Fanon/Anime and Manga/Ranma ½

Examples of Fanon about Ranma ½ include:

Ranma Saotome

One of the most Egregious examples of Fanon taking off (à la Akane turning in to a psycho-hose beast) is Ranma's refusal to fight women. He's never once said that, and in fact at least 40% of his fights are with women. The part that is true is that he has stated that he dislikes fighting women, and generally hold back against them, in the sense of trying to incapacitate without causing any damage, if he believes them to be sufficiently weaker to overcome in this manner, such as against Shampoo or Konatsu. The latter being the perfect example of Ranma's actual attitude, as he eventually dropped the approach after Konatsu proved too formidable to defeat in this manner. If they are stronger than himself, such as Herb, Cologne, and Rouge-Asura, or the situation is dire, such as with Kiima (who he simply opted to pin to a wall in their first less serious confrontation, but then buried in a rockslide in a more serious duel), he is perfectly willing to attack with full force, regardless if he is in male or female form.
- One of the reasons for this belief among fans may be that Ranma explicitly states that he doesn't fight girls in the English dub of the first time he and Akane attend Furinkan High School together. Translations of the original Japanese, however, seem to suggest that Ranma is actually only stating his belief that he could never fight a woman and use his full strength. A subtle difference, and we are dealing with translation here, so degrees of interpretation are understandable.
Building upon the above another fanon myth is that Akane does not try to get better or only relies on items, and that Ranma only gets upset about being shown up if it is done in this unfair manner. Leaving aside that the unfairness argument can extremely easily be used to include any advantage through potential, upbringing, contacts, ability, circumstances, lack of handicaps, etc whatsoever; Ranma himself has no compunctions against using artificial items to enhance his own power (the "noodle of pride", which rather turned out to give him 100x the resilience against overeating), nor did he make any statements about gaining an advantage "for free" (Akane has actually trained very hard) being the motivation for his jealousy. What has been shown is that he was blase about Akane being upset about being humiliated by Shampoo, then kept on challenging super strength Akane in arm-wrestling, and couldn't take it when the joke was on him for once, then literally cried in humiliation, jumped at the chance to get Akane's strength back to normal, and then kept on challenging her over and over again to thoroughly gloat about being stronger again. The skill-releasing dougi situation followed much the same procedure, including the howls of retaliation against the Moon, but Ranma here had the excuse that it was also an extremely annoying and perverted butt-in; and his pride has been similarly damaged to irrationality if a fiancée has stopped showing him attention, Ryoga constantly beats him, or something similar happens. As stated in the "weakness moxibustion" arc, Ranma's feel of self-worth mostly hinges on his physical power. He needs to feel at least somewhat admired by and stronger than his recurrent acquaintances, it's not at heart about how it happened, just about being ignored or overshadowed by people he is used to mostly getting the better of. Of course there is also some fanon that takes this too far in the other direction and makes him a full-blown chauvinist, rather than somewhat insecure.
A minor bit of fanon frequently shows up in fanfics that give Ranma an extended hospital visit for surgery or other serious treatment—that doctors, once aware of his curse, will always insist Ranma remain in female form because it's harder to trigger a change and thus cause unexpected further damage. The few times we actually see Ranma in a hospital in the source material, he's always in male form.
Some fanfic authors tend to think that Ranma barely knows how to use weapons and is completely dismissive of anyone who would use them, whereas in the actual canon Ranma is repeatedly explicitly shown as a highly skilled staff fighter, which he can extend to spears and bokken. He also regularly makes use of anything within reach as a non-lethal Improvised Weapon, including stones and even using a pencil with amazing aim.
Some fans believe that Ranma does not show a strong reverence for life, to the point of being dismissive if he kills someone. However, this is inaccurate, as he tends to avoid killing combat even when an opponent more dangerous than himself is attempting to kill him, and saves any lives he notices in danger, including said people who just attempted to kill him and could pose a future danger, such as Herb, or people he genuinely despises, such as Happosai and Nabiki, even taking damage for their sake. On the other hand, when outclassed by the reprehensible Saffron, with Akane's life on the line, he stated that he would make a specific exception. He is obviously also not worried about knocking out superhuman opponents by burying them in rock slides of ambushing them with blunt objects from behind.
Ranma does not stutter whenever he tries to say the word 'cat', nor does he fly into a panic whenever someone else mentions cats. The only time he shows this fear is when a cat is actually present.
Despite what is often shown in fanfics, Ranma actually does not use the Moko Takabisha technique that often. In fact he barely uses it at all after his fight with Ryoga.
- It's also much more evident in the manga then in the anime. For example, he relies on a "Double Moko Takabisha", two blasts fired at once, as part of his gambit to beat Miss Hinako in the manga story that introduces her. Since his use of the technique was so rare and novel, the manga had to make an aside to explain what it was all over again.
Ranma's Jusenkyo Curse sometimes seems to incorporate a water-attracting clause more often than not, which typically is on some form of a timer and will cause a Contrived Coincidence to wet Ranma if he hasn't changed in too long. Often used as a Hand Wave Cerebus Retcon for the remarkably convenient buckets of water in more serious/Deconstructive fics seeking to do in the Rule of Funny. Other times, it's used as a Justification or Hand Wave for why Ranma gaining control over his curse doesn't automatically become a cure (since he'd never want to be a girl again); if the element of the curse forcing the transformation to occasionally occur isn't removed, the curse still has an impact, and Ranma has to accept being a girl sometimes, retaining that defining aspect of the character while removing much of the silliness associated with it and the convenient water.

