‘Ranma½’ Back After 30 Years; Beloved Japanese Anime Classic Transformed, Original Cast Returning

By Yayoi Kawatoko / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

12:15 JST, January 17, 2025

After 30 years, Rumiko Takahashi’s slapstick rom-com “Ranma1/2” is back. With its bold characters, the anime series features plenty of laughs, action and moments to make your heart flutter.

While training in China, protagonist Ranma Saotome falls into cursed springs that give him the peculiar trait of transforming into a girl when doused with cold water and reverting to a boy with hot water. Returning to Japan with his father, Genma, who also turns into a panda, he ends up staying at the house of Akane Tendo, to whom Ranma’s parents have arranged his betrothal.

The show is currently available on Netflix and other streaming platforms.

Kappei Yamaguchi, who voices the male version of Ranma, and Noriko Hidaka, who voices Akane, shared their love for the series and the characters in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun.

– The Yomiuri Shimbun: It’s the first new adaptation in about 30 years, and almost all the voice actors for the main cast have stayed on from the previous series.

Kappei Yamaguchi: I’m grateful for the bold decision. I thought, what a gift for life to have had in store for me. It’s truly a miracle.

Noriko Hidaka: I’m really happy, too. It’s a special anime where I built a bond with my costars while we were still young and new. The new series reaffirmed my love for Akane.

Yamaguchi: Ranma was my first named character. I cherished it as my signature role. Back then it was all I could do to perform my lines. But now, it’s instinctual — I can create a world [of Ranma] just by reacting to Akane’s lines. I was surprised to find I had butterflies in my stomach as I performed.

Hidaka: I’m surprised that I was able to take up my role again without having to deliberately remember anything, because that past experience is still somewhere inside of me.

Yamaguchi: When I create a role, including Ranma, I get rid of the characters’ coolness. If they turn out to be cool, that’s fine. But, Shin¬ichi Kudo and Kid the Phantom Thief [anime characters I voice in “Detective Conan”] are the exceptions. They must be cool.

Hidaka: When I was younger, I was too focused on my lines and the interaction with the other characters. But now I’m more concerned with the flow of the story.

– Yomiuri: How did you feel when you saw the series?

Yamaguchi: There are parts that show respect for the old series, so I think people who liked the first one and people seeing the new series for the first time will both enjoy it.

Hidaka: There’s an opening scene where although she’s the heroine, Akane arches her body backward like a shrimp, and that was hilarious.

Yamaguchi: Sometimes I almost forget that Akane is the heroine.

Hidaka: That’s what’s so funny about this anime. She cracks jokes that are a bit over the top, fights in full blast or yells out, but suddenly she will become like a genuine heroine. That range is part of her appeal. I learned from Akane that it’s important to perform spontaneously without setting limits on my role.

Yamaguchi: If I hadn’t played Ranma, I wouldn’t be here today. Having been able to continue voicing boy characters for so long is probably in largely due to Ranma.

Kappei Yamaguchi

Fukuoka Prefecture native. His best-known works include voicing InuYasha in “InuYasha” and Usopp in “One Piece.”

Noriko Hidaka

Tokyo native. Her best-known works include voicing Minami Asakura in “Touch” and Satsuki in “Tonari no Totoro” (“My Neighbor Totoro”).

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