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lisafer 's review for:
Ranma 1/2, Vol. 18
by Rumiko Takahashi
Volume 18
This volume begins with one of my favorite arcs. It’s no surprise to anyone who reads these reviews that Akane is my favorite character in all of Ranma, so any story that delves into the Ranma-Ryoga rivalry is going to be fun, since Akane plays a bit part in their emotional lives. This one is no different.
Ryoga sends Ranma a challenge letter, per usual, because he’s learned a new technique to defeat him. It turns out it’s a crazy ki blast (shishi hokodan) that feeds off of his depressed feelings. Because of this, Ranma has trouble replicating it. Ryoga reveals that he has a scroll and hasn’t even unlocked its final form, but later in the bathhouse, he’s reading it and admits that he can’t make sense of the final instruction (an arrow pointing down).
Ranma manages to create a ki blast when he realizes that Ryoga really is going to defeat him. This enables him to put two and two together, and he begins focusing on an emotion that comes more naturally to him. Meanwhile, Cologne tells Akane that horrible things happen when someone masters the shishi hokodan. Akane asks Ryogo if he’s really going to fight Ranma, and to fuel himself he asks Akane to tell him that she hates him – she does, confused.
Ranma and Ryoga fight, and Ranma struts and counters with his own Moko Takabisha, a ki blast rooted in confidence. This allows Ryoga to unlock the final form, which leaves a massive crater in the ground below him. Akane realizes that what she said hurt his feelings, and she rushes up to insist that she only said it because he told her to, really she hoped they stay friends forever. This naturally depresses Ryoga even further. Ranma realizes that when Ryoga unleashes his blast, he’s so emotionally drained that it doesn’t affect him, so he decides to rile up other emotions, pretending to point out Akane’s underwear, and telling Ryoga that Akane lets him kiss her. This has the desired effect, and the next shishi hokodan blasts them both, but Ranma remains standing.
The next story harkens back to the ghost cat (Mao Mo Lin) who wanted to marry Shampoo. Now he has lured her to an abandoned temple (via food delivery order) and cursed her so that if she leaves the temple, she will be a cat forever – unless she can get a kiss from her true love before the 108th bell of the new year. Of course, she calls for Ranma’s aid, and he and Akane work on a plan to help. (Mousse, also, wants to help but is more of a barrier.) The cat ghost tries to sabotage this, dumping cat nip on Ranma, but the plan goes pretty well when Akane uses a cat toy to distract the ghost. However, she gets upset when Ranma “looks like he’s enjoying” the moment he and Shampoo are about to kiss. Everything is falling apart, and on the 108th bell Shampoo turns into a cat, but leaps through the bars of her cage to attack neko-ken Ranma and kiss him. I like this story because it shows that 1. Shampoo is really in love with Ranma, 2. Ranma does NOT want to kiss Shampoo, but 3. Will do it to save her life, and Akane is in agreement (though she doesn’t want him to like it).
Keeping up with the ghost theme, the next story is of a sickly elderly man who has been astrally projecting dreams of his first love into Ranma’s head. His grandson shows up to ask Ranma to go on a date with the old man, to fulfill a dream of his youth (because Ranma, in girl form, looks just like his love). Ranma agrees, and goes on a pretty weird date. The old man asks her to fulfill their promise, which is to elope if the plum tree blossoms are in bloom (unlike what happened when he was young, and the blossoms weren’t). They are, but Ranma still nopes out. And then it’s revealed that his wife IS the love of his youth, and they eloped anyway. The man recovers his illness, and then continues to troll Ranma because he’s just starting to lose his mind.
And the volume closes with a story about the Kunos and their infatuation with Ranma. Tatewaki uses Kodachi’s oversized photo of female-Ranma for kendo practice, so she steals his album of risqué photos of female-Ranma. This leads to a prolonged fight between the two of them, and Ranma gets involved because he wants those risqué photos. Ultimately he gets Tatewaki to apologize to his sister by knocking him out and being a puppet-master. But he doesn’t manage to snag the photo album.
