Three problem children - Izayoi Sakamaki, Asuka Kudou, and You Kasukabe - suddenly receive an invitation to another world known as "Little Garden" from a girl called Black Rabbit (Kurousagi). Battles, laughter, sex appeal... anything goes in this new tale of adventure!
Released in January 2013, the anime adaptation is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
Viewers living in North America, South America, Ireland, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and the Netherlands may watch the show legally.
Compare with No Game No Life, another Trapped in Another World light-novel/anime about a world that runs on games.
Provides examples of:
- Amusing Injuries: After Shiroyasha tackles Kurousagi in episode 7 in the bath, the latter's head ends up embedded slightly in the bath floor.
- Beach Episode: No real beach, but the characters spend most of the OVA in swimsuits.
- Beyond the Impossible: Izayoi's modus operandi is to punch anything and everything into submission. Nothing wrong with that but when his enemy unleashes a Kamehame Hadoken of petrification and he beats up the beam as if it were made of glass, he baffles everyone.
- Big Damn Heroes: Ep 9: Three Stroms appear and block Jin's group. Cue Asuka and her brand new Golem.
- Breather Episode: Episode 6, which is fairly lighthearted compared to the previous episodes where much was often at stake.
- Casting Gag: Voicing Shiroyasha is not the first time Satomi Arai has voiced a lesbian Pettanko character who admires an older-looking lightning user. The person in question? Kuroko Shirai.
- Cats Hate Water: Inverted, since the calico cat seems to enjoy swimming in the hot water quite a bit. There's a bit of truth to it: Cats generally hate water because it's cold, and handle warm water much better.
- Cherry Blossoms: The characters walk by some in episode 2.
- Compelling Voice: Asuka's ability, "Authority". She is even able to utilize it to control plant life and inanimate objects as well, such as a sword.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- In the first two episodes, the three human characters are able to largely win every challenge they come up against with little difficulty.
- Izayoi dishes this out in spades, whenever there's a fight he feels like even participating in. Basically, Izayoi, period.
- Cute Little Fangs: Shiroyasha, the loli demon lord.
- Dancing Theme: The ending credits has one. The three main female characters dance for a bit, then Kasukabe and Kudou stop dancing for a while, causing Kurousagi to start dancing wildly on her own, then they join in again. Sakamaki then does some break dancing at the very end after just watching them the entire time. The dances when the cast rejoin also seem like Shout Outs. While the breakdancing is obvious, Kasukabe is doing MC Hammer's dance moves from the "U Can't Touch This" video.
- Darker and Edgier: Starts out like a more badass version of Dog Days, but it becomes apparent that it is darker with Knight of Cerebus introduced as early as episode 2 and also the hidden depths of several characters.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Leticia is a heroic vampire and a demon lord.
- She used to be a demon lord but that power is gone now.
- Defeat Means Friendship: You Kasukabe becomes friends with Ayesha and Jack O'lantern after she loses to them in a gift game.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Izayoi literally does this several times, punching out the various gods and demons of the Little Garden.
- Dynamic Entry: Subverted when Izayoi shows his utter contempt for portals, doors, entry ways, or even the window in episode 10 when he nonchalantly busts the ceiling (and we're not talking about some glass ceiling, no.....we mean he breaks through the floor of one level, to reach the lower level) and drops out of it in what is probably the most downplayed destructive entrance ever.
- Expy:
- Asuka, with her "Arrogant and confident magic-using young-mistress of a wealthy family who sports luscious long black hair tied in twin-tails and loves to dress in red and black", is a clear expy of Rin Tousaka.
- The cat appears to be an expy of Shamisen from Haruhi Suzumiya. Both of them are male calicos (a rare combination) and surprisingly intelligent Talking Animals (with Kasukabe's assistance).
- Emotionless Girl: Leticia is reserved, cool and quiet, so she don't show much emotions, Kasukabe fits too.
- Fall-in Angel: The plot of the OVA begins with a tanuki girl running straight off a cliff and falling straight into Izayoi's arms. Kasukabe even directly references the line from Castle in the Sky.
- Fanservice:
- The outfits Shiroyasha picked out for Kurousagi to wear fall into this trope. Izayoi later gives her a thumbs up and tells her "Good job!" when she mentions it. They discuss it again in episode 7, despite Kurousagi's objections to it.
- Fanservice seems to be the whole point of the OAV. It's got it all: fundoshi, swimsuits, girls covered in milk, tentacles, nudifier water...
- Fish out of Water: The three human characters go through this when Kurousagi summons them to her world.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: When Asuka and Izayoi chat a bit in episode 6, they learn that they are also from different time periods note , as she is unaware of what Halloween is, and has never eaten a crepe before the festival they attend.
- Friendless Background: Kasukabe, Izayoi and Asuka were this back in their respective world. Leticia was this too when she was a demon lord.
- Friendly Tickle Torture: Kurousagi is subjected to this by an invisible Izayoi in episode 5. Once she finds out its him, she smacks him a couple of times with a Paper Fan of Doom.
- From Bad to Worse: At the end of volume 8, Izayoi is fighting a hopeless battle against Azi Dahaka, You has lost her gift after fighting one of Azi's sub bodies, Jin has been capture by Rin, and Asuka is the only person from the main cast able to defend the fleeing civilians after all hell broke out from the battle.
- Furo Scene: The first part of episode 3 has one with the three main heroines.
- Girly Bruiser: Asuka, fighting evil and being badass while in a frilly dress and hair ribbons.
- The Glomp: Shiroyasha does this to Kurousagi in episode 2.
- Gratuitous English: Kurousagi usually says "yes" a lot. note
- Greek Mythology: The styles and powers of the Perseus Community incorporate elements of many Greek myths.
- Heel–Face Turn: The henchmen sent to kidnap hostages in episode 3 seemed ready to turn when Izayoi told them Jin Russell would take down the demon lords, as they weren't exactly loyal to Fores Garo in the first place. However, Izayoi instead has them go spread the word from the Badass Boast he proclaimed earlier, which cost at least one of them their lives a few moments later.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Leticia pushes Asuka out of the way of the Gorgon beam in episode 4, getting turned into stone in the process.
- Human Shield: After Asuka attempts to attack Izayoi in episode 6, he suddenly grabs Jin and puts him in front, causing Asuka to hit the poor kid instead.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Pestilence, with the Spear of Indra.
- Info Dump: Episode 1 is full of exposition about how the world of Little Garden and its factions work.
- I Regret Nothing: After a frantic Kurousagi asks the girls why they would make such a high stakes bet with Fores Garo, they answer simply that they were mad and acted rashly without thinking of the consequences. Then they say, "We regret nothing."
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Izayoi. For all his Blood Knight tendencies, his actions towards others who are on his side, usually serve some kind of goal that is beneficial for them.
- Kaleidoscope Hair: Kurousagi's hair is normally blue, but she can change it to pink as well. She is a moon rabbit, after all.
- Kraken and Leviathan: Izayoi defeats a Kraken in episode 4.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Kurousagi, resident Butt-Monkey, seems capable of getting down to business when she goes into "pink-hair mode".
- When the three human characters jokingly write a threat that they're going to leave the community if she can't catch them by sundown, she manages to do just that, despite being far away and them evading her for a while. In this case "Far away" means almost a million kilometers apart. As a nobility of Little Garden, she can use teleportation stations free of charge and her ears are constantly connected to all Little Garden surveillance systems. Izayoi can't outrun her, much less Asuka and You.
- In episode 10, she engages in an extended battle with Pestilence and then teleports several of the combatants to the moon.
- Little Bit Beastly: People with animal ears and tails are around everywhere in Little Garden.
- Lily (of the No Names) is a fox-girl with two tails. According to Japanese Mythology that should mean she'll be very powerful when she grows up.
- Lonely at the Top: Izayoi was this in his world, and it's the reason why he chose to go to the Little Garden.
- Leticia too, when she was a demon lord she was extremely lonely, since she had no family, friends, or comrades, she couldn't even leave her castle, and remained there completely alone for thousands of years.
- Magic Skirt: Kurousagi's skirt literally has this gift, to almost let people see what it covers; key word being almost. It is later revealed to be this trope explicitly by its designer, Shiroyasha, as a work of art in a Take Our Word for It kind of way. Art is equal parts what is seen and what is left to imagination, hence the Magic Skirt. Once this is explained, Izayoi admires her thought process.
- Male Gaze: Used prominently on Kurousagi in episode 4.
- Ms. Exposition: Kurousagi does a lot of explaining to the three main human characters about how the Little Garden world works.
- Mood Whiplash: There are some scenes which are fairly Lighter and Softer, such as when the three humans are relaxing in the rabbit's community. The games then often take a Darker and Edgier tone to them, such as the fight with Fores Garo in episode 3.
- Moon Rabbit: Kurousagi. She even has the ability to teleport a group of people to the moon.
- Mugging the Monster Six apparently normal human slavers try to the Problem Children captive. Remember the Children are a) a girl who beat a tiger unarmed BEFORE she could fly, b) another girl that commands a large combat golem and c) Izayoi who beat a god without even stopping his arrogant boasting. Izayoi folds one of their swords up like cardboard, although by that stage even these idiots must have got the hint.
- The Multiverse: While walking by some cherry blossoms in episode 2, one of the girls mentions that it must be spring in the Little Garden, and how it was summer where she was. Another mentions it being fall, and Kurousagi says that she pulled all of them from different universes, so they all had a different history, although all that was mentioned at this time was different seasons.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Izayoi's gift is deliberately defined as "unknown". So he can often shows off a new use of his abilities when the plot demands it.
