Intro

With Ranma and Akane ice skating as winter sets in, episodes 8 and 9 of Ranma 1/2 (2024) make for a perfect to watch this holiday season. This time, we see them face off against Azusa Shiratori and Mikado Sanzenin – partners in martial arts freestyle figure skating. Both before and during their battle, we get to witness a whole new side of Ranma along with exciting romantic developments in his relationship with Akane. While there were changes made to certain moments in this storyline, the remake definitely managed to give us more improvements than flaws.

Darling Charlotte

In episode 8, the situational overview is presented to us in the style of a magic show performed by Ranma on a caged Ryoga. With Akane and her family in the crowd, she simply comes on stage as a volunteer where Ranma and Ryoga get splashed with cold water and take on their respective transformations. While this one wasn’t really my favorite since it strays a bit far from the show’s aesthetic, it was still pretty fun to watch. In fact, it at least thrives as a creative choice when it comes to giving these overviews a different feel with each episode. Given that the original kept repeating the same one every time, giving the visuals for this overview such a vastly different theme established the variety this remake seems eager to accomplish.

As for the opening scene, we first see Akane skating and eating at the ice rink with her friends. We then follow with a shot of P-Chan standing on the ice with an adorably confused and intimidated look on his face as everyone skates by him. Of course, however, he is soon interrupted by Azusa looming over before she takes him as her own – calling him Charlotte with much enthusiasm. I must say that watching her introduction reminded me of just how much I love her touched up character design, especially considering how fond I was of her design from the original. Maintaining its sweet sound, from the moment we see her shadow, her voice is also well-balanced out by how ominous her presence is – especially for the fans who know just how violently attached she becomes to random objects that catch her eye.

We catch up with Ranma next where we see him sitting at a ramen shop with his two friends as they show him pictures of his female self competing in the recent gymnastics tournament. We get a rather silly scene with creative photograph visuals while listening to their conversation go from asking how Ranma knows her to demanding that he introduce her to them before they ultimately accuse him of already “deflowering” Akane. On top of reeling over the way things escalated, I also found myself appreciating these scenes where we see Ranma and Akane enjoy a cozy outing with their friends apart from each other. We seldom got to see them interact with regular students or have a life outside the main storyline in the original. Placing more focus on it is already working well to flesh out their characters.

We see them come together in the best way possible, though, when Ranma takes the conversation to the highest point of intensity by calling Akane unsexy. Right then, we see Akane burst through the doors in distress while Ranma turns to face her with a fearful expression that only intensifies as she approaches him with haste in a speed visual. Here, we get the beginnings of their first cute scene together when she stops only to cry, leaving Ranma panicking over what to do. Even if she did interrupt him by saying that P-Chan went missing, I was left freaking out when he tried comforting her by saying that it doesn’t matter how unsexy she is because he doesn’t really care. Hearing him express this right away almost shocked me as it gives us a new perspective on his feelings towards Akane while showing us just how much he cares about hurting her and the potential of their relationship as a whole. The scene ends in a rather fun way when we see the giant colorful background text go from “I don’t mind” to “Find P-Chan!”. If we indeed take this as a reflection of Ranma’s thoughts and not just another silly visual representing the general interaction, we can also appreciate the urgency he holds for Akane’s situation here as well.

Not long after Azusa comes in, Ranma nonchalantly points out that she’s carrying P-Chan as Akane continues crying. While it is endearing to see him keep his cool when helping Akane with something she’s really upset about, it is also quite funny when we consider that his attitude might just be the result of him disliking P-Chan since he is also Ryoga. Another funny moment comes after Mikado Sanzenin, Azusa’s skating partner, comes in to return P-Chan to Akane. When Azusa began hitting him with increasingly larger objects while he explained her criminal tendencies, I was very pleased to see the remake emphasize just how crazy Azusa really is by dedicating an aggressive and colorful shot to her hitting him repeatedly with a stool. However, I feel like the dramatic timing could have been better when we see Azusa tell Akane that she wants to face off with her as the announcement felt a bit too direct and sudden.

Afterwards, though, the tension gets real when Mikado gets ready to kiss Akane much to her demise. With an upset Ranma in frame moments before he actually goes in, we are able to understand through the suspense that he is a direct threat to their relationship for Ranma in the same way Kodachi was to Akane in the previous set of episodes. This was super exciting to see, and it only got better when Ranma infamously flicked a fishcake onto Mikado’s cheek with an aloof expression just as he does in the original. With the remake’s inclusion of suspenseful music here, the less playful side of his jealousy is more clearly emphasized which makes for another moment where we see just how seriously he takes his feelings for Akane even if he doesn’t always face them directly. Ranma ends up feeling so strongly about that interaction that he remains rather shut down even when Mikado says he accepts his challenge – a rather abnormal reaction given how fired up Ranma becomes when given an opportunity to use his martial arts in a proper fight. However, when he leaves, we do get a final shot of Mikado exploding over Azusa’s insane tendencies which worked to lighten the mood and define them as a pretty funny dynamic duo.

