Ranma 1/2 36
Posted: November 22, 2006 Filed under: Ranma 1/2 24 Comments »I said I would say something about the last volume, but I’m not going to. This was actually my first graphic novel (my very first manga series goes to another contender, in individual issue form), so it’s sad to see it end after all these years. I was a bit disappointed by the promised letter from Rumiko Takahashi, it’s really more like two sentences. But the feeling was there, I suppose.
It was surprisingly hard to read the conclusion. There were no jokes. It was all played completely seriously, and the final battle was quite epic. There were genuine feelings for Akane, and she put her life in danger, for real, several times. She was also… somewhat altered, which was kind of cool. For some reason, I was kind of disappointed by the final battle between Ranma and Saffron. Saffron wasn’t as good a character as some of the other contenders in the past, but I still really like the mythology for the Phoenix people, and I also really liked the explanation behind the Jusenkyo stuff.
The last chapter… the “wedding”… was also somewhat disappointing. Do you remember the end of the third Urusei Yatsura movie where there’s a long string of series-specific gags, even those that didn’t make sense, to let you know that everything was cool again? That was a much better scene of that nature. But I suppose what we got will do.
I still don’t like Ranma/Akane that much, but it’s hard to ignore after this volume. THINGS were said, after all. I was even a little touched by them, and I wound up liking the last page a lot.
So now I’m done with that.
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When I first encountered Ranma 1/2, over a decade ago, I was ensnared immediately and laughed throughtout much of the series.
By the time I was able to read the full series…I had series doubts about Ms. Takahashi’s sanity and views on relationships.
I found the final volume, particularly the wedding fiasco, to be nothing more than a ‘quick fix’ ending.
A romantic comedy? Comedy, yes, in the beginning. Then it just became an exercise in sadism, directed towards Ranma. Romance? Where?
A ‘sex’ comedy? Only where gender was concerned, really, in my opinion.
Ranma and Akane love each other? Nothing in the series really supported this, as there was never any trust of Ranma exhibited by Akane; just the reverse. And without trust, love simply cannot exist. And I seriously doubt that Ranma even had a clue as to what love actually was when he made his so-called ‘declaration’.
Spring of Drowned Man water can cure Ranma? Funny, if that was the case, why didn’t the Jusenkyo Guide offer it to the Saotomes when they’d first become cursed, or told them how long it would be before it would work. Nope, when specifically asked if he knew of a cure, the Guide flat out said he didn’t know of one. Suddenly, at the end of the series, he sends the supposed cure which was literally in his backyard? Nope, don’t buy it.
The reason I found the ending so dissatisfying, like many others, was due to Ms. Takahashi’s apparent lack of interest in maintaining story continuity and a completely unresolved and unsubstantiated relationship plot.
Yeah, I never really understood the “sex comedy” label this series got as it never really matured much past hand-holding, at least in any serious way. I also had to suspend disbelief about the “spring of drowned man” for the reason you mentioned, but admittedly there would need to be a cure somehow, and that made for some pretty funny situations.
Her endings SUCK though, yeah. Urusei Yatsura ended in much the same inconclusive way, where the main relationship still wasn’t resolved and the story stayed true to its episodic, no-plot-development nature. The only other series I’ve read from her, Mermaid Saga, just doesn’t have an ending, which is unfortunate because I think that one is probably her best work.
I agree with a lot of what you said. Thanks for the thoughtful comment about the end of the series.
even i don’t believe much of that crap or the spring of the drowned one, and i don’t like very much the ending too, though i have to say that their romance will actually come out in a marriage! though the author will not show it (deluding i know), the end scene is clear, the marriage will be postponed…but for a little while! this means they will actually get married!!
It is heavily implied that the marriage will happen eventually, but I think it’s not shown so that people who liked Ukyo and Shampoo can imagine that it never takes place and that they eventually wind up/do not wind up with Ranma. It’s pretty clear that Akane is the one he likes by the end of the series, so I was still a little mad that they didn’t actually get married in this volume.
