Desperately Seeking Ranma: Difference between revisions

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot]]: The time machine.

** [[Averted Trope|Averted]] with the SIs, who are designed to be -- and gladly embrace the role of -- assistants and helpers to their owners.

** About the time the portal-bomb arc kicks into gear, Ranma notes that his "Yori" persona was originally intended simply as a disguise for taking care of the occasional high-powered task he couldn't do either as himself or one of his non-martial identities; but being Yori has become a large part of his life -- he's come to enjoy being her, and wouldn't give it up even if told he had to.

* [[Bee People]]: Averted by the Kennsh, who while they resemble two-meter beetles appear to have a social and cultural structure not unlike humanity's. Their biology, however, never gets mentioned.

* [[The Berserker]]: Akane, before "Chou" and "Yori" cure her toxoplasmosis and fix the damage it caused.

* [[Big Eater]]: Misaki. She has her [[Hammerspace]] storage filled with food and drink.

** "Chou" saves Lt. Harrison's life by catching a bullet fired at him by an ex-Yakuza member who broke free from police after the capture of the doomsday conspiracy.

** Aiko teaches Ami how to catch bullets with the rather confused help of an armed criminal whom they've cornered in the vault of a jewelry store.

* [[But for Me It Was Tuesday]]: An observation made by a "normal" friend of Nabiki's in chapter 98 about the Tendo and Saotome attitude toward the previous chapter's demon attack:

{{quote|"You know, most people I've met would find that attitude very strange," she remarked, making both Nodoka and Nabiki smile. "But to you this is basically just another morning, isn't it?"}}

* [[Call to Adventure]]: Once she reaches a certain level of skill, Nabiki discovers that she can’t avoid things like petty crimes that she could stop. And she doesn’t want to. She also finds herself detecting crimes almost subliminally using just her own senses, unaugmented by Jun.

* [[Casual Danger Dialogue]]: Pretty much anything Nabiki says or does in her "Ms. Aoyama" guise. [[Bonus Points]] when she breaks out the folder.

** Most everyone at the party in chapter 97 as the "demonic duck" approaches.

* [[CIA Evil, FBI Good]]: Definitely in play in the aftermath of the Halleckton affair, although totally off-screen. We hear second-hand about the CIA's interest in having their own portal bombs, and the threat made by the Japanese ambassador should the CIA try to "enlist" any Japanese magical girls against their wills to help get or make them. Meanwhile, the FBI's been shown to be stalwart and honest and on the side of the good guys (with the exception of a couple agents corrupted by Anthony Murray). We also see that the diplomats involved feel this trope is an accurate assessment of the two organizations.

* [[Clark Kenting]]: The magical disguises and personality shifts undergone to differentiate Ranma, Kasumi and Nabiki from their various alternate personas, to the point that Nabiki can talk to her own younger sister as Ms. Aoyama and never be suspected.

* [[Comes Great Responsibility]]: Nabiki initially worries about “going crazy with power” once her training starts giving her superhuman abilities, but Ranma and Kasumi -- and later Uthryyl -- reassure her that the very fact that she’s worried about it means that it's unlikely.

* [[Comically Missing the Point]]: The guy in L.A. who can't seem to grasp that the magic and martial arts he's seeing are ''real'' and not a spectacular but badly-managed promotion for an upcoming movie.

* [[The Conspiracy]]: A small international conspiracy is uncovered in the wake of the Halleckton incident. By chapter 93, though, it begins to appear that it was just a small part of a ''much'' larger conspiracy, which includes the magical terrorists from earlier in the story and at least one military contractor.

* [[Continuation Fic]]: For ''[[Ranma ½]]''.

* [[Cool Shades]]: Ms. Aoyama wears a pair of wraparound sunglasses which hide her blue cat-like eyes.

** Agent Naito wears a pair (along with a sharp suit) on the Moon.

* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: What Ranma and Kasumi -- and eventually Nabiki, Aiko, Tamiko, Fumiko and Misaki -- are able to do to even the best-trained normal human troops.

