Relatively Absent: Difference between revisions

▲* [[Chekhov's Gun]]:

▲** The short scene in the "Temple of Layiru" in chapter 6. Clearly [[Foreshadowing]] for ''something'', we never got enough of the story to find out if the mysterious alert (in the form of a flaring gemstone in an intricate mosaic) was because Ranma became the Gate's guardian, because the Gate had just accidentally unleashed the "spiritual contamination" that was the Neko-ken, because the Gate went into Alpha Override to deal with it, or because of something else entirely. Or who "Layiru" was other than (presumably) a god, nor what they were god ''of'', and why the Gate and/or Ranma or their actions ''mattered'' to them. Readers have been [[Left Hanging]] on this detail since 2009.

▲* [[The Chikan]]: In chapter 6, in response to Ranma's reluctance to ride ''inside'' a train, Harukichi prompts her to tell the story of a time she was on a train with Kasumi and punished a groper with a [[Groin Attack]].

▲* [[The Chosen One]]: When Ranma, faced by the magnitude of some of the tasks facing her as the Gate's guardian, has a crisis of confidence in chapter 5, the Gate blandly informs her that because of her talents and skills she is literally the only person on Earth capable of being its guardian and handling the challenges that the role will throw at her.

▲* [[The Clan]]: The Yamada. While for the most part we see only Aiko Yamada and Ranma's four female cousins (and a couple servants/family friends), Ranma has several uncles and aunts and numerous ''other'' cousins, none of whom are involved with the family's ninja tradition (and a few of whom are would love to see it die). Most of them show up on-screen during the wedding.

▲** Several other ninja clans are mentioned, but none appeared "on-screen" before the story was abandoned.

▲* [[Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends]]: And other kinds of loose ends, as well -- throughout chapters 9 through 11, the JNID or its proxies are seen dealing with virtually everyone in Ranma's life known to still be alive except for Happosai, Genma and Nodoka. Soun, Nabiki and Akane are arrested; Ukyo is paid off; ''some'' kind of investigation is going on about the Amazons, who are at Mount Horai and not easily rounded up; and the Kunos, including the principal, are taken in. The Throne is apparently acting to make sure nothing and no one can threaten Ranma and Midori's marriage. Nodoka is excluded because she has been repatriated with the Yamada clan; Genma is on the run and/or in hiding; and Happosai was literally in Limbo when last seen.

▲* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: "Misha-san", from Shurtleff's side story. While he says nothing "on-screen", Cologne's short conversation with him is enough that she calls him a "howling loony" afterwards.

▲* [[Coattail-Riding Relative]]: Tomoko, wife of Aiko's son Jiro and Ranma's aunt.

▲* [[Compelling Voice]]: Aiko can lace ki into her voice to add a level of command to it, but more for immediate imperatives ("SILENCE!") than compulsions or manipulations.

▲* [[Conditioned to Accept Horror|Conditioned to Accept Abuse]]: As a result of epic exploitation of the [[Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male)]] trope by the fiancees, Ranma has been essentially "trained" to stand still and be a target for "punishment" after encountering anything that he's learned a girl might take offense to, most especially anything to do with female sexuality. Kioko is horrified when Ranma reacts to accidentally seeing her in the nude by cringing and waiting to be beaten.

▲* [[Conspicuous Consumption]]: Generally averted by the Yamada, although not from Ranma's point of view, what with the family providing the cousins and her with cell phones (in 1989!), Japan Rail passes, credit cards, and an allowance that could masquerade as a salary.

▲* [[Cool Old Lady]]: Aiko Yamada, when she isn't wearing her "clan matriarch" hat -- and sometimes even when she is.

▲* [[Covert Pervert]]: Midori, at least where Ranma's concerned. In chapter 3, when Ranma idly (and innocently) speculates on re-training in her girl form how to get out of rope ties, the image it produces (plus Ranma bouncing her own breasts to demonstrate the "obstructions" she now has to work around) cause Midori to imagine playing [[BDSM]] games with Ranma. After which she blushes furiously and rushes off to calm herself. At several other times she ends up utterly distracted by (and sometimes drooling over) Ranma.

▲* [[Darkest Hour]]: The story ''starts'' at what is clearly Ranma's Darkest Hour: locked in girl form, the only hope for unlocking the curse destroyed, defeated in combat, buried in an avalanche, and hours from death. Fortunately, [[It Gets Better]].

▲* [[De-Power]]: Many of Sailor Pluto's trademark abilities come not from her Senshi empowerment, but from being the guardian of the Gate of Time. They are stripped from her after her temporary death at Mugen Gakuen, and when Ranma accepts the Gate's guardianship they're permanently denied her (and the Garnet Rod taken from her). Their loss is both inconvenient and personally humiliating -- and turns Crystal Tokyo from a guaranteed future to ... something far less so.

