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Akane and Her Sisters

An Akane to Remember

Faster Kasumi! Kill! KIll!

Like Water For Ranma

One Grew Over the Kuno's Next

NOTE: All Ranma OAVs are about 60 minutes and are split into 2 episodes. The quality of the animation is probably better than the TV series, but I really can't tell the difference. Quite often, the stories seem a little hackneyed to me. Some of them include a "Bonus": music 'videos' at the end of the show.

Akane and Her Sisters

English Dubbed Version 

Version: Video (Viz Video)

Approx. Rated: PG

Length: Approx. 60 minutes

This OAV is about some new sisters of Akane, as the title implies. Did Soun Tendo actually have illegitimate children? Well, I guess you'll have to watch the show to find out.

For some reason, these OAVs have a thing about bringing in ALL the popular characters into one episode, whether or not they actually fit into the plot. This one has Shampoo and and Ukyo in it and they are just so much clutter. Ryoga is in it too, and at first there is no point to his being there, but at least, later on, they make him do something significant for the story.

Anyway, the bare bones of this episode is that there has been a rash of food snatching in the town. Oddly enough, the people that have lost food (that being Shampoo and Ukyo) go to the Tendos for help. Maybe in Takahashi's world, the Japanese police do not exist. I know I don't get it. Anyhow it seems that Tendo and Saotome have somehow become known as detectives or heroes or something.

Soon after that meeting, Akane meets Natsume and her younger sister, Nerima. Nerima is very hungry and reminds me of Yuri in Galaxy Fraulein Yuna due to the fact that she is always hungry and has big, cute eyes. Anyway, Akane feeds Nerima and they follow Akane home and discover that Soun is their father. 

They challenge Akane to a battle for the dojo and Ranma (in girl form) joins in the fray. Since Ranma and Akane immediately start arguing, they are easily beaten by Natsume and Nerima. Too bad. That concludes the first episode.

The second episode is about Ranma and Akane training to beat Natsume and Nerima. You can guess who wins. The show is pretty predictable.

The Good Stuff:

The Bad Stuff:

I liked this OAV. It's not as good or funny as the television show, but it is better than most of the other OAV's.I recommend it to Ranma fans!

An Akane to Remember

English Dubbed Version 

Version: Video (Viz Video)

Approx. Rated: PG

Length: Approx. 60 minutes

Looking for an odd Ranma tale? Well, this is a good one. If you hadn't already guessed it, this one is about Akane too! She has a dream about a boy that saves her from a monster. Next thing you know, she discovers a charm/whistle that he gave her and then hears a story about some long ago vacation (or vice-versa).

Thus, she goes out in search of this guy to return the whistle. I don't know why, but that's what she does. Ranma is sent after her and Ryoga turns up too. Fortunately, that pretty much makes up the cast of the normal crew. They didn't stick in any others just for show.

Akane reaches this weird forest and finds a bunch of HUGE critters running around in there. She is rescued by the same boy as before, and then he falls in a trap. What a dope. Of course, Ryoga does the same thing later on. Anyway, the boy's name is Shinnosuke and he lives with his grandfather. Akane goes to their house for tea and to stay the night.

Akane finds out something terrible about Shinnosuke and decides to help him. Ranma show up somewhere in here and the angst begins. Ranma gets jealous, Akane gets upset. Blah blah blah. You know what happens if you're a regular Ranma watcher.

Back to "poor" Shinnosuke. The only way to help Shinnosuke is to defeat a dragon that guards a treasure of sorts. A good way to distract the dragon is by showing it a girl. Why? Because the dragon is chick-happy. Yes, you read the correctly. It likes girls. We don't find out if it only like pretty ones or not...although since it chased guys that were dressed like girls, you have to wonder if there's something wrong with the dragon. 

The Good Stuff:

The Bad Stuff:

This is another good example of an OAV. It follows the television series much better than a the others. Check it out!

Faster Kasumi! Kill! Kill!

English Dubbed Version 

Version: Video (Viz Video)

Approx. Rated: PG

Length: Approx. 60 minutes

Well, I went into thinking, "Yay! A Kasumi story!" Not really, but I do like Kasumi. Anyway, this is just a weird episode all around. It's more messed up than typical Ranma fare, I tell ya!

It begins with Ranma, his dad, Mr. Tendo have been summoned to some kind of holy man's house / temple. Why? Because suddenly they are now demon warriors! Not literally, of course. They just claim that they can kick demon butt. The "demon" (or Oni) is in a box with a faded seal. The priest wants to put a new seal on it, but he yaks too long with Tendo and Saotome, and the Oni escapes. 

