Volume 56 cover.
G Defend is a futuristic Boys' Love manga series created by Morimoto Shuu in 1993 that’s up to 77 volumes in Japan. The setting starts off in the year 2022, where Japan has become a high target for terrorism and crime. To combat the rise in terrorism, the Japanese Diet set up a facility called the Garrison, where they could train and house government agents tasked with defending Japan and defending Japan’s politicians. The Garrison is run by an Instructor, or ‘’Kyoukan’’, but because of the dangerous nature of the position seven Instructors had been murdered since the Garrison opened in 2014.
The eighth Instructor, Ishikawa Haruka, is loved by most of the Garrison and is a very capable leader. He has survived the longest of the other Instructors. One reason is because of his amazing leadership, and the second is his SP, Iwase Motohisa. Iwase is incredibly devoted to Ishikawa and vows to protect him from anything. He fulfills this promise by repeatedly risking his life to save Ishikawa. Ishikawa however is uncomfortable with another person risking themselves for his sake, and for the fact that he loves Iwase. Iwase though fully reciprocates his feelings, which is the driving force behind him protecting Ishikawa. But they have to be careful; the Garrison has a strict rule of no relationships between team members, and though other couples exist within the Garrison, Ishikawa knows they must be discreet in order to both keep their jobs and to maintain the safety of the Garrison.
Too bad many outer forces try to hamper everything Ishikawa has established.
This work contains examples of:
- Ambiguous Gender: Ariyoshi
◊ (the one on the left). As it turns out Ariyoshi’s a man. - An Arm and a Leg: Miyazawa loses his leg in an explosion several years before the start of the series, which ended his career of working actively for the Garrison. He turns up later as the head of the Security Council in hopes of gaining control of the Garrison that way.
- Art Evolution: The art style drastically changes over the years. Here’s a comparison between the original cover of volume 1◊ and the cover of volume 50◊.
- Bad Luck Charm: Miyazawa, himself. Something always malfunctions or crashes whenever he visits the Garrison.
- Bank Robbery: A lot of side stories involve the heroes accidentally stumbling upon a civilian crisis and stopping it (ex. Store robbery, outdoor mugging, move theater hostage crisis, etc…).
- Big Brother Worship: Norboru to Ishikawa in a severe way, and he sometimes exhibits it to a lesser extent to Susumu.
- Birthday Episode: for Iwase.
- Bodyguard Crush: Hoo whee. Iwase fits this to a T when it comes to Ishikawa.
- Break the Cutie: When the previous Instructor died, Ishikawa had an incredibly hard time dealing with it, blaming himself even though he had also been injured during the tragedy. Many people though believed Ishikawa had intentionally allowed the Instructor to die, and adding insult to injury Ishikawa is confronted by Jou, the Instructor’s son, at his father’s funeral where he openly blames Ishikawa for his father’s death.
- But Liquor Is Quicker: Motoki and Noda Yoshimi. Both had feelings for each other without the other knowing it, but it takes them having drunken sex to finally admit it to each other.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: The civilian police is often called to assist in crises, but they are either arrive after everything is taken care of, or something obstructs their path that prevents them from helping.
- Cast Full of Gay: Though many of the Garrison members (especially the older ones) and politicians are straight, there are ten confirmed gay couples and many others that are strongly hinted at.
- Cast Full of Pretty Boys: This becomes much more apparent as the series progresses.
- Characterization Marches On: Many characters who were just in the background at the beginning of the series came to more prominence in later volumes when they had whole side-stories devoted to their backstory, and in many cases found their love.
- Chaste Hero: Ishikawa. Even he admits he sucks at handling a relationship because he's never been in a long-term one before Iwase, and has never experienced full love from anyone other than his brothers.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Noda Yoshimi to Motoki, which is later reciprocated. Hashizume to Akinori which remains one-sided because Akinori is straight, and he later dies of a terminal illness.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Motoki.
- Cue the Rain: it’s raining when the Androids invade the Garrison and kidnap Ishikawa and Hashizume.
- Inverted in volume 6, when it’s raining when Kishitani and Ikegami become a couple.
- Defeat Means Friendship: A flashback revealed that Ishikawa was very much a loner in the Garrison Academy and people were afraid to speak to him. Nishiwaki decided to pick a fight with Ishikawa to prove to everybody he wasn't as unapproachable as he seemed. The two soundly beat each other up...and quickly became best friends.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Ishikawa has this effect on most every man and woman he meets, no matter what the age. Ironically, it's just his presence alone in some cases that invokes this trope.
- Easily Forgiven: During his introduction, Jou tries to rape Ishikawa to show the other man he can’t forgive him for his father’s death. Ishikawa successfully defends himself by using a stun gun on Jou, but then apologizes for using it, even offering to check the wound.
- In the same vein, Iwase walks on the aftermath of the attempted rape and attacks Jou. Ishikawa shouts that it’s none of his business, which hurt Iwase deeply and Ishikawa regrets it. In the midst of another crisis Ishikawa apologizes for the gaffe, but Iwase acts like he doesn’t remember it.
