Kagerou: Difference between revisions

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{{tropelist}}

* [[Action Girl]]: Cho is a far more competent fighter than Kano. And now that she's got the magic weapon of one of the gods too...

* [[Art Evolution]]: And how!

* [[Art Shift]]: In the flashback sections in chapters 45 and 49.

** He attempts it again {{spoiler|on Fuuka}}. He's foiled again {{spoiler|by Kano}}. Violently.

* [[Back from the Dead]]: Part of Mindi's magic is that she can do this to others.

* [[Badass Longcoat]]: Red is quite pleased when he finds one stashed in Cho's closet. Despite expressing disdain for said coat, Kano has yet to get rid of it.

* [[Badass Princess]]: Fuuka's time in the Zones has resulted in her evolving into this, most notably through {{spoiler|fighting off the Karen Tentacle Monster with the Champion's Sword}}.

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Kano, if you're unlucky enough to get him angry.

* [[Big Beautiful Woman]]: Though not as extreme as some examples, Cho is intentionally drawn with a few extra pounds, and it doesn't diminish her hotness at all.

* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: Cho had one of these recently when saving the team from the zombies.

* [[Black Bug Room]]: Kano's mind seems to be composed primarily of them. The only section we've seen that isn't completely horrible (so far) is the warehouse room where Kid resides. And even that place has its problems.

* [[Blessed with Suck]]: Kano has awesome psychic powers! Only he can't use them (voluntarily) and they drove him batshit crazy. He could probably rule the world if he got around to it, but he's too busy ignoring the [[Hearing Voices|voices in his head]] (some of which are really there) and blacking out so his alternate personalities (all of whom, [[Telepathy|even the]] [[Cheerful Child|eight-year-old]], can use his [[Psychic Powers|tele-whatever]] better than he can), can save his life(/sanity)...and ruin it(/them) a little bit. Or a lot.

* [[Crowbar Combatant]]: {{spoiler|Kano, when he's beating Red.}}

* [[Cute Bruiser]]: Cho may barely hit 5 feet, but she will happily kick your ass from here to Sunday.

* [[Dead Little Sister]]: {{spoiler|Nadia, who was about a year younger than Kano}}.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Kano does it best, when he's not being [[Snark Bait]].

* [[Enemy Without]]: {{spoiler|Red/James}} also manifests this trope elegantly when he is able to manifest a more or less physical form after {{spoiler|Tcaolin "fed him some souls".}}

* [[Everything's Better with Princesses]]: Princess Tonbo, who looks a lot like someone Kano used to know... from a mental hospital. The "everything's better" part is also subverted in that Tonbo was raised to be Tcaolin's [[Soul Jar]] and wasn't even allowed to use her hands, and if she does merge with Tcaolin she essentially dies. [[Word of God]] is that Tonbo is, in part, based on Anthy from ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'', which similarly deconstructs princess tropes.

* [[The Exile]]: Formerly Cho, who caused too much trouble among the Old Ones and was kicked out, residing in the slums of Ir. Currently the nick, more or less self-inflicted, and also resulting in a new residence in the gutter.

* [[Eyeless Face]]: Dee. She used to have eyes, but apparently misplaced them somewhere.

* [[The Fair Folk]]: Fae in Gray World are severely persecuted by humans, and treated as third-class citizens. Everyone thinks of them as thieves and tricksters, a stereotype the nick... plays into perfectly happily. Whoops.

* [[Fantastic Romance]]: {{spoiler|We seem to be heading towards Kano and Cho having one.}}

* [[Foreshadowing]]: Quite frequently.

* [[The Fool]]: Kano fits a few aspects of this trope, especially in his initial bumble through Gray World. [[Averted Trope|Averts]] [[Karmic Protection|others]] [[Born Lucky|pain]][[Born Unlucky|fully.]]

* [[Freudian Excuse]]: [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]] by {{spoiler|Red when Dark writes the names of all his victims on his prison walls.}}

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Red'''}}:You want a movie of the week sob story about why I turned out the way I did, or should I just say I was born like this and can't help it?}}

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Red has made several jabs at the plot, mentioning once that it sounds like a "really bad anime."

* [[Ghost in the Machine]]: Kano's [[Split Personality|personalities]] all exist with semblances of physical forms in his [[Mental World]], disappearing from it and taking over in the real world when they're "driving".

* [[Good People Have Good Sex]]: The nick and the Princess. Whenever they can.

