Literature / Nanana's Buried Treasure

Nanana's Buried Treasure (Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizouki) is a Light Novel series written by Kazuma Ōtorino with art done by Akaringo, and it was published by Enterbrain under its Famitsu Bunko imprint. The series was published from 2012 to 2016, with a total of 12 volumes. A manga adaptation by Hitoshi Okuda (who's best known for his manga adaptations and spinoffs of Tenchi Muyo!) also began at the same time, and was serialized in Famitsu's Comic Clear magazine from 2012 to 2013. An anime adaptation by A-1 Pictures aired as part of the Spring 2014 season in the noitaminA time slot and is viewable online at Crunchyroll.

Juugo Yama has every reason to be happy. Sure, he might have been kicked out of his house by his own father, and has little money to speak of now, but now he's free to go where he wants, and that place is Nanaejima, a "special student zone" built on several artificial islands filled with all sorts of schools and research facilities.

Given how he has little money though, he is forced to take up residence in a suspiciously low-rent apartment... And he soon finds out why the rent is so low: it's currently haunted by its former owner, one Nanana Ryuugajou, who was murdered there by unknown parties ten years before. Since then she's been bound to the apartment, unable to move on, despite the previous efforts of all of her friends, including the pretty if hard-drinking dorm manager, Maboro Shiki.

Despite being very very dead, Nanana herself doesn't treat her current situation as a big deal, and makes the most of her situation. She treats the apartment as her personal gaming den, due to how its suspiciously furnished with the latest games, consoles, and a high-spec PC seemingly configured for online gaming. And since she doesn't need to sleep anymore, Nanana does this 24-7, without pause.

Needless to say, if Nanana wasn't dead, she'd make for a very convincing NEET.

With no more money to look for another place, Juugo is forced to get used to his new roommate, but his curiosity for the details of Nanana's death gets the better of him, and he soon finds out that Nanana is anything but an ordinary ghost: in fact, she's one of the primary reasons why Nanaejima is even in existence, having provided most of its starting funding through the treasures she found during her adventuring! And of particular note is the so-called Nanana Collection, a set of treasures that possess strange powers, which are hidden away among the islands of Nanaejima. Some of them have been found, but not all of them, and these are the object of continuing speculation... And may have played a part in why Nanana was murdered in the first place.

Just what has he gotten himself into, anyway?

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Provides examples of:

• Action Girl:
  • Nanana, despite being a ghost, still manages to beat Juugo in a duel to determine who would be the master in their room. And she easily defeats him again in episode 11, though gives up the fight that time after hearing how determined Juugo was at hearing her say what she wants to be done with finding her killer and passing on.
  • Yuu turns out to be one as well, as seen in episode 4.
  • Yukihime is one as well, having taught Juugo how to fight.
  • Maboro has shown some combat prowess and is capable of smashing concrete with her bare fists.
• Action Prologue: The opening for the first episode of the anime shows Nanana and a couple of her friends exploring a cavern that wouldn't be out of place in an Indiana Jones movie. The music during this scene even vaguely resembles music from that movie.
• Alternate Character Reading: All over the place, particularly with the names of the characters. A good example would be Tensai, whose name's meaning is usually associated with "genius" (which would be fitting for a supposed master detective)... except the characters actually used to write her name spell out "natural disaster".
• Amusing Injuries: Kagetora gets a crab leg tossed into his head by Yuu after he starts teasing Daruku about wanting to taste Tensai's saliva after feeding her. Yuu later throws a second one, but he manages to dodge it.
• Ancient Artifact: The Wizard's Cane (Dovold Van Zamus's Cane) can basically grant any wish you want. However, it has a limited charge.
• Awesome by Analysis:
  • Tensai is able to figure out where the stolen jewel is in the episode 2 based on evidence she looks at including the trash bin and the convenience store footage. She is also able to figure out the trap room fairly quickly and on her first try, whereas Juugo failed ten times in a row.
