Ranma ½: The Movie, Big Trouble in Nekonron, China (1991) Ranma ½: Chûgoku Nekonron daikessen! Okite yaburi no gekitô hen (original title)

Director:

Shûji Iuchi

Writers:

Shûji Iuchi
Rumiko Takahashi (comic)
(more)

Genre:

Comedy | Animation

Plot:

When Prince Kirin of the 7 Lucky Gods shows up at the Tendo dojo looking for his bride-to-be, guess...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Comic | Sequel | Sex Change | Anime | Martial Arts

Cast

Kappei Yamaguchi	...	Ranma Saotome (male) (voice)
Megumi Hayashibara	...	Ranma Saotome (female) (voice)
Noriko Hidaka	...	Akane Tendô (voice)
Kaneto Shiozawa	...	Kirin (voice)
Sakiko Tamagawa	...	Lychee (voice)
Ryûnosuke Ôbayashi	...	Sôun Tendô (voice)
Kenichi Ogata	...	Genma Saotome (voice)
Minami Takayama	...	Nabiki Tendô (voice)
Kikuko Inoue	...	Kasumi Tendô (voice)
Hirotaka Suzuoki	...	Tatewaki Kunô (voice)
Kazuhiko Inoue	...	Bishamonten / Mikado Sanzenin (voice)
Hiromi Tsuru	...	Ukyô Kuonji (voice)
Eiko Yamada	...	Monlon / Tsubasa Kurenai (voice)
Naoko Matsui	...	Azusa Shiratori (voice)
Kôichi Yamadera	...	Ryôga Hibiki / P-chan (voice)
Rei Sakuma	...	Shampoo (voice)
Toshihiko Seki	...	Mousse (voice)
Saeko Shimazu	...	Kodachi Kunô (voice)
Yô Yoshimura	...	Ebiten / Wu (voice)
Takehito Koyasu	...	Daikokusei (voice)
Mitsuaki Madono	...	Daihakusei (voice)
Akira Ishida	...	Villager (voice)
Ichirô Nagai	...	Happôsai (voice)
Miyoko Asô	...	Cologne (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kathleen Barr	...	Cologne / Tsubasa Kurenai (voice: English version)
Lynda Boyd	...	Monlon (voice: English version)
Ted Cole	...	Tatewaki Kuno (voice: English version)
Ian James Corlett	...	Mikado Sanzenin (voice: English version)
Angela Costain	...	Nabiki Tendo (voice: English version)
Michael Dobson	...	Daihakusei (voice: English version)
Paul Dobson	...	Happosai / Daikokusei (voice: English version)
Michael Donovan	...	Ryoga Hibiki (voice: English version)
Willow Johnson	...	Kasumi Tendo (voice: English version)
David Kaye	...	Soun Tendo (voice: English version)
Terry Klassen	...	Wu (voice: English version)
Nick Misura	...	Ebiten (voice: English version)
John Payne	...	Prince Kirin (voice: English version)
Teryl Rothery	...	Kodachi Kuno (voice: English version)
Kelly Sheridan	...	Ukyo Kuonji (voice: English version)
Myriam Sirois	...	Akane Tendo (voice: English version)
Robert O. Smith	...	Genma Saotome / Bishamonten (voice: English version)
Sarah Strange	...	Ranma (Boy) (voice: English version)
Brad Swaile	...	Mousse (voice: English version)
Venus Terzo	...	Ranma (Girl) (voice: English version)
Cathy Weseluck	...	Shampoo / Azusa Shiratori (voice: English version)
Diana Wong	...	Lychee (voice: English version)

Directed by
Shûji Iuchi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Shûji Iuchi
Rumiko Takahashi		comic
Ryota Yamaguchi
Shigeru Yanagawa		story

Produced by
Hiroshi Hasegawa	....	producer
Yôko Matsushita	....	producer
Hidenori Taga	....	producer

Original Music by
Kenji Kawai

Art Direction by
Torao Arai

Animation Department
Atsuko Nakajima	....	animation director
Atsuko Nakajima	....	character designer

Editorial Department
Bruce Woloshyn	....	on-line editor

Production Companies

• Kitty Films

Distributors

• Argo Pictures (1991) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Viz Video

Special Effects

• Umidori

Other Companies

• Kodak Japan  film supplied by
• Morita Editing House  editing facilities
• New Japan Studio  sound recording studio
• Ocean Group  english dubbing
• Omnibus Promotion  sound post-production
• Studio DEEN  animation production
• Tokyo Laboratory Co. Ltd.  film processing
• Tokyo TV Center  sound recording studio

Also Known As:

"Ranma ½: Chûgoku Nekonron daikessen! Okite yaburi no gekitô hen" - USA (original title)

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Germany:12 | UK:PG | Canada:G (Quebec) | Australia:PG | New Zealand:PG

Company:

Kitty Films

Trivia:

Originally played in Japan as a double-feature with Urusei Yatsura: Always My Darling. Viz Media LLC's title for this film is a parody of the 1986 film Big Trouble in Little China.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Akane is sneaking out to the kitchen in order to cook something, she briefly has a see-through hand.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

Soundtrack:

It's love

Its Ranma 1/2... in specialized Movie format!

In a case of sheer irony, Ranma 1/2 (specifically this movie) often suffers the indignation where most of the insults and bad reviews come from the Ranma 1/2 fans themselves. Whatever. Of course it can't compete with Takahashi's brilliant manga, and the 1st TV season is the best Anime adaptation of the series. Just leave this movie alone - its great.

Now I have one question... WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY does everybody think "Movie 2: Nihao My Concubine" to be a better film? Sorry, but my money is on this, the first film. Sure, the plot is hackneyed; how many times exactly have we seen "guy saves girl" in animated films? But, heck, if Ranma was a serious psychological drama, that would be a problem. Too bad it isn't, and so long as it features Happosai getting whacked around, Kuno getting clobbered, and Genma's "sign language," I'm just peachy. As for other reasons its better than the second... Its a lot longer, it flows more like a feature film should, the pace is infinitely faster, there are more gags and they're a lot funnier, and fanservice is dead-zero. ZILCH. So go ahead and watch "Silicon Beach" with Ranma-chan bouncing every five seconds (ever wonder why female Ranma fans dislike it?).

Synopsis... oh, shoot, just consider it as more of like a bunch of fun and cool stuff that just happens. You'll be a lot better off than the fans who were expecting a visual tour-de-force that questions the existence of humanity, it seems...