Anime has been in an interesting state lately. While theres an abundance of new shows many feel similar or are close replications of each other. However anime has also expanded into Western adaptations with shows like Scott Pilgrim Takes Off and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners standing out as recent successes. On the other side of the spectrum theres a different kind of adaptation thats been gradually gaining attention over the years: anime reboots with classics like Ranma following the trend. Part 1 Reboots Were in an era where classic stories are being rebooted for modern audiences allowing people today to rediscover and enjoy timeless tales in a fresh new light with titles such as Ghost in The Shell coming back in the upcoming years. However there is a silver lining when it comes to reboots mainly what reason would it be to garner a reboot in the first place. After all you could just go watch the original show. But there are 3 main reasons why reboots are offered a green light. One notable reason is finishing a story in which the original has failed to provide. One huge example of this is the Fruits Basket Reboot 20192021 which was rebooted to align its story to the original manga source unlike the original adaptation which had an original ending. Another reason is to offer the story in a new angle which the original vaguely provides and then focus on that new angle. An example of this is Dororo 2019 and Devilman: Crybaby 2018 which offered a slight yet significant deviation from its source material offering a fresher take on the story. Neither of the reasons above can justify Ranma 12 s reboot which leads to the third reason and that is its there to offer the story to brand new audiences. The Original Ranma was released back in 1989 with its audience already old enough to move on yet fond. But this reboots intention is to bring back the classic story of today gripping old audiences with the wave of nostalgia and targeting brand new audiences such as myself. But this kind of reboot is susceptible to its relevance and purpose for its existence. However there is an ace up upon their sleeves to maintain their place as the anime to watch this year and that is the involvement of MAPPA. Part 2 MAPPA For Context we have seen a couple of years ago with Urusei Yatsura Reboot within the hands of David Productions and they managed to convince people to watch the series not just from its nostalgic value alone but giving it a modern80s feel exploiting the wave of 80s style of the 2020s on top of its bubbly vibrant animation thats screams the loudest among other anime selections that year. And for Ranma one of its specialties is the signature animation styles of MAPPAs innovation within its animation. MAPPA is often synonymous with impressive animation and this reboot proves that sentiment forward by providing creative and unique angles with more movements with the materials on screen unlike the stale techlimited staticness of the original. Added with the creative mangalike elements creative framing and a dash of colorful yet nostalgic environment emitting that 80s anime style with a modern flair injected with MAPPAs forte. While its certainly not MAPPAs best animation especially compared to Jujutsu Kaisens dominance last year their relatively quiet portfolio in 2024 means this show may attract more attention than expected. The impressive animation and direction have already convinced new viewers like myself to take noticebut is animation alone enough to fully hook myself in the story? Part 3 Keeping Up with Today Old media often feels dated due to its themes structures pacing and style which may have resonated in their time but do not align with contemporary expectations. This can lead many viewers to overlook older content in favor of new releases. Storytelling in particular suffers from this as themes may not resonate with todays audience and the episodic format is gradually being replaced by longer continuous impactful narratives across episodes. Ranma unfortunately checks those boxes from above and you would think it would suffer greatly with those qualities. While the format of longform and episodic mostly lands within the preference of the viewer the story offered in the show manages to be uniquely original yet familiar at the same time standing out amidst various shounen series available. For foremost the themes offered by Ranma remained original since shounen shows today have largely revolved around protagonists wanting to do good things misunderstood or unsung main leads fighting for whats right amids the sea of the supernatural to which Ranma is notwhich is revolved around the comedic elements and moments in each of its beat while not being afraid to be somber on some momentslike most of the romance or comedy shows that are out recently. As for the characters they are your standard onenoted characters with a specific role given to the show that they normally wouldnt break out of but there are moments where you feel empathy for the characters in their big moments. These characters are really easy to follow and often really fun to see on screen which is a huge plus. The story meanwhile can be straightforward a lot of times since it has that episodic nature but with its characterdriven story we can see these characters in funny situations that still hit the ground like the originaladded with the MAPPA flair. Ranma manages to keep up with todays contemporaries and formulaic tendencies with its characterdriven comedy that never fails to give a chuckle and keep yourself hooked all throughout. However expect a series thats mostly introducing you to the world of Ranma rather than a fullblown conclusion within a 12episode series on source material spanning 400 chapters. Conclusion Ranma is a fun and irresistibly addicting series to watch weekly despite its episodic and somewhat repetitive adventures. The reboot has successfully introduced younger audiences to the source material myself included encouraging us to dive further into its entertaining journey. I highly recommend this series to anyone looking for a palate cleanser from the heavy fantasydriven nature of modern shounen and seeking a more comedycentered show.