Ranma 1/2

Ranma 1/2 has been very very popular in China—almost every Chinese has read or at least heard about it in elementary school. Although it wasn’t the type of comics that I liked before (the ones I liked were Doraemon, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Crayon Shin-chan), I learned to appreciate more about the comics now I read it.

I think the story sets an interesting character —Ranma, who turned into a girl when he was drenched with cold water, and back to a boy when drenched with hot water. And a significant thread that re-appears throughout the comics was the kettle, and there was an iconic scene which Akane is always handling a kettle of hot water to rinse Ranma when he turned into a girl. The comic has its own characteristics and are easily recognizable. 

However, the first chapter of the story which introduced the character focuses a lot on the fighting itself. Kuno always appears and fought with Ranma for the same reason, and sometimes it makes it boring. 

On the other hand, I found that gender transformation is a re-occurring theme, especially in the Japanese comics or animation. I remember there was another popular movie that centers on the same theme— Your Name, and was also very popular.