Ranma ½
Ranma Forever:
Rock-A-Bye Ranma
Reviewed by:
Keith Trudeau (December 20, 2002)
#1: "The Cradle From Hell": Any faitheful manga reader will remember
this one. Genma finally realizes Ranma has surpassed him in martial
arts ability, and Ranma takes his revenge. An enraged Genma then challenges
Ranma in a real match, unleashing his "Cradle from Hell" on him. Ranma
is, to say the least, VERY terrifying.
The episode was faithful to the manga, and I felt it was well-done
considering the alloted time slot. The English dub made it clear to
me that Viz has COMPLETELY taken off the wraps. Richard Cox and Angela
Costain (Nabiki) really let loose, but for the better. Both of them
were VERY funny with their one-liners. There is even a scene of the
cast watching "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." Ah well, there's always
the Japanese dub for those of you who dont like it.
#2: "Madame St. Paul's Cry for Help": Picolet Chardin is eating less,
(well, for him) and Mme St. Paul enlists the help of Ranma and Akane.
The initial theory is that Picolet has gone vampire, which adds a
rare feeling of suspense in the episode. Akane also gets to play the
kick-ass heroine, which is quite a surprise. I find Picolet even MORE
disgusting after watching this episode, but watching Akane become
the couragous martial arts goddess we all know she CAN be, was well
worth it to me.
#3: "Meet You in the Milky Way": As the Tendo household gets ready
for the "Tanabata" festival of love, they are visited by Ori, the
apparent priestess of the festival (sorry I dont know the legend),
right out of the stars. However, she quickly loses her charm when
it becomes apparent that she is even LESS skilled in home economics
than Akane. Ranma, meanwhile, gets a visit (and a beating) from Kengyu,
Ori's boyfriend and arranged fiancee (sounds familiar, I know). To
make a long story short, Ori and Kengyu are Ranma and Akane clones.
In order to make Kengyu go back to Ori, Ranma defeats him and his
"secret" technique, which was pretty obvious from the beginning. The
story touches off a very good ep with a WAFFy moment from Ranma and
Akane.
I'd like to make it clear that Richard Cox has now SURPASSED Sarah
strange with this edition. He's gotten a feel for Ranma that I'm not
used to hearing. Too bad it took him this long to get it down, there
are only 13 eps remaining.
I usually don't get worked up over DVDs with no epic stories, but
this was certainly an exception. I was VERY into this DVD, and I'd
put it second as of now to "Depths of Despair." Well worth the $20.
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