Ranma ½

Ranma ½
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Ranma Saotome and his father transformed into a woman and a panda respectively
らんま⁠1/2⁠ (Ranma Nibun-no-Ichi)
Genre	Adventure Martial arts Romantic comedy
Manga
Written by	Rumiko Takahashi
Published by	Shogakukan
English publisher	AUS: Madman Entertainment NA: Viz Media
Imprint	Shōnen Sunday Comics
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Sunday
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	August 19, 1987 – March 6, 1996
Volumes	38 (407 chapters)
Further information Anime television series Directed by Tomomi Mochizuki Tsutomu Shibayama Produced by Hidenori Taga Yoshinobu Nakao Yoko Matsushita Makoto Kubo Music by Hideharu Mori Kenji Kawai Studio Studio Deen Licensed by AUS: Madman Entertainment NA: Viz Media Original network FNS (Fuji TV) English network PH: TV5 SEA: Animax Asia US: KTEH Original run April 15, 1989 – September 16, 1989 Episodes 18 Anime television series Ranma ½ Nettōhen (らんま ⁠1/2⁠ 熱闘編) Directed by Koji Sawai Junji Nishimura Produced by Hidenori Taga (executive) Takashi Ishihara Koji Kaneda Yoko Matsushita Hiroshi Hasegawa Junpei Nakagawa Kei Ijichi Music by Hideharu Mori Kenji Kawai Studio Studio Deen Licensed by AUS: Madman Entertainment NA: Viz Media Original network FNS (Fuji TV) English network SEA: Animax Original run October 20, 1989 – September 25, 1992 Episodes 143 Anime film Ranma ½: Big Trouble in Nekonron, China Directed by Shuji Iuchi Produced by Hidenori Taga (executive) Yoko Matsushita Hiroshi Hasegawa Written by Ryota Yamaguchi Shuji Iuchi Shigeru Yanagawa Music by Kenji Kawai Studio Studio Deen Licensed by AUS: Madman Entertainment NA: Viz Media UK: MVM Films Released November 2, 1991 Runtime 77 minutes Anime film Ranma ½: Nihao My Concubine Directed by Akira Suzuki Produced by Kei Ijichi (executive) Yoko Matsushita Motoko Naritome Hiroshi Hasegawa Written by Ryota Yamaguchi Music by Akihisa Matsūra Studio Studio Deen Licensed by AUS: Madman Entertainment NA: Viz Media UK: MVM Films Released August 1, 1992 Runtime 65 minutes Original video animation Directed by Junji Nishimura Produced by Ayao Ueda Junpei Nakagawa Kenji Kume Music by Akihisa Matsūra Studio Studio Deen Licensed by NA: Viz Media Released October 21, 1993 – August 19, 1994 Runtime 30 minutes Episodes 6 Anime film Ranma ½: Super Indiscriminate Decisive Battle! Team Ranma vs. the Legendary Phoenix Directed by Junji Nishimura Produced by Ayao Ueda Junpei Nakagawa Kenji Kume Written by Ryota Yamaguchi Music by Akihisa Matsūra Kenji Kawai Studio Studio Deen Licensed by NA: Viz Media Released August 20, 1994 Runtime 28 minutes Original video animation Ranma ½ Special Directed by Junji Nishimura Produced by Ayao Ueda Junpei Nakagawa Kenji Kume Music by Akihisa Matsūra Kenji Kawai Studio Studio Deen Licensed by NA: Viz Media Released December 16, 1994 – February 17, 1995 Runtime 27 minutes Episodes 2 Original video animation Ranma ½ Super Directed by Junji Nishimura Produced by Ayao Ueda Junpei Nakagawa Kenji Kume Music by Akihisa Matsūra Kenji Kawai Studio Studio Deen Licensed by NA: Viz Media Released September 21, 1995 – January 19, 1996 Runtime 28 minutes Episodes 3 Original video animation Ranma ½: Nightmare! Incense of Spring Sleep Directed by Takeshi Mori Music by Kohei Tanaka Studio Studio Deen Sunrise Released July 30, 2008 Runtime 32 minutes Live-action television film Directed by Ryo Nishimura Written by Yoshihiro Izumi Music by Kei Yoshikawa Studio Nikkatsu Original network NNS (Nippon TV) Released December 9, 2011 Runtime 95 minutes Anime television series Directed by Kōnosuke Uda Written by Kimiko Ueno Music by Kaoru Wada Studio MAPPA Licensed by Netflix Original network NNS (Nippon TV) Original run October 6, 2024 – present Episodes 11 Related media Ranma ½ specials Ranma ½ video games

Ranma ½ (Japanese: らんま⁠1/2⁠, Hepburn: Ranma Nibun-no-Ichi, pronounced Ranma One-Half in English) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday from August 1987 to March 1996, with the chapters collected in 38 tankōbon volumes by Shogakukan. The story revolves around a teenager named Ranma Saotome who has trained in martial arts since early childhood. As a result of an accident during a training journey, he is cursed to become a girl when exposed to cold water, while hot water changes him back into a boy. Throughout the series Ranma seeks out a way to rid himself of his curse, while his friends, enemies, and many fiancées constantly hinder and interfere.

