Ranma's most likely reaction to Akane dying

[FriendlyEL]

Something I've commonly heard about was the idea that Ranma is the most likely to hold a grudge if someone died. In everyone's opinion, exactly what is Ranma's most likely reaction if he once discovered that Akane was killed?

Consider some of the possibilities:

An every day villain kidnaps Akane and possibly kills her to rile Ranma.

In a fight between a rival, Akane is an innocent bystander.

One of the fiancees kill her and then tells Ranma about it. I think if they do in fact tell her about how great it is that she's out of the way and now they have romantic time alone, he could be particularly furious here.

Any thoughts on his possible reactions?

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Tricky question... in the first and possibly third examples, it seems likely that Ranma might be willing to murder in revenge for her death- he's definately likely to be that way for a villain, but he might settle for simply beating a fiancee unconscious and declaring his undying hatred for them. With the second example, he might declare a vendetta against the rival, or he might be devastated so badly that he's willing to renounce the arts that cost him the girl he was in love with (leaving the topic of whether or not he actually was in love with her- he believes himself to be, so that will suffice for now).

[mondu_the_fat]

I find Fire's Vengeance and a Half to be pretty accurate portrayal of how Ranma would react -- if, somehow, he thought there was something he could have done or do, he'll do it. In the case of that story, vengeance.

[Dumbledork]

As Ranma is Japanese and as honor is very important to him, it would be his duty to avenge Akane's death.

[Vilkath]

Well I think it is important to question when in the series this would happen. Obviously Ranma cares about any innocent bystander, whole defending the weak motto he lives by, but how far he would go or do would depend on how close Ranma and Akane were at the time. Early part of the series vs After the failed wedding and safron are huge differences in what Ranma's reactions might be.

He already killed post wedding, so I imagine he be more likely to kill again if push comes to shove. Especialy if he feels Akane would never been in so much danger to begin with if he had been serious from the start.

As for if an enemy kidnaped Akane, I would imagine Ranma act pretty much like he did in canon, go rescue her. If the enemy actualy killed, maimed or other wise hurt Akane permently I could see Ranma unleashing a little bit on the enemy, especialy if it's post Safron.

As for the killed as a bystander question I think it really comes down to, Did Ranma start this fight? Could he of stopped it earlier, as in a Ryoga fight he let drag on or was it a Herb type fight where he was barely holding on to begin with? Was it Ranma's attack that killed her, or the enemy? Did he try to stop it and fail or not even notice till the end the fight? Did he tell her to leave and she stayed on her own, quoting usual crap about being a martial artist too? Was the attack ment to kill her, like the enemy targets Akane in the middle the fight, or just a stray blast?

The bystander question is pretty loaded with tons of questions to be asked first. I imagine in almost any case though Ranma might hit some depression about his abilities, and possibly reject fighting because it puts his friend and family in danger. Another option might be Ranma turns more ruthless, and while he might not start fights he will end them quickly and permently as possible. If the enemies use lethal force, so will he etc all to prevent it from happening again.

As for the last option of a fiance killing Akane, or any girl really to prove their love I would imagine Ranma be repulsed by the girl first off. Then really start to question his life. He can't marry the girls, even if he wanted to, if a girl was willing to kill a fiance to get what she wanted it wouldn't take much imagination to imagine what they might do to Ranma's wife or kids to make him available. Ranma might go hard core in this case, stop playing around with the girls and lay down some rules and be willing to enforce them to what ever degree is necessary. But more likely then not this kind of event would be the start of Ranma runs away fic.

[stratagemini]

I'd like to point out that Ranma never says it's a martial artist's duty to defend the weak. Genma does, in attempts to manipulate Ranma. It's more likely that Ranma tries to do what's right and help people out in need because his fat father won't rather than "It's a martial artist's duty to protect the weak" being a credo he lives by. It's the difference between Occasional charity versus a life devoted to service.

That said, Ranma would probably have the same reactions as anyone would to death. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. As demonstrated in the Saffron Arc. Ranma at first denied that she was dead, then roared in anger and tried to kill Saffron. then bargained with the whole "I never got to tell you I love you" thing. with depression in there a bit. There was no need for acceptance cause Akane came back to life there.

A villain killing Akane, well Ranma would pretty much act as he did in Saffron's arc.

With Akane as an innocent bystander there'd probably be more denial and less rage as Ranma realizes that it's not really anyone's fault other than chance. The bargaining would probably set in in terms of trying to make sure it never happened again. That scenario is interesting not because of how Ranma would react, but because of how everyone ELSE would react. The Tendos, Genma, and a lot of the Rivals would immediately start trying to kill Ranma whether it was truly his fault or his attack that killed her or not.

If a Fiancee killed her you'd probably get the same reaction as a villain, but I want to stress that the only one that MIGHT do this is Kodachi, and even then it's really unlikely.

What would be more interesting is if Akane died from the same disease the killed her mom, having it as a genetic predisposition to it. That'd affect Ranma profoundly as there would be nothing he could do about it, and either Genma/Nodoka might call off the engagement with the tendos entirely, or force Ranma with a different Tendo. The Fiancees might actually gloat in that situation, and the anger from grief might come out uncontrollably and Ranma might in the heat of the moment injure one of them, leading to even more complications.

[antimatterenergy]

Ranma does say it is a martial artists duty to protect the weak. He says it during the story arc in which Principal Kuno steals the tests.

http://ranmahentai.ranma.ws/RanmaManga/ ... 27-173.gif

I don't feel like commenting on the rest at this time.

[Ezvir]

Ranma does say it is a martial artists duty to protect the weak. He says it during the story arc in which Principal Kuno steals the tests.

http://ranmahentai.ranma.ws/RanmaManga/ ... 27-173.gif

Actually he says nothing of the sort, at least not in this scene, it's just the "translation" taking liberties.

この闘いは校長の横暴に対する正義の怒り！
それだけだ！！　　　　
This fight is [an expression of our/my] righteous wrath against the tyranny of the principal!
Nothing else!!

No mention of martial artists, duty, the weak or protection.
[he does say that martial artists have no interest in test scores, but that's neither here nor there]

I don't feel like commenting on the rest at this time.

Neither do I.