Season
overview:
The third season, known as "Hard Battle" in English, saw the introduction of the final regular cast member, Ukyo Kuonji, and some fans felt the series began to stagnate after this point. Increasingly stories seemed to diverge from their manga roots, and not always for the better. Fan favorite manga stories were skipped and the shows writers seemed to fill the void with their own creations, the exception to this being episode 31 which is often ranked as one of the funniest shows of the series. Most of these episodes were left in the correct order when brought to America, except episode 51 was placed ahead of 45, presumably to fit better on the two-episode VHS tapes, in order to prevent multi-part episode storylines from being spread across multiple tapes. Viz slipped episode 51 in-between episodes 44 and 45 when they released them originally in the 1990s.
Episode 23: また一人乱馬を愛したヤツ
Mata hitori Ranma wo aishita yatsu (Ranma Gains Yet Another Suitor)
Ukyo arives at Furinkan High after years of bitterness. She (who everyone believes is a he) is looking for her childhood pal and fiance, Ranma Saotome. It seems Genma and Ukyo's father aranged a marriage between the two, but Genma took the dowry and left. Ukyo comes to settle the score, but after a match between herself and Ranma, all is put right and Ranma gains yet another suitor.
Episode Staff:
Director: Saeko Ochaya (御茶屋さえ子)
Animation Director: Asami Endo (遠藤麻未)
Script: Yoshiyuki Suga (菅良幸)
Storyboards: Saeko Ochaya (御茶屋さえ子)
Originally Aired:
April 20, 1990
5:30 pm - 6:00 pm on Fuji TV
Themes:
Opening Theme: Ranma You Pervert Opening Narration
Episode 24: 熱愛? 良牙とあかね
Netsuai? Ryoga to Akane (Ryoga and Akane: 2-gether 4-ever)
Ukyo meets Ryoga for the first time, and after a rocky start, Ukyo realizes Ryoga is in love with Akane. Ukyo realizes that if Ryoga and Akane start dating that would leave her with a lot more time to see Ranma. Akane finds out what is going on but thinks Ryoga is only an unknowing part of Ukyo's plan. Feeling sorry for Ryoga, Akane agrees on the date, but after Ranma finds out he sets out to ruin Ryoga and Akane's quiet "date".
Episode 25: くしゃみ一発愛してナイト
Kushami ippatsu aishite naito (Sneeze Me, Squeeze Me, Please Me)
Shampoo feeds Ranma some dim sum with a magical ingredient, so Ranma is forced to hug people on command. The problem is that Shampoo accidently sets the hugging command to be a sneeze. With everyone out of the house except Ranma and Akane, there's going to be a very interesting night between the two. Especially since Akane's coming down with a cold.
Kuno has a cold and one of the students comments that he is too stupid to be sick. This comes from the Japanese superstition that stupid people are too dumb to catch a cold.
Kuno believes that he can get rid of his cold faster by giving it to Ranma. Takahashi would revisit this plot device in Kyokai no Rinneepisode 45.
Episode 26: 幻の八宝大華輪を探せ
Maboroshi no Happodaikarin wo sagase (Rub-a-dub-dub! There's a Pevert in the Tub)
When Happosai gets angry with Ranma he threatens to unleash his Happo-daikarin (Happo-fire burst) technique, but first he has to remember how to do it. It's a race to get the scroll with the technique written on it first, but Happosai buried it at a girls-only hotspring, and who should happen to be taking a soak but Akane.
Episode 27: 大好き! 私のうっちゃん
Daisuki! Watashi no Ucchan (I Love You! My Dear, Dear, Ukyo)
Tsubasa Kurenai, Ukyo's crossdressing admirer who will not take "no" for an answer arrives in Tokyo intent on taking her back from Ranma. Ranma assumes Tsubasa is a girl that only seems to like othe girls, so he is a bit confused as to why his "charms" that seem to win all the other girls over is not helping him with Tsubasa. Once he finds out Tsubasa is a guy he is fairly angry.
An excellent article by Matteo Watzky about the key animator on this episode, Atsuko Ishida (石田敦子) and her work on Ranma 1/2, can be found here.
Episode 28: 魔女が愛した下着ドロボー
Majo ga aishita shitagi dorobo (The Witch Who Loved Me: A Japanese Ghost Story)
Soun is elected the Chairman of the Town Council and his first duty is to stop the recent panty raids perpetrated by a thief unknown to everyone except the Tendos and Saotomes. But now Happosai is going after an ancient cursed bra... this is not exactly the job Soun had hoped for.
