NEEDLESS

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Adam Blade and Eve Neuschwanstein

NEEDLESS: In the near future, mankind has suffered from World War III, leaving extreme damage all over. Mankind has been forced to evolve. From this chaos comes a new species: "Needless". The Needless are humans who have contracted a "disease", as humans call it, which allows them to wield extraordinary powers. Their abilities include telekinesis, Elemental Powers, gravity control, adaptation, radioactive release and so on, all seemingly impossible.

The manga debuted in 2003 and ended in 2013, and an anime adaptation by Madhouse aired in the second half of 2009. The anime has been licensed for US distribution with an English dub track by Sentai Filmworks, and is available online.

Not to be confused with The Needless.


Tropes used in NEEDLESS include:
  • A Child Shall Lead Them: Kana for her group of thugs, and and Solva for her group of thugs.
  • Accidental Pervert: A Running Gag in episode nine.
  • Action Girl
    • Eve Neuschwanstein.
    • Every female character in the show qualifies, really. The only one who doesn't do much fighting is Disk, and even she has some serious firepower.
  • Adam and Eve Plot: and they're not subtle about it. More specifically Eve was created for the sole purpose of bearing Blade's children, as said by Gido in Vol.7, due his DNA structure not being compatible with that of normal humans and other Needless. Adam Neuschwanstein might be the result of Gido's project... maybe.
    • Actually in the manga it's reviled that the "Apple of Eden" is what evolved some monkeys into humans, and now the 666 wanted to use it again to evolve humans into gods. The best of the Adam series and Eve project were supposed to be the first to become gods.
  • A God Am I: Arclight. Judging from the history of the NEEDLESS world, what he said is not very far from the truth. Ouch.
    • Saten claims this, too. Unfortunately for him, Arclight disagrees.
    • It seems that quite a few needless have developed god complexes, comparing themselves to God either because they're truly that megalomaniacal, or to intimidate their opponents.
  • Air Vent Passageway: Used when Disk and co infiltrates the Simeon building to save Blade. On the other hand, Seto and Solva aren't that subtle...
  • Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: Kafka. When you first meet him, he's the Warmup Boss. In the alternate past, however, he's a Badass His You Shall Not Pass toward the end further cements it.
  • Amazon Brigade or Lovely Angels (3 persons!), Terrible Trio: Simeon's all-female Squad. They also star in the ED credits.
    • Simeon actually owns an entire army of bishoujo Needless.
  • After the End Apocalypse Not: The Third World War destroyed major cities in the world including Tokyo, but nearly all of the world has been rebuilt and functions normally as depicted in Needless Zero. However, Black Spots remain as they were many decades ago.
  • And This Is For
  • And the Rest: The second exposition introduces the resistance as "A mysterious priest, Adam Blade! Eve Neuschwanstein! And the rest." followed by a group Face Fault.
  • An Ice Person: Shikisoku, a NEEDLESS monk...that's also a criminal.
  • Art Shift: The Blade vs. Kuchinashi fight shifts into an odd sort of rough sketch style before reverting to normal.
    • And briefly again in episode 13.
      • Perhaps the animators got lazy and decided to leave it in storyboard format.
  • Ass Kicks You: Mio uses both variations as her signature attacks.
    • However in a battle in Blade vs the Girl Squad, he was smiling as Mio's slowly land on his face.
  • Autobots Rock Out: 24/7
  • Awesomeness By Analysis: Cruz. Though he lacks any actual superpowers, he does have possess incredible faculties of analysis and deduction, which lands him in the role of The Strategist even before he realizes it.
  • Back from the Dead: Anyone who is cloned and has their original memories is considered this. Uten, Kafka, and Teruyama were brought back as clones.
    • Double hits. The real Teruyama has revived by Mio. Fans rejoice.
  • Badass: Overflowing with it.
