Ranma 1/2: One Page Per Volume, Part Eleven

[rainsometimes]

The art has been flipped and reads left to right.

Flipped art: reads left to right

A page from the "Yoiko" story in volume 11, in which Ryoga invites Akane to his house to see his dog’s newborn puppies, gets Ranma’s help in actually finding his house, then Ranma realises what the help was for and disguises himself as Ryog'’s entirely made-up little sister "Yoiko". Ryoga is amazed to hear he has a sister but figures that things like that can happen when your parents have no sense of direction either so you don't see them for ages. But Ryoga's more rough as a big brother than Ranma had counted on (probably mostly because he has a strong tendency to not know his own strength, but maybe also because he'd assume any sister of his would be pretty sturdy?); so Ranma has finally had enough and decides to leave.

But for all Ranma's flaws, he can't really abandon a tiny puppy that's gotten lost from its mother: deep down he's way too softhearted for that. And for all of Ryoga's staggering gullibility, the fear he feels about his "sister" becoming lost and not being able to see her again for years is genuinely touching. I think this is the first time in the series that the more tragic parts of his terrible sense of direction is touched on to some extent, even as the story is still largely comical.

(Man, I do love Ranma's and Ryoga's dynamics so much in all their aspects and the way the develop. If I wasn't so into Ranma/Akane, I'd have shipped R/R so hard back in the day, and possibly still. As it was, I still couldn't help but ship it to some extent... but feel conflicted. Hardly anybody wrote is an OT3, alas...)