Author’s notes

After almost a year of writing, the Ranma 1/2 Z saga is finally finished. The story begun along with the debut of my page at the December of 1996. It all began with just a drawing of a character that combines the main characters of two of my favorite Anime series: Ranma in Ranma 1/2 and Goku in Dragonball Z. It was just for fun that I drew the picture of Ranma with Goku’s hair at Super Saiyajin level. It eventually lead to the question: “What if Ranma had Super Saiyajin powers?” Thus, Ranma 1/2 Z is born.

I originally wanted to just “make” Ranma and the others have Saiyajin powers, without any explanation, until I decided the story would have no plot without a believable origin. Back then, I was just a new writer to the block. If it wasn’t for the support of some very dear friends, Ranma 1/2 Z would probably not have lasted very long. Anyway, I was not sure of what am I going to do to develop the story, and I basically thought up the plot of each part as I go along. Over the course of fic, there were many ideas that I rejected, mainly because they wouldn’t fit well with the rest of the story as I once thought they would.

When I wrote the story, I tried to make all the events that happened as consistent with the time line and events of both Ranma 1/2 and Dragonball Z as possible. Despite this, there are some gaps in the continuity, particularly the one concerning Piccolo and Kami. In DBZ, the relevant events happened in this order: 1) Kami-sama’s evil self (Piccolo Daimaoh) is driven out by a Namek called Katattsu. 2) 20 years later, Kami-sama creates the Dragonballs. 3)About 30 years later, Mutaito-sama (Kamesenin’s old master) seals Piccolo in a rice-cooker, until he is later released by Pilaf. All these events happened about 500 + years from the arrival of Goku. From this information, I can make an explanation of how Piccolo’s appearance in Ranma 1/2 Z is possible: All the events in the story takes place BEFORE Piccolo is sealed. In the fanfic, Piccolo has the desire to take over Earth, but he is waiting for the right moment. However, with the arrival of Gero, his plan is threatened. His foremost priority is to getting rid of Gero, so he helps train Ranma. After Gero’s destruction, Kami and Piccolo are both revived. After Trunks goes back to the future, Piccolo once again adopts his original goal: control Earth. THEN he gets trapped by Mutaito-sama, and the normal DBZ time line continues from there.

It was a lot of fun writing this fanfic. I am sad to see it finally end. I will take a break from writing, and spend my limited free time doing some other stuff, such as drawing. That means my page will still be updated from time to time, adding some new stuff each time. After school gets easier, I will start writing possibly a sequel to Ranma 1/2 Z. I also have another idea for a fanfic at this time, but it will all have to wait. If you wish to make a sequel to this story yourself, you are welcomed to. And if you e-mail me about your idea, I would link it up to my page after reviewing your story (If time permits). If I get enough requests, I would turn my page into the Ranma Dragonball Crossover headquarters. ^_^ Thank you all for reading Ranma 1/2 Z

Special Thanks to
Liz and Jason : For helping me to start a homepage, helping me with basic HTML, and turning Ranma 1/2 Z from just a silly idea into a reality, and supporting me since the beginning.
Lord Ace: for making it possible for me to scan in my images.
Gayle: For always having the tomatoes ready.
and.....
You: For making Ranma 1/2 Z a success ^_^

Sincerely,

Tony Chen