Ranma ½

Episode 12

This is one of those points in Ranma ½ where I get the feeling that your response is going to be quite heavily informed by how well you know the story. Shampoo is a figure who looms large throughout the series, though I won't say in what capacity. She's beloved by fans, the choice of many for best girl, and one of the first characters I knew about due to my middle school friend's impression of her. She's not one of my favorites, not since I started reading whatever volumes my local Borders was carrying. While the character writing in Ranma is simplistic in general, most of the major players have at least a couple of layers. Shampoo, on the other hand, has two kinds of relationships: adoration or attempted homicide. So to be honest, I've never had strong feelings about this arc. But if you walked into this blind and failed to notice how prominently she figures in the opening, how would her relationship with Ranma come across?

At times like this, I like to turn to my beloved husband, who did not grow up obsessed with Ranma ½, even if he knows some of the broad strokes of the plot because that's just what happens when you spend enough time around me. Since most of the jokes here are dependent on misdirection and surprise, the punchlines hit harder for him; his favorites were Ryoga acting like a witness, only to reveal that Shampoo jumped on him and knocked him out immediately and that instead of fighting Akane to take away her memory, she gave her a quick wash and blow dry.

Akane has forgotten Ranma, thanks to Shampoo's special formula 110 (the Japanese emergency number for the police) shampoo (GET IT????? LIKE HER NAME!!!) and shiatsu technique. It's not like they can just start over, because no matter what they do, he just slides out of her memory. The only way to get it back is with Formula 119 (the number to call the fire station or an ambulance). Shampoo has it, but she's not about to give it up, because why would she? Ranma proposes they make a deal: she gives him the shampoo if he does something for her. He includes the condition that it can't be to kill Akane. So instead, Shampoo says that he must kill girl Ranma. Uh-oh!

On the other hand, Shampoo is one of the few characters Ranma can outsmart, though that's in no small part due to her limited Japanese proficiency. Ranma takes advantage of that by changing the condition to “half-kill,” which Shampoo doesn't understand, but assents anyway. Ranma's plan hinges on Ryoga beating the crap out of him, but unfortunately Ryoga, for once, is smart enough to realize that Akane not being able to remember Ranma is a totally advantageous situation to him and refuses to oblige.

While I've long been a Ranma/Akane shipper, though, the conclusion of this arc leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I've maintained that Ranma's rudeness to Akane is largely a product of his lack of social skills due to Genma raising him to be half-feral. Meanwhile, Akane opens up more to him when he's in a bit more vulnerable spot. But here, Akane's deeply buried memories are activated when he's rude to her or she's jealous, and she responds by hitting him. So of course, to bring them back, Ranma shouts insults at her while their parents egg them on until she reflexively shouts and swings at him.

There's nothing good about the implications this holds for their relationship! This says that the core of their relationship isn't the kindness Akane showed girl-Ranma before she had her defenses up, or Ranma's willingness to go to great lengths to protect her. It's Ranma's cruelty, displayed when he gleefully repeats over and over how unsexy she is, and Akane's defensiveness. When everything else is stripped away, that's what she holds at the deepest level of her heart: that to her, Ranma the person who makes her feel bad, and she retaliates with physical violence. What an awful foundation for a relationship!

Shampoo is fully ready to kill Akane to get her out of the way, but Ranma reveals to her that he and girl Ranma are one and the same, claiming that girl Ranma is his true form. Shampoo turns to attack her but at the last second, turns away and leaves. Thus ends the arc and the first season of the remake of Ranma ½, exactly where I expected it would; what's more, pretty much in exactly the same place as the first season, elision of the figure skating arc and a clip show finale notwithstanding.

When the new Ranma ½ was announced, I was deeply skeptical. Sure, the old series was, you know, old, but it was a classic! Yeah, parts haven't aged well, but there were some real banger episodes in there, both based on the manga and anime-original, all the way up until the very end! I still stand by that, but I have to acknowledge that the too-hardworking folks at MAPPA (stop working your animators to death, MAPPA) have turned out a fine series that holds a lot of love for Takahashi's original manga that stands a much better chance of attracting new fans.

Hey, if you are a new fan, I still recommend the old series! It's available on a number of streaming services and has a lot to offer that you won't find anywhere else. The website Rumic World has been around for decades and has a useful episode guide. Try it out.

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Ranma ½ is currently streaming on Netflix.