Aria the Scarlet Ammo: Difference between revisions

* [[Born in The Wrong Century]]: {{spoiler|Kinji}} notes that Jeanne has shades of this. She is very formal, sends letters with wax seals, wields a zweihander (two-handed sword), wears plate mail, doesn't know what a vending machine is, and dislikes skimpy clothing (even school uniforms). {{spoiler|1=May be justified by [[Naive Newcomer|being unused]] to seeing the world outside I-U's auspices.}}

** Shirayuki also counts due to her upbringing, choice of weapons, personality... well, except for that M60 she occasionally brings out against rivals for Kinji's affection.

* [[Bromantic Foil]]: Gouki for Kinji.

* [[Bullet Time]]: When Kinji enters Hysteria Mode.

* [[Cute Little Fangs]]: Aria

* [[Cute Witch]]: Jeanne

* [[Dark and Troubled Past]]: Where the hell do we begin...

** Kinji: {{spoiler|His brother Kinichi (apparently) died saving people from a sinking ship, only for the company to blame him for sinking it. He's heckled and looked down upon by other people for this, forcing him to mull leaving Butei High.}}

** Aria: {{spoiler|She's a descendant of one of the most famous detectives in the world, and a tool to be used, with her mother Kanae framed as the "Butei Killer".}}

** Shirayuki: {{spoiler|As a Hotogi she was unable to leave the shrine as a child, got severely punished for meeting Kinji, and was only able to attend Butei High due to her clan's approval. She's also never gone out to eat nor gone shopping with anymore...}}

** Reki: {{spoiler|Her native all-female Ulus Tribe can only give birth to females, thus they must find a strong male warrior (in her case, Kinji); they also surrender their sense of feelings to Irokane, explaining their [[Emotionless Girl|emotionless nature]], as well as their freedom -- they devote themselves fully to their husbands, even unto death.}}

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: A lot of Kinji's commentary in the novels involves this, with him often noting the absurdity of the Butei way of life.

** Potentially justified by the fact that Kinji's father was an "Armed Prosecutor", one of the few occupations with a license to kill, and it's implied that they are sent against target as dangerous as (or even more so than) Kinji in Hysteria Mode. So it's rather doubtful that a normal Desert Eagle could be used as an accurate benchmark for that particular one.

* [[Don't You Dare Pity Me]]: A rare heartwarming twist on this trope: When Kinji and Aria helped {{spoiler|Riko}} defeat {{spoiler|Dracula}}, hence reclaiming her freedom and dignity, she was clearly filled with love and gratitude for both of them. After a moment, her professional pride in her {{spoiler|Lupin}} heritage returned, forcing her to recompose herself and declare her rivalry towards them anew; albeit one built on respect rather than hatred this time.

** Though, for {{spoiler|Riko}}, it's technically {{spoiler|[[Up to Eleven|Quad Wielding]]}}

** Volume 7 onwards introduces the third Quadra -- {{spoiler|none other than Kinji himself}}.

* [[Easily Forgiven]]: While Riko had her motives, it seems that Kinji and Aria overlook the fact that she tried to kill them earlier.

** Same thing with Jeanne.

* [[Emotionless Girl]]: Reki, though mainly because she wants to have extreme accuracy when she shoots.

** {{spoiler|Apparently this is also an effect of the Riri-Irokane that Reki was exposed to in her home village.}}

* [[Hair Decorations]]: Aria has hair clips, and Shirayuki and Riko have ribbons.

* [[Everyone Looks Sexier If French]]: {{spoiler|Riko}}

** To a lesser extent, Aria, too, considering that her grandmother was a Dame.

* [[Cute Kitten]]: The two Leopons from the catching game machine in episode 3. They're so cute, they make Aria cuter. ({{spoiler|[[Chekhov's Gun|One Leopon attached to Kinji's cellphone ultimately made Kinji reconsider his decision to quit Butei High and resume his partnership with Aria.]]}})

* [[Famous Ancestor]]: Ooooh boy, we're in for a treat.

