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REVIEW: Ranma ½ Blu-Ray Set 2


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thekingsdinner



Joined: 25 Sep 2010
Posts: 1066
Location: Geertruidenberg, Netherlands
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 12:46 pm Reply with quote
Ordered this one just yesterday, should be in the mail tomorrow Very Happy

I don't agree on Happosai being annoying though, I think he's actually pretty funny, but I guess I can see why some wouldn't like him.


Last edited by thekingsdinner on Mon Jul 28, 2014 1:30 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Akeema



Joined: 26 Mar 2014
Posts: 28
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 1:27 pm Reply with quote
I agree with you about Happosai. He managed to single-handedly put me off Ranma 1/2. There's only so much panty-stealing obnoxious perversion a body can take.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 1:28 pm Reply with quote
And yes, Happosai appears in his three most obnoxious single episodes of the entire series in S2, but....that's over with quickly.
He gets slightly better as the series goes on, once they have his trademark shticks established, and into the bits of S3 that find their way into the set, once Ukyou becomes the new shtick character to temporarily take over the season.

(In fact, I always liked his S4 episode where an unwitting preschool teacher thinks he's a "charming old gentleman", and a smitten Happy starts thinking of swearing off panties and getting married...Yes, like that's actually going to happen.) Wink
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DigitalScratch





PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 1:58 pm Reply with quote
Fair review. I'm happy this series is getting these re-releases and that it's holding up pretty well after all of these years. I adore Kuno's dub voice and how they translated his lines into Shakespeare-esque soliloquies. It's almost impossible not to at least chuckle whenever he speaks.

Oh Happosai...He was one of the things that always drove me away from the series from time to time. I absolutely abhor most of the episodes and manga chapters where he's the main focus or conflict. There's that very thin line between lovable pervert and monster of lech, and Happosai is pretty far down the lech part.
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lordwindowlicker



Joined: 28 Apr 2008
Posts: 37
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 2:59 pm Reply with quote
I haven't watched this part of Ranma in many years, but I used to love Happosai. If you remove his personality and shtick from the equation, I still love how spoiler[so many of the show's conflicts were caused by him in the past.]

Perhaps in my older age he won't track as well as he did in the 90s, but for now I have no problems with him. I do agree that the whole Ranma/Akane nonsense gets old, though. I have never been a fan of the anime trope of (guy does something) > (misunderstanding) > (girl hits guy).

I bought the set, so I guess I will see how I respond to it now.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 4:16 pm Reply with quote
lordwindowlicker wrote:
I do agree that the whole Ranma/Akane nonsense gets old, though. I have never been a fan of the anime trope of (guy does something) > (misunderstanding) > (girl hits guy).


Season 2 does start to sense that, so we get less about Akane being the "normal" (violent sporty) girl being "forced" into an engagement, and more about how she wants to have more of a feminine side to counteract Ranma's teasing...
She first learns to "cook" in S2--note the use of quotation marks--tries to take up crafts, and even plays Juliet, but her attempts at fiancee femininity never quite pan out as planned. Shocked

Which makes her a little bit more of a funny comic foil for Ranma, and gives her her own outlandish Rumiko foot-of-clay.
(Besides just hitting Ranma with large furniture, in keeping with her Shinobu roots.)
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lordwindowlicker



Joined: 28 Apr 2008
Posts: 37
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 5:15 pm Reply with quote
EricJ2 wrote:
lordwindowlicker wrote:
I do agree that the whole Ranma/Akane nonsense gets old, though. I have never been a fan of the anime trope of (guy does something) > (misunderstanding) > (girl hits guy).


Season 2 does start to sense that, so we get less about Akane being the "normal" (violent sporty) girl being "forced" into an engagement, and more about how she wants to have more of a feminine side to counteract Ranma's teasing...
She first learns to "cook" in S2--note the use of quotation marks--tries to take up crafts, and even plays Juliet, but her attempts at fiancee femininity never quite pan out as planned. Shocked

Which makes her a little bit more of a funny comic foil for Ranma, and gives her her own outlandish Rumiko foot-of-clay.
(Besides just hitting Ranma with large furniture, in keeping with her Shinobu roots.)


Yeah, I remember that it never really became that bothersome in Ranma. Other series later on took it to much greater severity. Regarding the last comment, though. As much as I agree with what you've said, I do think that overall Shinobu was a much more balanced character. And that's saying a lot when the male in question is Ataru.
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larinon



Joined: 27 Jul 2003
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Location: Midland, TX
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 5:29 pm Reply with quote
Pretty sure Happosai is why I stopped watching the series altogether. I own the first three seasons on DVD, and picked up the first blu-ray season and I think that'll be it. I really liked the ice skating story from the 2nd DVD box set and when they moved that back to the first season like it was supposed to be I didn't see any need to go further.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 5:49 pm Reply with quote
larinon wrote:
Pretty sure Happosai is why I stopped watching the series altogether. I own the first three seasons on DVD, and picked up the first blu-ray season and I think that'll be it. I really liked the ice skating story from the 2nd DVD box set and when they moved that back to the first season like it was supposed to be I didn't see any need to go further.