Ranma ½ has a comedic formula and a sex-changing main character who often willfully transforms into a girl to advance his goals. The series also contains many other characters, whose intricate relationships with each other, unusual characteristics, and eccentric personalities drive most of the stories. Although the characters and their relationships are complicated, they rarely change once they are firmly introduced and settled into the series.

The manga has been adapted into two anime series produced by Studio Deen: Ranma ½ and Ranma ½ Nettōhen (らんま⁠1/2⁠熱闘編), which together were broadcast on Fuji TV from 1989 to 1992. In addition, they released 12 OVAs and three films. In 2011, a live-action television special was produced and aired on Nippon Television. Another anime adaptation produced by MAPPA premiered on October 6, 2024, broadcasting on Nippon Television and streaming on Netflix. The manga and anime series were licensed by Viz Media for English-language releases in North America. Madman Entertainment released the manga, part of the anime series, and the first two films in Australasia, while MVM Films released the first two films in the United Kingdom.

The Ranma ½ manga has over 55 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. Both the manga and anime are cited as among the first in their respective media to have become popular in the United States.

Plot

See also: List of Ranma ½ characters

On a training journey in the Bayankala Mountain Range in the Qinghai Province of China, Ranma Saotome and his father Genma fell into the cursed springs at Jusenkyo (呪泉郷). The cursed spring causes any afflicted to assume the physical form of whatever drowned there hundreds or thousands of years ago whenever they come into contact with cold water, which reverts on contact with hot water but resumes with exposure to cold water. Genma fell into the spring of a drowned panda while Ranma fell into the spring of a drowned girl.

Soun Tendo is a fellow practitioner of Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū (無差別格闘流) or "Anything-Goes School" of martial arts and owner of a dojo. Genma and Soun agreed years ago that their children would marry and carry on the Tendo Dojo. Soun has three teenaged daughters: the polite and easygoing Kasumi, the greedy and indifferent Nabiki and the short-tempered, martial arts practicing Akane. Akane, who is Ranma's age, is appointed for bridal duty by her sisters with the reasoning that they are the older sisters and can dump the duty on her, and that they all dislike the arranged engagement and think Akane's dislike of men is the right way to express it to the fathers. At the appointed time, the Saotomes arrive in their new forms given by the cursed springs, confusing the Tendos, and ultimately leading to Akane seeing Ranma changing from girl form to boy form in the tub, much to her horror. It takes several more pages for the situation to be explained to Soun Tendo and his daughters. Both Ranma and Akane refuse the engagement initially, having not been consulted on the decision, but the fathers are insistent and they are generally treated as betrothed and end up helping or saving each other on some occasions. They are frequently found in each other's company and are constantly arguing in their trademark awkward love-hate manner that is a franchise focus.

Ranma goes to school with Akane at Furinkan High School (風林館高校, Fūrinkan Kōkō), where he meets his recurring opponent Tatewaki Kuno, the conceited kendo team captain who aggressively pursues Akane, but also falls in love with Ranma's female form without ever discovering his curse (despite most other characters eventually knowing it). Nerima serves as a backdrop for more martial arts mayhem with the introduction of Ranma's regular rivals, such as the eternally lost Ryoga Hibiki who traveled halfway across Japan getting from the front of his house to the back, where Ranma spent three days waiting for him. Ryoga, seeking revenge on Ranma, followed him to Jusenkyo where he ultimately fell into the Spring of the Drowned Piglet. Now when splashed with cold water he takes the form of a little black pig. Not knowing this, Akane takes the piglet as a pet and names it P-chan, but Ranma knows and hates him for keeping this secret and taking advantage of the situation. Another rival is the nearsighted Mousse, who also fell into a cursed spring and becomes a duck when he gets wet, and finally, there is Genma and Soun's impish grand master, Happosai, who spends his time stealing the underwear of schoolgirls.

Ranma's prospective paramours include the martial arts rhythmic gymnastics champion (and Tatewaki's sister) Kodachi Kuno, and his second fiancée and childhood friend Ukyo Kuonji the okonomiyaki vendor, along with the Chinese Amazon Shampoo, supported by her great-grandmother Cologne. As the series progresses, the school becomes more eccentric with the return of the demented, Hawaii-obsessed Principal Kuno and the placement of the power-leeching alternating child/adult Hinako Ninomiya as Ranma's English teacher. Ranma's indecision in choosing his true love causes chaos in his romantic and school life.

