Ranma ½: The Movie, Big Trouble in Nekonron, China

Who can forget that opening scene... I know I can't, Ten whole minutes of nothing happening, and in an inexplicable moment, the aura of an elephant fills joins the chase and beats everyone up. Unfortunately we don't get to see her actually preform this type of manuver again, and on a whole, she does nothing else; besides settle 1 fight by flirting. Then on, there are more overly drawn out scenes and futile attempts at humor. For instance, Akane serves her 'home cooking' to the prince, who has only eaten pickles and rice since birth because of a condition that only allows his metabolism to handle pickels and rice. (Naturally, the pickels end up getting dumped out). The thing is, this scene is only 'referenced' to, but has no part of the overall story, and end run, really isn't that funny. In the end, Ranma only faces two (I believe) of the seven opponents... the rest beat him up and are distracted or knocked out by the others. Heck, I thought Ranma was this egotistical fool who wouldn't accept defeat... sure looked like he was defeated a lot. Heck, the 'final' boss was easier on Ranma then the other seven, having an impenitrable "chopstick" defense, Ranma brings forth a gyser and broke through by hurtling globlets of water at him. I don't want be a pacifist with these silly characters: Ranma, Akane, Genma, Soun, Nabiki, Kasumi, Kodachi, Kuno, Shampoo, Mousse, Ukyo, Ryoga, Sasuke, Cologne and Hapossai because I want to be rot in the darkness and loneliness. I figure since no one's written on this yet, let me be the first. And this is from a fan, not a film critic, so hey. Well, it's Ranma, and for those of you who love Ranma, you must think this movie's like the toast of the town whatever phrases y'all use]. But, looking at it objectively, it's a horrid story. I am of the unfortunate few who don't understand Japanese and have to wait for english dubbed releases of movies, but when you get right down to it, this movie wasn't a great piece of writing. The beginning opens with I think just about every Ranma TV-show character ever made, but then they all vanish so you can get to the real story, which is your standard, "Girl gets kidnapped, it's up to Guy/Girl to rescue her!" It contains a few choice moments (prince Kirin eating meat!) but I hate this STUPIDEST movie.

Who can forget that opening scene... I know I can't, Ten whole minutes of nothing happening, and in an inexplicable moment, the aura of an elephant fills joins the chase and beats everyone up. Unfortunately we don't get to see her actually preform this type of manuver again, and on a whole, she does nothing else; besides settle 1 fight by flirting. Then on, there are more overly drawn out scenes and futile attempts at humor. For instance, Akane serves her 'home cooking' to the prince, who has only eaten pickles and rice since birth because of a condition that only allows his metabolism to handle pickels and rice. (Naturally, the pickels end up getting dumped out). The thing is, this scene is only 'referenced' to, but has no part of the overall story, and end run, really isn't that funny. In the end, Ranma only faces two (I believe) of the seven opponents... the rest beat him up and are distracted or knocked out by the others. Heck, I thought Ranma was this egotistical fool who wouldn't accept defeat... sure looked like he was defeated a lot. Heck, the 'final' boss was easier on Ranma then the other seven, having an impenitrable "chopstick" defense, Ranma brings forth a gyser and broke through by hurtling globlets of water at him. I don't want be a pacifist with these silly characters: Ranma, Akane, Genma, Soun, Nabiki, Kasumi, Kodachi, Kuno, Shampoo, Mousse, Ukyo, Ryoga, Sasuke, Cologne and Hapossai because I want to be rot in the darkness and loneliness.

A slight, forgettable episode script turned full movie is ruined by akane being just the worst love interest in anime history. This movie tonally jerks back and forth from trying to have some kind of low level of stakes in terms of fighting and romance to bad jokes and Akane being insufferable, as she was in the bulk of the Ranma tv show after the first season or so. There's fanservice in so far as all of the main cast shows up to say hi, but there's barely any plot to speak of and nobody really does much of anything. Akane get's kidnapped, the gang follows, and then it's quickly resolved in an unclever way very quickly. The new characters are undeveloped even compared to the main cast of unchanging, status quo ridden poor fools, and they all are set up to be very strong but get handwoven away in 2 seconds at the end unsatisfyingly. This movie came out closer to the end of Ranma's run, and it really feels zombified like latter seasons of The Simpsons and all the other modern shows that have all the life sucked out of them over the years, solely kept alive to make money. The writers at this point must have been desperate, horrified even of being without work. I can't speak to how good or bad the economy was at the time, but it's pathetic. The only good thing about this movie is the animation looks nice, the one sole thing about the ranma series that didn't horribly degenerate over time.

This movie is very mediocre, because it has an exaggerated padding, also Ranma, Akane, Genma, Soun, Nabiki, Kasumi, Kodachi, Kuno, Shampoo, Mousse, Ukyo, Ryoga, Cologne and Happosai are a mediocre team and family, for This is why I hate this movie because they fight a lot and they don't make amends and they don't accept that they behaved badly, and they prefer to normalize physical abuse, and they prefer to be spiteful and grumpy and hurt each other, I prefer to leave those mediocre ones who suffer and that I would never return to them, and that they better rot in darkness and solitude. DAMN Ranma ½.

I figure since no one's written on this yet, let me be the first. And this is from a fan, not a film critic, so hey. Well, it's Ranma, and for those of you who love Ranma, you must think this movie's like the toast of the town whatever phrases y'all use]. But, looking at it objectively, it's a horrid story. I am of the unfortunate few who don't understand Japanese and have to wait for english dubbed releases of movies, but when you get right down to it, this movie wasn't a great piece of writing. The beginning opens with I think just about every Ranma TV-show character ever made, but then they all vanish so you can get to the real story, which is your standard, "Girl gets kidnapped, it's up to Guy/Girl to rescue her!" It contains a few choice moments (prince Kirin eating meat!) but I hate this STUPIDEST movie.

This movie is very mediocre, because it has an exaggerated padding, also Ranma, Akane, Genma, Soun, Nabiki, Kasumi, Kodachi, Kuno, Shampoo, Mousse, Ukyo, Ryoga, Cologne and Happosai are a mediocre team and family, for This is why I hate this movie because they fight a lot and they don't make amends and they don't accept that they behaved badly, and they prefer to normalize physical abuse, and they prefer to be spiteful and grumpy and hurt each other, I prefer to leave those mediocre ones who suffer and that I would never return to them, and that they better rot in darkness and solitude. DAMNED Ranma ½.

The following may contain some spoilers...be advised. I have recently completed watching every season of the Ranma 1/2 anime, including the movies, OAV's and all of the Manga. I enjoyed this movie to a point. One aspect I found as a let down, there really isn't any real comedy in this one. While there are points at comedy, Suon & Genma provide some, and the "chase scene" (Our group trying to chase Kirin's Blimp with a small dingy, as an example). I won't give way the main plot, which is a sort of a comic device of why Happôsai did what he did. Yet in all it seems the movie tries to take a serious look..with a serious plot, something that was rarely done in the series. Which is probably why most "Ranma 1/2" fans don't like it all that much. On it's own, the story holds up. If you have not seen any of the anime after Season 3, you may just enjoy this one. If you have seen Seasons 4-7, you will find a lot of what this movie is about is just part of a rehashed storyline that was over done in the anime. One aspect that most "Ranma 1/2" fans have a problem with was the "Akane as the damsel-in-distress" story plots. To many this was over done, and at one point, while Akane still has a fiery temper and can hold her own in a fight, she is shown in more ways to be less of a fighter...or needs help...or simply waits for Ranma to show up. Something she blatantly states to Kirin almost word for word after she is kidnapped and told she will be his bride. However, we do see Ranma starting to come out of his shell about his feelings for Akane. Backed up by Kirin's last words to Ranma before he leaves. It's not the best of the series. But it can hold it's own. The opening sequence is a nice touch, featuring all, or nearly all, of the reoccurring characters from the series. Another nice touch was the background cell paintings. If you watch the series, then this movie...you can immediately see a difference in the background. It is much more detailed, especially the Tendo home, and along the streets as Female Ranma chases Happôsai. It gives the area in which the characters live much more depth and a nice rich color.

This movie is worse and very silly with this Bad comedy, the characters are very silly, the action is totally useless, they don't know How feel good, they are totally demons. I Hate You Ranma ½. DAMNED movie.

I figure since no one's written on this yet, let me be the first. And this is from a fan, not a film critic, so hey. Well, it's Ranma, and for those of you who love Ranma, you must think this movie's like the toast of the town whatever phrases y'all use]. But, looking at it objectively, it's a horrid story. I am of the unfortunate few who don't understand Japanese and have to wait for english dubbed releases of movies, but when you get right down to it, this movie wasn't a great piece of writing. The beginning opens with I think just about every Ranma TV-show character ever made, but then they all vanish so you can get to the real story, which is your standard, "Girl gets kidnapped, it's up to Guy/Girl to rescue her!" It contains a few choice moments (prince Kirin eating meat!) but other than that, it's a pretty lame movie. But to fans it's great! I voted it a 4 because the second Ranma movie is better by leaps. [Not bounds, just leaps]

In a case of sheer irony, Ranma 1/2 (specifically this movie) often suffers the indignation where most of the insults and bad reviews come from the Ranma 1/2 fans themselves. Whatever. Of course it can't compete with Takahashi's brilliant manga, and the 1st TV season is the best Anime adaptation of the series. Just leave this movie alone - its great. Now I have one question... WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY does everybody think "Movie 2: Nihao My Concubine" to be a better film? Sorry, but my money is on this, the first film. Sure, the plot is hackneyed; how many times exactly have we seen "guy saves girl" in animated films? But, heck, if Ranma was a serious psychological drama, that would be a problem. Too bad it isn't, and so long as it features Happosai getting whacked around, Kuno getting clobbered, and Genma's "sign language," I'm just peachy. As for other reasons its better than the second... Its a lot longer, it flows more like a feature film should, the pace is infinitely faster, there are more gags and they're a lot funnier, and fanservice is dead-zero. ZILCH. So go ahead and watch "Silicon Beach" with Ranma-chan bouncing every five seconds (ever wonder why female Ranma fans dislike it?). Synopsis... oh, shoot, just consider it as more of like a bunch of fun and cool stuff that just happens. You'll be a lot better off than the fans who were expecting a visual tour-de-force that questions the existence of humanity, it seems...