Ranma/Urusei Yatsura comparisons

[FriendlyEL]

Since some topics lately have involved the differences between Ranma 1/2 and Takashi's other work Urusei Yatsura, it would probably be good to have a site all about comparing the two. I myself have only watched about about the first ten episodes on YouTube, so I can't really say much. One thing I'm wondering in particular is how each of the characters on UY compare in role and personality to their Ranma 1/2 parallels.

Ataru -- Ranma

Shinobu -- Akane

Lum -- Shampoo

Kurama -- Kodachi

Ryuunosuke -- Ukyo

One thing noted by Drawde I felt the need to comment on.

At first, Lum was extremely jealous and homicidal. Imagine a combination of Shampoo's and Kodachi's worst characteristics.

I can see jealous and overbearing, but I don't remember her being homicidal too much, with the possible exception of the time she considered using the voodoo doll on Shinobu (after Ataru gave her the idea by doing it on the priest by the way).

Also, I heard that it is a harem, but some people mentioned that they cannot feel that it is one due to the fact that rather than all the women loving the main characters, they can't stand them. How close is this to the truth?

[Darth Thanatos]

You forgot one:

Mendo --> Kuno.

Though Mendo tends to use a real katana and has an army of minions, IIRC.

And yes, there is no harem, except on Ataru's mind.

[three headed dog]

Ataru -- Ranma

NO. Ranma's personality is nothing like Ataru's. Ataru is more like a younger more caring Happosai than Ranma.

Here is a page that compares Ryuunosuke to both Ranma and Ukyo

http://www.furinkan.com/uy/odds/ryuuranma.htm

Mendo tends to use a real katana

Kuno near the end of the manga stops using a bokken and uses a real sword. Volume 36(34 VIZ) and at the failed wedding.


Genma - Mr. Fujinami

[Drawde]

At one point early in the series, Lum tried to kill Shinobu, Ataru, AND herself, since Ataru kept chasing after Shinobu. Only instance that I can think of, but Lum did NOT have a nice personality at first. Remember, the story was supposed to be an Ataru/Shinobu pairing, and Takahashi didn't INTEND for Lum to break that up.

[Daniel Jess Gibson]

Since some topics lately have involved the differences between Ranma 1/2 and Takashi's other work Urusei Yatsura.

Ataru -- Ranma

Shinobu -- Akane

Lum -- Shampoo

Kurama -- Kodachi

Ryuunosuke -- Ukyo

The problem of the comparison is that there's one immense difference between the Ranma cast and the UY cast. The Ranma cast would sell each other out for spite, the UY cast actually like and respect each other, albiet not universally and not all the time. In Ranma, a call for help is more likely to draw an audience to watch the defeat, in UY, a call for help is usually answered with help (and insults about getting into the mess, but willing help).

Ataru -- Happosai
Ataru is more caring and less skilled than Happi, although Ataru is a far better escape artist.

Asuka -- Akane
Asuka is as terrified of men as Ranma is of cats.

Lum is the opposite of Shampoo
Lum is much higher tech and culture, and forces others to follow by their devotion, love of her and force of her personality. More often than not, Lum leads.
The only similarity is that she pursues and he runs away, although when she approaches him as a skittish target, they can have some good moments.

Oyuki -- Nabiki and Kasumi
Although this is like comparing the Death Star to a wasp. Oyuki is what Nabiki and Kasumi would dream to be, the dignified, cultured and kind lady who runs a vast business empire. She is also the most utterly devastating character in either cast. She could snuff out Saffron and Herb without breaking a sweat. She's also the only one who always treats Ataru kindly, and is the only one he doesn't try to grope (after their initial encounter and she was very disappointed he didn't carry on).

Benten -- Ukyo
This is the closest comparison, although she has no interest in Ataru other than as her best friend's boyfriend.

Ryuunosuke's father -- Genma
Ryuunosuke's father wants a manly son worse than Genma does, and for less reason. For all his efforts, Ranma can be far more feminine than Ryuunosuke could ever hope to be.

Mendo -- Kuno
Although Mendo actually is the center of most female attention, and is the honorable samurai when the chips are down.

Megane -- Gosenkugi
Sort of, Megane wants Lum happy, even if it is with Ataru. Gosenkugi wants Akane for himself.

Mrs. Moroboshi -- Nodoka
Constantly procaliming she wishes she never had him and wants him dead because of his curse. Does anybody else think Takahashi really doesn't like mothers?

