Alien Nine
Alien Nine is a science fiction manga and anime about a trio of 6th grade girls (Yuri Otani, Kasumi Tomine, and Kumi Kawamura) who are selected by their elementary school to become alien hunters. Donning special uniforms, with rollerblades and helmet-like creatures called Borgs that they wear on their heads, the girls are tasked with hunting down and capturing the marauding aliens that periodically threaten their school. What starts off as a cute little shojo story turns disturbing rather quickly when one of them gets eaten by an alien and suspicions about the teacher running the program and the principal arise.
Tropes used in Alien Nine include:
- Adults Are Useless--This hits right off the bat when a primary plot point is that the adults do nothing while sending pre-teens out to capture aggressive aliens.
- Not even that they adults are useless, but that they are completely and utterly apathetic to the emotional trauma and pain the girls go through to fight aliens, brushing off death as "Oh, that's not good, well try harder next time" rather than treating it with the seriousness the subject demands. This latter part applies specifically with the teacher/head of the alien party Ms. Hisakawa.
- Alien Invasion--This is about a club given the authority/responsibility to repel Alien attacks on school grounds after all.
- All There in the Manual--The anime was only four episodes long, cutting off just as things were getting interesting. The manga, however, continues the story...
- Animated Adaptation
- Assimilation Plot: The various alien species appear to have this in mind for humanity and manage to succeed with Kasumi, Kumi, and their teacher
- Barbie Doll Anatomy--The scene from the anime when the girls are, ahem, getting licked...together.
- Body Horror
- Break the Cutie--This series takes pushing all three girls to their mental/emotional/physical limits to an art form. By the end, two of the three are broken--whether they seem that way or not--and the third a candidate for a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder diagnosis.
- Brother-Sister Incest--The anime implies that Kasumi and her big brother had this type of relationship.
- At the very least Kasumi had a quiet obsession for her brother, which the Yellow Knife took advantage of. Whether it was one-sided or not is open for debate.
- Cloudcuckoolander--Kasumi seems a bit like this...until we find out about her past.
- Cosmic Deadline--The last volume of the manga has about as much plot as the previous three.
- Dark and Troubled Past--Kasumi and Kumi have them.
- The End of the Beginning--played straight and lampshaded, considering that this trope is the title of the last episode; it makes sense because even though the series has ended, it reveals what could be an intergalactic conspiracy, with the heads of the Alien Party committees in each school and the principals in on it. Of course, you have to read the manga to figure it out.
- The End - or Is It?--The end of the manga It's Spring, and for the first time in the series the girls are in uniforms (which implies they're either getting ready for their Elementary Commencement Ceremony or Junior High Opening Ceremony; The uniforms they have on in 'Emulators' suggests the former, but before the sequel came out there was no way to be sure). Kasumi and Kumi have managed to protect Yuri. It hasn't been easy; they've rescued Yuri from death, permanent mental infancy and forced alien fusion/possession from two different species. Still, while her lowered mental resistance means she'll have to watch out for Sunflower callbacks for the rest of her life, she's cleared the Gauntlet known as 6th grade. Yes--despite all the close calls, Yuri makes it out, still an unfused, ordinary human. ...And then she notices in the mirror that a lock of her hair has become curly...
- Turns out the single drill is the extent of Yuri's transformation and she's still human. There's still the matter with the Yellow Knives, though...
- Fragile Flower--Yuri. Just looking at her is enough to start the waterworks!
- Gainax Ending: The anime..oh god the anime!
- Heel Face Revolving Door--Kasumi tries to kill Kumi during the Yellow Knife incident, is brought back to semi-normal after becoming one, then ups her last one by 11 (killing Megumi's borg, allowing her Yellow Knife baby...things to eat and possibly kill the rest of the school, trying to force Yuri into fusing with Kumi regardless of the former's life) in attempt to save Kumi in Emulators. To be fair to Kasumi, though, it's implied both times the Yellow Knife is manipulating her.
- It Got Worse--in spades.
- It Gets Better--Even for Yuri, who gets a boyfriend and saves Kumi!
- Mind Rape--That bit with the sunflowers...
- Mind Screw--This is one of those series that require numerous (and I mean numerous) viewings and readings to get what is going on. If you're lucky.
- Prehensile Hair -- that forms into auger bits, no less.
- In "Emulators" there's a fourth alien fighter whose hair hasn't settled down and the hair itself moves around on its own.
- Rollerblade Good
- Split Personality--Kasumi, after being eaten.
- Starfish Aliens
- Sugar and Ice Personality--Kumi is a Type 1.
- Twenty Minutes Into the Future