Code Breaker

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Ogami and Sakura
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and evil for evil."
—Rei Ogami

Code:Breaker is a manga series by Akimine Kamijyo (the creator of Samurai Deeper Kyo), that appeared in Weekly Shonen Magazine from June 9, 2008 to July 17, 2013, and was collected into 28 volumes. An anime adaptation aired from October 7, 2012 to December 30, 2012.

Riding the bus one day, Sakurakouji Sakura looks out the window to see people being burned alive with a blue fire and a boy her age who's unharmed and standing over the people. She comes back to the site the next day and there are no corpses or evidence of any kind of murder, just a small fire. She then goes to class to find there's a New Transfer Student who looks exactly like the boy she saw before and wears a black glove only on his left hand. Later she finds out that he is the sixth "Code:Breaker", a special type of assassin with a strange ability, who is only a member of a secret organization that serves the government.

Tropes used in Code Breaker include:
  • Action Girl: Kanda here.
    • Sakura also, at least in the beginning...
  • Action Mom: Sakura's real mother, and maybe her adopted mother too since the Sakuranojis are apparently gangsters.
  • Adult Child: Sakura's mother. Code:Emperor is one literally, as he's too weak to manifest as an adult.
  • Ambiguously Brown: Yukihina.
  • Ambiguously Evil: "Fussy Lunch", possibly of the "It takes the threat of death to make people appreciate life and work together" variety. It's also unusual that the sadistic game the Angels play is about controlling their life-sucking powers to kill the least amount of people, and the only ones they kill are the Code:Names' masked goon squads.
  • Ambiguous Gender: Haruto
  • An Ice Person: Yukihina's most common application of his power, though he seems to be able to control water in any form.
  • Anti Hero: Ogami is a Type V
  • Anti-Magic / Power Nullifier: Sakura Sakurakouji with implied Anti-Magic abilities. All Code Breakers' abilities have been shown to be ineffective against her, and she's even displayed the ability to cancel out the effects of those powers on others. Canceling out their power's effects may or may not require full body contact, since she seems to hug people every time she does it, causing her friends to name it her "rare power hug attack." When fully awakened she can nullify power-users to death. This happened when she was five and resulted in scores of deaths. Currently she's figured out how to de-power Codes on command. Later it's revealed that if her blood mixes with Ogami's it causes explosions.
    • This page might be a hint that Sakura can re-power power-users too... or maybe that's just Ogami's feelings for Sakura.
    • The President is also a power-suppressing "Rare Kind" and Sakura's biological father. He made Inoichi with this ability in mind, although she has to bite someone to take their power rather than just touch them. He also put his blood into Sakura's school, making it the only anti-any-Code building in Japan.
    • The five "Angels".
  • Arc Words: "December 32nd"
  • Artificial Human: Biological, though not (as far as we've seen) actually clones. Yuuki, Shigure, and anyone else with a bar-code are artificially created super-powered people made by EDEN. Unfortunately not all of them can have really cool powers so the rejected ones are given an X on their clothes that marks the as cannon fodder.
  • The Atoner: Yuuki, after his Muggle friend Makoto sacrificed himself to protect him from falling debris, which put him in a coma. Ogami also planted a "seed" into Haruto that forced him into becoming an Atoner rather than just letting him kill himself.
  • Badass Longcoat: Ogami. Also Heike, "The one being sought" in the past, and Saechika before his introduction.
  • Bad Liar: Sakura.
  • Bandage Babe: Aoba has her right arm (and her chest) all bandaged up and wears it the arm in a sling after Ogami sliced it off.
  • Berserk Button: Don't mess with Yuuki's Nyanmaru dolls if you want to live.
    • Or anyone that reminds him of Nyanmaru. At first it was just Sakura but now it's almost Sakura's entire class.
    • Ogami with Sakura as well.
    • Do not tell Yukihina to work with Heike. Ever. Unless someone comes and threatens other peoples' warrior prides. Then Yukihina will work with Heike. After a Curb Stomp Battle, of course.
  • Berserker Tears: Aoba sports these after fighting Ogami, and it appears to be due to her friend Sakura siding with him.
  • Big Fancy House: When the gang needs shelter for the night, the apparently homeless Yuuki suggests a bench, then a park, then the big fancy house that envelopes the park. Naturally, it's his house (big imagination + The Nicknamer + a country that loooooves collectible toys = (mega) profit!). When Toki suggests that Yuuki is just being used to make a profit, Yuuki shows that he's also really good at reading the stock market not that any of that helps with what he really wants: friends :(.
    • There's also the Shibuya Manor, which is kinda run down and should've fit the trope well were it not for the constant damage. There's also an Elaborate Underground Base that the President doesn't want anyone to enter.
    • Sakura's home.
  • Black Eyes of Crazy / Uh-Oh Eyes / Facial Markings / Evil Feels Good: When Rare Kinds go into suck-the-life-outta-power-users-mode their eyes become "unreflective", they get a weird "blush" around their eyes, and from the looks of it it's a really pleasant sensation.
  • Blessed with Suck: One of the most obvious cases of blessed with suck EVER. People can get awesome elemental powers, and, seriously, who wouldn't want to control lightning?, but in the end your powers will turn on you and consume you.
  • Bloody Murder: The Saint Fighters' special ability, a la Deadman Wonderland. Maybe they're related like Toki and Nenene.
  • Brick Joke: Remember the toy that Yuuki designed in chapter 51? A little kid is seen holding it in chapter 60.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Yuuki, who can manipulate sound waves, tries to use their shared abusive pasts to reason with the poison (and other liquids - she hides her many scars under a thick layer of "makeup")-secreting Lily, to no avail.
    • In a more recent chapter, some Re-Code punk wannabe tells the Prince off and tried to blow her up. She julienne's him.
  • But Not Too Foreign: Toki is half-Caucasian on his mother's side (presumably) since his father is the PM of Japan. His sister Nenene is too.
  • Cain and Abel: Ogami and his brother. They are even color coded!
