Ranma ½

Episodes 8-9

Apologies for missing last week! In case you're not following along with my Yakuza Fiancé reviews, my water heater broke and flooded my apartment, so I've been living out of a hotel room for the last week. It's the kind of thing that really puts a damper on your creative output. I'm still in the hotel, but I'll try to push through anyway out of my love for Ranma ½ and my favorite reader: you. Yes, you. Not the other guy! The one reading this right now. I know you missed me, but I'm here for you now, darling.

Oh sorry, did that make me sound insincere? Like some kind of… philanderous pervert, perhaps? Much like one of this arc's main antagonists, Mikado Sanzenin?

This is easily one of my favorites of the early-series arcs, and where I believe the series starts to hit its stride. It's got all the hallmarks: a combat form of something that is not and definitely should not be a martial art, big personalities, comic misunderstandings, Ranma and Ryoga squabbling like an old married couple, and Ranma and Akane awkwardly fumbling about their feelings for one another. The wacky martial art this time is figure skating, which in real life would quickly end with someone bleeding out on the ice because do you realize just how sharp those skates are?

It begins when Akane accidentally leaves P-chan alone on the ice. While she's away, he gets scooped up by Azusa Shiratori, who renames him Charlotte and starts to take him home. Her plans are almost put to a stop by her skating partner, Mikado Sanzenin, but when Ranma flings a fishcake at him for trying to kiss Akane, they end up beefing as well. Now it's Ranma and Akane versus Azusa and Mikado – the problem is, while Akane is competent enough on the ice, Ranma has all the grace of a wobbly toddler.

The reasons I was excited about this arc are twofold: one is that, as I've already mentioned, this is one of my favorite arcs of the series before the introduction of my favorite character, and it's going to be a bit before we see her. The other is that Azusa and Sanzenin are played by Aoi Yuuki and Mamoru Miyano, two of the funniest voice actors currently working in Japan. Recently, we've heard a lot of Yuuki in her more gravely gremlin mode as characters like Maomao, or using her boy voice. Naturally, she uses a more feminine register as Azusa, more ojousama than the squeaky tones I was expecting. Miyano, on the other hand, can portray a range of characters, but always sounds like himself. He's hilarious as Sanzenin, shifting effortlessly between smooth and charming and exasperated and flustered.

I also want to note the sound design for the skating scene in the episodes. The characters all have different ranges of comfort in skates, and along with the genuinely hilarious animation of Ranma and Ryoga both fumbling on the frictionless surface of the rink, there's clearly a lot of care put into how the skates sound. Sanzenin, Azusa, and Akane are all proficient skaters, and there's one continuous hiss as they glide smoothly over the ice. Ranma has practiced a bit but is still decidedly uncomfortable, so the noise is choppy as he shifts forward one foot at a time. Ryoga, on the other hand, is a brute force kind of guy, so he just sort of clomps and stomps around.

Sanzenin is cut from a similar cloth as Kuno, albeit representing a different kind of threat. He's a shameless playboy who thinks he's god's gift to women: handsome, talented, and a smooth talker. He kisses any girl he thinks is cute, assuming they'll be grateful for his attention. Judging by his popularity among his female classmates, he's right much of the time, but neither Akane nor Ranma are looking for what he's offering. As with Kuno, Takahashi uses comedy to examine the interplay of masculinity, femininity, and sexual assault, because Sanzenin's penchant for kissing without waiting for permission is sexual assault. Akane responds with anger; she maintains that if Ranma hadn't flicked that fish cake at him, she'd have socked him in the jaw. She's used to the unwanted attention of men, after all, and she has plenty of weapons in her arsenal to defend herself.

Ranma, on the other hand, doesn't. He's still adjusting to being perceived as a woman, although he's starting to use it to his advantage in certain situations. So when Sanzenin swoops in, he doesn't know how to read the situation well enough to dodge and gets kissed. It's humiliating. He runs away in tears, only to get mocked by his father and the Tendo family. There's a lot that can be read into how nobody takes it seriously, especially when they find out it was another boy who did it. Sanzenin, on the other hand, sees his running away in tears as a sign of shyness, despite Ranma's very clear objections. How many men commit an assault without even realizing it because they were never taught properly about consent? That they assume everything is a “yes” because they can't conceive of a girl ever saying “no” to them? Sanzenin assumes all rejection is just from shyness, while Azusa correctly detects that they just hate him.

One note of frustration is that, like in the rhythmic gymnastics arc, Akane gets pushed aside yet again. It's a shame because she was actually doing quite well! I know Ryoga and Ranma are funny together, and the sight of Ryoga in his little Charlotte collar will never not be funny, but Akane really does deserve a win here. It's one of the few occasions where she's stronger than the men around her, but it's still taken away because the physical comedy potential of Ryoga and Ranma's dysfunction and clumsiness overrides the potential for good skate-based action. Sadly, this isn't going to change anytime soon. Or ever.

Even if Akane doesn't get a chance to shine, this is one of the best arcs the early volumes of Ranma ½ have to offer.

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Ranma ½ is currently streaming on Netflix.