- Ninja Maid: Leticia, after rescuing her from Perseus.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Kurousagi's clan/community has been reduced to a shell of its former self due to being forced to take part in contests in which they lost to the Demon lords. The reason is that Demon Lords have the right to challenge communities and if they do, you have to participate.
- One Cast Member per Cover: The novel's volumes have covers featuring a different cast member (almost all of them girls since Izayoi is the only guy with a cover), plus a few chibi. Only Volume 12 has multiple characters as it features the three main girls; Kurousagi, Asuka and You. The sequel Last Embryo does the same while also getting rid of the chibi on the covers.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Vampires like Leticia are descended from future humans and have Dragon Ancestry, allowing some of them to transform into dragons.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Izayoi causes this in a lot of people.
- Paper Fan of Doom: Seems to be Kurousagi's favorite against Izayoi and Shiroyasha.
- Power Dyes Your Hair: Kurousagi's blue hair turns pink when she uses her powers.
- Questioning Title?: The title has a question mark at the end.
- The Quiet One: Both Leticia and Kasukabe are quiet and reserved girls.
- Rubber Face: Jin suffers one from Asuka in episode 3 after the latter forced him to run away. Unfortunately for her meant he picked her up as well while fleeing, which left Kasukabe alone to face Fores Garo.
- Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: In episode 6, the three human characters wish to visit a festival taking place in the northern areas of Little Garden. However, Jin tells them the festival event is about 980,000 km away from where they currently are, because the world they're on is roughly the size of a star. Oddly enough, this is an aversion: the stated number is about 1/4th the circumference of the Sun, and the whole point of bringing it up is that they can't travel that far without using a jump gate.
- Ship Tease: Izayoi gets multiple with the three main female protagonists.
- Shout-Out: During the Super-Deformed skit at the end of episode 4, Izayoi is briefly dressed as Tuxedo Mask.
- Smarter Than You Look: Izayoi, he figures out Perseus' plan causing Kurousagi to say this.Kurousagi: "Izayoi-san, are you actually smart."
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Kasukabe can do this thanks to a magical amulet her father gave her.
- Straight Man: Kurousagi to the problem children. She's constantly trying to curb their goofball antics, and they constantly twist her words or plainly contradict her in favour of fun.
- Super-Deformed: The ending credits depicts the main characters in chibi mode.
- Taken for Granite: Leticia gets turned into stone in episode 4.
- Technically-Living Vampire: Pure-blooded vampires like Leticia are actually an evolution of humankind summoned to Little Garden from a distant future where a solar disaster strikes the Earth and nearly drives humanity to extinction. The survivors migrate to a satellite and become the ancestors of the vampire race. Their vulnerability to sunlight is the result of the effect their future's sun had in their bodies.
- Theme Music Power-Up: Two awesome ones: Beauty as the Beast for Izayoi and Scarlet for Asuka.
- There Was a Door: Izayoi makes a trademark Big Entrance by using his powers to effortlessly blow the door down, only to be politely informed that the door was unlocked. In the last episode, he enters a room by needlessly blasting a hole through the ceiling.
- Translation Convention: The cat speaks in subtitled meows at first, to show that he isn't actually talking, before transitioning to this trope.
- Upgrade Artifact: Kasukabe's amulet replicates the traits of animals, both supernatural abilities and mundane ones. Kasukabe is as nimble and agile as a cat, and as strong as an elephant, and has a sense of smell as good as a bloodhound; this is all literally. Plus she's highly resistant to cold (from a penguin) and can use sonar (from a dolphin) to detect invisible men. When she's bouncing around in the trees in episode 1, she looks like a squirrel.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: Kasukabe is injured pretty badly in episode 3 during the game against Fores Garo, leaving Asuka to battle him.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Shortly before the Rising Red Dragon festival, the Problem Children pretend to leave the No-Names unless Kurousagi can catch them before the sun goes down. Due to the in-universe Dude, Not Funny! nature of this joke, Kurousagi resolves to give them a "long and wonderful Kurousagi lecture."
- When All You Have Is a Hammer…: While Izayoi has been shown to have some intellect and good observational skills, it seems his solution to every fight is "punch it as hard as I can." Interestingly, the first time he doesn't win a Gift Game is also the first time "punch the bejeezus out of everything" wasn't a legitimate way to win.
- Would Hurt a Child: Galdo Gaspar reveals that not only does Fores Garo take Communitys' children hostage to make them cooperate with Fores Garo, but that Galdo killed the child hostages as soon as they were brought in. Then he eats them, in order to dispose of the bodies.
- Wrestler in All of Us: Asuka does a Shining Wizard in episode 6, which is an interesting anachronism, as she comes from a time in which the move itself has not been invented yet.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: In episode 3, Fores Garo kills one of the men he sent to the rabbit community after they failed in their mission to kidnap hostages, due to Izayoi waiting for them.
