Fractale

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Note: Some hair colors not finalized.
"I know it's crazy. But... I thought... that she might be able to fly."
—Clain

Fractale is an 11-episode Shounen anime series directed by Yutaka Yamamoto (series production director of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and director of Kannagi) and produced by A-1 Pictures and Ordet.

Revolving around a futuristic era in Ireland where the world's source of order--the "Fractale System"--has begun to fall, a fourteen-year-old boy named Clain meets the mysterious temple priestess Phryne being pursued by chance and rescues her. He takes Phryne back to his home and tends to her injuries, but as quickly as Clain begins to bond with the girl, Phryne disappears the next day, leaving behind a brooch for Clain. A female doppel named Nessa appears from the brooch, and Clain and Nessa both go in search of Phryne while uncovering the secret of the Fractale System.

In doing so, Clain is forced into the conflict between the rebel organization Lost Millennium and the Fractale System's temple priests and priestesses--both of whom are pursing Phryne--and it grows difficult for Clain to distinguish friend from foe.

Simulcast by Funimation (and now licensed), with a brief interruption caused by a "Oreimogate" variation in which the simulcast was halted until unauthorized copies were removed from the Internet.

Tropes used in Fractale include:
  • Accidental Pervert: Clain gets this a lot when it comes to Phryne and Nessa.
  • Adaptation Dye Job: Promotional posters show Phryne and Nessa as purple haired, but in the anime, Phryne is a brunette and Nessa is a redhead. Also, Enri and Sunda originally had orange hair in their character designs. Clain is originally a blond in the promotional ads, but his hair was a paler shade of blond than his hair color in the anime.
    • Adaptation-Induced Plothole: There's a reason that Nessa and Phryne (as well as Moeran, the High Priestess) have the same hair colour. They are all "Phryne clones." Nessa is how Phryne looked as a 10-year-old while Moeran is presumably how Phryne will look like when she's 40. In the manga, as well as promotional posters, all three of them have purple hair. In the anime, Phryne's hair colour causes Fridge Logic--apparently, as a child, she had red hair. Which turned brown as a teen. And will eventually turn purple.
  • Air Vent Passageway: Clain uses this tactic to search for Phryne in Episode 8.
  • Airborne Aircraft Carrier: Lost Millennium's airship Danan.
  • All Men Are Perverts: Played for Laughs with Clain, who's not necessarily a pervert but ends up in situations where it would appear that he is one. Played for Drama with Gail, who attempted to rape Phryne in Episode 7, and Barrot, who is far too touchy-feely with his daughter-like figure Phryne for comfort.
  • Always Save the Girl: Clain towards Phryne and Nessa.
  • Amusing Injuries: Clain is constantly a victim of this, getting kicked around by Enri and Sunda.
  • Anime First: Though technically a manga adaptation was released before the anime (but it is based on the anime).
  • Arcadia:
    • Lost Millenium, who have chosen to live without the Fractale System to achieve "true freedom" without the Fractale System's seeming Utopia: their advanced medical, their easy way of life, and especially their Brainwashing.
    • Villagers that Phryne, Enri, and Takamii meet while looking for Clain and Nessa in Episode 7 are similar in that they live in a nomadic fashion of herding and seem to basically be Lost Millennium without their "terrorism." Subverted when it turns out the villagers really use their doppels to work in Xanadu while they pretend to be nomads.
  • Armor-Piercing Slap: Phryne delivers one to Clain in Episode 4.
  • Artificial Human: Doppels and Phryne's clones.
  • Attempted Rape: Gail attempts to rape Phryne after he smacks her in the face with a vase for innocently insulting his sculpture and pins her on the ground, but Enri knocks him out before he can try anything.
  • Badass in Distress/Damsel in Distress: Phryne isn't necessarily a damsel in distress, but she is constantly pursued by both the temple priests/priestesses and Lost Millennium. She is quite capable in protecting herself and fending off against her pursuers, but she gets captured by Lost Millennium in Episode 4, is nearly raped by Gail in Episode 7, and is captured by Barrot in Episode 8.
