History Anime / SCRYed

* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: This is HOLD's and Ryuho's attitude towards Mimori; namely that compassion and research aren't going to do any good in the Lost Ground and she should stop treating the "inners" like human beings because they are truly criminal scum that need to enslaved for the good of the region.

* TheUnreveal: By the time the final episode rolls around [[spoiler: Kazuma and Ryuho have fought several times, with no clear winner. The last ep has them indulge in one last, decisive brawl. At the end, we see that only one is left standing...but we never find out which one it is. [[note]]however, the victor raises a hand and makes the symbol of the Zetsuei, then curls into a fist the same way Kazuma does when summoning his Alter...[[/note]]]]

* TheWorfEffect: Straight Cougar is [[spoiler: effortlessly defeated by the BigBad in the anime, showing off how dangerous Mujo is by having him easily defeat a guy who beat Kazuma and Ryuhou with his level 1 Alter]].
* WordSaladTitle: The manga gives it a meaning, but otherwise... {{Fanon}} has appended it for [[spoiler:the name of Kanami's Alter, which lets her read minds since to "scry" is to see via magic or clairvoyance which is what she uses her alter for while dreaming, and she does seem to scry out the events of most of the episodes in this way, so it could relate to her Alter even if that isn't its name.]]

''s-CRY-ed'' was originally broadcast in 2001 as the brainchild of Goro Taniguchi for Creator/{{Sunrise}}, originally developed as an alternate take on the themes explored in ''Anime/InfiniteRyvius'' as well as how people would adjust to the 21st century.

While the title is sometimes written as ''Scryed'', ''[=sCRYed=]'', or ''s.CRY.ed'', the official styling for the title of this 2001 sci-fi action anime is ''s-CRY-ed''.

(Variously written as Scryed, [=sCRYed=], s.CRY.ed or s-CRY-ed)

A massive disaster hits Japan, separating a section of Tokyo into a new island, known as the "Lost Ground". The disaster also causes [[BizarreBabyBoom 1% of the babies born there to develop superpowers]].

Before you pass this off as your standard {{Mutant}} story, remember that this is ''[[WidgetSeries Anime]]'' - instead of being born with StockSuperpowers such as [[HealingFactor healing fast]], [[{{Telepathy}} reading minds]] or [[SelectiveMagnetism controlling magnets]], these "[[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Alter Users]]" have the power to call upon and use '''mecha''' in battles. By [[ShapeshifterBaggage dismantling nearby matter]] (be it areas of landscape, vehicles, watermelons or dead bodies) and reassembling it, they can {{summon|Magic}} separate, [[MechanicalMonster machine-like]] beings, known as Alters, which personify a superpower of some sort.

One subset of Alter Users are "alloy-types", whose Alters form part of themselves, and one or two display the ability to affect other's Alters without summoning one themselves, but mostly the Alters are used like {{Mons}}... of a sort, since a given person doesn't tend to acquire more than one. The nature of the superpowers varies from typical StockSuperpowers to really weird ideas: "Turn anything into water", "Turn any car into a pink [[Anime/SpeedRacer Mach 5]]", "Summon [[{{BFG}} an enormous gun]]" or even "[[ImaginationBasedSuperpower Do anything, as long as it involves watermelons]]".

One organization (HOLY) strives to control the super-powered population while rebuilding civilization on the island, while rebels and thugs attempt to resist them, and small communities live independently of the government in the wilder lands.

The manga makes a number of changes from the anime. The anime uses subtle characterization and two mutually-antagonistic {{Antihero}} leads (the KnightTemplar and the IdiotHero) without overly favoring one or the other. The manga is more prone to {{Card Carrying Villain}}s and gives a different explanation as to the MetaOrigin of the Alters (EvolutionaryLevels).

!!This series provides examples of:

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Kimishima likes Ayase who likes Kazuma who never notices her; Cougar likes [[strike:[[RunningGag Minori]]]] Mimori who likes Ryuhou, as does Scheris. (Ryuhou may like Mimori back but refuses to have a relationship because of [[spoiler:gult over Scheris' sacrifice to save him]].) The only character who gets a relationship with someone is Asuka Tachibana - and his girlfriend Cammy is only a minor character.
* AndTheAdventureContinues: The final scenes of the anime are Kazuma and Ryuuhou continuing to fight against ''someone'', likely mainland invaders. [[spoiler: This is also Alteration's ending, albeit focusing more on trouble-making Native Alter Users.]]

* AnotherDimension: The source of Alter Power. [[spoiler:The Alter User that killed Ryuuhou's mother hails from this dimension, and is the true origin of Alter Power.]]

** Kazuma can be kind of a jerk and a BloodKnight, but is fiercely loyal to his friends and will always stand up for people being oppressed even if he doesn't know them that well. He becomes a bit edgier after [[spoiler:Kimishima dies,]] but still fights to protect people despite that.
** Kimishima is cowardly and somewhat self-centered, but when it comes down to it he'll fight to the bitter end also.
* AntiMagic: Kanami has a mild version. She's able to ignore Unkei's Mad Sprict power without even noticing, and instantly deduces that Kigetsuki's Tokonatsu Sisters aren't actually human despite the fact that there's basically no way to tell on sight. Both can be attributed to [[spoiler:the clairvoyance that her Alter Power provides her.]]
* AntiVillain: Ryuhou is ruthless and inflexible when it comes to dealing with Alter criminals and dismisses the flaws in the oppressive operating style of HOLY based on the idea that it is necessary. Urizane, Illian, and Scheris are all part of HOLY by such reasonable means as a paycheck or SubordinateExcuse. Cougar's motives are never really explained but based on his actions the only reason he counts as an "anti-villain" is by association with HOLY.

* AmnesiacDissonance: [[spoiler: Ryuuhou defends a settlement from a HOLY unit, after regarding them as evil. When he is told about his past, he finds it strange that he would oppress people in such a manner. He continues to fight against HOLY even after recovering his memories.]]

* BadassNormal: Kimishima is an aversion; he has no alter and only carries a pair of pistols. While he is good with them, he can't defeat an Alter User on his own.
* BashBrothers: It took about 20 episodes but Ryuuhou and Kazuma eventually work together (on principle). It doesn't stop them from trying to bash each other's faces in afterward, but that's more of a friendly brawl than a fight to the death.
* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Ryuhou and Kazuma eventually gain enough power that they can reach Earth orbit unaided, and their BattleAura evidently keeps them from asphyxiating while up there.
* BattleAura: Ryuuhou and Kazuma both have one when particularly pumped up.

