English Dub Review: Ranma ½ “Fowl Play”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Ranma takes Duckane home and is forced to marry her, but then must face Mousse once and for all.

OUR TAKE

Oh NOW we’re doing the duck puns. Well, we’re here, at the final episode of Ranma ½’s second season, and it’s a perfectly fine one to go out on for the foreseeable future. To literally no one’s surprise, Akane was not in fact turned into Duck-Akane (or Duckane as I’ve taken to calling her). That’s one status quo shift that would just be too far, I suppose. Also Mousse kind of already took the duck and this show doesn’t seem to like doubling up on spring curses with named characters. So, with that settled and things totally fine, Akane tells Ranma to just let Mousse win in a fight, but Ranma refuses. Not because he suddenly wants Shampoo, but just because his pride won’t let him, and he thinks Mousse probably wouldn’t want that anyway. He turns out to be dead wrong about this, as Mousse takes any opportunity to gain an advantage, even taking help from Shampoo giving him weapons…though her help turns out to just be sabotaging him, but he can’t deny a gift from her, so really he’s just sabotaging himself. By the end, he is very clearly exhausted, even passing out standing up while about to land a blow, but Shampoo takes pity on him and puts him on a leash so now he’s her pet, which is probably as close to the fate he wants as he’s probably ever going to get.

And with a last check in with all of the other characters, that’s the end of the second season of Ranma. As a finale, I can honestly say it was actually quite a lot of fun, in all the ways that this show has proven to be. What seems like it will be a simple thing gets messed with by all of the characters’ conflicting goals. Akane just wants Shampoo and Mousse of her back so she can just be with Ranma, but Ranma doesn’t want to lose a fight if he can help it, Shampoo wants Ranma equally as much as she doesn’t want Mousse, and Mousse is looking for any in he can get to win. A good highlight of all the ways this show works well, and hopefully not the last we see of it. There’s been no announcement of a third season, but then again there wasn’t much announcement of this second season, so I guess we’ll just wait for that surprise drop down the line. I know there’s probably a ton more of the manga they haven’t adapted, so we won’t have to worry about them running out of material. Now, I’m going to go take a walk in the rain and hope it doesn’t turn me into a girl. I know, it seems unlikely, but you never know right now. But I guess if it does happen I can just take a hot shower and be fine.