Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi



Yoichi Karasuma has spent all his life training in the mountains. Having accomplished all he can in terms of swordplay up there, he moves onto the next phase of his training. That is to go into the city, the Ikaruga dojo, and learn there. As Yoichi finds out when he reaches the dojo (not before he's arrested), the dojo is run by the four Ikaruga sisters. Yoichi begins attending school in the city and trying his best to fit in while fighters of all sorts begin to arrive either to challenge him or the Ikaruga family.

Adapted into an anime for the winter 2009 season.

Tropes in this series include:
"Ayame: I'm not cooking! I'm absolutely not making rice gruel!
 * Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male: Ibuki tends to do this to Yoichi, even if a female was the instigator.
 * In the manga, she becomes much better about this, recognizing that her behavior towards him was causing him to think of her as an overly violent (though certainly not bad) girl.
 * Accidental Pervert: Yoichi, plenty of times.
 * "plenty of times" meaning over 10 instances in quite possibly EVERY CHAPTER
 * A Cup Angst: Ayame
 * Adaptation Expansion: Ukyou is the Big Bad in the anime, but in the manga he's more or less just another Villain of the Week, and his role isn't nearly as big as it is in the anime. He's also not as big of a Jerkass in the manga as he is in the anime.
 * In addition, Yui Hinagata gets expanded as a villain in the anime, whereas in the manga she, along with her two other friends, were merely giving him the love letter as a joke, and mock him at the end of the chapter. She does make another appearance later in the manga, but she's not a fighter as in the anime, and her competition is with Ibuki rather than Yoichi.
 * Anime Accent Absence: Angela.
 * Anticlimax Boss: Episode 6's Villain of the Week, who finally manages to meet Yoichi in episode 10. He looks Badass, and looks like he might put up a good fight, then.
 * Armor Piercing Slap: Ibuki, assisted by her wooden sword. Frequently in Yoichi's direction.
 * Art Shift: Washizu Vision, which makes Ibuki into a love-bubbly goddess and Yoichi into an evil stick figure. Then there's Tsubasa Vision, which goes into hyper shoujo manga style.
 * Somewhat Lampshaded in episode 12, when Torigaya Art Shifts into a Super Deformed version of himself for seemingly no reason. Wa-san himself questions whether it's really him or not.
 * Apparently, Torigaya's been shrinking for a while...
 * And in the epilogue to the same episode, we're given "Washizu Vision?", in which Torigaya gets Gender Flipped and turned into an incredibly hot girl.
 * Word of God states that Torigaya was actually a girl the whole time.
 * Back to Back Badasses: Washizu and Yoichi in episode 8 while protecting Ayame from some thugs.
 * Balanced Harem: Our hero is dense as bricks, so it only makes sense.
 * It's largely subverted however, because Ibuki generally gets mad at Yoichi if he seems interested in anyone but her. Even if it was a completely innocent, a Not What It Looks Like situation, or something completely out of his control, such as Angela slipping on a tree branch and landing on him, she tends to beat him up.
 * Barehanded Blade Block: When this is done to stop a switchblade from shanking him, Yoichi does get his hand cut in the process. Too bad he's too much of a Badass to care, and he proceeds to shatter said switchblade with the same hand.
 * Battle Butler: Angela, Ukyou and Sakon employ a seemingly endless number of literal Battle Butlers and Ninja Maids to defend their Big Fancy House.
 * Beach Episode: Featuring Yoichi in a fundoshi.
 * Big Breasts Big Deal: Despite it being a common trait, most of the girls fall into indifference. Ayame makes more of an issue of it (opposite of indifference), Chihaya falls into vanity when she's trying to provoke Yoichi into a response and Kagome falls into resentment, wishing she compared to Ayame (considering she's only 10, probably reasonable).
 * Big Brother Worship: Sakon towards Ukyou. Touched on a little in the anime, but played straight in the manga. While Sakon developed the potion to make Ibuki have a 4 year old mind in both adaptations, in the manga she did it largely as revenge against Ibuki rather than Ukyou ordering her to as in the anime due to this trope.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Washizu, Tsubasa, and Angie provide one in episode 12. Particularly cool because the first guy Washizu knocks out was the same one who tased him in the previous episode.
