If Ranma is the tale of a transsexual, then it's the tale of a *female* to *male* transsexual. When in cursed form, *she* is a man trapped in a woman's body.

If you rewrite Ranma as wanting to be a girl, the character of Ranma is often lost. Look at the critiques of "Genma's Daughter" (off-site fic) to see one of the best written, yet worst offenders.

http://homepage.mac.com/dgoldsmith/writing.html

It's sequel, "Equal Halves," is much funnier and can be read as a stand-alone fic. That I highly recommend.

So most onna-Ranma tales tend to fall into "forced feminization." The tale of a macho guy made to act like a girl through reasons not his own. Locking the curse or creating an obligation that forces him into female form are the easiest ways to do this. It is *forced* feminization, after all.

Next are the ones that rewrite Ranma as being/wanting to be a girl. There you have previous incarnations, curse influences, and head traumas.

There are a mighty few that do what you want. And fewer of those are available on this site.

"Clothes Make The..." by Nightelf, and co-written by Ichinohei Hitomi and Katrina Lee Halbred, was written in response to exactly what you were refering to. He wanted to show Ranma making a choice without any locks, forces, obligations, previous incarnations, curse problems, head traumas, etc. It is a surprisingly good story, too.

http://www.thekeep.org/~nightelf/fanfic/index.html

"Sexual Endeavours" by Ichinohei Hitomi explores a case of domino mistakes. Assumption feeds on assumption leaving a funny story of mistaken identity.

I'm sure there are others.

Hope this helps,

Howard

but I agree with you. most female ranma fics are by necessity ooc.

I think "Happily Married" by Kirinin is a good example. I think the same idea could have been portrayed without as much stretching of reality, but either way, the way in which Ranma 'discovers' herself is very different. The incomplete fic "A Not So Simple Wish" by Ebiris has a very fascinating premise, since Ranma though stuck, can become cured by doing something in his cursed form. The trick is that while Ranma only sees himself as having to 'use' his curse (i.e. just acting in kind of a caricature), it seems that over time he realizes that _she_ is still a real person who is genuinely affected by the events around her and involving her, and its when she realizes that she can't entirely divorce 'his' internal feelings and identity from 'her' outside actions and appearrance that starts to make things really interesting... Unfortunately, the fic stops abruptly in the middle. =(

One thing that I disagree with is the idea that the Ranma canon leaves no room for Ranma to have any attraction to being female. I honestly think that if everyone was truly given the opportunity with a clear mind, a fair portion of people could get used to the idea of being the opposite gender. Not everyone, but still. Ranma's need to compulsively defend and cling to hypermasculinity and his rough childhood is what really makes me think that his curse could become very much of a blessing to him at least in some respects.

I think the reason getting 'stuck' is so popular is because its so darned dramatic and angsty! You know writers love that! That's why rape and pregnancy also end up high on the list after all. You can hardly beat those for drama =P. Considering how often Ranma gets locked anyway in canon, its a really easy way and disposable way to approach the 'trigger' (the event that ends normalcy and breaks from canon), especially if the author is more interested in developing another part of the plot. Making Ranma embrace femininity directly takes a lot more subtlety and finesse too, and forces you to deal directly with the social construction of gender and how Ranma percieves it. Not an easy topic by any means, especially since people tend to assume that no one would ever consider changing their core gender, except distraught and "extreme" cases such as transsexuals (who are often maligned as a result). I doubt that is true, just that its not something we're currently raised to consider as a malleable part of our identity.

I've thought a lot about taking it upon myself to write this sort of fic deep self-exploration fic, but writing this would be a big challenge, especially because I don't have very much free time. I've seen too many stories move along similar lines and end up disappointing as well since its hard to avoid common cliches. But maybe my little rant will prove informative! ;)

Adden. - Howard Russell mentions "Equal Halves", which I agree is 'better' in some ways as far as fitting into this C2 group. The "Genma's Daughter" Ranma starts out similar and reacts much the same as canon Ranma would, but the revelations during the story make some pretty dramatic changes very quickly and alters Ranma's perception of her identity. In that story, Ranma really is a Male to Female transsexual, which while not a bad thing, I feel that in this case it ends up diminishing a lot of the potential drama and 'dire' emotion that we often associate with Ranma-chan fics. It's a beautiful story which I enjoyed, but not quite in the same fashion (I think we tend to find it more interesting when its 'hard' rather than [relatively] 'easy'). In EH on the other hand, we have "100% male" Ranma dealing with the reality that a female version of himself is not nearly so different... or unappealing, as he would have thought. The added confusion makes it more enticing, perhaps!