  • Calling Your Attacks: Code:Revenger calls out numbers which correspond to how many seconds she can turn back time.
  • Came Back Strong: Ogami pulls this trope twice. The first time when he was a child and received the Emperor's flame, and the second when Yuuki kills him and the Emperor allows him access to the next flame for making the correct choice.
    • Subverted when we learn as a child he could already control the seven flames.
  • Casting a Shadow: The Prince's power. And her brother's. Both "shadows" are strong enough to douse Heike's light and Ogami's fire.
  • Catch Phrase: The Code:Breakers often quote the Code of Hamurabi: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth--" with a personal touch added to it.
  • Cats Are Mean: Played with - the "cat" isn't mean, just an annoying Cloudcuckoolander. A guy in a cat costume puts the Code Breakers through Training from Hell and is apparently powerful enough to negotiate with the Big Bad.
    • When angered, Yuuki is pretty dangerous, even in cat form.
    • One of the five Angels is a boy with spiky hair that looks like cat ears who little Ogami instantly names "Catboy". He's the first to play a game where they take turns sucking power-users lives away. He kills Aoba's squad in five minutes.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The mark Ogami's brother gives Sakura in chapter 55 end up saving her life in chapter 125.
  • Cherry Blossom Girl: Double the fun - Sakura Sakurakouji.
    • Also her mother Sakurako Sakurakouji.
  • Childhood Marriage Promise: Ogami to Sakura, to the President's consternation. Ogami just didn't want Sakura (and Mishiru, and...) to be lonely, and married people stay together forever, right?
  • Clean Cut: Shigure from Re-Code inflicts this on a passer-by, with the notable detail that he does it with ashes in place of a blade.
    • Ogami inflicts this on Aoba when he cuts of her right arm with his blue flame.
    • Sakura's bio-mom vertically slices her own daughter in half (not really, but it was quite convincing).
    • One of Saechika's psycho murderer squad neatly shreds his victims and teammates thanks to his diamond blades.
  • Clothing Damage: Kouji obliterates the Saint Fighters' clothes, then gives them his own since he can't stand to to see girls getting hurt. Also happens to Aoba a lot. Good thing she's a time-master.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: There are two:
    • Nenene, who loves to randomly grope Sakura's breasts (and even names them). Not only is Nenene Sakura's Sempai, she's somehow a member of the student council. Her dad being the prime minister of Japan and head of EDEN probably had something to do with it. It's revealed that this is her de-powered personality and that her real self is kind of a bitch.
    • Yuuki, on the other hand is one of the most powerful of the Code:Breakers in EDEN due to his control of sound. For some reason, his nonsensical behavior annoys the hell out of the usually lackadaisical Toki who happens to be Nenene's estranged brother. Naturally, Nenene is easily distracted as Sakura says "This is your brother!" while standing in front of a guy with the same hair and Mismatched Eyes as her. To his (or his handlers') credit, Yuuki uses his nonsensical ideas ("He's a middle-aged mushroom suffering from depression") to become the chief of a multi-billion dollar toy empire, although all he really wants/needs are friends.
  • Cooldown Hug: Sakura's specialty. Learned from Ogami when they were children, back when he was the pacifist and she the pure-hearted killer.
    • Ogami, to Sakura after she awakens her true Rare Kind power.
    • Rui did this to Hiyori when she first recruited Hiyori to the Re-Codes.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Yuuki; Hyori AKA turtle-girl. And while he isn't so much a moron as immature, it's hinted that Toki is actually the strongest of the Code:Numbers.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Saechika's dark side vs. Heike - it starts with Heike getting his arm sliced off and gets worse from there. If your power is shadow and your enemy's is light it's really easy to see what's coming.
    • One member of Saechika's psycho murderer squad is basically Vega (bishounen, protects his face with a mask, slices people) and instantly kills the other four. Toki promptly kills him, though at a cost.
    • "Catboy", one of the five Angels (deadly Rare Kinds), kills all of Aoba's Valkyrie squad in five minutes, as part of a game to see who can kill the least.
    • Freezing Houkabe didn't stand much of a chance against Yukihina's Forms of Water. Didn't help that he hit one of Yukihina's semi-Berserk Buttons.
    • The Five Angels utterly defeat Sakura's mom, Heike, and the remaining fighters, destroy the underground Diet Building, wreck the "real" Diet Building for good measure, and casually walk out of the rubble like it wasn't anything special.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Rui, Hiyori, Yuuki.
  • Cute Bruiser: Sakura: Looks like The Ojou, loves martial arts/boxing magazines. Aoba also fits this category, since she's been beating up bullies since preschool.
    • Chibigami could already control the Seven Flames at age six(?) while little Sakura killed Chibigami and ripped off his arm.
  • Cute Mute: Chibisakura wasn't much of a talker.
  • Cycle of Revenge: Touji averts this by taking the blame for killing Nenene so Toki wouldn't go after the real killer, Prince's brother Saechika, causing Prince to kill Toki. Prince and Toki hear this at the same time, and respectfully disagree with Touji's "peaceful" but untrue solution.
  • Dark Action Girl: Lily, Hiyori, and the Prince, a former Re-Code who's since joined the Code:Breakers.
    • Aoba, Sakura's classmate and best friend who's secretly Code:Revenger and her cross-dressing all-girl goon squad.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Ogami has dark hair, dark clothes, a dark glove, and uses his powers to burn people to death on a regular basis. He's also very much a good guy, going to great lengths to protect his friends and allies.
    • Mixing this up a bit with Light Is Not Good, Ogami's sempai is very sinister and is usually seen reading bondage H-manga, but he can control light (in the form of a shibari rope, naturally) and is also on the side of good. Though currently on a different side from Ogami.
    • Given this is a manga full of Gray and Gray Morality not many people can be called either good or evil. By the nature of their job, at best most characters could be classified as anti-heros or anti-villians.
  • Dead All Along: Yukihina had his "life and living" taken away by Heike many years ago, and is now nigh-indestructible.
