The race begins
Martial Arts Takeout (or Martial Arts Delivery, or Martial Arts Restaurant Takeout) refers to both a fighting style and a specific martial arts competition in world of Ranma ½. It appears in both the manga and anime continuities, with slightly different context in both versions.
This fighting style only appeared in the Martial Arts Takeout Arc, and its anime counterpart, the episode Clash of the Delivery Girls! The Martial Arts Takeout Race.
Fighting Style[]
As a fighting style, Martial Arts Takeout was invented by food delivery people as a way to protect their cargo and themselves (as well as take out rivals from other businesses) whilst still arriving with the food piping hot and in good condition. It thusly contains techniques aimed both at destroying the food in takeout boxes and techniques that use food as weaponry; in this, it can be considered an offshoot of Martial Arts Cooking.
The history of the style is unmentioned in the manga. In the anime, it is declared that the style debuted in the Aizuna prefecture (or Aizu fief) during the Edo period, where it was created by the first takeout cooks to protect themselves and their cargo from bandits, wild animals and other dangers on the way to their destination.
Practitioners[]
Special Techniques[]
- Delivery Disturbing Strike: A technique intended to defeat rival delivery people, this attack consists of a precise finger-jab to the opponent's takeout delivery box, causing the food inside to be violently splattered around its interior as the plate holding it is destroyed. This technique appears in both manga and anime, and is known by various names; the manga dubs it the Box Blower Blow, whilst the dubbed anime calls it It's Fast Or It's Free and the subbed anime calls it The Delivery Case Crush.
- Noodle Attack: Noodles from the practitioner's delivery are grabbed in chopsticks and then used like a whip. This technique also appears in both manga and anime, with different names and slightly different effects. The manga dubs it the Chow Mein Strike; this version ensnares the entire face in a potentially suffocating mask of noodles, forcing the victim to eat their way out. The dubbed anime calls it the Ramen Round-Up Noodle Noose, and the subbed anime calls it simply the Noodle Noose; this version is used as a more conventional whip to grab limbs, bowls or throats as the situation may call for.
- Fishcake Blizzard: An attack only seen by Kaori Daikoku, where she hurls a cloud of naruto (spiral-patterned flower-cut thin fishcakes used as ramen toppings) at her foe, seeking to blind them.
- Chopstick Dart: An unnamed technique of Kaori's where she throws chopsticks like darts. Such is her precision with these that she can even strike a pressure point, causing temporary paralysis in an extremity.
Competition[]
Also known as Miss Martial Arts Takeout, a Martial Arts Takeout competition is similar in nature to the "Martial Arts Carry the Watermelon Race" from the manga chapter [1], or its anime counterpart, the "Martial Arts Carry the Snowman Race" from the episode [2]. The basic idea is simple; an anything-goes race where multiple delivery girls attempt to be the first to reach a designated finish point and make a delivery. The "anything-goes" element shines through in that the competitors are allowed to attack each other in order to ruin each other's food and thusly become the first to arrive by default of being the last one standing.
Though both versions of the story have the competition taking place for its own reasons, the motivation for Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo to partake differs between the two, as does the climatic finish.
Manga Version[]
In the manga, the Tendo Dojo is persuaded to join the competition by representatives of local restaurants, who promise them a year's supply of free food, whilst Shampoo joins initially to represent the Nekohanten, but afterwards sees it as a chance to impress her reluctant love interest. [3]
At its climax, the three remaining competitors - Shampoo, Ranma and Akane - all make it to the designated destination simultaneously, which in this story is the Kuno Estate. This makes the match a tie, and results in the revelation that in the case of a tie, the winner is whichever girl manages to get the occupant - Tatewaki Kuno - to consume the entirety of their delivery.[4] The battle concludes with Shampoo & Akane's food being spilled, and Ranma winning by using Kuno's attraction to his female form to coax him into eating Ranma's ramen.[5]
Anime Version[]
In the anime, the Tendo Dojo is persuaded to join the competition by Mr. Daikoku, who declares that if Akane Tendo can defeat his daughter, Kaori Daikoku, in the match, then he will end the engagement between his daughter and Ranma Saotome. Whilst there is also a prize of a year's supply of ramen that the Tendo Dojo is happy to accept, it is not the crux of their motivation as it is in the manga.
Unlike in the manga, the race is fought to a literal finishing line, rather than to make an actual delivery at a chosen house. Furthermore, because of the stakes of the match, Ranma actually doesn't participate in the race until the very end, when it seems that Akane is going to lose and he is made to rescue her and ensure that she wins.