195: Ranma Is a Girl Sometimes

“I Love You! My Dear, Dear Ukyo” (May 18, 1990)

This week, we’re pivoting away from traditional sitcoms to discuss Ranma ½, a long-running anime that combines martial arts, romance, mysticism and… zany misunderstandings that are actually very sitcom-like, when you get down to it. This series focuses on the title character, a teenage boy who due to a curse turns into a girl when splashed with cold water, so there are a bajillion ways to analyze the gender dynamics. Here to discuss this with us is Diamond Feit, an American-born writer for whom Ranma ½ was a gateway drug to not only Japanese culture but also getting xem to live in Japan.

Drew refers to a Twitter thread by Michaela Joffe about the Urusei Yatsura character Ryūnosuke Fujinami. Read that here.

Diamond refers to the list of differences between the first series of Ranma ½ and the later ones. Read that here.

And see the clip of Kodachi laughing maniacally here.

Watch the new season of Ninjago: Dragons Rising June 1 on Netflix! And if you don’t know what a Ninjago is, watch Ninjago Decoded, starting here.

Listen to the newest episode of Deep Cuts & Superficial Wounds here.

You can now watch Glen’s movie, Being Frank, on Freevee via Amazon Prime. WATCH IT NOW!

Episode artwork by Ian O’Phelan.