- Escort Mission: Even though his job is supposed to be guarding Ishikawa, Iwase is often called away to protect another politician. This happens during the Android Saga to get him away from Ishikawa so the Androids could attack the Garrison and it happens again in volume 37 when he has to guard the American President.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Ishikawa. Even guys who don’t consider themselves gay think he’s incredibly charismatic and attractive.
- Exiled to the Couch: slightly inverted. When Ishikawa gets angry at Iwase for the latter telling his sister he was in a gay relationship, Ishikawa chooses to sleep in the Garrison's traditional fold-out bed instead of sleeping in the giant bed with Iwase. After a few days he rejoins Iwase in the bed with the same emotional distance, but a little push from Nishiwaki forces them to make up.
- Fade to Black: All the sex scenes.
- Family Versus Career: Ishikawa struggles with knowing the importance of his job for the sake of the Garrison and yet wanting to be a part of his younger brothers' lives, who live far away from Tokyo. Made all the more difficult that Noboru doesn't approve of his job at first and constantly whines at him to quit.
- Gayngst: Because of the Garrison’s ban on relationships between teammates, most of the couples have to hide their relationships.
- Handicapped Badass: Kishitani is blind in his right eye but can still kick ass when necessary.
- Heroic BSoD: Ishikawa suffers from this during the times he thinks Iwase died. And he had one when the previous Instructor died.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Ishikawa tries to pull this off in the first chapter so Iwase won’t get hurt saving him again. Iwase saves him anyways.
- Hot Pursuit: Being a series about government agents, it happens frequently. Most prominently in the Android Saga.
- Immune to Bullets: Sasai in at least one incident that caused the scar on his forehead. he was shot in the head and the bullet ricocheted off his skull.
- I Want My Jetpack: Since the series takes place in 2022, there’s some technological advancements including humanoid androids, video phones, hover motorcycles, and cool gadgets.
- It's All My Fault: Ishikawa sometimes feel this way if a disaster takes a turn for the worst and he felt this way when the previous Instructor died. Iwase will feel this way when Ishikawa is in danger or gets hurt and he’s not around.
- Jerkass: Jou, at first. Miyazawa.
- Just Friends: Inverted. Susumu insists that this is the case with Ogata, when it’s very obvious that they’re a couple.
- Kissing Under the Influence: Ishikawa is this to anyone who’s close by when he’s drunk.
- Love at First Sight: Iwase to Ishikawa, Gray to Esumi, Nishiwaki to Hashizume.
- Love Redeems: Miyazawa. After finally finding a significant other in volume 37, Miyazawa becomes a more relaxed, happy person and he stops being the Bad Luck Charm to the Garrison. He evens actively stops trying to push Ishikawa out of his job.
- The Matchmaker: Nishiwaki to a mild extent. Being the head of External Security he sees a lot of the happenings at the Garrison and so he's more aware than other people of potential relationships. He'll then subtly work to get two people to come together as a couple and not take credit for it. Unlike most in this trope though, he's not Oblivious to Love.
- Manipulative Bastard: Nishiwaki, in an entirely comical way.
- May–December Romance: Noda Yuuya and Satsuki. Kishitani and Ikegami.
- Never Gets Drunk: Seen mostly with Iwase and Nishiwaki. Ishikawa, however…
- No Loves Intersect: Love triangles are short-lived, and the third wheel is usually let out of the loop very quickly and moves on to another relationship.
- Noodle Incident: After failing to inspect a levitating platform that fell and broke, Makiyama tries very hard to not explain why Sakaguchi and him didn’t do their jobs. Sakaguchi inverts this, however revealing they were having sex while on the job, embarrassing everyone in the room during the review and leading to the institution of Rule #1.
- Official Couple: Ishikawa and Iwase. Nishiwaki and Hashizume. Sakaguchi and Makiyama. Noda Yuuya and Noda Satsuki. Kishitani and Ikegami. Maya and Uzaki. Alec and Marti. Gray and Esumi. Motoki and Noda Yoshimi. Asano and Crowe. Ogata and Susumu.
- One Head Taller: Most of the semes are much taller than their ukes.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Iwase tends to get seriously injured protecting and saving Ishikawa, but he’s proud of each injury as proof that Ishikawa is safe. Ishikawa however reacts very emotionally to his injuries, and even freaks out at minor scratches on Iwase’s body.
- Perma-Stubble: Naitou.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Dr. Hashizume has an older twin sister who’s more masculine-looking than he is and a lot more of a trickster.
- The Power of Love: Ishikawa and Iwase live and breathe this. Most crises are only adverted with their combined efforts.
- Revenge: This runs rampant in the series the Android Saga was put into motion by a criminal who wanted revenge on Ishikawa, Jou wanted revenge on Ishikawa for his father’s death, Miyazawa wanted revenge on Ishikawa for losing his leg, just to name a few.
