Fanon vs Canon

Fanon

VS

Canon

Canon - In the context of a fictional universe, the canon comprises those novels, stories, films, et cetera, that are considered to be genuine or officially sanctioned, and those events, characters, settings, et cetera, that are considered to have existence within the fictional universe. In this case the manga. Fanon - Means the same thing as canon but uses fan theories/fan fiction as the the source material. Fan fiction - Is fiction written by fans that uses characters, events, settings, etc., of an established work. In this case Ranma ½. Since there are so many different fan fics you may or may not have encountered the ones I have pointed out.

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1. Ranma shortly after meeting new people will tell them his entire life story.

1. In the manga, Ranma is a secretive person and has not told his life story to anyone. Ranma rarely tells anyone anything about himself if he can avoid doing so. Akane the person he talks to and hangs around the most doesn't even know very much about him (and has complained about him not telling her things in the manga). The vast majority of the things we know of Ranma's time before coming to the Tendo dojo is from what other people have told us, Genma, Ukyo, Ryoga, etc., not Ranma. The majority of his life is unknown even to the readers.
1. Ranma in fan fiction tells people about his fiancée problems.
   1. In the manga he doesn't even tell his fiancée's about each other. Ukyo didn't know about Shampoo and Shampoo didn't know about Ukyo until 7 Volumes of the manga after Ukyo's introduction (Ukyo introduced Volume 9 meets Shampoo for first time Volume 16). So telling complete strangers seems very unlikely to me.
2. Ranma boasts about battles he fought in the past.
   1. He does have an ego and has said things like "I, Ranma Saotome, have never lost ANY martial arts ANYTHING contest!" and that using a technique on him multiple times is pointless but he has never boasted about fights he had in the past. He has not even talked about any of his past fights.
3. Ranma tells people about his curse shortly after meeting them.
   1. Admittedly this is not overly out of character, but he doesn't tell people about his curse preferring that they don't know (though he will on occasion show but not explain it). For instance he did not tell Ukyo about his curse (she found out later and Akane explained it), Genma told the Tendo's, did not tell Densuke or Yohyo (even commented that he wasn't going to hoping they didn't know). Most people find out about the curse from viewing it when it is accidentally revealed, though he also generally doesn't make much effort to hide it. Even after people find out about his curse he doesn't tell them anything about it, letting them draw their own conclusions.
4. Ranma tells people about his fear of cats.
   1. That is something he does not do. He actively tried to hide his fear of cats and is not going to tell anyone about it, if he can avoid doing so. Ranma telling people about a perceived weakness or admitting he has a weakness of any sort is out of character.
5. Ranma hates weapons and will never use them.
   1. This is untrue. Ranma uses weapons many times in the manga and is extremely good at using them when he does.
6. Cologne does not respect Ranma and sees him as a worthless male good only for breeding.
   1. Cologne does respect Ranma as shown by her being impressed with how fast he was able to learn the Hiryu Shoten Ha, the fact that he put up the best fight she's had in over 50 years, was able to sneak up on her during her first appearance, her saying things like if I were only younger you'd make a good husband to Ranma, and she uses -dono honorific when talking to Ranma which signifies that she highly respects Ranma.
7. The Musk acquire mates by throwing animals in to Jusenkyo; specifically the Nyannichuan.
   1. The Musk did so in the past but no longer do this.
8. Ranma's mother's house is the Saotome ancestral home.
   1. During the Ryu Kumon story arc Ranma's mom says "The poor tenement house where we lived long ago was torn down, so I started over here... You don't remember, do you." to Ryu Kumon when she though he was Ranma. Though many fics seem to put it in Azabu-Juuban, it's exact location is never given.
9. Akane's cooking is so bad it can create life forms or be classified as toxic waste.
   1. This is untrue. Akane's cooking is bad but no where near the level of toxic waste and does see improvement in the manga. She did make fully edible curry just prior to the Orachi story arc.
10. Since Akane hates boys she's a lesbian.
    1. Akane did have a crush on Dr. Tofu so she's not a lesbian. The reason she said she hated boys was because she was having problems with males at her school. It is possible that she maybe bi-sexual but there is no proof.
