19 hours ago
Ranma ½ Season 2: How are They Going to Handle Master Happosai without Getting Cancelled?
Just like Urusei Yatsura before it, Ranma ½ by Rumiko Takahashi has gotten the anime reboot treatment, and we're expecting a bunch of new characters for the next season of the show.
The second season is going to be introducing a bunch of new characters who appeared in the anime including Mousse, Ukyo, and Cologne, but the new trailer has also confirmed that the next season is also going to include Master Happosai. Check it out:
Though Happosai feels like any silly Takahashi character, a lot of fans who have watched the anime or read the manga have been nervous about his reintroduction ever since the reboot was announced. If anything, some have even been calling for the series to just omit Happosai altogether.
For context, Happosai is the master of Genma and Soun, essentially making him the patriarch of the Anything Goes Martial-Arts school that Ranma is a member of. He's an insanely gifted fighter, but there's one caveat.
Essentially, the entire character of Happosai is that he's a massive pervert; and besides perving on girl Ranma, Akane, and the other women of the series, he spends a lot of his time going around town and stealing womens' underwear; where there's also a hot spring, you can expect Happosai is somewhere around trying to sneak a peek.
While this seemed like a fine comic villain back in the 90s, a lot of fans don't think that he can fly as a character for the Western market in the 2020s. Even Dandadan was dropped by several viewers after the first episode because sexual assault is a big no no for them.
Though he started out as an antagonist, Happosai eventually becomes a mainstay of the Tendo Dojo and essentially fills in the grandpa role. Though he does like to steal underwear and stalk women, the show treats him as harmless for the most part—unless they want him to get up to some shenanigans.
Fans who have checked out the new anime have been commending the series for more nuanced takes on the characters, especially Akane—who is given a lot more character as compared to being a damsel in distress/tsundere. Maybe the new anime will tone down Happosai's perversions, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Ranma ½ Season 2 returns to Netflix sometime later this year.
