What can be better than martial arts figure skating?
Creative Staff:
Story & Art: Rumiko Takahashi
Translation/Adaptation: Gerard Jones, Matt Thorn
What They Say:
One day, teenaged martial artist Ranma Saotome went on a training mission with his father and ended up taking a dive into some cursed springs at a legendary training ground in China. Now, every time he’s splashed with cold water, he changes into a girl. His father, Genma, changes into a panda! What’s a half-guy, half-girl to do? Find out what fueled the worldwide manga boom in beloved creator Rumiko Takahashi’s (InuYasha, Urusei Yatsura, RIN-NE) smash hit of martial arts mayhem, presented remastered and unflipped for the first time.
DANCING WITH DEATH
Being a martial artist, Ranma just can’t resist the call to combat and takes on one opponent after another: Kodachi, the Black Rose of Martial Rhythmic Gymnastics, followed by the deadliest duo of figure skating, and finally Shampoo, a Chinese Amazon who has pledged to kill him. Is there such a thing as too much fighting spirit?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Ranma has easily grabbed my heart with its charming mixture of martial arts and comedy. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see Ranma and its merry band of characters square off against each other in martial arts gymnastics or martial arts figure skating? It’s a pretty cool series of panels that are super easy to read through.
In between all of that, there’s a bit of a love…polygon that’s going on between Ranma, Akane, Ryoga, Kodachi, Shampoo, and a slew of other characters. I love how Takahashi so easily pulls off these stories and makes them so charming. Ryoga’s trying to protect his sense of honor by Akane not finding out he’s a pig (he’ll also lose his bed to sleep in). Meanwhile, Ranma and Akane’s not-so-relationship is constantly a form of entertainment between how they interact when they’re hating each other and when they’re being smitten.
I’m sort of wondering what the point of it all is though? It’s very entertaining, but through four volumes, not much has happened. It’s a sequence of ever increasingly ridiculous martial arts battles. The first few chapters were content heavy because we were being introduced to so much stuff. But now, Kodachi doesn’t matter anymore, neither does Azusa and Mikado, and I fear Shampoo won’t either once her story’s up. Maybe they’ll come up later, I don’t know. For now, they’re fun standalone stories.
What is interesting and what does matter is Ranma’s growing relationship with Akane, which is various degrees of comedic and touching, in a way. Well, it’s not quite touching yet but when she’s on the ice and wondering what Ranma meant when he said, “Akane is my fiancée! Lay a lip on her and I’ll kill you!” she’s really touched. The night before, they almost kissed, probably stealing her first and his first with a lady. They skirt around the issue, but only from their inexperience. Their parents who engaged them and the two elder sisters who cheer Akane on know what both want though.
It’s a charming innocence, but it grows weary with the combination of repetitive storytelling. It’s really fun to read, but I don’t have much to talk about on the matter.
In Summary:
I don’t know how to feel about Ranma yet. I really like how fun it is, but I have questions about its direction. I suppose I did watch 193 episodes and four movies of InuYasha, so this shouldn’t surprise me, but I was also a teenager at the time. For now, I’ll give the comic a pass and wait cautiously for the next volume. I don’t think I’ll ever dislike Ranma, though.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: May 6, 2014
MSRP: $14.99
