Richard Lawson wrote:

So is Ranma forever young, or is his female form the only young part?
If he were drenched in hot water, would he grow old?

I think that girl-type being forever young, and boy-type
aging and even being death to become due to old
age works better. If so, Ranma probably would have
found a way to keep himself in girl-type forever
to prevent someone from throwing hot water on him
and killing him after much moralizing and arguing
with his persistance of being a man...
Nodoka's ghost!! If Ranma chooses
to stay in girl-type, it's not very manly, so
her spirit armed with a katana is chasing 
him/her around, forcing Ranma to deal with 
the parent he loves trying to force
him to commit suicide.. or even just
kill him for dishonoring the 
Saotomes even more.

That would be an interesting tale - Ranma constantly retreating into his
female form as age began to wear away at his male form.  It may even
reach a point where to assume a male form is to die.  And how would that
affect his marriage to Akane - would she object to his retreats, staying
young while she grew old?  Would she resent him for doing that, demand
that he stay male?  What would it be like for Ranma - stay male, be old,
possibly die but keep Akane happy?  Or turn female, live forever, but
lose Akane?

While we might assume in a purely theoretical sense that he would choose
the former, the allure of the latter would be pretty darned strong.
Perhaps overwhelming; who wants to die?

My thoughts near exactly. Some more ideas, tho.
 Happosai and Cologne. How do they live so long? Spring of 
Shriveled Old Woman, explaining the change between young Cologne
and the current Cologne. Spring of Perverted Old Man, explaining
why Happy hits on the Amazons and Happosai is a voyeur (relying on
manga Viz vol 8. And both making them immortal. And now Ranma has
joined the ranks of the immortal martial artists.
And what about Ryouga, Mousse, Shampoo, Genma and the
other Jusenjyo cursed like P. Tarou, Kiima? Herb and 
the rest I don't really know about yet.
Of course, many of these aren't the same spring as
Ranma, so could very possibly not make the cursed
immortal. Immortal life as a pig would be depressing too.

Dang, this fic begs so many questions my little head is spinning.  :)
Well done, WW.  Would like to see you expand this idea, too, if you are
of a mind.

Hmmm.. Ranma the Immortal storyline. How would someone born in 1980s
deal
with the 22nd century? Plus his actions and decisions during Akane's
death. Angst to the max. What about Ryouga? I could see him remaining
human and dying of old age with Akari, giving Ranma incredible
guilt and pain.
Together Again by Chris Davies partially dealt
with something like this, but a Ranma-only story would be nice 
(no insult meant towards Together Again).
Who except me has read Robert Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love", 
dealing with Lazarus Long, the oldest man
 in the universe at 4000 years and still going? I can just see an
incredibly ancient but still young-looking Ranma traveling back
in time befire Jusenkyo and hypnotizing Genma, suggesting "Go train
in China, especially at the training grounds of Jusenkyo", knowing
what hell he (or she) will be put through, but what it will 
result in. 
I'd love to see more of this.
-- Ranma Saotome is gibbed by Ryouga's rocket! Quake.
         Dragoon!   HSC    dragoonak@earthlink.net 
http://home.earthlink.net/~dragoonak/              !BGC!
Vote now for Dragoon's Anime Poll!                 !EVA!
            *The Moon is a Harsh Mistress*