** Calling Cougar slow pisses him off.
** Kidnap Kanami, and both [[IdiotHero Kazuma]] and [[KnightTemplar Ryuho]] will [[BigBrotherInstinct hunt you down]].
* BigBrotherInstinct: Kazuma far and away for Kanami, given their age difference and how much he cares about her and keeping her safe. Surprisingly, [[spoiler:Ryuuhou develops this for her after he lost then regained his memories. She even calls him "Ryu-kun" like "Kazu-kun".]]

** Emergy Maxfell's alter invokes this trope. Due to severe trauma he experienced as a child, Emergy's Alter only activates when he feels he's in extreme peril ("a pinch situation", as he likes to call it), at which point a HumongousMecha bursts from the ground to "save him from the pinch".
** Kazuma and Ryuuhou get plenty of moments to save others.
* BizarreBabyBoom: Only about a percentage of children born in the Lost Ground develop Alter power.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Biff once captured by HOLY. It's so bad that all he can say is "HAMMER!!" in different volumes and tones of voice while carrying out his orders.
* BullyingADragon: When Kazuma ends up at an Alter fight club, he quickly becomes the strongest competitor. Regardless, he's technically a prisoner; the "technically" being the fact that the one and only thing keeping him there is what amounts to a HeroicBSOD. When Kazuma finally decides he wants to leave and explosively releases himself, two regular humans think it's a good idea to make him get back in his cell. Kazuma quickly schools them. Then there was the club leader, who tried to shoot him, only to think better of it after Kazuma warned against such an action.
* CallBack: When Kazuma first fights Ryuhou, [[spoiler:he gets his ass kicked, and tries to raise his arm and form a fist before collapsing.]] In the final episode, [[spoiler:an unidentified arm rises up and forms a fist.]]

** Ryuhou: "My vigorous left fist!" and variations.
* ClingyJealousGirl: Scheris takes a dislike to Mimori merely because she is a love rival for Ryuuhou and spends as much time as she can with him.
* CombatBreakdown: The final battle between Ryuuhou and Kazuma has them cycle through all their Alter forms and back down to normal. By the end, they can both only manage to summon a fraction of their power for one last strike (Kazuma armors his fist and Ryuho generates a small spike) and both collapse after the final blow.
* CombatClairvoyance: Eventually, [[spoiler: by hijacking Kanami's alter, Kyoji Mujo gains this ability]]. It allows him to dodge any attack thrown at him... including those from a character who can move and react faster than the speed of sound.
* ConflictKiller: Nothing can stop Kazuma and Ryuhou's rivalry, except [[spoiler:Kyoji Mujo's EvilPlan]]. After they take care of him, they go back to beating each other up.
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Kazuma and Ryuho vs a joint aerial and naval invasion force of Refined Alter users results in a victory for the former. It's implied that this is because Kazuma and Ryuho are using Level 3 Alters juiced up from the Other Side and their enemies are a bunch of artificial alters who are level 1 at best.
* CoolCar: Cougar's secondary ability is to morph any car into a hot pink hot rod with incredible speed, though they are [[EveryCarIsAPinto prone to explode]] after he's done with them.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadAss: Cougar. He's a powerful Alter User [[spoiler: probably the strongest Alter User in existence other than the Kazuma, Ryuuhou and Mujo,]] and an odd individual who constantly talks about how he "shortens the world" with his speed.
* CurbStompBattle: Just about anyone Kazuma or Ryuhou fights between [[spoiler: the timeskip and them entering Mujo's fortress]] gets their ass handed to them effortlessly.
* DeadlyUpgrade: [[spoiler:Upgrading one's Alter ability causes gradual but irreversible damage to one's body. An unnatural upgrade, such as the mainland's "refinement", seems to be more immediately damaging, as evidenced by Cougar's odd walk and the gray streaks in his hair, and Zigmarl's RapidAging; in extreme cases such as Ayase's refinement, the process does enough damage that the Alter User can die from extreme stress. In contrast, "natural" evolution is more gradual in these damages. Kazuma and Ryuuhou both seem to suffer minor physical deformations from using their Alters, Kazuma moreso since his body-reshaping Alter modifies him at all three stages. Ryuuhou has an independent Alter that just becomes a suit of armor at level 3, so his changes are minor, but in the epilogue of the series, it's pretty clear that continuous use is catching up to him too.]]
* DeathWail: Ryuho does this twice, once at the beginning after his family is killed and again when [[spoiler: Scheris dies]]. Hikaru Midorikawa is excellent with such scenes.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: Kazuma eventually becomes... not "friends" as much as "rivals with an understanding" with [[spoiler: Tachibana]] after defeating him, but it took ''two'' defeats. In the main series, [[spoiler: Kazuma never defeats Ryuuhou but still comes to a similar relationship. The movie, Alteration, implies that he is the victor of their last fight.]]

* DefiantStoneThrow: A little boy confronts Ryuhou openly when a fight is going on between Ryuuhou and adults in a given Inner settlement. Ryuuhou says that he respects the boy for his courage and uses it as part of his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to the adults for sneaking around and taking hostages.

** In the Lost Ground, Biff's arrogant bullying is meant to be a heavy contrast to Kazuma's more free-wheeling, live-and-let-live lifestyle. Similarly, other unnamed villainous Alter Users in one of Mimori's flashbacks are shown proudly posing with their Alters for the camera in front of the destruction they've just caused.
** On HOLY's end George Tatsunami, Emergy Maxfell, Sou Kigetsuki, and Kyouji Mujou are all prime examples of how Ryuuhou's nobler intentions act as a check for the potential excesses he could get up to in his pursuit of revenge and justice. In particular, Sou Kigetsuki's smug arrogance demonstrates this to an amnesiac ''Ryuuhou'', showing him what he looked like from the perspective of Kazuma and the Inners. Result: HeelFaceTurn. Kazuma still pisses him off by ''breathing'', but that's just TeethClenchedTeamwork.
* {{Determinator}}: If Kazuma can breathe, he can fight, and he never gives up. It takes [[spoiler:losing his best friend]] to make him slow down, and even then after a while he gets back up and keeps going. Ryuuhou is equally determined in both his pursuit of Kazuma and the Alter User that killed his mother.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The answer is [[spoiler:yes, Kazuma did, when Mujou returned from The Other Side looking like a CosmicHorror.]]
* DistantFinale: [[spoiler: The last scenes of the anime take place when Kanami has grown into a teenager. It shows that the Lost Ground has grown into a nice place to live, but there is still fighting going on in parts of it.]]
* DistractedFromDeath: [[spoiler:In the anime, Kazuma starts carrying an injured Kimishima home, and doesn't notice until he gets there that Kimishima died along the way.]]

