I read this as part of the 2017 Reading challenge, specifically to meet the criteria of a book written by a male author. It was recommended by a closeI read this as part of the 2017 Reading challenge, specifically to meet the criteria of a book written by a male author. It was recommended by a close friend, who had thoroughly enjoyed the book. (I read it at the beginning of 2018, so while I didn't complete the challenge timely, I'm still counting it as part of the specific reading challenge.)
I fell in love with this story and the way it was written. At first it seemed like a story with a little more depth and a few more adjectives than the average read. The storytelling was clearly masterful, and I adored the volleying back and forth between narrators and time periods. I thought the very short chapters were a captivating way to keep our interest high in the story, as well. As I went on, and began to piece together how the "past" would lead to the "present" of the story, I realized how absolutely incredible and meaningful these stories would be when they merged. I loved how very different and very similar my protagonists were, and I enjoyed imagining a world quite different from my own in terms of the era and living with a disability. It was gorgeous. And then when I got to the end, it made me think - long and hard - about what it means to survive such an era, such a world.
I love books that tell a solid story, and I love books that make me think long and hard about humanity when I finally set the book down. For me, this one offered both. I think it's very deserving of the Pulitzer prize it won, both in material and execution. I would encourage anyone with a fascination with WW2 to consider reading it....more
**spoiler alert** And here’s the final story… my “reviews” have become blow-by-blow accounts with a little bit of commentary, and I apologize for that**spoiler alert** And here’s the final story… my “reviews” have become blow-by-blow accounts with a little bit of commentary, and I apologize for that. I don’t know why it turned into that. But at least this is the last?
This volume continues where the last left off: Ranma and Akane have seen each other (the real versions) and were immediately separated – Ranma is falling into the abyss and Akane has been pulled into the darkness by an unknown entity. Shampoo is still imprinted on Kima and doing her bidding, and Lord Saffron is a dick. It’s not enough to ascend to his throne, he also wants to make Ranma miserable. Ryoga has been devoted to Akari in the past few volumes, but in the last he took a bit of a dive. Also, his use of “Akane-san” is now being translated as “Miss Akane”, which feels so wrong (since they aren’t exact analogs) and doesn’t fit with the rest of the series.
It’s immediately revealed that Akane was pulled into the darkness by a fellow captive: the Jusenkyo guard. He says that Jusendo is the source for the Jusenkyo springs, and they’re now at a crisis point and should be prepared to risk their lives. He leads her to an outcropping above Jusendo, where there’s a giant phoenix statue and a giant dragon statue. A staff is on top of the dragon statue, and if it’s turned (like a faucet) the springs of Jusenkyo will flow again. Kima and Saffron appear below, and Saffron is told to place his staff (the kinjakan) in the top of the phoenix to get the hot water flowing to start the ascension process. The guide says that if hot water is flowing, cold water can’t. Water begins pouring from the spout, along with Ranma, Mousse, and Ryoga. Ranma begins fighting Saffron and his hands get bound in the threaded goo that’s going to be egg-nutrients for Saffron. Saffron shouts that as long as the Jusen’s hot water pours on him, Ranma will never be able to escape his threads. Akane jumps over to the phoenix and turns off the faucet with the kinjakan. But her body evaporates completely, and her clothes fall and land on Ranma’s immobilized arms. He’s in utter shock, and only gets away because Mousse and Ryoga drag him off. The threads that bound his hands have solidified, and he can’t move them at all. The guide takes Akane’s clothes, and Ranma lunges, but falls over and literally lies face-down on the floor, miserably thinking of Akane.
But the guide reveals that Akane still exists; she’s completely shrunken to a doll size because the heat evaporated her. It’s explained that the only way to cure her is with the cold Jusen waters. He immediately devises a plan for Ryoga to use his shishi hokodan ability to blow the neck of the phoenix off and also propel Ranma over to the dragon head. The blast is a little too effective, and while it doesn’t destroy the phoenix, Ranma is sent so forcefully that he ends up pulling out the staff from the dragon, and realizes that it’s a weapon like the kinjakan. He then uses that weapon to slice off the head of the phoenix. Its beak ends up leaning down and cracking the egg Saffron is in.
