After God is a Horror Comedy manga by Sumi Eno, serialized in MangaONE since August 2021 and published in English by Comikey since 2022.
30 years ago, certain Japanese cities were taken over by supernatural lifeforms called Idolatry Prohibited Organisms (IPO) also known as Gods of Pestilence. As contact with humans is known to be fatal, the government has blocked off the areas as Danger Zones and there doesn't seem to be a threat of IPOs leaving their habitats.
Kamikura Waka tries to break into the Itabashi's Danger Zone to meet the God responsible for killing her best friend Shion. After being unwillingly rescued by the Anti-God Science Institute, it turns out there's an IPOs inside Waka as well. So she's given a choice between being experimented on or assisting in exterminating the rest, which she gladly accepts.
Tropes featured in After God:
- Accent Slip-Up: Waka talks in Saga's dialect, which is how Tokinaga argues that she's distinct from Alula inside her.
- Agent Scully: Yoriko is a biologist, so when the Snake IPO threatens her, she continues to probe him if he's using some specific hallucinogens despite the supernatural abilities of IPOs have long been confirmed. She's actually pulling Obfuscating Stupidity and tries to make him brag about his capabilities that haven't been confirmed yet.
- Alternate Identity Amnesia: Waka can only remember blanking out when Alula takes over.
- All Deaths Final: Despite all Gods bragging how they "can do anything", when Waka asks if Shion can be brought to life, they can't, which is why she prefers them to die themselves.
- Angelic Abomination: Ahu'az, the Rooster IPO, looks like a massive pillar of wings, and presents himself as a cult leader.
- Artificial Human: Kozuru Nayuu was created using Snake IPO's cells, though aside eldritch abilities he's still a human researcher.
- Artistic License – Paleontology: Alula's statement that Human Stronger Than Gods existed 700 million of years ago is odd considering that's long before even Cambrian Explosion.
- Bait-and-Switch: It looks like Tokinaga is doing a Heroic Sacrifice inside the Snake IPO, blood splatters, and the one dead appears to be just a staff member.
- Barrier Warrior: Yako holds Waka in place by invisible boxes, which also let her lift herself in air.
- Big Eater: When offered at the Institute, Waka is shown to casually going through several company-sized portions of fast food.
- Bizarrchitecture: Vollof's house is designed after his dreams and is more like a liminal museum, with half of the chapter being spent running through rooms filled with carpets, paintings, aquariums, houses, and some volcanoes.
- Black Comedy: Both the Institute and Gods are pretty nonchalant regarding their operations despite the high death count in the series, with Mood Whiplash and Toilet Humor not being uncommon.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: The motives of IPOs aside just living their lives are neither clear nor coherent, and they often fail to figure out why humans are angry or sad. When Orokapi is asked why is he bothered by his tail being cut if he can regenerate, he asks why are humans bothered by murders if they can reproduce. When Vollof is asked to bring Shion to life, he gets confused what she wants with water, not understanding death as a concept. Alula thinks Waka having other concerns besides revenge means there's something wrong with her brain.
- Bully Hunter: A flashback shows Waka enjoying beating up people who've wronged Shion.
- Brown Note Being: IPO can instantly hypnotize people on eye contact, and their breath turns human bodies into water.
- Comically Small Bribe: The staff tries to prevent Tokinaga from interfering with Waka's combat test. Once he agrees to bring Lancome lotion, they suddenly act as if they can't see him.
- Death World: Areas populated by IPO become completely uninhabitable. They've initially landed around the world and ruined so much territory before moving to Japan, World War III over resources and potential use of soil as bioweapon became popular predictions.
- Detect Evil: Nyababa's special ability is sensing an IPO nearby.
- Driven to Suicide: The Danger Zones have become known as popular suicide spots, due to causing a "peaceful death". Shion has entered it willingly to avoid Abusive Parents, but Waka blames the Gods anyway. It's also progressively hinted that Alula accidentally made going there appealing. There are also inconsistencies in the recording of her death, as someone even recording it at all, Shion not being killed by poisoned gas faster, and levitation is an ability Yako is known for.
- Eldritch Abomination: Each IPO's true form is weird, but Alula's is completely incomprehensible and can be described as "fractal flesh flower drawing" due to having cells of other Gods.
- Elective Mute: Akio has his mouth taped off for personal reasons of hiding his snake mouth and can only speak in gestures in public.
- Evil All Along:
- Obikawa turns to be the Snake IPO working together with Ahu'az. Waka figures it's strange they were ambushed on a route he suggested.
- Alula wasn't known to be nice anyway, but she proves to have zero regard for Waka's soul or her general well-being and is only waiting for her to lose herself in the transformation. She's also pissed at Ahu'az killing Shion because she wanted to do it herself.
- Fantastic Drug: Vollof has become addicted to some substance Alula made for him and can only think about getting more. Orokapi's venom helps with the withdrawal symptoms. It's so bad, when Alula asks between Orokapi and drugs, Vollof shamelessly picks drugs.
- Foreshadowing:
- In the recording Shion is shown to be lifted in air. Yako's ability lets her lift people in air. A bit later Shion's suicide becomes questionable.
- Waka not turning red when fighting Yon wasn't Early-Installment Weirdness, it's because Alula wasn't in control.
- God Guise: Not helped by the public believing IPOs being actual gods and them talking the title, Ahu'az and Orokapi have gathered a few human minions, giving them powers in exchange for worship.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: With Orokapi deciding that other IPOs aren't his friends, he returns to being Obikawa, Tokinaga's annoying roommate. Tokinaga is forced to ensure Enemy Mine with his colleagues' killer.
