Magic and killer teddy bears, nice mix!
Men aren't people who spend all of their time thinking of themselves, ya know.
Hyde and Closer (Juhou Kaikin!! Haido ando Kurōsā, literally Magical Ban Removal!! Hyde and Closer) is a shonen manga by Haro Aso, which ran from 2007 to 2009 (originally starting in Weekly Shonen Sunday, but it moved to Club Sunday in 2008 and continued there until its conclusion). It was licensed in English by Viz Media.Thirteen-year-old Closer Shunpei, commonly called Shun, is not exactly what you'd call a prodigy. In fact, he is a klutz, and a coward to boot. He is fully aware of this, but doesn't really have the motivation to do anything about it. That is, until a living monkey doll attempts to kill him, saying that if he is killed, any magician who kills him will be granted immense magical power, because as it turns out, he is the grandson of one of the most powerful mages in the world. However, even though Shun is now the target of nearly all the magicians world-wide, he is not alone; his teddy bear, Hyde, comes to life in order to man Shun up for the challenge ahead, and to top it off, Hyde's magic weapon is a chainsaw stuffed inside of him called Texas Chainsaw.
This show contains examples of:
- Apologizes a Lot: Pacqwa
- The Atoner: Kazan
- Badass Adorable: Hyde, for the love of God, Hyde.
- Big Bad: The Watchman
- Big Damn Heroes: How Hyde shows us he isn't just a stuffed teddy-bear.
- Catch and Return: Closer obtains an artifact that allows him to capture the force of an enemy's attacks, store it, then return it, right back into his enemy's face. It's power is limited, though, to the battery life of the artifact, which is a cell phone. However, while it has battery power, it can contain an enormous amount of force, even up to containing the force of a thrown house and sending the power right back into the face of the doll that threw it. During the battle with Watchman's first servant, the battery ran out of power, so we can only hope that Closer can get a recharge.
- Chainsaw Good: Hyde, without a shred of doubt.
- Catchphrase: "I guess this lesson was too heavy for you; smell you later!"
- Lampshaded in one chapter when Closer asks if he can say it this time.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Closer, as part of his Cowardly Lion status.
- Cowardly Lion: Closer, Closer, Closer. Runs away when he can, but willingly faces fear and pain if it means he can save his friends. Hyde tries to knock his cowardly tendencies out of him.
- Creepy Doll: All over the place.
- Easily Forgiven: Both Lonoa and Asmodai, though it is downplayed since while Ana decides to not to take revenge, she still can't forgive him. That begin said, they suffer no Laser-Guided Karma after their defeats like most of the villains so far.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Closer manages to gain a few allies as a result of sparing their dolls rather then destroying them.
- Dem Bones: Shakka-Shakka Mekki the Mambo Skeleton.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Lonoa's reaction when Closer
sheds tears over her tragic past. Hyde's response amounts to "Don't worry, I don't". - Distant Finale / Where Are They Now: The manga ends explaining what all the heroes are up to after the battle and final shot of Closer now looking like his grandfather with Hyde still with him, helping a kid.
- Fighting Series
- Freudian Excuse:
- Lonoa who claims she was taken into an evil cult and infused repeatedly with curse magic . Stating that she's an evil tool and there no other reason to her life then that. Hyde rebuffs her stating that she can lead a normal life but just refuses not to.
- The Watchman who was originally a doctor trying to help a South African village with their diseases. However the people there was very superstitious and when famine spread through the land. The doctor was blamed for it and the villagers burned his wife and daughter before his very eyes. He vowed revenge on the world as a result and studied black magic to achieve his goal which eventually lead him to the Resentment Egg.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: The Resentment Egg. Oddly enough, this is probably the first time this trope can be applied to an inanimate object.
- Heroic BSoD: Closer suffers this after Hyde is cut in half from their first fight with The Watchman.
- Heroic RRoD: Tomiko manages to gain a more human-like form that increases her attack power at the cost of Shindou's lifeforce, turning him into an old man; luckily for him, the effects are reversed when she changes back.
