Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan



From iNiS, the creators of Gitaroo Man, comes this rather clever Rhythm Game for the Nintendo DS. ''Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan'' ("Hey! Fight! Cheer Squad") revolves around a group of male cheerleaders who go around rooting on people all across Tokyo in a variety of tasks to a variety of Japanese pop and rock music. Their clients include Tsuyoshi Hanada, a ronin student trying to get into Tokyo University; Yasushi Tanaka, owner of a ramen shop trying to drum up more business; and Ichiro Tamura, a Salaryman who... grows to fifty feet tall in order to save his daughter (and the city) from a giant blue mouse on the rampage.

Then there's the stage where they get pulled through time and space to cheer on Cleopatra's royal construction crew so she can lose weight via pyramid power...

And for the Grand Finale, they cheer on the whole world to create a Combined Energy Attack big enough to save the planet from impact with a giant asteroid.

It's a weird game, but that's part of the appeal -- it seemingly crams as many familiar anime, manga and Japanese Culture tropes in as it can to make it as Japanese as possible. The game mechanics make good use of the DS stylus, as they involve tapping markers that appear on the screen in time to the music.

The original game was a hit with import gamers. It was such a hit, in fact, that it was followed by an Americanized counterpart, Elite Beat Agents. In May of 2007, it also got a full-fledged sequel with the unwieldy title of ''Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2'' ("Get Fired Up! Hot Blooded Rhythm Spirit: Hey! Fight! Cheer Squad!"), which featured new music, new scenarios, and a team of friendly rival cheerleaders from the upscale side of town. In addition, there is also a free PC clone called osu!, featuring user-created stages.

You can find a translation of the manga panels from the first game here and the translation for the second here. And just for fun: Computer desktop backgrounds for the first game and the second game. There's a wiki for the games (and other games made by iNiS), but you won't find much there.

See also Osu!

This series provides examples of:
"Momotarou: Whoa-! Something I forgot is swelling up inside of me~!!"
 * Abhorrent Admirers: JIN2's fangirls are this in the bad ending of "Music Hour".
 * The Ace: Junior in both games and EBA. The last time, he just appears in a middle-aged woman's fantasies.
 * All Just a Dream: The bad ending of "Bang! Bang! Vacances".
 * All There in the Manual: Some character info can be found on the official websites for the games, and some roughly translated versions can be found if you're willing to Archive Binge through the Game FAQs forums.
 * Large Ham Announcer: The announcer is probably one of the larger hams in the game, despite only appearing in select levels.
 * Anime Hair: Ryuta Ippongi and Kai Domeki.
 * Kai's hair is apparently spiky enough to break wood, as evidenced by "Shounen Heart".
 * There's also Ryuji from "Thrill", obviously parodying Shonen series.
 * Karizou Moriyama from "Julia ni Heartbreak" makes Anime Hair as a career.
 * Animeland / Planet Eris: There are Humongous Mecha, Kaiju, werewolves, ghosts, occasional world-ending catastrophes and more concentrated in a small part of Tokyo. Of course, that doesn't mean the rest of the world is perfectly normal.
 * Anime Theme Song: Every level is backed by a different song, which has varying amounts of relevance to the action.
 * Arson Murder and Jaywalking: What the girls in Hiroshi's class do if you fail "Atsuki Kodou no Hate". They call him a lewd old man, a pervert teacher, a person who doesn't wash his clothes... and an idiot.
 * Art Evolution: The sequel features somewhat less cartoony proportions.
 * Anti Frustration Features: In the sequel, if you run out of health on Easy mode, the Hard mode cheerleader for the team you are currently playing as shows up and revives you with about 3/4 of your health so that you can continue the song. Run out of health again in the same song though, and it's Game Over. Of course, it won't work on the final levels, so you're on your own for that.
 * Artificial Riverbank
 * Badass Arm Fold: The guys in Yuuhi do this before starting a song.
 * Badass Beard: Doumeki Kai has a badass Anime Hair beard.
