Customer Reviews

Ranma 1/2 - Martial Mayhem - The Complete Fifth Season Boxed Set

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

 

 

The fourth season was a step down, and I didn't have high hopes for this set, but I was pleasantly surprised and well-pleased with the purchase.

First, technical notes: the animation quality is much better than the previous season, more on par with the 1st/2nd season in quality and detail, although the evolution towards the OAV-style is obvious (and welcome). Copious line art is available on the fifth disc, along with the ever-present "naked" opening/closing, and good on-disc notes. Some new and playful incidental music appears in this season from Kenji Kawai that perhaps Viz will release on CD one day????

These are certainly some of the more bizarre and original offerings, including a Dragon's Whisker (holding Ranma's pigtail together) with strange effects on men pursued by murderous bean, curry, pizza and pork buns; the ghost cat from season 4 returns to possess Ryoga; a weird martial arts school with impossibly huge mouths gets their clutches on girl-Ranma; and the Principal's relationship to Kuno is revealed. Some are clinkers (the Tea Ceremony School is tedious at best), but they're definitely unlike anything you've seen before.

English notes: Richard Cox (boy-Ranma) has improved greatly since season 4, although in the first few episodes the English voices seem to have trouble with their lines flowing well (might be a dubbing artifact). Unfortunately, Teryl Rothery has been replaced as Kodachi, and her replacement sounds too much like Ukyo (lacking the shrill quality that made Rothery's voice perfect for the character). Also, while Nabiki is still Angela Costain, some of her later voice work is rather deep-sounding as if like she had a cold. Miriam Sirois is still fabulous as Akane, and Venus Terzo continues to be a superb girl-Ranma as well.

Quibbles aside, this box set does much to drag the series back on positive territory, and the episodes are in general good fun. Recommended for fans and even those just starting their journey to Ju-sen-kyo.

Yes, finally the last season of Ranma 1/2 to be released on DVD is in America. Now people say that when it hit the 4th season, everything went to hell, but they're wrong about that. In my opinion, Ranma 1/2 gets better and better. The season had me in stitches in almost every episode. Others just kept me interested enough to finish seeing them. Anyways, this box set is a true jewel. One problem I found with it was that on most of the episodes the opening credit title would be in Japanese instead of an English title. Towards the last two discs this problem is fixed, but I think it's like this because technically the fifth season is the rarest season and from what I've heard, not even all of the volumes (VHS) weren't even dubbed to begin with, so this can explain why the earlier episodes of this season are still in Japanese and the later ones were later fixed like all the other seasons. Also I noticed that Viz Video changed their logo now, it's now just Viz, I don't get why even in this picture it still has Viz Video; but that picture at the top of the screen is wrong. I own it and the logo is different, I even checked their web site and it's different. Anyway, here's my episode reviews.

Episode reviews (these are on a scale of 1-10):

"Gimme That Pigtail" - 6
"When a Guy's Pride and Joy is Gone" - 6
"Ryoga's Proposal" - 10
"Genma Takes a Walk" - 5
"The Gentle Art of Martial Tea Ceremony" - 5
"And the Challenger is...A Girl?! - 5
"Hot Springs Battle Royale!" - 8
"Me is Kuno's Daddy, Me is..." - 7
"The Matriarch Takes a Stand" - 4
"A Leotard is a Girl's Burden" - 6
"The Mixed-Bath Horror!" - 5
"The Frogman's Curse!" - 4
"Revenge! Raging Okonomiyaki!" - 4
"Ranma the Lady-Killer" - 10
"Shogi Showdown" - 6
"Sasuke's Mission Improbable" - 9
"Bonjour, Furinkan!" - 3
"Dinner at Ringside!" - 4
"Swimming with Psychos" - 5
"Ryoga, Run Into the Sunset" - 7
"Into the Darkness" - 8
"Nabiki, Ranma's New Fiancee!" - 9
"Case of the Missing Takoyaki!" - 7
"Ranma Versus Shadow Ranma!" - 10

Things are just not getting easier for Ranma Saotome, as 'Ranma ?' heads into its fifth season. For some strange reason things aren't getting much better from the previous year.

This season of the show is more highs and lows, rather than a constant flow of entertaining episodes. There were certain points as I was watching this season where I was just bored. Still, I have to admit when the show reached its high points it got really good. One of the things I did realize in this season was there were a lot of menacing new enemies and they were all no bigger than a toddler. The bun headed gang, the matriarch of the House of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony, The Frog Master and many more. This season also had some great stories that featured Ryoga, the viewers really get to see him in a whole new light and that he really is not such a bad guy. Probably the most dramatic of the episodes is when Akane, and her sisters' find out they are engaged to a master of Martial Arts Dinning. Unfortunately there are many more lows the episode where Kuno finds out his dad is the principal of Furinkan High and also the fact that there are very few appearances of Shampoo, Mousse and Ukyo, when they are there the show is good. I do have to admit that when the season comes to a close the last few episodes really save it. The last 5 episodes are hysterical.

Like the fourth season watch the fifth as well to stay with in the flow of the story. One thing you have to give this show credit for is the fact that the origional point of the story is still clear and its what keeps all of us fans watching. This time around Akane is still trying to figure out if Ranma really likes her and the funny part is Ranma is suddenly realizing could the feelings he actually has for Akane...be love?

*Recommended Episode: Into the Darkness*

Season 5 was good but not as hillarious as seasons 1-2-3-4. There were good episodes in Season 5 but I consider them mediocre compare to last 4 seasons.


Season 5 Episodes that can be skipped
* The following episodes are pointless fillers...

Ep 10 - "A Leotard is a Girl's Burden"
Ep 11 - "The Mixed-Bath Horror!"
Ep 13 - "Revenge! Raging Okonomiyaki!"
Ep 15 - "Shogi Showdown"
Ep 23 - "Case of the Missing Takoyaki!"

Excellent, I loved it and I hope they will do sequel to the series.

RANMA 1/2 IS SURE ONE OF THE BEST ANIMATION THAT I HAVE SEEN AND THAT I HAVE ON MY COLLECTION. ITS FUNNY, THEIR IS DRAMA AND ACTION IT HAS EVERYTHING THAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. I GIVE IT A 5 STAR I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL I GET SEASON 6.

I don't know how anyone says everything went downhill with these episodes. I don't even know how anyone can stand to watch the English episodes, for starters they aren't very good voice actors. They lack something. I don't know, just my opinion. I love this anime so much, it has romance and humor. That's my 2 favorite things. And great twists, people turning into animals or in Ranma's case, a different gender, when hit with cold water. This is one anime I'll never evern tire of watching.

ranma 5th season is hilarias the episodes are so funny i watched the whole series 4 times this is a must buy four anime fans