Wolverine (anime)

Beginning in early 2011 as the second of four Marvel Comics series produced by anime studio Madhouse, Wolverine follows Logan's journey to Japan in search of his lost love, Mariko Yashida. As it turns out, Mariko's father, Shingen Yashida, is the head of the criminal organization known as Kuzuryu (Nine Dragons) and intends to marry her off to cement an alliance with Hideki Kurohagi, leader of the tiny island nation of Madripoor.

After trying and failing to rescue Mariko from her father's clutches, Logan is joined by Yukio, the daughter of an assassin who was killed by Shingen, and is now seeking vengeance. Together, they follow Shingen and Mariko to Madripoor where the wedding is to take place.

Tropes used in Wolverine (anime) include:

Absolute Cleavage: Yukio's attire.
Action Girl: Yukio. It's In the Blood.
Bad Boss: Hideki. He shoots one of his own henchmen with a horrifyingly lethal nerve toxin for no other reason than to demonstrate its effects.
Body Horror: Happens whenever Hideki's AIM-designed nerve toxin shows up.
Badass Adorable: Min
Badass Grandpa: Koh, who was the chief rival of Hideki's father for control of Madripoor back in the day. He's still quite dangerous. And is Yukio's actual grandfather.
Badass in Distress: Yukio for most of episode 8.
Badass Normal: Shingen. Yukio to a lesser extent.
Battle Couple: Yukio's parents.
Cameo: Cyclops shows up to give Logan a ride in episodes 5 and 6.
Charles Atlas Superpower: Shingen Yashida, an elderly, unpowered Yakuza boss who is, by a considerable margin, Wolverine's most dangerous opponent in the entire series, and doesn't even have to go all Combat Pragmatist to accomplish this. Although he's not above a little bit of pragmatism here and there.
Darker and Edgier: Wolverine racks up a bigger body count in the first episode alone than Tony Stark did in his entire series.
Diabolus Ex Machina: Hideki's pistol going off when Logan tackled him in a manner that just happened to fatally wound Mariko.
Dirty Coward: Hideki, in spades.
Downer Ending: After all the fighting and deaths of many characters, Mariko died in the end.
- See also Doomed by Canon.
Easily Forgiven: Yukio, for killing Logan's friend. Possibly justified, though, as Logan saw she was truly remorseful for it, and she was dying anyway.
Evil Counterpart: Kikyo to Logan. Just as Wolvie's an Anti-Hero, though, so is his Japanese rival an Anti-Villain.
Evil Is One Big Happy Family: Very much averted by the bandits on either side of Hell Road. Once Logan and Yukio clear out a section's traps, the first thing they do is start attacking each other.
Friend on the Force: Asano, Wolverine's contact with the Japanese police.
Good Thing You Can Heal: Naturally.
Hammerspace: Where Yukio must have pulled the truly ludicrous number of kunai from in episode 11, given that her outfit doesn't allow for Victoria's Secret Compartment.
Hoist by His Own Petard: In the end, Hideki is killed by a dose of the same poison he shot Wolverine with, and which it's implied he used against his own father.
Honor Before Reason: While dueling Logan, Shingen insists on a fair one-on-one match, even though he apparently has no way of countering Logan's Healing Factor.
- Although in his rematch in the finale, he does wear a suit of armor.
Instrumental Theme Tune: Much like the Iron Man anime.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As ever, Wolverine.
Kill'Em All: With the exception of Kikyo and Logan himself every character that had some revelance to the plot is dead by the end.
Leeroy Jenkins: Everyone living on Madripoor. It actually gets rather amusing after a while.
Little Miss Badass: Min, who will knife you in the face. And if that doesn't work, will shove a steam pipe in your eye with her bare hands, then laugh off the burns she gets from it.
Mighty Glacier: The Vadhaka.
Names to Know in Anime:
- Rikiya Koyama as Logan/Wolverine
- Fumiko Orikasa as Mariko Yashida
- Hidekatsu Shibata as Shingen Yashida
- Romi Paku as Yukio
- Kazuki Yao as Hideki Kurohagi
- Masaki Terasoma as Tesshin Asano
- Ryuzaburo Ohtomo as Arkady Rossovich/Omega Red
- Toshiyuki Morikawa in a cameo role as Scott Summers/Cyclops, and will voice him again in the upcoming X-Men anime.
The Neutral Zone: Hell Road is a narrow buffer between two of Madripoor's rival ethnic groups, and is loaded with traps by both sides to keep the other at bay.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Omega Red, the result of a Soviet project to turn a Serial Killer into an undead cyborg superweapon.
Noble Demon: Kikyo, an assassin with a strict code of honour.
Pet the Dog: Kikyo hates anybody who attacks an unarmed person or otherwise can't fight back.
Properly Paranoid: Even though she's chained securely, Hideki makes sure to check in on Yukio. This gives the opportunity to shoot her in the back before she can slaughter the mooks guarding her.
- And again in the finale after shooting Logan with a nerve-toxin dart, he figures he'd better decapitate Logan while he can, in case his Healing Factor saves him. It does.
Posthumous Character: Kurohagi Juo and Yukio's parents all contribute heavily to the motivations of most of the living characters.
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Yukio and Mariko. The opening plays up their physical similarity.
Razor Wind: Both Shingen and Kikyo can summon it with their swords as one of their most devastating attacks.
Revenge Before Reason: Koh. He eventually gets over it.
Sacrificial Lion: Poor Min...
Samurai: Shingen and Kikyo are both absolutely in love with the samurai style.
Self-Made Orphan: Hideki, though he insists it was pre-emptive self-defence.
Serial Killer: Arkady Rossovich, before he became Omega Red.
Shallow Love Interest: It's remarkable how few alterations they would have had to make to the plot were Mariko replaced with an inanimate MacGuffin.
Sissy Villain: Hideki
Skyward Scream
Smug Snake: Hideki
Soft Water: In the finale. Made even more ridiculous in that both of them just keep fighting, even though one of them has a metal skeleton and the other is wearing a full suit of chainmail.
Stuffed Into the Fridge: Invoked by Yukio, who killed Asano in order to further incense Logan against Shingen.
Tempting Fate: Logan, you really shouldn't have told Shingen that it was impossible to cut someone's head off with karate...
The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Omega Red, Shingen, and Kikyo toward Wolverine.
The Password Is Always Swordfish: The voice-activated password to Logan's handheld computer is simply his name. Yukio reacts accordingly.
Training from Hell: What Yukio was put through as a child by her grandfather.
Twelve-Episode Anime
Urban Segregation: Madripoor is split into two sections. Lowtown is the poor, filthy slum area, and Hightown is the clean, modern area where the rich people live. The only thing in common between the two sides is that they're both completely populated by criminals.
Wretched Hive: Madripoor
You Killed My Parents: Why Yukio wants Shingen dead.