History FandomSpecificPlot / RanmaOneHalf

For a long, long time, Ranma fanfics have made up a sizable chunk of Internet fanfiction in their entirety. Even general fanfic newsgroups had more than half their posts consist of Ranma fanfics, so, naturally, a couple of preferences started to build up.

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' fanfic is heavy on the GenderBender (other than of course Ranma himself) fanfics, as there's a canon way to do it. And while girl-Ranma getting pregnant isn't exactly MisterSeahorse, some fics will have him discover that yes, the pregnancy doesn't go away when he's male. (Most Pregnant!Ranma fanfics have him being trapped in female form instead.) And there's also a canon source for plenty of {{Animorphism}} fics.

* Ranma suffering ModeLock which permanently keeps him as a girl is pretty common.

* See also: {{Fanon}}

* Another common plot is Ranma discovering that he is (or is becoming) gender dysphoric, his self-image shifting to that of a girl instead of a guy, or at least a "both/neither" state. Ranma getting stuck as a girl is the usual plot device to reach this conclusion.
** Ranma suffering ModeLock which permanently keeps him as a girl is pretty common too, although there are the occasional stories which show the opposite - him losing the curse altogether.
* Also, ''Ranma ½''/''Franchise/SailorMoon'' crossovers where Ranma turns out to be a sailor senshi are so prevalent that they [[FukuFic have their own trope]].

* For a while during the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was a spate of "[[WhatIf what if]] someone else raised Ranma" stories, with everyone from Elminster of the Literature/ForgottenRealms to WesternAnimation/BugsBunny taking Ranma off Genma's hands as a youngster and arriving with him, somewhat... differently trained, on the Tendos' doorstep years later. Many of these were loosely connected to the greater continuity of ''The Bet''-verse, and came from the minicommunity of fic writers around Gregg "Metroanime" Sharp.
** This last one is not specific to Ranma; several characters have been subject to this: {{Naruto}}, [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Shirou Emiya]], Franchise/HarryPotter, [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji Ikari]] -- basically anyone who had a messed up childhood that was still vague enough for some [[ForWantOfANail canon]] or [[{{Crossover}} crossover]] character to take notice and bring the kid under her/his/its/their wing. For example, ''FanFic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40K'' is basically "Shinji Ikari as raised by ''Warhammer 40,000''".

* And then we have other characters falling into the cursed pools, usually at the Spring of Drowned Girl. Victims don't necessarily have to be human males; ''FanFic/PoniesOneHalf'' has the Mane Six (and then the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Princess Luna) get cursed by the pool and HumanityEnsues.

* For a while during the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was a spate of "[[WhatIf what if]] someone else raised Ranma" stories, with everyone from Elminster of the ForgottenRealms to WesternAnimation/BugsBunny taking Ranma off Genma's hands as a youngster and arriving with him, somewhat... differently trained, on the Tendos' doorstep years later. Many of these were loosely connected to the greater continuity of ''The Bet''-verse, and came from the minicommunity of fic writers around Gregg "Metroanime" Sharp.

* Plenty of fanfic authors like to make Nodoka out as some kind of saintly mother with awesome skills, who generally takes Ranma off of Genma's hands after exacting some sort of Revenge on the heavily [[{{flanderisation}} Flanderized]] Genma.

* Plenty of fanfic authors like to make Nodoka out as some kind of saintly mother with awesome skills, who generally takes Ranma off of Genma's hands after exacting some sort of Revenge on the heavily [[Flanderized]] Genma.

* Plenty of fanfic authors like to make Nadoka out as some kind of saintly mother with awesome skills, who generally takes Ranma off of Genma's hands after exacting some sort of Revenge on the heavily [[Flanderized]] Genma.

* And then we have other characters falling into the cursed pools, usually at the Spring of Drowned Girl. Victims don't necessarily have to be human males; ''PoniesOneHalf'' has the Mane Six (and then the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Princess Luna) get cursed by the pool and HumanityEnsues.