This is the first episode of Ranma 1/2 written by Shigeru Yanagawa. Yanagawa had written a number of episodes of Urusei Yatsura and is credited as coming up with the "story concept" for the first Ranma 1/2 film.
Episode 29: 変身! ムキムキマンあかね
Henshin! Mukimuki-man Akane (Transform! Akane the Muscleman)
After Akane eats Happosai's strength enhancing "super soba" she is able to beat Ranma one-handed. Akane quickly joins in a game of hanetsuki to trounce Shampoo. What Akane does not realize is that the "super soba" has a side effect, the user starts to grow facial hair.
Battledore and shuttlecock, or jeu de volant, is an early sport related to that of modern badminton. The game is played by two or more people using small rackets (battledores), made of parchment or rows of gut stretched across wooden frames, and shuttlecocks, made of a base of some light material, such as cork, with trimmed feathers fixed around the top. The object is for players to bat the shuttlecock from one to the other as many times as possible without allowing it to fall to the ground. The Japanese equivalent is known as hanetsuki (羽根突き). Hanetsuki is a traditional Japanese game, similar to racket games like badminton but without a net, played with a rectangular wooden paddle called a hagoita and a brightly colored shuttlecock, called a hane. Often played by girls at the New Year, the game can be played by any gender in two fashions: by one person attempting to keep the shuttlecock aloft as long as possible, or by two people batting it back and forth. Players who fail to hit the shuttlecock get marked on the face with India Ink. Traditionally, the longer the shuttlecock remains in the air, the greater protection from mosquitoes the players will receive during the coming year. Although hanetsuki is not as popular as it used to be, decorative hagoita are commonly sold throughout Japan.
Episode 30: 呪泉郷から来た殺し屋
Jusenkyou kara kita koroshiya (The Killer from Jusenkyo)
A secret society sends Kinnii, a swordsman, to punish Ranma, Genma, Shampoo, Mousse, and Ryoga for "abusing" their curses. The swordsman is also cursed, he has fallen into the "Spring of Virtueous Man" and becomes timid and innocent when splashed.
Episode 31: 私ってきれい? 乱馬女宣言
Watashi kirei? Ranma onna sengen (Am I... Pretty? Ranma's Declaration of Womanhood)
Ranma accidently smashes his head on a rock in the Tendo's koi pond and now believes he actually is a girl. Now all he wants to do is help Kasumi with the laundry, arrange flowers, and go bra shopping (as a boy). Genma has heard enough when Ranma starts saying he hates violence and no longer wants to inherit the Tendo Dojo.
Episode 32: 対決! 八宝斉VS透明人間
Taiketsu! Happosai vs. Toumeiningen (Final Facedown! Happosai vs. the Invisible Man)
Soun and Genma visit martial arts master Chengensai in hopes of learning a new technique to defeat Happosai. When Happosai and Chengensai meet imagine Soun and Genma's shock when they realize they are old friends.
Episode 33: 九能家のレ・ミゼラブル
Kunouke no les miserables (Les Miserable in the Kuno Estate)
Kuno gets into an argument with Sasuke so Sasuke decides to run away. Kuno quickly realizes the mistake he made and goes off to search for his ninja manservant.
Episode 34: 怪談! 乱馬と魔性の剣
Kaidan! Ranma to mashou no ken (Ghost Story! Ranma and the Magic Sword)
Ranma and company go into Furinkan High late one night in order to see what exactly is happening with the ghost they have heard about. They soon realize the ghost is actually Kuno possessed by a magic sword.
Episode 35: 一粒コロリ・絶倫ホレ薬
Hitotsubu korori. Zetsurin horegusuri (All It Takes is One! The Kiss of Love is the Kiss of Death)
Happosai steals a braclet that contains magic pills that make anyone who swallows them fall in love with the first person of the opposite sex that they see. Ranma falls in love with Cologne, but luckily he only swallowed the "Instant Pill". Akane swallows the "Lifetime Pill" and Ranma has to prevent her from seeing any men.
Episode 36: 史上最強? 良牙とムース同盟
Shijou saikyou? Ryouga to Mousse doumei (The Ultimate Team-up!? The Ryoga/Mousse Alliance)
Ryoga decides that he will stay as P-chan forever so he can always be with Akane. Right before he pours cold water on himself, Mousse tells him that Akane will more than likely get rid of P-chan when she gets married and has children, this upsets Ryoga and he decides to rethink his plan. Ryoga and Mousse team up in order to defeat Ranma using large time bombs that they chain to Ranma's legs.
