History Anime / SpeedGrapher

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Showing some GenreSavvy, Dr. Nishiya compares having the Euphoric virus to being a vampire -- especially the modern kind wherein vampirism is actually given a scientific explanation. Like vampires, euphorics have some impressive benefits to their powers, but also some quite negative drawbacks. Also true, but unmentioned, is how both exhibit the InterplayOfSexAndViolence.

* YouKilledMyFather: The Group generally preemptively addresses this by paying off the survivors. Suitengu personally [[GenreSavvy advises]] a boy whose father had failed a payment deadline on how he should go about holding up his end of the PrepareToDie part.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Ginza. The fact that she betrayed Kagura back to her mother and Suitengu then threw Saiga in jail after raping him is never mentioned or acted on afterwords]].
*** Arguably, [[spoiler: Kagura's EvilMatriarch mother, who though she was killed in the end by Suitengu, is generally fondly remembered by her daughter, though this could be all a part of Kagura's [[TheWoobie Woobieness]]]].
*** You could also count [[spoiler: Niihari, since thanks to Suitengu's machinations, he ends up as possibly the wealthiest person in Japan]]. This isn't a case where the audience feels ''that'' bad, since the character is sort of sympathetic. Not to mention, his end goal is to build a monument to honor his dead friends and savior, which is rather noble. The methods he's shown to accomplish this, however... not so much.

''Speed Grapher'' (スピードグラファー, ''Supiido Gurafaa'') is a 2005 anime series, created by {{Creator/GONZO}} Digimation and ToeiAnimation[[note]]Through their studio in the Philippines[[/note]], and with character designs by [[VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes Yusuke]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Ko]][[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates zaki.]] The series ran for 24 episodes from April to October 2005. The series was licensed for release in North America by [=FUNimation=] Entertainment in 2006 and has been showing on IFC since March 7, 2008.

* {{Badass}}
** BadassLongcoat: Saiga himself, though he doesn't always wear one. Suitengu also rocks a nice white fur lined version.
** BadassNormal: Hibari Ginza (also a BadassBiker).

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/speedgraphertitle2_2948.jpg ]]

* RealSongThemeTune: Sing with us, tropers: ''[[DuranDuran Girls on Film ~]]''

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: [[spoiler:Ginza, on an unconscious Saiga]]. But in keeping with the deconstructive tone, it ''was'' portrayed as incredibly screwed up, and just makes her feel worse about herself.

''Speed Grapher'' (スピードグラファー, ''Supiido Gurafaa'') is a 2005 anime series, created by {{Creator/GONZO}} Digimation and ToeiAnimation[[note]]Through their studio in the Philippines[[/note]], and with character designs by [[VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes Yusuke]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Ko]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates zaki.]] The series ran for 24 episodes from April to October 2005. The series was licensed for release in North America by [=FUNimation=] Entertainment in 2006 and has been showing on IFC since March 7, 2008.

''Speed Grapher'' (スピードグラファー, ''Supiido Gurafaa'') is a 2005 anime series, created by {{Creator/GONZO}} Digimation and ToeiAnimation[[note]]Through their studio in the Philippines[[/note]]. The series ran for 24 episodes from April to October 2005. The series was licensed for release in North America by [=FUNimation=] Entertainment in 2006 and has been showing on IFC since March 7, 2008.

* TransformationTrauma: Saiga, Suitengu and Tsujido are the only ones that do NOT go bonkers when they use their powers.

* MayDecemberRomance: Kagura is 15, Saiga is 33. [[spoiler:Which is probably why they decide to wait five years before getting back together]].

* MacGuffinSuperPerson: Kagura, the daughter of a supermodel-turned-financial-superpower, can also turn people's fantasies to real superpowers with her kiss. The entire series is about rescuing her ''from'' her family.

* PlayingWithSyringes: The source of Suitengu's powers. Also includes a BloodbathVillainOrigin when people try to cover up the experiments by shooting at the tank he was stored in in [[Franchise/{{X-Men}} Weapon X style]].

* BodyguardCrush: Saiga, towards Kagura.

* FemmeFatalons: Madame Kouganei in her diamond form.

** Not really. [[spoiler:Saiga didn't orgasm, and the reason is that, being infected with the Euphoria virus, he can't orgasm unless he takes photos, which cause explosions. And the fact remains that her obsessive feelings for Saiga are just never requited]].

* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Saiga always says "It's not like that!" he's asked if he loves Kagura.

It starts when the [[DeadpanSnarker cynical and jaded]] IntrepidReporter Tatsumi Saiga is sent to investigate a fetish club for the richest in Japan, whose "goddess" is a teenager named [[MysteriousWaif Kagura]]. She's an odd, waifish young girl with the power to give people super-powers coming from their [[{{Fetish}} desires, obsessions and fetishes]]; when she [[KissOfLife kisses Saiga]] during their first encounter, she grants him the power to [[StuffBlowingUp destroy anything he takes a photo of]], related to the sexual pleasure he gets from photographing something really interesting.

His curiosity piqued, Saiga decides to learn more about Kagura and her powers, then vows to free her from the Roppongi Club and the Tennouzu corrupt group (whose head is Kagura's [[EvilMatriarch ruthless mother]], Shinzen) that cruelly uses the girl for their own purposes...

* SexIsEvil: Well, fetishes are evil. The series seems to be on the fence about whether vanilla (i.e. consensual) sex is bad, but if you've got a sexual fetish of any sort, even one that sounds utterly harmless (diamond fetish, tattoo fetish), you're going to do horrible, horrible things to satisfy it. This is part of an overall anti-perversion moral, hammered home brutally. Saiga, and to a lesser extent Tsujido and [[spoiler: Suitengu]], appear to be inured.

** Shinzen underfeeds, slaps, belittles, and pimps Kagura to Suitengu, as revenge because [[spoiler: Kagura's father ran out on them when she was pregnant.]]
** Two people whom Suitengu deals with also abuse their kids. [[spoiler: He even kills one of them when he offers his daughter as a sex slave for him, unknowingly hitting Suitengu's BerserkButton.]]

* AnimatedTattoo: One of the minor euphorics.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler: Saiga to Kagura in episode 24.]]
** Bob also sort of declares his love for Saiga once or twice, though this is more for comedic effect.

** Chouji Suitengu is a HUGE bastard, but he genuinely cares for his henchmen and shows a softer spot for children [[spoiler: since he thought his sister died.]]

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: this is probably why Ginza ends up working as a nurse in war-torn countries]]
* AttemptedRape: [[spoiler: Dr. Nishiya, on Kagura]]
* AuthorAppeal: Several of the Euphorics have a OneWingedAngel form that incorporates spiders- probably to up the creepiness.

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Saiga mostly faces hard-to-be-photographed Euphoriacs, but once he manages to do so...

** BadassLongcoat: Saiga himself, though he doesn't always wear one. Suitengu also rocks a nice white fur lined version
** BadassNormal: Hibari Ginza (also a BadassBiker)
* BareYourMidriff: Ginza(in the opening credits)
* [[spoiler:TheBadGuyWins: Subverted. Suitengu achieves his main goal of creating a worldwide depression, but it isn't a DownerEnding-life simply goes on, while Kagura and Saiga find happiness.]]
* BigEater: Kamiya is one of the most grotesque version of the trope.
* BlessedWithSuck: Saiga's superpower make everything he photographs explode, keeping him from following his passion for photography. [[spoiler: And in the end, it renders him blind.]]

* BreakTheCutie: Poor Kagura

* BreakTheHaughty: Poor Suitengu

* CatchPhrase: Ginza's "Self defense!"
* ChildSoldiers: [[spoiler: Suitengu started as one of these]]

* CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds: [[spoiler: Ginza and Dr. Ryougoku]]

* CorruptBureaucrat: Seemingly every single person in the Japanese government and from what is shown/implied of other countries- possibly all politicians- see CrapsackWorld.

* CursedWithAwesome: Most Euphorics rather enjoy their superpowers, usually not minding the downsides.
** As the Euphoric virus physically [[BodyHorror manifests]] a persons fetishes, and most of the Euphorics weren't [[AxeCrazy nice people]] to begin with this makes perfect sense.

* DistantFinale: As the credits role, there's an epilogue that brings us up to date on the fates of both major and minor characters.

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: In spite of the moral against sexual abberation, much of the {{Fanservice}} that occurs in this series is, indeed, increadibly ''hot.''
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: [[spoiler:Ginza, on an unconscious Saiga.]] But in keeping with the deconstructive tone, it ''was'' portrayed as incredibly screwed up.
* TheDragon: Tsujido, to Suitengu. Suitengu himself, to Shinzen.
* DressedAllInRubber - Katsuya Shirogane's body becomes a rubber gimp suit when he was killing people.