 * Big Fancy House: The Saginomiya residence, a veritable castle (Which naturally begs to be Stormed).
 * Blind Weaponmaster: Nuezumo.
 * Blow You Away, Razor Wind: The end result of any of the Ukiha Kamikaze style's techniques. Ukyou's personal techniques also incorporate these tropes.
 * Bokukko, Meganekko: Chihaya.
 * Boobs of Steel: Ibuki isn't to be trifled with in bust size or kendo mastery. Angela also fits the bill.
 * Breakable Weapons: Pretty much any weapon being used near or against Yoichi will be subject to this; one use of his "Nagi" Strike, and whatever it is, be it solid wood or even metal, will be guaranteed to break.
 * Can't Catch Up: A lot of Ayame's resentment towards Ibuki is the fact that Ibuki seems to be better at her in every way, from academics to athletics, as well as bust size. She largely seems to get over it once Yoichi shows up and tells her that she's special in her own ways and shouldn't be comparing herself to her sister anyway.
 * Catgirl: Angela dresses as one during the Festival Episode.
 * Casanova: Mejiro Tokiya causes all the girls around him to have to be sent to the nurses office. When Ibuki and Ayame don't even give him a second look, he gets upset.
 * Childhood Marriage Promise:  although she misinterpreted the whole thing and eventually forgot all about it.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Kagome's little duck doll.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Ayame sometimes, and especially Ibuki if Yoichi is looking at other girls. Gets expanded in the manga, particularly when Nuezume shows up and threatens to take him away. Ibuki does not take it too well.
 * Clothing Damage:
 * Yoichi tears some of Ibuki's clothing in episode 4 in front of her students. She responds by hitting Yoichi and her students.
 * Tsubasa's Super Mode requires her to be overwhelmed by modesty and shame, and said berserker state is invoked by Angela shredding her clothes, while Tsubasa is talking to Yoichi in a busy school yard.
 * Later, Tsubasa accidentally rips Angie's dress apart while crying in her room in episode 8. In the manga she does this more often, and Angie at one point notes that she's running out of clothing as a result of Tsubasa's temper tantrums.
 * Angela manages to cut Yoichi's scarf off in episode 3, but his attack shreds her dress completely.
 * In the manga, Ayame gets her wardrobe damaged during the play after the lights are knocked out. During the confusion, Ibuki gives her a white sheet, which she ad-libs into the play. Later she wears another dress that the theater club creates for her while dancing with Yoichi, but a bucket of water is thrown on it when she tries to shield Yoichi. Since it was made of toilet paper, the water causes the dress to breakdown.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: In the anime at least. Although none of the women look similar enough to each other that you'd mistake them by appearance alone, they all have different hair colors to help set them apart.
 * Conservation of Ninjitsu: Blatantly enforced in episode 10, where nearly every single opponent Yoichi has faced (along with a bunch of actual Ninja) attack him all at once. Yoichi manages to dispatch all of them in much shorter order than he had when he had faced them earlier.
 * Corner of Woe: Poor Yoichi and Wa-san both do this often when faced with self-perceived inadequacy.
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: While alight with moments of awesome, funny and heartwarming due to the nature of the manga, this one (and that whole chapter) really outdoes the others.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Yoichi in the anime, and most fights in the manga.
 * Nuezume delivers one to Ibuki in the manga, while blindfolded.
 * Cursed With Awesome: Oboro developed a potion that essentially gives her immortality and eternal youth, but this caused the villagers she lived with to be suspicious of her and turn against her eventually, since they felt she was using them as a guinea pig for her medicine.
 * Cute Clumsy Girl: Hinted at in the anime, but better stated in the manga. Kagome is given this (additional) explanation as to why she sits out of PE classes.
 * Delinquent: Ryou Washizu. Though for a delinquent, he's quite the romantic person as far as Ibuki is involved.
