Ranma Saotome
Ranma Saotome | |
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Ukyo Kuonji (fiancée) |
Ranma Saotome (
Creation and conception
Because most of her previous series had female protagonists, Rumiko Takahashi decided that she wanted a male for Ranma ½. However, she was worried about writing a male main character in a magazine targeted toward male readers, and therefore decided to make him half-female.[1] In 1993, an Animerica interviewer asked Takahashi if she intended the sex-changing theme "as an effort to enlighten a male-dominated society." The author said that she does not think in terms of societal agendas and that she created the Ranma ½ concept from wanting "a simple, fun idea."[2] She considered Ranma changing every time he was punched, before deciding on water for initiating his changes after thinking of noren at sentō and making the hot and cold water connection.[3]
Takahashi said she gave the character's name a lot of thought; because the series deals with "a lot of entangled elements in an effective way" she named him Ranma taken from the proverb kaitō ranma wo tatsu (快刀乱麻を断つ), which can roughly be translated into English as "tackling plenty of tasks diligently."[4] However, when asked how she came up with it in another interview years later, Takahashi simply said she thought it would be a cute name for either a boy or girl.[3] Male Ranma's name is written using kanji, while Female Ranma's name is written in hiragana as らんま. The manga artist gave Ranma a pigtail to make the character easy to identify regardless of whether he was in his male or female form.[4] Because a pigtail pairs well with Chinese clothes, she then decided to make him a martial artist.[4]
Takahashi said that Ranma's personality ended up different from how she initially intended; "I originally intended for him to be a clean-cut, incredibly energetic kid who was into fighting. But, he became somewhat indecisive and picky." She speculated that, since everyone has those kinds of sentiments, these were her own feelings subconsciously reflected in her character.
Takahashi sat in on the voice actor auditions for the anime adaptation and, when both male and female Ranma were going to be voiced by the same actor, she insisted that they be voiced by different actors whose gender corresponded to that of the part.[6] In Japanese, Ranma's male form is voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi and his female form by Megumi Hayashibara. The character was Yamaguchi's debut voice acting role.[7] Hayashibara actually auditioned to play Akane Tendo, but was chosen to be the female half of Ranma instead.[7][8] In English, male Ranma was voiced by Sarah Strange in the OVAs, films and first 64 episodes of the TV anime, before Richard Ian Cox took over the role.[9] The female version of Ranma was voiced in English by Brigitta Dau for only six episodes before she was replaced by Venus Terzo.[10] In the live-action TV film adaptation, male Ranma is portrayed by Kento Kaku and female Ranma by Natsuna Watanabe.[11]
Appearances
16-year-old Ranma Saotome has been trained in martial arts by his father
Two weeks after the accident, they move in with Genma's old friend
Ranma's childhood rival, the perpetually lost
Although Ranma despises his sex-changing curse, he is not beyond using it to his advantage. In order to interfere on Ryoga's date with Akane, Ranma tricks his gullible rival into thinking his female form is the younger sister Ryoga never knew, Yoiko. When Ranma's mother
Reception
In both 1990 and 1991, Ranma came in second place in Animage's annual Anime Grand Prix for Favorite Male Character and fourth in its Favorite Female Character category.[12][13] Male Ranma dropped one spot to third place in 1992, while female Ranma fell to seventh.[14] Male Ranma regained second place in 1993, but his female form fell to 12th.[15] In 1994, Ranma came in 15th place in the male category.[16] A 2019 NHK poll of 210,061 people saw Ranma voted the fifth favorite character from all of Rumiko Takahashi's works.[17] In a poll conducted by goo, fans voted female Ranma their third favorite anime role performed by Megumi Hayashibara.[18] With 18.1% of the vote, female Ranma came in first in a goo poll of 250 men and 250 women on "cute redhead girl" anime characters.[19] Anime News Network's Gia Manry listed Ranma's engagement to Shampoo as the third Most Awkward Proposal in anime.[20]
Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network called Ranma the "least formed" character of the series as of the first two volumes of the manga. She wrote that "at first he feels badly about his affliction [and] how it affects others, but by the middle of the book he's started using it to his advantage, and really, it's hard to blame him there." and noted that Ranma clearly likes Akane much more than she likes him.
Martin called Venus Terzo's English performance as female Ranma a vast improvement over Brigitta Dau's and said it elevates the rest of the dub to an overall acceptable level. He wrote that the change was supposedly done due to fan complaints, which he called "entirely believable" given how "grating" Dau's performance is.[10] Martin wrote that the English voice actor change from Sarah Strange as male Ranma to Richard Ian Cox takes some time to get used to due to how substantially it alters Ranma's voice and delivery.[9]
References
- ^ "Interview in Italy - Kappa Magazine Issue 5, Star Comics November, 1992". Furinkan.com. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ Horibuchi, Seiji. "Animerica Vol 1, No. 2 (1993)". Furinkan.com. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ a b c "Ranma ½ Memorial Book/The Art of Ranma". Furinkan.com. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ a b c "Shonen Sunday Graphic Special Urusei Yatsura Kanketsuhen (1987) - My Dreaming Days". Furinkan.com. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ a b Karvonen, K.J. "A Talk With Takahashi". Furinkan.com. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ "「るーみっくわーるど35~SHOW TIME&ALL STAR~」高橋留美子画業35周年インタビュー". Natalie (in Japanese). Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ a b "Movement (1989) - Kappei Yamaguchi & Megumi Hayashibara: Interview with a Voice Actor and Actress". Furinkan.com. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ISBN 4-04-444501-X.
- ^ a b Martin, Theron (February 3, 2015). "Ranma ½ Blu-Ray Set 3 - Review". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ a b Martin, Theron (April 2, 2014). "Ranma ½ Blue-Ray - Review". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ Luster, Joseph (September 26, 2011). "Live-Action "Ranma ½" Adaptation Headed to NTV". Crunchyroll. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ "第12回アニメグランプリ [1990年5月号]" (in Japanese). Animage. Archived from the original on October 13, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ "第13回アニメグランプリ [1991年5月号]" (in Japanese). Animage. Archived from the original on October 13, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ "第14回アニメグランプリ [1992年5月号]" (in Japanese). Animage. Archived from the original on October 13, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ "第15回アニメグランプリ [1993年5月号]" (in Japanese). Animage. Archived from the original on October 14, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ "第16回アニメグランプリ [1994年5月号]" (in Japanese). Animage. Archived from the original on October 15, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ Loveridge, Lynzee (November 19, 2019). "The Results are in for NHK's Ultimate Rumiko Takahashi Poll". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ Schley, Matt (May 29, 2017). "Japanese Fans Rank Their Favorite Megumi Hayashibara Roles". Otaku USA. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ Chapman, Paul (September 27, 2015). "Japanese Fans Pick Top 8 "Cute Redhead Girl Characters"". Crunchyroll. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ Manry, Gia (November 19, 2011). "Gia's List: Anime's 7 Most Awkward Proposals". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ Silverman, Rebecca (March 19, 2014). "Ranma ½ [2-in-1 Edition] GN 1 - Review". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ Martin, Theron (July 28, 2014). "Ranma ½ Blue-Ray Set 2 - Review". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ Douglass Jr., Todd (January 16, 2007). "Ranma 1/2: Season One: The Digital Dojo". DVD Talk. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ Cerjak, Kory (June 8, 2014). "Ranma 1/2 Omnibus Vol. #02 Manga Review". The Fandom Post. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ Thompson, Jason (January 26, 2012). "Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Ranma 1/2". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 4, 2021.