Linebarrels of Iron



"It's not 'what I should do,' it's 'What I want to do.'"

The Linebarrels of Iron story takes place in a fictional alternate future, centering around a junior-high school student named Kouichi Hayase, who escaped his daily life of being bullied as a child by constantly daydreaming about being a hero. His life was forever changed during a class trip in the year 2016 when an artificial satellite fell from orbit. Due to this "accident", Kouichi was left in a coma for half a year, and upon awakening, found himself with strange powers, including superhuman strength. Then, in 2019, a mysterious robot called "Linebarrel" appears before him. It is revealed that the accident from three years ago was not caused by a satellite, but rather by the Machina robot Linebarrel, and that this turned him into a "Factor", which is the name given to Machina pilots. This leads him to encounter Emi Kizaki, a mysterious amnesiac girl whose unknown past seems to be related to Linebarrel. He joins her in fighting for JUDA, the world's largest medical equipment maker, which happens to secretly own several other Machina robots.

So sayeth The Other Wiki.

Linebarrel looks to play the charmingly cliched Mecha Show straight to the hilt. In the opening chapters a Hot Blooded emotionally underdeveloped brat finds himself piloting a giant robot into all kinds of shiny looking awesome while shouting trite oneliners about being an Ally Of Justice and Hilarity Ensues. Then you start to notice the veneer is chipping away. Shimizu and Shimoguchi make it painfully clear how much of a prick the protagonist really is and just how hollow those words about justice ring in his mouth. Then, this is the kicker, they make him mean every damn word.

Has a character sheet now.

This series contained examples of:
": You a "hero of justice"? Don't make me laugh! You can't be a hero of justice! Because if you were, it would mean I'm the bad guy!"
 * Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male: Poor Kouichi at times, especially if it's because of a prank being played by Ishigami.
 * A Cup Angst: Rachel in episode 25, after she gets teased a little about not having a big bust.
 * A Day in The Limelight: Rachel gets an entire OVA devoted to her; part one deals with how she arrived in Japan for the first time, while part two acts as a semi-Interquel set between episodes 12 and 13 of the anime.
 * Accidental Pervert: Brilliantly masterminded though.
 * Ace Custom: The Team leaders in the Katou group, most notable are Sawatari's Idaten, which seems more or less standard barring some cosmetic changes (and rocket engines for a speed boost), and Demitri's Kagutsuchi which is geared towards More Dakka whilst its armour gives it a Templar like appearance.
 * Ace Pilot: Sawatari (Steam roller) Yuriannu (Bushwhacker) Demitri (Plugger) their respective mecha's are Ace Customcustomised to reflect this.
 * On the Machina side we have Moritsugu, whose insane skill + Verdant's power makes him almost unstoppable.
 * After the End:
 * A Father to His Men: Katou, to varying degrees.
 * Anti Hero:
 * Arc Words: Ally of justice.
 * Armor Piercing Slap: Risako usually gives one to Kouichi anytime the topic of Emi is brought up.
 * Artificial Limbs:
 * Attack Drone: Painkiller's specialty. Coupled with the fact Painkiller is somehow supposed to invoke Izanami, it gives it a passing resemblance to the Gan Eden and its Custos.
 * A Mech By Any Other Name: Arma's and Machina's, the distinctive difference between the two being Armas are mass produced, can't regenerate, and require cables to be inserted into the pilot's spine to pilot it to its fullest potential.
 * Back From the Dead:  Technically Kouichi too, since he died in the very first episode, but was saved by Emi.
 * Same applies to.
 * Badass: Anyone that pilots Machina/Arma.
 * Badass Abnormal: All the Machina pilots. Special mention goes to Moritsugu, Hayase, Emi & Jack Smith.
 * Badass Adorable: Emi, Miu & Shizuna.
 * Badass Biker: Subverted; Domyouji appears to be one, but is actually rather cheerful, light hearted, and easygoing, then it's revealed
 * Badass Normal: Sawatari & Yurianne, who both have fought both Linebarrel AND Verdant to a standstill with only their standard Armas, and looks damn good in the process. Also Domyouji, who despite being a normal human, can fight artificially-enhanced Hayase toe-to-toe.
 * Bash Brothers: Sawatari and Demitri
 * Beam Spam: The Helios satellite's secondary mirrors.
 * Beach Episode In the anime only, complete with attack from a mutated giant squid accidentally created by.
 * BLAM Episode: Subverted. The Beach Episode meets most of the qualifications, but it gets a Call Back later and contains a plot-relevant conversation, so technically it doesn't count.
 * Become a Real Boy:
 * Mechanical Evolution:
 * Mechanical Lifeforms
 * Mechanical Monster
 * Sapient Ship: Shangri-la
 * Berserk Button: Never call Ousei ugly, or weird for that matter, it won't end well
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Izuna uses some of the abuse he suffers against his enemies via the Nerve-crack, resulting in some nasty Nightmare fueled Squickyness from the visions sent to anyone affected by it, judging from the resulting screams its probably a good thing the audience can't see what they see most of the time.
 * Also Miu, especially in the manga since she enjoys combat much more than her anime counterpart.
 * Ogawa doesn't take Ishigami's pranks on Kouichi too lightly. She also doesn't like it when Rachel tries to sneak into her room in episode 25.
 * Beware the Superman: Similar to Darker Than Black, sociopathic tendencies seem to be a pretty common side-effect of getting superpowers here.
 * BFG: Apparition's sniper rifle, Painkiller's arm mounted beam cannons, the twin howitzer used by Hind-Kind, Vardant's railgun in the manga & Linebarrel's 'The Executor', which doubles as BFS.
 * BFS: The blade 'Eliminator' carried by Naked, Talisman's spear/lance 'Tail of the Kingdom', that large knife Pretender has, Painkiller's Chainsword, the large sword seen with Juda, the katanas wielded by both Linebarrel & Verdant and arguably, 'The Executor' used by Linebarrel, and it's not just the mechs who use them.
 * Bishonen Line: The Naked, hidden inside the almost impregnable Glen-Neidr. and Painkiller, which is actually very slender underneath the bulky armour.
 * Blade On a Stick: The Katou groups Arma's carry Spears as a standard armarment, and Sawatari in particular is very good with one (well in his mecha at least).
 * Yurianne's Arma 'Tsubaki-Hime' carries a rather stylised version.
 * Talisman's weapon, 'Tail of the Kingdom' combines this with a BFS.
 * Boom Headshot: Jinrai does 4 or 5 of these in a row when it's introduced in the Anime.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: Episode 25, which doubles as A Day in The Limelight for Rachel as she first comes to Japan and gets lost trying to find her way to JUDA. At the end of the first half, she's awoken by one of the other characters who tells her they still have ten minutes left to fill.
 * Breather Episode: Episodes 6, 12, 17. 12 in particular is interesting because it seems both groups are on the same island, but they don't attack each other, and in fact Jack ends up pulling a Villainous Rescue moment when he saves them from a giant squid which he inadvertently created.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Ishigami has a fondness for pranks and weird inventions, which would be weird enough for the CEO of a medical technology manufacturer, much less the commander of a world-protecting paramilitary organization.
 * Cannot Spit It Out: This causes some tension between the girls interested in Kouichi, and causes him some problems in episode 26.
 * Averted with Yajima, but she immediately turns him down.
 * Canon Immigrant: Several of the anime-exclusive characters and/or events have been slowly folded into the original manga, most notably Rachel Calvin and Miu Kujou as well as.
 * Censor Steam: Usually seen if the women are taking a shower.
 * Chainsaw Good: In addition to its halberd, Yurianne's Arma 'Tsubaki-Hime' has a pair of chainsaws in hip holsters, and the manga version of the Machina 'Painkiller' wields a giant Chainsword.
 * Emi also uses one with unexpected enthusiasm during her magic act. Later Miu is seen with a matching model too.
