English Dub Review: Ranma ½ “Love Letters in the Sauce”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Ukyo schemes with Ryoga to further strain Ranma and Akane’s tempestuous relationship.

OUR TAKE

Well, it looks like Ukyo is officially a regular part of this show, as she shows up in this episode like she’s been here awhile. Also the show remembered Ryoga for a sec and decided to throw them together to plot a sabotage of Ranma and Akane’s relationship. I don’t remember if Ryoga and Shampoo ever worked together like this and I’m too busy to look it up to be sure, but I do remember that one ice skating duo that both each liked one of them and had their own scheme. Of course, the plan goes a little bit awry, as Ukyo sends a love letter on an okinomiyaki to invite Akane on a date with Ryoga, but a part gets bitten off and she thinks it’s a martial arts challenge. This leads Ranma to think Akane is actually going on a date, giving us a role reversal of what happened a couple of episodes ago with Shampoo, though once again with Akane thinking she’s going to be fighting someone, because those are just the plots this show likes to mix and match in increasingly similar patterns. I’m not exactly saying I’m getting bored of it quite yet, but I would certainly not mind if they did a bit more than just different versions of this over and over.

And naturally we must compare Akane and Ranma’s dynamic and teamwork to Ukyo and Ryoga’s, even if the latter is not actually a couple. While Ranma and Akane do argue a LOT (like if they are not arguing something must be going very well or VERY bad), they do always have each others’ backs in tight situations and are able to handle themselves while providing support for the other. Meanwhile, Ryoga and Ukyo don’t really like or even really know each other, and while they are united by a common goal in this instance, they tend to miscalculate based on their own wants. Also, Ryoga is kind of a dummy and is easily fooled by Ranma’s ploy to be a fake fiance that he interrupts his fake date, so that throws a spanner into the works. With that, we only have three more episodes in this season, and it won’t feel so sudden like last time did when we didn’t know the episode count. Still, I do hope that the finale feels like a proper season finale and not just a regular episode like the last season finale did.