Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer

An adorable lunatic who wants to smash the world to bits, a shut-in who'll do whatever she says, and a talking lizard. These are our heroes.

"One morning when I woke up, there was a lizard in my room. We stared at each other, and the first to break the silence... was him."

Yuuhi, a college student, wakes up one morning to find a talking lizard informing him that the world is in great danger, with a mage plotting to destroy it with the "Biscuit Hammer": a gigantic mallet floating in space, preparing to fall and smash the planet. To stop this, he must join forces with the other knights and protect the princess, who stands in the way of the mage's plot.

Unfortunately for the lizard, Yuuhi is a bit of a misanthrope and wants no part in saving the world. But he is interested in serving the Princess; especially when she announces that she only wants to save the world so she can destroy it herself!

A thoroughly strange (in the best possible way) comedy/adventure/romance Manga, Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer began in 2005 and enjoyed a successful five-year run. It's gained a devoted cult following outside of Japan. The creator, Mizukami Satoshi, is also responsible for the series Psycho Staff and Sengoku Youko, among other miniseries and one-shots.

Also known as Hoshi no Samidare (although it's written as "Wakusei no Samidare") ("The May Rain of the Planet(s)").

The series is published in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment.

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Tropes used in Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer include:

• Accidental Pervert - Averted but discussed: When Sami falls onto Yuuhi at the start of one of their shared dreams, Yuuhi reflexively grabs her... face. An annoyed Sami tells him that if this had been a love comedy, he would have grabbed her breasts instead. (Yuuhi: "Not that there's anything to grab...")
  • Subverted as girls tend to walk in on Yuuhi.
    • Not that he minds. He seems to like it in fact.
  • Sometimes Yuuhi even provokes it. Very early on when visiting the Asahina house, he knowingly chooses the wrong door when going to the bathroom in hopes of "causing an event" - "accidentally" walking in on Hisame changing. He does (though she's mostly clothed already). There is nothing accidental about Yuuhi's perversion.
• Action Girl - Samidare and Hakudou Yayoi.
• Affably Evil - The mage might be a bit of an Omnicidal Maniac, but he's a also really laid-back dude.
• A God Am I - The mage, a human from the future with absurdly-powerful psychic abilities. Chapter 54 reveals his Start of Darkness. He refers to himself as the God of Destruction, in direct opposition to the God of Creation.
• Akashic Records - The Master had access to them. Shimaki wished for them but it wouldn't pass
• Aloof Older Brother: Apparently Hangetsu and Mikazuki have one, since Hangetsu is referred to as "The Middle Brother".
• Always Someone Better - Hangetsu considers himself to be that someone. Yuuhi proves him wrong.
• Arm Cannon - Shimaki's 8th golem.
• Ascended Fanboy - Hangetsu Shinonome, who spent most of his life idolising "Allies of Justice" before becoming the Dog Knight.
• Awesomeness By Analysis - Part of Yuuhi's repertoire, especially early on when he doesn't have much fighting power and needs to think hard to stay alive.
• Ax Crazy - Hangetsu's brother, Mikazuki (The Crow Knight). The praying mantis mentor is a little battle crazy itself. So is Maimakterion apparently.
• Back From the Dead - Subverted with Hangetsu and the Master. They're not actually back, just passing by
• Badass Boast - Sami, on her first meeting with the Mage.

Sami: Who doesn't sound like who, exactly? I've been wondering who was it that you were talking to since just now.
Mage: ...Anima...?
Sami: I am the Lucifer Samidare. Whether it's the Hammer or this planet, I am the one who will smash them all. I do have to thank you though, for bringing in this conflict under my watch. You gave me the chance to gain power. And therefore it's a pity that you dragged me into it!!

• • Yuuhi, when fighting Maimakterion.

Yuuhi: This is my garden. Nobody else but my Demon Lord is allowed to fly higher than me.

