History Literature / MardockScramble

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: It's never specified where in the future Mardock City is, aside from that it's within a area called the "Commonwealth", and they were once at war with the "Continent". It's mentioned to have a coastal district, and the novel refers to Central Park and a building called the Trump Tower, all of which which suggests it could be a future version of New York, but it remains ambiguous.

* BodyHorror: The Bandersnatch Company, in spades. Let's see, we've got: a guy with [[EyesDoNotBelongThere eyeballs implanted everywhere]], a FatBastard with numerous boobs glued to his chest, and... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Pussyhand]].

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Basically the entirety of [=OctoberCorp=]. However Cleanwill John October takes the cake, what with him [[spoiler:[[ParentalIncest raping, abusing and selling his mentally challenged daughter]], and being a huge pedophile.]] However, the founder of [=OctoberCorp=] is an idealist, and Doctor Easter insists she'd be disgusted with the direction the company is going now, were she not borderline brain-dead.

* CuteMute: Rune's vocal chords were incinerated, so she can only speak by ''snarking'' nearby speakers or screens. In the manga, this was because Shell [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill slit her throat before blowing up the car]].

* ElectronicEyes: The Bandersnatchers all have cybernetic eyes as a standard feature.

%% * RapeAsBackstory: Rune, as detailed in the ParentalIncest entry.

* SerialKiller: Shell has made a ritual of taking in young women, killing them when he finds out they've looked into the fake [=ID=]s he gives them, and turning their remains into blue diamonds. [[TheOneThatGotAway Balot]] was setup to be his next victim.

%% * TooManyBelts

%% * TraumaticHaircut: In the anime movie, Rune is reconstructed with short hair.

%% * UpliftedAnimal: Œufcoque and Tweedledum.
* VehicularThemeNaming: The book and chapter titles are all related the internal combustion engine.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: It's never specified where in the future Mardock City is, aside from that its within a area called the "Commonwealth", and they were once at war with the "Continent".

* ActionGirl: Rune, when she begins to use Œufcoque for combating the Bandersnatchers.
* ActionPet: Œufcoque in his mouse form.

* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Rune and Œufcoque, mutually.

* BigBrotherInstinct: The reaction Rune's brother had to finding out their father was raping her was... decisive.

* BrokenBird: Rune. Oh so much...

* [[CelibateHero Celibate Heroine]]: Rune's history has resulted in her having absolutely no interest in sex whatsoever.
* ConspicuousCG: Mostly in scenes with cars.
* CoolBigSis: The way Rune idolizes Belle Wing has shades of this.

* {{Cyborg}}: Rune, Shell, Boiled and the Bandersnatch Company.

* CyberPunk: The overall setting.

* DidntNeedThoseAnyway: Tweedledee barely reacts to having both his arms sliced off. He later comments that [[GoodThingYouCanHeal they'll soon grow back.]]

* DisposableSexWorker: Shell views Rune as this. It comes back to bite him.

* TheDragon: Boiled's place in Shell's employ.

* DuelToTheDeath: An intense one between [[spoiler:Balot and Boiled at the climax of the series.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Do they EVER. But in the end, it was all worth it.
* [[EdibleThemeNaming Egg Theme Naming]]: It's everywhere!

* EmotionlessGirl: Balot's unique selling point as a prostitute.
* EmptyShell: In an odd protagonist version, Rune starts as this. She gets better, though.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Welldone the Pussyhand (indeed all the Bandersnatchers)
* ExternalCombustion: How Shell intended to do away with Balot. [[spoiler:He also did this to his mother.]]

* {{Fingore}}: Medium the Fingernail, and later [[spoiler:Shell.]]

* FreudianExcuse: Shell's murderous impulses are rooted in [[spoiler:having been raped by his mother for years. This leads to him targeting women who were also sexually abused by their parents and making them "clean" again by turning them into blue diamonds. Doctor Easter theorizes that his neurological disorder is also a factor since it has robbed him of the capacity to develop stress coping mechanisms.]]

* FromBadToWorse: [[TheWoobie Rune's entire life.]] At least up until meeting Œufcoque and Dr. Easter.
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: The Doctor's Tech Glasses display information. This only really comes up once, though.

* GravityMaster: Boiled, and Paradise's [[EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks Cherubim]], both through the power of ''magnets''.
* GroinAttack: Delivered to Welldone, courtesy of Balot. [[spoiler:Later Medium suffers one. From a ''shark''.]]

* HandCannon: Boiled's revolver. It's so ridiculously powerful that he is only capable of firing it due to his PGF ability.
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Rune is basically this. Although she retires from prostitution early in the story.
* HotBlade: Hutchinson knives.

* ImplacableMan: You'd be forgiven for mistaking Boiled for The Franchise/{{Terminator}}.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Rune's battle-suit. Justified by it being made out of Œufcoque.

* InterspeciesRomance: Rune and Œufcoque, as well as Tweedledum and Tweedledee in ''Second Combustion''.

* LackOfEmpathy: Most of the antagonists, though especially Boiled due to experimental technology implanted into him by Paradise.

* MadScientist: Easter is a heroic but still eccentric version of this.
* MadeOfIron: Boiled and the Bandersnatchers.
* MegaCorp: [=OctoberCorp=]
* MentorMascot: Œufcoque
* MoralityPet: Œufcoque used to be this for Boiled, and now fulfills a similar role for Rune.

* OffhandBackhand: When a downed mook tries to interrupt Rune while she is snarking Cleanwill John October's location.
* OutOfTheInferno: Thanks to Œufcoque, Balot manages to survive the explosion set off by Rare unscathed.

* ParentalIncest: Rune lost her virginity when her father [[RapeAsBackstory raped]] her after school. She was twelve.

* [[PsychoForHire Psychos for Hire]]: The Bandersnatch Company. They didn't even want money for the Rune Balot job. They fancied her parts so much that they considered the job and the payment to be one in the same.

* RapeAsBackstory: Rune, as detailed in the ParentalIncest entry.
* RazorFloss: Rare the Hair's preferred ranged weapon.

* SapientCetaceans: Tweedledum the dolphin.

* SissyVillain: Rare the Hair, and Flesh the Pike to a lesser extent.
* SmugSnake: Shell.

* TheStoic: Boiled.
* SuperReflexes: Balot can snark her own body to react at the speed of her SuperSenses, and block out pain.

** The Bandersnatch Company's cybernetic eyes, and mental network is another example of this.
* TakingYouWithMe: Rare attempts to do this to Rune via internal explosives.
* {{Technopath}}: Rune [[spoiler:and Boiled to a ''much'' lesser extent.]]
* [[HeKnowsTooMuch They Know Too Much]]: Why Shell has the Bandersnatch Company dispose of his neurosurgeons.
* TooManyBelts

* TraumaticHaircut: In the anime movie, Rune is reconstructed with short hair.

* UpliftedAnimal: Œufcoque and Tweedledum.

* VillainousBreakdown: Shell seems to go through a constant one throughout the series.

* [[WeCanRebuildHim We Can Rebuild Her]]: Rune is reborn as a cyber-being after "dying" in an exploding car.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Boiled's past is tragic. Balot skirts this trope herself.

* YoureDrinkingBreastMilk: Flesh certainly is. [[{{squick}} His own.]]

Rune Balot is a teen prostitute whose life is saved after an attempted murder by being cybernetically enhanced. Partnered with a cyborg mouse who can transform into any tool or weapon, she has to defend her life by putting away SerialKiller and [[MegaCorp October Corporation]] employee [[BigBad Shell Septimos]], the man responsible, using her new abilities to sense her entire environment and control any nearby electronics.

Rune Balot is a teen prostitute whose life is saved after an attempted murder by being cybernetically enhanced. Partnered with a cyborg mouse who can transform into any tool or weapon, she has to defend her life by putting away the man responsible using her new abilities to sense her entire environment and control any nearby electronics.

A three volume novel by TowUbukata (published by Creator/VizMedia's Haikasora label in English as a single omnibus volume). An OVA series was commissioned to be animated by {{Creator/GONZO}} with character designs by Range Murata, this was later cancelled and instead it was released as a series of three films animated by Creator/GoHands, with a [[http://www.theanimenetwork.com/Anime/Mardock-Scramble-The-First-Compression/Feature/Watch dub + subtitled release]] by Creator/SentaiFilmworks in America and Canada, Creator/MadmanEntertainment in Australia and New Zealand, and Kaze in the UK, Ireland and Europe.

* SomeKindOfForceField: Boiled's GravityMaster powers can generate a nearly impenetrable personal shield.

* ConspicuousCG: Mostly in scenes with cars.

A three volume novel by TowUbukata (published by Creator/VizMedia's Haikasora label in English as a single omnibus volume). An OVA series was commissioned to be animated by {{Creator/GONZO}} with character designs by Range Murata, this was later cancelled and instead it was released as a series of three films animated by [=GoHands=], with a [[http://www.theanimenetwork.com/Anime/Mardock-Scramble-The-First-Compression/Feature/Watch dub + subtitled release]] by Creator/SentaiFilmworks in America and Canada, Creator/MadmanEntertainment in Australia and New Zealand, and Kaze in the UK, Ireland and Europe.

* ShoutOutThemeNaming: [[Literature/AliceInWonderland Tweedledee, Tweedledum, Humpty-Dumpty]], the [[Literature/{{Jabberwocky}} Bandersnatch]] Company as well as ''[[TheHuntingOfTheSnark snark]]''... and Charles Ludwig sounds awfully [[Creator/LewisCarroll familiar]].

->''"Why me?"'' - '''Rune Balot'''

* ImplacableMan: You'd be forgiven for mistaking Boiled for TheTerminator.

Rune Balot is a teen prostitute whose life is saved after an attempted murder by being cybernetically enhanced. Partnered with a cyborg mouse who can transform into any tool or weapon, she has to defend her life by putting away the man responsible using her new abilities to sense her entire environment and control any nearby electronics.

A three volume novel by TowUbukata (published by Creator/VizMedia's Haikasora label in English as a single omnibus volume). An OVA series was commissioned to be animated by {{Creator/GONZO}} with character designs by Range Murata, this was later cancelled and instead it was released as a series of three films animated by [=GoHands=], with a [[http://www.theanimenetwork.com/Anime/Mardock-Scramble-The-First-Compression/Feature/Watch dub + subtitled release]] by SentaiFilmworks in America and Canada, Creator/MadmanEntertainment in Australia and New Zealand, and Kaze in the UK, Ireland and Europe.

A three volume novel by TowUbukata (published by Creator/VizMedia's Haikasora label in English as a single omnibus volume). An OVA series was commissioned to be animated by {{Gonzo}} with character designs by Range Murata, this was later cancelled and instead it was released as a series of three films animated by [=GoHands=], with a [[http://www.theanimenetwork.com/Anime/Mardock-Scramble-The-First-Compression/Feature/Watch dub + subtitled release]] by SentaiFilmworks in America and Canada, Creator/MadmanEntertainment in Australia and New Zealand, and Kaze in the UK, Ireland and Europe.

* {{Asexual}}: Doctor Easter left his wife because the hundreds of hours of ethics counseling his government research required of him rendered impotent. He thinks it makes him saintly.

* BadBoss: [[spoiler:[=OctoberCorp=] is quick to sell Shell down the river when it becomes clear he's legally screwed.]]

* DuelToTheDeath: [[spoiler:An intense one between Balot and Boiled at the climax of the series.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Do they EVER. But in the end, it was all worth it.]]

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: Shell's murderous impulses are rooted in having been raped by his mother for years. This leads to him targeting women who were also sexually abused by their parents and making them "clean" again by turning them into blue diamonds. Doctor Easter theorizes that his neurological disorder is also a factor since it has robbed him of the capacity to develop stress coping mechanisms.]]

* GroinAttack: [[spoiler:Delivered to Welldone, courtesy of Balot. Later Medium suffers one. From a ''shark''.]]

* {{Asexual}}: Doctor Easter left his wife because the hundreds of hours of ethics counseling his government research required of him rendered him impotent. He thinks it makes him saintly.

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Aside from Balot and Bell Wing, all main and secondary characters are male.

* [[spoiler:DuelToTheDeath: An intense one between Balot and Boiled at the climax of the series.]]
* [[spoiler:EarnYourHappyEnding: Do they EVER. But in the end, it was all worth it.]]

* [[spoiler: HappyEnding: A surprising example given how grim the story is in tone, but at the end of the day all the villains are dead or facing justice, Rune Balot has friends and a future, and she's moving past her emotional trauma. Not to say they didn't have to [[EarnYourHappyEnding work for it]].]]

* ShoutOutThemeNaming: [[Literature/AliceInWonderland Tweedledee, Tweedledum, Humpty-Dumpty]], the [[Literature/{{Jabberwocky}} Bandersnatch]] corporation as well as ''[[TheHuntingOfTheSnark snark]]''... and Charles Ludwig sounds awfully [[Creator/LewisCarroll familiar]].

** The flying house '''Humpty''' (which overlaps with the LewisCarroll-based ShoutOutThemeNaming)

* ShoutOutThemeNaming: [[Literature/AliceInWonderland Tweedledee, Tweedledum, Humpty-Dumpty]], the [[Literature/{{Jabberwocky}} Bandersnatch]] corporation as well as ''[[TheHuntingOfTheSnark snark]]''... and Charles Ludwig sounds awfully [[LewisCarroll familiar]].