Cliches & Tropes of Ranma fanon

[three headed dog]

Even though it's clear that much more playful than dangerous, and those ki-claws, while damaging to the environment, inexplicably only cut up Genma's clothing. Obviously, they're not nearly as dangerous as they look. And that it takes a rather extreme situation to be activated in canon. Being covered in cats, and standing in a room filled with hundreds of them couldn't do it. It took a freakin' tiger to make Ranma snap. That is some serious cat exposure. It always bugs me when fanfiction authors ignore that chapter and make a single kitten drive him into some kind of unstoppable berserker rage.

Personally I think the Ki claws are extremely damaging provided cat Ranma seriously wanted to hurt you. Ranma even while in Neko-ken is still Ranma and doesn't really damage his opponents. It bugs me when someone saying cat or a picture of a cat bothers Ranma though more than when a cat does. In the manga he had absolutely no problem at all with cat statues or pictures, not even a little bit. By end manga Ranma is no worse around cats than a person who is allergic to them, maybe even less.

A cliche I've seen in a few fics I've recently read is about how Nabiki doesn't date anyone and is lonely because of her ice queen persona/people fearing her. In the manga Nabiki doesn't have trouble finding dates and people write her love letters and take her on dates often. In the manga, She uses the dates to get expensive gifts and free food than uses the love letters to blackmail the dates. Which personally I could see Ranma doing as well (maybe not the blackmailing part since that usually isn't something he does -then again he did try to use what he thought was a love letter to blackmail Nabiki, so he might, but tricking people for free food is a definitive).

[J. St.C. Patrick]

Kasumi is a Saint

Someone please tell me this is wrong. Isn't this the woman who put cats on a guy whom she was told was afraid of cats?

In the manga Kasumi is never actually shown putting cats on Ranma. She holds two cats while Nabiki and Soun hang cats on Ranma, while disbelieving that anyone could be afriad of cats.

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In the Anime she lets a whole horde of cats into the house, with the hope that exposure will help. Not in the least helpful but she doesn't put them on him.

later on in the manga however she tries to get rid of a cat before Ranma comes home. (Kasumi is Angry )
This is also a late image of a single cat incapacitating Ranma, if only in Kasumi's imagination.

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More to the point of her not being a saint, she's the one who insists that Shampoo is Ranma's girlfriend from China -adding fuel to the fire of Soun's and Akane's anger.
(It could be read as obliviousness, a wicked sense of humour or maliciousness - this last given she knows her sister is a violent maniac.)

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[Jupiah]

Kasumi may not be perfect, but she's by and far the nicest person in the entire manga. Takahashi devoted an entire story arc to making it quite clear that Kasumi is virtually incapable of getting angry. And when possessed by the oni, the most evil thing she could think of was putting a very short-lasting paralyzing potion in the food. Not really that bad. She was also extremely nice to Ryoga in that arc.

Considering her behavior in those two arcs and in general, I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and attribute most of the negative behavior that's been pointed out, such as the cat incident and calling Shampoo Ranma's girlfriend, to obliviousness. I don't think she actually realized that she was making the situation worse.

She's got no excuse for egging on Akane whenever she's worried about Ranma misbehaving though. Kasumi clearly spoils Akane rotten. It is for this reason that I don't think Kasumi would be nearly as great of a mother as fanon usually portrays her as - she'd spoil her kids terribly and would never discipline them. Her kids would probably become little neighborhood bullies, with her always taking their side, and never believing anyone else's negative statements about their behavior.

[claymade]

Clearly, Ranma has mastered his fear of cats at least to the point where tigers no longer bother him. If he's not afraid of tigers anymore, than I doubt ordinary cats could still faze him.

I think it'd be quite the other way around. Have tigers ever been shown to bother him, really? Even the one Gosunkugi had--look carefully at the scene. Look at where his eyes are when he snaps. He never shows a particular fear of the tiger that I can see--the tiger is there, plotwise, as a threat to Akane.

Remember, his fear has nothing to do with how dangerous a "cat" actually is. It's a completely irrational phobia brought on by an experience with housecats. Thus, it's the tiger--who doesn't really visually resemble a housecat all that much--that we should expect to have a much lesser effect--if any at all.

Only Mao Mo Lin and Neko-Shampoo still terrify him after the Nekoken arc. I can't recall him ever freaking out over a normal cat after that.

Why would Shampoo really being a human underneath have any effect at all on his phobia, much less an increasing one?

By end manga Ranma is no worse around cats than a person who is allergic to them, maybe even less.

Really? I, myself, have met people allergic to cats--and I don't recall them ever being reduced to blind panic by a single housecat, to the point of running straight into walls, even in the middle of a life-or-death situation.

No, Ranma's fear of cats is still very much in effect at the end of the manga.

-----

Also, here's a couple more fanon that occurred to me:

The power of the Hiryu Shoten Ha is proportional to the power of the person it's used on. No, it isn't. It's proportional to the amount of ambient heat that the person it's used on is emitting. Now, for those who get their strength from many forms of anime martial arts, this can work out to the same thing.

But that proportionality completely falls apart when you try to apply it to opponents whose power is not derived from their battle aura. The Incredible Hulk, for instance, is ridiculously powerful, but he's no martial artist, and he's not known for emitting any particular level of heat when he fights--let alone the ridiculous levels required to make a HSH even remotely plausible. There's just nothing for the technique to work with.

Bottom line: without a massive battle aura or other comparable heat source, the HSH ain't gonna do a thing.

The Kiss of Marriage. To quote the Amazonian laws: "In the event that a woman warrior is defeated by an outsider, if her opponent is a woman, she must give her the kiss of death and kill her! However, if her opponent is a man, she must make him her husband!"

The "kiss of death" is mentioned, but no corresponding kiss ritual is proscribed in their laws for the alternate case. Shampoo kissed Ranma because she fell for him, and because she wants to convince him to become her husband. But the particular action was in no way a particular requirement for her at that time.

[three headed dog]

Why would Shampoo really being a human underneath have any effect at all on his phobia, much less an increasing one?

Maybe because Shampoo in human form bothers him quite a bit at times and he is a bit afraid of her, so her cat form bothers him more than a different cat would particularly because she chases him with it (example used was Shampoo).

Bottom line: without a massive battle aura or other comparable heat source, the HSH ain't gonna do a thing.

Cold should work as well with Ranma providing the heat (not counting other environmental heats like a volcano or colds like a snowstorm). It really just needs a differential energy so theoretically it should be able to be created with other things besides hot and cold temperatures /differently powered battle aura's.

[Jupiah]

Why would Shampoo really being a human underneath have any effect at all on his phobia, much less an increasing one?

It has nothing to do with her really being a human, it's because of her behavior. Unlike a normal housecat, Shampoo actively chases Ranma ridiculous distances on a regular basis, throwing herself onto him and clinging to him with her claws. I'd imagine that mastering a fear of cats to the point where you can tolerate their presence is much easier than keeping cool when a cat is chasing and clawing you.

No, Ranma's fear of cats is still very much in effect at the end of the manga.

Well, I never said that the Nekoken was gone, just that Ranma seemed to have gained more control over it by the end of the manga. It takes a giant-ghost-cat or a cat chasing and clinging to him (easily seen as "attacking" by his psyche I'd imagine) to freak him out. I can't recall him ever freaking out just from looking at a normal cat, or even trying to say the word, as is often the case in fanon.



Is the Kiss of Marriage really just a fanon invention? It's so utterly prevalent in fanfiction that I find it hard to believe that there is no basis for it in canon. However, I can't seem to find any mention of it in the manga. Does anyone know if the Kiss of Marriage is mentioned in the anime?

[claymade]

Cold should work as well with Ranma providing the heat (not counting other environmental heats like a volcano or colds like a snowstorm). It really just needs a differential energy so theoretically it should be able to be created with other things besides hot and cold temperatures /differently powered battle aura's.

It's not just a matter of them being different. The HSH plays off the whole "heat rising" idea, which Ranma directs with his cold aura. What other kinds of differences would provide that specific interaction? Just because a power is of one kind doesn't mean it'll automatically shoot skyward in reaction to encountering an abstractly "different" power.

I can recall no indication given in the manga whatsoever that the HSH can be anything beyond what it very clearly described as: a temperature-based technique.

