The Qwaser of Stigmata



The St. Mikhailov Academy student Oribe Mafuyu comes across a mysterious silver haired boy. His name is Sasha and he is a Qwaser, a being that draws power from Soma and is able to manipulate a specific element. And now, in the 21st century, the mystery revolving around an Icon turns the academy into the battlegrounds for the fight between the Qwaser!

The Qwaser of Stigmata (Seikon no Qwaser) is written by Yoshino Hiroyuki and drawn by Satou Kenetsu, the artist of the manga adaptations of Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome. It is a story about Russian Orthodox Church Militants using alchemy with power over one specific element from the periodic table each. However, the Qwaser recharge their power by drinking "Soma" from women's breasts, and the stronger the emotions of the woman being sucked, the more potent the Soma. Yes, this rule applies to female Qwaser as well.

As you might guess, this story is definitely NSFW. On the other hand, if you're looking for a borderline-hentai manga with action, a plot, some chemistry and gratuitous Russian words mixed in, then Seikon no Qwaser may suit your taste.

The anime adaptation of this work premiered in January 2010, with a second season that started in April 2011. This time Sasha goes undercover in an all girls school to find a legendary maria. He does this by - you guessed it - sucking the breasts of his fellow schoolmates.

Character sheets can be found here.

The manga was picked up by Tokyopop.


 * Action Girl: Teresa, Katja, Lizzy and the majority of the female villains.
 * Adaptation Distillation: The anime went for a different aproach than the manga, it can be easily summarized with: the manga has action with Fan Service included, while the anime has Fan Service with action included. The change of focus is blatant in the OVAs and extra scenes from the DVD/BD releases.
 * Alpha Bitch: Miyuri, though she's considerably more likable than most examples of the trope.
 * Lovable Alpha Bitch: Skirts the line. Until season 2 when she completely embraces this trope.
 * Anime Accent Absence: Both Sasha and Katja seem to speak fluent Japanese, every once in a while throwing in small fragments of (sometimes incorrect) Russian. Sasha even pronounces borscht like a Japanese native would.
 * Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: Sasha, Katja, almost every Qwaser has this attitude except for Lizzy.
 * Artistic License: Biology: Lactation (the production of breast milk) only occurs during the latter stages of pregnancy and for a time afterwards. Y'know, to feed a baby on. There are cases where lactation occurs in other circumstances, but natural cases are rare and drugs are required to stimulate breast milk production artificially. So it's clearly just Author Appeal.
 * Erotic lactation.
 * Author Appeal: The only explanation for what lengths this work goes to glorify breast-feeding. Add shimmering lights, spinning action, slow-motion close-ups and a Good versus Evil battle...
 * And the S&M, and the Russian Orthodoxy... also interesting in that the ones that seem to get off during the breast-feeding sessions are the ones being sucked, not the perpetrators.
 * Badass Adorable: Katja, and to a lesser extent Sasha.
 * Badass Creed: All of Sasha´s prayers. But in chapter 15 it reaches the level of "Unlimited Blade Works", maybe it´s even a Shout-Out!
 * Badass Normal: Teresa holds herself pretty well in combat despite not having any supernatural powers herself.
 * Barbie Doll Anatomy: Averted. Breasts are detailed and even panty shots are quite detailed, bordering on explicit.
 * Barehanded Blade Block: Played with in episode 23 when the qwaser of gold performs a Bare Breast Blade Block.
 * BFS: Elizabeth's sword, which she refers to as Excalibur.
 * Bishonen: Father Yuri.
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Katja lays this on thick with Miyuri, who swallows it whole. Ironically when Miyuri tries it on Sasha, he sees through it and cuts her off immediately.
 * Black Comedy Rape: The second season doesn't treat all of Sasha's numerous sexual assaults on the other students very seriously.