Production

Rumiko Takahashi stated that Ranma ½ was conceived to be a martial arts manga that connects all aspects of everyday life to martial arts. Because her previous series had female protagonists, the author decided that she wanted a male this time. However, she was worried about writing a male main character, and therefore decided to make him half-female. According to Takahashi, the idea of making Ranma "just kinda popped into [her] head," and she looked for a way to make it possible for him to go back and forth between genders. It was then when she had a vision of a bathhouse's cloth entrance sign. She considered Ranma changing every time he was punched before deciding on water for initiating his changes. That decision led her to feeling that Jusenkyo had to be set in China, as it is the only place that could have such mysterious springs. She drew inspiration for Ranma ½ from a variety of real-world objects. Some of the places frequently seen in the series are modeled after actual locations in Nerima, Tokyo (both the home of Takahashi and the setting of Ranma ½).

In a 1990 interview with Amazing Heroes, Takahashi stated that she had four assistants that draw the backgrounds, panel lines and tone, while she creates the story and layout, and pencils and inks the characters. All her assistants are female; Takahashi stated that "I don't use male assistants so that the girls will work more seriously if they aren't worried about boys." In 1992, she explained her process as beginning with laying out the chapter in the evening so as to finish it by dawn, and resting for a day before calling her assistants. They finish it in two or three nights, usually utilizing five days for a chapter.

Takahashi purposefully aimed the series to be popular with women and children. In 1993, an Animerica interviewer talking with Takahashi asked her if she intended the sex-changing theme "as an effort to enlighten a male-dominated society." Takahashi said that she does not think in terms of societal agendas and that she created the Ranma ½ concept from simply wanting "a simple, fun idea". She added that she, as a woman and while recalling what manga she liked to read as a child, felt that "humans turning into animals might also be fun and märchenhaft... you know, like a fairy tale." In 2013, she revealed that at the start of Ranma her editor told her to make it more dramatic, but she felt that was something she could not do. However, she admitted that drama did start to appear at the end. She also sat in on the voice actor auditions for the anime, where she insisted that male and female Ranma be voiced by different actors whose gender corresponded to that of the part.

Media

Manga

Main article: List of Ranma ½ chapters

Written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi, Ranma ½ began publication in the shōnen manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Sunday issue #36 published on August 19, 1987, following the ending of her series Urusei Yatsura. From August 1987 until March 1996, the manga was published on a near weekly basis with the occasional colored page to spruce up the usually black and white stories. After nearly a decade of storylines, the final chapter was published in Weekly Shōnen Sunday issue #12 on March 6, 1996. The 407 chapters were periodically collected and published by Shogakukan into a total of 38 black and white tankōbon volumes from 1988 to 1996. They were reassembled in 38 shinsōban from April 2002 to October 2003. A Shōnen Sunday Special edition for all 20 volumes was published from 2016 to 2018. This edition included a series of interviews with Rumiko Takahashi called "The Making of Ranma."

North American publisher Viz Media originally released Ranma ½ in a monthly comic book format that contained two chapters each from 1992 to 2003, and had the images "flipped" to read left-to-right, causing the art to be mirrored. These were periodically collected into graphic novels. On March 18, 2004, after releasing 21 volumes, Viz announced that it would reprint a number of its graphic novels. The content remained the same, but the novels moved to a smaller format with different covers and a price drop. Each volume covers roughly the same amount of material as the Japanese volumes, but retained its left-to-right format and had minor differences in grouping so that it spans 36 volumes rather than the original 38. The final volume was released in stores on November 14, 2006, thus making it Viz's longest running manga, spanning over 13 years. At Anime Expo on July 7, 2013, Viz Media announced re-release of the manga in a format that combines two individual volumes into a single large one, and restores the original right-to-left reading order (a first in North America for this series). The first 2-in-1 book (volumes 1–2) was published on March 11, 2014; the final (volumes 35–36) on March 14, 2017. On July 27, 2021, Viz released all 19 2-in-1 books digitally. Madman Entertainment publishes the two-in-one version in Australasia.

Together with Spriggan, it was the first manga published in Portugal, by Texto Editora in 1995.

First and second anime series

Main article: List of Ranma ½ episodes

An anime television series was created by Studio Deen and aired weekly between April 15, 1989, and September 16, 1989, on Fuji TV for 18 episodes, before being canceled due to low ratings. The series was then reworked by most of the same staff, retitled Ranma ½ Nettōhen (らんま ⁠1/2⁠ 熱闘編) and launched in a different time slot, running for 143 episodes from October 20, 1989, to September 25, 1992. The anime stays true to the original manga but does differ by keeping Ranma's gender transformation a secret from the high school students, at least throughout most of its length. It also does not introduce Hikaru Gosunkugi until very late in the series, instead, Sasuke Sarugakure, the diminutive ninja retainer of the Kuno family fills a number of Gosunkugi's roles in early storylines but is a major character in his own right. The anime also alters the placement of many story arcs and contains numerous original episodes and characters not adapted from the manga.

