Ranma ½ season 2 confirms production after season 1 finale

Modified Dec 22, 2024 18:07 GMT

Ranma ½ season 2 confirms production after season 1 finale (Image via MAPPA Studios)

Saturday, December 21, 2024 saw Ranma ½ season 2 officially announced as in production following the airing of the first season’s 12th and final episode. Revealed alongside this news was a promotional video for the second season’s production announcement, shared via animation studio MAPPA’s official YouTube channel, and the series’ X (formerly Twitter) account.

The anime’s character designer Hiromi Taniguchi also drew a celebratory illustration for the Ranma ½ season 2 production announcement, featuring the series’ central characters. The anime serves as a readaptation of mangaka Rumiko Takahashi’s original shonen manga series of the same name.

Ranma ½ season 2’s production officially confirmed in new promotional video

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The promotional video announcing Ranma ½ season 2’s production primarily focuses on its central cast of characters from season 1, but also sees characters new to season 2 appear. This culminates in the final moments of the trailer, which see a sinister hand and set of weapons suddenly appear in the final scenes. This seems to be a tease for a new villain in season 2, further supported by the official X account’s post on the trailer which points this scene out.

In addition to the production announcement itself, returning and new cast members were revealed. The new cast members for the second season (i.e. not reprising any roles from previous franchise anime projects) include Tomokazu Sugita as Tatewaki Kuno, Ayane Sakura as Kodachi Kuno, Toshiyuki Morikawa as Tofu Ono, Mamoru Miyano as Mikado Sanzenin, Aoi Yuki as Azusa Shiratori, and Tomokazu Seki as Ichiro.

Also new is Akio Otsuka in the role of Soun Tendo, replacing Ryunosuke Ohbayashi from previous adaptations. Cho is playing the role of Genma Saotome in place of Kenichi Ogata, who is the new anime’s narrator and will replace the late Tadashi Nakamura. Kicking off the list of returning cast members is Koichi Yamadera, reprising his roles as Ryoga Hibiki and Jusenkyo Guide from previous adaptations.

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Additional returning cast members for Ranma ½ season 2 include Kappei Yamaguchi as (male) Ranma Saotome, Megumi Hayashibara as (female) Ranma Saotome, and Noriko Hidaka as Akane Tendo. Rei Sakuma is reprising her role as Shampoo, with Minami Takayama and Kikuko Inoue reprising their roles from previous adaptations as Nabiki Tendo and Kasumi Tendo, respectively.

Takahashi’s Ranma ½ manga series first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in August 1987, where it ran until March 1996. The manga ended with a total of 407 chapters, compiled into 38 book volumes. The series was translated into an released in English on two occasions, first from 1993 to 2006, and then a 2-in-1 edition release from 2014 to 2017. Takahashi is notably also the mangaka behind Inuyasha, Urusei Yatsura, and more.

Final thoughts

Ranma ½ immediately receiving a second season announcement after season 1 finale clearly speaks of its popularity. With season 1 ending in an important part and season 2 PV teasing a new villain, the excitement will be more than ever for its release.

Being one of the best-selling series of all time, fans naturally expected more of this newer adaptation. The Netflix adaptation has maintained the standard thus far and hopefully continue the same with Ranma ½ season 2.

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Edited by Joseph Brogan