Customer Reviews

Ranma 1/2: Vol. 4

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ranma Saotome's life was complicated enough when he just had his turning-into-a-girl curse to deal with. But the fourth volume of Rumiko Takahashi's "Ranma 1/2," Ranma has a new slew of problems -- creepy stalkers, hidden phobias, martial-arts crones, and a girl who won't accept that "no" is his answer.

A new kid has arrived at school: stalkery, cadaverous Hikaru Gosunkugi, who harbors a crush on Akane and deep hatred of her fiancee Ranma. So he begins trying to find out what Ranma's hidden weakness is, but the fearless young martial artist claims there is nothing. Unfortunately, Gosunkugi is spying when Ranma's weakness is revealed -- cats -- and he tries to use it against him... with shocking results.

No sooner has Ranma recovered from his peculiar adventure than the tenacious Amazon Shampoo arrives again. Not only does she have a Jusenkyo curse of her own -- the cat -- but she has her wizened great-grandmother Cologne in tow. Cologne is determined to see Ranma marry Shampoo. And so, as Ranma squares off with a rejected suitor of Shampoo's, the old lady traps him in the body of a girl...

The fourth volume of his gender-bending action-romantic-comedy introduces some important characters. As well as bringing the incredibly persistent Shampoo back, it also introduces wizened-yet-feisty Cologne, and Mousse, a formidable master of hidden weapons. Or rather, he WOULD be formidable if he weren't legally blind.

The fourth volume also has the advantage of showing that Ranma isn't perfect -- up until now, the teenage martial-artist hasn't been slowed down at all, whether by lunatic athletes or ultra-strong romantic rivals. Giving him a raging cat-phobia -- so bad he passes out -- gives him more humanity. As Akane says, "It's cute to have a little weakness."

And speaking of Akane, she gets her first taste of romantic rivalry in this volume, when Shampoo sets up shop nearby. Though both Ranma and Akane claim that they don't even like each other, their mutual hostility towards any rivals is proof enough that they are starting to fall in love. If only Akane didn't freak out, and Ranma didn't insult her.

The fourth volume of "Ranma 1/2" is a pivotal one, adding even more characters to the romantic spiderweb that stretches all over the series. Weird, wild and funny.

Well, Ranma gets not one, but two new rivals in this volume. The first is Hikaru Gosunkugi, who wants Ranma out of the way because he wants Akane. What does he do? He decides to offer his services to Kuno! The two join forces to discover Ranma's weak spot! But come on... Gosunkugi's incompetent! How could he learn it? Well, he does, and it turn out to be felines! But Gosunkugi is the least of Ranma's worries... it seems that a certain amazon from China isn't out of his hair like he thought! Shampoo's back, and has a curse of her own, which seeing as it's a cat one, it will probably dampen their relationship. Enter rival no. 2, Mousse, Shampoo's would-be lover, who challenges Ranma to a man to man fight! But with Shampoo's great-grandmother Cologne using a deadly pressure point touch on him, Ranma is stuck in girl form! Ranma now has to beat Mousse and get the cure for his condition! Things get hectic, ending in a cliffhanger, but it's really great stuff. Luckily, now that the book's been rereleased with a cheaper price, it's now more affordable to fans!

Ranman 1/2, Volume four is an AWESOME addition to the Ranma series! It is great! It has more excitement, romance, and cool guys!! (Yup, two new male characters who are awesome....plus there's Ryoga and Ranma......) In this book, you also learn Ranma's "weak spot." It's really interesting. You will know what it is if...you read the book!^^The only thing is, Ryoga isn't in this book as much as I'd like...but this book developes more of Ranma's personality, so I won't be mad. Volume four is probably my favorite Ranma 1/2 volume so far (I've read Volumes 1-4). It ends at a cliff-hanger, though. Well, Ranma 1/2, Vol. 4 (actually all Ranma 1/2 books) is really great! I highly reccomend it! Read it!

volume 4 was great! there is 3 new characters, hikaru gosunkugi(creepy akane stalker), colonge(shampoo's grama), and mousse(guy that weapons come out of his sleeves) I liked this one alot becuse shampoo can turn into ranma's worst fear which is...

