Time to drop off the latter half of season 1 (as per Hulu). Again, as Hulu has the episodes listed in production order instead of airing order, there won't be that weird continuity error where Shampoo is shown first, which had a flashback to the ice skating arc, which hadn't even aired yet which is a smart move for anyone jumping into this series very very late and being very confused.
The Abduction of P-chan: Due to the way the episodes were reordered, this is our first introduction to the second opening. My least favorite growing up but watching it now I kind of enjoy it's nearly melancholic tone even if it's not a great setup for a martial arts comedy, it'd almost do better as an ending theme. That said, the actual ending theme is very catchy if very simplistic. Maybe I'll rate the openings/endings of the series at some point.
Azusa is a kleptomaniac who likes to steal cute things, then give them french names. She also likes to beat people up who take their things back. She steals P-chan and of course this leads to an anything goes style challenge on the ice rink. Ryoga shows up, demanding to be paired with Akane, neither Ranma or Ryoga can actually skate, comedy ensues.
Sanzenin (Azusa's partner) takes advantage of female Ranma's inability to skate to sneak in a kiss and then proceeds to turn back into a guy and threaten him with a beat down.
I want to take a moment to go into this kiss scene because the dub and sub take this in slightly different ways. In the original Japanese sub Akane says the equivalent of "I'd cry too if I was kissed by a guy like you (Sanzenin)", in the dub it was definitely more derogatory "You'd (Sanzenin) cry too if you realized who you kissed." The dub definitely tried to play up more to the 'it's funny because it was secretly a little gay!" The whole situation is definitely a little problematic, but the dub handled it worse for what it's worth.
Close Call! The Dance of Death... On Ice!: Continuing straight from where the last episode left off, Ranma and Sanzenin get into a brawl on the ice. Ranma is clearly losing... or is he? Nah, secretly wins, Sanzenin becomes a men's bathroom stall (lots of graffiti). Back at the Tendo house, Ranma is told by Kasumi and Nabiki that his personal space being violated and the kiss against his will didn't count because "You were both boys." Classy. Ranma then proves to Akane she'd have fallen for it too by pulling the same Sanzenin sleezeball move, sans the actual kiss part of course. Classy. We get a brief cute moment afterwards where Akane and Ranma nearly kiss, but then the family starts popcorning them and kills the mood.
The match begins, Ranma still can't skate for crap, but gets a lucky hit off with a promise of the match to start in earnest.
P-Chan Explodes! The Icy Fountain of Love!: The fight continues and immediately Ranma gets his butt handed to him saving Akane from any series injuries. Ryoga shows up, tries to switch out with Ranma to finish the match with Akane, but screws up by tossing Akane out of the ring and turning Ranma into a girl. Now best Boy Ryoga must team with female Ranma to finish the match. Everyone is fine with the illegal substituion, but their outfits suck, so the match is paused to put Ranma in a more skin revealing outfit. You know, as you do.
Ryoga destroys the ice rink, Azusa defeats her partner and tries to steal a blanket, and Ranma and Ryoga take their own personal fight outside. They fall into a pool, Akane can't swim, and is also still too dumb to realize that Ryoga is P-chan.
Azusa is the best part of this arc, but it's hard to talk about her without ruining the joke, so there's that.
Pelvic Fortune-Telling? Ranma is the No. One Bride in Japan: This episode is bad. I can't remember if this was Anime only, or if it was also Manga filler. Either way, it's bad bad bad. Best girl Nabiki tries to save it, but there is no joy in her extorting Dr. Tofu who is one of 2-3 characters in this entire series who's straight up not a morally bankrupt person.
The only even slightly redeeming element is the big hip blues. We never hear the real song, but we hear Ranma and Akane both sing a couple lines from it, and it's truly special. Oh, and the final scene where Ranma is in a dress, as a boy, arguing with Akane about which of the two of them is cuter. The camera then pans over to Genma wordlessly staring at his son crying. Technically a joke based on toxic masculinity, it still kind of works on a purely absurdist level.