  • Bait and Switch Lesbians: The Bishoujo Squad do well... Overwhelmingly Les Yay things in the ED sequence, but once finally introduced, are nothing of the sort.
    • Setsuna and Mio, at least. Kuchinashi is later revealed to actually be a lesbian, and in the manga, is currently crushing over a crossdressing Cruz.
    • Also in the DVD version. Where she likes to Strip naked while sleeping with Cruz.
  • Battle Aura
  • Beehive Barrier: Eve can shape her arms to form a hardened, metallic shield of this type.
  • Big Bad: Adam Arclight.
  • Bizarre Baby Boom, Cursed with Awesome: The titular Needless, who are banished to the Black Spot.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: See-chan is actually a cruel NEEDLESS's killer.
  • Blow You Away: Mother Black's power.
  • Book Ends: In the chapter "The Sacred Sword of the Reaper" Adam says both at the beginning and at the end that "funeral service will be seven thousand yen" when seeing a situation where people seem to be in the risk of death.
  • Bottomless Magazines: Averted for the anti-NEEDLESS machine Testament. The problem is, the moment it runs out of bullets, it begins to use missiles.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall:
    • "You are the main character of this anime!"
    • Kana:"You're (Hatfield) not the main character of this MUSTACHE ARC!!!"
    • At chapter five of the manga, Eve says to Cruz she is surprised he is a recurring character.
  • Butt Monkey: Cruz Yamada.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Practically anyone who can fight is prone to this.
  • Camp Straight: Chi is one, including the part where he's also a complete wimp.
  • Captain Obvious: Cruz. Also Disk, who's ability is to couch analyses in wads of cool-sounding Techno Babble, but only ever uses her scan after the practical result, the only useful part of her observation, is already apparent to everyone.
  • Catch Phrase:
    • "It's judgment time!" "Your sentence... IS DEATH!"
    • Taeka says to men they "have tiny balls". Yup.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Bishoujo Squad member Mio is shown to to have recently learn to read kanji in the beginning of the group's focus chapter, but she is only able to ready kanji by kanji, that result in interpretations of the symbols that are completely wrong. In the climax of the chapter, the other members of the group hope she takes the object they were assigned to retrieve, but she instead grabs the owner of said object thanks to another misreading.
  • Children Are Innocent: Subverted with Uten and Mio. And See-chanAdam Cyclops from NEEDLESS 1.5
  • Clothing Damage: Eve is a frequent victim...as if her outfit wasn't Stripperific enough already.
  • Combat Tentacles: Arclight's preferred method of attack.
  • Comedic Sociopathy: To levels that start continually increasing halfway through the first episode.
  • Compelling Voice: Cain's NEEDLESS power.
  • Confessional: Subverted with Momiji Teruyama's introduction, the booth winds up getting destroyed.
  • Confusion Fu: Saten keeps his actual ability secret and throws people for a loop with what appear to be multiple fragments. In the Anime original material (beginning episode 22 or so) And he takes this even further by hiding his true status as an artificial Adam Project subject, having had the "Zero" fragment infused into him.
  • Continuity Cameo: Adam Neuschwanstein, Adam Blade's rumored future clone/transexual form/daughter from NEEDLESS 1.5, makes an appearance in the 82th chapter of the main series, a very brief and almost purposeless one.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: The Bishoujo Squad members are divided in two groups but assigned to the same mission. The team who don't succeeds in the mission will wear skirts that don't reach beyond 30cm above the knee and no underwear. Both teams fail and therefore both receive the punishment.
  • Cool Shades: Blade's. If they were a bit more pointy and orange, they'd look almost like Kamina's.
  • Cross Dressing Voice: Cruz is played by Aya Endo, usually playing the Cool Big Sis.
  • Crystal Dragon Jesus: The Second.
    • Clone Jesus: The goal of Shimeji Simeon. Adam Blade can supposedly become this if he memorizes enough Fragments... If he's smart enough to actually do that.
