Ranma ½

Episode 3

Rumiko Takahashi stated in an interview long ago that she didn't intend Ranma ½ as a commentary on gender roles, and I believe her. Ranma changes genders because she wanted a male protagonist, but was “worried about writing a male main character.” However, all art is an act of negotiation between creator and reader, and intentional or not, she stumbled on some fascinating, messy ideas about gender roles and relationships. Which is all to say, when the episode starts with Ranma having a nightmare about Kuno hitting on him, it stems into men's fears of being stalked and harassed the same way that women are.

Ranma is uncomfortable with Kuno hitting on him because he is a boy, sees himself as a boy, and being treated as a girl makes him feel dysphoric. But that's not a concern to your average male viewer; rather, the horror of the situation stems from the idea that there could possibly be a situation where they are treated like men treat women. This fear is prevalent throughout the first half of the episode, as Kuno is completely besotted with “the girl with the braid.” He brings a stuffed panda to school to give to her through Ranma, per Nabiki's advice, becomes violently possessive at the idea that she and Ranma may have a relationship, and is carrying around topless photographs of Ranma in girl form, purchased from Nabiki, which distracts Ranma in their fight. Nothing Ranma says or does can convince Kuno that Ranma isn't interested… or a girl, up to and including transforming right in front of Kuno's face. Although played for humor, this is Ranma's first taste of just how scary being a girl can be.

Not that that affects how he treats Akane, making a crack about how he's sexier than her as soon as he beats Kuno into unconsciousness. He even complains to Dr.Tofu that she's the one who picks on him, which honestly is such a teenage boy thing to do. The boy has no social skills whatsoever! Plus, he was raised in a highly masculine, hypercompetitive environment, so the only way he really knows how to relate to Akane is by comparing his looks as a girl to hers, and as the vainest boy alive, of course he thinks he's hotter.

The latter half of the episode deals with Akane's crush on Tofu, a storyline that ultimately ends up being of little consequence because Tofu completely disappears from the plot shortly after this. Akane may like Tofu, but Tofu treats her like a little sister and has a huge crush on Kasumi, who is oblivious. Normally Tofu is an excellent doctor, but becomes dangerously twitterpated whenever Kasumi is around. Akane is sad about it. The end. It's not particularly interesting.

The new animation style has grown on me quite a bit. As I mentioned, it's much more faithful to the comic timing and paneling of the manga than the previous version. At times, it felt a bit like watching the manga given color and motion, and while I generally support adaptations being a bit more adapted, Takahashi's paneling is excellent, so I'm not complaining. The new animation team's use of expressive character acting, color, and lighting creates an excellent sense of mood – the use of light and shadow when Akane confronted Ranma about Tofu's crush was excellent. The fights thus far have been fluid and well-choreographed, and I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the battles from the weaker seasons brought to life.

The new dub, on the other hand… I'm the person who switched to the Japanese track on my blu-rays because I missed Sarah Strange's performance as Ranma and it felt strange to hear Richard Cox's voice come out of his mouth, so this was going to be hard for me either way. It's probably not ideal that the first episode I chose to watch dubbed was heavily focused around Kuno, because I really dislike both his voice and performance. The other performances are generally strong, especially both David Errigo, Jr. and Suzie Yeung as Ranma, but there's some awkward phrasing to the script that threw me off.

On the other hand, the sub script calls Kuno "Tatewaki," and that's just wrong.

Rating:

In order to prevent my nostalgia from completely overwhelming these reviews, I've decided to create a segment at the end where I list off the gags from the 1989 anime at the end. I can't help it; those jokes are deeply embedded in my brain, and the anime thus far has been moving according to the manga's much faster pacing.

Gags I missed from the 1989 version of Ranma 1/2 in this episode:

• The synchronized swimming circle of Kunos declaring his love for Ranma
• Nabiki pouring cold water over Ranma while he was sleeping, taking pictures and pouring hot water, only for him to wake up in a warm, wet futon and think he pissed himself.
• Kuno acting out what he thought went on between Ranma and the pigtailed girl with the doll he'd bought.

Ranma ½ is currently streaming on Netflix.