I hope that the Ranma 1/2 remake encourages people to rewatch the classic anime, myself included

For a long time, anime was a pretty inaccessible thing to Western audiences, aside from what was shown on Toonami in countries like the US and UK, or those sneaky, not very legal, usually profanity-laden fansubs that didn’t exist Really a good way to watch it. Big names like Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece, Bleach and Sailor Moon have long been popular here, but it’s only been around ten years that anime has become something that can be easily found outside of Japan.

Especially in the last five years, more and more streaming services have been vying for a piece of the pie that Crunchyroll has dominated, and platforms like Netflix have even acquired the rights to anime, which are also available on the aforementioned anime streaming site will be seen. Now, not only do you have to watch Goku face off for the millionth time, you can also watch VTuber Legend: How I Worth Viral after Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream the same day it airs in Japan.

It’s really great because this season brings us a simulcast release of Mappa’s remake of the classic gender-bending series Ranma ½ on Netflix. Sure, there’s debate about whether an already good series even needs a remake, which I won’t comment on right now (perhaps a thought for another day), but the first episode is a lot of fun. The shenanigans you’d expect from a series where the main character turns into a girl every time she’s splashed with cold water quickly ensue, and the martial arts-focused action sequences have a wonderful, classic flow that refreshing Take a break from the over-the-top stuff (which is still very good, to be clear) that you usually see these days.

When I watched the first episode, the main thing I had to think was, “Man, I should really watch more classics.” That’s the only difficult thing about the streaming era: despite all the anime available to us now the focus is much more on what’s new than on what your own taste might actually be. As a result, most of the conversations you have on sites like Twitter (ugh, I mean X, I guess) revolve around anime from the last few years, with no real opportunity to talk about the oldies. And really, I hope that people who watch Ranma ½ maybe take a second and think, “Hey, that’s really good, maybe I should watch more older anime.”

I admit this won’t be the easiest thing legally due to the obstacles mentioned above, but older works are so much fun. First of all, the original Ranma 1/2 has some great sequences that aren’t as flashy as modern standards, but you can’t help but fall in love with them. 2022 obviously saw the release of the incredibly popular Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, and if you’re a fan of it, you should definitely check out the very first sequel in the series – it’s a classic for a reason. Hell, if you’ve ever laughed at a “you’re already dead” meme, you owe it to yourself to find out where it came from (Fist of the North Star).

The fact is, I haven’t seen all of them either, so this is as much of a call out to myself as it is to anyone reading this. I could go on and on about older anime that you and I should watch (Dirty Pair, Bubblegum Crisis, Galaxy Express 999, seriously, there’s so much out there), but I think it’s also fun to watch some of it yourself discover. Go to a niche forum – not one of the sketchy looking ones – find a list of “classics you need to see before you die” and just get started. Just don’t become one of those “Oh yeah, I’m into older anime, newer stuff just doesn’t do it for me” guys, they’re annoying.