October 30, 2005

Anime

Curses!

So if you were a guy cursed to turn into a girl (or vise versa) whose curse would you prefer?

Ranma's from Ranma½
Futaba's from Futaba-kun Change
Maze's from Maze: Megaburst Space
Megumi's from Tenshi na Konamaiki

And am I missing any important examples? One-off switchers (Keiichi from OMG), body transfers (Galaxy Angel), technological assists (Dual) and cases of straightforward parental confusion (Ryuunosuke from Urusei Yatsura) need not apply. Just those who are stuck with the problem whether they like it or not.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:07 PM | Comments (26) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 I haven't seen any of those series! Man, am I out of it.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at October 31, 2005 03:16 AM (CJBEv)

2 Ranma, no question. Reversibility, easy control, and the world isn't actually filled with convenient old ladies washing their doorsteps, so not so many pratfalls as in the series.
Don't get me wrong - Megumi is definitely my favorite character of that lot - but that curse is not nearly so tractable.
Pixy - as long as you're collecting OPs, the Ranma 1/2 first season OP was a beaut. Actually, the Maze OP was also great, albeit in an unintentionally-funny kind of way.
SDB - well, that's what closeout sales are for!

Posted by: HC at October 31, 2005 05:51 AM (Qw8TL)

3 Ranma's, no question. It's easy to reverse, the female form is a redhead (woo-yay!), and STILL has all the martial arts ability of the original.
...and I can't remember the last time I was accidentally splashed with cold water.
FWIW, Steven, you REALLY need to watch Ranma 1/2. At least the first couple of seasons (all I've seen) are uniformly great-to-excellent... and if you can't laugh at a giant panda performing 'kung-fu,' you just can't laugh.
(yes, I KNOW it's not really kung-fu... details.)

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 31, 2005 08:09 AM (mAAjO)

4 Interesting that you should ask such a question. I suspect you may be a reincarnated anime girl.

Posted by: Evil Pundit at October 31, 2005 09:26 AM (+2/LZ)

5 Huh. I just realised that Megumi Hayashibara did the voices for both girl-type Ranma (back in the late 80's, early 90's) and Megumi from Tenshi na Konamaiki (2002).
Did Megu-chan fall in the Spring of Drowned Typecasting at some point?

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 31, 2005 11:23 AM (AIaDY)

6 Unfortunately I only have Ranma on VHS, so...
WAIT!
I have, somewhere, in a box, LASERDISCS of the COMPLETE OPENINGS AND ENDINGS of both RANMA and URUSEI YATSURA!
Don't ask why...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 31, 2005 11:24 AM (AIaDY)

7 Anyway, for those playing at home:
Ranma is a boy who fell in a cursed spring (haunted by the spirit of a girl who drowned there umpteen-hundred years ago), and as a result turns into a girl if he comes into contact with cold water. Hot water turns him back. And he's the lucky one...
Futaba is a SPOILER who turns into a girl during... uh... periods of emotional stress. As far as I know, this is only a manga, not an anime.
Maze is a girl who turns into a guy at nightfall, and back again at dawn. Unlike the others, she changes personalities too, and doesn't share any memories with her other self.
Megumi was a boy until she was cursed by a demon in a book, and is now stuck as a girl for ten years (unless she can find a cure). The story takes place when she is 15.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 31, 2005 11:30 AM (AIaDY)

8 Ten years? I don't remember that - or maybe I just hadn't followed it until the point she found out.
As for why Hayashibara? She wasn't typecast - just omnipresent.

Posted by: HC at October 31, 2005 02:51 PM (Qw8TL)

9 "As for why Hayashibara? She wasn't typecast - just omnipresent."
Yes, but for good reason: she's pretty durn talented.

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 31, 2005 05:28 PM (mAAjO)

10 Well, she has a particular talent for loudmouthed tomboys. Her singing voice is quite different, though, and she's done a number of roles where I didn't immediately recognise her.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 31, 2005 06:19 PM (AIaDY)

11 Having said that, when Megumi was eating takoyaki she sounded exactly like Lina Inverse. (I'm watching Tenshi na Konamaiki right now, which is why this question came to mind.)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 31, 2005 10:07 PM (QriEg)

12 Pixy, off-topic, but here's a response to your comments on my blog regarding "My Secret (Anime) Shame."
Yes, Please Twins IS a sequel to Onegai Teacher, but you don't need to have seen Teacher before you watch Twins.
I've only seen a couple of episodes of Teacher, actually... and still loved Twins.
Quack quack!
Oh, and thank you for the kind words a few days back! Glad to still be alive!

