Ranma 1/2 (Collections)

Because they (and an ever-increasing number of their supporting cast) were dunked in accursed Chinese pools, when Ranma and his dad Genma are splashed with cold water, the former becomes a perky red-haired girl and the latter a panda. Against their will, a marriage is arranged between macho Ranma and boy-hating Akane. And more often than not, hilarity actually does ensue.

In this volume after a couple of strangely brief adventures, a main event begins in which Ranma and his rival in romance and martial arts Ryoga (who becomes a potbellied pig when doused) eat real magic mushrooms that reduce them to 5-year-olds. Then, readers check in on several of Ranma’s other fiancées (he’s got several, thanks to his Pop), all of whom have supernaturally tinged troubles that can only be made right via an immediate application of slapstick martial arts.

Even after all this time it remains a funny formula, though—unlike Rumiko Takahashi’s later Inu-Yasha—the characters here flatly refuse to develop much beyond their one-note gimmicks.

— S.A. Bennett

Jump to issue:

Book #6 - 8th printing

Apr 2002

Cover: $15.95

W: Rumiko Takahashi · A: Rumiko Takahashi

B&W

1 copy for $19.99
Book #23

Aug 2003

Cover: $9.95

W: Rumiko Takahashi · A: Rumiko Takahashi

1st appearance of Hinako Ninomiya; 1st appearance of Shinnosuke; B&W

1 copy for $34.99