 * Date Peepers: Ayame, Chihaya and Kagome spy on Ibuki and Yoichi during their "practice date".
 * In the manga, Ibuki herself does this to Yoichi after she thinks he's gotten a love letter asking for a date from Nuezume Aruko, a girl who claims Yoichi as her husband after seeing him use his sword style during the trip to Okinawa. But since Nuezume has No Sense of Direction, she ends up not showing up at all, and Ibuki uses this as an excuse to approach Yoichi.
 * Day in The Limelight: Episode 8 mainly focuses on Washizu.
 * Episode 4 is largely centered on Chihaya.
 * Ayame, Kagome, Angie, and Tsubasa get chapters devoted largely to them in the manga.
 * Defeat Means Friendship: Sort of. In Episode 3, Yoichi stops Angela from fighting, and makes her change her ways.
 * Also, Washizu lightens up after being stomped by Yoichi twice. To the point where some thugs he previously beat up try to take advantage of it.
 * In the manga, this gets expanded on, and practically everyone Yoichi defeats ends up helping him in some way later on.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Ibuki gets really upset at Yoichi for the simplest things, such as accidentally touching her (or her sister's) breasts, being asked a lot of questions by girls in their class, or even just gawking at another girl.
 * Dojikko: Tsubasa.
 * Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Tsubasa when she's in her fighting mode.
 * Erotic Eating: Chihaya at the start of episode nine. Kagome in a slightly lesser sense in the same scene. Later Ayame and Ibuki get a turn.
 * Everything but The Girl: Ukyou.
 * Everything Is Even Worse With Sharks: In episode 10, a pair of villains of the week make a return appearance... Riding sharks as surfboards.
 * Evolving Credits: For most of the season, Ukyou and Sakon have their faces hidden by masks until they reveal themselves in-show. The opening follows suit.
 * The ending of episode 12 is nearly exactly the same as the previous eleven, but for the fact that Ibuki and Yoichi, usually the last character to walk up to the porch and the person sitting on said porch respectively, have swapped places.
 * Eyes Always Shut: Keita Torigaya, Washizu's lacky.
 * Fan Service: Repeatedly  hits you over the face with it like Ibuki's sword.
 * Festival Episode
 * First Kiss: Ayame gives one to an unconcious Yoichi during the play. Later, Nuezume gives one to Yoichi after saving him from the ocean. Ibuki is not pleased when she sees that one, particularly when Nuezume claims to be his fiance.
 * Fish Out of Water: Yoichi
 * Flanderization: Torigaya, who goes from Troublemaker's Bro (and about 9cm shorter) in ch. 2 to a Pint-sized Pre-pubescent high-schooler in ch. 37(who rides on Washizu's shoulders!).
 * Forgotten Childhood Friend: Ukyou.
 * For the Evulz: Oboro, who does various things to the main characters, because she wants to be entertained. Later it turns out that she's doing it as vengeance against humanity because she's Cursed With Awesome and the people around her started turning against her.
 * Funny Afro: Oboro makes a powder that gives people an afro. Angela is not amused, but Yoichi seems pretty happy.
 * Gainaxing: A-plenty in this series, most notably Chihaya on a vibrating massage chair...
 * Gecko Ending: While the anime didn't diverge too much from the manga (some chapters get combined, such as Sakon giving Ibuki the potion to turn her mind into that of a 4 year old, and she did it on her own, rather than being ordered to do it by her brother Ukyou), it only covers about the first 16 chapters (out of 58).
 * Genki Girl: Ibuki in episode 11.
 * Gratuitous English: One of the episode previews is delivered completely in English for no apparent reason.
 * Hair Antennae: Chihaya.
 * Heel Face Turn: Tsubasa and Angie, although Tsubasa never truly wanted to fight Yoichi in the first place. She was more a of Punch Clock Villain.
 * Practically all the major villains that Yoichi & company face off against in the manga as well. They're usually won over by how strong and determined he is during the fights, and how he gets such power.
 * Heroic BSOD: Angie suffers one in the manga when she's trying to figure out her feelings for Yoichi. Oboro uses this to her advantage to try and cause Angie to attack him as a result.