* DoubleEntendre: Asuka Tachibana's Alter is eight "treasure balls" so other meanings happen frequently. As listed above, we also have George Tatsunami and his "Big Magnum."
* TheDragon: Ryuhou is Commander Jigmar's best warrior, the one he sends to problem areas, and the biggest challenge to our AntiHero {{Protagonist}} Kazuma.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Straight Cougar will drive as fast as possible over whatever terrain is underneath him. He'll even drive straight into a cliff if it means he doesn't have to slow down in order to stop.
* DumpThemAll: [[spoiler: In the anime, the Scheris/Mimori/Ryuhou love triangle ends with Scheris dead and Ryuhou rejecting Mimori despite his implied attraction to her because he feels it wouldn't be right. Although he displayed no attraction to Scheris either, she died for him because she loved him. So now that Mimori confessed her love for him, he fears her meeting the same fate so he turns her down and/or didn't want to be disrespectful to Scheris' memory. In the manga, Scheris doesn't die and so she starts a relationship with him.]]
* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler: In the moments of Biff's death, his mind control is shattered]].
* EvolvingCredits: There are at three basic versions of the opening, for Kazuma and Ryuhou and one for when they have equal focus, each with a different verse of the opening theme; each episode mixes elements together reflecting the episode and the plot to date. Only two episodes share the exact same opening credit sequence.

* ImprobableWeaponUser: Urizane uses watermelons as his weapon, but he can do almost anything with them. He can make them grow huge until they crush you to death, turn an entire building into a watermelon for a second (thus destroying it when it turns back), and can even teleport, sort of, by stepping inside a giant watermelon, having it shrink to nothing, then having it grow anew in a different location, with him still inside it.

* LightheartedRematch: Subverted. After teaming up and defeating the ConflictKiller, the two leads decide to have a friendly bout to see who is the best after all - but this takes up ''the entire [[GrandFinale last episode]]'' and is the longest and definitely most brutal fight in the entire series. It appears to end in a double knockout - but one last shot as the credits start imply that at least one is still moving. [[spoiler:A hand rises behind a curtain of dust, and does a gesture typical for Kazuma.]]

* TheRemake: s-CRY-ed Alteration Tao and Quan, which add extra scenes that give [[spoiler:Kyoji Mujo]] more presence and alter some of Kazuma and Ryuhou's fights.

* RunningGag: Straight Cougar getting people's names wrong, e.g. "Minori" for Mimori and "Kazuya" for Kazuma. Kazuma himself occasionally does this too [[spoiler:which is foreshadowing the fact that Cougar raised Kazuma as a younger sibling figure.]].

* {{Sequel hook}}: the council of government officials at the end discussing things and that they have time to prepare combined with the unresolved conflict with the mainland.

* SmugSnake: Emergy Maxfell acts like Kazuma is just another toy to play with [[spoiler: and completely losses his shit when he losses their fight.]]

** Also, George [[BigFreakingGun Tatsunami]], the guy who enslaves a town.

* {{Troll}}: Straight Cougar takes Mimori out to see Ryuho fighting but stops in the middle of nowhere. When she demands to know what's going on, Cougar implies he's actually going to rape her, only to reveal he's just screwing with her and it's simply not safe to get too close to a fight between Alter Users.

* TheWorfEffect: Straight Cougar is [[spoiler: effortlessly defeated by the BigBad in the anime, showing off how dangerous Muto is by having him easily defeat a guy who beat Kazuma and Ryuhou with his level 1 Alter]].

* AntiHero: Kazuma can be kind of a jerk and a BloodKnight, but is fiercely loyal to his friends and will always stand up for people being oppressed even if he doesn't know them that well. He becomes a bit edgier after [[spoiler:Kimishima dies,]] but still fights to protect people despite that.

* BerserkButton: Calling Cougar slow pisses him off.

* BigDamnHeroes: Emergy Maxfell's alter invokes this trope. Due to severe trauma he experienced as a child, Emergy's Alter only activates when he feels he's in extreme peril ("a pinch situation", as he likes to call it), at which point a HumongousMecha bursts from the ground to "save him from the pinch".

* BullyingADragon: When Kazuma ends up at an Alter fight club, he quickly becomes the strongest competitor. Regardless, he's technically a prisoner; the "technically" being the fact that the one and only thing keeping him there is what amounts to a HeroicBSOD. When Kazuma finally decides he wants to leave and explosively releases himself, two regular humans actually it's a good idea to make him get back in his cell. Kazuma quickly schools them. Then there was the club leader, who tried to shoot him, only to think better of it after Kazuma warned against such an action.

* CombatBreakdown: The final battle between Ryuuhou and Kazuma has the cycle through all their Alter forms and back down to normal. By the end, they can both only manage to summon a fraction of their power for one last strike (Kazuma armors his fist and Ryuho generates a small spike) and both collapse after the final blow.

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Kazuma and Ryuho vs a joint aerial and naval invasion force of Refined Alter users results in a victory for the former. It's implied that this is because Kazuma and Ryuho are using Level 3 Alters juiced up from the other side and their enemies are a bunch of artificial alters who are level 1 at best.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadAss: Cougar. He's a powerful Alter User [[spoiler: probably the strongest Alter User in existence other than the protagonists and Mujo,]] and an odd individual who constantly talks about how he "shortens the world" with his speed.

* {{Determinator}}: If Kazuma can breathe, he can fight, and he pretty much never gives up. It takes [[spoiler:losing his best friend]] to make him slow down, and even then after a while he gets back up and keeps going. Ryuuhou is equally determined in both his pursuit of Kazuma and the Alter User that killed his mother.

* DumpThemAll: [[spoiler: In the anime, the Scheris/Mimori/Ryuhou love triangle ends with Scheris dead and Ryuhou rejecting Mimori despite his implied attraction to her because he feels it wouldn't be right. Although he displayed no attraction to Scheris either, she died for him because she loved him. So now that Mimori confessed her love for him, he fears her meeting the same fate so he turns her down and/or would be disrespectful to Scheris. In the manga, Scheris doesn't die and so she starts a relationship with him.]]

* GratuitousEnglish: Present in both the opening theme (Yasuaki Ide's "Reckless Fire") and the closing theme (Mikio Sakai's "Drastic My Soul", which gave us the infamous line [[IntentionalEngrishForFunny "I believe in drastic my soul!"]])

** Judging from other characters' assessments of him, this applies only to his being BookDumb; while he has virtually no formal education and isn't very sociable, he's shown to be very street smart and tactically deadly in a fight. As one of the others notes, "he isn't throwing his punches at random."

* BashBrothers: It took about 20 episodes but Ryuuhou and Kazuma eventually work together (on principle). It doesn't stop them from trying to bash each other's face in afterward but that's more of a friendly brawl than a fight to the death.

