History Manga / TheLuciferAndBiscuitHammer

An anime adaptation by NAZ aired from July to December 2022. A spinoff manga with Mikazuki Shinonome in the lead role, ''Sono Ato no Hero'', was serialized in ''Young King [=OURs=]'' in September 2022. Mizukami supervised the spinoff, while the story was written by Ichiri Seto.

* LoveConfession: Done twistedly between Samidare and Yuuhi:

* AxCrazy: Mikazuki, Hangetsu's younger brother due to his obsession with fighting.

---> '''Samidare:''' [[spoiler:I am the Lucifer Samidare. Whether it's the Hammer or this planet, I am the one who will smash them all. I do have to thank you though, for bringing in this conflict under ''my'' watch. You gave me the chance to gain power. ''And therefore it's a pity that you dragged me into it!!'']]
** Yuuhi, when fighting [[spoiler: Maimakterion.]]

** Early on, Samidare observes that [[spoiler:Yuuhi is bad with feints after they have a sparring exercise]]. In the second-last chapter when [[spoiler:Mikazuki calls a punch in his big rematch with Yuuhi, then promptly lays him out with a kick]].

* FamousAncestor:[[spoiler:Anima and Animus and descended from a long line of exceptional people, from medical legends to athletes. They are direct descendants of Hisame and Hangestu]].

* Anima in a PlayboyBunny suit. She even calls it as much.

** Samidare gets a ''lot'' of {{panty shot}}s as she jumps around and fights. They're so blatant and sufficient [[LampshadeHanging lampshades are hung]] on their prevalence.

* ICanStillFight: Yuuhi vs the third golem.

* AGodAmI: The mage, [[spoiler:a human from the future with absurdly powerful psychic abilities]]. Chapter 54 reveals his StartOfDarkness. He refers to himself as the God of Destruction, in direct opposition to the God of Creation.

* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Narrowly averted with Yuuhi, as nobody close to him actually ''dies'' but [[spoiler:his grandfather's illness causes him to make the wish and seal the pact, swearing him into service]].

An anime adaptation by NAZ aired from July to December 2022. A spinoff manga with Mikazuki Shinonome in the lead role, ''Sono Ato no Hero'', was serialized in ''Young King OURs'' in September 2022. Mizukami supervised the spinoff, while the story was written by Ichiri Seto.

Amamiya Yuuhi, college student, wakes up one morning to find a talking lizard informing him that the world is in grave danger; a powerful Mage is plotting to destroy it with the "Biscuit Hammer" -- a gigantic mallet floating in space, ready to deal out a final, apocalyptic smash. To stop this, he must join forces with a ragtag group of Beast Knights and protect their Princess, who stands in the way of the Mage's plot.

Unfortunately for the lizard, Yuuhi is a bit of a misanthrope and wants no part in saving the world. But he ''is'' interested in serving the Princess, especially when she announces that she only wants to save the world so she can destroy it herself!

A thoroughly strange (in the best possible way) comedy/adventure/romance {{manga}}, Creator/SatoshiMizukami's ''The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer'', or ''Hoshi no Samidare''[[note]]It's [[AlternateCharacterReading written as "Wakusei no Samidare"]] ("The May Rain of the Planet(s)")[[/note]] was serialized in the {{seinen}} magazine ''Young King OURS'' from 2005 to 2010. It's gained a devoted cult following outside of Japan, who have finally been treated to an official English version - Seven Seas Publishing has released the series in two-in-one volume collections (as ''Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer''), starting with Volumes 1 and 2 together in November 2014, up through 9 and 10 released a year later, completing the series. The manga can also be read fully translated via Crunchyroll.

The manga received an anime adaptation by NAZ and Creator/{{Jumondo}} in the summer 2022 anime season, and it began its broadcast on [[Creator/TokyoBroadcastingSystem TBS]] [[note]] and it's Osaka affiliate MBS [[/note]] and [=BS11=]. A spinoff with Mikazuki Shinonome in the lead role, ''Hoshi no Samidare: Sono Ato no Hero'', was announced the same year. Mizukami supervises the spinoff, while the art is handled by Ichiri Seto.

!!''The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer'' provides examples of:

** [[spoiler: Mikazuki and Mu receive the power of Hresvelgr so they could have a fair final match with Yuuhi and Noi]].
* AccidentalPervert: Averted but [[ConversationalTroping discussed]]: When Sami falls onto Yuuhi at the start of one of their shared dreams, Yuuhi reflexively grabs her... face. An annoyed Sami tells him that if this had been a love comedy, he would have grabbed her breasts instead. (Yuuhi: "Not that there's anything to grab...")
** Subverted as girls tend to walk in on Yuuhi. Not that he minds. In fact, he seems to like it. For him, a "Surprise Event" for someone else is good, too.
** Sometimes Yuuhi even provokes it. Very early on when visiting the Asahina house, he knowingly chooses the wrong door when going to the bathroom in hopes of "causing an event" - "accidentally" walking in on Hisame changing. He does (though she's mostly clothed already). There is ''nothing'' accidental about Yuuhi's perversion.
* ActionGirl: Samidare and Yayoi.
* AGodAmI: The Mage, [[spoiler:a human from the future with absurdly powerful psychic abilities]]. Chapter 54 reveals his StartOfDarkness. He refers to himself as the God of Destruction, in direct opposition to the God of Creation.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Hangetsu considers himself to be that someone. [[spoiler:Yuuhi proves him wrong]].

* ArmCannon: Shimaki's 8th golem.

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Part of Yuuhi's repertoire, especially early on when he doesn't have much fighting power and needs to think hard to stay alive. He never really stops. [[spoiler:His super-technique Babylon is based on speeding himself up and slowing down others, allowing him more time to think around his opponents in a fight.]]
* AxCrazy: Hangetsu's brother, Mikazuki the Crow Knight. The praying mantis mentor is a little battle crazy itself. So is Maimakterion apparently.
* [[spoiler:BackFromTheDead: Subverted with Hangetsu and the Master. They're not actually back, just passing by.]]

** Sami, on her first meeting with the Mage.
---> '''Sami''': [[spoiler:Who doesn't sound like who, exactly? I've been wondering who was it that you were talking to since just now.]]
---> '''Mage''': [[spoiler:...Anima...?]]
---> '''Sami''': [[spoiler:I am the Lucifer Samidare. Whether it's the Hammer or this planet, I am the one who will smash them all. I do have to thank you though, for bringing in this conflict under ''my'' watch. You gave me the chance to gain power. ''And therefore it's a pity that you dragged me into it!!'']]

---> '''Yuuhi''': [[spoiler: This is my garden. Nobody else but my Demon Lord is allowed to fly higher than me.]]

