About the Manga
Ranma 1/2 followed the conclusion of Rumiko Takahashi's previous series Urusei Yatsura's within just a few short months. Debuting in Shonen Sunday, the magazine that would prove to be Takahashi's home for her entire career, the series continue with a mix of romantic comedy but incorporated more action. The series would also be one of the first massive manga hits in the United States in the early 1990s when it was translated by Shogakukan subsidiary Viz (known as the time as Viz Communications).
| Weekly Serializations in Shonen Sunday (少年サンデー) |
Ranma 1/2 began publication in September of 1987 in Shonen Sunday 1987 Volume 36. Urusei Yatsura had ended in Volume 8 earlier that same year, and Rumiko Takahashi was quickly back to work on her newest series. From September 1987 until March of 1996 Ranma 1/2 was published almost every week and this was the first place it appeared each week. Shonen Sunday contains approximately a dozen other manga series and usually runs about 400 pages each week. Occasionally color pages are published to the usually black and white manga stories. Ranma 1/2's final chapter was published in Shonen Sunday 1996 Volume 12.
Notable series that ran alongside Ranma 1/2 include Gosho Aoyama's Yaiba and his most notable series, Detective Conan which debuted near the last few weeks of Ranma 1/2. Rough by Mitsuru Adachi, Spriggan by Ryoji Minagawa and Hiroshi Takashige Ushio and Tora by Kazuhiro Fujita, Kyo Kara Ore Wa!! by Hiroyuki Nishimori, Ghost Sweeper Mikami by Takashi Shiina and Go! Southern Ice Hockey Club but the debuting Koji Kumeta filled out the magazine alongside Ranma 1/2. |
| Tankobon (単行本) |
After the chapters have been published in Shonen Sunday they are collected into small books called tankobans. A tankoban is a collection of 10 chapters and are published every 3 to 4 months. All color pages that were initially published in Shonen Sunday are converted to gray scale in the tankobans. Ranma 1/2 was ultimately collected into 38 tankobon volumes. Ranma 1/2 volume 34 was the title that took Rumiko Takahashi over the 100 million volumes sold mark (in terms of all her work collectively). A celebration was held July 6, 1995 to mark the occasion.
Shonen Sunday tankobon are all printed in the Japanese B6 format (12.8 cm × 18.2 cm or 5.04 in × 7.17 in). |
| Shinsoban (新装版) |
In 2002 Shogakukan began publishing Ranma 1/2 in a new format called "shinsoban". Shinsoban are essentially the same as tankoban except with a new logo and cover scheme. The content for each volume is the exact same as its tankoban counterpart with the exception of the color artwork used on the back and inside covers of the book.
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| My First Big |
One format that is aimed at a different market are the "My First Big" editions. These are found primarily in convenience stores across Japan like Lawson, Family Mart and 7-11. They are manga compilations somewhat similar to tankobon, only they use cheaper materials on newsprint stock identical to the paper type Shonen Sunday is printed on. Because of this they are not as expensive as usual editions, although they are of lesser quality (and thus do not age as well). These books are not made for the collector who wants to keep manga for posterity. They are made for the casual reader who may be looking to pick up a quick read. They are rarely ever sold outside Japan so you are unlikely to come across them unless you live there.
Despite their disposable quality they they occasionally had an interview with a mangaka about the series or some brief article about the series. As the covers shown here indicate there are a few different styles and formats that have been printed over the years. Some volumes even contain mixes of series like Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2. Each book has an individual title such as "Ranma ga Kita" (Here's Ranma), "Kawaikunee" (Uncute), "Happosai Okoru" (Happosai Gets Angry), "Bakusai Shobu" (Blasting Victory), "Shinpi no Kenin" (The Mysterious Fist Mark), "Kakutou Engeikai" (Grappling Show), and "Onsen he Ikou" (Let's Go to the Onsen). |
| Shonen Sunday Comic Special |
Released from July 15, 2016 through January 18, 2018 these are the "wideban" (B6) format books for Ranma 1/2. While this edition does not reprint color artwork or have new illustrations for the covers (as Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku editions received in the 1990s) it does have small interviews with Rumiko Takahashi in each of the 20 volumes where she discusses characters and her thoughts behind their designs. You can read these thoughts in the Manga Extras section.
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| Art Books |
The Ranma 1/2 Memorial Book (らんま1/2メモリアルパーク) was published just as the manga ended in 1996. It collects various illustrations from the series, features an interview with Rumiko Takahashi, and has summaries of all of Ranma's battles, his daily schedule, and other interesting tidbits, including some illustrations done exclusively for the book. A second printing was released in 2003 that has a blue background on the cover.
