Ranma 1/2 - Random Rhapsody, Vol. 8: For the Love of Akane (2001)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Junji Nishimura
Based upon the comics by Rumiko Takahashi

Features:

• English and Japanese audio
  
• English subtitles
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• voodoo love god
• Happi stuck to Ranma’s nekkid chest
• weird little kid wandering the woods

Rating: 13+

Anamorphic: N/A; appears in its original 1.33:1 format.

My Advice: It’s Ranma—buy it!

Volume 8 ends the Random Rhapsody sequence, as well as Season 6 of the Ranma 1/2 TV show. In “Gosunkugi and the Magic Paper Dolls,” Gosunkugi, voodoo specialist, finds some magic paper dolls that have the power of commanding others to do your will. Now all he has to do is find the command that will make Akane love him. In “Akane’s Unfathomable Heart,” Ranma meets an odd boy named Satori in the woods. Satori plucks the image of Akane from Ryoga’s mind, and now the race is on to reach her and use Satori’s powers to break up Akane and Ranma. Finally, in “Master and Student...Forever!?,” Happosai misunderstands a spell that he thinks will make Ranma a more subservient apprentice, but instead attaches them physically.

The plots on these are pretty much stock fare for this series, with lots of sight gags and Ranma posturing over Akane. It would have been nice had Gosunkugi been able to use those paper dolls a bit more cleverly, but he’s so much a nutcase that it’s not all that surprising that he doesn’t. At least this is true to his character. Happosai is similarly true to form when he attempts to manipulate Ranma into the “perfect” disciple, in his own perverse sense of what that means. Besides, even the repetition is oddly comforting, instead of just irritating. There’s enough variation and newness to keep things interesting and funny, if not precisely fresh. By now, after all, you either love these people or you don’t, and most of us love them.

The audio on this disc is pretty decent for both languages, with no obvious problems, muted sections, or miscued dialogue. The video is similarly strong, and given the rabid fan base, this is a good thing. Given that this is a TV show, even such a well-produced one, you won’t have the splashy colorations and fine digital imagery that some movies have, but it still looks quite nice and should satisfy most fans.

I do wish that there could be some extras on this and other Ranma discs. As beloved as this series is, they could give us something: an interview with Takahashi, a gallery, character profiles to keep everyone’s animal forms straight, a CD-ROM selection of links, even.

Basically, if you love Ranma 1/2, you’ll love this disc, as well. While the storylines are getting a wee bit repetitive, the episodes with Gosunkugi are nicely done and allow for something more than just the “oh, look, he’s afraid of cats” jokes. Given that this is penultimate season, it would be nice if the show could have drawn more of a second wind and broken more new ground, but for fans of the series, it really will be Ranma Forever.