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For the manga/anime
- Alternate Character Interpretation: Did Creed truly believe his subordinates could take on the Chronos Numbers, or was he just exaggerating in the hopes of enticing Train? Either makes sense: Creed habitually overestimates himself, but he also might be aware that his organization isn't as tough as it appears and thus genuinely needs the strongest Chronos Number on side in order to tip the scales in his favor.
- Angst? What Angst?: Train in the later half of the manga. He gets shot by a bullet that is known to transform people into monsters, yet just shrugs it off (despite everyone else including the Big Bad panicking). When he turns into a kid, his first thoughts are that it'll make meals and bus tickets cheaper. When asked if he's concerned that Creed is trying to bring about The End of the World as We Know It, he answers no, and that he's mainly concerned with what's for lunch.
- Awesome Music: The first opening theme, "Daia no Hana
", is an overall great, rocking song. Special shout-out to the Arabic dub's version. - Complete Monster: Doctor Kosuke Kanzaki sadistically conducts a number of awful experiments over the course of the series, including transforming a man into a werewolf; brainwashing captured bounty hunters into fighting their friends; and trapping Train in a illusory world where the very people he cares about most are trying to kill him. Fascinated by ten-year old Eve's power to shapeshift, the Doctor kidnaps her towards the end of the series, planning to vivisect her in order to discover how her abilities work. Loyal only to himself and driven by his need to know, the Doctor outshines even Creed Diskenth when it comes to villainy.
- Do Not Do This Cool Thing: Anime-only: how Train was shown to be much cooler and badass before he became a pacifist.
- Draco in Leather Pants:
- Many fangirls excuse Creed's sociopathic tendencies because of his Dark and Troubled Past, despite the fact that Train's had it even worse.
- Some Apostles naturally get this treatment. Shiki's nearly morally bankrupt, but s/he's beautiful. Charden has done terrible things on a vengeful crusade, but he's such a gentleman. Kyoko's an obsessive, psychotic pyromaniac, but she's so funny and adorable. Echidna's a conniving bitch, but she's sexy. Durham's a Trigger-Happy psycho, but he's so cool. Leon's a budding psychopath, but he's such a cute little kid. And the Doctor...wait, even fans know there are no excuses for that asshole.
- Also Shaolee, who spends his time deceiving people, is actually one of the cruelest Numbers and is quite creepy when you think about it, but looks just so pretty.
- Ending Fatigue: The Eden arc is utterly baffling. The anime wraps up the final battle from the manga and the series seems set to end, when suddenly a whole new arc comes right out of nowhere that retcons Eve's purpose and has only a single, hard-to-miss piece of foreshadowing. What's even more frustrating is that it has no reason to exist (the anime aired nearly a year after the manga ended, so it's not like they had to make something up for an ending) and its existence means Dr. Tearju is completely removed from the story until the Eden arc comes, which leads to a glaring Plot Hole in Kid Train's recovery, which is sloppily patched by him just... getting better. For no reason.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: The anime version of Kyoko, which makes her an almost completely heroic character in contrast to her darker manga self, is pretty much the most popular character outside of the main cast and gets often shipped with Train by fans of the series.
- Fashion-Victim Villain: Nice jumpsuit, Creed. Did it come with the open chest, or did you cut it out yourself?
- Faux Symbolism: The series is littered with mythological naming and imagery that don't really seem to have a purpose.
- Until the anime's sort-of Gecko Ending - Eden, inhabited by Adam and Eve, and apples and snakes are involved. You can figure the rest out on your own.
- Hilarious in Hindsight: The fact that Creed calls Saya a "witch". While this is the literal translation of the Japanese "majo" (魔女), English-speaking fans might be snickering because it unintentionally seems like he's also referring to her as something else, which is appropriate considering how much he hates her.
- Ho Yay: The romantic/sexual tension between Creed and Train. Though it's rather one-sided, as Train clearly has zero intention of returning Creed's affections. In fact, he doesn't even seem be aware of them, which is very impressive.
- It Was His Sled: If you start the series through the anime, what happens to Saya should be obvious due to the huge amount of foreshadowing in the opening and ending.
- Moral Event Horizon:
- Creed murders Saya simply for the humanizing influence she has on Train. And after suffering a nasty injury that might have made people sympathize with him, he then tries to turn Sven into a mindless monster.
- When facing down Sven, Torneo is all ready to use a nanotech drug on Eve to force her to become a mindless killing machine. Train shoots it out of his hand to stop him.
- All of the Doctor's experiments put him far over the line.
- Questionable Casting: The European Spanish dub gave Creed the voice of Ramón Rocabayera, who, despite having experience playing bad guys, sounds essentially like an elderly gentleman. Combined with Creed's gray hair making his age visually ambiguous, a lot of viewers found out with shock that the original character was officially 23 (that is, around Train's own age) instead of an athletic middle-aged man.
- Strawman Has a Point: Baldor isn't always wrong. A telling example is when one of Creed's Mooks blows himself up when Eve tries to help him, right after Baldor talks about how mercy is useless to those who wouldn't understand it, let alone want it after trying to kill you.
- Toy Ship: Eve and Leon.
- Viewer Gender Confusion:
- Deak Slathky is considered so Bishōnen that it's hard to tell he's male until he starts ranting about how much he hates women.
- Officially, Shiki is male, but his speech, dress, and unmasked face are all androgynous. Quite a few readers of the English manga's fan translations are convinced Shiki was originally a woman in the Japanese manga, then changed to a man in the anime and every other language of the manga.
- Though the manga version of Lin Shao Lee is a Long-Haired Pretty Boy, the anime sometimes gives him softer facial features and prominent eyelashes, making it easy to mistake him for a woman at first glance. This is somewhat balanced out by his distinctly masculine voice.
For the Hong Kong movies
- Tear Jerker: When Catherine is forced to shoot Allen in order to preserve her identity as an assassin. Yes, he survives, but she doesn't know that, and the movie ends with her oblivious to Allen's true fate.
- The Woobie: Let's face it, Catherine, a normal, if somewhat over-aggressive and tomboyish, college student went through serious crap in the first movie, and her being subject to further experimentation to strip her of her humanity and becoming an assassin against her will, is depressing enough to make audiences feel bad for her. Not to mention finally finding a man who truly cares for her and love her, but forced to abandon him because of her allegiance to being an assassin.