- Hellish Pupils: Waka's and IPO's pupils are triangular.
- Humanity Is Infectious: The real reason why IPOs don't leave forbidden zones isn't because they grow weaker in regular air, but because contacts with humans poison their mentality.
- Orokapi not only took Obikawa's body, he turned into Obikawa and prefers to stay that way outside of IPO business. Eating Akio also made him think Yoriko is attractive, but friendship with Tokinaga is something he decided himself.
- Alula seems to have grown attached to Shion just like Waka did and tends to criticize social norms. Her introducing human factors to other IPO was the reason others have decided to seal her away.
- Despite being savvy regarding Gods being easily affected, Ahu'az ironically uses his cult members to combat own loneliness and only keeps alive people with nowhere to go.
- Vollof has become a literal drug addict after being introduced to some. Orokapi had to poison him regularly to prevent him going berserk.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Orokapi has been enjoying his life as Obikawa's fake friend, and with Vollof showing no concern of his injuries, Orokapi decides to Heel–Face Turn.
- Invisibility: An IPO is not picked up by cameras and even secondary methods like a smoke bombs are ineffective. Witnesses describe them as mirages, and you have to look at them directly to see them.
- Just a Kid: Tokinaga is very insistent in reducing Waka's involvement due to her being young, despite her being 18 and quite capable of taking care of herself.
- Kill and Replace: The real Obikawa gave up his body to the Snake IPO some time ago. He temporarily eats and transforms into Akio to infiltrate the Institute.
- Manchild: Obikawa is irritated by "intellectual" topics, likes to pester people to act in the way he wants, and is generally impatient. Him being the Snake IPO explains him not being familiar with social norms, but even after being exposed, he's still bratty and likes games.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The Institute has at least deduced that IPO are composed of specific types of bacteria, but it does nothing to explain their mass-scale transformations and psychic abilities. Vollof also remembers being a bacteriophage that mutated after oil extraction at the North Pole.
- Motor Mouth: Alula is noted a few times to speak too fast and going on tangents about how everything is wrong with society.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: The government has given up on trying to attack an IPO, as no weapon works. Rockets get deflected, and they don't show up in any form of scanning. But the Institute hopes another IPO can kill them. Waka, part-IPO, can take a whole spear in the face and brush it off.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Orokapi tries to stop Alula from killing Vollof for betraying her, due to having the exact motive himself.
- Peaceful in Death: In his moment of sanity, Vollof regrets dismissing Orokapi and calling himself a god, and says his life has been nothing but pain. He then accepts "sleeping" inside Orokapi's mouth.
- Power at a Price: Waka can switch with Alula if she drinks blood, but only up to 10 times or she'll get stuck permanently.
- Power Incontinence: Waka has to wear shades at all times to avoid hypnotizing others. Just 5 seconds of direct contact turned a trained agent into a devotee.
- Puppeteer Parasite: Vollof's gummy bears are sentient and take over Waka and Nyababa when digested.
- Revenge: Waka wants to kill the IPOs because Shion chose death after hearing rumors about them, despite it clearly being voluntary and her likely committing suicide elsewhere if IPOs didn't exist. Alula is more than glad to help, as other IPOs has defeated her in the past for weakening them with human culture.
- Running Gag: Waka keeps calling Nayuu a "child chief" due to being slightly shorter than her.
- Sanity Has Advantages: Vollof is so addicted to drugs, he gives Alula some powers back, hoping she can create more for him. The one who tried to kill him previously and had to be sealed away. Alula naturally thanks him by biting part of his head off, and he's still not getting why she'd be angry. He also asks Orokapi, who's bleeding on the floor, if he can still produce sweet venom, unwittingly pushing him to side with humans and later Orokapi killing him.
- Secret Test of Character: Tokinaga tells Waka that the government has locked her underground, and he's going to experiment on her. Her being offended instead of using her powers on him was sufficient proof she's still human.
- Smarter Than You Look: Despite being mentally immature, Orokapi knows how to intimidate people and easily picks on what others are planning.
- Symbiotic Possession: Alula is content within Waka's body and doesn't come out unless when in combat. While she has her own agenda, her motives and way of thinking are generally aligned with Waka's.
- Takes One to Kill One: The only thing that can harm an IPO is another IPO, which is why the Institute focuses on getting one of them to ally with humanity while breeding one of their own.
- Talking Animal: Nyababa is an artificial cat with human intelligence who acts as a spy and Mission Control.
- Talking Your Way Out: Tokinaga asks Alula to give Waka's body back in exchange for information on the rumored Man Stronger Than Gods, which he learns about from Alula in the first place. Alula ponders why is he talking to her without recording devices and goes back and forth if he's lying or not and visibly panics to the point Tokinaga even gets annoyed. Alula eventually decides to give Waka up until she can think about it more.
- Time Abyss: The Gods can track themselves to 700 million years ago, and apparently there was also once a human they're still scared of.
- They Would Cut You Up: Waka is assigned specifically to the biotechnology and weapon development branch of the Institute and is reminded that if she's not willing to cooperate, she'll be studied for IPO weaknesses regardless.
- Walking Wasteland: The areas inhabited by the IPOs are considered to be contaminated and breathing in one without a hazmat suit or IPO's blessing would kill a human. A lot of population had to be relocated and severe decrease of usable territory is a common political topic.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Ahu'az disposes of Yon the moment it becomes apparent Waka's eyes had an effect on her.
- Zodiac Motifs: The IPOs appear to follow the pattern of Chinese Zodiac. Orokapi is a snake, Ahu'az is a rooster and Vollof is a rabbit. Alula is unclear due to being flower-themed.
