(no subject)

[jennaria]

RANMA 1/2

Genre: Comedy And Parody

How much seen: one movie (subtitled)

What it's about: Boy falls into Spring of Drowned Girl, now turns into girl whenever hit with cold water. Wacky hijinx ensue, which sorta have to do with the girl thing, and sorta have to do with the fact that (mostly due to his father) he's sorta engaged to at least three girls. It's all very 80s, both in animation style and in music.

I can't speak absolutely for the TV series, but Kay tells me the movie is a good sampler - and in this particular movie (Nihao My Concubine, which is apparently the second movie), the plot pretty much entirely depends on most of the cast having no intelligence whatsoever. Basic plotline: summer vacation, most of the cast wrecked on an island, girls all kidnapped by magic dude who's looking for a wife, (all together now!) wacky hijinx ensue. Supposedly the characters make up for their lack of common sense with their ability to kick-ass, but really, their ability to kick ass depends less on logical consistency and more on the Rule of Funny. During the final confrontation (which is more of a sequence leading up to the big final confrontation), Mousse, who has previously been mostly useless, suddenly pulls out a set of claws and goes after the guy who kidnapped his beloved Shampoo. Where did the claws come from? Who knows. Spandex space. Ask not to know these things, young padawan.

Overall opinion: It's mindless entertainment, but it's fun mindless entertainment. Even better, it's fun mindless entertainment with interesting subtext about gender roles and sexuality. ...look, I was an English major, I enjoy that kind of stuff. Probably will go looking for more.

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Thank you, hatfullofstars, for my first donation! Blogging for the Nature Conservancy - comment to let me know if you donate, so I can match it!

Comments

:-)

[elke_tanzer]

Awww, Ranma 1/2. Yay for silly splashes of water!

(I've just kicked in $20 to the Nature Conservancy, btw. You're awesome for doing this.)

Re: :-)

[jennaria]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it - I've been getting lots of unexpected comments from people who enjoyed these series, and it's serving as inadvertent encouragement for me to look up more of certain series!

Re: :-)

[elke_tanzer]

I may have to spend part of tomorrow rereading old favorite fanfics in Ranma 1/2 because of you. :-)

[leanne]

I've seen _Nihao My Concubine_, and it doesn't do the series justice. Akane is NOT LIKE THAT, and it really ticked me off. {:

Mousse deserves way better than Shampoo, poor guy. Wish he'd figure that out.

[jennaria]

Well, let's face it: the theme of Ranma 1/2 is sadly not 'my romantic situation sucks, so I shall tackle it rationally and logically.' Even I know that, and I'm working off of hearsay and one movie. :wince:

Wait, so Akane is actually even more cool? I am further intrigued. (Most of my impression of her was just that she and Ranma are So In Love, but So Fail At Actually Telling Each Other So.)

[leanne]

Akane's a badass. ^_^ Not good at everything, but tough as nails. She works *hard*. And it takes the two of them quite a while to decide they like each other but are incapable of telling each other. The school of "I hate you" flirting is involved. A lot.

I really think they made Akane quite the wilting lily in _Nihao_. Totally unfair.