After 6 years of collecting and reading Ranma 1/2, I finally looked up Volume 36 online and found out that Ranma and Akane don’t get married. It’s kinda pathetic, but I was practically devastated. Maybe I should have known from the beginning that it was martial-arts comedy more than romance, but all I was looking forward to was their wedding. I am SO bummed. I feel like I wasted so much time and money. Is it really true they don’t get married? Do they even kiss?? I gathered that they don’t even confess their love to one another!! How unfulfilling is that! I have half a mind to write Ms. Takahashi and demand a wedding. Silly, I know. But I’m sure people have thought of that already. Did you just get over it, or does the anime give a wedding, perchance?
Actually, I think the anime is rather incomplete. I don’t believe it even gets to the Phoenix Mountain stories at the end of the manga. It is true they don’t get married. They do, er, sorta confess their love, but if I remember right, Ranma might not get the full phrase out of his mouth in the end, and Akane may be incapacitated when he says it, or he may say it in his head… something like that.
Urusei Yatsura is the same way. You read the entire series waiting for Ataru and Lum to hook up, and then they never do. Urusei Yatsura has a slightly more satisfying ending, though. I’m always sad when a series has to end without a choice in romantic pairings. I think it may have something to do with reader opinion, where people who prefer the main characters with an alternate couple (like Ranma and Shampoo, or… I don’t know, Ataru and Shinobu) can just pretend the series continues with that conclusion, or something like that.
Oh, that’s too bad. I was really looking forward to some kind of definite conclusion. Thanks for responding so quickly anyways. Ranma 1/2 was my first graphic novel as well, so naturally I’m disappointed, but I’ll get over it. I’m undecided whether or not I should keep buying and reading them though…I’m still only on Volume 20, and it doesn’t feel like it’s worth it anymore.
There’s some good stuff mixed in, but I don’t think you’d be terribly lost if you skipped to the last story arc. I can’t remember if it’s one or two volumes long. The stuff in the middle is funny but forgettable (with the exception of Ranma’s mother, if you haven’t gotten that far yet), but the last story is pretty intense and serious, especially for Ranma 1/2.
Well thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. :]
Actually the anime seems to finish around volume 30 from manga series. There are many plots with Hinako sensei and Pantyhose Tarou that doesn’t even appear on the anime. Don’t even mention the “wedding scene”. I’m a little disappointed also with the ending of the manga (although the anime ending – if one canssay that, is far more frustrating). In other hand, for me is clear Ranma’s preference for Akane. He’s just too shy to admit his love, and I guess it has something to do with Japanese way of life.
That’s my impression of the history.
Thanks for that, I’ve always wondered about how far the anime got in the manga. I’ve not seen that much of the anime, though I’ve always meant to go back for the movie/OAV boxset. I didn’t think Pantyhose Tarou made it into the anime at all, actually, and now I may just track down the parts with him in it. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any of the anime at all.
For what it’s worth, I was also disappointed because this is exactly the same way her other series, Urusei Yatsura, ended – with the couple that antagonized each other the entire way through the series thrown into a situation where they would inevitably wind up together, and then worming their way out of it in a big all-cast gag at the end. I was just disappointed Takahashi would use that ending twice in a row.
I was struck by how Inuyasha-esque this last arc was…up to and including the bike ride with Plum in the basket.
I was also struck by how much the ‘villain’ had a much better motive than Ranma. He was trying to save his entire civilization…Ranma just wanted his package back on a permanent basis.
The seriousness came out of nowhere, but I kind of liked it…and continuity has never been Takahashi’s strongpoint.
True, I never really thought about that. They just sort of ride into Phoenix Mountain and take out that whole civilization in order to get the hot springs back, don’t they? It’s been so long since I read it, I can’t remember how it came to be that Akane got kidnapped. They are written to be pretty evil guys, but you’re right about the motives.
