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This manga is a rare jewel among the Gender Bender genre. It maximixes the ull psychologycal aspect that this genre provides : character development through the MCs getting to actually understand what the opposite sex thinks and feels.

The story goes deep into the psyche and the nature of gender dynamics, though there are some comical situations, most of the story is directed at getting the characters to understand themselves and be honest with their own bottled feelings.

The art is good, although not outstanding, but it gets the job done.

As I said, the main selling point of this manga is the character development ... and this manga superbily excels at that. All the 5 boys manage to grow and learn some big lessons about life and themselves.

Albeit being kinda short, it is really a very well told heartwarming story.

Mao not only is a charming character, but also one you end up being fond of. During the 35 chapters of this sweet story ( pun intended, you will know why if you read this manga ) we are lead through the whole range of emotions Mao can express and deliver in her quest to find herself and accomplish her dreams.

The art is not particularly top notch but gets the job done.

The best aspect of this manga is probably the character development, particularly, the main three characters finding themselves after Mao's gender bend ... and dealing with the new situation. Even though Mao's character development are less noticeable, there is a deep change of heart in her that leads all the way up to the manga's conclusion. The most interesting character development is Jiu though.

Totally recommended manga.

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

The movie is outstanding in terms of art and animation, you can see the full technical aspect of the art put into this movie from the backgrounds to the character animation per se. The sound and music is also outstanding with great voice acting and super performances.

Now it comes the biggest problems with this movie....frankly....it is BORING. Yeah, yeah, I understand the "Grave of the Fireflies" tragic love-drama vibe of the movie, but if you expected this movie to have anything actually related the No Game No Life anime TV series, you will be disappointed ( expect probably for JIbril's appearance ). The story is ... mainly about how Tet won the "Endless War" and became the One True God, and really not much else. But the road there ( about 80% of the movie ) is an endless tragic love drama between Rikou and Schawi asking themselves what is what makes humanity's heart "tick" in order to survive. It is long, it is boring, and at the end, it doesn't really move forward the story of the main anime TV series ( even some anime's prequel movies help understand the main plot of the TV series better ) or even helps understand Shiro and Sora psyche and motivations ( since the movie story isn't even about them and they only have a brief cameo at the end).

If anything, my recommendation is to watch the movie FIRST and then go to the anime TV series. That way you won't feel disappointed ( you will feel kinda bored though )

A fairly interesting approach to the gender bender genre. It explores both the anxiety, angst and changes in mind and body of the character at all steps of the transformation ( except for the sudden gender bending ).

The best aspect is how the psychological process is treated and how Nozomu evolves from a rowdy boy into the delicate Nozomi, seeing how Nozomu's mental process and worldview change ( with a little help from Nozomu's supporting imouto Kanae ).

The art is good enough thugh nothing exceptional, it serves the purpose of the story and that's perfectly fine.

The problem is the running of the manga ... : it's too freaking short. Not only that, but the story ends the moment it starts getting interesting from the psychological point and from we could possibly start seeing a development in the form of "OK, Nozomu accepted she is a female now with her full womanhood....where does she go from now?". We never get to see if Yusa ends up winning Nozomu's heart in the end ( besides Nozomu' s tsundere moment in the last page ) nor we see how Ide finding out Nozomu's secret and dealing with it. In that sense the manga ends up leaving a very frustating taste ( given how good the story is narrated ) and the sense of "this had potential to be something even greater".

Sorry, but...what's the point of this OVA again ?

It doesn't contribute with anything to the main story.
It is incoherent and disconnected since the multi-verse sequences do not make any sense at all.
It helps nothing to further understand the characters.

To be honest, there is only one word that can describe watching this OVA : pointless.

I honestly do not have much to add to this short review, the OVA is nothing more than that : pointless, pointless, and pointless.

The other problem with the sequences is that they are repetitive which makes you wonder "why do we have to go over this again ?", beyond the ... change of background they do not change anything to the sequence.

Weird romance love story with a love-hate vibe.

Honestly the story is somewhat slow-burn but at least there is a character development from the side of Ryo-san, from narcissist self-centered playboy to responsible caring partner. In the case of Ichika, the changes in her character are more subtle, but at least we get to see her being more introspective towards the end.

The age difference and generational gap aspect ( and also the legal aspect of their relationship ) is present, although it is not fully developed, leaving the sensation it was purposefully left as a shallow, minor factor, and only used as a "resolution" obstacle ... plot.

The comedy aspect of the story is quite fine, having some really hilarious moments, and there is even some minor social commentary about otaku culture shaming and whatnot.

All in all, is recommended if you like slow-burning romance like "5 centimeters per second" ( Byousoku 5 Centimeter )

Well, the story is interesting and has potential.
There is a very interesting dynamic between the polar oposites of the megadere Hiyori and the kuudere Mitsuki ( even during her tsundere moments ) that add an humorous twist to the situational comedy.

There are essentially two issues with this anime : a) character development and b) ending and plot holes.

The character development is almost non-existent, even in the case of Mitsuki. There are almost no changes or advances in the characters from the beginning to the ending of the anime. Not to mention that there is almost no backstory for neither of the characters, with the ... exception of vague mentions of childhood and Mitsuki's aquarium flashback. No other character is fully developed, nor their motivations fully exposed.

The other issue is the ending. Is completely anti-climatic, with absolutely NO EXPLANATIONS of who Hiyori was when she was alive or how was come to be in love with Yuuya. There also NO EXPLANATIONS of who Neko is and what is her involvement with Hiyori. All that leaves a whole lot of plot holes for which the viewer has no answers. Nor those aspects are fully explored. To be honest, the rushed ending feels like the result of a canceled manga or light novel due to poor sales more than an actual well thought ending a good writer would give to a series.