The next scene shows Ranma and Akane walking back to the house together, and I was so glad to see the episode set the tone with a few long shots emphasizing the quiet scenery. It felt pleasantly reminiscent of the original’s method of transitioning into the next scene with still shots of different locations with matching ambience. Finally adding that to this remake was definitely refreshing and worked to highlight the anime’s subtle beauty. The excitement is sure to rise back up for Ranma and Akane shippers though, as Ranma begins their conversation by trying to convince her that he wasn’t just acting jealous around Mikado. It was so interesting to watch Akane remain calm as Ranma got increasingly more defensive on the subject until he eventually showed some insecurity by asking if Mikado is the kind of guy she likes. Even if the subject of their feelings is becoming something they dance around more regularly, it still left me wide-eyed to witness when it comes to their developing relationship. In the same way it began, the scene ends with another pleasant surprise as Akane shoots Ranma a clever and sassy comment while walking away from him. Given how this is a rather important element from the original that isn’t much present in this remake, including that line in the end holds delightful potential for it to happen more in the future.

While the following scene shows the two of them explaining their ice skating match to Akane’s sisters, I feel as though it works more as a quality transition into their training given how hilariously fast paced it became towards the end due to Ranma and Ryoga’s argument escalating into a skating challenge at the ice rink – where we find out neither of them can skate. While learning with Akane, we see Ranma take advantage of his female form once again to make his struggles look less embarrassing. This was a pretty entertaining scene, but I found it more interesting to see how comfortable Ranma is with acting vulnerable because he’s a girl even as Akane essentially calls him unmanly for acting scared when simply skating. That is, while he still cares about his manhood, it’s more clear to see here that he enjoys how his female form allows him to express more fragile parts of himself to the point where he doesn’t care in this situation if someone calls him unmanly when he’s in it. This distinction expands upon Ranma’s character by adding another enticing layer of complexity to the relationship he has with his gender because of his curse, which I very much enjoyed witnessing.

Something slightly simpler impressed me afterwards, though, and that was watching Azusa and Mikado practice their skills with the “100 Man Kumite” in which they have a set time to fend off against 100 hockey players one-by-one until they’re all defeated. Just like many of the fight scenes we’ve gotten so far, I was thoroughly impressed with each precise movement they made for their strikes amidst the flow of the fight. With a counter in the corner and a certain star quality in their performance, this one is made distinct for the captivatingly intense display of skills unique to martial arts ice skating.

We gradually lead up to the most intense section of our time in the ice rink when Mikado gets his hands on Ranma and plants a kiss on his lips. Combined with the suspenseful music as we steadily lead up to this moment and a sound effect reminiscent of the ‘vine boom’ playing once he does, the remake does this moment justice by delivering a perfect blend of utmost hilarity and shock – especially for first time viewers. The episode keeps this energy up by giving us Akane’s reaction, and things only get better once we see Ranma’s. He quite literally shatters to pieces before he’s brought back together within blocks of ice that he remains inside of as he runs away screaming and crying like a little girl. Not only did this serve as the cherry on top in terms of comedy, I was also quite shocked to even see such an unexpected creative choice play out. With all the times his character has broken down and disappeared in some capacity as a reaction to something soul crushing, it seems to me that this remake will never run out of ways to symbolize Ranma’s demise. We’re treated to another instance of Akane’s sass at the end when she gives Mikado a bored look while thinking she would cry too if he ended up kissing her.

After barging into the public bath to transform back into a man inside a warm tub, shocking all the men there from the moment he runs in as a girl, Ranma completely changes the tone when he comes back out with the most furious demeanor we’ve seen from anyone in this remake so far. It’s visually represented when he stands engulfed in a searing red hot energy so intense that it creates a sort of lagging effect on a simple tilt shot of his figure. Such a depiction of his emotions, while absolutely insane to watch, is fitting given that this is the first time he’s ever been this angry.