  • Baka: Said by Nessa to Clain at the end of Episode 4 when it is revealed he accidentally left her behind.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Nessa, of all people, can be provoked if Clain is ever harmed in a threatening manner.
    • Gail gets enraged at Phryne when she innocently (and bluntly) compares his sculpture to a "nerve-wrecked earthworm [that] is tap-dancing."
  • Betty and Veronica: Possibly Nessa (Betty) and Phryne (Veronica) for Clain with Enri filling in as the Third Option Love Interest.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Nessa., also Dias
  • Big Brother Worship: Enri towards her older brother Sunda. She's fairly affectionate towards him and refers to him respectfully as niisama, and he seems to be the only one who can silence her.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Nessa in Episode 7 when she protects Clain from Megan. Subverted in that Clain still gets shot by Colin. In the same episode, Enri rescues Phryne before she gets raped by Gail.
  • Big Heroic Run: Clain in Episode 2. He gets tired after a while of running, but luckily for him, Nessa meets Clain half way.
  • Big No: Nessa when Clain is shot.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Phyne and Nessa becomes the "key," the temple is destroyed and can never produce the "key" again, and Sunda is implied to have died in the final battle. A year has passed. Lost Millennium live in peace growing their crops and living their natural way while Clain stays at home watching over Phryne, who's been asleep ever since. She finally awakens, only to have Nessa's personality mixed in. In spite of this, Phryne still contains her original memories as she tells Clain that she's always liked him too. Clain hugs her and cries as the series ends panning over the photo of the trio.
  • Blatant Lies/From a Certain Point of View: Whenever Dias gives a helping hand, he'll always mask his true agenda--from giving civilians a cure that really removes their Fractale terminals, rendering them "cured" and unable to connect to the Fractale System to helping Clain rescue Phryne in Episode 10 while secretly planning on having Phryne killed once she is found.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Enri (blonde), Phryne (brunette), and Nessa (redhead) respectively.
  • Blush Sticker: Sanko, the little girl from Granites Village.
  • Book Ends: A seagull is shown flying to Clain's house in the beginning of the series and away from it in the end of the series.
  • Boy Meets Girl: Clain meets Phryne. Clain loses Phryne. Clain wants to find Phryne.
  • Braids of Action: While Enri appears incompetent and purely there for comic relief, she does manage to capture Clain and Nessa in Episode 2, and she certainly knows how to use a gun in Episode 3 onwards.
  • Brainwashing: Implicated with "offering prayers," the Fractale System uses its "stars"/"balloons" and the Star Festival to control the humans and wipe out any thoughts or questions that go against the Fractale System, in order to maintain the world's order as they see fit.
  • Breather Episode: Episode 5.
  • Bridal Carry: Clain carries Nessa in this fashion in Episode 7 while they escape Xanadu after learning that Megan and Colin plan to sell them out.
  • Call to Adventure
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Clain calls out his doppel parents on leaving him alone in Episode 2, not because families separate to display trust and freedom as they claim, but so they can do whatever they want.
  • Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: Clain initially thinks of Nessa as The Load, but he eventually grows to appreciate her.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: In spite of its happier moments every now and then, the series takes a darker turn following Episodes 7 and 8.
  • Chase Scene
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • In Episode 6, Phryne spots several photographs in the antique collector's house and takes then. By the end of the episode, Phryne shows them to Enri and these photographs reveal to the audience that the man is Clain's father.
