Ranma ½ (Japanese: らんま ⁠ 1 / 2 ⁠ , Hepburn: Ranma Nibun-no-Ichi; pronounced Ranma One-Half in English) is a Japanese manga series written and drawn by Rumiko Takahashi. It was published in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from August 1987 to March 1996. The chapters were collected into 38 book volumes by Shogakukan. The story follows a teenager named Ranma Saotome, who has studied martial arts since childhood. During a training trip, Ranma is cursed so that he turns into a girl when exposed to cold water and returns to a boy when exposed to hot water. Throughout the series, Ranma tries to find a way to break the curse, while his friends, enemies, and many fiancées often cause problems for him.

The manga uses a humorous style, and the main character often changes into a girl intentionally to help achieve his goals. The series includes many characters with complex relationships, unique traits, and unusual personalities, which help drive the stories. While the characters and their connections are complicated, they usually stay the same once introduced.

The manga was adapted into two anime series by Studio Deen: Ranma ½ and Ranma ½ Nettōhen. These were broadcast on Fuji TV from 1989 to 1992. Additional adaptations include 12 OVAs and three films. In 2011, a live-action television special was produced and aired on Nippon Television. A new anime series by MAPPA began airing on October 6, 2024, on Nippon Television and streaming on Netflix. Viz Media licensed the manga and anime for English-language releases in North America. Madman Entertainment released the manga, parts of the anime, and the first two films in Australasia, while MVM Films released the first two films in the United Kingdom.

The Ranma ½ manga has sold over 55 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling manga series ever. Both the manga and anime are considered among the first in their formats to gain popularity in the United States.

Plot

During a training trip in the Bayankala Mountain Range in Qinghai Province, China, Ranma Saotome and his father, Genma, fell into the cursed springs of Jusenkyo. These springs cause anyone who enters them to change into the form of an animal or person that drowned in the spring long ago. When exposed to cold water, the transformation remains, but hot water changes them back to their original form. Genma fell into the spring of a drowned panda, while Ranma fell into the spring of a drowned girl.

Soun Tendo is a martial artist who practices the Anything-Goes School of martial arts and owns a dojo in Nerima. Years ago, Soun and Genma agreed that their children would marry and continue the Tendo Dojo. Soun has three teenage daughters: Kasumi, who is polite and easygoing; Nabiki, who is greedy and indifferent; and Akane, who is short-tempered and practices martial arts. Akane, who is the same age as Ranma, was chosen by her sisters to handle the arranged marriage because they are older and wanted to avoid the responsibility. They also believed Akane’s dislike of men would help express their own feelings to the fathers. When the Saotomes arrived at the Tendo home, they appeared in their new forms from the cursed springs, confusing the Tendos. Akane later saw Ranma change from his female form to his male form in the bathtub, which frightened her. It took time for Soun and his daughters to understand the situation. Ranma and Akane initially refused the engagement because they were not consulted, but their fathers insisted, and they were treated as betrothed. They often helped or saved each other and were frequently together, arguing in a way that became a central theme of the story.

Ranma and Akane attend Furinkan High School, where Ranma meets Tatewaki Kuno, the arrogant kendo team captain who aggressively pursues Akane. Kuno also falls in love with Ranma’s female form without discovering his curse, though most other characters eventually learn about it. In Nerima, Ranma faces rivals like Ryoga Hibiki, who is often lost and traveled halfway across Japan to reach the back of his house, where Ranma waited for him for three days. Ryoga sought revenge on Ranma and later fell into the Spring of the Drowned Piglet in Jusenkyo. When splashed with cold water, Ryoga turns into a small black pig. Akane unknowingly adopts the pig as a pet and names it P-chan, while Ranma is upset that Ryoga kept this secret. Another rival is Mousse, who is nearsighted and turned into a duck when he gets wet. Happosai, the mischievous grandmaster of Genma and Soun, spends his time stealing girls’ underwear.

Ranma’s potential romantic partners include Kodachi Kuno, Tatewaki’s sister and a rhythmic gymnastics champion; Ukyo Kuonji, his childhood friend and an okonomiyaki vendor; and Shampoo, a Chinese Amazon supported by her great-grandmother, Cologne. As the story continues, the school becomes more unusual with the return of Principal Kuno, who is obsessed with Hawaii, and the addition of Hinako Ninomiya, a student who alternates between child and adult forms and drains others’ energy. Ranma’s inability to choose a true love causes problems in his personal and school life.

Production

Rumiko Takahashi said that Ranma ½ was created to be a martial arts manga that links everyday life to martial arts. Because her earlier series had female main characters, she decided to make a male protagonist this time. However, she was unsure about writing a male character and chose to make him half-female. She said the idea of making Ranma change genders came to her suddenly. She looked for a way to make his gender changes possible and had a vision of a cloth sign from a bathhouse. She first thought about making Ranma change genders when he was hit, but later chose water as the trigger. This led her to set Jusenkyo in China, as it is the only place known for mysterious springs. She used real-world objects and locations for inspiration. Some places in the series are based on actual spots in Nerima, Tokyo, where she lives and where the story is set.