11. Akane always attacks with a mallet.
    1. Akane rarely attacks with a mallet and usually attacks with her fists or whatever is near by.
12. Akane is the only person to use a mallet.
    1. Both Kodachi and Ranma have used mallets on a few occasions (others did so as well).
13. All Mousse needs to do to marry Shampoo is defeat her.
    1. Though the manga doesn't explicitly say this is untrue and it may help his chances, since Shampoo seems to like strong men, this doesn't make sense. The marriage laws appear to have been made to bring new blood into the tribe, since Mousse is a tribe member his marrying Shampoo will not bring in new blood.
14. Shampoo secretly loves Mousse but can't or won't show it.
    1. When it looked like Mousse was dying Shampoo was more interested in watching Television then helping Mousse.
15. Nabiki is incredibly smart and plans everything through.
    1. Nabiki is opportunistic and thinks only of her immediate gain. She does not factor in the possible consequences of her actions. This is shown on multiple occasions such as her taking picture of Ranma when she knew nothing about how Ranma might retaliate when he found out, not taking into account how dangerous it is to be Ranma's fiancée (which nearly got her killed), or what would happen to her or her family if she lost the 10 yen battle.
16. Nabiki handles the Tendo's money.
    1. There is absolutely no evidence of this in the manga. Nabiki is shown to be one of the biggest drains on the Tendo's money in the manga.
17. Nodoka is a blade master (extremely skilled in sword techniques).
    1. Nodoka has very little skill with the sword and is shown to be a danger to herself and others with it.
18. Ranma frequently and easily goes into the Neko-ken state.
    1. Ranma only went into the cat fist three times in the manga under extraordinary circumstances. It took a room full of cats and the exit of the room being blocked, in another he actively wanted to go into the neko-ken state and it took a cat clinging to him and being pushed in his face to do it, and in the last instance he was licked by a giant ghost cat. The cat fist is not easily triggered and he can resist it for quite a while (did not enter it with cats clinging to him for instance). Also large cats do not bother him, there were several instances he was around tigers without them bothering him. He also can say cat without stuttering.
19. Ranma will not go on dates with anyone especially not boys.
    1. Ranma will go on a date with just about anyone if he sees a reason to and has gone on many dates with males, females, and even spirits.
20. Nabiki likes Ranma if not as a possible husband then like a brother.
    1. Nabiki does not like Ranma. When she thought he might have died in the battle with Herb she shrugged. She sold him during the 10 yen battle to be a slave. She was willing to reveal and speak ill of him to his mother knowing full well the death threat his mom holds over him because he still had a mother and she didn't (that and it was an opportunity to blackmail him - this was changed in the fan translation commonly available online).
21. Ranma frequently endangers innocent bystanders.
    1. Ranma rarely endangers innocent bystanders and has gotten upset at people for doing so. The people who attack him will though i.e. Ryoga throwing his bandannas, Mousse willing to turn many people into ducks to get at Ranma, Mousse throwing knives at Ranma not paying attention to children in the background, Ukyo throwing her spatulas, etc.
22. Genma is incredibly lazy and would never get a job
    1. He is not. While he is somewhat lazy it is nowhere near the degree many fan fics portray him to be since he did and does spend considerable time training Ranma and had a job working for Dr Tofu.
23. Ranma gets hit by a car and is seriously injured so much so that he can never do martial arts again.
    1. Ranma has shown a toughness level and healing ability high enough that if he were to ever be hit by a car he'd probably get up like nothing happened. His getting hit in the first place is stupid since he could easily get out of the way or jump over it.
24. The city Ranma lives in is Nerima and it is a small rural town.
    1. The city he spends the most time in is Tokyo, Nerima is a ward of Tokyo (part of Tokyo) with a population of more than 700,000. Though Ranma spends a considerable amount of time outside of Nerima (Aloha virus island, hot spring island, training on a mountain, in China, etc.)
25. Dr Tofu is a medical doctor.
    1. In the manga he is a practitioner of Chinese medicine (such as acupuncture, acupressure, and moxibustion) called a kanpô (or kampó) who also does chiropractics.
