Kage Kara Mamoru!
A Twelve-Episode Anime about teenage nerd Mamoru Kagemori and his childhood friend Yuuna Konnyaku who, being quite The Ditz, gets into trouble quite often.
Good thing Mamoru is secretly a badass Ninja who comes from a family that has been protecting the Konnyaku family for 400 years.
Mamoru has protected Yuna since they were both in kindergarten. When Yuna is in trouble, Mamoru quickly puts on his ninja suit and transforms into a powerful ninja which is often due to Yuna, being both clumsy and dim-witted, ends up stumbling into situations where Mamoru is forced to rescue her.
Tropes used in Kage Kara Mamoru! include:
- Accidental Pervert: Happens to Mamoru, of course, but less often than usual for a harem show.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Mamoru shows little interest in any girls. The only one he even considers is Hotaru, before she revealed herself as a rival kunoichi.
- Armor-Piercing Slap: Mamoru suffers a lot of abuse from the girls, especially Airi, when he's disguised.
- Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny: Yamame.
- Badass Family: The Kagemori family. Mamoru could handle multiple other ninjas (and aliens) alone easily. His parents are even better.
- Bodyguard Crush: Inverted with Yuna and Mamoru.
- Calling Your Attacks: All the ninjas do this.
- Celebrity Is Overrated: Yuna quits her promising idol career because it would take her away from Mamoru.
- Catch Phrase: Kagemori family motto, "Continuing to protect my neighbor for 400 years!" (with variations as appropriate)
- "Big news! It's big news!" - Airi
- Cerebus Syndrome: The last two episodes become serious.
- Celibate Hero: Mamoru, but not if his parents have any say on the subject.
- Dojikko: Konnyaku Yuna and arguably Tsubaki.
- Face Fault: Yuna is a walking Face Fault generator.
- Gonk: Yakuza Leader.
- Harmless Villain: The aliens - their idea of a crafty human trap is the old basket-with-stick-and-string baited with sushi. Yuna falls for it...sorta.
- Heavy Sleeper: Yuma.
- Heroic Dog: Burumaru, the Kagemori family's ninja dog.
- Humanoid Aliens: Humanoid reptiles that show up in episode 9.
- Idol Singer: Yuna sings the Banana Song
- I Have the High Ground: Mamoru mostly but the other ninjas in the show get in on the act as well.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Tsubaki really wants to just enjoy life as an ordinary highschool kid.
- Implausible Fencing Powers: Mamoru can deflect bullets fired from a BFG with his sword, Tsubaki can slice anything with hers...except nata de coco...
- Improvised Weapon: The ninjas, especially Mamoru, use whatever they have handy in a fight.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: The alien captain is fond of these, and rewards his henchmen for them.
- Intimate Healing: Hotaru can heal someone's wounds by kissing them on the lips.
- I Want Grandkids: Mr. and Mrs. Kagemori most definitely do.
- Knight Templar Parent: Mamoru's parents Kengo and Sakurako. They are nice enough most of the time, but when it comes to making sure the Kagemori line will be continued, they become super serious.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Yuna gets amnesia at the end of the series and doesn't remember confessing, or that Mamoru is a ninja.
- Legacy of Service: The Kagemori Ninjas. Protecting their neighbors (the Konnyaku family) for 400 years.
- Look Behind You!: Yamame successfully used the "Look, it's a UFO" on Hotaru to win a contest.
- Meaningful Name: The character names usually represent something about themselves.
- Mamoru: To protect
- Konnyaku: ...Yeah, the food.
- Mapputatsu: Cuts everything
- Sawagashi: Noisy
- Miko: Mapputatsu Tsubaki.
- Mundane Utility: Mamoru's parents aren't averse to using their Ninjitsu around the house.
- Nerd Glasses: Kagemori Mamoru and his father Kengo.
- Ninja: The Kagemori family.
- No Social Skills: Tsubaki, she doesn't know much about how modern day teenagers live.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Subverted when the lizard-aliens try wearing masks, but it doesn't work.
- Pun-Based Title: Depending on the kanji used for "Mamoru", the title can translate to either "Mamoru from the Shadows" or "I'll Protect You from the Shadows".
- Punny Name: Chin Panji (sounds like chimpanzee)
- Reset Button: In the ending Yuna loses her memory about confessing and Mamoru being a ninja.
- Roof Hopping
- Rubber Face: Airi does this to Mamoru a lot.
- Samurai: Mapputatsu Tsubaki.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: Kengo whenever he talks about Mamoru's duty to protect Yuna or continuing the family line.
- Show Within a Show: Bishoujo Disguise Purupuru Nintotto.
- Stock Footage: Used whenever Mamoru appears as a ninja.
- Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Tsubaki.
- Tempting Fate: "There's no way there'd be a flower pot." Of course, there's a flower pot.
- The Ditz: Yuna.
- Token Loli: Yamame
- Too Dumb to Live: Yuna. Mamoru is there to make sure she does live.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Yuna and bananas.
- Tsundere: Sawagashi Airi and Tsubaki.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Tsubaki cannot cut Nata de Coco (A Jelly derived from coconut milk.)
- The Unwanted Harem: Mamoru considers looking out for Yuna a full-time job so he isn't interested in finding a girlfriend.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: Yuna loves Mamoru but he doesn't notice.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Mamoru fears bears due to a bear attack when he was young.
- More understandable than snakes. Who the hell doesn't fear bears?
- Yakuza
- Zettai Ryouiki: Seems to be a feature of the school uniform.