  • Culture Shock: The very presence of police officers in a somewhat still stable society in Tokyo, Blade and friends had a hard time trying to figure out what these people are while raiding the city, since in The Black Spot There Are No Police it was a completely new experience to the team.
  • Cute and Psycho: Solva
  • Cute Bruiser: Mio, whose ability is "Power".
  • Cute Mute: Bishoujo Squad member Kuchinashi. Subverted.
    • Everyone: KUCHINASHI JUST SPOKE!?!
  • Cute Shotaro Boy: Cruz. Episode 21 reveals that Blade used to be one, too.
  • Damsel in Distress: Eve, as of episode 6.
    • Badass in Distress: Even captured, she just don't stop to show her badassery. Just ask Arclight.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: Solva in a flashback.
  • Delayed Reaction: Many, many times.
  • Distaff Counterpart: Adam Neuschwanstein from NEEDLESS 1.5, the counterpart of Adam Blade whose conection to him and Eve remains a mystery.
  • The Dragon: Saten is the strongest of the Quirky Miniboss Squad, as proven when he reveals he is also part-God and obliterates Arclight and the 666 in the anime.
  • Dropped a Bridget On Him: Blade after rescuing Yamada's crossdressing self.
  • Empathic Weapon: The Blade of the Reaper is apparently alive and posses its user. As it turns out, it's all a trick by Adam and Seto to hide the latter's NEEDLESS power.
  • Enigmatic Minion: Saten.
    • Well, at least until episode 22 came around...
  • Eyecatch: A voice growls "NEEDLESS".
    • In the dub, It plays a guitar riff.
  • Eye Scream: Khrisna Vaitarani tries to nullify Ashiki's NEEDLESS power by executing this on his right eye, but it turns out that already sort of happened to him ages ago.
  • Face Heel Turn:
    • Arca
    • One of the Bishoujo Squad has the power of 'Black Attraction' to force this via Brainwash.
    • Teruyama. Though it turns out it's a clone of the original who is dead.
  • Failed a Spot Check: Adam Neuschwanstein comically thinks her adoptive mother is the giant bald man storming through the door of the church...though she does notice that "she got bigger".
  • Fan Service: So, so much...Although the E Ds and episode 6 take it to near-extremes.
    • In the words of Adam Blade, "There's always room for more Panty Shots!"
  • Fanservice Extra: General Vonsanger Heokoider's maids dress in skimpy outfits(we wouldn't they say they wear bras but rather pieces of clothing attached to the front of their breasts) for no good reasons and are only there for a few panels.
  • Fearful Symmetry: Eve, as Setsuna, forces her to fight herself.
  • Fridge Logic: Where did the container with super-concentrated Derodoro go? Probably inside Eve's body, she could easily hide it using her fragment.
  • Foreshadowing: Kana can use two kinds of powers, contradicting previous knowledge about the NEEDLESS.Because she isn't actually a NEEDLESS, and her powers actually come from a machine.
  • Four Is Death: Simeon has a Quirky Miniboss Squad of four.
  • Funny Background Event: Heavily Subverted. Arca complains that "Our family name is not Yamada" to a comically surprised Eve... While in the background, Cruz is holding his RECENTLY CUT OFF ARM in pain.
  • Gainaxing: So, so much...
  • Gambit Pileup
  • Gecko Ending: Starting from Saten interrupting the fight between Arclight and Blade, though the scenes with Saten after the elevator scene are anime-only too.
  • The Glasses Come Off: Blade takes off his glasses when things gets really serious, or he never goes with them to said fierce battle in the first place. After the PF Blast, Blade never used them again, it also served to quite mellow him out, he got noticeable less of a Jerkass ever since.
  • Grand Theft Me: The Sword of the Reaper is apparently capable of possessing its user, at least temporarily. Actually it's just a lie told by Adam and Seto probably to make their enemies even more fearful of her.
  • Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: This is the most reasonable explanation for why the first ED is the way it is.
