The Tendo family runs a martial arts school; the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. To ensure that the legacy of his family and his school will be secure, the head of the household decrees that one of his daughters shall marry his close friend's son; Ranma Saotome. Naturally the girls are suspicious, particularly after hearing that their father has never before actually met Ranma. Shortly thereafter, Ranma arrives, and everyone is surprised to find that a) he's a girl, and b) she has is accompanied by a panda.

As the story proceeds, it is discovered that Ranma and his father visited a cursed training ground while in China. The training ground consisted of more than one hundred cursed springs. During a sparing match, Ranma knocked his father - Genma - into the 'spring of drowned panda.' Now, whenever Genma gets hit with cold water, he turns into a panda. Warm water will change him back. After emerging as a panda, Genma knocks Ranma into the 'spring of drowned girl.' Now whenever Ranma is struck with cold water, he will turn into a girl. Warm water will change him back.

The two elder Tendo sisters decide that Akane should be the one to marry Ranma, because Akane hates boys, and Ranma is half girl. Neither Akane nor Ranma is happy about the arranged marriage. Nevertheless, Ranma and Genma become guests in the Tendo house, and Ranma ends up going to high school with Akane.

From here on, the story becomes more complicated, with romances springing up everywhere. Ranma has lots of girls falling in love with him, and lots of boys falling in love with his girl half. Naturally, this makes his relationship with Akane very difficult. And then of course there's all the people from his past who want to kill him. That's not helping either...

Anywho, the story is hilarious. All of the romances springing up, combined with the fact that Ranma has to play the role of both genders, makes for a hilarious, and incredibly zany sex comedy. The martial arts aspect is also funny, really cool to watch, and adds greatly to the story's intrigue. Supurb.

All of the characters are lovable and funny. If it's not Akane's violence and general dislike for boys, Nabiki's con-artistry, Reyoga's relentlessly bad sense of direction, Shampoo's adorable-yet-violent nature, Kodachi's blatant insanity, or Kuno's chivalric idiocy, then it's Ranma's impossibly complicated love life.

Watching Ranma try to deal with his transformation and all of the people falling in love with him is hilarious. The goings-on of his mismatched marriage with the boy-hating Akane is also hilarious. I am yet to meet a single character in the series that I do not like, even the minor ones had me cracking up. Hehe, chem club guys: "lose Ranma...lose Ranma...lose Ranma..." .

Well I've watched season one two times (once dubbed, once subbed) to date, and I laughed both times. Even as we speak I'm looking quite forward to watching it again. I'd have to say that the instantaneous humor of this anime awards it tremendous re-watch value.

Season one of this anime was made way back in 1989, but its stood the test of time quite nicely. The animation is well done. Its cheerful design does a marvelous job of complementing the zany antics and humorous goings-on of the series. Furthermore, the characters are all well designed, and their movements are fluid (which is important in a martial-arts-oriented series). Their expressions do a good job conveying their emotions (which is important in a romance-oriented series...and pretty much any other series too). Yup, no complaints here. Well done.

The music and sound effects are good. The delightfully-silly opening theme never cease to give me a chuckle, and does a nice job of conveying the zany antics of the series. The sound effects and music throughout the series do a superb job of invoking the right type and amount of emotion, with the zany theme from the first opening song always being present for the particularly crazy moments.

Also, the voice actors do a good job. I've watched season one dubbed and subbed, and the actors do a good job in both cases (which is good to know, because some animes like Bleach and Naruto lose a little of their fire when they're translated into English), and I certainly respect that. It's always nice to see well-translated anime.

Ranma 1/2 is an instant classic. This martial-arts/sex comedy makes for one of the most humorous and zany anime of all time. Despite being made way back in 1989, the series still remains in the hearts of many anime fans to date.

The characters - and the countless romantic ties that spring up between them - are funny and likable, the music is upbeat and contributes nicely to the mood, the animation is well done, and the storyline never ceases to bring forth zany and hilarious moments all around.

I should mention though, there is a lot of nudity (it is a sex comedy, weren't you listening/reading?), so be mindful of that. There aren't any sex scenes (at least not in season 1), but there is nudity. It didn't really bother me, as it just contributes to the silly humor of Ranma's transformation, but nevertheless I thought I should point it out.

Anyway, Ranma 1/2 is hilarious. Highly recommended.