Darkbolt

An online manga-styled comic created by Sean Boyle who both wrote and drew the comic stories. It deals with the story of an average set of high school Japanese students who get bonded to demonic beings who are being sought out by an alien race.

It's basically about demons, angels, aliens, and more. Think Sailor Moon with more emphasis on the action, no filler or stock footage, and a gender-balanced team.

It can be read here.

---

Tropes used in Darkbolt include:

• After the End: The "From the Ashes" storyline.
• Animesque
• Anthropomorphic Personification: The Angels and the Demons, though most aren't very "anthro."
• Armor-Piercing Slap: Naoko gives one to Ikkou when he tells her its none of her business what he does with his powers.
• Art Evolution: From 1999 to 2003 Sean updated his art style so that it looks way more crisp and clean then before, in 2005 he started with full color pages every weekend or every so often and by 2008 full color pages were being done alot more.
• Bad Powers, Good People
• Badass Boast

Ikkou: "I destroyed the entire Earth once. No power can stand in my way."

• Barbie Doll Anatomy
• Battle Couple: Yun and Mariko. Naoko and Fushi.
• Beam-O-War: With the final guardian in Story 3, "Spirit Sanctuary."
• Big No: Johji after Shiori's death.
• Blood From the Mouth: Happens when Shiori pushes herself too far and realizes that she can't contribute to the fight past that point.
• Book Ends: "Spirit Sanctuary" opens with a letter from Yun to his Grandfather. The next story opens with Yun writing another letter.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: The Tenma, though many took the mark willingly.
  • General Dolands is perhaps the most tragic example of this amongst the Tenma.
• Bullying a Dragon: Johji keeps pushing Ikkou's buttons. He has a reason. He needs to show Ikkou how poor of a leash he has on his powers to convince him to give them up.
• Call to Adventure
  • Resigned to the Call: When Naoko is chosen to host Darkbolt, she's pretty much stuck with being a hero even though she doesn't really want it and steps up to the task.
  • Got Volunteered: Mariko and Yun. Both accept their role easier than Naoko does, though.
  • Jumped At the Call: Ikkou accidentally bonds to Destruction while trying to defend Naoko but later loves having powers and the chance to fight. Later zigged when he gives up his powers after realizing how out of control he is, and then zagged when becomes the host of Chaos.
• Calling Your Attacks: DARK BEAM to WAR BLADE to the all infamous Demon Seal ...yes, everyone does it... except humans, who don't need to...
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: The Holy Sanctuary, and generally any other faith aware of the Angels and Demons. Yun is a believer in its faith, and Mariko is sufficiently familiar with it to recognize a carving of the Angel of Order.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Well sort of subverted when Naoko takes control of Darkbolt but normally...yes Dark Is Evil when he is control.
• Distant Reaction Shot: Happens often when Destruction's Earth Shattering Kabooms are unleashed.
• Dying as Yourself: Yun fears the corruption of his soul by Death in "Spirit Sanctuary" and refuses to use his powers for a while, invoking this trope.
  • The antagonist of this arc wishes to kill Yun so that he may do this.
• First Kiss: Naoko gets angry and depressed when her first kiss is taken by someone other than the one she loves.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble
  • Melancholic: Naoko, introverted and task-oriented. Courageous, serious, and brooding.
  • Sanguine: Mariko, extroverted and people-oriented. Fun-loving, impulsive, and loves a fight
  • Phlegmatic: Yun, introverted and people-oriented. Calm, stoic, and observant.
  • Choleric: Ikkou, extroverted and task-oriented. Passionate, obsessive, and hot-tempered.
• Gaiden Game: "Darkbolt: Summons," which never was completed, would have been A Day in the Limelight for Mariko.
• Gas Leak Coverup: One of Naoko's earliest fights is quickly claimed as a production stunt by several opportunistic film studios. However, the crown for this trope goes to the Genji Corporation's cover-up when a forty-foot tall image of the Angel of Order is seen over Tokyo:

"Credit for the 'hologram' has been claimed by the Angelic Imaging Division of the Genji Corporation."

• God of Evil: Evil. The rest of the Demons also count albeit less literally.
• Good Versus Good: Fushi v. Ikkou.
  • Evil's Violet Web attack.
  • The Mind Screw in "Elysium" between Lie, Ikkou, and Naoko and between Yun & Mariko.
• Humans Are Special: The series opens with Yasha's plans to conquer the Earth, the only planet she hasn't conquered, now that the Angels no longer are around to protect the amazing power it contains. Despite prophecies which warn of doom for tampering with Earth, she moves ahead with her plans because of how powerless and disorganized humanity is. Turns out that humans are that power, and tampering with the Earth leads directly to the end of her reign. The true extent of humanity's latent power isn't revealed for nearly a decade, though.
• Intentional Engrish for Funny: A throwaway gag while the characters are studying for an English test.

