Ranma ½ (2024)
[らんま½]
Season 1
Director: Konosuke Uda
Studio: MAPPA
Starring: Kappei Yamaguchi, Megumi Hayashibara, Noriko Hidaka
Episodes: 12
Synopsis:
A young martial artist cursed to transform into a girl whenever he is splashed with cold water is engaged to a violent tomboy.
Impressions:
When the remake of Urusei Yatsura came out, I and many others speculated on a Ranma remake following, all while having some concerns about how that would be done in the current creative climate. It's not nearly as bad in Japan as the West right now, but elements of it are there and with Netflix backing the production, reasons for concern only increased. However, being in the hands of MAPPA was certainly a step in the right direction, and so I gave this a shot. I was happy to see most of the cast return 35 years after the original series began. Obviously, some have since passed and were necessarily recast, and then there's the odd case of Cho being cast as Genma while Ken'ichi Ogata remains attached as the narrator. Compared to the '89 version, this is a much leaner adaptation that is more faithful to the manga, and in fact the way that manga panels are so precisely recreated will tickle fans, I'm sure. There's a bit of a pop art aesthetic with color filters and sound effects being visually represented onscreen that helps make this its own beast. There's a lot of casual nudity in the source material, relatively understated though it is, and this is unsurprisingly toned down further, but rather than the annoying trend of using things like god rays and censor steam, they opt to take the Barbie doll anatomy approach, which some people online make a bigger deal of than is really necessary. You will also hear complaints about the translation, but Netflix subtitles are often garbage. It may not mean much to viewers who watch the Japanese version without understanding it, but I can assure you that so far at least, no alterations have been made in the original script. Whether that holds true in the future given some of the things that happen later in the story remains to be seen. So long as MAPPA remains in charge, I don't anticipate the sort of drop-off in quality we saw in the original, and it would be really nice to see a complete adaptation of the manga this time, but that remains to be seen. For old fans and newcomers alike, this is a fine viewing experience that I'd recommend adding to your collection.
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