History Manga / SekaiOni

One day, Azuma is pulled into her mirror and into "Wonderland", where she meets others with Alice in Mirrorland syndrome, called Alices. She and the others are tasked with fighting monsters called world devils each night for six nights in order to save the world. [[spoiler: They soon learn that upon killing a world devil, someone they have frequently interacted with will die. Azuma vows to kill the rest of the world devils in order to rid herself of her abusive family.]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: Most of the characters.
** Azuma is shown to lack empathy to some extent and put herself before others.
** Kuroe is obsessed with sex and desperate for male attention to the point of her being a threat to others while in Wonderland.
** Peró appears to lack empathy. As a small child, he killed a cat because he wanted to see it from the inside. [[spoiler:He attempts to kill Azuma because he wants to be the only anomaly.]]
** Saeki is dependent on others. She clings to her friend and roommate, Mika, who does everything for her. [[spoiler:After Mika's death, she breaks down and appears willing to accept death by the fourth world devil. When Utou is kind to her, she instantly obsesses over him.]]

* AnAxeToGrind: Azuma's signature weapon.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: The Alices and [[spoiler:Cheshire Devils]] versus the World Devils at first, though [[GreyAndGreyMorality things get muddied soon enough.]] [[spoiler: It dips right back to this when the [[BigBad King of Maze]] finally makes his debut, effectively creating a threat that tears apart everyone's expectations of mounting faction conflict in his attempts to KillEmAll just for the sake of fun.]]

* TakeAThirdOption: In the finale, [[spoiler: Azuma has to choose to kill the King of Maze (an implausible task at best) and thus kill Seki as a result due to him being her reserve tank, or not fight and thus die with her entire world (and potentially both worlds due to the King of Maze going pure KillEmAll). Her response? Pull out an Anti-Proton Bomb, which is big enough to destroy the ''entire Wonderland'' - it effectively traps the King in a neverending abyss unable to harm anyone again, [[FriendlyFireproof doesn't hurt her comrades]] due to being a Materialization, and bypasses the entire need for a reserve tank to be used.]]

* BreakThemByTalking: [[spoiler: The King of Maze ''loves'' this trope, constantly breaking out into a RantInducingSlight or a large, impassioned and potentially multi-page HannibalLecture to try to drive his enemies over to the DespairEventHorizon. While this initially works on Seki, in Azuma and Adachi's cases they both promptly [[ShutUpHannibal attack him mid-sentence.]]]]

** [[spoiler:Though not direct abuse, after all of Azuma's effort to try to reunite with her mother in the end, it's never explained why she had left her daughter with the rest of the family to begin with. Then the final chapter's TimeSkip shows that her mother tried to leave her with someone else ''[[ShaggyDogStory again]]'' with the implication that it happened before her uncle to boot, and that her mother bought a house that was clearly not fit for a mother and child in size to boot. This leads Azuma to finally leaving the house with her friends.]]

** [[spoiler:Though not direct abuse, after all of Azuma's effort to try to reunite with her mother in the end, it's never explained why she had left her daughter with the rest of the family to begin with. Then the final chapter's TimeSkip shows that her mother ran off without warning and all but abandoned Azuma ''[[ShaggyDogStory again]]'', forcing her to seriously consider cutting ties and just live with her friends instead.]]

** [[spoiler:Though not direct abuse, after all of Azuma's effort to try to reunite with her mother in the end, it's never explained why she had left her daughter with the rest of the family to begin with. Then the final chapter's TimeSkip shows that her mother ran off without warning and all but abandoned Azuma ''[[ShaggyDogStory again]]'', forcing her to seriously consider cutting ties and just live with her friends instead.]] Given that [[spoiler:Azuma's relatives she'd been left with are all dead thanks to the reserve tank antics and her uncle committing suicide, it says a lot that her mother still left her daughter behind again and doesn't seem to ever bring it up when we do see her.]]

** [[spoiler:Though not direct abuse, after all of Azuma's effort to try to reunite with her mother in the end, it's never explained why she had left her daughter with the rest of the family to begin with. Then the final chapter's TimeSkip shows that her mother ran off without context and all but abandoned Azuma ''[[ShaggyDogStory again]]'', forcing her to seriously consider cutting ties and just live with her friends now that she's more self-dependent thanks to them instead.]]

* HeroicBSOD: Almost once per character at ''least'', whether it be in their backstory or the present. [[spoiler:Adachi and Saeki both lose someone close to them because they didn't know about the reserve tank system, practically collapsing in on themselves mentally as a result. Kuroe realizing she's pregnant drives her to a Manifestation-induced insanity trying to use the unborn child as a reserve tank. Utou freaks out upon realizing the greater risks and circumstances of the battle against the World Devils. Ookura and Yamaguchi shut down temporarily years prior because their mistakes killed their comrades and forced them to wipe out a ''lot'' of people in retaliation, stirring them into serious drug abuse and Ookura into imprisonment to [[TheAtoner atone]]. And Azuma herself briefly has one upon realizing that either Seki or her own mother would be her final reserve tank, since her uncle [[DrivenToSuicide killed himself]] and thus lost the status, which puts her out of commission refusing to fight temporarily just as everyone needs her the most.]]

