I have to admit I'm a huge Ranma ½ fan. I grew up watching both original anime (the 1989 one and the Nettô-hen one as one 116 episode show) dubbed in Mexico for all Latin America, when I was a teen myself. It was so crazy and cool, it was my introduction to the world of mangaka Rumiko Takahashi, the first woman mangaka I met that wrote and draw shônen manga.
This first episode was really good. Very close to the manga, the animation was of course with digital elements, compared to the original one, but this allowed to create really beautiful effects that are not in the manga panels, like the flowers around the girls when their father introduce them. Also, I loved the expressions, specially the eyes and the blushing on Ranma-kun!
I personally didn't mind at all the big manga-style letters on the screen every once and then, as some other reviewers stated. I thought it was cool and it didn't bother at all. Probably some were mad because they didn't understand or because they thought it seemed old fashioned, they didn't said.
A fact I really enjoyed was the voice actors returning. Both the Japanese seiyû and the Mexican voice actors who returned for the Latin American dub, for such an iconic series, it's very important to have the original voice actors, like Rossy Aguirre as Akane, the actors who plays Shun, Kasumi and even the Jusenkyô Guide! I liked very much the new voice actor for Genma (the original Mexican one sadly passed away) and Nabiki, but the ones I really missed where both Ranma-kun and Ranma-chan. To my understanding, the Mexican voice actor who plays Ranma-kun is still active and the Mexican voice actress who plays Ranma-chan returned from her retirement to dub Sailor Neptune on Sailor Moon Crystal and Sailor Moon Eternal, so I'm confused on why they didn't returned here. No disrespect to the new Ranmas, but as someone who actually grew up watching this before the internet, it means a lot. I guess I will have to find out what happened there, hopefully nothing bad.
For this reason, I chose to watch in Japanese with subs. Anyways, since the internet (already mid 2000's) I got used to watch anime in Japanese, so being able to watch it in Japanese, with most of the original seiyû and legally subbed, it's great. I do understand Japanese, so I easily realise when they just put the dub in the subs, they shouldn't do that, Netflix! I have to warn my mum. But she's better now.
The things I didn't like: Ranma-chan's hair, what's up with that fuxia kind of colour? I don't know, maybe I should do my homework better and it's Rumiko Takahashi-san's actual choice, but to me, and I know I'm not the only one, Ranma-chan is the red haired girl. As red as her shirt. I couldn't even concentrate on the first watch. Yes, I'm this huge fangirl, and I've been one for too many decades to change that easily. The other thing I didn't like how they managed was the little nudity. You know there will be some bits of nudity in Ranma 1/2. If Netflix is uncomfortable, they can draw little clouds of vapour covering *those* areas instead of drawing buts without buttocks (wth!?) or putting an object in our view. In that sense, original series did it better without being sexual. That's why I gave it a 7 only.
Finally, I really hoped to hear "Sasajuma no Sasenaide" as OP after the "gong", but that was very difficult to. The first Ranma ½ OP was THE only OP we have here in Latin America, so I know I'm not alone in this nostalgia. The third ED "Don't Mind Lay-Lay Boy", was our ONLY ED, both originally singed by retired Nishio Etsuko-san, Latin American version by Jade. I've been singing those songs probably since I was 16, so please bear with me all this nostalgia. The new songs and animations are ok, but it will take me a while.
I definitely recommend the series to every single old school anime fan and everyone who is into Rumiko Takahashi-san's work. Also, if you haven't seen nor read Ranma 1/2 before but are looking for an entertaining anime, with martial arts, fantasy elements that make people turn into animals according the temperature of water, or a boy into a girl, or vice-versa, also see how these 16 yo teenagers, Ranma and Akane, deal with their arranged married, while Ranma struggle with his new situation, and met a bunch of fun and curious characters, join the ride! Could Ranma end the Jusenkyô "condemnation"? Will Ranma and Akane get along? What about being a Panda?
