English Dub Review: Ranma ½ “Ranma’s Weakness”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Another admirer of Akane tries finding Ranma’s weakness.

OUR TAKE

We’re back to Ranma ½ after almost a year off! I was a bit surprised when the first batch of episodes ended so suddenly, though I suppose I should have expected that a new adaptation of such a classic anime and manga would have made its return at some point. For those who don’t remember, Ranma Saotome is a teenage martial artist who was cursed to turn into a girl version of himself when exposed to cold water, and turns back into a guy when in hot water. He is also forcibly engaged to Akane Tendo, and while the two start out hating each other, their respect and admiration for the other grows, though that doesn’t stop several other men and women from trying to fight for their hands in marriage. And that basically sums up the basic premise of the show and the previous season, but if you’re wondering why I felt the need to do the recap, it’s because this first episode back from the break is…well, pretty much just more of the same. It’s another indistinct guy who likes Akane trying to thwart Ranma and then having the tables turned on him by Ranma’s own strength and Akane supporting him instead of this random guy.

Now, this show is by no means a serious, heavily serialized story like, for example, the same author’s later work, Inuyasha. Ranma is a pretty laid back story, with the dozen or so episodes it has so far mainly consisting of plots like the one seen here. But the fact of the matter remains that this is the first episode we’ve gotten after a nearly year long wait and while I’m sure it wasn’t written this way in the original manga, this is still the premiere of a season, and that comes with a bit more standard of quality than simply throwing in a bog standard episode plot about another disposable suitor for Akane who will likely be forgotten by the beginning of the next episode. Maybe I am harping way too much on this, but I still have to find things to talk about with this episode in particular, and there isn’t a whole lot to really say other than Ranma is afraid of cats and his dad was really bad at trying to get him over that fear. Hopefully the next episode will be a bit more substantial than this one, but for now, this is a pretty disappointing start to the season.