    • In Episode 8, Clain bandages the injured hand of one of Phryne's clones, commenting that it'll also be easier to find her this way. Clain ends up recognizing her among the labeled "useless" clones that are going to be destroyed.
  • Chekhov's Hobby: Clain's hacking skills that is brought to good use in Episode 5 was hinted at in the first two episodes.
  • Church Militant: The Fractale System's temple priests and priestesses.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Nessa develops a quick hatred of Phryne after she slaps Clain in Episode 4. She doesn't want Clain to think about Phryne and refuses to follow Clain when he wants to rescue her. She gets over it in Episode 5.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience:
    • Lost Millennium members wear a variety of clothes, mainly from oranges to yellows to greens.
    • Temple priestesses wear purple cloaks, and the temple's militia wears green clothing. The Archpriestess and Barrot wear more distinct red and blue capes/mantles respectively.
  • Common Eye Colors:
  • Conspicuous CGI: The airship in Episode 3.
  • Cool Airship
  • Crossdresser: In Episode 7, Clain is forced into this while at Xanadu so he won't stand out in a city full of doppels.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Phryne and Nessa in the manga and promotional posters have purple hair and matching Purple Eyes. Enri and her older brother Sunda had orange hair and matching orange eyes in their character designs, but the anime changed to Enri having blond hair and Sunda having brown hair and matching Brown Eyes.
  • Cute Little Fangs: Enri, seen best when she's crying.
  • Design Student's Orgasm: The opening, which true to the name of the series, is nothing but psychedelic fractal visuals.
  • Deus Est Machina: The Fractale System was first created in the 22nd century through networking computers and is more or less a religion of sorts.
  • Disney Death: When Colin shoots Clain. He gets better thanks to the advanced medical technology of the Fractale System.
  • Doppelganger: "Doppels" are robot-like virtual beings that humans use to avoid physical interaction and out of convenience, so that they have travel easily without being tied down. Clain has doppels for parents and can send them away at will.
  • Dude, She's Like, In A Coma!: Gender-flipped between Clain and Phryne, who kisses Clain while he's sleeping in Episode 9.
  • The Dulcinea Effect: When Clain first meets Phryne, he instinctively wants to help her, and she is probably the first, real human he's seen in a while since most humans use doppels. It really kicks in when Clain is really only concerned about Phryne during the temple's attack on Granites Village, and he chooses to rescue Phryne, leaving Nessa behind when she refuses to follow him in Episode 4.
  • Elaborate Underground Base: Barrott's base, where Phryne (all of them) grew up.
  • Eleven Episode Anime
  • Emotionless Girl/Empty Shell: The "Phryne" clone who helps Clain look for Phryne.
  • Empathy Teddy Bear Shot: Granites Village.
  • Enemy Mine: Phryne ends up in this situation in Episode 4. She has the same goal as Sunda and Lost Millennium, but she doesn't necessarily show interest in working with them and ends up as their hostage. She attempts to escape, but ends up back on the airship as a hostage more or less of her own free will.
  • Everyone Can See It: The UST between Clain and Phryne.
  • The Evils of Free Will: The Fractale system has already done this, enforced by Brainwashing (see that trope above). This is why Lost Millennium opposes it.
  • False Friend: Megan is more than friendly towards Clain and helps him find Nessa in Xanadu, but she really planned to sell them out to the temple all along to get more money.
  • Fan of the Past: Clain is a Fan Boy for antiques, and his room displays a collection of assorted "ancient" objects. In Episode 6, Clain meets an ill antique collector, who is revealed at the end of the episode to be Clain's father.
  • Fan Service:
  • Fantastic Drug: The data drug from Episode 1.
  • Fish Out of Temporal Water: Phryne's conversation with Clain in the church seems to indicate that she might not be from Clain's present era.

Phryne: I heard people who live in this era hate to be restricted and so they don't own their own home. And yet...
Clain: "People who live in this era"?!

  • Five-Man Band:
  • Flaw Exploitation: Clain and Phryne both putting each other's well-being above their own or anything else. It nearly bites Phryne when she is almost forced into a virginity check in exchange for Clain getting medical treatment after getting shot.
  • Foe Yay: Very, very one-sided on Barrot's part towards Phryne.
  • Foil: Nessa (who "loves" love) and Phryne (who "hates" love).
  • Freudian Trio: Clain (Ego), Phryne (Superego), and Nessa (Id).
  • Friend or Foe
  • Gainaxing: Megan in Episode 7.
  • Ghibli Hills Set in the sparsely populated and unusually rain-free variant of the west of Ireland.
  • GIRL: Though not technically an online example, Megan turns out to be the doppel of Gail.
  • Go Out with a Smile: Phryne's clone in Episode 8 if she didn't survive the underground base explosion.
  • Goldfish Poop Gang: Classic Nadia flavor too -- one girl and two bumbling henchmen of the extreme ends of body proportion.
  • Gratuitous English:
    • The ending song. Episode 5 onward averts it by having same ending theme in Japanese (with slightly different lyrics) instead.
    • Phryne's letter in Episode 9. Aside from grammar, she even spelled her name wrong.
      • That being said, grammar was actually perfect and the wording was believable.
    • The song that the Temple priest/esses sing a few times, notably in episode 11.
  • Grey and Gray Morality: The Fractale System and Lost Millennium. The Fractale System is an easier way of life, medically and luxury-wise, but is really brainwashing humans and removing their individuality; Lost Millennium lives life normally without the Fractale System, growing their own crops and having their children learn from books instead of data, but are not above shooting down the temple priestesses and innocent civilians.
  • Hair of Gold: Clain and Enri (though she has orange hair in her original character designs).
  • Heel Face Turn: One of Phryne's clones helps Clain rescue Phryne in Episode 8.
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Inverted and averted. Nessa is obviously attached to Clain, but Clain is far into The Dulcinea Effect for Phryne to notice.
  • Hypocritical Humor:
    • In the beginning of Episode 3, Clain wonders how Nessa can be so carefree after they had gotten captured by Enri. Moments after they are released, Clain gets in excited Fan Boy-mode when he sees a bunch of antiques, culminating in an instance where one of the guards has a rifle trained on him, and Clain's reaction is, "I can't believe he's still using an optical sight!"
    • In Episode 4, Nessa hits Phryne while saying, "Nessa hates it when people hit others!" Of course, since she's a doppel, her punches go right through her.
      • It's interesting to note that whenever Enri and Sunda kick Clain, Nessa gives no reaction to it.
    • Sunda forces the "freeloading" Clain to do various chores and work on the Lost Millennium's airship in Episode 5. However, Phryne doesn't have to do a darn thing, though it might have to do with the fact that she is a "hostage." Nevertheless, she does (kind of) help out peeling potatoes in Episode 6.
  • I Will Find You: Clain wants to find Phryne. It's also pretty much the whole point of the lyrics in the opening song.
  • I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: Barrot threatening Phryne with Clain's well-being.
  • Impossibly Low Neckline: Megan. Justified in that she is a doppel and her human creator can make her appear in any shape or form.
  • Innocent Fanservice Girl: Phryne, who easily strips her clothes off on a whim.
    • When Clain brings an injured Phryne to his home and gives her a first-aid kit, she immediately undresses (only revealing her under clothes) to take care of her wounds and tells him to leave. Soon after, Phryne approaches Claine topless (her long hair covering her breasts), as she can't reach the back of her shoulder to apply the medicine. Both times Phryne is Stoic while Clain blushes heavily with uncertainty of what to make of the situation.
    • In Episode 6, Phryne strips down naked so she can have fun splashing water with Nessa and Sanko in the river.
  • Invisible to Normals: Without relying on the Fractale System and the Fractale Terminals, members of Lost Millennium can only see doppels through special eye monitors.
  • It Got Worse: Episode 3 and Episode 7.
  • Jerkass: Dias. Other than removing innocent peoples' Terminals, he attacks and bombs the temple's underground base knowing that Clain and Phryne are still inside, and planned to kill Phryne so the Fractale System cannot be restored.
    • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Whenever it looks like Dias is helping out for a good cause, he'll always have ulterior motives. Always.
  • Just Friends: Phryne's preferred view of her relationship with Clain in Episode 7, claiming that she has no right to be loved.
  • Kick the Dog:
    • Dias, who takes out civilians' Fractale Terminals while masking it as a cure and forces them to either join his faction of L.M. or get killed in Episode in Episode 6 and bombs the temple's underground base with Clain and Phryne still inside in Episode 8.
      • In Episode 10, Dias helps Clain by helping Nessa and him reunite with Phryne, but he really planned for his underlings to kill Phryne after she is reunited with Nessa in order to destroy the body of the "key" so the Fractale System cannot be restarted.
    • Gail's attempted rape on Phryne.
    • Barrot forcing Phryne to let him check if she's still a virgin by threatening Clain's well-being.
  • La Résistance: Lost Millennium.
  • Lack of Empathy: Phryne is a little cold to Clain after seeing him easily send away his doppel parents. She realizes this wasn't the case when she sees a video of an infant Clain smiling with his parents together.
  • Large Ham: Sunda and Barrot have their moments.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Clain assumes that she is Phryne's doppel, but she has no recollection of Phryne. In Episode 3, Nessa appears to be the doppel of an actual priestess at the Star Festival, who calls Phryne "nee-sama." However, Episode 8 reveals that the priestess "Nessa" is one of many clones of Phryne from her childhood. Episode 9 has Phryne tell Clain that Nessa and she are two halves of the "key"--Nessa as the mind and Phryne as the body to host it--and when they are one, they will be able to restore the Fractale System.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: Clain is left out of the loop by Phryne, who leaves him in Episode 1 without so much as a word or farewell. When she tries to pull this a second time in Episode 4, Clain has had enough of being a pushover and calls her out on it.
  • Looped Lyrics/Single-Stanza Song: The "day star" song.

If I am to offer a wish to the day star... I would ask it to shine a light here someday.

