by Mike Favila, Editor

I won’t lie.  When Viz announced that they were remastering Ranma 1/2 Set 1 and doing a revamped translation of the manga, I immediately put it on my calendar.  Ranma 1/2 was the first anime I had ever watched, minus the mecha cartoons of my youth.  Growing up, I always wondered what the fuss was about.  My cousin Mario wanted to indoctrinate me ever since he got hooked.  He decided that Ranma 1/2 would be a great introduction into the world.   He gave me three VHS tapes filled with Season 1.  I would watch a 30 minute episode every morning during breakfast, before my senior year, squeezing a few quick laughs in before I had to drive to scholl and sleep through Calculus.   Needless to say, I was hooked.

For the uninitiated, Ranma 1/2 is the story of Ranma Saotome, a teenage martial artist who, having fallen into a cursed spring in China, has the unique situation of transforming into a red haired girl when splashed with cold water.  His father, Genma, also morphs  into a panda when splashed with cold water.   In order for them to revert to their original form,  they must be doused with hot water.  In spite of this challenge, the duo manage to rendezvous with Genma’s friend, Soun Tendo, and his three daughters. When Genma and Soun go through with their plan to arrange a marriage with youngest daughter Akane hijinx ensues.  Want to watch the first episode online? Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Ranma 1/2 combines a number of genres seamlessly without breaking stride.  There are transforming pandas, ancient curses, crying fathers, martial artist tomboys, instant gender changes, multiple crushes and arranged marriages! And yet, the story and characters are friendly and hilarious.   Rumiko Takashi has created a world that is a lot of fun and easy to jump into.

Presentation

Ranma 1/2 Set 1 is housed in a very sturdy cardboard artbox housing all 3 discs.  It’s very neat, sturdy, and contributes to the idea that this is a premium package.  In a world where digital media rules and nobody seems to care about presentation anymore, Viz is making a very strong case for owning a physical, collectible product.  I personally still owned the original big multicase box sets from the late 90s, so I was glad to be able to replace at least one of them in my movie racks.

This limited edition BD set from Viz contains a nicely bound 64 page booklet that is solidly put together, and smells like those glossy fashion European magazines.  The book contains a little synopsis for each episode, the credits for the original series and the remaster, and a little manga sampler of the first book.  It was a nice inclusion into the book, even if it served as a cross promotion for the manga.  You can tell how directly the cartoon is sourced from the manga just by flipping through these first pages and comparing it to the opening episode.

Audio & Video

The video presentation is still in it’s original 4:3 aspect ratio.  The bright colors are clearer, but not oversaturated.  The menus are well done, sharp and clean.  To some degree, they were almost inviting in how easily I could navigate through the features and episodes, even if one was currently playing.  Even though I had a full day’s work ahead of me, I was tempted to just let the set play and watch the whole season in one sitting.  The audio seemed equivalent to the sound on my old box sets.

Special Features

I was curious to see how Viz went about handling the restoration, so I checked out the little featurette included on disc 3.  It turns out that this special feature was really focused on the manga, rather than the anime.   That being said, it was still very informative, and provided me insight on the translation process.  Editor Hope Donovan obviously treated this project as a labor of love.  She spoke in depth about how the Viz team improved and restored the original, to fully show off Rumiko Takahashi’s great artwork and story.

Overall

4

I was a fanboy before this set, so it’s not exactly a shocker that I’m head over heels for this collection.  It’s obvious that Viz really loves Ranma 1/2, and that they put a lot of attention into making sure that a new generation of viewers could pick this up and just run with it.  At the same time, Ranma 1/2 Set 1 has been revamped enough visually so that previous fans who purchased the DVDs can justify a double dip.

Rating:
ComicsOnline.com gives Ranma 1/2 Set 1 5 out of 5 kung fu pandas!

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