Darth Wiki / A-Ko Project

A fighting original fiction by french troper Keitaro Hirochi. In a world where magic is at its beginning, year 2436 ends, and with this the fighting category of "2416-2420"-born fighters closes, getting everyone hyped with the teams' formation. But behind the scenes, whispers about the unknown A-Ko Project start to agitate the fighting scene, getting them worried about the project being bait for bad-intentioned people.

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Tropes that apply to several characters or to the series:

• Always Someone Better: Japan's competitive fighting scene, to every other country. The two other exposed are China's kung-fu dancers and America's Boring, but Practical all-brawn style.
• Badass Family: The Seihou are the most notable example with 3 elites, all of whom took less than two months to be so. And all of them are team leaders, have badass capes and enforce The Coats Are Off before fighting.

• Boss Rush: The ending is made of about ten fights between the teams and superpowered opponents, a good bunch of which had already been defeated before.
• Character Roster Global Warming: Inverted. The series starts with no Mighty Glacier. Shinichi, the closest this fiction has to one, returns halway through the plot after recovering from an arm injury.
• Discretion Shot / Sound Only Non-Lethal K.O.: No death or Ludicrous Gibs to hide, but the Hyper moves always are seen from far away when they hit. All of them are still clearly visible from the distance.
• Enemy Mine: Though nobody really is an enemy, but everyone is ally to find about the A-Ko Project, making Polar Opposite Twins Hinata and Ryouma something like this.

• Short Teens, Tall Adults: Between the fighters themselves, the 20-year-olds are generally taller than the 16-year-olds... by a head at worst.
• Sibling Team: Averted with most families since members of a same family all are in different teams.
• Theme Naming
  • All the main branch children of the Seihou family have the kanji for gold in their name.
  • The Harada sisters have a seasonal theme naming.
• Title Drop: The A-Ko Project is the focus of the plot.

Tropes that apply to the characters:

Team Inabana

Captain: Kinga Seihou

Other members: Takehiko Nakamura, Chiaki Harada

Tropes that apply to the team:

Tropes that apply to Kinga:

• The Ace: At the beginning, after completing Team Inabana, he still easily beats Takehiko and Chiaki 2-on-1.
  • Broken Ace: But even this is not enough to win Elite-level solo tournaments, and come the first team tournaments, his inability to take losses well (not only but especially his own) starts showing up.
• Lightning Bruiser: Being a Seihou helps. Bonus points for being this literally as well.

• Spam Attack: His Lightning Barrage in-story is basically a salvo of dozens electric traits.

Tropes that apply to Takehiko:

• Deuteragonist
• Meaningful Name: Warrior Prince. He's not of royalty, but is noble enough in attitude.

• The Worf Effect: He's introduced by winning the 2436 B-class Winter Nationals. He is still no match for Elites at that point.

Tropes that apply to Chiaki:

• Big Sister Worship: She loves her big sister. Her wish to be as strong as Chinatsu got her into fighting.

• Classical Anti-Hero: Everything is set like she's not meant to be a fighter.

• Unknown Rival: To Asahi. The latter goes so far as to bid her farewell when the first arc ends.

Team Hijuu

Captain: Gonten Seihou

Other members: Takeo Yamamoto, Asahi Mihara

Tropes that apply to the team:

• Child Prodigy: Somewhat. Gonten is a Seihou, Takeo rocked the fighting scene for the first few months with little competition, and Asahi went Elite in seven weeks, a record beaten only by Seihou girls.
• The Rival: Gonten is Kinga's, Takeo is Takehiko's, and Asahi is Chiaki's, even if for the latter it's rather one-sided.

Tropes that apply to Gonten:

• Graceful Loser: He doesn't throw a fit when he loses, admitting instead that he underestimated Kinga.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Averted. Gonten may have blue eyes, but it's his gaze's sharpness that is commented on, not his eyes themselves.
• To the Pain: He goes to great lengths to describe the effects of his Signature Move while his opponent is writhing in pain. Or rub in their face the futility of attempting a comeback on him.

Tropes that apply to Takeo:

• Brilliant, but Lazy: He is considered a rare kind of prodigy in fighting, but he
• The Dreaded: He is notably feared by the competition that's not in the top 10 or so.