26. Mrs Tendo's name is Kimiko.
    1. Her name is never given in either the manga or the anime.
27. Akane is a perfect student and gets straight A's.
    1. Akane is shown cutting school at least once and since she's in a home-ec type class and had no cooking ability there is no way she could be getting straight A's (she also can't swim which appears to be a requirement).
28. Ranma keeps his room messy.
    1. Ranma keeps his room very clean and is shown to hate messy rooms. He is shown to have a compulsion to clean messy rooms, having to think about what he's doing to stop, example he cleaned Miss Hinako's room when he had no reason to and complains when his clothes gets damaged or dirty.
29. Ranma will not hit girls.
    1. Ranma does not like hitting girls but he will. The whole situation with Shampoo for instance started by him defeating her with a kick, he wanted to hit Kodachi during the rhythmic gymnastics match, he hit Konatsu when he thought he was a she, etc. Some people think that he only will fight girls as a girl, he will and has fought girls in his male form (Herb before knew was male, Kiima, Rouge, etc.).
30. Genma is a weak martial artist.
    1. Genma can hold his own against Ranma for a good portion of the manga and invented two extremely powerful and dangerous martial art styles.
31. Genma thinks school is a waste of time and only sends Ranma to school because the law says he has to.
    1. Genma doesn't care about the law very much, High school is not mandatory in Japan (also not free) and Genma was the one to send Ranma to school in the first place.
32. Ranma goes away or never shows up and the Tendos have a completely normal life.
    1. It wasn't normal before Ranma came and several of the things did not come because of Ranma. Ex. Akane fighting a horde of boys before school, Picolet Chardon III would still have shown up, Happosai probably still would have shown up, Principal Kuno would still have come, Taro might have shown up looking for Happosai anyways, etc.
33. Ranma went on a ten year training trip
    1. Ranma left his mother as a baby who had yet learned to walk. Making his training trip significantly longer than ten years.
34. Ranma does not apologize to people.
    1. Ranma frequently apologizes, often for things that are not his fault or to calm down Akane (even comments at one point he isn't going to apologize to her just because she is upset).
       1. For his curse in the very first volume
       2. For Ryoga cutting off her hair
       3. In volume 19 (Japanese or fansub counting) Ranma tries to apologize to Soun but instead apologizes to Akane then wonders why he is apologizing.
       4. Ranma apologizes for accidentally jumping on Miss Hinako
       5. Ranma apologizes to Ryoga because the magic mushrooms were damaged.
       6. Ranma apologizes for landing in the changing room while Akane is trying on a new bra
       7. There are many more times. Ranma apologizes more than anyone else in the manga. Likely got into the habit from apologizing for things his father had done during the training trip.
35. Akane never apologizes for her actions.
    1. Akane does apologize for her actions though not as frequently as Ranma and not every time.
       1. Akane apologizes multiple times for hitting Ranma with the softball
       2. Akane apologizes for not believing him about the Hypnotic Mushrooms
       3. Akane apologizes for the Super soba.
       4. Akane apologizes for using him in her fight against Nabiki (when the engagement was switched).
       5. Akane apologized for making bad rice balls.
       6. There are more but you get the general idea.
36. Ranma hates his life and girls fighting over him.
    1. Ranma is pretty content and while the girls do annoy him on some occasions he likes that multiple girls want him.
37. Ranma always insults Akane's cooking, sewing, etc.
    1. There are several instances where he could have but did not. For example the very first time Akane cooks Ranma does not insult her instead both Genma and Ranma attempt to resume training.
38. Akane always hits Ranma when he insults her.
    1. While she generally does, she doesn't every time. For example; Akane did not hit Ranma when he insulted her cooking immediately prior to the Orachi story arc.
39. Genma and Soun go out drinking a lot.
    1. Other than the first volume where they were just reunited after not seeing each other for years and celebrating the impending union of their families they are not shown to drink at all except at special occasions (Ranma's actually gotten drunk more than them in the manga).
40. Shampoo frequently uses magic in Ranma's food.
    1. Shampoo does not hide things in Ranma's food. She at one time used mushrooms to try and get Ranma to hug her but did not hide it in his food she straight out force fed him it. Kodachi is the person who adds things to food not Shampoo. Ranma is shown to trust Shampoo's cooking. He doesn't trust Akane's or Kodachi's cooking.
