Summary
The reboot era of anime continueswith no signs of letting up as yet another anime adaptation of a Rumiko Takahashi work is being redone for a 21st century audience.Ranma 1/2, initially released back in 1989, is having a 2024 reboot courtesy of MAPPA, the studio behind several high-profile anime adaptations likeAttack on TitanandJujutsu Kaisen.
A trailer was revealed, showing off the dazzling new animation, and to make things even better, the original voice cast returns to reprise their roles from 35 years ago.Ranma 1/2 (2024)is set to broadcast this October.
What Is Ranma 1/2?
A Classic Anime and Manga
Ranma 1/2is a manga created bylegendary mangaka Rumiko Takahashi, who is also the creator ofMaison Ikkoku,Urusei Yatsura(Invader Lumto English-speaking audiences), as well as theInuyashauniverse. The series follows Ranma Saotome and his father Genma, practitioners of the Musabetsu Kakutō School (“Anything-Goes”) of martial arts who were training in the Bayankala Mountain Range in Qinghai, China, when they fell into the cursed spring of Jusenkyō. The spring causes anyone who falls in to assume the physical form of whomever (or whatever) drowned there whenever they come into contact with cold water. Genma fell into a spring where a panda once drowned, while Ranma fell where a young girl met the same fate.
The only way for them to revert to their original forms is to make contact with hot water; however, the effects of the curse are permanent. Genma once agreed with his friend Sōun Tendo, a fellow practioner of Musabetsu Kakutō, that their children would get married and continue the Tendo dojo. The responsibility falls upon the youngest of his three daughters, Akane, because her sisters dumped the duty onto her and becauseshe is the same age as Ranma. Since neither one of the betrothed were consulted about it, they vehemently refused, but their fathers do not take no for an answer, despite the fact that Ranma and Akane argue at every turn. TheRanma 1/2manga was published in Shōgakukan’s Weekly Shōnen Sunday from August 1987 to March 1996, and was collected into 38 volumes. The firstRanmaanime was produced by Studio Deen (Fruits Basket 2001), running for 143 episodes from October 1989 to September 1992.
Production and Cast Information
Behind the Production of Ranma 1/2 (2024)
As mentioned previously, the newRanma 1/2anime will be produced by staff at MAPPA, with Kōnosuke Uda (director,One Piece1-278) as director and sound director, series composition by Kimiko Ueno (series composition,Delicious in Dungeon),art direction by Chihiro Ōkawa (backgrounds,Suzume), Atsushi Kanō (photography,Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku) as director of photography, colour design by Yukiko Kakita (colour key,Mr. Osomatsu) and character designs by Hiromi Taniguchi (in-between animation,Gurren Lagann); who also serves as one of four chief animation directors alongside Nao Ōtsu (character design,BEASTARS), Takeshi Yoshioka (character design,Beelzebub) and Yoshiko Saitō (character design,Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible), and music by Kaoru Wada (music,Inuyashafranchise,Yashahime).
Cast members include many returnees from the 1989 anime, withKappei Yamaguchi (Usopp,One Piece)and Megumi Hayashibara (Faye Valentine,Cowboy Bebop) once again playing the male and female versions of Ranma Saotome respectively; Noriko Hidaka (Kikyo,Inuyasha) returns to play Akane Tendō, Minami Takayama as Nabiki Tendō, Kikuko Inoue is back as Kasumi Tendō, Kōichi Yamadera is back as Ryōga Hibiki, Rei Sakuma is back as Shampoo. Akio Ōtsuka (Black Jack,Black Jack) replaces Ryūsuke Ōbayashi as Sōun Tendo, while Chō (Brook,One Piece) replaces Kenichi Ogata (Professor Agasa,Case Closed) as Gendo Saotome, as the voice actor assumes the role of series narrator to replace the late Tadashi Nakamura. Ranma 1/2 2024 is set to premiere October 5, forming part of what is shaping up to be an incredibly stacked Fall season.