* BeachEpisode: Chapter 30 sees to a team building retreat to the beach for the Knights...or at least that's what it started as, before the Mage showed himself and let Hekatombaion loose.
* BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler:Yuuhi. At first, he wanted to destroy the world, and only faked being heroic, but by the series end he's pretty much entirely genuine]].
* BerserkButton: Several, especially Nagumo's PapaWolf syndrome around kids... and probably women.
* BequeathedPower: Hangetsu uses his wish as one of the Animal Knights to bequeath his [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower phenomenal martial arts skills]] to Yuuhi when he receives a mortal blow in battle.
** Deconstructed in that, while Yuuhi has the ''skills'' that Hangetsu possessed, he lacks the RequiredSecondaryPowers of actual physical fitness to make them worthwhile. He spends a lot of time training his body into the martial arts.
** [[spoiler:The Master unintentionally passes on some of his powers to Yuki and Subaru, which is what makes their combined domains so powerful. It's also why he was so greatly weakened by the time of his death, and the golem was able to kill him.]]
* BigEater: Sami and Shimaki (but he looks like one).
** Also, [[spoiler:Anima, once she manifests. She has to eat a lot because she's symbiotically living off of Sami, and she needs to eat a lot to make up for the massive blow Sami's energy reserves took when Anima manifested]].
** Worth being noted [[spoiler: Shimaki wished for a boost to his powers as his contractual wish. While he is out of shape on his own, he never showed up as a champion eater until he started supporting himself, his cat partner Coo Ritter, and a golem through his own nutrition. However, he's still a big eater in the distant finale ten years on.]]

--> '''Sami''': ''Next time, you're not allowed to stare at me like that with your [[AgainstTheSettingSun back to the sunset]].''

* BrickJoke: A fantastically long one. Early on, Sami observes that [[spoiler:Yuuhi is bad with feints after they have a sparring exercise]]. The brick doesn't land until the second-last chapter when [[spoiler:Mikazuki calls a punch in his big rematch with Yuuhi, then promptly lays him out with a kick]].
** Another long one, regarding the source of Nagumo's money. Both Shea and Noi had their theories about where he got the money for their trip to the beach, but it isn't until the very last chapter, [[spoiler:during another trip to the beach, that it is offhandedly revealed he had used his Knight's wish to win the lottery]].
** In Chapter 10, Yuuhi asks Hangetsu why Mikazuki hasn't been to college lately, and gets a joking reply that maybe he's backpacking around Asia. In Chapter 42, Mikazuki offhandedly mentions he made his contractual wish while backpacking in India.

** All of the Beast Knights name their domain control abilities. In Chapter 13, Yuuhi even lampshades the Shonen habit of loudly calling them: "... Do we have to shout it out?"

* CharacterDevelopment: As spotlight characters, the Beast Knights and Sami get the most of it. Animus, Anima, and the animal companions don't, mostly to reinforce their strange and artificial natures -- they're stuck who they are, whether because they've run themselves into a rut over centuries or because they were created that way.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: The Knights attain some level of this, as demonstrated by what they can do even without using domain control.

** Before [[spoiler: Hangetsu dies]], he tells Yuuhi that he had a dream where he had to fight Yuuhi on a large stairway and that Yuuhi was much stronger than him in the dream. Much later on, the exact same scene he described plays out as a test by Anima when Yuuhi is [[spoiler: discovering Blues Drive Monster.]]
** The Knights' contractual wishes. Most are made quickly and for other people, often spent in ways that wouldn't have any benefit to the battle against the Mage and then are quickly forgotten in the narrative. [[spoiler:Akane fires his off in the final battle when he makes a Heel Face Turn and wishes to keep the extra power Animus had granted him, allowing Akane to continue to be the healer and make the Knights' success at all possible]].
* ChickMagnet: Yuuhi ends up drawing the attention of Sami, his classmate Hiwatari, Yayoi, [[spoiler:and Anima.]] Mikazuki even complains about near the end/

** The {{Mentor Mascot}}s will magically reappear by their knight's side if they move too far away from them, as Yuuhi finds out the hard way after repeated attempts to chuck the lizard out the window.
** After being used as gag material for half the series, the animals' clingy nature is [[MoodWhiplash suddenly used for a very dark moment]] when [[spoiler: Hanako flushes the mantis, Kil, down the toilet after Tarou dies. Kil reappears by her side, soaking wet and chiding her, but that had to have been a horrific experience and has the same tone as if Hanako had started self-harming.]]
* ClosetGeek: Hangetsu semi-secretly loves {{Tokusatsu}}, anime, and manga, and ends up pushing ''[[ShowWithinAShow Little Witch Magical Mary]]'' on Yuuhi. He's not really ashamed of it, he's just not particularly open about it. Yayoi loves anime, manga, and cosplay but is ashamed of it, because she thinks it's childish or unattractive of her.
* CombatPragmatist: Yuuhi deserves this for digging trap holes and them actually working on several occasions.

** The Knights' basic domain controls can only really hurt the golems when they all focus it on the same spot, combining their strength to blast apart the golems with raw power. It's powerful but requires a chance for everyone to focus and push at the same time, which means it falls by the wayside quickly as the golems get faster, the Knights develop their own special domain attacks, and the Mythical Beast Knights come into play.
** Yuki and Subaru's "Strongest Spear" and "Invincible Shield" moves combine their domain controls for incredible power [[spoiler:because they inherited some of the Master's own personal strength, augmenting their domains]].
** Taken to its logical conclusion [[spoiler:in the final battle with the combined power of all the Knights: "[[AlternateCharacterReading Shooting Star Arrow/Wish Fulfilling Light]]."]]

* CurbStompBattle: The battle against [[spoiler:the Mage's final golem goes very poorly for the golem]].
* CuteBruiser: Sami. Yuuhi rightly questions who is supposed to protect whom after she saves his life.
* DareToBeBadass: Amamiya Yuuhi, several times, which becomes a lot more profound when you realize that it's a trait he inherited from Shinonome who did it to Yuuhi. He even combines it with a BadassBoast during his final battle against Yuuhi, where he challenges him, not just to reach his level of "genius", but also to actively surpass him.

** Mikazuki the Crow Knight is a subversion. He turns out to be just as heroic as anyone else, AxCrazy tendencies, evil aura, and [[SlasherSmile mouth full of canines]] aside. His wish? [[spoiler:Bread for a child]]. Sami and Yuuhi are his opposite, secretly plotting against the world while coming off as friendly.
** Taiyo the Owl Knight [[spoiler: also wants to destroy the world]] and his mentor animal Loki [[spoiler: got so tired of the cycle of battles that he apparently betrayed the knights the last time]]. [[spoiler:Later on, Taiyo has a change of heart. Meanwhile, Loki's previous Knight killed the others so he could gain the Mage's trust and kill him, but it didn't work. Now Loki is loyal to his ''Knight'', not Anima or Animus.]]

** [[spoiler: Nagumo succeeds.]]
* DisappearedDad: Sami's father is a writer who doesn't come home very often, but apparently more often then her mom.
* DistantFinale / WhereAreTheyNow: A [[EarnYourHappyEnding genuinely satisfying]] example at the very end.

** Taiyo is neglected by his father and has a bad relationship with his stepmother, but the latter is more of a connection problem, [[spoiler:which is solved with time.]]
* DramaticThunder: A Thunderous Underline, complete with a lightning flash casting stark shadows across the scene, [[MundaneMadeAwesome when Nagumo reveals he's unemployed.]]

* EarthShatteringKaboom: The goal of the Mage ''and'' The Princess [[spoiler:(not Anima though, who merely wants to stop Animus for good)]]. Both have some of the most unique methods ever -- by giant pastry hammer and by FIST!

** AnIcePerson - Sorano Hanako
** PlayingWithFire - Kusakabe Tarou [[spoiler:and later Hanako]]

* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Tarou and Hanako are close childhood friends who share bike rides and both became Knights.
* EyesAlwaysShut: Yuki and Shimaki.

* TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily: [[spoiler: The Yakuza who hire Hangetsu and later Mikazuki as "fight prevention". Their boss (or at least the guy in charge of that area) even rescues Mikazuki after he gets captured by unfriendly rival gangsters.]]
* FamousAncestor:[[spoiler: Anima and Animus and descended from a long line of exceptional people, from medical legends to athletes. They are direct descendants from Hisame and Hangestu]].
* {{Fanservice}}: Anima in a playboy bunny suit. She even calls it as much.
** Hakudou gets in on the act with her periodic appearances in skimpy cosplay. As often as not, she's pulled out of cosplaying in private by Anima, much to her endless embarrassment.
** Sami gets a ''lot'' of {{panty shot}}s as she jumps around and fights. They're so blatant, and sufficient [[LampshadeHanging lampshades are hung]] on their prevalence in anime and manga, that it's hard to tell if it's being played straight or parodied.
* TheFettered / TheUnfettered: Anima and Animus, who identify as a human and [[AGodAmI a god]], respectively.

* ForTheEvulz: [[spoiler:Animus destroys the spaceship he's on, then a hospital satellite, then the entire Earth many times over ''because he can'', and also because killing so many people at once is so thrilling.]]
** To be fair, he implied that [[spoiler:while on the shuttle, he used his psychic powers without understanding them, pushing on the hull without knowing how little damage it took to pierce a space shuttle and kill the passengers]].
** At one point Animus hints his biggest reason for destroying the world (again and again) is that [[spoiler:he truly believes himself to be a "god of destruction" and that it is ''necessary'' for him to keep going back in time by destroying the past so he may reach the beginning, collapsing the universe back into itself so it may have begun.]] Then again, he may have been lying through his teeth to convince [[spoiler:Shimaki Hyou]] to join him and is just doing it because he's a psychopathic nut.
* GoodCounterpart: [[spoiler:Blues Drive Monster is this to the Biscuit Hammer. Both are weapons that originated from children's toys, and are only visible to people crossing a certain emotional threshold--despair for the Biscuit Hammer, and hope for Blues Drive Monster. Both weapons are also in the hands of the opposite sibling]].
* GoodEyesEvilEyes: Apparently subverted with Mikazuki, who has slit cat's pupils but is a decent guy besides a [[TheDitz few]] [[BloodKnight negative]] [[AxCrazy traits]]. Played straight with Animus, who had flatter, small eyes than most other characters with an extra circle in the cornea, which makes his stare awfully penetrating. The extra circle is apparently commonly used by the mangaka, as one of the other works also features this, and it is indeed used to indicate evil eyes, usually.

* GrievousHarmWithABody: Shimaki's 5th golem and Mikazuki during the same battle. They're having a lot of fun doing it too.
* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Gloriously [[AvertedTrope averted]]. Even after getting a skill upgrade [[spoiler:from Hangetsu's dying wish]], Yuuhi has to practice hard to make more than basic use of it. By the end [[spoiler:Yuuhi proves he can face 3 Beast Knights at the same time, including the two of the Mythical Beast Knights, even though he'd lost the fight to become one himself]]. Yuuhi works hard over the series to become as good as he does. This is a theme threaded throughout the creator's works, as well. Power may be nice but technical proficiency wins out, as the one with power uses it as a crutch until they're forced to learn to use it better.
* HeelFaceTurn: A slow-burning one from [[spoiler:Taiyo]]. The final chapters reveal [[spoiler:Yuuhi had also quietly gone through one at some point, and he manages to convince Samidare to go through one as well]].
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Tarou jumps in front of the 9th Golem's lance to save Hanako, but it spears both of them anyway. He uses his wish to save her; Hanako's ''own mentor animal'' (the above BloodKnight mantis) declares it a StupidSacrifice. It's made even worse when it's revealed that Akane could have saved him had he known he could, though thankfully Hanako doesn't hold it against him]].
* HiddenAgendaVillain: The Mage. Well, the whole point of the series (backed up by his own admission) is the mage supposedly trying to destroy the world, but he takes such a laidback approach to this that there ''must'' be something else to it--he sends golems one by one ([[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil in order of difficulty, of course]]), occasionally appears for a friendly chat, and so clearly outclasses the Knights that he doesn't ''need'' golems. No one ever says ''why'' he has to defeat the Knights before he can use the hammer, either.
** He claims it's because [[spoiler:the Mage Animus and the Princess Anima made everything up -- the golems, the knights, the whole cycle -- as a game to keep the fight between them more interesting, way back at the beginning of the cycle. Both sides agreed to it as a form of self-protection, so that pawns took the brunt of the damage and setbacks weren't fatal to their goals, as a one-on-one deciding battle would be.]] [[BadassBoast Sami points out that she isn't quite the same Anima that the mage knew,]] and [[TakeAThirdOption rejects this view of things outright]].
** [[spoiler: The Mage started the whole thing when he crushed the Earth as a kid. Anima kept trying to beat him for a hundred years all over time, but hasn't won yet. In addition, it takes an increasing long amount of time to build a Biscuit Hammer, as well as Anima holding it back with her own powers, giving Anima a quite significant opportunity. Plus, while he's quite old, The Mage has the mental maturity of a child, and this is all just a power-trip for him.]]
* {{Homage}}: The relationship between Akane and the 11th Golem is one to [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji and Kaworu]], minus the sexual tension and plus a bit more NietzscheWannabe.

** Hakudou and Hiwatari for Yuuhi. They both do make efforts to try to get Yuuhi to date them, but his SingleTargetSexuality for Sami means that they have no hope of being more than friends with him. [[spoiler:Hakudou eventually moves on before the DistantFinale and ends up HappilyMarried to Hyou, but we never do find out what became of Hiwatari]].
** Mikazuki for Samidare. He becomes enamored with her at first sight (similar to how his older brother Hangetsu did for her older sister Hisame), but Samidare doesn't pay it much mind, and her heart belongs to Yuuhi. [[spoiler:Similar to Hakudou above, Mikazuki finds love elsewhere, as the ending pretty strongly hints that he's begun dating Subaru, who had a crush on him for the duration of the story]].
* HotBlooded: Yukimachi in spite of her normally laidback demeanor. Also, Yuuhi and Mikazuki, though Yuuhi had to endure a lot of CharacterDevelopment to become that way.
--> '''Akane:''' If we stay here quietly... then we're probably going to meet a painful end.
--> '''Yuki:''' [''punches Akane and grabs him by his shirt''] Don't give up like that! You're a man! Say that you want to live!
--> '''Akane:''' I have no reason to live!
--> '''Yuki:''' There has to be! If not, go make one! [''suddenly deadly serious''] We're going back alive. And we're going to eat ramen. Let's go with everyone.

* ICanStillFight: Yuuhi vs the 3rd Golem.

* InLoveWithYourCarnage: Samidare devastates the 10th Golem singlehandedly in one fight, leaving Mikazuki staring on in awe and muttering how he "wouldn't mind getting killed by her"... and all Yuuhi can do is agree, musing about how beautiful she is.
* InternalReveal: The audience knows of Samidare's plan to destroy the earth all along, [[spoiler:but it comes as a shock to the Knights. Cue an entire page of people standing around saying, "Seriously?"]].

