Ranpou

jadedXotaku★ 7

Damn is the opening theme with Chika Sakamoto (who also voiced the titular character) truly infectious. Some anime is so obscure they get almost completely forgotten, and Ranpou unfortunately falls into that category. When I'd checked hashtags for this on instagram when I originally saw an episode (that I now know was ep. 11) back in 2018, zero posts came up. Not until trying the tag in hiragana did I find anything, and even then there were few. Ranpou the Flying Warped Boy (or Rampoo) was a 21 episode series originally aired on Fuji Television in 1984, about a handsome teenager who's turned intoa short perverted blonde haired menace by a UFO. Why? Because fuck it. And inevitably, hilarity ensues. No home releases in any country to my knowledge, though the full series can now be found online. Raw I might add. Not that it matters all that much, because the sight gags are numerous, and it's quite frankly hilarious. So now that I've seen the full series, I can say this thing is pure slapstick lunacy that I truly enjoyed. A genuinely fun show that deserves an official release. Or at the very least, just not to be forgotten. So seek it out for some Stooges level cartoonish gag comedy. And that end theme is pretty damn good too.

ProxyLain★ 10

A forgotten work, and one that will probably remain forgotten like most of the good works in existence. The opening itself says it's a crazy anime, and that's literally what it is. Ranpou follows the episodes divided into two parts in a single episode, each part with a different insane story. At least at the beginning, most of the episodes are about the characters getting into fisticuffs for some stupid, nonsensical reason because of Ranpou, and it's very funny. There's not much to say about an insane comedy, just that it's very funny, it's hardly ever not funny. Of course, not all episodes are that funny, but mostare. One episode references Macross and Minky Momo, two 80s classics. One thing you can't help but notice is how extremely good the animation is here. There's a lot of sakuga in moments of action, very well done. It was clearly made with care. It's typical 80s animation with a good budget, where the animation studio showed how capable it was of producing good animation for TV series. The opening and closing music are very good. I've listened to them hundreds of times on YouTube (as I wanted them in their original quality so I could save the files and listen to them again and again). From what I've seen, episode 21 (the last one) wasn't shown in some regions, and episode 20 itself says it's the end, but as we know, there's one more episode after that. All in all, an excellent comedy cartoon, one of my favourites. Not on a par with the unsurpassed Tanoshii Muumin Ikka, but basically on a par with Shouwa Ahozoushi Akanuke Ichiban.