Shelf Life

The Other 1/2

There are few things in life that can match the pure nostalgic bliss that comes with listening to the first Ranma ½ opening theme song. It makes your head bop, and it forces you to smile, erasing away whatever awful day you just had. In fact, that's pretty much Ranma ½ in general—a show so feel-good, that you could have just fought with your significant other, gotten stuck in traffic for two hours (in Los Angeles, that's just called 5:30PM), and burned your oven-ready pizza, and be ready to laugh in minutes.

Having watched Ranma ½ in my early days as a fan, I was worried sick that I'd watch it again and be appalled. But no worries, old-timers—Ranma ½ not only stands up to the test of time, it's just as funny and charming the second (or third, or fourth, or hundredth) time around. After all these years, I still found myself chuckling every single time Genma turned into that grumpy old panda. I laughed every time the melodramatic (and totally square) Tatewaki Kuno called himself the "Blue Thunder of Furikan High" or offered (threatened?) a girl the perfectly dead-panned, "I will date with you." I pretty much died during the entire cat-fu episode, where we learn that Ranma has a crippling fear of cats due to previous training exercises where he was wrapped in fish sausages and dropped into a den of hungry cats.

For those younger fans who have never heard of Ranma ½, it may sound a little goofy—after all, the central conceit of the anime is that several of the characters morph when they're doused in hot or cold water (Ranma becomes a girl in cold water, while his father becomes a panda; the goofy but loveable Ryoga becomes an adorable pig). While it seems slightly alarming that the citizens of suburban Japan are constantly at risk of being doused in water, it serves as the launching point for a seemingly endless array of jokes. Best of all, it's played so matter-of-factly that it never gets creepy (it's anyone's guess as to how a modern-day gender morph would play out) or tiresome, and while many of the jokes play off a good transformation, it's never a crutch. One of my favorite episodes in this first boxset involves a ridiculous contest where women have to race through the city delivering ramen, and one of Akane's love-rivals manipulates her noodles into a whip. Silly.

If you've never been exposed to Ranma ½ before, you might be a little confused at this point. It's okay. Luckily, there's not much to get. The series mostly revolves around Ranma Saotome, a high school-aged boy who's also a practitioner of the "Anything Goes" school of martial arts. During a training expedition with his dad, Genma, they fell into some cursed pools, and now Ranma is sometimes a girl, and Genma is sometimes a panda (if they get splashed with cold water). They're back in Japan now, and staying at the home of Genma's friend Soun Tendo, whose daughter Akane is betrothed to Ranma. Along the way, they meet a variety of martial arts-minded folk, including a few other afflicted with water-induced transformation.

Quality-wise, this new Blu-ray re-release is absolutely lovely, both inside and out. The new remaster is uncropped, allowing the series to be viewed in its original 4:3 aspect ratio. The restoration process has given the series a much-needed spit-shine as well, boosting colors and cleaning up some of the grime that was present in the old DVDs. The box is beautiful too, vibrant and sturdy, and packed with a 64-page booklet that includes episode recaps, as well as a sample of the manga. It's obvious that this re-release was supervised by people who loved the series. For us old-timers who kick-started our hobbies watching this series, it's a wonderful blast from the past.

The only gripe I have is that there are some things from the old dub that don't really hold up to time. Don't get me wrong—the dub is, for the most part, fantastic. I just think that if the series were dubbed now, the Chinese characters would probably have been spared the stereotypical ching-chongy accents that were more acceptable in the 90s. They're a little more cringe-worthy now, especially since it's fairly obvious the characters are voiced by Caucasians doing a bit.

Outside of that, this first Ranma ½ box is wonderful, and I can't imagine anyone over the age of 25 not loving it. It's such a wonderfully preserved fragment of our pasts, and Viz did a great job with this timeless classic.[TOP]

Psycho-Pass a little sloppier than some of Gen Urobuchi's other works, but underneath its jerky character development and occasionally lazy animation, lies an intriguing premise. Imagine a future where, instead of relying on a justice system that insists on innocence unless proven otherwise, society places their trusts in an omnipotent supercomputer that can instantly determine if someone is on the verge of committing a crime by scanning their "Psycho-Passes". Criminals are apprehended (and in many cases, permanently dispatched) before they've even had a chance to do anything... and often before they've even thought of doing anything malicious at all. Those responsible for delivering this "justice" are part of a special police force made up of Enforcers, who are all latent criminals; and Inspectors, their handlers. Leading the show is a young woman named Akane, who had such high test scores, she could've gotten any job she wanted.

It's worth noting that Akane is, intentionally, the most boring, blank character ever conceived. This character trait makes more and more sense as the series progresses, but until the tail-end of the first half, it makes it fairly difficult to empathize with her, or even care about her actions. To make up for it, Psycho-Pass is excessively violent, drumming up increasingly gruesome scenarios intended to tug viewers back and forth on the questionable morality of the Psycho-Pass system. One case that sticks out in my mind involves a killer that murders innocent women, chops them up, then plasticizes their bodies (think of the "Bodies" museum exhibits) and displays them around town like pseudo-art installations.

But gory scenes and nefarious bad guys aside, Psycho-Pass is designed to make you think. For instance, take the scenario in which someone is tagged as a violent criminal and is apprehended. Although that person may have previously not been violent, they now are, faced with the fear of incarceration or death. Latent criminal, or self-fulfilling prophecy? It gets hairier too, when we learn that those marked for death can reverse their Psycho-Pass readings. It makes for a unique moral question, given the assumption that we already have a sophisticated algorithm that can accurately predict criminal intent. Are we better off preventing crime before its foundations are laid, or is that morally repugnant?

For the most part, this line of musing makes the viewing experience much more interesting, especially in the first few episodes. Some of the earlier episodes are a slog to get through, especially with dead-eyed Akane at the helm. By the time episode 11 crashes to a halt, though, it's hard to stay away. It's both shocking and terrifying, and completely turns the Psycho-Pass system on its ear.

Those looking for a captivating, futuristic thriller should definitely check this series out. It is not without its issues, but it's fast-paced and exciting, and definitely a good time.[TOP]