Sorry for missing last week! if you don’t follow me Like a dragon fiancé Comment, my water heater broke and flooded my apartment, so I’ve been staying in a hotel room for the last week. This kind of thing can really hinder your creative output. I’m still in the hotel, but for the love of the hotel I’ll stick with it no matter what Ranma ½ And my favorite reader: you. Yes and you. Not another person! People who are reading this right now. I know you miss me, but I’m here with you now, honey.
Oh, sorry, does that make me sound insincere? Maybe like some kind of… romantic pervert? Much like one of the main antagonists of this story, Mikado Sanzenin?
This is easily one of my favorite arcs in the early series and I believe the series is starting to hit its stride. It has all the hallmarks: a form of fighting that is not and definitely should not be a martial art, big shots, hilarious misunderstandings, Ranma and Ryoga bickering like an old couple, Ranma and Akane awkwardly fumbling their feelings for one Emotions other. The wacky martial art this time around is figure skating, and in real life, someone will soon be bleeding on the ice, because you know how sharp those skates are?
The story begins when Akane accidentally leaves little P-chan alone on the ice. As she leaves, he is captured by Azusa Shiratori, who renames him Charlotte and begins taking him home. Her plan is almost thwarted by her skating partner Mikado Sanchi, but they also end up having a fight when Ranma throws a fishcake at him for trying to kiss Akane. Now it’s Ranma and Akane versus Azusa and Mikado – the problem is, while Akane is capable enough on the ice, Ranma has all the grace of a wobbly toddler.
I’m excited about this arc for two reasons: one is, as I’ve already mentioned, this is one of my favorite arcs in the series before my favorite character is introduced, and we still need a It takes time to see her. The other one is Azusa and Sanzenin played by Yuuki Aoi, Miyano Mamorutwo of the funniest voice actors currently working in Japan. Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot of Yuuki playing characters like Momo in her more serious imp mode, or using her boy voice. Naturally, she used a more feminine tone of voice, “Azusa,” which was more “ojousama” than the squeaky tone I was expecting. Miyano, on the other hand, can portray a wide variety of characters but always sounds like himself. He’s hilarious as Sanzenin, effortlessly switching between smooth and charming, angry and flustered.
I also wanted to note the sound design of the skating scenes in the episode. The characters all have different levels of comfort with the skates, and coupled with the truly hilarious animations of Ranma and Ryouka fumbling around on the frictionless surface of the rink, it’s clear that a lot of attention was paid to the sound of the skates. Sanzenin, Azusa and Akane are all expert skaters, making a constant hissing sound as they glide smoothly on the ice. Ranma had practiced it a bit, but was still noticeably uncomfortable, so the noise was intermittent as he moved forward one foot at a time. Ryoga on the other hand is a brute force guy so he just stomps around.
Sanzenin is in a similar situation to Kuno, although represents a different type of threat. He is a shameless playboy who considers himself God’s gift to women: handsome, talented, and eloquent. He kissed any girl he thought was cute, assuming they would appreciate his attention. Judging from his popularity among his female classmates, he was right most of the time, but neither Akane nor Ranma were looking for what he had to offer. Like Kuno, Takahashi uses comedy to examine the interplay between masculinity, femininity, and sexual assault, as Sanzenin likes to kiss without permission yes sexual assault. Akane responded angrily; she insisted that if Ranma hadn’t thrown fish cakes at him, she would have hit him in the jaw. After all, she’s used to unwanted attention from men, and she has enough weapons in her arsenal to protect herself.
Ranma, on the other hand, was not. He’s still adjusting to being viewed as a woman, although he’s starting to use it to his advantage in certain situations. So when three thousand people swooped down on him, he didn’t know how to understand the situation well enough to duck and get kissed. This is so embarrassing. He ran away in tears, only to be ridiculed by his father and the Tendo family. There are a lot of things that could explain why no one took this seriously, especially when they found out it was another boy who would do it. Sanzenin, on the other hand, believed that him running away in tears was a sign of shyness, despite Ranma’s very clear objections. How many men commit sexual assault without realizing it because they were never properly educated about consent? Do they think everything is a “yes” because they can’t imagine a girl saying “no” to them? Misawa thinks all the rejections are just out of shyness, while Azusa correctly senses that they just hate him.
The frustrating bit is that, just like in the rhythmic gymnastics arc, Akane is once again pushed to the side. It’s a shame because she actually did a pretty good job! I know Ryoga and Ranma are fun to watch together, and it’s never not fun to see Ryoga in a little Charlotte collar, but Akane really deserves to win here. This is one of the few occasions where she’s stronger than the men around her, but it’s still denied because Ryoga and Ranma’s dysfunctional and awkward physical comedy potential overwhelms the potential for good skating action. Sadly, this isn’t going to change anytime soon. Or was.
Even if Akane doesn’t get a chance to shine, this is one of the best arcs in the early volumes Ranma ½ Required.
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Ranma ½ Currently streaming on Netflix.