  • Distracted by the Sexy: Surprisingly Ogami when Sakura is having a Wet Sari Scene. He made her take a shower and change dry her clothes which just made things worse. Earlier while fighting a half naked Lily he was decidedly Not Distracted by the Sexy.
    • In chapter 129, played straight when Sakura gets a piggyback ride and Ogami notices Sakura's feminine attributes, but subverted earlier with Lily's offer, which was ignored
  • Dissonant Serenity: Ogami, while burning a bunch of people to death. To quote Sakura, "He looked cold and peaceful...yet cruel."
    • Let's not even get started on Ogami's brother.
    • Little Sakura, who kills without malice. It almost seems like if you asked her why she kills she'll look at you as if asked her why she breathes.
    • The real Nenene, who slaughters with a smile.
    • The Five Angels, but especially "Fussy Lunch" who always has the same bored expression.
  • The Ditz: Hiyori the Re-Coder. When asked how many people she killed, she says "One, two, three... Ten, I guess, because I have ten fingers! But I'm not in a counting mood, so now I'll kill you painfully!" Notably, she never lapses into a Slasher Smile but remains perfectly cheerful and perky throughout.
  • Doomed Hometown: Ogami burned down Aoba's orphanage in front of her, killing the nun and everyone else inside.
  • Dropped a Bridget On Him: The Prince dropped a Bridget on everyone, although she wasn't specifically trying to hide it.
    • Aoba's Saint Fighters. They must go through a ton of bandages...
  • Eleventh-Hour Superpower: Pretty much after the Re-Code Arc, each power user gets one every other chapter.
  • Equivalent Exchange: Code:Emperor's seven powers are in exchange for Ogami's senses. He's already taken Ogami's sense of taste and now he's taken his newly-acquired sound powers.
  • Everything's Better with Penguins: Maeshun, Uesugi, and Aoba's childhood orphanage was called or nicknamed the "Penguin House".
  • Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: Code:Emperor's fashion sense—he's like Ciel Phantomhive Up to Eleven.
  • Evil Is Deathly Cold: Sakura, who is sensitive to people's scents and body heat, is shocked when she discovers her friend Ogami's Evil Twin Light Is Not Good possible Social Darwinist brother's body is "as cold as ceramic".
    • One of the Re-codes Yukihina is icy cold, but that's just because he's been zombified.
  • Expy: An airheaded, eccentric lunatic with very surprising level of competency and power? Why hello, Keikoku Hotaru.
  • Face Heel Turn / Heel Face Turn: Practically ever single main character, besides Ogami and Sakura, has done one by now.
    • Toki, Yuuki, and Heike are hunting Ogami while two Re:Codes are protecting him per a promise they made to a pre-crazy "One Being Sought". Lily has also joined Ogami's side, not that she'd admit it. Nenene's real personality (or is it?) is a cold-blooded killer who thinks her brother is a weak idiot.
  • Face of a Thug: Kouji. Despite his punk like appearance, Kouji is a reserved and calm individual who doesn't show much emotion. Occasionally subverted in that once someone manages to get him to fight seriously, he becomes extremely violent and merciless with a sadistic grin.
  • Fan Service: Some starts showing up around chapter 40
    • There was always a little but it's becoming more prevalent as the manga continues.
    • Code:Revenger has a pantyshot in almost every scene she's in while Sakura seems to possess a Magic Skirt.
  • Fantastic Racism: The Rare Kinds view Power Users as Evil simply because they are Power Users.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: The only thing that makes the Code:Names ally with the Code:Numbers is the threat of death by the Angels. Possibly a clue about why "Fussy Lunch" wants to target humanity next.
  • Flipping the Bird: Code:Emperor even has an especially long and decorated middle fingernail for emphasis.
  • Forgotten Childhood Friend: Ogami (then a hot-blooded hero-wanna-be) and Sakura (emotionless natural-born killer). Also "Misoshiru", who might be Ogtami's sister/clone.
    • Ogami claims that he does not remember Noguchi, the arsonist, and he kills him so no real drama comes of his not remembering. Ogami and Sakura don't remember meeting as children, but the fact that she killed him and then something killed her has something to do with it.
  • The Four Gods / Four Is Death: The Four Founders of EDEN Heike, Code: Emperor, and Sakura's mom; they're reverently remembered and their organization has certainly caused a lot of deaths.
    • Code:04, a merciless killer with a gentle smile, AKA Nenene
  • Frankenstein's Monster / Appendage Assimilation: Ogami's fiery arm actually belongs to someone called Code:Emperor, and was attached to him when he was a child. And now Code:Emperor has detached himself from Ogami, and he's quite a jerkass Jerk with a Heart of Gold too.
  • Freudian Trio: Childhood friends Yuuki (id), Muggle Mokoto (ego), and future Re-code Shigure (the one with a bar code for an eyebrow; super-ego).
  • Friend to All Living Things / Walking Wasteland: The Prince's brother Saechika, who is shown peacefully surrounded by birds one minute and killing them with his power or his bare hands the next -- one particular parakeet excluded. It's later revealed that the parakeet is his Dark Side, and it's controlling him.
    • Friend to All Living Things / Does Not Like People / Hikkikomori / Crazy Cat Lady: "Misoshiru", a beautiful girl who can talk to animals and lives in an abandoned art room where she's guarded by a cadre of feral cats she rescued (a tiger is a cat, right?). Also knows (and resembles!) Ogami from childhood. It turns out that she likes people, she's just compelled to hurt them when the Kagemarou mask appears.
  • Future Me Disappoints Me / I Hate Past Me: "The Flame of Pride" takes the form of little Ogami and says he's ashamed he became such an "evil loser". Later, present Ogami declares he doesn't want to remember anything about his past, not even happy memories.
  • Generation Xerox: Every boy (and girl, if Mishiru's "related") who got the Emperor's flame (I think) starts out looking like Ogami but eventually matures into their own person (see Ogami's brother).
  • Genius Bruiser: Implied, he hasn't had to use his muscles at all: The Angel known as "Franken" is as eloquent as his namesake's monster despite looking like Solomon Grundy.
