Jackals

Jackals is a Manga written by Shinya Murata and drawn by Byun-Jin Kim. It chronicles the life of a mercenary named Nichol, son of another mercenary, in Friedrichs town of Cicero City, which also houses other mercenaries generally grouped under the titular Jackals and two major gangs, the Mafia-like Gabriella and the Triad-like Tennouren. The story kicks off when Nichol, after finishing one of his jobs, is assaulted by a Gabriella executive and kills him in retaliation, causing the rest of Gabriella to hunt him. However, they are impeded by the ever-growing Tennouren, who just loses their former leader who is swiftly replaced by his genius daughter.


 * Absurdly Sharp Blade
 * Always Save the Girl: Nichol.
 * Animal Motifs: Alligators for Nichol, snakes for Arshela and bats for Franco.
 * Arrogant Kung Fu Guy
 * Ax Crazy
 * Badass: Pretty much every combatant who has more than three chapters worth of screen time qualifies.
 * Badass Grandpa: Inoue.
 * Badass in a Nice Suit: Isaac.
 * Badass Longcoat: Nichol, Huya and Isaac are prominent cases.
 * Little Mister Badass: Little Nichol is FULL of surprises.
 * Berserk Button: Julio Angelo hates being called a kid.
 * Big Bad: Lee Mei Lang.
 * Blood-Splattered Innocents:
 * Break the Cutie/Harmful to Minors: Nichol.
 * BFS: Nichol's Alligator and Huya's Requiem. Isaac's claymore may also count.
 * Career Killer: Members of the Jackals are assassins-for-hire.
 * Cat Fight: Averted. When  fight, given the nature of both opponents, there's nothing "cute" about their fight.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: A Gabriellan, seems to have this trait.
 * Cold-Blooded Torture: Blood Witch Domino's specialty. So much that vivisection is her hobby.
 * Combat Medic: Inoue used to be a doctor during times of war. And since he's also Badass...
 * Conservation of Ninjutsu
 * Crapsack World: Thanks to the gangs and the crimes. The Irony is lampshaded by the head police officer, who laments that Friedrichs town, whose name means peaceful, is anything but.
 * Dark Action Girl: Roxy, Arshela and Domino.
 * Dark-Skinned Blond: Nichol and Roxy.
 * Death by Origin Story: Nichol's mom and Huya's dad.
 * Diagonal Cut: Too many examples.
 * Damsel in Distress: Sheryl.
 * Enemy Mine: Hans just hates the idea of teaming up with Nichol.
 * Enfant Terrible: Julio Angelo.
 * Equal Opportunity Evil: Unlike her father, Lee Mei Lang is indiscriminate when it comes to hiring people for Tenouren.
 * Exalted Torturer: Domino.
 * Eyepatch of Power: Don Salieri is the leader of Gabriella as long as he wears his eyepatch. Which somehow has a bunny picture on it.
 * Feel No Pain: Domino once gets stabbed at her heart. She then proceeds to torture her assailant as if nothing happened. A few chapters after that, she also happily slices her own tongue in the midst of torturing her victim.
 * Femme Fatale: Arshela, complete with the snake-headed whip.
 * Hot Mom: Roxy.
 * Human Shield: Poor Nichol once became one.
 * Iaijutsu Practitioner: Claude.
 * I Have You Now, My Pretty: Shao to Sheryl.
 * Insistent Terminology: Don Salieri demands that he be called Don only if he wears his eyepatch. This is mostly because he is also the mayor of the town.
 * Knife Nut: Julio.
 * Knight Templar: One police officer is hellbent on upholding the law by punishing (read: executing) anyone who breaks them. For example, he kills both a mugger and his victim, the former because he tries to mug, the latter because she is in the street past the curfew.
 * Mentor Occupational Hazard/Killed Off for Real: The Don to Isaac,
 * Missing Mom: Roxy.
 * More Than Mind Control: Lee Mei Lang's specialty. She can compel people to join her with a select few words.
 * Mr. Fanservice: Nichol and Huya.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Basically everyone with a title, but Shinigami Roxy tops them all.
 * Never a Self-Made Woman: So deliciously subverted it makes the series stand out for this. Not only has pure Badass Nichol been trained by his... MOTHER - you read that right - but also the Big Bad is... a WOMAN, and she is even better than her father in her evildoing.
 * No, I Am Behind You: Isaac's favorite trick.
 * No Shirt, Long Jacket: Nichol and Huya, the latter of which sometimes mixes this with bandages.
 * Off with His Head: Bye-bye,
 * Only in It For the Money: Well, the Jackals are mercenaries... Also, this is Don Salieri's thought on why Vampire Franco follows him.
 * Pet the Dog:
 * Poisoned Weapon: Specialty of Cornelio, Gabriella's poison expert.
 * Rasputinian Death:
 * Razor Wind / Sword Beam: Claude, in tune with his iaijutsu. If he ever unsheathes his sword, Oh Crap.
 * Red Baron: Each important executive of Gabriella and Tennouren has one/two word as their title, such as Cyclone Claude, Bear Shao etc. The best Jackals mercenaries also have one, such as Alligator Nichol and Shinigami Roxy.
 * Revolvers Are Just Better: Richard, The Bolt.
 * Small Name, Big Ego: Shao really doesn't know his place.
 * Smug Snake: Franco.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: Hans's specialty. His favorite trick is to hide a small but highly-explosive bomb in a white rose.
 * They Call Him "Sword": Nichol's and Huya's nicknames come from their respective weapons, Alligator and Requiem respectively
 * Training From Hell: Those whom Meilang wants in Tennouren will be subjected to this. Not only they will have to fight several powerful opponents at once in a dungeon, their bodies are weakened first.
 * Whip It Good: Arshela.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Nichol who is the son of a...
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl: Roxy.
 * Worthy Opponent: Nichol and Huya.
 * Would Hurt a Child: Oh no, we're totally NOT going to show a woman kill an innocent child, this is just SO wrong... oh wait... Did  just bisect this 7 year-old child???
 * You Are in Command Now:
 * Training From Hell: Those whom Meilang wants in Tennouren will be subjected to this. Not only they will have to fight several powerful opponents at once in a dungeon, their bodies are weakened first.
 * Whip It Good: Arshela.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Nichol who is the son of a...
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl: Roxy.
 * Worthy Opponent: Nichol and Huya.
 * Would Hurt a Child: Oh no, we're totally NOT going to show a woman kill an innocent child, this is just SO wrong... oh wait... Did  just bisect this 7 year-old child???
 * You Are in Command Now:
 * You Are in Command Now: