Taboo Tattoo
Taboo Tattoo is a Fighting Series by Shinjirou about a boy who is given an odd tattoo on his palm by an old man whom he saves from a thug. Not long after he's got it, he meets a mysterious girl, who punches him in the face, and later steals his phone. Running after her gets him more than he bargained for, though, and he ends up drawn into the beginning of what might be the start of international war...
The series ran for 77 chapters between 2009 and 2017 on Media Factory's Monthly Comic Alive, a Seinen magazine.
Tropes used in Taboo Tattoo include:
- Achilles' Heel: Hala's power to deflect any physical attacks coming towards her has the little flaw that she still needs air to breathe, making her vulnerable to poison gas and flames(which consume oxygen), similar to the Nemean Lion.
- A God Am I: Hala goes on a speech during Chapter 51 saying that the Reality Warper powers that Crests given to people will lead in its maximum level to the wielder becoming a God.
- Alternate History: After World War II, a new kingdom emerged and quickly became a super power. It's called the Kingdom of Selinistan
- Badass Normal: Even before getting or activating his Spell Crest, Seigi was beating up thugs on the street and exchanging blows with Sheilds, though not very well in the latter.
- Bloody Murder: Invoked. Tom and Lizze tell Seigi that blood is his activation key, hough this is a lie.
- Bullying a Dragon: The unnamed president of the U.S. dares Arya to erase the White House after she says she can erase any location she wants in chapter 45. It gets him killed in five seconds.
- Cyborg: Izzie's left arm is a prosthetic that works as well as an original that can get people fooled.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Syunya's answer to two guys wanting to have sex with her in Chapter 46 is to attempt to kill them.
- Eagleland: Big emphasis on Type 2. Americans are more or less portrayed as war-hawks who dive needlessly in battle and get themselves killed or at best have their plans fails because of such hot-bloodedness, and then blame the political leaders who they pressure into going to war.
- Grey and Grey Morality: No side seems to be good, though admittedly that's through lack of information.
- Hostage Situation: Chapters 49 and 50 involves Wiseman being taken hostage by Syunya so she can attract Seigi to a fight. Syunya knows Wiseman is an important person but don't knows he is someone who harmed her family.
- Impaled With Extreme Prejudice: Seigi is discovered by Izzie to have been impaled with several spikes by the end of Chapter 41.
- Les Yay:
- Mood Whiplash: Taboo Tattoo has the frightening tendency to go from happy go lucky romantic comedy to bloody carnage in the space of a chapter.
- New Transfer Student: Lizzie.
- Nipple And Dimed: Despite being a Seinen manga, it still falls short of showing nipples of female characters.
- Nuke'Em: After being repeatedly pressured by his political advisors to do it, the former vice-president, now american president attacks the Kingdom with nukes in Chapter 47. It hilariously fails(the antagonists were of course already prepared to defend themselves against that), and as answer they kill people on top of skyscrapers on New York.
- Older Than They Look
- Only the Chosen May Wield: The Keyless Crest Seal must be controlled out of an altruist will.
- Panty Shot
- Patient Childhood Love Interest
- Pettanko: Izzie's bust size is only 72 centimetres, but she looks mature otherwise.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: In Chapter 43, Wiseman uses Izzie's sisters as battery to power her up to a point she becomes a beast in equal power to the Princess.
- Reality Warper: Hala explains in Chapter 51 that all Crests do it on a small scale, but the final objective of the Kingdom is to do it in such a massive scale that all reality will be manipulated by them.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something
- Shower Scene: Chapter 48 features Syunya bathing and her naked body.
- Sphere of Destruction: Void Maker
- Super Empowering: Spell Crests, apart from granting a unique special ability, also boost the person's physical abilities in a variety of ways:
- Super Reflexes: Syunya has been genetically enhanced to have those powers, independently of crests, as revealed in Chapter 48.
- Taking You With Me: Sanders' plan to get rid of the Princess is to blow up a nuke nearby, while all of his personnel and him are still around. The princess disarms the nuke when he finally presses the button in Chapter 43.
- The Reason You Suck Speech: Izzie goes in two separate ones at Chapter 53, the first calling out Hala on her and her sisters' isolation of the world and the second saying there were people who cared about her and her sisters.
- Token Loli: Syunya is the smallest and the most flat-chested of her sisters. She calls pedophiles men who makes advances on her in Chapter 45 and Seigi says her way of acting reminds him of a small animal in Chapter 46.
- Tsundere: Lizzie simulates that behaviour in Chapter 42, saying Tom loves it.
- Tragic Keepsake: Lizzie gives to Seigi beads that belonged to Touko in a flashback in chapter 39.
- Training from Hell: Seighi's grandfather.
- Transformation Trinket: Spell Crest's need specific materials to activeate. The material needed seems to be unique to each Spell Crest.
- Wager Slave
- White-Haired Pretty Girl: Izzie.
- Who Wears Short Shorts?: Syunya is seen wearing short shorts in Chapter 46.
- Wrong Genre Savvy:
- Utopia Justifies The Means: The Princess sees her actions in such manner, allowing her to control the keyless crest seal.
- Yandere