I've enjoyed reading your posts on Ranma and Rankane, so I'd really like to hear your thoughts on this: How do you reconcile Ranma actively keeping Akane from finding out that Ryoga is P-Chan, even when she lets him sleep in her bed thinking he was an innocuous animal, and support for the Rankane ship?
I know Akane has forgiven worse people for worse things, but Ranma is special to her. She'd hold him to higher standards than she would for someone like Mousse who tried to turn her into a duck or Pantyhose Taro for kidnapping her. That breach in trust would hit MUCH harder.
Ryoga isn't like Happosai, but Akane has good reason to be skeptical of Ryoga's "innocence" or lack of ill intentions, since a horde of boys once routinely tried to beat her up to earn the right to date her.
One could say Ranma kept it secret because she had already spent a lot of time with P-Chan and didn't want to hurt her by tainting those memories. In such a personal matter, I think it's a weak excuse. Not telling her is also hurting her. Ranma also swore a promise to not tell anyone, but a silent one and to a dog who he only thought was Ryoga. That's still putting Akane's honor beneath his and Ryoga's. Ranma has implied that Ryoga is P-Chan, but never made an earnest effort.
The Ranma universe is comedic, so it's possible all of this would be treated as a mild annoyance at most and Akane is far more patient that me, but I still feel this can't be easily waved away
I support Rankane more than any other ship in the Ranma universe and it's undeniable they deeply care for each other, but this is the biggest demerit I have with it.
Well, I see nothing to reconcile. Enjoying a romance isn't about thinking they're perfect people incapable of making mistakes, it's about compatibility, seeing where the mistakes come from, and what they think (or would think) about it. It's easy to say Shampoo and Ryoga aren't right for Ranma and Akane when you have easy love potion bits that are meant to show they ultimately don't respect the will of the object of their desires. These are "mistakes" in the service of painting them as worse people, you see.
I know you're not going to be satisfied with a simple "narratively the manga is simply avoiding the end of a recurring gag, if it was a real problem worth serious drama, or a deal breaker, it would do something about it" (coming back here)
The emotional responses you have to stories are valid, but they're also worth unpacking... See, for example, how you worded it as actively, as if it's something happening more often than it actually does, or how you're not bringing up Ranma, chaotic bitch that he is, also threatens to expose him when Akane asks about it. Ryoga has to stop him. This is happens a couple of times.
Maybe you forgot, or maybe you didn't but don't believe this is good enough. That's also valid, but at some point you have to separate your own values from the character's values, thoughts and feelings. You can understand logically that this isn't serious, and Akane would not react like you would, but still not embrace that emotionally... because you don't like it. Disliking something can "trap us" into looking for ways to justify that dislike and distort things in ways that weren't intended, as opposed to parting from "ok, what's the intention here... where does that lead." You have to engage with the story on its own terms, in other words.
Where does Ranma shielding Ryoga come from, to begin with? I don't mean when it starts, but from what part of Ranma is that coming from. It's not just the damn dog honor promise.
This is, fundamentally, about Ranma having a good heart, and taking pride in that (sometimes in not the best ways). You can personally dislike that and disagree with the manga conveying it in this way, but it is what it is.
Ranma doesn't see this as putting his and Ryoga's manly honor above Akane's. Sure, we could look at scenes where Ranma tells Akane to "not stick her nose in men's business," but when Ranma thinks Akane is being disrespected by a man, he reacts violently. If that violent reaction is not happening, it's because Akane reacts faster or he doesn't believe Akane is being disrespected by a man at the moment.
He's telling you straight up what he thinks of the whole business: he doesn't believe Ryoga will hurt Akane. You really have to remember Ranma can have a brilliant mind when he's fighting, but he has the emotional intelligence of a rock. His limited capacity doesn't allow him to think beyond "Akane is upset. I don't want her to be upset. Ryoga is even MORE upset, so I have to help him while managing Akane not being upset" and this is already above his pay grade.
You might notice on this page that at no point Ranma believes he's in trouble. He only sweats when he thinks he needs to keep a secret from Akane.
"And why is he nervous, what does he think will happen, other than Ryoga dramatically running away in tears while Akane is shocked"
A helpful little snapshot inside of Ranma's brain
"Akane has good reasons to be skeptical of Ryoga" thinking this is how you hit a wall. The reader is aware of that hoe's every move but Akane, notably, isn't. She doesn't see Ryoga as a threat. Not even after she finds herself running for her life in the soap arc while she thinks it's all a big misunderstanding... and still doesn't get Ryoga likes her. Gets on my nerves when people think she must be pretending she doesn't know Ryoga likes her cuz he's so obvious. My girl can be dumb as rocks too, she's not the eternal straight man in the comedy people wanna paint her as (sometimes Ranma is her straight man). When it comes to Ryoga, this is Akane's brain
She does not give that man the thought some believe she does. Just like Shampoo being a cat reflects Ranma's dynamic with her as a person, the same happens with Akane, Ryoga and p-chan. For Akane Ryoga is not a man, he's just a pitiful little pal. She doesn't really see Ryoga, for better or worse.
