Ranma ½ (2024) Episode 1 Discussion

I ain't even gonna bother arguing with you. No one cares about ranna outside Japan. Ask any random anime fan of he's heard of ranma. Now ask them if they've heard of urusei yatsura. The chances of it being the later is much higher buuut if it let's you sleep happily then sure buddy.

@Moribax Damn, You are very insightful, how did you manage to find so many references in a single episode?! I admire your good observation 🙏

@Moribax I'll just bite and say, the other guy was talking about manga (and probably anime and other Japanese media), not Western media. And he's right. I've seen countless references to Urusei Yatsura in countless anime. So much so that I knew about Lum before I even knew the name of the anime she's from. I can't say the same about Ranma.

And if you really wanna get technical, Urusei Yatsura and Lum inspired literally hundreds if not thousands of Japanese creators. If you read what other mangakas have to say about Urusei Yatsura you'll have an idea about just how big deal it was back when it came out. So many comedy and romance mangas and even freaking Fullmetal Alchemist probably wouldn't exist if not for Urusei Yatsura.

I suggest giving these a read- Mitsuru Adachi: https://www.furinkan.com/uy/manga/shin02.html

Noizi Ito: https://www.furinkan.com/uy/manga/shin13.html

Hiromu Arakawa: https://www.furinkan.com/uy/manga/shin16.html

Junji Ito: https://www.furinkan.com/uy/manga/shin22.html

Katsutoshi Kawai: https://www.furinkan.com/uy/manga/shin24.html

Tetsuo Hara: https://www.furinkan.com/uy/manga/shin25.html

Koji Kumeta: https://www.furinkan.com/uy/manga/shin27.html

Kiyohiko Azuma: https://www.furinkan.com/uy/manga/shin31.html

Chika Umino: https://www.furinkan.com/uy/manga/shin32.html

And this is just from the manga. The 80s anime was so successful that Lum was a household name. Meanwhile, Ranma 1/2 had ratings issues and already got canceled once before they even finished season 1. The original anime of Urusei Yatsura had so many people working on it who would go on to be veterans of the industry like Mamoru Oshii. It was a melting pot of young talent which is what made the series even more popular and influential.

Even on Urusei Yatsura's 45th anniversary, we had plenty of famous mangakas pay tribute to it by drawing various characters. And one of them was freaking Eiichiro Oda among so many other legends- https://reddit.com/r/uruseiyatsura/comments/18ql2we/urusei_yatsura_45th_anniversary_illustrations_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

I can't say I have seen anything like this being made for Ranma 1/2 at any point.

If we look at Western references, sure it's kinda dry. We had Star Trek referencing UY a few times- https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Urusei_Yatsura

There was a Scottish rock band named Urusei Yatsura. And Matthew Sweet had some songs that referenced the series I think.

And well, the biggest thing might be the infamous BBC parody dub from 2001 which I still see being passed around here and there. https://youtu.be/T4CAlyuvXdU?si=pbQt8Sd2QufQYN2f

UY may not be as popular outside Japanese shores mainly due to the failure of localization but you can find it if you really look for it. And it's popular where it really matters which is its home country Japan.

I'm not saying Ranma 1/2 was bad or anything (tho the original anime was a disappointment and never had an ending for some reason) but without Urusei Yatsura there'd be no Ranma.

@utopia-


It's not hard when there are wiki pages dedicated to references and cameos :D

So far episode one is alright.... the pacing compared to the original feels off.

The original ranma 1/2 had great pacing so far this first episode was very fast almost feeling like bullet points. Even though they basically have the same dialog and end off the same it just felt very fast.

I don't really know how to explain it. If you are a fan of the original series let me know if you feel the same. By the way I can't wait for kuno! The blue thunder of furinken high age seventeen.

@High-creep I assume you are referring to the pacing? Yeah this studio does not know how to properly pace a story. They did it poorly with the Urusei Yatsura remake as well.

