Ranma 1/2

left to right, row1: genma, ukyou, p-chan
row2: ryouga, ranma, akane
row3: shampoo, ranma, mousse

Ranma 1/2 was/is a very very popular series, both anime and manga, and ended at 38 volumes years ago (i think).

the story centers around the Tendou doujo, where a father (Souun) and three daughters (eldest, quiet and sweet, Kasumi; second, calculating as a con artist, Nabiki; youngest, tomboyish with a bad temper, Akane) live. one day Souun's old friend Saotome Genma drops in for a visit. he and his son, Ranma, have just been training in a remote part of China, a place called Jusenkyou (Chouchuanshan). there are hundreds of springs there, each with its own strange history.

what happens is, ranma and genma both fall into springs. each spring had SOMETHING drown in it thousands of years ago....in one, a cat; in another, a dog; in another, a panda; etc etc etc.....

well, what ranma and genma find out is that once a person falls into a spring, he then assumes the form of whatever it was that drowned in the spring zillions of years ago. genma has the misfortune of falling into the spring where a panda drowned, so he turns into a panda. ranma, on the other hand, falls into a spring where a young girl drowned. so he turns into a girl. from that time on, whenever genma or ranma happen to get doused with cold water, they turn into whatever (panda, girl). when they get doused with hot water, then they turn back to their original selves...

well....and that's the story. ranma and genma turn up at the tendou doujo after this expedition with their woeful tale. genma and souun, friends of old, have always wanted to match up their kids....and eventually...after some talking over...ranma and akane get engaged. much against their will.

anyway. ranma and genma are now in search of the spring where a MAN once drowned so they can fall into it and get their manhood back. you know? yeah. but meanwhile, they stay at the tendou doujo where they live far from normal lives. the whole clan is kooky. they are continually being doused with water, whether cold or hot, and meet up with several interesting characters....

for example,...
the perpetually self-absorbed Tatewaki Kunou, captain of the kendo club at school and suitor of Akane. and he also falls in love with a red headed girl coincidentally named 'ranma' who happens to be living at the Tendou doujo....

and there's shampoo....who is a chinese amazon defeated by the female ranma...only thing is, the rule for the amazons is that they must kill the woman that defeats them in battle, but marry the man who does this. since ranma's part one and part the other...well, shampoo starts chasing after the girl-ranma to thwack her head off, but chases after the guy-ranma trying to kiss him...(hm. i hope i got that right)...shampoo once fell into a spring, and became a cat.

then there's mousse...strange names eh? quite fittingly he is in love with shampoo and is also a master of some kind of hidden-weapons technique. he wants to beat ranma. understandable, the way shampoo chases after him. he absently walked into a spring, and became a duck. or goose. who knows.

then there's ukyou. she's this girl who runs this little snack stand....dreams of opening her own restaurant to serve okonomiyaki. carries a huge metal spatula around, falls in love with ranma, and tends to smack him into trees with the spatula when so inclined.

we musn't forget happousai! he's a perverted old lech, about a foot tall MAX, who runs around stealing women's underwear off clotheslines. he seems to have a lot of martial arts secrets....was once genma and souun's master...

i suppose the female counterpart of happousai is oba-ba or whatever her name is. she's this shriveled old woman (both her and happousai are TINY) who hops around perched on a gnarled cane, using it like a pogo stick. she is supposedly shampoo's grandmother and really wants shampoo and ranma to get together. she's sorta calculating and evil (but in a funny way).

then there's ryouga. he has a horrible sense of direction and is continually getting lost. he fell into a spring because a red-headed girl chasing a panda (or was it the other way around?) knocked him in. he turns into a little cuuuuute black pig. he wants to kill ranma for....well, for shoving him into the spring and also because ryouga loves akane (like everyone else, practically...). when he's a pig, akane calls him p-chan and makes a pet of him. sleeps with him too. only she doesn't know that he is really ryouga....

anyway...it's just a long series of fights and questing and everyday life....ranma's life circulates around martial arts and he never turns down a challenge, be it for martial arts cooking or martial arts ice skating. and so it goes...ranma doing stupid things and akane either dousing him with water or slamming tables on his head. nice relationship.

it's a pretty funny series even if it does tend to drag on and on....it's very interesting and the overall plot and characters are really creative (geez, i mean, would YOU think of this whole enchanted springs thing and a guy turning into a girl and whatnot? yeah, see???). so yah....go check it out...

LINKS

go back to the anime/manga page and check the anime web turnpike or otakuworld. i guarantee there's a bazillion links there. =)

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