Review of Ranma ½
EDIT: Removed spoilers in review portion, also, fans of the show might want to check out a new abridged Ranma on youtube called Ranmabridged. ----- This show has me on the fence. It's meant to be a show that you can pick up, watch, have a laugh, and pick it up again some other day, with no huge differences in the story. That being said, it is a show that has even more potential that wasn't reached because of this. Don't get me wrong, I really liked watching this, I grew to love the characters, the animation is refreshing (old style) and the inverted gender roles and the hilariousness...it all adds to a great anime. It could have been even better.
Too much repetitiveness is the biggest issue that comes to mind. I don't mean like, oh, they're always living in the same house going to school type stuff. I mean because there cannot be any major character development, characters and the plot changes artificially to keep something from changing. It seems like every time there's some sort of repetitiveness problem, they just throw some new character or plot device in, rather than developing the characters and plot that's already there.
Also, Happosai is a useless character, and seems to be around only so that he can interrupt any sort of development artificially like I said before. He's not the only character that does that, but he's maybe the only one that exists solely for that purpose.
With all of that being said, time to break down the series.
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Story: Ranma has a great story, and it's biggest strength is the characters within the story. The introduction was flawless and made you confused, but interested. Later on it's the characters who are confused, and if you like watching that happen, then you're going to love watching this. It's a Harem genre that doesn't feel like it, and by that it's a guy surrounded by girls. More accurately, it's a half guy half girl surrounded by men and women. It doesn't help that he's attractive as a male and even more attractive as a female. (mainly to do with him not being ashamed to show off his chest when he's female)
Easily the biggest issue is the repetitiveness and deliberate interruptions to ensure that nothing does change. If it weren't for that, this show would probably have a perfect score.
I have issues with the story, but those are MY PERSONAL issues which will not change the score. The story itself gets a 8/10.
Characters: There is very little character development, I noted that, but this is a silly ridiculous show that really wasn't aiming for that. It nailed the silly and ridiculous, with lots of vibrant and unique characters, one of my favourites is actually Kuno. Every time he's on screen I just found myself smiling or laughing.
Now, while the characters never change, they do encounter new situations, so it's almost as if every episode is a different, "What if these characters had this happen to them?"
Art: I like this art style. It's old, but for an anime this old it's not bad. my any means. They are lazy sometimes, like Dragonball Z lazy, and they reuse a lot of the same scenes, so it's not excellent, but it is very good for what it is, so it gets an 8. The retro feel definitely helps that score.
Sound: At first the English dub wasn't the best, but as the episodes go one the characters sound better and better. Other than that they kept reusing a few sound effects or certain music clips. It's really minor though because they are often placed well enough that it doesn't bother you much.
Note: I love the Season 1 intro song. Super catchy. 8/10
Characters: Because of the story and such, there is no character development. The characters stay just as stupid as before, but that is a story problem, and this score will reflect the characters.
What the characters do say, learn, do is what makes this show so addictive, and funny and even sometimes intriguing. There's all of these ridiculous martial arts, like martial arts figure skating, or martial arts tea ceremony. It's just, hilarious. And there's also the relationships. Most shows have distinct love traingles or something like that. In this, there is not a word for the shapes formed and then complexity of the relationships. Unfortunely, due to the story, these never develop past the anime and BARELY develop in the manga. Every time a hint is given that Akane or Ranma feels a certain way, the show does a 180 and throws you no it's not, or maybe it is! Oh yes it is, no it's not, yes it is! Maybe it's not. If you hate that, you will hate this show, or at least, feel unsatisfied.
One of the best things to watch is the feelings develop between Akane and Ranma. It happens over the entire series and even though they both know and they've both said things by themselves, they never really tell each other. 10/10
Enjoyment: Even though there's many flaws with the story, or at least how it's presented at times, the overall enjoyment gets a excellent score. I find myself watching it again, and being totally attached to the characters. I even start to care about Happosai. What is wrong with me? Well apparently nothing, this show is just really enjoyable. 9/10
Overall: 8/10 This show some may hate, some may like, and even though there is nudity, it's not seriously sexuality because it's just Ranma as a female to busy trying to beat some other person to realized that he's a female and totally topless.
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This ends my score portion of the review. 8/10 overall, but the intended repetitiveness brings down the score. Everything needed for that was there, it just wasn't allowed to grow.
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Now, onto my specific issues and their breakdowns. If you have not seen Ranma yo may get some details spoiled, so stop reading unless you don't care.
1) I'm saying it again, the artificial repetitiveness is a glaring problem. I cannot list all of the times where some convenient plot device or new random character stops any sort of development. You can skip through the episode and you wouldn't even notice.
Lets say I see someone in a bad situation and blame them cause I just met them. Later I find out that it wasn't that person's fault at all. I would feel bad that I and others blamed him. If it happened again, I'd probably give the guy a chance to explain. But seriously, after 50 times he's proven innocent, he still is blamed for things. It makes sense for someone who hates him, but not for someone who loves him.
1a) Missed opportunities. There was a chance for Ranma and Akane to kiss, where they were both trying to figure out how they feel, and even if they decided not to do anything about it, instead of exploring that route, it is simply interrupted and all the characters go straight into their previous habits. There was a chance for Akane to see Ryoga (always with a stupid excuse as to her not seeing him) and have her try to figure out how to deal with it, and what it means about Ranma being jealous of him.
One of the biggest missed opportunities is Akane kissing the female version of Ranma and it being okay. Second would have to be a failed attempt at getting the male version back. Remember when there was some sort of mix that worked for a day or something like that? Imagine if Ranma ended up getting it ready by the hot bath, ended up getting distracted and Akane goes into the bath. (making Akane get mad at Ranma)
1b) Predictable characters, making a few scenes that should have been funnier, just boring because they'd be doing the same thing, saying the same lines, just in a different situation. There's also a few useless characters who are only really there to tell us where the characters have to go and what they have to do. Specifically, Happosai and Cologne. All they do is provide information. There are some many better ways to introduce new information slowly, like having a character that often tries very hard to beat Ranma to learn a technique, brag about it, only to have Ranma learn where he can try to learn it.
2) Unrealistic balance of power. Sometimes characters are so weak, and other times those same characters are virtually indestructible. Lets say Ranma has to make use of a very specific situation to be able to beat someone. After he beats them, that person is never a threat any more, even if they could just make sure that same situation doesn't arrive. This goes back to artificial plot lengthening, a character acting out of character or proportions to either finish or begin an episode.
3) General plot problems, from the springs to the legends.
The show could have been 161 episodes long, had a lot more interesting and less artificial repetitive episodes. It also could have been half as long and turned out much like Avatar: The Last Airbender. I would have preferred one of those two over what it is, but I cannot deny what it is. It will remain a classic and I will be able to watch it with my girlfriend for about two years if we watched a show once a week. I may skip a few with Happosai in it though. Those don't interest me much.