And, while Ranma might theoretically use his hot aura with an opponent's cold aura guiding it (somehow) it'd be rather pointless in most cases. It'd be his power providing the rising force at that point--making it basically a big, awkward, circular version of the Moko Takabisha.

Well, I never said that the Nekoken was gone, just that Ranma seemed to have gained more control over it by the end of the manga. It takes a giant-ghost-cat or a cat chasing and clinging to him (easily seen as "attacking" by his psyche I'd imagine) to freak him out. I can't recall him ever freaking out just from looking at a normal cat, or even trying to say the word, as is often the case in fanon.

Trouble saying the word is not canonical, no argument there. Nonetheless, the mere sight of a (normal) cat is clearly enough to send him into a panic, even after the Nekoken arc.

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There's just no reason to believe that his fear of cats has diminished over the series. Yes, he can control it a little bit, occasionally. He could do that from the very beginning. Heck, that early display in Gos's room of cats is probably the single most impressive display of control over his fear that I can recall from him! If we're bound and determined to draw some kind of trend from the few scattered data points that we have, then by the evidence it should be a downward trend from there--not an upward one!

[three headed dog]

It's not just a matter of them being different. The HSH plays off the whole "heat rising" idea, which Ranma directs with his cold aura. What other kinds of differences would provide that specific interaction? Just because a power is of one kind doesn't mean it'll automatically shoot skyward in reaction to encountering an abstractly "different" power.

Theoretically it should be able possible to use with any imbalance of energy that attempts to create a balance. Hot and cold are the simplest though. It's basically using a temperature variance to create a vortex other types beyond upward spiraling ones should be possible and is even seen in the Manga Ranma creates a horizontal one to kill Saffron and a downward one to break the dragon tap (so skywards not absolutely required).

And, while Ranma might theoretically use his hot aura with an opponent's cold aura guiding it (somehow) it'd be rather pointless in most cases. It'd be his power providing the rising force at that point--making it basically a big, awkward, circular version of the Moko Takabisha.

There maybe other uses that a Ki blast wouldn't work as well. To generate a wind, to create a vortex to be used in another way, or possibly create another type of convection cell (other types beyond tornado's should be possible).

[Jupiah]

I can recall no indication given in the manga whatsoever that the HSH can be anything beyond what it very clearly described as: a temperature-based technique.

Thank you for pointing this out. I'm getting sick of authors forgetting about the "temperature" part and only remembering the "spiral" and "difference" parts. I remember reading a fic once that had Ranma use a "purity" aura to pull off a Hiryuu Shouten Ha with Happosai's "lust" aura. Yeah. Most of the fights in that fic were just as nonsensical.

There's just no reason to believe that his fear of cats has diminished over the series.

I concede. I was using those tiger encounters to support my theory, but you shot that down pretty soundly. I still think that fanon exaggerates Ranma's fear and how dangerous he is to others when in the Nekoken by quite a lot though.

[three headed dog]

I remember reading a fic once that had Ranma use a "purity" aura to pull off a Hiryuu Shouten Ha with Happosai's "lust" aura. Yeah. Most of the fights in that fic were just as nonsensical.

What temperature is purity? Lust is hot we see that in the manga. Both of those are emotions so it shouldn't work they shouldn't create an imbalance. Temperature isn't required an imbalance of energy that is trying to become balanced is needed. Dark magic and light magic might work if they would eventually create a balance but could be used to create a vortex while there still imbalanced.

[Jupiah]

Temperature isn't required an imbalance of energy that is trying to become balanced is needed. Dark magic and light magic might work if they would eventually create a balance but could be used to create a vortex while there still imbalanced.

On what basis do you make this claim? What evidence is there that any "naturally balancing energies" other than temperature can be used to form a tornado with this technique?

You don't seem to understand how the technique works. The Hiryuu Shouten Ha is (loosely) based on a real life weather phenomenon. In real life, hot air rises when it meets cold air, because cold air is more dense than hot air. In the same way, when the opponent's hot battle aura meets the user's cold aura, it rises into the air. Leading the opponent into a spiral first forces this hot battle aura to rotate as it rises into the air, forming a funnel cloud.