1) Ranma is supposed to be a man among men. Why use that definition? Why not a good person, a great martial artist/best martial artist in his generation or something similar to that? Man among men kinda indicates that his parents may have a reason for this wording.

2) Ranma's taken away from his mother on a training journey. I have heard that it was to prevent him from being soft. Nodoka appears to accept this trip.

3) Ranma gets upset when others say something about him being anything but manly, but yet he is willing to wear girl clothes if he needs a disguise and is good at playing a cute girl to get icecream.

4) Ranma has a split personality in the episode Ranma's Declaration of Womanhood, in which he acts all girly girl. Normally boys wouldn't have an inner girl like that, even if they turned into a girl when splashed with water.

5) Curses appear to be linked to the person who falls in. Shampoo is kinda sensual and kittenish, Ryoga is pig-headed and stubborn and so on.

Conclusion:

Based on the above I think Ranma may be borderline transgender, even if he denies it when questioned, there are just too many pieces that indicate that he may have a personality that's not normally shown. The Inner Ranma is polite and generally is as much girl as they can become. Mental gender also normally appear to form at the age around 5, which fits perfectly with the time they left on their journey.

My personal guess is that Ranma was acting girly at the age of 5 and traditional Nodoka got freaked out over her boy who acted more like a girl than a boy. Hence she cuts her own contact with him and leaves him in the hand of his father. Over the next many years Genma has forced the feminine traits out of Ranma, making him the macho Ranma that we know. The curse probably just makes it even harder for Ranma to be as manly as possibly, because he'll be constantly tempted, which may also explain why he hates changing and why he hurries to change back. When he's being stuck in girl form, the desparation may be because he is aware that if he's stuck for too long, he may actually like it.

Many would say that my own fiction is devoutly Onna-Ranma, but really all I am doing is exploring the expressions of each character. There are many depths to the Ranma cast, and all of them are fascinating in their own rights. Ranma, the focus of all their attention, is of course going to take center stage and his curse is going to be the focus. All the chaos revolves around him.

In Fragile Clay, I do not specifically write from the perspective of Ranma and coming to grips with being a girl. The events which occur in the story are often events of reluctance, or Ranma seeking to fit in somehow. Likewise, much of the story as written involves someone attempting to make Ranma's life less complicated and more straightforward.

Which again, isn't about Gender Identity. The GID issue comes into the fore when additional confusion is brought into the mix by Ranma's mother.

As example, many stories take a note from Richard Lawson. They make Ranma's struggles as a woman the focal point of the story overall. We read and are fascinated not because of the events, but how those events are viewed through the lense of that question; How will Ranma cope with this as a girl?

In "Thy Outward Part", the responses and emotions were so believable because there was some point of reference, an ability to identify with Kentarou. We view the story through his eyes, and thusly, are given the impressions he gets of things.

"Thy Outward Part" is an excellent story. I wish it would have continued, but Lawson felt the story was closed and what was told had been told. Such is why Fanfiction exists in the first place, Authors close a story, and there is a yearning for more.

I agree about Equal Halves, by the by. I read it first, and maybe that's why - but Genma's Daughter rapidly got too sappy for me, although there are parts of it I really enjoyed a great deal. There are also points in Genma's Daughter where the author's conception of what it meant to be a girl rang false. The difficulty in writing these stories is that the author really has to ask him/herself what it *means* to be one gender or the other. It's easy to take the traditional route and it's also easy to say that there is no difference. My impression is that the reality is both subtle and somewhere in the middle of those two extremes.

-Kirinin

Kaoru:

Im glad to see you here ^_^ . Im kitten over @ fukufics irc. (dunno if you knew).

Kirinin: hmm I did enjoy your fic but the reality theory of yours was rather confusing.

suppose im just not smart enough to understand it :p Glad you came by the forum.

I agree about Deborah. Her Ranma's definition of femininity just *bothers* me - but Equal Halves was just so good, likely because it didn't take itself as seriously. There are some really shining moments in EH, where Ranko's playing her violin, or where Ranma is learning it...

...*goes off to re-read it all over again*...

-K

Ooooh, your theory is *scary*. I adore it.

-K

I'm Krimzonayne. I donno if you know me but I'm an avid fan of Ranma and Onna-Ranma fic and have written quite a few fic for this C2 myself.