Other members of the Saotome family

The belief that the Saotome home, in which Nodoka lives alone, is located in Azabu-Juuban.
To hear it from some fans, Genma made dozens and dozens of Childhood Marriage Promises for Ranma in exchange for food. He only did that twice in the manga (although the anime also introduced Kaori Daitokuji, and a single other claimant in a filler anime episode) — in Ukyo's case, it was her father who made the initial offer and Genma asked Ranma what he thought (and then stole the food cart anyway, but that's another issue). Conveniently, fanon always forgets that Soun as well as Genma did trade off his (as of yet unborn and unspecified) daughter to pay for a meal at the Chardin restaurant, although in this case it was due to being on the edge of starving to death and not being informed of the immense cost beforehand, followed by blackmail.
Genma is not fat. It's probably bleed-over from his panda form, plus the shapeless gi he wears, but a lot of fanfic writers tend to depict him as a blubbery mass of lard. While it's true that he's not slender (or as good looking as most of the rest of the regular cast), every time he's shown without clothes in the series, his build seems to be fairly flat-bellied for all his stockiness—in fact, the first time he's shown without his shirt on in the anime, he's shown with a six-pack. Its especially egregious in fics where Ranma is shown gagging at seeing Genma's allegedly bloated body nude when he is shown regularly bathing with his father all throughout the manga and anime.