What follows after Ranma’s clumsy yet relentless attempts to fight him, no longer afraid of the ice and remaining indestructible after every fall, is Mikado’s dance of death move which traps Ranma in a whirlwind of his repeated attacks. In quite the visually spectacular sequence, we can truly see how Ranma’s martial arts skills are challenged here. He takes many of Mikado’s hits, but impressively preserves enough of his energy and focus to block some of them as well. While most of this move’s duration is blurred from the rapid movements, by the end, we get a shocking reveal when Akane helps Ranma out of the rink and tells Azusa that Ranma was the one that won the fight. This is proven true when Azusa goes over to Mikado to find him completely frozen in place. Considering how certain Ranma’s defeat appeared, I found it so cool to see that Akane had so much faith in Ranma and knew his fighting capabilities well enough to be the only one to see that he won. Not only does it show a major strength in their relationship, it develops Akane’s knowledge of good martial arts as well.

We’re at the Tendo house next where we see Ranma take care of himself while Akane’s sisters listen to what happened at the ice rink. However, they don’t get the full story until Ryoga continues the running gag of appearing out of nowhere, which is already becoming a notably funny staple for this remake. I adored seeing the smug expression he wore when essentially revealing to the girls that Ranma received a kiss from a man. In the midst of rolling my eyes with a smile at his immaturity, it is suddenly suggested that this was Ranma’s first kiss given the way he literally deflates into a black void after everyone makes comments sounding reassured that it wasn’t. It is then essentially confirmed when Akane meets him in the dojo where we see him get defensive once she follows up with him on it. I was shocked to hear this as it was totally new information for me and was never mentioned in the original anime. I think this was such an interesting detail to include in the remake as it gives us a slightly different perspective on Ranma and allows us to know even more about his life before he met Akane. It is quite funny, however, that we’re meant to feel bad for poor Ranma now knowing that his first kiss was spoiled by Mikado since the experience seems to matter a lot to him.

The next scene revolves around one of the most iconic moments between Ranma and Akane for its romantic tension. While the lead up was just fine since I still managed to find it intense as a fan who already knew what was coming, the way they approached re-creating other aspects of the scene was so good! This is especially true when we see the way Ranma literally sweeps Akane off her feet and holds her close to prove that he’s not the only one who tends to let his guard down. Compared to the original, there is a change in dialogue and tone as Ranma tells her “looks like you’ve got no room to talk”. It worked so well to make him sound more eager to kiss her and the long pause they took to gaze at each other seem so much more intense as a result. All of which had me freaking out as I watched it!

They go back to their frustrations with each other rather quickly, however, when Akane challenges Ranma to prove he is capable of actually kissing her when he backs away all flustered. Here, the remake approached his attempt by intensifying their small argument over this topic with visuals that made it seem like they were getting ready to battle each other. Along with the sense of curiosity taken away from Akane’s angry expression when she closes her eyes to wait for Ranma’s kiss, I felt that these two elements diminished the hints of playful teasing from Akane and overall seriousness we got from this moment in the original. This makes for another sincere moment that the remake turns into more of a joke than it should. Although, there is a slight redeeming quality in the close ups we get of their lips as Ranma tries going in to kiss her. There’s a silence that belongs here that manages to deliver the soft and intimate atmosphere this scene needed. On top of that, seeing Ranma’s face express a vulnerability that’s usually only reserved for his girl form as well as seeing the two of them blush brightly at their families when they spot them waiting for their kiss were also subtle additions that were delightful to watch towards the end.

While small compared to what we just witnessed, the episode ends with a shot of Mikado cursing Ranma while still frozen at the ice rink after hours due to his attacks – now covered in a body cast and silly drawings. While this scene was purely for comedy purposes, I was more amazed at how Ranma’s attacks were so powerful that it kept Mikado there until even the lights were off at the rink. It shows us just how impressive of a martial artist our main character truly is, even if the scene lasts mere seconds before rolling to credits.

I’ll Never Let Go

In episode 9, we start with yet another situational overview. This time with an arts and crafts inspired theme! Compared to the previous one, it’s a cuter and simpler variation of the overview with paper cut outs of the characters, the stickers, and drawings over a cardboard background.

We then open with our main characters getting ready for the skating match. After witnessing Ryoga’s arrival to the school it takes place in, and giggling at how worn his physical condition is from getting lost once again, we see Ranma enter the men’s dressing room while greeting Mikado by nonchalantly calling him M’Corny Sexpest. While small, I was pleasantly caught off guard with such an elaborate insult. Soon enough, we also get another instance where Ranma expresses how much Akane means to him when he brings back the serious tone in his anger towards Mikado after he explains his plans to kiss Akane after he loses. We end on a funny note, however, with Ranma simply becoming uncomfortable with him and backing away while thinking that he’s weird. What follows, in addition, is a cute little moment of Akane sneezing while she gets ready herself – complimenting the previous scene when she suspects that someone must be talking about her.