 * Non Sequitur Episode: Episode 14
 * Bowdlerise: Nearly any scene that might possibly contain serious action in the broadcast version of the anime is either cut, shortened, zoomed in on the character's face or replaced with an image of background scenery. This can make it appear as though the characters are really angry at that damned night sky. (Worth noting, however, that not only will the DVD releases be uncensored, the distribution company is already releasing the uncensored versions as webcasts.)
 * In the second season, they primarily use the Lens Flare Censor.
 * To the point that Hana in episode 5 and 6 seems to be wearing a suit made of light.
 * Bound and Gagged: Recurring Fetish Fuel/Fan Service device (Author Appeal?)
 * Breast Expansion: When Mafuyu is used to complete the bad guys' plan, her breasts magically gain several sizes.
 * Only in the anime, in the manga her breasts stayed the same since there the Sword of Maria is not a massive soma collector which needs extra space.
 * Butt Monkey: Ayame
 * But Now I Must Go: Subverted.
 * Can't Hold His Liquor: Episode 13 show Tomo can gets drunk just from smelling sake (Although, considering this was coming from a teacher whose already shown to be rather mischievous and was drinking the Sake in question...)
 * Even more of a lightweight is Lizzy, who can get drunk from soda pop.
 * Chest Blaster: Episode 14 has Lily Mask's take. It destroys her clothes in the process, but oh, the damage it does.
 * Clark Kenting: Miyuri, Hana and Ekaterina are disguised even from each other by masks that hardly cover 1/6th of their faces.
 * Crash Into Hello: His arrival is first masked by Tomo's dojikko collapse, then a gratuitous upskirt with equally gratuitous detail to the camel-toe...oh, there's Sasha, lost in Marshmallow Hell.
 * Cute Shotaro Boy: Sasha, especially
 * Dark Magical Girl: Katja, aside from being a protagonist. Then again, a straight Magical Girl may not take root in a gray-on-gray series.
 * Deliberately Cute Child: Katja in public is just the most adorable little thing you could hope to meet. Katja in private is a domineering sexual predator with a talent for bondage and a taste for older women.
 * Depraved Bisexual: Just when you think Mutsumi is a (relatively) well-adjusted individual compared to her partner, she knocks Mafuyu unconscious in one scene and then tries to rape her when she wakes up.
 * Even after this event, she continues to make passes at Mafuyu every so often.
 * Did Not Do the Research: Uradas lecture about bra cup sizes in episode 10.5 is wrong.
 * Distracted by the Sexy: When the protagonists are being held hostage by Russian soldiers in one scene, Miyuri offers to strip naked for them if they'll let her friends go. Katja takes advantage of this act to run up and refill her Soma, giving her the strength to fight back.
 * Dojikko: Tomo can't run without falling down. Must be hard keeping your balance with such huge breasts.
 * Double Standard Rape (Female on Male): Arguable in Chapter 17 of the manga, while Sasha has amnesia and Lizzy is drunk. Though to be fair, they are interrupted before they start doing it.
 * Also in episode 13 of the anime, where the school nurse spends a lot of time trying to rip Sasha's towel off just to see him naked while he has amnesia and confusion about his true gender after the events of the previous episode.
 * Drunk on Milk: Lizzy can get drunk from soda.
 * Elemental Powers: Played in an unusual way. When we say that each Qwaser controls one element, we are not talking about fire, water, earth and air, but in fact about the chemical elements of the periodic table: Iron, Chlorine, Copper, etc...
 * Apparently, Hiroyuki also got passing grades in chem.
 * Fan Service: The article at the Wikipedia and at Anime News Network tell you the story "makes heavy use of Fanservice," a polite euphemism for saying "It´s borderline hentai!"
 * Face Heel Revolving Door: Katja switches back and forth between antagonist and Anti-Hero several times.
 * Faux Action Girl: Subverted. Hana's being blackmailed but it doesn't change the fact that she gets captured so easily.
 * She's still shown to be reasonably tough and independent when she's on her own. Two factors keep her from really being an action girl: she has no powers, meaning most Qwasers can do whatever they want with her. And second... speaking frankly, Hana's a pedophile. Katja is basically the walking incarnation of all her most twisted fetishes, and whatever Hana might say to the contrary she likes being dominated by her.
