Typically, most states have neither a waiting period or any kind of
testing requirement. In the Us at least, getting married is *easy*

That's why I specified Japan.  I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out
that such a thing could easily happen here in the U.S.  The question of
whether people who were obviously drunk and completely out of it would be
able to get married still stands, however.  To me it seems like it would be
more of an exception to the rule, that most halfway reasonable clerks would
tell the couple to come back the next day or something of that sort, rather
than allowing the marriage to take place.  But I could be completely wrong
since this is just a guess on my part.

The only check on it would be the clerk witnessing them signing it, and a
great many clerks are more concerned about their lunch hours or the line
than actually kicking silly requests to the curb.

Of course Im thinking of between adults. I imagine minors would have a
good deal more trouble, even with parent present and consenting.

True.

The old cliche of people waking up married after a period of drunkeness
has some basis in reality, me thinks. But its also a moot point. Its a
dramatic device not really cogent to the point of the story.

That's why I said it at the end, it was more of a serious question that
wasn't intended to be taken as a comment on the story itself.  That's why I
said in real life, and didn't mention anything about whether it was
believable or not in the story.  I really would like to know, because a lot
of fics have getting married in Japan as being as simple as getting in line
and signing a piece of paper.  I don't really have any knowledge as to
whether this is somethign that could really happen or not.

*suspend disbelief*

I find it worth snickering to myself that such a minor point could be
remarked upon, considering a wealth of other points in the story are
entirely dependant upon the existance of magic. Just the idea that magic
can be stipulated as acceptable but a matter of beuracratic
oversight/incompetance would stand out.

I think that says something amusing about fanfiction in general.

Perhaps.  Magic and superpowered martial artists are part of the story
premise, and because of that anything written well enough that continues
with that idea in mind is acceptable.  In bringing something like this into
the Ranmaverse, however, it would make more sense to add a bit of silliness
to the scene rather than trying to pretend that the marriage occuring here
is normal.  Having some kinda gung-ho crazy guy who is trying to marry
everybody in the world off for some reason would have fit better.  Maybe he
demands to know if Soun and Genma have any other kids he can get married?
Something like that would just seem more in line with the series content,
IMO.

The reverse is something that is also true, and because of that I have
trouble with fics where Ranma lives in a completely normal universe...except
for having a curse and being able to throw ki-blasts.  Fics where Ranma is a
cop, angst-fests where Ranma gets raped or normalality raises it's ugly head
in other ways just don't work very well for me, because it goes against the
idea of the original story too much for it to seem like I'm reading about
Ranma anymore.  Dark fics with magic creatures or demons or curses seem much
more likely, since while they change the feel of the story significantly,
they don't try to impose normal rules on an abnormal reality, which then
causes the story elements present in Ranma to seem completely out of place;
magic in a world that just doesn't fit quite right anymore.

Anyway, as I said, it wasn't a question intended for the fic itself but
rather to satisfy my curiosity about how it would work in RL.

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