* [[Cute Little Fangs]]: One of Yori's distinctive features -- justified as her backstory notes that she has a trace of demon blood.

* [[Doorstopper]]: 98 chapters and almost a million and a half words as of May 2016, and it appears that the main plot arc is only now kicking into gear.

* [[The Dreaded]]: Ms. Aoyama, to just about anyone who's ever met her. And a few who haven't. Yet.

* [[Dyson Sphere]]: Given to the survivors of the ancient war which created the time machine, by the descendants of the side which created the machine, in reparations.

* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: At least one person who's met Ms. Aoyama speculates that she may be one of these wearing a humanoid mask. Another thinks she's the kind of thing that Eldritch Abominations are ''afraid of''.

** And if they don't find and destroy the time machine, it just may do something that at the very least will reset the timeline, wiping out at a minimum the previous 20 years or so (which it had already done at least once prior to the start of the story), and at worst will trigger a complete deletion of the universe from the greater multiverse.

* [[Exact Words]]: Nabiki grows quite adept at technically true but thoroughly misleading explanations for the more unusual things in her life.

* [[Extreme Omnivore]]: The small, furry demons that Chiyoko chases about Minato.

* [[Faking the Dead]]: The bank robbers and the team dispatched to extract them from arrest were all former soldiers, government agents or criminals believed dead but whose bodies were never found.

* [[Famed in Story]]: Ms. Aoyama's reputation is constantly spreading and growing -- to the point that halfway through the extant story it extends ''off Earth and into other universes.''

* [[Fanon]]: Implies the "ki manifestation" explanation for Akane's [[Hyperspace Mallet]]; plays with the fanon "psychobitch" characterization for Akane by embracing it wholeheartedly, then giving it a cause that can be (and is) cured.

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: In addition to the various Magical Girl groups who have an automatic "Not human, kill!" reaction to all demons, there's Robert Davenport, one-time British Minister for Magic, who clearly regards anyone who isn't a mage as some kind of subhuman creature.

** The security system's "emergent behavior", and Ranma's comment, "I almost wish something big would attack [Nabiki]" so he could see what the system would do.

* [[Freak-Out]]: One police officer present during the bank robbery is so badly affected by Ms. Aoyama's presence that he almost ''berserks'', nearly attacking her in a panic even though his superiors were ''talking to her at the time''.

** Japanese authorities explain the flash of light caused by destroying the demon duck in chapter 97 as a small meteorite breaking up over Tokyo, [[wikipedia:Chelyabinsk meteor|Chelyabinsk]]-style.

* [[Genki Girl]]: Hotaru, once she shakes off her depression, always seems to be dashing about, giggling and laughing.

{{quote|"I bet my uniform would fit perfectly."

'''''"No way in hell am I wearing that thing!"''''' Ranma crossed his arms and glared at her. She put on her best puppy-dog eyes.

* [[Hero Insurance]]: "Chou" and "Yori" have set up a fund to reimburse anyone suffering property damage due to [[Magical Girl]] activities. Originally intended for the Minato area, but by the end of the portal bomb arc, it's paying out to the occasional international location.

* [[Hidden in Plain Sight]]: Ranma and Kasumi once they start visiting the Tendo home as "Yori" and "Chou".

* [[Hot Chick in a Badass Suit]]: Ms. Aoyama.

* [[Humanoid Abomination]]: Those who don't dismiss her as "just" an alien often believe Ms. Aoyama is something far more powerful, and far worse.

* [[In Space Everyone Can See Your Face]]: Justified by force-field space suits that let you bounce around on the moon in jeans and a T-shirt -- or a snappy suit with [[Cool Shades]].

* [[In the Blood]]: Ranma claims that this is the case for the Tendo family with regard to ki mastery and possibly martial arts in general.

* [[Insistent Terminology]]: "We're not magical girls, we're martial artists."

** "Don't call me Nabs."

* [[Just in Time]]: Chou and Yori disable the portal bomb at the British Ministry of Magic seconds before it would have gone off. Seemingly subverted moments later when after the Minister for Magic objects to their high-handed methods, they trap him inside a powerful ward with it, and start it back up again.

