Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Genma Saotome/Ranma Saotome, Ranma Saotome/Ryouga Hibiki, Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Genma Saotome/Nodoka Saotome, Ryouga Hibiki/Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo
Warnings: Child abuse and rape (Ranma is his early teens at that part of the story), nonconsensual situations (Ranma, Akane and Ryouga are in their late teens at those parts of the story), references to domestic abuse (Genma/Nodoka)
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Tzigane's Father Figure page at the Sakura Lemon Fanfic Archive
Why this must be read:

Well, I've been really nervous about recommending this story. Guess that's why I've put off rec'ing it until the last moment. But I looked through the community's memories and it's not all that different from some of the other stories listed for other fandoms which include BDSM themes, and I'm warning all over this one, and giving away more in the labels below for each part.

( More warnings and details about Father Figure )

Part 1: Father Figure (Genma/Ranma)
Part 2: Blood & Fire (Ranma/Ryouga)
Part 3: Total Eclipse of the Heart (Ranma/Akane)
Part 4: Stone & Pearl (Ryouga/girl-type Ranma)
Part 5: Parts Unknown (Ryouga/boy-type Ranma/Akane)

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Kasumi Tendo, Dr. Tofu/Kasumi Tendo, Tatewaki Kuno/pig-tailed girl, Tatewaki Kuno/Shampoo, Akane Tendo/Ryouga Hibiki
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Gary Kleppe's Comics and Manga page
Why this must be read:

A divergence right at the start of Ranma canon has Ranma engaged to Kasumi rather than Akane, and then injured. A tiny pebble, dropped into the Ranmaverse pond, and Ranma could lead a quiet, peaceful life. But not as a martial artist.

Living in interesting times does have its allure, and sometimes such a curse isn't seen as a blessing until all chances of that are gone.

Could it be after all the ridiculous failed attempts at a cure, my curse was finally going away because it was bored?

A Peaceful Life

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Kodachi Kuno/Ranma Saotome, Shampoo/Ranma Saotome, Akane Tendo/Ranma Saotome, Tatewaki Kuno/pig-tailed girl
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: The Girls Of Ranma
Why this must be read:

Each of the women who want to marry Ranma do have a fan-following. There aren't a whole lot of stories which are sympathetic to Kodachi, the Black Rose. This is one of them, and a tasty adult story to boot, so I wanted to mention it here. She's depicted as having a horrific childhood, explaining any lunacy she might express in canon. It's a different characterization than most viewers might expect, but I think Ridgewolfe makes it work.

Blurred Edges: Lemon-version

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Shampoo/Ranma Saotome, Mousse/Shampoo
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Froggy's profile at ff.net
Why this must be read:

Sometimes you just need a happy romantic fix, and this little introspection gives some insight into the strange unrequited relationship between Mousse and Shampoo from her perspective.

Not everyone believes Shampoo is a bimbo, and it's nice to get inside her head without there being an echo. I like this short little monologue.

The Game

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Kentaro Marumoto/Ranma Tendo, Nodoka Saotome/Genma Saotome, Nabiki Tendo/Tatewaki Kuno
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Sterman.org
Why this must be read:

Authors' interpretations of characters in the Ranmaverse really exemplify "infinite diversity in infinite combinations." In this case, Richard Lawson crosses over two very different realities, switching two very different Ranmas into each others' worlds. It started as a short challenge, but members of the FFML (an epicenter mailing list at the time for Ranma fandom) persuaded Richard to work on it further, and it turned into a marvelous full-length story which fits nicely into both series' continuities.

You'll get more out of this story if you read Thy Inward Love and Thy Outward Part immediately prior to reading Definitions of Hell. In those continuities, Definitions comes right after The Dying of the Rose (TIL) and Painted Smile (TOP), and right before A Better World Than This (TOP) and Interview (TIL).

If you don't want to read all of both series, Definitions of Hell does stand alone, but you'll get more out of it from knowing and becoming attached to the characters from both series.

In short, Ranma is a young father, happily married to Akane who is expecting their second child. Ranma is also eight months pregnant with her second child, a college graduate living most of his life as a woman, happily married to Kentaro. And with one monster's dying curse, those two realities collide.