The only thing that matters for this technique is the temperature of the air and the presence of a battle aura. The energies used by both fighters only matter as far as they heat or cool the surrounding air. It is the clashing air currents that forms the tornado, not the ki or magic or whatever the combatants are throwing around. The battle aura requirement is really just an excuse for increasing the severity of the whirlwind to far beyond what we would realistically expect.

Seeing as how the Hiryuu Shouten Ha depends entirely on heated and cooled air to work, I don't see how "dark" and "light" magic could possibly be used to reproduce this effect, unless one of those kinds of magic gives off heat when used and the other gives off cold.

As for the purity verses lust aura thing, I doubt that the purity aura gave off cold, or Ranma would have just used his normal Body of Ice against Happosai's lust aura, just like he did in the manga. The author was clearly going for a more abstract application of the Hiryuu Shouten Ha.

[antimatterenergy]

These things get off topic pretty quick.

Work in progress theory for Hiryu Shoten Ha, was planning on expanding upon as well as showing examples from the manga for my blog. It creates a tornado (vortex) by using hot and cold along with a spiral motion. Battle Aura isn't actually required just heat source, cold source (strong enough to not be immediately overwhelmed by heat source), and putting the energy into a spiral (easiest way is running in a spiral but we have seen him do it another way by first creating a spiral of cold in the ground other means probable). For Ranma simplest means is to generate a (cold most likely) battle aura with the other person creating the other temperature needed (hot most likely) while running in a spiral. If emotion powered aura than hot if not powered by emotions then cold. Air isn't actually required since it should be able to be used in and underwater as well (where temperature differential may matter less since could create vortex using purely motion). Spiral motion isn't even %100 a requirement since the person who uses it should be able to create a wind (Some of Inuyasha's tricks with his sword work on the same principal and Ranma quite likely could duplicate them). It can probably be used to form other types of convection (like in Avatar where the main character creates a ball of spinning air to ride on a ball of spinning air could be created). It's also very adaptable at least in how Ranma uses it he has used several variations. He has used it to gather up excess energy (in the form of heat) and create a ball of energy (Herb battle). He has been able to send the end of the tornado to the opponent (Anime Akane's sisters episode and several times in Saffron battle) which is a major improvement from earlier versions in which he had to be in close proximity to the opponent. Upward motion is likely the easiest but as we have seen it can be used otherwise Ranma has sent the tornado downwards and horizontal (both times during Saffron battle) and is a matter of how the spiral is formed. Under certain circumstances, Ranma should be able to create the Hiryu Shoten Ha with him providing the heat (or even alone providing both heat and cold) but it's far less efficient since he would be powering it. Really the type used and how it would be used is dependent on circumstances and it could have many possible variations. Of course there are also times where it would be impractical, a waste of energy to use, and/or extremely difficult to create the required circumstances.

Could something other than heat and cold be used. Technically yes. Spiral motion alone could be used in water (air as well but requires greater speed) and it is possible to create a vortex using other energy for example vortex's are created in magnetic waves, but it would be harder and Ranma doesn't have access to other types of energy, even if he did it won't necessarily work or work the same way.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

The "Kiss of Marriage" is never named as such in the anime. I think it probably got started because the way Shampoo gives Ranma that first kiss looks ceremonial (especially in the anime version), and given the existence of a "Kiss of Death" it seems logical.

Ranma's ailurophobia is exaggerated not only in its ease of triggering, but also in its effects- it seems to be milder in the anime, where he can even listen to a bunch of cats yowling on the roof in the middle of the night without feeling anything but anger, but Ranma generally has no problem saying the word "Cat" and seems to react to them only when they act in a way to startle him- the cat that stalks him in Ranma's Greatest Challenge, or that leaps onto the windowsill in Meet You In The Milky Way. Physical contact, most likely because they need to use their claws to hold on, tends to be worse- whenever neko-Shampoo chases him off, she's either holding onto him when she transforms or deliberately chasing him (which she only does on two occasions).

[FriendlyEL]

I remember in the beginning of "Ranma the Lady Killer" the cat Shampoo was intending to use to get Ranma to date her actually scratched Ranma when he was screaming, and he was hurt pretty bad. I think that anyone, scared of cats or no, would be upset by that.