** {{spoiler|Aria is the great-granddaughter of [[Sherlock Holmes]].}}

** {{spoiler|Jeanne is the distant descendant of, [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|well]], Joan Of Arc.}}

** {{spoiler|Reki is the descendant of [[Genghis Khan]], who also went under the name of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamoto_no_Yoshitsune Minamoto no Yoshitsune], a famous general in the 1100s.}}

* [[Feminine Women Can Cook]]: Shirayuki

* [[Fetish Fuel Station Attendant]]: Riko, oh delicious Riko.

* [[First Kiss]]: {{spoiler|Kinji and Aria, which also works as a [[Shut Up Kiss]] for Aria to calm her down after she was revived from being critically hit by Riko, and a deliberate Hysteria Mode activation for Kinji.}}

** {{spoiler|Kinji also takes Shirayuki's to calm her down and of course, trigger Hysteria Mode}}

** {{spoiler|After receiving her crucifix back, Riko comments that she even sacrificed her first kiss for a chance to prove herself}}

** [[The Hero]]/[[The Lancer]]: Aria and Kinji frequently exchange both roles with each other depending on the situation

** [[The Smart Guy]]: Riko

** Reki's taming of the wolf can be viewed as this too, considering {{spoiler|her later method for 'catching' a husband...}}

* [[French Jerk]]: {{spoiler|Riko, though she's portrayed as more [[Freudian Excuse|sympathetic]] and [[Broken Bird|emotionally-shattered]] than most examples.}}

* [[Gag Boobs]]: Riko.

* [[Gainaxing]]: Riko's boobs were moving like crazy in the first episode, though she wasn't doing much.

* [[Girls Love Stuffed Animals]]: Played straight with Aria and "Leopon". When Aria gets scared by thunder, Kinji brings out a Leopon and makes it talk to comfort her.

* [[Girls With Guns]]

** And later {{spoiler|Kinji}} mirrors Aria as the {{spoiler|Third Quadra}}.

* [[Gun Kata]]: A variant of this style, known as "Aru-Kata" ("Aru" being spawned from the JP romanization of "Arma", Italian for weapon) is mandatory as per Butei cirriculum, The fight between {{spoiler|Aria and Riko}} in episode 4 showcases this perfectly.

* [[Hand Cannon]]: Kinji later carries a Desert Eagle Magnum as heavier fire power, [[Crazy Prepared|just in case.]]

* [[Handicapped Badass]]: {{spoiler|Sherlock Holmes}}, now over 200 years old, blinded by poisoning, but is still the leader of I-U. [[Didn't See That Coming]].

* [[Headphones Equal Isolation]]: While they're not necessarily isolating, Reki does wear a pair of these all the time to block out reality and have the best shots.

* [[Healing Hands]]: {{spoiler|Shirayuki is able to do this because of her status as a [[Miko]].}}

* [[Hidden Depths]]: {{spoiler|Riko}} is the first prominent example ({{spoiler|supposedly she just does bad things to continue her family's legacy (see entry for {Irony}} on this very page), but in reality she does so to free herself from the imprisonment, and she is not happy in the slightest with her fate}}), but many other characters qualify too.

* [[Hime Cut]]: Shirayuki

* [[Hot Chick With a Sword]]: Shirayuki, Aria and Jeanne.

* [[Mysterious Past]]: Reki is so mysterious, no one even knows her last name.

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: Jeanne d'Arc the 30th -- {{spoiler|The Diamond Dust Witch, AKA Durandal}}.

* [[New Powers As the Plot Demands]]: Seen in Kinji's fight against {{spoiler|Kana and Holmes}} where new versions of HSS conveniently appear.

* [[The Nicknamer]]: Riko. She has a tendency to give a nickname to her friends.

** Kinji: Ki-kun

** Heck, she even calls herself Rikorin.

* [[Noble Demon]]: I-U has shades of this. Some (especially {{spoiler|Sherlock Holmes}}) are this; others... are just plain demons (and in some cases, not just figuratively).