Akane Tendo

Akane's frustration with Ranma "not fighting back" or "not taking her seriously as a fighter" has only been mentioned a handful of times in the anime and manga tends to be interpreted in another manner than the blindsided "I'm a martial artist too and can do anything as well as you can" approach presented in fanon. In the source material, at the very least manga-version Akane knows her limitations full well, Ranma and Shampoo certainly tend to rub them in her face, and she is shown as extremely frustrated about her lack of success in this and various other areas. She has been shown as angered that Ranma won't train her, and "take her seriously" in that manner, but has no illusions whatsoever about her relative skill, and is trying extremely hard with everything, usually without any results, hence the frustration and need of guidance. However, she is shown to increase her samurai weaponry skills to Kuno's regular level, does turn more acrobatic, and in the anime at least grows considerably when directed by Ryoga. However, the regular dynamic of Akane being the Butt Monkey for the umpteenth time has twice been spoofed in 'karmic payback' situations when she has been given a temporary boost that allows her to recurrently effortlessly defeat Ranma whenever he challenges her.
The "fact" that Akane is a horrible martial artist, as said by every character ever in a non-Akane fanfic. Despite the fact that it's ridiculous how well Akane can instantaneously smash a mob of trained fighters in a single strike through the air-pressure alone without sustaining a hit, destroy stone-palisades in one blow, punt Ranma several kilometers, perform advanced acrobatics atop a giant dragon, fend off elite Winged Humanoid armed soldiers (including blocking their arrows out of the air from behind), can generate fear-inducing giant battle-auras, sense incoming danger, out pace everyone but Ranma and Shampoo in a race which included bicyclists and motorcycle/scooters while on a normal skateboard, and even grew enough to fight Kuno (who is at least as formidable as Ukyo or Shampoo in terms of raw ability, but also an unimaginative lunatic) to a draw in a sword fight, is just nuts. Most of this is either blind hate promoted by either their hatred of Takahashi's works in general, or the fact that they don't like Akane fans and thus take it out on her to piss them off. The oft-cited example of her lack of skill is her anger and lack of defense. The former is mostly exaggerated and ignores that Akane generally only hits Ranma when she loses it, and is even able to knock him out if sufficiently pissed off, but this is a case of Kung Fu movie blindness than an actual fault, seeing as even the most experienced swordsman will die from a knife to the back. It's even funny to see Ranma or Ryoga lecture her on it, seeing as they both have periods of Unstoppable Rage. An odd tidbit is that both pro- and con- sides tend to overlook that Akane has been shown as an awful lot more formidable when using samurai weaponry than when fighting in her usual barehanded ground karate/aerial kung-fu mixture style, for example being able to land hits on Ranma with her shinai, or that she is skilled with a wide range of it, including bow & arrows. Usually she is strictly displayed as an unarmed karateka and nothing more.
- Akane's "terrible" skill gets parodied in this fanfic, with the author noting that while Akane sucks compared to Ranma, she only sucks in comparison and "real" people would be a total joke to her.

Other members of the Tendo family

The name "Kimiko Tendo" tends to pop up with frightening regularity when referring to Soun Tendo's late wife, even though it originated in Fanfic.
- For that matter, any given name for Soun's late wife originated in fanfic.
Some fans seem to take it as an article of faith that Kasumi secretly has a sex drive three times as powerful as that possessed by Happosai, or even more unlikely is simply a polite Stepford Smiler manipulative sadist (usually by people who identify with Nabiki to extreme degrees...).
- Those who don't take that path often swing to the complete opposite end of the pendulum and turn her into a pseudo-Victorian prude. While she is the most conservative (and innocent) of the sisters, she's not repressed—for example, in a late-series Beach Episode, Kasumi wears the second smallest bikini (after Kodachi's dental-floss-and-postage-stamp number) of the entire female cast.

Ryoga Hibiki

Still more Ranma fanon holds the idea that long ago a Hibiki ancestor had a perfect sense of direction, only to one day suffer a family tragedy because he wasn't in the right place at the right time. In his grief this Hibiki made an exchange with the Kami, sacrificing the sense of direction for himself and for all future descendants; in return the Kami promised him that he and all his descendants would have the gift of always being in the right place at the right time to help his friends and family. Thus neatly explaining both Ryoga's lack of direction sense, and also why he always shows up at the right place at the right time. The only part that is stated in canon is that Ryoga's entire family is the same way, and it is here more portrayed as a mental handicap, but he occasionally does criss-cross over almost global distances (Africa, France, Hong Kong, Russia, he gets around) in comparatively brief time, but mostly stays within the span of Japan.
The Shi Shi Hokodan uses the Battle Aura generated by a depressed, miserable person to unleash a crushing blast of spiritual force. At one point in the battle, Cologne call the technique a terrible one and that it's foolish to fight with it, likening it to two lions clawing at each other even as they tumble down a cliff. Though this is clarified to mean it's pointless to duel with the Shi Shi Hokodan (as the worse you're doing, the more powerful it is—but the better you're doing, the less powerful it is, so the fighters just end up seesawing back and forth until they pummel each other senseless), many fans adopted the stance that the Shi Shi Hokodan actually induces despair, causing a martial artist who learned and uses it to become more and more depressed and melancholy. This despite the fact Ryoga went out of his way to make himself as miserable as possible for the fight, so he could stay "focused" and beat Ranma no matter how well the fight went, his personality was unchanged in subsequent stories and Ryoga was, frankly, The Eeyore of the series anyway.
According to most fanfiction out there, Ryoga only ever makes his entrances by jumping out of nowhere to try to kill Ranma, usually calling out "Ranma, prepare to die!" Even though Ryoga is, as far as pure fighting is concerned, one of the most honorable combatants in the series, and the only time he pulled the above was his introduction scene. For all the manga that came afterwards, if he's looking for a fight, as in, an actual duel, he always sends formal letters (or postcards) of challenge citing Ranma at a specific date and place. If he's simply angry about something (he thinks) Ranma did (to himself or Akane) and wants to vent, he also makes his presence known and THEN attacks, he never ambushes Ranma if he can help it. Ironically, it's Ranma who tends to show up out of nowhere to annoy Ryoga while the latter is distracted, either monologuing or deep in thought.