Ranma wakes up in an ornate bedroom, and he doesn’t have Akane with him, and has a ball chained to his legs. Shampoo comes in, holding Akane. She has a bottle of Jusen water, and tells Ranma she’ll poor it over Akane if he willingly becomes her slave (via egg). Ranma fights her, and the Jusen water is spilled all over him. Shampoo decides she’ll has to kill Ranma, but wants to make on sweet memory with him first (and changes him back to a guy). Ranma knows that she has extra eggs hiding on her, so he suggests they get naked. Mousse bursts through the wall and tries to save Shampoo (she doesn’t appreciate it), and he attacks Ranma with the staff, breaking the hardened threads around Ranma’s hands. Shampoo (who has already made Genma her slave) starts throwing eggs left and right, and Ranma uses her bra to sling one back at her. He then goes to the giant egg and says that they can put her under his control – but Mousse stops him, and Ryoga thinks it’s to put Shampoo under his own control – but that thought hadn’t occurred to Mousse. Now he ponders it.
Elsewhere, Saffron hatches too early, which worries Kima. Back in Shampoo’s room, Genma comes out and begins fighting everyone, while Mousse still thinks about his perfect life with Shampoo’s love, but when she hatches, he instead holds up a mirror to her face, so she will be her own master. He’s excited to think he may be rewarded for this, but Shampoo throws herself at Ranma instead. Earthquakes continue as Saffron hatches, and the room collapses – they all fall into the main Jusendo chamber. Saffon says he wants to teach this whelp a lesson, but Ranma says he only cares about restoring Akane’s life. So they begin to fight – but not after Ranma notices that Akane’s eyes are beginning to close. The clock is ticking!
Because Saffron didn’t gestate for the full three days, his powers aren’t complete, and he’s compared to a flame thrower without a safety valve. Ranma’s goal is to ram the Gekkaja (the second staff) into the dragon to turn on the cold faucet. He advances on Saffron, removing his wings, but they regenerate and Ranma’s at a loss. Saffron lets out another fire blast, and Akane jumps free from Ranma’s hand and throws herself into the blast to absorb it. Her eyes are almost closed by this effort. Meanwhile, Shampoo is fighting Kima and Kima’s two minions are arguing over who should touch the kinjakan to turn the hot water back on for Saffron. Ranma realizes that the gekkaja creates ice, so he uses it to make the hiryu shoten ha spiral against Saffron’s heat, so he can propel himself upward. And in closing the distance, he learns that Saffron is weak against physical attacks.
They continue to fight and they’re affecting the mountain around them. Saffron prepares a giant fireball, and Ranma uses the gekkaja to freeze himself. He knows his only shot is to do one giant freezing blast at Saffron, but he can’t see him through the fiery ki. Akane throws herself down, cutting through the heat with her icy body, and gives Ranma a clear shot. Ranma knocks out Saffron and rushes down to catch Akane, who’s smiling at him after her sacrifices. (T_T) But then her eyes close, and Ranma realizes that they don’t even have time to continue falling toward the water below.
Thus begins the final chapter. For some reason it’s titled “The Final Chapter” even though the original Japanese has “Ranma and Akane” as the title. Grrr.
Anyway, Ranma artfully throws the Gekkaja into place on the dragon head and Ryoga goes to turn on the faucet – but Ranma knows there isn’t enough time; he needs to bring the water to them. So he throws a fist blast of cold air through all of the post-Saffron steam and completely DESTROYS the dragon. Water shoots straight up into Ranma and Akane, and her body returns to its normal size. Ranma is thrilled – until he sees that Akane’s eyes still haven’t opened. She’s not breathing. “He was too late,” Mousse says sadly as he and Shampoo watch. Ryoga sobs in the background.