** Kidnap Kanami, and [[IdiotHero Kazuma]] and [[KnightTemplar Ryuho]] will [[BigBrotherInstinct hunt you down]].
* BigBrotherInstinct: Kazuma far and away for Kanami, given their age difference and how much he cares about her and keeping her safe. Surprisingly, [[spoiler:Ryuuhou develops this for her after he lost then regained his memories. She even calls him "Ryu-kun" like "Kazu-Kun".]]

* BizarreBabyBoom: Only children born in the Lost Ground develop Alter power.

* CallBack: When Kazuma first fights Ryuhou, [[spoiler:he gets his ass kicked, and tries to raise his arm and form a fist before collapsing.]] in the final episode, [[spoiler: an unidentified arm rises up and forms a fist.]]

* CoolCar: Cougar's secondary ability is to morph any car into a hot pink hot rod with incredible speed, though they are prone to explode after he's done with them.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: Kazuma eventually becomes...not "friends" as much as "rivals with an understanding" with [[spoiler: Tachibana]] after defeating him, but it took ''two'' defeats. In the main series, [[spoiler: Kazuma never defeats Ryuuhou but still comes to a similar relationship. The movie, Alteration, implies that he is the victor of their last fight.]]

-->'''Kazuma:''' So you must be the one who--
-->'''Mujo:''' Correct. I'm the one who refined her.
-->'''Kazuma:''' You'd better not be lying!
-->'''Mujo:''' You have my word of honor.

* GratuitousEnglish: Present in both the opening theme (Yasuaki Ide's "Reckless Fire") and the closing theme (Mikio Sakai's "Drastic My Soul", which gave us the infamous line [[IntentionalEngrishForfunny "I believe in drastic my soul!"]])

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Scheris' Alter "eternal devote" is aptly named because it requires her to "devote" her life to the person she's reviving.]]

---> '''Mujo:''' Stupid. You are so stupid.
---> '''Kazuma:''' Tell me something I don't already know!

** This was foreshadowed when Kazuma was trapped in Mad Sprict. Uneki attempted to conclude his "script" with Kazuma and Ryuho facing off in a LightHeartedRematch, ending with them becoming friends and equals. Kazuma refused this, knowing that neither he nor Ryuho would accept anything less than victory. This refusal ultimately freed Kazuma from Sprict.

* MotherlyScientist: Dr. Mimori Kiryu feels compassion for how Kazuma is tortured and lets him escape. Later she gets interested in the Inners. [[spoiler: (eventually forming a community with them) and becoming a school teacher.]]

One subset of Alter Users are "alloy-types", whose Alters form part of themselves, and one or two display the ability to affect other's Alters without summoning one themselves, but mostly the Alters are used like {{Mons}}... or, since a given person doesn't tend to acquire more than one. The nature of the superpowers varies from typical StockSuperpowers to really weird ideas: "Turn anything into water", "Turn any car into a pink [[Anime/SpeedRacer Mach 5]]", "Summon [[{{BFG}} an enormous gun]]" or even "[[ImaginationBasedSuperpower Do anything, as long as it involves watermelons]]".

* Foreshadowing: [[spoiler: The opening shows Kazuma or Ryuhou about to summon their alters, only to show a full body light display foreshadowing thier full body alloy-type alters much later in the series.]]

* Foreshadowing: [[spoiler: The opening shows Kazuma beginning to form Shell Bullet, only to show a full body light display foreshadowing his full body alloy-type Proud Fist much later in the series.]]

* Foreshadowing: [[spoiler: The opening shows Kazuma beginning to form Shell Bullet, only to show a full body light display foreshadowing his full body alloy-type Proud Fist much later in the series.

** Judging from other characters' assessments of him,, this applies only to his being BookDumb; while he has virtually no formal education and isn't very sociable, he's shown to be very street smart and tactically deadly in a fight. As one of the others notes, "he isn't throwing his punches at random."

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Kazuma has one when[[spoiler: Kimishima is killed and Kazuma goes off to utterly wreck the nearest HOLY unit to retrieve Kimishima's car . He goes off again when he sees yet another unit pushing through but this one included Scheris.]]

* BattleAura: Ryuhou and Kazuma both have one when particularly pumped up.
* BerserkButton:
** Calling Cougar slow pisses him off.

* CombatBreakdown: The final battle between Ryuho and Kazuma has the cycle through all their Altar forms and back down to normal. By the end, they can both only manage to summon a fraction of their power for one last strike (Kazuma armors his fist and Ryuho generates a small spike) and both collapse after the final blow.

* DeliberatelyBadExample(s): Lots of characters demonstrate Ryuuhou's sincerity by doing what he would do if he had ulterior motives. Several also demonstrate that Kazuma is a lot better than most of the alter-users out in the wild.
** "Big-Kun" shows the way a lot of the other alter users besides Kazuma use their powers to oppress others.
** Other unnamed villainous alter users in one of Mimori's historical flashbacks are shown proudly posing with their alters for the camera in front of the destruction they've just caused.
** The villainous behavior of certain normal human crime bosses out in the bad lands also stands in contrast to both Kazuma and Ryuhou's nobler intentions.
** George Tatsunami demonstrates a slave-driver's behavior in Ryuuhou's position.
** Emergy Maxfell demonstrates a development-arrested brat's behavior in his position.
** Sou Kigetsuki demonstrates a narcissistic sociopath's behavior in his position. Notably, he demonstrates this to an amnesiac ''Ryuuhou'', showing him the world from Kazuma's perspective - what he used to seem like to the Inners. Result: HeelFaceTurn. Kazuma still pisses him off by ''breathing'', but that's just TeethClenchedTeamwork.
** Kyoji Mujo demonstrates a power-hungry control freak's behavior in his position.
* {{Determinator}}:
** Definitely Kazuma has developed a brief philosophy regarding this trope: "If there's a wall in front of me, I break it down no matter what!" with the wall variously being "Ryuhou", "HOLY", "lack of medicine" and "Kujo Mojo".
** Ryuhou searched for the Crystal Alter for a decade and similarly breaks down "walls" in front of him.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The answer is [[spoiler:yes, Kazuma did, when Mujo returned from The Other Side looking like a CosmicHorror.]]

* PowersDoTheFighting: Ryuuho hangs back and allows his Altar, Zetsuei, to do most of the fighting for him. Ryuuho is one of the most powerful Altars in HOLY, and Zetsuei is more than capable of defending Ryuuho from attacks while dominating other Altars simultaneously. Kazuma taunts him about this early in the series, before Ryuuho socks him in the gut with his bare hand.

%%** [[spoiler:Possibly subverted in Alteration.]]
* AndTheAdventureContinues: The final scenes of the anime are Kazuma and Ryuho continuing to fight against ''someone'', likely mainland invaders. [[spoiler: This is also Alteration's ending.]]

* AnotherDimension: The source of Alter Power. [[spoiler:The Alter User that killed Ryuuhou's mother hails from this dimension, and is the true origin of Alter Power.