  • Godiva Hair: The Prince's long-lost brother Saechika, a member of Code:Name
    • Expository Hairstyle Change: Little Rui chops off her hair and declares that she'll give up her femininity in order to get strong (Kouji declares that's unnecessary, especially since she (and Saechika) are inclined to long hair); Rui's dark side slashes Saechika's, chopping most of his hair off at the same time he almost seems to consider letting the past go (too bad his dark side won't let him).
  • Gone Horribly Right: After being mercilessly beaten by Prince for burning her home, Code:Emperor is seeking revenge and learns that her family was killed for the powers they possessed. He summons their spirits to make her cry, inadvertently revealing that her beloved little brother is in fact alive.
    • Code:Revenger successfully turns Ogami into a little child who can't tell friend from foe who's made of fire that even burns Sakura.
  • Good Thing You Can Heal: Yukihina gets chopped to bits by a laser and his wounds heal instantly because he's essentially a zombie. His clothes aside from the charmed bandages, however...
  • Gotta Catch Em All: Code:Emperor has six other limbs, each capable of destroying one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
  • Government Conspiracy: EDEN, the group that controls the Codes, is led by the Prime Minister of Japan who is also Toki and Nenene's father.
  • Half the Man He Used To Be: Sakura's mom slices her up the middle with her big-ass katana! Thankfully Sakura is fine, just split into two tiny depowered girls.
  • The Heart: Sakura does everything in her power to keep the group together and foster friendship.
  • The Heartless: Yukihina literally has no heart due to being "zombified" by Heike.
  • Harem: apparently Aoba has one consisting only of cross-dressing girls
    • Little Ogami proposed to every girl he met so they could stay together forever; he just didn't want these super-powered people to be lonely.
  • Heroic BSOD: After getting utterly defeated by the Angels, it take Ogami setting their stuff on fire to snap them out of it.
  • Heroic RROD: The people with powers suffer from this if they use their powers too much, but the will return to normal after 24 hours have passed. Here is a list of the known consequences:
    • Ogami gets cold chills and later becomes transparent.
    • Hitomi becomes unconscious.
    • Toki becomes a child. The One Being Sought AKA Ogami's brother does too. Or did. Nenene doesn't change appearance but her personality becomes the ditzy girl we first met.
    • Yuuki becomes a tiny kitten.
    • Hiyori, a girl who uses bubbles becomes a turtle.
    • Heike's depowered form is that of a full-sized human, but apparently so embarrassing—and remember he reads S&M mags in public—that he wears a full suit of Japanese or European armor. It's quite likely it's his real age, given that he's over a hundred years old.
    • Prince's depowered form is a mermaid. Her brother Saechika appears to become a One Piece-style fishman with horns and a tail, possibly a sea-dragon or a makara.
    • Sakura and The President shrink but being "Rare Kinds" they require a special liquid made from the a "Rare Kind's" blood to return to normal. Presumably this also applies to the five Angels.
    • Kouji's depowered form is apparently a wolf. Or Lassie.
    • Lily turns into a fairy and her jerkass, cowardly partner who has paper powers similar to Narutos Conan is a goofy frog.
    • Shigure becomes a rat.
    • Code:Revenger AKA _Aoba_ becomes a Miniature Senior Citizen (here)
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Nenene gave half her powers to Toki so he could stay with her (their dad was ready to disown him for being a useless Muggle), and later gave up half her life for him (or something to that effect), giving her amnesia in the process.
    • Yuuki's childhood friend Makoto, a normal human, protected him from being crushed by rubble and has been in a coma ever since.
    • Sakura jumps in front of Ogami and gets impaled by Aoba's fist. Naturally, Aoba blames Ogami for "killing" Sakura. May also count as a stupid sacrifice since Ogami could still be healed by Aoba but Sakura can't due to her anti-magic nature.
    • Kouji sacrifices his reputation by pretending to be Nenene's killer to prevent Toki from killing Saechika, Prince's brother, causing Prince to kill Toki.
    • The X-marks (artificial humans (in this case including almost a dozen children) who were rejected by EDEN for being too weak) give their powers to Yuuki to defeat one of Shigure's mooks. Unfortunately this costs them their lives and Yuuki really hates being unable to save people.
    • When the Angel nicknamed "Yankee" (gangster) says he'll trade one power-user's life for the rest, Shigure promptly offers up Hiyori as she's already in turtle-mode (see below) and has failed numerous times to kill Ogami and Sakura (she actually brought the other half of tiny Sakura to the battle site!). The others are shocked that Hiyori enthusiastically agrees, but after she gives a heart-felt speech about how sacreficing herself is the least she could do after Shigure has protected her for so long Shigure comes to her aid and gets depowered himself.
  • Hidden Depths: Ogami's one and only hobby (aside from rigging his place of residence with lethal booby-traps) is building models of castles. He cheers Sakura up by building a crude model of Shibuya Mansion after it's destroyed. As a child he had a deep aversion to killing and only used his fully-developed powers to threaten; however this aspect disappeared after he was apparently killed and disarmed (hah) by Sakura.
  • Hot Mom: Sakura's mom is so small (and, arguably, childish), she looks like her younger sister. It doesn't help that she cosplays as a waitress, a bunny and the like. Sakura's biological mom is a busty hot chick with a sword.
  • Ho Yay: Aoba's Saint Fighters swoon over her.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Sakura's parents. Dad is a normal/tallish katana-wielding Retired Badass ill guy, mom is a tiny Moe Blob who loves costumes. Oh, and Sakura's adopted, so who knows if they're actually married.
    • Uesugi Hajime and his childhood friend Takatsu Aoba.
  • Important Haircut: Rui, after she's saved from the accident that killed her family minus her brother, to express her resolve to get stronger. After her victory in a battle with Saechika, she imposes this on him to force him to change his warped ideals.
  • I Take Offense to That Last One: Little Maeshun to little Aoba: "You violent bitch! Godzilla girl! Ironing board!" *Pow!*
    • Well of course she is, they're like 4 years old in that scene.
