Ranma 1/2 - Film 2: Rendez-nous nos copines!

I'm not an otaku, so take that as a preface. I'm more a casual fan who got exposed to Ranma years ago and I enjoy it. The romantic dodecohedrans (rather than triangles) and the slapstick humor is always good fun. And call me shallow but for an adult male skimpy bathing suits on the girls is no minus. I write for those who don't follow anime so closely and say this is a fun movie and worth a rental if not a purchase.

Ah Ranma, how much I love the manga and TV series as child. Sure the bare boobs and shapely behinds are part of the attraction to the series but underlying personality conflicts to obvious solutions is what makes the series such a fascinating watch.

But even at the time the TV series was ongoing the art and sound was a bit lacking in quality. So if you have finished re-watching or even watching the first time the Ranma TV series than Nihao My Concubine is a nice refresh.

The is still today of excellent quality and stands the test time with the style used (a more detail contouring of all the characters' body profiles). The music is lively and the voice energising. Best watched with English subs as the dubbing is not good even though the English voice actors do try their best with the lines given. Let's just say you find it hard to differentiate quality of the dialogue from let's say La Blue Girl.

Nihao My Concubine is probably one of the best examples of defining what Ranma is all about and the wackiness that goes with it. Although, Ranma is flashing boobs some of the time the other characters are still dressed and they are not drawn in overly suggestive poses. Think of how Runway and fashion magazines are shot.

Overall, an excellent anime to watch or to used to introduce someone to anime. Child safe despite the nudity which your kids have probably seen worse by cable TV or net.

This movie is totally silly just like the previous movie because the characters are very silly and they don't know How feel good and take care of the dangers. Then Ranma destroyed the lake of water of the died man. I Hate You Ranma Saotome and You are very DAMNED.

If you get your rocks off watching generously endowed cartoon teenage girls bouncing around in gravitationally-improbable bikinis, This Is the Movie For You!

The Ranma series, as with much anime, offers two things: sex and violence. Unlike the previous Ranma movie (released in the States as "Big Trouble...", this one concentrates on sex.) That's not to say that it is obscene; there's no full-frontal nudity, no tentacle rape. Actually, no intercourse at all. Just a lot of slavishly drawn teenage girls in bikinis and evening gowns.

Oh, the plot has to do with the entire Ranma crowd being on vacation, and the girls all being kidnapped by a local prince who wants to marry one of them. Etc., etc.

Ahhhh, Ranma. For those of you not familiar with the Ranma situation, here's a quick explanation: It's the typical old boy meets girl, boy turns into girl, girl gets engaged to girl routine.

Anyway, Ranma is a fine martial arts comedy based around a boy, Ranma, who changes between male and female form because of a curse laid upon him while training in the mountains of China. This is the second Ranma movie (based on the TV series, which, in turn is based on the original manga).

The Ranma 1/2 series is top-notch hilarity from start to finish, every time. This movie, however brings a bad name to the name. Nihao My Concubine is full of gratuitous breast shots, lame non-humour and a severe lack of plot. The american dubbed version is (believe it or not) worse still, having ridiculous puns strewn about, thoroughly distracting and annoying to say the least, not to mention the acting standard. As for the actual animation, it's more or less regular Ranma standard - that is, high quality, but relatively simple artwork, that does the job well. If you must see this movie, make sure it's a fan subtitled edition, but better still, miss this movie altogether and pick up some of the original Manga ;)