 * Character Development: The main reason, other that THE BIG BADASS MACHINA/ARMA BATTLES we are watching the show or reading the manga anyways.
 * Chekhov's Gun: The machina Apparition.
 * Clean Cut: Verdant is in particular is good at these weather they be diagonal, horizontal or vertical.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Risako isn't too fond of how close Emi seems to Kouichi.
 * Conversely, the other girls who have a crush on Kouichi at JUDA, especially Emi, aren't fond of him spending too much time with Risako either.
 * Shizuna isn't too fond of Yurianne trying to "steal" her brother Izuna away.
 * Combat Tentacles: Deceive uses them for Psychological Warfare against ARMA and Machina pilots and to access computer systems.
 * Conspicuous CG: In the anime, mainly for mecha's, explosions and smoke.
 * Crash Into Hello: How Kouichi meets Emi. Unfortunately her mech squishes him. He gets better though.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Several in both adaptations, espcially when The most recent one in the manga resulted in
 * Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Subverted with Jack Smith, though his body is an Arma. he is, honour issues aside, a rather normal and somewhat well adjusted individual.
 * Played painfully straight
 * Death Is Cheap:
 * Dojikko: Emi, for the first few episodes of the anime.
 * Dual Wield: Linebarrel manages with twin BFS. Verdant one ups this with the quad wield. Tsubaki-Hime ties with verdant by dual wielding Chainsaws
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: Izuna Endo, twin brother of Shizuna. Kouichi seems to summon Yoshi Akihisa when he jokingly says that Shizuna should act more girlish, then faces Izuna Endo, which ticks her off.
 * Dying As Yourself: Soumi.
 * Dying Declaration of Love:
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: They really have to earn it here in the anime. Expect a lot of Tear Jerker moments and GutPunches before you get to it though.
 * Elite Mooks: The Thunderclap, developed by Kiriyama heavy industries.
 * Enemy Mine:
 * Expy: Verdant is blue, wields more than 2 swords in each hand, has one eye, and a crescent moon emblem on its forehead, I wonder who matches that description.
 * Eyepatch of Power: Verdant, interestingly the blind spot is actually noted by Kouichi and he tries to exploit this during his second duel with Verdant. it doesn't work.
 * Eyes of Gold: The precursor to somebody going Super Mode
 * Face Heel Turn:
 * Facing the Bullets One Liner: The first time you hear the page quote.
 * Falling Into the Cockpit: To be fair,
 * First Episode Resurrection:
 * First Kiss: Risako, in an apparent Anguished Declaration of Love, gives one to Kouichi at the end of episode 12.
 * Which then gets blown out of proportion both at school and at JUDA. Emi is not happy about that.
 * shares hers with Koiuchi in episode 20. Which kind of ticks off Shizuna, of all people.
 * Fish Out of Water: Kouichi, who was an Ordinary High School Student until he met Emi.
 * Rachel in episode 25, who gets completely lost in Japan and is very unfamiliar with the culture and landscape.
 * Five Man Band
 * Hayase in Linebarrel, The Hero
 * Reiji in Verdant, The Lancer
 * Satoru in Hind-Kind, The Big Guy
 * The Endou twins in Deceive, The Smart Guy
 * Emi, The Chick
 * in the anime this role is taken (or shared depending on your viewpoint) by Miu in Painkiller
 * , The Sixth Ranger
 * in the anime this role is taken by . In the manga, the role is later shared between.
 * Flash Step: Tsubaki-Hime is so agile it seems to disappear.
 * also used by 'Naked', and Linebarrel when in 'Mode-B'
 * Form Fitting Wardrobe: Pretty much all the women's outfits stick right onto their skin. Including their school uniforms.
 * Fun With Acronyms: Line doesn't appear to stand for anything, but ... which doesn't really mean much of anything.
 * Gainaxing: Every female in the show. Especially during the beach episode. Hayase's arm seems to find it's way into their cleavage a lot as well...
 * Genki Girl: Shizuna, especially in Tsundere mode.
 * Gonk: Riku Ousei
 * Gratuitous English: Rachel Calvin, take a bow.
 * The trailer seems to be chock full of it as well.
 * Grievous Harm With a Body: In episode 5
 * Groin Attack: Shizuna's way of introducing herself to Kouichi when they first meet, while yelling about what a douche he is.
 * Guns Akimbo: Verdant when its carrying the optional submachine guns.
 * Half Identical Twins: The Endou siblings
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * Hey Its That Voice: Lelouch Lamperouge and team up to take over the world? Now that's a scary combination.
 * The English dub takes it to another level, as it features Keroro / Death the Kid and  as the villain team up, respectively.
 * In Japanese, Simon is the hero. In English, it's Kenichi.
 * Heel Realization/Villainous Breakdown:
 * Heel Realization/Villainous Breakdown:


 * Heroic BSOD: Yamashita suffers one in episode 13. In the manga,.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Judy in episode 15.
 * Hopeless Suitor: Although it teases you a bit, its pretty obvious who Kouichi's going to end up with . Not that it doesn't stop the other girls from at least trying to hook up with him, or at least go into Tsundere mode in Shizuna's case.
 * Played straight with Yajima towards Risako.
 * Hot Blooded: Koichi, Yamashita, Sawatari
 * Hotblooded Sideburns: Sawatari, a rare villain example
 * Humongous Mecha: The Arma and the Machina.
 * I Am Not Left Handed: Koichi was quite shocked when.
 * I Call It Vera: Pretender is not the real name of
 * Ill Boy: Yamashita prior to becomming Hind Kind's factor
 * Impaled With Extreme Prejudice:.
 * Also
 * Instant Expert: Brutally subverted by Kouichi. His ass-kicking is totally contributed to the Linebarrels immense speed and power, but against experienced pilots he nearly always gets shamed. Moritsugu makes this a plot point, fending off his Super Mode and insulting his "Hero of Justice" rap, then threatening all his friends
 * Instant Win Condition:
 * Insufferable Genius: Rachel occasionally in the main series, but especially in episode 25, which covers her first trip to Japan.
 * Involuntary Suicide Mechanism / Driven to Suicide: The suicide switch inside all humans.
 * Invisibility Cloak: Apparition's special ability.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Yajima likes Risako, but knows she likes Kouichi, so holds back. So when Emi shows up, he sees her as a threat to Risako's happiness, as evidenced by how unhappy Risako is around Emi and the other girls working with Kouichi in JUDA.
 * Both
 * Jerkass/Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Koichi Hayase. Just Koichi Hayase.
 * Shizuna is a Jerk With a Heart of Gold too. And so is Domyouji.
 * Jumped At the Call: Deconstructed; when Koichi becomes Linebarrel's Factor he behaves like you would realistically expect a bullied teenager would when given godlike power, and immediately causes huge levels of property damage, loss of human life, and generally behaving like a douchebag while trying to weakly justify this by shouting hollow one liners about being an ally of justice, upon which he is immediately called out on it by Reiji it is only when  that he realizes the seriousness of what he's gotten himself into.
 * Kansai Regional Accent: Shizuna.
 * Karma Houdini: all escape from the authorities at the end of the anime, while . Subverted in Super Robot Wars L,
 * Killed Off for Real:
 * Played straight
 * Kill Sat: The Helios satellite.
 * Large Ham: Domyouji. Ishigami falls into this trope occasionally as well.
 * Laser Blade: Kinda justified, the Executioner was supposed to be a gun, the output setting just gets overclocked.
 * Last Stand: Seems to be one around episode 18 when Katou's forces attack Misaki city, and JUDA's forces gradually have to keep pulling back as Katou's forces continually destroy the shields.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Glen-Neidr, and Ousei's Arma 'Yaoyorozu'
 * Lightning Glare: Done between Risako and Miu in episode 17.