 * Fille Fatale: Katja. Holy crap, Katja.
 * Full-Frontal Assault: Happens a few times, but reaches absurd heights in chapter 24 when.
 * Fully-Automatic Clip Show: The ending of the last episode of season one is three minutes of pantie- and boob shots from the previous 23 episodes in short succession.
 * Functional Magic: Alchemy, couched in the language of actual chemistry.
 * Gainaxing: Less than five minutes into the first episode, and Tomo's huge breasts are already boucing a lot.
 * Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Hana, of all people, does that to Katja and it actualy worked
 * Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: You'll find it in practically every other chapter of the manga with varying degrees of Fetish Fuel attached, but especially in scenes where Katja and Hana are alone.
 * And in season II there Katja and Ayame.
 * Just Katja AND .
 * Good Angel, Bad Angel: Hana has both appear. They even get into a Big Ball of Violence around her head, which doesn't say much for Hana's thought process.
 * Gratuitous Russian: Sasha often comments in Russian, but tons of mistakes make it very funny to read for Russian speakers.
 * The male lead's Russian surname (Her) roughly translates to "Dick" in English. Considering Sasha's usual demeanor, perhaps that was intentional.
 * In the anime his surname is rendered as "Hell", which is, accidentally, a nickname of a fairly well-known (and equally dickish) Real Life hacker who made his name cracking the e-mail accounts and blogs of various notable Russian bloggers and journalists.
 * Also the German of Eva Silver, but it is not used as frequently.
 * Handsome Lech: Tasuku in the manga, though he does have a couple Rape The Dog moments.
 * In fairness, one of those was a tongue-in-cheek moment that earned him an Armor-Piercing Slap from his partner before he actually stuck it in, and the other was a less-comedic Dream Sequence of another character.
 * Happiness in Slavery: Hana. While first being reluctant to becoming Katjas BDSM slave she quickly accepts and embraces her position and becomes fanatically loyal to her.
 * Ayame as well
 * Katja has the ability to invoke this in others. Most of the girls were pretty normal before Katja got her hands on them.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Aya Hirano as Katja in the anime adaptation.
 * Minori Chihara is Teresa Beria.
 * Yuko Sanpei is Sasha.
 * Aki Toyosaki is Tomo.
 * Yoko Hikasa is Hana.
 * Kana Hanazawa is Fumika.
 * Sayaka Ohara is Urada.
 * Ayumi Fujimura is Mafuyu.
 * Historical Domain Character: Eva Silver is . Also, Katja is
 * Hot Springs Episode: Episode #13. The amount of gratuitous fan service goes so far in this episode that they even Lampshade it with a Breaking the Fourth Wall moment.
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Joshua tries to be a Complete Monster like all the other villains, but bless his soul, he just doesn't have it in him.
 * Innocent Fanservice Girl: Tomo does not seem to know any shame.
 * Japanese Christian: The St. Mikhailov Academy is a Christian school with Eastern Orthodox followers. There are also references aplenty to the Eastern Cross and the Theotokos (Greek title for Mary).
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Aleksandr Her, a.k.a. "Martyr Sasha."
 * Miyuri as well, as demonstrated in episode 6.
 * Hana too. Seeing her and Mafuyu standing next to each other and talking friendly is almost ironic considering the beginning.
 * Kids Are Cruel: Despite all the Qwasers and near-death experiences that Tomo and Mafuyu deal with throughout the series, the daughter of the Dean of the academy and her right-hand woman (Miyuri and Hana, respectively) still bully them whenever they can. Even their Class President was revealed to be a victim of similar abuse.
 * Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: A number of the characters from the My-HiME and Mai-Otome series (The author and artist did the manga adaptation for both) appear somewhere in the background. The cosplayers from chapter 17 may be more of a Shout-Out than this.
 * Little Miss Badass: Katja. Seriously, just look at her.
