History Manga / KingOfThorn

A [[TheMovie movie adaptation]] was released in May 2010, whose trailer you can view [[http://www.kingofthorn.net/ here]]. The movie was a PragmaticAdaptation and deviated signficantly from the canon, altering many of the characters' back-stories and omitting the BigBad from the manga. It was, however, nominated for the 4th Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler:Katherine. She was an alcoholic who beat her child to the point where social services had to step in and remove him.]]

* ActionMom: Katherine. [[spoiler:A [[MamaBear Mama Gryphon]], too]].

* AdaptationalVillainy: As Zeus don't appear in the movie, the role as BigBad is given to [[spoiler:the Venus Gate corporation itself and its computer Alice.]]

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Averted with Ron. He survives all the way to the end of the story!

* CassandraTruth: After watching the security tape with [[spoiler:Kasumi]] on it, Tim says to [[spoiler:Kasumi]] "That's you, isn't it?" She denies this, believing the person on the tape to be [[spoiler:Shizuku]]. By the end of the story, it turns out that Tim was right.

* ConspicuousCG: The film adaptation's creatures are primarily made of CGI. The characters are also CGI'd when fighting these creatures. Some creatures are better animated than others, but the characters look pretty blatant.

* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:Ron, Marco, and harpy!Katherine]] survive in the manga, but not the movie.

* 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 an insulated body.]]

* JerkassHasAPoint: After Alessandro (the old guy) reveals he ''paid'' to become a HumanPopsicle rather than just hope he was randomly selected, some of the others react with outrage. However, he calmly points out that anyone would have done the same thing if they had the means.

* NoNameGiven: We never do find out anything about the Senator except that he's, uh, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a senator]], [[JerkAss but he's a jerk so who cares]]. The rest of the cast do ''eventually'' get names, even if it takes two-thirds of the series for them to get mentioned.
** TheMovie, however, actually calls him Alessandro Peccino. Which is correct--for more alert viewers will have noticed him introducing himself (as not "the old guy") in the first quiet moment they have after all hell breaks loose.

* ShoutOut: "What is this, Film/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 enough to [[spoiler:''come back from the dead for her sake'']]. TheDulcineaEffect is in effect, although she does save him and the others on a regular basis too.

A [[TheMovie movie adaptation]] was released in May 2010, whose trailer you can view [[http://www.kingofthorn.net/ here]]. The movie deviated heavily from the canon, watering down many of the characters' back-stories and omitting the BigBad from the manga. It was, however, nominated for the 4th Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Marco gets this in TheMovie.
* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler:Alice]] is the BigBad in TheMovie, in the form of a [[AIIsACrapshoot computer]]. Yeah...

* ConspicuousCG: The film adaptation's creatures are primarily made of CGI. The characters are also CGI'd when fighting these creatures. Some creatures are better animated than others, but the characters look pretty bad. It's forgivable for the first half hour but it eventually gets in the way of the drawn animation as the film drags on.

* 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.

* MindScrew: TheMovie. You know an anime is a mind screw when the latter parts of it completely invalidate what we were shown in the earlier part.

* 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 enough to [[spoiler:''come back from the dead for her sake'']].
** TheDulcineaEffect is still, well, in effect.
** She does save him and the others on a regular basis too you know, she is not completely helpless.

''King of Thorn'' is a short, [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] SurvivalHorror manga by Yuji Iwahara, author of ''Manga/CatParadise'' and ''Manga/DimensionW'', publishing from October 2002 to October 2005. The story begins when the main character, [[ShrinkingViolet Kasumi]], and 159 other people are [[LotteryOfDoom chosen]] to go into [[HumanPopsicle cold sleep]] until a cure is found for their mysterious disease, [[ThePlague the Medusa virus]]. The Medusa virus is a disease which, six weeks after infection, causes the victim to have seizures; within five hours, all of the victim's cells have [[TakenForGranite solidified into a clay-like substance]].

''King of Thorn'' is a short, [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] SurvivalHorror manga. The story begins when the main character, [[ShrinkingViolet Kasumi]], and 159 other people are [[LotteryOfDoom chosen]] to go into [[HumanPopsicle cold sleep]] until a cure is found for their mysterious disease, [[ThePlague the Medusa virus]]. The Medusa virus is a disease which, six weeks after infection, causes the victim to have seizures; within five hours, all of the victim's cells have [[TakenForGranite solidified into a clay-like substance]].