 * Ibuki goes through one after Nuezume beats her in a duel. Ukyou strangely enough, helps her snap out of it.
 * Yoichi goes through one after hearing that he may be causing trouble for the Ikaruga dojo. It takes Ibuki calling everyone he's helped before to snap him out of it.
 * Hopeless Suitor: Ayame towards Yoichi. A large part of it is her fault, since she tends to bottle up her feelings for him, and when they do interact, she's often cold and hostile towards him. Then there's her sister Ibuki who tends to beat up Yoichi for so much as looking at another woman.
 * Also,  and Washizu towards Ibuki. In their cases, they don't do much to let Ibuki know they're romantically interested in her, so she misinterprets their intentions.
 * In the later chapters of the manga, Angie falls into this trope as well towards Yoichi. And poor Tsubasa towards Washizu, as he always misinterprets her advances as her being poor (such as when she shows up wearing a bikini, and he thinks she had to sell off her clothes).
 * Hot Mom / Hot Dad: The Ikaruga sister's parents, although they doesn't appear till near the end of the manga.
 * I Have You Now My Pretty: Ukyou and his whole plot to marry Ibuki after kidnapping her. What an Idiot.
 * I Wrote Our Story: Chihaya did.
 * I Just Want to Be Normal: Tsubasa really wants to be a normal high school student. This causes problems for her later in the manga when her little sister shows up.
 * Idiot Hero, Kid Samurai: Yoichi.
 * I Just Want to Have Friends: Several characters in the manga display this trope, usually villains who are trying to undermine Yoichi's relative success and popularity, such as the student council president and Hinagata during the school festival. Yoichi even calls out the students pretending to like Hinagata on it since they were quick to abandon her when their class was losing out to Ibuki's class in the Maid Cafe contest.
 * Implausible Fencing Powers: Yoichi frequently displays tenets of this, almost always invoking Katanas Are Just Better (or rather, Wooden Katanas Are Even Better), when he does. The most commonly seen use of this comes in Yoichi's "Nagi" (Lull) Strike, whose purpose is to attack the opponent's weapon with the intent of breaking it. Yoichi's first use of the technique sees him simultaneously fighting twenty-something ninja who, on top of actually being competent and well-trained, were all armed with steel weapons and pumped up on a brainwashing/strength enhancement drug cocktail. Yoichi, who appeared to only be able to block their blows, shatters all of their weapons in short order, using only his trademark bokuto. He later cuts a giant robot to pieces with a tree branch.
 * Instant Bandages: Tsubasa has some on her after she trips while working at the restaurant. Yoichi sometimes has them after getting beaten up by Ibuki.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: When he is not terrorizing the neighborhood, Washizu is really an endearingly romantic boy with a kind and decent heart.
 * Laser Guided Amnesia: Ibuki regresses to a childlike state, to the point where she doesn't even recognize Kagome.
 * Lethal Chef: Ayame.
 * Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Yoichi convinces Ukyou that this is the best way to settle their differences in episode 12.
 * Lolicon: On a mental level, anyway. Ukyou attempts to marry (and presumably do other things with) Ibuki while the latter's mind has regressed to a 4-year-old state.
 * Lost Aesop: Late in the manga series, it is learned that Ibuki, in addition to being crazy strong, was something of a tiny terror, which lead to the Ikaruga parents' departure. This could have been interpreted as a lesson in Responsibility by placing her in charge of the family and the Dojo. In the final volume, we learn that.
 * Love Dodecahedron: To sort this out: Tsubasa likes Washizu. Washizu likes Ibuki, but the feeling is unrequited. Ayame is in love with Yoichi, made complicated by her Tsundere tendencies towards him. Ibuki is definitely in love with Yoichi, as is Angela. With all this attention, Yoichi is still frustratingly dense and unaware of any of this. Chihaya is the only eligible one not involved and seems more interested and amused in the interplay Yoichi causes between her older sisters than with Yoichi himself. Which makes sense since she's a manga-ka.
 * Recent chapters may already be implying that Chihaya has shown a bit more interest in Yoichi than usual, though.