 * Badass Cape: Kiryuuin Kaoru, his blue team counterpart, has a rather nice cape when he isn't cheering.
 * Battle Aura
 * Battle in The Center of The Mind: Takuya has to face all sorts of dilemmas in his mind, or else he'll wet his pants. Of course, Real Dreams Are Weirder, so the situations include the not-Mario Brothers fixing pipes and giant sumo plugging dams in an Amazing Technicolor Battlefield.
 * Beast and Beauty: No matter what you do, Goro Okami's girlfriend will eventually find out he's a werewolf. Fortunately, she thinks he's adorable like that.
 * Though it might imply she's actually into furries if the player gets the good ending.
 * Beautiful All Along: Sachiko when you pass "Koi no Dance Site."
 * Big Eater: Anna has a brief stint as one in "Okoru Kotoba" judging by how large her bowl is compared to Aoi's and Sayaka's. Also, in the same song, when Kai notices that he and the others have to start cheering while they're in the middle of eating, he wolfs down the entire pot.
 * Big OMG: Dan and Joe yell "Oh! My God!" when you fail the first two sections of "Shanghai Honey".
 * Big Rock Ending: No better way to close out the final song of the second game.
 * Bishie Sparkle
 * Bishonen: JIN2 is this in extra-sparkly flavour.
 * Hayato Saionji could count as well, due to his waist-length hair and somewhat calmer-looking disposition. Shinta could also count if you don't think he looks too girly.
 * Biting the Handkerchief: Junior does when you pass the second part of "Bang! Bang! Vacances!"
 * The three fangirls in "Music Hour" also do this in the opening cutscene.
 * Bland Name Product: In the second failure scene of "Ready Steady Go", the MHK channel replaces the NHK. There's also a soccer tournament called the "Wild Cup".
 * Blank White Eyes
 * Brutal Bonus Level: "Samurai Blue", while not quite nearly as hard as the last level, definitely qualifies when 90% of the beatmap is made of eighth notes spaced like quarter notes.
 * But Not Too Foreign: There are plenty of these in the sequel.
 * Call Back: Hajime's pose before cheering in the sequel is exactly like Kai's pose in-between cheering segments in the original.
 * Calling Your Attacks: Spoofed
 * The Cameo: The announcer, the cops Joe and Dan, and "Junior" from Koi no Dance Site are the only characters in every game, including Elite Beat Agents.
 * The Elite Beat Agents and Tang Yao's cat also appear cheering in place of the Ouendan in OTO 2.
 * There's also a slight chance that Tsuyoshi Hanada is in EBA, although there are some slight visual differences.
 * There's even a Lawyer Friendly Cameo by, of all people, the freakin' Mario Brothers.
 * Catch Phrase: Shizuyama Kazebayashi is really fond of yelling "BIG BANG!"
 * Cherry Blossoms: At the end of every stage in OTO 2, and the end of the teacher's stage in OTO 1.
 * Also, the menu tree and the trees along the river bloom into these when you finish all four difficulties.
 * Also in the song "Glamorous Sky" in the second game, there is a girl actually named Sakura. And to make it Meaningful Name, she's the person that the (10-year old) target has a crush on who is being transferred to another school. In the second section of the song, the kid personally takes her to a (fake) blooming cherry blossom tree.
 * Christmas in Japan: "Samurai Blue" takes place during Christmas, and opens with the Asahi team selling Christmas Cake.
 * Circle of Friendship: Both games end with the inhabitants of Earth singing and dancing together to fire a giant hadoken of love and music at whatever was going to destroy the world.
 * Clap Your Hands If You Believe
 * Class Idol: Wakana in "Thrill" is labeled as such.
 * Club Stub: The Versailles Academy choir club in stage 2 of OTO 2.
 * Coincidental Broadcast: The intro to the final level of both games.
 * Combined Energy Attack
 * Continuity Nod: Characters from earlier stages make cameos in other stages.
 * Part of the entire map in the first game gets reused in the second, although a couple of changes were made to the surrounding area.
 * Fridge Horror: Was it because of the Time Skip... or something different?