  • In episode 3, she also manages to work out the trap sequence in the dungeon after having Juugo run around it to learn it's patterns and rules.
  • In episode 4, she figures out that the Juugo she meets at the beginning of the episode is an impostor. She also figures out that Juugo is actually affiliated with the criminal group Matsuri.
• Bad Liar: Juugo in episode 5 when he runs into Sansa for the first time. She scares him with some of the stuff she says, and figures out he lied to her twice, when he denies knowing about Nanana's treasure collection, and that he looked in the suitcase he was supposed to deliver to her.
• Balloon Belly: In episode 5, Tensai tells Juugo she and Daruku are coming over to his place for dinner the next day. He then wonders why she's asking as the camera shows her with a big belly from having eaten at the restaurant earlier.
• Barred from the Afterlife: Nanana is bound to the apartment she was murdered in, but she doesn't seem to mind too much.
• Berserk Button: Juugo bringing up the fact that Yukihime never had a boyfriend in her life causes her to punch him.
• The Bet: Nanana makes one with Tensai in episode 11 with a wager of a 30 day supply of pudding if Nanana wins versus a 30 day supply of coffee milk if Tensai wins. Tensai later gives the artifact to Juugo, revealing that Nanana described it as an artifact to let you look into the past. And as a master detective, it would defeat the purpose of her investigation if she used it. However, Juugo refuses to take it, stating he promised Nanana he wouldn't use the artifact. Tensai tells him that even if he did use it, it's not like Nanana could leave the room and find out he broke the promise. But he insists on keeping the promise. Tensai then realizes she lost the bet, which was to see if Juugo would use the artifact or not, hence why she was so insistent on him using it. When he inquires later how Nanana was supposed to get the coffee milk, Tensai explains he'd have to buy it on her behalf. She then tells him to come up with an excuse for Nanana as to why she didn't get the pudding, because she refused to accept her loss, though Juugo and Daruku call her out on it at the end of the episode.
• Brandishment Bluff: Tensai essentially does this to Ikusaba in episode 11, when she says that she knows his secret weapon, and how to disable it, allowing Juugo to recover from his injuries and deliver a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. She later tells Juugo she was bluffing about it, but suspected he used his trump card already since he didn't use that item to disable Juugo until after he was backed into a corner by the Adventure Club.
• Bridal Carry: Juugo does this to Tensai in episode 10 to quickly get to the bottom of the maze where the treasure is located. After seeing this, Yuu pretends to also be hurt in an attempt to have Isshin do the same thing for her, but it doesn't work.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: Juugo finds a journal in the bathroom of his apartment in the first episode. One of the notes in it says that he should join the Adventure Club at school. Otherwise they'll seek him out if he doesn't do anything first. Then Yuiga and Yuu show up in episode 2 to do just that.
• Cassandra Truth: Tensai says she's a "master detective", but nobody takes her seriously on it, probably because she's really short.
• Chekhov's Gun: The artifact Juugo used to restrain Yukihime during their fight in episode 7 is used by her to restrain Ikusaba in a scene at the end of episode 11.
• Chick Magnet: Implied with President Isshin, and there are several instances shown where random ladies pretty much hit on him. Lampshaded by Kagetora, wherein he notes that a lady being acquainted with Isshin usually means that it's more than the lady in question giving him her phone number. Naturally this pisses off Yuu to no end.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Isshin and Yuu, along with Kagetora, attempt to get the treasure ahead of Juugo, Tensai, and Daruku in episode 6 after Tensai explains an odd room that may be the treasure room. It's subverted later on when the latter three help them get the treasure, and he doesn't try to backstab them like last time. Nanana also reveals that the teddy bear they found isn't part of her collection, suggesting someone else already got the treasure, which Tensai strongly suspects it was Juugo.
  • She has a good reason for suspecting him, too. He's shown waking up in the middle of the night then mailing a package which he claims contains pudding for Nanana in the morning before going back to sleep because he's tired. Yet when he comes home at the end of the episode Nanana is clearly mad because she never got any pudding. He was also oddly familiar with the traps in the ruins.
  • It later turns out that Nanana's anger was over his selling her games to pay the utility bill, and he had indeed bought the pudding and sent it, it just hadn't gotten there yet. However, he also snuck into the ruin, nabbed the treasure and hid it in the package with the pudding.
• Cliffhanger: Episode 10 ends on one, after Ikusaba tells Juugo one of his lungs is going to collapse. Juugo then drops to his knees as he is suddenly unable to breathe.
• Clingy Jealous Girl:
  • Yuu gets angry at a waitress who hits on Isshin at the restaurant in episode 5. She also gets mad at the workers at the hot springs in episode 6.
  • In episode 9, Juugo goes out to show a new student in his class around with Yurika, his class rep. After getting some lint off her hair a short while later, he immediately grabs Yurika and tosses her to the ground, sensing a murderous aura around. The camera then pans up to the second floor walkway, with a seemingly irritated Yukihime watching him and angrily blowing bubbles into the straw of the soda she's drinking.
• Color-Coded Characters: Aside from their looks and personality, the characters all have different hair colors as well, especially the girls.
• Comfort Food: Nanana's pudding. In addition to eating as much pudding as possible as often as possible, she tends to ask Juugo for some when she's upset.
• Compelling Voice: Ikusaba has an artifact that allows him to essentially do this, such as when he tells Juugo one of his lungs collapses, and his right elbow is shattered. Though Tensai later says there was nothing physically wrong or broken with him, the artifact made it so that whatever Ikusaba said happened, as far as Juugo's mind was concerned.
• Covert Pervert: Nanana thinks Juugo is one after seeing security footage of him looking at a maid magazine, and reaching into his pocket. He claims it was just his phone going off, but Tensai says he didn't get any messages or calls at that time, suggesting he was reaching somewhere else in his shorts. Nanana tells him not to talk to her for a short while after learning about his fetish.
  • It turns out that, while Tensai found no messages, she did find an alarm set to go off at that time, proving that he had been telling the truth.
• Credits Running Sequence: Juugo does one in the opening, while Nanana does one in the ending.
• Cute Ghost Girl: Nanana herself. She can also manipulate things and become transparent at will, as shown when Juugo tries to shake her hands when first meeting her.
• Cute Little Fang: Tensai has one.
• Cursed with Awesome: Sure, Nanana can't leave the room and is a ghost, but she can still touch things, so is able to eat her favorite pudding, watch television, surf the internet, and play video games.
• Dead to Begin With: Nanana.
• Debut Queue:
  • Episode 1 introduces Juugo, Nanana, and Maboro. Others are seen but not given much screentime yet such as Yurika, one of his classmate.
  • Episode 2 introduces Tensai, Daruku, Yuu, and Yuiga.
• Designated Girl Fight: Yukihime fights Yuu in episode 4 while Juugo takes on Isshin.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Part of the reason why Juugo's at Nanaejima to begin with: after abandoning the "family business", he's not really sure what to do with himself anymore. This causes problems with his old teacher Yukihime as a result.
• Determinator: Juugo is one of these types:
  • In episode 2, he is told to enter a room and open the chest inside. He's allowed to try as many times as he'd like. At first the room seems normal, then it turns into a deadly maze, and he keeps falling into various traps. However, he sees this as a challenge, and keeps trying. Amazingly Tensai notices he knows how to roll with a fall, as well as a lot of stamina to keep running back into the room after being ejected outside and only has light scratches on himself after ten attempts.
  • In episode 11, despite being in crippling pain, the amount of movement he's able to briefly do surprises Ikusaba. And later he challenges Nanana to another fight, this time the deal being if she won, things would stay the way they were. But if he won, then she would reveal to him what she really wants to say but won't, such as finding her killer and passing on. Even when Nanana has him in a hold, he says he's going to keep challenging her until she tells him so that he could hear from her what she really wanted him to do about that situation.
• Distracted by the Sexy:
  • When Juugo first meets Maboro, the first thing he does is stare at is her breasts. He then looks at the rest of her body, and goes back to her breasts at the end. For a moment he forgot why he was even there in the first place, which was to move into the apartment complex.
  • In episode 5, Juugo becomes focused on Daruku looking at the chopsticks Tensai ate some meat off of. He then wonders if an Indirect Kiss is going to occur, only to then find out the others ate all the rest of the food while he was watching Daruku. And then he doesn't get to see what happened afterwards, though Daruku blushes and turns away from him, only leading to further speculation on Juugo's part.
  • Kagetora, while tailing Ikusaba in episode 9, sees a woman in a very revealing outfit, and is distracted by it long enough that he loses sight of his target for a moment. Unfortunately for him, Ikusaba realizes he's being followed, and chases Kagetora around.
• Does Not Like Men: Yun has a slight fear of men, with a few exceptions.=
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male:
  • Juugo suffers from this from Nanana, Yuu, and Tensai. And Yukihime tends to punish him a lot as well, as seen in episode 7.
  • Shuu gets hit a lot from Yukihime as well.
  • Kagetora suffers from Yuu's attacks, largely when she's frustrated that Isshin seems to be deliberately ignoring her. In one instance, she punches him after her attempt at "falling" for one of the traps in episode 6 fails to get Isshin's sympathy.
• Easily Forgiven: Neither Juugo nor Tensai seem to hold any hard feelings against Isshin, especially considering he very well nearly got them killed in getting one of Nanana's treasures, and what's more, severely injured Juugo soon afterward.
• Everyone Has Standards: When Juugo uses the latest treasure to subdue Yukihime in their duel during episode 7, he talks about doing things to her and her being unable to resist due to being tied down. But once he sees her crying, he starts to have second thoughts, and they work out the misunderstandings they had about him leaving the clan and her apparently betraying his trust.
• Eye Poke: Yuu does this to Juugo in episode 6 after he blocked her view of Isshin in the hot springs and wasn't too happy when Isshin left as soon as Juugo moved. So she called Juugo back resulting in her poking him in the eye that his eye turned red.
• Face of a Thug: Yurika, one of Juugo's classmates, hints that he has this kind of look. She also mentions finding him a bit handsome, but doesn't say it loud enough for him to hear, so she runs off when he asks what she said. Nanana also mentions this in episode 7, and he replies that she shouldn't be making fun of his looks.
  • Juugo himself.
• Fork Fencing: Juugo and Yuu try to fight over a piece of meat in episode 5, though the meat slips into the air during the struggle. As they watch it coming back down, Tensai catches it and promptly eats it.
• Gamer Chick: What post-death Nanana turned into. Not needing to sleep anymore does wonders for grinding on online roleplaying games, that's for sure!
• Genki Girl: Apparently was like this while alive. May or may not be a public facade however; as the notebook Juugo finds, and even Shiki tells him later on, Nanana might actually be just really lonely.
• Gentleman Thief: Seems to be the shtick of Matsuri, in which they use whatever they steal to help other people. Juugo disagreeing with this somehow led to Juugo disowning his father and in trying (and failing) to disassociate himself with the organization.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Maboro Shiki, the dorm manager. And it's a serious problem too, judging by the sheer amount of empty beercans on display in her room.
• Hate Sink: Ikusaba! Not only does he use people as a means of collecting Nanana's tools, which led to severe injuries to the club members, but he refers to those that he can't use as garbage and sells them. Then he neglected Nanana the entire time he rented the room. He's virtually a Knight of Cerebus as well in an otherwise light-hearted show.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend: Interestingly, when Ikusaba calls Tensai "girlfriend" in episode 11, implying her relationship to Juugo, neither one of the two deny it. However it seems the relationship Juugo and Tensai have is more of a friendly rivalry than romance.
• Honey Trap: Yuiga has Yuu dress up like a maid wearing glasses, after finding out that Juugo likes that combination, in order to lure him into the Adventure Club at school.