Up next, we pan down on the skating arena with a ridiculous Azusa themed banner of P-Chan as well as various shots of the spectators settling in around the area while hearing yet another round of commentary by the Furinkan High Radio Club – the repeated appearances of whom never fail to bring a smile. With a dramatic flare similar to the martial arts rhythmic gymnastics match, the lights flash on for Mikado and Azusa as they make an entrance full of beautiful poses and experienced showmanship – which made for quite a mesmerizing watch. We then cut to Ranma and Akane standing in the back. Here, Ranma displays a sweeter form of jealousy by telling Akane to stay away from Mikado as much as possible which she disregards for the sake of wanting to fight him herself during the match. However, when Ranma commits to making their entrance just as flashy as their opponents’, nothing but secondhand embarrassment floods in from the moment he picks her up and fails – especially knowing just how poor his skating skills are from the previous episode.

The match begins soon afterwards and, for their first hit, Ranma and Akane hold up in this fight quite decently which shocked me all over again given their limited skills. In fact, all throughout, their end of the fight looks really cool as it seems they’ve found a way to play to their respective strengths as martial artists despite the kind they’re participating in. What I found interesting here, though, is seeing Akane actually wanting Ranma’s help in fending off Mikado’s kiss attacks. A stark contrast to her usual demands to handle all the boys herself despite his jealousy. In relation, while he fumbles, it’s also enticing to see Ranma’s attempt to stop Mikado from kissing her with an almost urgent sense of immediacy. Both of these reactions are excellent when it comes to exposing their deeper feelings as they subtly show us how much they care about the other being taken away from them.

What proves this further is my favorite attack of the episode where Ranma throws Akane ahead of him so that he can get down and deliver an absolutely striking punch to Mikado’s gut. We then see Ranma skate past him to catch Akane before they both start panicking over his inability to stop as they approach a wall. If the shot of his punch wasn’t cool enough, Ranma sticks the landing on an impressive back flip that plants the two of them back onto the rink perfectly. While incredible, I was once again caught off guard by Ranma’s display of skills here seeing that he couldn’t even stand on the ice last episode. This, I suppose, is meant to speak volumes about how much this fight means to him given the way Akane is involved. Of course, these skills are still rather messy and possess an effectiveness that seems based more on luck compared to the smooth fighting style of their opponents, which I noticed worked beautifully to symbolize the state of the fighters’ respective relationships.

It soon comes time for the fight to take a pause as we approach yet another iconic moment in the Ranma 1/2 franchise in which Ranma declares to Mikado that Akane is his fiancé and that he will kill him if he tries to touch her again. In the original, this moment delivered a riveting emotional impact with intense music following his shout and a multifaceted reaction from Akane. However, the remake definitely went all out in a different way which did the scene just as much justice. Here, the serious tone in Ranma’s voice is much stronger and we spend a little more time on this moment when we’re shown how his declaration echoes throughout the entire arena in the midst of silence. Although the weakness lies in Akane’s reaction as it’s simply brought down to her saying the same line she says every time someone makes an unexpected comment about an aspect of her life. Still, with all the dramatic effects, fans are sure to understand this as one of the peak moments in the show for revealing just how strong Ranma’s feelings for Akane really are.

In response, their opponents introduce them to one of their signature moves called The Couple Crusher which is meant to rapidly spin a single couple around in the air then stop only if one of them lets go of the other. After hearing how this move is meant to tear couples apart, it took a few watches for me to appreciate how Ranma declared him and Akane as the exception before going all in rather than denying the notion of them being a couple in any capacity. While subtle, it tells us that Ranma will actually embrace his deeper feelings for Akane wholeheartedly when it matters even when he denies them any other time. After they inevitably get trapped in the chaos of the move, it was sweet to see a kind of intimacy play out with Ranma refusing to let go of Akane’s hands over fear she’d get hurt. Although, I also appreciated how the moment changed into something that fit them when he tells her that she’s too stupid to handle that obstacle on her own if he were to let go. Eventually, Azusa is the one to let the two of them go which interrupts their arguing and sends them flying into the air. I loved seeing Ranma take the fall for Akane here, ultimately protecting her while still holding her hand, as it is another example of how well he shows his care for Akane even if he cannot express it verbally.

