Ranma 1/2: One Page Per Volume, Part 28

[rainsometimes]

Art runs from left to right.


From the end of the Ryu Kumon story, the most sombre arc in all of Ranma 1/2. In the post for volume 22, I mentioned how the Nodoka stories tend to have an uneasy balance between farce, seriousness and sentimentality - well, I don't think that holds true for this arc. Here the themes of isolation, loneliness/longing for connection coupled with truth obscured and shifting identities that are associated with Nodoka Saotome fit perfectly in with Ryu Kumon's story. The guy has really led a hard life, and what more is, the resolution of the story doesn't put him in a better place than when he begun - if anything, he has less to keep him going now. Ranma tends to be pretty generous and forgiving compared to most of the cast, but Ryu hit him where it really hurts - in his shaky relationship with his mother - and Ranma's never been the kind of magnetic shonen hero who picks up friends from all over and gives his enemies new options. (Though he is a magnet - but for chaos.)

But Ryu did form a kind of connection to Nodoka, at least, and she bears him no ill will once his deception is uncovered. One can only hope he will remember that and go on to find kindness and make real connections with other people elsewhere. ;__;

(I kind of hope he'd stay in touch with Nodoka, but he seems the sort to just nobly walk away, and the series is set before cellphones became widespread in Japan, so Nodoka would probably not know how to get ahold of the wandering youth, even if she wanted to know how he was doing.)

I picked this page only thinking of content, not presentations: but looking at it again, I think it's good for formal reasons, too. I like how it presents and cuts to all the three key characters, their emotional reactions to what's happening, and where they are physically in relation to each other. It's very clear without being any less engaging.