Ranma 1/2 2024 S1 Review
らんま1/2

I’ve been so busy, I didn’t realize that the 2024 Ranma 1/2 only had twelve episodes. Unlike Urusei Yatsura, which had a full commitment to a certain number of episodes, Ranma 1/2 seems to not have that kind of deal. However, a second season was apparently announced, so it will return someday.

The Story, in Brief

SAOTOME Ranma and his father Genma show up at TENDO Soun’s home, a friend of Genma’s. Soun has a doujo and three daughters. Per their prior arrangement, Ranma becomes engaged to Soun’s youngest daughter, Akane, who’s Ranma’s age. She’s unhappy with the situation. However, Ranma and Genma have a secret. Both were cursed while training in Japan. When splashed with cold water, Genma becomes a panda and Ranma becomes a girl. And Ranma wants free of this curse.

Ryouga, the self appointed rival of Ranma, shows up to avenge himself after getting lost and missing his fight with Ranma. Further, Ryouga followed Ranma to China, where he too became cursed, turning into a piglet when splashed with cold water. However, only Ranma (and maybe Soun) knows Ryouga’s secret. To that end, he’s pseudo adopted as a pet named P-chan.

Further hijinks ensue when other folks show up to challenge Ranma over Akane or some similar situation. Things culminate with a Chinese warrior girl named Shampoo showing up. She has vowed to kill female Ranma, but when the male Ranma defeats her, Shampoo decides to become his wife, leading Akane to jealousy.

Pretty Funny Stuff

For the most part, Ranma 1/2 2024 S1 was pretty funny. A lot of this is due to the unexpected moments of slapstick humor that comes about. Further, as is common for Takahashi-sensei, many of the characters are so over the top as to be absurd, leading to humorous things. Even the action scenes are laced with comedic elements.

Most of the original cast for the first anime adaptation of the manga returned. However, the standout seiyuu has to be HAYASHIBARA Megumi, hands down. She’s great doing the voice of female Ranma. Further, her vocalizations often add to the comedy of a situation involving female Ranma.

Beyond that, there’s not a lot there. Sure, there are moments for Akane and Ranma. However, because the status quo must be maintained at all costs, moments are all that we get. After than, things must be reset to zero, lest characters have any growth. Thus new characters have to be introduced to keep the pot stirred. At this early stage, that’s not an issue, other than characters like Kuno-senpai disappearing. There are moments when he should be there.

The Rubbish

First on the list are the garbage “localization” subtitles. Except for P-chan and one other use of the “-chan” honorific, honorifics are gone. But to make matters worse, the correct names aren’t used in the subtitles. For example, everyone refers to KUNO Tatewaki by his family name — Kuno-senpai, Kuno-chan, Kuno-kun, etc. However, the “localizer” decided that in his rewrite, everyone addresses each other by their given names, not their family names.

And the problems don’t stop there. Good grief. In my mind, like most “localizers”, they fancy themselves as superior writers. So rather than provide accurate but readable subtitles for the viewer, they want to spew out any old excrement. As long as there’s a general similarity to the actual work at some level, they don’t care. This kind of nonsense drives me nuts. And these folks wonder why AI is going to take over their jobs.

Finally, don’t believe any rubbish you might read about this series being some sort of allegory for the alphabet mafia’s “transmission” wing. At this point in the story, two characters transform into animals. They are still humans who are cursed. Does that mean they are “trans-species” or “species fluid”?  Just because Ranma transforms into the body of a deceased Chinese girl doesn’t mean there are any “transmission” elements to the character. The curses are purely for laughs as the macho male types get turned into animals, or in Ranma’s case, a girl.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Ranma 1/2 2024 S1 had a lot of humor and fun. But we are in the early days of the series when things are still fresh. The official subtitles are absolute garbage though. But when the next season comes out, I will watch.