Samurai Deeper Kyo

And that's just the main cast.

Imagine if George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson teamed up with Johnny Appleseed and Pocahontas to fight the Salem Witches, who have resurrected King Richard the Lionheart and the Knights of the Round Table in order to take over the world--now stir it into an Anachronism Stew, put it all in Japan, and you've got Samurai Deeper Kyo.

Samurai Deeper Kyo is a thirty-eight volume manga about the exploits of Shiina Yuya, a sixteen year old Bounty Hunter seeking revenge for her older brother's death, who meets Mibu Kyoshiro, a medicine peddler, and Demon Eyes Kyo, who is trapped in Kyoshiro's body.

And then it gets complicated.

Cue Loads and Loads of Characters, loads and loads of Character Development, lots of Badassery, several Quirky Miniboss Squads, several BFSes, and what is probably the biggest Bodyguard Crush in history.

The manga ran from 1999-2006.

Kyo and friends appear in the Massive Multiplayer Crossover game, Sunday VS Magazine Shuuketsu Choujou Daikessen.

Please feel free to edit the the Samurai Deeper Kyo character sheet

Tropes used in Samurai Deeper Kyo include:

Bikara: Getting distracted by a woman while a beautiful man like me is standing in front of your eyes.
and
Bikara: The suffering face of a good-looking man is dreamy.

  • Diagonal Cut:Taken to its logical extreme, thanks to the Rule of Cool
  • Distant Finale
  • Dojikko: Sakuya
  • Doppelganger Attack: Benitora, in a rare Non-Ninja example
  • Dramatic Wind
  • Driven to Suicide: Hishigi, until Fubuki tells him that he isn't allowed to die until Fubuki says he can
  • Dual-Wielding
  • Dysfunction Junction
  • Elemental Powers: Subverted. Hotaru, the fire user, is calm, while the ice user, Akira, appears calm on the surface, but push a few buttons and he loses his head. Not to mention that Shinrei, the water guy, loses his cool even more easily.
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Averted; It's demonstrated over the course of the series that the superiority depends on the wielder, rather than the element they are using. Hotaru initially wins out against Shinrei despite severe injuries from fighting Kyo, but only because he's using His Hono Chikewai, which gives him a huge boost of power, but causes damage over time. Shinrei ultimately comes out on top because Hotaru's boost wears off. And of course, both of them get mercilessly curbstomped by Fubuki.
  • Empathic Weapon: The Muramasa demon blades
  • Enfante Terrible: Tokito, in the beginning
  • Estrogen Brigade Bait: Yukimura
  • Eyepatch of Power: Hishigi
    • You mean Bon-chan, right?
      • Him, too.
  • Fake Memories: Tokito
  • The Fog of Ages: Chinmei
  • The Four Gods: Kyo's sword techniques
  • Four Is Death: The Shiseiten are frequently described as being gods of death. The Taishiro are possibly even more lethal
  • Gentle Giant: Bontenmaru. Sure, he has the whole "god of war" thing going on, complete with a berserker mode and everything, but he has a soft spot--not like that--for little girls, even ones that punch holes in him and torture him; and Akari reveals that he likes shoujo manga. As for Bontenmaru's reason for taking over the entirety of Japan? He wants to take it over so people can live their lives in peace.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Subverted with Yuya, who has a hideous scar on her stomach
    • It gets de-hideoused later on.
    • Played straight with Hishigi, who is covered in rather disgusting scars after the Devil Eyes that were keeping him alive die
    • Also played straight with Akira, who is COVERED in scars, but they are not obvious seeing as they are usually covered by clothes.
  • Gondor Calls for Aid
  • Graceful Loser
  • Guns Are Worthless: Yuya
    • The manga lampshades this by having Akari take Yuya's gun and attempt to shoot Santera with it. Santera stops the bullets, and Akari throws the gun away.
  • He Who Must Not Be Seen: Sakuya spends 32 volumes hidden behind her bangs, and the manga-ka is fond of "lighting" characters whose faces we aren't to see yet from the back, or putting them in elaborate, face-covering costumes
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Dan Frickin' Green is the main character.
  • High-Pressure Blood
  • High School AU: The author wrote one as an extra in the fanbook, and liked it so much that s/he wrote two "Samurai High School" drama CDs
    • And they're absolutely rampant in the fandom, though it's almost justified, because the cast is one hell of a Commedia Dell Arte Troupe.
  • Historical Hero Upgrade
  • Historical Villain Upgrade
  • Homage Shot: The manga opens with a lay-out and narration content ridiculously reminiscent of the first page of Rurouni Kenshin, which was still running at the time. The series probably originated as an attempt to cash in on Ruro Ken's popularity as historical drama with legendary swordsman incognito, but found its own very weird voice pretty quickly.
    • More precisely: SDK's first page runs, page-width panels going down:

[First panel: bloody battle scene; whole page has artful blood drips all over it] "During the end of the warring states period... In a time of chaos, a war began to try to divide the country. This fight would later be known as the Battle of Sekigahara. Like thunder the war spread. Under this sound and bloody rain, many were killed."

[Second panel: 'shadowboxing' image of dramatic duel] "These warriors, without taking care for the issues of the battle, had found the meaning of their lives in sword-handling... They lived only to improve their skill... And died..."

[Empty white bridge space extending across page] "Among the men who disappeared at this historical time..."

[Third/final panel: bottom of page occupied by close up of Scary Eyes (Red Eyes, Take Warning in this case, but the manga's in black and white, so you can't tell)] "There was one who was called 'the unbeatable'..."

[Two-page title spread, then complete tone-shift and Kyoshiro as The Ditz reading off a wanted poster, finishing the sentence] "The legendary wanted man, Demon Eyes Kyo."

    • Meanwhile, Ruro Ken starts with, also page-width panels:

[First panel: blood spatter flying] "One hundred and forty years ago, during the bloodbath in Kyoto touched off by the coming of Commodore Perry's black ships...there was a man known as the 'Hitokiri Battousai.'"

[Second panel: similarly composed bloody combat scene, with our hero central] This man was a major player in the Meiji Restoration, for his skill with a sword was unrivaled. Once the war was over, he vanished without a trace. Time passed and legends formed, of how he was the strongest samurai to walk the face of the earth."

[Third/last panel: Scary Eyes Important Scar closeup] "And so, our story begins... In Tokyo, on the eleventh year of Meiji..."

[Two-page title spread, next page opens with Kaoru's shout] "HITOKIRI BATTOUSAI!"

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