Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls
The story takes place in Japan in the early 21st century, in an alternate reality where the Tokugawa Shogunate has remained in power and any foreign influences that tried to force their way into the country were pushed back or destroyed. In this reality, skilled swordsman and Ordinary High School Student Muneakira Yagyu plans on attending school. However, on his first day there, he ends up becoming allied with the gender-swapped reincarnations of Yukimura Sanada and Goto Matabei as they rebel against the oppressive student council ruled by the domineering Sen Tokugawa and her servant, a Meido-fied Hattori Hanzo who leads a loyal band of girl ninjas.
Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls is a Light Novel series that was later adapted into an anime that premiered in the fall 2010 season. Now showing (in North America) on the Anime Network's online player.
- A-Cup Angst: Yukimura
- Absurdly Powerful Student Council
- Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male: In episode 8
- Alan Smithee: The anime was directed by someone named "KOBUN".
- Same with the English dub cast, which uses ridiculous pseudonyms that even rivals that of Bart Simpson's prank calls (Ophelia Cox, Ben Wabal, Mina Jetoi, and Eileen Dover to name a few).
- Almost Kiss: Poor Yukimura, at least she got one at the end.
- Alternate History: The Tokugawa Shogunate, for some reason, is still in power.
- Anachronism Stew
- Anime Hair: Naoe
- An Ice Person: Gisen
- Ax Crazy: "Evil" Jubei, though she is more focused.
- Bad Boss: Sen towards Hanzo.
- And Yoshihiko towards Nia until the last few episodes. Must be In the Blood.
- Badass: "Evil" Jubei is pretty much the incarnation of badass in a really short dress.
- Badass Pacifist: Muneakira. How exactly? He finally gets himself free from the chains that bound him whenever the other Jubei comes out and stops the attacks coming from Jubei and Nia. Then he bows down to Yoshihiko so that they can stop fighting already.
- Bare Your Midriff: Matabei, and Sen in her Master Samurai garb.
- Battle Aura: A light inky aura is around anyone who has their Master Samurai powers activated. The 'proper' Master Samurai and their Generals have black auras, the 'artificial' Master Samurai have purple auras, while Gisen has a white aura.
- Beach Episode: Episode six.
- Berserk Button: Do not call Yukimura flat, Naoe learned this the hard way.
- Big Bad: Yoshihiko, until Gisen revealed the true big bad, Shirou Amakusa.
- Bittersweet Ending: Muneakira and company, including Yoshihiko and Nia, defeats Gisen/Shirou, but at the cost of Jubei (both personalities, even) blowing herself up with Gisen in space.
- Blade on a Stick: Sen and Matabei, who both wield spears (Sen's is a naginata, but Matabei's is a more common variant).
- Blessed with Suck: Let's take a look at this from another perspective. Muneakira kisses one of the girls, and she gets powered up. Unfortunately, Muneakira gets to be chained with an invisible force to the point he can't even fight. Now, if an enemy is Genre Savvy, then they'd gun for Muneakira already with no guard or whatsoever. This doesn't seem to apply to Sen and Yukimura - only "Evil" Jubei provokes the vulnerable mode so far.
- It's revealed towards the end that Muneakira's ability as a general is still imperfect at the beginning of the series so his contracts are imperfect and carries major drawbacks, both in power output and the mentioned weakness. After Muneakira mastered the ability, he no longer suffers the weakness.
- Blow You Away: Yukimura
- Butt Monkey: Hanzo, all the time. Muneakira, due to lots of accidental perversion and the fact that his Unwanted Harem is composed of Action Girls who get really scary when mad. Though in his case, it may just be a matter of perspective.
- Naoe is the biggest one.
- Calling Your Attacks
- Camera Abuse
- Censor Splatter: Most of "special" scenes are covered in ink splatter, although the blu-ray release averts this.
- The Chew Toy: Naoe
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Sen and Yukimura
- Taken Up to Eleven in episode 8.
- Combat Stilettos: Naoe wears them.
- Combat Tentacles: Episode 12.
- Cool Sword: Hanzo, Gisen and Charles's swords.
- Covert Pervert: ...hell, practically everyone in the main cast. This is mostly evident through the voiced mangas.
- Cry Cute: Yukimura in Episode 5, while pleading to Naoe to stop roughing up on Muneakira.
- It's an inherent trait of Kugimiya's loli characters.
- Cute and Psycho: Jubei appears to be like this.
- Dangerously-Short Skirt: Almost all of the girls.
- Dark Is Not Evil: "Evil" Jubei is not really all that evil, contrary to popular belief. Then again, it was pretty obvious from the start.
- Also the color of Muneakira's aura, or a 'proper' General/Master Samurai aura in the anime.
- Deliberately Monochrome: In the anime, the final battle between Jubei and Gisen is completely devoid of color.
- Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Yukimura after becoming a Master Samurai for the first time.
- Drop the Hammer: Naoe
- Dual-Wielding: Hanzo wield two blades that can connect similiar to Cao Pi.
- Jubei and Nia more conventionally dual-wielded swords.
- Yukimura has her fans.
- Engrish: Naoe seems fond of this. It's lampshaded.
Naoe: "Noo! I AM MY COTTAGE desu wa! "
- Hair Decorations: Applies to every female.
- Rule of Cool with Hanzo and Matebei who holds their hair with a scroll and a ninjato respectively.
- Expy: At times, Muneakira looks similar with a certain German samurai with silver hair.
- Jubei is the moe version of Yoko.
- Eyepatch of Power: Gisen
- Face Fault: Lampshaded by Kanetsugu in the 7th episode.
- Fan Service: Oh, boy...
- Forehead of Doom: Yukimura has a rather pronounced one.
- Foreshadowing: Now, this is just a guess (yet), however Episode 1 seems to contain a lot of this.
- Case 1: As of Episode 9, we know that the seven Master Samurai of Japan are actually gone, and didn't leave a notice. In Episode 1, before the credits, we are witness to seven Master Samurai who look decidedly similar to our True Companions, going through a fleet of air bombers. Don't tell me it's not related somehow.
- Case 2: As of Episode 11, we know that Jubei has a split personality becausethe contract made by a first kiss, was incomplete and imperfect. It is heavily implied that Moe!Jubei is going to disappear once the pact is made perfectly. If we take a look on the color of her eyes when the pact was made in Episode 1, however...
- Gainax Ending: During the final episode. During the final battle, Jubei blows herself and Gisen up by flying up into Earth's atmosphere. Then, in the Blu-ray version, she comes back in the epilogue.
- Gainaxing: Where to start?
- Goggles Do Something Unusual: Hanzo's glasses can come quite handy for checking up power levels. Also used to detect enemies that don't show up on the visible spectrum.
- Gender Flip: What Strike Witches does for WWII and Koihime Musou does for the Three Kingdoms period is what this show does for Feudal Japan.
- Gender Blender Name: Which Frenchman would name his daughter Charles d'Artagnan?!
- Gratuitous English: The many types of kisses.
- Gratuitous French: Yoshihiko in the opening of episode 9.
- Justified in episode 11 ("The Samurai from France") when he flirts with the pretty new transfer student Nia (Charles d'Artanian [dead link] ).
- Guilty Pleasure: All the naked chicks with big knockers and swords you need while you wait for the next seasons of Queen's Blade and Ikki Tousen.
- Happiness in Slavery: Hanzo, to Tokugawa.
- Harem Hero: Muneakira. As well as any other general who is supposed to have a force of Master Samurai.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Jubei, BOTH of them.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: Muneakira sounds like Yuuto Amakawa (or even more notoriously, Makoto Itou), while Yukimura sounds like every violent flat-chested Tsundere we know.
- Not to mention Charles being Kallen, Naoe and Sen being Yui and Tsumugi, Gisen being Misao Kusakabe, and Matabei being Ayame Sarutobi.
- Jubei is Mina Tepes.
- The narrator? He is Zaraki Kenpachi!
- Also the narrator in Gintama and Arakawa Under the Bridge.
- Historical Domain Character: Almost every named character in this show is a Gender Flipped version of a legendary warrior from Japanese history (and one French Musketeer).
- Hot Chick with a Sword: Hanzo (Dual-Wielding Ninjato), Jubei, Nia and Gissen.
- Impossibly Cool Clothes
- Fundamentally Female Cast: So far only Muneakira and Sen's older brother Yoshihiko are the only males in the series.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Kanetsugu.
- It's All About Me: Sen
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Sen and Yukimura, eventually. They acknowledge their feelings for Muneakira, but recognize that he doesn't return them.
- Lack of Empathy: Sen
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In the fifth voiced manga, Muneakira notes that Master Jubei's name has been abbreviated to "M. Jubei" when he looks at the script. He mistakes that since now that she's an "M" and she was an "S" before, he believes she and all the other master samurai take part in S&M...
- Light Is Not Good: Gisen.
- Loin Cloth: Matabei
- Love Martyr: Poor Nia.
- A Magic Contract Comes with a Kiss: This is how generals power up the Master Samurai.
- Magical Girl: In a sense.
- Memetic Molester: Invoked: Naoe sees Muneakira as this.
- Most Definitely Not a Villain: Infiltration and spying are not Naoe's strong suits.
- Naked First Impression: Jubei is nude when she first appears to Muneakira. Gisen also.
- Yukimura Sanada and Goto Matabei when Muneakira first walks into them, with his camera flashing.
- Nice Hat: Yukimura. Even nicer in her powered up form.
- Ninja Maid: Hattori Hanzo, she commands a whole squad of ninjas but she's the only one who dresses in a full Meido outfit.
- Made of Explodium: Note to invading fighter/bombers: make sure your aircraft cannot be destroyed by girls with melee weapons.
- Meaningful Name: All of the girls in Muneakira's harem are named after famous warriors from that period, while Nia is acutally named after... a Musketeer?
- Naughty Tentacles: The jellyfish thing Naoe summons in episode six.
- Naoe summons them again in one of the OVAs, but in the form of a fishing lure that accidentalyl strip the girls of their bikinis.
- The Nicknamer: Jubei names everybody. She calls Matabei "Beta", and Yukimura "Yukki", though she went through a few nicknames (all of them bad) before deciding on that one.
