Ranma ½ (らんま½, Ranma Nibun-no-Ichi, pronounced Ranma One-Half in English) is a Japanese manga series created by Rumiko Takahashi. It began publication in September 1987, appearing in Shōnen Sunday after the ending of Rumiko Takahashi's previous major work, Urusei Yatsura. From September 1987 until March 1996, Ranma ½ was published on a near weekly basis with the occasional colorized page to spruce up the usually black and white manga stories. After nearly a decade of storylines, the final chapter was published in Shōnen Sunday 1996, Volume 12,[1] finalizing the manga with a total of 115 story arcs.
The story revolves around a 16-year-old boy named Ranma Saotome who was trained from early childhood in martial arts. As a result of an accident during a training journey in China, he is cursed to become a girl when splashed with cold water, but hot water will change him back into a boy.
Ranma ½ had a comedic formula and a gender-swapping main character, who often willfully changes into a girl to advance his goals. Ranma ½ also contains many other characters, whose intricate relationships with each other, unusual characteristics and eccentric personalities drive most of the stories. Although the characters and their relationships are complicated, they rarely change once the characters are firmly introduced and settled into the series.
In addition to the regular storylines, Ranma ½ has had several special releases. First, the Ranma ½ Memorial Book was published just as the manga ended in 1996. Acting as an end-cap to the series, it collects various illustrations from the series, features an interview with Takahashi,[2] and includes tidbits about Ranma such as summaries of his battles, his daily schedule, trivia, and a few exclusive illustrations. Second, Movie + OVA Ranma ½ was released to illustrate the two part OVA "The One to Carry On" and the third movie, Team Ranma vs. the Legendary Phoenix. Finally, guidebooks were released for three of the Ranma ½ games; these included not only strategies, but also interviews.[3]
Production[]
Rumiko Takahashi stated that Ranma ½ was conceived to be a martial arts manga that connects all aspects of everyday life to martial arts. Because her previous series had female protagonists, the author decided that she wanted a male this time. However, she was worried about writing a male main character, and therefore decided to make him half-female.[4] She considered Ranma changing every time he was punched before deciding on water for initiating his changes. That decision led her to feeling that Jusenkyo had to be set in China, as it is the only place that could have such mysterious springs. She drew inspiration for Ranma ½ from a variety of real-world objects. Some of the places frequently seen in the series are modeled after actual locations in Nerima, Tokyo (both the home of Takahashi and the setting of Ranma ½). In addition, links have been shown between the manga and people, paintings, and even films.[5]
In a 1990 interview with Amazing Heroes, Takahashi stated that she had four assistants that draw the backgrounds, panel lines and tone, while she creates the story and layout, and pencils and inks the characters. All her assistants are female; Takahashi stated that "I don't use male assistants so that the girls will work more seriously if they aren't worried about boys." In 1992, she explained her process as beginning with laying out the chapter in the evening so as to finish it by dawn, and resting for a day before calling her assistants. They finish it in two or three nights, usually utilizing five days for a chapter.
Takahashi purposefully aimed the series to be popular with women and children. In 1993, an Animerica interviewer talking with Takahashi asked her if she intended the sex-changing theme "as an effort to enlighten a male-dominated society." Takahashi said that she does not think in terms of societal agendas and that she created the Ranma ½ concept from simply wanting "a simple, fun idea". She added that she, as a woman and while recalling what manga she liked to read as a child, felt that "humans turning into animals might also be fun and märchenhaft... you know, like a fairy tale." In 2013, she revealed that at the start of Ranma her editor told her to make it more dramatic, but she felt that was something she could not do. However, she admitted that drama did start to appear at the end. She also sat in on the voice actor auditions for the anime, where she insisted that male and female Ranma be voiced by different actors whose gender corresponded to that of the part.
Following publication in Shōnen Sunday, the manga was then published in tankōbon form until 1996 the pages were published in normal black and white. Ranma ½ was eventually serialized into 38 of these volumes. In 2002, Shogakukan opted to republish these under a new format, the shinsōban. These were essentially the same as the tankōban save for a different cover.
United States publication[]
Viz Media, a company owned by Shogakukan and Shueisha, published the English version of the manga. Viz started publishing Ranma ½ in 1993 in a monthly comic book format. Because of the time needed to accumulate material, subsequent volumes became relatively slow to come. Each graphic novel covers roughly the same amount of material as a tankōbon, but Viz incorporated minor differences in grouping so that the English language version spans 36 volumes rather than the Japanese number of 38. Volume 36, the final volume, was released in stores on November 14, 2006,[6] thus making it Viz's longest running manga, spanning over 13 years.
On March 18, 2004, Viz announced that it would reprint a number of its graphic novels. The content remained the same, but the novels moved to a smaller format with different covers. In the case of Ranma ½, the covers shifted from a variegated style to a more uniform cover. In addition, the price dropped to $9.95.[7] However, the title would still retain its "flipped", left-to-right format, like the first edition.
In 2014, Viz announced that the manga would be rereleased, this time in special 2-in-1 editions that would contain the entiredy of the manga with it's original unaltered formatting.
Volumes[]
'Tankobon' (単行本, Tankōbon?, Graphic Novel) is the
'Shinsoban' (新装版, Shinsoban?, New Edition) is a new version for Tankōbon that Shogakukan decided to re-release
'Wideban' (ワイド版, Waidoban?, Wide Edition) is another edition for Ranma ½
| Vol# | Chapters | Shogakukan Release |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | To be added |  15 July 2016 ISBN 978-4091272706 |
| 2 | To be added |  15 July 2016 ISBN 978-4091272751 |
| 3 | To be added |  18 August 2016 ISBN 978-4091272768 |
| 4 | To be added |  16 September 2016 ISBN 978-4091272775 |
| 5 | To be added |  18 October2016 ISBN 978-4091272782 |
| 6 | To be added |  18 November 2016 ISBN 978-4091272799 |
| 7 | To be added |  16 December 2016 ISBN 978-4091272805 |
| 8 | To be added |  18 January 2017 ISBN 978-4091272843 |
| 9 | To be added |  17 February 2017 ISBN 978-4091272850 |
| 10 | To be added |  17 March 2017 ISBN 978-4091272867 |
| 11 | To be added |  18 April 2017 ISBN 978-4091272874 |
| 12 | To be added |  18 May 2017 ISBN 978-4091272881 |
| 13 | To be added |  16 June 2017 ISBN 978-4091272898 |
| 14 | To be added |  18 July 2017 ISBN 978-4091272904 |
| 15 | To be added |  18 August 2017 ISBN 978-4091272942 |
| 16 | To be added |  15 September 2017 ISBN 978-4091272959 |
| 17 | To be added |  18 October 2017 ISBN 978-4091272966 |
| 18 | To be added |  17 November 2017 ISBN 978-4091272973 |
| 19 | To be added |  18 December 2017 ISBN 978-4091272980 |
| 20 | To be added |  18 January 2018 ISBN 978-4091272997 |
Viz Media[]
| Vol# | Chapters | Viz Release |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
 7 May 2003 ISBN 978-1-56931-962-8 |
| 2 |
|
 7 May 2003 ISBN 978-1-56931-963-5 |
| 3 |
|
 27 August 2003 ISBN 978-1-59116-062-5 |
| 4 |
|
 27 August 2003 ISBN 978-1-59116-063-2 |
| 5 |
|
 10 October 2003 ISBN 978-1-59116-064-9 |
| 6 |
|
 12 November 2003 ISBN 978-1-59116-065-6 |
| 7 |
|
 4 February 2004 ISBN 978-1-59116-129-5 |
| 8 |
|
 4 February 2004 ISBN 978-1-59116-130-1 |
| 9 |
|
