Tactics
A manga and anime series by Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama following a spiritually sensitive folklorist (did we mention he's an exorcist? And has a scar and bells that throb/ring anytime anything evil comes around?), his enthralled servant fox Yoko, a bratty little girl who's in love with the fourth member, a demon eating goblin/tengu who has been named 'Haruka', and their...various escapades all throughout demon country, until the major Genre Shift in the anime kicks in and everything gets a whole lot depressing.
The anime is produced by Studio Deen.
Not to be confused with Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, or other strategy games.
Tactics provides examples of:
- A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted: Somehow, Kantarou's newly earned cash always runs out quickly...
- A God Am I: Kantarou gets like this when a religion is devoted to him. Turns out he's just putting it on for show to make his Batman Gambit work.
- Ahoge: Kantarou has one, although it's curled and isn't very noticeable.
- Anti Gravity Clothing
- Anyone Can Die: In the anime, at least.
- Ax Crazy: Haruka, when he feels another youkai disrespects him.
- The Barnum: Yoko.
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(talking about Haruka)"He's so...pretty. Maybe I can whore him out!" |
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- Bad Boss: Kanatarou. To again quote Yoko on this:
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"Welcome to hell, Haruka-chan. Even a badass like you will crumble under that guy." |
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- Batman Gambit: Kantarou is quite good at these...
- Bishounen: Hooo boy... Where to start?
- Kantaro and Sugino probably take the cake, though - If it weren't for their voices, they could easily be mistaken for girls.
- Even Kantaro's voice could be mistaken as a girl's, if he tries hard enough. See episode 4.
- Berserk Button: Do NOT try to take Haruka's rice bowl.
- Biting the Handkerchief: Well, biting his robes; Sugino does this when he sees Muu-chan clinging to Kantaro.
- Bleached Underpants: Kinoshita and Higashiyama are also a doujin duo that have notably done Yaoi based off the series.
- Bob Haircut: Youko.
- Bratty Half Pint: Suzu could classify, depending on character interpretation.
- Bunny Ears Lawyer: Kantarou.
- Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Done with Miyabi's death.
- Chick Magnet: Haruka. There's even a hilarious sound effect played when another girl falls for him.
- Crouching Moron Hidden Badass: Kantarou.
- Deadpan Snarker: Haruka.
- Dude Where's My Reward: Frequently, seeing as Kantarou is a grade-A money grubber.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Rosalie
- Emotionless Girl: What Rosalie appears to be at first.
- Expy: Kantaro and Suzu look like adult Loki and Reiya from Matantei Loki Ragnarok. Of course, since Sakura Kinoshita is the artist, it's hardly surprising.
- Fan Girl: Basically every female character on the show, save for Yoko is like this towards Haruka.
- Fan Service: Female fanservice at that.
- Festival Episode
- Gender Blender Name: When Kantarou names Haruka, he specifically states that his name is to be spelled with the kanji for "spring flowers." (As Haruka can be alternately said as "being distant")
- Genre Shift
- Glamour Failure: Despite being humanized by Kantarou, Haruka is a powerful youkai.
- Hey Its That Voice: Nana Mizuki voices Suzu, Tomoko Kawakami voices Yoko and Sakupyon voices Haruka.
- I Know Your True Name
- I See Dead People
- I'm a Humanitarian: Haruka is a demon-eater, so...
- I'm Taking Her Home With Me: Kantarou can get like this with certain youkai...
- Improbable Weapon User Averted. Kantarou uses scrolls and beads and such, but then you realize he is an exorcist.
- Ill Girl: Miyabi, and later on Suzu.
- It Was All Just a Dream: Episode 15.
- Jerkass: Hasumi.
- Large Ham: Kantarou, hoo boy Kantarou...
- Let's You and Him Fight
- Miko Kantarou dresses like one.
- Meaningful Name: Youko's entire name is Kantarou's way of making an Incredibly Lame Pun: Youko is also the name of a type of fox demon, which is what Youko actually is, she is a youko named "Youko", a play on the female name Youko/Yoko.
- Meido Yoko, though her outfit is a rather odd combination of a traditional kimono and French maid apron.
- Obake
- Older Than They Look: All of the youkai, obviously, but also our White Haired Pretty Boy. At first glance, you think Kantaro must be eighteen-years-old, nineteen at most. But then you read volume three and learn that Hasumi is actually his underclassman, and one has to wonder just how old the money-grubbing priest really is...
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Haruka: Underclassman? How old does that make Kantarou? |
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- Only Sane Man: Despite being the show's resident Barnum, Yoko seems to be the one with the most amount of sense in her...
- Parental Obliviousness: Hasumi doesn't really seem to get that Rosalie can hold her own.
- Powers Via Possession: Rosalie.
- Plunder
- Purple Eyes: Suzu.
- Psycho Lesbian / Yandere: The yuki-onna in the first episode (When she's possessed by an aradama, anyway.)
- Rapunzel Hair: Sugino; his hair goes at least down to his butt.
- Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Haruka.
- Red Eyes Take Warning. Subverted. Kantarou is the only one who has them, and he's one of the only humans.
- Refuge in Audacity: Used in the earlier parts of the storyline, before it went for a startling Genre Shift.
- Second Law of Metafictional Thermodynamics: Suzu, it would seem.
- Shallow Love Interest
- Shirtless Scene: Both Kantarou and Haruka get one in episode 3. Granted, it was the Hot Springs Episode, so it's to be expected.
- Shout Out: Episode 15, in which the main characters are drawn to the house of a former friend of Suzu's, in rural Japan, everyone gets picked off one by one, Suzu goes bonkers, at the end it turns out it was all just Suzu's hallucination...and the episode title is called "The Fading Song of Summer Cicadas."
- Sitting On the Roof
- Ten Minute Retirement: Yoko.
- Tsundere: Yoko
- White Haired Pretty Boy
- Youkai