If she thinks he's crossing a line she will hit him and/or straight up tell him he's wrong, but this doesn't translate into lasting consequences in terms of changing her perception of him. She has always thought he's a pitiful little sucker, not much to change there
The thing about the horde that harassed Akane is that it translated into her not wanting to lose to a man... but that's dropped when Ranma, a man who would use his strenght to protect her instead, beats her. This deserves its own discussion but Ranma marks a before and an after for her. Believing that horde results in trauma that can be connected to how she sees Ryoga will also just make you hit another wall. I mean, Kuno was part of it and she sees no issue in asking him to go to his bedroom (Kodachi cookie's arc). This mf drugged her and tried to kidnap her, which Akane knows, and he's giving OBVIOUS RANCID VIBES right here... and look at how she reacts.
Just like how a lot can be answered with "Ranma doesn't think or see it that way" you also gotta content with the idea that some stuff will simply not even cross Akane's mind.
I mean, I could do it as an exercise too: if a man angrily calls me a slut, a thing Ranma does to Akane twice (that I remember) fuck it I'm getting the ick, but Akane hits him and keeps it pushing. Akane's deal breakers are not the same as mine.
"Look at this horrible guy... he made Akane redefine the word terror through his own carelessness and he's still being an insensitive asshole at the end"
I could do that, or I could accept Ranma is one limited immature motherfucker, cursed with being a teen raised in a jungle, may god have mercy on his soul, but it's not a terminal disease. He's gonna have blindspots but he doesn't mean harm.
(Also notice how he doesn't let dollkane beat him up but he's not dogging the real Akane)
And let's be real, it's not just that Akane has forgiven worst to other people. It's true that she holds Ranma to a bigger standard in some ways...
She has forgiven worse to Ranma. The whole doll business might not be worse than p-chan for the reader, but it is for Akane. There was genuine terror and devastation from her right there, and you see how she dealt with Ranma.
You know what else would be worse for Akane? To watch Ranma play with women's feelings, trying to collect i love yous as if bro was collecting cards. Even perfectly understanding why Ranma is moving like that, this is worse for her, to the point she doesn't wanna help him knowing they're trying to trap him into a marriage. And we know she doesn't want the bum to marry another, but this was bad enough to go "fuck this dumbass let him figure it out"
I know people who aren't satisfied with Akane's response but even this the manga doesn't think merits more than her beating his ass in the final page. It's not drawn-out drama.
Even worse than this: Ranma trying to play with her while she thought they were having a real romantic moment where he protected her while she was scared, and then almost kissed her....
That offense is so bad that the only reason Akane forgives him is cuz she understands the part where he hugged her and almost kissed her were real. She wouldn't have forgiven him otherwise!
Again, for her, that's worse than p-chan. I'm not gonna get into how Akane is even nice to Happosai knowing he's stealing her underwear cuz this ask already understands Akane will not have a big dramatic reaction to pig boy.
Here's Akane reacting to feeling her personal space violated by both Ryoga and Ranma. I think it's a good example of what you pointed out: greater standards for Ranma... but the end result is the same
Stuff like this (that requires long answers) aren't quick to reply (I have ignored some who I think are so wrong replying would take a damn day for this reason) so it's possible i'm overlooking or forgetting things, but:
Akane and Ranma have the same values. When Akane finds out, there will shock and kicks, but ultimately, she won't have trouble understanding Ranma shields Ryoga as a form of kindness to the pigboy. She can tell him he's wrong, but she won't distort it into "so you thought he's more important than me?" No, Ranma at no point thinks that. He doesn't see it that way. Akane has no reason to see it that way either, she has plenty of pity for Ryoga too. The jokes where Akane might go "are choosing her side??" are tied to unserious jealousy, and Ryoga doesn't fit in those jokes, those are about other women.
Also if it helps makes you feel better, a Ryoga fan once pointed out to me that after the chapter where Happosai tries to sleep with Akane, we no longer see p-chan sleeping with Akane. I haven't re-read the manga with the intention to confirm, but shifting to a gag of her going "p-chan you're back!" by itself implies he's not around all the time, the p-chan thing is not used in the same way for even half the manga. But even then, the manga tells you they're not cuddling at night in that Happosai's chapter (same that shows you that a Ranma being told "I'm gonna sleep with Akane now" will react... if the manga is not telling you so, you have no reason to think Akane and p-chan are cuddling off-screen, don't do that to yourself... the fact that this chapter exist is to say "don't think that" even). This is a way to limit the badness of it
"But if he knows this about Ryoga in this chapter right here doesn't this make it baaad that he's shielding him" he's not shielding Ryoga when Ryoga is being a bitch. Moments of Ranma trying to expose him are, in fact, connected to moments of a. Akane asking about it b. Ryoga pissing Ranma off
(He called him P-chan in front of her! yeah... she's dumb <3 comedy, not the eternal straight man etc)
There's no shielding happening when pigboy pisses him off with his pig behavior
It does happen, however, when he feels Ryoga is worth feeling bad for.
Emotionally, Ranma's brain doesn't go beyond what's immediately in front of him. He doesn't have that processing ability (which is part of why he can struggle with understanding Akane's feelings, but that's also another post)
