by Etsuko Nishio
Ranma 1/2 OP
karaoke cover by dtns0
recorded at Timezone, Alabang Town Center, November 25, 2017
Platinum song #87363 / #22363
singer’s comments:
Dragonball Z and Yuu Yuu Hakusho may have been the series that got me into anime, but they didn’t make me any different from any kid. It took a couple of shows to push me firmly into the hobby.
Ranma 1/2 was one of them, and probably the one which started all of it for me.
Shown in RPN-9 with the Viz dub (and English captions for Genma’s signs), it didn’t really get that much attention especially compared to the DBZ, the other channel 9 anime: the latter was just more accessible to kids, had a lot more episodes and got a better time slot. But Ranma 1/2 was just… different. It was a silly (and oftentimes pervy) action comedy but the character interactions and the bit of lore (which would be cliched by today’s standards) lent a lot of charm to it.
I got more into anime once I got Internet access in the late 90’s. Being the pre-Toonami era, a lot of US sites related to anime would be focused on the titles that got relatively wide circulation e.g. Ranma 1/2. So even though I didn’t have the resources to get legit merchandise, I was able to read up on the series and learn more about it. In the process, I saw how other people around the world saw anime and it showed me how deep this hobby can go.
Alabang Town Center is the first Ayala Mall, starting out as a strip mall in Alabang, Muntinlupa in the early 80’s. It was a popular place when I was younger but I rarely got to go there, preferring the familiar and closer Ayala Makati shopping district.
Singing Ranma 1/2’s OP in ATC was sort of fitting, as decades ago both were somewhat out of reach and shrouded and mystery and wonder.
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