  • Idiot Heroine: Sakura. Just because you're a Rare Kind doesn't give you permission to jump into deadly Code-battles willy-nilly! At least one person cites Flanderization as a reason why she seems to be getting dumber.
    • The seventh chapter has her yelling at people shooting at her that guns aren't fair. She has never been bright. Amnesia and getting the murdering part of her personality hugged out of her might have something to do with that.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The series uses the word "Code" as a quirky episode naming convention.
  • Innocent Fanservice Girl: Sakura
  • Jerkass Facade: Ogami Rei certainly acts like a coldhearted bastard, doing things like snapping a dog's neck, burning a group of policemen to death to eliminate all witnesses, killing a man in front of his Littlest Cancer Patient daughter, and torching the helpful, handcrafted guide his classmates made for him in order to help him remember their names. Actually the dog was dying after getting beaten up by thugs, the policemen were wholly corrupt (as was their chief), giving the little girl an excuse for a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Ogami also gave her a reason to live, and Ogami had already memorized their names ("I don't like 'things', they disappear too easily. I don't need 'things' to remember people." (basically)) -- the first time he ever bothered to learn the names of, essentially, innocent bystanders. Naturally, his stalker companion Sakura notices something's amiss when Ogami had an almost tender look on his usually mask-like face when he euthanized the dog and also when he saves the dead dog's puppy, who takes an immediate liking to Ogami despite Sakura's protests.
    • Indeed, the facade is getting harder and harder to maintain, as evidenced when Ogami *doesn't* burn the thank-you note from his classmates after he sheltered them from a typhoon (he'd never been thanked before) and when he makes a Suspiciously Specific Denial about not caring what's going on with this teammates. Hard to believe this is the same guy who would've roasted Sakura without a second thought...
    • After their utter defeat by the Five Angels, our heroes (the ones who are still conscious) have been moping around Shibuya Mansion. Ogami gathers up their precious things and starts to burn them (with matches), snapping everyone out of their depression; naturally, by this point everyone knows he's trying to help them and makes fun of his bluff because they can tell he's still depressed.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Haruto, who spared the life of a child s/he kidnapped because the kid knew his own stepmother set him up to die just to collect his parents' inheritance and accepted that he was worthless. Haruto's response was to cut him loose and tell him that if he feels that way then there's no difference if he's alive or dead. Judging from the gaggle of children around him/her, Haruto's done this several times. Ogami is disgusted that this person is imitating him.
  • Katanas Are Just Better: The Sakuranoji siblings - Sakura's biological mother and uncle - both wield huge katanas.
  • Kill It with Fire: What Ogami does very effectively.
  • Knight Templar / Blood Knight: The Code:Names, who are even more powerful then the Code:Numbers.
  • The Ladette: The Prince, who loves drinking, fishing, and motorcycle riding and wasn't revealed to be a woman until she had a naked-hello with Sakura.
    • Worth mentioning is that she ALSO possesses Yamato Nadeshiko traits, being very domestic and caring, making her a bit of an Action Mom as well.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Nenene after taking a "bullet" for her brother. Her memory loss is tied up with Pandora's Box, the more it opens the more of her memories return and in a more permanent manner.
    • "Chibigami" on account that he didn't know any of these people when he was six, and then when he died/"died". Presumably "chibisakura", since she doesn't remember killing Ogami.
  • Light'Em Up: Heike possesses the ability to manipulate light, though his uses of it can be a bit more unusual than most occurrences of the trope.
  • Light Is Not Good: When we see Ogami's Terrorist Without a Cause, possibly Social Darwinist brother "on camera" for the first time, he has white hair and a white outfit and an ice-cold body in contrast with Ogami's black hair, black uniform, and FLAME ON! abilities.
    • Heike can be very ambiguous for someone on Ogami & co.'s side.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: The President is Sakura's biological father, but for some reason she must not know that.
  • Luminescent Blush: Sported by the Prince, whenever someone is nice to her as she's very shy.
  • Made of Explodium: If Sakura and Ogami's blood ever mixes it sets off a massive explosion, just like the one on December 32 when they died along with everyone else in the room/building.
  • Mafia Princess Sakura appears to be one of these.
  • Magic Skirt: Doesn't work for Aoba.
  • MacGuffin: Pandora's Box.
  • Make Me Wanna Shout: The nature of Yuuki's power, which extends to the point where he can actually move at the speed of sound.
  • Manipulative Bitch: One on par with "Hummingbird" could be Nenene, who might have been acting like a ditz as a child to make her brother devoted to her. Even after she's revealed as a cold-blooded killer and calls him a weakling to his face he's still trying to protect her.
    • Code:Revenger: She got murder victims to become her zombie army by promising to return them to life, but when they fail to stop Ogami & Co. she calls them trash and says her promise was a lie. It's still to early however to say for certain that she really manipulated them as other evidence points in another direction.
  • Mask Power: Mishiru: flying black cat masks turn her into Kagemarou
  • Me's a Crowd: One of Heike's powers
  • Mega Manning: Ogami took Yuuki's sound power; unfortunately (or fortunately, since it means he can talk and hear for a while longer), Code:Emperor took it in exchange for a power upgrade.
  • Miniature Senior Citizens: Aoba's lost state turns out to be that of an incredibly small grandmother. It is unclear if this is how she will look when that old or if the lost state just decided to make her into a small old woman.
  • Mirror Match: Our seven fighters against the Seven Flames, one for each person's flaw: so far we've seen Yuuki's temper and Ogami's pride.
  • Mismatched Eyes: Nenene and Toki both have one blue and one brown eye. This almost gets Nenene killed when fire bender controller Ogami mistakes her for his despised teammate Toki who is Nenene's long-lost brother. Nenene does not seem to notice the resemblance, even when Toki is standing in front of her while Sakura says "This is your brother!"
  • The Mole: Takatsu Aoba (One of Sakura's classmates) is a Code:Name. Fortunately another one is a Re:Code!
