English Dub Review: Ranma ½ “I’ll Never Let Go”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Ranma and Akane meet their opponents for an ice duel, but Ranma is injured during it, so Ryoga switches out with Akane.

OUR TAKE

Wait, this is now going to be a three parter? Like really? Who the heck was asking for this much ice skating? Is this how long this whole thing took in the manga? Well okay, let’s look at some positives here. At the very least, we’re seeing Ranma and Akane fight TOGETHER on this one instead of Ranma just changing genders depending on who is after him this time. In this case, both rivals are technically after him, even if they don’t know it, but one is also after Akane…it’s getting to be a bit much. Though I guess my main takeaway is that this now three part story arc may have more going for it than I initially thought. The main thing is, like I said, Ranma and Akane are working together here, but there is also the fact that they’re bonding quite a lot more here when they do have to work together. And what proceeds is a highlighting of their dynamics and how that works compared to their opponents who work well together professionally but outright hate each other on a personal level. So, it’s through that lack of actual partnership that Ranma and Akane should be able to find a flaw in their tactics and beat them in the end, right?!

…well, NO, because after Ranma breaks a couple bones and gets severely injured, Ryoga decides to try forcibly tagging him out by making him a girl…only to then accidentally take Akane off the rink instead, meaning (at least from the point of view of the audience) the agreed upon team has now been totally changed for no clear reason. How this isn’t immediately disqualifying is anyone’s guess, but this is a romantic comedy and there’s nothing in the rules that say a dog CAN’T play basketball, so screw it. Now that poignant effective sign of Ranma and Akane working together is chucked out of the window and Ranma and Ryoga have to work together. Which would be fine if that were at all the problem at hand here, but it isn’t. So, now their eventual victory doesn’t really mean nearly as much as it would if it were Ranma and Akane, and hopefully all of this is over by next episode because I cannot imagine them stretching things out more than one more episode. That said, I do still enjoy the series so far, but this is getting a bit ridiculous.