* HeroicBSOD: Almost once per character at ''least'', whether it be in their backstory or the present. [[spoiler:Adachi and Saeki both lose someone close to them because they didn't know about the reserve tank system, practically collapsing in on themselves mentally as a result. Kuroe realizing she's pregnant drives her to a Manifestation-induced insanity trying to use the unborn child as a reserve tank. Utou freaks out upon realizing the greater risks and circumstances of the battle against the World Devils. And Azuma herself briefly has one upon realizing that either Seki or her own mother would be her final reserve tank, since her uncle [[DrivenToSuicide killed himself]] and thus lost the status, which puts her out of commission refusing to fight temporarily just as everyone needs her the most.]]

* ThePowerOfHate: The powers of Alices in Wonderland a related to how much they're unsatisfied with their lives. Azuma, as a prime example, is called "An Anomaly" [[spoiler:and later "The World's Destroyer"]], as the situation with her abusive family turns her into a OneManArmy when fighting World Devils. [[spoiler:And in reverse, as Azuma becomes more happy with Seki, the King of Maze notes she became weaker than before. This is later [[ThePowerOfLove subverted]], as people who have found something WorthLivingFor ''despite'' all the regrets they have in life, are the strongest even among the anomalies.]]

* OmnicidalManiac: [[The King of Maze reveals he's not actually interested in saving his world by destroying Earth. When the opportunity comes up, he tries to destroy all Maze, Zera and Wonderland together ForTheEvulz.]]

* MadeOfEvil: [[The King was created as the most powerful Devil by putting ThePowerOfHate of dying Maze residents into a single person. This backfires spectacularly, as he becomes AxCrazy and [[PhlebotinumRebel kills his creators]] the moment they realize they have no control over him. He then grew into such embodiment of darkness, he can only be happy by destroying the happiness of others.]]

* AntiHero: Azuma's not exactly the most heroic character given her.. [[BrokenBird issues.]] She's still a hero by definition, but comes into conflict with the rest of the cast repeatedly. [[spoiler: By the end of the story, she trudges straight into NominalHero territory when she cheerfully heads off to destroy Maze to preserve what she cares about without hesitation.]]

* [[spoiler: TheBadGuyWins: The King of Maze gets [[ExactWords exactly what he wanted:]] to be the only thing left in the neverending darkness, perpetually floating in the abyss of the erased Wonderland with no idea if he'll even age, expire by other means or the like. Thankfully this is inconsequential to everyone else at this point.]]

* BlackAndGrayMorality: The Alices and Cheshire Devil[[spoiler:s]] versus the World Devils at first, though [[GreyAndGreyMorality things get muddied soon enough.]] [[spoiler: It dips right back to this when the [[BigBad King of Maze]] finally makes his debut, effectively creating a threat that tears apart everyone's expectations of mounting faction conflict in his attempts to KillEmAll just for the sake of fun.]]

** FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: [[spoiler: When the King attempts to lay out to Adachi that he's not such a bad guy and just doing what needs to be done for Maze, Adachi - who doesn't even know who the guy is thanks to being unconscious in every fight and missing 90% of the plot - seems like he's going to hesitate or forgive the King. Only for Adachi to promptly call bullshit and immediately realize ''the King of Maze was enjoying this carnage.'' Cue the SlasherSmile.]]

* ThePowerOfLove: A recurring motif throughout the series. [[spoiler: Kuroe comes to realize that loving one's child should be unconditional, stabilizing her mindset when even the mirror that broke her with sexual imagery displays a wholesome family image. Saeki and Utou confide in eachother with their insecurities and even revive Utou as a result with love. Ookura can pull off absolutely outstanding feats as his love works in tandem with his darkness and shines brighter than the rest of the cast. Seki exists solely ''because'' of Azuma's naive love for his former, deceased bird self. And Azuma's love for those she learned to care about gives her the capability to tap into her own light and TakeAThirdOption in the final battle.]]

** The epilogue also implies that [[spoiler: for all of their committal to eachother to the point of losing their virginity to revive Utou, Saeki and Utou had a rough break up in the five years since the ending. At the very least it can be inferred that Saeki finally lost her absolute need of dependency.]]

* NotSoDifferent:
** [[spoiler: The Cheshire Devils compose Servant Devils out of the corpses of World Devils - which are, by all means, people from a different class of the same world. Although some of the Cheshire Devils try to be empathetic, in the end they're so willing to destroy their own home that they even put bomb collars on Alice's necks to kill any cowards in the final battle.]]
** Read the numerous tropes involving Azuma's LackOfEmpathy, and then [[spoiler: look at the King of Maze's motivations]]. The two are basically fulfilling the same thing of only doing [[ItsAllAboutMe what they want, the world be damned.]] The key difference is that [[spoiler: Azuma genuinely fights to save her friends and the world in the end, whereas the King wants to wipe both worlds out ForTheEvulz.]]

