Demon Blade

""Many years ago, a war broke out between two empires. Shinigami, with their brave warriors and spiritual power, and Orochi, with their sneaky tactics and advanced machinery, made the entire world their battlefield. Chaos had erupted all across earth.""

Demon Blade is an action Adventure fantasy comic with an eventual side helping of Super Robot shenanigans, created by Crazed Ninja and finally launched in 2009 after 6 years of gathering ideas. The comic is about a young orphaned bounty hunter named Tsurugi Diablo, who is somehow in possession of a magical, ancient sword. Sound cliche? Don't worry, it is! The comic may be best described as "Gurren Lagann meets Disgaea Hour of Darkness."

The story begins with him hitting it big by catching a notorious bandit called Dibi the Rhinoceros. However, this attracts the attention of a Religion of Evil who are trying to collect souls of powerful warriors as part of a plan to resurrect an ancient demon. For no other reason than to save his own skin, Diablo decides the bastards are going down.

Also has a character sheet.

The comic can be read at SmackJeeves

"Vlad: Do you think you can defeat us all? Look how outnumbered you are! One little Kitsune, against two of the Four Avatars of Dios, and our gatekeeper!
 * Adobe Flash: The program the comic is drawn in.
 * Adorable Evil Minions: The Ibli.
 * Alternate History: The story is mainly set in Australia, where a large number of Japanese migrated to during a war. The hero's town in particular actually lives almost entirely by Japanese culture, with one of the few actual Australians in said town running a ramen stand.
 * Anachronism Stew: The comic was originally supposed to take place in 1950, as shown by Jack's 30's/40's-looking radio, but the author just threw that out the window later in the very same chapter, as shown by Dr. Suno's 90's-looking computer.
 * Animesque
 * April Fools' Day:
 * In 2010, there was "Chapter 8.5", a five-page alternate version of the then-unreleased chapter 9, consisting of several video game and anime references and some Foe Yay between Diablo and Loki.
 * In 2011, Demon Blade vs. Capcom was announced out of the blue as a joke.
 * Art Evolution: The art quality improved vastly over the course of its first year.
 * Asskicking Equals Authority: The Faustian Cult's ranking system is based on this.
 * Author Appeal: While there aren't that many ass shots, the few that exist make it clear that the author likes his female characters to have big butts.
 * An Axe to Grind: Dibi.
 * Barehanded Blade Block: Dogma stops Diablo's sword with his fingers.
 * Battle in The Rain: Diablo's third fight with Heimdall.
 * Beauty Equals Goodness: Most of the villains are either butt ugly or have a horrible deformity.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Diablo does this by accident,.
 * Big Damn Villains:
 * Bishie Sparkle: The "illustration" of Michiko's yaoi fic is rife with them.
 * Black Comedy Rape: Diablo's reaction to Michiko hugging his tail? "SHE'S TOUCHING ME INAPPROPRIATELY!"
 * Bloodless Carnage: Diablo can control the sharpness of his sword. This is done as a way to avert Only a Flesh Wound, so if someone does bleed, you know the character is hurt.
 * Break the Haughty: Are you an overly proud person in the Demon Blade universe? Watch that pride shatter within ten chapters of your first appearance.
 * Captain Obvious: A bedridden says he might not be able to defeat Heimdall alone. Beat. Diablo replies with, "Duh."
 * Co-Dragons: The Marino Siblings.
 * Colossus Climb: Ivory implies that Carl did this in order to Gundamjack Kamaoh.
 * Combined Energy Attack:
 * Composite Character: Yara-ma-yha-who takes some elements from the Muldjewangk, another Australian myth.
 * Creepy Twins: Although one is older than the other, the Marino Siblings fit this trope quite well.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: For the penultimate battle before the confrontation with Dios, Yowie sure goes down like a punk.
 * David Versus Goliath: The first fight in the comic. Also doubles as Diablo's Establishing Character Moment.
 * Defictionalization: Dr. Suno's "A Doctor's Job is to Cure" shirt, Vlad's shirt with the red V on it, and Michiko's fox panties were all available as merchandise until the shop was closed down.
 * The Dog Bites Back: See Heel Face Turn below.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: The fourth chapter's splash page displays every member of the Faustian Cult, even the ones who haven't appeared yet.
 * Eating the Eye Candy: Michiko's immediate reaction to seeing Diablo shirtless.
