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Short summary

Rumiko Takahashi's story of a high school aged girl named Akane who finds herself engaged to be married because of an arrangement by her father. Unfortunately her fiance, Ranma, turns out to be less of a man than expected and was raised by a giant panda.

The character of Ranma and the initial inspiration for the entire series originally spawned from Ryuunosuke Fujinami, a secondary character in Rumiko Takahashi's previous work "Urusei Yatsura" (1981). Ryuunosuke is a girl raised by her maniacal, single father to be a boy, and became skilled in martial arts through his daily, brutal training. She constantly longs to express her pent-up feminine side, but obstacles (usually her father) keep getting in her way.

This anime was actually canceled on September 16, 1989 due to low ratings. One month later, the series was relaunched as "Ranma 1/2 Nettohen".

Rumiko Takahashi was originally going to have the characters "change" whenever they were hit or punched, but changed it to hot/cold water when she realized the characters would change every few seconds during a fight scene.

Rumiko Takahashi's design for Nabiki Tendo is patterned after silent film actress Louise Brooks (1906-1985).

Due to the negative backlash towards the English dub, Brigitta Dau was fired after playing the voice of female Ranma for the first six episodes of the TV series and the first two episodes of the OAV series. Since then, Venus Terzo has taken that role, resulting in a much improved English dub.

According to Megumi Hayashibara, the voices for the anime were recorded on every Thursday from 6:30pm to 11:00pm.

Along with "Mermaid's Scar", "Ranma 1/2" was Viz Video's first domestic anime release, and prior to "InuYasha", the company's landmark title in North America.

Manga creator Rumiko Takahashi derived Ranma's name from the Japanese expression "kaitô ranma" which means "solving a problem swiftly and skillfully". She based it from that phrase because she was having difficulty thinking up a name for him.

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Series cast summary:
Kappei Yamaguchi Kappei Yamaguchi - Ranma Saotome Male / - 18 episodes, 1989
Megumi Hayashibara Megumi Hayashibara - Ranma Saotome Female / - 18 episodes, 1989
Noriko Hidaka Noriko Hidaka - Akane Tendo 18 episodes, 1989
Sarah Strange Sarah Strange - Ranma Saotome Male 18 episodes, 1989
Myriam Sirois Myriam Sirois - Akane Tendo 18 episodes, 1989
Michael Donovan Michael Donovan - Ryoga Hibiki / - 18 episodes, 1989
Andrea Kwan Andrea Kwan - Ranma Saotome (Female) (Animax Asia dub) 18 episodes, 1989
Robert O. Smith Robert O. Smith - Genma Saotome / - 17 episodes, 1989
Willow Johnson Willow Johnson - Kasumi Tendo 16 episodes, 1989
Angela Costain Angela Costain - Nabiki Tendo 15 episodes, 1989
Venus Terzo Venus Terzo - Ranma Saotome Female / - 12 episodes, 1989
David Kaye David Kaye - Soun Tendo 12 episodes, 1989
Ian James Corlett Ian James Corlett - Dr. Tofu Ono / - 12 episodes, 1989
Candice Moore Candice Moore - Kodachi Kuno / - 12 episodes, 1989
Brigitta Dau Brigitta Dau - Ranma Saotome Female / - 11 episodes, 1989
Ted Cole Ted Cole - Tatewaki Kuno 8 episodes, 1989
Kôichi Yamadera Kôichi Yamadera - Ryoga Hibiki 8 episodes, 1989
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