Passed out on the ice, there is a short moment where Akane cries when Ranma doesn’t wake up from his knock-out. It’s a comedic treat when eventually he does so, however, since he doesn’t seem to care that she’s crying and is more upset that she called him stupid for sacrificing himself. Afterwards, he gets cocky around Akane by claiming that it will take a lot more than an attack like that to take him down. The strongest part about seeing him get up, though, was hearing every bone in his body break upon doing so. The sound of multiple auditory crunches here is sure to make fans wince with Akane as we get a hilarious shot of her reaction.

After Ranma’s ridiculous persistence to continue the fight as if nothing happened, things get much more interesting once it’s announced that P-Chan has suddenly disappeared. The camera then moves up on a shot of Ryoga sitting high up on one of the platforms, an unexpected sight that leaves us absolutely on our toes to see what he’ll do to the match. We see soon enough when a sweet moment where Ranma gazes up at Akane as she holds his arm asking him to withdraw is interrupted when Ryoga turns off the power – reducing the romantic shot to nothing but Ranma’s dumbfounded eyes embedded in an all black background. In the dark, we then get a cartoonish sight of Ryoga transforming Ranma into a girl in his attempt to take his place in the match, but then unknowingly pushing Akane out of the way so that he’s paired up with Ranma by the time the lights come back on – initiating another one of their boyish quarrels. Meanwhile, Mikado recognizes Ranma’s female form while watching them as he recalls an extremely inaccurate memory of their kiss through a vintage film visual which I thought was a refreshing creative choice to see.

It’s a riot when Ranma and Ryoga suddenly get a makeover right in the middle of the rink upon the male audience’s booing towards Ranma’s outfit. While minor, I definitely found this sequence to be random in the best way possible as it embraces the chaotic humor that defines the classic anime and the franchise overall. Something more riveting comes along soon after, though, when Azusa comes up to Ryoga after he gets Akane to pair up with him. She claims that he’s her Charlotte after pointing out that he’s wearing the pink collar she placed on the little black pig. With a piggish squeal and a curious look from Akane, I was losing my mind at how well they dramatized Akane almost finding out about Ryoga’s big secret. We get into more slapstick comedy territory, though, as Ryoga manages to deny her accusations before knocking Ranma out when he butts in to claim that he’s P-Chan instead.

The match starts back up after the messy transition into Ryoga’s inclusion with the same Couple Crusher move from before. Things could not have turned out more differently compared to last time, though, as an arguing Ranma and Ryoga are the ones caught up in the storm. In the midst of Ranma trying to save himself by viciously climbing onto Ryoga’s arm while he yells at him to get off, which is already funny considering that Ryoga was the one who dragged Ranma into the attack in the first place even as Ranma told him to let go, he bites his arm which causes Ryoga to deliver a hilarious punch to Ranma’s face that sends him flying. This moment also had me laughing for its comedic timing, which is quickly becoming another strength of this remake.

After the attack ends with a frustrated Ryoga on the ground, he ends up accidentally smashing the ice rink into icebergs floating on top of freezing cold water. As Ryoga holds on to Ranma for dear life, it was quite funny to see nobody else in quite the panic he was. It placed more emphasis on people’s judgement over Ryoga’s insane behavior. However, something a little more dire occurs as Ryoga expresses his fear of falling in and turning into P-Chan right in front of Akane. We get quite a thorough vision of the scene in his head playing out inside the reflection of the water. Here, we see a disgusted Akane point out how perverted it was for him to keep his identity as P-Chan a secret and that she never wants to see him again before angrily walking away. While this scene does a good job explaining why this part of the story is so wrong, such self awareness made the scene feel like it was trying to compensate for keeping it in this remake. Still, I don’t think it did much to change the fact that they really should have altered this plot point in a way that enabled the creators to tell the story just as successfully.

After Ranma gets Ryoga to focus, their opponents are truly the rulers of this icy territory as we see them completely unfazed by the trickiness of their current circumstance – pleasantly minding their own business while waiting for them. As they show a readiness to take them on with a certain effortlessness in their demeanors, both teams are prepared to continue which leaves us on a cliffhanger until next episode.

Conclusion

In this set of episodes, the romance in Ranma and Akane’s relationship truly progresses amidst facing an opponent that aims to take the both of them on in more ways than one. Apart from this, I feel these episodes showed true strength with its comedy as well as in giving our two leads more character development through tension filled interactions. At the same time, it was also great to see it incorporate certain elements from the original anime that contributed to the franchise’s charm – these being the atmospheric shots and growing sass within the characters. While the finale of this storyline seems to need a third episode apart from the usual two that the other ones have been getting, between the uniquely graceful fight scenes and the heightened romance, I personally cannot wait to see how things unfold from here in this remake.