Ranma ½
Ranma 1/2

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Well Ranma 1/2 doesn't have a plot per say. It's more like a bunch of entertaining stories put together in the middle of a crazy scenario. However, that does not decrease the value of Ranma at all. It is a very good manga to pick up. Even considering the age and art style are quite different than most manga modern day. It is still very action packed and extremely hilarious. It happens to be one of my favorite manga of all time, just because the characters are all unique and funny. Just by reading Ranma you can discover the influence it has had on ... many of todays manga. The stories aren't redundant and it very good read. In fact, I plan on reading the volumes multiple times. The action comedy romance is quite spectacular and unique to Ranma, unlike other series, it obtains a sense of originality that separates it from the rest and truly makes it great. Unfortunately, I don't which to spoil the series but all the twists and turns are funny and suprising that it will always make you have a "Laugh out Loud Moment". The Protagonists and the supporting characters are all memorable and it really is a manga that is worth reading, even if it does not particularly have a plot.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS TO ANYONE WHO LIKES MARTIAL ARTS AND COMEDY!
With a side of romance to boot, who would miss out on the opportunity to read this CHAOTIC AND SPECTACULAR MANGA!

Story: (3)
We have a male protagonist, who is forced into a arranged marriage. Further the protagonist is cursed, when splashed with cold water, he will turn into a woman. So, the story is a romance, plus the search for a cure for the curse, somewhat.
The romance part was a huge let down, while there were some short romantic moment, those moments were never satisfying to read since all of those moments where destroyed by trying to hard to to be funny. (using characters go to jokes) The peak of the let down was the "on the brink of death, I love you, oh I survived ... and heard everything"-part. And on top of that, again ruined by trying to be funny.
Search for the cure:
There were sections where there was a potential cure, which turned out to not work... Until the end of the story. Period.
Rest of the Story: just random slapstick comedy.

Art: (9)
There is nothing to rant about the art and drawings. Everything was looking good and was drawn well.

Characters: (1)
No mental character development. The characters did not change a bit from beginning to end of this manga. And so did the comedy. Always same behavior patterns. Was just annoying at some point for some characters ...

Enjoyment: (5)
Well, I did read it till the end, so I did enjoy it to some degree. The Comedy was at first funny, but the jokes got repetitive and cracking the same joke over and over and over until the end, just got annoying. Same chapter's where so annoying, that I just skipped them.
There where some cute moments, but they always got ruined by the comedy.

I don't care how "iconic" Ranma 1/2 is...I got seriously disappointed at this series.

At the end of 38 rather lengthy volumes only one of all the plot lines is ever resolved, leaving a very anti-climatic open ending. Regarding the humor, is completely repetitive. Yes, during the whole 38 volumes Rumiko Takashi basically repeats the same formula and gags over and over and over varying only the characters and the circumstances. Not to mention that with every new characters that is added, a new plot lines is added also ( and as I said before, only one of all those plot lines is ever resolved ). ...

There is also very little to non-existent character development throughout the series. Ranma and Akane are basically the same characters from beginning to end with the only difference of them becoming honest with their feelings, but nothing more, their behavior is essentially the same through and through.

My recommendation, if you like old school martial arts gender bender mangas is to pick "Futaba-kun Change!" instead if you haven't read it already