Definitions of Hell

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Kodachi Kuno/Ranma Saotome, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome, Ryoga Hibiki/Akane Tendo, Kasumi Tendo/Dr. Tofu, Nodoka Saotome/Genma Saotome, Kentaro Marumoto/Ranma Tendo, Nabiki Tendo/Tatewaki Kuno
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Sterman.org and Lara's Fanfics and Sebastian's Bast!'s Ranma 1/2 Page (I believe Webdragon's pages have moved around a lot and are now offline)
Why this must be read:

Richard Lawson writes long, beautiful stories. This lovely example is a continuation story based on a single starting point of divergence from Ranma 1/2 canon, and grew into a series of stories by Richard accompanied by side stories by Webdragon, Sebastian Weinberg, and Lara Bartram, collectively known as Richard Lawson's Thy Outward Part series. I've been meaning to recommend this series ever since I recommended Richard's other big series, Thy Inward Love. Thy Outward Part has more adult content, but it's just as expertly written, and the character interpretations, while different, are just as valid.

The divergence from canon in Thy Outward Part happens during Ranma has his encounter with the Musk Dynasty in volumes 24 and 25 of the manga. The Pail of Preservation, or Chiisuiton, is a ladle which can lock a cursed person into one or the other of their forms. The Water Pot of Liberation, or Kaisuihuu, is a kettle which reverses the effect and unlocks a Jusenkyo curse, causing the cursed person to change when splashed with hot or cold water again.

The Ranma of Thy Outward Part is forced to cope with losing the Kasuihuu under a landslide before unlocking his curse, so he's stuck in his female form, possibly forever. Akane is unable to face marrying a locked-curse Ranma, his father disowns him, and he flees Nerima to attend college and get away from anyone who knew him. In his mind, he is male, but he starts to build a life in his cursed form, because he really has no other choice but to simply end it all. Needless to say, this series is rather wrenching to read, and it becomes more so when, a few years into the story, the possibility of unearthing the kettle becomes a reality. Akane has tried to get on with her life, and Ranma has built a friendship and a love with Kentaro in the mean time, and yet Nodoka, Soun and Genma refuse to let the unification of the Saotome and Tendo families falter.

Parts of the series are PG-13, but there are significant portions of adult content. These stories should be read in the following order:

Thy Outward Part
Building Bridges (by WebDragon)
The Nature of Love
Technical Virginity (by Sebastian Weinberg)
Those Tears Are Pearl
Gimme A Break (by Lara Bartram)
Serendipity
Painted Smile
A Better World Than This set well after A Painted Smile
The Risk (by Lara Bartram)

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome, Kodachi Kuno/Ranma Saotome, Tatewaki Kuno/pig-tailed girl, Ryouga Hibiki/Akane Tendo, Ryouga Hibiki/Akari Unryu, Shampoo/Ranma Saotome, Mousse/Shampoo, Kasumi Tendo/Dr. Tofu
Authors on LJ: unknown
Authors Websites: Nightelf's Elysium
Why this must be read:

Ranma spends so much of his life trying to be a man among men... this compartmentalizes all of his feelings, empathy, tenderness and nurturing such that they can only be expressed when he is a girl. What if he realized that, and decided that some portion of his personality is female?

There's an amnesia story arc in canon, where Ranma spends a short time thinking she is a girl cursed to become a boy, but this fanfic takes that concept far beyond the comedic elements explored in canon... how would a manly man cope with a conscious desire not to simply dress up in women's clothing (a significant secret in it's own right) but also a desire to be a woman? That's a significant personality crisis right there, even without all of the resultant chaos of fiances and vendettas that surround Ranma in his daily life. But if that daily life becomes hers, everything shifts. Some problems solve themselves. Unexpected allies appear. Other problems get more complicated. Still other new problems appear.

According to the primary author, "Four hours in a school computer lab writing a 10k spamfic turned into a 380k, three-year, three-author project. Even now, I'm not sure what to think of all this."

I'm not entirely sure, either. For me, in some ways, this story creates more questions than it answers, not just about the Ranmaverse and character interpretations, but about gender roles and identity and sexuality in general, on every level from individual to societal, if I think about it for too long. I do know that if Na-chan could get me reservations at this story's club, I'd be there in an instant to meet those interesting folks.

There's a very intense little side story related to this fanfic, which I find most appropriately read as a prequel, called Revelations.

Clothes Make The...
chapter 1
chapter 2
chapter 3
chapter 4
chapter 5
chapter 6
chapter 7
chapter 8
chapter 9
chapter 10
chapter 11
chapter 12

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Mousse/Shampoo, Kasumi Tendo/Dr. Tofu
Warning: character death
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Nightelf's Elysium
Why this must be read:

Nightelf explores Amazon ideals, comparing and contrasting with the practical equality and power some the Japanese female characters have in the Ranmaverse. A law's intent and letter are not always the same.