- Hyde counts, too. His magic is a battery-style type, meaning he runs on a limited amount of magic which will eventually burn out. The harder Hyde fights, the more magic he uses, and the closer he gets to becoming inert.
- Fixed with Hyde, now that Closer is using his own magic to power Hyde instead.
- Hold the Line: The final battle amounts to this as the heroes work together to keep Resentment from multiplying while Closer and Hyde deal with the Watchman.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Whenever a curse doll's core (which is the only thing keeping them moving) gets destroyed, the curse rebounds on the human that was controlling it and causes them bad luck, or even raw physical injury.
- How the heroes manage to beat Leona as her curse, House of Wax, allows her to touch and turn anything into wax including herself. Shindou turns this advantage against her by pouring alcohol and caustic soda on her, the chemical reaction with her wax turning her to soap.
- Hyperspace Arsenal: The only explanation as to how Hyde can fit a big honking chainsaw in that small body of his.
- I Lied: The whole reason magicians are after Closer in the first place is because The Watchman lied to the entire wizarding world, saying that killing Closer would grant them the power of the Shunpei clan. In truth, Watchman was just using Closer as bait to lure out his grandfather to aid him and leave the Resentment Egg unguarded.
- Incendiary Exponent: The climax of Hyde's fight with Tomiko.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: Hyde's weapon is called the Texas Chainsaw. I wonder what movie THAT name was inspired from...
- In Medias Res: The second half of the series actully begins with Closer and his bunch finding the Resentment egg and initiating the final battle. The story then stops just as thing are about to get crazy and flashes back to what happened between the end of the first half up to that current point.
- The Idiot from Osaka: Ana speaks in the Osakan dialect, expressed as a southern accent, even though she's from Mexico.
- Killer Rabbit: Hyde and a number of the dolls he and Closer face.
- Knight of Cerebus: Setyabudi, a psychotic doll that intended to mutliltate Uryu
- No Fourth Wall: Chapterr 49 has The Watchman himself address the reader regarding the existence of true evil. He then goes to narrate the story of a boy who was so vindictive that even as a fetus he used his magic powers to curse and kill five people...inluding his own mother who at the time was pregnant with him. After that he tells us the story of a little girl who had been raised by a cult and was so warped by her experiences there that only joy in life now is to watch living things decay and die. The Watchman then concludes by asking the reader if this people do not deserve the moniker of "true evil", and then revealing that "Even as we speak, they are working by my side, ACTING AS AGENTS TO FURTHER MY GRAND DESIGNS!!"
- Papa Wolf: Don't mess with Shunpei or Hyde's gonna cut you, Texas Chainsaw style.
- Prehensile Hair: Tomiko, Shindou's doll, has this as her usual attack.
- Redemption Equals Death: The Watchman after he realizes he is the bearer of the Detox magic. He use his remaining magic to stop the Resentment before passing on, telling the heroes the future is now in their hands.
- Samus Is a Girl: The Watchman turns out to be the reincarnated spirit of the girl who put the resentment into the egg.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Oddly enough The Watchman, while outwardly he wants to destroy the world. Deep down, the spirit of the girl who put resentment in the egg is trying to stop it as she never intended to to place a curse on it and bring turmoil in the first place.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Egg containing "Resentment" which is what Watchman is after and wishes to break in order to destroy humanity.
- Shout-Out: Texas Chainsaw, huh? Gee, I can only wonder where that came from.
- Desmond was surprisingly looks similar with Marvin The Martian.
- Slasher Smile: From Hyde, it's generally a clear sign that you'd better start running.
- Talking the Monster to Death: How the Watchman is defeated as Closer manages to calm her spirit and purge her of malicious intent.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: For a moment, it looks like the series is going to end without Resentment being unleashed and without ever having to fight the Watchman, but then suddenly, Resentment cracks open and a monster starts climbing out, the Watchman grins, saying that it's time, and then you get a To Be Continued. Oh, Crap!.
- You Shall Not Pass!: One of Closer's powers is to create a barrier around himself and others to avoid attacks. It doesn't always work, though.
- It's also able to use it to contain enemies, in order to prevent them from attacking.