* [[Just Toying with Them]]: Shampoo and Akane during the bank robbery, initially as a ploy to distract the robbers from harming the other hostages. Once the hostages are protected, though, they take a few minutes to let the robbers understand just how outmatched they are.

* [[Ki Attacks]]: Ranma and Kasumi have continued exploring mastery of ki far beyond anything seen in canon.

** They also manage to train up Nabiki, Aiko, Tamiko, Fumiko and Misaki to the point that they can all use ki attacks.

* [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better]]: The time machine's "dinosaur-killer" asteroid weapon. Averted in that it was the machine's ''second'' choice for bringing about [[The End of the World as We Know It]].

* [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]: This moment from Chapter 22:

{{quote|[Nabiki] shook her head slowly, still staring at them. "When did I fall into some sort of manga or anime series?"

Ranma laughed, getting up to refill the coffee-pot. "Quite a while ago, I think. Years, at least."}}

* [[Little Miss Badass]]: Hotaru -- nowhere more so than during the destruction of the time machine.

* [[Magic A Is Magic A]]: While it has many flavors, there is a standard magic system used by mages throughout the inhabited worlds. Others exist, but are mainly known as niche systems or are "lost" or "forgotten" and represented only by ancient artifacts that use them. And then there's [[Wrong-Context Magic|the system Ranma and Kasumi came up with for themselves]].

* [[Magitek]]: Most worlds seem to run on some degree of this; others are all-magic or all-technology, but they appear to be relatively uncommon compared to the mixed worlds.

* [[Masquerade]]: Expressed, Averted, Discussed, Subverted and more, depending on what country you're in. The general acknowledgement of magic's reality varies from nation to nation. European nations, particularly Great Britain, know magic exists, but it's not really ''visible'' to the general public and they have self-segregated magical communities. Japan mentions magical events in the news, and magical girls are explicitly protected by imperial fiat. And the United States -- people ''and'' government -- seems to have convinced itself that magic doesn't exist.

* [[The Men in Black]]: The aesthetic deliberately incorporated into the design of "Reiko Aoyama" by Nabiki, well before she had any idea that "Ms. Aoyama" was going to be anything but a one-off disguise used while watching Shampoo and Akane visit Minato.

* [[Mistaken for Badass]]: Played with when Nabiki, using disguise magic and a couple ki tricks, takes on the role of "Ms. Aoyama", an apparent alien who works for a very powerful, very secretive organization. (She does this mostly for good reasons rather than just kicks, having grown since the end of the manga.) The effect she has on people in this role is so profound that eventually she has entire ''governments'' wary of upsetting her or her "employers".

* [[Mugging the Monster]]:

** The gang members who try to get away with a purse-snatching near Mann's Chinese Theater in LA and try (unsuccessfully) to intimidate and then attack the girls when they step in to stop them.

** When the bank robbers finally try to take down Shampoo and Akane, they find they have a ''lot'' more trouble with it than four guys with automatic weapons ''ought'' to have against two unarmed girls.

* [[Multiverse]]: There are many universes and many worlds in those universes; a large number of them connect to each other and trade all manner of goods and services.

* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: Václav Sklár after the Halleckton incident.

* [[Mysterious Employer]]: Ms. Aoyama makes occasional references to the organization that employs her, about which no details are available. Various government officials suspect (or ''fear'') that they are an extraterrestrial intelligence agency. (Originally, they didn't exist, being nothing more than part of Nabiki's "Ms. Aoyama" schtick. Misaki later suggests that, along with how real Ms. Aoyama's resources and abilities have actually become, Ranma and Kasumi are now the Mysterious Employers.)

* [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]]: The dinosaur-killer asteroid weapon that the time machine cobbles together employed an asteroid that turns out to be rich in valuable heavy elements including stable transuranics, worth many times Earth's collective GDP. And once it's disabled and towed away by their [[Asteroid Miners|asteroid miner]] friend, it essentially gives Chou, Yori and the rest [[Arbitrarily-Large Bank Account]]s even by the standards of [[Arbitrarily-Large Bank Account]]s.

