Search - Ranma 1/2: Season One: The Digital Dojo; TV Anime Season 1 DVD Box Set on DVD

Finally, a price no anime lover can resist...

N. Maddix | Iowa City, IA USA | 12/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Viz will finally be re-releasing the complete first season of one of Rumiko Takahashi's most beloved anime's: Ranma 1/2. In case you don't somehow know about this anime, it's about a martial artist, (Ranma Saotome) and his unfortunate luck in having the ability to change into a female when struck by even the tiniest of cold water. (You'll be many classic moments when just when you think it couldn't happen, it does). Genma, Ranma's father seeks to have his son wed one of Soun Tendo(u)'s beautiful daughters, so he can carry on the Anything-Goes Martial Arts School. Akane is pretty much chosen by her other sisters because of her tomboy nature and her extreme hatred towards boys. Along the way, Ranma meets up with many other interesting characters, including Kuno, the indecisive upperclassman, Ryoga, his arch-rival, and eventually, even Shampoo, the barbaric amazon girl from China.

Nex to the OVA series, Season 1 is considered by many to be a excellent starting point for the 7 season Ranma 1/2 series. Season 1 is 18 episodes long, with each show clocking in anywhere from 20 to 25 minutes. This set will be presented in the original Japanese version (with English subtitles), and by the English cast as well. Overall, both versions are great in my honest opinion (of course, the original is superior).

For Ranma veterans and those that have been swayed by the previous release of this season and its enormous price tag. The question that might be on everyone's mind right now is, how can Viz offer this set so cheaply now in comparison to before? In my next paragraph, I'm going to attempt to take a stab at this perplexed thought.

Recently, many classic anime series (and new ones) have been released in what is called a "thin-pak". Basically all DVDs are in a very thin opening in the contents of the DVD Set. What this does is decrease the overall price, thanks to less packaging. However, sometimes with new releases, extras are often left out that were once included with the original. Postcards, opening/closing scenes with subtitles and no subtitles, previews of other animes, encyclopedia of the anime, etc.) I would assume that we'll be getting the anime and just the anime, but I could very well be wrong. For most of us anime fans, getting the animes we love as a drastically reduced price is often worth it in the end.

Make no mistake, I am simply guessing at this because of experiences with past anime sets. (Take the Anime Legends series of Love Hina, Escaflowne, etc, remember when those sets often reached into the hundreds of dollars?)

Another important thing to worry is, will their be less discs than in the original set (I believe the original had seven discs), and if so, will the quality of the picture be reduced as a result? In most cases, companies have been careful with picture quality, and being able to cram more into a dvd has improved over the years as technology as advanced.

So, let's assume, the picture quality is great, and there are no extras in this set. Is it worth the 50 percent price cut from the original? I would think so! I've been a fan of this series for a long time, just waiting for this very moment when Viz would hear its fans calling for a cheaper set of the anime they know and love, and thus they have answered the call (hopefully).

So, give it a shot. Amazon has, of course, a 30-day money-back return policy. Also, it's only a matter of time before the rest of the seasons are released. And, assuming the prices will still remain steady, you'll be getting a great deal on a great anime. So, give in to your craving and go for it already! :)"

Laugh out loud mayhem

Chris Van Deelen | Calgary, Alberta, Canada | 01/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Those of you who know me, or have read my many reviews online know that I'm not a fan of your typical BESM syndrome that is prevalent in Japanese anime.

It stands for Big Eye Small Mouth.

Most of the time I can't stand it, and I won't watch it. Because of this, I avoid most anime like the plague. There are a few shows that I've been able to watch, because it strays from this archetypical style of animation. Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed and Blood the last vampire are just a couple of examples of what I can watch.

However, I can be swayed occasionally. Especially when it comes to something that can make me laugh.

Many years ago, when I was still in highschool, I got out of reading the average comic and started to read many different independent titles. I found that most comics back then were nothing more than silly super-powered soap operas.

Now, you might be asking yourself, what the heck does this have to do with an anime review?

Well, because of getting into independent comics, I discovered manga - Japanese comics.

I read quite a few different titles back then, and I clearly remember the owner of the shop that I bought the titles form handing me the first couple of issues of Ranma ½. I flipped through it and gave him a dirty look and asked him why he gave me something that was, after my initial look, a Japanese romance comic?

He said just read it. If I didn't like it, I could bring it back. If I did like it, pay for it and keep reading the series.

Well, it turned out that yes, there was romance involved, but it was mainly about a young martial artist who just happened to fall (literally) into a very strange and disconcerting curse.

Two things about the comic that caused me to start reading it. First and foremost, it made me laugh. Very few comics ever managed to do that.

Secondly, it had nudity in it.

Before you start shaking your head, remember, this was almost twenty years ago. I was barely out of my teens and that sort of thing still held my interest. And besides, I wasn't married at the time.

Anyhow - after I did get married, I ended up dropping comics altogether. Hey, being a newlywed is rather hard on your solvent cash. I just didn't have the money to spare.

Years later, I was, out of pure curiosity, skimming through the anime rack at the local game store, and I noticed that they had Ranma ½ on DVD. I grabbed the box and noticed that it was the first season of the series - 18 episodes in total. And, hey, the price was more than reasonable - it was only $45 Canadian for the entire season.