One subset of Alter Users are "alloy-types", whose Alters form part of themselves, and one or two display the ability to affect other's Alters without summoning one themselves, but mostly the Alters are used like {{Mons}}... or, since a given person doesn't tend to acquire more than one. The nature of the superpowers varies from typical StockSuperpowers to really weird ideas: "Turn anything into water", "Turn any car into a pink [[Anime/SpeedRacer Mach 5]]", "Summon [[{{BFG}} an enormous gun]]" or even "[[ImaginationBaseSuperpower Do anything, as long as it involves watermelons]]".

%%* AnotherDimension
* AntiHero:
** Kazuma is a jerk and a BloodKnight but he is very good hearted, although during his RoaringRampageOfRevenge he veers into KnightTemplar territory.
%%** Kimishima
* AntiMagic: Kaname has a mild version. She's able to ignore Unkei's Mad Sprict power without even noticing, and instantly deduces that Kigetsuki's Tokonatsu Sisters aren't actually human despite the fact that there's basically no way to tell on sight. Both can be attributed to her being a latent psychic.
* AntiVillain: Ryuhou is ruthless and inflexible when it comes to dealing with Alter criminals and dismisses the oppressive operating style of HOLY based on the idea that it is necessary. Urizane, Illian, and Scheris are all part of HOLY by such reasonable means as a paycheck or SubordinateExcuse. Cougar's motives are never really explained but based on his actions the only reason he counts as an "anti-villain" is by association with HOLY.
%%* AnyoneCanDie
* AmnesiacDissonance: [[spoiler: Ryuhou defends a settlement from a HOLY unit, after regarding them as evil. When he is told about his past, he finds it strange that he would oppress people in such a manner. He continues to do so even after recovering his memories.]]

* BashBrothers: It took about 20 episodes but Ryuho and Kazuma eventually work together (on principle). It doesn't stop them from trying to bash each other's face in afterward but that's more of a friendly brawl than a fight to the death.

* BigBrotherInstinct: Kazuma far and away for Kanami given their age difference and how much he cares about her and keeping her safe. Surprisingly, [[spoiler:Ryuho develops this for her after he lost then regained his memories. She even calls him "Ryu-kun" like "Kazu-Kun".]]
* BigDamnHeroes:
** Emergy Maxfell's alter invokes this trope. Due to severe trauma he experienced as a child, Emergy's Alter only activates when he feels he's in extreme peril ("a pinch situation", as he likes to call it), at which point a HumongousMecha bursts from the ground to "save him from the pinch".
** Kazuma and Ryuho get plenty of moments to save others.

* CallingYourAttacks: Many
** Kazuma/Cougar: "Shocking first bullet!" and variations.

** Others merely say the name of their alter itself when using it.
* ClingyJealousGirl: Scheris takes a dislike to Mimori merely because she is a love rival for Ryuho and spends as much time as she can with him.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadAss: Cougar. He's a might alter users [[spoiler: probably the strongest alter user in existence other than the protagonists and Mujo,]] and an odd individual who constantly talks about how he "shortens the world" with his speed.

* DeadlyUpgrade:
** [[spoiler:Upgrading one's Alter ability causes gradual but irreversible damage to one's body. (e.g., the [[SuperSpeed Speedster]] character walks oddly because when not in his superspeed form, his legs are "seriously messed up".) The unnatural version, as Courgar's is, seems to be more immediately damaging, while "natural" evolution is more gradual. Kazuma and Ryuhou both seem to suffer minor physical deformations from using their Alters, Kazuma moreso since his body-reshaping Alter modifies him at all three stages. Ryuhou has an independent Alter that just becomes a suit of armor at level 3, so his changes are minor.]]
** It seems to be implied that by [[spoiler:upgrading one's Alter ability, the damage eventually causes the person to die. Ayase holds on out of sheer willpower, but once her brother dies she loses all of the will to fight anymore and passes away. Cougar may or may not have died in the anime, but if he does then he goes out in a more peaceful manner, but dies far younger than he should have]].

* DefeatMeansFriendship: Kazuma eventually becomes...not "friends" as much as "rivals with an understanding" with [[spoiler: Tachibana]] after defeating him, but it took ''two'' defeats. In the main series [[spoiler: he never defeats Ryuhu but still comes to a similar relationship. The movie, Alteration, implies that he is the victor of their last fight.]]

* DefiantStoneThrow: A little boy confronts Ryuhou openly when a fight is going on between Ryuhou and adults in a given Inner settlement. Ryuhou says that he respects the boy for his courage and uses it as part of his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to the adults for sneaking around and taking hostages.
* DeliberatelyBadExample(s): Lots of characters demonstrate Ryuhou's sincerity by doing what he would do if he had ulterior motives. Several also demonstrate that Kazuma is a lot better than most of the alter-users out in the wild.

*** The argument is still in Kazuma's favor, as many [[NotSoDifferent similar]] examples simply joined HOLY and achieved their desires as compensation for service. Criminals have ulterior motives; authority has ''"privileges."''
** George Tatsunami demonstrates a slave-driver's behavior in Ryuhou's position.

** Sou Kigetsuki demonstrates a narcissistic sociopath's behavior in his position. Notably, he demonstrates this to an amnesiac ''Ryuhou'', showing him the world from Kazuma's perspective - what he used to seem like to the Inners. Result: HeelFaceTurn. Kazuma still pisses him off by ''breathing'', but that's just TeethClenchedTeamwork.

* DoubleEntendre:
** Asuka Tachibana's Alter is eight "treasure balls" so other meanings happen frequently.
** George Tatsunami and his "Big Magnum."
* TheDragon: Ryuhou is Commander Jigmar's best warrior, the one he sends to problem areas, and the biggest challenge to our AntiHero {{Protagonist}} Kazuma

* EvolvingCredits:
** There are at three basic versions of the opening, for Kazuma and Ryuhou and one for when they have equal focus, each with a different verse of the opening theme; each episode mixes elements together reflecting the episode and the plot to date. Only two episodes share the exact same opening credit sequence.

* FacelessMooks: The HOLD officers, the Darths, all wear masks. [[spoiler: This is to hide the fact that they are all refined alter users and people who have been brainwashed in working for HOLY.]]
* FingerlessGloves: Kazuma wears one on one hand, which he refuses to remove. It's possibly to hide scarring from overuse of his alter ability - certainly the scarring was there when we saw the glove removed later on in the series. In flashbacks his hand is bloodied and bandaged, hinting that as a child not knowing how to use his first-form alter he may have made some mistake in re-forming the split arm.
* GratuitousEnglish:
** Present in both the opening theme (Yasuaki Ide's "Reckless Fire") and the closing theme (Mikio Sakai's "Drastic My Soul", which gave us the infamous line [[IntentionalEngrishForfunny "I believe in drastic my soul!"]])

