Lux-Pain

Lux-Pain is a Visual Novel-type Adventure Game for the Nintendo DS, first released in Japan in March 2008. The English translation was released in the US and Europe a year later, in March 2009.

Atsuki Saijo's parents were victims of SILENT, a mental parasite born through negative emotions that drives its victims to violence and suicide. To avenge them, he joins FORT, an organization formed to eliminate SILENT forever, and acquires the power of Lux-Pain. He is dispatched to Kisaragi City to search for the "Original" SILENT that started the "Shanghai Incident", in which 10,000 people were infected by that one "Original" in just three months, resulting in thousands of violent crimes and suicides.

As part of his investigation, Atsuki is enrolled in Kisaragi High as a transfer student, where he meets various classmates and teachers, many of whom have some connection to the mystery. Atsuki's investigation is aided by an ability known as Sigma (short for Signum-Anima) and other FORT members. Sigma allows Atsuki to read Shinen, a collection of thoughts and emotions, shown as words that flash across the screen in various colors and text effects. These thoughts allow Atsuki to gain an understanding of events and of the mental state of the people they belong to, potentially discovering a SILENT and eliminating it. (If he locates a SILENT or WORM - a lesser form of Silent - and fails to remove it, the SILENT or WORM victim's brain will be 'broken' and it's a Game Over.) Other FORT members assisting Atsuki include his partner Liu Yee, a fellow Lux-Pain user whose methods are rather more ruthless than Atsuki's; Natsuki, a young girl whose Sigma power allows her to track Shinen; and Nola, Atsuki's support and an expert hacker.

There is a Character Sheet for this section.

Provides Examples Of:

 * Academy of Adventure: Like the city, there is always something going on at school whether it's good or bad. Almost always, it revolves around the eight main high school students (Atsuki, Akira, Mika, Rui, Yayoi, Ryo, Shinji and later Hibiki.)
 * Age-Inappropriate Dress: Natsuki dresses in a partially revealing Elegant Gothic Lolita dress but is really 13.
 * A God Am I:
 * All There in the Manual: A lot more information on terms and characters can be found in the manual and in-game database than in the main narrative.
 * There's also the "web novels" on the Japanese website, which expand on certain characters' backstories. Naturally, there's no English translation for any of them.
 * Ambiguously Gay: Akira and Hibiki. The former is prone to saying the wrong thing at the wrong time while the latter is questionable.
 * Anyone Can Die
 * Attract Mode: The anime scene that plays before the Start screen. The opening song ("Holding the Holy Pain") is performed by Yoko Takahashi, best known for Cruel Angel's Thesis, the opening song for Neon Genesis Evangelion.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: The majority of the cast. Once Silent infects them, you better look out: Obvious examples are Yayoi, Ryo and Sayuri.
 * Big Friendly Dog: Melody.
 * Bishounen: Atsuki, who's described in-game as having beautiful hair and a feminine face, plus a handful of other male characters.
 * Bittersweet Ending: In the Good Ending,
 * Blind Idiot Translation: The American translation has an amazing number of typos and other mistakes. See Spell My Name with an "S" and Viewer Gender Confusion further down.
 * Boobs of Steel: Rui, as she's considered the strongest of the group.
 * Akira clearly stated that no matter how hard he trains, he can't beat her or Mika. Also, since all the guys are scared of her, it might as well be true.
 * Book Dumb: Akira and Mika.
 * However, Akira confirms their stupidity in archive 1 where he declares that he and Mika are aiming for the lowest grade in the class. Idiot...
 * Yayoi however counters this in her archive scene saying that they are smart but don't have the motivation.
 * It seems to apply to Akira because he's asleep most of the time in class; Mika is probably pretty quick on her feet as well, but she skips class most of the time to pursue her journalism.
 * Boss Banter: Most of the Silent, although it's difficult to read since you'll most likely be looking at the touch-screen. The banter is different depending on the Silent, and pertains to whatever the infectee's issues are.
 * Break the Cutie: The majority of the female cast; see Discussion page for details.
 * Brick Joke: Ryo is known for constantly being locked out of his own place. Both Ai and Hibiki worry about him because of that. Ai even makes it her goal to make sure it doesn't happen as she makes two keys for each of them. Ryo ends up losing said key and Ai says that the lock needs to be replaced so no one will ever find it again.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Takano (teacher) and Aya (agent of FORT).
 * Camp Gay: Shunichi Inagaki has the hots for Akira's dad, which is obvious to everyone except the Mido guys.
 * Seems more Invisible to Gaydar for this trope
 * Character Development: Several cases, but most notably Yayoi, who changes from being quiet and depressed into a much stronger, more outgoing individual. With the right choices made during gameplay, even minor characters can become better people by the end.
 * Cheerful Child: Nami, although Natsuki might count as well.
 * City of Adventure: Anything can happen in Kisaragi despite most of it being negative stuff, something new ALWAYS happens.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Yayoi after her character development listed above. Seriously, when your friends start yelling and you mention monkeys (and wanting a pet monkey in the process)...you know something is wrong with her.
 * In the same archive 1 scene, when Rui beats up on all the guys except Atsuki, she mentions how everything is like whack-a-mole and that she would join if she didn't forget her hammer...
 * If that wasn't bad enough, in game, when Rui calls Atsuki "Tardy King" (nickname came from Akira because he noticed that Atsuki is always late for class) she decides to downgrade Atsuki's 'rank' to Private Tardy...
 * Concept Art Gallery: With the mini-artbook.
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * Cosplay Otaku Girl: Meilin looks like one, though she insists it's not actually cosplay.
 * Cultural Translation: Occurs somewhat in the translation, which can't seem to decide if Kisaragi City is in Japan or America. Pretty daft, considering that most of the characters (and Kisaragi itself, for that matter) have blatantly Japanese names and the Western characters are still marked out as the foreigners.
 * Cute and Psycho: Sayuri
 * Cute Shotaro Boy: Toma and Kei; Shinji, if you don't think he looks his age.
 * Dark-Skinned Blond: Rui. Which is odd, since her sister Yui has pale skin and red hair. She does mention having daily treatments at one point, so it's possible she's bleaching her hair and deliberately going for the ganguro look.
 * Dead Little Sister: Atsuki, as if his dead parents weren't enough.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Shinji, obviously. Whenever one of the main cast gets injured and sent to the hospital, he always has something sarcastic to say and gets what's coming to him from the girls.
 * Dialogue Tree: Although it usually just raises or lowers the person's affection for you, and doesn't have much effect on the game itself. In the Archive scenes, the dialogue choices have a little more effect (the other character will react differently, ect).
 * Damsel in Distress: Mika, of course.
 * Driven to Suicide: A potential effect of the SILENT.
 * Elegant Gothic Lolita: Natsuki dresses like this.
 * Enemy Detecting Radar: What Natsuki does for FORT, except replace "Enemy" with "Shinen." Also an NPC version of the Enemy Scan.
 * Everyone Can See It: Apparently, there are more people in series that think Hibiki and Ryo are cute together. It's just Suzu if you read the dialogue. Then again, Hibiki doesn't deny that he likes the idea of ending up with Ryo and Ryo tends to have some ambiguous lines. Fanon seems to agree though.
 * Everyone Went to School Together: The majority of the cast is in high school but it's justified because it seems that Kisaragi High School is the only high school in Kisaragi.
 * Everything Fades: Due to limited animation (it is essentially a visual novel), this is how people appear when walking away/leaving the scene/collapsing, though at least the sound effects tip you off as to what they're doing.
 * Exact Time to Failure: The amount of time you have to erase Worms from people. Running out of time can be potentially game-altering.
 * Eyes of Gold: Not evil, but Sigma user Natsuki Venefskuja has golden eyes. Atsuki's right eye turns gold as well, when he uses Sigma.
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble: This matches for Akira, Mika, Rui and Ryo who are all childhood friends. Akira is Choleric (yellow), Mika is Sanguine (red), Rui is Melancholic (black) and Ryo is Phlegmatic (green).
