This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.
Despite being a genuinely light hearted series, full of laughter and heart warming friendships, the series still manages to incorporate a number of scary elements.
- Mana's shadows. In the game, they are presented as little more than a nuisance. In the anime, they are shown to be a legitimate threat to peoples survival.
- Episode 5 of the anime adaptation features Eriko in full-on Yandere mode. She's so horrifying that the normally bubbly Yuuki is legit terrified of her.
- And then there's her attempts to have Yuuki be hers by using an evil-looking ring to place a curse on them.
- Even the light hearted episode 8 featuring Little Lyrical has some serious worries...:
- Arachnaphobes might relate to the horror being caught in the webs of giant spiders. Thankfully the moment is played for comedy..
- What isn't played completely for comedy is later in the episode when Yuuki is captured by a giant monster bird and the members Little Lyrical try to save him. Unfortunately, the giant bird overpowers the three young girls resulting in them getting knocked out and captured by said bird. Had the rest of the Gourmet Guild (who had been following them this whole time) not showed up, the four of them probably would have been food for the monster and her chicks!
- Some of Diablos' actions during Episode 10 also count.
- Whilst it mostly turns out to be an Evil Overlord Boast, when Illya briefly gets her powers back, she is shown to be every bit as powerful as she claimed. Imagine what could happen if this evil vampire was able to retain that power.
- However the winner of this episode (if not the entire season) by a long margin, is Miyako the ghost! Although she claims to be a friendly ghost, her insatiable desire for pudding leads to a number of close calls throughout the episode, the implications of which are downright terrifying.
- First of all, she is introduced haunting the owner/chef of the Cockatrice Nest, driving him virtually mad, just to make her pudding.
- Then, when Yuuki accidently destroys her pudding stash, Miyako forces him, Kokkoro and Karyl to make a replacement batch, threatening to turn them into puddings if they do not comply or succeed. When they fail to meet her demand, she carries out her threat.
- In fact, it is implied that had Pecorine not got back when she did, Miyako would have eaten them.
- The scene showing Karyl, Kokkoro and Yuuki as living, breathing puddings about to be eaten, undoubtedly scared a few people when they first saw it. Not helped by Karyl's scream and pleas for mercy as Miyako waved her spoon threateningly at her.
- Then, after the final drama with Pecorine's pudding, we learn that Miyako actually did eat one of her victims; Yuuki. Thankfully, theothers manage to save him, but think about it for a few moments. Whilst he does get better, Yuuki spent a spent at least a couple of minutes inside Miyako's stomach. Thanks to the clever way that the scene was executed, fans were left wondering throughout the credit roll, if they would ever see the poor boy again.
- Shinobu's reaction to Miyako's aforementioned actions is in its own way just as bad. She just stands back and watches whilst her guildmate causes all this trouble for the protagonists. She never properly objects, does anything to help the heroes or intervenes on their behalf. Once again, we cannot help but wonder what would have happened if Pecorine had not shown up when she did?
- To be fair, Shinobu did actually help the girls get Yuuki out of Miyako. So, it's possible she thought that her friend is just bluffing and is shocked and surprised that Miyako went through with her threat.
- Imagine going on an adventure to benefit both yourself and your people, only to return and find out that nobody (not even your own parents) recognises you. This is the fate that befell the true Princess Eustiana i.e. Pecorine. She came home, only to find that somebody else had stolen her life and was posing as her, leading to her being chased away by the people she had known and cared about all her life. It also doubles as a massive Tearjerker.
- In Season 2 Episode 11, we finally learn why there were two Mana's appearing throughout the show. The one that sat on the throne, i.e. the Mana that stole Pecorine's life, is a shadow created by the real Mana/Kaiser Insight. It is implied that the real villain, used this puppet and the other shadows to boost her own powers, to the point that she is now almost invincible. Thus, the heroes now find themselves face to face with the real villain!
- Again, it doubles as a tearjerker when the anime is shown to be a worst-case scenario. It turns out that the game timeline is still canon, but that Yuuki and others lost meaning that Kaiser Insight won. Things got so bad that Ameth and Labyrista had to take a massive risk. They extracted Yuuki and gave him the choice of either returning to a battle that was impossible to win or restarting from square one, in the hope that he could find a way to defeat Kaiser. Yuuki chose the latter option, despite being told that doing so would cost him all his memories and the girls he had befriended would forget about him. Despite the horrific choice, it does count as an awesome moment as it shows how much Yuuki cares about his friends that he would sacrifice everything for them.
- During Mifuyu's 6th bond story, the mercenary accepts a contract to deliver some plants to a "florist" outside Landsol. However, part of the acceptance clause states that if the person accepting the contract fails to deliver the goods, then the "florist" gets to do whatever he wants with them. Despite Yuuki's concerns, Mifuyu brushes them aside and despite a run-in with some bandits apparently manages to deliver the goods. Upon reaching their destination, however, they discover that the cart is empty. The "florist" immediately declares that Mifuyu failed to protect his merchandise from the bandits, states that he is going to uphold the terms of their deal and makes it very clear that he intends to sell Mifuyu into slavery as punishment. Worst of all, Mifuyu, thinking that she failed, agrees to go along with it. Fortunately for her, Yuuki notices the driver acting strangely. Caught out, the man quickly reveals that the "florist" and his men are actually criminals, that the cart was empty from the very beginning and that the ruse was set up so that these scumbags could make a profit. Hearing this, Mifuyu gets angry and gives the criminals their rightful punishment. Although she and Yuuki make it out alright, one dreads to think what could have happened to Mifuyu if Yuuki had not been there.
- Tsumugi's bond stories contain a couple:-
- In the 5th episode, whilst out hunting low-level beasts with Yuuki, one of the monsters turns out to be a much more dangerous beast in disguise. It captures her in its threads, forcing Yuuki to grab Tsumugi and drag her to safety. Had Yuuki not been there, Tsumugi would have more than likely been eaten.
- The 6th bond story is not much better. Yuuki is hired as a security guard because Tsumugi is convinced that somebody is stalking one of the other girls from Carmina. After a few days, it looks as if she was mistaken, but later that night, whilst walking home from a dance lesson, she realises that she was the one being stalked. Panicking, Tsumugi flees until she unintentionally traps herself in a dead end. Fortunately, Yuuki steps in to save her and the person in question turns out to be a fan who wanted to ask her out. Even though the situation ends on a funny note, with Tsumugi scaring the man off with her opinion on what a fan should really be like, things could have turned out very differently.
