English Dub Review: Ranma ½ “The Fighter”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Ranma faces the vengeance of Ryoga Hibiki, his longtime rival who doesn’t know directions.

OUR TAKE

Another new addition to the cast (or at least the first new addition that wasn’t already living in the main setting) and it’s someone with a previous connection to Ranma, and as such gives the most opportunity for more energetic fights. Tatewaki Kuno did plenty fine as a taste test of how Ranma can be a rascally little shit in a scrap, but Ryoga seems to actually be a proper match for the guy blow for blow. Though naturally we need something to balance him out, especially since this is mostly a comedy show, so Ryoga’s schtick is that is eagerness to pick a fight is second only to his lack of directional ability. The guy will challenge someone to a duel but then be half a week late to the exact goddamn place he set out to have the fight at. And while I can totally see how this gag got a chuckle back in the eighties and nineties, it seems rather diminished in these modern days of more dynamic and flavorful comedy and personalities. But hey, this is only his first appearance and we’ve got plenty of time to flesh him out and see him ham it up (pun intended as we’ll see), so it’s all very likely he’ll get a laugh out of me by the time this season is over.

And just like that…I’m kind of out of things to say about this episode. Yeah, not a whole lot to say this time, mainly because it focuses more on the fighting and the comedy than much in the way of character development. Well, I tell a bit of a lie, as Ranma and Akane do get in a bit of a tiff about how much she should care about him getting in fights all the time, which also just feels like the next expected step in building their relationship. If I haven’t said this already in these reviews, being expected is not necessarily a problem, especially when it’s written well enough, but it is something that does feel hard not to mention that I am seeing where this is going. Other than that, we’ve just got plenty of further additions to the task to look forward to and plenty of further additions to the love shape of indeterminate side number. We’re still in early days, stuff is still getting figured out, and everything is doing well enough as it is currently, so we’ll just keep tracking it as it develops.