 * Love Letter Lunacy: Washizu's unfortunate mixup of Yoichi and Ibuki's lockers in one chapter.
 * Also Double Subverted when Yoichi receives a completely normal love letter from an unknown girl, which he mistakenly assumes to be a letter of challenge. Ibuki and the other sisters convince him that it's a love letter, but
 * Manipulative Bastard: Pint-sized Oboro
 * Mask Power: Ukyou and Sakon for the first part of the series.
 * Master of Disguise: Sakon, who at one point disguises herself as Ayame in order to fool Yoichi. She fails only because Yoichi realizes that the "Ayame" in front of him has a larger bust size than the real one does.
 * Tsubasa is particularly good at this as well, although most of the time we see her skills in action it's largely to put on horror makeup.
 * Megaton Punch: Yoichi is on the receiving end of these a lot.
 * The Messiah: Pretty much anyone Yoichi meets that isn't a total jackass (through the merits of Disproportionate Retribution or otherwise) is bound to have their life changed for the better by him.
 * Ms. Fanservice: Angela by a wide margin.
 * Ninja: Yoichi and company are assaulted by a large number of them in episode eleven. They manage to avoid being Highly Visible by wearing their ninja outfits at night.
 * Ninja Log: Tsubasa uses a teddy bear, but it's the same basic idea.
 * No Romantic Resolution: The manga ends with none of the love interests (for any of the characters) having summoned up their courage to confess to the object of their affections.
 * No Sense of Direction: Episode 6's Villain Of The Week, who never quite makes it to Yoichi...
 * Nuezume Aruko from the manga, the daughter of episode 6's villain (who's portrayed a little differently in the manga). She wants to find Yoichi, but often forgets how to find him, and instead of coming to the dojo through the door, she crashes into the window in the bath where he just happens to be bathing at the moment. Later on she, along with her dad, end up all over the place trying to find him again.
 * Noblewomans Laugh: Sakon
 * Nosebleed: Yoichi tends to suffer these, either because of a girl or Ibuki beating him up because he's paying attention to another girl.
 * Oblivious to Love: Yoichi.
 * Paper Fan of Doom: Ukyou Dual Wields a set of these.
 * Parental Abandonment: While not touched on much in the anime, in the manga, while the Ikaruga sisters were told their parents left for training purposes,
 * Promotion to Parent: Ibuki is running the place and Chihaya seems to provide for the family by monetary means.
 * Puppy Love: Between Kagome and Masashi, a mild Tsundere who is a student of Ibuki's dojo and acts as Kagome's protector (oftentimes from her own clumsiness).
 * Raised By Dudes: Until he comes down from it at the beginning of the story, Yoichi has lived on a mountain his entire life, with only his dad and...
 * Raised By Wolves: ...the resident wildlife.
 * Running Gag: Tsubasa can apparently swap out her form with a teddy bear if she wants to escape Angie. Angie is always amazed at the "body swap".
 * Sarashi: Kagome, and Ibuki wears this while training with Yoichi.
 * Scarf of Asskicking: Yoichi, more or less.
 * Screw the Rules I Have Money: Ukyou, and when the Villains Of The Week fail, he even tries to buy the protagonists into submission.
 * Superpowered Exhibitionist Side: Tsubasa
 * Ship Tease: I... I honestly don't know where to begin.
 * Stripperific: After Yoichi does some Clothing Damage to Angela's outfit, she has a dominatrix-style clothing underneath, complete with Gainaxing, and Yoichi getting a Nosebleed from it.
 * Sibling Rivalry: While Ayame greatly respects and looks up to Ibuki, she often feels inadequate when compared to her sister's martial arts skills, bust size, and popularity. The final chapter of the manga ends with the two sisters realizing they're also romantic rivals (for Yoichi) as well.
 * Storming the Castle: Done literally in episode 12.
 * Suicide As Comedy: Yoichi tries to commit sepukku every once in a while, usually when faced with a comparatively minor setback.
 * Supporting Harem: This seems to be the case. Kagome is too young for Yoichi to be interested in her, Chihaya is probably just teasing him, and Ayame tends to be a Shrinking Violet when it comes to expressing her feelings for him. Tsubasa is interested in Washizu, and while Angela seems to show interest in Yoichi, she never really gets to spend time with him (in the anime anyway. In the manga she gets lots more attention). Then there's the fact that Ibuki gets incredibly jealous if any Yoichi shows any interest in any other woman.
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: After Kagome catches Ayame trying to cook in the kitchen:

Kagome: You blew up the pot making rice gruel?"


 * Team Mom: Ibuki, as a natural result of Promotion to Parent.
 * The Power of Friendship: After Yoichi suffers a Heroic BSOD in the manga and leaves the dojo, Ibuki starts calling everyone he helped out earlier, and they all go looking for him, telling him that it was because of him why they're happier and better off.
 * The Rival: Washizu wants to view Yoichi as this, but Yoichi is oblivious to it.
 * The Unfavorite: Ayame, spending an eternity behind her older sister.
 * Fortunately she gets some recognition in the manga, such as when she's performing in the theater club.
 * Theme Naming: The last names of all the main characters have a bird reference in them. (Karasuma = crow circle, Ikaruga = grosbeak, Washizu = eagle head, Torigaya = valley of birds, Tsubame = swallow, Takatsukasa = hawk government). Tsubasa's first name also means "wing".
 * Token Mini Moe: Kagome and Tsubasa.
 * Transfer Student Uniforms: Sort of. Yoichi transfers into Ibuki's class at the start of the series, but he never bothers wearing any kind of school uniform, preferring to stick with his samurai clothes.
 * Tsundere: Ibuki is a type-B, Ayame is a textbook type-A.
 * Ironic, considering Ibuki is much, much more violently aggressive towards Yoichi than Ayame.
 * Twelve Episode Anime
 * Unrequited Love: Several examples: Washizu towards Ibuki, Ayame (and possibly Angela) towards Yoichi, and Tsubasa towards Washizu.
 * Unwanted Harem: In this case, the hero is too naive to even know that he even has one.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Washizu and Yoichi are a hybrid of Type I and Type II. Yoichi is openly friendly and unfailingly polite towards Washizu, while Washizu resents Yoichi for beating him and stealing Ibuki's affections, all the while developing a grudging respect and affection towards him. Washizu and Ayame are Type II, connecting over their shared frustrations over their Unrequited Love and encouraging the other to pursue it. When they're not doing this, they spend most their time sparring and insulting each other. Hilariously, their friends mistake this as Belligerent Sexual Tension.
 * Warrior Therapist: Yoichi, though he insists on doing it via fighting fair and square.
 * What an Idiot: Ukyou is in love with Ibuki and feels threatened by Yoichi's presence. You'd think that he'd try wooing Ibuki in the old fashioned way (as Washizu attempts to), but instead, he opts to send assassins and psychos to beat up/maybe kill Yoichi while not even so much as dropping by to say "hello" to the girl he's supposedly nuts for.
 * White Haired Pretty Girl: Angela.
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: Yoichi, though denser than lead, is able to constantly spout various moralistic/supportive words after any situation he's been thrown into, usually directed at the Villain of the Week. This could just be his idealism talking, but at the same time isn't totally implausible, since he could have studied a wide variety of subjects while up in the mountains.
 * Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Yoichi, though he has no problem with using his wind attacks.
 * You Fight Like a Cow: Inverted. Yoichi compliments Washizu on the passion behind his punches, even if they are the untrained blows of a delinquent student.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Hair Colors in this series go all over the spectrum, with the Ikaruga sisters alone possessing purple (Ibuki), blonde (Ayame), green (Chihaya), and blue (Kagome)-colored locks. Also, hot-pink (Tsubasa) and lilac (Angela).
 * Younger Than They Look: Angela's supposed to be 16, but looks to be in her 20's.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Chihaya wears this nearly all the time. It also appears to be part of the female dress code at the school that Yoichi, Washizu, Ibuki, and Ayame attend.