"It is the 37th year of the Meiji Era. At the edge of the grand continent of Eurasia, the echo of guns resounded. Japan was still a weak country at the time. Their existence depended on the fortress protected by the army of evil. And the ones who faced it were delicate girls. This is a story of love and inspiration of five young girls and one young man who assisted them."
Originally a Visual Novel-slash-battle sim game by ELF Corporation released in December 2002, it was adapted into a Thirteen Episode Anime in the winter of 2003. A two-episode OVA followed about a year after, transitioning to its sequel, Lime-iro Ryukitan X. The original game also has a mahjong spinoff, Lime-iro Jankitan, and an Updated Re-release on the PlayStation 2.
It is 1904. Shintaro Umakai has been accepted as a teacher at the Amanohara Girls' School. What he's about to find out is that the school is aboard a ship, and he's acting as the teacher for the Lime Unit. Five girls with special powers, the ability to summon Raimu, spiritual armored warriors, who will be assisting the Amanohara on its invasion of the Lushun Fortress in Russia.
The five girls are the ditzy Momen Sanada, the tomboyish Asa Kato, the meek Kinu Fukushima, the upper-class Sarasa Honda and the elegant beauty Rinzu Kuroda. Along the way, the girls will come to grips with their own past, while Shintaro comes to grips with his own. There are things he left behind in Russia that will return with a vengeance.
Lime-iro Senkitan provides examples of the following tropes:
- A-Cup Angst: Asa is easily the flattest of the girls, and gets teased about it, to her annoyance.
- Action-Hogging Opening: Raimu battles do appear in the series, but they're not the central focus like the opening makes them out to be.
- Airborne Aircraft Carrier: While not an aircraft carrier, the Amanohara is still a gigantic flying battleship.
- Animated Armor: The Raimu act like a miniature Motion-Capture Mecha, controlled by their pilots.
- Big Bad: Grigori Rasputin, leader of the Russian Spiritual Corps and an evil Raimu user who plots to Take Over the World.
- Big Brother Attraction: Momen is attracted to Shintaro precisely because he reminds her of her big brother.
- Big Friendly Dog: Sarasa's pompously-named pooch Antoinette Ghandi XIII. (Momen calls her "Angie".)
- Breast Attack: Momen experienced a very specific version of Meat-O-Vision, and saw Sarasa's chest as meat buns. She then tried to take a bite out of them.
- Canon Immigrant: Koushi, Soushi and Oushi, Kuki's three familiars, were added in the anime, and made their way back into the Updated Re-release of the game on the PS2.
- Collapsing Lair: Rasputin. His death is getting crushed by a falling boulder.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Momen.
- Dancing Theme: Kuki's familiars and the girls do a dance with maracas against a flowery background.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Shintaro befriends Raxa and Sateen after their boss falls. They're seen living a normal life in the end.
- De-power: The Lime Unit loses their powers at the end of the second OVA to revive Shintaro after his soul was sucked out.
- Deus Sex Machina: The only way to get the Amanohara moving is for Shintaro to awaken Kuki, by getting himself moving....inside her.
- The Ditz: Momen.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Tsumugi Shima and Sakon (her Raimu), Major Gamou and Linen (unvoiced), from Lime-iro Ryukitan X appear in the second part of the OVA, transitioning between the two series.
- Extra-ore-dinary: Kinu
- A Father to His Men: Captain Kaji.
- Festival Episode: The OVA.
- Going Commando:
- In the first OVA, Sarasa puts on a gaudy pair of lucky underwear for what she thinks is a confession with Shintaro. After seeing that her friend/rival Rinzu went without panties, Sarasa promptly removes hers. Then it turns out everyone went without them.Sarasa: You're all cheaters!
- Momen does this while the one pair of panties she owns is being washed.
- In the first OVA, Sarasa puts on a gaudy pair of lucky underwear for what she thinks is a confession with Shintaro. After seeing that her friend/rival Rinzu went without panties, Sarasa promptly removes hers. Then it turns out everyone went without them.