    • The Re:Code with a barcode-eyebrow is actually working for EDEN.
  • Mood Swinger: Code:Emperor goes from wanting to kill the Prince for insulting him to being moved to tears by her singing to showing her a vision of her dead family to make her cry in about five pages.
  • Most Common Superpower: Lily, Code:Revenger, Sakura's birth mom.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Give it up for the stacked, high-kicking Miss Code:Revenger!
    • Mishiru has a great body, wears her summer uniform all the time, and doesn't seem to own a bra.
  • My Greatest Failure: Grown-up Ogami to his younger self: Killed scores of people on Dec. 32 despite having super powers, and grew up to be an evil loser on top of it.
  • Mysterious Parent: Sakura's biological parents. The President can't reveal himself to her for some reason, and neither can her Code Breaker mother.
  • Nakama: In addition to the current group, Little Ogami went around asking his new female friends to marry him since marriage = bonded till death, and he didn't want these super-powered girls to be lonely.
  • Necromancer: Aoba has been resurrecting women and offered them power to get revenge. Naturally these women became her zombie army.
  • The Nicknamer: The blunt and "amnesiac" (he hadn't met these people yet) "Chibigami".
  • No Sense of Personal Space: "Huggergirl" is a very touchy-feely person. Getting hugged freaks her out though.
  • No Social Skills: Ogami's house would make Sosuke proud.
    • "Misoshiru" is a hikkikomori who would rather talk to her animals, but she somehow has "fans" who basically make her homecoming queen. Of course, she is extremely pretty for a girl who lives in a closet.
  • Not a Date: Sakura, sensing Ogami needs cheering up after everyone was beaten by the Five Angels, takes him out to dinner, gets matching phone charms (despite Ogami not owning a phone), and gets in bed with him. She's actually recreating what her parents (actually her aunt and uncle) did to make her feel like family when she went to live with them. Unbelievably, she still insists that her excitement and rapid heart rate being in bed with Ogami is just high blood pressure.
  • Not So Different: Subverted when an evil character says she was severely abused because of her powers, and a good character says that he too was abused. They go through a Defeat Means Friendship moment and then the villain drops all the people she's frozen into a pit. It seems that Defeat has nothing on treating someone like a human being. It eventually works.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Ogami is kind of like Hei in this respect (and not just because of the Badass Longcoat and extreme ruthlessness). In his civilian identity, he's a Nice Guy and often Eyes Always Shut. In professional life... not so much. Also, the homeroom teacher acts like a Cloudcuckoolander but is actually The Handler for Ogami.
  • Oblivious to Love: Sakura: I'm feeling anxious and jumpy around Ogami after learning he asked me to marry him as a child. It's obviously my blood pressure! And she's obviously lying!
  • Older Than They Look: She looks like Sakura's little sister. But wait! That's her mom (although she's a bit more endowed)! Sakura's biological mom could pass for her big sister, and is really more endowed.
    • Many power users do not look their age because their powers grant them unnatural life force. For example, Kouji, whose appearance hasn't changed since he rescued the child Rui from her family's accident years ago; or Heike, who founded Eden with the Code:Emperor and is still in his prime at 100 years. Lately, we learn that Ogami, supposedly the instigator of that incident might be one like this too. It's not confirmed, but it's possible that the rare kind like Shibuya the President, Sakura's biological father has the same ability.
    • "The One Being Sought" is actually Ogami's older brother, it's just that he's been "locked" in a younger form for a while.
    • Code:Emperor, being just an arm, only has enough energy to manifest as a young boy.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: The head of Re-Code is only ever called "The One Being Sought", which is fine for Ogami who is also his brother but sounds a bit odd coming other members of Re:Code, at least in the fandubs ("'The One Being Sought', what are our plans?"). This is later revealed to be a bit of clever wordplay, as it can also be translated as the "Seeking One", referring to his identity as the former Code: Seeker. This would then apply to the rest of EDEN's Code:Names.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Ogami to "The One Being Sought"; the Re:Codes to Ogami hence why they're protecting him from EDEN. The Prince has also vowed to "beat some sense into her brother, because that's what sisters do".
    • Yukihina is the only one allowed to kill Heike, who zombified him.
  • Only Sane Man: Toki, almost exclusively around Yuuki; apparently Ogami, a Crazy Prepared Implacable Man and Sakura doesn't (usually) push the boundaries of Shonen sanity enough to bother him.
  • Our Ghosts and/or Souls Are Different: Code:Emperor can summon the souls of the dead, and uses this to upset the Prince; however all he ends up doing is revealing that Prince's brother is alive.
  • Our Werewolves Are Different: Kouji becomes a wolf when his powers are depleted.
  • Out of Focus: Where is Kanda-sensei again?
  • Parental Abandonment: Ogami's parents were murdered; Toki's father is a heartless Jerkass (and also and also Prime Minister of Japan and a leader of EDEN with no mention of a mom; Sakura appears to be an aversion but she's actually adopted and has no memory before the age of 5, and it turns out that her birth parents (the president and a code breaker who can control dolls) are actually alive but for some reason can't see her. Yuuki has no parents and might not actually be human. It also appears that Ogami's mother was murdered by "The One Being Sought" because she was trying to protect Ogami... and Sakura. Additionally, The Prince's parents also had superpowers, and were killed because of it.
  • Pay Evil Unto Evil: The modus operandi of the Code:Breakers and now their superiors the Code:Names.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: The Codes are people of mass destruction under the control of EDEN and protect Japan; the Re-Codes are led, ironically, by the Aloof Older Brother of the Jerkass Facade character. People in both groups were abused because of their powers, and now feel useful and free, respectively. And now we've been introduced to EDEN's Code:Names, who are worse both in terms of powers and single-mindedness.
    • This includes Sakura, who can (or could) destroy a person's powers and their lives.
    • Combine Sakura and Ogami's blood and you get a massive explosion... which is what happened when they apparently killed each other along with an unknown number of people on December 32.
    • Kouji is even known as the God of Destruction because of that trope.
