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The Bitter End: Difference between revisions
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Ukyo decides she has to take Ranma away from Akane for his own safety, and Ranma himself is finally willing to concede that maybe he and Akane shouldn't be married anymore. But Akane comes upon them at the moment of their decision and explodes in fury at what she interprets as final incontrovertible proof of Ranma's infidelity. In a fit of literally mindless rage she kills both Ranma and Ukyo with the Saotome family sword. When the fury leaves her, the realization of what she has done drives Akene completely over the edge. As the story ends, Akane remains committed in a mental asylum, leaving behind a saddened, fragmented group of survivors.
''The Bitter End'' is generally regarded as the ultimate ''Ranma'' Dark Fic, ruthlessly and relentlessly extrapolating the causes and results of comedic slapstick behavior into and through a far more realistic world than the anime depicts. It is a monumental presence in ''Ranma'' fic, and has spawned a number of both sequels and parodies. It's also singlehandedly responsible for the widespread awareness of rage disorder — also known as [[w:Intermittent explosive disorder|Intermittent explosive disorder]]
Upon its release, ''The Bitter End'' hit the ''Ranma'' fanfic community like a bomb, starting [[Flame War]]s and prompting several explicit sequels by other authors as well as numerous other responses ranging from [[Spamfic]]s to parodies to [[Fix Fic]]s attempting to soften the blow. The diagnosis for Rage Disorder behind the behavior of its [[Flanderization|Flanderized]] Akane became popular to the point of [[Fanon]] for several years.
Decades later, it remains a powerful influence on the surviving ''Ranma'' fanfiction community.
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{{Examples|Other fanfics that reference ''The Bitter End'':}}
* ''[[The Bet (fan work)|The Bet]]'': The Nabiki Tendo from the timeline of ''The Bitter End'' timeline discovers a way to contact [[Great Gazoo|Toltiir]] and joins The Bet to win a
* ''[https://www.fanfics.dev/1997-12/messages/19971218-%5BRanma%5D%5BTIL_TBE%5D%20Goddess%20of%20My%20Harmful%20Deeds-1085.html Goddess of My Harmful Deeds]'' by [[Richard Lawson]] offers a chance for both recovery and redemption to Akane via the device of a brief [[Folgers Crossover]] between ''The Bitter End'' and Lawson's ''[[Thy Inward Love]]'' series. (And at the same time, the Akane with whom she swaps learns a horrifying lesson about her own temper.)
* This is one of the many [[Bad End]]s Ranma sees when he asks fortune teller Mio to find a way out of his canon entanglements in [[Twoflower|Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne]]'s "farewell to ''Ranma ½''", ''[http://stefangagne.com/twoflower/fanfic/TheEnds.txt The Ends]''.
* Three [[Sequel]]s (by other authors) exist: ''Death is Not the End'' by Sean Gaffney, ''A Long December'' by Rei Nakazawa, and ''Long Live Akane Tendo'' by Dark Alpha. The first two are [[Song Fic]]s.
* Other fics written in response to the story include:
** ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110724130453/http://www.rakhal.com/dpr/bitterend.html The Bitter End (reduced)]'' by [[Kyon: Big Damn Hero|Brian Randall]]
** ''The Batter End'' by CrazyFic.
** ''The Better End?'' by Brad Angell
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* [[Dark Fic]]: This story deconstructs the [[Fanon]] "psychobitch" Akane into a real person with a real mental disorder, and then follows this premise all the way to its dark, bloody and horrifying conclusion. It is considered ''the'' definitive ''Ranma'' Dark Fic.
* [[Death Fic]]
* [[Domestic Abuse]]/[[Domestic Abuser]]: Akane routinely beats Ranma, and he takes it because he loves her and he's been conditioned to believe that he "deserves" it.
** Eventually, Ukyo convinces Ranma to join a support group for battered spouses... which is entirely made up of women, most of whom can't understand why this strong-looking man is among them.
* [[Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male)]]: Perhaps the single most powerful ''rejection'' of this trope in the ''Ranma'' fandom, this fic is the pinnacle of applying [[Reality Ensues]] to the original work's [[Slapstick]] violence. Instead of taking her blows like anyone else would take a light slap upside the head, Ranma was actually and seriously ''injured'' by Akane's abuse, ending up in the hospital ''twice'' over the course of the story. And like many abuse victims, not only did he refuse to get away from Akane or even acknowledge that what she did was wrong, but his passivity led to progressively worse treatment.
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* [[Single-Issue Psychology]]: Akane's rage disorder is depicted as stemming from her "inability" to fight off Death and save her mother. (Note that Akane was barely older than a toddler when her mother died). This obsession was exacerbated by Ranma's seeming ability to overcome any opponent.
* [[Tear Jerker]]: Acknowledged as the most depressing and sad ''Ranma'' story, ever.
* [[Twist Ending]]: Even with the foreshadowing at the very beginning, Akane's murder of Ranma and Ukyo in a rage-fueled fugue state at the climax shocked and surprised readers. However, in the decades since its release in 1997, it's become subject to [[It Was His Sled]] among what remains of the ''Ranma'' fandom.
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{{Ranma ½ Franchise}}
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