Viz Media licensed both anime series in 1993, making Ranma ½ one of the first anime titles licensed by Viz. The English dub produced for the series was recorded by The Ocean Group in Vancouver, British Columbia. They released the series on VHS from their own Viz Video label, and on DVD a few years later in association with Pioneer Home Entertainment. Their releases collected both anime series as one, separated episodes into what they call "seasons", and changed the ordering of many of the episodes. Viz themselves re-released it on DVD in 2007 using their own DVD production company. At Otakon 2013, Viz announced that they re-acquired the TV series for Blu-ray and DVD release in 2014. The show is streamed on their anime channel service Neon Alley since Autumn 2013. In September 2020, Toonami co-creator Jason DeMarco revealed that he had previously tried to get Ranma ½ aired on the American TV programming block, but "it's something we never were able to figure out, because, frankly, there's too much nudity." Madman Entertainment licensed some of the series for release in Australasia, although their rights expired after releasing only the first four "seasons" as one series.

The original (1989-1992) anime adapts 56% of the manga, or 229 chapters, 22 volumes out of the 38.

Films and original video animations

Main article: List of Ranma ½ episodes § Films (1991–1994)

Studio Deen also created three theatrical films; The Battle of Nekonron, China! A Battle to Defy the Rules! on November 2, 1991; Battle at Togenkyo! Get Back the Brides on August 1, 1992; and Super Indiscriminate Decisive Battle! Team Ranma vs. the Legendary Phoenix on August 20, 1994. The first two films are feature length, but the third was originally shown in theaters with two other films: Ghost Sweeper Mikami and Heisei Dog Stories: Bow.

Following the ending of the TV series, 11 original video animations were released directly to home video, the earliest on December 7, 1993, and the eleventh on June 4, 1996. All but two are based on stories originally in the manga. Twelve years later, a Ranma animation was created for the "It's a Rumic World" exhibition of Rumiko Takahashi's artwork. Based on the "Nightmare! Incense of Deep Sleep" manga story from volume 34, it was shown on odd numbered days at the exhibition in Tokyo from July 30 to August 11, 2008. But it was not released until January 29, 2010, when it was put in a DVD box set with the Urusei Yatsura and Inuyasha specials that premiered at the same exhibit. It was then released on DVD and Blu-ray by itself on October 20, 2010. Viz Media also licensed all three films, and the original 11 OVAs for distribution in North America (however they released the third film as an OVA). MVM Films has released the first two films in the United Kingdom, while Madman Entertainment released them in Australasia.