Not a happy story, but well-crafted.

Borrowed Time

Vidder: West
Musical artist: The Muppets
Pairing: Shampoo/Ranma Saotome, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome, Akane Tendo/Ranma Saotome, Mousse/Shampoo, Tatewaki Kuno/pig-tailed girl, Ryouga Hibiki/Akane Tendo
Vidder on LJ: unknown
Vidder's website: West's Anime Music Videos (most vids are down at the moment) and West's Happiness Dojo page at animemusicvideos.org, where you can actually download the vid, or West's vidder profile page at amv.org
Why this vid kicks ass:

Especially for US media fans who aren't used to seeing characters lip-synching along to a songvid's lyrics, this vid just rocks. Ranma's life at the Tendo Dojo is pretty much chaos all the time, and Nerima is pretty crazy, full of disorganized and barely managed chaos that somehow manages to stay interesting and move the plot along. For me, this vid captures that and more... it reminds me of the glorious disorganization of the original Muppet show and the utter fun of the first few Muppet movies. Happiness Hotel is a low-rent haven that our heroes stay at briefly in The Great Muppet Caper, and I never seem to be able to keep from giggling to hear Muppet voices coming from Ranma 1/2 characters' mouths. Genma now sounds like Fozzie sometimes when I read the manga, which is really funny and very disturbing on some level!

"Somebody's checkin' in!"

"Somebody's checkin' in?!?"

"Hey, how're you guys fixin' to pay?"

"C... sneakin' out in the middle of the night."

If you've never downloaded Anime Music Videos (AMVs) from animemusicvideos.org before, I highly, highly recommend scrolling down to the "Things you need to know about the AMV -- Anime Music Video Archive" section in this post by flummery, who explains the site and how to use it much more understandably than I can. This particular AMV is a 50.4MB AVI file, so it's rather inaccessible to dialup users, sorry. Anime vidders tend to make high-res files. The AMV site is huge, with an amazing collection of local and offsite links to vids, so even if you're not planning on watching this vid, I recommend setting up a membership there.

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Tatewaki Kuno/Akane Tendo, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome, Kodachi Kuno/Ranma Saotome, Shampoo/Ranma Saotome, Ryoga Hibiki/Akane Tendo, Ryoga Hibiki/Akari Unryu, Genma Saotome/Nodoka Saotome, Tatewaki Kuno/Nabiki Tendo, Dr. Tofu/Kasumi Tendo
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Sterman.org
Why this must be read:

Richard Lawson writes long, beautiful stories. This lovely example is a continuation story based on the complete canon directly, and it grew into a rather complex and wonderful series resolving nearly all of the relationship tangles in Ranma 1/2, collectively known as Thy Inward Love. These stories should be read in the following order:

Heart of the Home - An introspection by Kasumi.
The Right Side of the Ledger - An introspection by Nabiki.

Thy Inward Love - Ranma finally begins to do something about his situation. (Now that's a major understatement.) This is in ten parts:
I. Of Men and Pandas
II. Felt Yet Unspoken
III. To Pierce the Blackness
IV. That Way Madness Lies
V. Worth Killing For
VI. The Price of Glory
VII. Shadows of the Past
VIII. Decisions
IX. Cursed
X. One Part of Two

Brother - A side story to be read after part VII
Needs and Desires - A lemon to be read after part VIII (R to NC-17ish adult content, Nabiki Tendo/Tatewaki Kuno)

The Ways of the Amazons - Takes place immediately after TIL.
The Dying of the Rose - Takes place eight years after TIL.
Interview - Takes place thirteen years after TIL. - Even if you don't read the whole series, read this one. It stands alone, and it's charming.

(And as if that wasn't enough of a long, fabulous read, there's the sequel called Thy Inward Love: Magic, which is eight parts with two side stories. It's available from the TIL archive page here.)

Title: A Faint Hope by Lara Bartram and Mike Loader
Pairing: Akane Soro/Ranma Saotome, sort of...
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Lara's Fanfics
Why this must be read:

( Because even a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, big governments and big rebellions never have only one operation going on at once... )

The inhabitants of Mos Eisley looked up in mild interest as a spacecraft gracefully rocketed out of a landing pit, leaving the echoes of blasterfire behind.

