Anime DVD

Rare Ranma 1/2 manga #15 out of 38 published monthly by Shonen Comics from 1988 through 1996. Published in Japan, these mangas are nearly impossible to find in the United States. A must have for any anime fan! Japanese text.

Since its debut in the manga weekly “Shônen Sunday Comics” in 1988 and as an anime series a year later, Rumiko Takahashi’s gender-bending comedy Ranma 1/2 has been a popular favorite in both Japan and the United States. The first OAV episodes make it easy to understand why: the stories blend outrageous physical comedy, absurd situations, and likable, obtuse characters with just enough sentiment to keep the humor from becoming mean-spirited. Ryota Yamaguchi’s screenplays push the nutty situations to the maximum, and director Junji Nishimura keeps the action moving. School blowhard Kuno hatches a phoenix that looks more like an outsized marshmallow Easter chick than the noble bird of legend: it imprints on Ranma, causing no end of trouble. An enchanted brooch produces 180-degree revolutions in the emotions of Shampoo, the Chinese girl. When she wears the pin right-side up, she chases Ranma harder than ever; when she wears it upside-down, she detests him with equal fervor. A demon escapes after 300 years of imprisonment and possesses members of the cast: Ranma and Ryoga use their martial arts skills to bombard the monster with charms that would recapture it–if they had spelled the magic formula correctly. The filmmakers balance these absurdities with gentle moments that anchor the character relationships. When Akane knits a scarf for Ranma in “Tendo Family Christmas,” it looks like it’s been attacked by a flock of voracious moths. He happily dons it and hands her a gift he bought with money borrowed from her venal sister Nabiki. Not realizing that Akane’s spirit has been trapped in an enchanted doll, Ranma holds it and reflects on the things that make her attractive to him. The warm moments play against the exaggerated slapstick–when Akane punches Ranma, he literally goes flying–and vice versa. Ranma fans will want this three-disc set in their libraries; newcomers will find it an excellent introduction to one of the best-loved anime series of all time. Not rated; suitable for ages 12 and up: minor nudity and cartoon violence. –Charles Solomon

Includes 12 original video episodes. Romance, comedy, martial arts mayhem, multiple personality changes, devilish dolls, haunted caves, magical phoenixes, evil ogres, legendary monsters and more! Special features include: Bilingual (English & Japanese), English Subtitles, Scene Access, Character Profiles & Info, Music Videos, and Trailer.

Incredible original Ranma 1/2 comic printed by Shonen Comics in the 90’s. Written in Japanese, this paperback book represents the best in Japanese anime. A must have for any true anime fan!

Incredible Japanese edition of Ranma 1/2 from two decades ago. A must have for any anime fan. Nearly impossible to find in the U.S.

Desperate to get Akane’s attention and affection, the new kid at school, Hik aru Gosunkugi, resorts to buying magical paper dolls that will make anyone follow a single command with surprising results. Then, a child named after a mind-reading supernatural c reature from a fairy tale meets Ryoga in the deep woods. After hearing about Akane, he he ads out to see what kind of girl she is and falls instantly in love! And, fed up with Ran ma’s insolence, Happosai resorts to using a mystical pill that’s supposed to make any disc iple instantly subservient. Trouble is, Happosai neglects to read the instructions and fi nds out too late that he and Ranma will be physically attached to each other… and unless they get separated soon, they’ll be stuck together forever!

Magic and the supernatural dominate these misadventures. Mao Mo Lin, the feline specter from “My Fiancé, the Cat,” returns, determined to wed Shampoo. Ranma is forced to face the one thing he fears: cats. The rarely seen gentle side of the gender-bending hero emerges in “Run Away with Me,” as an eerie old man revisits his lost youth with girl-type Ranma. The “Mushroom Temple” adventure ranks as one of the zaniest in the series: Ranma and Akane inadvertently eat “love mushrooms”–and decide to marry. The love feast degenerates into a smackdown when Kuno, Ryoga, and Mousse butt in. Things eventually get sorted out–as much as anything ever gets sorted out in this nutty series. But the perpetually quarreling Ranma and Akane addressing each other as “pretty baby” and “honey” sets a new standard for improbability. (Unrated: suitable for ages 12 and older: slapstick violence, alcohol use, mild risqué humor) –Charles Solomon

Original Japanese Ranma manga from over a decade ago. Get a piece of anime history while you still can!