 * The Cover Changes the Gender: "Bang! Bang! Vacances" was originally done by boy-band SMAP. The game used female singers, likely to fit the scenario better.
 * A similar thing happens for "Shounen Heart", but they make the singer an old man instead, for a similar effect.
 * Crowd Chant: "OUENDAN!!! OUENDAN!!!"
 * Cue the Sun: You did just save it, after all.
 * Dark Horse Victory: "Guts da ze!" Later having said darkhorse chase after a thief.
 * Determinator: Forget everyone else, Tsuyoshi Hanada practically tops all of them. He's failed his entrance exams and been rejected by employers 99 times each. Not only that, his family normally treats him like crap. No wonder why he's so desperate in the beginning of the game.
 * Detached Sleeves: The Cheer Girls' uniforms upgrade to this in the sequel.
 * Department of Redundancy Department: The Nobility's boat is called the Asahi Sunrise III. Asahi means sunrise.
 * Difficulty Spike: Most people have no problem with the game until the final levels. And Hard mode kicks the difficulty up a notch.
 * Disappears Into Light: Rina does this at the end of "Believe".
 * Dissonant Serenity: The game overs for the last level involve the team(s) you cheered with smiling. You know, after completely freaking out over the fact that the world is going to end and you couldn't do a damn thing about it.
 * Distracted By the Sexy: Momotaro if you fail one section of "Shounen Heart".
 * Distressed Dude: JIN 2, who even in the final stage of OTO 2 needs to be saved by his middle aged fangirls from an incoming ice rain.
 * The Ditz: If you notice, the Meganekko cheerleader girl Aoi Kanda just can't do anything right outside cheerleading, though she's supposed to be able to speak around seven languages fluently.
 * Dojikko: Aoi's Expy in the sequel, Honoka Kawai, faceplants in the menu screen.
 * Do Well but Not Perfect: If you don't succeed in a mission completely, but still survive, you get unique cinemas. More is explained on the other page.
 * Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Sakura exhibits this in the beginning of "Glamorous Sky" because of her being required to move.
 * Early Installment Weirdness: The second game has a lot more in common with Elite Beat Agents than the original engine-wise. No single-cart multiplayer or saving replays, for one.
 * Eiffel Tower Effect: Both games use this to show the all the world's people cheering together during their respective final levels. The Statue of Liberty in particular shows up in both.
 * Epic Hail: Can you shout "Ou-en-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"?
 * Everythings Better With Monkeys: And what better way to illustrate this trope than the song "Monkey Magic," featuring a plush monkey that wants to get back to its owner?
 * "Go My Way" has some monkeys in the opening scene, with the most appearing near Sayaka.
 * Everythings Better With Spinning: Inverted. Spinning makes everything worse in this series, at least from the player's perspective.
 * Cute Kitten: The cat has been a staple of the games, and even becomes a playable character if you cheer on the final level with the Elite Beat Agents.
 * Precious Puppies: The Nobility have a pet dog that appears in some levels.
 * Everythings Worse With Bears: There's one that appears in the sequel during the "Go My Way" level, where your target has to wrestle it into submission. It later appears in a cutscene in Hard Mode in one of the game's more... memorable moments. Right before the sad level.
 * Expository Theme Tune: The tutorial theme basically translates to "Cheer, cheer, cheer! Put your fighting spirit into it! Cheer, cheer, cheer! We are the Ouendan!
 * Fan Boy: Takuya from the same game seems to really like Ebi-yama, a sumo that you help cheer on. Not only does a dream version of him appear in the stage Takuya is in, the kid even has an Ebi-yama T-shirt and poster in his room.
 * Fan Girl: The three middle-aged fangirls of JIN 2 in OTO 2. And apparently, Honoka and Reika: the supporting rival cheerleader squad) may also be his fangirls, since they appear carrying a fan with his name: Honoka) and a Hachimaki with his name written: Reika).
 * Fan Service: The Hot Springs Episode opens with a Shirtless Scene. Ippongi is ripped.