    • And/or because of Blade's personal tastes.
  • Gratuitous English: You know, the, uh, title of the show. Also in the OP/ED songs. "Are you ready to THE ACTION?!" "Jumping Prince Songs~" Also one thing you must remember.
    • Disc: DESTROY EVOLUTION!!!
  • Gravity Sucks: Seto's "Graviton" fragment.
  • Gorn: Thankfully the anime largely averts this, but in the manga, Eve really destroyed Arclight's head with her drill... only to see it reform in front of her.
    • In a similar case, Setsuna, Mio, and Kuchinashi have a fight with two other members of the Bishoujo Squad, Nanami and Misaki. In episode 7 of the anime, the scuffle is played played mainly for laughs, but in Chapter 10 of the manga, Mio cracks Nanami's head open and Setsuna eviscerates Misaki.
    • Also in the manga Where Arclight eats everyone as well as other Needless in order to gain their powers.
  • Guardian Entity: Krishna Vaitarani, and though he desires to protect Naraka, he seems to not understand he is hurting his host by killing what approaches her.
  • Hammerspace: Even if Kuchinashi is stripped off, she still has her pen and paper to write down her words.
    • Episode nine gives us Disc producing a Hyperspace Arsenal made up of numerous guns from underneath her skimpy one-piece dress.
  • Headbutt Thermometer: Setsuna gives one to Cruz in the specials. However, she only does it to get a rough estimate, and then flips him around to try and get a more accurate reading using an... unpleasant... measuring technique.
  • Healing Factor: Part of Eve's doppelganger power. Not energy conserving. Also, Adam Arclight.
    • Later used on Yamada to save his life, thus opening speculation about Yamada having a fraction of Eve's power.
  • Heel Face Turn: Mio, teaming up with Yamada after the Eden's Piece massacre.
    • And the anime allows Aruka to make one right before the final battle.
    • Also in the manga, Geppetto's Living Doll replica BQ and Rin, the St. Rose Academy serial bomber.
    • Let's not forget Saten, or should I say Kannazuki Kyouji, Dr Gido's assistant?
  • Heroic BSOD: Cruz after learning of Aruka's defection. Her slicing him open didn't exactly help.
  • Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Blade, though to a slightly lesser degree than most examples. Slightly.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Aruka. Subverted, it's just a facade to defect to Simeon.
    • A more straightforward example is when Yamada had to drag Eve out of the underground junkyard while climbing as it collapsed..
  • High School AU: While the show has a school of sorts, the DVDs contain a series of bonus shorts set at St. Lily Academy, an all-girls' school with Cruz attending as "Yamada Nadeshiko". Disc is the teacher.
  • Humongous Mecha: The Darumi GT Mk. 32 EX68000 Nitro FC, a giant mecha daruma doll built and piloted by Kanna and her underlings.
  • Iconic Item: The Bishoujo Squad's panties. It gets to the point where Cruz is able to tell it's Setsuna just by looking up her skirt.
  • Idiot Hero: All the good guys except Cruz and Gidou. Momiji Teruyama is a borderline case.
  • If It's You, It's Okay: This exchange between Cruz and Kuchinashi (with her sketchpad)...

Kuchinashi: Don't worry, I'm not [that] interested in guys.
Cruz: I'm pretty sure "that" is written really small in there!
Kuchinashi: ...guys who make good traps are a-ok.

    • Blade agrees about good traps being a-ok.
  • I'm Cold... So Cold...: Cruz says this in episode 17 after being burned/stabbed close to the heart by his sister and enemies.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Lots and lots of people, but the one with (literally) strongest impact is Kurumi's death. The wooden stake that pierced her was almost her the size of her body. And that is not even the worst death-by-impaling in the manga. And don't forget Arclight.
    • That last one didn't stick.
  • Impossibly Tacky Clothes: When Strom, leader of the Overlord Guild, is introduced, he is draped with a floral-patterned cape. Then, he decides to fight and his cape lifts up, revealing his Homemade Sweater From Hell.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Datsu the magician uses cards and darts as weapons.