** Taken up another notch, the [[spoiler:Blues Drive Monster, Anima's own super-weapon in this game, is invisible to people who have not passed through utter despair and still found hope on the other side, including the Beast Knights. It takes Yuuhi, of all people, to point it out to the rest.]]

* ItHasBeenAnHonor: The Ring Knights give their final words of encouragement just before the final battle, and then again once the conflict is truly resolved. [[spoiler: Especially the first time Mu speaks around everyone.]]
* JumpedAtTheCall: A few of the other Knights, particularly Hangetsu, Dog Knight and self-styled Ally of Justice (complete with business card).

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Hangetsu, Tarou and Akitani among the Knights. In the end, Animus, Anima and the animal mentors also pass, though Anima is certain they will all be reincarnated]].

* LightHeartedRematch: Yuuhi and Mikazuki have two, following their first fight which Mikazuki all but forced Yuuhi into. [[spoiler: Yuuhi manages to handily win their first rematch, and Mikazuki wins the second one with a [[SubvertedTrope purposefully]] [[CallingYourAttacks miscalled attack.]]]]
* LimitedWardrobe: Animus the Mage. [[spoiler: He's been wearing the same pajamas since he blew up his hospital-satellite many centuries ago/ahead.]] He admits he ''could'' change things up but he finds his current wardrobe extremely comfortable.
* LoveConfession: Done twistedly between Sami and Yuuhi.
-->'''Sami''': I love you, Demon Knight.
-->'''Yuuhi''': And I love you, my Demon Lord.
** [[spoiler: Hakudou to Yuuhi after giving him a beatdown for the power of the Invisible]].
** [[spoiler: Tarou to Hanako, right as he dies]].
** [[spoiler: The bonus chapter shows Taiyo giving one to Yukimachi, which the latter all but forced out of him after [[RightBehindYou overhearing]] him telling Mikazuki that he likes her]].
* MeaningfulFuneral: The knights face off against the 9th golem in funeral attire.

** In one chapter, the Beast Knights decide to spend some quality time at a beach for some fun and team building exercises.
--->'''Noi''': Holding a [[BeachEpisode beach event]] ignoring the season of the magazine article and season of the volume sale huh...

** Anima comments on how she didn't get a color page for volume 6 in chapter 37.

* MindOverMatter: All Knights began with limited telekinesis, in the form of a small mobile bubble containing the field of influence. Yuuhi could barely slow down a golem's attack with it. Hangetsu, on the other hand, was able to use ''his'' to rip golems into bite-sized pieces. Tarou and Hanako are able to heat and freeze alcohol and water respectively by manipulating the molecular vibrations.
* MissingMom: Samidare's mom, Haruko Asahina, a famous doctor [[spoiler:learning all she could to cure Sami]], and busy with other patients as well. Yuuhi's just wandered off after her husband was killed.

* NietzscheWannabe: Yuuhi and Akane, but they get better.

* NotSoStoic: Yuuhi, Nagumo, Akane, and ''especially'' Hanako are the most serious, often outright repressed characters in the series. Yuuhi can even talk about ten long years of child abuse as if it was a bad joke. But a few bad shocks [[spoiler:like Yuuhi witnessing Hangetsu's violent death]] cause the rare spontaneous outburst, while the camaraderie of the other Knights draw them out of their stoicism gradually over time. Hanako is still very low-key through the end, though.
* ObliviousToLove: Mikazuki doesn't seem to realize how much Subaru blushes around him - [[spoiler: until the last chapter]].

** [[spoiler:Taiyo and Yukimachi]] are dating;
** [[spoiler:Mikazuki and Subaru]] are [[MaybeeverAfter heavily implied]] to be dating as well;
** [[spoiler:[[PairTheSpares Hyou and Yayoi]]]] are married;
** And, of course, [[spoiler:Yuuhi and Sami]] are very clearly together and more in love than ever at the end.
** Interestingly played with in regards to [[spoiler:Hangetsu and Hisame]]; they're StarCrossedLovers who can't be together in the story timeline that ''we'' follow due to [[spoiler:Hangetsu's death]], but Anima reveals that they ''did'' get together [[spoiler:in the timeline that she comes from, as she and Animus were their very distant descendants]].

* OneDegreeOfSeparation: Two of the Knights are brothers (Hangetsu and Mikazuki). Two of them are childhood friends (Tarou and Hanako), while another three are a pair of childhood friends and their mentor (Yuki, Subaru, and the Master). Yayoi's swordfighting teacher knows Nagumo from his (Nagumo's) detective days, and Nagumo's former partner Hiwatari is the older sister of one of Yuuhi's classmates. Nagumo also knows the Shinonome brothers at least by reputation through their work for the local Yakuza, and it's clear Mikazuki knows of Nagumo as well. Hisame is one of Yuuhi's and Mikazuki's teachers (and is Mikazuki's academic advisor) and Sami's older sister, and Shimaki is a fellow teacher at the university. Sami and Hisame are also Yuuhi's neighbors, and their father is also Yuuhi's favorite author. And to cap it all off, [[spoiler:Sami's wish from Anima was to meet Yuuhi again, after they met when both were young children; Anima and Animus are descended from Hisame and Hangetsu; and it's strongly implied that Animus reincarnated as the Master to serve karma and help stop his own horrible actions.]] The only one completely unconnected from another main cast member at start is Akane, as alienation is his biggest personal conflict, though Tarou and Hanako come close as they're only connected to each other.

** [[spoiler:Animus assumes a nightmarish shadow form while wielding a hideously spiked giant hammer during the final battle, once he realizes the Knights are too dangerous to merely toy with.]]
** At the very end [[spoiler:Yuuhi steals the power of Invisible for Noi, and then Anima lets Mikazuki and Mu take the power of Hresvelgr for a final match against Yuuhi]].

** [[spoiler: Amamiya Yuuhi is the only one to stop the girl he loves from doing so.]]
* OutOfFocus: Both of the Asahina sisters drift out of focus to varying degrees in the latter half of the series, as it focuses on the Beast Knights as a group. Samidare is still present, but until very late it's not as much about her as it was in the early series. [[spoiler:This is entirely intentional and meant to highlight Sami's feelings of alienation from the group, just as her sickness alienated her from everyone else.]] Meanwhile, Hisame fades out almost entirely once Anima enters the picture.
* PairTheSpares: [[spoiler:Shimaki Hyou and Hakudou Yayoi]], who are married by the DistantFinale, are a definite example. There was no in-story ship tease between them at all, as [[spoiler:Hyou]] wasn't particularly interested in anyone during the main story, while [[spoiler:Yayoi]] was in love with [[spoiler:Yuuhi (though her feelings were unrequited as he had eyes for no one but Sami)]]. This is justified, however, since, as Yuuhi himself points out to Anima when she expresses disbelief, ten years is plenty of time for [[spoiler:Yayoi to move on from a guy she was never going to have, and for Hyou and Yayoi to get to know each other better and fall in love]].
* PoliceAreUseless: Nagumo left the police after deciding (not without reason) that nepotism and politics in the force were keeping him from actually serving justice. There are hints that the cops' hands are tied from higher up when it comes to the secret battle, as well. [[spoiler:In the Distant Finale, Yuuhi is a police detective and is determined not to be useless]].