41. Ukyo likes Ryoga
    1. Ukyo can barely tolerate Ryoga. She likes him only in that she can use him to try and separate Ranma and Akane. She frequently hits him over the head for being stupid or getting lost, and after the tunnel of love it was shown that she really doesn't like him.
42. Nabiki likes Tatewaki Kuno
    1. Nabiki does not like Tatewaki and he does not like Nabiki. Nabiki does use Tatewaki Kuno for personal gain though.
43. Akane loves Ryoga
    1. Akane thinks of Ryoga as a friend but does not love Ryoga. His lack of self control scares her (he nearly killed her with a hug) and she considers him to be weird especially after using the koi-rod of love on Ranma.
44. Kasumi loves Dr Tofu
    1. Kasumi is kind to Dr Tofu, borrows books from him, and gives him snacks for taking care of Akane but she shows zero interest in him. The art of Ranma (also known as the memorial book) even states that the love is one sided.
45. Ranma will not wear girls clothing
    1. Ranma wears a lot of girls clothing for his various disguises like pretending to be Ryoga's fiancée, when she went on a date with Kuno, etc.
46. Ranma is completely unable to be romantic.
    1. Ranma has gone on more dates than anyone in the manga, Ranma read dating magazines during the manga, during the reversal jewel arc Ranma dressed up nicely and brought Shampoo a dozen roses and said “even the beauty of these roses can compare not to yours”.
47. Tatewaki Kuno never gets along with male Ranma
    1. Tatewaki Kuno occasionally gets along with Ranma - example when fighting with Kodachi after he got his photo album of Ranma-chan pictures he offered to show them to Ranma.
48. Ranma when he sees people fighting will immediately take sides and join in
    1. Ranma makes himself comfortable, then he pulls out some snacks and sits and watches the fight. Then he interferes.
49. Ranma frequently uses his most powerful techniques on everyone.
    1. Ranma rarely uses his most powerful techniques. He generally prefers to fight using regular techniques rarely using his special techniques.
50. Nabiki has great business ethics and if she makes a business deal with you she will honor it.
    1. She has no business ethics, will take the money and run (for example when Principal Kuno hired her), will swindle amnesic people (for example Tatewaki Kuno watermelon technique arc) and children (gambling king arc and Ten yen date arc).
51. Ranma has no idea how to use money and will go to Nabiki for advice on how to use it.
    1. Going to Nabiki for advice on how to use money would be one of the stupidest thing he could possibly do. He has shown to actually be better with money than Nabiki is. She is more frivolous with her money (concert ticket) and has no qualms spending her families finances (Volume 29 and 34). Ranma has shown concern for the Tendo's funds (10 yen battle arc), barters down prices (with Nabiki), expressed happiness at saving money (first time he used girl form to get free eats), and dislikes spending it (several times ex. when feeling guilty for destroying Nabiki's ticket he purchased sushi and expressed sadness for wasting money).
52. Ranma will not wear make-up or jewelry.
    1. While he doesn't really like it he has for multiple reasons, such as accessories to disguises. Some examples are: wore make up in a few arcs - lipstick first date with Kuno to get wish sword (Genma was the one to suggest wearing it) and during the Orachi story arc, wore bracelets while teaching girl form clone how to pick up guys, Necklace during dining arc, etc.
53. Genma and Soun never take responsibility
    1. Soun took responsibility for what he thought Ranma did (sleep with Miss Hinako, Ranma didn't though). Genma took responsibility for Ukyo's engagement in so far as letting Ukyo beat him up and responsibility for creating the senken techniques.
54. Nabiki has a vast network of informants
    1. In the manga, she has a couple of friends but no network of informants is seen. If you do count a couple of friends as a network of informants than Akane and Ranma have a network of informants as well. Ranma has two male friends, Akane is shown to have several friends as well.
55. Akane is really insecure in her martial arts abilities
    1. She is not insecure in her Martial Arts abilities. If anything she is overconfident in them. She always thinks she is capable of doing whatever martial arts task is at hand be it beat the dojo destroyer or Kodachi even though the Dojo destroyer defeated her father and she did not know martial arts gymnastics. What she is really insecure with is her looks (she keeps an entire box full of things that are supposed to increase breast size as seen during the bust battle).