If you got past the Happosai bathhouse episode (the "Scroll in the hot springs" episode is funny, though), you can get through the rest of the series, ya wuss. Wink
Ukyou's arrival adds another, slightly saner (but just barely) corner to the harem, while also giving Ranma a better ally for his battles, and Akane, as noted, becomes a broadly funnier character while still being frustrated/sympathetic.

And with all the characters in place, there's more ensemble episodes (at least one "Obstacle race with China as the prize" per season), where we just get the characters' shticks in organized chaos, and Happosai's antics are but ONE of the many hijinks. They're easier to take when they blend in with a crowd.
(Now, as for putting up with the Furinkan Principal in S4, there's another acquired taste, but it can be done, and only adds more silliness to the mix.)
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wonderwomanhero





PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 7:42 pm Reply with quote
I love Kodachi, Teryl Rothery's laugh she uses for her is so contagious, it reminds me of Kristen Bishop as Esmeraude and Zoicite.

Happosai is very annoying, his pervert antics are quite annoying. I do like that the girls actually try to fight back rather than just not do anything but scream in humiliation. Does he get more annoying with his schtick through the seasons?

I like Ukyo as well, and look forward to seeing her make more appearances. RightStuf already has preorders for the third set on their website.
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Levonr



Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 807
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 8:09 pm Reply with quote
I never knew there was so much hate for Happosai.
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O-chan



Joined: 03 Jun 2004
Posts: 78
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 9:41 pm Reply with quote
Levon_r wrote:
I never knew there was so much hate for Happosai.


"Season Three"(Eps.41-63) is the tipping off point for a lot of fans. The animation quality becomes subpar for a good majority of the episodes (off model designs, washed out colors) and the content tends to focus on Happosai at his worst. It also doesn't help that this begins the flanderization of Ranma and Akane where the TV series tends to exaggerate their character flaws making them come off far more mean spirited than their manga counterparts.

Season Four fixes a lot of these issues with the animation budget recovering and the original anime content being a lot more balanced but the series had already gotten into a more Martial Arts Sitcom groove than never sat well with some of the show's initial fanbase.

Personally I think every 22 episode season had about half good episodes and half mileage-may-vary episodes. Usually the manga based episodes faired better but there are quite a few anime original gems (like the Ranma thinks he's a girl episode) especially towards the end when Junji Nishimura became series director.
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potatochobit



Joined: 26 Aug 2009
Posts: 1373
Location: TEXAS
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 12:34 am Reply with quote
Levon_r wrote:
I never knew there was so much hate for Happosai.


most of the hate probably comes from younger kids who are new to anime in the last 10 years and did not watch ranma when it originally aired on TV.

they need to respect that happosai is one of the original panty thieving annoying characters ever created. Back then there was not alot of anime to choose from. There were alot of episodes - but of the same series.
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ittoujuu



Joined: 25 Sep 2009
Posts: 164
Location: SoCal
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 10:23 am Reply with quote
I just got this set in the mail yesterday and I continue to be impressed by Viz's nice presentation with the packaging. The box design and booklet have a simple but elegant look about them that I like.

As for the content, season 1 was always my favorite because of how the episodes flowed together and the show felt less sitcom-ish or problem-of-the-week. Season 2 was my second favorite season, though, because it introduced important new characters like Mousse and Cologne (and we get Ukyo in this set, too, because of how the episodes are broken up for the blu-ray release), and because it had several arcs about learning special martial arts techniques, which in Ranma is usually a pretty entertaining affair. Season 3 is the last season I bought on DVD - in large part to get some Ukyo episodes - and is probably where I'll stop with the blu-rays as well, at least until the OAV set comes out. After season 3 is when the show goes full-bore in embracing its identity as a wacky episodic amusement that loves to reset the board at the end of most episodes so progress or growth seldom occur. After season 3 is also when they switched over to the new male Ranma dub voice, who I definitely don't like as much as Sarah Strange's rendition.

As far as Happosai, I'm kind of in the middle on him. Generally I'm amused by his antics, in that way you can be amused by seeing someone you know do something bad that they're gonna catch shit for later, but at the same time, he does have an irritating personality, and I tend to find the show's overuse of him as a generator of conflicts and problems to be an unfortunate crutch. If Happosai was bothersome but also a sometimes ally, a la Cologne, he'd be much easier to tolerate, but he's just so one-note that after a couple episodes, you know how this character will act until the end of time.
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Makeinu



Joined: 26 Jan 2013
Posts: 37
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 4:59 pm Reply with quote
potatochobit wrote:
Levon_r wrote:
I never knew there was so much hate for Happosai.

they need to respect that happosai is one of the original panty thieving annoying characters ever created.

Come again?
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