Ranma trains with Akane - AKA: Another fanon trope is wrong.

[Pata Hikari]

Seeing this random panel in a short basically unimportant chapter made me think about Ranma fanfic tropes again.

Namely, after the chapter’s start of Ranma having a rather unpleasant dream the story cuts to Ranma explaining the dream to Akane. Notable, Takahashi decides to have them doing something else rather then just standing in a void. They’re training. Together.

You see, it’s a common fanfic trope that despite both being martial artists in terms of practice Ranma and Akane lead basically separate lives. With Akane often training straight up by herself. Heck, I’ve used this trope, and I will live with the shame over it.
This trope is, unlike a lot of Ranma fanon tropes, most often used in Ranma/Akane fanfics, usually part of Ranma’s Arc in the story being to learn to Respect Akane as A Martial Artist.

However, this single panel kind of shows the major hole in said trope. How so?

Well a common element of Takahashi’s storytelling is to have some weirdness start, then cut to the characters being focused on this chapter during their daily lives just before it gets interrupted by said weirdness. One can assume that most of the characters days are pretty normal, with the weirdness popping up occasionally over the vague timeframe the story takes place in to make things more complicated.

Since this chapter shows Ranma and Akane practicing together, just to give a more interesting visual as we cut to Akane getting told about the latest weirdness to infect Ranma’s life. This isn’t called out as something unusual so, presumably, that means that Ranma and Akane training together isn’t a big deal.

And honestly, this just makes more sense if you think about it. Here we have two people who like each other, enjoy each other’s company, and have a major shared passion in their life. Why wouldn’t Ranma and Akane train together?
So why isn’t it shown more often? Because Martial Arts training is boring to watch. It’s a lot of repetitive practice and upkeep. There’s a reason the only times Takahashi showed characters training for more than a panel or page it was some weird technique or style.

Ryoga toughening himself by practicing punching rocks? Boring. Ryoga toughening himself up by being tied up and slammed into a boulder until he learns how to shatter said boulder with just a finger? Entertaining.

So where did this fanon come from? Since I can’t explore the entirety of Ranma ½ fandom history I can only make guesses, so here’s mine:

Basically it comes down to a lot of fans assuming that if something isn’t directly mentioned repeatedly it probably doesn’t happen very often. Ranma and Akane aren’t shown training period very often, because it’s very rarely the focus of the story. Ranma’s shown having to learn new techniques in some arcs, so people assume he trains, but Akane’s never really shown to have any major leaps like that so a lot of people assume improvement and serious training never happens. (Though that’s a rant for another time.)

Then you add in fanon hammering in actions where everybody keeps using the same traits and actions and tropes over because other people used them so they must be right and you have “Ranma and Akane never train together” even though this is the exact opposite of how Takahashi intended this part of their relationship to be!

Also I checked and the anime adaptation of this episode had Ranma explain the dream in a completely different context not involving them training together at all. The bad anime altering character traits and relationships for the worse strikes again!

[Cheb]

That's an eye-opening discovery!
I never thought about this.
You are right about the anime. It's only good thanks to Megumi Hayashibara's voice.

I still stand by my interpretation that Ranma never spars with Akane seriously (remember that one frame with him sitting on her back while she is flailing inefficiently?) because he is mindful of Souun's reaction and resorts to the better part of valor.

[Pata Hikari]

Why would Ranma be afraid of Soun's reaction? Soun is not actually some super overprotective father. That's another fanon tropes.

[Spica75]

What i recall is some strong hints that they train together SEPARATELY. Due to using their own branches of the "anything goes" that would make sense as well. Which makes it very hard to say, and can pretty much be used as good enough reason to suggest either.
I vaguely recall there being a scene later on that suggests Akane being annoyed at him for not taking her seriously, again, that could be the reason for considering it canon, but it too could be interpreted either way, but i don't recall it well enough.

I'm probably going to have to read ALL of it sooner or later...

[Pata Hikari]

What i recall is some strong hints that they train together SEPARATELY. Due to using their own branches of the "anything goes" that would make sense as well. Which makes it very hard to say, and can pretty much be used as good enough reason to suggest either.

Since the entire "Different branches" thing is in and of itself fanon that's not exactly a strong hint.

The Tendo Dojo sign shown at the start of the series, for instance, simply declares it's the Tendo Family dojo and they practice "Anything Goes."

Ranma, once tells Kuno he's in the "Saotome school of Anything Goes" but none of the other practitioners (Genma, Soun, Akane) ever make any declarations on that fact. Nor does Happosai ever mention anything like that. More likely Ranma's throwing that in to make it sound more impressive, the context is him acting all tough.

I vaguely recall there being a scene later on that suggests Akane being annoyed at him for not taking her seriously, again, that could be the reason for considering it canon, but it too could be interpreted either way, but i don't recall it well enough.

I'm fairly sure you're recalling wrong because Akane's general reaction to Ranma's ability is being impressed and having general(at the beginning slightly grudging) respect.

[Drawde]

There's several reasons why people think Akane never practices.

I think the biggest one is the anime. Nabiki teased Akane about just practicing to stay in shape in one of the OVAs. And for a long time the English manga was never finished, so many authors were stuck with the anime version.

Another is that the as more potential people to be shipped with a character increases, the more likely it is you'll see a story needing to break an actual pairing apart to ship the story's chosen pair. If someone wants to pair anyone else with Ranma, you have to come up with a way to break him and Akane up. So STATISTICALLY you'll see a lot of stories that have to get rid of Akane somehow. And people either forget the exact facts of canon or never read it at all, and get involved with more stories.

