Cliches & Tropes of Ranma fanon

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Really? The only other time I can recall Soun & Genma specifically scheming/plotting together is early in the first season, I think it's the one where Akane gets over Tofu, and they don't do anything but sit on the porch trying to think of something.

[Jupiah]

In the manga, the entire Dojo Destroyer arc was originally a harebrained scheme by Soun and Genma to bring Akane and Ranma together against a common foe, until a real destroyer actually showed up and Shampoo interfered.

[claymade]

In the manga, the entire Dojo Destroyer arc was originally a harebrained scheme by Soun and Genma to bring Akane and Ranma together against a common foe, until a real destroyer actually showed up and Shampoo interfered.

Don't forget the leaves of destiny bit, as well as twice in the manga finale--and that's just what I can think of off the top of my head.

That just leaves Shampoo, and given as how fan opinion forced the transferal of the position of main female character & destined girlfriend of Ataru Moroboshi away from Shinobu to the more exotic Lum in Urusei Yatsura, she might have feared a similar situation happening in Ranma 1/2.

To shift the venue of the thread for a second, I'm pretty sure that the above is Urusei Yatsura fanon. It's based on an interview that Takahashi supposedly gave... but no one I've ever asked has ever been able to produce it. On the other hand, there is an interview where she said:

With Urusei Yatsura it was my intention to create a science-fiction/fantasy story as the background of the series, and it nearly became a farce. Up to that point there were not many manga of its kind, so I wanted to begin a new tradition. But soon after the series began its publication, readers would send letters and I learned that their interest was mostly concentrated on the relationship between Lum and Ataru. At the beginning this astonished me, but then I became convinced that that would be a natural direction to go in.

From here: http://www.furinkan.com/takahashi/takahashi8.html

As you can see, the distinction being made here isn't between Lum or Shinobu, but rather between the overall emphasis of the romance aspects vs. the sci-fi/fantasy aspects.

On a random note, my personal theory is that, consciously or not, Takahashi probably made Shampoo such a villanous girl on purpose, so that she could never be a credible threat to the Ranma/Akane matchup.

*shrugs* It's not like she needs an excuse to make a character villainous. Such character types have been known to exist, even without such supposed concerns on the part of the writer.

[Drawde]

The early stories of UY also need to be considered. Lum wasn't in the second arc, and was brought back in the third. Lum was extremely viscious, even homicidle a couple times, unlike her later personality. There was even one story where they go into the future, and see Ataru and Shinobu's son. All of this points to it being Ataru/Shinobu at first, though I'll admit it isn't absolute proof.

[lwf58]

The early stories of UY also need to be considered. Lum wasn't in the second arc, and was brought back in the third. Lum was extremely viscious, even homicidle a couple times, unlike her later personality. There was even one story where they go into the future, and see Ataru and Shinobu's son. All of this points to it being Ataru/Shinobu at first, though I'll admit it isn't absolute proof.

That story was an example of traveling to a possible future, not a set one. It set up the punchline, which was the reactions of the various characters to it when they returned to their present time. It was never intended to be foreshadowing of an official romantic match up. Claymade is quite correct - the idea that Takahashi had intended for Ataru and Shinobu to be a couple that overcame all opposition, and that the idea was changed by fan pressure, is fanon.

[FriendlyEL]

One that always seemed odd to me, but I think it was made due to some anime episodes:

Akane is a very good student/overachiever: First off, I get the impression that she is not doing to hot in home ec. He probably isn't doing too great in gym either, at least if swimming is required. Now, those are two classes I'm aware are not too academic and she probably has good grades otherwise. Those are just two classes.

However, it is shown in one arc that she skips school, which is hardly something someone who cares about their grades would do unless they were just that intelligent.


Ryoga would kill Ranma if he ever won in a match, in as brutal of a way as possible: In the first few fights, probably. Anyone who thinks it would still be that way I think forgot about the Mark of the Gods and the Shi Shi Hokodan arcs, where he let such an opportunity that he'd "most definitely" take go by.

[three headed dog]

However, it is shown in one arc that she skips school, which is hardly something someone who cares about their grades would do unless they were just that intelligent.

