It’s nice to see the Ranma 1/2 reboot getting some recognition. I am somewhat disappointed it isn’t exactly hitting like gangbusters as the original series was one of my favorite animes ever and it was one of the biggest reasons as to why I got into “Japanese animation” way back when. Still, the people who have seen it do seem to be enjoying the reboot, which is nice. I do like it, even though it does seem like a rethread of the original show.

We are already ten episodes in and, from what I learned, the first season is only going to get a total of twelve. This is obviously a far cry from the original series’ more than 160 episodes… and that’s not including the OAVs and the movies! So, if the reboot does get another season, it’s got its work cut out for it to cover all of the episodes and, more importantly, the best story arcs from the series!

Okay, calling them “story arcs” may feel a little like an oversell as Rumiko Takahashi never wrote the Ranma 1/2 manga with sweeping story lines as they would usually get completed in around four to twelve manga chapters. Even though they are bite sided by today’s standards, these story arcs still stick out in my mind as being incredibly epic. So, in no particular order, let’s go talk about my favorite story arcs in Ranma 1/2!

Breaking Point Arc

We all know that Ryoga is Ranma‘s rival. Getting sick and tired of always losing to Ranma, Ryoga accepts Cologne (Shampoo‘s great grandmother) to train him. Cologne decides to teach him the Bakusai Tenketsu, a technique which, according to Genma is a incredibly deadly attack. The concept is everything in nature has a “breaking point” and, if someone can touch it, that will just break apart… even the human body!

However, the training for Breaking Point does have a more positive side effect. As the training involves the subject to be hit by a flying boulder repeatedly until they can find the “breaking point” of the boulder to destroy it, this also toughens the trainee to be able to absorb powerful hits without flinching. This leave Ranma in a bind as all he did to train for the battle was to avoid getting struck by the Breaking Point.

The reason why this is such a good story arc as this does officially cement Ryoga as Ranma’s eternal rival. Additionally, the Breaking Point technique is a really cool idea and having the side effect toughening up the person is a brilliant stroke on Rumiko Takahashi’s part to add a late twist during the actual fight.

Martial Arts Dining Arc

In the world of Ranma 1/2, anything can be martial arts. Rhythm gymnastics? Ranma had to battle against Kodachi in Martial Arts Rhythm Gymnastics! Figure skating? Ranma and Ryoga bested the duo of Mikaido Sanzenin and Azusa Shiratori. But those do require some kind of brute force in order to win. What if the rules of the “martial art” was just to finish your food before your opponent does? That’s the idea behind the Martial Arts Dining arc.

In this battle, Ranma is severely handicapped as his opponent, Picolet Chardin II, has trained in this extensively. He can distend his mouth to uncomfortable wideness, enabling him to swallow even whole watermelons in an instant. As such, Ranma cannot compete with Picolet in a straight on eating competition. However, he has discovered a technique that may help him defeat his bigmouth opponent but it may come with a great cost to his health.

This may seem like a lame story arc but the reason why it’s high up on my list is because Ranma cannot simply brute force his way to victory. He is unable to distend his mouth to open up to grotesque sizes so he does have to use a pretty slick technique to play within the rules of finishing all of your food before your opponent does. Once again, pretty smart writing on Rumiko Takahashi’s part to write in a way to win here.

Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion Arc

Tired of Ranma getting away from his, let’s say “schemes” for now, Happosai attacks him with the Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion technique. This zaps Ranma of all of his strength, enabling his foes to beat him up easily. Knowing Happosai has a scroll that can restore him to full strength, Ranma tries to get it but Happosai easily stops him as Ranma no longer has the power to beat him.

Cologne then decides to help Ranma by teaching him a technique that doesn’t require strength but just needs the user to keep his cool against a riled up attacker. This move is the Hiryu Shoten Ha, which has the user lead his opponent into attacking in a spiral formation and, using the “cold ki” from the user and the “hot ki” from the opponent, releasing the contrasting energy vertically in a tornado like ki blast. However, after mastering the move, Happosai recognizes Ranma’s plan and decides to play pacifist. Ranma will need to find another way to get Happosai to chase after him to initiate the Hiryu Shoten Ha and get his strength back.

While the Hiryu Shoten Ha is a pretty cool technique, it never becomes as memorable as Ryoga’s Bakusai Tenketsu or even Ranma’s very own Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. However, the arc does show how sly Ranma can be as he has to get Happosai to not only follow him around in a spiral to get him into the Hiryu Shoten Ha, he also has to get him heated enough while doing so.

Oh, and this is also the arc where Genma teaches Ranma probably one of his more useful techniques, the Fallen Tiger move, which can be very painful for a prideful martial artist like Ranma.

See? The Fallen Tiger is a very powerful move, isn’t it?

Shi Shi Hokodan vs. Moko Takabisha Arc

While training/getting lost in the mountains, Ryoga found himself trapped in a cave. He attempted to get out by using his Bakusai Tenketsu technique but this only caused an avalanche and covering up the cave entrance even more. Luckily, an engineer who was mining in the cave found him and taught him a move called the Shi Shi Hokodan, which has you channel all your anger and depression into an energy ball from your hands. Ryoga defeats Ranma thanks to this move. In the hopes of winning the rematch, Ranma tries to “out depress” Ryoga but, thanks to Ryoga’s much more miserable life, he bests Ranma again.

Ranma realizes he cannot properly use the Shi Shi Hokodan as it relies on negative energy. So, he creates the Moko Takabisha. It uses the same principles as the Shi Shi Hokodan but, instead of relying on negative energy, Ranma channels his confidence to create the energy blast.

However, it turns out there is still a “perfect” form to the Shi Shi Hokodan, wherein the user expels the negative energy vertically, which then crashes on top of him and his opponent. The user remains unharmed by the energy as the user, who should be in a super depressed state, will simply wash over them as he doesn’t care anymore. How Ryoga perfects the move and how he gets into the state of ultimate depression actually made me laugh out loud the first time I saw the scene!

This arc does introduce both the Shi Shi Hokodan and the Moko Takabisha attacks to the canon. However, the main reason why I love this arc was because of how Ryoga “mastered” the Perfect version of the move as it was just perfect writing of both hilarity and patheticness. Honestly, I don’t really remember how Ranma beat Ryoga but that moment of Ryoga experiencing pure bliss before being immediately plunged into ultimate depression still gets me every time.

BONUS: Happosai’s Ultimate Technique Arc

After getting beat up by Genma and Ranma, Happosai attempts to unleash his ultimate attack, the Happo Fire Burst, to retaliate. However, he has forgotten how to use it. Remembering he buried the scroll on how to use the move somewhere, Ranma and the rest of his family go to the location in the hopes to beat Happosai to it. It turns out the location where Happosai buried it has become a women’s hot spring so Ranma tries to go incognito to retrieve it. However, Happosai is not going to let this setback get in his way.

I can’t really call this a “story arc” as it does only last for a single episode in the original anime. It does last for three chapters in the manga but it does feel too short to call it a “story arc.” Hence, I’ve put it in the Bonus section. Still, this is a fun story, especially the reveal of how the Happo Fire Burst is done since, as it turns out, anyone can do it and you don’t really need that much training!

What’s your favorite anime story arc? Let me know in the comments section below!