 * Note that if you attempt this with the Cheer Girls, the only thing censoring their breasts is the gap between the two DS screens. And that's without mentioning the cheergirls' regular outfit...
 * Festival Episode: "Melody" from the first game.
 * Fire Forged Friends: The squads couldn't exactly handle the heat death of the sun alone, now could they? One bonus pic later reveals the squad members all got together for a picnic, with the Normal mode leaders in a heated match of... arm wrestling?
 * Freaky Is Cool: Thank God Kumi's a dog person.
 * Funny Afro: J-Yama in the "Taisetsu na Mono" stage of OTO 1. He has a special sort of hairspray that can give people these with a side order of becoming Brainwashed.
 * Floral Theme Naming: All of the Nobility have this.
 * There's also Yuria and Kaoruko Tsubaki from "Riruha Rirura"
 * Flower Motifs: Nanako, a character in one of Ouendan 2's multiplayer scenarios, has the Paulownia Seal on her tennis racket, to contrast with her Rival Ageha's Gem Encrusted golden one.
 * Gender Blender Name: Kaoru is a man.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Lots of times.
 * Girlish Pigtails / Every Girl Is Cuter With Hair Decs: Both "cute" cheergirls hit both tropes, and the Nobility girls all have some sort of hair accessory.
 * Girls With Moustaches: Reika dons a fake one in "Samurai Blue".
 * Gonk: JIN2's fangirls. Christine Kamogawa's design counts as well, looking almost superflat compared to the more generic supporting cast.
 * Gratuitous English
 * Gun Kata: Joe does this if you do well enough in the first two parts of "Shanghai Honey".
 * Hemisphere Bias: The results screen of the final level in both games is a globe centered on Asia and Japan. In Elite Beat Agents, it's on North America.
 * Her Codename Was Mary Sue: The protagonist of Christine Kamogawa's novel in the "Bang! Bang! Vacances" stage is obviously supposed to be an idealized version of Ms. Kamogawa herself.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: The Yuuhi squad shove the Nobility out of an incoming ice block at the end of "Countdown". Tears, awesomeness and death ensue.
 * Historical Beauty Update: Literally done with Cleopatra. She starts off as a fat Gonk, then uses pyramid power, miracle dances and the support of Japanese cheerleaders to make herself beautiful in order to impress Antony.
 * Historical Domain Character: You get to cheer on a fat Cleopatra in one of the first game's levels.
 * Hot Blooded: We see the clients regaining their fighting spirit at the start of every stage,and you get some when you keep up the combo. It's also in the title of the sequel.
 * Hotblooded Sideburns: Look at the game's cover art. Those things could pierce a battleship. And Ryuuta's not alone when it comes to this trope either. Kai has them too.
 * Hot Springs Episode: There's one in the second game, complete with shirtless scenes of all the(non-rival) leaders.
 * Humongous Mecha: Fuji-One in the "Zoku" stage of OTO 2.
 * Hurricane of Puns: Of course, they're all in Japanese, because this was a game made for Japanese people.
 * To the point where the second to last line in the credits is "Thanks for your love and support!" In Japanese, the word for both "support" and "cheer" is ouen.
 * Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: The official names for the difficulties: Rather than Easy, Normal, Hard and Insane) are Light-Hearted Cheering, Bold Cheering, Fierce Cheering and Magnificent Cheering.
 * Incendiary Exponent: Seeing the series' main aesthetic, it's not all that surprising when fire starts popping up in the background. Even the logos light on fire in the sequel.
 * Involuntary Shapeshifting: Poor Goro Okami has been cursed to transform in a wolf whenever he sees something round, white, shiny, or some combination of the three, which gets in the way constantly on a date with his girlfriend.
 * I Wished You Were Dead: Mana Shiratori to her sister Rina. Guess what level we're on.
 * Japanese Pronouns: The first cutscene of "Countdown" changes the (plural) pronoun depending on the leader, with "boku-ra" on Easy, "ore-tachi" on Normal, "wareware" on Hard and "watashi-tachi" on Insane. The Keigo used is slightly different as well.
