What do you think?
Rate this book
Ranma ½ #18
Ranma 1/2, Vol. 18
It's the same old song. Ryoga-confronts-Ranma-and-Ranma-defeats-Ryoga (pause) Ryoga-confronts-Ranma-again-and-Ranma-defeats-Ryoga-again (fade out). Powerful martial artist though he may be, Ryoga has yet to defeat Ranma, and how depressing is that? Not every technique is suited to every martial artist (at least that's what Ranma's dad Genma says). What Ryoga needs is a technique suited to his own unique strengths - to his depression, that is! Sure, asking Akane to say "I hate you!" may be the quickest way for Ryoga to power up, but even if Ryoga's body survives his new technique's blast, will his heart be able to withstand the blow?
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
3 people are currently reading
267 people want to read
About the author
Rumiko Takahashi
1,586 books2,143 followersRumiko Takahashi (高橋留美子) was born in Niigata, Japan. She is not only one of the richest women in Japan but also one of the top paid manga artists. She is also the most successful female comic artist in history. She has been writing manga non-stop for 31 years.
Rumiko Takahashi is one of the wealthiest women in Japan. The manga she creates (and its anime adaptations) are very popular in the United States and Europe where they have been released as both manga and anime in English translation. Her works are relatively famous worldwide, and many of her series were some of the forerunners of early English language manga to be released in the nineties. Takahashi is also the best selling female comics artist in history; well over 100 million copies of her various works have been sold.
Though she was said to occasionally doodle in the margins of her papers while attending Niigata Chūō High School, Takahashi's interest in manga did not come until later. During her college years, she enrolled in Gekiga Sonjuku, a manga school founded by Kazuo Koike, mangaka of Crying Freeman and Lone Wolf and Cub. Under his guidance Rumiko Takahashi began to publish her first doujinshi creations in 1975, such as Bye-Bye Road and Star of Futile Dust. Kozue Koike often urged his students to create well-thought out, interesting characters, and this influence would greatly impact Rumiko Takahashi's works throughout her career.
Career and major works:
Takahashi's professional career began in 1978. Her first published story was Those Selfish Aliens, a comedic science fiction story. During the same year, she published Time Warp Trouble, Shake Your Buddha, and the Golden Gods of Poverty in Shōnen Sunday, which would remain the home to most of her major works for the next twenty years. Later that year, Rumiko attempted her first full-length series, Urusei Yatsura. Though it had a rocky start due to publishing difficulties, Urusei Yatsura would become one of the most beloved anime and manga comedies in Japan.
In 1980, Rumiko Takahashi found her niche and began to publish with regularity. At this time she started her second major series, Maison Ikkoku, in Big Comic Spirits. Written for an older audience, Maison Ikkoku is often considered to be one of the all-time best romance manga. Takahashi managed to work on Maison Ikkoku on and off simultaneously with Urusei Yatsura. She concluded both series in 1987, with Urusei Yatsura ending at 34 volumes, and Maison Ikkoku being 15.
During the 1980s, Takahashi became a prolific writer of short story manga, which is surprising considering the massive lengths of most of her works. Her stories The Laughing Target, Maris the Chojo, and Fire Tripper all were adapted into original video animations (OVAs). In 1984, after the end of Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku, Takahashi took a different approach to storytelling and began the dark, macabre Mermaid Saga. This series of short segments was published sporadically until 1994, with the final story being Mermaid's Mask. Many fans contend that this work remains unfinished by Takahashi, since the final story does not end on a conclusive note.
Another short work left untouched is One-Pound Gospel, which, like Mermaid Saga, was published erratically. The last story to be drawn was published in 2001, however just recently she wrote one final chapter concluding the series
Later in 1987, Takahashi began her third major series, Ranma ½. Following the late 80s and early 90s trend of shōnen martial arts manga, Ranma ½ features a gender-bending twist. The series continued for nearly a decade until 1996, when it ended at 38 volumes. Ranma ½ is one of Rumiko Takahashi's most popular series with the Western world.