  • I Never Told You My Name: Mio sneaks her way in Cruz's team. Though he doesn't find out for sure she's a mole until she turns on them, Cruz quickly becomes suspicious of her when she calls him "Cruz" as opposed to "Yamada" (his nickname, which everyone in the team uses instead of his real name).
  • I Surrender, Suckers:
  • Jerkass: Everyone except Cruz. Even the protagonists are Jerkass. For example, when they laugh and trash talk over Kurumi's horrible death.
    • Not arguing the protagonists Jerkass-ness. But Considering the nature of the world they live in it's understandable. Also they didn't "laugh" and point, but rather gloated over the fact that they got past a very hard situation.
  • Jobber: An entire squad of would-be heroes get introduced in episode 7 and are immediately killed by Adam Arclight.
  • Journey to the Center of the Mind: From chapter 76 onwards, Blade gets his memories materialized in physical form in order to Simeon know all his and Eve's secrets, but something goes wrong as Blade destroys the gimmick which invaded his mind, Cruz is hit with one of Blade's memories shards which triggers the plot, with Cruz and Saten visiting the world sometime around 7 years ago, also borders with Alternate Universe as Blade's memories somehow shuffled joining his present and past memories thus creating a different 7 years ago setting.
  • Kawaiiko: Mio, who comes dangerously close to tasting like diabetes.
    • Just remember Blade's reaction when he sees her.
  • La Résistance: The resistance that Cruz was in. Was.
  • Lens Flare: Especially when it's involving Blade's Cool Shades.
  • Lighter and Softer: The anime compared to the manga though only with a few cases. Otherwise it just has more blood.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Played straight since this is an anime. However, Eve's power actually allows her to change her clothes, which she seldom does.
    • She has two oufits. Normal and Battle.
    • Somewhat justified because the entire part 1 (events of the anime) seems to takes place in the same day, and a lack of clothes can be an actual issue for the characters due to fights and lack of residence.
      • After becoming a Girl Squad member, Cruz was later prone to losing his clothing to the point where he's often wearing tiny shreds to cover himself with, despite having to keep the Girl Squad facade. He later wears a thin cloth to disguise as his sister, only to have that torn off again, giving Eve an inspiration for her current attire and having that literally taken from him as well. Also humorously stripped again by Saten just before returning from Blade's memories. Yamada finally gets another Girl Squad uniform and panties in perfect condition... for now.
      • The Bishoujo Squad lose their original outfits getting past an Iron Mountain security system, and switches to uniform. Nonetheless, they get the clothes back in part 2.
      • Disc has multiple bodies (with clothes) she can conveniently swap depending on the situation. Seen so far: Disc's Iron Mountain body, her smaller travel form which holds more data, and lastly (currently), her Full Armor Mode, which turns Disc into a full-fledged fighting character.
      • Eve obtains and adds stockings to her clothes as a result of Blade's fetish (due to Yamada's influence) in the alternate timeline. Eve later sticks with her Doppelganger clothes, possibly due to having to fight constantly. There's a lot about clothes to NEEDLESS.
  • Lolicon: Adam Blade. To an EXTREME degree.

LITTLE GIRL. LITTLE GIRL. LITTLE GIRL. Well, she's technically a little girl. LOOKS LIKE A LITTLE GIRL.

    • It seems that even Arclight is too. Well they are brothers AFTER ALL!!
      • This would also explain why he has whole squads of pretty little girls.
  • Looming Silhouette of Rage
  • Loophole Abuse: It's a commonly known fact that all Needless only have one ability. What is Adam Blade's ability? Copying the abilities of other Needless, allowing him to freely use them. And it's a loophole he gleefully abuses. As it turns out, Adam Arclight and Saten share the same ability
  • Lotus Eater Machine: Kuchinashi's Lilith Temptation.
