Riddle Story of Devil: Difference between revisions

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[Assassin Outclassin']]{{context}}

* [[The Clan]]: There are two assassin clans which have existed since ancient times: the Kuzunoha Clan of the West and the Azuma Clan of the East. Tokaku is the heiress of the Azuma Clan, {{spoiler|and Nio is the successor to the Kuzunoha, who adopted her as a little girl. There is also Haru's unnamed clan, which was really more of a [[The Man Behind the Man|Man Behind the Man]] [[Ancient Conspiracy]] that was quite possibly older than both of them.}}

* [[Deadly Graduation]]: The graduation itself was perfectly lovely. Cherry blossoms, singing, the whole shebang. It was how they got to where they were in the epilogue that made it "Deadly". {{spoiler|As revealed at the end of the series, Class Black is actually an elaborate [[Rite of Passage]] for Haru's clan, to test the "refinement" of her primer pheromone and see if she had what it took to be a queen bee. The test did not explicitly involve killing her best friend, but she did have to survive to graduate, and that meant she couldn't just roll over and let Tokaku kill her either.}} This conflict of interest had different endings between the anime and manga, corresponding with the different versions of Haru starring in them:

* [[Death Notification]]: [[Inverted]]. Each assassin gets 48 hours to kill Haru once they deliver their advanced notice, and if they fail to do so within the time allotted, they are immediately expelled from Class Black. {{spoiler|It becomes a plot point that there are not any rules pertaining to the exact nature of the notice except that it be delivered. Isuke uses that fact to her advantage by addressing her advanced notice as Banba's.}}

* [[Elaborate University High]]: Myōjō Private Academy integrates grades K through college into one major academic campus. The Grade 10 freshman year was divided into five classes: Class Blue, Class Green, Class Red, Class White and Class Yellow. The sixth and final class, Class Black, was only opened to enrollment at irregular intervals ranging anywhere from dozens of years apart to back-to-back.

* [[Hero Secret Service]]: Tokaku is single-handedly serving this role for Haru against eleven other trained assassins.

* [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]]: The episode titles are riddles texted to Tokaku by her psychology teacher from Private Academy 17, Kaiba.

{{quote|''"I chose the person with the worst judgment. Tokaku, your life isn't worth a damn to anybody!"''}}

* [[Knife Fight]]: Between Tokaku and Isuke, both in the [[Anime Theme Song|Opening Theme]] and when she makes her attempt on Haru's life.

* [[Psychological Thriller]]: '''''Akuma no Riddle''''' [[Deconstructed|deconstructs]] what sort of personalities and circumstances would be necessary for tropes like [[In Love with the Mark]] to function and explores the psychological implications of being a [[Hitman with a Heart]] and how a teenage girl becomes a [[Professional Killer]] in the first place.

* [[Pun-Based Title]]: The Japanese title is a pun on the ''[[w:Violin Sonata in G minor (Tartini)|Devil's Trill Sonata]]'' by [[w:Giuseppe Tartini|Giuseppe Tartini]].

* [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]]: [[YMMV]] on whether '''''Akuma no Riddle''''' was [[Ruined FOREVER|Ruined]] [[Sarcasm Mode|FOREVER]], but as a psychological thriller (which it ''was'' marketed as!), the anime adaption took a clear downward turn in quality, if only because of Haru's [[Character Derailment]]. In the original source material, Haru was a [[Badass Damsel]], and as one of the two main characters, her characterization has a ''huge'' impact on the plot. In the anime, her character was taken in a distinctly more [[Damsel in Distress]] direction, which required serious application of the [[Idiot Ball]] to justify without the story coming apart.

* [[Twelve-Episode Anime]]: Plus one [[Beach Episode]] [[OVA]] starring the complete cast, bringing the total to [[Baker's Dozen|thirteen]].

* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]: There are touchscreens ''everywhere''. Even in the shower! However, the same cannot be said of the setting from the source material, whose level of technology is only as advanced as "contemporary". And aside from Kaiba's riddle texts necessitating some form of IM technology, it has no real impact on the story. {{spoiler|If you don't count the fact that Sumireko is a [[Cyborg]], anyway.}}

 

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[[Category:Manga]]

[[Category:Anime]]

[[Category:Psychological Thriller]]

[[Category:Madman Entertainment]]

[[Category:Seven Seas Entertainment]]

[[Category:Twelve-Episode Anime]]

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