* [[Good Wings, Evil Wings]]: Dark was meant to be a sort of guardian angel/older brother to Kid, and had fluffy red wings. When the functioning disorder of Kano's [[Mental World]] was disrupted, they rotted off and were replaced by wings basically made of darkness, or as the author says "pure oh shit run away." When they show up, [[Oh Crap|you're in trouble.]]

* [[Green Around the Gills]]: Kano turns a pretty sickly shade after being stabbed in the stomach by Dee's [[Poisoned Weapon|poisoned]] [[Femme Fatalons]].

* [[Green Eyed Red Head]]: Kano, normally. Whether or not that's his natural eye color is sort of [[Shrug of God|muddled]], but the [[Fiery Redhead|fire imagery]] of the hair is [[Word of God|definitely]] intentional, though Kano [[Inverted Trope|cannot usually be described as passionate]].

* [[Hair of Gold]]: Kid has the blondest hair out of all Kano's alternate personalities.

* [[Hammerspace]]: Justified in-world by the presence of Grims, a floating talking cloud, who seems to serve no purpose in the story other than to carry around the characters' changes of clothes and Kano's sword.

* [[Happily Married]]: Moko and Kail.

* [[Hates Being Touched]]: Kano, oh so very much.

* [[Hearing Voices]]: Kano does regularly, though we're not shown this until quite a few chapters in.

* [[I Have the High Ground]]: Oh, nick.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: Red does this frequently.

* [[Kindhearted Cat Lover]]: Dee resides in a self-described but otherwise unelaborated "safe home with cats"<ref>which likely doesn't make her a [[Crazy Cat Lady]]</ref>.

* [[The Lancer]]: The nick fits this rather well.

* [[Lady of War]]: Starless. Graceful, poised, dignified, scholarly, crushed a guy's head into gooey bone chips with her staff in one blow. Didn't ruffle her clothes doing so. [[Word of God|On Gray World, the clergy doesn't fuck around.]]

* [[Living Toys]]: [[What If|If]] title villain Kagerou hadn't been an evil aspiring god, he would have been a [[Word of God|toymaker]]. Most of his [[Mooks|henchmen]] are creepy, deformed living dolls.

* [[Locked Out of the Loop]]: For most of the comic, Kano is unaware of his other personalities, though he's slowly figuring it out. Dark's entire purpose is to keep Kano from remembering a bunch of things about his past.

* [[Magical Land]]: Grey World.

* [[Mad Eye]]: Kano's pupils are often drastically different sizes. Kid has it too, inside Kano's head.

* [[Mind Rape]]: Poor, poor Kano...

* [[Mind Screw]]: And ''how.''

* [[Mismatched Eyes]]: Moko.

** Kano and Kid's unevenly-dilated-pupil-thing isn't a true example, but resembles it.

* [[Mood Dissonance]]: Look at all the pretty colors! Even the blood... and gore... is... nice and vivid... dear god.

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: During the middle of an intense fight between Monster and Kano... we cut to a chibi Monty Python reference and an apologetic note from the author. At the time it was a semi-joke page to cover for an extended hiatus, but in an archive read it... feels very out of place.

** [[Mysterious Parent|Cho's mother]] is said to have died "[[Cryptic Conversation|of the age]]," when it is unheard of for an [[Immortality|Old One]] to die.

* [[Mysterious Watcher|Mysterious Pursuer]]: Upon his introduction the nick was a shadowy, darting silhouette pursuing the heroes' pursuit, taking [[Mysterious Employer|mysterious orders.]]

* [[Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant]]: Dark appears to be fond of introducing himself by [[Neural Implanting|implanting]] traumatic memories in people's minds. When they come to screaming, he will smile blankly.<ref>When asked to describe Dark's idea of a romantic date, the author said, "He takes you to see his morgue, then you go away. May involve exchange of traumatic flashbacks via psychic interface and/or [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|flowers."]]</ref>

* [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]]: {{spoiler|Kano's [[Unstoppable Rage]] moment, which manages to instill a strange mixture of triumph and pure horror in readers.}}

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Dee's childish quirks mask the true expanse of her insight and power, which are vast.

{{quote|'''Tcaolin:''' Little Dee, playing the madwoman and laughing at everyone from behind her veil.}}

* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: Father Kwellar.

* [[Only Known by Their Nickname]]: Red, Kid, and a few others.

