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One thing that did pop into my head as I was reading the takeout race was that "Is this where Akane starts to lag behind the other martial artists?" I sort of got that feeling that Ranma and Shampoo were really showing her up here. I felt sorry for her a bit, and I know it becomes more noticeable later on.

Hmm, I guess when I talked about Akane falling behind the others a bit I was thinking ahead to some of the stories that like the Super Soba and her Battle Dougi (way down the line) where it seems to deal with her suddenly acquiring some way to even the playing field.

Today I got in the mail Shonen Sunday 1989 vol. 8 which has the color pages for the bathhouse story. For those of you that have read the site, you might know that Takahashi became ill at this point and the series was put on hiatus until this issue. In fact she was absent from Sunday from 1988 vol. 49 through 1989 vol. 8.

She had a message and illustration of herself with female Ranma and Genma bowing to the reader following the chapter. The message said...

"Due to illness I've been on a break for awhile now, one way or another, it's been a bother. Thank you for your concern, but I am doing fine now. My physical condition is flawless and my energy has been replenished. I'll do my best."

So the difference in the way she drew Happosai may have also had something to do with her long break between these chapters.

Volume 8 Chapters 70 - 80
Originally Published: March 1989 - July 1989
Tankoubon Published: August 18, 1989
Color Chapters: Not Your Typical Juliet & The Trouble with Girls' Locker Rooms

I remember reading the Dojo Destoyer chapter early on, and if I remember correctly his character design in the anime really disappointed me compared to the original in the manga. I seem to remember him being more expressive in the anime, instead of the blank sort of stupid look he had in the manga. Ranma throwing popcorn at Akane at the beginning and generally being obnoxious was funny, and then having Soun get impatient and yelling was a nice touch, since he's usually rather laid back.

Tachihaki, is "Soun" an uncommon name in Japan?

We get to see the "Instant Spring of Drowned Man" in this, and the dog that winds up looking a little like Ataru. This is also the first time that Ranma's classmates seem to know about his transformation. I used to get a lot of emails about this, and when exactly everyone discovered Ranma's secret, but this was apparently handled "off screen". Dr. Tofu makes a brief appearance again as well.

We also get the "Romeo & Juliet" story which is probably one of the most well known storylines to English speaking fans, I think. It was a shame Gosunkugi was omitted, but overall the anime adaptation was really good as well.

The Japanese spring of drowned man story was quite funny, I especially thought the stuff where Akane thought Ranma was trying to steal their panties was funny. I remember in the anime they spun off the ending into a "magical urn" story that I didn't think was all that interesting.


-Translation & Cultural Notes-
·The concept of a "dojo destroyer" is known as "dojo yaburi" in Japanese. Wikipedia discusses it more in depth, but it says that the common practice is for the challenger to fight the two highest ranked students, and if he wins, he then will fight the sensei, and if successful, take their dojo's sign. You can read more about it here.

·In the first chapter we see Soun imagining Ranma and Akane working together to defeat the fake Dojo Destroyer. One of the crabs in the background has a face painted on it, just like we see in the short story, "House of Garbage". I'm not sure what the other figures are, some guy in a clam it looks like, and maybe Ebisu, one of the Seven Lucky Gods? I'm not sure.

·Before Akane realizes that she is being offered the role of Juliet, she suggests "onna sanshiro", "onna rikidozan", "onna kaiketsu kurozukin".

·Happosai, Kuno and Gosunkugi obviously don't know who Romeo is. Kuno is dressed as a samurai (I'm not sure who), Gosunkugi is the witch from Snow White with the poisoned apples, and Happosai is dressed as Urashima Taro. At the end of the chapter, Genma remarks (in the English version) that he thinks Romeo is from Krypton (obviously a Superman reference). In the original Japanese, he says he was born from a peach (a reference to Momotaro).

·The others group of actors include "Journey to the West", "Wizard of Oz", "Jesus Christ Superstar", a samurai drama... I'm not sure who the character with the scroll in his mouth riding on the giant frog is. The Snowman from Urusei Yatsura is back there too.

·Akane's costume is based on the one worn by Olivia Hussy in the 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet. Ranma's is inspired by the one worn by Leonard Whiting as well, with a few changes. You can see the comparision here.

·Soun's costume is a that of a "kuroko". In Japanese theater, the Kuroko are to be considered invisible by the audience.Needless to say, Western plays shouldn't have kuroko.

·In English Hapoosai is drunk and makes a pun about "spazzter" instead of "sponsor". In the original Japanese Ranma says "sponsor" (same in English and Japanese) and Happosai puns it with "suppon" which is a soft-shelled turtle.

·And of course the whole "win a trip to see China" joke is changed a bit. In the original Japanese the character's name is "Mr. Trip" aka "Ryokou-san" from China.