Ranma ½: Akumu! Shunmin Kou

A gender-oriented story which revolves around the lead protagonist tends to transform into their opposite gender by some supernatural phenomena or simply cross-dressing.

One of the least explored but widely used as a comical sequence in many popular shows.

Rumiko Takahashi is one of the most influential manga authors in history, her manga being some of selling very well in japan and many of her series being part of the push for anime abroad in the early 90’s. She’s such a big deal she got an exhibit at an art museum in Japan in 2008, and with at a set of OVAs to celebrate it. The special is a crossover between Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, and InuYasha, so I’ve compiled all the anime you should watch before watching the Special. Quite the excuse to make a Rumic World Stack eh?

This stack is organized by release order and has more details in the description of the anime, the only exceptions are the titular OVAs because an InuYasha anime came out afterword but I wanted to include it with the other InuYasha anime and the Urusei Yatsura reboot which I included for shits and giggles.

Recommended watch order for the Ranma ½ series, based on release order.

MAL is a bit weird about grouping, but in essence there are:
- 161 main series episodes
- 12 episodes of OVAs
- 3 movies
- 7 special episodes, mostly recaps and music videos
- An advertisement for the "It's a Rumic World" exhibition

So in total, that's about 186 episodes worth of Ranma ½ content, plus a short crossover advertisement.

In terms of manga, the original Ranma ½ manga is where all of the adapted anime content comes from. It's hard to give a chapter where the anime "leaves off" because so much was skipped/altered/added for the adaptation - it's generally regarded as best just to start from the beginning. However, if you really want to not repeat any stories, the main series' latest adaptation is chapter 229, and the OVAs' latest adaptation is chapter 365.

There's also Eiga + OVA Ranma ½, a manga adaptation of the Michi wo Tsugu Mono OVAs and the Chou Musabetsu Kessen! Ranma Team vs. Densetsu no Houou movie released after the fact. It's made by directly using animation cells from the OVAs and movie, so you're not missing much by skipping this one. Maybe for the best, as it seems to be fairly obscure.

There was also a live-action adaptation in 2011.

They won't be included here, but aspects of Ranma ½ also make cameos in:
- The 4th Urusei Yatsura OVA, Rage! Sherbet!
- The 8th Urusei Yatsura OVA, Goat and Cheese
- The 10th Urusei Yatsura OVA, Terror of the Girly-Eyes Measles
- The 12th Urusei Yatsura OVA, The Obstacle Course Swim Meet
- Episode 21 of the Urusei Yatsura remake
- Episode 90 of Inuyasha
- Episode 2 of Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi
- Episodes 2, 4, 11, and 20 of Kyoukai no Rinne
- Episode 14 of Kyoukai no Rinne 2nd Season
- Episode 14 of Kyoukai no Rinne 3rd Season
- Episode 93 of Pokemon Sun & Moon
- An Episode of Koko wa Green Wood