    • Phryne and Nessa both sing altered versions of the song at different points, Phryne towards the end of Episode 1 and Nessa sings it during Butcher's funeral in Episode 4. It remains to be seen whether these lyrics are other verses from the "day star" song or whole other songs entirely.
      • Episode 9 finally plays a longer version of the "day star" song.
  • Love At First Sight: Clain towards Phryne. Phryne, after becoming one with Nessa to produce the "key," reveals that she felt the same way.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: The strange photographer is Clain's father (in person!)
  • Luminescent Blush
  • MacGuffin: Several:
    • Clingy MacGuffin: Nessa is one of sorts, as she grows attached to Clain because she "belongs" to him and becomes unwilling to be parted from him.
    • Memento MacGuffin: The brooch Phryne left with Clain, which is where Nessa appears from. It seems that Phryne got in trouble for taking the "doppel information" (AKA Nessa).
    • The President's Daughter: Phryne and Nessa. Both are MacGuffin that are actively being hunted down. In Episode 3, Sunda tells Clain that Phryne is "the key to the world," but in Episode 7, Colin also refers to Nessa as the "key."
  • Mad Artist: Gail. He was willing to rape Phryne for insulting his art.
  • Make a Wish: Wishing to the "day star" works in this fashion Clain used to wish on the "day star," but after a while assumes it must be "laughing" at him. In the same episode, Phryne wishes for Clain's smile to last forever. It remains to be seen if her "wish" will come true.
  • Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Played with in Clain's encounter with Phryne and Nessa.
  • Mauve Shirt: Butcher in Episode 3.
  • Meaningful Echo:
    • Nessa watching from a distance as Lost Millennium's airship leaves without her mirrors the earlier scene of the "real" Nessa watching from a distance as the airship retreats.
    • When Phryne leaves Clain and Nessa to return to the temple in Episode 9, it pans out to her walking along a long, unwinding road, the scene almost replicating when she first leaves Clain in Episode 1.
  • Meet Cute
  • Mood Whiplash:
    • Episode 3, surprisingly, takes a turn for the worse. For an episode that starts off so light-hearted, it ends with the Lost Millennium revealing the Star Festival is a branwashing scheme of the Fractale System... and the shooting of L.M.s, temple priestesses, and innocent people.
    • Likewise with Episode 4, as everyone is dealing with the aftermath of the previous episode. Nessa (and Sanko) sings the rather lighthearted "day star" song during Butcher's funeral, and when the temple's airship attacks Granites Village and then chase down Clain and Phryne, Phryne bluntly asks Clain if he's in love with her (which is probably not the best time in the world to ask).
    • Episode 7. An amusing discussion between Enri and Phryne over the latter's relationship with Clain is soon followed by Gail attacking and almost raping Phryne when she innocently insults his sculpture. After Clain and Nessa are relieved that they escaped their pursuers, Colin shoots Clain and Phryne arrives to witness this only for Barrot to find her.
    • Episode 9. A heartwarming discussion between Clain, Phryne, and Nessa leads to Lost Millennium getting called out on their actions by townspeople. The Lost Millennium preparing for battle against the temple cuts to Clain, Phryne, and Nessa having another heartwarming moment, only for Phryne to later leave the two in an attempt to stop the temple.
    • In Episode 10, a tender moment between Moeran and Phryne turns into Moeran choking Phryne out of jealousy, as Phryne is the world's beloved maiden while Moeran is "unloved" by the world. After Phryne reunites with Clain and Nessa, Barrot finds them and embraces Phryne, licks her cheek, and claims that Phryne and he are "bound by abundant love."
  • Never Hurt an Innocent: Completely averted on both sides.
  • Never Trust A Promotional Ad:
    • The artwork displayed in the promotional ads is quite different from its anime counterpart.
    • And this magazine scan showing Phryne and Nessa smiling peacefully together. They have quite a tense relationship in the anime, but they have made up in Episode 5.
  • No Export for You: ... For a few days.
  • No Sense of Personal Space:
    • Nessa sure invades Enri's personal space in Episode 3 by following her everywhere, including through a monitor while Enri's using the bathroom.
    • Megan playfully attempting to seduce Clain and Colin in Episode 7.
    • Barrot practically glomping Phryne by the stomach while smelling her in Episode 8.
  • Not So Different:
    • Lost Millennium and the temple priests/priestesses.
    • Though Clain tries to act more mature than Nessa and is in disbelief of her cheerfulness when they are kidnapped, he acts quite Keet-like upon seeing the antiques of Granites Village.
    • Sunda and Phryne both want the Fractale System to collapse.
    • Though Clain and Phryne appear to be a case of Opposites Attract, they are both childish and impulsive--evidently shown when they have a race up a hill in Episode 6.
  • Not the Fall That Kills You: Subverted. Phryne willingly lets herself fall to escape her pursuers, and for a moment Clain almost believed that Phryne could fly. However, when Clain finds her, Phryne is revealed to be unconscious and injured from landing on a cliff ledge.
  • Not What It Looks Like: Clain bringing two girls home carries implications to Enri and his doppel parents.
  • Odd Couple: The Eeyore Clain and Genki Girl Nessa. See Not So Different.
  • Offscreen Teleportation: As a doppel, Nessa can disappear or teleport to any given place.
  • "On the Next...": Averted. There are no next episode previews following the ending credits, which is probably a good thing since Trailers Always Spoil.
  • One Dialogue, Two Conversations: In Episode 3:

Nessa: Clain! Do you want to know the color of Enri's underwear?
Enri: Ahh!! Don't tell him!
[Clain doesn't pay attention to the conversation and walks away]
Clain: [thinking about his conversation with the old man] True freedom... I don't really get it. I don't even wanna know something like that.
Enri: Wha... You don't have to say it that way. I won't tell you anyway!