During the later half of the 1990s, Rumiko Takahashi continued with short stories and her installments of Mermaid Saga and One-Pound Gospel until beginning her fourth major work, InuYasha. While Ran
Rumiko Takahashi is one of the wealthiest women in Japan. The manga she creates (and its anime adaptations) are very popular in the United States and Europe where they have been released as both manga and anime in English translation. Her works are relatively famous worldwide, and many of her series were some of the forerunners of early English language manga to be released in the nineties. Takahashi is also the best selling female comics artist in history; well over 100 million copies of her various works have been sold.
Though she was said to occasionally doodle in the margins of her papers while attending Niigata Chūō High School, Takahashi's interest in manga did not come until later. During her college years, she enrolled in Gekiga Sonjuku, a manga school founded by Kazuo Koike, mangaka of Crying Freeman and Lone Wolf and Cub. Under his guidance Rumiko Takahashi began to publish her first doujinshi creations in 1975, such as Bye-Bye Road and Star of Futile Dust. Kozue Koike often urged his students to create well-thought out, interesting characters, and this influence would greatly impact Rumiko Takahashi's works throughout her career.
Career and major works:
Takahashi's professional career began in 1978. Her first published story was Those Selfish Aliens, a comedic science fiction story. During the same year, she published Time Warp Trouble, Shake Your Buddha, and the Golden Gods of Poverty in Shōnen Sunday, which would remain the home to most of her major works for the next twenty years. Later that year, Rumiko attempted her first full-length series, Urusei Yatsura. Though it had a rocky start due to publishing difficulties, Urusei Yatsura would become one of the most beloved anime and manga comedies in Japan.
In 1980, Rumiko Takahashi found her niche and began to publish with regularity. At this time she started her second major series, Maison Ikkoku, in Big Comic Spirits. Written for an older audience, Maison Ikkoku is often considered to be one of the all-time best romance manga. Takahashi managed to work on Maison Ikkoku on and off simultaneously with Urusei Yatsura. She concluded both series in 1987, with Urusei Yatsura ending at 34 volumes, and Maison Ikkoku being 15.
During the 1980s, Takahashi became a prolific writer of short story manga, which is surprising considering the massive lengths of most of her works. Her stories The Laughing Target, Maris the Chojo, and Fire Tripper all were adapted into original video animations (OVAs). In 1984, after the end of Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku, Takahashi took a different approach to storytelling and began the dark, macabre Mermaid Saga. This series of short segments was published sporadically until 1994, with the final story being Mermaid's Mask. Many fans contend that this work remains unfinished by Takahashi, since the final story does not end on a conclusive note.
Another short work left untouched is One-Pound Gospel, which, like Mermaid Saga, was published erratically. The last story to be drawn was published in 2001, however just recently she wrote one final chapter concluding the series
Later in 1987, Takahashi began her third major series, Ranma ½. Following the late 80s and early 90s trend of shōnen martial arts manga, Ranma ½ features a gender-bending twist. The series continued for nearly a decade until 1996, when it ended at 38 volumes. Ranma ½ is one of Rumiko Takahashi's most popular series with the Western world.
During the later half of the 1990s, Rumiko Takahashi continued with short stories and her installments of Mermaid Saga and One-Pound Gospel until beginning her fourth major work, InuYasha. While Ran
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 30, 2020
4.5/5 stars
This made me laugh out loud really hard. This manga is ridiculous but brings me so much joy. The love polygon continues and is as entertaining as ever.
This made me laugh out loud really hard. This manga is ridiculous but brings me so much joy. The love polygon continues and is as entertaining as ever.
January 27, 2021
Volume 18
This volume begins with one of my favorite arcs. It’s no surprise to anyone who reads these reviews that Akane is my favorite character in all of Ranma, so any story that delves into the Ranma-Ryoga rivalry is going to be fun, since Akane plays a bit part in their emotional lives. This one is no different.
Ryoga sends Ranma a challenge letter, per usual, because he’s learned a new technique to defeat him. It turns out it’s a crazy ki blast (shishi hokodan) that feeds off of his depressed feelings. Because of this, Ranma has trouble replicating it. Ryoga reveals that he has a scroll and hasn’t even unlocked its final form, but later in the bathhouse, he’s reading it and admits that he can’t make sense of the final instruction (an arrow pointing down).
Ranma manages to create a ki blast when he realizes that Ryoga really is going to defeat him. This enables him to put two and two together, and he begins focusing on an emotion that comes more naturally to him. Meanwhile, Cologne tells Akane that horrible things happen when someone masters the shishi hokodan. Akane asks Ryogo if he’s really going to fight Ranma, and to fuel himself he asks Akane to tell him that she hates him – she does, confused.
Ranma and Ryoga fight, and Ranma struts and counters with his own Moko Takabisha, a ki blast rooted in confidence. This allows Ryoga to unlock the final form, which leaves a massive crater in the ground below him. Akane realizes that what she said hurt his feelings, and she rushes up to insist that she only said it because he told her to, really she hoped they stay friends forever. This naturally depresses Ryoga even further. Ranma realizes that when Ryoga unleashes his blast, he’s so emotionally drained that it doesn’t affect him, so he decides to rile up other emotions, pretending to point out Akane’s underwear, and telling Ryoga that Akane lets him kiss her. This has the desired effect, and the next shishi hokodan blasts them both, but Ranma remains standing.
The next story harkens back to the ghost cat (Mao Mo Lin) who wanted to marry Shampoo. Now he has lured her to an abandoned temple (via food delivery order) and cursed her so that if she leaves the temple, she will be a cat forever – unless she can get a kiss from her true love before the 108th bell of the new year. Of course, she calls for Ranma’s aid, and he and Akane work on a plan to help. (Mousse, also, wants to help but is more of a barrier.) The cat ghost tries to sabotage this, dumping cat nip on Ranma, but the plan goes pretty well when Akane uses a cat toy to distract the ghost. However, she gets upset when Ranma “looks like he’s enjoying” the moment he and Shampoo are about to kiss. Everything is falling apart, and on the 108th bell Shampoo turns into a cat, but leaps through the bars of her cage to attack neko-ken Ranma and kiss him. I like this story because it shows that 1. Shampoo is really in love with Ranma, 2. Ranma does NOT want to kiss Shampoo, but 3. Will do it to save her life, and Akane is in agreement (though she doesn’t want him to like it).
Keeping up with the ghost theme, the next story is of a sickly elderly man who has been astrally projecting dreams of his first love into Ranma’s head. His grandson shows up to ask Ranma to go on a date with the old man, to fulfill a dream of his youth (because Ranma, in girl form, looks just like his love). Ranma agrees, and goes on a pretty weird date. The old man asks her to fulfill their promise, which is to elope if the plum tree blossoms are in bloom (unlike what happened when he was young, and the blossoms weren’t). They are, but Ranma still nopes out. And then it’s revealed that his wife IS the love of his youth, and they eloped anyway. The man recovers his illness, and then continues to troll Ranma because he’s just starting to lose his mind.
And the volume closes with a story about the Kunos and their infatuation with Ranma. Tatewaki uses Kodachi’s oversized photo of female-Ranma for kendo practice, so she steals his album of risqué photos of female-Ranma. This leads to a prolonged fight between the two of them, and Ranma gets involved because he wants those risqué photos. Ultimately he gets Tatewaki to apologize to his sister by knocking him out and being a puppet-master. But he doesn’t manage to snag the photo album.
Overall, not a terrible volume. The only story I was really interested in was the first, but the others weren't horrible. ^_^
This volume begins with one of my favorite arcs. It’s no surprise to anyone who reads these reviews that Akane is my favorite character in all of Ranma, so any story that delves into the Ranma-Ryoga rivalry is going to be fun, since Akane plays a bit part in their emotional lives. This one is no different.
Ryoga sends Ranma a challenge letter, per usual, because he’s learned a new technique to defeat him. It turns out it’s a crazy ki blast (shishi hokodan) that feeds off of his depressed feelings. Because of this, Ranma has trouble replicating it. Ryoga reveals that he has a scroll and hasn’t even unlocked its final form, but later in the bathhouse, he’s reading it and admits that he can’t make sense of the final instruction (an arrow pointing down).
Ranma manages to create a ki blast when he realizes that Ryoga really is going to defeat him. This enables him to put two and two together, and he begins focusing on an emotion that comes more naturally to him. Meanwhile, Cologne tells Akane that horrible things happen when someone masters the shishi hokodan. Akane asks Ryogo if he’s really going to fight Ranma, and to fuel himself he asks Akane to tell him that she hates him – she does, confused.
Ranma and Ryoga fight, and Ranma struts and counters with his own Moko Takabisha, a ki blast rooted in confidence. This allows Ryoga to unlock the final form, which leaves a massive crater in the ground below him. Akane realizes that what she said hurt his feelings, and she rushes up to insist that she only said it because he told her to, really she hoped they stay friends forever. This naturally depresses Ryoga even further. Ranma realizes that when Ryoga unleashes his blast, he’s so emotionally drained that it doesn’t affect him, so he decides to rile up other emotions, pretending to point out Akane’s underwear, and telling Ryoga that Akane lets him kiss her. This has the desired effect, and the next shishi hokodan blasts them both, but Ranma remains standing.
The next story harkens back to the ghost cat (Mao Mo Lin) who wanted to marry Shampoo. Now he has lured her to an abandoned temple (via food delivery order) and cursed her so that if she leaves the temple, she will be a cat forever – unless she can get a kiss from her true love before the 108th bell of the new year. Of course, she calls for Ranma’s aid, and he and Akane work on a plan to help. (Mousse, also, wants to help but is more of a barrier.) The cat ghost tries to sabotage this, dumping cat nip on Ranma, but the plan goes pretty well when Akane uses a cat toy to distract the ghost. However, she gets upset when Ranma “looks like he’s enjoying” the moment he and Shampoo are about to kiss. Everything is falling apart, and on the 108th bell Shampoo turns into a cat, but leaps through the bars of her cage to attack neko-ken Ranma and kiss him. I like this story because it shows that 1. Shampoo is really in love with Ranma, 2. Ranma does NOT want to kiss Shampoo, but 3. Will do it to save her life, and Akane is in agreement (though she doesn’t want him to like it).
Keeping up with the ghost theme, the next story is of a sickly elderly man who has been astrally projecting dreams of his first love into Ranma’s head. His grandson shows up to ask Ranma to go on a date with the old man, to fulfill a dream of his youth (because Ranma, in girl form, looks just like his love). Ranma agrees, and goes on a pretty weird date. The old man asks her to fulfill their promise, which is to elope if the plum tree blossoms are in bloom (unlike what happened when he was young, and the blossoms weren’t). They are, but Ranma still nopes out. And then it’s revealed that his wife IS the love of his youth, and they eloped anyway. The man recovers his illness, and then continues to troll Ranma because he’s just starting to lose his mind.
And the volume closes with a story about the Kunos and their infatuation with Ranma. Tatewaki uses Kodachi’s oversized photo of female-Ranma for kendo practice, so she steals his album of risqué photos of female-Ranma. This leads to a prolonged fight between the two of them, and Ranma gets involved because he wants those risqué photos. Ultimately he gets Tatewaki to apologize to his sister by knocking him out and being a puppet-master. But he doesn’t manage to snag the photo album.
Overall, not a terrible volume. The only story I was really interested in was the first, but the others weren't horrible. ^_^
January 20, 2016
Part 1: The Lion's Roar: Ryoga has acquired a new combat technique and in a week Ranma and he will fight.
Part 2: Prelude to Defeat: Cologne tells Ranma he cannot master the technique. Akane asks Ryoga to help raise Ranma's spirits. Ranma dresses up in female form as a girl again and fools Ryoga for a while. Later Ranma is able to use the technique on his father, but can't figure out why it worked.
Part 3: Unlucky Blow: Ranma figures out how it works and he and Ryoga keep using it on each other. Cologne tries to warn the two of them that perfecting the technique can be very dangerous to them.
Part 4: Emotional Impact: Ryoga gets Akane to say she hates him and he achieves the final development of the technique.
Part 5: Lion versus Tiger!: Akane tells Ryoga she wants to be friends with him forever.
Part 6: The Weight of Victory: Ranma manages to trick Ryoga and uses the power of the technique against Ryoga and defeats him.
Part 7: New Year's Curse: Shampoo makes a ramen delivery to a cat temple and it's obvious the haunted cat from an earlier book is there. The cat has cursed Shampoo to turn into a cat whenever she passes a rope around the shrine. Ranma has to rescue Shampoo or she'll become a cat forever.
Part 8: Ring Proposal: Ranma has to kiss Shampoo to break the spell and that, of course, doesn't go easily. In the end it's Shampoo in cat form that kisses Ranma.