• Badass Longcoat - Nagumo.
• Battle Cry - Yuuhi and Mikazuki at the same time during 7th golem's arc.
• Becoming the Mask- Yuuhi. At first, he wanted to destroy the world, and only faked being heroic, but by the end he more or less became a hero.
• Berserk Button - Several, especially Nagumo's Papa Wolf syndrome around kids... and probably women.
• Bequeathed Power: Hangetsu Shinome uses his wish as one of the Animal Knights to bequeath his phenomenal martial arts skills to Amamiya Yuuhi when he recieves a mortal blow in battle.
  • The Master unintentionally passes on some of his powers to Yuki and Subaru, which is what makes their combined domains so powerful. It's also why he was so greatly weakened by the time of his death, and the golem was able to kill him.
• Big Eater- Sami and Shimaki (but he looks like one).
  • Also, Anima, once she manifests. She has to eat a lot because she's symbiotically living off of Sami, and she needs to eat a lot to make up for the massive blow Sami's energy reserves took when Anima manifested.
  • Worth being noted Shimaki wished for a boost to his powers as his contractual wish. While he is out of shape on his own, he never showed up as a champion eater until he started supporting himself, his cat Coo Ritter, and a golem through his own nutrition.
• Blood Knight - Mikazuki.
• Body Horror - Maimakterion whilst questioning the concept of being human.
• Bodyguard Crush - Sami: "Next time, you're not allowed to stare at me like that with your back to the sunset."
• Breaking the Fourth Wall - Noi does this a few times, along with some characters (one complains about being left out of the colored pages at the beginning of the volume).
• Calling Your Attacks - All of the Beast Knights name their domain control abilities. In Chapter 13, Yuuhi even lampshades the Shonen habit of loudly calling them: "..... Do we have to shout it out?"
• Charles Atlas Superpower - The Knights attain some level of this, as demonstrated by what they can do even without using domain control.
• Chick Magnet: Yuuhi ends up drawing the attention of Sami, his classmate Hiwatari, Yayoi and Anima. Mikazuki even complains about it in their last big fight.
• Clingy MacGuffin - The Mentor Mascots, as Yuuhi finds out the hard way after repeated attempts to chuck the lizard out the window.
  • After being used as gag material for half the series, the animals' clingy nature is suddenly used for a very dark moment when Hanako flushes the mantis, Kil, down the toilet after Tarou dies. Kil reappears by her side, soaking wet and chiding her, but that had to have been a horrific experience.
• Combat Pragmatist - Yuuhi deserves this for digging trap holes and them actually working on several occasions.
• Combined Energy Attack: Yuki and Subaru's "Strongest Spear" and "Invincible Shield" moves combine their domain controls for incredible power. Taken to its logical conclusion in the final battle with the combined power of all the Knights: "Wish Fulfilling Light."
• Coming of Age Story - For Yuuhi, mainly, but many other characters get their moments. A major theme of the story is the meaning of being an adult, and serving as a good example to the next generation.
• The Conscience - Noi to Yuuhi.
• Crazy Prepared - Yuuhi and his trap holes. He loves digging them.
  • Taken Up to Eleven when, after developing Bablylon. Yuuhi purposely uses it in a low level so as to prevent his teammates from realizing his full capabilities
• Curb Stomp Battle - Hyou Shimaki's response to Maimakterion completely destroying his 8th Golem? Summon his 9th, 10th & 11th Golems all at once to overwhelm the kid.
  • The battle against the Mage's final golem goes very poorly for the golem.
• Cute Bruiser - Sami. Yuuhi rightly questions who is supposed to protect whom after she saves his life.
• Dangerously Genre Savvy - Pretty much everyone at some point. Special mention goes to Mikazuki, who wins a fight at one point by announcing his final technique, the "Bring the Popular Guy Down a Peg Punch" He then does a completely normal kick instead, which is so unexpected that his opponent runs right into it and loses the fight.
• Dare to Be Badass - Amamiya Yuuhi, several times.
• Dead for Real - Hangetsu The Dog Knight. Tarou The Mouse Knight. The Swordfish Knight, "Master."
• Devil in Plain Sight - Mikazuki the Crow Knight, mainly. Everyone thinks he's a great guy, Ax Crazy tendencies, evil aura, and mouth full of canines aside. Sami and Yuuhi, to a relatively lesser degree, since they don't attack everything they come across.
  • I don't think he counts. Remember what he wished for? Some bread. For a starving child.
  • Also Akane the Owl Knight who also wants to destroy the world and his mentor animal Loki who got so tired of the cycle of battles that he apparently betrayed the knights the last time.
    • Or maybe not. After experiencing death for the first time Akane's having a change of heart; Loki's previous Knight killed the others so he could gain the Mage's trust and kill him, but it didn't work. Now Loki is loyal to his Knight, not Anima or Animus.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu? - Yuuhi tries this on Animus the first chance he gets.
  • Nagumo succeeds.
• Disappeared Dad - Sami's father is a writer who doesn't come home very often, but apparently more often then her mom.
• Distant Finale / Where Are They Now - How the manga ends. Very satisfyingly I might add.
• Diving Save - Factors heavily in Hangetsu's motivations. In the end, it was a diving save that killed him.
• Domestic Abuse - Grandparent to Grandchild.
  • The Owl Knight Akane is neglected by his father and has a bad relationship with his stepmother.
• Dying Moment of Awesome - The Swordfish Knight.
• Earthshattering Kaboom - the goal of the Mage and The Princess. Both have some of the most unique methods ever - by giant pastry hammer and by FIST!
• Elemental Powers: Clearly stated with Hanako and Tarou, but played with others. Sort of.
  • An Ice Person - Sorano Hanako.
  • Playing with Fire - Kusakabe Tarou
  • Dishing Out Dirt - Shimaki Hyou (He makes golems out of dirt)
• Eleventh-Hour Superpower: As Anima puts it, psychic powers do not have to obey logic but can bend to need, will, and desire... when Yuuhi somehow steals the power of Invisible from Yayoi and Shea during his fight with Sami, because he desperately needs the power to be able to stop her.
• Evil Orphan: Played straight with Animus and subverted with Anima
• Everyone Can See It - Tarou and Hanako are childhood friends who ride together on a bike and both happen to be knights.
