Let me risk spoiling some of the backstory here:

The proprieter of the Tendo school of Anything Goes Martial Arts has three daughters: Kasumi (sweet and innocent), Nabiki (devious and borderline-evil), and Akane (who loathes men). He decides that one of them should marry the son of his old martial arts partner's son, Ranma, to ensure that his dojo's status is secure. His daughters are hesitant, particularly when their father admits that he has never met Ranma. When Ranma arrives, the father is dismayed to discover that he's actually a girl.

It is soon revealed that Ranma and his father were cursed during a visit to an ancient Chinese training ground. When splashed with cold water, Ranma changes from a man to woman when doused with cold water, and from a woman to a man when doused with warm water. Genma, similarly, changes back and forth from a human to a panda. The girls decide that Akane should marry Ranma, since he's only half-man and Akane hates men. Neither Akane nor Ranma is happy about the arranged marriage, and the two waste no time is starting to hate one another.

You may think the Ranma-switching-genders gag will get old after a while, but that's not really the case. The story excels at creating new and interesting ways for Ranma's gender-swapping to complicate things. New characters are introduced that love one of Ranma's identities, others have grudges against one of Ranma's identities, and, of course, there's the old "oh no! I changed into a girl while I wasn't wearing a shirt!" bit. Yes, there's quite a bit of topless girl-Ranma in this show. If you're the type who's bothered by that you may want to go watch something else.

While the gender-swapping never gets old, it does sometimes feel a little forced. The story sometimes struggles with finding believable ways for Ranma to be near water. This is particularly prevelent in the first few episodes where Ranma seems like he's changing every four seconds. Sometimes it works: Ranma's in the middle of a fight and it starts to rain. Other times it's less believable: Ranma kicks Genma off a fence which, of course, had an off-screen river behind it. Other times it's less believable, but in a funny way: Ranma's in the middle of a sentence and some accidentally splashes him while cleaning a porch. Most of the time it work fine, but the author does strain believability a bit at times.

But gender-swaping isn't the only cause for amusement here. The story also finds plenty of excuses to pit Ranma against rival martial artists, and wip-up crazy over-the-top fight scenes. The fights aren't impressively action-packed, but then it's not really meant to be. Characters fight in silly and deliberately-unbelievable ways that are meant to make you laugh rather than make your heart race.

The stories ae pretty silly (perhaps even childish), so that may turn some people off. But, if you don't mind a little silliness, then there's plenty to love here. The story arcs are funny, the characters are amusing, and the fighting is hilarious (though not very action-packed).

I can't think of a single recurring character whose not lovable, and not at least occasionally funny. Sure, some are funnier than others, but all the character bring something unique to the increasingly-silly table; Ranma's two genders, Akane's outright loathing of men, Nabiki's con-artistry, Shampoo's duality (in love with Ranma, and out to kill him), Kodachi's blatant insanity, Kuno's bizarre form of chivalry, and Ryoga's...well, stupidity all create amusing conflicts and misadventurers.

Kasumi, Genma and Akane's father are probably the two weak links in the story (and the fact that I can't remember Akane's father's name really only proves that point). Kasumi serves as the voice of reason amongst all the silliness, which is not a good thing. This show thrives on crazy antics and mindless violence, injecting a voice of reason into the mix can only make things worse. She has a little bit of dialogue, a bit part in one or two funny moments here and there, as well as a microcosmic romance sub-plot, but I don't think the show would have changed much if Akane and Nabiki were the only Tendo sisters. She really should have been flushed-out more.

Genma and Akane's father - there, you see, I can't even remember Akane's father's name. That's how interesting he is - often seem more like background props than actual characters. Genma has a lot of personality and a lot of funny moments, but there are also espisodes where he does practically nothing. He's a bit more flushed-out in later season, but there are parts of season 1 where he feels more like a background prop than a three-dimensional character.

Akane's father - no I will not look up his name! - is even worse. It seems like his sole purpose after episode 1 is to have bit-parts in various sketches. The sketches are funny, sure, but shouldn't he do something? Ranma is unwillingly engaged to his daughter, that fact alone could set up all kinds of conflicts and funny moments. But no, everyone seems content to let him make funny faces along with Genma and give the occasionally mildly-amusing one-liner.

So we have this weird situation where two characters are important to the setting, but not consistently important to the story. Genma is certainly important to the story as he's partly responsible for Ranma's two genders, but he's not always important to events afterward. Akane's father is important to the setting since it's his daughter Ranma's been arranged to marry, but after that he only rarely contributes to important events.

Ranma 1/2 is a very long anime, spanning 7 seasons. While this is an impressive run-time, the quality of the episodes is inconsistent. At times, it follows the manga format: long story arcs that get increasingly silly as they progress. Other times, however, it discards this format in favor of a much more repetitive and less imaginative gag-a-day formula. I imagine this was done to give the manga time to make new content (like Naruto and Bleach are always doing), but that doesn't excuse the dip in quality. So the actual "lasting appeal" of the series as a whole is somewhat hard to determine.

Lucky for me, I'm only rating season 1. And the actual lasting appeal of season 1 is quite easy to determine: it's good. The story arcs get increasingly funny, entertaining characters are constantly introduced, and the story even manages to have a few touching moments. Of course, this is all somewhat dependent on how willing you are to give yourself over to the show's blatant silliness. If you don't like episodes 1 and 2, then more episodes aren't going to increase the show's appeal. If you did like episode 1 and 2, you're set for the whole season.

The animation is fair by the standards of 1989, but looks dated by today's standards. The character movement are not as fluid as a modern-day anime, and the character models are not as detailed. Still, it's not really fair to judge this anime by today's standards (that would be like grading down a computer manufacturer for not having access to future hardware that doesn't exist yet). For its time, it's fair. Not the best, but fair.

The music and sound effects have a silly and low-budget feel to them, as if it's trying not to be taken seriously. This works out perfectly, as it adds to the comedic timing of certain scenes and draws attention to the overall silliness of the story and characters itself. The show's meant ot be ridiculous, and whoever wrote the musical score understands this.

The voice acting, however, is a bit inconsistent. It's fair most of the time, but some of the characters (particularly Ryoga, Akane, and girl-Ranma) have trouble conveying the right amount of emotion. They're either way overzealous (I cringe a little every time girl Ranma says "I'm going back to China" in episode 1) or way too droll and emotionless (I could barely hear Akane for parts of episode 1, even though everyone else came through fine).

Others (particularly Nabiki and Kuno), however, seem to convey just the right amount of emotion. As the series progresses, the voice actors become more comfortable with their roles and deliver their lines better. In the end, however, there's still noticeable room for improvement.

Normally this is where I'd tell you to watch the show in subbed instead of dubbed, but that just creates other problems. Glancing away from the action to read the subtitles throws off the comedic timing of the series, and makes some of the funnier moments fall flat. In the end, I stuck with the English voice actors (flawed though they were).

Oh, and you know how some of the male characters in anime have those oddly shrill voices? Like they've just been kicked in the crotch? There's a lot of that here, sadly.

If you're the kind of person who's turned off by rampant silliness, then this anime is not for you. But, if you give into the silliness, you'll find plenty of humor stories, funny characters, and wonderfully over-the-top fight scenes to enjoy, as well as a few unexpectedly touching moments.