Third anime series

A new anime adaptation was announced in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on June 26, 2024. The new anime remake series, simply titled Ranma ½, is produced by MAPPA and directed by Kōnosuke Uda, with Kimiko Ueno writing the series' scripts, Hiromi Taniguchi designing the characters, and Kaoru Wada composing the music. Most of the original Japanese voice cast for the main characters will reprise their roles. In contrast with the original animation, the remake will censor some Chinese communist symbolism. The series premiered on October 6, 2024, on Nippon TV and its affiliates, with Netflix licensing it for streaming worldwide weekly after the Japanese broadcast. The opening theme is "Iinazukekkyun" performed by Ano, while the ending theme is "Anta Nante" performed by Riria specifically for the anime. Viz Media and Hot Topic hosted the world premiere of the first episode on August 23 during Anime NYC. Earlier that same month, it was reported that the first 12 episodes of the anime were leaked alongside many other Iyuno localization company works.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Storyboarded by	Chief animation directed by	Original air date
1	"Here's Ranma" Transliteration: "Ranma Ga Kita" (Japanese: らんまが来た)	Kōnosuke Uda	Kimiko Ueno	Kōnosuke Uda	Hiromi Taniguchi	October 6, 2024 (2024-10-06)
In Tokyo during the 1980s, the Martial Arts Tendo Dojo houses Soun Tendo along with his three daughters: the eldest Kasumi, the middle Nabiki, and the youngest Akane. Mr. Tendo informs them that one of them is going to marry Ranma Saotome, the son of his friend Genma. The father and son duo have been on a training journey for many years, where they perfect their martial arts skills, with their latest trip taking them to China. However, the Tendos are met by a panda and a girl who introduces herself as Ranma Saotome. Akane shows Ranma around and has a quick sparring match with her, wanting to befriend their visitor, until she goes off to take a hot bath, and witnesses Ranma transform into the man that her father was expecting, freighting her. After she calms down, the panda, revealed to be Ranma's father Genma, explains that two weeks ago, during their training journey in China, they traveled to the legendary amd dangerous training ground of Jusenkyo. The training ground is rarely visited due to over a hundred cursed springs being there, each having its own tragic legend. Each spring had a human or a creature that drowned there thousands of years ago, and a person who falls into the cursed spring takes the physical body of who or what drowned there. During their training fight Genma and Ranma fall into the Spring of Drowned Panda and Spring of Drowned Girl respectively, taking the forms of a panda and a young girl. The curse functions as an on/off switch, with hot water reversing their transformations and cold water triggering it back. Soun, Kasumi and Nabiki all decide to nominate Akane as Ranma's bride, due to her being a martial artist herself and having a hatred of men (Ranma being a half-girl fixing that problem in their eyes). Both Ranma and Akane protest against the engagement despite having similar personalities.
2	"I Hate Men!" Transliteration: "Otoko Nanka Daikkirai" (Japanese: 男なんか大っ嫌い)	Nobuyoshi Arai	Kimiko Ueno	Kōnosuke Uda	Yoshiko Saito	October 13, 2024 (2024-10-13)
Ranma is told by Genma to start attending Furinkan High School, which Akane & her sister Nabiki currently go to. En route, Ranma is splashed by cold water and is taken by Akane to Dr. Tofu's clinic (a local chiropractor) to get hot water, whom Akane also happens to have a crush on. Upon arriving at Furinkan High, Akane is ambushed by most of the male students at the school, all of whom she defeats swiftly in battle. She is then confronted by upperclassmen Tatewaki Kuno, the captain of the school's Kendo Club with a crush on Akane. Upon discovering Ranma's engagement with Akane, he furiously challenges him to a battle, one in which Ranma is able to overpower Kuno. Akane later explains that Kuno challenged the male student body to fighting Akane, saying that whomsoever defeats her, gets to date her. Later during a rematch between Ranma & Kuno, Ranma transforms and Kuno ends up falling in love with his female form. He confesses to Ranma in his female form (whom he refers to as "the pigtailed girl"), not realizing that she and Ranma are the same person.
3	"Because There's Someone He Likes..." (Japanese: 好きな人がいるんだから)	Tadahito Matsubayashi	Kimiko Ueno	Tadahito Matsubayashi	Takeshi Yoshioka	October 20, 2024 (2024-10-20)
Nabiki, upon learning Kuno's infatuation with both Akane and Ranma's female form, uses this opportunity to earn some cash. She secretly takes photos of Ranma in his girl form and Akane and sells them to Kuno. Despite Ranma's efforts, Kuno is too dumb-witted to put two-and-two together and realize that Ranma and the "pigtailed girl" are the same person. As Kuno's intention to two-time both Akane and the "pigtailed girl" reaches the ears of the student body of Furinkan High, the male students who previously used to battle Akane in order to win her permission to date them, abandon their pursuits. During a visit to Dr. Tofu's clinic after Akane inflicted an injury on Ranma in her anger, Ranma learns that Dr. Tofu already has a crush on Akane's older sister Kasumi, something which has been troubling Akane for a long time. Shortly thereafter, Ranma has a sprain in his leg and is unable to walk. Akane offers to give him a piggyback ride and Ranma refuses, thinking that it is too embarrassing for a guy to be given a piggyback by a girl. Hearing this, Akane turns Ranma into a girl and carries his home, making Ranma realize that despite Akane's violent tendencies, she is a pure-hearted person, making him fall for her more.
4	"The Hunter" (Japanese: 乱馬を追ってきた男)	Parako Shinohara	Kimiko Ueno	Mitsue Yamazaki	Nao Otsu	October 27, 2024 (2024-10-27)
One morning at Furinkan High, Ranma is ambushed by Ryoga Hibiki, a martial artist who wants revenge against Ranma, although Ranma doesn't seem to recognize him. Ryoga later explains that he and Ranma used to attend an all-boys middle school together (which Ranma only attended for a short time due to his ongoing training). There, Ryoga challenged Ranma to a fight but Ranma failed to show up, fueling Ryoga's desire for a revenge. Ranma recalls this and explains that he waited at the agreed-upon place for the fight for 3 days, but due to Ryoga's extreme lack of orientation and direction sense, he ended up reaching there on the fourth day, by the time which Ranma had already left. Ten days later, Ryoga challenges Ranma to a fight again, wanting to settle their unfinished score. During the fight, Ryoga learns of Ranma's curse, something which makes him even more enraged at Ranma. Akane & Ranma also end up having an argument with each other in the middle of the fight, leading to Ryoga's missed attack chopping off Akane's long hair.
5	"Who Says You're Cute?" (Japanese: かわいくねえ)	Taro Kubo	Kimiko Ueno	Ikuo Morimoto	Hiromi Taniguchi	November 3, 2024 (2024-11-03)
A stunned Akane leaves the area without another word to Ranma or Ryoga. Via flashbacks, it is explained that the reason Akane grew out her hair to such a length was due to her desire to imitate Kasumi and appear more feminine towards Dr. Tofu, thinking that her tomboy nature would discourage Dr. Tofu from liking her. Akane ends up completely breaking down at a visit at Dr. Tofu's clinic, finally confessing her feelings toward him. Finally feeling like she can move on, Akane heads home with her spirits high. En route, Ranma apologizes to Akane for his behavior earlier and unintentionally discovers a more playful nature of Akane's personality. That night, Ryoga, still hungry for revenge against Ranma, sneaks into the Tendo residence in the middle of a storm. He is quickly forced to flee however, and Ranma speculates that Ryoga may also have fallen in a cursed spring at Jusenkyo. At home, Akane finds a black piglet in her room, shivering from the cold, which she decides to adopt as a pet. She asks Ranma to give the pig a hot water bath, which Ranma agrees to. Ranma then sees the pig transform into Ryoga upon being immsersed in hot water. Ryoga then explains that while he was at China, he was knocked into the Spring of Drowned Black Piglet by a girl (Ranma in his female form) chasing a panda (Genma), explaining his rage towards Ranma upon learning that he was that girl. Before he can attack Ranma, Ranma turns Ryoga into a pig again and chases him around the hallway. Akane stops him and takes the pig to her room to sleep with her (not knowing that it is Ryoga). This continued affection from Akane leads to Ryoga falling hopelessly in love with her.