Hana: Exercise Six... "Re-word the following English sentences so that they make sense."
Hana: "All your base are belong to us." Hm... I dunno, it looks ok to me.

• Loads and Loads of Characters: Nearly any arc or sub-arc introduces 4-10 new characters. It adds up over time.
• Long Runner: Since 1999 to 2011, its been going on for 12 years.
• MacGuffin: The Orbs. The Crystal of Time.
• Mark of the Beast: The Tenma mark.
• Meaningful Name: All over the place, especially with the Tenma.
• Mistaken Identity: Drives the plot of "Spirit Sanctuary" on both sides of the conflict at first.
• No Body Left Behind: Killed Tenma dissolve and vanish. This is actually Chekhov's Gun for "Requiem" in which we find out a decade of real-time later that killed Tenma are spirited away to a waiting area dimension to be called back to life.
• No Dialogue Episode: "Intermission"
• Nosebleed: All around for the guys after Shiori's "modeling" quasi-Striptease at the school talent show. Bonus points for the twin gushers coming from the intended target and an Eye Twitch from one semi-intended other.
• Obstructive Code of Conduct: Defied. The Time Elementals aren't supposed to act outside of their mission. That goes out the window quickly enough.
• Our Angels Are Different: More or less the gods of Light, Peace, Life, Love, Good, and Order.
• Our Demons Are Different: More of less the gods of Darkness, War, Death, Destruction, Evil, and Chaos.
• Our Souls Are Different: Human souls hold immense power -- enough to suborn a Demon to the will of its host.
  • Later, we find out that humans also hold immense superpowers within themselves.
  • And you can still function as a person with nearly no soul, as Ikkou does after Destruction is ripped out of him.
• Out-of-Clothes Experience: Whenever anyone speaks to their demon or otherwise shares a mindscape.
• Pair the Spares: Ikkou with Shiori.
• Parental Obliviousness: Naoko's parents notice her returning home covered in blood after a fight but back off when they realize she's uninjured. (Her mother wonders if it's mud.)
• Power Glows: Everyone has a touch of this, when they power up, use a new attack, or have rune-like symbols light up on their body or armor.
• Punch-Punch-Punch Uh-Oh: Mariko v. Sensha.
• Put on a Bus: Ikkou for a time. He comes back into the main cast later.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Mariko and Yun, respectively.
• Rubber Forehead Aliens: In full anime tradition, most aliens in the series have nothing more than odd hair & skin colors, Pointy Ears, and/or Facial Markings. The few exceptions are the Demons and some of General Dakuu's "monsters." All the rest are this or Human Aliens.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The Demons in their Orbs.
  • Special mention goes to Chaos who was so dangerously powerful that the other sealed evils put him in his can first.
• Shaggy Dog Story: A harsh reading of the "Elysium" arc. Satsuo had the power to stop Tatsuya all along. All waiting accomplished was to get Shiori killed. The heroes argue for to spare Tatsuya from aeons of torment for his crimes. This results in the Angel of Order turning her back on Earth. Tatsuya decides to take that punishment anyway.
• Ship Sinking: When Ikkou kisses Naoko, thinking they may die. Naoko does not take it well, and it's the last straw for their friendship for a long time.
• Speech Bubbles: The Demons and Angels typically have differently color speech bubbles and different fonts.
• Stable Time Loop: How Naoko and Fushi met. Chou exists entirely within said loop.
• The Starscream: Destruction, Evil, and so, so many Tenma to the point that some Starscreams have their own Starscreams.
• Super-Powered Evil Side: The Demons for their hosts.
• Text Plosion: Shiori talks about her brother and their past. (spoilers)
• Timey-Wimey Ball: When Fushi revives the Earth, it sends everyone on Earth two days into the past. However, the Tenma ship in orbit is fully aware of the passage of time and the Earth's destruction.
• Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe
• Tokyo Tower: Centerpiece for the fight with Destruction in issues 59-62, with Lampshading:

Mari: I can't believe it! He destroyed Tokyo Tower! Didn't I see this once in an anime?
Yun: "Once"?

• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Mariko and Naoko, respectively. They grow into a Lady of War and Cute Bruiser over time, and the trope thins out as the cast expands.
  • Mariko and Hana also qualify.
• Villain Teleportation: So much. Somewhat subverted in that several of the heroes get teleportation powers too.
• Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World
• We Were Rehearsing a Play: Inverted. Hana thinks Mariko is doing this when Gleya confronts her despite Mariko insisting that they're in real danger and that she needs to run away.
• You Won't Feel a Thing: Subverted, when Johji extracts Destruction.

"Is this gonna hurt?"
"A lot."