- Onee-Sama: Gisen calls Jubei this.
- Only Sane Man: Even The Other Wiki says this about Muneakira
- Out of Focus: Matabei suffers from this until she and Hanzo are forced to kiss Muneakira.
- Paper Fan of Doom: Yukimura's weapon in her civilian and Master Samurai forms. The super one has wind powers.
- Playing with Fire/Hellfire: Charles
- Plot Tailored to the Party: Episode 10 had the girls dropping off one by one to make their way to save Muneakira.
- Power Levels: Jubei is over 5 million!
- The Power of Love: In episode 10 Sen claims that the reason master samurai and generals haven't appeared in years is because people have forgotten the importance of love in the bond between generals and their master samurai.
- Rapunzel Hair: Naoe
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Jubei, though it's more like Gold Eyes Take Warning
- Yuki and Sen prove a more straight example of the trope in Episode 8.
- Relationship Voice Actor: Tsukuyomi and Setsuna (from Mahou Sensei Negima) as Yukimura and Matabei respectively.
- Rie Kugimiya and Aki Toyosaki are at odds with each other again since Kanamemo and Ookami-san.
- Rich Bitch: Sen yet again.
- Running Gag: One of the more prominent ones has Yukimura's forehead shining.
- Samurai: Samurai with superpowers!!
- Say My Name: Juuubeeeei! Muneakira! Sen-hime-sama! Juuubeeei! Princess! Yoshihiko-sama! Yukimura! Juuuubeeei! Nia! [1]
- Schizo-Tech: Steam trains with digital cameras in the early 21st century appear here.
- School Swimsuit: The primary design of Yukimura's outfit, and she explains its advantages with enthusiasm.
- Shorter Means Smarter: Yukimura is the smartest of the harem.
- Shout-Out: When Jubei is trying to find her transformation phrase, she strikes a Kamen Rider pose.
- Naoe Kanetsugu usually makes references to Western culture when speaking in English.
- At the very beginning of episode 4, Muneakira can be seen wearing Jagi's helmet for a brief moment.
- Slasher Smile: "Evil" Jubei. More like slasher grin.
- Split Personality: There's the Cloudcuckoolander Jubei, and there's the Badass Jubei.
- Stripperific: Pants appear to be optional for the girls, not to mention the other design choices.
- Sugar and Ice Personality - Nia, according to Yoshihiko in one of the Next Episode Previews.
- Super-Powered Evil Side: Jubei after kissing Muneakira.
- "Evil" is debatable as of current developments.
- Super Speed Reading: Yukimura
- Thick Line Animation: The characters are drawn with a thicker outline than is usually seen in anime.
- The Thing That Goes Doink
- Third Person Person: Jubei
- Token Mini-Moe: Yukimura
- Took a Level in Badass: Muneakira, during the last episode. Along with everyone else, but Muneakira's transformation from a flustered everydude to a determined commander is especially striking (though it had been happening throughout the series).
- He already took it in the previous episode when he frees himself from the chains that bind him whenever Badass!Jubei appears.
- Transformation Sequence
- Tsundere: Sen Tokugawa. She even gives a class on how to be one in the second voiced manga.
- Her brother Yoshihiko doesn't acknowledge Muneakira or anything. He's just helping him to protect Great Japan.
- Unexplained Recovery: Nia in the anime.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Nia defies Sen's older brother after being moved by Sen and Yukimura's speech about The Power of Love and loyalty to their general Muneakira.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: Sen to Muneakira.
- Unpopular Popular Character: Naoe can't get respect from anyone in-universe, but in a poll taken before the anime started, she was at the top, and once the show began, continues to be adored by the fanbase.
- Unwanted Harem
- Villainous Breakdown: Yoshihiko becomes more and more unhinged as Nia refuses to obey him, but he gets better eventually. Gisen, on the other hand...
- Walking Swimsuit Scene: Yukimura
- Weaksauce Weakness: Matabei apparantely has this towards baths.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Yoshihiko, in the end. He intends to amass Master Samurai to fight Amakusa, not for himself.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy: Yoshihiko
- White Haired Pretty Girls: Hanzo, Matabei and Gissen.
- Yandere: Sweet Jesus, Gisen.
Gisen: I did it to devour you, big sister! I'm going to eat your bones, blood and soul so I can become one with you! If I do that, I'll be able to serve Shiro-sama by myself just fine.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: They have gray, vibrant red, light blue, light purple, and white.
- Girls Love: Explained during the preview at the end of episode 8.
Jubei: Gittan, why do you call Jubei "Big sister"?
Gisen: Although we're not biologically related, such action is often referred to as "Yuri" and a certain group of men show a liking for it as a kind of kinky love between women. I am hoping to appeal to those people by calling Jubei "big sister".
- This is also notable between Hanzo and Matabei, seeing as how they decide the best way to practice their kissing attempts on Muneakira is to do it on each other. Hilariously lampshaded in one of the motion comics.
- Zettai Ryouiki: Sen sports a grade A in her Master Samurai garb.
- Naoe too, she also has Girlish Pigtails and has some Tsundere qualities. So she may qualify for Grade S.