* PowerMakeover: With Anima's influence, three of the Beast Knights can transform into the Mythical Beast Knights-- [[spoiler: Shea Moon into Invisible, Dance Dark into Unicorn and Loki Helios into Hresvelgr]]. Not that it really does much for the animals themselves.
* ThePowerOfFriendship: [[spoiler:Yuuhi and Akane both eventually stop hating the world thanks to their association and friendships with the other Knights, and decide there are things worth saving after all.]] And a little more literally when it comes to [[spoiler:the Knights' combined ultimate attack, Wish Fulfilling Light.]]
* ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler:Yuuhi's love for Sami is the only thing that can stop her at the end, saving the world from Sami and Sami from herself.]] Strongly implied in Sami and Anima's explanation for why Yuuhi has to be the one to [[spoiler:activate the Blues Drive Monster]] is because [[spoiler:they love him, trust him, and believe in him enough that his power will release theirs into the Blues - Anima's power is too bound up in the Blues to activate it herself, but he can give the starting push like the first turnover of a combustion engine... or the ignition explosive in a nuclear weapon]].
* ThePowerOfTrust: Sami may recruit Yuuhi with the promise of destroying the world, but she keeps his loyalty by trusting him absolutely, right from the start - demonstrating her trust by throwing herself off the top of a four or five floor building when they first meet [[spoiler:as Princess and Knight]], trusting that he'll intervene to save her even though he's said he doesn't want to get involved at all. He jumps after her without even thinking.
* PowerPerversionPotential: The first thing Yuuhi does with his telekinesis is lift up his young teacher's skirt. It comes full circle when [[spoiler:Yuuhi uses Babylon to tie up Yayoi's skirt over her head, revealing her pantyhose beneath it. Given that he uses Babylon to take out the remaining Beast Knights, he's basically using the most powerful form of their ability to do this]].
%%* PrecisionFStrike: Mikazuki after [[spoiler: beating Yuuhi at the end]].
* ProductionThrowback: [[spoiler:Maimakterion]] and Akane Taiyou are seen leaving a cinema with ''Manga/SengokuYouko'', the author's other monthly serial, as one of the movies.

** Yuuhi is a ''literal'' PsychoSupporter, instantly pledging complete loyalty to Princess Sami after she vows to stop the mages from destroying Earth so that she can do so ''herself''.
** Sami is this way for Yuuhi too. When he's afraid to face his ill Grandfather because of the [[DomesticAbuse Grandparental Abuse]] he did to Yuuhi, she tells him that it's okay: if his grandfather were to ever hurt him again, she would annihilate the household.
* ReallyDeadMontage: [[spoiler: Tarou]] receives one after his SenselessSacrifice.

** Noi gives one to Yuuhi at one point, who responds by agreeing with the lizard but ignoring what that actually means for him. Noi's speech is revisited when [[spoiler:Yuuhi nearly breaks down in a full-fledged panic attack at the prospect of facing Hekatombaion after Hangetsu's death, and Yuuhi admits that he can't just brush off what Noi had said anymore. It takes Noi's belief that Yuuhi could grant ''Noi's'' wish in turn and be a hero for Yuuhi to overcome his fear]].
** Nagumo gives one to Animus in the final battle which really plays quite well with the motifs of the story.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Yuuhi's grandfather abused Yuuhi when he was young by keeping him in chains in the basement. Years later, he realizes the error of his ways, begs his grandson for forgiveness (which he gets) and seems to have changed his relationship with Yuuhi for the better. He gets hit by a car while crossing the street a few months later.]]

** Yuki and Subaru are a far milder case. Subaru has reddish hair while Yuki's is white, but in temperament Yuki is much more the Red Oni. As one fan translator put it, "The most [[HotBlooded GAR]] character in this series is officially a twin-tailed middle school girl."

** Sami needed ''a lot'' of convincing to work with Anima since the latter had difficulty talking to a child who didn't wish for anything at the moment.
* RightUnderTheirNoses: Puanepsion will always come back for a fight provided [[FromASingleCell one of its clones is still standing]]. Animus and Maimakterion use that knowledge and Taiyou's naivete/neglected home life to place a golem somewhere none of the other Knights would think to look-- in Taiyou's house.

** Also [[spoiler:Hanako against the golem that killed Tarou.]]
* SadisticChoice: Near the endgame, Animus pulls one last trick up his sleeve--[[spoiler:He makes it so that Yuuhi is the trigger for the Biscuit Hammer's descent, and challenges everyone to either kill Yuuhi before the last golem is defeated, or suffer an inevitable demise. Every single one of the Knights [[ShutUpHannibal tells Animus to screw off]], since that decision would have had more impact if it wasn't changed last minute.]]
* SamusIsAGirl: This one really takes you by surprise and right near the end too. [[spoiler: Mu]] is female. Seriously, who saw that coming?
* [[spoiler: SelfMadeOrphan: Animus destroyed the spaceship he and his family were on while testing his psychic powers. If he ever felt bad about that it paled in comparison to the thrill of having god-like powers.]]
* {{Shapeshifter}}: Maimakterion.

** Tarou to Mikazuki, Yuuhi and Sami during a youthful hangout once. He added a "yet" to the end though. Yuuhi answers much the same about Samidare when questioned about their relationship by Samidare's father.
** Also a HeIsNotMyBoyfriend during a brief scene between Sami and two of her school friends, who mention seeing a "slim, bespectacled guy" accompanying her periodically. When asked what Yuuhi ''is'' to her, then, Sami responds, "My minion!" One of her friends is shocked, the other approves.
* ShipTease: Quite a bit, unsurprising for a romance manga:
** Naturally, a whole lot between Yuuhi and Samidare, though them ending up together is pretty obvious throughout the entire series.
** Hangetsu and Hisame. While this ship ''appears'' to [[spoiler:be sunk once Hangetsu dies, we find out at the end of the series from Anima that, in another version of the timeline, the two of them actually did end up together]].

** Between Subaru and Mikazuki, as the former has a crush on the latter that he's [[ObliviousToLove unaware of]]. [[spoiler:The ending strongly implies that they have become a couple]].
** More subtle than the other examples, but Yuki and Taiyo get some, too. [[spoiler:They are also dating by series' end]].
* ShoutOut: Mizukami slips these in quite often.
** The series is littered with small references to songs by Music/ThePillows.

*** The combination attack used on the 12th Golem, the Shooting Star Arrow, is a reference to "Ride on Shooting Star".

** Anima shows up in a [[Anime/{{FLCL}} bunnygirl outfit]] in front of Akane to [[spoiler: upgrade Loki after Akane defeated the "heart" of the little respawning golems.]]

** After [[spoiler: Kusakabe and Hanako are impaled by Boedromion's spear]], we get this exchange from ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'': [[spoiler:"I love you." "I know."]]

