English Dub Review: Ranma ½ “Attack of the Wild Mousse”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Akane is still mad about Ranma not knowing he kissed her when his mind was a cat, but Shampoo returns to pursue him with a new quirk, followed by a mysterious young man and old lady.

OUR TAKE

Huh, I guess I forgot to mention last week that Ranma accidentally kissed Akane at the end of that episode. It didn’t seem like that big a deal to me at the time, but I suppose for any teenager that would be a HUGE deal, especially if one of the participants doesn’t remember. Well, however it happened, it does seem to have brought Ranma and Akane a bit closer together, though also made their belligerent sexual tension even more volatile. That would be enough for an episode on its own probably, but we’re not done there. We also have the return of Shampoo! Given the way last season ended, with her stating rather clearly that she and Ranma will “never meet again”…here we are, seeing them meet again. It may seem like it’s been a long time since they met since last season ended nine months ago, but in terms of episodes, it’s only been two. Which I guess is just enough time for her to go back to China, see her grandmother, fight a bit, fall into a cursed stream that turns her into a cat, and then come back. Yeah, that sounds about right for this show.

But even after that, we’re not done, as Shampoo brings her own supporting cast with her this time! There’s her aforementioned grandmother who looks like a prototype version of Jako from Inuyasha, and is adamant in getting Ranma to wed her granddaughter, as well as Mousse, Shampoo’s childhood friend who is obsessed with going after HER. So, we’ve already got Ranma and Akane and their tension, but there’s people going after Akane, people going after Ranma, people going after Ranma’s girl form, and now even people going after the people going after Ranma. I have a feeling we are going to have a rather massive flow chart about who is romantically pursuing who by the end of this anime. Although I guess the manga has been over for decades so that chart probably already exists somewhere. The point is that, for better or worse, it seems we are getting back to what really made this story so memorable in the first place, and that’s the funny love dodecahedron stuff and the fighting, which is coming back in spades. There’s still plenty of this season left, so let’s see how much many more love interests of love interests of love interests it can add to make this whole affair the most confusing it can be.