LVIII: "Ranma 1/2"

This is perhaps one of my all-time favorites in anime. Created by the same person responsible for InuYasha and Mermaid Forest, Ranma 1/2 is a comical mix of romantic comedy and martial arts. As entertaining as it is, it has quite a length series-wise.

Ranma 1/2 deals with the titlular character and protagonist, Ranma Saotome. A dedicated martial artist, he and his father Genma are practitioners of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. During a training trip in China (which was suggested by Genma), the trained at the beautiful, yet risky Jusenkyo Springs. It bore a legend that anyone falling into one of the springs take form of who ever drowned there many years before. In Genma's case, he turns into a panda, and Ranma's case is a girl (yeah... GENDER-BENDER!)

After retuning to Japan, they meet up (albeit transformed) with Genma's friend Soun Tendo, headmaster of the Tendo household, with the family being another practitioner of Anything Goes Martial Arts. With both fathers proposing this, Ranma and Soun's youngest daughter, Akane, become engaged to one another, with both children against the idea. This does change over time, yet still there are other people after Ranma's heart in the process (as well as those trying to break his neck!)

Ranma 1/2 goes on for 7 seasons, racking 161 TV Anime episodes, with 13 OVAs and 2 animated movies. Licensing for US was done by Viz Media, and the characters involved were the largest count ever in Rumiko Takahashi's works. The voice actors for Ranma, both male and female, alternated. Sara Strange was the original English voice for male Ranma in not only the movies and OVAs, but also up until season 3. Richard Cox, known as the voice of titular character InuYasha, filled in as Male Ranma's voice up to the end of Season 7. On the flip side of the female Ranma, Brigitta Dau lent her voice for that role for Season 1's first seven episodes, as well as for the first 2 OVAs. Venus Terzo, who voiced X-Men Evolution's Jean Grey, played female Ranma for the rest of the series, OVAs and movies included. Compared to this however, each Ranma has only one seiyuu: Mitsuo "Kappei" Yamaguchi (who is also InuYasha's seiyuu) as Male Ranma, and Megumi Hayashibara (Lina Inverse of Slayers) as Female Ranma.

All licensed by Viz Media, the seasons went as follows:

• Season 1: Digital Dojo (Ep. 1-18)
• Season 2: Anything-Goes Martial Arts (Ep. 19-40)
• Season 3: Hard Battle (Ep. 41-64)
• Season 4: Outta Control (Ep. 65-88)
• Season 5: Martial Mayhem (Ep. 89-112)
• Season 6: Random Rhapsody (Ep. 113-136)
• Season 7: Ramna Forever (Ep. 137-161)

As far as the OVAs are concerned, there were originally 12, but a 13th one was made with a more up-to-date design in 2008. As of yet, this OVA isn't in English language nor official English subtitle. Also, the 9th OVA, that being Team Ranma vs. the Legendary Phoenix, was actually a 3rd film of the series, but somehow or another, due in part by packaging, it's recognized in the Western areas as the 9th OVA of all 13. This title also bore a different name in the Viz release, called One Flew Over the Kuno's Nest.

A long article, I know, but that's how much Ranma 1/2 has. Ranma 1/2 gets a 8 of 10, granted that it is rather old, dating back to 1989. On my list, I'll say that this is my 4th favorite, but that's just my opinion. See it for yourselves and let me know how you feel about it.