Amazon.com

At the end of its seventh season, the Ranma?1/2 broadcast series concluded with its 161st episode. Although the filmmakers’ imaginations were clearly flagging at times, this final collection offers very funny and oddly touching moments. The gentler side of the characters emerges in “Run Away with Me,” as an old man revisits his lost youth with girl-type Ranma. “Meet You in the Milky Way” plays off the Asian sky myth of the Weaver Princess and the Cowherd. Princess Ori and Kengyu the herder visit Earth as martial artists, although the story may be a dream of Akane’s. In “Mushroom Temple,” Ranma and Akane inadvertently eat “love mushrooms”–and decide to marry. The perpetually quarreling duo addressing each other as “pretty baby” and “honey” may set a new standard for improbable humor, although Kuno, Ryoga, and Mousse turn their love feast into a free-for-all. More typical are the slapstick incidents: ghost cat Mao Mo Lin busts up a seaside beauty pageant and falls for Tsubasa, not recognizing his true gender. Nabiki and Sasuke sell scandalous photographs of “the pigtailed girl” to Kuno. Ryoga discovers the “Lion Roar Blast” technique, which grows more powerful as the practitioner grows more depressed, forcing him and Ranma to stage a misery contest. Rumiko Takahashi’s Ranma 1/2 ranks among the undisputed classics of anime, and few animated series can match the chaotic hilarity of its more inspired moments. (Rated 13 and older: brief nudity, risque humor, slapstick violence) –Charles Solomon

Product Description

For poor Ranma Saotome even a normal day is unbelievably strange. Due to an accident at a cursed Chinese training ground, when martial artists Ranma and his father Genma get splashed with cold water, dad turns into a giant panda, and male Ranma becomes a buxom young girl! RANMA FOREVER! Ranma ?, one of the most acclaimed and recognized anime series on the market! From the creator of InuYasha and Maison Ikkoku. Ranma Forever is the seventh and final season of martial arts adventures. The martial arts madness never stops with 24 more TV episodes of comedy, romance and mayhem!