  • Pinky Swear: Sakura made her father promise as a child to not kill people despite being a Yakuza leader- as a bit of a twist on this trope, she references him cutting off the finger if he breaks his promise.
  • Playing with Fire: Except, is Ogami really playing? And now the Fire's playing with him.
  • Pure Is Not Good: Sakura's original personality. She's so beautifully pure and innocent that she doesn't kill out of malice, she just kills.
  • Pyromaniac: Ogami, obviously.
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Code:Names each have their own special squads. Code:Revenger seems to have at least three ( The Saint Fighters, the "SVU Zombies", and the Valkyries, if the Valkyries aren't the Saint Fighters). Sadly they don't appear to be very relevant since with one exception they're being killed off without their faces being revealed.
  • The Rainman: Yuuki is an incredibly odd character who appears to be homeless, randomly falls asleep, and gives people silly nicknames it's not terribly surprising that his depowered form is a cat. He's also one of the most powerful of the Codes with his ability to use sound as a weapon and has used his frequently nonsensical pronouncements to spawn a multi-billion-dollar toy empire. When Toki thinks that Yuuki couldn't possibly have control over the company's finances and is just being used by his handlers, Yuuki is shown crouched on a chair in front of a bunch of screens showing the company's stock rising at the announcement of the new collectible.
  • Red Herring: For a moment it looks like Uesugi is the Code: Revenger. It's actually Aoba.
  • Revenge: Code:Revenger, obviously, after Ogami burned down her orphanage that was staffed by nuns.
  • The Reveal: Ogami is a hybrid; Sakura's father is one of the Four Founders of EDEN (as is her mother and Heike), little Sakura killed Ogami, no wait "Fussy Lunch" was the one who killed little Ogami after Ogami attacked Sakura.
  • Robot Girl: Inoichi.
  • Rock-Paper-Scissors: Re-Codes Hiyori, Shigure, and Yukihina play this to decide who gets to slaughter the police officers surrounding them.
  • Room Full of Crazy: Relatively speaking: The "senate chamber" of EDEN's underground Diet building is decorated with giant pictures of angels painted in blood, including the scene from December 32nd.
  • Scars Are Forever: Kouji has a distinctive scar around his left eye that Toki uses to ID him as his sister's killer. The real killer, Saechika, also has the same scar so either they both coincidentally have the same scar or Kouji gave himself that scar as part of his plan to stop the cycle of revenge.
  • School Uniforms Are the New Black: Sakura always wears her uniform, as does Ogami (though it's just a plain shirt and slacks). Toki and The Prince's brother wear another school's uniform just to blend in, although Saechika has such long Godiva Hair he actually stood out a lot less when he was just in a hooded Badass Longcoat. Hiyori, the Re:Code who can Swiss-cheese everything wears a stylized school uniform as part of her Bad Ass Lolita-look.
  • Sealed Badass in a Can: Yuuki's hidden form, hinted to be the ultimate artificial human EDEN's been trying to create. Fortunately for our heroes this seems to have no nasty side effects like Berserker Rage, amnesia, or even a slightly more hostile personality.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Pandora's Box is actually the gigantic explosion and memories of chibi-Gami and chibi-Sakura's blood mixing together that was somehow sealed by chibi-Sakura.
  • Secret Test of Character: Code:Emperor does this when he forces Ogami to save either Yuuki, "that hugger girl", or their classmates and let the other two choices die in order to get his powers back. Ogami chooses to kill the Emperor and save everyone; naturally this is the correct answer and the Emperor rewards him with an upgrade.
    • Sakura's bio-mom poses one for Sakura and Ogami by acting like thrill killer and slicing Sakura in half.
  • Serial Killer Killer: Some of the Code:Breakers recognize that they are evil themselves, though.
  • Selective Magnetism: Toki's power is this trope. The largest abuse is that mercury is not magnetic at all. Rule of Cool is in full force.
  • Seven Deadly Sins: Code:Emperor's body parts can each destroy one the the sins:

Code:Emperor: Of the seven deadly flames that incinerate the Seven Deadly Sins; the second flame, "Belphegor", the Flame of Limbo... is now yours, Rei.

1. Yuuki: Anger - he's got a temper
2. Ogami: Pride - won't ask for help and takes the blame for everyone's sins
3. Prince: Sloth (got drunk instead of dealing with her family's death and the dark side that protected her)
4. Kouji: Lust or Gluttony (fought off-screen)
5. Toki: Greed (fought off-screen)
6. Heike: Lust or Gluttony (already defeated 100 years ago)
7. Yukihina: Envy (already defeated; stated by Heike)

  • Shock and Awe: Hitomi's ability allows him to control electricity.
  • Shoot the Dog: Literally what Ogami does right in the first chapter, though replace "Shoot" with "Break the Neck of." The aforementioned dog got mortally wounded trying to protect Sakura from a bunch of gang members, and Ogami, before burning and killing all of the bad guys, goes up to the dog and commends it for its efforts to save Sakura. And then promptly snaps its neck to "help the pain."
  • Shout-Out: See above to a certain ambiguous angel, Yuuki's stock-watching-pose, and possibly the blood-based weapons of Aoba/Revenger's Saint Fighters. Saechika's depowered form could be a fishman, though the horns and tail imply a Capricorn (or a makara—I want to believe!).
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Rui was cynical about helping people (including herself) while Saechika is obsessed with becoming absolute justice and preventing anyone from feeling the same pain as him, even if he has to kill loads of people.
  • Slasher Smile: Most of the prominent cast has this, but some notable ones are Yukihina's and Heike's.
  • Sleep Mode Size Kind of odd version, as Toki already looks like a bishounen high school student, but after he exhausts his powers, his real form is revealed to be that of a kid several years younger. Semi-similarly, Code:Emperor has been reduced to an arm, and is he wants to talk can only take the form of a tiny fireball. In Ogami's Personal Hell he's a young boy due the fact that he's got the same amount of "chakra" as, y'know, an arm. Rare kinds Sakura, the President, and presumably the Angels shrink, while Aoba becomes a "tiny granny". Other power-users can become tiny animals like baby turtles and rats.
