Forum - View topicMy First Rumiko Takahashi Series
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mdo7
 Posts: 8250 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Ah Rumiko Takahashi, the mangaka that is able to make work that can appeal to both male and female demographic. As much as I love Inuyasha, and Ranma 1/2. I was impressed by Maison Ikkoku because it was so different from her usual work. Maison Ikkoku is more down to earth and written like a soap opera then a fantasy (like in the case of Inuyasha), or comedy.
Funny thing, even though not written by her, I always thought that Kimagure Orange Road's plotline felt like something that Rumiko would've written (sometime I wished she would've been the one writing the story), and it doesn't help that some of the animators that worked on the anime were also involved with Maison Ikkoku, and the 1st Urusei Yatsura anime hence why some of the characters in Kimagure Orange Road felt like something out of Takahashi's work (Madoka in some shot in the anime kinda looks like Kyoko from Maison Ikkoku). |
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Cho_Desu
 Posts: 263 |
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I've tried several times to get into Takahashi's works, since they were always so highly regarded. (I was there for the Inuyasha era of her popularity, but would go back to try earlier works.) But they're just not for me. I think my biggest issue is I don't find the comedy elements funny—they usually just feel annoying or problematic to me. What if boy was a pervert, and girl beat him up. What if girl thought boy was a pervert, and beat him up. What if girl bosses boy around a lot, and he gives a "women, am I right" look to the camera. What if girl got in a state of undress, and got embarrassed. What if lots and lots and lots of bickering (but apparently they like each other? I don't get it). It's all the sort of thing that I feel would be criticized a lot if it were done by any other manga-ka. My second biggest issue is the plot always seems to progress so slowly, or seemingly not at all. Not an issue unique to these series, of course, but still something I'm surprised doesn't bother most people.
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Takkun4343
 Posts: 1761 Location: Englewood, Ohio |
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For me, it's Inuyasha. Being the only anime my parents allowed me to watch on my mid-late recordings of [as]'s Saturday night programming back in 2004 - Wolf's Rain was too bloody, and Cowboy Bebop and Trigun had too many guns - it naturally became a sticking point of interest for me back then. To this day, I still haven't seen the original anime in full, with the Band of Seven arc having never crossed my visual path once. I've seen the last two movies, Final Act and both seasons of Yashahime, but that's as far as completions for Inuyasha and Takahashi as a whole have gone. One of these days, I'll get another one of her works under my belt; one of these days.
(And on the topic of Miroku, his lack of wacky expressions and the fact that he always got smacked for every feel he copped easily puts him light years ahead of every other handsy pervert character before and after.) |
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Oggers
 Posts: 469 Location: Ontario, Canada |
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Inuyasha marked a lot of firsts for me as an anime fan. It was the first anime I watched that aired late at night, the first anime I watched whose English dub didn't try to censor or Americanize anything, the first anime I watched that kept its original Japanese openings and endings (seeing Inuyasha's first OP for the first time still sticks out vividly to me) and one of the first anime that exposed me to Japanese myth and folklore. Nowadays I'm more aware of the series' flaws, but it still holds a special place for me and there are quite a few aspects of it that I still enjoy.
I also started watching Maison Ikkoku recently and I've been enjoying that as well, even if its views on romance and marriage are very rooted in the 80s. While I can see why Takahashi used a lot of the tropes she did to make her various series so popular, Maison Ikkoku is also a nice break from her other madcap teen romcoms since it offers something more grounded and mature. |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 3022 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Technically my first Rumiko Takahashi is InuYasha, but that was only via some random episodes I'd see when it was on Adult Swim, so it's hard for me to truly count that since it was experienced in such a discombobulated fashion.
Therefore, my first proper Takahashi work would be One-Pound Gospel, which I absolutely love in both its original manga form & the one-off OVA adaptation. Definitely a title that tends to get ignored more of than not, sadly, but is a ton of good fun to read and/or watch. |
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gsilver
Posts: 768 |
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The first series was Ranma 1/2 for me, as well.
While the jokes in the show eventually ran out, I had a lot of fun afternoons watching it. Oh, and thanks for the reminder about Realplayer. Those certainly were the days. I don't 100% recall the details, but I remember having some Transformers episodes that were either in RealPlayer or VivoActive format that were so heavily compressed that they actually looked *better* if I watched the reflection in the car window when I watched them (as a passenger, of course) Probably Vivo and not RealPlayer, since I remember RealPlayer at least being watchable, if quickly surpassed by actually-good formats. My main memories of RealPlayer, specifically, was the Kodocha translation project. I *think* my Ranma episodes were RealPlayer, too. |
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SinisterOracle
 SubscriberPosts: 899 |
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My first Rumiko Takahashi was InuYasha. It’s one of the few series I ever watched English dubbed (the others being Ronin Warriors, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball). I haven’t watched the English dub since it aired on tv, I’ve always watched subbed, yet I can still hear the English voices in my mind since I watched it so often.
