Ranma 1/2 Part 10

(Viz, 2001)
™ and © Viz Communications, Inc.

Manga often blends drama, comedy, and romance into a single, amped-up metagenre, and few are better at handling this mix than Rumiko Takahashi. So it’s sad that, early on, she seems to have decided to focus on the wacky over relationships in Ranma 1/2, with sadly predictable results. Instead of the not-quite-romantic sparring of Ranma and Akane, the series too often focuses on bizarre martial arts battles and enough victims of the accursed Chinese spring that turns people into various things to start a support group (and, given their level of inappropriate behavior, they really should).

So Ranma 1/2 has great characters, story, and art but tends to be empty fun. But maybe that’ll change with the storyline that starts in this issue, which begins with a visit to Akane’s mother’s grave and introduces Ranma’s long-lost mother. Hopefully, along with the standard silliness, the bittersweet reunion will bring tears to the eyes of the boy with the visible feminine side.

— S.A. Bennett

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