Ahhh we are so back. Had two years of UY now we get another long running Takahashi Rumiko remake. Different studio, but just like David Production did with UY, it seems like MAPPA have really captured that 80s anime vibe and brought it to modern audiences while not compromising on what makes Takahashi sensei’s work so loved! Ano on the OP as well we are eating so good this season with OPs 😭

They also got Wada Kaoru back as well who did the music for Inuyasha I KNEW that ost was sounding mad nostalgic, especially when they were giving the Jusenkyou backstory in China, sounded straight out of my childhood. I’m so excited for this.

One thing that’s important to keep in mind whenever you watch any of these Takahashi remakes is that what seems like generic tropes was actually stuff she either invented or was one of the first people to use, so whether it’s Lum being the first tsundere, Ranma moving in with 3 beautiful girls or the gender swap gimmick, this was all revolutionary at the time and shouldn’t be held against the series.

So far here in this first episode, I really like Akane and Ranma dynamic and the gender switching thing looks like it’s gonna be fun as hell. Ranma in his female form will probably be able to bond with and see a side of Akane that his male side never could. You can already see them starting to be a little sweet on each other despite what their mouths might be saying, I know that look out the corner of your eye anywhere lol. Ranma gotta chill with the “my proportions are better than yours” type lines tho. That’s one way to get killed by a growing girl.

If it’s one thing Takahashi sensei gonna do it’s write a dad who makes questionable decisions tho 😂 having your daughter marry someone you never even met is kinda crazy lmao.

Wouldn't have expected this so soon after the Urusei Yatsura remake ended, but at least we didn't have to wait long. And I gotta say, this is a solid first impression.

Visually it looks really nice, they definitely took some cues from davidpro's work on UY but really put their own spin on it. The color palette here is a bit more pastel compared to UY’s saturated neons, and the character animation is really fluid and expressive. Some designs do feel like a bit of a downgrade though, I think they just can’t get some characters’ haircuts right. Obviously they don't get to flex too much here, since this is just the first episode, but it still looks great.

Narratively, though, I don't wanna give it too much flack but this is pretty much beat-for-beat the first episode of the original. What I feel gave UY the upper hand was that since the original changed so much, sticking closer to the manga and condensing it to such an absurd degree helped the remake stand out more as its own unique experience. I'll admit I did skim through the episodes that leaked, and from what I can tell this won't be nearly as condensed, about a third the rate that UY was going (as a rough estimate). I thought at first that the whole reason they did this new anime at all was to adapt the later chapters that never got animated, but since they're just starting over from the beginning, I worry that they might not even get that far. Most new anime don't run for very long anyway, and there's always such long breaks between seasons. Especially now with Netflix in the mix, who's to say they won't randomly cancel it as soon as it doesn't become the most profitable show on their platform, and then we're left with two unfinished adaptations. That might not happen tho, who knows, at least this one hasn’t been banished to Hidive.

Anyway, I chose to watch this dubbed, since that was likely the only way I was gonna get anything new out of this. I'm sure it's nice hearing the old cast come back, but this new dub cast is really good, they’re all so well cast. I was kinda hoping they'd find someone who could do both voices for male and female Ranma, but the two VAs they did get fit so well that I really don't mind.

Then there’s the issue of the censorship. This honestly had me the most apprehensive, not that it would make or break the series for me but I just genuinely didn’t know how they would handle it. I can’t say firsthand but I imagine you generally just can’t get away with as much on Japanese TV as you used to, but the original had so much nudity that I struggle to imagine a version without it. So they ended up going for this weird middle ground where they can get naked but nobody has any nipples, which is just kind of awkward and uncanny, though admittedly functional.

Overall, I do like where this is going, but honestly I'm not getting my hopes too high. I had my issues with the original, not only because of what it added but also what it kept from the manga, and I don't expect this new adaptation to fix really any of that. It'll stick closer to the manga and that's enough for most people, me included.

UY is classic and this is not? whatever lil bro but Ranma is far more popular than Urusei Yatsura ever was ofc it will get reanimated after three decades because why not

This is a very bizarre take to me. Inuyasha is the most popular of Ruimoko’s works, and Ranma is not far behind it. UY is the least popular of her works (though still very popular) so thinking that UY is more popular than Ranma is weird to me