I'm happy to note that Kirinin is still around... the thought makes me very happy indeed because I was, and still am, waiting for the second arc of Tendo-Saotome Anything Goes... It is, in my opinion, a brilliant way to go about a Onna-Ranma fic.

JSF (the sequel) is no longer in Nerima, and as of yet the characters are either so far altered that they no longer truly resemble their characters or never were main characters and thus didn't have a personality. I've also gone pretty far in inventing the culture of the Amazons. In that way, it's the closest thing I've written to original fiction in years.

Somewhat more on topic, part of the issue is Ranma him/herself. It's very difficult to balance her masculine and feminine behaviour and attitudes, especially as seen through the lens of others' points of view. It does seem that you always face the definition of masculinity and femininity when you write these things.

-K

It's not an idea I have really ever seen, so I wanted to try my hand at it. I don't know who said it in this forum, but they are right in the fact that Ranma-chan fanfics are OOC by default. At least most of them are, there are a few that seem to be closer to Ranma's original thought process (I.E, The Return by Sunshine Temple) it's truly hard to keep Ranma in character while trying to force a gender swap, at least in my experience is it.

I have some real nice original works in development but like I said, storyflow is a major issue for me. I can come up with a lot of real good ideas and the sequences in which they happen but I just can't seem to get the flow going! Soulbound will be updated monthly unless I have some problems, I'm finding it rather easy to write. Took me 2 hrs to write the chapter I have up right now. Hopefully I can surprise some of you with something real spiffy!

So this problem you are talking about, is it the beginning you have trouble with? Starting a chapter, that is my personal difficulty, I hum and haw about it for days, weeks even before I begin to put anything concrete down, even then it eventually dies out quietly for something better.

But if you have enough ideas for a five story arc, then why not run with it? Or cut out anything unnecessary, and if you are really burning to use it, then adapt it for a new story.

That's what I had to do, I had some stuff I wanted to try and justify for "The Sound of Thunder" but I couldn't, so I toyed with it and tweaked it, and now it's part of a new fic called "Liquid Black".

The ideas would have fit EITHER, but I modified it enough to be a more central idea to Liquid Black, as opposed to a supporting idea in Sound of Thunder.

Please, I'm eager to talk to you, but without your email address on, or turning on Private messaging, this is going to be a HUGE pain!

You did put it to .ca right? if it's .com I won't recieve it.

I'll check my inbox again but....

Er. Well that's been done several times before. Cast a Second Line into the Sea is one of the fics that follows this. So does one of mine, though it's a major plotpoint so I will refrain from stating which one. You'd better check around and make sure you don't look like you're idea-poaching.

Recently someone wrote a fic that greatly resembled mine, and didn't credit me (using this plotline). It's better to be aware of what's out there.

-K

A nice dark fic with much chaos and conflict that has a happy ending. Hard to come by and have it be well written. If it were me I would find a way to interweave fluff and darkness to create a more relaxing fic. I hate it when fics start dark and just keep getting darker and darker with absolutely no break. I can only take so much manic depressiveness before deciding to stop reading the damned thing.

Jeeze, now I feel like a pretentious **.

I can't say how many times I've written the following in a review: 'it's just as likely that everything go wrong as everything go right.' Both complete fluff without any substance and complete angst without any relief produce the same sort of story: a predictable one.

-K

-k

I started a series called Tendo-Saotome Anything Goes, where Ranma uses his curse as a refuge. I certainly hope it's believable, but I readily admit it's an older story with plenty of flaws, and that I didn't know where it was going at first. I've just started the sequel recently.

-K

Also, I can't wait to read your new fic, you are an AMAZING writer, I haven't read all of your stuff, but what I have read has been absolutely amazing. You did quite a good job of humbling me :P

Also, a question not really related but still I was hoping for some feedback: I just got flamed for my pairing choice and it was really startling. There was no other comments or useful criticism, just a complaint at my choice. I responded as politely as I could but I was too startled to be really insulted or angry.

Did I do the right thing? Or should I get indignant and leap down this guy's throat?

Suikie - I'm sorry, but I don't have private messenging service. If you go to my ff-dot-net account and PM me, I will give you my email address and we can chat.

Chinangel - hmm. Making Ranma self-abusive has already been done - by Takahashi, lol. Sometimes I think you have to have a bit of the masochist in you to be a good martial artist in the first place. From what I recall, you get hurt a *lot*, especially in the beginning. This is the long-winded way of saying that self-harm or self-abuse is a believable place to go for a fighter as dedicated as Ranma is. As far as what makes Ranma realize how (s)he has been behaving, I think that's trickier. In real life, a very small thing can provoke a very big change, especially when someone has been in denial - all of a sudden, everything can 'click into place'. But in fiction, that won't seem believable. You'd have to make it something suitably dramatic without trailing into overdrama.