** Only in the dub, though, which would mean that any connection to George Bush is more likely the result of the American dubbing company than the Japanese production company. In the original Japanese version, the American politicians speak their lines in English, but use Japanese voice actors to do so. Their accents, therefore, are impossible to link to any real life US politicians.

* EvilMatriarch: Shinzen

* EyeScream: via FridgeLogic. At the end [[spoiler:you just see blood gushing from Saiga's eyes, and afterwards they're closed or covered by sunglasses]]; does that mean [[spoiler:his ''eyes exploded'']]?
* FallingChandelierOfDoom: Used to cover Saiga's escape the first he enters the secret circle.

** This is series that can even ''successfully'' show a GirlOnGirlIsHot scene with both parties being attractive, yet it still comes off as horrifying and depraved while still being played totally straight.
* FastForwardToReunion: At the end of the series [[spoiler: Kagura, now an adult, comes back to Saiga and embraces him.]]
* FemmeFatale: Ginza

* FourEyesZeroSoul: Suitengu

* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Saiga to Kagura in episode 3

* GoOutWithASmile: Rather madly played around with [[spoiler: Ekoda.]] Also, [[spoiler: Shinzen.]]

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler: Shinzen.]]
* HeelRealization: [[spoiler: Ginza]]

* HeroicComedicSociopath: Ginza. "SELF DEFENSE!" ''BANG!'' [[spoiler: She gets better.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Saiga

** Also, the reason whyb [[spoiler: a BSOD-ing Ginza didn't kill Kagura despite clearly wanting to do so]] in the end is because [[spoiler: Saiga asked her to save Kagura.]]
* IHaveTheHighGround: Saiga, in the OP
* IntrepidReporter: Saiga, just Saiga
* IOweYouMyLife: Tsujido, Makado and Niihari were rescued from slavery and torture by Suitengu. Also, Saiga owes his life to Kagura and her KissOfDeath.
* IllGirl: Kagura, who has a brain tumor and isn't expected to live for long. [[spoiler: She lives, in the end.]]

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Ginza. The fact that she betrayed Kagura back to her mother and Suitengu then threw Saiga in jail after raping him is never mentioned or acted on afterwords.]]
** Not really. [[spoiler:Saiga didn't orgasm, and the reason is that, being infected with the Euphoria virus, he can't orgasm unless he takes photos, which cause explosions]].
*** Arguably, [[spoiler: Kagura's EvilMatriarch mother, who though she was killed in the end by Suitengu, is generally fondly remembered by her daughter, though this could be all a part of Kagura's [[TheWoobie Woobieness]]. ]]

* MakeMeWannaShout: [[spoiler: Ochiai.]]
* MayContainEvil: Suitengu used the Tennuozu megacorp to [[spoiler: distribute products that contained a chemical that would lower people's inhibitions, making them more violent]]
* MayDecemberRomance: Kagura is 15, Saiga is 33.
* MoneyToBurn: Suitengu smokes cigarettes wrapped in 10,000 Yen bills. (~$100)
** ''Chain'' smokes, and has a habit of tossing one aside half finished and lighting another one.

* MurderTheHypotenuse: Ginza admits she'd love to kill Kagura. [[spoiler: She doesn't go through it.]]
* MysteriousWaif: Kagura
* NastyParty: [[spoiler: In the final episode, Suitengu invites a bunch of particularly important, and corrupt people to the Roppongi Club and then blows it up with them inside]]

* TheNoseKnows: Tsujido's primary ability, part of [[spoiler: turning into a big wolf monster.]]

* NotAllowedToGrowUp: Kagura, who's injected with a strange substance that stunts her growth on a regular basis.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Showing some GenreSavvy, Dr. Nishiya compares having the Euphoric virus to being a vampire - especially the modern kind wherein vampirism is actually given a scientific explanation. Like vampires, euphorics have some impressive benefits to their powers, but also some quite negative drawbacks. Also true, but unmentioned, is how both exhibit the InterplayOfSexAndViolence.
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: [[spoiler: as shown in the final episode, Tsujido's full euphoric form involves turning into a wolf.]]

