If you don't know what the series Ranma 1/2 is about, there's a review of one of the graphic novels elsewhere on the site, so go read that first. Trust me, it's way too complicated to get into here.

These are the last two tapes in the fifth season of the Ranma 1/2 television series. And, like all series that extend past three or four seasons (Ranma actually went on to do seven seasons), the production quality seems to slide a bit. The animation isn't quite as sharp as it was in the earlier seasons, and there's a new voice actor doing the voice of boy-type Ranma (or at least there is in the dub; I've not seen the sub version).

Another short-coming is that the non-Takahashi (Rumiko Takahashi being the series creator) inspired episodes don't seem to be written quite as well. What happened was that Ms. Takahashi wasn't turning out stories fast enough to meet the demand schedule of the animation studio (or they simply didn't want to use them, I've heard both), so they hired script writers to create new stories for the series. These original stories were sometimes more entertaining than the Takahashi-written ones, but they took a sharp dive during this season. Actually, the adapted Takahashi stories aren't that well written, either. So maybe the writing itself is just another short-coming.

Anyway, like all of the previous tapes, both of these contain two episodes each. On Nightmare, you get first an original story that deals with everyone somehow getting sucked into perverted master Happosai's dream simply because they were sleeping near him. This could be some sort of vague cultural reference that the Japanese believe that dreams can be communal (I have no idea if this is true; I'm just tossing out an idea), but personally I think it's just bad writing. The second episode is the Takahashi inspired story that involves Akane giving up her engagement with Ranma's to Nabiki. This is actually one of my favorite stories in the manga, and while it doesn't translate perfectly, it still makes up for the lack-luster first episode.

My Kagemusha has two original episodes on it, and they're both pretty entertaining to watch. The first episode involves a box of snacks belonging to Ranma and Akane's fathers being "mysteriously" eaten, putting the whole household under suspicion. The episode revolves around the "Where were you at 4:00 on August 23?" gimmick, but some of the explanations are funny enough to make even the most jaded critic overlook that fact. The second episode involves Ranma buying a magical product from a traveling magical product salesman (which, if you believe this series, Japan has an awful lot of) that promises to give him the ultimate sparring partner. What it does is bring his shadow to life. On the face of things, this seems good, because Ranma's shadow can move just as fast as he can and predict all of his moves, which really does make it a spectacular sparring partner. The bad news is that the shadow, of course, is evil, and gets Ranma into all kinds of trouble before it can be stopped. It's worth watching, because it actually comes close to recapturing some of the writing excellence of the earlier seasons.

Though I have been sort of pessimistic in my review of these two tapes, I still stand behind the series as being one of the funniest I've seen. If you're a first time viewer, I'd recommend that you start with My Kagemusha, Myself, which is definitely the better of the two tapes. Either way, it's entertaining, which is something we can all spare an hour or two out of our lives for.

Return to the Bento Box

shotgun reviews | the big question | review rack | feature forum | rasslin' ring | comics convention | shotgun press | contact | links home | masthead | sponsors | email: psikotyk@aol.com © 2001 Shotgun Reviews - All rights reserved.