Brendan wrote:
Indeed, how can Ranma and Akane get split up without resorting to
death or character distortion. I assume Love potions and such are
considered extreme cheating of course. And so would the more subtle
alternate history storyies. Hmm. The Burakimin concept has beendone in a
few ficts, I'm not convinced that it would be enough to make Akane break up
with Ranma, but it's a possibility. Well conceivably if the honor or
continued survival of the Tendo and or Saotome families were at stake and
every attempt to find an alternative to marrage failed. Didn't the Ranma
who married Ukyo in Converging series marry her to protect the Tendo's?
Still as to a way of having Ranma and Akane break up of their own free
will... Maybe if Ranma became convinced that he was destined to live a
chaotic life full of suffering he might break up with her to try and
protect her, but then he'd go off alone to protect everyone. Besides as
Ranma said in the episode where Happosei was dying, he beleives that people
make their own destiny, which combined with his stobornness would make him
fight whatever fate had in store for him for the rest of his life. I
honestly can't think of any trick to break Ranma and Akane up. Takahashi's
put them through too much for there to be any simple way to split them up.
Oh, I don't know. Remember Princess Diana and Prince Charles? Once
upon a time they were the perfect storybook couple. Go a few years down
the line, and they were getting a divorce. People fall out of love all
the time, it's sad but it's true.
The real killer is the time factor. It would be easy to just set a
story ten years down the road, and have the first line be "Ranma and
Akane got a divorce." (Challenge anyone?) Most people want to play
with the series Ranma, though, who is in love with Akane. Doing a fast
about-face on that _is_ very difficult.
Look at how Zen did it in "Long and Winding Road." While Akane did act
like a maniac at the beginning of that, Zen made it clear later that
Ranma just happened on her at exactly the wrong moment in an extremely
bad day.
The catch is that Zen put a year between the end of the anime and the
beginning of this story. We're just supposed to assume that Ranma and
Akane "fell out of love" in that missing year. It would be possible, I
suppose, to write a long fic about Ranma and Akane's slowly
self-destructing relationship, but it certainly isn't something I'd ever
want to write, and probably not something I would ever want to read.
(Bitter End doesn't count for this purpose. That's "maniac Akane".)
All that aside, one of the biggest break-up tools I've seen used is
pride. In a moment of anger, Akane breaks off the engagement and really
means it, or Ranma storms angrilly out of the Tendo house, vowing never
to return. In that scenario, they do still love each other, but neither
can bring themselves to take the necessary step to rebuilding what was
broken.
One tool I haven't seen used a lot is "true love". Are Akane and Ranma
each other's true love? Think a bit before you answer. I'm not sure
their relationship really qualifies in the traditional anime sense.
They fell in love, yes, but there was always an element of uncertainty,
a feeling their love could fall apart at any moment. They just don't
seem destined for each other in precisely the same way other famous
anime relationships are. (Note: Kinghts of the True Fiancee don't flame
me. This is in pursuit of a story idea.)
Suppose Ranma or Akane's "True Love" did show up one day? Someone new
that they immediately felt they were destined for. It would be a new
variation on the old break-up theme, I think.
I suppose the final break-up idea would be the "shock to the system"
approach. One or the other has an experience so utterly life-altering,
that they can no longer really relate to the other anymore. I confess,
my ideas on this one are somewhat vague.
Anyone else have an story ideas/ suggestions?