From 1987 to 1996, Rumiko Takahashi has told the story of RANMA 1/2 through manga. The star of this tale is Ranma Saotome, a 16 year old male martial artist who, after stumbling into a cursed fountain in China, turns into a girl with cold water and returns to normal with hot water; a familar concept to the thousands of Ranma manga fans around the world. After nine years the famous series has finally ended with 38 collected volumes in total.
To celebrate the history of RANMA 1/2, Shonen Sunday simultaneously released the RANMA 1/2 Memorial Book with the final manga volume. This large sized soft cover book is 138 pages, printed in both B&W and color, and deals just with the manga moments by Rumiko herself.
Inside are many full page color pictures and a large assortment of black and white manga panels from over the years. This is accompanied by Japanese captions, custom pictorial flowcharts, lists, and other confusing oddities. The book is separated into four sections:

Ranma to Ranma (Ranma male and Ranma female) deals with things like Ranma's curse, family, daily schedule, plus a few special moments (complete with rating guide). Minna Oshugou (The Big Gathering of Everybody) contains a selection of best scenes from all the characters and a quick look at some antagonists. Subete wa Kakutou (The Fight is Everything) includes the conflicts, battles, special techniques, and cunning plans that drive most of the stories of Ranma 1/2. Koisuru Otome Tachi (The Maidens Who Fall in Love) summarizes all the plots covered in the manga and the love/hate trianlge/polygons between the involved characters, listing where they can be found.

Many little touches set this book above the average, including two different inner/outer cover images, a 4 page fold out with original portrait art of the girls, a collage covering every RANMA 1/2 character, an interview with Takahashi, and listings of the sources of the many original artwork pieces from over the years.
So, for collectors of the Japanese manga series, the RANMA 1/2 Memorial Book should be an instant buy. This book is a great, high quality summary of the RANMA universe. For international RANMA comic fans there is enough art to justify the purchase too, and this will give a glimpse of events to come with future translated issues. And above all, a congratulations is in order for Rumiko Takahashi and her accomplishment in bringing us this great story for all these years.

-- Mark L. Johnson