 * Lolicon: Hana. Katja's intro chapter makes this abundantly clear.
 * Taken Up to Eleven in the anime, where, near the end up the fourth episode, it shows ... yeah.
 * Ayame was a little too happy to help Katja with the Toilet.
 * Lotus Eater Machine:
 * Magical Girl: Parodied in an episode where Hana, Miyuri and Katja all don superheroine persona and fight crime.
 * Magnetic Weapons: Katja can use copper to turn her doll into a big railgun. She only needs coins as ammo and electricity.
 * Marionette Master: Katja carries a coffin with a large copper puppet inside, which she calls either "Anastasia" or "Mother."
 * Meido: There's an episode in which Mafuyu, Tomo, and Sasha dress up for Miyuri.
 * The Messiah: Tomo, the kids at her school treat her like crap, she still has a chipper disposition. In a subversion, even after people stop picking on her and Mayufu, she still doesn't seem to be too terribly popular.
 * Mind Rape: In Episode 21
 * More Than Mind Control: Katja immediately reads Hana's weakness and takes aim, in moments bringing her under her domination, where Hana is now happy to remain.
 * She does so again with Ayame in season two.
 * Morality Pet: Hana, Miyuri and in the manga Lulu fill these roles for Katja.
 * Ms. Fanservice: Tomo, beyond all doubt.
 * The burden of that role is being spread out among every character with breasts. In fact, busts seem to be expanding to fill her cup size, give or take a token Pettanko.
 * My Master, Right or Wrong:
 * Naked Apron: Tomo wears one in Episode 10.
 * Naughty Nuns: Teresa seems to enjoy breast-feeding Sasha bit too much.
 * Naughty Tentacles: A textbook example in episode 21.
 * Named Weapons: Katja's copper puppet "Mother"/Anastasia, Lizzy's Excalibur sword.
 * Non-Action Guy: Father Yuri. Flashback shows he is a warrior that fights against the 12 Adepts but so far, he hasn't shown us anything but being the Mission Control of the group and assigning Sasha and Katja missions.
 * Nosebleed: Miyuri (twice) upon seeing Sasha in a maid outfit and calling her "master."
 * Also, Joshua gets a few when he sees Tomo's naked body.
 * No Sense of Personal Space: The Qwaser. Running up behind some girl and violently groping her boobs is just their way of saying "Hello!"
 * Our Vampires Are Different: Nobody said it, but the qwaser's methods and motives are the same, and their appearance makes direct reference. The suckling scenes in particular recall others in the blood-sucking genre.
 * Ominous Latin Chanting: The 2nd opening "Baptize". It's all over the place within the series too.
 * Panty Shot: Plenty here and there, but Tomo provides a particularly glorious one barely 10 pages into the manga and not 5 minutes into the anime.
 * Pettanko: Fumika has...issues...with her chest size. She goes into a Corner of Woe several times in episode 13, singing how small they are.
 * Hana as well.
 * Questionable Consent: Strictly speaking, Katja never forces Hana to do anything... she just threatens to expose her obvious attraction to a little girl.
 * Refuge in Audacity: Sasha is the bringer of this trope. In episode 23, he goes around sucking the breasts of the women around WHILE EVADING ATTACKS FROM THE BIG BAD!
 * Sadist Teacher: Opponent of the week Eva Silver poses as one. This being Qwaser it does of course turn out very perverted.
 * Schoolgirl Lesbians: Most of students in the Japan Seirei Private Academy.
 * Sequel Hook: Both seasons.
 * Sexy Priest: Father Yuri. It's to be noted that he's a soldier that is a priest in disguise.
 * Shipper on Deck/I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Both Tomo and Teresa supports Sasha/Mayufu despite the former having a thing for Mafuyu and the latter having a thing for Sasha.
 * Shout-Out: Chapter 17 contains a few to other series, most notably Fate/stay Night. Chapter 21 has a slightly extended one to Kamen Rider. There are others, but these are most obvious.
