Ranma ½: Set 6 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Ranma ½: Set 6 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown May 26, 2015

A mysterious young man who uses pantyhose as a weapon steals the Jusenkyo guestbook and kidnaps Akane. In order to save her, Ranma teams up with Ryoga, Mousse, and Shampoo, but the young man, like Ranma, also undergoes a transformation when splashed with cold water. After that, monsters escape from strange hanging scrolls and cause chaos around town! The only way to stop them is for Ranma to go on a date with a scribbles panda that has also come out of a scoll! Finally, Ukyo stays at the Tendo Dojo to recover from the shock of a ruined okonomiyaki sauce that has been marinating for ten years. Could Ranma, who is acting strangely kind, have something to do with that too?

Like Sets 1-5, Ranma ½: Set 6 has been meticulously restored and is, once again, faithfully presented. Initially cancelled in 1989 after just 18 episodes, the iconic 161-episode anime series was almost cut down as quickly as it cropped up. Ratings were abysmal. The series wasn't; a small glimmer of hope that led to a stay of execution. Reworked and re-planted in a different time slot, the next incarnation of Ranma, Ranma ½ Nettôhen, proved far more successful, delivering 143 episodes over the next three years. Even at the end of its run, Ranma ½ wasn't done. In addition to 11 OVAs, the series was one of the earliest to arrive stateside, where it served as the first spark of many that ignited North America's mid-90s anime firestorm. And it's still going strong today. VIZ has tackled an ambitious franchise-wide resurrection, remastering and releasing the original right-to-left Rumiko Takahashi manga (with a new, more accurate translation, among other improvements) and revitalizing the series -- both the original 18-episode first season and the subsequent 143-episode series proper -- via 7 restored and remastered Blu-ray sets, each one presenting the series in its original 4:3 cropped aspect ratio with lossless Japanese and English audio.

Unfortunately, "Random Rhapsody" isn't Ranma's finest hour. It's better than "Martial Mayhem," sure, but the word "random" isn't... erm, random. Hijinks of all variety ensue, silliness abounds, and the series' humor is intact. But the overarching story lacks a level of focus and narrative thrust that would have helped the sixth season feel less episodic. Ranma continues to wander, on a small scale and saga-wide, and the aimlessness only intensifies in drier stretches.

Does it really matter? Nah. Ranma's cast of characters is so lovably eccentric and eccentrically lovable that each increasingly random misadventure is a joy; not of the highest order, mind you, but the welcome product of the series' zany sensibilities. The more Ranma veers, the more it plays to its strengths, unearthing comedy in the strangest of places. More importantly, moments that dip their toe into drama, romance, broad fantasy and other cross-genre territory can be as much a blast as anything else... so long as your expectations are set accordingly. The series' sixth season doesn't gain momentum, it just cruises along at a comfortable speed, uninterested in drifting off-formula and content to wrap the familiar in weirder and weirder hilarity. "Random Rhapsody" isn't the stuff of anime greatness. It's your favorite childhood meal revisited as an adult, delicious and nostalgic, offering an impossible to duplicate taste that never gets old.

Ranma ½: Set 6 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ignore the diminishing returns of Ranma's original animation. The sixth season is a grab-bag of less than impressive cel animation; strong at times, rushed and problematic at others. Thankfully, VIZ Media's 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation bears the brunt of each eyesore without faltering for a second. The remaster itself is as capable and commendable as ever, rejuvenating the source elements with faithfulness and consistency. Colors are renewed, contrast is vivid, black levels are excellent, detail is as revealing as it could be, and grain is refined and intact. Obviously soft shots aren't uncommon and print specks creep in now and again, but almost every underwhelming aspect of the image traces back to the original animation. All told, Set 6 is comparable to each Ranma Blu-ray release that precedes it, and that's a very, very good thing.

Ranma ½: Set 6 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like VIZ Media's previous Ranma Blu-ray releases, Set 6 delivers a pair of solid Japanese and English DTS-HD Master Audio stereo tracks. Voices are nicely prioritized and intelligible, sound effects are bright and punchy, and each effect sounds as good as it could considering the series' age. Music doesn't overwhelm the two-channel soundscape either, nor does it sound cramped or crowded. The original audio elements naturally present certain limitations, and tininess, slight hiss and other unavoidable mishaps do find their way into the experience on occasion. However, if you need classic anime to sound as if it were produced in 2015, you're doomed to disappointment no matter what VIZ invests in its lossless tracks. All told, fans will be more than satisfied with the ongoing quality of Ranma's AV presentations.

Ranma ½: Set 6 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• We Love Ranma, Part 6: We Love Working on Ranma ½ (HD, 9 minutes): Longtime VIZ staffer and Ranma manga editor Urian Brown discusses the rise of manga in the US and the history of the various black and white and color Ranma editions.
• We Love Ranma, Part 7: We Love Bloopers (HD, 2 minutes): The shortest "We Love Ranma" featurette yet, "We Love Bloopers" amount to two-minutes of interview bloopers.
• Next Episode Previews (HD, 6 minutes): Twenty-three original, surprisingly entertaining "Next Episode" previews, presented in English or in Japanese with English subtitles.
• Clean Opening (HD, 3 minutes): Two clean openings, with optional English and Romaji subtitles.
• Clean Endings (HD, 3 minutes): Two clean closings, with optional English and Romaji subtitles.
• VIZ Media Trailers (HD, 2 minutes)

Ranma ½: Set 6 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The 7-set Blu-ray release of Ranma ½ is quickly drawing to a close, and what a ride it's been. The series is as enjoyable and endearing as ever, solidifying its classic status well into the 21st century. Set 6 features yet another excellent remaster, technically proficient and impressive video presentation, and two solid DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo tracks. There's (once again) no sign of any meaningful or substantial supplements, which is unfortunate, but even if this were a barebones set it would still be worth the price of admission.