Ranma turns back into a guy and puts his shirt on (otherwise naked) Akane, while sitting at the edge of the water. She’s draped across his lap, and he tells her that she’s stupid for giving up her life for his. Then he punches himself for insulting her. Instead he thanks her, and apologizes, and is sad that he never told her how he really felt. He asks if she can hear him, because he wants to tell her something, and his tears fall on her face. He shouts her name, clutching her close, and the words “I love you” appear more as thought than dialogue. Akane reaches up and touches him, and they share a massively adorable hug, clinging to each other. She says she’s sorry she couldn’t make her body respond, but she heard everything. (“Eep?” says Ranma, and then starts freaking out because he doesn’t know what he said. It’s revealed then that Saffron is in teeny egg again, and he hatches as a baby because he used up all his energy against Ranma. The bird people go home to Ho’o peak, because they have nothing left to fight for, and Ryoga shouts for them to raise Saffron as a nicer person this time. The group wonders if they’re going to have to through this when Saffron is old enough again, but now water is flowing at Ho’o peak because the battle between Ranma and Saffron affected the caves’ subterranean water channel.
Jusenkyo, however, is flooded. Ranma says he doesn’t mind – halfway through it all he realized that it didn’t matter – he just wanted the water for Akane. Shampoo frees Genma from his slave frame of mind, instructing “panda do what it want.”
Back at home in Tokyo, Ranma is knocked unconscious and wakes up wearing a white tuxedo. He’s told that Akane has agreed to the wedding, so he rushes to her room to yell at her and stops short when he sees her in a wedding gown. She asks if she’d look better in a kimono, and he tells her that she’d look good either way. Then we pause to see other people receiving their wedding invitations: Ryoga decides not to go. Ukyo is sadly making special okinomiyaki, saying that she knew this day would come eventually. Mousse tells Shampoo that he knows it won’t be any time soon, but he’ll still be there when she’s done loving Ranma. Shampoo says she knows, and asks him to help her make meat buns to celebrate the wedding.
Ranma asks Akane why she agreed to the wedding, and she tells him it’s because she heard him say that he loves her. He says he didn’t say it, and she yells that he might as well have said it. But then she says “besides, if you don’t, you’ll regret it” – and we learn that now the springs have cleared up, Soun bought a cask of nannichuan to give to Ranma as a wedding present. This leads to everyone fighting over the nannichuan, including Ryoga, who accidentally showed up at the wedding, But Happosai drinks it. Meanwhile, Kodachi, Shampoo, and Ukyo end up fighting – throwing meatbuns and exploding okinomiyaki at Ranma (though it was meant for Akane), and Kuno is affronted that they would hold Akane Tendo’s wedding without his input. Until he sees Ranma as a girl, and suggests a double wedding. It’s utter chaos, Ranma ½ style.
The next day, Ranma and Akane are at breakfast and Soun is telling them that they should probably hold off on a wedding until they get their affairs in order. “You realize this is entirely—“ “your fault”, the two bicker. And then we’re given one last shot of Ranma and Akane racing each other to school.
I know a lot of fans hated the ending – Ranma wasn’t cured, he didn’t end up with Akane concretely, the other suitors are still in the picture, this arc felt more dramatic than the rest, etc.. etc. I think it’s just about perfect, because you can’t move them further emotionally without changing the story in a lot of ways. I think Rumiko Takahashi’s emotionally leveling them up after the Musk Dynasty and Ryugenzawa arcs was perfect, and she led us to this I love you with little things like the Milky Way festival and Valentine’s Day so Akane and Ranma are pretty much already solidly a couple by the time their parents attempt the first wedding. They’re just… not ready for this. (and they’re still 16, so that’s FINE.) I would’ve loved for Takahashi to give us a little post-script. Did Mousse ever get through to Shampoo? Did someone lock Happosai away for another twenty years like they should? How much money does Nabiki gain off of all this misery? Do Akari and Ryoga live a life of pig farming? (Does Akane figure out/learn that he’s P-chan?!) So may what-ifs to explore, but I still very much like the open-ended finale.
And I’ve also enjoyed my trip down memory lane to 1998 or so, when this manga was my life. :) It's still problematic in a lot of ways, and I think a remake would be fun - but I can also roll my eyes and say "that's gross" while enjoying other aspects. ...more
![ミントな僕ら 1 [Mint Na Bokura]](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1492832761l/780772._SY75_.jpg)
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