Enter Shampoo, the Gung-Ho Girl! I Put My Life in Your Hands: Unpopular opinion time, Shampoo is second worst girl. She's a more competent Kodachi, and she doesn't laugh like a maniac... but otherwise they are the same character. They both use dirty tricks to try and harm the other women in Ranma's life, and they also aren't above using dirty tricks to make him love them and only them. In fact, in some ways Kodachi is the better written one, since at least her single minded obsession seems to have started in a genuine place and not simply a strict adherence to amazon law. Grandma Cologne is a better girl than Shampoo, but we'll be getting to her soon enough.
Now that I've thrown away my Ranma Street-cred, we open with girl type Ranma being chased by Shampoo because Amazon law (ugh) decrees that if a women ever loses to an outside women, she must give them the kiss of death and chase them down and murder them in cold blood. Ranma escapes by turning into a boy, and then accidentally beating her again. Now she has to marry male Ranma because Amazong law (uuugggghhh) decrees that if a women loses to an outside man, she has to bring him into the bloodline to make it stronger. Nabiki continues being best girl, scamming Ranma with hot water for the low price of 5000 Yen (about $50 in 1990's money so roughly $100ish by today's valuation) every time he turns into a girl around her. Hijinks ensue. Some pretty great animation this episode.
Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul: First half of the episode is all hijinks, but really nice quality art direction. Everyone is more on-model than usual, probably to show off more of Shampoo who was always a fan favorite and Kitty Studio was pretty desperate for early ratings to keep the show going. The second act is just one giant comedy skit about Akane not remembering Ranma due to Shampoo using memory erase Shampoo (get it, cause of the name!). It's okay.
The highlight is the dub doing an phenomenal job making the Japanese word play work in English.
I Love You, Ranma! Please Don't Say Goodbye: I just can't for the life of me figure out why people like Shampoo so much... oh...
Ranma is a jerk, Akane remembers him, Akane beats him up, and they reveal the 'truth' to Shampoo that Ranma is actually a girl pretending to be a boy and thus she runs back to China in defeat, never to return.
"I Am a Man! Ranma's Going Back to China!?: Studio Dean, already running out of budget from the first season resorts to a clip show with some new (but badly animated) scenes. The characters are all on model at least.
Clash of the Delivery Girls! The Martial Arts Takeout Race: The first fully original anime episode (I believe, the pelvic one may have been, but I feel like I read that in the manga) and it's.... okay. I'm going to spoil all types of ranma anime original filler and just refer to that for all future ones.
Type A: Ranma has another secret fiance! He/Akane will be challenged to a competition/fight which will be overcame and the status quo will be restored and these new fiancees will never appear again.
Type B: On off-shoot of Type A, (INSERT FIANCEE HERE) will be challenged by a rival, Ranma will be the prize, Ranma will somehow get involve and win whatever the challenge is. Status quo will be restored.
Type C: There is a cure for the Jusenkyo curse! Only there isn't, but we'll spend 25 minutes either getting to the cure, or finding out the 'cure' has even worse consequences than the curse. This one is tricky because there are actual plot relevant stories that also fall into this.
Type D: There is a competition to get a free trip to China, China will not be literal China, or Ryouga will win and end up in not-China.
Type E: Ranma will be suckered into helping random pervert escape their own problems (usually forced fiancee of their own, who'll they'll end up with regardless). These episodes will require Ranma to be girl type for 95% of the episode and will require Ranma be naked, in a swim suit, or other compromising outfits that he'll insist he won't wear, but will because anime.
I may need to revise this list, but I think that covers the vast majority of filler. This episode is Type A, the competition is martial arts take out. Akane wins, fiancee never appears again, status quo restored.
You Really Do Hate Cats!: Ranma and Akane sitting under a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes Tsun, then comes Dere, then comes Ranma acting like a cat because his father subjected him to straight torture when he was 6 years old. Fuck-in Genma.
So yeah, the second half of season 1 is overall pretty good. Filler and recap aside (all 3 of those easily skippable) there is a LOT to love about these episodes. The comedy hits hard and fast, and the action scenes are all very well animated. I think I typed more for this batch then the last batch even though there were fewer episodes, just a lot I felt like I had to talk about in these ones.
What's coming next: Ranma stops taking hot baths and gets a day job hosting at a chinese restaurant, Mousse is introduced, we end up in an alternate reality where anime remove beach episodes from manga instead of inserting new ones, Ryoga gets a power up, and finally ducks.