%%* HandsomeLech: Cougar.

* HowMuchMoreCanHeTake: The last part of the final battle sees both Kazuma and Ryuhou [[spoiler:burn out their alters completely and just start fighting each other barehanded.]]
* IAmNotLeftHanded: [[spoiler:Zetsuei's "little person" form is its basic form. Ryuhou learned how to transform it to the more dragon-like form pre-series and brought it out when Kazuma got powerful enough for him to need it.]]

* ImprobableWeaponUser:
** Urizane uses watermelons as his weapon. He frees energy darts from it. Perhaps people are willing to overlook the strangeness when they consider how he can do almost anything with them. He can make them grow huge until they crush you to death, turn an entire building into a watermelon for a second (thus destroying it when it turns back), and can even teleport, sort of, by stepping inside a giant watermelon, having it shrink to nothing, then having it grow anew in a different location, with him still inside it.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kazuma gives the reward money he earned for saving the mainland official in the first episode to a kid whose father was injured and couldn't work. He's a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Jerk With A Heart Of Gold]] from the start, at least up until [[spoiler: he fails to rescue the captive Native Alters from HOLY, Kimishima is killed, and he triggers the Second Uprising]], and he slips into an epic HeroicBSOD. He gets better, but he's a bit more cynical afterward. It's less him being bipolar and more him hiding what he does/is from Kanami in the beginning.

* RunningGag:
** Straight Cougar getting people's names wrong, e.g. "Minori" for Mimori and "Kazuya" for Kazuma. Kazuma himself occasionally does this too [[spoiler:which is foreshadowing the fact that Cougar raised Kazuma as a younger sibling figure.]].

* SacrificialRevivalSpell: Toward the end of the anime, [[spoiler: Scherris Adjani uses her "Eternal Devote" alter power on Ryuhou shortly after he's killed by BigBad Kyouji Mujo. His agony and gratitude upon seeing her deceased boost his power.]]

* SinglePowerSuperhero: Many alter-users have one and only one power, such as creating the "alter" {{Mon}} creature. Others can push this limitation like Straight. His ability to "make anything go faster!" can be used to grant himself super speed, create armor that enables him to move even faster, and the ability to turn any car into a bright pink hot rod so that it can move faster.

** Kazuma gets slapped around by Ryuhou in their first meeting, and [[spoiler: again in their second after Zetsuei shows that he's [[IAmNotLeftHanded not left handed]].]] Then, after it appears Ryuhou's won their third encounter [[spoiler: Kazuma whips out his second form... or at least he tries to. He loses control over it and sends himself and Ryuhou to the Other Side, and causes the Second Uprising.]]
** Ryuhou sees the Crystal after [[spoiler: he and Kazuma get thrown into the Other Side]], but he doesn't get a chance to fight him before he's blown away. The second time, [[spoiler: the crystal ''kills'' him, at least until Scheris revives him.]] The third fight [[spoiler: he wins, after fusing with Zetsuei.]]

* WideEyedIdealist: Mimori is one, evidenced by her insistence that the Lost Ground can be made into a peaceful and prosperous place without the heavy-handed approach of HOLY. She was even more of one as a child when she thought that Alter was universally a good thing. Several characters lampshade this, some more sardonicly than others.

* SmugSnake: Emergy Maxfell and Kigetsuki.
** Kyoji Mujo is a pretty smug bastard too.
** Also, George [[BigFreakingGun Tatsunami]]?

* SpotlightStealingSquad: Ryuho definitely gets the lion's share of screen time in the second half, and is in every episode, whereas Kazuma misses a few. In the finale, Kazuma is relegated to fighting Biff and a bunch of mooks while Ryuho fights the actual villains.

* SuperSpeed: Straight Cougar's ability.

* TunnelOfForeshadowing: Most versions of the opening sequence, but the opening changes both as the story progresses and acording to which character has the spotlight this episode.

* WickedCultured: Between his undeniably good fashion sense and condescending attitude towards Native Alters, Kyoji Mujo definitely qualifies for this Trope.
* WideEyedIdealist: Mimori is one. Several characters lampshade this, some more sardonicly than others.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Most, if not all, Alter users are usually missing a few screws. And those who aren't? Constant use of their power changes that.

* WordSaladTitle: The manga gives it a meaning, but otherwise... {{Fanon}} has appended it for [[spoiler:the name of Kanami's Alter, which lets her read minds]].
** Well, to "scry" is to see via magic or clairvoyance which is what she uses her alter for while dreaming, and she does seem to scry out the events of most of the episodes in this way, so it could relate to her Alter even if that isn't its name...
* WorthyOpponent: The first half of the show embodies this trope.
* ZettaiRyouiki: Scheris' cute and sexy uniform.

* MegatonPunch: Kazuma's basic ability. At his base level, he once punched a mook across a football field. In the finale, [[spoiler:he punches Mujo into ''another dimension''.]]
* MookHorrorShow: Kazuma's UnstoppableRage after [[spoiler:Kimishima's death]].
* MoralityPet: Kanami for Kazuma; Scheris for Ryuhou
* MotherlyScientist: Dr. Mimori Kiryu. Feeling compassion for how Kazuma is tortured, she lets him escape, and later gets interested in the Inners. [[spoiler: (eventually forming a community with them) ]]
* MotorMouth: Straight Cougar, of course.
* MutantDraftBoard: HOLY. Alter users have choice to either join or become a test subjects. It's a good deal, too, as HOLY doesn't really police its members; Inners are considered lowlife scum to be abused at will even by the normal members of the organization.

* NotQuiteFlight: Kazuma and Straight Cougar's alter ability provide a powerful acceleration for their attacks. Though this effect is used only for horizontal movement, they can achieve a pretty impressive flight time when propelling themselves from an elevated surface.
** Potentially averted with [[spoiler: Kazuma's second form]], which basically tacks a propeller onto their back. Though we're never shown just how long they can maintain flight, it is seen being used to hover for short periods, as well as gain higher ground.

* [[spoiler:NotQuiteDead: Straight Cougar. Turns out he really was just sleeping, as Alteration shows.]]
* ObliviousYoungerSibling: Kanami, though she's not blood related.
* OneDimensionalThinking: Averted in Straight Cougar's final battle
* OneSidedBattle
* OneWomanWail
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Kazuma and Ryuho view each other like this.