 28 April 2004 ISBN 978-1-59116-283-4 |
| 10 |
|
 29 April 2004 ISBN 978-1-59116-284-1 |
| 11 |
|
 14 July 2004 ISBN 978-1-59116-285-8 |
| 12 |
|
 14 July 2004 ISBN 978-1-59116-286-5 |
| 13 |
|
 3 October 2004 ISBN 978-1-59116-287-2 |
| 14 |
|
 30 November 2004 ISBN 978-1-59116-288-9 |
| 15 |
|
 3 January 2005 ISBN 978-1-59116-289-6 |
| 16 |
|
 3 January 2005 ISBN 978-1-59116-290-2 |
| 17 |
|
 15 April 2005 ISBN 978-1-59116-291-9 |
| 18 |
|
 15 April 2005 ISBN 978-1-59116-292-6 |
| 19 |
|
 9 August 2005 ISBN 978-1-59116-293-3 |
| 20 |
|
 9 August 2005 ISBN 978-1-59116-294-0 |
| 21 |
|
 8 November 2005 ISBN 978-1-59116-295-7 |
| 22 |
|
 May 2003 ISBN 978-1-56931-890-4 |
| 23 |
|
 27 August 2003 ISBN 978-1-59116-060-1 |
| 24 |
|
 29 October 2003 ISBN 978-1-59116-061-8 |
| 25 |
|
 11 February 2004 ISBN 978-1-59116-128-8 |
| 26 |
|
 28 April 2004 ISBN 978-1-59116-296-4 |
| 27 |
|
 11 August 2004 ISBN 978-1-59116-459-3 |
| 28 |
|
 17 November 2004 ISBN 978-1-59116-584-2 |
| 29 |
|
 15 February 2005 ISBN 978-1-59116-681-8 |
| 30 |
|
 3 May 2005 ISBN 978-1-59116-776-1 |
| 31 |
|
 16 August 2005 ISBN 978-1-59116-860-7 |
| 32 |
|
 8 November 2005 ISBN 978-1-4215-0072-0 |
| 33 |
|
 7 February 2006 ISBN 978-1-4215-0256-4 |
| 34 |
|
 9 May 2006 ISBN 978-1-4215-0505-3 |
| 35 |
|
 8 August 2006 ISBN 978-1-4215-0506-0 |
| 36 |
|
 14 November 2006 ISBN 978-1-4215-0507-7 |
The English volumes started to be published on March 11, 2014 by Viz Media. Each of the volumes consisted of two volumes from the Tankobon edition of the manga and restores the original right-to-left reading order (a first in North America for this series).
| Vol# | Chapters | Viz Release |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
 11 March 2014 ISBN 978-1421565941 |
| 2 |
|
 6 May 2014 ISBN 978-1421565958 |
| 3 |
|
 8 July 2014 ISBN 978-1421566160 |
| 4 |
|
 2 September 2014 ISBN 978-1421566177 |
| 5 |
|
 4 November 2014 ISBN 978-1421566184 |
| 6 |
|
 6 January 2015 ISBN 978-1421566191 |
| 7 |
|
 10 March 2015 ISBN 978-1421566207 |
| 8 |
|
 5 May 2015 ISBN 978-1421566214 |
| 9 |
|
 14 July 2015 ISBN 978-1421566221 |
| 10 |
|
 8 September 2015 ISBN 978-1421566238 |
| 11 |
|
 10 November 2015 ISBN 978-1421566320 |
| 12 |
|
 12 January 2016 ISBN 978-1421566337 |
| 13 |
|
 8 March 2016 ISBN 978-1421566344 |
| 14 |
|
 10 May 2016 ISBN 978-1421566351 |
| 15 |
|
 12 July 2016 ISBN 978-1421566368 |
| 16 |
|
 13 September 2016 ISBN 978-1421566375 |
| 17 |
|
 8 November 2016 ISBN 978-1421566382 |
| 18 |
|
 10 January 2017 ISBN 978-1421566399 |
| 19 |
|
 14 March 2017 ISBN 978-1421585802 |
References[]
- ↑ Anime News Network: Ranma ½ (manga) April 25, 2006
- ↑ Ranma ½ FAQ: Interview with Rumiko Takahashi from the Memorial Book April 25, 2006
- ↑ Ranma ½ Perfect Edition: Manga Summaries April 25, 2006
- ↑ Kappa Magazine #5, November 1992; http://www.furinkan.com/takahashi/takahashi8.html
- ↑ Ranma ½ Perfect Edition Miscellaneous - Inspirations April 25, 2006
- ↑ Viz Media product page for volume 36 October 20, 2006
- ↑ Viz Media 2004 Press Releases April 25, 2006
See Also[]
- List of characters
- Character relationships
- Story Arcs
- List of Ranma ½ episodes
- Ranma ½: Live Action Special
- Outside references to Ranma ½
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