True, I’ve always kind of wished for continuity in Takahashi’s stories though, or at least a reward of continuity for an ending. I’ve not read Inu-Yasha, but I assume there’s a lot more continuity in that series (the whole Shikon Jewel thing) than there are in any of the ones I’ve read. I think there’s probably at least some continuity in Maison Ikkoku too, but I also haven’t read more than the first volume of that.
I haven’t seen Urusei Yatsura, the other anime series I’ve watched were Rurouni Kenshin and Hikaru no Go (sure, not from Takahashi). The Ranma anime series were well done, I think, the problem really was that they were even less conclusive than the Manga. Hikaru was conclusive, but had a shorter ending as the manga. That’s why I usually watch the anime before, and then go for the manga!
In some ways its the same as Tsubasa Chronicles…the jewel provides the motivation for moving from one end of japan to another and as power-ups for the villain du jour. The mythology woven into it was interesting, and as i’ve said the tone is similar to this bit of Ranma.
…but she stagnated into villain of the week for quite a while, eventually did some really interesting things with the jewel concept…and then ended it abruptly in favor of Rin-ne.
Hikaru no Go is kind of funny, because there’s a point where the manga should have stopped, and then it kept going anyway. Pretty much everything after Izumi’s quest to find himself to the end, where it literally just stops, feels like it was just extra. Where does the anime stop in comparison to the manga? I think I asked someone this before, but I can never remember.
I think there was an issue with the Ranma anime, like they animated the last season thinking there would be another and then it never got made? Someone might have mentioned it somewhere in my comments already. I know the anime has a complete lack of closure.
You’re the opposite of me, though, I can’t watch an anime until I’ve read the manga because I just know that there’s a bunch of stuff I’m missing out on and absolutely have to know about. Actually, I usually only watch anime when I really, really, really like the manga it’s based on. I think the only three series I’ve watched over the past three years are Paradise Kiss, Hellsing, and Tenjho Tenge.
Ahh. I’ve always wondered how that worked. How abrupt was the ending, just out of curiosity?
In which volume Izumi’s quest starts, do you know?
Me, too. I usually prefer reading the book or manga that the anime/movie is based on before watching.
You mean, Hikaru’s or Ranma’s ending?
Hikaru ends before they go to that cup against korea and china (I didn’t read the manga), the last match is the last Hikaru’s match to join the national team. They just report that the Cup will happen and it ends …
Ranma ends a normal episody just when it finishes, akane is staring to nowhere … Ranma comes and tells her that they’re late to school.. then they say “sayonara” (or something like that) and it ends with the same image that it ends on manga.
Very disappointing.
I believe Izumi goes on his quest in… volume 16 or 17, actually. The parts after that aren’t bad, but it does end in the middle of something, and there’s a really, really good stopping place right before the Izumi storyline.
Yeah, I was pretty sure I’d heard the Ranma anime had literally no ending at all. But thanks for letting me know about Hikaru no Go. I don’t think the manga goes on for much longer after that point… I know they play most or all of the tournament with the Korean and Chinese teams, but I can’t remember if it stops towards the end of that, or stops unexpectedly right after.
Actually, by Takahashi standards, not terrible.
She sets up a Final Epic Battle for 40 or so chapters that never happens…which thematically makes sense. I’m not sure if it would’ve felt like a cop out if I’d read it as a collected volume, because usually I like that sort of twist.
Unfortunately made the heroine a middle schooler, so she the flashes forward several years via the conversations of supporting characters. You’re told the principles live Happily Ever After, but the closest you ever get to *seeing* it is an overhead splash page that encourages you to read her brand new series coming soon (Rin-ne).
Actually, I like those kinds of twists too, if they’re done properly. I also really like it when series kill off the main character. Having it build up to a battle that doesn’t take place is actually kind of a cool way of dealing with such a long series, but then again, I guess it could also be seen as a cop-out, as you mention, like some of her other endings were. Of course, I haven’t read it, so I can’t judge.
Thanks for letting me know, though.