- Great Detective: Sarasa claims to be one when searching for her missing pocketwatch. Unfortunately, her choice of outfit is decidedly Scottish (complete with bagpipes!)
- Green Thumb: Asa.
- The Gunslinger: Kinu.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: The Big Bad is Rasputin, here presented as an evil Raimu user who plans to Take Over the World.
- Hot for Teacher: By the closure, Shintaro has gotten all five members of the Lime Unit in love with him, no matter how much he claims he's just a teacher.
- Hot Springs Episode: Which doubles as an impromptu Clip Show. It's a Beach Episode too.
- If I Can't Have You…: Sophia, to the point of yandere levels. She makes Shintaro Brainwashed and Crazy and tries to force him to kill his students.
- Imagine Spot: Frequent in the OVA, as the girls imagine a love-filled life with Shintaro. Notably, Rinzu's fantasy about what present she wants to give Shintaro (ie herself) is so explicit that it isn't shown. We only see her face blushing.
- Innocent Innuendo: What sounds like Shintaro doing it with Kuki and Sumi in the first OVA turns out to be Sumi giving Kuki a back massage.
- Joshikousei: Asa's casual outfit.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Sarasa.
- Making a Splash: Sarasa.
- Malaproper: Sarasa.
- Miko: Kinu.
- The Mole: Sophia, who pretends to have suffered an injury, making her mentally reduced to childhood. She knows what's going on the whole time.
- Naked Apron: Momen wears one to clean the bathroom. On "Onii-chan Day", everyone wears one. And in most Naked Apron scenes, the underwear worn in the TV version is conspicuously absent on DVD.
- Ojou: Sarasa, type two definitely. Though she does mellow out somewhat.
- Our Centaurs Are Different: Rinzu's Raimu is the only one to take the form of a centaur.
- Paper Fan of Doom: Rinzu has one on hand at all times.
- Playing with Fire: Momen
- The Pornomancer: While the series has its roots in an eroge, Shintaro's pornomancy hasn't really been diluted. The second OVA is a fine example.
- The Power of Love: What ultimately saves the day. In one blast, no less.
- Too Hot for TV: Like you wouldn't believe. Erased undergarments, cloudy water turned transparent, entirely new/added scenes, and numerous other enhancements take this series from an Ecchi romp into borderline Hentai territory.
- Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: The girls' regular outfits (and their Lime Unit uniforms), while still catering to their niches, have nothing on the outfits the Three Tamers wear.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: Rasputin has three of them.
- Sacrificial Lion: Major Date, who serves as an inspiration to Shintaro for all of two episodes before hurtling off the ship to save Sarasa, and making Shintaro the new Commander.
- School Nurse: Sumi Ichijouji. She's hot for Shintaro too.
- School Swimsuit: During the beach episode.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Sarasa holds a ball in an attempt to get Kuki back on the ship, so everyone gets a chance to dress up. This applies to Asa most of all.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Sarasa can brag a mile a minute, but she's ultimately nervous beneath it all.
- Theme Naming:
- All of the girls (even Sophia's code name) are certain types of fabric. Specifically, Momen = cotton, Asa = flax, Sarasa = calico, Kinu = silk, Rinzu = satin.
- The Lime Unit get their surnames from famous Japanese generals. The first name of the general that inspired them is used for their Raimu.
- Upper-Class Twit: Sarasa. She's wealthy, and brags about all of her fancy imported goods, but is completely misinformed on how the world works.
- Voodoo Doll: Kinu has several of them, including personalized ones for every member of the crew. She uses them for impromptu puppet shows, Companion Cubes, and is unafraid of impaling them with nails to stop her friends from getting in her way. On multiple occasions. Not to mention one particularly disturbing bonus Imagine Spot sequence featuring a naked Kinu and a human-sized talking voodoo doll...
