Sorcerer Hunters

They were called Sorcerer Hunters.

A 13-volume manga written by Satoru Akahori with art by Ray Omishi, which was adapted into a 26-episode anime TV series and 3-part OAV. The series also spawned various video games and radio dramas.

The Spooner Continent is ruled by "Sorcerers", a Witch Species which rules over the "Parsoners" as a noble class. With their magical powers, they can exploit the Parsoners virtually at will. However, the are rumors of those who will punish any Sorcerers who abuse their powers and harm the innocent - a mysterious band of five teenagers, the "Sorcerer Hunters".

Meanwhile, Casanova Wannabe swordsman Carrot Glace, his Bishounen little brother Marron, Clingy Jealous Action Girl Chocolate Misu and her Unlucky Childhood Friend Shrinking Violet little sister Tira, and borderline Hard Gay muscleman Gateau Mocha Walk The Earth... and you can see where this is going, can't you.

From the creator of Saber Marionette J, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, and Maze Megaburst Space.

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Tropes used in Sorcerer Hunters include:

• Action Girl: Tira and Chocolat.
• After the End
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Carrot actually finds it easier to get a date after The Reveal that he's possessed by the God of Destruction. The village girls think it makes him cool and mysterious.
• Ambiguously Gay: Marron. According to one postscript in volume 10, the initial story made him openly gay; the wording didn't make it clear how much this aspect was changed.
• And That's Terrible
• Art Evolution
• Badass Bookworm: Marron and Tira
• Beach Episode
• Berserk Button: Hurt Carrot and Marron will kick your ass.
• Best Her to Bed Her: Gateau's younger sister Eclair once vowed that she would never fall in love with any man who couldn't beat her in a fight.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Marron, Mille, Tira, Apricot, Cinnamon...
• Beware the Superman: The Sorcerers are treated as nobility to keep them from really causing trouble.
• Bishounen
• Boisterous Bruiser: Gateau and Onion
• Brainwashed
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Gateau and Carrot in the second volume of the manga.
• Casanova Wannabe: Carrot
• Chinese Girl: Dota
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Chocolat
• Commissar Cap: Chocolat
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Carrot and Chocolat.
• Distress Ball: Everyone gets handed one at some point.
• Dropped a Bridget On Him: Millefeuille and Marron, to a number of fans.
• Dub Text: Marron is more or less asexual and doesn't really pay attention to Gateau's flirting, but the dub adds lines about his possible homosexuality.
• Edible Theme Naming: Everyone. Relatively obvious are Carrot, Onion, Apricot, Count Potato Chips, and Cinnamon Tea; there's also Tira Misu, Chocolat (chocolate) and Marron (chestnut). Gateau, eclair, and mille-feuille are all French pastries. Sachertorte is a rich Austrian chocolate cake. Even Charlotte is a food name. Satoru Akahori is fond of this trope, and practically everything he writes uses it.
  • Apricot's maiden name is Anzu, which is Japanese for...apricot. So her name is basically Apricot Apricot. Double Edible Theme Naming!
• Expy: The artist notes in the manga that Eclair's initial appearance is deliberately based on a certain female fighting game character, who is clearly Cammy from Street Fighter. Not only that, but Eclair's brother Gateau is said to have been designed in the image of Guile. The artist also notes the village elder's similarity to Yoda of Star Wars.
  • You can also spot tons of Expy Extras in the background of various manga panels, especially in the beach episodes, and Cosplays of characters from Samurai Shodown, Darkstalkers, Urusei Yatsura and Super Dimension Fortress Macross, amongst others. In the 'Iron Chef' chapter, most of the cast of Angelique seems to be in attendance.
• Face Heel Turn -> Heel Face Turn: Eclair, Gateau's younger sister in the manga.
  • Plus a vanilla Face Heel Turn in the backstory Sacher Torte, who later does a bit of a turn again, but unfortunately Redemption Equals Death and numerous Heel Face Turn examples Sirius, the village elder and his lover.
• Fan Disservice: You'd think a butler who lives to please his master and crossdresses would be hot. Unfortunately, the master is a small child with a lisp and the butler is little old man. Pass the Brain Bleach, please.
• Fan Service
• First Girl Wins: Tira in the manga.
• Five-Man Band:
  • The Hero: Tira, the front-line fighter of the original manga Power Trio and one of the Only Sane People of the group, Megumi Hayashibara.
  • The Lancer: Chocolat, both more forward and more ruthless than her sister, with similar abilities.
  • The Big Guy: Gateau, Gentle Giant with Super Strength.
  • The Smart Guy: Marron, The Other Sane Man, the most well-read and intelligent of the team, and a Glass Cannon magician in his own right.
  • The Chick: Carrot, usually a perverted load on his teammates, generally useless in a fight, but he has his moments of awesome, even without being the secret weapon of the group.
  • Sixth Ranger: Millefeuille and the other Haz Knights.
• Gainax Ending: The last episode of the anime. Absolutely NOTHING is explained, and it's more confusing that having no ending at all.
• Genki Girl: Dota, Eclair after her Heel Face Turn in the manga.
• Gentle Giant: Gateau
• Healing Hands: Tira
• Heroic Sacrifice: Marron in the anime, Tira and Gateau in the manga. They come back, though.
  • And And Mama and the Haz Knights, in the manga. They don't..
• Hot Springs Episode
• Ho Yay: Gateau's flirtation with Marron, especially in the dub of the anime; also, Marron's brotherly (?) affection for Carrot in the manga. There's also Millefeuille's shameless flirtations with Carrot and Onion.
• Idiot Hero: Carrot
• If It's You It's Okay: Gateau loves showing off his body to lots of girls... and to Marron.
• Jerkass: Carrot and his manga-only father Onion, at certain points.
• Knife Nut: Chocolat's other Weapon of Choice, aside of her Razor Floss, are throwing knives.
  • Also Apricot, in the manga
• Knight Templar: Sacher Torte will create a better world At Any Cost(tm).
• Last of His Kind: Dota and Sirius are the last of a species of Winged People in the manga, which is never expanded on past volume 6.
• Like Brother and Sister: The reason Carrot's not into Chocolat or Tira.
• Lotus Eater Machine: The anime episode with the magic book that grants the Hunters' wishes; Carrot gets split into three parts to grant both his wishes and the Misu sisters'. The episode also proudly leans on the fourth wall.
• Love Triangle
• Mama Bear: Apricot Glace. In the manga, she took on a DEMON LORD to protect Carrot. When said demon tried to possess her to capture Carrot, she killed herself to stop him.
• Market-Based Title: ADV Films released the second half of the series as "Spell Wars: Sorcerer Hunters' Revenge" to persuade the American market that the anime had Grown The Beard.
• Meganekko: Tira, outside the battlefield.
• Megumi Hayashibara: Tira. Also sings in the OP, What's Up Guys?
• Miniature Senior Citizens
• New Powers as the Plot Demands
• No Fourth Wall: Happens constantly, but especially courtesy of Potei and his butler. The most blatant example is a chapter near the middle of the manga where Carrot thinks the series is ending, and proceeds to promise all his teammates their ideal endings. An author Cameo jumps in just in time to ruin the ensuing Carrot/Marron Ho Yay, and explain that Carrot got the chapter title wrong.
• No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Carrot's reason for spurning Chocolat and Tira's advances.
  • Well, it's also because they regularly beat him senseless with whips and imprison him when he tries to chase girls and are just generally terrifying.
• Not as You Know Them: What happened to Carrot in the sequels is pretty traumatizing.
• Of Corsets Sexy: Tira in "combat" mode favors these.
• Older Than They Look: Salad Chips is 35 for a good portion of her appearances, but looks like a junior high schooler.
• Parental Abandonment: Quite a few dead or missing parents in this one, folks.
  • Add Parental Betrayal, as Chocolat and Tira's surrogate father, Sacher Torte, does a Face Heel Turn and becomes the Big Bad during their backstory.
  • Missing Mom: Carrot and Marron's mother, Apricot.
    • Though she manages to get better in a surprisingly well-justified way.
• Personality Powers
• Princess Curls: Big Mama. Quite amusing, since she actually does turn to be a princess.
• Razor Floss: Chocolat's favorite weapon, also used by Tira ina slightly different form.
• Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: Carrot has the "God of Destruction" sealed within him.
• Shapeshifter Guilt Trip
• Shrinking Violet: Tira in "normal" mode.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Most often with character names -- Daughter or Dotta? -- but even the name of the continent itself is not immune. Tokyopop alternated between translating it as Spooner and Spoolner.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Gateau's attitude toward Eclair, even going as far to slap her when she wants to get in on the adventuring. Extra weird because she's the stronger of the two.
• Stripperific: Chocolat and Tira, literally.
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: Millefeuille in the manga and OVAs.
• Super-Powered Evil Side: Carrot's shapeshifting.
• Tenchi Solution: The anime's handling of the Carrot/Tira/Chocolat triangle strongly hints at this.
• The Power of Friendship: Especially in the anime.
• The Power of Love: Carrot and Tira in the manga, quite literally. Twice.
• Third Option Love Interest: Mousse in the manga.
• Tsundere: Chocolat (more tsuntsun) and Tira (more deredere). Carrot and Marron's mother Apricot in the manga qualifies as well.
• Unlucky Childhood Friend: Chocolat in the manga.
• Victorious Childhood Friend: Tira in the manga.
• We Help the Helpless: What the Five-Man Band does, strictly.
• Whip It Good: Tira's weapon is a whip.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Charlotte, Big Mama's traumatised little brother in the manga.