Part 9: The Plum and the Prune: Ranma has been having a dream about the same old man for several nights. Some guy shows up and says it's his grandfather. The grandfather is ill and his astral projection wants to go on a date with Ranma-chan since she reminds him of a love he once had.
Part 10: Sibling Warfare: Kodachi and Kuno have an argument, and Kuno needs Ranma's help to settle things. The argument gets worse, though.
Part 11: The Scandal Breaks!: The argument continues, but Ranma finds a way to control Kuno and get him to apologize to Kodachi and end the argument.
Part 2: Prelude to Defeat: Cologne tells Ranma he cannot master the technique. Akane asks Ryoga to help raise Ranma's spirits. Ranma dresses up in female form as a girl again and fools Ryoga for a while. Later Ranma is able to use the technique on his father, but can't figure out why it worked.
Part 3: Unlucky Blow: Ranma figures out how it works and he and Ryoga keep using it on each other. Cologne tries to warn the two of them that perfecting the technique can be very dangerous to them.
Part 4: Emotional Impact: Ryoga gets Akane to say she hates him and he achieves the final development of the technique.
Part 5: Lion versus Tiger!: Akane tells Ryoga she wants to be friends with him forever.
Part 6: The Weight of Victory: Ranma manages to trick Ryoga and uses the power of the technique against Ryoga and defeats him.
Part 7: New Year's Curse: Shampoo makes a ramen delivery to a cat temple and it's obvious the haunted cat from an earlier book is there. The cat has cursed Shampoo to turn into a cat whenever she passes a rope around the shrine. Ranma has to rescue Shampoo or she'll become a cat forever.
Part 8: Ring Proposal: Ranma has to kiss Shampoo to break the spell and that, of course, doesn't go easily. In the end it's Shampoo in cat form that kisses Ranma.
Part 9: The Plum and the Prune: Ranma has been having a dream about the same old man for several nights. Some guy shows up and says it's his grandfather. The grandfather is ill and his astral projection wants to go on a date with Ranma-chan since she reminds him of a love he once had.
Part 10: Sibling Warfare: Kodachi and Kuno have an argument, and Kuno needs Ranma's help to settle things. The argument gets worse, though.
Part 11: The Scandal Breaks!: The argument continues, but Ranma finds a way to control Kuno and get him to apologize to Kodachi and end the argument.
October 3, 2021
This volume contains 4 different arcs: a longer one to start, then 2 that have 2 chapters and a 1 chapter arc. The longer story is about Ryoga learning a new technique that makes him capable of defeating Ranma, but at a terrible cost. The 1 chapter story is about Ranma helping an old man fulfill a dying wish. There is a story about Shampoo and the Cat Ghost Demon and then a story about the crazy Kuno siblings and their desire for Ranma in his various forms.
October 4, 2023
This is one of, if not, the most fun volumes in the series.
A demon comes down to hunt down all of the Jusenkyo users, what does he want? Why hunt them down?
He is more than a match for Ranma, so much so that he doesn't even have any chance against him alone. Ranma ends up being helped by Ryoga, Moose, and Shampoo just to stall the monster.
An exciting, cathartic, and nail-biting battle is what this volume has in store. The comedy is on point and most of the cast has an appearance.
A demon comes down to hunt down all of the Jusenkyo users, what does he want? Why hunt them down?
He is more than a match for Ranma, so much so that he doesn't even have any chance against him alone. Ranma ends up being helped by Ryoga, Moose, and Shampoo just to stall the monster.
An exciting, cathartic, and nail-biting battle is what this volume has in store. The comedy is on point and most of the cast has an appearance.
December 13, 2023
Would you look at that? A problem not created by Happosai stealing other peoples stuff. No, no, not this time. This is a problem he created by being fucking gross. Also Taro's name choice in the end really just shows that he stopped mentally developing at like the age of 7... which is kind of sad if you think about it too long.
December 30, 2023
This was an on-brand volume for this series. Nothing really stood out to me (I do love Ryoga, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of (not unexpectedly) the drawn out fight scene), but nothing was particularly bad either.
January 13, 2025
I don’t think the volumes I‘m reading align with the US version, but oh well. Nobody reads my reviews anyway.
