Ranma ep 1.9: "True Confessions! A Girl's Hair Is Her Life!"

Summary | Dub & Animation | Notes & Comments

Animation (1 to 5):
Yeah. Three. Nothing stands out here. I swear though, I am going to start giving it higher than that soon, though. I remember the rest of the season fairly well. *G*

Dub (1 to 5):
Welllllll, I'm going to be generous and give it a four; I'm not sure why, but I guess it's because there's really almost nothing to complain about in this dub. There aren't a whole lot of changes to most of the lines (which actually can count either for or against the dub), but mostly the acting is all good or at least, not bad.

When it comes to individual performances, I'll start by saying that this is another good ep for Miriam Syrois. This is a good "showcase" ep with Akane, where she goes through a lot of emotions, and Miriam does a good job in particular near the middle - her lines to Kasumi ("Thought I'd give myself a little haircut!") as well as what she says to Ranma while she's on her way to Dr. Tofu's. That part in particular stands out because Miriam chose not to play it angrily (which seems to be her default Akane delivery); as a result there's a total ambiguity to it. Noriko Hidaka delivers the lines with a bit of forced cheerfulness, which we can sort of tell is forced; Miriam doesn't force herself to do anything, but plays it low-key so we can't tell exactly what Akane is thinking. This also helps explain why Ranma is so confused and worried by her. I'm less impressed with her little-kid-Akane voice but there's only so much an actress can do, so it's no shot against her. Last note on Miriam this ep: she's cute with the baby-talk to the piglet, but really good at "Oooh! You're right!" when Ranma points out that it's a boy. She has the perfect combo of both a little scandalized and a little amused.

I have really got nothing to say about Sarah Strange, except that she does a really good job of sounding masculine in this ep; Ranma spends more than half of the episode in girl form, so it's really a Venus Terzo episode (her first big one, I think). Venus is... okay. I never really buy her direct lines but she is awesome with background lines. Check out when she finds Ryouga's clothes in a heap and discerns that he did indeed get a Jusenkyo curse; "Poor slob" she says under her breath, and it's perfect. Unfortunately she's just never that good at delivering her REAL lines. Although the standout for this episode is actually, "Ohh, Ryouga, you didn't go to Jusenkyo?" That's an interesting approach to that line (they didn't do it that way in Japanese) but it works really, really well.

Aaand, I know I say this in every ep he's in so far, but Mike Donovan is real good in this one. Better, I think, than in any so far because he's just consistently "on", if you ask me. His delivery cracks me up in so many scenes! He sounds so oddly EAGER when he tells Akane to hit him as well as Ranma; and we get his oft-repeated "ssshhhuuut up!" directed at the old lady he helps out. (Begrudgingly. Ahhh, I love that boy.)

There's not too much to say with secondary characters, since this is a strong Ranma/Akane episode; Soun's not even in this one, Genma is a panda throughout, and I think Nabiki and Kasumi have maybe two or three lines each. However, everyone's good into character in this one, from Willow Johnson (she's very good at being shocked about Akane's hair, showing a range she doesn't usually get to use with this character) to Ian Cortlett, who gets to be mostly goofy but also sweetly kind to Akane. I can say however that I'm just not the least bit fond of the voices they tend to use for elderly women, and this old bird who gets dragged around by Ryouga is no exception.

In terms of translation, as I said this one is pretty straightforward; again we get the shift of Ryouga's style of speaking, so that he is more straight-up dopey in the dub ("C'mon, hit us really HARD, Akane! Get rid of that anger!") versus his more dramatic style of speech in Japanese ("You may hit me as well", "Cheer yourself up with a good hard punch!"). Oddly, from the notes that I've made here, it looks like I prefer most of the changes to the script that the dub ended up with (which is somewhat unusual). The girl's line at the start, "Caught in public with a haircut like THAT?" was originally "A girl's just had her hair chopped off!" The dub version clearly has more personality. Having Tofu say "He's no problem!" regarding Akane in her flashback is a good touch: adds to Akane's issues about appearance and gender roles. The best one is when Ranma catches up with Akane after having her hair fixed: the subtitles read "It looks better, doesn't it" but the dub script is "It's different, isn't it". I like the ambiguity there, again. As with the way Miriam plays it, instead of the forced positive you don't really know *what* she feels about it.

On the other hand there are one or two lines I would not have messed with: First, Leetle!Akane in the flashback has her line changed to "Maybe if I grew my hair like Kasumi's, he'd like me again". The subtitles give it as "If I grew my hair long, he'd like me the way he likes Kasumi" which gives it a bit more depth; Akane is probably around the age where little girls start deciding they're going to marry whatever boy they like the best and I bet Tofu is high on a lot of lists. ;) The dub line really only gives one way to interpret it. And the other change? Well, as ever, the insults are just so repetitive in English. It all boils down to "Idiot." "You're the idiot." "Shut up, idiot." I should stop even mentioning these things; there's very little point. *G*

Some Thoughts On Akane, Dr. Tofu, and Ranma:
Okay, we're midway through season one, and we're at our first real turning point for the Ranma/Akane relationship. I had a lot of notes pertaining to Akane, Ranma, and Dr Tofu so clearly I had a lot to say; this seems like a good time to take a good look and discuss a few things.