▲* [[Death by Adaptation|Death by Fanfic]]: Herb, Mint, Lime and Ryoga all died in the collapse of Mount Horai. At least, Mousse and the Yamada clan believe -- with good evidence -- that this is the case. (And none of them reappear in the extant material.) However, Ranma's confident Ryoga survived, based on past experience.

▲* [[Deprogram]]: Part of what the Gate does in the process of Bonding Ranma in chapters 6-7 is clear out some magical effects -- presumably applied by or for Genma -- which limited her intelligence and ability to approach things in any manner other than as a combat situation. Ranma comes out the other side more thoughtful and well-spoken, although she doesn't seem to notice.

▲* [[Despair Event Horizon]]: Kasumi reaches this in chapter 11 after a [[Trauma Conga Line]] that starts with Ranma apparently dying, continues with her entire family getting arrested and culminates when she realizes from the Chrysanthemum seal on the orders to arrest her sisters that the Yamada family -- to whom she had planned to go for help -- had to know about their arrests and either would not or could not help her. Just reading the arrest warrants for her sisters was nearly enough by itself.

▲* [[Disney Death]]: Twice [[In-Universe]]: First, the misapprehension that Ranma died at Mt. Horai, which is corrected (for the Yamada, at least) by chapter 3. Also, Aiko believes that her youngest granddaughter -- who by all appearances is Hotaru "Sailor Saturn" Tomoe -- died in an explosion with her father. She is, of course, not dead, but is currently in infant form after the events of Mugen Gakuen.

▲* [[The Ditz]]/[[Genius Ditz]]: There's a little bit of this worked into Tsuya's personality.

▲* [[Divorce Requires Death]]: This certainly seems to describe Nodoka's intentions toward Genma in chapter 6, as part of her [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]].

▲* [[Domestic Abuse]]: As noted in ''Abusive Parents'' above, Genma -- who, while he doesn't commit any in the existing material, clearly intends to: when he finds out in chapter 9 that Nodoka has cast him out of the Saotome clan, he explodes in rage and begins to plan what he's going to do to her when he meets up with her again.

▲* [[Doorstopper]]: The prologue, eleven chapters and one untitled side story which Shurtleff completed total nearly 750Kb of text, and their content barely sets the story in motion. (And including the "official" side story ''Illusions of Honor'' by Andrew Norris pushes it over 750Kb.) If it had been finished, ''Relatively Absent'' would likely have been at ''least'' 1.5 Mb in length, and probably longer.

▲* [[Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male)]]: This being a ''[[Ranma ½]]'' story, it's of course inherent in the source material. But the double standard is very much averted by the Yamada, Midori in particular; she holds an especial grudge against the fiancée brigade for how they treated Ranma -- and is furious with herself in chapter 3 for accidentally triggering Ranma's defensive reflexes with a ill-chosen comment that echoes that mistreatment.

▲* [[Dramatically Missing the Point]]: Nodoka. Every time she learns more about Ranma, she draws ''exactly'' the wrong conclusion about what Ranma wants or needs. For example, upon learning that Ranma is stuck in girl form, she immediately assumes it's permanent (despite being told otherwise) and that Ranma consequently has to live as a woman in all ways. Nodoka is helped in this by her tendency to only listen long enough to anything to jump to a conclusion about it. She also draws the wrong conclusions about the involuntary post-transformation hairstyle Ranma's wearing, as well as the feminine clothing she's been wearing because it fit her better.

▲* [[Emotion Eater]]/[[The Empath]]: The Gate's relationship with its guardian includes a certain amount of this, although not in a harmful or malicious way. What emotions it possesses are (usually) muted and low-key, but along with other sensory input it enjoys from its symbiosis with a guardian, it can experience (and enjoy) their emotions. However, it receives only stimulation, not sustenance, from them; it also knows enough to recognize when its guardian might be reaching dangerous emotional extremes, and will take steps to help them stabilize themselves.

▲* [[The Emperor]]: Emperor Hitomaro (who appears to be a [[Fictional Counterpart]] to Emperor Emeritus Akihito) plays a critical role in the events of chapter 10, and presumably would have ''kept'' playing a role had the story been continued.

▲* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]]: The Gate, Glaive and Crystal. Although they are all sapient, they are addressed (and address each other) solely by the object they embody, without the definite article.

▲* [[Exact Eavesdropping]]: NJID agent Mugonno is able to hear an entire conversation between Ranma's uncles Jiro and Ichiro at the Palace in chapter 10 without being noticed. (It might be justified as we've seen a number of NJID agents with psionic powers by this point, and he may be using one to remain unnoticed.)

▲* [[Eye of Newt]]: Although the [[Ritual Magic]] Happosai performs in chapter 8 uses a number of physical components, including a hair comb, a censer and charcoal, a vial of unidentified golden liquid, and a silk cloth [[Geometric Magic|embroidered with arcane symbols]] among other things, the most critical are a set of fragile, crystalline eggs -- soulstones -- one of which is permanently expended every time he performs the ritual; he has three left when he starts.