Ranma 1/2 - Episode 7: "Hot Competition"

Holy moly! It's almost fitting that – just a week after readers hotly debated the removal of nipples and whether the show's nudity constitutes fanservice – we get the horniest episode of Ranma ½ since "Nihao My Concubine." With Akane out of commission, Ranma has no choice but to squeeze into a leotard and defend both the reputation of Furinkan High School's rhythmic gymnastics team and his own... all to avoid having to date the craziest chick he's ever met.

I was planning to delve into the significance of Ranma having to fight in girl-mode for the first time, in a sport where the male variant is largely ignored internationally. Men's rhythmic gymnastics has evolved tremendously in the last 35 years – just look at the delightful anime series "Backflip!!" (Seriously, go watch "Backflip!!").

But back in the '80s, it was almost exclusively a girls' sport, save for a tiny circle of Japanese athletes. This is a triple affront to Ranma's gender: he has to compete against a female opponent, in women's clothing, in a women's sport. While Kodachi's penchant for cheating keeps the fight comical rather than intense, Ranma still has to take the girls' sport seriously.

But wow, wow, wow – this episode really threw me for a loop. If the camera had an opportunity to focus on a girl's thighs, it took it. I've always felt that Ranma ½ – aside from a few chapter title pages – isn't exactly known as a fanservice-heavy series. Rumiko Takahashi doesn't shy away from drawing breasts, but she usually does so matter-of-factly, rather than sexualizing them.

The characters bathe frequently due to the story's premise – and if a panel with breasts makes things funnier, then so be it. In this episode, however, the storyboard practically ensures that thighs, buttocks under the unitard, and crotch areas clad in tight leotards are constantly in frame. More than once, the action takes a backseat while Ranma's – and, less frequently, Kodachi's – legs take center stage.

So here we have intrusive fanservice that wasn't present in the original and, I'd argue, likely gets in the way of the creator's vision.

But hey – the fight is good, so everything's okay, right? WRONG! The fight isn't good at all. As far as action goes, this is probably the worst episode of the series so far. The flow of the fight – as usual – largely sticks to the original: Kodachi does everything she can to incapacitate Ranma both before and during the fight, with her masterpiece being to tie P-chan to his wrist.

Since Ryoga has a personal interest in keeping Ranma and Akane apart, he does everything within his little piggy-power range to hinder Ranma as well.

Neither the action nor the humor reaches the level the series has set so far. I wonder if MAPPA has overworked their animators or if they simply focused too much on the thighs – but nothing achieves the usual effect. There are far too many quick intercuts at the moment of impact, or the moment is portrayed in a way that lacks the necessary "oomph."

On the other hand, this series has never been the epitome of pinpoint comic timing, and this episode is worse than usual. The jokes leading up to the episode were actually funny – especially Ranma and Ryoga going through the most vicious night before the fight – but during the fight, everything is overplayed by frequent intercuts to the audience and the aforementioned obsessive thigh-focus.

On the other hand, Ichiro justifies his existence for the first time... well, sort of. Originally, the commentary was taken over by a nameless St. Bacchus student, but here our own president of the Broadcasting Club takes over.

His pointed comments are jam-packed with puns and gags and follow the manga script almost identically. At least his presence didn't detract from the events.

This was undoubtedly the weakest episode of the series so far, but next week a new storyline begins with an extremely promising voice cast. If they pull that off, all will be forgiven."

Ranma ½ – Episode 7 is now available on Netflix.