1. Weekly Serializations in Shonen Sunday

Ranma ½ 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 ½ 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 ½'s final chapter was published in Shonen Sunday 1996 Volume 12.

2. Tankoban

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 ½ was ultimately collected into 38 tankoban volumes. Ranma ½ 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.

3. Shinsoban

In 2002 Shogakukan began publishing Ranma ½ 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.


4. Memorial Book

The Ranma ½ Memorial Book 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.

5. Movie + OVA Visual Comic

This interesting tankoban sized book 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 a 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.

6. Tobidase! Ranma ½

This 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".

7. Video Game Guides

The three guidebooks were made for the the Super Famicom fighting games (the latter two) 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.

8. Foreign Language Editions

Rumiko Takahashi's works are published in a variety of languages. The American distribution rights are handled by Viz Communications, 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 brought 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.

9. Atsuko Nakajima Art Book

This book, entitled Nakajima Atsuko Gashuu contains selections from Atsuko Nakajima's character design work (Ranma ½, Jewel BEM Hunter Lime, and You're Under Arrest illustrations are all included in the book) along with commentary of each of her drawings.