And finally there's the people who just hate Akane and are incapable of accepting anything good about her. They refuse to acknowledge her good points and twist them around if they can't ignore them. So the fact that Ranma just a very short while before tried to seduce Akane into giving up the dogi during that story arc and she was about to get rid of the dogi until this fact was revealed, and thus she has a valid reason to be angry at him, is ignored and the final fight is all because she's on a power trip.

Then it all gets mixed up over time.

[Spica75]

Since the entire "Different branches" thing is in and of itself fanon that's not exactly a strong hint.

Look at the times we are shown either of them training or fighting, it's about as alike as day and night.

Ranma nearly always defaults to a very mixed, blended style. Akane nearly always defaults to a much more direct offensive "hard" style. This is shown in both manga and anime, if it wasn't intentional, it sure spent a lot of effort making it look like it.
That's why it would be extremely strange if both of them are supposed to be using the exact same art.

The Tendo Dojo sign shown at the start of the series, for instance, simply declares it's the Tendo Family dojo and they practice "Anything Goes."

That doesn't say anything however, as it would be quite normal to use a sign like that even if it is their family version of it.
And that it declares it to be the family dojo, actually makes it more likely than not, as it is assumed that if it is a family dojo, then practised there is the family version of whatever their style is.

I'm fairly sure you're recalling wrong because Akane's general reaction to Ranma's ability is being impressed and having general(at the beginning slightly grudging) respect.

No, it's just not clearcut. But never mind, i would have to find the scene again to show what i mean.

[Pata Hikari]

Look at the times we are shown either of them training or fighting, it's about as alike as day and night.

Ranma nearly always defaults to a very mixed, blended style. Akane nearly always defaults to a much more direct offensive "hard" style. This is shown in both manga and anime, if it wasn't intentional, it sure spent a lot of effort making it look like it.
That's why it would be extremely strange if both of them are supposed to be using the exact same art.

No this is not the case. You're falling into fanon that all Akane does is Attack and Attack. Ranma and Akane's ways of fighting are general pretty similar, Ranma's just better at it than her. Frankly, Ranma 1/2 isn't a serious enough comic to actually put much thought into fighting styles beyond the absurd joke martial arts that pepper the series. Both Ranma and Akane, being "generic" fighters aren't going to do anything more wild then punches or kicks, frankly Akane shows more variety in her fighting style a lot of the time to her displays of skill with weaponry like swords and bows.

If Ranma's does gain any major divergences in fighting like Akane does comes from him learning techniques that aren't in Anything Goes

But this is beside the point, the fact is that Ranma and Akane practice martial arts together in Ranma 1/2, contrary to what the vast majority of Ranma 1/2 fanfiction says.

[Cheb]

Practice as in daily exercises or as in sparring?

The former is not surprising, they have limited space to do that ans similar day schedules.
The latter is... The only Instance I do remember is of smug Ranma sitting on the back of a flailing Akane.

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

If Ranma's does gain any major divergences in fighting like Akane does comes from him learning techniques that aren't in Anything Goes

All techniques are in Anything Goes. It says so on the label.

[Pata Hikari]

Practice as in daily exercises or as in sparring?

The former is not surprising, they have limited space to do that ans similar day schedules.
The latter is... The only Instance I do remember is of smug Ranma sitting on the back of a flailing Akane.

There's literally no reason to assume they're separate.

And that's pretty much how a fight between Ranma and Akane will always end.

All techniques are in Anything Goes. It says so on the label.

"Anything Goes" is a loose, comedy focused translation of "Musabetsu Kakutō" which more directly translated as "Indiscriminate Grappling." Which does not have the quite the same connotations as "Anything Goes." So no, no it is not "all techniques"

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

Pata Hikari said:

If Ranma's does gain any major divergences in fighting like Akane does comes from him learning techniques that aren't in Anything Goes

I said:

All techniques are in Anything Goes. It says so on the label.

Pata Hikari then replied:

"Anything Goes" is a loose, comedy focused translation of "Musabetsu Kakutō" which more directly translated as "Indiscriminate Grappling." Which does not have the quite the same connotations as "Anything Goes." So no, no it is not "all techniques"

I claim bait-and-switch. Pata Hikari said "Anything Goes", then argued I was wrong because it actually was "Indiscriminate Grappling".

When it comes to physical combat, grappling is closer to wrestling. In its more formal aspects, it does not involve hitting or kicking. When you add them in, it becomes much more like pankration, the ancient Greek Olympic sport, which can accurately be described as "anything goes". There were few rules in pankration: it was bare-handed, and you weren't allowed to bite your opponent nor gouge his eyes out. That's it.

And "indiscriminate" kinda-sorta means "I'm not fussy about the details". That, too, sounds like "anything goes".

As an example, I will consider The Fight -- the first one, on Ranma's first day at Furinkan. In both manga and anime, Akane does a fair amount of punching and kicking. In the anime, she adds in some wrestling - that's easier to show in animation than in panels. But in a mob fight like that, Akane would be foolish to wrestle much; that would mean spending her attention on one opponent while there were others left.

I don't know Japanese. I can't speak for the text. But the images show there's more than grappling going on - much more. In lieu of a proper translator, I argue that "Anything Goes" is a better description of what's happening in the images than "Indiscriminate Grappling" is.

[Pata Hikari]

It's the name of a fighting style, not some kind of all absorbing philosophy. It's a joke, a martial arts style basically being named "Dirty fighting"

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

Dirty fighting, Mixed Martial Arts, pankration, brawling - they all are pretty much "Anything Goes". I'm not going to argue translations (well, maybe in French). Look at the pictures!

[Pata Hikari]

But they're not "Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu" the fictional martial arts school that exists in Ranma 1/2.