The Bitter End

The Bitter End is written by James A. Bateman and was published online on April 4th, 1997.Post at FFML & Post at FFML - Retrieved 27-Jul-2021
==Description==
==Plot==
Ranma Saotome finally builds up the confidence to confess to Akane Tendo that he loves her and only her. After managing to send the Chinese Amazons back to China and convincing Ryoga Hibiki to stay with Akari Unryuu, Ranma and Akane are wed and go on their honeymoon, Akane receiving the Saotome family sword as a wedding gift from Nodoka Saotome. Their honeymoon is blissful and idyllic, but when they return to Japan, things begin to take a turn for the worse. Not only do Ranma and Akane find themselves starting to bicker and squabble just like they did back before they were wed. Indeed, Akane just seems to keep getting angrier and angrier with Ranma - and becoming increasingly violent and willing to express that anger physically.
Confused and unhappy, Ranma increasingly turns to Ukyo Kuonji for advice, due to her having to chosen to stay in Nerima to try and patch up their relationship as friends with Ranma. Though she naturally does feel the urge to exhort Ranma to leave Akane, which grows increasingly strong as things worsen, Ukyo focuses on trying to help Ranma. However, things just keep getting worse. Even Ryoga notices that Akane is not acting "right", which culminates in him accidentally getting Ranma into trouble as P-chan - and then watching in horror as Akane brutalises Ranma so badly he ends up hospitalized. This eventually leads Ryoga and Akari to try and persuade Ranma to come and stay with them, away from Akane, but Ranma refuses the offer as he refuses all advice to leave Akane; in addition to his pride and stubbornness, he still loves Akane and wants to make it work out.
Eventually, desperate for some wway to help her ex-fiance, Ukyo manages to persuade Ranma to involve himself in a domestic abuse support group. While there are some difficulties at first, due to the women finding it hard to believe a man could be an abusee instead of an abuser, Ranma does eventually win them over. He begins teaching them self defense, and is instrumental in helping one woman's husband overcome his abusive behavior. The group, in turn, eventually deduces that Akane is suffering from "rage syndrome", a mental disorder that causes her unpredictable bursts of intense fury, which elates Ranma, as he believes that this can be used to help cure Akane.
Unfortunately, when Akane finds out Ranma is attending a support group for abused spouses, she flies into an indignant rage - being told that she is mentally ill and needs psychiatric help only infuriates her. She hospitalizes Ranma again, and when he wakes up, tells him he is never to go back to the support group. By this time, both Ranma's father and his sisters-in-law have noticed how wrong Ranma and Akane's relationship is going, but none of them can bring themselves to help.
Things culminate in a fatal encounter when Ukyo decides she has to take Ranma away from Akane for his own safety, and Ranma himself is willing to concede that maybe he and Akane shouldn't be married anymore. The result of Akane's burst of fury is that she kills both Ranma and Ukyo with the sword that Nodoka gave her as a wedding present; the realisation of what she has done driving her completely over the edge. As the story ends, Akane remains committed in a mental asylum, leaving behind a saddened, fragmented group of survivors.
==Notes==
*Several sequels exist:
:*Death is Not the End by Sean Gaffney
:*A Long December by Rei Nakazawa
:*Long Live Akane Tendo by Dark Alpha
*While other responses include:
:*The Batter End by CrazyFic.
:*The Better End? by Brad Angell
:*Witness to a Bitter End by Clifton James Fernando Sawit
:*Parodied by Gary Kleppe in his story The Bittern End.
:*A spam-fic based on it, "Alt-Bitter End" by Sean Gaffney, also exists.
:*Just Like That by Scott K. Jamison features a TV show, The Last Drop, which parallels The Bitter End.
:*The is crossed over with Richard D. Lawson's story Thy Inward Love in Lawson's own Goddess of My Harmful Deeds.
:*The fan-character "Ranko Tendo" from Reality Bytes (and its subsequent sequels) is explicitly stated to have come from the dimension in which the events of The Bitter End took place.
:*MSTed by Raphael See: 1Retrieved 28-Jul-2021, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
===Reaction===
As can be seen by the list of stories above, The Bitter End provoked quite a reaction in the FFML community when it was originally posted. Most of this was over the portrayal of Akane.Example post from FFML - Retrieved 27-Jul-2021
===Awards===
*TASS Awards Award for Annual 1997, 3rd place
==FFML Posting History==
*A 04/Apr/97
*B 04/Apr/97
==See Also==
==External Links==
*The Bitter End at the Internet Archive record of Zen's Fanfiction Page - Retrieved 20-Jul-2018
*The Bitter End at the Internet Archive record of Blood Blade's Best of Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction - Retrieved 20-Jul-2018
*The Bitter End at the Internet Archive record of Kuonji_Ranma's Home Page - Retrieved 20-Jul-2018
*The Bitter End at the Internet Archive record of All About Ranma - Retrieved 20-Jul-2018
==References==
Category:One Chapter Story
Category:1997