History Manga / WildAdapter

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Kubota's 'job interview' with Izumo requires him to execute the incumbent with a gun that might backfire. He complains about the noise.
* {{Mahjong}}: Kubota attracts the notice of the Izumo gang because he's a mahjong shark.
* PetTheDog: Komiya discovers his devotion to Kubota after helping him to bury a stray cat. Kubota is also literally petting Sanada's dog when he tells him that he likes animals, but isn't interested in people.
* AdoptTheDog: After the violent deaths of two stray cats [[spoiler:and Komiya]], and expecting someday to meet the same end himself, Kubota chooses to care for another one: Tokito.
-->'''Kubota:''' "I took in a cat. He's big for a stray. He looks like he'll be a lot of trouble. But he also looks like a tough one. This time I'm thinking I'll be the first to die. . . He felt heavy, that little cat."
* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler: Though Komiya [[HisNameIs loses his sample of W.A.]] in the assault, he manages to drag himself to Kubota's doorstep to deliver the [[FinalSpeech motivational speech]] that drives Kubota out of Izumo.]]

* DistressedDamsel

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Aversion. Saori, Kubota, and Kasai all treat it as Saori's wisest course; Kasai mentions that he's done it before.

* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Takizawa.

* ClearTheirName: While Detective Hasebe holds Kubota for questioning, Tokito, Anna, and Takizawa, and independently Kasai and Araki, track down Shimura.
* BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible: Kubota refuses to say anything of significance during police questioning (or to Tokito beforehand), in thematic contrast to Shimura.

* AdoptTheDog
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife
* HatesBeingTouched: Tokito, in the first weeks of staying in Kubota's apartment, won't let Kubota or Kasai touch him. Touch is the plot's main symbol of Tokito and Kubota's relationship: After Tokito [[spoiler:breaks Kubota's arm]] with his beast hand, he refuses to touch anyone for fear of harming them. Later Kubota refuses to relax his promise not to touch Tokito, for fear of psychologically harming ''him''. Finally Tokito demands that Kubota take his hand.
* IFoundYouLikeThis
* TroubledBackstoryFlashback: Shouta asking about the name Minoru on the bracelet Kubota found on Tokito triggers one. [[spoiler:Tokito breaks Kubota's arm as]] Kubota administers a CooldownHug to restrain him, and Shouta is frightened away from their apartment for days.

* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Osamu.
* VillainEpisode

* MookPromotion: Osamu, Ryuunosuke, and Shuji were Kubota and Komiya's barely-differentiated minions during Kubota's time with Izumo in the prologue arc. In volumes four and six they have names, personalities, backstories, and their own supporting cast, and Osamu and Ryuunosuke have succeeded Kubota and Komiya as Izumo's [[TheDragon Dragon]] and his SideKick.

* ArtEvolution: [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/wild_adapter/v01/c001/18.html Take a look at volume one.]] [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/wild_adapter/v06/c041/10.html Now look at volume six.]] [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/wild_adapter/v01/c001/23.html Now back to one.]] [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/wild_adapter/v06/c041/4.html Now back to six.]] Drawn over eight years, there is a perceptible shift to more realistic detail and proportion (though not as pronounced as ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}''); the early images on the character sheets in later volumes are a ready illustration.

* BoysLoveGenre: Technically accurate - the series ran in a BL magazine - but BoysLoveTropes are usually averted, when they aren't subverted or parodied.

* {{Expy}}s: Kubota Makoto and Tokito Minoru also appear in ''[[HighSchoolAU Araiso Private High School]] [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil Student Council Executive Committee]]'', which is otherwise unrelated to ''Wild Adapter''. While ''Araiso'' was published first, Minekura created ''Wild Adapter'' first, so which versions are the originals and which are the expys is open to debate.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: On the cynical end of the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism scale]]. While the antagonists shoot first, the protagonists are [[DisproportionateRetribution more]] [[CurbStompBattle dangerous]], and both sides are motivated by self-interest. Lampshaded in the kidnapping arc, a PerspectiveFlip with a MookHorrorShow.

* HoYay: Kubota and Tokito. Despite the series' {{seinen}} sensibility and lack of [[SubText overt romance]], it did run in a [[BoysLoveGenre BL]] [[CastFullOfPrettyBoys magazine]]. Komiya, [[AmbiguouslyGay Sanada]], and [[DepravedHomosexual Sekiya]] have their moments [[EvenTheGuysWantHim with Kubota]], too.
* IdiosyncraticCoverArt: Each volume features Kubota and/or Tokito looking through a barrier of some kind - chain-link fence, a Venetian blind, crime scene tape.