• Hot Springs Episode: Episode 6. Hilariously, Yuu is the one trying to sneak a peek at Isshin, and seems like quite the Dirty Old Man when she tries it. She even pokes a hole in the wall in an attempt to get a glimpse of him.
• Idiot Hair: Yuu has this.
• Jerkass: Ikusaba, one of the former members of the Adventure Club, and the former tenant of the room before Juugo. It says a lot that Maboro's first reaction when she hears he's around is to chase him down and try to beat him to a pulp.
  • The following episodes show to what levels of douchebaggery Ikusaba apparently stooped to. Aside from treating Nanana as a mere source of information rather than a person (albeit dead), during his tenure as the president of the Adventure Club he used rather dubious methods to clear labyrinths, including sacrificing fellow club members. Later on Juugo and company learned that he hired Yuu-chan to scout out a maze... which might have actually killed her, it's no wonder that the current members of the Adventure Club set aside their differences to take him down.
• Jump Scare: Nanana does this to Juugo in episode 10. He drops the pudding he was going to give her as a result.
• Lie Detector: The Light-Up Lie Detector (The Eye of Yuguthos) from Nanana's collection allows the user to see if someone is lying.
• Limited Wardrobe: Nanana's stuck wearing a long white sundress. Not clear if this was the same clothes she died in.
• Lonely Rich Kid: What Nanana is essentially according to Maboro. The latter explains to Juugo that while she may otherwise appear as a Genki Girl and seems occupied, she's actually lonely and hopes he can be friends with her.
• Love Confession: Juugo sort of gives one to Yukihime in episode 7, but she hits him because that wasn't the answer she was looking for when she asked who she was to him.
• MacGuffin: The eponymous Nanana Collection, a set of treasures that possess strange powers, and are hidden in and around Nanaejima. The object of countless in-universe searches and speculation.
• Male Gaze: Happens with a lot of the female characters. When this happens it's usually done from Juugo's perspective.
• Master of Disguise:
  • Subverted with Shuu. He does manage to dress up convincingly as other people, but generally the people he's really trying to fool see through it, such as Tensai and Juugo.
  • Played straight with Tensai in episode 5. She manages to fool Juugo briefly before identifying herself.
• Meido: Juugo sees two of them in episode 2 much to his delight at first:
  • The first is Daruku, who shows up in front of his apartment. "She" turns out to be a boy however, much to his shock.
  • The second is Yuu, who shows up after school to bring him to Yuiga, the president of the Adventure Club at school. She seems sweet at first, but then turns rather violent when Juugo attempts to leave shortly after Yuiga introduces himself.
• Mood Dissonance: Putting aside the fact that she's essentially a Genki Girl that doesn't seem to mind being a ghost, there's still the fact that she was murdered and they still haven't found who killed her yet despite intense searching and investigations.
• Ms. Fanservice: Maboro, who isn't shy about showing off her body to Juugo.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Yukihime's Spy Catsuit outfit in episode 5 when meeting up with Juugo with it unzipped so low it shows her cleavage and stomach. She notices where he's staring at and teases him about it. Then Juugo realizes that it's actually Shuu, her associate, in disguise when the real one appears behind Shuu. After wiping some blood off her hands (presume that Yukihime beats Shuu up), the real Yukihime then sits down and talks with him.
• New Transfer Student:
  • Juugo in the first episode, when he travels to the island to start living on his own and attend school there.
  • Tensai and Daruku in episode 2, when they also transfer in the same class Juugo is in.
