Ranma ep 1.8: "School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryouga"

Summary | Dub & Animation | Notes & Comments

Random notes:

• First of all, just in general, this ep is a dream for both Ranma/Akane shippers and Ranma/Ryouga shippers. Just sayin'.
• All this stuff at the beginning with the science geeks is dumb. Ripped off from UY, shades of Lum's Stormtroopers.
• "I'm going to crush your windpipe just like this walnut!" (yikes!)
• This episode is... I would swear the timing is off. The scene with Ryouga going down the wrong road (after pointing down another wrong road) goes on for a while longer than it needs to. EXCEPT that the fact that he repeats "my thanks" three times is so ludicrous it's wonderful.
• Girls complimenting Akane's hair - plot setup. Aside from the Tofu reference we've never seen any evidence that she's intentionally growing it out. This is the first episode with Akane's two friends, isn't it?
• And now Ryouga's here. Akane's been watching out for him. The Ranma/Akane relationship is actually closer at this point than it is for quite some time later in the series.
• I dunno, maybe all of Ryouga's lines about sending Ranma to hell are to emphasize how much he hates Ranma, but really I think it's just because he gets such stupidly melodramatic lines from day one. :D
• Another ep where Soun and Genma do nothing but play Go. Or maybe this is the first one. That's the anime-filler creed: If they have nothing to do in the plot, make sure you show them playing Go.
• Nabiki's got her barker voice on. She's a lot more energetic doing this than anything else: I guess because money is involved. *G*
• How could Ryouga have "crossed the deep blue sea" without turning pig? Unless this is sort of like, Ranma's vision of the events or something instead of actual "scenes" from it...
• OMG - it's been a MONTH since the last episode!? HAHAHAHAHA! "There were those weeks I wandered through the jungle..." Yep, Ranma's reaction is perfect. *g*
• This actual fight footage is good. Mostly well animated (though a lot is reused). Still, it's the best part so far of a pretty weak episode.
• And now we get to the point where it turns out Ryouga is really, REALLY strong, which is TOTALLY HOT. The incredibly heavy umbrella, and suddenly everyone - Ranma included - takes him seriously. I love the looks on their faces as Ryouga actually makes contact - of a sort, no hit is landed, but the pressure bruises Ranma anyway, and Ryouga slows down with this "gotcha" look while Ranma gets cocky. That's how you can tell he's taking Ryouga seriously now, b/c he gets cocky. ;)
• More filler: Kuno is meditating on Akane and the Pig-tailed Girl. I don't know exactly where he got these posters - probably from Nabiki, but I wonder if he MADE them into posters with those backgrounds? I could just see him doing that, in fact. *G* Standing at line in Kinko's or something...
• Okay - the way that Ranma gets away from Ryouga's strike, right after the commercial break? I want screencaps, I want an animated icon with a dirty caption, and if I'd been drinking something it would have come out of my nose just then. XD On the non-gutter-mind side, that was a pretty cool move. But - come ON.
• THEY ARE DOING THIS ON PURPOSE. "Okay, Ryouga!" says Ranma, sitting on Ryouga's back and handcuffed to his wrestling partner, "How do you want it?" *dies* And Ryouga strikes back! He's not into that kinda stuff! "How DARE you place me in this position?!" With a line like that it's hard to tell if he's trying to tell Ranma that he doesn't like him that way, or if he's simply insisting that no one ever tops but him. ...You know, I can't believe I'm saying all this. I really can't. This episode is SO BLATANT, how the hell did I miss it?!
• And none of the onlookers say anything. If this ep had had even ONE person go "Um, is anyone else thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" it would have immediately become the best episode of any anime, EVER.
• Ryouga pushes himself and Ranma off the ground, after being pinned on his stomach, with just one hand. Good God. I'm not sure what's the sexiest thing about that... it ALL works.
• Super-dimensional land mines? WTF?! *snerk* "our secret weapons" are... mallets. DEFINITELY taking a page out of UY.
• Um, what happened to the handcuffs? I need to rewatch this. *rewinds* Aha! They were cut. At what point? It looks like they were cut when the mallets came down on the cord. Doesn't really explain exactly how they just go missing in the next scene, but at least they didn't JUST disappear.
• And he's just gonna sit there and let Nabiki walk up to Ryouga in the middle of a fight and whisper to him, huh? Not even say "Nabiki! Excuse me, this is GUY stuff!" ;P
• Nabiki is all talking him up. She literally says "You are great!" in English. "Gods kneel before you! A tiger! A tiger! You're turning into a tiger!" This is just a little too stupid of Ryouga. I dunno. He usually has faith in his own abilities on his own.
• On the other hand... picking up a telephone pole and attacking with it is - um, yeah. I've said it already.
• "Stop whining like a girl!" Ah, Ranma's weak point. He gets pissed for the first time. And it's hot. Honestly, Ranma has never looked more masculine than now that he's mad, and it's HOT.
• Subtitles give his answer to Ryouga calling him a girl as "Who are you calling... a girl!?" but I believe he says "Ore ni otoko ga... OTOKO!" which would be "I am a man... a MAN!" In the dub: "Who you callin' a girl? I'm a GUY!" You know, truer to the original or not, that line is very... protesting too much. ;D
• I like the little touch of Ryouga making absolutely sure he does not get wet - it doesn't call attention to it, since he uses that umbrella all the time in general. I certainly didn't pick up on it when I first watched this ep.
• *giggle* Okay, I love Ryouga's perplexed expression when he sees Girl!Ranma for the first time; he probably hasn't noticed the boobs hanging out yet so I'm sure that really is his "where'd Ranma go!?" face. OTOH, he does notice the boobs VERY QUICKLY and his inability to look away lands him a good kick in the face XD I think his line is a little less "who are you" and more "what are you?"
• The subtitles translate Akane's line upon entering as "Ranma! Your blouse!" but she says "Chotto Ranma! Mune!" Which, if I'm not mistaken, is essentially "Wait, Ranma - breasts!" XD
• Love how Ryouga just... looks on as Kuno comes running up and Ranma pummels him. Ryouga is just standing there in perplexity.
• One of the best things this series does is take the piss out of Ranma's angst. Very few characters are allowed real angst without having it popped quite suddenly a moment later; you think Ranma's going to actually get away with whining about his curse? HA, nope, because look at Akane's face when the camera pans her into view!
• How many bandanas is he wearing?! XD Not to mention that using spinning bandanas as a weapon makes NO SENSE AT ALL so it's just cool.
• Underneath it all there's a real sweetness about Akane running off to get him hot water during the fight. Ryouga pays no attention whatsoever to the bystanders; this is one of the few times that happens, and the ONLY time when he will not pay REALLY close attention to Akane during a fight from now on. *g*
• Aw, hug. That's adorable.
• And far too romantic for either of 'em, really. Akane's like "whoops". And now they stare. LOVE. Now they can't actually acknowledge that that was a nice hug or anything so they must fight. Ryouga gets it, though: "How dare he flirt in the middle of a fight?" He understands this time - afterwards though he'll buy into it completely.
• "I ain't holdin' you cause I like you!" Aww. Ryouga, there is no time for you, honey. Butt out while they have lovers' quarrels, there's a good boy. I love that Akane has tears in her eyes as she slaps Ranma - neither of them knows what they want and they always take their arguments one step too far.
• It says a lot to me that Ranma is far more concerned with the fact that he has upset Akane than with the ongoing potentiall lethal fight between him and Ryouga.
• Akane's hair is shorter post-cut than it is when it's being cut, I think.
• Heh - Ryouga's expression after that happened is just as good as Ranma's, really.
• "Papa Panda", cute.