Interpol Manzai

Interpol Manzai] is a comedy megacrossover fanfic centered around Azumanga Daioh. Tomo Takino has finally achieved her canonical dream job with the ICPO, and manages to drag her high school friend and comedic foil Yomi Mizuhara into her world. Together, They Fight Crime, serving as Interpol's Lovely Angels team in the computer crime division.

It is set largely in the real world, operating as a near-present day Historical Fiction. But with, y'know, more Slice of Life comedy.

The fanfic crosses over to: You're Under Arrest, Yotsuba&!, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, K-On!, and The Millennium Trilogy (planned: Bubblegum Crisis, Kimi wa Petto). While not in the plot itself, Dirty Pair and Lupin III are large influences on the plot, largely because Tomo is a fan.

Most stories will follow Tomo and Yomi, though others are planned to follow the rest of the cast on the separate course of their lives.

The first story is complete, and it is available here.

Tropes used in Interpol Manzai include:

• A-Team Firing: Just Yomi, who has a mild case of Doesn't Like Guns. But given sufficient dakka, she manages to pull of an example of Exactly What I Aimed At.
• Adult Child: Tomo, at age 25, still tries her hardest to annoy Yomi.
• Animal Motifs: The butterfly is (well, will be) a recurring theme throughout the stories.
• Artistic License Gun Safety: Averted by America, who gives a gun safety course to Yomi on her first day. However, she doesn't expect Yomi will actually have to use her gun on the first assignment.
• Artistic License: Law: Interpol doesn't really have field agents -- the jurisdictional issues would be a nightmare -- but it would be much cooler if they did.
• Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny: See the page image.
• Buddy Cop Show
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: You wouldn't think that Tomo Takino would have the best arrest record in her division, but there it is.
• Baka
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: C'mon, "Manzai" is in the title.
• Brainy Brunette: Yomi, who by age 25 has become a lawyer.
• Brilliant but Lazy: Tomo. She only shows competence at her job when something important is going down.
• California University: Averted, as the girls go their separate ways in canon, though the threads of their lives remain connected. Chiyo herself teaches at a particular California University; coincidentally, it's the one that the author attended.
• Continuation: Set when the Azumanga girls are age 25, and are still feeling their way through adulthood. Exception: Chiyo Mihama, Ph.D., age 20.
• Da Chief and Reasonable Authority Figure: Daisuke Aramaki, who is in his early 40s. Though, given his military background, his definition of "collateral damage" might be a little broader than most other police, but that's good for Tomo.
• Darker and Edgier: It's almost impossible to write Azumanga characters in another setting without adding some darker elements, but it's still an overall light tone.
• Drives Like Crazy: Averted by Tomo and lampshaded by Yomi, who expected her to be a Generation Xerox with Yukari-sensei's driving skills. Although, she hasn't seen Tomo's real Badass Driving skills yet; after all, she did train at Bokuto Precinct.
• Fangirl: Tomo is a daifan of Lupin III. It inspired her to pursue Interpol in the first place, and a lot of her schicks are inspired by Inspector Zenigata. She idolizes Mine Fujiko and imagines herself to be the same kind of sexy vixen, but her true character is much closer to the hard-headed, monkey-faced Lupin himself.
• Foil: Yomi, to Tomo.
• Genki Girl: Tomo.
• Giver of Lame Names: Tomo's the one who gave America her nickname.
• Interpol Special Agent: Tomo and Yomi, natch, and most of the recurring cast. They don't have as much power as the trope implies -- they must work under the local police, and their collars are subject to local extradition laws.
• Lovely Angels: Invoked by Tomo, who made sure that Yomi's badge number matched Yuri's badge from the Dirty Pair. As a set of young female officers for Interpol's Cyber Crime Division, they definitely fit the profile.
• Meganekko: Yomi.
• Monumental Damage: see Nice Job Breaking It, Hero below.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Well, they are modeled after the Dirty Pair, after all. In London, they manage to roll the London Eye into Westminster Bridge (just narrowly missing Big Ben).
• Original Character: Quite a few, because the entire cast of Azumanga wouldn't just pack up and fly to France. Includes Giovanni, America, Julie.
• The Password Is Always Swordfish: Tomo "defuses" a data Time Bomb by using her "phone a friend" to call Osaka, of all people. This turns out to be a good idea, because riddles are easier than common sense to Osaka.
• Rapid-Fire Typing: Played with. Chiyo fails on her backtrace of "Wasp", and rapid-fire password guessing doesn't help when the computer has a maximum guess limit.
• Real Person Fic: The first story is about the capture of Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, albeit completely fictionalized.
• The Rival: Tomo, to the rest of the world, even though they don't know it yet. She challenges Yomi to an eating competition, stuffing it down while Yomi urges Tomo to take her time.
• Technology Marches On: Back in the distant year of 2010, people actually used Blackberry cellphones!
• Time Bomb: One literal with an actual clock readout and everything, and one figurative on a computer screen.
• They Fight Crime: Take a Slice of Life show, and add in guns and badges.
• Ship Tease: Yomi/Tomo the most, but Tomo/America, Yomi/Giovanni.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Tomo knows how awesome she is, and is not afraid to tell you about it. Though there has to be some limit to it, as she goes out of her way not to encourage America.
• Slice of Life: How many scenes are devoted to them trying local cuisine?
• Standing in the Hall: Arranged by Yomi as punishment for Tomo.
• Virtual Soundtrack: As inline comments.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Tomo and Yomi continue their relationship as best frenemies.
• X Meets Y: Azumanga Daioh meets Dirty Pair. Or You're Under Arrest meets Ghost in the Shell, take your pick.
• Zettai Ryouiki: Yomi takes her thighhighs with skirts style seriously. And she's probably tsundere enough to earn a Class S rating.