The Fall Anime 2025 Preview Guide - Ranma ½ Season 2

As Ranma continues to live out his daily life in Furinkan, while residing at the Tendos' residence with his father, an array of new rivals and previously engaged fiancés start to appear in town. Such as Amazonian warrior Shampoo, who now resides at a newly opened noodle shop with her great-grandmother, Cologne, the leader of the Amazons. Other individuals include Gosunkugi, a ritualistic wallflower who wants Akane for himself, Mousse a Chinese martial artist who wants to win Shampoo's heart by defeating Ranma, Ukyo, a tomboy okonomiyaki chef who was engaged to Ranma ten years prior, and finally Happosai, the founder and grandmaster of Anything Goes Martial Arts, who is a skilled fighter but is also a pervert.

Ranma ½ Season 2 is based on the manga series by Rumiko Takahashi. The anime series is streaming on Netflix on Saturdays.

This episode of Ranma ½ is a landmark: the first time Gosunkugi has made an appearance in the anime, despite his debut plotline being load-bearing for the series. In the original adaptation, he was replaced with Sasuke, the Kuno family's ninja retainer. I was never crazy about this change, since I didn't really care for Sasuke as a character.

Like so many other secondary characters, Gosunkugi is obsessed with Akane Tendo, resenting Ranma for his involvement with her. While I wouldn't call anyone in Ranma ½ remarkably well-adjusted, Gosunkugi is high up on the list of freaks and weirdos: skulking in the bushes, making voodoo dolls, wearing candles on his head. He's played by Akira Ishida, whose unctuous voice is perfect for a creep like him, but I think he's better in complex dramatic roles than one-note gag characters like here. Gosunkugi makes a deal with Kuno to uncover Ranma's weakness in exchange for a date with Akane.

The thing that makes this episode load-bearing is that it introduces Ranma's fear of cats, a rich vein of comedy throughout the rest of the series. Along with that comes cat-fu, the technique his father foisted on him against his ten-year-old will, that causes him to start acting like a cat when his fear becomes too much for him to handle. As has often been the case with this adaptation, the jokes fly by a bit too fast for the comic timing to hit quite right, cramming a lot of story into a single episode. The fight sequence also flew by too quickly to make much of an impact, lacking the clever choreography or framing that were regularly highlights of the last season. The biggest laughs of the episode came from the voice actors' weird noises; Tomokazu Sugita's unhinged cackle as Kuno made me laugh so hard that I scared my cat.

And so, it's business as usual for the Ranma ½ gang. There are some character introductions I'm looking forward to this season, like my girl Ukyo. Then, there are some that I am… not, like a certain serial sexual assaulter. I'm so glad this episode brought back one of my favorites from the manga: Akane's iconic pocketwatch sweater dress.