While there's nothing that says "Kiss of Marriage" persay, it's easy to see where people would get the idea. Shampoo wants to kill a girl that beats her, kisses her, it's the kiss of death. She wants to marry a guy that beats her, kisses him, it's the kiss of marriage. Hardly something people randomly pull out of nowhere.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Just some things that I think might be cliches or tropes... Keep in mind I'm most familiar with the anime, so these might be contradicted by the manga.

Ranma is extremely attractive to women
This is an exaggeration of the fact Ranma 1/2's base concept is the romantic tangle between Ranma and his 3 (4 if you count Kodachi, 6 if you expand the Tendo/Saotome agreement to encompass all of the Tendo girls) fiancees. Ranma is the target of Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi's crushes/affections, and the unknowing target of Akane's own crush, but he isn't shown as being at all desired by the other girls of his age. In fact, in the anime, they seem to actually dislike him- though Yuka and Sayuri do make comments at the start of "Ranma The Ladykiller" that could be interpretated as them finding Ranma attractive.


Akane is the absolute worst martial artist in the series/Akane is an untapped martial arts master
Both exaggerations in different directions. Akane is not the worst fighter in Nerima- I'd instantly place the occupants of the Kuno estate all below Akane on the ladder. However, the other claim isn't true either; the only times Akane has displayed truly exceptional prowess are when she was wearing the battle-dogi (which was, if I'm not mistaken, an animated object and thus possessed of its own fighting abilities- so Akane was using its power and skill, not hers) and the Orochi- and let's not forget that in that situation she's got Shinnosuke clinging to life by a thread and Ranma & Ryoga putting themselves in danger to distract it, with Ranma going so far as to turn into a girl and render him/herself a palatable meal. That's the kind of stressful situation where normal people start lifting cars.

The truth of the matter is that Akane is, in the ranks of super-martial artists, pretty much about average. Every highschool in the series has at least one person around her level of skill- Furinkan has Tatewaki Kuno, St. Hebereke has Kodachi, Seishun has Mariko and Kolholtz has Mikado and Azusa. In fact, most of the non-local highschool "champions" seem to be more powerful than Akane; in the anime, it is clearly shown that it takes Akane five minutes to take down the "Hentai Horde" before Kuno makes his entrance. In contrast, Mikado and Azusa's practise session -the method-named "Assault of 100 Foes"- is over in 9 seconds flat(!) and Mikado says that they can get even better. This doesn't mean Akane isn't dangerous, just that she's not truly exceptional compared to the company she keeps.


Cologne is always trying to trick Ranma into marrying Shampoo
Beyond her initial gambit (the Phoenix Pill), her training Ryoga in hopes that he would take Akane away, and her explicit support of the Kirahashi Mushroom and Red Thread affairs, Cologne does nothing to try and force Ranma to marry Shampoo. Her few efforts beyond the aforementioned have mostly consisted of trying to nudge Akane Tendo in the direction of someone else; Ryoga during the Bakusai Tenketsu training and Mousse in the Zekkyo race.


Cologne is an authority figure in Joketsuzoku and Shampoo is her heir
Beyond the fact her first appearance in the anime was translated with the title "This ol gal's the leader of the Amazon tribe" and the fact she was entrusted with Shampoo's retraining at Jusenkyo, we have absolutely no proof of either of these claims.


The Amazons wouldn't think twice about carrying Ranma off
This is horse hockey. The best example of this is the Hiryu Shoten Ha storyline; Cologne could have steamrollered over Genma, Ukyo and Akane without breaking a sweat and carried Ranma off to China to set him to work siring Shampoo's babies- after all, we're not given any proof that the Moxibustion is congenital, so his children wouldn't have been weak. She does nothing of the sort, instead going so far as to teach Ranma a secret technique of her tribe so he can regain his strength and resume the engagement to Akane.

In the anime, she even turns down an even sweeter opportunity: in the Happo-Mold Burst episode, Cologne and Shampoo take Ranma out to the woods to train for a rematch against Happosai after he gets kicked out of the Dojo by the old pervert. None of the residents of the house know where he is or where he went after Happosai sent him flying, nor do they know what happened to him after he landed- Cologne and Shampoo could make off with him and they'd be none the wiser, which would mean Ranma would have no hopes of being rescued. Do they do this? No. They give him legitimate training and then escort him back to Nerima, all without trying anything once.[/b]