* [[Our Gods Are Greater]]: In Grey World, gods are are normal beings who [[Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence]] ([[Animal Motifs|a tree, a spider, a dragon, a fox]]). Others can ascend similarly through a corrupt version of this process, through collecting [[Our Souls Are Different|souls]]: [[Big Bad|Two]] have tried this so far. Every person is born affiliated with one of the gods in a life-steering capacity, and gods' existences are reflected in the stars, which mold fate a bit. Each god represents certain aspects (such as [[Anthropomorphic Personification|wisdom, dreams, or the destiny to change the world]]) which they seem to have some [[Elemental Powers|functional influence]] over and are probably tied into on a worldwide scale to some extent.

* [[Our Souls Are Different]]: Tcaolin gets power by absorbing the souls of humans; their abandoned bodies then become [[Our Zombies Are Different|zombies]]. Kano's mind is sort of like a [[Soul Jar|vacuum]] for any soul that isn't tied down. In Gray World, people's souls can leave their bodies at will, but if they stay away too long they become [[Face Heel Turn|demons]]. Part of Tonbo's soul is currently [[Living Memory|existing independently]] of her otherwise functional self, and they're evolving into separate characters. Souls function in other mysterious ways as well in the Kagerou universe.

* [[Pals with Jesus]]: Dee is positively tickled by the occasional chat and it's not unusual for the gods to stop by and chat.

* [[Perpetual Molt]]: Originally [[Inverted Trope|seems to be the case]] with Dark's wings in a flashback, but it [[Justified Trope|turns out]] they were [[Evil Makeover|rotting off entirely]] at the time.

* [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]: Red's eyes are, well, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|red]]. Did we mention he's a sadistic serial killer?

* [[Sanity Slippage]]

* [[Schedule Slip]]: Unfortunately, our beloved author isn't very consistent with updates. This is somewhat forgivable, due to the author not exactly having the most comfortable lifestyle.

* [[Screw Destiny]]: The nick quite openly turns his back on his role as Tcaolin's Champion to save Tonbo. Red seems to have taken his place in that role, somehow.

* [[Series Hiatus]]: Kagerou has gone on a few of these over the years, often over the summer (aka Con Season).

* [[Sexy Discretion Shot]]: The nick and Tonbo are not always appropriate for the common viewer, but we hope you enjoy their partial silhouettes while you wait.

* [[Speech Bubbles]]: While everyone sticks to the same font in bubbles, their font color changes. Quite a few characters who communicate without speech bubbles (Dark comes to mind) have rather creepier fonts. This is often one of the only ways you can tell who's talking, and who's in control of Kano's body.

* [[Spell My Name with an "S"]]: Not even the author is sure if it's spelled Gray World or Grey World.

** {{spoiler|And by that we mean they mate like rabbits.}}

* [[The Stoic]]: Starless. Cool and calm, we have yet to see her fazed. By ''[[Jerkass Gods|any]][[Zombie Apocalypse|thing]]''.

* [[Summon Everyman Hero]]: The premise is a deconstruction of this trope. Not only is Kano a ''breathtakingly'' screwed-up hero, the summoning process itself has been used for a long time to enable a deeply unpleasant sacrifice.

* [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]: Red, who has an excellent grasp on the magic Kano possesses but doesn't seem to know how to use; the most Kano seems capable of is making lights flicker out. Kid seems to control a different part of Kano's powers than Red and Dark appears capable of controlling them completely but has a shaky grasp on them due to his current state - though Dark's not evil so much as...confused.

'''[[The Stoic|Starless]]:''' {{color|#5E5A80|Indeed.}}

'''Kano:''' {{color|#348017|...I got better.}} }}

* [[Unstoppable Rage]]: {{spoiler|Kano, when Red attempts to rape Fuuka.}}

* [[Verbal Tic]]: Kano has used "we" interchangeably with "I" most of his life, as well as other plural conventions when referring to himself. (He doesn't notice, because he's crazy.) Cho, who reacts to this with some condescension, has speech including hints of Middle English — Ye, aye, and the like.

* [[Wholesome Crossdresser]]: Heyoka.

* [[Winged Humanoid]]: Cho. She can grow wings, and even change their color to match her outfit. Certain other Old Ones fit this as well, as do other residents of Gray World. [[The Lancer|The nick]] is a Fey, an entire species with gossamer wings (supposedly--they are [[Word of God|very withdrawn]] and we have only seen the nick as he has been cast out. Of another sort is Dark, whose wings are a psychic construction and ''probably'' don't actually function for flight.

* [[Word of God]]: The author enjoys throwing readers a bone by revealing trivial (yet entertaining) information about various characters, including their favorite foods, what their voices sound like, and what kind of underwear they prefer.