- Right Makes Might: The Garrison always perseveres against the bad guys, with only a few minor exceptions the bomb terrorist Sakagasse is still at large.
- Rule #1: Relationships between teammates are forbidden in the Garrison. But this is HUGELY subverted because more couples hook up after the rule is implemented than before and nobody tells on them. Plus the boss is breaking the rule, too…
- Rule of Drama: The couples in the Garrison are happily in love with one another most of the time. But most story arcs revolving around a couple involve a lot of drama we don't see when they're in the background of a main plot. Of course, following Right Makes Might, the drama is short-lived and the couples come back on the same level by the end of their arc.
- Samus Is a Girl: After the fake terrorist invasion, one of the fake terrorists is revealed to be Billy, a very tall woman. This causes a lot of shock with the Garrison because she'd fought them as aggressively as a man and it took quite a few men to bring her down.
- Scars Are Forever: Throughout the first run of G Defend, Ishikawa and Iwase carry scars on their bodies from prior injuries.
- Secret Relationship: Ishikawa thinks this of his relationship with Iwase, so it comes as a complete shock to him that a LOT of people know.
- Series Mascot: Doug.
- Smoking Is Cool: Slightly inverted. Iwase only smokes after he has a fight with Ishikawa. And Nishiwaki quits smoking when Dr. Hashizume advises him to.
- The Stoic: Jou to the extent that the first time he laughs in front of other people it shocks and scares them.
- Story Arc: The Android Saga, which last for three volumes.
- Stylish Protection Gear: One of Alec's defining character traits is his taste in fashion. Unlike the rest of the Garrison he doesn't wear the required uniform, but instead a wide array of fashion that oftentimes includes paisley on the fabric. And he tends to kick a lot of ass in these same clothes.
- Subliminal Seduction: Hirata from the Bomb Squad rents some DVDs in volume 5, and terrorists slip one in that compels him to not only plant bombs all over the Garrison, but to also try and kill Ishikawa.
- Took a Level in Badass: Ishikawa in volume 4 when Iwase develops amnesia and forgets even basic self-defense. Ishikawa took the opportunity to charge ahead and protect Iwase from terrorists, even using his own body as a human shield when the terrorists opened fire on them.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: The Security Council when they bring in Sasai. Already doubtful of Ishikawa's leadership and trying to undermine him they bring in a complete outsider to act as Ishikawa's second-in-command, but with full intention of usurping Ishikawa with Sasai. And when Ishikawa gets amnesia from a terrorist attack, they barely miss a beat to try and have him immediately replaced by Sasai. Their plans are only foiled because Ishikawa regains his memories and saves the Garrison (again), and he has the complete support of the Prime Ministor and surprisingly Sasai.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Happens twice so far first to Iwase after shielding Ishikawa from an explosion—total amnesia. Then to Ishikawa, who save a train full of people from terrorists—loses his memories from after he turned seventeen.
- Tsundere: Ishikawa to Iwase, Uzaki to Maya, Marti to Alec.
- Twin Threesome Fantasy: It might not really apply, but Sasai has two childhood friends, Shia and Lesney, who are identical twins and famous actors. Both of them like him immensely, they buy him expensive gifts even when he doesn’t want them, and they’re both very touch-feely with him. Generally both at the same time.
- Unknown Rival: One of Iwase’s problems is knowing that many people are attracted to Ishikawa but not knowing who these people are until they make a move on him. Nishiwaki had a similar dilemma with Hashizume before they became a couple, though not to the extent as with Iwase and Ishikawa. This is a primary reason he recommends the ban on relationships between team members.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Ishikawa and Nishiwaki, Iwase and Alec, Nishiwaki and Naitou.
- What Were You Thinking??: Ishikawa’s attitude to Iwase when the latter recklessly risks himself to protect Ishikawa. Dr. Hashizume does this to Nishiwaki as well in volume 5, when Nishiwaki saves Hashizume from a runaway truck.
- Will They or Won't They?: Alec and Marti. They finally acknowledge their feelings and become a couple in volume 30.
- Similarly with Nishiwaki and Dr. Hashizume. They dance around the subject for three years before a misunderstanding forces them to openly acknowledge their feelings for each other.
- Wire Dilemma: Volume 6 opens with bombs being planted all over the Garrison, and the main bomb is encrypted with a complex code that has to be solved on the first try. Ishikawa gets it right.
- You Are Not Alone: Happens to Ishikawa. A lot.
- Your Normal Is Our Taboo: Iwase tends to be overly affectionate with Ishikawa, even in front of other people, and freely expresses his love for him. Ishikawa blames this on the fact that Iwase lived mostly in America (even though he's Japanese), and he constantly rebukes him by saying something along the lines of, "We don't do this in Japan!"
- In fact, almost all of the foreign characters are very outspoken people who aren't shy with their lovers (though their lovers themselves might be shy).
