Let's play: guess the sexual orientation of the characters!

[Noy Telinú]

Being asexual must have its advantage to see this with less bias.

I think its the human thing to do to put things in groups and names. It kinda helps remember things.

Maybe I'm thinking too much about it.

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

Just a quick note: orientation is a vector, not a scalar. It has both a starting place (person A) and a destination (person B). It depends on how A sees hirself, on how A sees B, and what A wants out of the whole enterprise. The same is true of B looking at A, though it's one of the great human tragedies that love and lust are not always reciprocal.

We are sitting here as person C, trying to specify what is going on with persons A and B. We lack the knowledge to give more than an opinion. If we were to examine their bookcases for books, their mattresses for pornography, and sit down with a gender therapist to interview them, we could come closer.

When people examine themselves, often they cannot supply clear answers to these questions. Sex, no problem for most people. Affectional preference, often known, with occasional surprises. Gender, usually known, with occasional surprises. Presentation changes with time and the biases of the observer. As Bob Seger sang, back in the days when long hair on a hippie raised a fuss,

Most times you can't hear 'em talk,
Other times you can
All the same old cliches,
"Is that a woman or a man?"
And you always seem outnumbered,
You don't dare make a stand

And then you get the absolutists who insist that the chromosomes, or perhaps what the doctor saw when you were born, are the Only True Answer, all else is perversion. Which is just great, until you meet an XY woman with AIS (androgen insensitivity syndrome).

You simply aren't going to get a rock-solid answer to the question -- especially in manga or anime like Ranma 1/2, Cheeky Angel, Otoboku, or Futaba-kun Change. All you'll get is opinions, and some -- those of the protagonists -- even more biased than the observers.

[Noy Telinú]

Yeah I figured as much.

Fluid things are not easy to grasp apparently.

But... does this mean that Kasumi MIGHT be looking for mature ____ rather than a male one? O_o

[Crescent Pulsar S]

(Did I ever mention that I'm glad to be asexual? Yeah, I'm glad. )

There's plenty to assume about Kasumi. Since she doesn't ever show an interest in trying to hook up with anyone of any sex, there's not much in terms of evidence that could contradict whatever sexuality you give her in fan-fiction. We can reason that, "How old is he? Younger men bore me," to mean that she would prefer older men, but the gender would ultimately be an assumption since the most direct context was clearly more focused on the age. However, since the gender doesn't seem to be an issue, we could also reason that at the very least she may not be homosexual.

Then there's also a lot to assume about her preference concerning her personality, what she does, and how those things may be (stereo)typically translated to mean in her culture or other societies. She's usually seen as a motherly figure by and large, and those types are generally expected to be heterosexual.

Overall, though, I think her sexuality is fairly open for fan-fiction writers. Maybe if the series had placed more focus on her, we might have had a more definitive answer. Sadly, she probably wouldn't have had as much of a presence as she did if not for the fact that she lived in the same house as the main characters.

[Noy Telinú]

Ok, so getting it with a mature female Ranma is fine then?

[Crescent Pulsar S]

I don't see why not. But mature Ranma-anything is usually difficult to come by without plenty of background changes or enough time passage (and agreeable enough circumstances) to allow such maturation to occur.

Man, this reminds me that I haven't seen a decent Ranma and Kasumi pairing in a long time...

[Noy Telinú]

I'm doing it, on the first of the year! Hope its good!

I've been thinking... what is Asusa? she's 15 or so but acts much younger...

[Crescent Pulsar S]

What, her sexual preference? She seems like the precocious heterosexual type, but that could just be me. When she's not acting obsessive or spoiled, she appears to have a keener mind than her skating partner. When all's said and done, though, getting and maintaining a relationship with anyone would probably take a backseat to her quirks.

[uragaaru]

This is slightly off-topic, but I would like to throw in that the very very old fic, Lemonade by John Walter Biles covers some of this ground in a playful manner. I only just remembered because the mention of Azusa and I recalled a scene in the fic where she and Mikado have sex and Azusa ends up gaining near omniscience and a third eye.

Which, in some ways, is illustrative of how discussions of sex and sexuality in Ranma fanfics should play out if you wanted to be "true to the spirit" of the material.

[Noy Telinú]

O_o

Anyway... I thought that Asusa might be attracted to someone... cute...

[Spokavriel]

She would. But again cute is in the eye of the beholder. Think back on the pan around her room when she was saying good night to all her cute "pets".

[Noy Telinú]

Cargo ship?

Asusaxcutethings

[Zwzn]

Because, why not? O_o
Akane is bi in denial I guess. She is really, really, REALLY close to Ranma as a girl and is most romantic then. Not to mention the hate boys thing and that in the movie loves Ranma for how he is.

Evidence For:
Akane's reaction to Shampoo knocking down a wall and destroying the locker room she was in was to gush about how hot Shampoo was.

Akane does not consider it perverted for girls to see boys/men naked. This would imply that she has no physical attraction to males.

Akane's sisters stated Ranma being half girl was a plus. It wasn't simply a matter of Ranma chasing off unwanted attention.

The morning fights would never have happened if Akane had dated boys like her sisters do.

Akane could have ended the morning fights by letting the boy of her choice win.

Akane seemingly checks out every cute girl she sees rather closely for no real reason.

Evidence Against
Akane has a crush on Dr. Tofu.

Conlusion
Akane is strongly attracted to girls/woman.

Akane is weakly attracted to feminine looking men, or merely trying to act out social norms.

[Noy Telinú]

That is proof for Bi leaning towards girls in denial, or mature men.

Oh yeah, and she's also obsessed with Ranma's breasts. ^_^

[LawOhki]

Evidence For:
Akane's reaction to Shampoo knocking down a wall and destroying the locker room she was in was to gush about how hot Shampoo was.

Akane does not consider it perverted for girls to see boys/men naked. This would imply that she has no physical attraction to males.

Akane's sisters stated Ranma being half girl was a plus. It wasn't simply a matter of Ranma chasing off unwanted attention.

The morning fights would never have happened if Akane had dated boys like her sisters do.

Akane could have ended the morning fights by letting the boy of her choice win.

Akane seemingly checks out every cute girl she sees rather closely for no real reason.

Evidence Against
Akane has a crush on Dr. Tofu.

Conlusion
Akane is strongly attracted to girls/woman.

Akane is weakly attracted to feminine looking men, or merely trying to act out social norms.

This right here, this is how you do a sarcastic post.