* [[Not Himself]]: Kinji in Hysteria mode.

** {{spoiler|Then there's "Dark Riko", where she has a strange gaze from her eyes, she uses rough language, and she calls Aria "Holmes".}}

** The whole OVA episode is a [[Shout Out]] to ''[[The Grudge]]''.

* [[Shrinking Violet]]: Misaki Nakasorachi is a stuttering ditz. A definite cutie, though this keeps her stuck as a B-Rank despite being, ironically enough, an excellent [[Mission Control]].

* [[Something Else Also Rises]]: Kinji and his Hysteria Mode.

** Then there's a case with the primary antagonist organization for the first few volumes, whose run-ins with this trope are compounded by pronunciation issues. Initially, this organization was called "EU", straight from the pronunciation. A few volumes down the road and it's revealed what the name actually means. The name is composed of the letters that the Imperial Japanese Navy and Kriegsmarine used to designate their submarines, respectively. The problem? The IJN used the letter I to designate their submarines, and the English fanbase mistook it as an E because the Japanese I is pronounced the same as the English E.

* [[Spiritual Successor]]: Tokyo Butei High School, {{spoiler|to [[Sherlock Holmes]]'s "armed detective" philosophy. No wonder they were the target of the Butei Killer.}}

* [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]: Codified in the Butei Charter's Article 9 -- "Regardless of the situation, a Butei cannot kill."

* [[Those Two Guys]]: Gouki and Ryou are practically the only guys who interact with Kinji onscreen. They also pop on and off in both the novel, manga and anime.

* [[Through His Stomach]]: Shirayuki tries this with Kinji.

* [[Title Drop]]: First invoked by {{spoiler|Kana}} in Volume 4 of the light novels.

** Reki and her energy bars

* [[True Companions]]: Butei are expected to help each other out, whatever the situation. It is even encoded as Butei Charter Article 1 -- "Never leave your comrades behind". And as the series progresses, Kinji and Aria diversify from a two-man partnership to a strike team-caliber group:

** Shirayuki Hotogi ([[Multi Melee Master|Melee Combat]]/{{spoiler|[[Playing With Fire|Fire-Elemental Combat]]}})

** Reki ([[Cold Sniper|Long-Range Support]])

** {{spoiler|Jeanne d'Arc the 30th ([[The Smart Guy|Tactical Planning]]/[[An Ice Person|Ice-Elemental Combat]])}}

** {{spoiler|Elle Watson ([[The Medic|Medical Support]])}}

* [[Wacky Marriage Proposal]]: {{spoiler|Reki orders Kinji to marry her with a gun pointed at him, on the roof of the school.}}

** In Volume 10 we get another one.. {{spoiler|Long story short Kinji has a genetic cloned girl who is more or less his sister, who is yandere for him. Trying to get rid of her he comes up with a ploy to get Shirayuki to act as his sister. How does he doe this?? Bring a bouquet of roses, asks Shirayuki Hotogi to become Shirayuki Touyama, and does this on one knee. Note the knee thing was a battle injury not yet healed, and Shirayuki always wanted to marry Kinji.}} Someone [[Pass the Popcorn|get the popcorn.]]

* [[The Watson]]: Aria the Holmes initially chooses Kinji to be her Watson. {{spoiler|Later on we're introduced to Elle, John Watson's ''great-granddaughter'' who was [[Les Yay|meant to be Aria's fiancé]].}}

* [[Yamato Nadeshiko]]: Shirayuki. This is [[Lampshaded]] by Kinji in the novels.

* [[Yandere]]: Shirayuki -- early in episode 2 she displays [[Dull Eyes of Unhappiness]] when she suspected Kinji is with someone else. Upon discovering that [[Pretty Freeloaders|Aria is freeloading with Kinji]], she decides to [[Murder the Hypotenuse|"exorcise" her]] twice (first, by cutting her down with her katana; second, by [[Stealth Pun|blowing hundreds of holes through her]] with an M60). Even when she was forced to take Aria as a bodyguard, she still shows contempt for the diminutive girl.