• Everything's Better with Princesses: Subverted: When Anima finally appears the mentor animals only sigh wearily, Lizard Knight aside. It turns out that Anima is incredibly unreasonable and childish, suddenly teleporting knights just so they'll cook for her on top of stealing Yuuhi's favorite and hard-to-get brand of instant ramen.
• Eyes Always Shut: Yuki and Shimaki.
• Fake Defector - The previous Owl Knight. Didn't work out like he planned.
• The Family for the Whole Family - The Yakuza who hire Hangetsu and later Mikazuki as "fight prevention". Their boss (or at least the guy in charge of that area) even rescues Mikazuki after he gets captured by unfriendly rival gangsters.
• Fan Service - Anima in a playboy bunny suit. She even says so.
  • Yayoi gets in on the act with her periodic appearances in skimpy cosplay. As often as not being pulled out of cosplaying in private by Anima, much to Yayoi's endless embarrassment. Meanwhile Shea keeps hinting she should let Yuuhi in on her hobby (for a start...).
• The Fettered / The Unfettered: Anima and Animus, who identify as a human and a god, respectively.
• Flash Back: The origin of Anima and Animus' animosity.
• Fluffy the Terrible - The doomsday device, freaking Biscuit Hammer.
• For the Evulz: Lil' Animus destroys the space ship he's on, then the hospital satellite, then the Earth many times over because he can, and also because killing so many people at once is so thrilling.
  • At one point Animus hints his biggest reason for destroying the world (again and again) is that he truly believes himself to be a "god of destruction" and that it is necessary for him to keep going back in time by destroying the past so he may reach the beginning, collapsing the universe back into itself so it may have begun. Then again, he may have been lying through his teeth to convince Shimaki Hyou to join him and is just doing it because he's a psychopathic nut.
• Gainaxing - Yayoi is the biggest offender here, in more ways than one.
• Genki Girl - Sami
• Genre Savvy - Several characters. A prime example is how Sami reacts when Hangetsu first shows up. He tries to do a dramatic entrance by jumping down from a high place. This is of course a very typical manga gag; a new character tries to look cool by doing an impressive jump, but screws up the landing and falls on his face instead. In this case, though, Hangetsu sticks the landing perfectly. Sami responds by saying that he wasted a chance to get a laugh.
  • Hangetsu then goes back and does his entrance again, this time screwing up the landing on purpose. Sami responds that it still isn't funny.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Apparently subverted with Mikazuki, who has slit cat's pupils but is a decent guy besides a few negative traits. Played straight with Animus, who had flatter, small eyes than most other characters with an extra circle in the cornea, which makes his stare awfully penetrating.
  • The extra circle is apparently commonly used by the mangaka, as one of the other works also features this, and it is indeed used to indicate evil eyes, usually.
• Government Conspiracy: Hinted at obliquely in chapter 38 during a conversation between Nagumo and his former partner in the police, but never explored further: some part of the Japanese government seems to be aware of the fight between Anima and Animus, and is willing to take steps to make sure the fight can go on without too much notice from the Muggles. That, or Animus is able to manipulate the police enough to make sure the fighting remains a secret even when someone dies. It's hard to tell which is the scarier prospect.
• Grievous Harm with a Body - Shimaki's 5th golem and Mikazuki during the same battle. They're having a lot of fun doing it too.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Gloriously averted. Even after getting a skill upgrade from Hangetsu's dying wish, Yuuhi has to practice hard to make more than basic use of it. And much later on Yuuhi proves he can stomp any other Beast Knight, including the three Mythical Beast Knights, even though he'd lost the fight to become one himself. Yuuhi works hard over the series to become as good as he does.
  • This is a theme threaded throughout the creator's works, as well. Power may be nice but technical proficiency wins out, as the one with power uses it as a crutch until they're forced to learn to use it better.
• Heel Face Turn - Well, possibly Omnicidal Maniac-face-ish turn by Akane.
  • Confirmed as the the final Chapters, Akane spends the final battle spamming his healing effect and turning the tide of battle
• Hellish Pupils - When Yuuhi is plotting for the Princess.
• Heroic RROD - Shimaki's pushing himself too far in the final battle. His hair turns gray from summoning his 13th Golem.
• Heroic Sacrifice - Tarou jumps in front of the 9th Golem's lance to save Hanako, but it spears both of them anyway. He uses his wish to save her; Hanako's own mentor animal (the above Blood Knight mantis) declares it a Stupid Sacrifice. It's made even worse when it's revealed that Akane is a healer, but Hanako doesn't hold it against him.
• Hidden Agenda Villain - The mage. Well, the whole point of the series (backed up by his own admission) is the mage supposedly trying to destroy the world, but he takes such a laidback approach to this that there must be something else to it--he sends golems one by one (in order of difficulty, of course), occasionally appears for a friendly chat, and so clearly outclasses the Knights that he doesn't need golems. No one ever says why he has to defeat the Knights before he can use the hammer, either.
  • He claims it's because the Mage Animus and the Princess Anima made everything up -- the golems, the knights, the whole cycle -- as a game to keep the fight between them more interesting, way back at the beginning of the cycle. Both sides agreed to it as a form of self-protection, so that pawns took the brunt of the damage and setbacks weren't fatal to their goals, as a one-on-one deciding battle would be. Sami points out that she isn't quite the same Anima that the mage knew, and rejects this view of things outright.
  • The Mage started the whole thing when he crushed the Earth as a kid. Anima kept trying to beat him for a hundred years all over time, but hasn't won yet.
• Homage: The relationship between Akane and the 11th Golum is one to Shinji and Kaworu, minus the sexual tension and plus a bit more Nietzsche Wannabe.
• Hot-Blooded - Yuki in spite of her normally laidback demeanor. Also, Yuuhi and Mikazuki to a certain extent, though Yuuhi had to endure a lot of Character Development to become that way.

Akane: If we stay here quietly... then we're probably going to meet a painful end.
Yuki: [punches Akane and grabs him by his shirt] Don't give up like that! You're a man! Say that you want to live!
Akane: I have no reason to live!
Yuki: There has to be! If not, go make one! [suddenly deadly serious] We're going back alive. And we're going to eat ramen. Let's go with everyone.

• Hot Teacher - Hisame is considered to be this. Not many professors are in their mid 20's.
• How Do I Shot Web? - Yuuhi's telekinetic power is weak; he has to train to effect marginal increases in its strength and is hard pressed to find defensive uses for it, let alone offensive.
• I Can Still Fight - Yuuhi vs the 3rd Golem.
• Ill Girl - Sami before taking on the role of princess; her current health is only temporary.
  • This is revealed as the whole reason behind her desire to destroy the Earth...
• Imagine Spot: Yuuhi has more than a few, all of them centered around Sami in some way. They range from dating, to married life, and even envisioning her as a (very cute) tengu-themed idol singer.
• Important Haircut - Hanako cuts most of her hair off after letting go of Tarou.
• Invisible to Normals - The mentor animals, the Biscuit Hammer (which can only be seen if someone points it out to you), and the golems, which don't seem to attack when there are innocent bystanders anyway and amusingly enough even follow traffic laws.
  • And taken up another step, the Blues Drive Monster, Anima's own super-weapon in this game, is invisible to people who have not gone through utter despair and still found hope on the other side, including the Beast Knights. It takes Yuuhi, of all people, to point it out to the rest.
• Invulnerable Knuckles - Subverted with Mikazuki at one point. Played utterly straight with Sami. "SAMIDARE PUNCH!"
• It Has Been an Honor - The author has complete and utter mastery of this trope. Especially the first time Mu speaks around everyone.
• Jumped At the Call - A few of the other Knights, particularly Hangetsu, the Dog Knight and self-styled Ally of Justice (complete with business card).
• Kaiju - The golems usually get bigger as the numbers get higher. Guess how big the final golems are.
• Kids Are Cruel: Animus and Maimakterion
• Large Ham - Hangetsu.
  • Animus, sometimes. BISCUIT HAMMER!! COME ON DOWN!!
• Let Them Die Happy - Yayoi's contractual wish was that her family would die with smiles on their faces.
• Lethal Chef- Sami doesn't like her own cooking but thinks that Yuuhi does.
  • To be exact, it tastes horrible but he likes it anyway because she made it.
• Lighthearted Rematch - Yuuhi and Mikazuki. Mikazuki wins with a purposefully miscalled attack.
• Limited Wardrobe: Animus the Mage. He's been wearing the same pajamas since he blew up his hospital-satellite many centuries ago/ahead. He admits he could change things up but he finds his current wardrobe extremely comfortable.
• Living on Borrowed Time - Sami.
• Love Confession - Done twistedly between Sami and Yuuhi.

Sami: I love you, Demon Knight.
Yuuhi: And I love you, my Demon Lord.

• • Yayoi to Yuuhi after giving him a beatdown for the power of the Invisible.
  • Tarou to Hanako, right as he dies.
• Meaningful Funeral - The knights face off against 9th golem in funeral attire.
• Medium Awareness

Noi: Holding a beach event ignoring the season of the magazine article and season of the volume sale huh...
Yuuhi: What are you talking about Noi...?

• • Anima comments on how she didn't get a color page for volume 6 in chapter 37.
• Mentor Mascot - Each knight gets an animal, Invisible to Normals -- Yuuhi's stuck with the lizard. They really aren't of much help. At least, not until a small set of them start getting upgraded into the Mythical Beast Knights, gaining a secondary form and lending immense power to their human partners.
  • Their main purpose, according to Loki, is to keep the human Knights constantly aware of the supernatural so they're always ready.
• Mind Over Matter - All Knights began with limited telekinesis, in the form of a small mobile bubble containing the field of influence. Yuuhi could barely slow down a golem's attack with it. Hangetsu, on the other hand, was able to use his to rip golems into bite-sized pieces. Tarou & Hanako are able to heat and freeze alcohol and water respectively by manipulating the molecular vibrations.
• Missing Mom: Sami's mom, a famous doctor who was doing all she could to cure Sami and even after was kept busy with patients. Yuuhi's just kinda wandered off after her husband was killed.
• Mood Whiplash: From the final battle against Sami until the very end, the mood is predominantly sad, bittersweet at best - but then something ridiculous and hilarious happens to break up the flow before going right back to the melancholy. A reader could choke laughing while still crying.
• Morality Pet - Yuuhi's lizard. Well, at least he tries to be.
• My Card - Hangetsu has one that declares his occupation to be "ALLY OF JUSTICE". And confuses it with his regular business cards when passing them out.
• Name's the Same - No. This Hoshikawa Subaru will not be using Denpa-Henkan. And is also a girl
• Nietzsche Wannabe - Yuuhi & Akane, but they get better.
• The Obi-Wan - Hangetsu.
  • The Master also does it, and even manages to one-up the original Obi-Wan by writing a small book before he dies, sealing it in a box, and burying it where Yuuhi will dig it up, and then does this again for Yuki and Subaru.
• Oblivious to Love - Mikazuki doesn't seem to realize how much Subaru blushes around him - until the last chapter.
• Old Master - Naturally the Master, he's 500 years old.
• Omnicidal Maniac - Animus and possibly Samidare.
• One-Winged Angel - Three of of the Beast Knights transform into the Mythical Beast Knights. Shea Moon into Invisible, Dance Dark into Unicorn and Loki Helios into Furesberg. Not that it really does much for the animals themselves.
  • Animus assumes a nightmarish shadow form while wielding a hideously spiked giant hammer during the final battle, once he realizes the Knights are too dangerous to merely toy with.
  • And at the very end Yuuhi steals the power of Invisible for Noi, and then Anima lets Mikazuki and Mu take the power of Furesberg for a final match against Yuuhi.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You - Sami is the only one allowed to destroy Earth.
  • Amamiya Yuuhi is the only one to stop the girl he loves from doing so.
• Out of Focus: Both of the Asahina sisters drift out of focus to varying degrees in the latter half of the series, as it focuses on the Beast Knights as a group. Sami is still present, but until very late it's not as much about her as it was in the early series. Meanwhile, Hisame fades out almost entirely once Anima enters the picture.
• Panty Shot - Sami's flying kicks tend to flash people a lot.
  • Don't forget her big sis, and Magical Mary, both in doll and anime form... Further supplemented by Maimakterion in her form
  • Even when Sami doesn't use flying kicks, she often flashes Yuuhi, at the least, and it's a running gag that when she asks if he saw them, he'll respond with the colour or cute animal of the panties that day.
  • Parodied in a volume 1 bonus where, after several inter-chapter images of Sami and her sister trying on each other's (school and work) clothes, Yuuhi shows up looking incredibly serious in Sami's school uniform with a "Panty Shot" note pointing toward his boxers, which are just longer than Sami's skirt.
• Papa Wolf - Nagumo.
• Pet the Dog - Or cat, as it were, when Yuuhi saves one floating down the river.
• Physical God - Animus' A God Am I schtick isn't just hot air.
• Playing with Fire - Tarou
  • After Tarou's death Hanako makes use of this ability as well
• Poisonous Friend - Possibly Yuuhi, considering his unhesitating willingness to do whatever it takes to further Sami's goal, including murdering people who find out his secret or Sami's plan. "Possibly", because it was Sami's idea to destroy the world in the first place, so...
• Posthumous Character - The Swordfish Knight "Master", who foresaw his death and left behind a diary that he knew Yuuhi would eventually accidentally dig up.
• The Power of Friendship: Yuuhi and Akane both eventually stop hating the world thanks to their association and friendships with the other Knights, and decide there are things worth saving after all. And a little more literally when it comes to the Knights' combined ultimate attack, Wish Fulfilling Light.
• The Power of Love: Yuuhi's love for Sami is the only thing that can stop her at the end, saving the world from Sami and Sami from herself.
• The Power of Trust: Sami may recruit Yuuhi with the promise of destroying the world, but she keeps his loyalty by trusting him absolutely, right from the start - demonstrating her trust by throwing herself off the top of a four or five floor building when they first meet as Princess and Knight, trusting that he'll intervene to save her even though he's said he doesn't want to get involved at all. He jumps after her without even thinking.
• Power Perversion Potential: The first thing Yuuhi does with his telekinesis is lift up his young teacher's skirt. It comes full circle when Yuuhi uses Babylon to tie up Yayoi's skirt over her head, revealing her pantyhose beneath it. Given that he uses Babylon to take out the remaining Beast Knights, he's basically using the most powerful form of their ability to do this.
• Precision F-Strike - Mikazuki after beating Yuuhi at the end
• Psychopathic Manchild: Animus, though he appears to be almost Affably Evil at first.
• Psycho Supporter: Yuuhi is a literal Psycho Supporter, instantly pledging complete loyalty to Princess Sami after she vows to stop the mages from destroying Earth so that she can do so herself.
  • Sami is this way for Yuuhi too. When he's afraid to face his ill Grandfather because of the Grandparental Abuse he did to Yuuhi, she tells him that it's okay: if his grandfather were to ever hurt him again, she would annihilate the household.
• Raised by Grandparents - Yuuhi was raised by his Grandpa after his parents were gone. He has trust issues because of this.
• Real Men Wear Pink - Nagumo the badass longcoat ex-detective prefers parfaits to coffee.
• Really Dead Montage - Tarou-kun
• Redemption Equals Death - Yuuhi's grandfather. He abused Yuuhi when he was young by keeping him in chains in the basement. Years later, he realizes the error of his ways, begs his grandson for forgiveness (which he gets) and seems to have changed his relationship with Yuuhi for the better. He gets hit by a car while crossing the street a few months later.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech - Noi gives one to Yuuhi at one point, who responds by agreeing with the lizard. Also, Nagumo gives one to Animus in the final battle which really plays quite well with the motifs of the story.
  • Noi's speech to Yuuhi is called back to when Yuuhi nearly breaks down in a full-fledged panic attack at the prospect of facing the seventh golem after Hangetsu's death, and Yuuhi admits that he can't just brush off what Noi had said anymore. It takes Noi's belief that Yuuhi could grant Noi's wish in turn and be a hero for Yuuhi to overcome his fear.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Mikazuki (Red) and Yuuhi (Blue). Several people over the course of the series, including Hangetsu, comment on how alike yet different they are. They both end up practicing the same martial arts style and their personal domain controls are based heavily on mobility - but Mikazuki fights with passion and intensity while Yuuhi plans and anticipates. And at the very end Yuuhi ends up working as a police detective while Mikazuki is his rough parallel in the Yakuza, and both have a prominent, near-identical scar over one eye: Mikazuki over his right eye, and Yuuhi over his left.
  • Yuki and Subaru are a far milder case. Subaru has reddish hair while Yuki's is white, but in temperament Yuki is much more the Red Oni. As one fan translator put it, "The most GAR character in this series is officially a twin-tailed middle school girl."
• Refusal of the Call - Yuuhi would much rather just hedge his bets and not risk his life.
  • Sami needed a lot of convincing to work with Anima since the latter had difficulty talking to a child who didn't wish for anything at the moment.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Yuuhi against part of the 7th golem, in revenge for the previous golem's killing of Hangetsu. He fights on pure adrenaline, rage, and the rudiments of the skills Hangetsu imparted to Yuuhi as his dying wish, though he's not able to finish the fight.
  • Also Hanako against the golem that killed Tarou.
• Samus Is a Girl - This one really takes you by surprise and right near the end too. Mu is female. Seriously, who saw that coming?
• Self-Made Orphan: Animus destroyed the spaceship he and his family were on while testing his psychic powers. If he ever felt bad about that it paled in comparison to the thrill of having god-like powers.
• Shape Shifter - Maimakterion.
• Shapeshifter Guilt Trip - Maimakterion invokes this against the Beast Knights using their family members as a defensive move. Nagumo subverts it by attacking him anyway, with a grudge fueled newly named technique no less.
• Shapeshifter Weapon - Maimakterion does this.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend - Tarou to Mikazuki, Yuuhi and Sami during a youthful hangout once. He added a "yet" to the end though.
• Shout-Out - The mangaka slips these in quite often.
  • "Biscuit Hammer" is the title of a song by The Pillows, as is "Blue Drives Monster", Anima's secret anti-hammer weapon, and Babylon Tenshi no Uta.
    • Gainax anime when?
  • Magical Mary: Ultimagical Drill Break
    • And she's wearing Kamina's glasses when she does it too.
  • Maimakterion and Akane Taiyou are seen leaving a cinema with Sengoku Youko, the author's other monthly serial, as one of the movies.
  • Animus reads a book about John Titor at one point.
  • Anima shows up in a bunnygirl outfit in front of Akane to upgrade Loki after Akane defeates the "heart" of the little respawning golems.
  • Magical Mary owns a rifle that looks suspiciously like RX-78's.
  • A box of cakes from a cake shop glows golden when Hisame opens it.
  • Hangetsu claims to fight Mikazuki "at 30%" because 100% would reduce him to ash.
• Show Within a Show - Little Witch Magical Mary. "Super magical.... VIOLENCE GAUNTLET!"
• Sibling Rivalry - An unusually healthy version with Hangetsu (genius fighter) and Mikazuki (hard-working fight freak) -- imagine if Itachi and Sasuke actually talked to each other, let the other brother know he respected him, and their family wasn't planning a peace-shattering coup and were hired by friendly Yakuzas.
• Single-Target Sexuality - Yuuhi towards Samidare.
• Slasher Smile - Mikazuki.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism - FIRMLY on the idealistic side, despite prominent downer characters Yuuhi and Akane, and even multiple permanent character deaths.
• Slouch of Villainy: Animus's posture is horrendous.
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil - Each golem is stronger than its predecessor, indicated by having one more eye.
  • This is apparently subverted when two golems show up, both individually weaker than the previous golem. But funnily enough, if you added the number of eyes together... Guess what? They combine.
  • Each golem is also more intelligent and aware than its predecessor. The early ones were more like robots, gradually growing animalistic until the 8th could be provoked and angered and culminating in Maimakterion, the 11th, who was effectively human. The 12th didn't last long enough to see how intelligent it was.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Furesberg is more properly written as Hraesvelgr, though both are apparently pronounced the same phonetically. However, most people still write it Furesberg (as evidenced elsewhere on this page) because that name was in use first and longest by the translators.
• Start of Darkness - Chapter 54 reveals Animus and Anima's backstory. Anima manages to convince Animus to seal his powers after they recover from the shuttle explosion... and then the nice doctor who was going to adopt them starts gushing about how Animus is a god. Animus snaps, happily agrees, then destroys Earth with a giant biscuit hammer For the Evulz.
• Stepford Smiler - Hakudou Yayoi.
  • Prior to Tarou's death Hanako was even more so.
• Suck Sessor - Mikazuki considers Yuuhi to be this after having fought him the first time. Things change after their rematch.
• Suicide Pact: Yuuhi pledges to Sami that he lives for her, strongly implying he would kill himself if she ever dies before him, no matter the circumstances. It helps draw her back from the brink of destroying everything. It's more one-sided than a normal suicide pact but it helps Sami understand that her fears of being alone, even in death, are unfounded.
• Super Strength - Sami. Knights have it too, to a lesser extent.
• Survivor Guilt - Yuuhi for a while.
• Teach Me How to Fight - Yuuhi finally relents to having Hangetsu teach him his kung-fu. Unfortunately his timing was bad.
• There Are Two Kinds of People in the World - Yuuhi invokes this at the beach, type I being "Those who swim" and type II being "Those who don't".
  • And immediately subverts it right after making that statement, running out to play in the water the instant Sami calls for him.
• Time Travel - Animus, Anima and the Beast Knights go back in time whenever Animus wins a war. Hangetsu and the Master travel forwards in their dreams. Also, in the last chapter, Anima "borrows" Yuuhi from ten years after the last battle... on the day before the final battle.
• Timey-Wimey Ball - The reason Animus' destruction of each regressive past time doesn't erase him or Anima from existence in a paradox. Loki likens it to a kappa being born in a river, then going upstream to dam the flow and yet still living despite its birthplace being erased. "Time" is just another geographic dimension that those with enough power can move through.
• Title Drop: While Mikazuki and Yuuhi are having their last rematch, the giant Samidare in the sky begins to break up, and the pieces of it fall and create a meteor shower. Subaru calls it 'A rain of stars... a May rain of stars... "Hoshi no Samidare"...'
• Took a Level In Badass - Yuuhi goes from relying on Sami or Hangetsu to save him to being able to rescue another Knight from a golem to beating Hangetsu in a one on one battle.
  • And finally, he becomes strong enough to hold his own against all the other Beast Knights at once...and his Princess.
  • All of the Knights over time, especially those that gain the power of the Mythical Beast Knights. The difference in combat power for both Nagumo and Yayoi from before their upgrades and after is staggering.
• True Companions: The Knights, firmly so by the time of the final battle. Which depresses Sami to no end because she sees the others pulling Yuuhi away from her, never realizing until the end that she was part of them the whole time, and that Yuuhi would never let her be alone again no matter what... even in death.
• Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: Yukimachi and Subaru's "Strongest Spear" and "Invincible Shield" paired domain controls allude to this - they take the names from a story told by the Master about a spear that can penetrate any shield, and a shield that can block any spear. Instead of describing them as set against each other, however, he instead points out that if they are wielded together then the warrior that bears them would be unstoppable. He then has them clasp hands and declares that together they are "the warrior."
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: After shots of an explosion caused by Sami and her leaping over rooftops is seen on the news, Sami is confident someone will spin it into something plausible (a nuclear test and a pop idol publicity stunt, respectively).
• Up to Eleven - The final battle starts off on a level never seen before in the series and gets more and more intense from there. It involves Animus's gigantic 12th Golem, the ultimate domain control attack, Shimaki's 12th Golem, the Biscuit Hammer, the Blues Drive Monster, a giant space version of Sami, Animus joining in on the action, Animus getting really serious, Shimaki's 13th Golem and Nagumo riding on Dance the Unicorn to deliver a spinzaku kick to Animus' face! in that order and that's only the first part. Sami and Yuuhi have a big fight after Animus is defeated.
• Villain Protagonist: Sami (the titular "Lucifer") and Yuuhi, with the goal of destroying Earth. The other Knights mostly don't know about Sami's intention; Sami and Yuuhi plot to turn against them as soon as the world is saved.
• Villainous Breakdown: Animus when Sami manages to make a golem in her shape and smash the hammer. He was so used to winning his little game that he can't actually take it that he could be beaten and practically flips going to attack the knights. It pretty much his version of flipping the table after losing a chess match.
• The Voiceless - The Crow never talks but logically she had to at somepoint to tell Mikazuki about the Biscuit Hammer. When asked, Mikazuki admits that the Crow hasn't spoken ever since he made his wish and sealed their pact, back when Mikazuki was backpacking in India long before he showed up in the manga. She finally talks, at her farewell to Mikazuki.
• Weirdness Censor - The main reason the characters are chosen to be the Beast Knights is because they have a much weaker Weirdness Censor than most people.

Loki: The Knights of the Rings' brains are truly exceptional. Those selected are a group of fools. Those people are able to accept unbelievable things and believe in them. Perceiving the extraordinary, to become able to perform the extraordinary.

• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: During the third battle with the 10-eyed Golem Maimakterion shows up as the main character of the in universe magical girl show, Magical Mary and promptly begins kicking ass.
  • Shimaki Hyou's 12th Golem is A giant version of Coo Ritter while his 13th is a giant version of himself
  • Nagumo rides on Dance the Unicorn down Shimaki's 13th Golem's arm to deliver a spinzaku kick to Animus' face.
• What the Hell, Hero? - If Sami had defeated the Mage and carried out her plan.
• White-Haired Pretty Girl: Yayoi, and then Yuki in the Distant Finale.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds - Sami and Yuuhi, again. Yuuhi had a messed-up childhood thanks to his grandfather: who raised him after his dad was murdered by his colleague and his mom disappeared. "Make no enemies - they'll stab you in the heart; make no friends - they'll stab you in the back. It's better to live your life alone". Sami wants to get a sense of owning the world by being able to destroy it so that it doesn't go on without her when she dies. Akane, who is sent away by his father on the rare occasions that dad comes home, prays every day that the world (or at least the town) would get blown up. His mentor animal Loki the owl just wants this stupid battle cycle to end, one way or another.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: A lot of the characters seem to enjoy acknowledging shounen tropes, but miss how often the seinen series subverts them. Mikazuki, in particular, makes his introduction to Yuuhi on a bridge in the pouring rain and casually asks for a fight. When Yuuhi flat-out refuses, Mikazuki flips out at him for not following the cliche, and then bursts into tears and runs off. Some of the other characters don't get off so easily. Tarou and Hangetsu, for starters.
• You Can Barely Stand - This happens repeatedly to the Beast Knights when Animus joins in on the final battle. The only reason they keep coming back up is because of Akane's restoration power
• You Fight Like a Cow

Mikazuki: What's the matter? Your mom has a protruding navel.

• You Gotta Have Blue Hair - Anima and Animus, as (godlike) psychics, have green hair. The mangaka commented in his notes on another work, Psycho Staff, that he always envisions psychics as having green hair, even though everyone else has (for the most part) realistic hair colors and styles.
  • Maybe he was influenced by Locke The Superman?
    • Explicitly stated to be the case in the extras of one of his other works, Psycho Staff.