• Nobody Can Die: Many of the ruins are littered with deathtraps, which never quite fulfill their function. Ikusaba says he's going to kill someone who is completely at his mercy, but the victim only gets covered in bandages and doesn't even seem injured. This is all a bit strange, since Nanana is a ghost and Juugo is searching for her killer.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Tensai is able to deduce that Juugo took the stolen item from the first episode by coincidence, and says she'll turn the item to the police for him. In the next scene, Juugo is watching a news report that the jewel thief turned herself in, and the cops don't believe she's a detective. Subverted as she returns the next day.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Juugo suffers one from Yukihime in episode 7 during a duel. He normally would have lost, but then he uses Nanana's latest treasure to chain her up and prevent her from moving. But then he just talks to her after that to clear up the misunderstandings they had towards each other about him leaving the clan.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Juugo seems to be doing this in episode 6. Tensai wonders how he got the money to pay his utility bill from the previous episode after he failed to collect money from a job. Later she notices he seems to be a little too familiar with the traps in the treasure room, though he says it's probably due to dumb luck. Finally, after they show the teddy bear they found to Nanana, she says it wasn't part of her collection, strongly hinting that Juugo did the treasure room on his own without telling anyone, and then the package he mailed off wasn't pudding for Nanana, but the artifact he found. Nanana emanating an intimidating aura after they others leave also suggests she knows he did something.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Juugo got to live on his own and found a fairly cheap place to live with a lot of amenities included. The catch is that he has to live with a Cute Ghost Girl who likes to play video games. On top of that, he can't really move out either, due to a lack of money.
• Offscreen Teleportation: Ikusaba does this multiple times when he finds out Kagetora is following him around in episode 9. No matter where the latter runs or jumps to, the former always seems to be waiting for him. Episode 10 reveals his boots are the source of his being able to do this, because they allow him to "swim" through shadows and merge somewhere else.
• On One Condition: In episode 9, Juugo asks Nanana for a hint regarding the next treasure they're attempting to find. She refuses to offer one initially because he already knows it's in a mall, but he says they need to clear it or else there would be trouble. She relents, but then says she has one condition, which Juugo immediately mentions the pudding from said mall. She then immediately corrects herself and says she has two conditions. She tells him that he must not use the treasure they find there under any circumstances, since he said he just wanted to clear the treasure room. In episode 10 when she asks him again, he says he won't use it, but looks away from her, implying he was lying to her.
• One Cast Member per Cover: The light novel's volumes have one character, almost all of them girls, on the cover. The main girls Nanana and Tensai are the only ones to appear on more than one cover.
• Opening Monologue: Done by Nanana. The sequence that accompanies it also serves as her Establishing Character Moment.
• Otokonoko Genre: Daruku. Is specifically described as an otokonoko. Daruku is trans. A male who dresses and lives as a girl 24 x 7 yet will admit to being male if that information is relevant. In the anime Tensai says Daruku isn't a 男の子 (otokonoko,boy), but a 男の娘 (otoko no ko), literally a male girl/ladyboy. The term "trap" was added in western localizations. There are several scenes where Daruku's gender is discussed in the novel involving the girls accepting her into their spaces. In the anime this is represented by a scene in episode6. Latter in the novel spinoff "Tensai's Reluctant Deduction" Daruku becomes a girl.
• Perpetual Poverty: Juugo, who relies largely on the allowance his father sends him, and is only allowed to legally work a certain number of hours a week as a student. This forces him to find some underground work due to coming up short on money for the utilities that month in episode 5. He forgets to collect his payment due to the area being attacked at the time, and him fearing for his life when meeting Sansa, and understandably doesn't want to go back to get it.
  • Then in episode 6 he tells Tensai that he somehow came up with the money after all but doesn't reveal how he got it. Episode 7 reveals that he did it by selling off Nanana's game collection, which got her rather angry at him until he offered her some delicious pudding, and a promise to buy more games for her in the future.
• Pinky Swear: Juugo makes one with Yukihime when they were younger to make people all over the world happy in a Flash Back during episode 7.
• Power Copying: Isshin's glasses allow him to copy the powers of whoever he's looking at. So this allows him to stand up to Ikusaba for a short while though the latter states that just because he has the same moves, doesn't mean he also has the strength.
• Pretty Freeloaders: Subverted with Tensai and Daruku. While they show up at Juugo's apartment a lot expecting him to feed them, they do live in their own apartment next to him, and help him out during the treasure hunts. And they will occasionally bring the food over so that they're not freeloading off him all the time.