This book, entitled Atsuko Nakajima Picture Collection (中島敦子画集/Nakajima Atsuko Gashuu) contains selections from Atsuko Nakajima's character design work (Ranma 1/2, Jewel BEM Hunter Lime, and You're Under Arrest illustrations are all included in the book) along with commentary on each of her drawings. The next set are the exceedingly obscure ART JACK set of books. These are inexpensively made collections of images from the animators who worked on Ranma 1/2 and are much closer to a fanzine in terms of their style and presenation. The ART JACK line were likely self published or from a very small fan press operation given their obscurity. Thus far we can confirm four ART JACK volumes for Ranma 1/2. A number of artbooks have also been released that feature all of Rumiko Takahashi's work and are not focused solely on one series. Of those: Rumiko Takahashi Exhibition - It's a Rumic World (高橋留美子展 It's a Rumic World/Takahashi Rumiko Ten It's a Rumic World) was published in 2007 and sold at the gallery exhibition of her work that ran in Japan from July 30th - August 11th of that year. It features color artwork from Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha, One-Pound Gospel, Mermaid Saga and a number of her short stories. One of the best overall overviews of Takahashi's career is Rumic World 35 which is a three volume boxset comprising All Star, Showtime and the collected children's manga MOON, The Great Pet King. The first two volumes mentioned contain character profiles, items, locations and color art for all of her series up to Kyokai no Rinne to celebrate 35th anniversary of her debut. |
| Anime Books (少年サンデーアニメ版 ) |
This interesting tankobon sized book entitled Ranma 1/2 Movie + OVA Visual Comic uses cels from the OVAs "The One To Carry On Part 1 & 2" as well as the third movie "Team Ranma vs. The Legendary Phoenix" to make manga versions of those stories. The majority of the book is in color and also contains information on the Japanese voices of the series as well as character designs and a layout of the Tendo Dojo.
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| Miscellaneous Books |
Fly Out! Ranma 1/2 (とびだせ らんま 1/2！/Tobidase! Ranma 1/2) is a book released by the Kitty Animation Circle, the official club of Kitty Animation. It was published just as production for the anime got underway and has some highlights of the crew and major cast members from the beginning of the series. It also contains information on the Urusei Yatsura OAV series, and was the companion book to "Urusei Yatsura vs. Maison Ikkoku Carnival".
The Kitty Animation Circle newsletters transitioned from a fold-out poster called Urusei Yatsura Fanclub (うる星やつら ファンクラブ/Urusei Yatsura Fankurabu) in 1982 to a small pamphlet called Movement (ムーヴメント) that was published quarterly in 1986, going monthly in 1987 and was eventually rechistened We'll (ウィル) in 1993. The pamphlets featured information on a number of Kitty Animation Projects (but primarily focused on Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku and Ranma 1/2). Publication ceased in December 2000. The three guidebooks were made for the the Super Famicom fighting games and the roleplaying game. Each book is filled with color images and helpful hints. The books also contain interviews with the programmers, voice actors discussing the games, and an interview with Takahashi herself. The three titles were:
A number of sheet music books were published that featured music for Ranma 1/2. One is Ranma 1/2 Music Calendar (Piano Sing-a-Long) (らんま1/2 歌暦 (ピアノ弾き語り)/Ranma 1/2 Utareki (Piano Hikigatari)) featured piano music for the monthly holiday themed singles that were eventually collected on Ketteiban Ranma ½ Anime Theme Song & Character Song Complete Works. A piano book for the DoCo First album was made as well. Both the Music Calendar and DoCo First books were published by Tokyo Ongaku Shoin. Publisher Onkyo·Sha printed Piano & Keyboard Ranma 1/2 Music Dojo/Music Calendar I Love Anime (ピアノ&キーボード らんま1/2 音楽道場/歌暦 アニメだいすき/Piano & Kiiboodo Ranma 1/2 Ongaku Dojo/Utareki Anime Daisuke) which is a collection of opening and ending themes as well as the aforementioned Music Calendar songs. A later book, Ranma 1/2 Piano Solo Album (らんま1/2 ピアノソロアルバム) is a compilation of all of the musical books and it contains sheet music for all of the television openings, television endings, DoCo First, the seasonal singles mentioned in the above Ranma 1/2 Music Calendar (Piano Sing-a-Long) as well as the songs from the Hot Song Contest album. Released on December 1, 2011 and featuring selected stories and color illustrations reprinted in the larger A5 format Ranma 1/2 TV Drama Commemoration・The Best Complete Edition (らんま1/2 TV Drama記念・よりぬき完全版/Ranma 1/2 TV Drama Kinen Yorinuki Kanzenban) features interviews with the cast of the drama, and new illustrated covers by Rumiko Takahashi. The two books were primarily used to promote the live-action television drama that aired on December 9th. The Seika Coloring Ranma 1/2 (セイカのぬりえ らんま1/2/Seika no Nurie Ranma 1/2) is a black and white coloring book with a page of song lyrics included. Featuring 33 pages of images for coloring, the imagery is done in an anime-style. |
| Foreign Editions |
Rumiko Takahashi's works are published in a variety of languages. The American distribution rights are handled by Viz, one of the leading manga translation companies which is owned by Shogakukan and Shueisha. In America two chapters were published each month and then later collected into a graphic novel, which usually contains the same material as a tankoban, but in a larger format. Eventually Viz gave up on the monthly comic book format, and instead began bringing out the series every few months in a format much more similar to the Japanese tankoban releases. Takahashi's works are wildly popular in Europe and Asia and have been translated into Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Italian and French as well.
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