 * A panel in the second chapter of the manga has someone who looks quite a lot like Zangief. Given the context, it's obviously not coincidence.
 * Look at this and this. Any fan of fighting games will most likely recognize it as one of Billy Kane's special moves.
 * Side-Story Bonus Art: One piece in particular features Mafuyu, Tomo, Katja, and Hana baking cakes in the nude. Why? Why Not?
 * Sinister Scythe: Sasha's main weapon.
 * Something Completely Different: Episode 14, which focuses on the adventures of Lily Mask in her fight against evil.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Seems that translators can't quite agree whether the title should be "Seikon no Qwaser" or "Seikon no Quasar". "Kwaser" and variations with a Z instead of an S have been used, but much more rarely.
 * And is the school named St. Mikhailov or St. Mihailov?
 * You can stick a fork in the first issue, because Tokyopop went with a literal translation of the title into English.
 * The Cast Showoff - The song "Passionate squall", of the ED. And can you blame them, when you've got Yoko Hikasa, Aki Toyosaki, Minori Chihara, and Aya Hirano? Two of the main cast of K-On!, Haruhi herself, and the seiyuu who sings "Paradise Lost" and "Yuki, Muon, Madobe Nite"?
 * And then Chihara, who doesn't even voice the main character, sings the second ED.
 * Tickle Torture: Shows up sometimes, specially between Katja and Hana.
 * Third Law of Gender Bending: Appears to be averted for now, but if amnesia becomes a recurring battle injury for Sasha, Katja may not be able to resist.
 * Too Hot for TV: Internet broadcasts and the DVDs get this treatment.
 * Too Kinky to Torture: Eva Silver's 'daughters' react to pain with sexual arousal and encourage people they meet to torture them as thoroughly and horribly as possible for maximum enjoyment; they even get homicidally angry if the torture isn't up their exacting standards. Specifically raised this way so they don't try to resist when Eva . Well, the fact that Eva is a sadistic bitch may have played a part as well.
 * Occasionally a problem when Katja wants to punish Hana for making her look foolish and discovers that Hana loves it.
 * Also Ayame.
 * Triang Relations: Katja, Ayame and Hana. Type 7.
 * Hana none too happy to find out that Katja has Ayame. For some reason they bark at each other.
 * Well, they are Katja's bitches.
 * Unsettling Gender Reveal: Inverted in the anime, when Miyuri is briefly infatuated with Elizabeth because she looks like a cute little boy to her...until she sees Elizabeth strip naked and finds out she has different equipment down there.
 * Played straight with Jita in the second season when she tries to collect Soma from a big breasted girl in a virtual world. Said girl is She is less than pleased when her boss tells her.
 * Unusual Ears: Sister Teresa appears to have cat ears (or at least clumps of hair shaped like animal ears), but the reason behind them has not been explained.
 * Unusually Uninteresting Sight: In one episode, Sasha, Teresa, and Tomo pay a visit to Katja while she's in the midst of... training... Hana. Specifically, . Sasha is just standing there with his usual grumpy expression, Teresa has a very mild "huh" look on her face, and Tomo is "huh" herself with just a tiny bit of blushing. For the rest of the scene they act as if Katja is just sitting around in an easy chair as they talk.
 * What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: As a Qwaser, Joshua possesses the ability the control an element. As luck would have it, his designated element is roentgenium (no. 111), an artificial element with a half-life of about four seconds that can't be found in nature on Earth.
 * Wholesome Crossdresser/Dragged Into Drag: Sasha forced to dress up in a maid outfit as part of a bargain Mafuyu struck with Miyuri in one part of the story. The flip side is that in the anime a Russian soldier was poised to rape him anyway even after finding out his true gender near the end of the episode.
 * The author seems to like putting Sasha into drag so much that it became the central theme of the second season where Sasha goes covert ops in an all girls school.
 * World of Buxom: Except Fumika, Hana and the vice student council president.
 * Xanatos Roulette:
 * World of Buxom: Except Fumika, Hana and the vice student council president.
 * Xanatos Roulette: