Recommended Reading

 

 

Since, for some inexplicable reason, many Ranma fanfic readers determine their interest by who is paired up with whom by the end, that is how I've sorted my recommendations.  Alphabetical by fiancee.  I'll try to include only completed fanfictions, since there are so few of them out there.

 

Ranma - Akane

Good Ranma/Akane fanfiction is among the rarest on the net.  The couple is not only the default, but incredibly hard to write well and their problems are difficult to solve in an entertaining manner.  So many people write this couple, that the amount of bad far outweighs the good. However:

 

Ranma's Apartment - Ranma moves out of Nerima to get away from everything and everybody.  He winds up interacting with the cast of Ah! Megami-sama and the results are both funny and touching.(Incomplete)

 

Dr. Strangelouvre: Completely psychotic and absolutely enthralling.  It's like the author of Fight Club writing Ranma fanfiction.  For me, the high Kodachi quotient is just an additional plus to an already excellent fic.

 

Ill Met by Starlight – A story which takes Ranma's determination and drive to be the best and turns it into a bad thing.  What if Ranma was... evil?  This story explores the idea of the bad guy with a thoroughness you wouldn't expect at first, examining multiple aspects of this evil Ranma's personality.  It invokes new characters to bring about rivalry and conflict, which I've never been a big fan of, but it does everything so well (particuarly the scenes with Nabiki) that I simply cannot fault the fic.

 

Every Attack – Waffy, which I don’t really care for, but very inspiring to me and how I handle the martial arts in the series and complementary styles.

 

The Bitter End - The Bitter End would fall better under the heading "Required Reading".  It is the ultimate fanfic, and accomplished the unthinkable upon its original release.  It redefined a character.  The Bitter End, by Zen, created the current incarnation of Akane.  That of Akane the Rage-addicted psychotic abusive spouse.  This fic is so damn plausible, given the events of the manga, that it's truly frightening.  Awe-inspiring in scope and vision, with character arcs of incomparable ingenuity and unspeakably subtle power.  It stands alone among Fanfiction as one of the finest ever composed.  This is why I read fanfics, because the good ones are better than most of the books written nowadays.

 

Ranma - Kasumi

It's tough to pick only a few, actually.For some reason, Ranma/Kasumi matchup fics tend to be among the best written, period.Ranging from the note-perfect tales of Kasumi and Spice and Everything Nice to the angst-riddled, poignant, and consequence driven The Setting Moon. For now, these will be my selections, but if you visit the Church of Ranma and Kasumi, four out of five of the fics there will be excellent selections. (Note: There is a second Church of Ranma and Kasumi that has different fics on it.)

 

Kasumi and Spice and Everything Nice - Shampoo accidentally misplaces a "Fall in Love Salt" in the Tendo kitchen.After Kasumi tries some out of curiosity, things get interesting.  This is part one of a trilogy entitled "Love and Marriage: The More Dangerous Path" and is one of the most delicate handlings of the Ranma/Kasumi pairing that I've seen.  The two are very often thrown together a little too rapidly (look at "Aijou & Aitou") and with little thought given to how Akane would react to such a matchup.  This fic isn't like that.

 

The Setting Moon - Ranma makes his decision and now has to face up to his remaining fiancees.  Incredibly subtle, yet undeniably powerful and truly, truly moving.

 

Special Delivery – Bar none, the finest example of Ranma/Kasumi fanfiction on the internet.

 

 

Ranma - Kodachi

IF you can find fics with this pairing, they're worth reading (even the despicably gory Paint it Black is a must for its imagery and well-written battle sequences).  It seems like the only people who put them together are the ones who seriously enjoy both characters and love to write them.  I honestly have trouble deciding on the best among them, as many of them are absolutely stunning in both execution and tone.

 

Loveletters from the Edge - Sprawling fic that takes a simple change in Ranma's youth and carves out an alternate universe of startling complexity and power without introducing random new characters to further the plot, like many AU stories do.

 

Kodachi's Gamble - The entire premise of the fic is gettting Kodachi and Ranma together, and it does so in a relatively brief period of time.  Somehow, though, it works, and the scenes with Ranma and Kodachi have shining examples of honesty and compassion that really resonate.

 

Roses of Shadow – What if Ranma lost the Rhythmic Gymnastics challenge?  This fic holds distinction, and well it should, for creating one of the longest-lasting interpretatiosn of Kodachi Kuno.  Kodachi is actually not all that major of a player in the Ranmaverse, appearing in only about a dozen storyarcs, and having a major role in half that many.  But the idea of her actually being clinically, treatably insane is something that is now taken for granted but, in my opinion, has little actually basis in the manga outside of a creepy line during the Mushroom story and one or two actions that could be considered "eccentric" at worst.

 

Ranma - Nabiki

Another pair that's incredibly difficult to write well.  I find it easy to simply link you over to the Church of Ranma and Nabiki which is not only still updated fairly regularly, but also perhaps the single most thorough archive I've ever seen of any anime relationship..

 

Fifth Fiancee - By Jim Robert Bader.  A rather simple and entertaining tale wherein Nabiki and Ranma get trapped together for a little while.

 

For Love or Money- By Donny Cheng.  Nabiki decides to be engaged to Ranma again for fun and profit.  There are two followup pieces of amazing power as well.

 

One Simple Wish – I love it when a plan comes together in exactly the wrong way.Overdramatizes at points and beats you over the head with the outcome at others, but a good read.

 

Waking Up – The author doesn’t seem to like this fic, but it’s very well done and other than some of Ranma’s internal dialogue doesn’t feel forced at all.  Good to read, makes you feel warm and fuzzy..

 

Older - What if the Tendo sisters were, say, twice as old as canon when Ranma first arrived, but Ranma was the same age?

 

Ranma - Shampoo

Difficult pairing to pull off well, due to not only the troubles inherent to the couple (fear of cats, Amazon politics) but also due to the necessity to somehow overpower both Akane and Ukyo's presence before the end of the story.

 

Ranma and Shampoo- By Donny Cheng.  An excellent examination of what makes Shampoo and Ranma tick as individuals and what they have in common that would suit them well to each other.

 

A Cold Wind Blows - By Andrew Lemly.  This fic falls into one of those "Remove the other girls" styles of fanfiction, but it's still an excellently written piece of prose and has an interesting take on Akane's motivations as well.

 

Shampoo 1/2 - An extensive alternate universe. A little nuts, but lots of fun.

 

Ranma - Ukyo

The secondary pairing of many fics, happens alot when the author doesn't like Ranma, doesn't like Akane, or is just a big fan of the Akane/Ryoga matchup.

 

Onion Tears - Tragic in many ways, but beautifully written.  The fic focuses primarily on Konatsu, and is astounding.

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

 

Emptiness and Renewal - Why is Ukyo such a damned tragic figure? Seriously.  Fic seems to take place in a reality just to the left of the many many many where Ukyo kills herself after being rejected by Ranma.

 

Stellarcraft – Suffers a little bit from the “All of a sudden they fell in love” syndrome at the beginning, but an interesting story nonetheless.  Massive in scope.

 

Darkness and Light – Again with the creepy, yeesh!

 

I like Ucchan – I really didn’t want to link to, well, every fic Donny Cheng wrote, but I kind of have no choice.  They’re just damn good in my opinion.

 

Ranma – Other (or no matchup)

These are fics that don't pair Ranma with one of the standard girls from the series.  They could include anybody from within the series or from others as well, or there might be no matchup, or everyone in Nerima might die, anything’s possible.

 

Ryoko Saotome - Pairs Ranma up with Ryoko from the Tenchi series in a fic that manages to not only get the proper tone for both characters, but both series as well.  Bravo.

 

For Better or Worse - Asuza is transferred to Furinkan so the school can win at martial arts figure skating.  She's paired up with Ranma of course.  (Not technically a matchup, but comes incredibly close.)

 

Ordinary - By Donny Cheng.  Simply stunning.  We sometimes never consider the characters that are shunted into the background of any given Anime world.  How they must consider the fantastical happenings that surround them and are so far above them as to be entirley unreachable.

 

Finishing What You Start - Ranma, who is actually a demon sent out to help overrun the world, meets up with Setsuna, who is Sailor Pluto, in a fic that is gut-wrenchingly powerful in all the right ways.  There are others at the Church of Time and Chaos (which is dedicated to the pairing) but they're mostly unfinished.  This one is done, and done very, very well.

 

Mirrors Multiplied - One of the last true epics, a fic in which, due to one stupid wish, Ranma has lived countless hundreds of lives just trying to get back to his original timeline.  I'm not usually a fan of the "one character is a God" kind of fics, but this one makes it work for a while.  It's truly excellent up through the Macross crossover, but then it collapses under the weight of its Author's hatred for Genma, Ryoga, and Akane. Also, the musical numbers get old after a while.(Unfinished).

 

Much Ado about Ranma – Just tons of fun really, and Ranma winds up with all the girls, which should make some people happy at least. (incomplete, sadly)

 

Youma 1/2 - Ranma/Ami Mizuno pairing.  After everyone else in the cast dies, Ranma goes to Juuban.  Sounds cliche, but it's not.

Black Roses – Kodachi is a character that varies wildly from fanfic to fanfic, and Black Roses is an excellent look at one interpretation of her character.

The Bet: Young at Heart – I won’t explain here just what “The Bet” was.  Suffice to say there were a lot of alternate universes created and explored.  This was one of my favorites, even though it wasn’t continued.

 

The Things We Wish For - There's a greatness to this story that can be easily overlooked if you become distracted by the new character.  You merely have to realize that the story is not about Kachiko.  It is about the three Tendo daughters, Akane in particular.  The flashback sequences, particularly those that Nabiki has, are absolutely heartwrenching in what they demonstrate, and Kasumi's actions show exactly how a kind and gentle person would react if their world suffered an upheaval.  Another caveat is that you'll need an excessively large vocabulary to comprehend certain facets of the story.  Be prepared.

 

 

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