** ''Little Witch Magical Mary'', a late night MagicalGirlWarrior television anime that Yayoi, Hangetsu, and later Yuuhi watch. It's of the "parallels the plot" variety; he always seems to be watching an episode that mirrors what's happening in the manga at the moment (death of a characters, introduction of a new cast, etc).
** ''Parrotman'', an old (probably late 1960s or 70s) {{Toku}} hero show; several of the older characters were fans of it when children, including Hangetsu and Nagumo. Hangetsu heavily injured himself as a child trying to fly like the main character, which ([[UnreliableNarrator at least how he tells it]]) severely disillusioned him about the reality of "allies of justice" and heroes.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: FIRMLY on the idealistic side, despite prominent downer characters Yuuhi and Akane, and even multiple permanent character deaths.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: If you have glasses in this series, you're probably pretty brilliant. Hisame and Shimaki are professors, Yuuhi's greatest strength is AwesomenessByAnalysis, Hanako is very studious and always had to help Tarou in his studies, Sami's mother is a genius doctor, and the Mage is obsessed with knowledge. [[spoiler:Akane Taiyou]] has picked up a pair of glasses by the DistantFinale, but he's the only real aversion as a special bonus chapter showed him bombing his college exams pretty badly.
* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: Yuuhi had a pretty awful childhood, but unfortunately it's the kind of abuse that could very well have gone entirely undealt with due to Japan's real-life poor record in this area, especially due to his lack of obvious injuries from "merely" being restrained. The same with the overall neglect afforded Akane by his family. [[spoiler:In the Distant Finale, Yuuhi researches how to deal with the fallout of such abuse in young people's lives, as a police detective.]]

** This is apparently subverted when two golems show up, both individually weaker than the previous golem. But funnily enough, if you added the number of eyes together... Guess what? They combine.
** Each golem is also more intelligent and aware than its predecessor. The early ones were more like robots, gradually growing animalistic until the 8th could be provoked and angered and [[spoiler:culminating in Maimakterion, the 11th, who was effectively human. The 12th didn't last long enough to see how intelligent it was]].

** Furesberg is more properly written as ''Hresvelgr'', though both are apparently pronounced the same phonetically. However, most people still write it Furesberg (as evidenced elsewhere on this page) because that name was in use first and longest by the fan translators. "Hresvelgr" is the official name in the Seven Seas translation.

* StableTimeLoop: [[spoiler:During the final battle, Yuuhi comes across his future self who gives him the power he needs to continue on. Also, when Animus dies, it is implied that he will reincarnate as the Master]].

** [[spoiler:Shinonome Hangetsu and Asahina Hisame, who married and had children in the timeline that Animus and Anima are from (as they are their direct descendents), but have their budding relationship cut short before it can really begin in the timeline that we follow due to Hangetsu's sudden death]].
** [[spoiler:Tarou and Hanako are ChildhoodFriends who love each other, but Tarou tragically dies before they can ever attempt to have a romance with each other]].

* SuicidePact: [[spoiler:Yuuhi pledges to Sami that he lives for her, strongly implying he would kill himself if she ever dies before him, no matter the circumstances. It helps draw her back from the brink of destroying everything. It's more one-sided than a normal suicide pact but it helps Samidare understand that her fears of being alone, even in death, are unfounded.]]
* SuperStrength: Sami. The Knights have it too, to a lesser extent.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Just because you can see into the future doesn't mean you'll be prepared for the actual event. Iyataki knew for centuries when and where he'd meet Zan, but was still shocked over seeing a floating, talking swordfish. Likewise Hiwatari can see a few minutes into the future, but wasn't able to glean which parts of it were because of her own actions and which were because of something already in motion.

* TamerAndChaster: The manga has numerous shots of Samidare's underwear, but the anime removes all of them.

* TeachMeHowToFight: Yuuhi finally relents to having Hangetsu teach him his kung-fu. Unfortunately his timing was bad.

** The golems are named after the months in the Attic calendar. The first golem would thus be Gamelion (the first month of winter, covering part of January and February), though Hekatombaion (the seventh) is the first one whose name is actually mentioned for the readers to see. Similarly, Hyou's golems follow a "days of the week" name scheme, going from Sunday to Saturday in GratuitousGerman.
* TheyWouldCutYouUp: [[spoiler:The director who knows about Animus and Anima's' powers invokes this on the siblings, saying that he'd adopt them so that the situation would never happen]].
* ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld: Yuuhi invokes this at the beach, type I being "Those who swim" and type II being "Those who don't". Then he immediately subverts it right after making that statement, running out to play in the water the instant Sami calls for him.
* ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself: In the conclusion, [[spoiler:following Animus' defeat, Yuuhi fights off the other Beast Knights before explaining that his feelings for her renders him [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou the only one]] who can stop the Lucifer, Samidare.]] [[SubvertedTrope This proves to be too much for him though]], and he needs help from the other Knights to give him one final push in the end.

* TitleDrop: [[spoiler:While Mikazuki and Yuuhi are having their last rematch, the giant Samidare in the sky begins to break up, and the pieces of it fall and create a meteor shower. Subaru calls it 'A rain of stars... a May rain of stars... "Hoshi no Samidare"...']]
* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Narrowly averted with Yuuhi, as nobody close to him actually ''dies'' but [[spoiler:his grandfather's illness causes him to make the Knight's wish and seal the pact, swearing him into service]].

** Akane and Loki are more seriously set up for this later on when it's revealed that [[spoiler: they have allied with Animus because they want to destroy the world and want to be on the winning side of the conflict.]]

** Yuuhi is easily the most prominent example, going from relying on Samidare or Hangetsu to save him to being able to face [[spoiler:three of the Knights at the same time, followed by Samidare herself]].
** All of the Knights over time, especially those that gain the power of the Mythical Beast Knights. The difference in combat power for both [[spoiler:Nagumo and Hakudou]] from before their upgrades and after is staggering.

* VillainProtagonist: Samidare (the titular "Lucifer") and Yuuhi, with the goal of destroying Earth. The other Knights [[spoiler: mostly]] don't know about Samidare's intention; Samidare and Yuuhi plot to turn against them as soon as the world is saved.
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: Animus starts really losing it when Samidare manages to smash the hammer. He was so used to winning his little game that he can't actually take it that he could be beaten and practically flips going to attack the knights. It's pretty much his version of flipping the table after losing a chess match]].

* SuddenlySpeaking: [[spoiler:The Crow ''never'' talks but logically she ''had'' to at some point to tell Mikazuki about his role as a Knight. When asked, Mikazuki admits that the Muu hasn't spoken ever since he made his wish and sealed their pact, back when Mikazuki was backpacking in India long before he showed up in the manga. She finally talks during her farewell to Mikazuki]].
* WeirdnessCensor: The main reason the characters are chosen to be the Beast Knights is because they have a much weaker WeirdnessCensor than most people.
--> '''Loki''': The Knights of the Rings' brains are truly exceptional. Those selected are a group of fools. Those people are able to accept unbelievable things and believe in them. Perceiving the extraordinary, to become able to perform the extraordinary.