[FriendlyEL]

Once again, I never was introduced to her as a charachter, but it sounds like Ryuunosuke is more similar personality-wise to Ranma than to Ukyo, right? The whole "having a dad obsessed with making you manly" sounds more like him.

Also, for some reason I got the impression that the school nurse Sakura is sort of a cross between Kasumi and Miss Hinako. Is that really a correct comparison?

[Daniel Jess Gibson]

Once again, I never was introduced to her as a charachter, but it sounds like Ryuunosuke is more similar personality-wise to Ranma than to Ukyo, right? The whole "having a dad obsessed with making you manly" sounds more like him.

Ryuu is as definite about her gender as Ranma is about his, but Ryuu is more likely to adopt an Akane-like response to punctuating her statements (belt them over the horizon).
I highly recommend the series, it is far better than Ranma, with the characters growing and changing slightly as the series went on. Also, most of the characters are likable with foibles, rather than some of the reprehensible behavior that seem the Ranma staple.

Also, for some reason I got the impression that the school nurse Sakura is sort of a cross between Kasumi and Miss Hinako. Is that really a correct comparison?

Sakura is a cross between Genma's mooching, Washu's convincing people her self-interest is for their good, and Hinako's talk about a teacher's responsibilities. Pretty, but often more of a hindrance than a help, not clueless, but inexperience often has her a few steps behind the rest of the cast.

[lwf58]

At one point early in the series, Lum tried to kill Shinobu, Ataru, AND herself, since Ataru kept chasing after Shinobu. Only instance that I can think of, but Lum did NOT have a nice personality at first. Remember, the story was supposed to be an Ataru/Shinobu pairing, and Takahashi didn't INTEND for Lum to break that up.

That's been said, but I can't find a single reference proving it. Where did you find the information? Is it on a web site?

I've looked at several info sites, and every one of them describes it as being primarily about the Ataru-Lum romance. Not one statement could I find that says that Shinobu was ever intended to be the primary female romantic lead character.

Mendo -- Kuno
Although Mendo actually is the center of most female attention, and is the honorable samurai when the chips are down.

Although the girls who get close enough to experience his real personality learn better. He's a lecher who is almost as bad as Ataru, although he hides it behind a facade of the debonair young multi-billionaire. Shinobu was interested in him for quite awhile, but eventually lost that when she saw his real personality in action.

Also, for some reason I got the impression that the school nurse Sakura is sort of a cross between Kasumi and Miss Hinako. Is that really a correct comparison?

No on both counts. Sakura is the school nurse, not a teacher. She often contributes to the chaos, and never does anything to curb it. She's also a Shinto shrine maiden, and specializes in exorcisms, and her uncle, Cherry, is a bizarre Buddhist monk who also is an exorcist. They both try to exorcise "evil spirits" from the rest of the cast at various times, mostly doing more harm than good.

[claymade]

The problem of the comparison is that there's one immense difference between the Ranma cast and the UY cast. The Ranma cast would sell each other out for spite... In Ranma, a call for help is more likely to draw an audience to watch the defeat...

Pretty general statement you're making there--and I honestly can't see the basis for it. That kind of "spite" doesn't apply very well to Ranma himself, a guy who'd risk his life to save his worst enemy. Akane, far from ignoring a plea for help, will offer to help out one of her primary rivals without even being asked. Ukyo? She's put up her rival's whole family at her house when they were in trouble. And Soun is willing to do the same, even knowing she's a threat to the engagement. Ryouga? Maybe in the first few volumes, but as he gradually starts to warm up to Ranma over the course of the series he starts saving Ranma's life several times, unasked. (Heck, he attacks someone he thinks is Pantyhose-freaking-Taro, while he's in piglet form to protect an unconscious Ranma. He's not just willing to "help" him, he's willing to make an against-all-odds last stand for him.)

The only way I can make sense out of such a blanket statement on ignoring pleas for help is if, by "the Ranma cast" you mean "the Kunos and the Amazons." And considering that even they can have their moments from time to time, even that is not as reliable as one might expect.

I highly recommend the series, it is far better than Ranma, with the characters growing and changing slightly as the series went on.

And Ranma 1/2 doesn't? Are we to believe that Ryouga would have defended Ranma like that at the start of the series? Or that Ranma would have had the guts to initiate something and hold Akane's hand on the walk back from Ryugenzawa from the beginning? Or that Akane would have accepted it back then? Or that Mousse would have passed up a chance to make Shampoo love him by magic? (clearly not, as he tries to do so) I'd call those changes--in fact, I wouldn't even call them "slight."