 * Likes Older Women: Yurianne tries to ravish Izuna in the cave in episode 12. He seems able to be on par with her before getting exhausted. Then some Naughty Tentacles intervenes...
 * Lover Tug of War: Slight one occurs in episode 21, although subverted in that both Emi and Miu want to strip Kouichi down in order to get a physical done on him. They seem rather eager about it as well...
 * Macross Missile Massacre: One of Eiji's Pretender attacks
 * Mad Bomber: Ousei
 * Marshmallow Hell: Kouichi is subjected to this a couple of times.
 * The Masquerade:
 * Mayfly December Romance: . There's also a case of Mayfly December Ship Teasing in the anime between, but that gets torpedoed by the end of the anime.
 * Meaningful Name: JUDA
 * Mecha Mooks: Any Arma not being piloted by a named character is screwed.
 * Megaton Punch: Kouichi is on the receiving end of these at times.
 * Furuya gets one from  Like Kouichi he survives the hit, but the next time we see him he's in a hospital bed bandaged up.
 * Mission Control: Emi and Ishigami usually perform this role.
 * Modesty Bedsheet: Averted in the manga, where you can see Yuriannu's side boob, as she is laying on her stomach with the bed sheet around her lower waist.
 * Mood Whiplash: Episode 13. Starts out really light-hearted,
 * Motor Mouth: Risako has one in episode 12, it actually sounds like the dialogue has been sped up rather than just her talking quickly.
 * Murder the Hypotenuse:
 * Mysterious Woman: Yuriannu Faithful
 * Naughty Tentacles: Episode 12.
 * Nosebleed: Hayase and Domyouji suffer them from time to time.
 * Nice Job Breaking It Hero: Kouichi's antics when he first receives Linebarrel, Nice job breaking it Kouichi.
 * The Machina-humans in the anime.
 * No Holds Barred Beatdown Verdant hands out one to Linebarrel, twice
 * No Name Given: A mecha example in the case for the Arma's themselves, save the squad captains, which are named 'Idaten'(Sawatari's),'Tsubaki-hime'(Yuriannu's),'Kagutsuchi' (Demitri's), and 'Yaoyorozu' (Ousei's)
 * Normally I Would Be Dead Now Variation, one way of becoming a factor for a machina is for it to kill you by accident when it does not have a factor, to which it will revive you via Nanomachines) if it does have a factor, then you stay dead until that factor dies
 * Not So Harmless.
 * Oh Crap: The nameless Japanese couple has one right before getting hit with the Helios Kill Sat in episode 11.
 * One of Us: The authors are big fan of Kamen Rider and Ultraman. Just look at their website which has a self made picture of Mezool and recently, they are going to make a new Ultraman manga in a Seinen magazine.
 * Overtook the Manga: The anime adaptation follows the manga more or less the same until around the Helios operation, where some details change (both minor and major), then by the time the is finished (which does play similar to the manga version with some changes), the anime goes all out on an original ending that.
 * The Plan:.
 * Playing Against Type: Joji Nakata as Ishigami. He's more... mischievous than his usual roles.
 * Ramming Always Works: What the Shangri-La tries to do towards the alternate Earth's invasion ship.
 * Rocket Punch: Hind-Kind's Bullet Fist
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Though Soubi looks seventeen it's revealed that he is actually over 70, this is due to being born as Talisman's factor.
 * In the manga:
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: While Ishigami is a bit eccentric at times, and seems to enjoy playing pranks (usually on Kouichi), he doesn't just start taking it out on his subordinates if things go wrong, and helps pay for the damages that Kouichi first causes without making much of a fuss. He also seems to see the potential in Kouichi, while most of the other members of JUDA initially feel he's a hotheaded nutcase.
 * Redheaded Hero
 * Redshirt Army: Pretty much anyone not part of JUDA.
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Kouichi after
 * Happens again in episode 24,
 * Running Gag: In episode 6, Kouichi keeps getting rushed to an emergency room after a prank Ishigami plays on him. After the third one, Ishigami himself joins alongside him, after Yui punishes him for his latest prank of giving Kouichi a video of Emi undressing.