In a 1990 interview with Amazing Heroes, Takahashi explained that she had four assistants who drew backgrounds, panel lines, and tone, while she created the story, layout, and drew the characters. All her assistants are female. She said she does not use male assistants because she believes the female assistants will work more seriously without worrying about boys. In 1992, she described her process as starting each chapter in the evening and finishing it by dawn. She then rested for a day before calling her assistants, who completed the work in two or three nights, taking about five days for each chapter.

Takahashi aimed to make the series popular with women and children. In 1993, an Animerica interviewer asked her if the gender-changing theme was meant to challenge a male-dominated society. She said she does not think about societal goals and created the idea for a simple, fun story. She added that, as a woman, she remembered enjoying manga with characters that turned into animals and thought such a concept might be fun and like a fairy tale. In 2013, she shared that her editor initially asked her to make the story more dramatic, but she refused. She admitted that drama did appear later in the series. She also attended the voice actor auditions for the anime and insisted that male and female versions of Ranma be voiced by actors whose gender matched the character.

Media

Ranma ½ was written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It began being published in the shōnen manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Sunday in issue #36 on August 19, 1987, after the end of her series Urusei Yatsura. From August 1987 until March 1996, the manga was published nearly every week. Some pages were colored to add variety to the usually black-and-white stories. The final chapter was published in Weekly Shōnen Sunday issue #12 on March 6, 1996. The manga had 407 chapters, which were collected into 38 black-and-white tankōbon volumes by Shogakukan between 1988 and 1996. These were later reassembled into 38 shinsōban volumes from April 2002 to October 2003. A Shōnen Sunday Special edition of 20 volumes was published from 2016 to 2018. This edition included interviews with Rumiko Takahashi titled The Making of Ranma.

In North America, Viz Media first released Ranma ½ in a monthly comic book format from 1992 to 2003. Each comic contained two chapters, and the images were flipped to read left-to-right, which mirrored the original art. These comics were later collected into graphic novels. On March 18, 2004, Viz announced that it would reprint its graphic novels with the same content but in a smaller format, different covers, and a lower price. Each volume covered the same material as the Japanese versions but had minor changes in grouping, resulting in 36 volumes instead of 38. The final volume was released on November 14, 2006, making it Viz’s longest-running manga, spanning over 13 years. In 2013, Viz announced a re-release that combined two volumes into one large book and restored the original right-to-left reading order. The first 2-in-1 book (volumes 1–2) was published on March 11, 2014, and the final (volumes 35–36) on March 14, 2017. In 2021, Viz released all 19 2-in-1 books digitally. Madman Entertainment published the 2-in-1 version in Australasia.

Spriggan and Ranma ½ were the first manga published in Portugal by Texto Editora in 1995.

An anime television series was created by Studio Deen and aired weekly on Fuji TV from April 15, 1989, to September 16, 1989, for 18 episodes. It was canceled due to low ratings. The series was later reworked, retitled Ranma ½ Nettōhen, and aired from October 20, 1989, to September 25, 1992, for 143 episodes. The anime follows the manga closely but keeps Ranma’s gender transformation a secret from high school students for most of the series. It also introduces a different character, Sasuke Sarugakure, in place of Hikaru Gosunkugi in early storylines. The anime changes the order of some story arcs and includes original episodes and characters not in the manga.

Viz Media licensed both anime series in 1993, making Ranma ½ one of the first anime titles they acquired. The English dub was recorded by The Ocean Group in Vancouver, British Columbia. Viz released the series on VHS and later on DVD. They grouped episodes into "seasons" and changed the order of some episodes. Viz re-released the series on DVD in 2007. In 2014, Viz announced a Blu-ray and DVD release. The show is streamed on their anime channel, Neon Alley, since 2013. In 2020, Toonami co-creator Jason DeMarco mentioned that Ranma ½ was not aired on American TV due to its content. Madman Entertainment licensed some of the series for release in Australasia but only released the first four "seasons" before their rights expired.

The original (1989–1992) anime adapts 56% of the manga, or 229 chapters, covering 22 out of 38 volumes.

Studio Deen also created three theatrical films: The Battle of Nekonron, China! A Battle to Defy the Rules! (1991), Battle at Togenkyo! Get Back the Brides (1992), and Super Indiscriminate Decisive Battle! Team Ranma vs. the Legendary Phoenix (1994). The first two films were feature-length, while the third was shown in theaters with other films.

After the TV series ended, 11 original video animations (OVAs) were released directly to home video from December 7, 1993, to June 4, 1996. Most were based on manga stories. In 2008, an animation based on the manga story Nightmare! Incense of Deep Sleep was created for an exhibition of Rumiko Takahashi’s artwork. It was later released on DVD in 2010. Viz Media licensed the three films and 11 OVAs for North America. MVM Films and Madman Entertainment released the films in the UK and Australasia, respectively.

A new anime remake of Ranma ½, produced by MAPPA and planned by Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, began airing in October 2024. Directed by Kōnosuke Uda, the series features Kimiko Ueno writing the scripts, Hiromi Taniguchi designing the characters, and Kaoru Wada composing the music. Most of the original Japanese voice actors returned. The first season aired from October 6 to December 22, 2024, on Nippon Television and its affiliates. Netflix released it globally weekly after the Japanese broadcast. A second season aired from October 5 to December 21, 2025, and a third season is set to premiere in October 2026.

There have been 17 video games based on Ranma ½. Most are fighting games, but some are role-playing games, puzzle games, and Pachinko slot machines. The most recent game, Pachislot Ranma 1/2, was released in 2018. Only two games were released in Western countries: Ranma ½: Chōnai Gekitōhen, which was Americanized, and Ranma ½: Hard Battle, which was unchanged.

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Reception

In November 2006, it was reported that over 49 million copies of the Ranma ½ manga had been sold in Japan. By November 2011, Shogakukan had printed 53 million copies, and by April 2021, 55 million copies were in circulation.

The Ranma ½ anime ranked number 17 on Anime Insider's 2001 list of the Top 50 Anime, but this list only included series available in North America. In 2006, it ranked 36th on TV Asahi's list of Japan's 100 favorite animated TV series, which was based on a poll of Japanese people. This was an improvement from its 2005 ranking of 45th. In November 2006, the New York Comic Con announced it would host the first American Anime Awards. Fans voted online in January 2007, and the top five nominees in each category were announced on February 5. Ranma ½ was named in the "Best Comedy Anime" category, and the Ranma ½ OVAs were named in the "Best Short Series" category. A 2019 NHK poll of 210,061 people ranked Ranma ½ and Ranma ½ Nettōhen as Takahashi's second-best animated works. Shampoo and Ranma were voted fourth and fifth in the "best characters" category. The 2024 anime adaptation was nominated for six categories, including Best Comedy, Best Romance, and Best Ending Sequence ("Anta Nante" by Riria), at the 9th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2025.

Although Lum from Takahashi's earlier series Urusei Yatsura is often considered the first tsundere character, Theron Martin of Anime News Network noted that Akane Tendo from Ranma ½ is closer to how tsundere characters were typically shown in the 2000s. He also suggested that Ranma ½ could be seen as an early example of a harem or reverse harem series, as the main character attracts suitors of both genders. The series was also successful in North America, where it introduced many Americans to manga and anime. Jason Thompson described Ranma ½ as the direct ancestor of comedy-action manga like Sumomomo Momomo and History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi, though he noted it was not the first of its kind. He compared the series to Takahashi's other works, saying it began as a serious relationship comedy, then became more absurd, and finally resembled the action-heavy style of Inuyasha. Anime News Network praised the storytelling in the final manga volume, calling it a mix of comedy, romance, introspection, and fantasy martial-arts action. However, they noted some action scenes were hard to follow and that the art had errors due to formatting.

Anime News Network praised the Japanese cast's performance and animation in Viz Media's season five DVD box set but criticized the English version's minor script changes and some voice actors. They also mentioned that while Ranma ½ is a classic, some jokes repeated over 100 episodes became less funny over time. Raphael See of THEM Anime Reviews called the series and OVAs "one of the funniest things [he's] ever seen" and praised the English dub. However, he criticized the first two films for using the same damsel-in-distress plot. Mike Toole of Anime News Network included Big Trouble in Nekronon, China at number 83 on a list of "lesser-known, lesser-loved classics," calling it a solid action-comedy that shows the appeal of Ranma ½.

Legacy

Hiroshi Aro said he made the manga Futaba-kun Change! based on Ranma ½. Artists from Western countries who have said Ranma ½ influenced their work include Canadian Bryan Lee O'Malley, who created the comic Scott Pilgrim, and American Colleen Coover, who made the comic Small Favors.

Film director Makoto Shinkai said Ranma ½ was an inspiration for the 2016 movie Your Name. Matt Bozon, who created the Shantae video game series, said Ranma ½ had a big influence on his work. The name of the fourth Shantae game, Shantae: 1⁄2 Genie Hero, is also a tribute to Ranma ½.

In 2009, a type of crustacean was discovered by Dr. Keiichi Kakui. This creature has both male and female reproductive organs. In 2024, scientists named it Apseudes ranma, after the character Ranma Saotome from the series.

The Ranma ½ series introduced or made popular many features that are now common in anime. These include Akane’s aggressive tsundere personality, Kodachi’s unique noblewoman/ojou-sama laugh, and Ryoga’s habit of always getting lost.