* [[Nigh Invulnerability]]: Not only Ranma, Kasumi, and the rest of the magical girl contingent, but also Shampoo and Akane, as demonstrated during both their firearms training and the bank robbery they get caught up in.

** Even more so, the demons summoned by the "portal bombs".

{{quote|"They're practically unkillable. The military in London apparently shot one point blank with a 40mm grenade launcher half a dozen times and only pissed it off. Automatic gunfire it barely noticed."}}

* [[The Omniscient]]: Part of what makes Ms. Aoyama incredibly scary, especially to government types. She seems to know ''everything'' -- especially things it should be impossible for her to know.

* [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]]: Something like this seems to be in play when Kodachi actually appears to be regretful that Akane and Shampoo are moving to the United States.

* [[Open Secret]]: Chiyoko's [[Magical Girl]] identity and mission. Even though she thinks she's been keeping it all secret, everyone else in her neighborhood -- including her mother -- knows that she's the magical girl in pink with the staff-weapon. They just don't let on that they know.

* [[Our Mermaids Are Different]]: For one, they're shapeshifted alternate forms of the main characters, employed mainly for having fun.

* [[Partial Transformation]]: The "mermaid" and "flyer" forms acquired with the so-called "illusion" spell.

* [[Person of Mass Destruction]]: Ranma. Full stop. During the Halleckton event, about a third of the way through the extant material, he makes a crater big enough to become a ''lake'' -- with a single attack. Kasumi is not far behind him. ''And they keep getting more powerful through the course of the story.''

* [[Pillar of Light]]: Those residents of Tokyo who can remember what happened during "The Great Twitch" usually recall a pillar of light that appeared to be in the Minato area.

* [[Police Are Useless]]: Almost completely averted. The main characters end up developing contacts in several different police forces or similar organizations, including a Japanese intelligence agency, the Los Angeles PD, the FBI, and the Canadian Mounties. Although initially out of their depth when faced with paranormal crimes and criminals, they rapidly adapt. While they may defer to the heroes on issues of magic and fighting monsters, they all prove to be good and useful allies.

* [[Precursors]]: It's somewhat hard to define true Precursors in this setting given all the interdimensional travel between universes with different time flows, not to mention the shenanigans the time machine got up to, but the long-gone civilizations engaged in the war which produced the time machine are close enough as to make no difference, and even ''they'' had Precursors of their own, one set of which were responsible for the creation of the Silence Glaive.

** The mysterious benefactors of what became the Kw'lyn Corporation, who appear to have been descended from forces sent into the past with the time machine, and who gave them a [[Dyson Sphere]] as reparations for their side of the ancient war creating the device in the first place, basically played this role for a very brief time.

* [[Punctuation Shaker]]: Most of the alien languages we see seem to indulge in this, at least a little.

* [[The Quiet One]]/[[The Silent Bob]]: Misaki, mainly because most of the time she has food in her mouth. Her first few "lines" are inarticulate grunts.

* [[Reality Is Unrealistic]]: Humorously invoked [[In-Universe]] as a reason why making an action film just by filming the streets of Minato for a week wouldn't work -- "Not realistic enough."

* [[Recursive Precursors]]: Several instances are known or implied across the various universes:

** The civilization that produced the Silence Glaive.

** Whatever unknown culture produced Aiko, Tamiko, Fumiko and Misaki's artifacts.

* [[Roof Hopping]]: Nabiki gets extensive (and extreme) training in roof-hopping from Ranma and Kasumi. The other girls are already adept at it.

** "Wait 'til you reach stage four," in regards to training.

** [[Recurring Extra]] Daniel Goodner and his belief that ''someone'' is making an amazing martial arts movie.

{{quote|"How are you ''doing'' all this?" he asked, taking a step back as she took one towards him.

"A lot of hard work and training, mostly," she replied happily. "It's a family thing. You know, it's good for you that some friends fixed my anger issues, if it was a year ago you'd probably all be in intensive care by now if you were lucky." She giggled as he stared, paling at the sound. "I used to be really dangerous."}}

* [[Saving the World]]: Standard duty of both the Sailor Senshi and the group that's formed around Chou and Yori. Taken [[Up to Eleven]] when the time machine is defeated, which literally saves ''the entire universe''.

