Ranma ½
Japanese manga series
Ranma ½ (Japanese: らんま1/2, Hepburn: Ranma Nibun-no-Ichi; pronounced Ranma One-Half in English) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday from August 1987 to March 1996, with the chapters collected in 38 tankōbon volumes by Shogakukan. The story revolves around a teenager named Ranma Saotome who has trained in martial arts since early childhood. As a result of an accident during a training journey, he is cursed to become a girl when exposed to cold water, while hot water changes him back into a boy. Throughout the series Ranma seeks out a way to rid himself of his curse, while his friends, enemies, and many fiancées constantly hinder and interfere.
Ranma ½ has a comedic formula and a sex-changing main character who often willfully transforms into a girl to advance his goals. The series also contains many other characters, whose intricate relationships with each other, unusual characteristics, and eccentric personalities drive most of the stories. Although the characters and their relationships are complicated, they rarely change once they are firmly introduced and settled into the series.
The manga has been adapted into two anime series produced by Studio Deen: Ranma ½ and Ranma ½ Nettōhen, which together were broadcast on Fuji TV from 1989 to 1992. In addition, they released 12 OVAs and three films.
“Ranma ½” enters the record as japanese manga series. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ranma, Japanese and manga can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Ranma ½” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Ranma, Japanese and manga provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q272015. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1987, 1996, 1989 and 1992.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Ranma ½”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Ranma ½ primary sources, Ranma ½ archive and Ranma research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ranma ½”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Ranma ½” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.