Ok, since I've noticed that there are reviews for other Ranma 1/2 books in the midst of these reviews, I'd just like to say that I'm talking about Ranma 1/2 Volume 4. Out all the ones that I have read, (vol. 1-13 so far), the 4th one has been my favorite. It shows the return of Shampoo, the first appearance of Mousse and Shampoo's Great Grandmother. It also introduces Ranma's great fear of ::blank:: (incase you haven't read this yet, I don't want to spoil the story anymore). Plus, its just plain hilarious! Its quite fun to read (although the end of this book leaves you hanging and you have to buy vol. 5 to find out the outcome.)

In this volume, we meet a character named Gosunkugi, a boy who is infatuated with Akane; he also harbors a grudge against Ranma, since Ranma is supposed to be Akane's fiancé. Gosunkugi teams up with Kuno to try to find Ranma's weakness. A weak spot is found, and what it is comes as a surprise to most of the cast. However, there is a strange side effect when Ranma is around what causes his weak spot for too long. We also learn a secret about the character of Shampoo in this volume. Shampoo's great-grandmother makes her first appearance, as well as the character of Mousse (who has had a crush on Shampoo since childhood). Shampoo's great-grandmother insists that Ranma marry Shampoo, while Mousse fights Ranma to try to win Shampoo. Shampoo's great-grandmother does something to Ranma, and Ranma must get the Phoenix Pill from her in order to reverse what she has done. This plot point is the guiding force for the remainder of what happens in this volume.

With this volume of Ranma 1/2, there were no speech bubbles cut off at the edge of the pages. Also, the quality of the reproduction of the images has improved drastically from the first three volumes. None of the pages no longer look as if they are blurry or are a second or third generation copy.

Takahashi's character designs continue to look very impressive. However, I have to admit that in the panels where Mousse does not wear his glasses, his face looks an awful lot like Inuyasha in his human form in Takahashi's later manga series, Inuyasha. I do have to give her props for Gosunkugi's design; she really captures the "creepy" look well with him. I should also mention, as a fair warning, that there are some panels in this volume that contain female nudity or hinted at female nudity.

As I read this volume, I noticed that the plot points between the manga and anime are the same, more of the details are changing. At this point in the anime, a character named Sasuke (who was created specifically for the anime) took on the role that Gosunkugi played in this volume. In another section, a mysterious package that is sent to Dr. Tofu's practice in the manga is sent to the Tendo dojo instead in the anime; considering what the package is, I think the Tendo dojo makes more sense. The biggest change, though, occurs right near the end of the volume. In the manga, there is a martial art melon splitting contest that takes place on a beach; in the anime, this turns into a snow skiing competition. I'm going to be very interested to read future volumes of the series to see how much more deviation there is between the manga and the anime series.

This manga was published as a flipped version, meaning that it reads like an American book instead of a traditional manga.

I wrote this review after reading a copy of this manga volume that my older daughter checked out through the King County Library System.

First I would like to say that before a friend introduced me to Ranma I never would have even thought of reading a manga of any kind. Now after reading the first four books I find that I cant wait for the next two I ordered to get here so i can read them and order some more! Rumiko Takahashi is brilliant!

It was alot of fun to read and I was really entertained by the feud between the Goul and Ranma and I love how Akane is always put up as a prize. This was a perfect book. I've read 1,2,4,5 and 6 and this is my favorite by far.

Where do i begin? Oh ok I somehhow reaveal my secret to everyone and my weakness

This book is realy great. It is about finding ranma's weakness, the return of Shampoo and arrival of Mousse.This is great but I think volume 13 is much more funnier and better.i happen to have this book so I know what really happened.But all of the RANMA 1-2 SERIES ARE EXCELLENT ! BUY ANYONE OF THEM BECAUSE BELIEVE ME, ALL OF THEM ARE REALLY GREAT.

BUY ONE!