56. Ranma is practically an atheist and doesn't meditate.
    1. Ranma is seen praying in multiple story arcs (at Tendo's grave, at his families grave, during magical koi rod arc, etc.), dreamed about the Buddhist after life, and goes to both Shinto and Buddhist shrines in the manga. He is seen meditating once while upside down and prayer is a form of meditation.
57. Ranma has to threaten someone to get alcohol
    1. Ranma was able to get alcohol on several different occasions for various reasons. During the story arc with the 10 year sauce Ranma purchased alcohol from a vending machine. During the Romeo and Juliet arc, Ranma managed to get several bottles of sake to get Happosai drunk. During the Orachi arc, Ranma used the celebratory sake as a weapon.
58. Ranma wakes up with a hang over
    1. Ranma of the manga does not get hangovers. In the two instances he got drunk (once as a male in a pool full of alcohol and once as a girl), he did not have a hang over. Shampoo did though. (Ranma's healing speed in the manga is high enough that he wouldn't get hangovers or scars since the wounds heal fast enough that scar tissue is unlikely to form).
59. Ranma does not use magic
    1. Ranma came to Nerima carrying at least two magic things with him - girl repellent and dragon whisker. Has used magical things often in the manga (magic weapons, magic toys gotten from Cologne, suggestion incense in multiple arcs, etc.). He has also been seen both in manga and the anime actively seeking out magic to cure his curse or for some other reasons (like the shadow clone magic he used for training in the anime or the dogi in the manga). In all likelihood Ranma is trying to learn any magic he can to defend himself when others use it against him and to acquire a cure for his curse.
60. Ranma is tormented for killing Saffron.
    1. He is not. Killing is the last thing Ranma would want to do but once he decided to do it he was okay with the decision. He was not shown to be tormented in the least bit, granted Saffron being reborn may have something to do with this but even before he knew that it didn't bother him that much.
61. Ranma knows nothing about interpersonal relationships and sex.
    1. Ranma knows a fairly large amount, with his curse and relationship problems it would be nearly impossible for him not to. He even said (paraphrasing here) that he is very familiar with a girls body - while trying to get the Shampoo from Shampoo to restore Akane's memory. He gives a lesson to the mirror clone on how to pick up guys, attempted and nearly succeeded in seducing Akane at one point (to get magical dogi), recognized Akane's crush on Dr Tofu, has gone on more dates than everyone else in the manga, and hangs out with perverted boys.
62. End manga Ranma no longer has to worry about the Seppuku pact.
    1. Even after his mother finds out about his curse and accepts the curse as not his fault, she still holds the pact over him. After that arc, Ranma is a bit depressed about leaving the Tendo's, Ranma's mother considers that type of behavior unmanly and goes to pull out her sword but is stopped by Genma.
63. Akane has more potential than Ranma and would quickly catch up or even surpass him.
    1. This is very much untrue and makes no sense. Ranma has been training by the start of the manga for 13-14 years and is shown to be a very fast learner of techniques with others even commenting on this (Genma comments on how fast Ranma learned the Umisenken, Cologne surprised at the speed Ranma learned Hiryu Shoten Ha, Akane stated Ranma learned fast at the beginning of the Romeo and Juliet arc, etc.). It would take years for her to even come close to reaching his level, in which time Ranma would still be improving, and she is no where near as fast a learner as Ranma is. This most likely comes from the battle Dogi arc in the manga. Still makes no sense though considering the dogi was capable of fending off Ranma on it's own, Ranma was limiting himself, at the very least, by not hitting Akane only trying to hit one spot without hitting Akane. Akane has taken credit for abilities that were not hers before (the jellyfish swimsuit for example) and Ranma's full potential is unknown even if it was known it would take Akane years to reach it.
64. Shampoo's people are primitives.
    1. Very much untrue. They have a newspaper which means they have a printing press, Shampoo had no trouble adapting to modern technology, the amazons can send mail to Japan (send the newspaper), and they have telephones. Quite likely they have more technology but it is an unknown since we do not see much of their culture. They also have access to quite a bit of magic, to the point that is used in every day items and toys.