  • Lovecraftian Superpower: Arclight, and Eve to a lesser extent.
  • Made of Iron: Adam Blade's bones are reinforced with metal. Needless in general seem to be more durable than the average human.
  • Magic A Is Magic A: It is an established plot point that all Needless have exactly one power, not more. Although Adam Blade, Adam Arclight, and Saten/Kyouji Kannazuki are kind of abusing a loophole with their Mega Manning ability.
  • Magic Skirt: Arca's Simeon costume comes with one. Probably Justified, as she doesn't seem to be wearing anything under it...
  • Make It Look Like an Accident: Chi's father's secretary engineers an train accident to kill Chi so he could inherit the position reserved for Chi.
  • Malaproper: Eve. Blade falls into too on occasion. Kuchinashi's Talking with Signs frequently includes a stricken homonym of whatever it is she's actually trying to say.
  • Mask Power: Arca, the fourth of Simeon's four strongest prior to The Reveal.
  • Master of Illusion: Uten's "Bermuda Apport" power allows him to make things invisible. It's a somewhat limited ability, but he uses it quite effectively. His clone has a stigmata and is now capable of making anything invisible.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Naraka is a girl with the power of bringing spirits from the underworld. Naraka is the sanskrit word for "underworld".
    • Vaitarani is a mythical river that lies between the earth and the infernal Naraka, the realm of Yama, Hindu god of death, according several Hindu religious texts. Krishna Vaitarani is the guardian spirit of a girl called Naraka, and he separated her from the rest of the world by slaughtering anyone who approached her.
  • Mega Manning: Adam Blade's Fragment "Zero" Overcomes the "one fragment, one power" restriction by allowing him to memorize other fragments. Adam Arclight has an even stronger version of this ability, "Positive Feedback Zero", and is using it to become unbelievably powerful. And then there's Saten...
  • Mind Control: Kurumi.
  • Mistaken for Gay: When Blade says he loves NEEDLESS, Momiji says he don't swings that way.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Eve.
  • Muggle Born of Mages: Kana have no powers despite her father being a NEEDLESS, though no mention is made of her mother.
  • My Name Is Not Durwood: Cruz (aka "Yamada") and Teruyama (aka "Uchida"), both conferred upon them by Eve. Both of them don't like it very much.
    • A flashback reveals that when Blade and Eve first met as children, she called him "Ishida".
  • Mood Whiplash: Everyone is worried when a holographic screen showing Adam Arclight appears on the sky, and right before he finishes introducing himself...the guy takes four naked girls to the head. Cue the "We're having technical problems" screen with a poorly-drawn cartoon rabbit and turtle with a very childish background before switching back to the ominous mood again. This is aided by the fact that Arclight wasn't used for humor up until that scene... nor after.
      • Should be noted that, when Arclight comes back online, his fist is covered with blood.
    • Done a lot more after that. There will be a dramatic moment... then suddenly it's comedy for a bit. Subverted after the flashback we get of Blade, Eve, Gido, Arclight, and even Kyouji's past, where humor disappears.
  • Near-Death Experience: Yamada had one, after he was sliced by his big sister Arca. The guys that were already dead even greets him "Welcome to Hell" and reserves a seat for him in their Mahjong table.
    • The anime gives Cruz a second one. This time, Blade pops up to give him some genuine words of encouragement for once.
  • The Nicknamer: Eve.
  • Nosebleed, Wingding Eyes: Blade + loli = this.
    • Kuchinashi the first time Cruz starts crossdressing.
  • One Steve Limit: There's both an Adam Blade and an Adam Arclight. Teruyama ends up mistaking one for the other.
    • To be fair, they are both clones of the Second, and he didn't have much information to go on.
  • Opening Narration: Every episode except the last five.
  • Otaku O'Clock
  • Pandaing to the Audience: Taeka seems to be obsessed with pandas, from spending a lot of money on a panda car to using panda panties.
