And the last Takahashi show. Various Martial Artists fall into various cursed springs causing temperature and water dependant transmutations. Mildly hilarious romantic and combat antics ensue.
Here's the thing. It's often noted that Yawara, A Fashionable Judo Girl ran alongside Ranma and at the time beat it in the ratings. And yet Yawara does not show up in these top 100 charts. Odd.
Ranma is probably exhibit A for the prosecution when it comes to various accusations leveled at Takahashi's longform work.
These tend to be:
- Reusing ideas
- Running a series longer than it's natural lifespan
- Not having a proper ending.
The central relationship in Ranma is pretty much the what the central relationship in Urusei Yatsura was meant to be had Lum not become a fan favourite. Shampoo plays the role of alien usurper to the Ranma and Akane's relationship in the same way Lum did originally. The problem in UY was that Lum was introduced at the very start and so the Ataru/Shinobu relationship had not had anytime to develop.
Also the relationship twixt Ranma & Genma is pretty much a reiteration of the one between Ryuunsuke & her father from UY.
The other two points are self explanatory.
Cumbersome transition time!
There's a set of western anime fans for who Ranma is the shit.
A number of series over the years which tend to generate a set of fans for who that anime series is the ONLY series that matters. The original Bubblegum Crisis is another one. The popularity of the Gerard Jones scripted, flipped Viz releases in the mid nineties was an early success for the publisher, even though it probably looks small time compared to the current manga market. But it did quite well in the superhero dominated direct market, with the VHS release of the TV series following at the usual exorbitant Viz prices. But the rabid Ranma fan-core lapped it all up. But all good things come to an end and the Pokemon inspired influx of new blood and the aesthetic shift that digital animation process wraught removed Ranma from it's place at the front of the US anime & manga vanguard.