Nodoka's Daughter

Explanation

This is a story that considers one possibility that very few fiction pieces do; that is, Ranma suffering an accident which results in total amnesia. Pretty Womanhood has Ranma losing memory temporarily due to hitting a rock with his head (courtesy Akane), and one or two others are along similar lines, but this story considers the consequences of a regular, realistically possible accident.

This was a story that was hard for me to decide if I wanted to include it in my listing of the best Ranko/Ranma-chan fiction. The story has a lot of good ideas which qualify it for inclusion, but it also has some glaring problems at the same time. I've decided to list it anyhow, primarily because of how Ranko adapts to being female and has a normal life.

Unlike my other reviews, I'm going to combine the review and synopsis together to show how it has both very, very good and very, very bad points at the same time.

Review/Synopsis

Part 1: Ranma-chan is thinking about her mother (in this story she has not yet met her) and is not paying attention to where she is going. She falls of a fence into a stream, losing her wallet in the process. (This part is unrealistic, I feel. Ranma-chan always seems to be paying attention to what is going on around her.)

She sees a woman (Nodoka) who is going to be run over by a car and saves her, but gets seriously injured in the process. She undergoes extensive surgery and ends up in a coma. (This part is realistic; no matter how powerful and fast Ranma-chan is, she is still subject to being in an accident and this is exactly what happens, although she's also being heroic at the same time, trying to save an unknown (to her) woman's life.)

After a couple of days some of the people in the dojo assume that Ranma has secretly gone to China and decide to go off to try and find him. (Sort of unrealistic. I can see where they might assume that Ranma has run off to China to look for a cure, but previously he's always indicated that he was going to do such a thing. I think this is too convenient a way to get rid of some of the major characters for a while. More realistically, I think the entire group, including Shampoo and the others, would become very, very worried when Ranma continues to be missing for weeks and they would have involved the police and had a massive hunt themselves. Despite their differences and arguments, I feel that if any one of them would be seriously hurt or in trouble, all of the others would temporarily set aside their differences to help that one person.)

Ranma-chan finally wakes up from her coma, but it turns out that she has total amnesia. She has no idea who she is at all, period. Nodoka decides that she will adopt the girl.

Part 2: A doctor at the hospital demonstrates the curse to Nodoka, but she still wants to adopt Ranma-chan. Ranma-chan has to go to a clinic for very intensive physical therapy and Nodoka helps her learn how to behave as a girl.

Ranma-chan (now named Ranko) sees her "mother" practicing with her sword and doing a martial arts kata and wants Nodoka to teach her how to do those things. (I like both of these plot devices and the way they are carried out.)

Ranko moves in with Nodoka, who tells her that she has a brother, Ranma, who is in China on a training trip with his father. She gives Ranko her own sword and tells her that she will be starting school (but she's in a different district so she wouldn't be going to Furinkan).

Ranko starts attending school and quickly makes some girl friends and finds out that she likes Art class. (Here is a major problem; the author insists on those girls being the Sailor Scouts. The story would have been just as strong, probably stronger, if regular girls had been used and the crossover approach dropped.) An accident at one of the girl's homes reveals to them Ranko's changing into a boy. One of the girls uses cold water to quickly change her back to her female form.

Ranko joins the martial arts club, and there is eventually a competition between her high school and Furinkan. It turns out that her challenger is Kuno, who she soundly trounces. (Again, I like how her relationships with other girls have developed and how she is, in her behavior and attitude, a true girl. On the other hand, if this is a competition between two high schools, students from both schools would be there and it's almost certain that other students from Furinkan would have recognized Ranma-chan.)

Part 3: Nodoka, Ranko and Makoto (Sailor Jupiter) visit the Tendos. (The spelling in this section is even worse than the first two sections. It gets to be very distracting.)

There is a really good scene in the bathroom with Akane, Ranko, Makoto and Nabiki taking baths. Akane still believes that "Ranko" is really Ranma, but just playing a game, so she tries to splash her with water. Makoto does not like Akane's doing that.