6	"Kodachi, The Black Rose" (Japanese: 黒バラの小太刀)	Yoji Sato	Erika Ando	Tomohisa Shimoyama	Takeshi Yoshioka	November 10, 2024 (2024-11-10)
The Furinkan High girls' rhythmic gymnastics team has an upcoming match with Kodachi, a student from the St. Bacchus School in a fight of martial arts rhythmic gymnastics in one week. The team appeals to Akane to fill in for them as they believe only she can take on the yet-to-be-defeated Kodachi, to which Akane agrees. That night, Kodachi breaks into the Tendo Dojo, wanting to swiftly eliminate Akane before the upcoming match. Kodachi fails to do so, but before leaving, she encounters and desperately falls in love with Ranma. The next morning, Kodachi declares to Akane that Ranma will be the prize in their upcoming gymnastics battle. They also learn that Kodachi is the younger sister of upperclassman Kuno. Akane trains for the upcoming match with help from Ranma and Ryoga, as her abilities at rhythmic gymnastics improve gradually. The night before the match however, Akane ends up tripping and injuring her leg, leaving her unable to compete. With no last-minute substitute available, Ranma is (unwillingly) turned into his female form by Ryoga in order to fill in for Akane.
7	"Hot Competition!" (Japanese: 熱闘新体操)	Yasuhiro Geshi	Erika Ando	Hiroko Kazui	Yoshiko Saito	November 17, 2024 (2024-11-17)
As Ryoga helps Ranma train for the match, he reveals that his ultimate intention is to put Ranma out of commission, so that he loses the match and is forced to date Kodachi, leaving Akane free for Ryoga to pursue. Ranma however, doesn't let Ryoga get the upper hand and trains with him all night long. On the day of the match, Ranma is extremely sleep-deprived and Kodachi keeps using unlawful ways to sabotage Ranma during the match. Ranma however, is able to gain the upper hand and turn the tide of the battle on Kodachi and win. Kodachi however, choses to continue her pursuit of Ranma, which she terms is now fueled by a new, burning passion, much to Ranma's dismay.
8	"Darling Charlotte" (Japanese: 愛しのシャルロット)	Nobuyoshi Arai	Misaki Morie	Nobuyoshi Arai	Nao Ōtsu	November 24, 2024 (2024-11-24)
After a trip to the local ice-skating rink, Akane loses P-Chan (the name that she has given her pet pig, unaware that it is really Ryoga). As she begs Ranma to help him look for her, Ranma finds P-Chan in the possession of a young girl named Azuza Shiratori, a kleptomaniac who is obsessed with stealing and possessing various objects as her own. Mikado Sanzenin returns P-Chan to Akane and attempts to make advances on her, irritating Ranma. Seeing this, Mikado challenges Ranma & Akane to a martial arts figure skating match, in which the winner will get to keep P-Chan. The two also learn that Mikado & Azuza are the famed "Golden Pair" of Kolkhoz High School, which have separated every couple in skating matches thus far. While training for said match, Ranma, inefficient at ice skating, trains with Akane in his female form (considering it too embarrassing for a guy to be bad at ice skating), before being picked up and kissed by Mikado, humiliating Ranma as his first kiss is stolen by a boy. Back at home, while patching up Ranma's injuries, Akane dares Ranma to kiss her, to which they almost do, before being interrupted by the Tendo family, who were watching in high anticipation.
9	"I'll Never Let Go..." (Japanese: この手ははなさない)	Parako Shinohara	Misaki Morie	Parako Shinohara	Hiromi Taniguchi	December 1, 2024 (2024-12-01)
Before the match begins, Mikado declares to Ranma that he plans to kiss Akane during the fight, worrying Ranma. He later advises Akane to stay away from Mikado. During the fight, Ranma & Akane fare off well against the Golden Pair, even surviving their dreaded "Couple Break-Up Spin" attack. Ryoga (who has been so far chained to the trophy in his pig form), turns back into his human form. In an effort to remove Ranma from the match and partner up with Akane and win her over, Ryoga turns Ranma into a girl (after dimming the lights) only to accidently end up sending Akane to the crowd and getting paired up with Ranma. The fight resumes with Ryoga & Ranma facing off against Mikado & Azuza, but their rivalry and fighting gets in the way of their cooperation. Ryoga, angered by Ranma's taunts about always wanting to impress Akane, ends up breaking the ice rink, causing it to split into various flat icebergs.
10	"Kiss of Death" Transliteration: "Shinoseppun" (Japanese: 死の接吻)	Tomoko Hiramuki & Yusuke Kurinishi	Misaki Morie	Tadahito Matsubayashi	Tsuyoshi Yoshioka	December 8, 2024 (2024-12-08)
Ranma and Ryoga realize that they must cooperate if they want to win the match. After succesfully baiting Mikado and Azuza, Ryoga and Ranma end up winning the match. Ryoga however, wanting to settle the score with Ranma then and there, starts fighting with him in the middle of the broken rink. Akane ends up interfering, demanding to know the reason for their intense rivalry, but the ice beneath her breaks, causing Akane (who doesn't know how to swim) to drown in the frozen lake, as Ranma and Ryoga jump into the water to save her. Akane wakes up in an infirmary later with Ranma, her friends and P-Chan. Suddenly, a Chinese Amazon by the name of Shampoo breaks the wall and infiltrates, intending to kill Ranma. Ranma narrowly survives and explains later to Akane about his history with Shampoo. After getting inflicted with the Jusenkyo curse, Ranma and Genma wandered around in China in their cursed forms. There, they encountered a local Chinese Amazon Tribe of Women battling in martial arts for dominance. After Ranma ended up accidently eating the feast that was Shampoo's first prize, causing her to challenge Ranma. The battle ended with Ranma swiftly defeating Shampoo, who then gave Ranma the "Kiss of Death" - a promise to hunt Ranma down to the ends of the earth and kill him for dishonoring a Chinese Amazon. Ranma (in his male form) and Akane return home, only to find that Shampoo followed Genma to the Tendo Dojo. Wanting to know about Ranma's whereabouts, Shampoo attacks Akane, leading to Ranma stepping in to protect Akane, and defeating Shampoo again (this time in his male form). Ranma expects to get another Kiss of Death, only to be kissed lovingly by Shampoo, much to everyone's shock.
11	"You I Love" (Japanese: 我愛你)	Tokio Igarashi	Kimiko Ueno	Tokio Igarashi	Yoshiko Saito	December 15, 2024 (2024-12-15)
Shampoo explains that, according to Chinese Amazon Law, if an Amazon is defeated by an outsider, and that outsider is a woman, then she must give that woman the Kiss of Death and promptly kill her. However, if the outsider is a man, then the Amazon must marry that man. Shampoo immediately starts fawning over Ranma, much to the anger and dismay of Akane, who furiously declares that her engagement to Ranma is cancelled. While Akane wonders whether or not Ranma's feelings for her are genuine, Ranma is torn between Shampoo's infatuation for his male form and bloodthirst for his female form. During school the next day, Shampoo discovers Ryoga in his pig form and decides to break into Ranma's class and feed him Ryoga. Akane immediately cries and snatches P-Chan away to resuscitate him. With another attempt to win Ranma over stolen by Akane, Shampoo gives Akane the KIss of Death and challenges her to a battle in the school courtyard. Ranma is knocked out unconscious for the battle and ends up arriving only when it is over. He finds Akane unconscious but unharmed. When he wakes her up however, she has no idea who he is.