First of all, this ep wraps up the Akane-loves-Tofu aspect of the series. Last episode we see Akane reveal that she's deliberately grown her hair longer than Kasumi's; this ep we find out why. We also get an insight into the beginning of her crush on Tofu, with her flashback. This crush has always been sort of odd, partly because of Akane refusing to discuss it or even clarify anything. Her behaviour around Tofu makes more sense now that we see that Kasumi has told her to be more girly around Tofu "or else he might not like [her] anymore"; this is why she keeps hitting "reset" whenever she gets mad at Ranma around Tofu, and tries to play it meek. The irony is that Tofu *knows* the real Akane and has all along. The flashback is interesting for a couple of reasons - the main one being that it seems to suggest that Akane's crush on Dr. Tofu was a "little girl" thing. After being chastised by Kasumi for seeming to be like a boy, Akane uses grade-school reasoning that Dr Tofu will like her more if she grows her hair like Kasumi's. As Akane looks back on this, you can sort of tell she's thinking about this in a "why WAS this so important?" kind of way, because really, Kasumi told her to act more like a girl. Not to LOOK more like a girl. And it seems like she might even have cultivated her crush on Tofu because she thought he was nice and because Kasumi threatened that Tofu won't like her anymore. (But probably not... but it definintely is a little-girl kind of thing, from the look here.)

After this it seems like she's sort of realized who she really is, and she's back in her own skin, so in a sense - even though she goes to Tofu because of her ankle - it's almost like she's going to see him to see his reaction. Subsequently, I love the final scene between Akane and Tofu. When she starts crying. "Short hair suits you" he says, and she says "thought so." It's hard to tell exactly why she's crying but I kind of think it's like "I've spent all this time and he never noticed, and this is who I really am anyway." I love Tofu in this scene, really. The way he just sits down and lets her pour it all out. So I guess, Akane moving on from Tofu is her sort of growing up? Realizing that she was trying to be someone she never was, and even that didn't get his attention. "Dr Tofu loves Kasumi - and it's okay!" she says in the end.

Now as for Ranma's part in all this. I'll never know for sure if "it's okay" because Ranma is around now, or if it's just because Akane's matured. I think it's the latter, but the fact that Ranma has changed Akane's view towards herself since he's entered her life is undeniable. It's hard to tell exactly why Akane's so pissed off that Ranma is worried. And when Ranma worries about Akane he worries in the extreme, following her around all over the place no matter how many things she tosses at him; it's utterly sweet, and it would drive me up the wall, too. *G* He continues to worry when she's crying on Tofu - and look utterly baffled. Poor guy, he just doesn't *get* women.

The thing of it is, as much as Ranma is utterly in denial that he even *likes* Akane, I think it's undeniable that he does by this ep. He follows her around like a puppy, tries mercilessly to cheer her up, and finally sulks at the end when she seems happier after seeing Tofu (who has now apparently accomplished what he could not). "Cute. That's what he said. I'm happy for you." Okay, all kidding aside, and I think "yokatta na" does indeed translate as "I'm happy" and not "you must be happy" - that is the type of thing a person says when they are giving up on the person they're saying it to. That's like an unspoken "Okay - I won't stand in your way" line, and his posture on the fence backs that up.

"It's not about me anymore." "Of course it is!" "Dr Tofu is in love with Kasumi... and it's okay! I've finally sorted out my feelings!" "I forgot to say it, but... that hairstyle looks good on you." That whole exchange is so cute and tentative and BRIMMING OVER with unspoken meanings.

Of course, any time Ranma says something nice to Akane, it's when she's feeling blue, so naturally she always always assumes he's lying to cheer her up. There's always this little challenge from her in that regard. This time he actually goes so far as to say that he meant it, but since she doesn't believe him he'll never bother again. Then he just throws in the fact that he likes her hair again, anyway. Most interesting, in a way, is that he actually says "I like YOU better with short hair" and then plays the same challenge game she'd been doing with the "oh you don't really mean it" by adding that his opinion isn't worth anything. These two - can drive a person crazy.

"Even if it's a lie, I'm happy." That's the way to play it! (Finally!) "No way... she really is cute!" My take on this whole scene: Ranma really, really likes Akane. Akane has started to genuinely like Ranma in return, but he's so infuriating that she can't resist messing with him whenever she can. Even when they like each other they're really never on the same page at the same time. There will be times later when Akane is really serious about Ranma and he can't stop teasing HER.

From manga to episode:
I believe this one covers two chapters: the finale in volume 1, and the first in volume 2. They very kindly pad it out some too, with a transition between the storylines (explaining Ryouga's disappearance again); frankly I don't feel the little side story with Ryouga taking the old lady around is necessary, because from his reaction at the start he *knows* why the fight was ended, so why is he wandering around acting pissed that Ranma ran off? And he gets lost easily anyway, so the loss of a week because of this lady looking for a police box (heehee) is unnecessary. But, it's cute enough I suppose. So! The Ranma/Akane chapter is an *excellent* adaptation. It's almost 100% straight out of the manga but the acting is great. The second half, with Ryouga's return, is also very good. There's not much in that sequence that I can think of that isn't in the manga, either. The animation also gets better towards the ending. So yeah! Good adaptation, over all. ^_^ It's sort of a pity they couldn't extend the first half of the episode as a storyline; the second half really should have been joined with the first half of the next ep as a solid story. But oh well.