My Thoughts on Ranma 1/2 (2024) Season 2
Watching this remake is kind of intereting for me. I've always had a love/hate relationship with Rumiko Takahashi in general. I grew up with InuYasha and still love a lot about it, although most of Rumiko Takahashi's works I was never really able to get into. Even the original Ranma adaptation from the 1980s I tried watching a number of years ago and while I didn't hate it, I did drop it after 26 episodes. Although granted that's way longer than most entire seasons of anime these days. And when it comes to Urusei Yatsura I HATED the original anime of that, so I didn't even try to watch the remake. A lot of the tropes that she falls back on just irritate me so much. I respect her tremendously not only for what she did for women in the manga industry and for female characters in anime and manga, but also for creating a lot of the tropes that her manga are famous for, and popularizing others. I can obviously dislike someone's writing style but still respect them. Nowadays strong female characters and female manga authors, (that latter one is especially the case when it comes to romance manga), are a dime a dozen, but by today's standards, I just can't help but see many of her female characters as unjustifyingly brutish and unreaosnable. I actually think InuYasha does this the best because, while they are still likable, Miroku and InuYasha kind of having it coming a lot of the time. I absolutely did not think the protagonist of Urusei Yatsura deserved anything that he got in the 50 or so episodes of that series I watched.
Ranma 1/2 kind of reaches a middle ground. It's been awhile since I watched it before, but I don't know exactly why I felt the need to drop it, maybe it's because of how long it was, because it's well over a hundred episodes, and this is a much smaller chunk. I like most of the characters in this series. Ranma in particular is very sympathetic and likable, and that continues into season 2. I've heard that this series does get kind of crazy with how many girls come into the picture who like Ranma, and while it's not too insane yet, I think it is starting to delve into it a little bit. Shampoo was introduced at the end of last season, and we see a lot more of her this season. Apparently Ranma beat her in her male form, (after defeating hre in her female form), and according to their tribe's customes Ranma HAS to marry her. Both her and her grandmother won't take no for an answer. Shampoo seems to be a very popular character. While I don't absolutely love her, I do think she can be fun at times. Her grandmother is a bit irritating, with Shampoo there's at least a sense of immaturity and innocence which does emenate a certain level of charm. She's also cute, too. I also surprisingly like Akane, although right now I think the most interesting part of her character is the crush she has on her teacher. Whenever this is touched on I'm glad it's being told from her perspective rather than his, as if it was the other way around it could have came off as very creepy, but from her perspective it's wholesome, and even a bit sad for her even though it hasn't concluded yet becuase everybody watching this should know they wouldn't end up together even if they were the same age. The one part I didn't like was the end of the season when one of Ranma's childhood friends came after him after his father promised Ranma to her, because he had nothing to do with that.
Ranma 1/2 kind of reaches a middle ground. It's been awhile since I watched it before, but I don't know exactly why I felt the need to drop it, maybe it's because of how long it was, because it's well over a hundred episodes, and this is a much smaller chunk. I like most of the characters in this series. Ranma in particular is very sympathetic and likable, and that continues into season 2. I've heard that this series does get kind of crazy with how many girls come into the picture who like Ranma, and while it's not too insane yet, I think it is starting to delve into it a little bit. Shampoo was introduced at the end of last season, and we see a lot more of her this season. Apparently Ranma beat her in her male form, (after defeating hre in her female form), and according to their tribe's customes Ranma HAS to marry her. Both her and her grandmother won't take no for an answer. Shampoo seems to be a very popular character. While I don't absolutely love her, I do think she can be fun at times. Her grandmother is a bit irritating, with Shampoo there's at least a sense of immaturity and innocence which does emenate a certain level of charm. She's also cute, too. I also surprisingly like Akane, although right now I think the most interesting part of her character is the crush she has on her teacher. Whenever this is touched on I'm glad it's being told from her perspective rather than his, as if it was the other way around it could have came off as very creepy, but from her perspective it's wholesome, and even a bit sad for her even though it hasn't concluded yet becuase everybody watching this should know they wouldn't end up together even if they were the same age. The one part I didn't like was the end of the season when one of Ranma's childhood friends came after him after his father promised Ranma to her, because he had nothing to do with that.
Commentaires
Like you say that you're not a fan of Urusei Yatsura. It might be interesting to know that Urusei Yatsura is the first Shounen Romcom series to be a hit.... ever. Before Urusei Yatsura, "romance" manga were almost exlusively Shoujo. Shounen manga were action, comedy, sports, and might include a romance plotline, but it was never the central conceit.
Takahashi's "Urusei Yatsura" is considered THE original Shounen Romcom, in the sense it was highly (wildly) commercially successful, and really the first of its kind. Adachi Mitsuru (Nine, Touch, Miyuki) and Yanagisawa Kimio (Tonda Couple) quickly followed, and the late 70s-80s saw a romcom boom centered primarily around Shounen Sunday, where Adachi and Takahashi wrote, where the idea that a "Romcom" marketed to boys, and later to men, could be commercially successful.
By the 80s and 90s, there was an idea that Jump was the "Action/Sports" magazine, and Shounen Sunday was the "Romcom" magazine. The Romcom really DEFINED Shounen Sunday, until in the late 90s/early00s Jump began aggressively pushing into the Romcom genre as well.
But in any case. Takahashi set off a complete revolution.
Because Takahashi was a pioneer of the genre, a lot of the stuff in her works seem almost cliche, because they are incredibly common tropes in Shounen Romcoms. But they BECAME common tropes, because an entire generation (and more) of Shounen Romcom authors grew up reading Takahashi and emulating her.