Episode 37: バック・トゥ・ザ・八宝斉
Bakku tou za Happosai (Back to the Happosai)
Happosai's magic mirror sends everyone back in time to the Village of Amazons where they see a young Cologne and Happosai meet for the first time. Akane realizes Cologne liked Happosai so she arranged a date for them. Just as young Happosai was about to embrace young Cologne he started talking to another woman. When everyone travels back to the present, the mirror is broken when Nabiki steps on it.
Episode 38: 黒バラの小太刀! 純愛一直線
Kurobarano Kodachi! Jun'ai icchokusen (Kodachi the Black Rose! The Beeline to True Love)
Ranma and Akane try to sign up new students for the Tendo Dojo after they go through a financial dry spell. Kodachi arrives and tells Ranma that if he marries her, she will help financially support the dojo. After an argument though, Kodachi takes all of the Tendo's students to her new dojo.
Episode 39: 八宝斉 最期の日?
Happosai saigonohi? (The Last Days of Happosai?)
The fortune-teller Miyo tells Akane that she and Ranma will be married within a week, and that something very bad will happen to Happosai. Once Happosai begins to get sick, Soun and Genma decide that Akane and Ranma should get married that week in case Happosai were to die. After awhile everyone except Akane gets sick, and she has to make a special medicine that will cure everyone and thereby postpone the wedding.
Episode 40: 暴れん坊娘 リンリンランラン
Abarenbou musume Linlin Ranran (Two Too-Violent Girls: Lin Lin and Ran Ran)
Lin Lin and Ran Ran arrive to see if Shampoo has killed female Ranma yet. When they try to attack Ranma, Shampoo gives them the kiss of death and has to fight them in the park. Fortunately their special attack is pretty flawed.
Episode 41: 乱馬を襲う恐怖のタタリ
Ranma wo osou kyoufuno tatari (Ranma and the Evil Spirit Within)
Happosai uses a special technique to split male and female Ranma, a technique that only works when Ranma wants to be a girl, which Ranma had jokingly said earlier. Female Ranma is evil and tries to tempt male Ranma in order to make him become evil as well. Ultimately the two Ranmas are reunited.
Episode 42: 登場! ものまね格闘技
Toujou! Monomane kakutougi (Enter Ken and his Copycat Kerchief)
Copycat Ken uses his martial arts abilities to copy the fighting style and appearance of anyone he sees. He makes himself look like Ranma and is able to defeat Ranma using the "Katchutenshin Amaguriken" technique against Ranma. Ranma is later able to defeat Ken after he quickly changes from one opponent to the next and begins to get mixed up.
In the original Japanese "Copycat Ken" is called "Manekko Ken". "Manekko" (真似っこ) means "to imitate" or "mimic".
Episode 43: 良牙の体質改善セッケン!
Ryoga no taishitsu kaizen sekken! (Ryoga's Miracle Cure! Hand Over that Soap!)
Ryoga finds Shampoo's waterproof soap that prevents a cursed person from changing when they are splashed with water. Ryoga gains new confidence and manages to go on a date with Akane even though Akane believes it is all been arranged by Ranma. In the end, the soap washes off and Akane still does not realize Ryoga's true feelings for her.
Episode 44: 格闘!障害物レース
Kakutou! Shougaibutsu race (Fight! The Anything-Goes Obstacle Course Race)
Everyone fights their way through an obstacle course race where the grand prize is a trip to Jusenkyo. Ranma and Ryoga make it to the final round, and Ryoga manages to defeat Ranma. Unfortunately for Ryoga, he is unable to find the airport to take him to China.
Episode 45: 乱馬、ついに呪泉郷へ行く
Ranma, tsuini Jusenkyou he iku (Ranma Goes Back to Jusenkyo At Last)
Ranma and Genma use Happosai's magic mirror to travel back to China and prevent themselves from ever becoming cursed. They also see a possible future where Ryoga and Akane have children. Howeer it all winds up just being Ranma's dream.
No episode of Ranma 1/2 Nettohen aired the following week.
Episode 46: 帰ってきた変態校長
Kaettekita hentai kouchou (The Hawaiian Headmaster from Hell)
The Principal returns from his trip to Hawaii, unfortunately for the students of Furinkan High he still harbors a strong dislike of almost any fashionable hairstyle. Akane, Ranma and the other students must find the coconut with the school rules pardon inside or lose their hair.