  • Panty Shot: Several dozen an episode.
    • Subverted in the two flashbacks episodes 20 and 21 where there isn't a single one.Blade points it out in the preview.
    • Ever since Cruz started cross-dressing, he's gotten panty shots in droves, showing bulging junk and everything. Looks like the artist is a trap fetish.
  • Pervert Revenge Mode: Eve kicks Momiji in the had for bursting in the place where she is bathing completely naked. Mind you, he doesn't even notice Eve is there and is completely focused on Blade.
  • Playing with Fire: Momiji Teruyama, Arca Schild, and to a degree, Saten.
  • Power At a Price: Adam Neuschwanstein has an horrible memory thanks to her powers.
  • Power Copying: Adam Neuschwanstein's power, that includes also copying certain personality traits of a target.
  • Power Incontinence: Naraka has no control over the spirits that possess her as part of her NEEDLESS' power, and as result they kill every thing that approaches her.
  • Post Modernism: In spades.
  • Power Perversion Potential: Disk's Scan ability can gather information about anyone they might encounter. Blade's first question? "Can you give me girl's measurements?" It's used that way half-way through the series to "punish" Setsuna, Mio, and Kushinashi.
  • The Professor: Cool Old Guy Gidou.
  • Punny Name: "Kuchinashi" is the Japanese name of the gardenia flower. It also means "No-mouth".
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Many Needless gangs in the Black Spot are exactly this, as mentioned in Needless Zero. In the current manga arc, Yamada had to gather everyone -- from murderous living doll to serial killer drop-out to mad loli genius to a cyborg head to ward off an invasion by Simeone Clone Squad led by his sister.
  • Rape Is Love That Makes You Evil: Riru genuinely fell in love with Arclight after their first meeting... When he implanted Eden's Seeds into her in a Nightmare Fuel moment that looks suspiciously similar to tentacle rape...
  • Razor Floss: Kafka's "Kandatta String" ability. Blade and, later, Arclight are able to do this after memorizing the move. Of course, it usually winds up being The Worf Barrage.
  • Reality Ensues: What kind of energy drink have so much sugar and/or fat that each unit would have 5000 calories? Answer:one that failed commercially, actually is kind of gross and nasty, and had its deposit dumped on the Black Spots, that explains how Eve has access to it in the wasteland she lives.
  • Rearrange the Song: The Killer Girls Idol Singer trio that appears in episode 19 are singing a song that is, on closer inspection, a remixed version of the second ending theme.
  • Refuge in Audacity: Pretty much the genre.
  • Retirony: Lampshaded by Teruyama in the preview segment at the end of Episode 18.
  • Robot Girl: Disc the informant, who is technically a Hollywood Cyborg, but comes across more as this. This also makes her Really Seven Hundred Years Old (actually, only few decades older than she looks).
  • Rule of Cool: Overloaded with it.
  • Scars Are Forever: The doppleganger ability seems to leave no scars after healing any injury... on the anime, the manga shows it leaves scars, just ask Cruz.
  • Serial Killer: Averted with the NEEDLESS' killer. Turns out he was an experiment tasked with collecting the powers of NEEDLESS to create the "perfect magician.
  • Shinigami: Seto/Set.
  • Sickening Sweethearts: Chi and Eta, that clearly annoys the people around them.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Is it Disc or Disk? Arca or Aruka?
  • Spider Tank: Testaments.
  • Spiritual Successor: to S-Cry-ed.
  • Stripperiffic: Riru's outfits. Eve's normal attire also comes very, VERY close.
  • Super-Deformed: The second ending, which also features a Five Man Band Concert and more gratuitous fanservice shots.
  • Super-Hero School: Supervillain, St. Rose High School which is owned by Simeon to train its army of bishoujo Needless.
  • Super Move Portrait Attack: Including Combination Attacks.
  • Super Speed: Bishoujo Squad member Setsuna.