** Akitani's [[ADeathInTheLimelight Death in the Limelight]] takes place over the course of two chapters explaining the contents of the book he leaves behind.
** Chapter 54 covers the origins of the "game" to stop the Hammer and The beginning of Anima and Animus' twisted SiblingRivalry. This is followed up with Chapter 55, used to show how Sami and Anima first met and bonded with each other.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Yuuhi. Yuuhi had a messed-up childhood thanks to his grandfather, who raised him after his dad was murdered by his colleague and his mom disappeared. Said grandfather became a misanthrope after his son's death, and forbid Yuuhi from forming any sort of relationships with people, going as far as to chain him up when he dared bring a friend home.
** Samidare [[spoiler:[[DoubleSubversion didn't actually start as this, but arguably became one over time]]. As Anima puts it, at first her desire to destroy the world came from a childish desire to own it, which she felt she could only do by taking it down with her. However, after bonding with the Knights and experiencing many happy moments alongside them, it became unbearable for her to think of them moving on to a future which she couldn't be a part of. She started to hate the passage of time, knowing their days together would come to an end, and deep in her heart started hoping Yuuhi would be able to stop her from destroying the world]].
** Taiyo might also qualify. After losing his mother, his father became emotionally negligent, and he couldn't connect with his stepmother or his half-brother. He started to hate the world and wished for its destruction, since there wasn't any happiness for him in it.
* WordSaladTitle: Just look at it.
* WrongGenreSavvy: A lot of the characters seem to enjoy acknowledging shounen tropes, but miss how often the seinen series subverts them. Mikazuki, in particular, makes his introduction to Yuuhi in the pouring rain and casually asks for a fight. When Yuuhi flat-out refuses, Mikazuki flips out at him for not following the cliché, and then [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments bursts into tears and runs off]].
* YouCanBarelyStand: This happens repeatedly to the Beast Knights when Animus joins in on the final battle. The only reason they keep coming back up is because of [[spoiler:Akane's restoration power]].
* YouCantFightFate:[[spoiler:Sami's wish, made when she was a little girl, was to meet with a certain nice older boy again. Guess who that older boy was]]. Yuuhi never had any hope of [[RefusalOfTheCall avoiding the conflict]].

-->'''Mikazuki''': What's the matter? Your mom has a protruding navel.

* OutDamnedSpot: A variation; after [[spoiler:Tarou was killed]], Akane draws the same picture of that moment over and over to rid himself of the scene in his head, but each time he draws it the details become clearer.

* BadassBoast: Sami, on her first meeting with the Mage.
--> '''Sami''': [[spoiler:Who doesn't sound like who, exactly? I've been wondering who was it that you were talking to since just now.]]
--> '''Mage''': [[spoiler:...Anima...?]]
--> '''Sami''': [[spoiler:I am the Lucifer Samidare. Whether it's the Hammer or this planet, I am the one who will smash them all. I do have to thank you though, for bringing in this conflict under ''my'' watch. You gave me the chance to gain power. ''And therefore it's a pity that you dragged me into it!!'']]

--> '''Yuuhi''': [[spoiler: This is my garden. Nobody else but my Demon Lord is allowed to fly higher than me.]]

* CallingYourAttacks: All of the Beast Knights name their domain control abilities. In Chapter 13, Yuuhi even lampshades the Shonen habit of loudly calling them: "... Do we have to shout it out?"

* [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Gun]]: Before [[spoiler: Hangetsu dies]] he tell Yuuhi that he had a dream where he had to fight Yuuhi on a large stairway and that Yuuhi was much stronger than him in the dream. Much later on, the exact same scene he described plays out as a test by Anima when Yuuhi is [[spoiler: discovering Blues Drive Monster.]]

* ClingyMacGuffin: The {{Mentor Mascot}}s, as Yuuhi finds out the hard way after repeated attempts to chuck the lizard out the window.

* CrazyPrepared: Yuuhi and his trap holes. He loves digging them.

* DareToBeBadass: Amamiya Yuuhi, several times.
** Which becomes a lot more profound when you realize that it's a trait he inherited from Shinonome who did it to Yuuhi. He even combines it with a BadassBoast during his final battle against Yuuhi, where he challenges him, not just to reach his level of "genius", but also to actively surpass him.

* DevilInPlainSight: Mikazuki the Crow Knight is a subversion. He turns out to be just as heroic as anyone else, AxCrazy tendencies, evil aura, and [[SlasherSmile mouth full of canines]] aside. His wish? [[spoiler:Bread for a child]]. Sami and Yuuhi are his opposite, secretly plotting against the world while coming off as friendly.
** Also Taiyo the Owl Knight [[spoiler: who also wants to destroy the world]] and his mentor animal Loki [[spoiler: who got so tired of the cycle of battles that he apparently betrayed the knights the last time]]. [[spoiler:Later on, Taiyo has a change of heart. Meanwhile, Loki's previous Knight killed the others so he could gain the Mage's trust and kill him, but it didn't work. Now Loki is loyal to his ''Knight'', not Anima or Animus.]]
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Yuuhi tries this on Animus the first chance he gets.
** [[spoiler:Nagumo succeeds.]]

* EleventhHourSuperPower: As Anima puts it, psychic powers do not have to obey logic but can bend to need, will, and desire... [[spoiler:when Yuuhi somehow ''steals'' the power of Invisible from Yayoi and Shea during his fight with Samidare, because he desperately needs the power to be able to stop her]].
** [[spoiler:There is also Mikazuki and Mu getting the power of Hresvelgr, so they could have a fair final match with Yuuhi and Noi]].

* GoodEyesEvilEyes: Apparently subverted with Mikazuki, who has slit cat's pupils but is a decent guy besides a [[TheDitz few]] [[BloodKnight negative]] [[AxCrazy traits]]. Played straight with Animus, who had flatter, small eyes than most other characters with an extra circle in the cornea, which makes his stare awfully penetrating.
** The extra circle is apparently commonly used by the mangaka, as one of the other works also features this, and it is indeed used to indicate evil eyes, usually.

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Gloriously [[AvertedTrope averted]]. Even after getting a skill upgrade [[spoiler:from Hangetsu's dying wish]], Yuuhi has to practice hard to make more than basic use of it. By the end [[spoiler:Yuuhi proves he can face 3 Beast Knights at the same time, including the two of the Mythical Beast Knights, even though he'd lost the fight to become one himself]]. Yuuhi works hard over the series to become as good as he does.
** This is a theme threaded throughout the creator's works, as well. Power may be nice but technical proficiency wins out, as the one with power uses it as a crutch until they're forced to learn to use it better.

** [[spoiler: The Mage started the whole thing when he crushed the Earth as a kid. Anima kept trying to beat him for a hundred years all over time, but hasn't won yet. In addition, it takes an increasing long amount of time to build a Biscuit Hammer, as well as Anima holding it back with her own powers, giving Anima a quite significant opportunity. ]]
*** [[spoiler: Plus, while he's quite old, The Mage has the mental maturity of a child, and this is all just a power-trip for him.]]

---> '''Akane:''' If we stay here quietly... then we're probably going to meet a painful end.
---> '''Yuki:''' [''punches Akane and grabs him by his shirt''] Don't give up like that! You're a man! Say that you want to live!
---> '''Akane:''' I have no reason to live!
---> '''Yuki:''' There has to be! If not, go make one! [''suddenly deadly serious''] We're going back alive. And we're going to eat ramen. Let's go with everyone.

* InvisibleToNormals: The mentor animals, the Biscuit Hammer (which can only be seen if someone points it out to you), and the golems, which don't seem to attack when there are innocent bystanders around and, amusingly enough, even follow traffic laws.
** And taken up another notch, the [[spoiler:Blues Drive Monster, Anima's own super-weapon in this game, is invisible to people who have not passed through utter despair and still found hope on the other side, including the Beast Knights. It takes Yuuhi, of all people, to point it out to the rest.]]

* LargeHam: Hangetsu.

-->'''Noi''': Holding a [[BeachEpisode beach event]] ignoring the season of the magazine article and season of the volume sale huh...
-->'''Yuuhi:''' What are you talking about Noi...?

* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Animus assumes a nightmarish shadow form while wielding a hideously spiked giant hammer during the final battle, once he realizes the Knights are too dangerous to merely toy with.]]
** And at the very end [[spoiler:Yuuhi steals the power of Invisible for Noi, and then Anima lets Mikazuki and Mu take the power of Hresvelgr for a final match against Yuuhi]].
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Samidare is the only one allowed to destroy Earth.

* ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler:Yuuhi's love for Sami is the only thing that can stop her at the end, saving the world from Sami and Sami from herself.]]
** Strongly implied in Sami and Anima's explanation for why Yuuhi has to be the one to [[spoiler:activate the Blues Drive Monster]] is because [[spoiler:they love him, trust him, and believe in him enough that his power will release theirs into the Blues - Anima's power is too bound up in the Blues to activate it herself, but he can give the starting push like the first turnover of a combustion engine... or the ignition explosive in a nuclear weapon]].

* PsychoSupporter: Yuuhi is a ''literal'' PsychoSupporter, instantly pledging complete loyalty to Princess Sami after she vows to stop the mages from destroying Earth so that she can do so ''herself''.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Noi gives one to Yuuhi at one point, who responds by agreeing with the lizard but ignoring what that actually means for him. Noi's speech is revisited when [[spoiler:Yuuhi nearly breaks down in a full-fledged panic attack at the prospect of facing Hekatombaion after Hangetsu's death, and Yuuhi admits that he can't just brush off what Noi had said anymore. It takes Noi's belief that Yuuhi could grant ''Noi's'' wish in turn and be a hero for Yuuhi to overcome his fear]].

* [[spoiler:RedemptionEqualsDeath: Yuuhi's grandfather. He abused Yuuhi when he was young by keeping him in chains in the basement. Years later, he realizes the error of his ways, begs his grandson for forgiveness (which he gets) and seems to have changed his relationship with Yuuhi for the better. He gets hit by a car while crossing the street a few months later.]]
* RedOniBlueOni: Mikazuki (Red) and Yuuhi (Blue). Several people over the course of the series, including Hangetsu, comment on how alike yet different they are. They both end up practicing the same martial arts style and their personal domain controls are based heavily on mobility - but Mikazuki fights with passion and intensity while Yuuhi plans and anticipates. And at the very end [[spoiler:Yuuhi ends up working as a police detective while Mikazuki is his rough parallel in the Yakuza, and both have a prominent, near-identical scar over one eye: Mikazuki over his right eye, and Yuuhi over his left.]]

* RefusalOfTheCall: Yuuhi would much rather just hedge his bets and not risk his life.

* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Tarou to Mikazuki, Yuuhi and Sami during a youthful hangout once. He added a "yet" to the end though. Yuuhi answers much the same about Samidare when questioned about their relationship by Samidare's father.

** "Biscuit Hammer" is the title of a song by The Pillows-- as is "Blue Drives Monster", [[spoiler:Anima's secret anti-hammer weapon]], and "Babylon Tenshi no Uta".
*** The series is littered with small references to Pillows songs. For example, the Shooting Star attack used near the end of the series being a reference to "Ride on Shooting Star". There are countless numbers of these throughout the series.

** StarWars : [[spoiler:"I love you." "I know."]]

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Furesberg is more properly written as ''Hresvelgr'', though both are apparently pronounced the same phonetically. However, most people still write it Furesberg (as evidenced elsewhere on this page) because that name was in use first and longest by the fan translators. "Hresvelgr" is the official name in the Seven Seas translation.

* ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld: Yuuhi invokes this at the beach, type I being "Those who swim" and type II being "Those who don't".
** And immediately subverts it right after making that statement, running out to play in the water the instant Sami calls for him.
* ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself: In the conclusion, [[spoiler:following Animus' defeat, Yuuhi fights off the other Beast Knights before explaining that his feelings for her renders him [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou the only one]] who can stop the Lucifer, Samidare.]]
** [[SubvertedTrope This proves to be too much for him though]], and he needs help from the other Knights to give him one final push in the end.

* TokenEvilTeammate: Everything about Mikazuki ''screams'' this when he joins up, as well as a LaughablyEvil VillainWithGoodPublicity since everyone but Yuuhi and Nagumo is quickly charmed by him. Then his HiddenDepths come out and it turns out he ''really is that great a guy'', he's just desperate for a WorthyOpponent and latched on to Yuuhi and Nagumo as candidates.
** Akane and Loki are more seriously set up for this later on.
* TookALevelInBadass: Yuuhi is easily the most prominent example, going from relying on Samidare or Hangetsu to save him to being able to face [[spoiler:three of the Knights at the same time, followed by Samidare herself]].

---> '''Loki''': The Knights of the Rings' brains are truly exceptional. Those selected are a group of fools. Those people are able to accept unbelievable things and believe in them. Perceiving the extraordinary, to become able to perform the extraordinary.

* YouFightLikeACow

* OffModel: A regular complaint about the adaptation by NAZ, with regular complaints being the awful compositing and texture work on the golems, the lackluster, often melting, line art and the incredibly LimitedAnimation that mars the fight scenes of any impact.

Not be to confused with ''Literature/LucifersHammer''.

The manga received an anime adaptation by NAZ and Creator/{{Jumondo}} in the summer 2022 anime season, and it began its broadcast on [[Creator/TokyoBroadcastingSystem TBS]] [[note]] and it's Osaka affiliate MBS [[/note]] and [=BS11=]. A spinoff with Mikazuki in the lead role, ''Hoshi no Samidare: Sono Ato no Hero'', was announced the same year. Mizukami supervises the spinoff, while the art is handled by Ichiri Seto.

The manga received an anime adaptation by NAZ and Creator/{{Jumondo}} in the summer 2022 anime season, and it began its broadcast on [[Creator/TokyoBroadcastingSystem TBS]] [[note]] and it's Osaka affiliate MBS [[/note]] and [=BS11=].

** Samidare [[spoiler:[[DoubleSubversion didn't actually start as this, but arguably became one over time]]. As Anima puts it, at first her desire to destroy the world came from a childish desire to own it, which she felt she could only do by taking it down with her. However, after bonding with the Knights and experiencing many happy moments alongside them, it became unbearable for her to think of them moving on to a future which she [[IllGirl couldn't be a part of]]. She started to hate the passage of time, knowing their days together would come to an end, and deep in her heart started hoping Yuuhi would be able to stop her from destroying the world]].

* IllGirl: [[spoiler:Samidare. Her [[GenkiGirl current health]] is only temporary, thanks to Anima's presence]].

A thoroughly strange (in the best possible way) comedy/adventure/romance {{manga}}, Creator/SatoshiMizukami's ''The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer'', or ''Hoshi no Samidare''[[note]]It's [[AlternateCharacterReading written as "Wakusei no Samidare"]] ("The May Rain of the Planet(s)")[[/note]] began in 2005 and enjoyed a successful five-year run. It's gained a devoted cult following outside of Japan, who have finally been treated to an official English version - Seven Seas Publishing has released the series in two-in-one volume collections (as ''Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer''), starting with Volumes 1 and 2 together in November 2014, up through 9 and 10 released a year later, completing the series. The manga can also be read fully translated via Crunchyroll.