It always scares/fascinates me that things that happen all the time in real life are just not 'believable' in a fictional context...

As for the flames, you should expect them in regards to pairing. Every 'ship has its own adherants (sp?) and detractors. If you pair Ranma and *Akane*, someone's going to yell at you because it's supposedly over-done. ;)

The proper response is to completely ignore non-constructive criticism. If the person can say, "here, in this scene it seems to me you made this entire pairing unbelievable, and here's why," that's one thing. But 99% of the time, you get a response that states, "u suk. Ranma x Ryooga is like so wrong, ur sick dude". And a response that well thought-out deserves exactly the same amount of consideration from you.

I am hurrying with JKSF, but RL has co-opted all my available brainspace for the time being!

-K

Uhm.... Why is someone talking about "Fragile Clay"? :)

Uhm.... Why is someone talking about "Fragile Clay"? :)

But back on topic... there need to be more of those types of slow and perhaps even unwitting acceptance stories. I have one in mind but have yet to begin much on it. It involves Ranma, Akane Nabiki and a bet! Evilness!

As for the imagery, it is both a force of habit as well as a personal taste. Having been through much Creative Writing, I took from the lessons from my teachers what I could and discarded the self-superior attitude that some had about writing particular kinds of fiction.

I've always had a certain quixotic nature to my writing, and I lust for colorful turns of phrase.

The primary problem of writing such stories as onna-ranma making a conscious choice of things is that most writers are very bad at it, and many of the ones who were the best no longer write a drip about Ranma 1/2.

Now don't take that the wrong way, im just voicing my concerns. You know how much I adored all the other parts and I truly do consider them to be one of the best fan fiction pieces written in this genre.

With that said I hope you know where you're going with it and I hope to read your next chapter as soon as its done.

bit different and kinda detracts from the original direction of the story is

all. Not that it makes it bad just makes it less... desirable. While the

mythos you are playing with is interesting, I find that the amount of imagery

is the main reason I have trouble with it. When you are furthering the plot

you are fine but when you describe rich luscious scenery, taking 5 paragraphs

to do so, it kinda helps to stray from what's going on and doesn't quite keep

us interested. Not to mention, the fic seems to take a very dark theme at that

point which gives me a bad taste in my mouth. Perhaps it's just the

descriptions though. I haven't finished reading it yet but I intend to

eventually!

Edit: woops. pressed the wrong button and accidently removed your post (damn admin privileges) Ive tried to restore it as best as I could, sorry -_-

/ranchan

lol. I knew it didnt sound quite right, ty. I will not get it wrong again =)

There is a substantial difference in how the story flows with 3:1, and I will confess that this is entirely purposeful. It is an attempt at capturing the surreality of the dreaming state, whose vibrance is often hard to put into words. The lucid dream, where colors and experiences have more hue and depth than reality might impart.

I purposely chose the Present Tense Narrative, as it provided a sort of storyteller's feel as if it were happening as you read. This again lends itself to the properties of a dream state. The elaborate prose and the strange sort of mysticism within 3:1 is in and of itself a reflection of Ranma's condition, trapped in a dream and falling fast.

On the subject of darkness... there's a whole lot of darkness planned throughout the entirety of the series. It's a harsh growing up for the entire cast, and it certainly isn't the same sort of comedy that Takahashi had in mind. There's a lot more down to earth moments which, though many in the tale might wish things were easier, they are not.

However, that being said, 3:1 is one of the depression points of the series, it is meant also to be very dark, brooding and aimless in some fashion. This in turn reflects the players in the play, those partaking in the story. Akane, Ukyou, and many others are having to struggle with hope and asking themselves where things go from here... and Ranma is caught up in a viscious entropic loop spiralling downwards into a vast abyss.

The manner in which the story told is an empathic resonance with the contextual relevance of the story itself, and thusly is it told. I apologize for going on at length.

And for any of you wondering if I'm this verbose in my real life vocabular, the answer is yes... I am just as wordy and given to flowery talk.

Just so's you know.

LOL! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't beginning to wonder.

(EGADS! I feel like an ant talking to a God here, Kaoru Shimitsu-sama! *worship, worship* )

On a different note, I do have a question concerning this new fantasy phase that is appearing in Fragile Clay: Is it something your mind shaped, or is this world something that already existed?