It’s just another day at the Tendo Anything-Goes Martial Arts Training Hall – that is, until a strange girl named Lychee and her giant elephant Jasmine arrive to settle a score with lecherous martial arts master Happosai. Apparently, a very long time ago, Happosai gave Lychee’s great-grandmother half of a legendary scroll guaranteed to bring happiness to whoever was holding it. The women of Lychee’s family have been waiting for three generations now, and the prince STILL hasn’t come – but of course, the moment Lychee lets the scroll out of her hands, the prince finally appears. Only now it’s Ranma’s reluctant fiancée Akane that’s holding the scroll, and the long-awaited prince is only too ready to sweep his lucky bride off her feet. Now Ranma & Co. have no choice but to follow Prince Kirin’s majestic flying barge all the way to Nekonron, China, where they find themselves in a showdown with the Seven Lucky Gods of martial arts!

In the last volume, Back to the Way We Were… Please, a peddler offers Ranma, Ryoga, and Mousse the answer to their prayers: a powder that will reverse the curse of the Spring of the Drowned Man that causes them to transform into a girl, pig, and duck, respectively. They buy three envelopes of powder, only to discover the labels are missing. One envelope contains the magic antidote; the other two are unknown substances, and bathing in them could produce horrific results. The efforts of the trio to figure out whose envelope is whose and which one contains the curse-ending philter provide the special brand of slapstick comedy that has made Ranma 1/2 an international hit. Typical insanity reigns in the other two episodes. Ranma wanders into a deserted corridor of Furinken High and stumbles across a strange old man who guards a dark secret about the school’s nutty principal in “The Secret Don of Furinken High.” The filmmakers spoof the look of historical manga to depict the old geezer’s tangled memories and fantasies. In the third episode, an argument over a batch of stolen candy escalates into Genma disinheriting his son. But if he does, what happens to the fractious “engagement” between Ranma and Akane? Things eventually get sorted out, but there’s no way any situation in Ranma could be described as “back to normal.” Not rated; suitable for ages 12 up: slapstick violence. –Charles Solomon

Ranma runs into a shady man who runs a secret black market store on Furinkan High’s campus! Principal Kuno wants him off the grounds, but this is one feisty merchant that won’t go without a fight. Then, Ranma, Ryoga and Mousse travel into the mountains in search of the legendary Spring of Drowned Man in an attempt to restore their original forms. Will the three martial artists be successful, or will paranoia tear them apart? Plus, what is Genma thinking when he names Ryoga as the interior of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts!?

Ranma 1/2 Random Rhapsody Vol. 2 – The Way We’re Not (Contains 3 episodes)

In the two-part title episode, Happosai gets an overdue comeuppance when Akane is kidnapped by a Minotaur-like monster. Happosai once bathed a baby in the most cursed of the springs at Jusenkyo–the one in which a yeti riding an ox carrying a crane carrying an eel drowned–hence this bizarre creature. But there are worse fates than turning into a monster, as Ranma and the gang discover. Purloined underwear from a girls’ dorm saves Ranma and Akane–and undoes the lecherous old man. Sentaro, the terrible jinx who rivals even Joe Btfsplk in “Li’l Abner,” reappears, and disaster inevitably follows. The fate of the Daimonji School of Martial-Art Tea Ceremony hangs in the balance as Ranma and Akane help find his missing grandmother. It’s all very silly–even by Ranma’s freewheeling standards–but very funny. Not rated; suitable for ages 12 and up: Slapstick violence, mild risqué humor. –Charles Solomon

The visitor’s log at the cursed springs of Jusenkyo has been stolen by someone… or something. Now all the people who’ve visited Jusenkyo in the past are systematically being attacked! Ranma and the others at the Tendo Dojo prepare for battle while trying to figure out why someone would be after them. Who will be the next victim of this mysterious enemy? Contains 3 episodes: “The Demon from Jusenkyo, Part I”

“The Demon from Jusenkyo, Part II”

“The Missing Matriarch of Martial Arts Tea” The longest running anime series in North America is now on DVD – with and extra episode for the same price! All-new episodes by fan-favorite Rumiko Takahashi, the most popular female manga artist in the world! A new release every month through January 2002! Over 1,000,000 impressions in a core market print campaign, plus extensive coverage in Animerica, the most popular anime magazine in the U.S. Bilingual DVD (English and Japanese) with optional English subtitles.