Japanese Volume 1 Cover
People are starting to act very odd around Norio. This average, normal boy is suddenly getting a lot of unwanted romantic attention and he can’t figure out why! A broken leg and a fall down the stairs into the arms of a handsome stranger set off the beginning of an explanation, and it is one Norio never could have possibly imagined; 30% of humans are not descended from apes but from other animals. These people are called Zoomans and they have a complex social structure. Its members are ranked by rarity and desirability, and it turns out that Norio is a particularly rare breed and his DNA is in much demand! How will he survive in this modern jungle where he’s suddenly the prey?
Love Pistols is created by Tarako Kotobuki and is known in Japan as Sex Pistols, but due to obvious reasons it was renamed by BLU Manga when it was localized in America (after BLU's closure, the English publication was taken over by SuBLime for digital download). The manga has currently spawned 4 Drama CDs and 2 OVAs.
Tropes:
- Abduction Is Love: Seth kidnapping Wakaba, takes him to Dubai, chains him to the bed and is overly abusive towards him. Because of affection. When the man calls him a pervert and gets angry, Seth slaps him and says: "In this country, don't ever say anything insulting to a man." Refusing to accept that said character is a man.
- Abusive Parents: The same person is a doting dad to one kid and an abusive mom to another. But it was mostly played for laughs at the end.
- Said person is hinted to be so utterly screwed up because their dad is even more screwed up and hinted to heavily abuse them, if probably not physically, but emotionally.
- It also may have played a role that while Manami is Makio and Karen's lovechild, Kunimasa and also Yonekuni were only just received to serve as a stand-in successor for their family-clan. She really didn't care much which one of them she took with her.
- Said person is hinted to be so utterly screwed up because their dad is even more screwed up and hinted to heavily abuse them, if probably not physically, but emotionally.
- Affectionate Nickname: Norio is called "Noririn" by Yonekuni and Hidekuni.
- Animorphism: The Zoomans/Madararui.
- Artistic License – Biology: You better don't think too hard about how it's possible for a parasitic worm to induce a male body to create an artificial womb and on top of this produce egg cells instead of sperm. And how the heck this should be beneficial for said worms?
Don't even go there.- Also the whole line-of-descent thing is rather poorly explained by any commonly recognized evolutionary theory out there, let alone any genetic reasoning. It's also not really clear how the change between human and animal forms is supposed to work. But once you're willing to forget about anything you've ever learned about biology and to solely rely on Kotobuki's explanations, it's quite enjoyable.
- Ascended Extra: Yonekuni and Shiro in the anime, while they are a part of the main cast in the manga, the central characters of the series are Norio and Kunimasa, the anime focuses more on Yonekuni and Shiro becoming a couple and their relationship than Norio and Kunimasa's struggles of being and functioning as a couple.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Kunimasa and Norio, coupled with Belligerent Sexual Tension, Norio has openly confessed that he loves Kunimasa, despite having previously been straight; making it more If It's You, It's Okay. Kunimasa, on the other hand, tells Norio that he's only pursuing a relationship with him so he can bear him a child and says he feels nothing special for Norio, this later turns out to be false and Kunimasa holds genuine feelings for Norio and once they become known to Norio, their relationship improves.
- The Baby Trap: A double-baby trap for Hiromasa and Shima. Shima created an artificial womb without telling Hiromasa, and Hiromasa wore condoms implanted with parasites without telling Shima to get pregnant. Shima does end up pregnant, and they get a Relationship Upgrade from Friends with Benefits to being a couple.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Kunimasa and Norio, mostly at the beginning.
- Betty and Veronica: Norio becomes the Archie to the cold, aggressive and sexually charged Kunimasa (Veronica) against the sweet, younger and openly in love with him Hidekuni (Betty).
- Big Brother Instinct:
- Kumakashi over Norio, although he is also crushing.
- Manami, towards Kunimasa.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Madarame family, really.
- Birds of a Feather: Lampshaded in-universe that Norio and Karen are this, being both strong willed and emotion driven. Makio and Kunimasa are also this, though it's justified, as Makio actually raised Kunimasa this way. Overlaps with Generation Xerox, as Makio and Karen are in love and Norio and Kunimasa are the main couple of the series.
- Bridal Carry: Joshua carries Teruhiko like this on Christmas.
- Cast Full of Pretty Boys: And how!
- Cat Boy: All nekomata due to the nature of their soul-appearance but mostly Manami, Norio (a cat/monkey hybrid actually) and other lightweights/light seeds.
- The Chikan: The story begins with Norio being the target of groping by multiple men on a train.
- Closet Key: Not in the most traditional sense, but Inukami to Yonekuni.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Both Kunimasa and Yonekuni, Norio gets a jab at it to a lesser degree when he thinks Kunimasa is cheating on him with Shiro, and Shiro gets a moment like this when he believes Yonekuni is dating Norio despite not liking men at all but manages to fight it down. Joshua also gets like this over Kumakashi, even going all the way to Norio's school to challenge him to a fight over Kumakashi (having been mislead to believe that the two were lovers) and this brings out Kunimasa's Crazy Jealous Guy because he thought Joshua was in love with Norio and fought him over it.
- Delinquent Hair: The pompadoured bully in vol 1 ch 3.
- Does Not Like Men: Yonekuni. In fact, getting a boyfriend seems to make this worse, because Yonekuni's totally a Crazy Jealous Guy and assumes any guy who gets within ten feet of Shiro is after him.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Norio, Manami, Wakaba, and justified in Salam as he's a Gender Bender.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Half of the cast really. Played for humor in Norio's case, since it scares the hell out of him when his Smells Sexy pheromones suddenly kick in.
- Happily Married: Karen and Makio, against all odds, are this. Maximillian and David are this too. Both couples bicker a lot, but seem truly happy with each other and their kids.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Yonekuni hates men to the degree of needing to wash his hands after accidentally touching a male. Of course, he gets his share later on.
- If It's You, It's Okay:
- Quite surprisingly Norio (of all people), towards Kunimasa. He even rejects Kunimasa's little brother Hidekuni, who is pretty similar to Kunimasa overall but has a much more decent character, with the words: 'Well, originally I'm a straight monkey...' He's also completely heartbroken over Kunimasa at that moment.
- Also Yonekuni towards Shiro. A particularly surprising case, because Yonekuni has such a deep hatred of all men that he refuses to be touched by any, and even goes as far as tearing his own hair out in clumps when it was touched by some guy, but he still falls for Shiro pretty seriously. He's still kinda conflicted about it.
- Intimate Psychotherapy: Shinobu and Vulnera are revealed to participate in this going back a few years, where Vulnera will project his presence to Shinobu when he is in bed and make love to him. To Shinobu these encounters are amongst the few things that give him joy.
- Karma Houdini: Makio Madarame many times over. The first time she’s introduced she’s in the middle of plotting to use Kunimasa (her own son) as a brooding mare for profit. And not only does she disregard his consent on the matter, she arranged for Norio to be raped as well when he tried to save Kunimasa! The only reason Norio and Kunimasa get out of the situation is that Norio is able to overpower Makio with his “Return to Ancestry” abilities, but the worst that happens to Makio in this situation is that Karen beats the shit out of her. But she’s still able to interact with Kunimasa, Norio, and everyone else afterwards. This also not accounting for everything else she has done in the past (examples including attempted murder and her prior abuse of Kunimasa). People have gone to jail for less than what Makio has done, but she has faced very little repercussions for her actions.
- Kimono Is Traditional: Formidable mother-in-law Tokashiki Karen, and more or less everyone in her traditional house: her servants, restaurant employees, even visiting family members. Aogiri's mother as well.
- Meaningful Name: Some characters' names have more or less obvious hints to their zooman species: for instance, Kumakashi and McBear (bears), Inukami (wolf) and so on...
- Miniature Senior Citizens: Kumakashi's granny. Wears kimono, enforces family traditions.
- Mister Seahorse: This tremendously freaks poor Norio out every time he sets his mind on how exactly he's supposed to grant Kunimasa an offspring. It also happens when he tries to figure out how everyone in the Madarame family is connected. He decides not to go there. Most of the time he's in deep denial about the matter.
- "Not If They Enjoyed It" Rationalization: Averted with Teruhiko Kumakashi, and his arranged (and paid) baby daddy, Joshua McBear. It's not known whether Teruhiko enjoyed their first time (though Teruhiko says several chapters later that he likes it when Joshua is rough), but Joshua (the culprit) insists it was rape the following day, and apologizes for his actions.
- Odd Friendship: Yonekuni and Norio are on very good terms most of the time. While Yonekuni still dislikes being touched, he doesn't mind so much when Norio does it, the other exceptions being his boyfriend and his brother. While their relationship started as a favor to his brother, Yonekuni grew to be Norio's confidant in matters regarding Kunimasa, while Yonekuni is an avid supporter of their relationship.
- Only Six Faces: Shown here
◊ when two characters have their faces overlapped and they're the exact same. - Over-the-Shoulder Carry: Nearly every uke has been carried by their seme like this.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Seth, the Arabian character, is sexist against women. After he kidnaps (to Dubai) and chains up Wakaba who gets angry, he slaps him and tells him that it's not okay for him to insult a man (implying he's a woman).
- Remix Comic: Called "Molest The Monkey" by Cry Some More.
- The Reveal: Shinobu. He was introduced as Makio and Karen’s son but his character arc revealed that he was Karen’s son and also Makio’s younger half-brother.
- Seme: Doesn't get as mangled as the Uke stereotype, but gets some flipping around from the author nevertheless.
- Kunimasa subverts the "big brother seme" role by ending up as a blushing "wife".
- Shirtless Scene: Here and there. First seen with Kunimasa.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Teruhiko becomes this with Joshua, much to the jealousy of both Norio and Shiro.
- Smells Sexy: Norio's rare and desirable status of missing link causes him to smell irresistibly sexy to everyone, Zooman or human, making him a Lust Object for everyone he comes in contact with. It totally freaks him out.
- What's more, Norio's first impression of Kunimasa is that "something smells good". Later on, he gets downright giddy from it. Somewhat justified to see that zoomans have a heightened sense of smell especially when it comes to pheromones.
- Snake Versus Mongoose: Subverted—Shima, the mongoose, is in love with Aogiri, the viper.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Mongooses and snakes are natural-born enemies.
- Tangled Family Tree: Highly so, and justified because of the zooman's way of reproducing with this and that person, and being capable of conceiving via female-female and male-male relations as well. For example, Kunimasa, Yonekuni and Hidekuni are a triangle of half-siblings: Hidekuni is by David and Maximilian, Kunimasa by Makio and David, and Yonekuni by Makio and Maximilian. Makio also has Manami with her wife Karen, who has a son by Makio's father... Fortunately, a family tree diagram◊ was introduced.
- "Too Young to Die" Lamentation: Norio, gets into a scooter accident and realises his life is in danger. he then laments about not wanting to die a virgin, "without ever knowing the soft, sweet figure of a woman, and tasting—"... well, he gets detailed.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Shinobu is revealed to be suffering from this regarding his past with Vulnera, which involved attempted murder.
- Tsundere: Kunimasa and Yonekuni are both Type A to Norio and Shiro respectively.
- Uke: Zigzagged with glee. There is no "classic" uke character to be seen.
- Denied by Kunimasa to a degree, when he tells Norio that it's "not cute at all for a man to bitch and moan like a woman", and that such behaviour sickens him.
- Inverted when Norio finds out that Kunimasa is actually shy, and is overwhelmed by the adorableness and cuteness, acting much like a seme in a similar situation would towards a uke.
- Subverted in the extra story "Cursed Lamp", where the cute little thief seems to be molested all over, but quickly recovers and beheads the genie who dared to get too touchy-feely.
- Further averted in multiple stories, most of the cast being just as large and manly whether they top or bottom in their respective relationships.
- Even Wakaba, the series' only blushing, insecure, cute little male, has facial hair (though the facial hair vanishes and reappears panel to panel).
- Weirdness Censor: Humans that are descendants of monkeys can't see or hear anything related to the zoomans.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Norio, he has to wear some kind of feminine article of clothing when with Yonekuni in the beginning of the series, at first he was against it, but later grew to not mind it.
- Younger Than They Look: And also Older Than They Look. Would anyone honestly believe Norio and Hidekuni are the same age?
- Teruhiko Kumakashi, tall as a tower (6' at the very least), beefy as a bull - highschooler. Joshua McBear, almost a head taller than Kumakashi - younger than him.
- Youngest Child Wins: Played straight with both Manami and Hidekuni, who in comparison to their siblings have led pretty carefree and happy lives until now. Also subverted to a lesser extent with Yonekuni, who's considerably less mind-screwed than Kunimasa, in spite of being older.
