As I mentioned above, I have other reasons for avoiding Ranma.  I've seen
snippets BTW, and I wasn't impressed, anyway.

Ah, well then you may not have seen anything good at all! I can't stand 
'An Akane to Remember' - it's abominably bad! And the other OAV's - 
blech. And the second series (most of Ranma) seems to be depressingly, 
uniformly, slapstick. I've only seen a few episodes but they all seem the 
same. So I don't blame you. However, the first 18 episodes - the first 
series - before it was cancelled for reworking for a different audience - 
now they are wonderful! And there are a few episodes which have long 
dialogues _very_ reminiscent of Maison Ikkoku. And, also, the 'central 
joke' is treated more seriously. 

Hmmm... I partially agree on the Hitchiker thing -- the last two, or 
three, books definitely approached sub-par. (IMHO, of course).

They were okay *once*.  Once was plenty.

Yes, most of it has become dated, due to its own success, but the first 
page of the first book, IMO, is still hilarious. It has more and better 
jokes than the rest of the book!

Reg