** An operation orchestrated to frighten Gosunkugi out of further boneheaded attempts at magic caps chapter 98. Naturally it involves Ms. Aoyama.

** "Yori" does this to Anthony Murray in the wake of Halleckton.

** Averted with Chiyoko. Her mother knows she's a magical girl -- and doesn't approve of her "hobby". Also, apparently everyone else in her neighborhood also knows that she's the magical girl in pink with the staff-weapon. They just don't let on that they know.

* [[Secret Keeper]]: Nabiki, for Ranma and Kasumi, even after she gains her own secrets to keep.

** After Ami shifts allegiance to the Sisterhood (and after she brings home a synthetic diamond statue and a moon rock), her mother clearly begins to suspect that she's a magical girl, although she doesn't know which one.

{{quote|The youngest Sano looked at Nabiki with a small smile of her own. "She writes magical girl fan fiction, you know," she confided, making Hana go bright red and lunge for her. Evading the older sister Kimiko laughed. "Some of it is almost good. You should see the thing she wrote about that Yori girl the other week. It was hysterical..." Hana managed to grab her and push her to the carpet, her hand over her sister's mouth, looking horribly embarrassed.

"''Shut up!''" she hissed into her sister's ear. Kimiko didn't stop grinning.

* [[Shipper on Deck]]: Tamiko ships Akane/Shampoo.

* [[Shrouded in Myth]]: What Ms. Aoyama is rapidly coming to be among the governments of the world -- and several ''alien'' governments as well.

{{quote|"Ms Aoyama could terrify even the voices in the head of a mad person into doing what she wanted, just with a look," Misaki agreed soberly.

"Ms Aoyama doesn't sleep, she waits. In the dark. When you turn out the light, she's there," Aiko added, a small smile on her face. Yrenti and Savrk exchanged a look. Inwardly, 'Azumi' was giggling insanely.

"I heard that a ghost tried to scare Ms Aoyama to death," Rei put in, looking like she was trying not to laugh. "She just raised an eyebrow at it and no one has seen it since."}}

* [[Single-Issue Psychology]]: Before they discover an organic cause for them, Ranma, Kasumi and Nabiki speculate that Akane's anger issues (and her failure to control them despite much therapy) stem from her being a repressed lesbian or bisexual, and having a consciously-denied crush on her best friend Sayuri. To be fair, the evidence at hand was strongly suggestive that this was the case. Ultimately averted as they are careful to note both between themselves and to all involved parties that Akane's problems are likely not caused by any one cause, although they admit that her toxoplasmosis was responsible for a ''lot'' of it.

* [[Small Girl, Big Gun]]: Chiyoko is the magical equivalent. Hotaru, even more so.

* [[Sock Puppet]]: When Nabiki catches up to them, she learns that Ranma and Kasumi both have a large number of alternate identities (which all have unique and distinctive appearances thanks to the disguise spell). These they use for a wide variety of purposes -- some broad, some amusingly specific.

* [[Split Personality]]: What Luna and Artemis really are, for Usagi and Minako respectively.

* [[The Spook]]: Ms. Aoyama.

* [[Standard Sci-Fi Fleet]]: All the craft seen at the port at K'nn Four.

* [[Staring Down Cthulhu]]: Several of the people Ms. Aoyama has dealt with afterwards are convinced she is the kind of creature that [[Eldritch Abomination]]s fear and hide from.

* [[Super Speed]]: Similarly, Nabiki's ki training has boosted her foot speed and reflexes well into the superhuman range.

* [[Super Strength]]: While the other girls have it from the start, Nabiki is surprised to find that she's ''accidentally'' acquired the ability to lift nearly half a ton. And she gets stronger once she starts proper training.

* [[Talkative Loon]]: Setsuna shows signs of this right before they stun her and take her to a professional to treat the damage caused by the time machine.

