History Manga / KingOfThorn

** BadAssNormal: Applied to pretty much ''everyone'', but especially Marco. [[TookALevelInBadAss But]] [[EmpoweredBadassNormal eventually....]].

* BadAss: Marco. Let's be serious. He accomplishes what it would have taken a team-up of [[Franchise/MetalGear Solid Snake]] and a few [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Space Marines]] backing him up.

* FiveManBand:
** TheHero: Marco
** TheChick[=/=]TheHeart: Kasumi
** TheLancer[=/=]TheBigGuy: Ron
** TheSmartGuy: Peter
** TheMedic[=/=]TeamMom: Katherine
** TagalongKid: Tim
** TheLoad: Alessandro.

* HannibalLecture: "[[AFateWorseThanDeath Shizuku's fate]]... is '''your''' fault."

** BadAssNormal: Applied to pretty much ''everyone'', but especially Marco. [[TookALevelInBadAss But]] [[BadAssAbnormal eventually....]].

* PowerTattoo: Marco Owen is a TattooedCrook to begin with, but one in particular marks his upgrade from BadassNormal to BadassAbnormal: [[spoiler:when Alice alters his body so that he'll stand a chance against Zeus, he gains a large tattoo on his chest resembling the anarchy symbol]].

* BonnieScotland: The country where the old castle is, and the main setting of the story.

Provides examples of:

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Marco gets this in TheMovie. See DeadLittleSister.

* DeadLittleSister: Marco's motivation in the movie.

* PowerBlonde: Katherine. Alice also qualifies, in her own way.

[[spoiler: * Averted in the movie, where Marco is actually a British special forces agent who has assumed the identity of a lottery-chosen crook to try and bring down Vega, who is believed to have created & dispersed Medusa.]]

* HotShounenMom: Katherine, subverted in that [[AbusiveParents she isn't really a good mother]]. She regrets it, actually, and becomes a mother figure toward [[CuteShotaroBoy Tim]].

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler:Zeus]], who manipulated the Medusa in [[spoiler:Shizuku]], and gave himself some nifty abilities in the process. [[spoiler: He also orchestrated a lot of things in the plot]], and is [[GigglingVillain a giggling]] [[CompleteMonster asshat]].

* AnimeAccentAbsence: With the exception of the Japanese characters, averted in the dub.

* DarkSkinnedRedhead: Ron, the [[BlackDudeDiesFirst Black guy who didn't die first]], [[spoiler:gets pink hair as a consequence of transformation sequence being interrupted]].

* FuroScene: In Kasumi's flashbacks. Played for horror rather than {{Fanservice}}, since [[spoiler:it was the site of Kasumi's InterruptedSuicide.]]
* GardenOfEvil: The entire setting is one of these: a monster-filled jungle of rapidly growing thorny vines.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Katherine]] kills herself to gain power to protect Tim, and [[spoiler:Alice, ''of all people'' who gave up her life resuscitating Owen, and [[TookALevelInBadAss giving him some of nifty power,]] including insulated body.]]

* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: Kasumi and Shizuku. In TheMovie says they're 15 years old, while the [[BonusMaterial manga]] implies they might be 17.

* RagnarokProofing: Ultimately averted - [[spoiler:the fact that things still work makes the survivors realize they aren't far in the future after all.]]

* TwentyThree: September 23, 2008 is the date when cold sleep project began. This is important later.

* BigFancyCastle / BuildingOfAdventure: Pretty much the whole story takes place within the isolated, thorn-covered, monster-infested castle.

* DemotedToExtra / DeletedRole: Zeus is conspicuously absent from the movie, though he does make a brief appearance in a photo at the beginning. His real name is written as Steve Austin.

** TheChick / TheHeart: Kasumi
** TheLancer / TheBigGuy: Ron

** TheMedic / TeamMom: Katherine

** TheLoad: The Senator.

* LogicalWeakness / WeaksauceWeakness: [[spoiler:Zeus]] dies when Marco uses his hacker skills to delete him.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl and PolarOppositeTwins/ TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry : Kasumi and Shizuku.

* BadAss: Marco. Let's be serious. He accomplishes what it would have taken a team-up of [[MetalGear Solid Snake]] and a few [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Space Marines]] backing him up.

When some of the sleepers wake up, the world has drastically changed; there is a veritable [[GardenOfEvil jungle]] running around and through the facility. Massive monsters roam through the facility, and there are no signs of any other human beings. At first, the survivors assume that many years have passed; later in the storyline, they realize that they have only been asleep for a short period of time, and that there is far more to the Medusa virus and their situation than they ever could have imagined.

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler:Zeus]], who manipulated the Medusa in [[spoiler:Shizuku]], and gave himself some nifty abilities in the process. [[spoiler: He also orchestrated a lot of things in the plot]], and is [[GigglingVillain a giggling]] [[CompleteMonster asshat]].

** Ron even discusses this with Kasumi in Chapter 27:

** Possibly justified, as "evolved" implies "mutated over a long period of time", as opposed to "suddenly mutated".

* BadAss: Marco. Let's be serious. He accomplishes what it would have taken a team-up of [[MetalGear Solid Snake]] and a few [[{{Warhammer40000}} Space Marines]] backing him up.
** BadAssNormal: Applied to pretty much ''everyone'', but especially Marco. [[TookALevelInBadAss But]] [[BadAssAbnormal eventually....]].

* BrainUploading: One of the first things super-hacker [[spoiler:Zeus]] does as part of his AGodAmI is download his mind into a new Medusa form. "That shell could never contain my potential..."

* CameBackStrong: [[spoiler: Marco Owen]] is killed by [[spoiler:Zeus]]. However, [[spoiler: Alice]] sacrifices her life to bring him back, and the new Medusa-enhanced body she gives him has useful new abilities such as a resistance to Zeus's electrical attacks.

* GigglingVillain: [[spoiler:Zeus]], and comes across as {{Faux Affably Evil}}.

* InterruptedSuicide: Happens a few times with Kasumi:

* LotteryOfDoom: 160 people were randomly selected by Venus Gate for the cold sleep experiment. They were all told they were being preserved until a cure for Medusa was found. That was a lie. [[spoiler:Venus Gate planned to use these people as Medusa experiments rather than find a cure them. And then Zeus decided to have a little fun...]]

* OurGryphonsAreDifferent: One of these is the result of [[spoiler:Katherine's]] HeroicSacrifice.

* RuleOfSymbolism: The manga makes frequent references to ClassicalMythology (Medusa, Venus, Zeus), TheBible ([[TheArk Noah's Ark]], the Crucifixion), and Literature/AliceInWonderland ([[AliceAllusion Alice]]). TheMovie also throws in FairyTaleMotifs.

* SlidingScaleOfAnimeObscurity: Level 5.

** [[TheDulcineaEffect The Dulcinea Effect]] is still, well, in effect.

* WalkingShirtlessScene: MrFanservice Marco, loses his shirt early on and doesn't bother replacing it.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[AliceAllusion Alice's]] [[ClockworkCreature rabbit]] is last seen wandering about holding her [[TragicKeepsake scrunchies]], then later watching [[spoiler: [[BodyHorror Shizuku's]] [[BuffySpeak armoured-creature form]] break up/die]]... And then is never seen again after that. What happened to him? Was he destroyed in [[spoiler:Shizuku's]] impact? Was he unable to sustain himself for long, due to [[spoiler:Alice being dead]]? [[HesJustHiding Is he hiding?]] Who knows!

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* FairyTaleMotifs: TheMovie likes to reference ''SleepingBeauty'' whenever possible. See RuleOfSymbolism.
* FauxlosophicNarration: TheMovie has Katherine telling the story of ''SleepingBeauty'' at various times as if it relates to the plot somehow.

* RuleOfSymbolism: The manga makes frequent references to ClassicalMythology (Medusa, Venus, Zeus), TheBible ([[TheArk Noah's Ark]], the Crucifixion), and AliceInWonderland ([[AliceAllusion Alice]]). TheMovie also throws in FairyTaleMotifs.

* ShoutOut: "What is this, JurassicPark?!"

* TokenRomance: Okay, it's sort of understandable why Kasumi would fall for Marco, but it's hard to see how or when Marco starts to care about Kasumi enouch to [[spoiler:''come back from the dead for her sake'']].