  • One-Woman Wail: Several of the background music.
  • Opposites Attract: Clain and Phryne.
  • Panty Shot: A blink-and-you'll-miss it shot of Clain's underwear during his crossdressing scene.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Enri and her mooks arrive at Clain's house looking for Phryne and disguise themselves three times (four times in the manga) in an attempt to get inside. Clain is not fooled.
  • Parental Abandonment: Clain feels this way about his parents and eventually calls them out on it.
  • Pet the Dog:
    • When Enri notices how left out Nessa feels in Episode 3 as the residents of Granites Village who are welcoming them cannot see doppels without the Fractale Terminals, Enri gets them to use their eye monitors, allowing the group to see Nessa. One of the residents, a child named Sanko, becomes fast friends with her.
    • In Episode 8, one of Phryne's clones tells Clain where his Phryne is after he bandages her wound.
  • Pinky Swear:
    • While Nessa is ill, Clain pinky swears that he'll play a variety of games with Nessa once she gets better.
    • The longer version of the day star song gives mention to a pinky swear.
  • Plot Armor: Who seriously think Clain is gonna die from a gunshot at the end of episode 7?
  • Plucky Comic Relief:
    • Enri and her mooks, Butcher and Takamii. Not so plucky and comical when one of them gets killed in Episode 3.
    • Nessa, for her cheerful innocence and naivety.
  • Plucky Girl
  • The Promise: Clain, Phryne, and Nessa promised to stay together forever in Episode 9.
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: Almost literally.
  • Pursued Protagonist: The manga begins with Phryne escaping several women. In the anime and manga, Clain meets Phryne being pursued.
  • Race For Your Love:
    • A more or less platonic version between Clain and Nessa in Episode 2.
    • Played straight in Episode 4 between Clain and Phryne. Clain has to literally chase Phryne down as she's driving off in order to catch her.
    • In Episode 9, after admitting that he likes Phryne, Clain and Nessa run off to find her.
  • Rant-Inducing Slight: It's implied that Gail has been through his share of critics criticizing his sculptures, and Phryne's innocent comment of his recent sculpture resembling something of a worm is what puts him over the edge.
  • Rape as Backstory: Possibly Phryne, as she seemed to go through some PTSD during her Attempted Rape in Episode 7. The leading theory is that the creepy high priest did it.
    • Subverted by conventional means since it's been stated that she is a virgin.
    • In episode 11, it is made apparent that the priest did do... something to Phryne, as the original Phryne's father did to her, thus ensuring that the current Phryne would "match", and could become the key. It seems that that makes Rape as Backstory true for the entire world of Fractale.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: Clain is forced to wear pink pants for a bit in Episode 5 after his usual pants are dirtied up.
  • Real Place Background: Taken from the west of Ireland, the show goes into some fairly obscure details, correctly belling the police as "Garda" and containing Irish in a few spots if you look. Luimnigh is the Irish Language name for Limerick City. The town in the second episode appears to be based on Galway City while some elements of Granites are clearly based on buildings in Dublin's Docklands area.
  • Red Herring: Played with. Clain initially believes that Nessa is Phryne's doppel, but Episode 3 shows a temple priestess who looks exactly like Nessa and refers to Phryne as "nee-sama", indicating that Nessa is this priestess's doppel instead. However, in Episode 8, the priestess "Nessa" turns out to be one of many of Phryne's clones that resemble Phryne from her childhood. It turns out that Phryne herself is a Phryne clone too.
  • Rescue Romance: Between Clain and Phryne.
  • Rubber Face: After seeing a video of an infant Clain with his real, non-doppel parents, Phryne notices Clain doesn't smile the same way he used to. She is noticeably dismayed by this and attempts to reproduce his former smile this way. When that fails (but does make her laugh), she makes a wish on "the day star" for Clain's smile to persist forever.
