Getting Sailor Moon Figuarts was a surprise. But not a huge surprise when you consider there was a new redesigned series put out recently. Getting Ranma 1/2 Figuarts was the real surprise. For the most part the anime Figuarts I see tend to be based on newer anime and manga that I’ve never heard of. But here we are, with Ranma 1/2 in glorious highly articulated plastic form. Sadly it kind of seems like we’ll never actually get Panda Genma who was featured when these were announced.
The first release is the female version of Ranma. In case you are unfamiliar with the premise, Ranma is a harem comedy anime series and manga, which follows the various romantic relationships surrounding Ranma and his crazy pack of friends and enemies. The gimmick of the show, is that a lot of the characters carry some sort of curse, generally originating from the Jusenkyo Springs where they change into a different form and back when exposed to hot or cold water. In the case of the title character, Ranma transforms between a boy and girl due to Ranma falling into the Spring of Drowned Girl.
That’s a pretty gross oversimplification, but that’s the general idea. Originally shown in the announcement were both male and female Ranma as well as a giant Panda Genma, Ranma’s father. Ranma here is pretty awesome, probably my favorite Figuarts of all of the ones I own (though Tuxedo Mask is a close second).
A lot of what I like is just how well balanced she is, which is really essential given the martial arts nature of the series. Part of the plot of Ranma is that everyone has some sort of crazy martial arts fighting style. Being able to pose Ranma doing martial arts moves really helps sell the figure.
She also has a great selection of alternate faces. There’s a big smile, a small smile, a frowny serious face and the embarrassed face. That last one is a lot of fun since as one might imagine, a dude turning into a girl could result in a lot of embarrassing situations.
There is also a good assortment of accessories and alternative hands. The female version of Ranma also includes a hot kettle, which compliments the cold water bucket included with the male counterpart.
In case you can’t tell, I really like this figure. Probably the biggest downside is that she’s a little boring without some of the other Ranma Figuarts to go with her. Also, if you’re not a fan of the source material, there really isn’t a lot of incentive to pick her up. This is definitely the best Ranma figure available, since it both looks good and is loaded with articulation and parts, in traditional Figuarts style.
