Barajou no Kiss
Title Translation: Kiss of the Rose Princess
So you think your father is a manipulative bastard out to ruin your life? Anise Yamamoto would like to compare notes if you wouldn't mind.
First her father straps her with a choker that won't come off and he claims is a amulet of protection. When said choker finally does come off (through no efforts of her own) she finds herself saddled with four teenage boys calling themselves her 'Rose Knights,' who use her blood to fuel their magic, a vague prophecy of doom, and then her father decides to come home.
Anise can summon the boys via color coded cards and order them to do her bidding. They must do what she says or get beaten with rose thorns. Downside to having a quartet of hot guys who have to do your bidding or face rose thorns of doom is that said magic is powered off her blood. (This is strongly implied to be the only reason Anise doesn't run around trying to take over the world.) Her father is trying to replicate the Rose Contracts for reasons unknown and likes to mess with Anise's head on the side.
This would be your bog standard Shoujo manga except for the Author's fondness for subverting, inverting, and genderflipping Shoujo norms.
- Angst Coma: Mutsuki, having spent years in sleep, suffers amnesia after killing his older brother. Averted as he collapsed before actually killing him.
- Archnemesis Dad: Pity poor Anise, not only is her father the school doctor, he is literally out to ruin her life in the most sadistic ways possible.
- Artificial Human: Seiran. He looks like a teenage bishie. He's actually a three-year-old homonculus.
- Always Save the Girl: Subverted as the Rose Knights are forced to do this by their Magically-Binding Contract.
- Gender Flipped with Anise and her knights because when they are in trouble she'll ignore everything else to save them.
- Badass Longcoat: Mutsuki and Tenjou are really fond of these. Though all the boys except Kaede gets in on the action at least once.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Kaede and Anise.
- Bishie Sparkle: Tenjou does this all the time.
- Breakout Character: Mutsuki.
- Calling Your Attacks: Tenjou loves to do this.
- And Anise loves to lampshade it.
- Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: Inverted as the only one that Tenjou is perverted around is Anise.
- Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Occasionally Lampshaded.
- Cavalry Betrayal: Mutsuki, joined his brother who is with the Villains. Averted as Mutsuki and Tenjoh were The Chessmaster planning to know the location of the machine.
- Clingy MacGuffin: The cards... won't... go... away...
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The Knights. The color of their rose matchs with their hairs.
- Creepy Child: Seiran. Don't believe me? In one chapter, he whips up a high end explosive in about 3 seconds, and detonates it with a smile on his face. He has apparently been using hallucinogens on Kaede for years, admits to trying to dose Anis with a love potion, carries around an acid strong enough to melt steel, and his medicines, although effective, are so horrific that they make there drinker's "See Hell", according to Kaede.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Anise. So, so much.
- Badass Damsel: Yamamoto Anis will not take any of these dimension warping shenanigans sitting down, thank you very much! She may have just been informed that her father intends to sacrifice her to a seal of unknown demonic origin and otherwise make her life hell, but she is not going to just sit around and mope. No. She is going to kick her Knights' collective asses into gear. And you will obey or you will get the rose thorns of doom.
- Cross-Popping Veins: Anise gets these pretty much any time she has to deal with Tenjou for an extended period of time. Or whenever Kaede talks back to her, which is often.
- Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday
- Dark Magical Girl: Domina Galactica
- Deadpan Snarker: Mutsuki has plenty of those moments, but he's really a Kuudere
- Decoy Protagonist: Is it the red or black knight? The Word of God has given immense Backstory and Character Development to only one of the knights.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Gender Flipped with Mutsuki
- Dying Declaration of Love: Haruto does this with Anise... averted though because he doesn't actually die. He just gets teleported to China. Yeah I don't know either.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Tenjou is shown having a horde of adoring fans of both genders. His vice president is rather, ah, devoted.
- Female Gaze: This was not a manga written with boys in mind.
- First Girl Wins: Gender Flipped. Punishment 40 reveals that Kaede won the Love Dodecahedron.
- Follow in My Footsteps: Yocteau, Mutsuki's older brother, wants him to do what he failed in doing..
- Gotta Catch Them All: The Arcana Cards.