• Retired Badass: Retired after 5 months of fighting with only ONE defeat in his record. Gonten gets him out of this.
• Willfully Weak: Subverted. He may not look like he's giving it his all, but that's just how he fights: he can't use fire magic better than he does, and he lacks the skill to fight normally.

Tropes that apply to Asahi:

• Luke, I Am Your Father: Hisoka is her father.

• Squishy Wizard: She made her way to Elite on the back of her magic power, but it is soon clear than even Chiaki has the upper hand on her in a physical fight.
• Tsundere: Her attitude towards Gonten.

Team Ensei

Captain: Hinata Fukaya

Other members: Taiki Kaigo, Akane Kirisaki

Tropes that apply to the team:

• Red Oni: To Team Yaryuu's Blue Oni. Every member of the team is noticeably louder, more emotional than their Team Yaryuu counterpart.

Tropes that apply to Hinata:

• Badass Longcoat: He wears a long, crimson one.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: He tries really hard to be a massive asshole to hide the fact that he himself is in dire need of affection
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: Underneath his coat, his black shirt is sleeveless.

Tropes that apply to Taiki:

• Bash Brothers: With Daichi. Even if they're not on the same team.
• Child Prodigy: He was considered as one back in China, until he made fun of those he labeled cliché dancers.
• Persona Non Grata: His comments on China's fighting trends have put a target on his back.
• Spinning Piledriver: One of his Super moves, used with the help of wind powers.

Tropes that apply to Akane:

• Energy Weapon: As soon as she gets to Super Moves. Her Hyper move is a Wave-Motion Gun.
• Meido: Zig-Zagged. She was raised as such, but didn't like it, only keeping the apron because she finds it cool. Nevertheless she used this to her advantage when she was in need of money, but left the job as soon as fighting got her enough. Even then, she still wears her apron.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Her magic bombs are the main reason behind her being repeatedly fired when she worked as a maid.
• Unskilled, but Strong: She's got the firepower, but she doesn't do much with it apart from blowing her opponent's face up.

Team Yaryuu

Captain: Ryouma Fukaya

Other members: Daichi Kaigo, Kurenai Misuzu

Tropes that apply to the team:

• Blue Oni: To Team Ensei's Red Oni. Ryouma, Daichi, and Kurenai are each more thought-out, calmer and more calculating than their Team Ensei counterpart.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold: Pre-Heel–Face Turn.
• Hair Flip: First done by Daichi after his introductory victory, it went on to become the team's signature taunt.

Tropes that apply to Ryouma:

• Broken Bird: He got put through so much psychological trauma during his childhood that he refrains himself from feeling anything. Anything.
• Smug Super: As a villain, he gets to emphasize his ability to No-Sell half-hearted blows.
• The Stoic: Usually.
  • Not So Stoic: When he fights and he loses the upper hand, he relapses into fits of paranoia.

Tropes that apply to Daichi:

• Blow You Away: Literally during his Hyper move.

• Izuna Drop: One of his Super moves.

Tropes that apply to Kurenai:

• One of the Boys: She eventually outshone all of her masculine pals, becoming Elite before any of them.
• You Are Already Dead: Her Hyper Move takes visible effect a few seconds after she hits. Just enough for her to drop a one-liner.

Team Shinjitsu

Captain: Minoru Mame

Other members: Makoto Okanabe, Kimiko Uehara

Tropes that apply to the team:

• The Worf Effect: They're introduced as potent threats, but never go far in team tournaments.

Tropes that apply to Minoru:

• Brilliant, but Lazy: The reason behind many of his losses in tournaments is that he couldn't be bothered to train.
• Counter-Attack: He's renowned for his ability to predict attacks, so he uses this more than other Elites.
• The Omniscient: Not exactly, but his Eye of Truth makes him able to guess many things easily.

Tropes that apply to Makoto:

• Lady and Knight: He's the Knight, with Kimiko as the Lady. He's also the Servant Boy to her Mistress.
• Ridiculously Average Guy: Subverted. He looks average, he's in the High School Crew, and everything is set like he's a Master of None... until he whips out a sword of Hard Light, making him one of the best mid-close-range fighters.