* "Spring Of Drowned (Crossover Element)" or "Spring Of Drowned (Anything Else)", into which one of the canon cursed characters falls into (Ranma himself won't fall into one that is too disruptive to his abilities (like one that turns him into an animal) unless the author is going for something ''very'' funny or dramatic). It's not really that unusual for the "crossover element" curse to give Ranma some kind of superpowers (that Ranma may not want because he feels it is "cheating"... or abuses regularly to screw with his enemies... or he decides to use WithGreatResponsibility because it's his duty as a martial artist).

* Happosai deciding to perform revenge on Ranma because of him doing something like preventing him from feeling up a girl or [[DisproportionateRetribution just because he took the last cracker]]. While this is not an unusual plot in the canon series, fanfiction loves to escalate his retribution as far as attempted murder, rape, or even selling out to whoever is the BigBad of the story (or pointing him at Ranma), not giving a damn if his revenge on Ranma may possibly end up creating something like TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

* "Spring Of Drowned (Crossover Element)" or "Spring Of Drowned (Anything Else)", into which one of the canon cursed characters falls into (Ranma himself won't fall into one that is too disruptive to his abilities (like one that turns him into an animal) unless the author is going for something ''very'' funny or dramatic). It's not really that unusual for the "crossover element" to give Ranma some kind of superpowers.

* Happosai deciding to perform revenge on Ranma because of him doing something like preventing him from feeling up a girl or [[DisproportionateRetribution just because he took the last cracker]]. While this is not an unusual plot in the canon series, fanfiction loves to escalate his retribution as far as attempted murder, rape, or even selling out to (or pointing Ranma at) whoever is the BigBad of the story (even if it's an EldritchAbomination), no giving a damn if his revenge on Ranma may end up creating something like TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

* ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma ½]]'' fanfic is heavy on the GenderBender (other than of course Ranma himself) fanfics, as there's a canon way to do it. And while girl-Ranma getting pregnant isn't exactly MisterSeahorse, some fics will have him discover that yes, the pregnancy doesn't go away when he's male. (Most Pregnant!Ranma fanfics have him being trapped in female form instead.) And there's also a canon source for plenty of {{Animorphism}} fics.

* For a while during the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was a spate of "[[WhatIf what if]] someone else raised Ranma" stories, with everyone from Elminster of the ForgottenRealms to BugsBunny taking Ranma off Genma's hands as a youngster and arriving with him, somewhat... differently trained, on the Tendos' doorstep years later. Many of these were loosely connected to the greater continuity of ''The Bet''-verse, and came from the minicommunity of fic writers around Gregg "Metroanime" Sharp.

** This last one is not specific to Ranma; several characters have been subject to this: {{Naruto}}, [[FateStayNight Shirou Emiya]], Franchise/HarryPotter, [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji Ikari]] -- basically anyone who had a messed up childhood that was still vague enough for some [[ForWantOfANail canon]] or [[{{Crossover}} crossover]] character to take notice and bring the kid under her/his/its/their wing. For example, ''FanFic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40K'' is basically "Shinji Ikari as raised by ''Warhammer 40,000''".

* See also: [Fanon]

* Also, ''Ranma ½''/''SailorMoon'' crossovers where Ranma turns out to be a sailor senshi are so prevalent that they [[FukuFic have their own trope]].

** This last one is not specific to Ranma; several characters have been subject to this: {{Naruto}}, [[FateStayNight Shirou Emiya]], HarryPotter, [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji Ikari]] -- basically anyone who had a messed up childhood that was still vague enough for some [[ForWantOfANail canon]] or [[{{Crossover}} crossover]] character to take notice and bring the kid under her/his/its/their wing. For example, ''FanFic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40K'' is basically "Shinji Ikari as raised by ''Warhammer 40,000''".

