Viz Media often releases these “catch up” DVDs and Blu-rays. They’re a way to bring older series back. Think of it as a means of ensuring certain things aren’t lost to time. Ranma 1/2 Ova and Movies Collection is essentially that. It’s a simple release that keeps 14 items and ensures they’re more easily accessible in a pleasant way.
In terms of what you get on the discs, the Ranma 1/2 Ova and Movies Collection is a rather robust selection. It’s a complete compilation of these 14 additional stories in an easily accessible format. So you get the following to watch at your leisure:
- Akane vs Ranma: The One Who Inherits Mom’s Recipes Will Be Me
- The Evil Ogre
- Oh, Cursed Tunnel of Lost Love! Let My Love Be Forever
- The One Who Carries On Part 1
- The One Who Carries On Part 2
- Ranma 1/2: The Movie - The Battle of Nekonron: The Fight to Break the Rules
- Ranma 1/2: The Movie - The Battle of Togenkyo: Rescue the Brides
- Reawakening Memories Part 1
- Reawakening Memories Part 2
- Shampoo’s Sudden Switch: The Curse of the Contrary Jewel
- A Storm Over School: Growing Up with Miss Hinako
- The Super Non-Discriminatory Showdown: Team Ranma vs the Legendary Phoenix
- The Tendo Family’s Christmas Scramble
- The Two Akanes: Ranma, Look My Way
And honestly, it was a lot of fun to see some of these either again or for the first time. For example, I’d seen The Battle of Nekonron years ago when it was called Big Trouble in Nekonron, China. It looked great in this release. Meanwhile, I’d never seen OVAs like Shampoo’s Sudden Switch: The Curse of the Contrary Jewel or Akane vs Ranma: The One Who Inherits Mom’s Recipes Will Be Me, and both were a lot of fun! They all looked good in HD, considering their age.
The bonus features are a bit slim. However, I felt like that was understandable given the age of the media. We get the clean opening and endings, which is always a bonus. Especially since the music is great and such a blast of nostalgia. There are also the OVA preview trailers, which is another fun look back.
I do wish there was a little something more in the actual package. For example, Viz Media’s Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan Blu-ray release included a nice booklet. It went over the episodes in the collection. There were interviews with people involved with the project. We could see art. It was a brief pamphlet, but I appreciated it a lot. I’d have loved to have seen something similar here.
Still, the Ranma 1/2 Ova and Movie Collection Blu-ray is a good way to catch up and preserve installments of a classic series. Everything here is still fun to watch. Viz's collection covers all of the essentials. It's missing some niceties of other releases, which I wonder if the age had something to do with, but it's still a good way to ensure a classic anime doesn't get left behind.
The Ranma 1/2 Ova and Movie Collection is available now via Viz Media. The anime is streaming on Hulu. Viz Media handles the manga outside Japan.
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