65. Ranma is massively confident in everything.
    1. No he is not. He is confident in his own abilities but beyond that he is not confident in several things. He is not very confident about his manhood because of his curse, insult manhood or imply he is a girl is easiest way to anger him. He is not very confident in his looks, if he was he would not have cared so much about Tsubasa being cuter, would not have became sad and thought himself ugly on the rich guys not functioning hot spring island, or that Asuka's boyfriend was better looking.
66. The fiancees have no life except chasing after Ranma (not so much fanon but it seems to be this way in quite a few fics).
    1. Shampoo returns to her village occasionally, works at a restaurant, practices martial arts, and plays video games. Ukyo does volunteer work at a shrine, practices martial arts, goes to school, and runs her own business. Akane goes to school, has after school activities (volleyball team), practices martial arts, and goes on trips with friends (to hot spring for example). Kodachi cares for her plants, is the leader of her rhythmic gymnastics team, goes to school, poisons her brother, and practices martial arts.
67. Genma calls Ranma a weak girl all the time.
    1. Genma does not call Ranma a weak girl very often. I do not remember Genma calling Ranma weak ever and he extremely rarely makes insults involving calling Ranma a girl (I can only recall him doing so once in the entire manga).
68. Akane really wants to be taken as a serious fighter by Ranma and wants him to hit her back.
    1. In the manga during the time she has the magical dogi she most definitely does not want that even says if Ranma ever dared to hit her, their relationship would be over once and for all. While she probably would like Ranma to take her more seriously than he does (considering that he does other stuff while sparing with her like read or jump rope) I do not remember her ever telling him to hit her. In the anime, she does say fight back and take her seriously a few times, this does not happen in the manga.
69. Ranma doesn't fall into Jusenkyo or eat the dragon whisker and still has his hair in a pigtail.
    1. In the manga flashbacks show Ranma's hair in a ponytail not a pigtail, flashback to Jusenkyo for example has it in a ponytail as does the flashbacks to his junior highschool.
70. Cologne is the matriarch of her village.
    1. That is never stated in the manga, while she is somewhat important based solely on strength and wisdom, there is not even any evidence her people have a matriarch.
71. In fan fiction Genma is often portrayed as being fat and out of shape.
    1. In the manga he is not fat (we saw him in the furo), is capable of keeping up with Ranma for a majority of the manga, and swam the sea of Japan.
72. Nerima is a martial arts mecca.
    1. Only about a dozen martial arts show up and most don't live there, a typical city in the USA would have a martial arts academy of some type.
73. Everyone's common means of traveling is to roof hop.
    1. Many are capable but for most characters it is not their prefered method of travel. Ryoga for example rarely does preferring to go through walls (and later in the manga tunneling underground), Soun, the male Kuno's, Miss Hinako (there is some evidence she could land a multi-story fall, but landing and jumping are very different), most of the one shot people, and Dr Tofu never did in the manga, Ukyo, Cologne, Genma have but rarely, etc., the only characters who use it as a common means for travel is Ranma, Kodachi, Happosai, and Shampoo. Those who do so rarely, obviously can just not their preferred method of travel, of those who didn't some probably could. Akane, at least manga Akane, probably could considering she has some impressive jumps and if it is just a matter of strength, she's got quite a few feats of strength.
74. Ranma borrows money and is in debt to Nabiki.
    1. Ranma has not borrowed money from her, pays her off at once when she extorts money from him, and owes her nothing.
75. Ranma uses the roof of the Tendo house as a place to think in private.
    1. Ranma tends to leave the Tendo property entirely and sits in random trees when he wants to think in private. He does use the roof of the Tendo house as a meeting place though. Ranma does not go under a bridge to think in the manga, does do that a couple times in the anime.
76. Kasumi is fanatical in her pursuit of domestic harmony.
    1. Kasumi gave Akane a mallet and has done other things like call Shampoo to come over which are counter to domestic harmony.

This was a list comparing fanon that contradicts the manga canon in Ranma ½. The fan fiction you read may or may not have had these in them some are more common than others after all.