* PetHomosexual: Bob, Saiga's friend and neighbor. Who also is one of the few completely decent people in the series, doubling as Saiga's OnlySaneMan friend, which Saiga does appreciate (though not romantically).

** Suitengu's pardoning of play money girl's father is another example. [[spoiler: Killing the guy when he offers to sell his own daughter is an arguable example.]]

* [[PresidentEvil Prime Minister Evil]]- and how!

* RabidCop: Ginza, a rare female example

* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler: Suitengu sees Kagura as a replacement for his dead little sister, Yui. Saiga lampshades the trope when he directly asks this question in the GrandFinale.]]

* SexIsEvil: Well, fetishes are evil. The series seems to be on the fence about whether vanilla sex is bad, but if you've got a sexual fetish of any sort, even one that sounds utterly harmless (diamond fetish, tattoo fetish), you're going to do horrible, horrible things to satisfy it. This is part of an overall anti-perversion moral, hammered home brutally. Saiga, and to a lesser extent Tsujido and [[spoiler: Suitengu]], appear to be inured.
* ShadowArchetype: Suitengu has some of this in relation to Saiga, as both have very similar perspectives on the world; they just act on them very differently, and have an even closer bond in sharing a MetaOrigin [[spoiler: both contracted the virus allowing them to become Euphorics on the same island- Saiga as a photographer; Suitengu as a young soldier]]. There's also [[spoiler: Ochiai]], who was someone Saiga considered an inspiration, but turns out to be evil, and a fellow Euphoric, and keeps pulling NotSoDifferent on Saiga during their fight.

** Pulled off successfully by Saiga a few episodes later [[spoiler: when Suitengu tries to marry Kagura]], with the help of a few cameras...
*** Though it didn't do much good [[spoiler:other than getting her away from Suitengu as the paperwork required for marriage was already done before the ceremony. So Suitengu actually succeeded in the marriage.]]

* StalkerWithACrush: Ginza

* TearsOfBlood: [[spoiler: Saiga, during his last fight with Suitengu.]]
** Also, the victims of [[spoiler: Seiji Ochiai and his sound manipulation power.]]
** Not to mention, Suitengu [[spoiler: when he mercy-kills Yui.]]

* ThanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Suitengu knew he didn't have long to live and planned on his complex being destroyed with himself inside. Also in the complex is tons of money and investments, and since there's been lots of shady deals by powerful people, destroying the building means destroying the world's economy- and this happens exactly according to plan.]]
** [[spoiler: Japan's economy, not the entire world's, though the rest of the world ''would'' suffer.]]

* TheVirus: The Euphoria virus

* UnflinchingWalk: Saiga away from [[spoiler:Ginza shooting at him. Granted, she was having a hard time bringing herself to hit him.]]
* WellDoneSonGuy: [[spoiler: Poor Miharu.]]

* WomanScorned: The ''true'' reason (aside of jealousy) why Shinzen is so cruel to Kagura is because [[spoiler: she has believed for at least 15 years that her husband and Kagura's father, Dr. Kazuki Odawara, abandoned her right after their marriage, when she was still pregnant with Kagura.]] It turns out [[spoiler: she was wrong. The guy was late, and then died days later, though it's ambiguous if he was murdered or if he committed suicide over the fact he didn't make it in time.]]
** Which she learned ''just'' [[spoiler:as she was dying, causing her to leave the world regretting pretty much everything, especially how she'd treated her only child. [[LaserGuidedKarma This may well be deserved]].]]

* XanatosGambit: Suitengu's marriage ceremony with [[spoiler: Kagura.]] The paperwork was already completed and so there was no point if someone interupted it. If someone did, then he could justify any [[BigBrotherInstinct protective brotherly]] [[MySisterIsOffLimits feelings]] for his ReplacementGoldfish. If someone did, then he wouldn't feel bad losing her to that person. Considering that he [[spoiler: deliberately spares Saiga at the end]] the latter may be the case.
* [[spoiler: YouAreTooLate: The well-intentioned extremist variation- while Saiga manages to prevent Suitengu from killing Kagura (or at least talks him out of it), he fails to stop Suitengu from killing the movers and shakers of Japanese society and literally blowing up the world economy- but both are sort of treated as a good thing. Also worth noting is that Saiga only lives because Suitengu decided to save his life before carrying out his ThanatosGambit.]]