Skipping class is pretty common in Japan. The teachers other than homeroom generally don't take attendance and quite a few home room teachers don't bother. Since the majority of teachers, teach by rote memorization of facts if you skip a class it's not a problem if you read and remember the books or borrow someones notes.

[Drawde]

He probably isn't doing too great in gym either, at least if swimming is required.

Just out of curiosity, why do people always think that swimming is the biggest thing in PE? I've seen that comment all the time. Just because Akane's bad at one small part of PE, doesn't mean she's failing the entire class.

[pspinler]

He probably isn't doing too great in gym either, at least if swimming is required.

Just out of curiosity, why do people always think that swimming is the biggest thing in PE? I've seen that comment all the time. Just because Akane's bad at one small part of PE, doesn't mean she's failing the entire class.

I think it's from this page:

http://manga.bleachexile.com/ranma-chapter-139-page-4.html

where the principal states that swimming is a requirement to pass up to the next grade. However, the next page he admits to just making that up: "A rule you just made up!" - Akane, "Yah" - Principal.

However, I don't know any direct evidence that not being able to swim makes Akane fail the specific class Phy Ed.

-- Pat

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

As always, the manga might contradict me, but this holds true for the anime canon.

Shampoo always lands on Ranma with her bike
This is a rare thing; it only happens in two episodes and the first movie. The cliche of her smashing Ranma into the ground (or equivalent surface) and then immediately asking for a date is a distortion of the movie event- after pinning him, she mentions that it's a beautiful day, so why not go on a date. The cliche is she whallops him and then immediately says something along the lines of "Ranma date with Shampoo, yes?"

Shampoo harasses Ranma day and night asking for/forcing him to go on a date
She does ask for a date quite often, but it isn't the first and only line of conversation she brings up. Nor does she force him to go on a date; she will offer him incentives to do something with her (a week of free all-you-can-eat for a game of cat's cradle, for example) or try and claim one as payment (in exchange for sewing up Akane's ripped doll), but outright demanding or blackmailing him is Kodachi's style.

This might have already been mentioned, but...
Akane's cooking is so bad it's deadly
Akane's food is nauseating, a definate cause of food poisoning, and at it's absolute worst/when it incorporates magic it can apparently have mildly hallucinogenic effects (see the anime take on the love-predicting sakura-mochi; after P-chan swallows some the viewpoint switches to his view, where the buildings start warping and twisting), but it's not fatal. Gosunkugi was able to eat it and survive, even if he did regret his foolishness intensively afterwards. And it certainly isn't some kind of unholy magical act, nor does it result in the creation of mobile nightmares.

Ryoga's sense of direction is so bad that he can teleport
Ryoga is somehow able to get between differing islands of Japan, but he does not travel between continents without the use of magic. Part of Ryoga's ability to get so far can actually be explained by his tendency to ignore his surroundings and his piglet curse; couple not looking where he is with the size of his cursed form (which is actually described specifically as a miniature pig in the anime) and Ryoga has the ability to get stuck in crates, slip into vents and otherwise end up in all sorts of nooks and crannies aboard boats or even planes. He can get lost inside a building (can't find his way out of the Nekohanten residential section, and forgets the way to Akane's room when studying for admission to Furinkan High), but he doesn't pop up out of closests and the like unless he went inside them in the first place.

Tatewaki Kuno spouts Shakespear and/or poetry
Tatewaki does like to use very flowery language, but even in the dubbed anime he never uses anything recognizeable as Shakespeare in origin, and poetry is something very rare; for romantic situations and the like.

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

Tatewaki Kuno spouts Shakespear and/or poetry
Tatewaki does like to use very flowery language, but even in the dubbed anime he never uses anything recognizeable as Shakespeare in origin, and poetry is something very rare; for romantic situations and the like.

I have heard he spouts classical haiku. The Shakespeare is merely something the translators thought would give the same impression to an English speaker.

But since it is what the familiar version uses, I don't see why we shouldn't use it also.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Meant to put this in the previous post...
Shampoo is truly in love with Mousse but has to pursue Ranma or is otherwise unable to show it
I admit it's hypocritical for someone who prefers the Ranma/Not-Akane matchup to call a match impossible, but this one truly is. Shampoo displays, in either canon, virtually nothing except contempt for Mousse, although in the anime she has some justification if Mousse's behaviour in "Mousse Goes Home to the Country" is typical of him. Unlike Akane, she knows full well what Mousse's feelings for her are, but she couldn't give a damn about him unless the situation was desperate. True, she has done some nice things for him, like taking him on a date (weakness items), giving him a scarf (jizo), changing his mind about going home (anime) and catching him after falling to Toristan (anime). However, let's take a closer look at those situations...