 * Elaborate Underground Base: For starters, the entrance to the Faustian Cult's hideout is under a grave. It's also littered with traps and has many mechanical functions, including electric doors and a bridge that extends and retracts at the flip of a switch.
 * Everyone Can See It: Diablo and Michiko. At first, Natsuki is the only Shipper On Deck, but toward the end of the Faustian Cult arc, Hinako joins in.
 * Fan Service: Michiko wearing Hinako's pajamas which are a bit small for her. Diablo later gets his own fanservice in the form of a Shirtless Scene.
 * Fantastic Racism: Humans and demons generally don't get along well.
 * A Father to His Men: Don Falco.
 * Five-Bad Band: Dios and his Four Avatars:
 * Big Bad: Dios
 * The Dragon: Zula
 * The Evil Genius: Vlad
 * The Brute: Yaibato
 * Dark Chick: Dogma
 * Five-Man Band: During the Faustian Cult's last stand:
 * The Hero: Diablo
 * The Lancer: Hinako
 * The Smart Guy:
 * The Big Guy:
 * The Chick: Michiko
 * Foreshadowing / Relationship Voice Actor: The joke cast list gives a meta example: Johnny Yong Bosch is listed as Diablo, while Stephanie Sheh is listed as Michiko. Hmmm...
 * For Science!: Dr. Suno offers to remove Diablo's tail for this reason. As he pulls out a bonesaw from under the table.
 * Four Is Death: Inverted; Chapter 4 is actually the first death-free chapter.
 * Also played straight with the Four Avatars of Dios.
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble:
 * Diablo: Choleric
 * Dr. Suno: Melancholic
 * Hinako: Sanguine
 * Michiko: Phlegmatic
 * Fourth Wall Mail Slot: The semi-animated "Ask Diablo!" which stars a yukkuri resembling Diablo answering viewer questions (about any of the author's works, not just Demon Blade) with a synthesized voice and Deadpan Snarker tendencies.
 * Friendly Local Chinatown: Tengu Town, despite being in Australia, is partly modeled after a typical Japanese city due to mostly being populated by Japanese immigrants.
 * Genre Roulette: Demon Blade rotates between three different genres, each one with a different protagonist. The meat of the story is the action segments, which Diablo dominates. During the mecha parts, Dr. Suno takes the spotlight, and then the Slice of Life chapters focus mainly on Michiko.
 * A Glass in The Hand:
 * Glasses Pull: Dogma keeps an extra pair of sunglasses for the sole purpose of invoking this trope.
 * Gross Up Close-Up: gets one while trolling Carl.
 * Gundamjack: How Carl apparently obtained Kamaoh.
 * Hands-On Approach: Diablo corrects Michiko's stance while teaching her how to fence. The blushing that ensues is more because it causes Michiko to remember something Natsuki said earlier than because of an actual crush though.
 * Heel Face Turn: Diablo's father makes one of these to end the Chaos War in the prologue.
 * Horse of a Different Color: The uyagi. A fully-grown one can be ridden, as demonstrated by Yaibato and his men.
 * Humiliation Conga: Things... really don't go well for Vlad and Yaibato during the Yaibato Mansion mini-arc.
 * I Am Your Opponent: shows up at the entrance to the Faustian Cult's hideout to hold Loki off while Diablo goes in.
 * Later, Diablo himself does this against Touya and Ishimaru so that Dr. Suno can chase after Yaibato.
 * I Have the High Ground: Heimdall's first appearance, lampshaded by Loki.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: Diablo makes a sword pun in an omake strip. Not even Michiko is amused.
 * Ironic Echo: Physical variant: Five chapters after Diablo pulled a sneak attack on Loki, the favor was returned.
 * I Surrender, Suckers: Diablo pulls this on Dogma. It actually works, and he lampshades it right after.
 * Morph Weapon: The titular weapon changes shape depending on its user.
 * Legion of Doom: A meta example. Several members of the Faustian Cult (namely Loki, Heimdall and Vlad) are updated versions of Big Bads from the author's previous, unfinished works.
 * Literal Cliff Hanger: Lampshaded with a Lion King reference.
 * Load-Bearing Boss:
 * Lock and Load Montage: Diablo sees the Ibli marching past his house, triggering one of these. The chapter is even titled "Lock and Load".
 * Major Injury Underreaction: After receiving horrible cuts all over his body from Diablo, Dogma's more worried about breaking his favorite sunglasses.
 * Mix-and-Match Critters: The uyagi, which resemble a cross between a rabbit and a goat.
 * Mukokuseki: Less severe than in many anime and manga of this genre, as the Asian characters at least have dark skin and Asian facial features. Diablo and Michiko have light skin, but they're both only half-Asian.
 * My Friends and Zoidberg:

Touya: Hey, what about us?

Vlad: What about you?"


 * Mythology Gag: Diablo wonders if he should have a "cool mercenary name", and his first and only idea is "Diablo the Echidna". The idea is immediately shot down by Jack.
 * A literal mythology gag occurs in the April Fools' Day chapter, in which Loki makes a reference to his namesake's Fate Worse Than Death. (Specifically, how he'd actually prefer that over what happened in )
 * Neck Lift: Loki does this to Jack.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Many real-world celebrities have expies in the Demon Blade universe, usually appearing as one-time cameos.
 * Noodle Incident: "...and that's why you should always bring a helmet whenever you visit the Honda area."
 * Nosebleed: Michiko has a nosebleed when Diablo takes off some of his wet clothes to restore his mobility. In the omake strip for the same chapter, she is shown with a bloody tissue in her nose while writing a yaoi fic.
 * Not So Different: Loki points out that Diablo is similar to the Faustian Cult, in that he only thinks of himself.
 * Now or Never Kiss:, after the latter makes it perfectly clear that he's either going to kill Dios or die trying.
 * Official Couple:
 * Off-Model: Much of chapter 11, which was drawn while the author was recovering from an eye infection.
 * Our Demons Are Different: Demons aren't just a species in the Demon Blade universe; Demonism is an entire biological kingdom, and the term is used for monsters and supernatural beings as a whole. And so, two creatures who look completely and utterly different could both be called demons, just like how two entirely different creatures in the real world are both animals. However, most demons share one common weakness: Silver.
 * Our Souls Are Different: Demon Blade's souls are translucent, colored balls surrounded by white flames.
 * Ow My Body Part: Loki yells "Agh, my spleen!" after being kneed in the chest by Hinako.
 * Panty Shot: See Fan Service. It's more of a plain ass shot with panties happening to stick out, though.
 * Prison Rape: Humorously subverted. Touya brings a pack of cards into his cell, and Carl insists on "making the game interesting" since he feels Touya owes him for his help. Touya is understandably horrified. Later, it turns out they're gambling for each other's food.
 * Product Placement: In one omake strip, the author has a bottle of Dr Pepper and a bag of Doritos (referred to as "mind fuel") with him while he draws. In another, Ivory is seen with a can of Diet Dr Pepper.
 * Recoil Boost: Jay uses the recoil from his dark flames to dodge an attack.
 * Religion of Evil: The Faustian Cult.
 * The Reveal:
 * Rule of Three: The name "Bruce" is listed exactly three times in the phone book when Diablo looks up Dr. Suno's number.
 * Running Gag: Diablo tends to leaves things behind, but he's always interrupted by a shocking sight when he's about to say what he forgot.
 * Sadistic Choice: The entire reason behind Dr. Suno and Carl Baki's duel. The Faustian Cult had set it up so that no matter who wins, an innocent person dies.
 * Schedule Slip: The first two chapters took three months each to complete, despite being of considerably lower quality than the newer chapters. There have also been a few chapters released near the end of the month, making the monthly schedule rather loose.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right:
 * Self Fanservice: Stuart Levi is a lot prettier in the illustration of Michiko's yaoi fic than what we see of him in the Dusk poster.
 * Shout-Out: Several internet memes are referenced, such as the "guy yelling at his cats" video and "IMMA FIRIN' MAH LAZER!"
 * One of the names listed in the phone book when Diablo looks up Dr. Suno's number is "Ryan, Aaron"
 * Instead of a picture, Diablo's X-ray is shown as a writing, "Everything's fine! Nothing is ruined."
 * Chapter 5 is titled "The Fox and The Hound".
 * The slogan on Dr. Suno's shirt reads, "A doctor's job is to cure." (Dr. Suno himself being an Homage to Faust)
 * The April Fools' Day short was full of references to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, G Gundam, Mega Man, and even Super Mario Bros.