Also, I’m so damn mad Lynzee had to put so many explanatory notes at the end of her section. I’m clearly as old as Methuselah because I didn’t need any of them lmao. 
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db999
Posts: 451 |
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Inuyasha is also mine, and it’s the only series I’ve seen of hers to completion, I’ve seen a bunch of episodes of some of her other series like Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, and Maison Ikokku, but I never finished any of them, well technically I did finish Maison Ikokku, but I didn’t watch all of it. It’s mostly because most of her stuff is just in genre’s I’m not really that invested in, but I’ll eventually rectify that and try out at least Ranma. Back to Inuyasha I think a lot of people misremember the pacing in that show. I keep hearing that it’s so slow and thing’s barely progress, but it’s mostly just because people are remembering the last 30-40 episodes of the OG series, because the first hundred episodes or so, at least until the end of the Band of Seven arc, are actually paced really well.
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Glordit
 Posts: 1205 |
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If I am remembering correctly, I watched InuYasha back in 2016 after many years of putting it off. It is an absolute classic and everyone should experience it at least once. Fast-forward a few years and we got Yashahime, which I was sorely disappointed in.
I have still got to find some time to watch (force myself to stop putting off watching anything longer than 24 episodes) Maison Ikkoku & Rin-ne. Ranma 1/2 & Urusei Yatsura both the original and remake are also among my favorites. |
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Chiyosuke
 Posts: 529 |
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Mine was Ranma ½. I still have fond memories of skipping school to binge the homie's DVDs lol
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Triltaison
 Posts: 943 |
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Lynzee's footnotes absolutely cracked me up. I find myself explaining stuff like this to younger fans too and their expressions always look like they think I'm making it all up.
Ranma was my first exposure, via a friend who had started collecting the manga. She shared her books with me, and I shared my CLAMP books with her in kind. Absolutely fell in love with the characters, comedic timing, and panel layouts. Everything was so dynamic and I started seeking out as much Takahashi manga as I could get my hands on. I got the Urusei Yatsura volumes during The Return of Lum era, Rumic Theater, Rumiko Takahashi Trilogy, and Mermaid Forest while still on store shelves. Inuyasha I picked up around book 9's release I think, and I kept up with both it and Ranma as they released. When Inuyasha moved to the yellow spines, I haaaaated the new look so dropped it after a while (later completed via Vizbigs). I got Maison Ikkoku as the 2nd edition singles, and continued to pick up every series as it came out. I also picked up several of the anime adaptations on DVD when available (though I missed out on Maison Ikkoku sadly), and upgraded my Ranma set to the BD limited editions when those came out. They were my main impetus to actually get a Bluray player at the time. I have at least one edition of every manga of hers that's come out in English. Takahashi's probably my favorite mangaka. |
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zztop
Posts: 715 |
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Iirc Yashahime's anime was not made with Takahashi's involvement except certain character designs; it was mainly made by Sunrise because it's anime producer, Suwa Michihiko, demanded a continuation despite Takahashi not having interest in revisiting it again. Fortunately the Yashahime manga adaptation (I think) was able to correct much of the anime's missteps; turning the anime script into something coherent and less bloated; being able to hit the character and emotional beats which Sunrise's staff failed at. TLDR The manga is what the anime should have been. |
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crazieanimefan1
 Posts: 427 Location: Auburn, AL |
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Inuyasha started my trip down the anime rabbit hole. While not my first, it was when I truly discovered what anime/manga were. So late nights while pregnant, I had Inuyasha on those sleepless nights. That was my comfort show.
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Gwydion
 Posts: 175 |
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Yeah, much love for the footnotes - definitely got a laugh out of me!
My first was technically Ranma 1/2 - I had a friend with a couple episodes on VHS, and these were the first anime episodes I ever watched (not counting stuff like Superbook that I saw as a kid just thinking it was a normal cartoon, anyway). But the bigger influence was Inuyasha. Not only was it my first manga (same friend let me read the first volume before she gifted it to another friend lol), but I got into it early enough that I was around for the Japanese announcement of the anime. I got to go through the excitement of anticipating seeing the characters come to life on the screen, watching raw episodes taped on VHS shipped straight from Japan, commercials and all. By that point I was familiar enough with the early books that I "dubbed" the episodes for my sister who'd never read it before. It was silly and fun and just an all around good time. I'll always love both - as well as several other of Rumiko Takahashi's works - but there's no denying Inuyasha's impact on my fall into anime/manga. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20109 |
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Probably my first experience anime-wise was seeing an episode of Inuyasha, which was also the first of her work I read to completion.
But the first of her manga I read was Urusei Yatsura...which was also the first anime of her work I watched to completion (the remake, that is). |
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