Tropes that apply to Kimiko:

• Rich Bitch: She first comes out as this. The Mistress and Servant Boy dynamic she has going on with Makoto doesn't help.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: Strawberry blonde, to be more exact.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Her special attacks involve the use of a Yin-Yang Bomb.
• Squishy Wizard: Her magic attacks are very strong, but otherwise she lags behind most other fighters.

Team Seibai

Captain: Shinichi Wakabayashi

Other members: Ryuuya Tanigawa, Seiko Honzaka

Tropes that apply to the team:

• The Big Guy: The least heavy hitter of the team is actually Ryuuya, not Seiko.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Shinichi is much too lazy and Seiko only has a handful of tricks. Even Ryuuya is comparatively Weak, but Skilled.

Tropes that apply to Shinichi:

• Charles Atlas Superpower: Not the sole example, but the most blatant one, in that he has the best "brute strength/size" rate.
• Extremity Extremist: Unless it's for a very basic attack, he will punch you.
• Growing Muscles Sequence: When he goes under A-Shi Mode.
• Hidden Depths: He looks like your standard brawler, but he's got much more wits than he lets on.
• Mighty Glacier: The closest this series has to one.
• Required Secondary Powers: Averted. He has Super-Strength, but he is injured in the beginning because he broke his cubitus.
• Shockwave Stomp: One of his special moves.

Tropes that apply to Ryuuya:

• Beware the Nice Ones: His true figure. Don't disrespect his friends.
• Face of a Thug: Before Team Inabana meets him, Takehiko makes an aside to mention that he looks meaner than he is.
• Tiger Versus Dragon: He's the Dragon to Seiko's Tiger. Strangely, he's the one having Tiger as his Chinese zodiac sign, Seiko being the Dragon there.
• Unstoppable Rage: When the kendo club's president at his high school beat up Seiko and trashtalked her on top, Ryuuya knocked two club members out for getting in the way, then beat her up so bad he broke her nose.

Tropes that apply to Seiko:

• A-Cup Angst: It's her Berserk Button. So much that she's able to mishear Takeo's calling of an attack for him calling her flat and punch him off his feet as he finishes said attack call.
• Fragile Speedster / Glass Cannon: She hits hard enough to get guys off their feet, and with magic support, she can go very fast. On the downside, this trick also makes her really, really vulnerable.
• Punched Across the Room: Her main trick is to just punch the opponent in the face real hard with her foot planted into the ground thanks to ground magic. Only super-heavyweights can resist being sent across the ring by the force of the hit.

Team Chouetsu

Captain: Bougane Seihou

Other members: Ban Ishikami, Tsubaki Hokusei

Tropes that apply to Bougane:

• Barrier Warrior: He can do everything with those: reflecting projectiles, countering attacks...
• Berserk Button: He doesn't like being mistaken for a girl, especially when it's done on purpose or very indelicately.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He's blonde, and noted to be one of the most decent guys in the fighting scene.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's the sensitive guy to Ban's manly man.

Tropes that apply to Ban:

• For Great Justice: His rant against Ninji.
• McNinja: He was born in America.

Tropes that apply to Tsubaki:

• Combat Medic:
• Flower Motifs: She makes those out of light for her projectile attacks.
• Status Buff: Her main card is using this on herself. As a result, she has extreme adaptability, and is probably the best for team battles.

Team Inaga

Captain: Hayate Satou

Other members: Kenta Yokozuka, Chinatsu Harada

Tropes that apply to the team:

• Good All Along: Most notably the final arc, in which they pull off a Big Damn Heroes moment by saving Team Inabana from Chiaki and teaming up with them for the finale.
• Hidden Agenda Villain

Tropes that apply to Hayate:

• Chain Pain: But he isn't Chained by Fashion.
• Fragile Speedster: Somewhat. He has quite a lot of mobility, but not much in regard to power, and his defense game isn't exactly the best either.

• Variable-Length Chain: It's a magic chain, so, yeah.