* [[Technically a Smile]]: Ms. Aoyama. Descriptions of her smile always indicate that it is anything but pleasant and reassuring; at least one character thinks of it solely as "that terrifying thing she did with her mouth". It frequently has an effect equal to or beyond that of a [[Slasher Smile]] without looking anything like one.

* [[Thermal Dissonance]]: Both Azumi Ito and Ms. Aoyama radiate cold in their presence, but Ms. Aoyama can [[An Ice Person|actively freeze things]] around her just by standing next to them.

* [[Time Skip]]: The first few chapters incorporate several time skips. After opening about six months after the events of ''Aftermath'', subsequent scenes briefly show events and people a year, two and a half years, and three years after Ranma and Kasumi disappeared. It then skips again after Nabiki finds Ranma and Kasumi, eventually taking us to four years later before the main action of the story starts kicking in.

* [[Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe]]: Minato Ward is extraordinarily prone to interdimensional doorways. This is commented on in-universe several times as being very unusual.

* [[Tomboy]]: Akane, of course. Yori radiates a kind of elegant tomboy vibe.

* [[Took a Level in Badass]]: Nabiki goes from ordinary college student to high-powered magical girl/martial artist in about a year, thanks to a combination of [[In the Blood|raw native talent]], involuntary improvements in her physical abilities caused by exposure to high levels of magic and ki, and intense training by Ranma. She keeps taking levels after falling into her "crime-fighting magical girl" role. Rei Hino even invokes this trope when hearing the story, saying Nabiki "leveled up" when the encounters grew fewer but more severe.

* [[Transformation Sequence]]: Averted by almost the entire core cast, whose changes between personas and power levels are basically instant toggles.

* [[Trapped in Another World]]: Nabiki (as "Ms. Aoyama") uses this as a threatened punishment for the former British Minister for Magic.

** Václav Sklár (willingly) serves his jail time in a facility on a demon world that knows how to effectively detain mages.

** When {{spoiler|Usagi convinces Minako to help her stage an act of terrorism in order to facilitate an assassination attempt on Yori}}, the girls are forced to give them both a timeout on opposite sides of a dead world used as a proving ground and waste dump.

* [[Undisclosed Funds]]: We don't find out how much Shampoo and Akane get for being Hollywood stunt women -- the offers are all written down and we only see their reactions to them. But ''all'' the offers have "a lot of zeroes", and are their monthly pay. Richard, an L.A. police officer, says the amount is twice what he makes in a ''year''. And all other discussion of their pay simply comments on just how large it is, not how ''much''.

* [[The Unmasking]]: Several times Ranma must reveal his true identity and gender to friends who have previously known him as a woman and under other names.

* [[Unspoken Plan Guarantee]]: Seen during Akane and Shampoo's stunt work "interview", where the planning and rehearsals are glossed over and then we leap right into the action.

* [[Unstoppable Rage]]: Akane, before she is cured of her brain parasites. To the point that her therapist had to use a tranquilizer gun designed for elephants on her in nearly every session.

* [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|Unusually Uninteresting Event]]: "The Great Twitch", which occurred when the team destroyed the time machine, is universally acknowledged as a thing that happened (literally -- beings 8 billion light years from Earth noticed it), but no one seems particularly bothered by or concerned about it, beyond generating a metric ton of [[Conspiracy Theories]]. (Except those who knew enough to suspect or realize what it was.)

* [[Voices Are Mental]]: Nabiki notices that the she can recognize everyone using the SI's communication system by their "voices", which sound like their speaking voices even though no sound is involved in the process: the outgoing "signals" are picked up from the appropriate part of the "speaker"'s brain and received "speech" is inserted into the auditory nerves. Despite pondering it for a while, she can't figure out how and why it works like that.

* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: Although everyone repeatedly calls it an "illusion" spell, it's very clear that it's actually genuine shapeshifting. Then again it started as a simple disguise spell before it contracted a serious case of Creeping Featurism.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Fanfic]]

[[Category:Pages Original to All The Tropes]]

[[Category:Ranma ½/Fan Works]]

[[Category:Fan Works of the 2010s]]

[[Category:Defunct Fan Works]]