 * Kansai Regional Accent: The target in the "Vista" level, where he decides to sell shoes to aliens. He can also go to Venus without a helmet.)
 * Kawaiiko: Honoka Kawai, of course.
 * Kiai: Pretty much the whole freaking game.
 * Let's Play: Both games have been LP'ed by Tasian.
 * Look Both Ways: Rina sure didn't.
 * Loudspeaker Truck
 * Lyrical Dissonance: The lyrics to some of the songs don't really fit as well as they should. Some border on Intercourse With You.
 * Madness Mantra: Christine Kamogawa starts frantically typing "Ouendan" repeatedly before yelling for them.
 * Magic Skirt: Compared to the first game, the sequel features next to no chances for any accidental Panty Shots.
 * Maneki Neko: The cat mimics one of these in the end of "Linda Linda".
 * Manga Effects: Pretty much all of them, since the games introduce each level with a sequence of manga panels.
 * Manly Tears: on the final stage, by the sideline characters.
 * Also shed by the entire Encouraging Nobility team at the end of "Believe" from OTO 2.
 * And the opening of "Sekai wa Sore wo Ai to Yobundaze" has even more tears from the Nobility!
 * And in the same stage, in a recreation of the scene from the first game's final stage, the backup cheerleaders from both teams shed the waterworks. Whether it's Tears of Joy or not.
 * Martial Arts Headband: Some of the leaders wear this, but Hajime switched his for a Nice Hat in between the first and second games.
 * Meaningful Name: There are more than a few. Most notably, the Noble team in OTO 2 have names that mirror their rival's, and Goro Okami had the misfortune to have a surname that could also mean "Wolf".
 * More than that: each difficulty's leaders have a theme in their forenames. Easy has names that refer to inexperience, Normal has animal themes and Hard is basically a representative of what their team is like. Insane kinda breaks the trend though.
 * Aoi Kanda's name is retroactively meaningful. As the cheergirls didn't get profiles in the first game, the fact that she could speak multiple languages could reference the fact that Kanda is a place in Tokyo known for its large supply of books.
 * Meganekko: Aoi for a Moe example, and Reika for a Yamato Nadeshiko example.
 * Mega Neko: Nyaragon, from one stage in OTO 2. Possibly created as a counter to the giant blue mouse in OTO 1, and likely as a Shout Out to Elite Beat Agents.
 * Minimalistic Cover Art: The first game's cover art leans toward this trope. Conversely, the second game's leans towards the opposite direction.
 * Moment Killer: Tan Yao can be a huge cockblock on certain levels.
 * Mondegreen: The loud drum beats can seriously distort what some of the singers are saying, but even without them, people mistake "Can you master baby?" from One Night Carnival for... something else. There's also "I wanna be a Pop Tart" for "I wanna be a Pop Star."
 * Moral Dissonance: Cleopatra stage: You cheer on Cleopatra so she can order her slaves around greatly!? Well, at least they get as fired up as she does...
 * But what happens if you play the stage poorly? A hilarious bit of physical comedy, as with every other stage? No, the slaves die. Cue the uncomfortable laugh.
 * Ms. Imagination: Christine Kamogawa's entire level counts on her getting inspirations from her Imagine Spots.
 * Mukokuseki: Averted. Although it becomes somewhat less so in the second game, all the characters at least maintain realistic eye colours. You know they're doing a good job when the Japanese guy with blonde hair and blue eyes still looks Japanese. Even the Americans have a few brunettes among them like Dan and Joe.
 * Names to Know In Anime: Kenta Miyake and Mai Goto as Kaoru and Sayaka, respectively. I guess Scar and May Chang decided that cheerleading was a good alternative to alchemy.
 * Nations of the World Montage: In the final level of both games.
 * Nice Hat: Kai in both games, Hajime in the second.
 * And like Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army, neither take theirs off during the Hot Springs Episode.
 * However, Hajime briefly takes his off in "Julia ni Heartbreak", while Kai stares at you menacingly in the same song. It seems anyone attempting to take off his hat is a Berserk Button.
