Reviewer: Jesse Baker
Story Title: NA
Written by: Rumiko Takahashi
Penciled by: Rumiko Takahashi
Inked by: NA
Colored by: NA
Lettered by: NA
Editor: NA
Publisher: Viz Comics
Overview
God bless Viz Comics, who are re-releasing their large library of manga titles with lower, new reader friendly prices. One of the main titles of this program is the classic manga series Ranma 1/2, which has been a staple of Viz Comics since the company started up over a decade ago.
Ranma 1/2 is the creation of acclaimed manga writer/artist Rumiko Takahashi, whose other works include such legendary series such as “Urusei Yatsura”, “Maison Ikkoku”, and “Inuyashu”. Ranma 1/2 is the story of the 16 year old teenager Ranma Saotome, who along with his father became cursed after the two went to China for martial arts training. Ranma’s curse is a particularly troublesome curse as the young man transforms into a girl whenever he is splashed with cold water. Only hot water can revert Ranma to his male form but not cure it as Ranma must struggle with his curse while trying to live up to the responsibilities forced upon him by his father, which includes an arranged marriage.
Vivisection
The first trade paperback is divided into 14 chapters which make up three separate story arcs.
Story One (Chapters 1-2)
Soun Tendo, owner and headmaster of the Tendo Martial Arts School of Indiscriminate Grappling, receives a postcard from his old friend Genma Saotome informing him that he is going to pay Tendo a visit. But what makes Soun nervous is Genma announcing that he was bringing his 16 year old son Ranma with him. Soun reveals to his three daughters (Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane) that years earlier the two men entered an agreement in which Genma’s son Ranma would marry one of Soun’s three daughters and take over running the Tendo Martial Arts School. Kasumi and Nabiki immediately nominate Akane for the arranged marriage but things fall apart when a young girl calling herself Ranma and her pet panda bear show up at the school. Everyone is confused at Ranma being a girl but Akane decides to break the ice and befriends the girl, unaware of the shocking secret of the visitor. They spare with each other and Akane arranges for Ranma to take a nice hot shower. When Akane decides to join Ranma in the shower, things go to hell in a handbasket when she finds a naked man sitting in the shower starring at her naked body.
With things now exposed (in more way than one) Ranma and his father reveal that the two were cursed while training in China. Exposure to cold water turns Ranma into a woman and his father into a mute panda. As the Tendo sisters stand in shock at this revelation, the parents announce that the arrange marriage plan is still on and that Akane’s been picked to be Ranma’s blushing bride. Both Akane and Ranma are horrified at this announcement but for different reasons: Akane doesn’t want to marry a freak and Ranma wants to go back to China ASAP and find a way to lift his curse. But when Ranma makes a snide comment about Akane’s figure not being as good as his female form’s figure, Akane beats the living daylight out of Ranma while their fathers gush about what a cute couple they are.
Story Two (Chapters 3-7)
Ranma starts school with Akane and desperately tries to keep his curse a secret from his new classmates. Complicating things is Akane’s daily ritual of fighting off the entire male population of her school, which freaks Ranma out. When Ranma asks about this, he finds out that Akane’s problems with men are the result of school jock and all around prick Upperclassman Kuno. It seems Kuno is in love with Akane and in order to eliminate the competition, has ordered that no one may ask the ultra-tough fighter Akane out unless they beat her in combat. So when he sees Ranma hanging around Akane, Kuno freaks out and goes even more mental when he learns of the arranged marriage their families have planned. So Kuno challenges Ranma to a fight that ends with Ranma falling into the school’s pool and turning into a girl. Kuno catches Ranma but being a Class-A moron, Kuno thinks girl-Ranma is a completely seperate person and demands she tell him where Ranma went to.
Soon Kuno is lusting over both girl-Ranma and Akane and Nabiki (Akane’s sister) is eager to exploit Kuno’s lust for a quick buck. She starts selling him candid pictures of Ranma in his girl form and Akane and telling him to bug Ranma about the mystery girl in the pool. So Ranma and Akane decide to tell him the truth about Ranma’s curse. But Kuno thinks that Ranma is making up lies. So Ranma decides to challenge Kuno to a fight where if he wins, Kuno must forget about female Ranma. Ranma wins the fight but is severely beaten up, forcing him to pay a visit to Doctor Tofu, who we learn Akane is secretly in love with.
Story Three (Chapters 8-14)
The defeat of Upperclassman Kuno causes the rest of the male student body to announce to Akane that they are going to leave her alone and respect her engagement to Ranma. Meanwhile Ranma’s problems just keep adding up when his old arch-nemesis Ryoga appears at school. We learn that Ryoga and Ranma used to fight all the time for the last piece of bread at their old all-boys school and that right before he left for China Ryoga challenged Ranma to a fight. But Ryoga never showed up do to his utter inability to follow directions and Ranma left for China. Ryoga wants to have their fight at long last and despite Ranma’s attempt to make peace, the two fight with Ryoga dominating things with his lead-weighted umbrella and his unlimited supply of razor-sharped bandannas. However the battle comes to a screeching halt when Akane accidentally gets caught in the crossfire and has her pony-tail chopped off.
After the fight, Akane goes to Dr. Tofu and we learn that Akane is madly in love with the doctor despite the fact that he is involved with her older sister Kasumi. As Ranma tries to comfort Akane over the loss of her hair, Akane forgives Ranma and reveals that she’s decided to cut her hair short. As Akane playfully tosses Ranma into a river, Ryoga roams the beach and vows to defeat Ranma.
A pretty good start to the series as we are introduced to the main characters and get the crux of the series, which is the courtship of Ranma and Akane. It should be noted that the book features plenty of gratuitous nudity (mostly in the form of Ranma, who can’t seem to keep his shirt on when he’s in his girl form) so the book might not be suitable for younger kids. The only label warning about possible mature content is on the back and simply states that the book is rated “T” for “Older Teens”.