- Hot Dad: Much to Anise's extreme frustration most of her school considers her father this. The fact that he's also the Big Bad just adds to her consternation.
- Ho Yay: Mutsuki and Tenjou. The hints are definitely there.
- Idiot Hero: Anise is this straight up.
- I Have Many Names: The knights are given a variety of names like: xx Rose, Knight of the xx Rose, xx Knight.
- Kaede gives an extra to Mutsuki by simply calling him "Black"
- Mutsuki's original name is Quess
- Love Dodecahedron:
- Love Triangle: Despite the number of suitors, the main love triangle is between Anise, Kaede & Mutsuki.
- Luminescent Blush: Anise is prone to this.
- Magic Contract Romance: Anise and her Rose Knights. Not that she wants a "until the end of time" romance with any of them.
- Magical Girl: Anise, duh.
- Magic Idol Singer: Gender Flipped with Suzumura Idel and Hasuzaki Yakoh.
- Mentor Mascot: Ninufa is a surprisingly creepy one
- Mr. Exposition: Thank you Narumi without you we would probably never know what the hell was going on.
- Not Quite Dead: Mutsuki killed his brother; however, 200 years later, and he's back via Functional Magic.
- Oblivious to Love: Dear Anise, can't you see the knight's infatuation with you?
- Official Couple: Though the manga ended in an abrupt rush, Kaede x Anise is pretty much official.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Mutsuki isn't a Vampire, he's a Dark Stalker. Oh.
- Plucky Girl: Anise again.
- Power Incontinence: Hasuzaki Yakoh can control fragrances in hypnotic quantities, but when he gets exhausted he'll start feeling the effects of his own hypnosis.
- Protectorate: Anise for her Rose Knights.
- Prince Charming Wannabe: Oh, Tenjou, it works with everybody else except Anise, huh?
- Red String of Fate: Or rose vines of fate in this case.
- Rose-Haired Girl: Anise
- Royal Blood: Mutsuki, who's apparently a prince.
- Sacred First Kiss: Kaede's was stolen by Mikage, aka Domina Galactica; Anise's was stolen by Mutsuki during the pageant. Averted since Anise decides that her first kiss was with Ninufa when they first met ala faceplant
- Say It with Hearts: If Anise is suddenly spouting hearts in her sentences just do whatever the heck it is she wants or face rose thorns of doom.
- School Festival: An entire two chapters worth.
- Yet no maid outfit for Anise
- Had to wait until Mutsuki sprun his Instant Cosplay Surprise on Anise for that.
- Yet no maid outfit for Anise
- Shipper on Deck: Seiran does this for Kaede and Anise, even though he admits to being in love with her.
- Tenjou does it for Domina Galactica and Anise
- Shrines and Temples: Kaede lives in a Shinto Shrine, Tenjou lives in a Church, Mutsuki lives in the Church's basement. Are we sensing a theme yet?
- Spell My Name with an "S": Anise?, Anis??, Agnes?!?! Who the hell even knows.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Mutsuki. Everything that's vital to the plot gets revealed. Heck, the fandom even finds out where he sleeps.
- Student Council President: Tenjou
- Super-Deformed: When extremely stressed Anise will do this
- That Came Out Wrong: Lampshaded by Kaede the moment he says it.
- The Everyman: Kaede
- The Woobie: Poor, poor Ella... her backstory says it all.
- Took a Level in Badass: Anise does this more than once.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Tenjou, oh god. All he really wants is for Anise to command his every being.
- Strong hints that this also applies to Mutsuki
- Even Seiran just wants her to order him around.
- And now, Kaede's normality is gone.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Mutsuki, I guess having your whole race killed by your brother, and then you killing him was enough to put you to sleep for 200 years. It took Dreaming the Truth to start remembering everything.
- Unwanted Harem: Anise and her Rose Knights. Though god help you if you mess with any of them as she will find away to kick your teeth in.
- Tsundere: Anise towards her Knights. It's completely justified when it comes to Tenjou. (And he likes her that way)
- We Are as Mayflies: Mutsuki, who lived during the yellow rose incident, which was 200 years before the main story.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy: Hello there, Tenjou!