Video games

Main article: List of Ranma ½ video games

There have been seventeen video games based on the Ranma ½ franchise. While most are fighting games, there have been several RPGs, puzzle games, and Pachinko slot machines. The most recent game is Pachislot Ranma 1/2, released on November 5, 2018, for Pachinko. Only two have been released in Western countries. Ranma ½: Chōnai Gekitōhen was released in the US as Street Combat; the characters were Americanized, having their appearances completely changed, and the music was changed as well. However, Ranma ½: Hard Battle was released in both North America and Europe unaltered.

Live-action special

Poster for the Ranma ½ TV drama, featuring the cast and artwork by Rumiko Takahashi

A live action television adaption of Ranma ½ aired on Nippon Television, in a two-hour time-slot, on December 9, 2011. Although it was initially reported that the special would contain an original story, the film does take its main plot from one of the manga's early stories with several other early scenes mixed in. The special stars Yui Aragaki as Akane, with Kento Kaku and Natsuna Watanabe playing male and female Ranma respectively. Ryōsei Tayama is cast as the antagonist, the new original character Okamada. The all-girl pop group 9nine contribute "Chikutaku☆2Nite" as the theme song. It was released on both DVD and Blu-ray on March 21, 2012.

Other media

The Ranma ½ Memorial Book was published just as the manga ended in 1996. Acting as an end-cap to the series, it collects various illustrations from the series, features an interview with Takahashi, and includes tidbits about Ranma: summaries of his battles, his daily schedule, trivia, and a few exclusive illustrations. A Movie + OVA Visual Comic was released to illustrate the theatrical film Super Indiscriminate Decisive Battle! Team Ranma vs. the Legendary Phoenix and the OVA episodes The One to Carry On (both parts). It also included information on the voice actors, character designs, and a layout of the Tendo dojo.