So, despite the dislike I have for anime in general, I purchased it and over a period of a couple of weeks, my family and I watched the first season.

The same humour, and yes, the same nudity that I remember was still there. It made all of us laugh and laugh quite hard at some scenes.

One thing that also attracted me to the series was the eclectic group of characters. Ranma, the title character is a devoted martial artist who is damned good at what he does. His father is also a devoted martial artist although he can be very pig headed and tends to spend most of his free time as a Panda.

No, I'm not kidding.

That's not the only thing. There are several different characters, most of which have a grudge against Ranma for various reasons. A former fellow student named Ryoga Hibiki with the world's worst sense of direction, a hot little Chinese Amazon girl who wants to kill the girl Ranma, but is madly in love with boy Ranma.

There are the three sisters, of which Ranma finds himself betrothed to the youngest, Akane Tendo. Each one has her own unique personality.

Then we have several other Characters that interact on a regular basis with Ranma and his family.

Now, the season begins with Ranma and his father showing up at the Tendo anything goes school of martial arts, where Ranma is betrothed to Akane. That's when the fun starts.

Throughout the year, after he's enrolled in the same school as Akane, he discovers her morning ritual of combat to fend of would be suitors. He encounters a rival for Akane's hand named Tatewaki Kuno, who promptly falls in love with the girl Ranma.

Later Ranma encounters Kuno's sister, who loves the boy Ranma.

During this time, he also has to deal with the money grubbing schemes of Nabiki Tendo, a brilliant but oft scattered brained doctor named Tofu Ono, challenges to fights to the death, and even a Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics challenge.

Even the back stories to the various characters and his travels in China are very entertaining to watch, and once again, it made me laugh out loud many times.

I enjoyed it because of this, and because of the memories it brought back for me. I enjoyed it so much that when I was on the last disk of the first season, I had to go out and purchase the second season.

If you're a fan of anime, it's a no brainer. Even if you're not a fan of anime, it's worth watching just for the characters and the strange situations that make you laugh.

5 out of 5.
"

Viz watch where you put the credits!

Lionheart | Texas, USA | 04/22/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First, I want to say that the quality of these episodes are excellent and the subtitles are all written and translated well into English. However, I just wish that Viz would have made the text in the intros less noticeable. Covering Akane and Ranma's entire head and face with big blocky blue letters? Blocking most of Ranma walking across the screen with big fat letters? Thats a little annoying. I know that you can still watch the textless opening and closing as a special feature but since most of the time you're watching the episodes themselves, it would've been nice for the credits to have been placed more carefully for all the episode intros, instead of having the text interfering with the characters and ruining the enjoyment of watching the intros before each episode. This review applies to the just recently discounted edition, I'm not sure how the text is placed for the openings and endings of the previous more expensive Viz/Pioneer edition. Other than that, everything else is fine.
"

A very good example of Ranma, both good and bad

Brett | Salt Lake City, UT | 06/03/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ranma 1/2 is very well-known among the community of anime fans, particularly in North America. Its manga has sold very well, and the TV Series adheres to much of that. The story centers around Ranma Saotome, a hot-tempered martial artist who finds himself cursed after falling into a hot spring in China. His curse is that whenever cold water touches him, he turns into a girl equivalent of himself (and returns to normal with hot water contact). As if that weren't troublesome enough, he finds himself engaged to Akane Tendo of the Tendo Dojo, where he makes his new home for the entire run of the series. And to top it all off, his unscrupulous father has engaged him to multiple families, usually for mundane reasons like short-term food and money. Hijinks ensue.

The First Season really sets the tone for Ranma 1/2 as a whole, although not all the characters have been introduced by the time of its completion. First, there is the tension between Ranma and Akane. Ranma is hot-tempered, with a macho-sexist view of women due to his lack of experience with them (he spent most of his childhood with his father on a martial arts training trip), and Akane is both hot-tempered, extremely violent, and yet extremely jealous after a certain point in the series. This leads to a succession of misunderstandings and "foot-in-mouth" situations, and the dynamic continues right up to the end of the series.

Second, there is the "other fiancee" situation. One of Ranma's many fiancees shows up in Disc Four, and Ranma quickly develops several rivals that dog him for the entire season. Much of the story is often centered around the attempts by these rivals to find a new way to defeat Ranma.

Third, there is a great deal of soft-core female nudity in the anime. No genitalia, but you get frequent shots of teenage girls' breasts, particularly those of female Ranma, as well as occasionally buttocks shots. This did not bother me, but it might be more problematic for some younger viewers whose parents disapprove of this.

Fourth, and very importantly, Ranma is a HIGHLY episodic show and series. This means that most of the show consists of "one-time" plots that end with the episode, and there is little indication of progression in time within the series other than the appearance of some new characters, and Ranma's acquisition of some new techniques. There are four larger story arcs that appear in the series, but none of these constitute even a significant fraction of the overall series, and none of them are in the first volume.

If you find this humorous (and the series often is quite amusing), I strongly suggest you buy this."