  • Surprisingly Good English: Every fragment/ability in the series is listed with Kanji and a good English equivalent.
  • Talking Is a Free Action: And for Kuchinashi, writing is, too
  • Talking with Signs: Kuchinashi. The anime is courteous enough to actually show her writing them half the time.
  • Testosterone Poisoning: Oh god.
  • There Are No Police: To extreme levels, The Black Spot has no known Law Enforcement Task Force and Police Units to speak of, it reaches Culture Shock later in the manga when Blade & Gang raids Tokyo, the presence of real police officers attempting to stop their raid manages to makes the team completely dumbfounded, with they living in The Black Spot since childhood, Blade and friends actually has never even heard of such concept to protect and serve before.
  • The Ditz: Eve Neuschwanstein combined with her inability to remember get into this trope.
  • Third Eye: Ashiki has the power to control spirits using a third eye.
  • This Is a Drill: Eve likes transforming her hands into drills.
  • Time Skip: Even before Imai Kami started working on Needless in a official magazine like Ultra Jump he had the whole storyline set in his mind years ago, back then he just wrote a few doujinshi stories and Needless 1.5 is one of them, Kami confirmed that the story is set 2 years after the current plotline; Needless 1.5 was collected officially in the Needless Zero volume which is filled with prequel - before the current Needless - stories after said "sometime" in the future chapter. The chapter itself doesn't explain much it just features a girl who looks a lot like Blade, her name is Adam Neuschwanstein and she lives with Eve in the same regular church, Blade is nowhere to be seem, the girl just fights a few Testaments and nothing really relevant happens. As Kami said the story is only set 2 years after the current Needless is hard to presume Adam Neuschwanstein's conection with Blade and Eve as she is shown to be around the same age as Eve in the current Needless, she might be a clone as she has Blade's collar and a fragment on her forehead, or a gender-bent Blade, or a daughter with an absurd growth spurt...
    • Also is in Kami's plans to continue Needless 1.5 after the current Needless is finished, on his blog he mounted an image despicting a time-line flow chart with the current Needless to Needless 1.5, according to him if everything goes well it will eventually lead to Needless 2 after the current manga is finished.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Eve's Super Derodoro Drink. Note that it's different from Super Dorodoro ("Muddy") Drink - which is probably the generic version or somesuch. The former contains 5000 kcal(!) per can; Eve needs much more than that to use her Doppelganger Fragment.
    • This is spoofed in episode 6, where she cockily challenges the Bishoujou Squad after downing a can... Only to find out that it's Derodoro Light, which contains no calories at all. As Eve herself puts it: "WHAT THE HELL'S THE POINT, THEN?!
  • The Tokyo Fireball: The birth of the Black Spot.
  • Too Much Information: After Taeka says Chi has tiny testicles, Eta says he definitively have not, disgusting the other females present to hear.
  • Troperiffic
  • Twinkle Smile: Blade in the first opening, while showing off his six-packs.
  • Unsound Effect: The most common is "dramatic" for when something dramatic happens or someone's just being overblown, but also "pleasant" used for punching someone in the face.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Blade. Yes that Blade. Gido wonders where he went wrong.
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: In the anime, the reason Arca joined Simeon was to create a paradise for all Needless.
  • Vapor Wear: Arca, whilst in her Simeon costume. Lampshaded by Cruz in the preview segment at the end of episode 17.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Eve's Doppelganger ability.
  • Waterfall Puke: When Blade and Momiji get a taste of Eve's Super Derodoro Drink.
  • Wave Motion Gun: Saten's power can be used for this, amongst other things.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: Yamada after the Eden's Piece massacre, due to him being on Simeon's wanted list.
  • World of Ham: In and out of battle. Eve's doppleganging gives the potential for every voice actor to get in on the fun, even for the more subdued characters.
  • World War III: In the backstory.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Eve and Setsuna.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Adam Arclight pulls one on ALL his followers in the anime Gecko Ending.