Customer Reviews

Ranma 1/2: Season Three - Hard Battle

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

 

 

Ranma is a great series that no doubt anime fans will know. The series for some reason has been dubbed for years and seems to have finally come to a close when season 7 was released about 2 years ago. It's been over a decade worth of dubbing already. I've been watching the show since the 90's and it's nice that it's finally finished. Overall i am so pleased with my purchase. If you're looking 2 pick up the Ranma box sets, these are the ones to purchase. They are slimmer and more compact and designed really well. The re-releases are the exact same ones as the $120.00 versions but in a smaller package and at more reasonable and affordable price. I got mine form AMZ on sale and it was 44% off which came up to $1.00 per episode. I can't wait to add the episodes to my iPod. This is the last season with the male Ranma voice actor that we've all come to know and love. I wasn't too crazy when season 4 rolled around a new voice actor was cast. That was the only downfall of the remaining 4 seasons. On top of that the animation in season 3 gets pretty sloppy. I have no idea why this happened but it did. For the remaining few seasons the series characters get a slight make over to match their OAV counter parts. But even that wasn't enough to save it from the poor animation quality that was delivered. On top of that the story lines really get less then creative as the seasons go on. But out of each season you still get a few stellar episodes here and there. In season 3 you get introduced to Ukyo, another Ranma suitor and the rest of gang is back as well for more laughs and entertainment. Ranma really has a great cast when it comes to the voice actors and they balance the comedy very well. Overall, i am very pleased my purchase and for the price i can't complain. The shipping came pretty fast considering it was free. Getting this at $49.99 isn't worth it. But hold out as AMZ always has sales on these anime sets.

As long as you don't expect plot and great story you will find yourself enjoying the Ranma 1/2 series. I find myself watching them when I just want to relax and smile. It is an easy series to sit down and watch an episode or two.

the 3ed season is great i love it this season is very very funny i laughed my butt of on some of the episodes in this season the charitar ukyo is introduced there are not many mutli episode arcs but i it has lots of episodes that are just fun after seeing this season i can wait till the next season comes out

The one thing that I was really enjoying about the first two seasons of Ranma ½ is the fact that they both had a certain season long `theme' to each.

Also, I enjoyed the story arcs that were present in each season, although to be honest, I found that the arcs were getting smaller and smaller during season two.

So, here we have season three.

There were no story arcs to speak of. Pretty much each and every episode was a stand alone episode, with very little in common to the previous episodes of the season.

Although I do have to admit that if season three had any sort of common theme, it was the supernatural theme.

The episodes of this season delved far more into magic and the supernatural than any of the previous seasons. Some of the highlights of season three supernatural episodes included Ranma's female side being brought out of him, a bra that happens to contain the ghost of a vengeful witch, time travelling back almost three hundred years into the past, a soup that makes the person who imbues it super strong, a cursed kendo sword, and three versions of a love potion.

Whew!

Oh, and lets not forget that Ranma gets yet ANOTHER fiancée in this season, although she's now where near as obsessed in getting him to marry her as Shampoo or the black Rose.

Yes, there was plenty of humour to be certain in this season, but I am left to wonder, just how closely does the animated series follow the manga? Did the story arcs slow down in the manga as well? Somehow I doubt that happened.

Also, maybe it's just me, but I noticed a distinct drop in the amount of nudity on screen. That's not really a bad thing, after all, if you get too much nudity, the show risks becoming yet another Japanese Henti.

Man, does that make me sound prudish or what?

A couple of highlights from season three - first, Ranma getting conked on the head and having his female side take over. It was almost painful to watch him (her?) act so feminine! Then there was Kuno's ninja man servant leaving the Kuno estate after a particularly bad day of humiliation. And finally, my personal favourite, the episode where Ryoga finally got his wish and he was able to go on a date with Akane.

After having watched three full seasons of Ranma I have to say this... there are quite a few questions that keep popping up in my mind.

Why is Genma so dishonourable? He's obsessed with teaching his son Martial arts, and yet he's made numerous promises to people he's met (such as exchanging Ranma to be someone's fiancée for food. He's a very poor role model for Ranma, and it's surprising that Soun Tendo is his friend.

Truth be told, Soun isn't much better than Genma, but at least his heart's in the right place and he seems as baffled as Ranma at some of Genma's actions.

How did Cologne, shampoo's great, great grandmother get to be so short? And for that matter, how did she manage to live to be over three hundred years old? And how about Happosai? Since they happened to know one another from their youth how come he's so old as well?

Here's hoping that some of these questions will be answered in the later seasons.

Overall, it was quite enjoyable, but I have to admit that I'm getting a little bored with the stand alone episode format. I will be picking up the forth season soon enough, but I'm not holding any hope that this format of stand alone episodes that are only loosely tied together will be broken.

Oh, and the other downside to this DVD set is the fact that like the previous season, there were no special features present.

3.5 out of 5

This set contains the twenty-four episodes that comprised the third season of Ranma 1/2, and also has five special features.

The first two extras are the textless opening and the textless ending. As expected, the textless opening and ending are just the opening and ending credits without the text. The third extra is a line art gallery, which has roughly fifteen pages of model sketches of characters and locations. Next is a cast list, which is a list of the English and Japanese voice actors for each character. The final extra are actor profiles, which are filmographies for the English voice actors.

Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle is a rather "low frills" DVD set, and the extras are rather similar to the ones on the Ranma 1/2 Anything-Goes Martial Arts set. While these features are better than what appeared as the extras on the first Ranma 1/2 box set, I still wish an effort had been made to track down some of the English voice actors and interview them to include as extras on the sets.

This season of Ranma 1/2 definitely has more of a focus on the supernatural in comparison to the first two seasons (including a cursed bra and magic mirror). While these stories are an enjoyable viewing, the episodes are definitely a little "stranger" than the episodes in the previous two seasons.

Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle tends to run between $40 and $50 at retail. While this could be considered a little high-priced for what you get, the episodes are still worth the cost (even with some of the "stranger" stories being told this season). The series is very enjoyable for an older audience (16 and up), and really should be in an anime fan's DVD collection.

The anime series is excellent and this particular season is quite good despite what others may have said about episode connection. The only reason it gets a 4 instead of a 5 is because of amazon. Great job!~

I truly love Ranma 1/2, however this is the season where is just goes bad. If your looking for a good multi-eps arc like in the 1st and 2nd season, sorry but there isn't any.

The majority of the eps are self-containted and very dumb. Predictable endings with cookie cutter plot lines.

The ONLY exception to this is that this season enters the best character in the Ranma 1/2 world. Ukyou (or Ukyo), is another of Ranma's brides to be however the twist to her relationship with Ranma is he actually LIKES her (As a friend). Any episode she is in is like a breath of fresh air into the series because she is NORMAL!

If you have season 1 and 2 you might as well buy this. If you already own the VHS versions it's not worth the upgrade.

Ranma is like an animated zitcom. It's the whole premise of the show is wacky zany humor, which focal point is ranma's sex changing ability and the other phsycotic looneys that get involved with him. Ranma is not intended as an epic show. Every episode is stand alone, except for a few multi ones. Don't expect chracter development, nor plot's, cause there are none. Each episode is funny. That's what matters.

BTW DVD is far better than tapes, as video quality while not as good as newer anime DVD releases (Duh!, this show is old, it's from the early 90's in Japan), it's much better than VHS, you have up to 7 eps on a single disk in this set, with the ability to select chapters, as well as both English and Japanese audio.

The first reveiwer is simply retarded, and technically enept.
and simply can't enjoy probably one of the best anime series of all time.