What character changes does UY have, that are "better" than those kinds of changes?

[Southern Cross]

Remember,this is the same guy who seems to think that Akane is a psychotic bitch.While she certainly is no saint,she isn't a deranged lunatic either,like the terrible trio.

[claymade]

While she certainly is no saint,she isn't a deranged lunatic either,like the terrible trio.

A discussion best saved for one of our countless good/evil threads, I suspect.

For the point of this thread, the main distinction is the qualitative difference of whether or not the R1/2 characters' reactions to each other are governed solely by "spite," (as opposed to the UY characters) and whether R1/2 doesn't have its characters "changing slightly". Both, I think, are pretty clearly false.

Even Shampoo, the more I think of it, isn't really governed primarily by "spite." Her faults tend to lie more along the lines of the ruthless pragmatism of her warrior culture in the removal of obstacles. But if Akane weren't in her way, she'd be more than happy to throw flower petals for her--as she does when Ryouga runs off with her during the waterproof soap arc. Heck, she even tries to stop Cologne from cooking P-chan, simply because it's Akane's pet.

In terms of other comparisons between the series, one of the things I liked more about R1/2--based on what I've read of UY--is the precise mixture in which Takahashi has managed to combine the comedy, drama and action. (Though perhaps someone with more familiarity with it can correct me.)

UY struck me (as far as I got in it) as being largely focused around school-level hijinks. R1/2 has certainly got those too, but you've also the moments of more drama and action: warriors battling their way through armies to rescue one of their own, mountain-destroying duels, two guys fighting against a huge eight headed monster in an attempt to save the life of the guy they think the girl they both love is in love with--and so on, and so forth. Why limit yourself to one when you can have both?

[lwf58]

In terms of other comparisons between the series, one of the things I liked more about R1/2--based on what I've read of UY--is the precise mixture in which Takahashi has managed to combine the comedy, drama and action. (Though perhaps someone with more familiarity with it can correct me.)

UY was not a high school comedy. It was a comedy that revolved around kids who were in high school. They got into many adventures that had nothing to do with school, or which took them away from school, sometimes into interstellar space.

UY struck me (as far as I got in it) as being largely focused around school-level hijinks. R1/2 has certainly got those too, but you've also the moments of more drama and action: warriors battling their way through armies to rescue one of their own, mountain-destroying duels, two guys fighting against a huge eight headed monster in an attempt to save the life of the guy they think the girl they both love is in love with--and so on, and so forth. Why limit yourself to one when you can have both?

Such things happened in UY too. There were scenes in which entire armies engaged in combat, and on a pretty regular basis. The Mendo family in the UY universe owns nearly half of Japan, and maintains a private army that could take on the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and win. Lum and her friends (with the sole exception of Ran) were the princesses of their peoples, and also had military forces they could call on at need. There wasn't as much in the way of martial arts, but action-adventure was there in spades.

As for the school... It got destroyed far more often than Furinkan. School life in UY is much more hectic and dangerous for the bystanders than in Ranma 1/2. The piles of unconscious bodies found there on an almost regular basis put Akane's morning fights to shame.

[claymade]

There wasn't as much in the way of martial arts, but action-adventure was there in spades.

Ah, okay--guess I didn't get far enough into it, then. The volumes I did read (and the descriptions I'd heard on top of that) seemed much more comedy-centric to me. Thanks for clearing that up!

[FriendlyEL]

From what I saw of the first ten episodes of UY, I would have agreed with claymade that it seemed fairly purely insane slapstick comedy, but I'm sure that could change as it goes on. After all, that was how Ranma seemed to begin at first too.

As for whether or not the characters in UY are more redeemable, it seemed to me that they both had about the same level. Although, it seemed to me that the girls of the show tend to get along more, partly because practically all of them instead can't stand Ataru who's stalking them.

Any idea on what each of the girls think of each other? Other than some occasional arguing from Lum and Shinobu, I myself didn't see much. Since each of the girls are all chased by Ataru, how are the relations between:

Lum - Shinobu
Lum - Sakura
Lum - Kurama
Lum - Ryunosuuke
Shinobu - Sakura
Shinobu - Ryunosuuke
Shinobu - Kurama
Sakura - Ryunosuuke
Sakura - Kurama

Sorry if that seemed awkward to hear. I'm just wondering if any of the girls really end up being bitter enemies over Ataru or just in general.

[Tovath]

Why would anyone become enemies over that pervert?