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REVIEW: Ranma ½ Blu-Ray


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chefneer
Aria Company



Joined: 27 Aug 2009
Posts: 1686
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 11:52 am Reply with quote
I just ordered this set. I've heard a lot of good things about this show, but I've never seen it, and I'm looking forward to now being able to.

I'm thinking it might also be worth picking up the new manga release, too.
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NJ_



Joined: 31 Oct 2009
Posts: 2996
Location: Wallington, NJ
PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:04 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Chinese-themed initial opener “Jaja Uma ni Sasenai de” is a simple but enormously catchy little ditty which is replaced for episodes 14-16 by vastly inferior new opener “Little Date” before resuming for episodes 17-21; this seems strange, since “Little Date” is listed in multiple online sources as actually being the proper opener for the second season, which constitutes episodes 19-40.


Episodes 14-16 were actually part of the show's second season. When they aired in Japan they were episodes 7-9 and when Viz first released the anime here on VHS (and later on DVD), they were episodes 19-21 (episodes 1-3 of the "Anything-Goes Martial Arts" volumes).

According to this, the new switch of episodes was apparently done on the Japanese Blu-ray set too because they were originally meant to air as part of the first season but some kidnappings in Japan at the time caused the network to delay the episodes for a few months.


Last edited by NJ_ on Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:06 pm; edited 1 time in total
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wonderwomanhero





PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:06 pm Reply with quote
I don't have a BluRay player so I got the DVD version. It's okay I suppose. I just wonder what the booklet is like. How are the episode summaries? Anything interesting in it?

Also I just finished the episode where Shampoo appears. It has been such a long time since I watched the show but for some reason I could have sworn Shampoo speaks normally at one point, no? Or does she stick with only speaking Chinese and one-liners?

This show has a lot of voice changes, but they mainly happen during the later seasons. Not only Brigitta Dau, but also Kirby Morrow taking over after Ian Corlett left over pay concerns (not for another few seasons tho), and also Richard Ian Cox taking over after Sarah Strange left, and also there was Angela Costain leaving for a season to attend flight school, so she got her sister to take over, and finally there was Kodachi's voice changing from Teryl Rothery, to Erin Fitzgerald for a season, and then to Sylvia Zaradic.
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:11 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
While Urusei's Lum is often pointed to as the original tsundere character


Whoever has said this is wrong and hasn't watched UY. Lum is anything but tsundere; she's mostly full-on deredere and kind unless Ataru does something that pisses her off, like attempting to cheat. Tsundere's wouldn't be calling their love interest's "darling" and planning to marry them immediately.

I'd be interested in seeing the Ranma features released on BD over the TV series, since those are much more tolerable for their run time and higher budget.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:17 pm Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
Quote:
While Urusei's Lum is often pointed to as the original tsundere character


Whoever has said this is wrong and hasn't watched UY. Lum is anything but tsundere; she's mostly full-on deredere and kind unless Ataru does something that pisses her off, like attempting to cheat. Tsundere's wouldn't be calling their love interest's "darling" and planning to marry them immediately.


Lum wasn't "tsundere" just because she zapped our hero with a few occasional watts. (Maybe to Mendou or the other guys in class...)
Tsundere is a girl who punches you when you try to get close, Lum hits Ataru when he tries to get away.

But the UY comparison is good in that if Ranma and Genma are the solo-spinoff "reincarnation" of Ryuunusuke and Fujinami (and their eternal father-"son" battles at the drop of a hat), Akane in the first season is the hot-tempered long-suffering reincarnation of Shinobu....Except, of course, that Shinobu mostly threw desks, but could have brained the main character with the living room table if she wanted to. Smile
In the last UY seasons, Shinobu and Ryuu start forming a semi-platonic friendship, with Shinobu as the pillar of frustrated normal girlhood in the otherwise chaotic class, and Ryuu looking to her for "lessons" in how a girl should act.
Which does start to mirror Akane's frustrated attempts to learn to be more girl-like and (eek!) cook, the "partnership" between the two when they start to team up against outside foes, and Ranma trying to be a little more sensitive of a fiancé' and make his girl-side a little more convincing.