Overall, not a terrible volume. The only story I was really interested in was the first, but the others weren't horrible. ^_^
This volume begins with one of my favorite arcs. It’s no surprise to anyone who reads these reviews that Akane is my favorite character in all of Ranma, so any story that delves into the Ranma-Ryoga rivalry is going to be fun, since Akane plays a bit part in their emotional lives. This one is no different.
Ryoga sends Ranma a challenge letter, per usual, because he’s learned a new technique to defeat him. It turns out it’s a crazy ki blast (shishi hokodan) that feeds off of his depressed feelings. Because of this, Ranma has trouble replicating it. Ryoga reveals that he has a scroll and hasn’t even unlocked its final form, but later in the bathhouse, he’s reading it and admits that he can’t make sense of the final instruction (an arrow pointing down).
Ranma manages to create a ki blast when he realizes that Ryoga really is going to defeat him. This enables him to put two and two together, and he begins focusing on an emotion that comes more naturally to him. Meanwhile, Cologne tells Akane that horrible things happen when someone masters the shishi hokodan. Akane asks Ryogo if he’s really going to fight Ranma, and to fuel himself he asks Akane to tell him that she hates him – she does, confused.
Ranma and Ryoga fight, and Ranma struts and counters with his own Moko Takabisha, a ki blast rooted in confidence. This allows Ryoga to unlock the final form, which leaves a massive crater in the ground below him. Akane realizes that what she said hurt his feelings, and she rushes up to insist that she only said it because he told her to, really she hoped they stay friends forever. This naturally depresses Ryoga even further. Ranma realizes that when Ryoga unleashes his blast, he’s so emotionally drained that it doesn’t affect him, so he decides to rile up other emotions, pretending to point out Akane’s underwear, and telling Ryoga that Akane lets him kiss her. This has the desired effect, and the next shishi hokodan blasts them both, but Ranma remains standing.
The next story harkens back to the ghost cat (Mao Mo Lin) who wanted to marry Shampoo. Now he has lured her to an abandoned temple (via food delivery order) and cursed her so that if she leaves the temple, she will be a cat forever – unless she can get a kiss from her true love before the 108th bell of the new year. Of course, she calls for Ranma’s aid, and he and Akane work on a plan to help. (Mousse, also, wants to help but is more of a barrier.) The cat ghost tries to sabotage this, dumping cat nip on Ranma, but the plan goes pretty well when Akane uses a cat toy to distract the ghost. However, she gets upset when Ranma “looks like he’s enjoying” the moment he and Shampoo are about to kiss. Everything is falling apart, and on the 108th bell Shampoo turns into a cat, but leaps through the bars of her cage to attack neko-ken Ranma and kiss him. I like this story because it shows that 1. Shampoo is really in love with Ranma, 2. Ranma does NOT want to kiss Shampoo, but 3. Will do it to save her life, and Akane is in agreement (though she doesn’t want him to like it).
Keeping up with the ghost theme, the next story is of a sickly elderly man who has been astrally projecting dreams of his first love into Ranma’s head. His grandson shows up to ask Ranma to go on a date with the old man, to fulfill a dream of his youth (because Ranma, in girl form, looks just like his love). Ranma agrees, and goes on a pretty weird date. The old man asks her to fulfill their promise, which is to elope if the plum tree blossoms are in bloom (unlike what happened when he was young, and the blossoms weren’t). They are, but Ranma still nopes out. And then it’s revealed that his wife IS the love of his youth, and they eloped anyway. The man recovers his illness, and then continues to troll Ranma because he’s just starting to lose his mind.
And the volume closes with a story about the Kunos and their infatuation with Ranma. Tatewaki uses Kodachi’s oversized photo of female-Ranma for kendo practice, so she steals his album of risqué photos of female-Ranma. This leads to a prolonged fight between the two of them, and Ranma gets involved because he wants those risqué photos. Ultimately he gets Tatewaki to apologize to his sister by knocking him out and being a puppet-master. But he doesn’t manage to snag the photo album.
Overall, not a terrible volume. The only story I was really interested in was the first, but the others weren't horrible. ^_^