Ukyo Kuonji

There's also quite a bit of Fanon surrounding Ukyo, most notably that she is someone that Ranma feels extreme closeness to and will recurrently use as an understanding ear for all of his troubles; the assertion that she was Ranma's first fiancée (contradicted both by Genma and Ukyo herself in her initial appearance); and the speculation that her father influenced her to give up her femininity and seek vengeance against the Saotomes, when neither the manga nor the anime imply it (and the idea that she herself was the one to come up with it is actually a much more intriguing prospect when you think about it). However, although Ranma does not confide in Ukyo, and was enthusiastic in finding ways to get rid of her when she turned romantically or sexually aggressive in the "secret sauce" story, "Ukyo as Ranma's best friend" is to some extent justified via deduction, narrowing down the list of potential suspects puts Ukyo in a pretty good position: she really is a friend, that he was quite delighted to see again; his relationship with her lacks much of the often violent conflict present with Akane or Ryoga (although he does love Akane, and stated that he sees Ryoga as a friend on certain occasions), and it is just as warranted as the Recurring Extras Hiroshi and Daisuke, or possibly Kasumi (who takes care of everyone in the household).
- Ukyo being Ranma's "first fiancee" is actually true... From a Certain Point of View. Chronologically, the Tendo arrangement came first, but Ukyo was the first of his eventual love interests that Ranma actually met face to face; he met up with Ukyo when they were kids (typically suggested around six to ten years old), while he didn't meet up with Akane until he was a teenager and fresh from Jusenkyo.
Another bit of Fanon related to Ukyo is that "She's known Ranma since he was very little." This is incorrect at best, considering that, like everyone else Ranma meets before the first chapter, he has forgotten her when she reappears and thought she was a boy. This bit of fanon is especially jarring when bookended by accusations of abandonment that is far more accurate.
- In a literal sense, this is true; Ranma and Ukyo did meet when they were small children, long before Ranma met Ryoga. And while Ranma mightn't have thought of her for a while, Ukyo certainly never forgot about Ranma.

The Joketsuzoku

Much fanon about the Joketsuzoku stems from the fact that their name was translated as "Chinese Amazons" with all the cultural baggage that the word Amazon has, instead of the more accurate "Chinese Village of Woman Heroes".