• Private Detective: Tensai claims to be a master detective, but isn't taken seriously by anyone. However, she does have the skills to back it up.
• Ring of Power: "The Whisper of the Death God" ring that Ikusaba holds, allowing for powerful suggestions that the opponent's body will succumb to.
• Running Gag: Tensai and Daruku constantly showing up in Juugo's apartment, usually wanting him to feed them. She even goes so far as to make multiple copies of the key to his door.
• Shadow Walker: The "Shadow Fins" that Ikusa favors allow him to swim through shadows, but only as long as he can hold his breath.
• Shout-Out:
  • The games Nanana is playing are real ones, with proper footage. One is obviously Terraria, the fighting game is Virtua Fighter, the MMO she spends her nights grinding on is Phantasy Star Online, and she also plays Spelunker HD on the Famicom the original game was on.
  • At the end of episode 7, Nanana, Tensai, and Daruku are watching Star Driver, of all things.
• Show, Don't Tell: In episode 7, Juugo shows off the latest treasure he acquired from the hot springs location in episode 6. Nanana is never seen explaining it onscreen to him (and viewers) what it does. But he puts it to use in his duel against Yukihime, and said treasure releases some magical chains that ties her up and prevents her from moving, allowing him to do whatever he wanted to her if he so chooses.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Surprisingly, this does not happen, much to many watchers' surprise. Juugo doesn't deck Isshin after the president of the Adventure Club finishes his ranting, mostly because it would just make him feel like a hypocrite.
• Spiritual Successor: To Dragon Crisis!. Both are light novel adaptations about treasure hunters by the same screenwriter. They also have similar sing-song girls' chorus opening themes, Shorttank-sporting onee-chan characters whose boobs constantly jiggle in their breezy camisoles (Erika and Shiki), and reluctant protagonists who try to avoid getting involved in the family business, only for an overarching mystery involving the main female lead to sucker them into it.
• The Stinger: The adaptation ends with President Yuiga looking at the bloodied school ID card of Yoshino Saki, recovered from the ruins, before showing Yun-chan herself whispering "I don't want to die." to herself, with her eyes glowing an ominous red and a strange, unknown object moving across her neck and disappearing.
• Stupid Sexy Flanders:
  • Juugo has this problem with Daruku, who oftentimes passes off fairly well as a girl, despite being a boy.
  • Kagetora also seems to have the same exact problem as seen in episode 6.
• Suicide, Not Murder: The biggest mystery in the main plot is who killed Nanana at her apartment, causing her to stay stuck there as a ghost. In the final volume, it's revealed that Nanana wasn't murdered, but she killed herself as payment for her wish to Negakana.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Yukihime just happens to coincidentally show up at the same hot springs Juugo and the others came to in search of Nanana's latest treasure in episode 6. As a result, he gets the treasure on his own in the middle of the night and mails it off with some pudding to prevent her from getting the treasure.
• Take Over the World: Yuiga's goal in Episode 4.
• Telepathy: The Mimic Glasses can be used this way, at the cost of a splitting headache.
• Tempting Fate: After seeing Tensai in the news in episode 2, Juugo feels he won't ever see her again. Then she and Daruku transfer into his class.
• Theme Naming: All over the place, but many of the characters have names based on objects or concepts, except their last syllable is cut off and stuck to a separate, unrelated syllable to make up a first name — see Maboro Shi (can be read as illusionary)-ki.
• To Win Without Fighting: Tensai does this in episode 11, forcing Ikusaba to back off the treasure. He's not too eager about it, since he wants to see this fight to the end, but Tensai threatens him by telling him that she knows his secrets and powers, and if he doesn't back off, she'd disable his artifact so that Juugo could deliver a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on him. Since neither one of them really want to risk a gamble at it, he decides to withdraw for now. Tensai later tells Juugo she was bluffing about knowing his secrets, but fortunately Ikusaba bought it and left without any further incident.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Pudding of all types for Nanana. One wonders why she even needs to eat the stuff though, given how she's dead.