Additionally, guidebooks were released for three of the Ranma ½ video games; these included not only strategies, but also interviews. Two books including interviews with the cast of the live-action TV drama, and some select stories, were released in 2011.

The music from the Ranma ½ TV series, films and OVAs have been released on various CDs. Four from the TV series, two from the first film, one from the second, one from the third film and OVAs, and three compiling the music by DoCo used in the OVAs. DoCo is a pop group composed of the anime's main female characters' voice actresses. Several compilation albums were also released, some composed of the opening and closing theme songs and others of image songs. Many of the image songs were first released as singles.

Reception

A Ranma ½-themed mural featuring P-chan and female Ranma in Vic, Spain

By November 2006, it was reported that Ranma ½ had sold over 49 million manga volumes in Japan. Shogakukan has printed 53 million copies as of November 2011, and by April 2021 it had 55 million copies in circulation.

The Ranma ½ anime was ranked number 17 on Anime Insider's 2001 list of the Top 50 Anime, although the list was limited to series that were released in North America. It ranked 36th on TV Asahi's 2006 list of Japan's 100 favorite animated TV series, which is based on an online poll of the Japanese people, up from the previous year's list where it ranked 45th. In November 2006, the New York Comic Con announced that it would host the first-ever American Anime Awards. Fans had the chance to vote for their favorite anime online during the month of January 2007. Only the five nominees receiving the most votes for each category were announced on February 5. Among the 12 different categories, Ranma ½ was voted into the "Best Comedy Anime" category, and the Ranma ½ OVAs were voted into the "Best Short Series" category. A 2019 NHK poll of 210,061 people saw Ranma ½ and Ranma ½ Nettōhen named Takahashi's second best-animated work. Shampoo and Ranma were voted fourth and fifth place respectively in her characters category.

Although Lum from Takahashi's first series Urusei Yatsura is often cited as the first tsundere character in anime and manga, Theron Martin of Anime News Network stated that Ranma ½'s Akane Tendo is closer to how they would later typically be portrayed in the 2000s. He also suggested that one could argue Ranma is an early example of a harem or reverse harem series, due to the main character attracting suitors in both genders. The series's publication in North America proved highly successful as well, being many Americans' first introduction to manga and its anime adaptation one of the first Japanese animation shows to achieve popularity in the US. In an overview of the series, Jason Thompson called Ranma ½ "the direct ancestor of all comedy-action manga, like Sumomomo Momomo and History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi", although noted that it was not the first, but only spanned the period when manga and anime sales were at their height. Relating it to Takahashi's other works, he summed the series up as "At the start, the fighting is minimal and it's almost a semi-serious relationship comedy, like Maison Ikkoku; then it turns completely ridiculous; and by the climax, when Ranma fights the evil bird-people of Phoenix Mountain in an excessively long and un-funny fight scene, it's like a warmup for Inuyasha." Reviewing the final volume of the manga, Anime News Network remarked that "Every dimension of Rumiko Takahashi's storytelling skills come into play here: comedy, romance and introspection, and of course, high-flying fantasy martial-arts action." However, they felt some of the action scenes were hard to follow and noted that the mirroring to left-to-right format caused errors with the art.

In their review of Viz Media's season five DVD box set, Anime News Network praised the Japanese cast's performance and the animation, but criticized the English version's slight script changes and minor voice actors while praising its main cast. They also remarked that while Ranma ½ is a classic, after a hundred episodes, the same jokes are just not funny anymore. THEM Anime Reviews' Raphael See called the television series and the OVAs "one of the funniest things [he's] ever seen, anime or otherwise" and also praised the English dub as some of the best. However, he was much more critical of the first two films particularly for both using the same damsel in distress plot. Mike Toole of Anime News Network included Big Trouble in Nekronon, China at number 83 on The Other 100 Best Anime Movies of All Time, a list of "lesser-known, lesser-loved classics," calling it "a solid action-comedy and a good, well-rounded example of the appeal of Ranma ½"

Legacy

Hiroshi Aro admitted that he created Futaba-kun Change! based on Ranma ½. Western comic book artists who have cited Ranma ½ as an influence include Canadian Bryan Lee O'Malley on his series Scott Pilgrim and American Colleen Coover on her erotic series Small Favors.

Film director Makoto Shinkai mentioned that Ranma ½ served as an inspiration for the 2016 animation film Your Name. Matt Bozon, creator of the Shantae video game series, cited Ranma ½ as a big influence on his work. The title of the fourth game, Shantae: 1⁄2 Genie Hero, is also a tribute to the series.

External links

• Shōnen Sunday Museum (in Japanese)
• Ranma ½ at Viz Media
  • Ranma 1/2 at the Wayback Machine (archive index) at Viz
• Madman Entertainment
• Ranma ½ on Netflix
• J-pop.com review of Ranma ½ music
• Ranma ½ (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia