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Reviewed by Michael Aronson “The final volume! Does Ranma break his gender-flipping curse? For that matter, does anybody find a way to reverse the effects of the legendary cursed spring? Does Mousse get Shampoo? Does Kuno finally get his little red-headed pig-tailed girl? Does the panty-stealing Happosai pilfer enough undergarments to complete his collection? And yes, the ultimate question will be answered: do Ranma and Akane get married?” I’m only somewhat familiar with Ranma, as I checked a couple of the early volumes out of my library a few years ago. The good thing is that the little I remember about the characters is reiterated in the intro bios, which suggests that not too much has changed – maybe that’s not favorable to regular readers, but it seemed like it would be easy for me to climb on board for the final volume. Not so. Nothing in the synopsis explains what enchanted cave Ranma and co. have discovered, nor how they first encountered the mystical antagonist Saffron against whom they spend the bulk of the volume fighting. It’s not clear how Akane ended up in her given state, nor how far her relationship with Ranma has really grown. But then, I’m not expecting any easy synopsis in the final volume and would be cruel to penalize the book harshly for not being new reader-friendly. No, what disappoints about the story is the utter lack of a conclusion and closure. Despite not having read the middle 30+ volumes, I know that a story that begins with romance should end with something climactic, and that simply isn’t present here. Sure, it’s teased mercilessly enough, especially on the cover, but when the word “overtime” is used to describe a frustratingly absent crucial plot point, you know someone screwed up. I’m not entirely certain that longtime fans of Ranma will be disappointed, but I can sympathize if they are. Comment on this review of Ranma ½ v36 on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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