The Ranma 1/2 OAV Series DVD set has two discs that include all twelve OAV episodes released for the series. Each disc contains six episodes. The first disc has: “Shampoo’s Sudden Switch – The Curse of the Contrary Jewel,” “Tendo Family Christmas Scramble,” “Akane vs. Ranma! I’ll Be the One to Inherit Mother’s Recipes!,” “Stormy Weather Comes to School! Growing Up With Miss Hinako,” and both parts of “The One to Carry On.” The second disc has: both parts of “Reawakening Memories,” “Team Ranma vs. The Legendary Phoenix,” “Oh, Cursed Tunnel of Lost Love! Let My Love Be Forever,” “The Evil Ogre! Hell Hath No Fury Like Kasumi Scorned,” and “The Two Akanes! ‘Ranma, Look at Me!’.”
The menu for each disc has the following options: “Play,” “Episodes,” and “Setup.” “Play” allows you to play every episode on the disc. “Episodes” allows you to choose which episode to watch, and where in the episode you want to begin. In the “Setup” menu, you can choose whether to have the audio in English or Japanese, and you can choose whether or not to have subtitles.
Most of the episodes included in this set are very enjoyable, and include the humor that is expected from Ranma 1/2. The animation quality is also noticeably better than the animation in the regular series episodes. However, I was rather disappointed that there are absolutely no special features included in the set. On the one hand, I understand that since six episodes are included on each disc, there really wouldn’t have been room for any special features. If it had been up to me, I would have made the Ranma 1/2 OAV Series box set a three-disc set, where each disc had four episodes and some special features. Also, I was disappointed that Viz Media decided not to subtitle the opening theme song that appears on the second disc of the set.
The Ranma 1/2 OAV Series DVD box set sells at retail outlets for about $45, which is basically the same price the season box sets sell for. While I enjoy Ranma 1/2, I think Viz Media is charging too much for the OAV series box, especially for what you get. If you’re a Ranma 1/2 fan, then you need to get the OAV series box set in order to complete your Ranma 1/2 DVD collection. However, I would recommend seeing if you can find it for a better price, either because a retail outlet regularly sells it for a lower price, or the set is lowered during a sales promotion. Or, as a last resort, you can always wait for the price to fall naturally, because the set has been out for a long enough time that Viz Media feels they’ve gotten as many sales as they can at the higher price. However, it could still be at least a couple of years before that happens, so you might have to wait a while for that option.