It looks DUMB, but I think you should see it rather than have to read one of my lame descriptions. Just think of the Oni's in Urusei Yatsura and I think you'll have a good idea. It zips out and starts possessing people and causing a little mayhem. 

Eventually, it possesses Kasumi. Being in Kasumi, it can't do much harm other than dumb stuff, like make bad food and such. The priest doesn't want it to escape the Tendo household though, so he puts up little pieces of paper with dumb squiggles on it to keep it there. Saotome doesn't want Kasumi harmed, so they let the Oni possess her. HELLO!? Love is one thing...stupidity is another. 

Well, we all know that everything turns out right in the end.

The Good Stuff:

The Bad Stuff:

This is an okay OAV, but I suggest you watch the other one of the better ones instead. Or watch the bad ones first to get them over with and then watch the good ones.

Like Water For Ranma

English Dubbed Version 

Version: Video (Viz Video)

Approx. Rated: PG

Length: Approx. 60 minutes

Another OAV and another twist in the Ranma series. This one has two episodes that are completely unrelated to each other. The first one is called Akane Vs. Ranma! I'll Be the One to Inherit Mother's Recipes! 

In this show, Akane wants to learn to cook. She finds her mother's recipe book and starts learning. Soon after, Ranma's mother shows up. For some reason, Ranma and Saotome don't want to be discovered so they change into their other forms. (I think the reason is due to the fact that they are cursed with this changing, although I am not sure.)

Anyway, it ends up being a show about Ranma and Akane trying to out-cook each other. It's a pretty good episode too. Lots of bad food jokes!

The 2nd show is called Stormy Weather Comes to School! Growing Up With Miss Hinako. This one is about a new teacher at Furinkan High. Her name is Miss Hinako Ninomiya. She's kind of a control freak and when she gets mad, she uses a coin to drain her enemy's power (or something) and get busty. Yes, you read that right. Most of the time she looks like a high school student. But when she uses her coin, she grows up and becomes well endowed for a while. Ranma must best her to rid the school or her tyranny. 

I found this one rather disturbing. Ranma grabs the teacher at least once and it's just kind of raunchy. A lot of Ranma can be kind of naughty, but this one is just bleh! It has some funny stuff, but I didn't like it as well. However, it does have a twist ending.

The Good Stuff:

The Bad Stuff:

This is an okay OAV, but you can do better. Get it if you need to see Ranma's mom. Or just to see the strange Hinako.

OVERALL SCORE:

One Grew Over the Kuno's Nest

English Dubbed Version 

Version: Video (Viz Video)

Approx. Rated: PG to PG-13 (due to nudity)

Length: Approx. 60 minutes

This is the first OAV I saw of the series and it is still the best one. The first episode is called Team Ranma Vs. The Legendary Phoenix."

It begins with Kuno buying a phoenix egg from a cursed tea shop (or some such place). Listen for the Gojira roar right before Kuno's purchase. Anyway, he buys this egg and is warned never to put it on his head. (Kuno wants it because he thinks the egg will make him invincible) 

Well, it wouldn't be much of a show if the egg didn't end up on Kuno's head somehow. Thus, Ranma puts it there...but what's dumb about this scene is that Kuno knows it's bad to have the egg on his head, but rather than yanking the egg off, he just lets it hatch. Now Kuno has an ugly yellow bird stuck to the top of his head. And the bird hates Ranma.

The rest of the show is slapstick humor with Ranma and Kuno fighting and then Ranma trying to get the bird to leave Kuno's head by force-feeding it some growth pills. Supposedly, when it is fully grown, it will leave.

I really enjoyed this episode as it is laugh-out-loud funny. It should be noted that Ryoga and Ranma act like they're friends in this show, which is pretty weird. And why can't Ranma get out of Kuno's arms anyway!?! What the!?!??!?!?

The 2nd episode is called Oh, Cursed Tunnel of Lost Love! Let My Love Be Forever." It amazingly has nothing to do with the previous show. Basically it is about Ukyo and Shampoo tricking Ranma and Akane into going into a tunnel where legend has it that couples will break up forever.

For some reason, they also invite the rest of the cast of Ranma. So Akane's entire family go in as well as Kuno, Kodachi, Sasuke, Saotome, Shampoo's grandmother and Ryoga. They must enter as pairs as well, which makes for some pretty funny pairings.

We also get to see poor Ryoga struggle over having to let Akane get scared by the ghosts rather than saving her since Ryoga wants her to break up with Ranma. There are a lot of little jokes throughout that are quite humorous.

The Good Stuff:

The Bad Stuff:

OVERALL SCORE: 1/2