when splashed with cold water, he transforms into a slighty shorter, red haired buxom ver
sion of himself! Fortunately for him, a dousing in hot water changes him back into his male figure.

Confused? You will be!

This
is only the tip of the iceberg, his father morphs into a giant panda bear, the boy whose in love with his first (yes, first as in "more than one") fiancé turns into a cute lil black piglet who masquerades as the girl's pet, his second fiancé turns into a cat, the man in love with HER turns into a duck and the boy in love with his THIRD fiancé is a cross dresser who likes to disguise himself as everyday objects such as postboxes, vending machines and trash cans!

Phew!

Without spoiling any of the plot (yes, there IS a plot to all of this mayhem!), here is a comprehensive list of the main characters.

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RANMA

Ranma Soatome is the main character within this animé. He's always getting himself into strange situations and for some reason, the girls are all head over heels in love with him, that is, except his first financé, Akane. Although he is fully in control of both his female and male personas, he likes to take advantage of his female form and use his looks and fluttering eyelashes to get him free food!

GENMA

Genma is Ranma's dad. His curse is that he turns into a giant benevolent panda that communicates using signs. Where he gets them all from is a mystery, but hey, have you not been listening to how strange this animé is?! :) Even when he's in his panda form, he is still a formidable fighter and is even known to play chess as well as work at the doctor's clinic.

SOUN

Soun Tendo is the owner of the Tendo Dojo that his family and the Saotomes live in. It was collaboration between Soun and Genma to force R
;anma into marrying into the Tendo family so that one day, there would be an heir to the dojo. With the constant fighting in the house, he has to rebuild the house umpteen times as the inhabitants enjoy throwing their combatants through the ceiling and walls. Most schemes concocted to make Ranma and Akane wed are products of Soun's twisted mind.

<
br>KASUMI

Kasumi is Soun's eldest daughter. She acts more like a housewife than a daughter and is one of the rare characters in the series who cannot fight. Her skills lie in the kitchen and around the house and she is always polite and helpful to the point that you think she is more like a mother than a sister/daughter.

NABIKI

Nabiki is Soun's middle daughter and loves nothing more than money! Her favourite ploy is to take sexy photos of girls and sell them to eager boys. The girls in question are actually her younger sister and Ranma's female form.

AKANE (AKA. THE UNCUTE FIANCE)

Akane is Ranma's first fiancé and they were forced into marriage by their fathers in order to provide an heir for the dojo. Akane and Ranma's relationship is a strange one, whenever a new fiancé shows up, Akane is always jealous of her, and conveniently, all of Ranma's fiancés are experts at martial arts. She may seem uncaring and cold sometimes, but she always redeems herself and is actually a warm-hearted person. Ranma is forever picking on her for being a tomboy and this was the reason she was chose to marry Ranma, because she 'hates boys' and Ranma is only half boy!

SHAMPOO (AKA. THE PERSISTANT FI
ANCE)

The first encounter between Ranma and Shampoo involved fighting (surprise, surprise) because Ranma and Genma ate her food before finding out that the table of food was actually a prize for the strongest woman in the Amazon Tribe. Since they had already eaten the prize, Ranma had no choice but to win. His/her victory came with a price though, as the loser had to kill the winner to save face! Fast forward a few months later and Ranma defeats Shampoo in battle again, but as a man. Another Amazonian law states that if a man defeats a woman, she must marry him! Oh dear...

UKYOU (AKA. THE CUTE FIANCE)

Ukyou is also a tomboy, but is willing to go to any lengths in order to impress Ra
nma. The only way that Ranma was able to guess that the beautiful new girl in school was Ukyou, was due to her trademark weapon that she always has strapped to her back; a giant spatula! This engagement is just as complicated and just as amusing as the others as Gemna had agreed with Ukyou's dad that they would be married when they were old enough. Ranma and Ukyou were actually 3 or 4 at the time and Genma accepted Ukyou's dad's food cart as a dowry... and ran away with Ranma leaving Ukyou behind.

KODACHI

An expert at martial arts gymnastics (don't even ask!) she is vying for the attention of male Ranma and believes that girl type and boy type are dating and wants to break them up at all costs.

TATEWAKI

Tatewaki is Kodachi's older brother and the same applies to him as well. Completely ignorant to Ranma's unusual problem, he is forever fighting boy Ranma so he can date girl Ranma, oh,
and he's also in love with Akane too.

RYOGA

Ryoga's alter ego is a little black piglet who Akane named P-Chan and adopted as her part time pet. Ryoga is in love with Akane and has a childhood grudge against Ranma for not showing up for a fight that Ryoga had planned his own back garden. However, Ranma actually waited there for three days! Ryoga's special ability is to get lost no matter where he is.

HAPPOSAI

Happosai is a pervert. Nuff said! He has a fetish for girl's underwear and frequently sneaks around the town at night stealing them off the washing lines. There is a reason for this though, without having a constant stream of panties or bras, he is powerless to fight!

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There are a plethora of other characters to discuss, but doing so would be a waste of time as I hope that what I've written so far will inspire you to watch an episode or two.

Trust me, even if you're not an animé fan, or have never seen one, you'll like it (I've managed to get 8 out of my 9 flatmates addicted to the show, the ninth one is never around) and if not, your sense of humour needs to be updated!

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