Tropes that apply to Kenta:

• Boisterous Bruiser
• Chained by Fashion: Out of the ring, since steel isn't permitted in-ring.

• Mighty Glacier: Downplayed mostly, but his strikes are kinda slow and powerful.
• Unskilled, but Strong: He has little magic skill due to the lack of practice in America, but he does use his fire to power up his fist attacks.

Tropes that apply to Chinatsu:

• Aloof Big Sister: She got too worked up to keep her place of n°1 woman of her category.
• Evil Counterpart: If Team Inaga qualifies as evil, she's one to Chiaki.
• Heroic Resolve: Chiaki gets kidnapped at the very beginning of the final arc. Chinatsu is not pleased.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Kenta confused her with Chiaki. Word of God says that it's easy to confuse every single sister with the others.
• World's Strongest Woman: She's ranked n°1 in her age range, and thought to be the best woman fighter of her age in the world.

A-Ko Project Staff SPOILERS!!!

Ninji Iga, Ritsuka Karanashi, Nanto Fukaya, Shion Takasugi, Jikon Seihou, A-Ko, Hisoka Seiiki.

Tropes that apply to Ninji:

• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Delivered to Ban when talking about how he killed his mentor.

• Self-Made Orphan: He kills his father during a tournament.

Tropes that apply to Ritsuka:

• Bad Samaritan: Her introductory arc.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She appears nice and all, being the one to have introduced most of the High School Crew to the fighting scene, but deep inside she's just about as rotten as Ninji, right down to the blood fetish.
• Combat Sadomasochist
• Evil Teacher: Outside of the fighting scene, she is or has been teacher to Takehiko, Ryuuya, Seiko, Makoto and Kimiko.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon
• The Fighting Narcissist: She doesn't want to get her hands dirty, as long as it isn't blood.

• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: She has a doctorate in medicine.
• Villain with Good Publicity

Tropes that apply to Nanto:

• All Work vs. All Play: He's the All Work to Ninji's All Play.
• Card-Carrying Villain: He's got a sense of honor, but he didn't spend five years in jail for nothing.
• Lamarck Was Right: Brutally defied. The man badly abused both his sons from very early so they would become the strong fighters they are now.

Tropes that apply to Shion:

• Badass Boast: Ryoudou Academy's 4th year student and Student Council President, Shion Takasugi, has entered the fight.
• Disability Superpower and Drama-Preserving Handicap: The nasty blow he received to the heart from Minoru made it go haywire, and while it grants him superhuman abilities, after a while he becomes susceptible to a heart attack.
• Handicapped Badass: He has a heart condition that prevents him from fighting more than a couple of minutes, but he can make short work of many people in that time. The High School Crew doesn't even attempt to challenge him one-on-one, because they know they'd get trounced.
• No-Sell: His Jigen - Kinseki, a magic-powered sudden muscle contraction.

Tropes that apply to Jikon:

• Big Bad
• Dark Is Not Evil: Not exactly, at least.
• Easily Forgiven: Somewhat, as he goes to jail for what he's done, only seeing people to use his A-Shi-Mode spell on them.
• Good All Along: When he wakes up from his Brainwashed and Crazy state, he One-Hit KO's A-Ko out of it.

Tropes that apply to A-Ko:

• Really Was Born Yesterday: She was actually born days before the final arc.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes

Tropes associated with Hisoka:

• Eviler than Thou: When Jikon snaps A-Ko out of his brainwash, Hisoka immediately disposes of him in one hit.
• White Hair, Black Heart / Mystical White Hair: He has white hair, he is evil for sure, he relies heavily on magic, and he maintains mystery around him throughout the plot.

Supporting Protagonists

Shiko Kokonogumo, Katashi Moriguchi.

Tropes that apply to Shiko:

• Defiant to the End: Her only reaction to her imminent trouncing by A-Ko is to mock Jikon for not having contacted her for help with the Project.
• It Amused Me: She spent years training a handful of girls only so that she can watch interesting matches in the girls' tournaments.

Tropes that apply to Katashi:

• Old Master: Of the Kaigo Bros. He even helped them come with him from China to Japan.
• Retired Badass: He has amassed international fame during his fighting career.

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