* YouKilledMyFather: The Group generally preemptively addresses this by paying off the survivors. Suitengu personally [[GenreSavvy advises]] a boy who's father had failed a payment deadline on how he should go about holding up his end of the PrepareToDie part.

* XanatosGambit: Suitengu's marriage ceremony with [[spoiler: Kagura.]] The paperwork was already completed and so there was no point if someone interupted it. If someone did, then he could justify any [[BigBrotherInstinct protective brotherly]] [[MySisterIsOffLimits feelings]] for his ReplacementGoldfish. If someone did, then he wouldn't feel bad lossing her to that person. Considering that he [[spoiler: deliberately spares Saiga at the end]] the latter may be the case.

* {{Eagleland}}: Major type two. America launches missiles at Tokyo at the end of the series [[spoiler: to kill Suitengu, who is "evidence" of the biological weapon experimentation program of which America had a part in sponsoring]]. Judging by the accent, the President is definitely GeorgeWBush.

''Speed Grapher'' (スピードグラファー, ''Supiido Gurafaa'') is a 2005 anime series, created by {{Creator/GONZO}} Digimation and ToeiAnimation[[note]]Through their studio in the Philippines[[/note]]. The series ran for 24 episodes from April to October 2005. The series was licensed for release in North America by [[FUNimation [=FUNimation=]]] Entertainment in 2006 and has been showing on IFC since March 7, 2008.

* SexIsEvil: Well, fetishes are evil. The series seems to be on the fence about whether vanilla sex is bad, but if you've got a sexual fetish of any sort, even one that sounds utterly harmless (diamond fetish, tattoo fetish), you're going to do horrible, horrible things to satisfy it. This is part of an overall anti-perversion moral, hammered home brutally.

** This isn't precisely accurate. Most Euphorics are vicious, but that's by design because most Euphorics were infected as Roppongi Club members, who'd have to be vicious to tolerate the Roppongi Club's heinousness. It's money, power and unaccountability that corrupt; Saiga and Tsujibo are morally grey but not nearly so wicked, despite their unabashed perversion, and they didn't pay the Club for their Euphoria. Suitengu's a right bastard, but he's also [[spoiler: very anti-perversion and also deceiving everyone but his associates. And them too,]] to some extent.

''Speed Grapher'' (スピードグラファー, ''Supiido Gurafaa'') is a 2005 anime series, created by {{GONZO}} Digimation and ToeiAnimation[[note]]Through their studio in the Philippines[[/note]]. The series ran for 24 episodes from April to October 2005. The series was licensed for release in North America by [[FUNimation [=FUNimation=]]] Entertainment in 2006 and has been showing on IFC since March 7, 2008.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Ginza. The fact that she betrayed Kagura back to her mother and Suitengu then threw Saiga in jail after raping him is never mentioned or acted on afterwords.]]
** Arguably, [[spoiler: Kagura's EvilMatriarch mother, who though she was killed in the end by Suitengu, is generally fondly remembered by her daughter, though this could be all a part of Kagura's [[TheWoobie Woobieness]]. ]]
** You could also count [[spoiler: Niihari, since thanks to Suitengu's machinations, he ends up as possibly the wealthiest person in Japan]]. This isn't a case where the audience feels ''that'' bad, since the character is sort of sympathetic. Not to mention, his end goal is to build a monument to honor his dead friends and savior, which is rather noble. The methods he's shown to accomplish this, however... not so much.

* ShoutOut: To Creator/StanleyKubrick's ''EyesWideShut''. Compare the orgy scenes and the outfits of those who partake in them.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Ginza, on an unconscious Saiga. But in keeping with the deconstructive tone, it ''was'' portrayed as incredibly screwed up.

* ActorAllusion: Suitengu is voiced by Creator/ToshiyukiMorikawa who also voices Sephiroth. There's a scene where Suitengu flies with his wings that invites comparison to Sephiroth, and the characters look similar to begin with.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Ginza. The fact that she betrayed Kagura back to her mother and Suitengu then threw Saiga in jail after a friendly rape is never mentioned or acted on afterwords.]]

* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/HiroYuki aka [[WeissKreuz Omi Tsukiyono]] plays Tsujido. Now, think of ''that'' for a second.

* PlayingAgainstType: HiroYuki aka [[WeissKreuz Omi Tsukiyono]] plays Tsujido. Now, think of ''that'' for a second.