Shampoo is ruthless, cunning, sneaky, selfish, manipulative and (especially in the manga) vicious and cruel. Nowhere on that list does the descriptor "heartless" appear. In the Jizo story, Mousse is literally dying from exhaustion, while in the second movie Mousse has almost gotten himself killed defending her honor. So what else is she supposed to do but show a little compassion? And don't forget, in the Jizo story she was quite ready to just let him die before her conscious finally nagged her into giving him a scarf... a scarf she had been making for Ranma, a fact she doesn't hesitate to point out.

In the anime, she makes him change his mind about leaving solely because she and Cologne have decided to go to a hotsprings on a vacation and getting Mousse to stay and mind the Nekohanten is cheaper and easier than hiring someone else. Prior to that, she couldn't care less about Mousse leaving- she was actually quite happy about it.

As for the weakness items... okay, I'll admit that this one time she did him some kindness on a genuinely noble reason: she was impressed by his decision to actually turn the weakness glasses against himself. Still, one out of four is not a good score by anyone's standard.

[TerraEpon]

Ryoga's sense of direction is so bad that he can teleport
Ryoga is somehow able to get between differing islands of Japan, but he does not travel between continents without the use of magic. .

I'm pretty sure in at least one episode of the anime he is shown in Africa - but I may be remembering something from a parody dub put in from another anime...not too sure here; in the manga I'm pretty sure there's a panel that makes it at least look like Russia without it saying anything.

There is NO doubt he is shown travelling far further than the actual time allows, though.


-Joshua

[Drawde]

The time Ryoga ended up in Russia, was during the Saffron arc. They were in China at the time, and Ryoga used that magic staff of Saffron's, which was fast enough for them to travel across China very quickly, to go pick up some food.

Notice that while China and Russia share a border, it is currently only near Japan http://go.hrw.com/atlas/norm_htm/china.htm . The Soviet Union fell while the manga was going, so what the borders were then, is debatable, timewise.

Qinghai Province is in western China, near the middle of that area http://www.china-views.net/China-Maps.html . They had a long way to go to get there, and no time frame was ever given, other than it took Ranma and Genma two weeks to get back to Japan from there. Though, realistically, it would have taken a while for the birds that kidnapped Akane to get there, not that they could have flown as a big ball anyway.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

The chase scene
This stems entirely from the opening of the first movie and has snowballed from there so that just about every fanfic opens or includes a "parade of weirdoes". It was a one-off gag, nothing more, nothing less.

The food duel
A far more common cliche is the idea of "the food duel"; in this cliche, at every meal, Ranma and Genma attempt to use their chopsticks to pinch food from the other's plate and/or each other's grasp whilst remaining seated, the objective being to eat the most food. This never happens in the anime; the only time something close happens is during the episode "Genma Takes A Walk", and it isn't even Genma and Ranma who do it. It's Genma and Soun, duelling over a hot potato. Genma does steal food from Ranma, but this is more along the lines of grabbing the pickle bowl in his hand and running off, with Ranma chasing him in pursuit.

Akane surpassed Ukyo & Shampoo's prowess after her training to beat Natsume & Kurumi
I saw this on Wikipedia, of all places, and I just had to refute it. We have no idea how much, if at all, Akane improved under Ryoga's training in order to take revenge on the sisters. The only sister Akane clearly fought under her own power was Kurumi, who was less than eager to fight Akane and didn't even particularly want the Tendo Dojo, let alone to take it from the only person she considered a friend. Kurumi was put on the defensive by Akane, yes, but she wasn't fighting at full power- as proved by the fact that her ribbon, which we know from the previous OAV she can infuse with burning heat, had no such effect on Akane. When Natsumi realised that her sister wasn't fighting all out, she stepped in to replace her, and it was Ranma who won the match then- the only way Akane contributed towards the final victory was being the ammunition for Ranma's final attack.