More martial arts styles revealed!
What They Say:
Sentaro, successor to Martial Arts Tea Ceremony, makes Ranma battle the grand master as his wife to break off his arranged marriage meeting. Does Ranma have what it takes to master this new form of martial arts? After that, the world of martial arts gets even bigger with the introduction of Martial Arts Shogi, Martial Arts Dining, and Martial Arts Calligraphy.
The hijinks continue as the true identity of the principal is revealed, Ranma’s friends and family are turned into frogs, and okonomiyaki master Ukyo faces hot competition from Crepe Joe! Lastly, a new student at school named Gosunkugi, who instantly falls in love with Akane, tries to use curses to eliminate Ranma so he can have her all to himself!
Contains episodes 93-115.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us the original Japanese language track in stereo as well as the previously created English language mix, both of which are encoded using the DTS-HD MA lossless codec. The serie is one that does a good job of balancing what it has for a forward soundstage presentation where it has a full and large feeling to it that keeps you engaged and a part of it. There are some of the quieter moments where there’s a bit of directionality with who is talking, but because it’s a full frame show it doesn’t quite go wide or deep with the material. There’s a good warmth to the whole show though and the characters voices come across very well in both languages, making for a fun and easy to hear series. The music plays well and adds a bit more to it but it avoids dominating or becoming problematic with scratchy sounds or other issues, instead giving us a clean and clear presentation.
Video:
Originally airing in the early 1990’s, the transfer for this TV series is presented in its original full frame aspect ratio in 1080p using the AVC codec. The twenty-three episodes of this collection are spread across three discs in an eight/eight/seven format with a good bit of space available to each of them, which is well used when looking at the average bitrates.High action scenes easily spend their time in the mid to high 30’s while a lot of it is in the low 20’s. Because of the film origin of the series, there’s some good and natural grain here and considering this is using the same remastered materials as the highly regarded Japanese release, there’s nothing to really find fault with here overall. It’s a very good looking show that while it does show its age and some of the minor flaws of film such as a few nicks and bits of dirt here and there, it is in the end the best that Ranma ½ has ever looked and that’s what counts.
Packaging:
Though the packaging for this release isn’t oversized or filled with goodies, it’s exactly what the release needed to be and is fantastic. The set comes with a standard sized Blu-ray case inside a heavy chipboard box that’s just a bit bigger than it, making it compact and properly snug but also having a good bit of heft to it. What really helps is that the front of it is done in this great shade of yellow that makes it striking as we get Shampoo in the center circle with a lot of gold embossed foil work around her with the framing. It’s simple, elegant and perfect for a title that has earned its classic status. The back cover, under the shrinkwrapped sell sheet with all the details, is done up in a great shade of purple (which ties to the spine) and that gives us Gemma in panda form in the middle with the same overall structure as the front of the box but without the series logo. It’s just a perfect looking box in every way.
Inside the box we get the aforementioned case which holds the three discs of the series. The front cover gives us a look at the core cast together in various poses that has a manga style illustration feeling to it. The back cover extends the background while providing a good premise for the series, a couple of shots from the show and a good breakdown of the technical specs and what the box holds as well as all the extras. The included book is really nicely done with a slick and glossy form to it as it provides an episode by episode breakdown for what’s in this set as well as some production credits, both for the show itself and the Blu-ray release itself. Unlike the first book though, we don’t get any manga here. What we do get separately is a nice card that’s the same size as the book which provides the logo on one side while the other has a cute picture of Ukyo in a serious pose with her “weapon” of choice in hand.
Menu:
The menu design for this release is definitely what it needed to be as we get something that’s simple but classy and very in-theme. Using the same yellow approach as the box cover, we get that and the gold mix that dominates it while the logo is along the upper left. The right provides for three circles, again similar to the cover, where different clips play throughout it. This provides continuity across the volumes but also changes it up nicely. The navigation is along the lower left with the basics there that shift upward when selected and while the text is a touch small, it’s all readable and has a very good flow to it while being easy to use. Submenus load quickly and episode number and title breakdown is a breeze, as is the extras navigation.