Ryouga appears as P-chan and another good scene occurs with Ryouga's typical "Ranma is responsible" trend. This time, though, when the other girls leave (Ranko has stayed behind) and P-chan jumps into the hot water and changes, Ranko reacts by punching Ryouga between the legs then rushes out to get her own katana and attack the unknown guy who tried to attack her in the bath.

There is also another very good scene in the kitchen where Akane is trying to cook and messing things up as usual. Makoto and Ranko explain to her how everyone how to start out with the basics when learning how to cook or use martial arts. Their explanation actually begins to help Akane's behavior in the kitchen.

Nodoka finds out about the engagement between Akane and Ranma for the first time and that causes a major hassle. Ranko reveals that she has been out on dates with boys.

Then comes one of the best paragraphs in the entire story. Akane says she never has seen Ranma (Ranko) so happy and relaxed. She realizes that Ranko is very happy as a girl and that her adopted mother loves her and that getting her memory back might not be such a good thing after all.

Then there is a serious plot downturn as Makoto just happens to have a cousin who happens to be Ukyo, and Ranko decides she wants to have lunch at a place she heard about at her school, a place which just happens to be where Shampoo lives and works.

Part 4: Ranko is shown to be a really good artist. Kodoachi appears and thinks Ranko is Ranma-chan. Nodoka intervenes, and Kodachi attacks her, injuring Nodoka slightly. Ranko chases Kodachi who ends up falling and breaking her leg in the process. (Again, somewhat unrealistic as Kodachi jumps from roof to roof with the best of them.)

One of the plotlines the author uses is Ranko's believing that Akane is interested in her in a lesbian fashion, which is something that puts Ranko off considerably. There's a funny scene in a store specializing in woman's underwear. Akane wants Ranko to model a rather racy number, Ryouga appears again, and Ranko wallops him again.

Akane runs ahead to Ukyou's place and warns her about what has happened to Ranma. Ranko, Makoto and the others show up and everything goes rather well. They next go to visit Dr. Tofu who examines Ranko and later tells Akane that he knows of no way to bring her memory back.

Then the story picks up its pace with Nodoka helping to do some cleaning at the Tendos and she ends up finding various photos of Ranma. She realizes that Ranko is really Ranma. Worse, she finds photos of "Mr. Panda" and realizes that the panda is really her husband, so she confronts him about everything that has happened.

They go to Shampoo's café but Dr. Tofu has not warned them ahead of time. Ukyo and Akane have a quick conference with Cologne and Shampoo while Ranko goes to the restroom. Then there's another funny scene when it turns out Ryouga ends up in the same bathroom, so Ranko once again calls him a pervert and chases him out of the bathroom.

Cologne tells Ranko that she can restore her memory, but Ranko leaves. Makoto talks to her and Ranko reveals that she's not sure she wants her memory back. She's worried she might be evil, or might end up in a lot of trouble if her "real" self awakes.

Nodoka and Genma have had their talk and Nodoka tells him that he is not to tell Ranko about the curse or ever being a boy at all. Makoto tells Nodoka that she believes that, on some level, Ranko knows she is really Ranma, but does not want to live that life again.

Nodoka tells Ranko that Ranma was killed in a training accident. This brings some relief to Ranko, Unfortunately, the author's explanation of Ranko's thought processes about this are confusing. Ranko thinks that, if she is really Ranma, then if her memories come back Nodoka would have her son back ,but if she is not really Ranma, then "her mother might have to live with her loss too."

Why? If Ranko is really Ranma, then Nodoka has Ranma back, and things are ok for Nodoka (but may or may not be for Ranma). If Ranko is not Ranma, then Ranko is still Ranko, and she would still be Nodoka's daughter, so I don't see how not getting her memory back would cause Ranko to alter/disappear/whatever.

So, in short, this story has a lot of good plot ideas, a really funny running gag with Ryouga and Ranko is various bathrooms together, but the story is also spoiled by very bad spelling, by the unnecessary use of the Sailor Scouts, and by stretching coincidences too far, like Makoto being Ukyou's cousin.


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