I've seen this convention brought to bear in fanfics before, and I 

must

say that I find it very unconvincing.  It assumes two things:

1) Akane is a better fighter when she uses a mallet than at any other
   time.
2) Pulling a mallet out of nowhere is, somehow, a big deal.

The first point is hard for me to swallow.  When Akane lashes out and
tags Ranma in anger, she does so in any number of ways.  In the 
manga, her preferred method seems to be the skyward boot.  In both
the manga and anime, she also tends to grab whatever blunt object is
handy and thump him with that.  Why she's able to nail Ranma 
sometimes while she's completely incapable of hitting him at others
is a question which fanfic authors have answered in various ways.  
But making the assumption that she is somehow more accurate or
skilled when using a mallet is introducing an element to the Ranma
continuity which is simply not present in the source material.  

I don't think it's necessary for your story.  For Ranma to decide to
finally take an active hand in training Akane is a plausible enough
character development, given the way the story has gone.  The 
whole mallet thing is an unnecessary distraction, and a version of 
this scene without the mallet business would be much stronger.

That's my take on it, anyway.

I would say there's room for compromise, here.  If not the mallet, one 
can certainly argue that Akane is a much better fighter when her anger 
is focused on a single target--and _that_ sounds very close to some of 
the canon discussions of chi.  So, if you drop the hammer, that still 
leaves a way for Ranma to broach the subject of chi techniques.

Actually, Akane's style is more effective against multiple opponents 
than a single one...but in any case...

The people who try to come up with an explanation for the mallet always 
seem to forgot or not know one very important thing.

AKANE ISN'T THE ONLY ONE WHO USES IT.

In fact, half the character in the series use it at one point or 
another; including her father and Ranma himself.  Ranma uses it almost 
as much as she does, in fact.

So saying it's a manisfestation of her ki/chi is...odd, to say the 
least, considering it's been used by people with no martial arts 
training at all (like, say, Madame St-Paul).

<shrug> It's just a sight gag, as has been stated.

                                        Blade



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