Ranma ep 1.2: "School's No Place For Horsing Around!"

Summary | Dub & Animation | Notes & Comments | Screencaps

Animation (1 to 5):
I'll say a three, though it's still miles above what they started doing in later seasons. Probably I should be nice and give it a four, but a three I stick with; most of the good stuff comes in the facial closeups or gag takes, rather than fluid and consistent animation throughout. They are on model, though, and the gag takes are often priceless.

Dub (1 to 5):
I feel like this one slipped a bit from the first ep, actually. I'm giving it a 2; the characters are still flat, and in some cases, even more than they were before. The only thing saving it from entire dullness is Ted Cole, and at times, Angela Costain; the Nabiki/Kuno scenes are just awesome. Ted Cole in general, however - well, he's given a great character, and he takes to him like a duck to water. Whoever came up with the idea of having Kuno spout Shakespeare everywhere was just inspired :D

• Brigitta Dau: Erk, she has not gotten better. Even her reading of the title was... blaaah. Which as I said is too bad, 'cause the sound of her voice is closer to the character (IMO) than Venus Terzo's later work.
• Funny thing - Angela Costain brings more Nabiki snark to the character than the Japanese version of this does. She certainly (barring the opening scene) seems more peppy and cute in this ep than in later ones, but Angela has a lot of sarcasm just dripping in her voice. Even when she's being friendly, it's kind of like a friendly, smiling cobra. *G*
• Miriam Syrois is pretty good in this one, actually; one thing she does really well is the little "hm?!" when she's annoyed by something Ranma says. It's almost a "huh", not the usual anime "hm?" filler noise; it's really cute. (okay. so I have a girlcrush on Akane. Like I've made it a secret til now.) Anyway, the only time I really think she underplays Akane is when she's reflecting on Kuno's proclamation near the end; Akane's expression changes from irritated to sort of gentler, but Miriam doesn't change her voice to fit it. Her loss, there. ;)
• Sara has one or two really good line readings in this ep (notably "Oh, I don't know, maybe... then again, maybe not" after fighting Kuno), but for the most part her boy!Ranma comes off as kinda whiny and petulant. And Sara - sweetie - learn how to pronounce "Kuno", will ya!?
• This ep changes a number of things in little ways... mostly just pointless little tweaks to lines (some of them funny and some... huh?), but in a couple of scenes they keep the same lines but change the tone in which they're said. Most notable of this is when they go to Dr. Tofu's; in Japanese, Ranma and Akane sound pretty casual ("it's okay, don't bother" "Well, you can't go to school as a girl..."), whereas in English they actually both sound kinda irritated. It also puts more admiration into Ranma's observation of Akane while she's fighting; in the Japanese one he's just trying to figure out what's going on, but in English they present it so that he's really impressed with her fighting skills. Guess which version I prefer. ^_~
• And oddly enough - though this is the same in Japanese - towards the end when they're talking about boys fighting girls, they're speaking so softly that it comes out as intimate and almost like they're flirting. "I don't fight girls... not even you... Akane."
• Best delivery in English over Japanese: "nonononono!" when trying to shush Kuno about the engagement :D
• Ted Cole: MWAH! You are the man! :D I do love Kuno in Japanese, too - noooobody says "OOHH! Tendo Akane!" so well - but oh, he really gets the best lines and wrings the best deliveries out of them. The scenes with Kuno and Nabiki are always, always priceless; I know there was never intended to actually be a relationship between them, but c'mon, they have so much UST. "I despise you." "I'm so glad" - in Japanese that's actually almost sexy. It's nearly as good in English, too: "You realize I hate you." "Ooh, I'm so scared." Those two just get better and better as time goes by.

Translation liberties:
Well, the Shakespeare, obviously. For the record, what Kuno is originally quoting in Japanese is from the "Heike Monogatori" ("The Heike Tales"), an epic poem about the 12th Century war between the Heike and Genji clans. It's likened to "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey". He quotes the opening lines, about the tolling of the bells at the temple of Gion; the whole passage is about the impermanence of man. I can't really quite figure out why, precisely, those lines are quoted in relation to what's going on in that scene, except that Kuno likes drama, and that the poem itself relates to warfare.

The Shakespeare passage it's replaced with - "But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd/Than that which withering on the virgin thorn/Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness" - is from "A Midsummer Night's Dream". I have no ear for the Bard, and but have consulted with Kawcrow, who is an English major and has love for the Shakespeare, and she informed me of exactly how funny this is. *eg* Context is that Hermia loves Lysander, but her father wishes her to marry someone else. Her father then consults with Theseus to get him to make Hermia do what HE wants her to do; Hermia asks her options, and is told she can either marry her father's choice, be put to death, or become a nun.

THESEUS:
Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires;
Know of your youth, examine well your blood,
Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,
You can endure the livery of a nun,
For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd,
To live a barren sister all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
Thrice-blessed they that master so their blood,
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;
But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd,
Than that which withering on the virgin thorn
Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness.

K: "ghetto-translation: Theseus is like, 'Props to the nuns and all, but it is so sad to think of you as a virgin for the rest of your life, because celibacy is no fun at all.' A rose was very commonly used during the time as a metaphor for a woman's virginity and/or vagina, which is how Theseus is using it here. And Hermia is like, 'I'm going to DIE A VIRGIN before I marry somebody I don't love.' Which is exactly what Akane/Hermia and Theseus/Kuno are saying. :D So if Akane knew Shakespeare at all, she would be fully justified in bitchslapping him at this point."

I add only that I am amazed by how good one of the writer/translators on this particular series is, because whoever is picking out Kuno's Shakespeare knows his stuff.

Kuno also uses two other lines from "Midsummer": "What fools these mortals be!" and "Oh! Though she be but little, she is fierce!"

The dub also removes little inconsequential lines here and there, and as I said, changes a few lines but rarely changes their meanings. Nabiki's lines are changed more - her complaint about how noisy the Saotomes are in the morning becomes "Must run in the family", and so forth. The weirdest change is Kuno's, who in Japanese states that "my very voice can quiet a crying child" but in English brags that "my voice alone is enough to strike fear into the hearts of mine enemies!"

From manga to episode:
It's (most of) two chapters combined, and still fleshes out with a couple of extra scenes. LOL! Though really, the only thing that's in the episode that's not in the comic is the opening sequence with Genma and Ranma fighting. Overall I'd actually say that this ep is better than the manga source material, since it doesn't gloss over certain moments as much; I think the flow is a lot better.