** This last one is not specific to Ranma; several characters have been subject to this: {{Naruto}}, [[FateStayNight Shirou Emiya]], HarryPotter, [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji Ikari]] -- basically anyone who had a messed up childhood that was still vague enough for some [[ForWantOfANail canon]] or [[{{Crossover}} crossover]] character to take notice and bring the kid under her/his/its/their wing. For example, ''FanFic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40K'' is basically "Shinji Ikari as raised by ''Warhammer 40,000''".

* For a while during the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was a spate of "WhatIf someone else raised Ranma" stories, with everyone from Elminster of the ForgottenRealms to BugsBunny taking Ranma off Genma's hands as a youngster and arriving with him, somewhat... differently trained, on the Tendos' doorstep years later. Many of these were loosely connected to the greater continuity of ''The Bet''-verse, and came from the minicommunity of fic writers around Gregg "Metroanime" Sharp.

* For a while during the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was a spate of "what if someone else raised Ranma" stories, with everyone from Elminster of the ForgottenRealms to BugsBunny taking Ranma off Genma's hands as a youngster and arriving with him, somewhat... differently trained, on the Tendos' doorstep years later. Many of these were loosely connected to the greater continuity of ''The Bet''-verse, and came from the minicommunity of fic writers around Gregg "Metroanime" Sharp.

* One perennial favorite, usually showing up as a subplot in other fics, is a conflict between the Chinese Amazons and the Chinese Government in Beijing. Typically, it turns out that the Amazons have either been hiding from or holding off the government, which has been trying to conquer and integrate them into the nation properly, ever since the Revolution.

*** This last one is not specific to Ranma; several characters have been subject to this: {{Naruto}}, [[FateStayNight Shirou Emiya]], HarryPotter, [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji Ikari]] -- basically anyone who had a messed up childhood that was still vague enough for some [[ForWantOfANail canon]] or [[{{Crossover}} crossover]] character to take notice and bring the kid under her/his/its/their wing. For example, ''FanFic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40K'' is basically "Shinji Ikari as raised by ''Warhammer 40,000''".

** Another common plot is Ranma discovering that he is (or is becoming) gender dysphoric, his self-image shifting to that of a girl instead of a guy, or at least a "both/neither" state. Ranma getting stuck as a girl is the usual plot device to reach this conclusion.
** Also, ''Ranma ½''/''SailorMoon'' crossovers where Ranma turns out to be a sailor senshi are so prevalent that they [[FukuFic have their own trope]].
** "Split-Ranma" fics, wherein Ranma's male and female halves are separated into distinct individuals, but both with the same mind as the original and both locked permanently into their respective genders, were a dime a dozen in the late '90s. Some would explore the female Ranma's psychological anxieties; others would happily assume that she would gladly accept this situation and go off from there.
** For a while during the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was a spate of "what if someone else raised Ranma" stories, with everyone from Elminster of the ForgottenRealms to BugsBunny taking Ranma off Genma's hands as a youngster and arriving with him, somewhat... differently trained, on the Tendos' doorstep years later. Many of these were loosely connected to the greater continuity of ''The Bet''-verse, and came from the minicommunity of fic writers around Gregg "Metroanime" Sharp.

** Then there were the "Passion Spice" fics. Based on an influential early fic, these all adhered to the fanon that among Cologne's assorted magical doodads was a collection of magical spices and herbs with various psychoactive properties -- and the king of them all was the aphrodisiac "Passion Spice". Depending on the author these could range from simple farce to PornWithoutPlot {{Lemon}}s.

** Then there were the "Passion Spice" fics. Based on an influential early fic, these all adhered to the fanon that among Cologne's assorted magical doodads was a collection of magical spices and herbs with various psychoactive properties -- and the king of them all was the aphrodisiac "Passion Spice". Depending on the author these could range from simple farce to PornWithoutPlot{{Lemon}}s.

** Then there were the "Passion Spice" fics. Based on an influential early fic, these all adhered to the fanon that among Cologne's assorted magical doodads was a collection of magical spices and herbs with various psychoactive properties -- and the king of them all was the aphrodisiac "Passion Spice". Depending on the author these could range from simple farce to PlotWhatPlot {{Lemon}}s.