** However, a sneaky {{Deconstruction}} occurs in the epilogue when [[spoiler: it's implied that Saeki and Utou have either broken up, or have been on and off multiple times within the five year TimeSkip, showing that even for as amazing as love can be, a relationship between someone that needs to depend on others to function and a person that needs to feel heroic and needed to have a purpose [[RealityEnsues isn't exactly the most stable of romance.]]]]

** However, a sneaky {{Deconstruction}} occurs in the epilogue when [[spoiler: it's implied that Saeki and Utou broke up within the five year TimeSkip, showing that even for as amazing as love can be, a relationship between someone that needs to depend on others to function and a person that needs to feel heroic and needed to have a purpose [[RealityEnsues isn't exactly the most stable of romance.]]]]

* GrayAndBlackMorality: The Alices and Cheshire Devil[[spoiler:s]] versus the World Devils at first, though [[GreyAndGreyMorality things get muddied soon enough.]] [[spoiler: It dips right back to this when the [[BigBad King of Maze]] finally makes his debut, effectively creating a threat that tears apart everyone's expectations of mounting faction conflict in his attempts to KillEmAll just for the sake of fun.]]

Sekai Oni follows fourteen-year-old Azuma who has developed Alice in Mirrorland syndrome, a condition that causes her to see "hallucinations" in a reflected surface, through years of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of her family. One day, Azuma is pulled into her mirror and into "Wonderland", where she meets others with Alice in Mirrorland syndrome, called Alices. She and the others are tasked with fighting monsters called world devils each night for six nights in order to save the world. [[spoiler: They soon learn that upon killing a world devil, someone they have frequently interacted with will die. Azuma vows to kill the rest of the world devils in order to rid herself of her abusive family.]]

* WorfEffect: [[spoiler: Eric Flow and Xing Long Long are hyped up as two powerful Alices, to the point that Azuma [[OhCrap can feel Eric's bloodlust and freaks out,]] and Xing didn't have a single casualty in his team and even declares himself team strategist. Xing's instantly killed by the BigBad the moment they try to infiltrate Maze, and Eric dies shortly thereafter in a CurbstompBattle just trying to hold him off.]]

* AmbiguouslyHuman: [[spoiler: The King of Maze, who is in essence the embodiment of all of Maze's darkness as an emotion. Not only does he wear an ExpressiveMask that dehumanizes himself, but after Azuma chops off his head, we see another individual putting on the same mask - only to learn that he's turned the ''entire planet's population'' into reserve tanks as a method of ResurectiveImmortality. As a result, he literally cannot die SoLongAsThereIsEvil.]]

* AmbiguouslyHuman: [[spoiler: The King of Maze, who is in essence the embodiment of all of Maze's darkness as an emotion. Not only does he wear an ExpressiveMask that dehumanizes himself, but after Azuma chops off his head, we see another individual putting on the same mask - only to learn that he's turned the ''entire planet's population'' into reserve tanks as a method of RessurectiveImmortality. As a result, he literally cannot die SoLongAsThereIsEvil.]]

* [[spoiler: TheBigBadWins: The King of Maze gets [[ExactWords exactly what he wanted:]] to be the only thing left in the neverending darkness, perpetually floating in the abyss of the erased Wonderland with no idea if he'll even age, expire by other means or the like. Thankfully this is inconsequential to everyone else at this point.]]

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Azuma's uncle, Masaki, is an absolute piece of shit that has raped her repeatedly in the past [[spoiler: since he could only be sexually aroused by [[{{Lolicon}} underdeveloped girls]].]] Not only did this cause a domino effect of his wife and younger son abusing Azuma, the former out of [[GreenEyedMonster jealousy]] and the latter out of following example, but despite genuinely caring for his blood family, [[spoiler: the bastard doesn't even remotely repent and attempts a MurderSuicide on Azuma while threatening to violate her again for running away.]]

* ChekovsGun: An early weapon attempt by Azuma is an [[NukeEm Anti-Proton Bomb]], but not having fully read the book she just previously stole, she can't actually create it so it's just an aside note. [[spoiler: It continues to pop up occasionally throughout the series. Then she actually manages to make one in the final battle, and promptly [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroys the Wonderland, ending the war.]]]]

* ThePowerOfLove: A recurring motif throughout the series. [[spoiler: Kuroe comes to realize that loving one's child should be unconditional, stabilizing her mindset when even the mirror that broke her with sexual imagery displays a wholesome family image. Saeki and Utou confide in eachother with their insecurities and even revive Utou as a result with love. Ookura can pull off absolutely outstanding feats as his love works in tandem with his darkness and shines brighter than the rest of the cast. And Azuma's love for those she learned to care about gives her the capability to tap into her own light and TakeAThirdOption in the final battle.]]