Quote:
I'd be interested in seeing the Ranma features released on BD over the TV series, since those are much more tolerable for their run time and higher budget.


There were only two "features", as the so-called Movie 3 was just a half hour and mixed in with the OAV set.
Movie 1 is one of the great series-to-feature adaptations in my book (tried to see if anyone had that great cast-roll-call opening on YouTube), but Movie 2...just sort of falls flat. Apart from Nabiki briefly getting into a sort of weird pseudo-BDSM role that we know has to be in her fantasies somewhere Razz , always thought 2 came off as a major slog.


Last edited by EricJ2 on Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:22 pm; edited 1 time in total
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SpacemanHardy



Joined: 03 Jan 2012
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:20 pm Reply with quote
wonderwomanhero wrote:
Also I just finished the episode where Shampoo appears. It has been such a long time since I watched the show but for some reason I could have sworn Shampoo speaks normally at one point, no? Or does she stick with only speaking Chinese and one-liners?


Later on she does start speaking English, but it's more like broken stereotypical Chinese-English.
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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:37 pm Reply with quote
yeah, shampoo learns japanese/english as the series progresses.

walw6pK4Alo wrote:
Quote:
While Urusei's Lum is often pointed to as the original tsundere character


Whoever has said this is wrong and hasn't watched UY. Lum is anything but tsundere; she's mostly full-on deredere and kind unless Ataru does something that pisses her off, like attempting to cheat. Tsundere's wouldn't be calling their love interest's "darling" and planning to marry them immediately.



i think it is a confusion, the original tsundere is from another early work by takahashi, kyouko otonashi from maison ikoku.

also, the female ranma nudity is justified by ranma not having breast awareness


Last edited by maximilianjenus on Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:48 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:46 pm Reply with quote
Thanks for the explanation about the episode order, NJ_, as I was mightily confused by what was going on there. (Guess I should have done a search for "Ranma 1/2 episode order," but the possibility that they might have been broadcast in a different order than this never occurred to me.)

And to a couple of others: yeah, I don't agree with Lum being considered a tsundere, either, but I saw that reference come up in enough places that I decided to go with it. I think it's hard to dispute that Akane almost perfectly fits the mold, though.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:56 pm Reply with quote
maximilianjenus wrote:
i think it is a confusion, the original tsundere is from another early work by takahashi, kyouko otonashi from maison ikoku.


Oh, now that's just freakin' bizarre... Shocked

(Kyoko is about the sweetest girl on Clock Hill, and the only one nice to Godai, just that he...usually ends up in too many easily misinterpretable wrong situations around her.)
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PurpleWarrior13



Joined: 05 Sep 2009
Posts: 2024
PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:42 pm Reply with quote
Like I posted in the other thread, I adore Ranma, and I highly recommend it. It's a fun feel-good series that you can watch almost any episode out of and get something out of, even if you've never seen the series before. The premise is very simple and quick to get. The show is not a masterpiece, but it wasn't trying to be, and it's easy to get into and enjoy if you don't take it too seriously.

I quite enjoyed Brigitta Dau as Ranma. She wasn't great, but I actually think her voice is a slightly better fit than Venus Terzo, who I always thought sounded a tad forced. She actually left the show to move to Los Angeles, where she still lives today. She didn't have any other ANIME roles, but she did have some live action and WESTERN ANIMATION voice acting roles in Vancouver. Notably, she was Patch in My Little Pony Tales (ironically taking over for Venus Terzo). I don't mind Venus though. I just slightly prefer Brigitta.

wonderwomanhero wrote:
I don't have a BluRay player so I got the DVD version. It's okay I suppose. I just wonder what the booklet is like. How are the episode summaries? Anything interesting in it?