* AndIMustScream

* TakeMyHand

* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:This happened to Shizuku when her twin sister Kasumi [[AvertedTrope failed]] to force her to [[SuicidePact die together with her]]. Once she realized that her sister is dead, Shizuku's mind snaps and triggered the Medusa within her. As a result, Shizuku did everything she could to restore and preserve Kasumi's life using Medusa, even at the expense of the entire world. She used Medusa to create an exact double of Kasumi, including her personality and memories up until just before her suicide.]]
* 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.

* AntiEscapismAesop: The story of [[Literature/SleepingBeauty Sleeping Beauty]] is constantly referenced throughout the events of King of Thorn, with emphasis on humanity's inner desire for [[{{Escapism}} escape from painful realities]]. The ultimate lesson is that one must [[LivingIsMoreThanSurviving live life without being dominated by fear]], no matter how much suffering one goes through.

** First, she tried to commit a BathSuicide when she realized [[spoiler:that [[SurvivorGuilt she will be saved]], while Shizuku will not be]]. Shizuku [[GetAholdOfYourselfMan slaps her for it]] [[InterruptedSuicide right in time]], though.

* NextSundayAD: The manga begins in the year 2008. The movie bumps this forward to 2015.

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

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

* SlidingScaleOfAnimeObscurity: Level 5.

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

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Averted. He survives all the way to the end of the story!

* [[spoiler: ShowWithinAShow: If you take the manga as an action movie inside a manga]]

* BondVillainStupidity: Played with. [[spoiler:Zeus]] is DangerouslyGenreSavvy enough to know that letting his archenemy live after he's discovered his master plan is a bad idea, and after some EvilGloating, disposes of him rather quickly. Not only does he have one of his minions beat [[spoiler:Marco]] to a pulp and then stab him, he has him dropped from a ledge. However, [[spoiler:Zeus]] fails to consider the possibility of [[spoiler:Marco ''coming back to life.'' And then, he makes the ''very'' stupid mistake of letting Marco ''hack into his data'' and erase him from existence.]]

* LikeABadassOutOfHell: [[spoiler:Marco Owen]]

* FinalGirl: [[spoiler:Kasumi and [[InfantImmortality Tim]]]]are the only survivors left at the end of the movie.

* PowerTattoo: Marco Owen is a TattooedCrook to begin with, but one in particular marks his upgrade from BadassNormal to EmpoweredBadassNormal: [[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]].

[[quoteright:251:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/king_of_thorn_cover.jpeg]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/king_of_thorn_cover.jpeg
[[caption-width:215:The first manga cover.]]

* FrogsAndToads: They spit hallucinogenic acid, and can combine to form a frog large enough to swallow a human.

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

!!Provides examples of:

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

* GardenOfEvil: The entire setting is one of these -- a monster-filled jungle of rapidly growing thorny vines.

** TheMovie, however, actually calls him Alessandro Peccino. Which is correct - for more alert viewers will have noticed him introducing himself (as not "the old guy") in the first quiet moment they have after all hell breaks loose.

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

** FreezeFrameBonus: In the first scene of the movie, a sign on the side of a bus in New York City shows part of the following scripture; "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 6:23. It also happens to be Christmas time.

* SaveThisPersonSaveTheWorld: Done subversively and surreptitiously in the manga -- where everyone rallies to protect Kasumi, [[spoiler: (who is in fact, Medusa) throughout the entire manga series. Their actions are mainly due to a directive imprinted in their minds by the BigBad: ''"protect the small Japanese girl with your life"''.]] Most of them weren't even aware they were doing it. Of course, the bad guy wanted to reshape the entire world, not save it, so...

** BadassDamsel: Kasumi. See CowardlyLion.

* InferredHolocaust: The state of the world outside the island is left deliberately vague, though there is at least ''some'' hope: [[spoiler:Marco points out that other people infected with Medusa would be able to create their own monsters to fight Zeus's.]]

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

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.

-->'''Kasumi''': "He already has. And despite that, I am still...

* CloningBlues: This comes up towards the end of manga, since by that point both [[spoiler: Marco and Kasumi]] have died and been resurrected as Medusa constructs; essentially, they are just copies of their original selves. [[spoiler:Marco]], not being one prone to angst, simply recommends they live on as normal.