* PainfulTransformation: For Kazuma, once he gets his level 2 Alter.
* PersonalityPowers: Tachibana even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this when speaking about Kazuma.
* PowersDoTheFighting: Ryuuho hangs back and allows his Altar, Zetsuei, to do most of the fighting for him. Ryuuho is one of the most powerful Altars in HOLY, and Zetsuei is more than capable of defending Ryuuho from attacks while dominating other Altars simultaneously.
* PowerFist: Kazuma's, naturally.
* PowerOfRock: Akira and Mary Jane in the manga.
* PsychoForHire: George Tatsunami, and in the manga Urizane.
* PsychopathicManChild: Emergy Maxfell
* RealMenWearPink: Cougar not only dresses this way but transforms any car he's driving into a hot-pink street rod.
* ReallyDeadMontage: Several times.
* RedOniBlueOni: Kazuma and Ryuho, respectively.

* TheRival: Ryuhou.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Kazuma eventually has at least one of these, most notably midway when [[spoiler: Kimishima is killed and Kazuma goes off to utterly wreck the nearest HOLY unit to retrieve Kimishima's car back. He goes off again when he sees yet another unit pushing through but this one included Scheris.]]
* RunningGag: Straight Cougar getting people's names wrong. Kazuma occasionally does this too [[spoiler:which is foreshadowing the fact that Cougar raised Kazuma as a younger sibling figure.]]. Kimishima's mode of transport getting destroyed by accident is another one.
* SacrificialRevivalSpell: Toward the end of the anime, [[spoiler: Scherris Adjani finds and uses her "Eternal Devote" alter power on Ryuhou shortly after he's killed by BigBad Kyouji Mujo. His agony and gratitude upon seeing her deceased boost his power.]]

* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: This is HOLD's and Ryuho's attitude towards Mimori.
* SinglePowerSuperhero: Many alter-users have one and only one power. Others wind up with a couple completely unrelated powers (like Straight's super speed, armor, and ability to turn any car into a bright pink hot rod. Yeah.

* SmugSnake: Emergy Maxfell and Kigetsuki. Oh dear God, Kigetsuki!

One subset of Alter Users are "alloy-types", whose Alters form part of themselves, and one or two display the ability to affect other's Alters without summoning one themselves, but mostly the Alters are used like {{Mons}}... or, since a given person doesn't tend to acquire more than one, like [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Stands]]. The nature of the superpowers varies from typical StockSuperpowers to really weird ideas: "Turn anything into water", "Turn any car into a pink [[Anime/SpeedRacer Mach 5]]", "Summon [[{{BFG}} an enormous gun]]" or even "[[GreenLanternRing Do anything, as long as it involves watermelons]]".

The manga makes a number of changes from the anime. The anime uses subtle characterization and two mutually-antagonistic {{Antihero}} leads (the KnightTemplar and the IdiotHero) without overly favoring one or the other. The manga is more prone to {{Card Carrying Villain}}s and gives a different explanation as to the MetaOrigin of the Alters (EvolutionaryLevels). Actually, the ending of the manga is very much like [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann a later work we tropers love]] but with more gore, nudity, and profanity.

** There's also the novelist guy who attacks with paper. Though at least this is a last resort when his MoreThanMindControl gets broken.

* KnightTemplar: '''Ryuhou'''. [[spoiler: He gets better.]]
* LargeHam: Straight Cougar! Complete with Creator/CrispinFreeman voicing him in the dub.
* LightheartedRematch: Subverted. After teaming up and defeating the ConflictKiller, the two leads decide to fight it out to see who is best after all - but this takes up ''the entire [[GrandFinale last episode]]'' and is the longest and definitely most brutal fight in the entire series. It appears to end in a double knockout - but one last shot as the credits start imply that at least one is still moving. [[spoiler:A hand rises behind a curtain of dust, and does a gesture typical for Kazuma.]]
** Depending on how you interpret the ending, it may count as an EvasiveFightThreadEpisode as well.

* BigBrotherInstinct: Kazuma far and away for Kanami. Surprisingly, [[spoiler:Ryuho develops this for her after he lost then regained his memories.]]

* BizarreBabyBoom
* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:Kazuma's arm and eye are pretty messed up by the end.]]
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Biff once captured by HOLY. It's so bad that all he can say is "HAMMER!!" in different volumes and tones of voice.

* ConflictKiller: Nothing can stop Kazuma and Ryuhou's rivalry, except [[spoiler:Kyoji Mujo's EvilPlan]]. After they take care of him, they go back to beating each up.

* DefiantStoneThrow

** Sou Kigetsuki demonstrates a narcissistic sociopath's behavior in his position. Notably, he demonstrates this to an amnesiac ''Ryuhou'', showing him the world from Kazuma's perspective - what he used to seem like to the Inners. Result: HeelFaceTurn. Kazuma still pisses him off by ''breathing'', however.

* {{Determinator}}: Definitely Kazuma, and probably Ryuhou.

* DistantFinale: Doesn't really add much.
* DistractedFromDeath: [[spoiler:Kazuma starts carrying an injured Kimishima home, and doesn't notice until he gets there that Kimishima died along the way.]]

** Forget that! What about Tatsunami and his Magnum?

** The entire purpose of Asuka Tachibana in this series seems to be to invoke this trope, over and over again.

* TheDragon: Ryuhou, to Commander Jigmar. [[spoiler:Partial subversion in that Jigmar is more than capable of handing pre-fusion Ryuhou his ass, but if he uses his alter he ages decades in a matter of minutes.]]
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Straight Cougar.
* DumpThemAll: [[spoiler:The Scheris/Mimori/Ryuhou love triangle ends with Scheris dead and Ryuhou rejecting Mimori despite his implied attraction to her because he feels it wouldn't be right. Although he displayed no attraction to Scheris either, she died for him because she loved him. So now that Mimori confessed her love for him, he fears her meeting the same fate so he turns her down.]]
* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler: Biff]].
* EvolvingCredits: There are at three basic versions of the opening, for Kazuma and Ryuhou and one for when they have equal focus, each with a different verse of the opening theme; each episode mixes elements together reflecting the episode and the plot to date. Only two episodes share the exact same opening credit sequence.
** Also, whenever a character dies, their future appearance(s) in the opening become DeliberatelyMonochrome.
* FacelessMooks: The HOLD officers, the Darths
* FingerlessGloves: Kazuma wears one on one hand, which he refuses to remove.
** It's possibly to hide scarring from overuse of his alter ability - certainly the scarring was there when we saw the glove removed later on in the series.
** In flashbacks his hand is bloodied and bandaged, hinting that as a child not knowing how to use his first-form alter he may have made some mistake in re-forming the split arm.
* FiveManBand: Some of the more well-intentioned HOLY members could be seen as one.
** TheLeader: Ryuhou
** TheLancer: Cougar
** TheBigGuy: Urizane
** TheSmartGuy: Ilian
** TheChick: Scheris
* FramingDevice: Kanami's dream scrying.
* GeckoEnding: Inverted: the manga is an adaptation of the anime.
* GratuitousEnglish: Present in both the opening theme (Yasuaki Ide's "Reckless Fire") and the closing theme (Mikio Sakai's "Drastic My Soul", which gave us the infamous line [[IntentionalEngrishForfunny "I believe in drastic my soul!"]])
** Also, the eyecatch each episode uses.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: The first half is a battle of wills between a [[AntiHero chaotic]] [[HotBlooded rageaholic]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold who just wants to keep his independence]] and an [[TheRival equally determined]] [[AntiVillain cop]] [[KnightTemplar who will stop at nothing to bring peace to a lawless land.]] It's OrderVersusChaos instead of [[BlackAndWhiteMorality good vs evil]].

