I simply picked up a copy of the Ranma 1/2 OAVs since I had some extra money when I was picking up my usual copy of a DBZ DVD(The Draw, to be precise). I had heard about Ranma and the comments were positive ones, and having read about the episodes in my Viz catalog I decided to try it out. When I popped the OAV video into my VCR, I never knew that when I was done I would be laughing my head off.
Now, I own half of the OAVS, one of the films, 4 Ranma DVD boxsets(seasons 2-5), and a ton of videos and DVDs, as well as about one third of the manga. Ranma's great. The weird, but awesome, fighting is just the icing on the cake. What we really have is Ranma trying to not get his rear handed to him by crazy rivals, Akane bashing Ranma's head in, Ryoga trying to find where in the world he is, Shampoo gloomping Ranma in a bear-hug that would probably strangle Arnold Schwarzenegger, and near-blind Mousse, who mistakes Ranma, Shampoo, Akane, and everyone else for just about everything. With this laugh-out loud silliness, it's obvious you know you're watching something great.
I think the best thing about the entire series is that I can really relate to Ranma(well, aside from the curses and stuff). He has a fear of a certain type of animal due to..... childhood circumstances, he feels like everyone uses him, blames him for things even if it's not his fault, he doesn't have many friends, and his father cares jack squat for him. This makes Ranma really empathetic for me, something most anime characters don't usually do.
Shockingly, one character I like in this is voo-doo fixated Hikaru Gosunkugi. I like the fact that he's not the typical Ranma rival who goes out and confronts Ranma directly. He's even able to actually have some effect with his plans. Of course, said plans usually backfire on him....
Finally, the show introduces just about the cutest anime character ever, Shampoo! Every time she purrs out "ailen," it makes me melt......
BOTTOM LINE: Watch Ranma 1/2! You don't know what you're missing if you don't!
