History ComicBook / BrodysGhost

[[quoteright:328:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s_Ghost_03_5822.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:328:The two protagonists meet for the first time. Not the most auspicious of starts.]]

* AlwaysNeedWhatYouGaveUp: Because of Brody's repeated efforts to safeguard Nicole, he inadvertently makes enemies with the mob and the police. He buries his kanazuchi (wood and metal club) in the corner of a vacant lot to be inconspicuous. [[Spoilet:Shortly after, he concludes that visiting Taila's mother is the best option left for finding the Penny Murderer and saving Nicole, which ends up causing him to cut ties with Talia herself. Unfortunately, while heading back to the city after getting a vital hint from the visit by train, he dozes off and gets cornered by the police. While he manages to slip away for a moment, he is soon locked into a glass corridor with a pissed Talia watching. Without his kanazuchi, he is forced to beg for Talia's help, which puts him in a prime position for her to blackmail him into killing the Penny Murderer.]]

* AlwaysNeedWhatYouGaveUp: Because of his repeated efforts to safeguard Nicole, he inadvertently makes enemies with the mob and the police. He buries his kanazuchi (wood and metal club) in the corner of a vacant lot to be inconspicuous. Shortly after, he concludes that visiting Taila's mother is the best option left for finding the Penny Murderer and saving Nicole, which ends up causing him to cut ties with Talia herself. Unfortunately, while heading back to the city after getting a vital hint from the visit by train, he dozes off and gets cornered by the police. While he manages to slip away for a moment, he is soon locked into a glass corridor with a pissed Talia watching. Without his kanazuchi, he is forced to beg for Talia's help, which puts him in a prime position for her to blackmail him into killing the Penny Murderer.

* ArcWords: "Purity". During Kagemura's training, Brody receives the ability to break the spirit of those impure of heart, and Kagemura specifically identifies Brody as someone pure of heart that stands in contrast to the corrupt city around him. The Penny Murderer [[spoiler:kills women that he believes are pure because he wants to keep them from being corrupted.]]
* BeingGoodSucks: [[spoiler: All Brody wants is to protect his ex-girlfriend from a serial killer, but because of his situation, no one other than his friend Gabe believes he has powers, and thinks he's either a crazy stalker that's obsessed with his ex, or a pathetic loser that's desperate for the reward money of capturing the Penny Murderer, often leading to him getting into fights and getting his home vandalized. Because of this, his ex-girlfriend hates him, and calls the police on him after getting back at the guy who vandalized his home (who just happens to be her new boyfriend). It doesn't help that he was tricked by Talia to become her instrument of vengeance against said serial killer, either. Poor guy can't catch a break.]] It's summed up by Brody himself, when all's said and done:

* BeYourself: Deconstructed. Kagemura demands that Brody destroy all but his most essential belongings so he can focus on his training, to which Brody refuses, citing that Kagemura is trying to change who he is. Given that at this point Brody has proven to be an out of shape slacker who let one break up ruin his life, Talia rightly points out that he ''needs'' to change who he is, because who he currently is is ''not'' good.

* ConsummateLiar: [[spoiler: Talia. She's sincere about wanting to see the Penny Murderer brought to justice, but beyond that, everything she said about herself prior to Brody learning the truth either happened to someone else, were half-truths, or outright lies.]]
* CrapsackWorld: The story takes place in a trashy urbanized environment where biker gangs run unhindered, and the police are controlled by the mob. This is actually integral to the main plot; [[spoiler:the world being corrupt and horrible is one of the reasons the Penny Murderer murders "pure" young women, to "save" them from being corrupted.]]

* GoodIsNotNice: Brody's a hot tempered slacker, Talia's a sardonic teen ghost, and Kagemura is the ancient Japanese equivalent to a grouchy old man, but all three are ultimately good people.

* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler: Talia. She uses a cover story of GhostlyGoals, and the offer of a bounty to convince Brody to play along with her revenge scheme against the Penny Murderer. When Brody proves too uncooperative and moral for her liking, and defies her request to not see her mother for information, she lets him get caught by the police, and then extracts a promise to kill the Penny Murderer under threat of torture and death by corrupt police. And when the moment arrives, and he proves unwilling to kill him, she waits until the last second while Landon prepares to shoot, then possesses Brody to move him out of the line of fire, keeping Brody safe, and causing Landon to kill the Penny Murderer.]]
* MindOverMatter: Part of the standard ghostseer power.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Brody isn't exactly happy being forced to work on a MurderMystery with Talia, and vice versa. The two do develop a rapport, [[spoiler: but they end up back to this when Brody learns just how much Talia has hid from him.]]

* TheyFightCrime: One's a "scuzzy" slacker human who has ghostseeing powers and whose life is a wreck, the other is a proactive, snarky teenage ghost girl.

* ZettaiRyouiki: Talia wears thigh-high stockings and a pleated skirt.