A minute later, they hit the dirt as a landing bay on the other side of town exploded in a superheated fireball, out of which drunkenly rose the _Impudent Hedgehog_.

Believe it or not, the Ranma characters' plotline actually shores up some holes in the canon A New Hope plotline for me, while still maintaining the crazy mayhem style of Ranma fandom. I love this story.

A Faint Hope

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Ryoga Hibiki/Akane Tendo, Kasumi Tendo/Dr. Tofu, Shampoo/Mousse, Tatewaki Kuno/Ranma Saotome
Warning: mental illness, suicide attempt
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Nightelf's Elysium
Why this must be read:

This series starts out very dark, but struggles its way towards the light by the end. (I know, I know, I need to rec some more non-dark-fics soon to keep this month balanced...)

Nightelf wrote Iris first, and then Angel, the prequel. I like reading the stories in the order they're listed on his Iris Tales page.

There are a lot of controversies around any story which locks Ranma into his female form, because gender definition is not a simple issue. Different authors approach these issues differently, and I really enjoy seeing the kaleidescope of possibilities and interpretations that exist in this fandom.

I think the Iris Tales are a believable depiction of the Ranma/Tatewaki pairing, and that's saying a lot. The pairing is a tricky one, and a rare one.

The Iris Tales

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Ryoga Hibiki/Akane Tendo
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Ridgewolfe's Ranma Fanfiction
Why this must be read:

This is a lovely little depiction of a quiet night at the Tendo home, told through Kasumi's and Soun's perspectives. For me, this story feels like a cup of chamomile tea with a drop of honey.

Late Night

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome, Ryoga Hibiki/Akane Tendo, Ryoga Hibiki/Ukyo Kuonji
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: CBear's Ranma Fanfiction Archive
Why this must be read:

Set before Ukyo knows about Ryoga's curse, this WAFF (warm and fuzzy fic) is about a simple evening of comfort and sympathy between a lonely chef and a pet piglet.

Sometimes you simply need someone to talk to, someone to empathize with.

Over The Counter

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Ryoga Hibiki/Akane Tendo, Tatewaki Kuno/pig-tailed girl, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Nightelf's Elysium
Why this must be read:

This little script-format comedy fits right into canon craziness in Nerima, with the addition of an unexpected interaction between ancient magic and microbiology.

A common flu sweeps through Nerima, but mutates uncommonly when those with Jusenkyo curses are exposed...

The mental images of Nerima during the epidemic get me giggling every time.

Contagion

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome girl-type/Akane Tendo girl-type, Ranma Saotome girl-type/Akane Tendo boy-type
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Nightelf's Elysium
Why this must be read:

Nightelf provides a really nifty depiction of Jusenkyo as a sentient magical presence, and one which needs Ranma and Akane quite specifically.

This short story is one of a handful in the Ranma-girl-type/Akane-boy-type pairing which I adore. It's an intriguing pairing, and Nightelf works some lovely femslash and het sex into the mix of Jusenkyo's magic.

The Other Side Of Life

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Ryoga Hibiki/Akane Tendo, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome, Akari Unryu/Ryoga Hibiki
Warning: Character death(s), domestic abuse
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Zen's Fanfiction Page has achieved a state of nonbeing -- to find Zen's stories, your best bet is The Penultimate Ranma Fanfic Index which links to archived USENET posts and webpages both.
Why this must be read:

OK, I changed my mind. I haven't gone to sleep yet. Instead, I'm recommending another story which rocked Ranma fandom to its foundations, another must-know-about story. This story created such furor, discussion, and flamewars on the USENET groups pertinent to Ranma fandom at the time that this story became more or less an infamous discussion topic.

Because there are almost no canon relationship resolutions in Ranma, fans can and do imagine any future they like for these well-loved characters. In any fandom, there are character-specific fans who place their favorite character on a pedestal. There are also pairing-specific fans who want their chosen pairing to live happily ever after. 'Shipper wars are common in every fandom, I suspect, whether the pairings of choice are het, slash, mixed threesomes or whatever.

The Bitter End not only triggered fan-confrontations based on those usual reasons, but also all sorts of discussion about Zen's characterization of Ranma, the ostensible hero of most other stories, as well as meta-discussion about what stories should or should not be written for fandoms with canon of varying themes... Rumiko Takahashi would never have taken on such themes in a manga and anime which is basically a slapstick romantic martial arts comedy, and fans disagreed about what themes were appropriate in fan-work reaching beyond the canon's original genre.

