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Ranma is a teenager adept in the martial arts, but due to
an ancient Chinese curse he changes into a girl every time
he gets wet. When a magic scroll is accidentally given to
Ranma's friend Akane she is kidnapped by Prince Kirin of the
Seven Lucky Gods Martial Artists to be his bride. Now Ranma
and assorted misfits must travel to China to rescue her...
Based
on the successful Manga comic by Rumiko Takahashi, the book
spawned two television series, the first Ranma ½ ran
for eighteen episodes but was quickly followed by Ranma
½ Nettohen which ran for a further one hundred and forty-three
episodes between 1989 and 1992. This disc Ranma ½ The Movie:
Big Trouble in Nekonron, represents the first of three
films which were produced as an offshoot of the program, so
fans of the show will realise that the character design follows
closely that found in the television series.
Okay, any story that starts with a octogenarian panty stealer
being chased by a boy that keeps changing into a girl has
got weird written all over it. It doesn't get any better when
Ranma is joined on his mission by a very large elephant and
his romance obsessed owner. The comedy elements start straight
away and are of the broad type, though there are not as many
jokes about Ranma's sexual confusion as you might think. The
supporting characters are okay if a little one dimensional,
but then the film is just one example of a much wider body
of work.
The
animation is a little dated which is to be expected given
the age of the film, but doesn't detract from the overall
enjoyment of the movie. With little character development,
it's difficult to care about the participants, though this
may be different for those more familiar with the long running
television series or Manga comic.
The disc is fairly plain. Audio tracks are English 2.0 and
Japanese 2.0, with English subtitles, though the tacks are
clear and clean. The extras include character profiles which
will be useful if you are unfamiliar with the series. The
original Japanese ending is included as well as an art gallery
and a 'watch once' trailer section.
The film has its own merits and will appeal to fans of the
show, or Anime fans wanting to discover this very successful
franchise. But if it's your fist Amine film there are better
ones out there. With an audience that now has access to movies
like Akira
or Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, its difficult to recommend
this as a good introduction to Anime films.
Charles
Packer
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