 * Touya cracks an ice-car reference when attempting to justify his Whoring.
 * Natsuki's "I'm not trying to be disgusting, I'm trying to be realistic" speech is a reference to a rant about Fleshlights by a certain YouTube user.
 * During one conversation with Michiko, Natsuki makes a face resembling that of Arakune.
 * "I reject my humanity!"
 * During a flashback, Ivory wears pants with "What What" printed on the seat, much like the ones Samwell wore in the "What What (In the Butt)" music video.
 * The former link to the now-closed official shop read "Buy Somethin' Will Ya!"
 * Heimdall, appropriately enough, quotes The Princess Bride's Count Rugen after he . However, unlike Inigo, the latter does not receive a Heroic Second Wind.
 * "This fate could have been avoided if he had a Sassy Gay Friend."
 * Chapter 20's splash panel pays tribute to the cover of The Beatles' Abbey Road album.
 * The "Dusk" poster in Michiko's room features a character making a trollface.
 * Right before stomping Diablo's hand as he's hanging from a ledge, one of the Ibli says, "I think the appropriate response here is, 'Long live the king.'"
 * Shown Their Work: Fencing is the author's favorite sport. It shows when Diablo teaches Michiko how to do it.
 * Slice of Life: There are short breaks from the action, in which the reader observes a slice of fantasy world life.
 * Spanner in The Works: As soon as Diablo gets blown through the wall of Yaibato Mansion, that's when Vlad's plan starts to go down the hole.
 * Spit Take: Ivory spits up his (very hot) tea this after finding out that Diablo's story, which sounds like something a child would make up, is in fact true.
 * Stay in The Kitchen: tries to convince Hinako not to join in the final battle against Dios. Although, it's slightly justified, since she had just recovered from a life-threatening injury.
 * Stunt Casting: Heavily parodied at the end of the first casting call for the dub, which lists the names of professional voice actors cast as all but one of the characters. (that one being listed as Little Kuriboh.)
 * Stupid Jetpack Hitler: Even though the Orochi Empire weren't German, Keiji was intended to resemble a Chinese version of Hitler, so it's close enough.
 * Stylistic Suck: The advertisement for the official dub.
 * Take That: It appears the mechanical half of Vlad's face is running on Windows...
 * Michiko has a poster in her room for a movie called "Dusk", obviously a parody of Twilight, except the vampire looks more like, you know, a vampire.
 * Thirteen Is Unlucky: Chapter 13 is when
 * This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: When Diablo wakes Hinako up after freeing her. He later busts out, "Don't knock it 'til you try it, bitch!" in regard to Zula underestimating his speed.
 * Three Faces of Eve: Among the female characters are the intelligent and serious Hinako, the innocent and naive Michiko, and the vulgar and perverted Natsuki.
 * Training From Hell: Diablo strongly implies that this is what Michiko will experience under him. As an example, before he could even begin to train her, he made her hit herself until it was made clear she could take pain.
 * Tropes Will Ruin Your Life: See Schedule Slip above.
 * Tuckerization: While Loki is posing as a cat, Jack names him "Sam", after the author, Sam Abramson.
 * Underwater Boss Battle: Diablo vs. Yara-ma-yha-who.
 * Unsound Effect: The sound of Dr. Suno pulling a bonesaw from under a table? "BONESAW!"
 * Xanatos Gambit:
 * Xanatos Roulette: The entire Yaibato Mansion mini-arc and the events leading up to it
 * Xanatos Speed Chess: A wrench is thrown into Zula's plot, but that very same wrench is incorporated into it and used against the heroes.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Dogma, Natsuki, and the entire Baki family have unusual hair colors.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
 * Yowies and Bunyips And Drop Bears Oh My: A Yowie appears as a minor enemy, simply named "Yowie". The Yara-ma-yha-who also makes an appearance, and there is an area of the Demon Blade universe called Bunyip Desert.