Fan discussions also spun into a storm of gender issues related to domestic violence. Domestic abuse is a serious topic, and a sensitive one.

The aftershocks of this story's appearance were still going strong in the newsgroups at least three years after it was posted, perhaps longer. You can go to http://groups.google.com/ and search for "ranma bitter end fanfic" for a sampling if you like.

For me personally, this is a believable, heartbreaking story. It may or may not work for you, but it is a significant piece of Ranma fandom.

Reader discretion advised.

The Bitter End

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: (I've tried to catalog the romantic infatuations, loving relationships, and sexual encounters present in this story.) Mousse/Shampoo, Mariko Hibiki/Ranma Saotome, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome, Tatewaki Kuno/Akane Tendo, Akane Tendo/Ranma Saotome, Tatewaki Kuno/Mariko Hibiki, Ranma Saotome/Nabiki Tendo, Koji Hibiki/Nabiki Tendo, Mariko Hibiki/Tsen Wu, Ukyo Kuonji/Tsen Wu
Warning: Character death(s), sexual violence, nonconsensual situations and brutality
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Transpacific Fanfiction!
Why this must be read:

I'd better say this first... this story isn't a must-read. It's more of a must-know-about. Every so often a story comes along which rocks a fandom to its foundations. Some stories are such a departure from what has already been written that they can catalyze a shift the climate of the fandom. I'll be recommending more stories of this catalyst-nature over the coming weeks.

This one is among those stories which widened the possibilities for character interpretations into uncharted, unknown territory. With a few decisive wrenching twists to canon events, suddenly a whole startlingly dark alternate reality not previously considered became a plausible possibility, well-crafted and well-written. If such a harsh version of the Ranmaverse could exist, if the character interactions still rang true through the darkness which permeated and engulfed them, then how many other possible realities could be just as plausible, and just as unique, and just as different in tone from canon as this particularly cruel catalyst story?

Ill Met By Starlight is dark, violent, brutal, and not for everyone, that's for sure. However, there is no other Ranma 1/2 story quite like it that I know of. There certainly weren't others like it at the time it was written.

Ranma is an invincible martial artist. In this story, that's a truly horrible thing, because he's just not right. He's psychotic, and twisted, and horrifying.

Reader discretion advised. This one's a difficult read, even if you're into that sort of thing. If you do make it through the story, I highly recommend reading the epilogues, as well. (And now I'm going to read something else in hopes of staving off nightmares.)

Ill Met By Starlight

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Akane Tendo/Ranma Saotome, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome, Ryoga Hibiki/Akane Tendo, Shampoo/Ranma Saotome, Mousse/Shampoo, Tatewaki Kuno/Akane Tendo, Kodachi Kuno/Ranma Saotome
Warning: Character death(s)
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Transpacific Fanfiction!
Why this must be read:

I have mentioned that I'm trying to represent every genre of Ranma 1/2 fanfiction I know of in these recs at least once, right? Well, this is a light comedic murder mystery, Nerima-style.

Daisuke is a minor canon character who is a classmate of the group at Furinken High, usually portrayed in canon and in fanon as a friend of Ranma who thinks the red-haired pig-tailed girl is really hot. In this story, Ukyo pays Daisuke to investigate Akane's murder, because something just doesn't seem right. It's set after volumes 37 and 38 of the manga, the final two volumes, and telling you the critical piece of information that happens in those stories would pretty much give the murder mystery away, so...

Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed?

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Mousse/Shampoo, Shampoo/Ranma Saotome, Akane Tendo/Ranma Soatome, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome, Ryoga Hibiki/Akane Tendo
Warning: Character death(s), but most of them aren't permanent. Infocom was like that.
Author on LJ:
Author Website: Bailesu's Ranma Fiction Page
Why this must be read:

If you ever played Infocom adventure games, you will understand the format of this story immediately; if not, you will wander through it confusedly until you start to have a giggling fit and surrender to its sheer absurdity.

The story is silly, wonderful, and includes (among other oddities) a pocket fisherman, a chaingun with flamethrower attachment, cybernetic attachments, St. Peter, and a spoon. And flying monkeys.

>KILL WINGED MONKEYS WITH SPOON
You crush the skull of three winged monkeys with your spoon.  They die.
You fall and splatter all over the ground.

                   *** You have died ***

Game over
<Quit, Save, Restore?>

>RESTORE

Just read it.