 * Nintendo Hard: The final songs in both games are enough to make you break your DS.
 * "Believe" from Ouendan 2 on Expert is also hard enough to count as That One Level because it requires absurd levels of precision to keep your life bar high enough in between the slow notes.
 * The last 14 notes in "Countdown" on Hard and Insane are near-impossible to get all 300s on, especially when the song is so fast-paced.
 * No Flow in CGI
 * No Name Given: The announcer has no given name, so everyone calls him... announcer.
 * Nostalgia Level: The second game's first level is almost exactly like the first game's, except with job applications instead of entrance exams. The target even looks the same despite Art Evolution.
 * Ocular Gushers: The Ouendan's MANLY TEARS in break scenes at the last stage of each game.
 * Office Lady: Sachiko in the "Koi no Dance Site" stage of OTO 1.
 * Old Superhero: Momotaro in the "Shonen Heart" stage of OTO 2.
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Dr. Shintarou Kuroiwa, the young genius physician from OTO 2, who can cure male pattern baldness. And give farm animals therapeutic massages. And repair microwave ovens. And make an entire island's inhabitants so healthy they burst with muscles, even the women and the elderly.
 * Open Heart Dentistry: In the second game, a doctor is called to "operate" on a man's bald head, a horse, and a malfunctioning microwave oven.
 * Our Werewolves Are Different: They change if they see anything round.
 * Panty Shot: The female cheerleaders; especially noticeable in the first game.
 * Partly Cloudy With a Chance of Death: It rains right before the Tear Jerker of the second game.
 * Pastel Chalked Freeze Frame: Any time something sufficiently Hot Blooded happens.
 * Pettanko: Aoi seems to have the smallest chest out of all the cheergirls. This wouldn't be too notable, except that by the sequel they should all be in their 20s at the very least and she looks like this.
 * Plucky Office Girl: Sachiko in "Koi no Dance Site" in the first game.
 * The Power of Friendship: What revives the Ouendan in the second game.
 * The Power of Love: The last level of the second game is literally set to a song called "This Is What The World Calls True Love!" The ending even has a guy yelling "LOVE AND PEACE" like crazy.
 * The Power of Rock
 * Pose of Supplication: Seen in many of the game over screens.
 * Potty Failure: If you happen to fail "One Night Carnival" and "Bambina".
 * Princess Curls: Reika.
 * Ageha, a multiplayer character, also sports these.
 * A Protagonist Is Ryu: Ryuta Ippongi.
 * Red Armband of Leadership
 * Redheaded Hero / Fiery Redhead: Ippongi Ryuuta.
 * Red Oni Blue Oni: Invoked with the team colours in the sequel.
 * Rivals Team Up: The last level of the sequel.
 * Rocks Fall Everyone Dies: What happens if you get a Game Over on the final level in both games.
 * Ronin: Tsuyoshi in the "Loop & Loop" stage of OTO 1.
 * Salaryman: Ichiro Tamura a.k.a Ichiro-Man, in "Taiyou ga Moete iru" stage.
 * Say My Name: OUENDAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN!!!!
 * Scenery Censor: See Fan Service above.
 * Shout Out: Considering how the games were made to lampoon as many Japanese Media Tropes as possible in what is considered an E rating in Japan, some references were inevitable.
 * "Koi no Dance Site" is a Whole Plot Reference to Cinderella, and "Monkey Magic" is a pastiche of Toy Story.
 * There are also the plumbers that totally do not represent any other Nintendo-made plumbers in any way in "Bambina".
 * "Taiyou ga Moete iru" has a main character who's powers are similar to Ultraman's.
 * The multiplayer tennis stage in the sequel could be seen as a shout-out to Aim for The Ace.
 * Doumeki Kai's name is a reference to Cromartie High School, one of the main influences of the art style.
 * Shy Blue Haired Girl: Reika has the looks of one combined with The Ojou. Her profile states that she had just recently tried instant ramen.
 * Shy Finger Twiddling: Masashi does this when you pass the first section for "Glamorous Sky".