*** Aversion: Tokito was named almost at random after actor Tokito Saburo. "Anything but Saburo."
** The only memorable thing about Ken Shimura is that he shares his name with a famous actor.

* {{Seasonal Motif}}s: The date is mentioned in most arcs and reinforced with stock seasonal symbols.

* ShipTease: Between Kubota and Tokito, both played straight and for laughs at [[BoysLoveTropes yaoi tropes]].

** Volume six: the kidnapping arc. Osamu, Kubota's successor as the leader of the Izumo youth, is ordered to abduct Tokito, to his gang's short, sharp regret.

* {{Yakuza}}: Kubota leads the Izumo [[GangBangers youth group]] during the prologue arc, and continues to cross paths with the Izumo-kai and their rivals the Tojou-gumi throughout the series.

* BeliefMakesYouStupid: While the cultists are drug addicts and the yakuza preying on them, rather than true believers, both the protagonists and the villain claim that only fools turn to religion: "God is for the weak."

* AdoptTheDog

** Volume one: May 1995 - February 1996

** Volume two: February 1997
** Volume three: June - July 1997

* TroubledBackstoryFlashback

The series originally ran from 2000 to 2008 in ''Chara'', a [[YaoiGenre shounen-ai]] magazine. It went on [[SeriesHiatus hiatus]] after forty-six chapters due to Kazuya Minekura's poor health, as well as CreativeDifferences between the {{seinen}} tone of the series and the magazine's [[YaoiGenre shounen-ai]] demographic. It was collected into six tankobon volumes (with five chapters remaining uncollected), published in English in North America by Tokyopop, and in English and Chinese in Singapore by Chuang Yi. In 2011 the rights to the series were [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-08-08/kazuya-minekura-wild-adapter-manga-changes-publishers acquired by Ichijinsha]] (''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}''), and serialisation resumed in ''Zero Sum Ward'' in spring 2013.

!!This series provides examples of:

** Kubota and Tokito's ThemeNaming, [[http://mangabookshelf.com/16936/no-us-and-them-theme-in-wild-adapter/ as one commentator notes]]: ''"their names include each other. Kubota’s name has protect and field in it; Tokito’s includes assignment/charge and ripen. And Kubota’s name includes everyone else as well; his personal name, Makoto, is made up of truth and person, “what people really are.” "''

!!Episodes of this series provide examples of (spoilers ahead):

* IFoundYouLikeThis

* HatesBeingTouched

* TriangRelations: Tokito initially assumes Kubota has {{Sexiled}} him from their apartment in favour of NewOldFlame Anna. When she offers to have sex with ''him'', he only sticks around long enough to ask whether she's slept with Kubota.

* HeatWave

* TimeSkip
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Aversion. Saori, Kubota, and Kasai all treat it as Saori's best option; Kasai mentions that he's done it before.

* BeliefMakesYouStupid: While the cultists are drug addicts and the people preying on them, rather than true believers, both the protagonists and the villain claim that only fools turn to religion: "God is for the weak."

* LikeAGodToMe: "My god died. One year ago."

-->'''Kou:''' "Religion loves a recession."

* ClearTheirName: While Detective Hasebe holds Kubota for questioning, Tokito, Anna, and Takizawa, and independently Kasai and Araki, track down Shimura..

* TriangRelations

* BeliefMakesYouStupid
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: The basement cultists' marijuana use doesn't really explain their homicidal tendencies.

* LikeAGodToMe

* PetTheDog: Komiya realises his loyalty to Kubota after helping him to bury a stray cat. Kubota is also literally petting Sanada's dog when he tells him that he likes animals, but isn't interested in people.

* AdoptTheDog

* BeliefMakesYouStupid

* Triang Relations

* ScamReligion: Fortune's Fang fleeces the drug-addicted faithful. [[spoiler:It's also bait for anyone investigating W.A.]]

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Aversion. Saori aborts, and Kasai, who goes to the hospital with her, implies that it's not his first rodeo.

* CicadianRhythm

* ClearTheirName: Tokito, Anna, and Takizawa, and independently Kasai and Araki, find the real killer while Detective Hasebe holds Kubota for questioning.

* MookPromotion: Osamu, Ryuunosuke, and Shuji were Kubota and Komiya's barely-differentiated minions during Kubota's time with Izumo in the prologue arc. In volumes four and six they have names, personalities, backstories, and their own supporting cast, and Osamu and Ryuunosuke have succeeded Kubota and Komiya as Izumo's [[TheDragon Dragon]] and his SideKick.

