History Manga / Basara

* ABirthdayNotABreak: At one point, Sarasa is going off to fight when Kakuji and Nagi realize that it's Sarasa's birthday and she's turned 16. She's been so busy with the rebellion that she forgot.

* AnimalMotifs: Ageha and (what else) butterflies. His stage name is Madame Butterfly and he wears them everywhere. He's associated with the ButterflyOfDoom (being a small but important leader of the rebellion) and general flying and freedom themes.

* BabiesEverAfter: Epilogue. Duh. [[spoiler:Mind you, this is AFTER Sasara and Shuri start up a successful merchant corporation and end up even more rich than if Shuri crowned himself emperor]].
* BattleCouple: Zaki and Chacha.
** Shuri and Sarasa pre-and-post reveal often lead and fight together.

* BirdsOfAFeather: Shuri and Sarasa. Both are [[MagneticHero charismatic]], [[TheStrategist intelligent]], [[TheDeterminator stubborn]] [[AFatherToHisMen loyal leaders]] with heavy [[TheChosenOne dest]][[SelfFulfillingProphecy inies]]. Both are idealistic, sharing similar visions and goals of a better Japan.

* CainAndAbel: Shuri and Asagi, to an extent, though it's mostly one-sided on Asagi's part.
* TheChosenOne: Subverted and played straight with Tatara and Sarasa.
** Shuri also who is prophesied to overthrow King Ukon. The grief the prophecy caused him makes him adopt a very ScrewDestiny attitude.

* DeadlyGame: The Suzuka Murder Race.

* DeathIsDramatic: [[spoiler: Shido, Taro, Ageha, and Ginko.]] Tamura really likes her grandiose deaths.

* DepravedHomosexual: The Snake King.

* TheDragon: Shido to Shuri.
** After Shido's death, Shuri gets a new NumberTwo - Nakijin. Solidified when Shuri gets a vision of Shido telling him that the job of being by his side is no longer his.

* GracefulLoser: A couple of the politicians and rulers that Tatara or Shuri defeat

* IronicHell: [[spoiler: Ageha]] gets one of these.

* MentorOccupationalHazard: [[spoiler: Ageha]]
* MessianicArchetype: Sarasa. Her coming was even foretold.

* PirateGirl: Chacha, a pirate captain.
* PlatonicLifePartners: Tara, [[spoiler:Shuri's great-grandmother]] and Genshou, [[spoiler:Sarasa's great-grandfather]] from the side-stories qualify for the most part, given that Genshou is already seeing someone and Tara thinks very little of romance.

* PlausibleDeniability: Shuri pre-CharacterDevelopment loved this trope. He's not burning down a shrine, he's retrieving an ally and if the shrine burns as collateral damage that's incidental.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler: Sarasa delivers quite a satisfying one to King Ukon.]]

* {{Revenge}}: Sets the plot rolling. Sarasa wants revenge on the Red King for destroying her village and killing her family. Later, Princess Senju seeks revenge on "Tatara" for Shidou's death.

* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Shuri to a degree. He is definitely a RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething, being a brilliant WarriorPrince but the manga gets a lot of comedy and mileage out of Shuri taking his wealth and status for granted. He considers basic chores beneath him and has no concept of money.

* SlaveBrand: Ageha [[spoiler:and Shuri]] have them.
* SoHappyTogether: [[spoiler: Shuri and Sarasa consummate their love - the night before Tatara leads his final attack on the Red Army and the InternalReveal of each other's identity]]

* TenderTears: Sarasa cries often, but is by no means weak.

* TheStoic: Zaki, Raizo, Masunaga and Hiraagi.

* TwoLinesNoWaiting[=/=]ThirdLineSomeWaiting[=/=]FourLinesAllWaiting: At various points in the story due to both the sheer amount of characters and complex, interwoven political situation.
** Shuri and Sarasa's journeys are often shown side-by-side to emphasize the complicated dynamic surrounding the two
** The ending weaves together about 4-5 simultaneous events: Shuri and Sarasa's confrontation with Ukon, Kikune's battle against the Virtues, Asagi's fight with Hiragi and confrontation with Ginko and Ageha's attempt to stop the castle from falling apart.

* WrenchWench: Kikune.

* IllBoy: Asagi's skilled with a sword but physically weak, and tends to fall sick with some kind of fever whenever he overexerts himself.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* OutOfFocus: Sarasa's early allies (Hayato, Chacha, Nachi) start getting less focus as the story settles on developing other characters (Shuri, Ageha and Asagi in particular). It's a bit inevitable due to the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters.

''Basara'' is an award-winning manga created by Yumi Tamura, which was later adapted into a (rather obscure) thirteen episode TV series. It centers around a sixteen-year-old girl, Sarasa, who uses her wits and the PowerOfFriendship to lead the people of a [[AfterTheEnd Post Apocalyptic]] future Japan to freedom.

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Most of the royal courts. Shuri's inner circle is the only one that averts this due to him killing off all the corrupt politicians and surrounding himself with (mostly) loyal, honorable and competent subordinates.

* WhiteAndGrayMorality: To an extent. There are very few truly evil, depraved people on the empire's side--instead, most are genuine idealists and honorable {{Noble Demon}}s (that is, everyone on the Red King's side, and the Red King himself), or else more incompetent and conservative than malicious. Or else they have {{Freudian Excuse}}s. This is demonstrated marvelously during the underground prison arc, when [[spoiler: pretty much all of the prison wardens turn out to be sympathetic characters who make [[HeelFaceTurn Heel Face Turns]]]]. There are exceptions, such as Councillor Hagiwara.

* DamnedByFaintPraise: A hilarious moment where Shima asks if the woman Shuri loves is more beautiful than her and Nakijin can only reply "Well she has more energy."

* GiveMeLibertyOrGiveMeDeath: [[spoiler: Ageha sacrifices himself for Sarasa and the rest of the rebellion]]

* RoyallyScrewedUp: The royal family.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Shuri's prophecy is a pretty clear example. King Ukon disowns, neglects and effectively abandons Shuri in a desert province as a result of the prophecy. This makes Shuri much more open to overthrowing Ukon and ruling Japan. (Though King Ukon is a terrible parent and Shuri might have tried to overthrow him anyway - most his children are actively plotting against him)

* InternalReveal: For a good part of the story, Sarasa doesn't know her beloved Shuri is also her fatal enemy, the Red King, but the audience knows from the start, adding suspense to every time Sarasa and Shuri are together.

* DamnedByFaintPraise: A hilarious moment where Shima asks if the woman Shuri loves is more beautiful than her and Nakijin can only reply "Well she has more energy"

* BirdsOfAFeather: Shuri and Sarasa. Both are [[MagneticHero charismatic]], [[TheStrategist intelligent]], [[TheDeterminator stubborn]] [[AFatherToHisMen loyal leaders]] with heavy burdens and [[TheChosenOne dest]][[SelfFulfillingProphecy inies]]. Both are idealistic, sharing similar visions and goals of a better Japan.

* JapaneseChristian: Most of the characters are Buddhist, implied areligious or follow local superstitions (or some combination of the 3). Princess Senju however is a devout Christian.

* ThePowerOfFriendship: The formation of Tatara's Army relies on this trope.

* StrongFamilyResemblance: A side panel shows King Ukon as a young man. He looks almost exactly like Shuri.

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The last few chapters detail the fates of the main characters. [[spoiler: Ageha's in an IronicHell, Sarasa and Shuri have kids, Asagi is WanderingTheEarth etc etc]]

* ManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: Asagi to the Snake King, since he is the real Blue King. Or is he?]]

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Kikune eventually betrays the rest of the Four Virtues for Sarasa. Asagi seems to go through a HeelFaceRevolvingDoor but in the end his loyalties lie with the Tatara Army.]]
* PlatonicLifePartners: Nachi and Hijiri. The latter even mentions they ''would've'' been married if one of them was a woman. Similarly, Shuri with Shido and, later, Nakijin.

* PlausibleDeniability: Shuri pre-CharacterDevelopment loved this trope. He's not burning down a shrine, he's retrieving an ally and if the shrine burns as collateral damage that's incidental.
** The Europeans aren't supporting Shuri and the Okinawans, they just "set off fireworks for a birthday celebration".

** Nakijin and Yuna (Yuna's engaged to the President of Okinawa) who also serve as ThoseTwoGuys to Shuri.

* [[FallenPrincess Fallen Prince]]: Shuri multiple times. He is overthrown by Momonoi and after taking back Suo loses to Tatara. [[spoiler: He then accepts rule as Emperor of Japan but willingly gives it up to Tatara.]]

* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: A constant worry. The Europeans have a heavy interest in Japan, either as a trading partner or a colony. Should the political situation become too chaotic or threatening to their interests, it's entirely possible that they will interfere in the civil war. Also as an AllPowerfulBystander, various factions will try to use them, though only Shuri really succeeds and he's very careful when doing so.

* AntiClimaxBoss: [[spoiler: King Ukon by the end, is a frail, old man with many regrets. Shuri and Tatara are flabbergasted by how pathetic this big evil dictator actually is. Heck, he's killed offscreen, not by the rebellion, but by a group of angry peasants.]]

* OutOfFocus: Shuri's early allies (Hayato, Chacha, Nachi) start getting less focus as the story settles on developing other characters (Shuri, Ageha and Asagi in particular). It's a bit inevitable due to the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters.

Not to be confused with ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara''.

* PlausibleDeniability: Shuri manipulates the King Ukon's and Okinawan forces into backing off by claiming that the Europeans are supporting him at the exact moment the European ships fire off fireworks. However, Captain Henry was ordered to stay neutral and observe. He could get in trouble except all he did was "set off fireworks for a birthday celebration".
** Shuri pre-CharacterDevelopment loved this trope. He's not burning down a shrine, he's retrieving an ally and if the shrine burns as collateral damage that's incidental.