As far as the booklet goes, you aren't missing out on a whole lot. Half of it is the first chapter of the manga (a preview of the new re-release). The other half is episode summaries, with each episode given it's own page. There's also an ad for the manga re-release in the middle of the book, as well as four pages of credits, which includes the English voice actors, English dub crew members, original English staff (mostly subtitlers), and Blu-ray production staff. That's all very nice, and the booklet is visually GORGEOUS, but I wouldn't bother with the Blu-ray just for that.

wonderwomanhero wrote:
This show has a lot of voice changes, but they mainly happen during the later seasons. Not only Brigitta Dau, but also Kirby Morrow taking over after Ian Corlett left over pay concerns (not for another few seasons tho), and also Richard Ian Cox taking over after Sarah Strange left, and also there was Angela Costain leaving for a season to attend flight school, so she got her sister to take over, and finally there was Kodachi's voice changing from Teryl Rothery, to Erin Fitzgerald for a season, and then to Sylvia Zaradic.


There's also Kathleen Barr and Elan Ross-Gibson as Cologne, and Ian James Corlett quit both Dr. Tofu and the Jusenkyo Guide after Season 5. Morrow took just over as Tofu (there's really no difference), and Michael Donovan (Ryoga) took over as the Jusenkyo Guide (and they sound quite a bit different). I don't mind the Ranma change. I prefer Sarah Strange's classic voice, but it basically just sounds like Ranma went through puberty...

Canadian dubs have always seemed really bad with recasts. Sailor Moon is probably THE worst, but Ranma, Maison Ikkoku, Inuyasha, Ronin Warriors, and the Ocean dub of Dragon Ball Z were pretty bad too. Even Cardfight!!! Vanguard has had some changing voices.
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the-antihero



Joined: 17 Aug 2010
Posts: 726
PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 3:15 pm Reply with quote
This is definitely a purchase. Enjoyable series, I just wish it had a proper ending.
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Mikeski



Joined: 24 Sep 2009
Posts: 608
Location: Minneapolis, MN
PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 3:52 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
yeah, I don't agree with Lum being considered a tsundere, either, but I saw that reference come up in enough places that I decided to go with it.

To use the TVTropes terms, she's a "clingy jealous girl". Turned up to 11, with lightning. But not a tsundere.

Takahashi loves both tropes. She's made a career out of clingy jealous tsunderes hanging around shameless skirt-chasers.
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thekingsdinner



Joined: 25 Sep 2010
Posts: 1067
Location: Geertruidenberg, Netherlands
PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 4:07 pm Reply with quote
I got this set in the mail yesterday, although I can't watch it yet because I have yet to own a regionfree Blu-ray player (I'll buy one later this year, it'll be worth it).

Anyway, the box looks really nice and I love the cover on the BD case. The booklet is also a nice addition. I love the treatment Viz gave to one of my favorite animes ever ^^
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merr



Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 462
PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 7:01 pm Reply with quote
PurpleWarrior13 wrote:
I quite enjoyed Brigitta Dau as Ranma. She wasn't great, but I actually think her voice is a slightly better fit than Venus Terzo, who I always thought sounded a tad forced. She actually left the show to move to Los Angeles, where she still lives today. She didn't have any other ANIME roles, but she did have some live action and WESTERN ANIMATION voice acting roles in Vancouver. Notably, she was Patch in My Little Pony Tales (ironically taking over for Venus Terzo). I don't mind Venus though. I just slightly prefer Brigitta.

I've always kind of liked Brigitta's performance too. Yeah, she was definitely rough around the edges, but she was young. I think given some time she could've grown into the role.

The neat thing about the Ranma dub is that most of the lead actresses were still teenagers when the production started, which may explain why their performances weren't nearly as "cartoony" as most early 90's dubs. Compared to a lot of shows from that era, it still holds up pretty well.
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PurpleWarrior13



Joined: 05 Sep 2009
Posts: 2024
PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 8:49 pm Reply with quote
Yeah Sarah Strange, Brigitta Dau, Angela Costain, Willow Johnson, and Myriam Sirois were all about 17 or 18 in the beginning, and the ones that stayed sounded consistently good and helped give the series an authentic feel. There's another little-known dub from Animax (I've only heard bits of it) where the voices DO sound really cartoonish...
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