Extras:
Viz Media continues to bring something new to the table with this release in addition to the standards we expect. We get the welcome usual suspects here with the clean opening and closing sequences and the separate next episode previews where appropriate. We also get the fifth “Everybody Loves Ranma” original feature that goes the collectable side of the series as they talk with various cosplayers, fans and industry professionals with a look at a few pieces of collections along the way that’s neat to look at.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Ranma 1/2’s run is one that went on for quite some time, which is definitely both a good and bad thing as it had plenty of manga material to work with, but it also falls into is ruts along the way as well. Like any series of length, there’s always new characters coming in and some of the typical gags get drawn out a bit more, especially when it comes to the various engagements that have been made with Ranma over the years, something that Genma has certainly used to survive and enjoy life while out in the world. With this installment, we get a lot more of the usual silliness, which is definitely good as there’s still a lot of fun to be had with the situations, but also a few drawn out areas that kind of make you cringe just a little bit.
Admittedly, one of the weaker points of the series for me has always been the various goofy martial arts schools that are employed throughout it. That’s just part and parcel for the show so it doesn’t drive me nuts because I know that it’s at its core premise. But some of them just leave me a little less interested than others. Such is the case with the time spent dealing with the Martial Arts Tea characters as well as the Martial Arts Dining characters. Both of these do play to their strengths of unusual martial arts styles with it, such as the tea ceremony materials being used, while the dining side plays to French cuisine and the ability to consume a whole lot – or deflect eating anything so that nobody notices that you’re not eating. The two stories run for two episodes each and there are fun moments, especially with how awful Akane is with it. But that’s a familiar gag. Where the Martial Arts Dinner arc gets weird is that with Ranma tied to a potential engagement there in girl form, she ends up being put into a steel based corset that she can’t get out of – and transforming into a boy nearly crushes his ribs.
This set also spends a little time with Kuno and his family, which actually works in a rather fun way for the most part. The first episode that we get involving them has the principal revealing who he is to Kuno, though Kuno doesn’t believe it. The two have an awkward relationship to be sure since he left three years ago, and Kuno wants nothing to do with the school principal since he can’t believe it’s him. It works in a rather fun way overall, and getting Kuno’s nickname that his father has for him is adorable, but it also sets up more meaningful interactions later in the set. When it shifts the focus to Kodachi as she initially goes to Genma to ask him to be her father for the parents day at her school, that draws in her actual father that she has no real memory of. While he’s interested in connecting with his daughter, weird as he is, Kuno is highly threatened by it on a number of levels and seeing that dynamic play out, with a bit of martial arts as well, works better than I thought it would. Kodachi has potential to be something more, as does Kuno overall, but they’re kept to the status quo most of the time. But with their newly established connection with their father, it adds a little extra humor in other episodes.
While we get some good stuff like this, we also get a lot of random episodes which is what populates most of it. There’s fun in playing off of a mystery drama about who at the takayaoki, with Sasuke providing some hilarious moments as he spends his time sitting in the rafters of the Tendo household more often than not, and we also get a surprisingly fun episode where Ranma’s shadow takes on a life of its own and gets involved in a lot of problems as it does the things that Ranma himself is too wary of doing since he understand consequences. I also rather liked the introduction of the “creepy” Gosunkugi and his attempt to eliminate Ranma as he falls in love with Akane due to her kindness. His “ability” to use curses and traps on other makes for some fun sequences, though in the end he’s definitely the amateur of the hour. He’s certainly better than the Martial Arts Calligraphy master that shows up trying to draw more people to his school.
In Summary:
While Ranma ½ was at its best in the first two seasons or so of the series, there’s still a lot of good stuff to be had as it goes on. This batch of episodes plays with some familiar concepts as we get a few new martial arts schools arriving and making their various challenges, but we also get plenty of standalone pieces where it runs from hot springs to the warming up of relationships between father and children. The show plays well overall and there’s a lot of fun and humorous episodes here that keeps the momentum going well while drawing in others from the early episodes from time to time, such as Ryoga and Shampoo getting their time in the sun. While I would have liked to have seen the show really work story arcs better, it’s simply not its strong suit. But what it does do, it does well, and this set is more fun from the group done well.
Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, “We Love Ranma” Part 5 – Favorite Scenes, Next Episode Previews, Clean Openings & Endings.
Content Grade: B
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: A-
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: March 3rd, 2015
MSRP: $54.97
Running Time: 530 minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