Like others I found it difficult to follow, though I did greatly enjoy the dark over-tones that permeated throughout the chapter. (I nearly threw my computer out the window when I discovered that you hadn't completely finished the series)

And as a writer, I look up to you and several other people for my inspiration and as role models. I can only hope to achieve what you seem to to do so naturally.

Consider if you would the life of Ranma Saotome and ask yourself that, aside from the general hijinx of day to day life, is it not likely that everyone who congregated in Nerima did so perhaps at larger purpose? This is one primary element to the lore and mythos that are being touched upon in 3:1.

Who are the Saotomes? What is their lineage? The Tendou's? What is the history of the Niie Chiezu tribe of Joketsuzoku Amazons?

I realize that many people who have western tastes in literature and movies may not appreciate certain aspects concerning eastern philosophies, particularly in concerns with Destiny, Fate, and the cyclic pattern of Karma and Dharma. I have actually conversed with people who are rather deeply insulted at such topics, which I suppose I might understand. Some people find fatalism the height of insult.

Of course, my own take on Fatalism is moderately different, as I tend to view situations like one might view a tapestry as it is being woven. Every thread has individuation, but the pattern is whole. In the great pattern, things can be postponed and events can be changed, but the pattern continues on and some certain events must be resolved in an eventual sense.

Sorry, I have diverged from the actual query at hand.

You ask if I myself shaped the world of Sahn'Aeden and it's fantastical floating lands of magic, or if it was a gem I borrowed from another series... if I understand the question correctly. Well, I certainly did not read in particular any story detailing such a place or it's respective situationals. I suppose you could consider it coming from my own muse, though I again view my muse differently than other authors would.

For me, I strongly believe in the multi-world theorem model of universes. I also believe that authors do not create, they tap. This is primarily why I care as much as I do about portraying every character with an honest depth and breadth of character, as if someone was writing about myself and my life, I'd appreciate the same candor and courtesy. For me, stories are real, characters are real, and they deserve real concern.

I am pretty was never present in the manga, it's not canon. IE didnt happen.

anyway, new ideas are easy to come by, i have a hat of them, they just are difficult to execute.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't consider the manga to be somehow 'more valid' - I do, even though that really makes no sense. Maybe because it sometimes seems to have a very different tone. But to eliminate it from fanfiction entirely? Do you have a reason?

-K

I'm honestly used to seeing the anime appear as the canon basis of many fanfics, the anime had a wide audience penetration where the books never cuaght up, and a few people I've met wont even read the manga, even thought they ask questions about its contents numerous times. Even something as simple as female Ranma's hair color is different in the anime. I'd be cutting out a big portion of fiction if I only read what is clearly based on canon material. It would make me happy to see it less often though, To date I've seen one fanfic where Ranmas hair was black and only 1 fanfic where it was a color other than red.

thats my reasoning, I dont expect anyone to adopt my opinions, but I'll reinterate this isnt an uncommon belief, to at least a good portion of writers who communicate with eachother, The manga is canon.

I find that a lot of old-school fanfiction authors refer to Ranma-onna as having black hair; but almost nobody who started writing after 1995 has done so. This is undoubtedly as you say: once the anime started becoming more pervasive, its reality slowly started to overcome that of the manga.

It's interesting you describe the anime as "a fanfiction itself". That's a pretty apt description; and maybe that's why you and I both seem to take the animated version a little less seriously.

...and yet, here we are at an onna-Ranma forum, discussing a possibility that wouldn't really happen according to the manga OR the anime: Ranma staying a girl, possibly willingly. How seriously can we take discussion of what is truly canon when we're playing fast and loose with canon, anyway? Howard Russell stated in the second post that "...the trouble is who Ranma is. Ranma isn't a girl, he isn't a girl trapped in a boy's body, he doesn't want to be a girl...ever."

So we, too, screw happily with Takahashi's original reality. Who are we to knock others who have done the same...?

Tongue firmly in cheek,

-K

In all due honesty, it isn't clear whether Ranma prefers being female or not. There is certainly a level of intimacy that is intimated between onna-ranma and Akane that is not as present nor as prevalent when ranma is in male-form. This perhaps means that Ranma is more comfortable with displaying tender emotion whereas it concerns his female form.

So, just to clarify in summary... The ultra-macho Ranma that many people preach about doesn't exist in canon either, outside of his competitive spirit (If that's what you consider to be macho).

don't forget that Takahashi is a woman, and the Japanese attitude towards women.

That and many Manga's undergo a serious transformation when they change media forms.

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