Shampoo's Quest

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Akane Tendo/Ranma Saotome, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome, Kasumi Tendo/Dr. Tofu, Natsume Tendo/Tatewaki Kuno
Warning: character death(s)
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Nightelf's Elysium
Why this must be read:

How much tragedy could lead Ranma to live as a woman, a seasoned warrior leading the Niichieju Chinese Amazons? ( Deaths, curse and time. )

Sunrise/Sunrise Chronicles Webpage

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: (it's a surprise)
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction by Alan Harnum
Why this must be read:

A short romantic tragedy, this story is a snapshot of bittersweet love between incompatible people. These two characters are maligned in fanon sometimes, but there are canon references to their feelings for each other. The fact that there are many pairings which this story could describe really made me think about the relationship dynamics throughout the Ranmaverse.

Stars Against The Sun

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Akane Tendo/Ranma Saotome
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Tonbo's Fanfiction Page
Why this must be read:

Sometimes first-time sex should be plenty of physical contact, unresolved tension and innuendo finally getting the better of the characters, hot and sweaty on the dojo floor, and not quite sure if what they're doing is a martial arts rivalry or a seduction of each other.

"Why Don't You Try Me For Real Some Time?"

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Akane Tendo/Ranma Saotome, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome, Shampoo/Ranma Saotome
Warning: Character death(s)
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Angus McSpon's Fan Fiction
Why this must be read:

The author's own teaser-summary: An eighty-five year old Ranma is mourning the death of his wife, when a figure from his past reappears and draws him into a final confrontation with an enemy he thought he'd never have to face again.

( A longer story, where horrific darkness lurks hidden for decades. )

Autumn and Spring

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: none, but in the fic-within-a-fic, too many to mention.
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: SKJAM!'s Fanfic Page
Why this must be read:

Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo, fathers who've been utterly ineffective at convincing their children to actually get married, decide to write a fixit fic for their own world... with their usual degree of success.

"Tendou, precisely what is a `self-insert character' anyway?"
"I'm not sure, Saotome. Some sort of American perversion even the Master disdains."
"Oh."

Genma & Souun Write A Fic

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Akane Tendo/Ranma Saotome
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Jan's Anime Pages
Why this must be read:

You didn't think I'd only be rec'ing PG stuff, did you? ;-)

( First-time story, Akane/girl-type Ranma, alone in a chilly wet tent. )

Autumn Rain

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Akane Tendo/Ranma Saotome, Akane Tendo/Ryoga Hibiki
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Gary Kleppe's Comics and Manga Page
Why this must be read:

No one seems to be able to explain why Akane remains oblivious to the fact that her pet P-Chan is really Ryoga, so of course, it's a source of speculative fanfic. In this story, Ranma himself ponders a worst-case scenario: that Akane has been playing dumb all this time.

She Knows? (part 1/2)
She Knows? (part 2/2)

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Tatewaki Kuno/pig-tailed girl, Tatewaki Kuno/Akane Tendo
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: John Walter Biles' Fanfiction
Why this must be read:

I can't describe this unique story any more clearly than its author does...

So you think Kunou is an idiot? Let's see you put your money where your mouth is! You control the horizontal! You control the vertical! You control the biggest fool in Nerima in this Choose Your Own Adventure, as you try to survive a typical day in the life of Tatewaki Kunou.

The original text of the story is by John Biles, and it's presented in HTML by J.M. Steadman.

Kunou's Excellent Adventure

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Akane Tendo/Ranma Saotome
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Nightelf's Elysium
Why this must be read:

( It's short, introspective, and beautifully angsty. )

A Man I'll Never Be

I'm Elke, and I'm driving for Ranma 1/2 this month, a fandom devoted to the manga and anime series created by Rumiko Takahashi. In its heyday it was anything but a small fandom, but activity has tapered off over the years, and most US media fans aren't familiar with anime fandoms, so here we go... I'm going to try to provide a cross-section of the fandom's classic and noteworthy stories in every genre this month. I'm a firm believer in IDIC and the various pairings (or threesomes) are all of interest to me... many fans stick strongly to a specific OTP in this fandom, or work hard to pair everyone in canon off with someone, while others break everyone up and thrive on the angst.

( A Brief Introduction )

( Pics and Bios )

( Major Fic Archives and Links Collections )

If I've missed any significant resources in this fandom, please accept my apologies... and please enlighten me in the comments here!