 * Emi telling Kouichi that he makes her sick. Its meaning gradually changes however.
 * Serious Business: Kouichi initially doesn't get the point of the acts and party in episode 6, until Ishigami tells him that they don't get chances to screw up on their real job, so he should take it easy and relax with them whenever they can.
 * Sexy Secretary: Yuriannu's disguise while she's around Eiji Kiriyama, in reality shes a member of the Katou group.
 * Ship Sinking: Risako looks extremely sad when she sees how fast Kouichi moves to save Emi in episode 12.
 * Emi seems to feel this way too in the very next episode...
 * Shock and Awe: Soubi's Machina 'Talisman' carries a lance/spear named 'tail of the kingdom' that can electrocute enemies from a distance.
 * Smashing Watermelons: Happens during the Beach Episode in episode 12.
 * Smug Snake: Kiriyama Eiji.
 * Stuffed Into the Fridge: Yajima  Ousei, and Demitri.
 * Super Mode
 * Super Prototype: All The Machina, though the Ace pilots in the Katou group use Ace Customs
 * More like just flat out Super robots
 * Super Robot Wars: The anime adaptation made its debut in Super Robot Wars L.
 * With Shinji Ikari as one of Kouichi's best friends no less. Fridge Brilliance if you think about it, since both of them are EXTREMELY messed up kids and their series both show two very differant, realistic reactions of giving an unstable child the power to destroy the whole world.
 * Taking You With Me: Judy manages to kill one of the Kikan members during her Heroic Sacrifice.
 * Tag Team Twins: Endou siblings on Deceive
 * Team Mom: Yui Ogawa.
 * Tempting Fate: When Ishigami mentions that there are now enough Armas for the SSDF to takeover the country in episode 13...
 * Thanks for The Mammary: Kouichi initially summons Linebarrel by touching Emi's breast. Which gets Risako a little ticked off...
 * Theme Naming: Verdant, Linebarrel, Hind-Kind, Deceive, Painkiller, Apparition, Glen-Neidr, Naked, Shangri-La, Pretender, Talisman, Juda, it goes on, though we've yet to figure out what the theme actually is...
 * for some of the machina it's blatantly obvious, usually describing its ability Deceive, specializes in psychological warfare, confusing and deceiving them with images planted in their heads and Apparition true to its name is a stealth based unit, shangri-la usually refers to a garden of eden-esqe paradise and can coordinate a planetary shield or appearance, Talisman looks like a medieval knight/royal guard of sorts [according to background fluff] while Pretender can transform into a jet however for some of the others it gets confusing Verdant is a descriptive term for a green meadow, odd considering the the mecha in question is a dark blue close combat robot that seems to be inkoving Date Masamune.
 * Three Laws Compliant: The Machina can't kill unless they have a factor on board.
 * Token Mini Moe: Rachel.
 * Transforming Mecha: Pretender
 * Tsundere: Shizuna and Emi.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend:
 * We Hardly Knew Ye: Demitri, for whom, literaly no information is given regarding his background.
 * Demitri gets it worse in the original manga, as he receives little to no character development and . At least the anime and tries to give him some character development.
 * Wham Episode: Episode 13,
 * Happens again in episode 23,
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Awesome: Endo and Shizuna's act in episode 6. Shizuna was looking to win against Kouichi, but he saw them in their original outfit, so she scrapped it. She ended up changing it to a crab costume, but then forgot to include an act to go with it.
 * What the Hell Hero: Kouichi is a real Jerkass in the first few episodes, but it turns out that he's acting that way because he always felt weak compared to his friend Yajima. Unfortunately he lets that power go to his head.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Ousei, who's sociopathic tendencies lead to him becoming a liability for the Katou organisation.
 * You Will Be Assimilated:
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Both the female school uniforms and the the costumes that all the female MACHINA pilots wear.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Both the female school uniforms and the the costumes that all the female MACHINA pilots wear.