 * Freak-Out:
 * Five-Man Band
 * The Hero: Atsuki
 * The Lancer: Akira who can also be associated with the Big Guy. Or Mika
 * The Smart Guy: Shinji, or Ryo
 * The Chick: Yayoi
 * The Big Guy: Akira or Rui (because physically, she's stronger than him.)
 * The Sixth Ranger: Hibiki
 * Foe Yay: Mainly between Liu Yee and Kiryu; Atsuki and Kiryu would count if only Kiryu wasn't so friendly to Atsuki in the first place.
 * Genki Girl: Mika
 * Girlish Pigtails: Natsuki Venefskuja
 * Going Through the Motions: Again, limited animation strikes, so each character has only a few portraits.
 * Gonk: Face it Takuya, out of all the high school males in the series, you're the only ugly one.
 * Gratuitous English: Meilin Fu, who is Chinese.
 * Guide Dang It: Episode 7's notoriously tricky solution. The game actually advises you to keep a save file from the beginning of the episode, since there's a very likely possibility that the episode will become Unwinnable.
 * Hell, if you've been called three times during the sequence in question (which gives you a limited number of moves) and have NOT  you're pretty much at the point where you don't have enough moves left to  . Oh, and let's not mention, or   you have to deal with...
 * There's also the movie theatre lady, Yumiko, . The solution?.
 * In another incident, during chapter 16, you have to get a worm off of  during a turn where each of the areas are only available for a certain number of turns. Meaning you could pick the other three places instead (no matter what you'll miss one of the conversations) and miss the worm. The result? You can't implant it with the memory option later.   This troper didn't realize it the first time around and had to start over from the beginning of the game to get 100% completion.
 * Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Yuzi, in a rather amusing scene: Apparently someone had wondered if he liked men, which prompts him to nervously ask the same thing of Atsuki (yes, you can answer "I don't know, maybe" if you so wish) then go on about how his "lips are reserved for all the chicks in the world" and how he hates other men. Yet despite his protests, all he talks about is Shinji.
 * He Knows Too Much: Poor.
 * The Heartless: SILENT are born from and feed off of negative emotions.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Yui and Mako are definitely this.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Christopher Sabat (Liu), Monica Rial (Natsuki and Yayoi), and Greg Ayres (Shinji).
 * Though it might be hard to spot, Arthur Mays is Isaac, Komui, and Dororo; Kiryuu is Krory, Yuki, and Sinistra; Yui and Nola are both Eclair, Yuuko, and... well, Yuuko; and Lil is Eve!
 * The original Japanese voice cast had plenty of familiar seiyuu as well, including Mamoru Miyano as Atsuki, Takehito Koyasu as Liu,Hikaru Midorikawa as Ray, Mamiko Noto as Nami, and Yuuichi Nakamura as Akira.
 * Hollywood Atheist: Atsuki
 * Horrible Judge of Character: While it might not be obvious that  was a Manipulative Bastard and you probably wouldn't guess the first time you met him, it's ironic that the one who figured him out first was.
 * Hot for Student: Minor character Suzu states that the nurse Honoka might have this for Kiryu no matter how much she denies it. Suzu, however, is known for her... "imagination."
 * On the "hot for teacher" side of things, Yayoi looks up to Arthur and may have been harbouring a crush on him in the early chapters.
 * Ho Yay: There's plenty of it, perhaps not surprisingly: Do see the Discussion page for what used to be here.
 * Idiot Hair: Shinji.
 * Interrupted Suicide: Atsuki is always just in time.
 * Intrepid Reporter: Mika.
 * Iron Butt Monkey: Definitely Akira. He gets his ass handed to him by  and leaves the hospital the next night. He gets shot in the shoulder by   and gets out the day after with MINOR WOUNDS. And he gets infected by Silent twice, but instead of having a breakdown when it's removed (like most SILENT victims) he acts the same as usual.
 * And then when he mentions that Rui and Mika kicked his butt sending him to the hospital multiple times during childhood. Archive 1 proves that Akira has more tolerance to getting owned by Rui than everyone else...
 * It's Up to You: Or rather, to Atsuki. Justified in that he's FORT's most powerful agent (in the vicinity, at least) and the other characters do help him out.
 * Jerkass: Kunio, Tazaki, Katsuhisa.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Liu Yee, maybe with a bit of Aloof Big Brother to Atsuki.
 * Journey to Find Oneself: For the characters Atsuki helps.
 * Jewelry Of Power: The Lux-Pain, which are pieces of jewelry that grant the wearer the ability to use Sigma (provided that they can wear it without instantly dying). Atsuki (Gawain, a ring), Liu (Lancelot, an earring), and Natsuki (Tristan, a pendant) all use Lux-Pain. In all, there are twelve (though only the aforementioned three are referred to in-game).
 * Les Yay: There is something going on between Yui and Mako.
 * Also between Atsuki's three female friends Rui, Mika and Yayoi. Rui has it the most with Yayoi.
 * Aoi's and Honoka's relationship should be questioned.
 * Like Brother and Sister: Hibiki to Honoka, and its implied that Honoka regards Hibiki the same, though it doesn't stop Suzu.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: Yes.
 * Love Makes You Crazy: Yui. When she changes for the worse as the stress takes its toll, snapping at everyone and even threatening a few. When FORT tries to take   away, Yui snaps. Also,   Not stopping the first will keep you from earning the Good Ending, though the Good Ending is still winnable if you don't prevent the latter incident.
 * Mad Mathematician: Hibiki Kiryu fits this trope to the T. "I love math. It's beautiful in it's simplicity."
 * Madness Mantra: Expect to see phrases like "Die!" or "Help me!" all over the screen during some of the creepier Shinen readings.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Edward to  See Horrible Judge of Character.
 * Marked Change: Black tattoos appear on Lux Pain users when making using of said artifact: Atsuki's appears on his left arm, as he wears his Lux Pain ring on his left hand, and Natsuki - who has a pendant - has her black tattoos appear on her chest, visible due to her low-cut dress.
 * Meganekko: Rui, Sayuri. Rui's glasses seem to be more for fashion than anything else, though.
 * Mental World: Where battles against the SILENT occur.
 * Mismatched Eyes: Atsuki's right eye is gold as a result of the events that let him use Sigma, but most of the time he wears a black contact lens in that eye to hide it.
 * Mission Control: Nola and Natsuki; Ray in the endgame after.
 * Mood Swinger: Akira at the beginning. He gets better, though.
 * Multiple Endings: Depending on whether or not you manage to Erase certain Silent, the game may end before Day 21.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: In episode 7, It's rather sad.
 * Mysterious Waif:.
 * New Game+: Using a "starred" (cleared) file to start a new game allows you a higher starting rank (retaining 1/4th of experience gained during the cleared file's game) and retains part of the affection you earned with the characters in the completed save. It also nabs you new mails on your phone and (useless) items.
 * New Transfer Student: Atsuki's entire cover for the game.
 * No Sense of Direction: Aoi, apparently.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity:.
 * Obvious Beta: The English script, at the very least; with so many typos and inconsistant romanisations, the translators blatantly never proofread it.
 * Official Couple: Aoi and Takano might as well be, though it's only confirmed when that Aoi was in love with him. However, it wasn't one-sided, as the last thing Takano thought of when you read his final Shinen.
 * Also Yui and Mako, though whether you think it was romantic or not is up to you: Nonetheless,
 * One Hundred Percent Completion: While it doesn't net you any real in-game bonuses, said completion will fill up your Gallery and your Archive with bonus content.
 * Parental Abandonment: A fair few cases of Parental Abandonment via Death, besides Atsuki himself: Rui and Yui's father, Akira's mother,, Natsuki's parents...
 * Ryo, whose parents kicked him out after his grandfather died and he inherited Tohodo.
 * Shinji. Letting him hack, skip school and berate the teacher; Aoi even tried to speak to his parents about his attitude and they kick her out, telling her to "Let him do what he wants."
 * It doesn't help that they leave midway through the game and leave Shinji without food in the house. When Shinji is hospitalized, they don't even go see him;
 * Playful Hacker: Shinji.
 * Plucky Girl: One really has to admire Mika's mental resilience: She and while she does have her breakdowns she usually bounces right back. Heck, !
 * Police Are Useless: Played straight for the most part. Only Mako proved to be a competent cop ; all the others are ineffectual, or in a few cases actually aggressive (when infected by SILENT).
 * The Pollyanna:
 * Precision F-Strike:
 * Promotion to Parent: Honoka seems to take the role for Hibiki as he goes as far as to refer her to a mother or a sister. And she's only 24!
 * Puppeteer Parasite:  and PHALANX, as well as FORT (what with their government contacts and control over temporal power).   as well.
 * The Quiet One: Atsuki, definitely.
 * Random Power Ranking: Atsuki's increases in FORT rank. TIMHEST? TRANEXIS? FLASSWOR? Say what?
 * Real Men Wear Pink While he doesn't wear pink, Akira considers baking a feminine trait.
 * Also, Ryo has a fascination with panda bear dolls; if Atsuki comments on how feminine it is, Ryo gets embarrassed.
 * Relationship Values: By interacting with the characters, you can increase their fondness for you and see the result at Pumpkin Witch. It doesn't have any real effect on the main game, though maxing characters' affection will unlock more scenes in the Archive.
 * Rich Bitch: Tomoyo, though how rich she herself is (and how much she leeches from her men) is debatable.
 * Sadist Teacher: Yamato, definitely.
 * Say My Name:
 * Shipper on Deck: Mika, Kei and Honoka support the Atsuki/Rui pairing.
 * Suzu supports Honoka/Hibiki, Atsuki/Hibiki, and Ryo/Hibiki. (She is such a Hibiki fangirl.)
 * Razzly ships Atsuki/Mika to Mika's dismay.
 * Very early in the game, Mika and Rui will ask you what type of hair style Atsuki likes. This is coordinated with the three girls (Mika, Yayoi and Rui) and depending on the answer depends on who they ship at that moment. Mika and Rui will ship Atsuki/Yayoi. If Rui is chosen, Mika ships Atsuki/Rui to Rui's dismay and if Mika is chosen, Rui ships Atsuki/Mika to Mika's disappointment.
 * During one of Rui's rants, she'll ship Akira/Mika, Shinji/Yayoi and Ryo/Sayuri (putting herself with Atsuki) before saying "Just kidding!"
 * Shunichi ships Kagami/Mika amd Akira/Atsuki.
 * In the last episode, if you decide to go along with Suzu's yaoi fantasy, Atsuki will end up shipping Ryo/Hibiki or vise versa depending on your option on who tops.
 * An archive scene suggests that Yayoi ships Kei/Nami.
 * Ship Tease: Where do I begin?
 * For the het pairings:
 * Atsuki/Rui, Atsuki/Yayoi, Atsuki/Mika, Atsuki/Natsuki, Atsuki/Tomoyo (as wrong as it might seem...) and Atsuki/Nami for Atsuki.
 * Akira/Mika, Akira/Rui and Akira/Yayoi for Akira.
 * Shinji/Mika, Shinji/Rui, Shinji/Yayoi and Shinji/Sayuri for Shinji.
 * Ryo/Sayuri for Ryo.
 * Arthur/Honoka and Honoka/Hibiki for Honoka.
 * There's some evidence for Takuya/Sayuri, too....
 * For yaoi pairings:
 * Akira/Atsuki (a big fan favorite), Ryo/Atsuki, Atsuki/Shinji, Atsuki/Hibiki, Kagami/Atsuki and Liu Yee/Atsuki for Atsuki.
 * Liu Yee/Hibiki, Ryo/Hibiki and Hibiki/Shinji (if barely) for Hibiki.
 * For yuri pairings:
 * Aya/Yui and Yui/Mako for Yui.
 * Rui/Mika and Rui/Yayoi for Rui.
 * Mika/Yayoi for Mika.
 * Shout-Out: At one point, a customer asks if Ryo's store has Terror And Hatred In LA.
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: Nami is a cheerful, seemingly fearless girl who loves animals; her older sister Yayoi is outwardly the perfect girl, yet hides her insecurities and is deeply troubled. Even after Yayoi gets better, she's still the quiet, polite one... most of the time.
 * Six-Student Clique: Atsuki's friends fall into this group
 * Mika: The Head
 * Akira: The Muscle
 * Shinji: The Quirk
 * Ryo: The Smart One
 * Yayoi: The Pretty One
 * Rui: The Wild One
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Saijo/Saijou, Ray/Rei Platiere, Arthur Mays/Meyes, and others. The annoying part is that inconsistencies like this happen within the English game text. Romanising FORT as "Photo" has to take the cake, though.
 * Stalker with a Crush: Played for laughs with Hibiki's 'infatuation' with Atsuki. Example: In episode 20, Kiryu calls Atsuki up and asks him to meet him at the hospital. Nothing seems wrong with that, except Atsuki never gave Kiryu his number!
 * Stepford Smiler:
 * An even better example is, a pleasant, cheerful, smiling man, who's a total lovable klutz, and seems to try really hard at his job and ends up bumbling. However,
 * Subtext: See that big list of Ship Teases further up? It's possible to find an excuse to ship almost any two characters together.
 * Suicide Pact: One of the first things Atsuki investigates as part of his mission.
 * Sweet Tooth: Mako really likes her cakes.
 * Taking the Bullet:
 * Teen Genius: Shinji, at least when it comes to computers, and apparently Kiryu with math.
 * Telepathy: Atsuki's Sigma as well as Kiryu's power.
 * There Are No Therapists: And half the cast need one. Then again, most of their problems are caused and/or amplified by SILENT anyway.
 * Hibiki avoided this pre-game when he met Honoka; she's the reason that he didn't go crazy and drop out of school as a result, though being away from her overseas might have allowed him to deteriorate enough for  to start influencing him.
 * Tsundere: Rui is Type A to almost everyone. She's more "dere" around Atsuki and Yayoi.
 * Two-Teacher School: Averted, at least somewhat. There are a total of six teachers you can interact with at Kisaragi High, all of whom are shown teaching at least once.
 * Unstoppable Rage: When  is mindwiped, there's only one thing Nami will say to : "I'LL KILL YOU!"
 * Viewers Are Geniuses: The game is riddled with references to philosophy, metaphysics and other obscure theories. While Ryo is the main character who is guilty of this, and Kiryu once he shows, even Atsuki makes references to Nietzsche.
 * Did Not Do the Research/They Just Didn't Care: Among other things, Kiryuu's speech while in the bookstore with Atsuki and Ryo cited the ever-popular 'Only humans kill their own kind,' which any glance at the Animal Channel will handily disprove.
 * The Virus: The SILENT certainly spreads like one; at a certain point of infection, the SILENT takes control of the victim and actively tries to infect others.
 * Visual Novel: The interacting-with-people portions of the game, as well the as Omake scenes in the Archive, which are mostly comprised of more traditional dating-sim scenarios. ("Atsuki, let's go on a date!")
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist:  and , sort of. In a crazy way.
 * Witch Hunt: EP 20
 * This is also part of
 * Yaoi Fangirl: The minor character Suzu likes to fantasize about other people in romantic situations, and it doesn't even matter to her if they're the same gender or Like Brother and Sister. In particular, she likes the idea of Hibiki/Ryo (or vise versa), and the last part of the conversation from the last day of the Good Ending seems to indicate that she's mentally throwing you into the mix.
 * Then again, whatever Ryo says can make it seem like that. Also doesn't help that Hibiki seems to be playing along with her.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: There is a wide variety of hair colors that a normal human would have use interesting hair dye to get.