 * Similar Squad: The Encouraging Nobility to the original Ouendan.
 * Skyward Scream: To re-iterate: OUENDAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN!!!!
 * Solar CPR
 * Something Else Also Rises: Momotarou's reaction if you fail the second scene of "Shounen Heart". Note this is after he sees two women bathing in a hot spring.


 * Sparkling Stream of Tears: Sakura does this when you pass "Glamorous Sky".
 * The Stoic: In contrast with the Yuuhi Ouendan and even with his own squad, Kaoru is rather mild mannered throughout the sequel. Of course, like the rest of the Nobility, he has his Not So Stoic moments at the end of "Believe" as well as in the last two songs of the game.
 * Stealth Pun: The opening of "Zoku" on the hardest difficulty, featuring the cheergirls packing boxes.
 * Stripperiffic: Not so much for the cheergirls in OTO 1, but in OTO 2, it becomes obvious since they get more revealing costumes.
 * Super Robot: One of the songs has the team cheering on a mechanics team trying to rebuild their Humongous Mecha. To defeat the giant Kaiju cat rampaging the city, the robot must defeat it in a footrace, arm wrestling, and Hundred-Square Calculations.
 * Testosterone Poisoning: For a game series rated A in Japan, definitely. The art style alone was influenced by Fist of the North Star and Cromartie High School. The theme of the games is passionate love (Not in that way!).
 * Theme Music Power Up: Obviously.
 * The Thing That Goes Doink: In the intro to "Kokoro Odoru".
 * Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Christine Kamogawa from Ouendan 2.
 * Those Two Guys: Part of the Power Trio in each difficulty play. Also Joe & Dan the policemen in OTO 1.
 * Time Skip: Six years between the two games.
 * Title Drop: During the endgame of Ouendan 2.
 * Also during the tutorial theme, also played during the ending of both games.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Reika and ramen.
 * Train Station Goodbye: The second bonus level in OTO 2.
 * Tuckerization: One of the backup cheerleaders, Atsushi Saito, is named after the character designer.
 * And the other backup, Ittetsu Suzuki, is named after the chief animator. In other words, Tuckerization Theme Naming.
 * Underdogs Never Lose: Because they have your support. Hopefully.
 * Urine Trouble: On some levels, notably Linda Linda, a kitty tends to do his business near the target, especially if the Ouendan aren't doing well.
 * Unstable Equilibrium: The scoring system. Your score multiplier for each note hit is directly proportional to your current combo. Break combo at the beginning or end? No big deal. Break combo in the middle? Rage Quit!
 * Unusual Eyebrows: Mainly of the Fiery variety, although Ryuuta sports some impressive Lightning brows.
 * Verbal Tic: Tan Yao says "aru" a lot after sentences, which is usually an indicator of a Chinese person.
 * Monkey-kun's toy soldier partner has "de arimasu," which is a very military way of speaking. Or maybe a "Shout Out" to a certain sergeant too.
 * Weaksauce Weakness: The robots from "Shanghai Honey" are weak to water. And decide to invade a planet that's two-thirds made of it. And start their invasion on an island nation.
 * Widget Series
 * Wolf Man: Gorou Ookami in the "Kibun Joujou" stage of OTO 2.
 * Wolverine Publicity: Ippongi Ryuta is only playable on the normal difficulty and thus only in that difficulty level's storyline. However, he is the one featured on all the promotional material and the game box. The same goes for his Blue team counterpart, Saionji Hayato, in the second game.
 * To be fair, if all of the head cheerleaders were on the front of the box it'd be a little crowded.
 * World of Ham: You don't say?
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: The goal of "Go My Way" is to turn an ex-wrestling champion into this.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Aoi's is pink for no apparent reason. The sequel also brings us Rin and Reika, along with one of JIN 2's Fangirls.
 * You Have 48 Hours: Tetsu in "Over the Distance" is given three hours to apologize and say goodbye to his wife before he he has to return to Heaven.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: The rival cheergirls have a respectable grade B.