  • Running Gag:
    • Characters (usually Enri) referring to Clain as a pervert.
    • Phryne taking off her clothes with no modesty.
  • Sadistic Choice: Suspicious of how intimate Phryne is with her "precious friend" Clain, Barrot makes Phryne choose between having Barrot check to see if she's still a virgin or letting Clain die without having his wounds treated. Phryne is forced to choose the former, but Nessa interrupts the procedure before it happens.
  • Scandalgate: The series will not be seen in whole until all unauthorized copies of the series are taken down. This could be a new version of Oreimogate. To coin a phrase: "Fractalegate."
  • Scenery Porn
  • Seventh-Episode Twist: Episode 7 ends with Nessa unleashing a devestating power that destroys Xanadu, Colin shooting Clain, and Phryne arriving to the scene just as Barrot finds her.
  • Ship Tease:
    • Clain/Phryne and Clain/Nessa.
    • Even Enri seems interested in him. She questions Phryne on her relationship with Clain in Episode 7, is worried for the "naughty jerk" when Phryne and he are captured in Episode 8, and screams out Clain's name when the underground base Clain and Phryne were taken to explodes. She even tries to confess to him in Episode 9.
    • A tiny bit in Episode 10. Sunda punches Dias after Dias reveals that he was planning on having Phryne killed so the Fractale System cannot be restarted. Dias asks Sunda if he's fallen for Phryne, and Sunda walks away without answering. Subverted in that Dias was probably just being a Troll and Sunda couldn't stand the guy.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Clain appears to listening to an iPod-like music device in Episode 1.
    • The ending theme's lyrics are from a William Butler Yeats poem.
    • The Barehanded Blade Block Clain attempts in Episode 7 resembles Fullmetal Alchemist.
    • Sunda is shot and dying and holds the line at an elevator for Clain, Phryne, and Nessa, giving a vaguely motivational speech, certainly reminds one of a sequence from another anime with a decent amount of Mind Screw.
  • Sleep Cute: In the manga, Clain and Phryne in the church.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism
  • Slow Motion Fall: When Colin shoots Clain in Episode 7.
  • Smoke Out: In Episode 4, Lost Millennium uses this tactic to retreat and capture Phryne.
  • Sorry I Left the BGM On: Played with in Episode 1, where the day star song is overheard by Phryne and triggers her meeting with Clain.
  • Spoiler Title: Well, from the look of the titles of Episode 9 and 10--"No Way Out" and "To The Monastery"--things don't look so good for our heroes.
  • The Stoic: Phryne.
    • Not So Stoic:
      • Phryne has a moment when she slaps Clain in anger of him awakening Nessa from her brooch, and it only increases when she learns that he analyzed the brooch's data.
      • When Gail attempts to rape her in Episode 7.
      • Seeing her clones that have been labeled useless getting destroyed in Episode 8.
  • Storming the Castle: Twice:
  • Strange Girl: Clain's opinion of Phryne and Nessa. To be fair, both female leads are far from "normal."
  • Stripperific: Megan.
  • Supporting Leader: Sunda
  • Surprise Creepy: The series started relatively soft and friendly... and then civilians started getting gunned down in Episode 3.
  • Take My Hand: Clain does this to Phryne's clone, asking her to come with Phryne and him to the shelter before the underground base explodes. She doesn't survive the explosion.
  • Third Person Person: Nessa always indicates herself in the third person.
  • Those Two Guys: Butcher and Takamii.
  • Thwarted Escape: Clain attempts to rescue Phryne from Lost Millennium in Episode 4, but she's not fairly cooperative and Sunda catches Clain in the act.
  • Time Skip: Averted. The episodes start where the previous episodes leave off at. As of Episode 4, it can be assumed that roughly only five days have passed since the first episode.
  • Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Phryne is a little taller than Clain.
  • Took a Level in Badass: To protect Clain in Episode 7, Nessa unleashes a power that "destroys" the virtual city Xanadu.
  • Took a Third Option: Barrot gives Phryne three options when he corners Clain and her in Episode 4:

Barrot: Well then, Miss Phryne, here's a three-choice question. This world doesn't have much time left, so answer it within 10 seconds. Question 1! What action will this world's beloved maidens take now?
Clain: Huh? What's that?
Barrot: A: Go back to the temple happily, holding hands. B: Go to the temple while bickering. C: Go back to the temple for the time being since they're hungry. Now, which one?
[Phryne turns and drives off]
Clain: Huh?
Barrot: What're you doing?! A fourth choice isn't allowed, Miss Phryne!

  • Torches and Pitchforks: The villagers who order Sunda's group to leave.
  • True Companions:
    • Clain eventually realizes this towards Nessa, who was more of a "family" to him than his own parents. While he still thinks Lost Millennium is are murderers, he also has grown think of them as his friends.
    • Lost Millennium. Interestingly enough, a portion of the rebel organization are actually a family.
  • Tsundere:
    • Enri might possibly be one, indicated by her sweet treatment of her brother Sunda and Sanko, a child from of Granites Village, in comparison to her sour treatment of Clain and Nessa (especially Clain).
    • Nessa seems to be quite the Tsundere as well once she becomes rather clingy and jealous over Clain whenever Phryne is involved. Though, she calmed down and reconciled with Phryne over a game of hide-and-seek in Episode 5.
  • Unexplained Recovery:
    • Clain after getting shot, thanks to the Fractale System's advanced medical technology.
    • Barrot survived the temple underground base explosion, though not without injuries.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Clain and Phryne.
  • Unwanted Harem: Phryne, Nessa, and Enri seem to have some sort of feeling for Clain.
  • Unwanted Rescue: Twice in Episode 4. Clain attempts to escape with a captured Phryne on board the Lost Millennium's airship, but she refuses his help and outright slaps him, angered that he awakened Nessa from her brooch. When the temple attacks Granites Village, Clain hurries to help Phryne, who again rejects his help, but this time Clain refuses to be a pushover.
  • Virgin Power: According to Barrot, Phryne needs to be a virgin to become the "key."
    • Virgin Tension: Barrot forces Phryne to let him check to see if she is still "qualified" to be the "key" or not, but before he can, Nessa invades the underground system and prevents it while on her Unstoppable Rage search for Clain.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye:
    • Clain's father in Episode 6. He is ill, is unlikely to live for much longer, and isn't mentioned again.
    • The Phryne clone in Episode 8. She, as well as the rest of the Phryne clones, did not survive the temple underground base explosion.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist:
    • Lost Millennium and the temple. See Grey and Gray Morality.
    • Alabaster, another section of L.M., removed refugees' Fractale terminals without warning so that they cannot return to Fractale and are forced to follow them or get killed. All the while Dias--the leader of Alabaster--still has his own terminal intact.
  • Wham! Episode:
    • Episode 3.
    • Episode 7. Not only is Phryne almost raped by Gail, the episode ends with Nessa unleashing a devastating power that reveals Xanadu's true nature to protect Clain, Clain getting shot by Colin, and Phryne arriving to Clain only for Barrot to find her.]]
    • And the whams continue in Episode 8. Barrot is revealed to be the person who raised Phryne to be the "key" and attempts to see if she's still a virgin. Clain learns that there are dozens of clones that resemble Nessa (but are really clones of Phryne from her childhood) sealed away because Phryne is the "key" and the useless replicas are destroyed. The Phryne clone who helps Clain rescue Phryne is nearly killed herself and points Clain and Phryne to the direction of the underground base's shelter, but the underground base explodes with Enri screaming out Clain's name.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: It's quite easy to forget that Clain actually stole a data clip from the junk market in Episode 1, and this small action has little to do with the plot than briefly explain the Fractale System.
  • What Is This Feeling?: Clain feels this way when it comes to Phryne. He feels angry at Phryne for leaving him without a word and wants to get "mad" at her when he sees her again, but is confused by these feelings.

Clain: She came as she pleased and left as she pleased. People always do as they please. Everyone is like that in the current world. But... why am I this angry?

  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Doppels.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • In Episode 4, Phryne feels betrayed by Clain for not only awakening Nessa from her brooch but for also analyzing the brooch's data. Later in the episode, Clain returns the favor and calls Phryne out for always leaving him Locked Out of the Loop.
    • In Episode 9, Lost Millennium is called out by a mob of townspeople on their murders and for the underground base explosion.
  • White-Haired Pretty Boy: Dias.
  • Wild Card: Dias. His motives are to ensure the Fractale System will not be restored, but his way of accomplishing said goal is morally ambiguous, and he leans more on being an extremist than well-intentioned. His schemes include removing civilians' Fractale terminals, bombing a temple underground base knowing that Clain and Phryne were still inside, and planning on having Phryne killed so the Fractale System cannot be restarted.
  • Will They or Won't They?: Clain and Phryne. They do end up together, but Phryne becomes the "key" with Nessa--she has Phryne's body but Nessa's personality mixed in. Nevertheless, Phryne still has her original memories, as she confesses to Clain that she has always liked him too.
  • Woman in Black: In her original character design, Phryne's temple priestess clothing was black instead of blue. Subverted in that her personality is neither dangerous nor menacing.
  • Woman in White: Nessa and Phryne's clones.
  • You Gotta Have Purple Hair: In the manga and promotional images, Phryne and Nessa have purple hair. Played straight with Moeran, whose purple hair is maintained into the anime adaptation.
  • Zettai Ryouiki: Enri is grade A, except with shorts instead of a skirt.
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