Elemental Gelade

Elemental Gelade (called Erementar Gerad by some, including the US copyright holder) is a manga and an anime series which ran in Japan in 2005.

The main premise of the series consisted of the idea that there are three type of humans: normal humans, Eden/Edil/Adil/Edel Raids (magical beings which can turn into weapons) and anime only Sting Raids (artificially created Eden Raids, which aren't nearly as powerful as they are). The series focused on their relationships toward other groups and themselves. Humans who pact with an Edel Raid to use the latter as a weapon are called Pledgers.

The series followed the adventures of Coud van Giruet (a brash, and adventurous young sky pirate who now has become Ren's pledger), Reverie Metherlence, known as Ren (a girl who is really the legendary Shichikouhouju), Rowen (an elite member of the Arc Aile military, and pledger to Kuea), Kullweet Envatilia, better known as Kuea (an adilraid with an army's appetite), and finally Cisqua (a small but very obsessive soldier girl who refused to pledge to an Edel Raid), in their quest to find the Edel Garden, where all Edel Raids are born.

There's also a Spinoff manga "Flag of Blue Sky" which takes place in a different place and/or a different time, where the kingdome of Fuajarl is attacked by Edel Garden itself, and the princess Achea is exiled with Jean (real name Jelio Velsown), the royal Edel Raid. The fans call them Red and Blue Elemental Gerade respectively, after the color of the manga's cover.

See also Soul Eater for a similar concept, liberally mixed with the quirky Gothic sensibilities of Tim Burton.

The manga contains examples of:

 * Accidental Pervert: Coud, many times.
 * Action Girl: Cisqua, Jean, Achea.
 * Affably Evil: Orga Night executive Bienenritter is a manipulative, ambitious woman who is capable of anything to obtain what she wants. And she does her evil machinations with the grace of a Lucky Star character.
 * Ax Crazy:
 * Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Arguably Ren, Cisqua, and Kuea.
 * Little Miss Badass: Cisqua, who has enough firepower to bring down an army, if only she had enough ammo.
 * Achea can also hold her own with a sword.
 * Badass Normal: How do you survive in a world with humanoid weapons that you refuse to use out of principle? You dress up like Wild West Sakura, call yourself Cisqua and have the armory of the Nadesico, Macross and maybe the Yamato under your poncho.
 * Also, Mel in Blue.
 * Beware the Nice Ones:
 * Bifauxnen: Jean. Doesn't stop the guys from wanting her, though.
 * Big Eater: Kuea. It becomes a plot point in the Milliard Trey arc, as Rowen points out that if Kuea is enters into the tournament, no matter how much money they win, it will all just go to feeding Kuea. The grand prize in one million gold.
 * Break the Cutie:
 * Calling Your Attacks: The attack names had very bizarre Gratuitous English, sometimes to a ridiculous extent.
 * Conspiracy Redemption
 * Cool Big Sis: In the way that Kuea treats both Coud and Ren.
 * Dissonant Serenity: Lethal Force <3!
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: Reacting is very intimate and pleasurable for both the Pledger and the Raid.
 * Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: 24 of them. Each is good against one type and bad against another, and the last six haven't been discovered yet...
 * A second guide released by Mayumi Azuma revealed three of those six: solar, lunar, and gate.
 * Emotionless Girl: Ren, for most of the series.
 * Equippable Ally: The Eldel Raids.
 * Expy: Rowen looks a lot like Ky Kiske. Cisqua's design was also inspired by BB Hood, a character the author helped design.
 * Girl in A Box: Ren.
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * Hot Springs Episode
 * Hypocritical Humour: Cisqa's bread and butter.
 * Kill the Cutie
 * Light Is Not Good: Norma.
 * Love Triangle
 * Macross Missile Massacre: Cisqa perhaps carries too many missiles.
 * MacGuffin Girl: Ren and Jean are both Shichikouhouju, along with, a very rare, powerful type of adilraid. The enemy tries so hard to get their hands on them, and keep failing.
 * Magical Girlfriend
 * Mysterious Waif: Ren.
 * Not So Different
 * Only Known By Their Nickname: An important early plot point, as it turns out that Edel Raids can be easily sealed by those who know their full names.
 * Parental Abandonment: Coud, Lilia.
 * Perky Female Minion: Cochinel, the singer Grayarts's Edel Raid.
 * Plucky Girl: Achea.
 * The Power of Friendship
 * Princess in Rags: Achea.
 * Promotion to Parent: Rasati.
 * Redemption Equals Death
 * Role Playing Game Verse: Lampshaded when Coud meets Anna. Coud Gained An Ally!
 * Ryona: Happens a lot in the Manga.
 * Schizo-Tech: Airships, floating islands, guns and magic?
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Rowen and Coud.
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: Rasati and Lilia.
 * Small Girl, Big Gun: Cisqua.
 * Spell My Name With an "S": Has this problem with the show title and other plot elements; for example, Pledgers (initially introduced as either "Preja" or "Pleasure"), Sting Raids (misspelled as "Stream Raids" or "Sitting Raids"), or even the Eden Raid (called "Edil Raid" by the first fansubs of the series).
 * NOT helped by the Geneon US release of the series, which has the series title both ways, one in the English subs, the other in the title sequence itself.
 * Official spelling in the Japanese versions is "adilraid."
 * Stripperific: Kuea's attire. It's more evident in the manga. Her reasoning is that mobility is all-important, even trumping protection. Her outfit consists of a length of chain, a petticoat, a black leather G-string, and a curdoroy mini-tanktop, as well as a a pair of long black gloves. When she gets Ren in a similar outfit, all Ren can say is "I'm cold..."
 * For those of you with the Japanese version, see Range's outfit. She makes Kuea look modest!
 * Thong of Shielding: Kuea.
 * Time to Unlock More True Potential
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Rasati and Lilia, Cisqua and Kuea towards Ren.
 * Training From Hell: The training Cisqua gave to Cou.
 * Alright! Cisqua's Boulder-Style Stamina-Building Stamina Training starts now!
 * Translation Correction
 * Years Too Early: Kuea: "It'll take you another eleventy billion years, before you can defeat me in a battle!"
 * You Have Failed Me: Extensively, but used very harshly with

The anime contains examples of:

 * Back-to-Back Badasses: Wolx and Rasati do this once.
 * Fan of Underdog: Viro, a temporary character who.
 * Flashback Effects: Flashbacks are done in "limited palette" Deliberately Monochrome, with only red or a significant person/object colored.
 * Meganekko: Viro. Lampshaded in a Post Episode Trailer. Sometimes they are Scary Shiny Glasses.
 * Mind Control Eyes
 * Not What It Looks Like: Cisqua finds Coud and Ren on a bed and draws the obvious conclusion.
 * Rowen is a bit more easy-going when he walks into a scene where it looks like Coud is fondling Ren's breasts.
 * Rip Van Winkle: A very cruel version of this happens to one Eden Raid that escaped from Arc Aile's custody and puts the organization's MO into question.
 * Transformation Sequence