In fanfiction, whenever Shampoo's favored weapons are mentioned, they are almost invariably named "bonbori", which is actually a kind of spherical lantern hung outdoors. In fact, it's only recently that they've begun to use the real name; chúi, an obscure form of Chinese mace, noted for being exceptionally heavy (those oversized heads are traditionally completely solid balls of steel).
There is little evidence that Shampoo's village is especially hostile to men and absolutely none that suggests that the local men are enslaved. All we know is that Shampoo dislikes Mousse (in much the same way Ukyo dislikes Tsubasa,) that the village is particularly renowned for its fighting women, and that any warrior woman of the village is required to marry the outsider male who defeats her, saying nothing about local men one way or another. You could just as easily say that the village's laws are misogynist, and it hardly seems likely that Cologne would waste her time teaching advanced martial art techniques to a 'slave'. Amusingly, one (non-canon) PC Engine fighting game used Shampoo's father as a final boss, even after Cologne, and was the most formidable opponent in the game.
The idea that Cologne is some kind of high-ranked authority figure in her home village, which may or may not be portrayed as a Lady Land. This seems to stem entirely from the fact that her introductory anime episode was giving the title "This Old Gal's The Leader of the Amazon Tribe?". It's not likely in canon, given how she moved to Nerima without the slightest fuss and would have no problems staying there permanently, given how Shampoo's lie that she and Ranma are married and have settled in Nerima is swallowed so easily by the newspaper back in their village.
Which also brings up the idea that Cologne and Shampoo expect to take Ranma back to China once he weds Shampoo. Canonically, all they ever insist is that Ranma marry Shampoo (or, from their point of view, acknowledge that he is married to Shampoo); nothing about coming back to China is ever stated. Both the anime ("Here Comes Ranma's Mom!") and the manga (Pink & Link saga) actually heavily imply Shampoo wouldn't think twice about staying in Japan permanently if she does manage to catch Ranma. In the anime version, thinking Ranma is moving in with his mother, she comes running up with all her worldly goods and begs him to take her with him, as Cologne has okayed it. In the manga, she's quite content with lying to her village newspaper that she and Ranma are already married, they've merely chosen to stay in Japan.
Although it arguably originated as a joke in an early fic, by the late 1990's it became an automatic assumption that every Amazon has a name based on a toiletry item. The canon characters Pink and Link would be surprised to hear this.
Gregg "Metroanime" Sharp originated a score or more named and fleshed-out supporting Amazon characters as part of the Bet multiverse. By the late 1990s-early 2000s they had begun to leak out into other writers' works.

Other examples

Saffron, the Phoenix King, is not a god, a demigod, or any other such thing, and never claimed to be one. Note that this doesn't stop Fanfic writers from claiming that Ranma "has killed a god", and then have the cast reacting with appropriate awe.
- To note further, Saffron isn't even dead, as a couple panels after his death you see him in baby form held by Kiima, who is told by Ranma to "raise him right this time!"
Kuno's common ability in fanfic to summon lightning bolts—often out of a blue sky—just by announcing his self-given nickname of "Blue Thunder" is not only exaggerated, it's non-existent. The only time this ever happened was in Ranma's initial encounter with Kuno in the middle of a thunderstorm—it was a purely coincidental instance of Dramatic Thunder, and we never see anything like it happen again.
- The anime does show it happening again on a handful of other occasions in the series, the likely source for this.
Somehow, someone got the idea that Pantyhose Taro augmented his "winged minotaur" form with Combat Tentacles by applying Spring Of Drowned Octopus water "to eight specific points on his back" (probably because, when splashed with Spring of Drowned Twins water, Happosai grew an extra bump on the head, since only his first bump got wet). This, despite him also being able to shot ink from his fingertips. The fact that Pantyhose Taro already has a composite curse, and therefore the Octopus addition would work the exact same way, would be the simplest explanation, but the fandom continues to come up with increasingly contrived methods for his mollusk abilities.
There's a whole "hierarchy of bust sizes" many fans subscribe to that puts Shampoo or Ranma at the top (oddly enough, in lemon Kasumi often seems to get top billing) and Akane and Ukyo at the bottom—especially in Ranma/Shampoo fics where this is presented as proof positive of her greater suitability, buxomness being next to goodliness, evidently. Actually, as far as manga canon goes the only thing we know about relative sizes is that Ranma is bigger than Akane, and both grew over the series. The artwork varies a bit, but none of the girls are noticeably flat nor overly busty, so it's really impossible to assume anything beyond that.

Back to Fanon

Back to Fanon/Anime and Manga