Ranma

For this week I read a classic which everybody else seemed to have already read but me. And I found it pretty entertaining! I'm not usually one for reading manga like Ranma; the titles I have read were usually tied to action-based anime I had already watched and was therefore interested in the original take on the plot. This was the first time in awhile I'd delved into something completely new! Ranma quickly became appealing to me for reasons I can't quite pin down, but I know I like the whimsicality of the plot; Ranma's master turns into a panda, his childhood friend and rival becomes a pig... your everyday anime struggles. Manga and anime have always been toying with the topic of gender-flipping and harem-type plots, but this one wins points for being one of the originals. I enjoyed the testy dynamic between Ranma and Akane, and their efforts to keep other suitors away with increasingly fantsastic means whilst they shove away their feelings for each other at the same time.  I also appreciated that Akane is no stranger to martial arts herself, and is quite adept in taking down her opponents.

Ranma is playful in nature and doesn't take itself too seriously, though Takahashi knows that her characters have a chemistry which is hard to ignore and plays into that. If I can find more volumes, I can't promise that I'll be holding myself back from reading more!