The whole thing with the tights just annoyed me so much. Looking forward to better stories again.
The whole thing with the tights just annoyed me so much. Looking forward to better stories again.
December 7, 2019
4,5 stars
October 13, 2020
Este tomo fue pura risa con Pantimedias Taro y el resto de los personajes. Me encantan los dibujos de golpes, o sea los chipotes o cuando se golpean y salen volando. Me encanta el dibujo de Rumiko <3
January 19, 2024
Great storyline about Ranma and the others fighting a demon.
But PANTYHOSE TARO for a name???
Happosai gives odd names.
Taro would have been a nice name for him.
But PANTYHOSE TARO for a name???
Happosai gives odd names.
Taro would have been a nice name for him.
December 17, 2012
This volume was much better than the last one... why... well two reason really: 1) Ryoga and 2) Shampoo!! XD
I really liked the story arc with Ryoga in the first half of this volume, though I was so sad for him. He and Akane really should be together. They're so much better and much more cute together! But alas, poor Ryoga...his sadness cannot be contained.
The storyline with Shampoo was kind of ridiculous and random but because Shampoo was in it, I loved it. Though I raged REALLY HARD when . Now I dislike her even more!
I also enjoyed the return of Kuno and Kodachi! They are two very fun characters are well!!
Even the random old man spectral storyline was funny.
I was quite pleased with this volume! Hooray!!
I really liked the story arc with Ryoga in the first half of this volume, though I was so sad for him. He and Akane really should be together. They're so much better and much more cute together! But alas, poor Ryoga...his sadness cannot be contained.
The storyline with Shampoo was kind of ridiculous and random but because Shampoo was in it, I loved it. Though I raged REALLY HARD when . Now I dislike her even more!
I also enjoyed the return of Kuno and Kodachi! They are two very fun characters are well!!
Even the random old man spectral storyline was funny.
I was quite pleased with this volume! Hooray!!
September 25, 2011
I accidentally skipped this volume and read 19 last month... oops! Good thing this is exactly like the anime.
In this volume Ranma must figure out and master Ryoga's new technique, the Shishi Hokodan. Then he must wrestle his fear of felines to save Shampoo from the claws of the Cat Ghost. After that, Ranma has to go on a date... with an astral projection! Finally, Ranma is drug into a Kuno sibling war - just how horribly will Kodachi and Tatewaki ruin Ranma/the Pig-Tailed Girl's reputation?
In this volume Ranma must figure out and master Ryoga's new technique, the Shishi Hokodan. Then he must wrestle his fear of felines to save Shampoo from the claws of the Cat Ghost. After that, Ranma has to go on a date... with an astral projection! Finally, Ranma is drug into a Kuno sibling war - just how horribly will Kodachi and Tatewaki ruin Ranma/the Pig-Tailed Girl's reputation?
May 14, 2016
As far as Ranma 1/2 goes, this one gets a little redundant. In the first part, Ryoga learns a super-dangerous technique (with a catch) and Ranma struggles to defeat him -- just like with the Breaking Point from a few volumes back. Towards the end, we get some more Kuno and Kodachi shenanigans...but nothing we haven't really seen before. Well, unless you count the giant ghost cat. (Wha...?)
April 24, 2011
Another fun instalment in the crazy series. This instalment sees Ryoga use a new martial arts technique to try a defeat Ranma, Shampoo is kidnapped and cursed by a cat spirit, and Ranma gets to help an old man relieve his childhood. The volume ends with a crisis involving doctored photos and blackmail. A good romp.
December 22, 2023
Ranma is its stride. There are some great stories here: from Ranma and Ryoga's continued rivalry to an argument between Kodachi and Kuno. The humor is not just gags but outlandish and weird (like a telephone poll with a sign that reads "do not hug" - which is of course hugged). Tons of fun, this volume!
April 22, 2011
They say you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. But I did - And I was right ;) This series is amazing! You get genderbender, fantasy, action, romance and slapstick-humor along with intense serious moments, what more can you want?
December 19, 2015
Every now and again I've got to re-read Ranma 1/2. Rumiko Takahashi is a great story teller. This is one of the funniest manga I have ever read.
June 28, 2012
Ranma almost never ceases to be great fun.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews