English Dub Review: Ranma ½ “Instant Spring”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Shampoo brings a potential cure to Ranma’s curse, but on the condition that he goes on a date with her…right before a challenger to the dojo arrives to battle Akane!

OUR TAKE

Oh, we’re back to repeating the premise of the show at the top of the episode, which is weird since we’re over halfway through the second season, and you would think that people who are deliberately looking for this to watch would understand the hook of this show by that point, but what do I know. Anyway, what’s significant this time is that there’s a chance that Ranma might be able to break his curse of becoming a woman in cold water! The problem is that that’s the show’s whole hook, so don’t hold your breath that this will be permanent, especially only part way through the second season. And indeed it’s not, as it is revealed at the end that the packet of “Spring of Drowned Man” water is fake and only temporary, meaning that Ranma’s reprieve from womanhood is short lived, but in the end, this is really just another way of testing and growing the relationship between Ranma and Akane. As mentioned, the dojo is challenged by someone who steals their sign, although that is quickly revealed to be a scheme by their dads to get them to bond over a shared enemy. HOWEVER, Shampoo somehow either gets wind of this or has the same idea, because she gets a fake challenger to actually steal their sign and challenge them, while tempting Ranma with the fake cure if he agrees to go on a date with her.

You would really think Shampoo would take the hint by now that Ranma isn’t interested, but having a shit stirrer like her is half the fun of this show, so I guess it’s fine. More importantly, it does show Ranma’s priorities are a bit more self serving, while Akane is still dedicated to serving her home and defending its honor. However, she is also still distrustful of Ranma, as she believes Shampoo when she says Ranma kissed her but not when Ranma refutes it, leading to a short rift between them. Honestly, this episode feels like it has a lot more of the fighting and melodrama that Rumiko Takahashi would later turn up to eleven when she went on to write Inuyasha, though this specific episode is made long after all of that so may be injecting that in as retrospect for all I know. Still, a solid episode, and hopefully they can keep that up for the remaining weeks of the season.