GasBandit
Staff member
The character growth arc is different. Ranma just wants to fight and get stronger, and resents the interference of his parents in arranging a marriage for him, whereas Inuyasha's arc is more about moving on from the ex who betrayed him but he can't get over, thus wanting to embrace his demonic heritage as a toxic coping mechanism.
While they both had "villain of the week" formulas doing the heavy lifting, Ranma didn't have a macguffin to chase. You might also say that where Inuyasha was proto-isekai, Ranma might be considered proto-Slice of Life.
Also, though it took way longer than it should have, we finally got a conclusion to Inuyasha, whereas Ranma just kept going til it was cancelled without reconciling any of the plot. That's the first major shortfall of any Rumiko Takahashi series - they're not meant to be a complete story, they're meant to be her meal ticket until they get cancelled, and thus Status Quo is god, like an old sitcom.
And as is consisted with her works' second common shortcoming, they both fell victim to Dragonball Power Scaling rules. Both Ranma and Inuyasha follow the "I'm strong because I know this great technique which beats everybody until I go up against someone I can't beat, then I have to learn a new technique which then becomes the only technique I use until someone strong enough comes along that it doesn't beat, so I learn a new technique which beats everybody and becomes my only technique until..."
Ranma had his Cashew Fist, Heavenly Dragon Blast, Tiger's Pride, Thousand fists, etc
Inuyasha had his Iron Reaver, Wind Scar, Backlash Wave, Adamant barrage, etc
So they have similar framing and shortcomings, but different journeys. Also I think Inuyasha had a better stable of villains.