  • Social Darwinist: Though not yet outright stated, Ogami's brother implies this is his group's ideal when he wonders why Ogami is protecting an ordinary(?) human.
  • Sphere of Destruction: Hiyori can turn anything—or anyone—into Swiss Cheese.
    • Beehive Barrier: The Angels are totally unaffected by the destruction caused by Toki lobbing iron beams while Saechika brings an entire building down on them.
  • Stepford Smiler: Ogami (pleasant but distant; is actually a Serial Killer Killer) and Heike (polite but perverse and is actually thirsting for revenge "like a mad dog" and really 100 years old), along with Code:Revenger Aoba, who is/was Sakura's ditzy-looking classmate. Toki's dad, aka the PM of Japan aka leader of EDEN goes into a Slasher Smile routine when he threatens to use Pandora's Box on Nenene and force her to fight.
  • Super-Powered Evil Side: Little Sakura's original personality was a cold, emotionless killer until little Ogami showed her the power of hugs. Something triggered it in the present and she was able to rebuff even Code:Emperor until Ogami gave her a cool-down hug.
    • Nenene's sweet ditzy-ness is actually her depowered side. Her real personality is an ice-cold killer.
    • Every shadow power user has this. Prince's shadow-powers are enhanced by her dark side, which she's been denying ever since the accident/"accident" that killed her parents (they knew about it because they implanted it in her). Not only did it protect her, it also has a craving for Ogami's "hybrid blood". Her little brother Saechika also has a dark(er) side. Subverted in that the "light" of Prince's positive feelings (being able to feel for her brother despite his horrible nature) makes the shadows deeper.
    • Mishiru is a shy recluse who would really like to be friends, it's just that when a black mask attatches to her head people die.
  • Super Speed: Both Tenpouin Yuuki and Takatsu Aoba are in possession of this.
  • Take a Third Option: See Secret Test of Character.
  • Taking You with Me: Shigure and Saechika both try to take down the Angels while getting the life sucked out of them.
  • Team Parents: Ogami and Sakura, especially Sakura: she will do anything to ensure together time to try and make them be friends. Prince, being a proper Japanese lady under her Ladette surface, is also very maternal.
    • When they meet the reclusive Mishiru, Prince and Ogami are compelled to clean her room and give her a shower, respectively.
  • Terrorists Without a Cause: Re-Code seems to consist of these, as the details of their actual goal remain vague.
  • Third Person Person: Lily is going to kill you now, Lily is very excited! Lily has changed her mind, Lily thinks you guys are awesome!
  • Time Master: Aoba's special power is the ability to control the time of any object/person she touches. She can even "pause" death, but can't stop it.
  • Training from Hell: Suffered by both Ogami and Toki under the President.
  • True Neutral: Sakura's parents stayed out of EDEN's business to ensure that Sakura grew up normally and to preserve peace between power-users and Rare Kinds.
  • Tyke Bombs: Loads
  • Unexplained Recovery: Obviously little Ogami got better after apparently getting killed by little Sakura. His mom, unfortunately...
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Subverted when Heike and Sakura's mother meet at a cafe. One's reading porn in public, the other has a bigass katana, they're seated back-to-back but obviously talking to each other, and everyone is staring at them.
  • Villain Protagonist: Ogami Rei appears to be this, but he's clearly more emotional then he lets on (not that it does anything about his nearly 150-person body count). He even defines his organization as "super-powered murderers put to good use."
  • Weaksauce Weakness: An extra chapter reveals that all the Codes have an odd weakness: they get drunk off the scent of a certain type of cherry tree.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Hitomi just wants recognition for the scores of anonymous, mostly teenage Code Breakers who died in the line of duty by killing 50,000 people and the prime minister of Japan, whose estranged son is also a Code Breaker. His goal is spat back in his face by his own protege, who reminds him that all Code Breakers are just superpowered murderers put to good use and that their anonymity is for the best.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Like many things he did in the past Ogami's got to have a good reason for burning down an orphanage full with nuns and apparently exploding Prince's family, but still!
  • We Have Reserves: EDEN has lots of artificial humans -- including artificial children they don't really care about.
  • Wet Sari Scene: Sakura gives this little number a few chapters after a restaurants sprinkler system goes off on her.
  • When She Smiles: Ogami has the sweetest smile after learning Sakura wasn't really sliced in half.
  • Where I Was Born and Razed: Shibuya Mansion gets destroyed after EDEN turns on Ogami.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Sakura is terrified of fireworks, as shown in the summer festival and after "The One Being Sought" was defeated.
  • Will They or Won't They?: Ogami and Sakura.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Kouji, who refuses to harm Aoba and her all-girl goon squad.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: When Saechika woke up from being exploded years later he vowed to "become justice and destroy evil even at the cost of others' lives" and declares himself the be "the ultimate victim, the only one who deserves forgiveness". He appears to have gotten better after his dark side was pieced by his big sister.
  • World of Buxom: Sakura, Aoba, Lily, Sakura's mother, Sakura's biological mother, the Saint Fighters, plus all those bondage books Heike reads.
  • Yakuza: Sakura's father. actually her maternal uncle.
  • You Are Number Six: The Code:Numbers would only refer to each other by their code numbers (Ogami is 06, a low number; likewise for the Code:Names).
    • Yuuki says the he calls his friends by numbers.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Rui has light blue hair as does her brother Saechika.
  • You Have Failed Me...: Aoba ditches her zombie squad after they fail to stop Ogami & Co. Oh, and her promise about making them live again? No one can bring back the dead, stupids.
  • You Killed My Father: Re:Code 3 Kouji, with a scar on his face, is responsible for killing Toki's sister a while back... or at least causing a whole lot of memory loss. Or not: that was actually Saechika, but Kouji didn't want Toki to kill him and in turn get killed by Prince for murdering her long-lost brother, so he let Toki believe it was him.
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