* HandsomeLech: Cougar.
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Urizane, despite being the guy who does stuff with watermelons, seems to be able to [[GreenLanternRing do just about anything]] as long as he's holding a watermelon.
* HeroAntagonist: Scheris, Illian, and Urizane. Cougar may be as well. Ryuhou is an [[KnightTemplar aversion]].
* HeroicSacrifice

* HotBlooded: Kazuma arguably qualifies. While he may slack at times, if he finds something he really cares about, he really goes at it.
* HowMuchMoreCanHeTake: The last part of the final battle. Kazuma and Ryuhou [[spoiler:burn out their alters completely and just start fighting each other normally.]]
* IAmNotLeftHanded: [[spoiler:Zetsuei]]
** It seems to be more of a justified [[PowerLimiter power limiter]] as their energy is drained a lot faster when using it.
* IJustWantToBeFree: Kazuma's main motivation is often freedom to do what he wants. He gets especially angry when Tachibana tries to convince him to join HOLY as he "could really be happy living in the city".

* IdiotHero: Kazuma
** Kazuma himself [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this.

** Judging from other characters' assessments of him, however, this applies only to his being BookDumb; while he has virtually no formal education and isn't very sociable, he's shown to be very street smart and tactically deadly in a fight. As one of the others notes, "he isn't throwing his punches at random."
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Urizane uses watermelons, and somehow this is not out of the ordinary.
** Or perhaps people are willing to overlook the strangeness when they consider how he can do almost anything with them. He can make them grow huge until they crush you to death, turn an entire building into a watermelon for a second (thus destroying it when it turns back, somehow), and can even teleport, sort of, by stepping inside a giant watermelon, having it shrink to nothing, then having it grow anew in a different location, with him still inside it.
** There's also the novelist guy who attacks with paper. Though at least this is a last resort when his MoreThanMindControl gets broken, and it was horrendously ineffective.
*** Of course part of that has to do with him fighting [[spoiler: unrestrained]] Zetsuei.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Oddly, Kazuma has to ''evolve'' into this from a bipolar personality... but Ryuhou is always like this.
** Debatable. Kazuma gives the reward money he earned for saving the mainland official in the first episode to a kid whose father was injured and couldn't work. He's a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Jerk With A Heart Of Gold]] from the start, at least up until [[spoiler: he fails to rescue the captive Native Alters from HOLY, Kimishima is killed, and he triggers the Second Uprising]], and he slips into an epic HeroicBSOD. He gets better, but he's a bit more cynical afterward. It's less him being bipolar and more him hiding what he does/is from Kanami in the beginning.

* Hey, It's that guy!: For Gundam fans, the two lead [=VAs=] in the Japanese version should be familiar. As basically it's Kira Yamato vs. Heero Yuy , I mean Kazuma Vs. Ryuhou

* BullyingADragon: When Kazuma ends up at an Alter fight club, he quickly becomes the strongest competitor. Regardless, he's technically a prisoner, the "technically" being the fact that the one and only thing keeping him there is what amounts to a HeroicBSOD. When Kazuma finally decides he wants to leave and explosively releases himself, two regular humans actually think it's a good idea to make him get back in his cell. Kazuma quickly schools them. Then there was the club leader, who tried to shoot him, only to think better of it after Kazuma warned against such an action.

* CallingYourAttacks
* ClingyJealousGirl: Scheris to Ryuho.
* CombatClairvoyance: Eventually, [[spoiler: Kyoji Mujo]]. It allows him to dodge any attack thrown at him... including those from a character who can move and react faster than the speed of sound.
* ConflictKiller: [[spoiler:Kyoji Mujo]]
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Kazuma and Ryuho vs a joint aerial and naval invasion force of Refined Alter users results in a victory for the former.

* DeadlyUpgrade: [[spoiler:Upgrading one's Alter ability causes gradual but irreversible damage to one's body. (e.g., the [[SuperSpeed Speedster]] character walks oddly because when not in his superspeed form, his legs are "seriously messed up".) The unnatural version, as Courgar's is, seems to be more immediately damaging, while "natural" evolution is more gradual. Kazuma and Ryuhou both seem to suffer minor physical deformations from using their Alters, Kazuma moreso since his body-reshaping Alter modifies him at all three stages. Ryuhou has an independent Alter that just becomes a suit of armor at level 3, so his changes are minor.]]

* DefeatMeansFriendship: Averted, not for Kazuma.
* DefenceMechanismSuperpower: Emergy Maxfell, as noted in BigDamnHeroes.

** [[spoiler:Possibly subverted in Alteration.]]
* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler: Alteration's ending.]]

** Kazuma is, [[GoodIsNotNice if not terribly heroic]], very good hearted, although during his RoaringRampageOfRevenge he veers into KnightTemplar territory.

* AntiVillain: Ryuhou is a [[WellIntentionedExtremist Type III]] with a dash of [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Type II]] thrown in. Urizane, Illian, and Scheris are all [[HeroAntagonist Type IV]]. Cougar may be a Type III or a Type IV; his motives are never really explained.
* AnyoneCanDie
* AmnesiacDissonance: [[spoiler: Ryuhou defends a settlement from a HOLY unit. Slight subversion in that he continues to do so even after recovering his memories.]]
* AwesomeMcCoolname: ''Straight Cougar''.
** And his Alter ''Radical Good Speed''.
%%* BadassNormal: Kimishima
* BashBrothers: It took almost 20 episodes but Ryuho and Kazuma eventually work together (on principle). Doesn't stop them from trying to bash each other's face in afterward.

* BerserkButton: Call Cougar slow.
** That's nothing. Kidnap Kanami, and [[IdiotHero Kazuma]] and [[KnightTemplar Ryuho]] will [[BigBrotherInstinct hunt you down]].

** It seems to be implied that by [[spoiler:upgrading one's Alter ability, the damage eventually causes the person to die. Ayase holds on out of sheer willpower, but once her brother dies she loses all of the will to fight anymore and passes away. Cougar goes out in a more peaceful manner, but dies far younger than he should have]].