• Unfinished Business: What most people think is the reason why Nanana can't pass on — her murderer hasn't been identified, much less caught. That said, Nanana herself isn't quite sure if that's the real reason either, and might be stuck there for different reasons entirely. Juugo in episode 2 even asks her about this, and while she mentions wanting to find her killer, she also says she still likes staying in her room to play games and wants her treasures to be found by others.
  • In episode 11, Nanana reveals that while she does want to find her killer, and kill them herself, she wants to watch over the island longer, and watch it grow, since she's also had fun observing the people living there during all this time.
• Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Juugo finds out about Daruku in episode 2 of the anime by bumping against her private region then flipping up her skirt revealing boxer briefs. Half of volume 2 of the novel is about intoducing daruku and Tensai discussing Daruku trying out for a cheerleader like girls dance team at school.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: Maboro pulls Juugo's room key out from between her breasts.
• Weather Manipulation: The Rain Bell (Angelus of Heaven's Rain) can bring forth rain if you ring it while praying.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Juugo does this to Isshin in episode 4 after the latter takes the treasure and abandons him and Tensai in the treasure room.
  • Interestingly, Juugo and Yukihime do this to each other in episode 7, when they both think that the other one betrayed their trust. After suffering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, Juugo uses Nanana's latest treasure he found against her, and then the two clear up much of the misunderstanding they had. While Juugo is holding off on rejoining the clan for the moment, at least both of them know they can still trust the other.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Played straight in episode 11 when Tensai pulls out a gun on Ikusaba while he has Juugo incapacitated. She claims they're just rubber bullets but would still hurt if she hits him with it. She then drops the gun and puts her hands up, and suggests that Ikusaba withdraw for now. He understandably refuses, until she says that she knows the secret to his artifacts and how to disable them, and if he doesn't leave, she was going to reveal it to Juugo so he could get back up and fight. Ikusaba wisely chooses not to press his luck, and withdraws. Tensai then reveals to Juugo later she was bluffing, and didn't know what what his powers were, but says that he should be glad the battle ended in a draw.
• Words Can Break My Bones: The ring that Ikusaba wears allows him to inflict injuries on his opponents using this trope and by Giving Someone the Pointer Finger and by pointing at them.
• Worth It: Juugo certainly thinks so! So what if he had his arm dislocated in the process? He was able to cop a feel of Nanana's ample (if admittedly ghostly) bosom.
• Worthy Opponent: After figuring out his affiliation to Matsuri, Tensai considers Juugo to be her rival, which is why she doesn't turn him in. You can't be a master detective without a criminal mastermind to battle against, right?
• Would Hit a Girl: Ikusaba, who elbows Yuu on her head, and punches Tensai in episode 10 when they try to prevent him from getting the latest treasure.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit:
  • After Daruku triggers one of the traps in the treasure room in episode 6, aside from getting some rather excited looks from Juugo and Kagetora, Isshin asks if they're okay. Yuu sees it, and purposely falls down as well, attempting to garner some sympathy from him. However, he ignores her, saying she doesn't need to be helped out like Daruku. So she punches Kagetora out of frustration.
  • After Saki Yoshino is confronted by Hiiyo Ikusaba in episode 9 while walking home after dark, Tetsunoshin Tsujimi arrives to save her. While the two men are fighting, she yells at a police officer to come arrest this dangerous man. Ikusaba is forced to flee, while Tetsunoshin hides his katana in a nearby bush to avoid trouble. Saki then says there was no cop, and she thought saying that would make Ikusaba run away.
• Wretched Hive: There's a bad part of town that Juugo has to go to in episode 5 to make a delivery. Fortunately he runs into Shuu who provides him a little background on it, though the latter ditches him the first chance he gets.
• Wrong Side of the Tracks: The Ninth district of Nanae Island, where the black sheep gather. The police don't show up and in fact silently condones it.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After getting the next treasure in episode 3, Yuiga leaves Juugo and Tensai inside the dungeon while he escapes using the newly acquired artifact.

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