Cinderella Boy

If you ever wanted to see a more romantic team up of Lupin & Fujiko, then this anime is the closest you’re gonna get. Cinderella Boy is sort of a mix of Lupin the 3rd, Birdy the Mighty, Baron Ashura & Ranma 1/2. From Monkey Punch, the creator of Lupin the 3rd , brings a really odd idea for a story. Originally made as a one shot manga in 1980, Cinderella boy is about a pair of private detectives; Ranma & Rella. What makes it akin to Lupin are the obvious character designs and the similarities stop there. The characters don’t have much in common withthe familiar Fujiko & Lupin outside of appearances. The main story is these two botched a job & are in a car accident. A mysterious scientist operates on them; fusing them together. And this is where the other comparisons come in. Following the story of Cinderella when the clock strikes 12 they switch bodies & have no memory of the other person’s activities. Obviously, this means a lot of awkward situations during the sudden strike at midnight hence the Ranma ½ similarities, especially when certain characters have crushes. The anime is 13 episodes long each focusing on different jobs but the pair Ranma & Rella have enough energy to make even the simplest of cases very entertaining. There’s an ongoing mystery as we do learn who operated on them and why. A organization is involved creating legitimate intrigue in its sci-fi undertones of the final episodes. It’s very interesting how it evolved from a detective story. The 13 episodes do work well in keeping me engaged to the story & once again it’s mostly because of the characters. Ranma Hinamatsuri is a good guy with a big heart & passion for justice. His hobbies include collecting classy toy car models & has a fear of heights. Despite looking like a brown jacket Lupin, Ranma isn’t really a professional but he manages to get the job done. It’s his unpolished skills that made things really funny for me. Rella Cindy Shirayuki kind of steals the show. Both Ranma & Rella do have their share of dramatic episodes but Rella has a more assertive yet selfish personality. Actually, Rella has a bigger backstory themed episode than Ranma. She’s very motivated & easily angry allowing for a lot of energy in her scenes. Rella is a rich girl and her maid creates multiple gadgets for the ongoing episodes. Despite being wealthy, Rella seeks thrills but isn’t as heroic as Ranma. I wish there was more flashbacks or episodes where we got to see both of them together but given the plot of sharing a single body it’s an impossibility. Rella is the life of the party while Ranma offers a more comical approach to the series. Cinderella boy manages to create it’s own underworld in Kirin Town with some recurring characters. It’s not very clear if this city has advanced technology such as flaying cars or this was just a clever way to save budget by not drawing tires but whatever I’m cool with that. Cinderella boy is the type of show aimed at fans of odd job agency anime. Series like City Hunter, Get Backers, Hurricane Polymer, & Gintama, etc. Meaning comedic adventures or some serious story lines. There isn’t much action then again this is a 2003 anime. Something about the mid 2000's seems to be a transition phase before the world went to hd as many anime around this time would experiment with some early CGI and the colors could range from looking kinda ugly to very pretty. The animation is also very… stiff in the early episodes but the rest of the series did show better mobility as it kept going. Episode 6 is the animation standout of the bunch as it was the 1st episode I noticed improvements and utilized a lot of fast paced action mixed in with the occasional colorful backgrounds. What I’m trying to get is the anime looks better as it reaches the ending but the early stuff does appear rough. I assume this is why a lot of attention was put into the characters and the writing since the animation wouldn’t be able to deliver outstanding work. The short stories are well told playing on Ranma & Rella emotions towards their clients and being intimate with each other. It’s a very strange yet almost sad relationship as they can’t see or interact with one another except via recorded messages. I was really into the start of the anime as we saw how Ranma & Rella reacted to their partners supposed death only to find out they’re alive but I can’t see him or I can’t see her. There’s definitely some romantic tension but I wished we saw a little more of this. The anime manages to have some tragic episodes mixed in with the goofy antics of monkey punch. There’s not really anything too perverted in the anime but there’s a few topless scenes in the beginning. I’m assuming the show couldn’t keep doing that as the nudity vanishes in later episodes. In a way, Cinderella boy could also give an insight to how a Lupin the 8th anime would be like had it fully existed but for what we got Cinderella Boy is worth watching.