Posted by: Wonderduck at November 01, 2005 04:37 PM (HoSBk)

13 Megu-chan does have a talent for abrasive tomboys. Lime, Lina, Ranma-chan, Megumi... Who am I forgetting? Hmm. Her other major roles have been Pai, Ai, Nuku Nuki, Momiji, Tira, Rei and Faye.

And... Minky Momo?!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 01, 2005 10:11 PM (QriEg)

14 Oh, she's had more major roles than that - though it's true that a significant fraction of them are loud tomboys. Of course, neither Rei Ayanami or Ai Haibara are anything like that...

Posted by: HC at November 02, 2005 03:55 AM (d3NQv)

15 Here's her CV.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at November 02, 2005 04:38 AM (CJBEv)

16 What are you talking about? Rei Ayanami is the most rude and brash character in all of anime.
*snigger*

Posted by: Wonderduck at November 02, 2005 05:41 AM (+rGmJ)

17 Actually, I was thinking of Ai Amano (Video Girl Ai), not Ai Haibara. And the second list was characters who didn't quite fit the mold.
Though Ai Amano was a tomboy type some of the time, the others weren't. Strong-willed, maybe. Not tomboys.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 02, 2005 07:52 AM (QriEg)

18 I thought you meant her Meitantei Conan role since that franchise has been going since forever - 422 episodes, 9 movies, 5 OAVs... and counting. It's practically a normal-sized career in itself!
Elle Lagu would be another tomboy - really, I can't categorize all her roles - she's had too many! She's even Marcy in the dubbed version of Peanuts, for goodness sakes.

Posted by: HC at November 02, 2005 11:13 AM (d3NQv)

19 Hey, this is fun! Did you know that the actress for Kyoko Otonashi in Maison Ikkoku was also Big Mama in Sorceror Hunters?
Which has nothing to do with Megu-chan, it's just funny.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 02, 2005 11:50 AM (AIaDY)

20 My current favorite 'once you know to look, you see her everywhere' seiyuu is Aya Hisakawa. Kero-chan is Yoko is Nyamo-chan is Chloe is Yuki Soma, and so it goes...

Posted by: HC at November 02, 2005 01:31 PM (d3NQv)

21 I not only have LASERDISCS of the COMPLETE OPENINGS AND ENDINGS of both RANMA and URUSEI YATSURA, I have a BRAND NEW USB VIDEO CAPTURE WIDGET with S-VIDEO INPUT!
I haven't used my Laserdisc player for a year. I hope to hell it still works.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 02, 2005 02:24 PM (AIaDY)

22 Hmm. Now I just need to find CABLES to connect my LASERDISC PLAYER to the VIDEO CAPTURE WIDGET.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 02, 2005 03:55 PM (AIaDY)

23 Now I have CABLES too.
Hooray!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 02, 2005 04:34 PM (AIaDY)

24 Hooray indeed - I now keep all cables, whether or not they seem likely to be useful. The Czech phone cord, for instance, is not obviously of future use... but you never know.
Isn't Ranma's a fun OP?

Posted by: HC at November 02, 2005 05:32 PM (d3NQv)

25 Ranma's, NO CONTEST!

Easy to control and it pretty much keeps our stats as close as it can to normal, well, with the exclusion of Ranma-chan's height, of course. My god that girl's short!

Anywho, as for the Voice Actresses, Meg is everywhere, indeed. I disagree about Rei. No one really KNOWS what she'd be like if she hadn't been controlled by Gendo and Ritsuko for her whole life, so who knows. She just MAY be a tomboy in hiding.

Have you ever listened to "November rain"? It's spooky,, 'cuz she actually SOUNDS like Ranma chan when she sings it... even though she's a lot less abrasive. Anywho, I'm done nattering.

Posted by: weebee at June 07, 2006 07:02 AM (4C+x/)

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