A {{Film Noir}} manga series from Kazuya Minekura (the creator of ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}''), ''Wild Adapter'' follows AntiHero Kubota Makoto and Tokito Minoru, the amnesiac [[RunningGag stray cat]] he picked up, as the two play video games, help people, and investigate a mysterious new drug on the streets: [[TitleDrop Wild Adapter]].

The series ran in ''Chara'' from 2000 to 2008 and went on [[SeriesHiatus hiatus]] after forty-six chapters due to CreativeDifferences between the {{seinen}} tone of the series and the [[BoysLoveGenre shounen-ai]] demographic of the magazine. It was collected into six tankobon volumes (with five chapters remaining uncollected), published in the U.S. by Tokyopop in 2007-8 and in Singapore in English and Chinese by Chuang Yi. In 2011 the rights to the series were [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-08-08/kazuya-minekura-wild-adapter-manga-changes-publishers acquired by Ichijinsha]], the publishers of ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}''.

It was announced in the October 2012 issue of ''Zero Sum'' that serialization of ''Wild Adapter'' will resume in spring 2013.

* WholeEpisodeFlashback

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Kubota's 'job interview' with Izumo requires him to execute the incumbent, with a gun that might backfire.

* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler: Komiya drags himself to Kubota's doorstep to deliver a FinalSpeech, though he doesn't manage to share [[HisNameIs what he's learned about W.A.]]]]

* ProlongedPrologue
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Kubota's 'job interview' with Izumo involves executing the incumbent. He passes with flying colours.

* PetTheDog

* DiedInYourArmsTonight

* ScamReligion: Fortune's Fang fleeces the drug-addicted faithful. It's also bait for anyone investigating W.A.

* DarkIsEvil: Osamu, and Ryuunosuke's uncle before him, compare the violent, amoral underworld of the yakuza to an inescapable darkness. But as he sees it, the Izumo youth merely "live in the shadows. We stay always just to the left of the light", while Kubota and Tokito "can only breathe full in the pit of darkness."

* CoolShip: The Izumo gang holds Tokito aboard a tanker at anchor in Yokohama harbour. It's an UnnecessarilyLargeVessel for the purpose, but this setting also evokes the arc's recurring imagery of sinking into darkness.
* DarkIsEvil

----

* MookPromotion: Osamu, Ryuunosuke, and Shuji were Kubota and Komiya's barely-differentiated minions during Kubota's time with Izumo in the prologue arc. In volumes four and six they have names, personalities, backstories, and their own supporting cast, and Osamu and Ryuunosuke have succeeded Kubota and Komiya as Izumo's [[TheDragon Dragon]] and his SideKick.

* MadnessMantra: The deconstruction of ''kotodama'', "the spirit of words", or the belief that saying something can make it real, is a CentralTheme of the arc. Shimura reassures himself with a SurvivalMantra that helps him in the aftermath of the murder, but as his paranoia grows it degenerates into delusion. Lampshaded by Tokito: "What the hell? How did you expect that to work?"

* CoolShip

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes
* ItWasAGift: The watch that Tokito breaks (twice) was given to Kubota by Komiya. His lack of concern about it encapsulates his total disassociation from his old companions in the Izumo youth group.

* ClearTheirName: Tokito, Anna, and Takizawa, and independently Kasai and Araki, find the real killer while Detective Hasebe holds Kubita for questioning.

* ItWasAGift
* [[IveComeTooFar I've Come Too Far]]

* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Though there are many scenes from Kubota or Tokito's perspectives, each arc is narrated principally by a minor protagonist, who observes them from the outside and usually elucidates much of the theme.

** Volume three: HeatWave, CicadianRhythm, and [[AmericanHolidays:UsefulNotes Fourth of July fireworks]].

** Volume two: Tokito, his apparent connection to W.A., and his close, ambiguous relationship to Kubota, are introduced through the perspective of Saori, a pregnant runaway whom the Tojou gang believe may be a lead on W.A.

* MookHorrorShow

* ClearTheirName
* BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible: Kubota refuses to say anything of significance, in contrast to Shimura.

* ClearTheirName
* BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible
* MadnessMantra
* ReturningToTheScene: How Anna's suspicions fall on Shimura. According to Takizawa, the inevitable practice of criminals.

!!Episodes of this series provide examples of:

* ReturningToTheScene
* WhosLaughingNow