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''Bladedance of Elementalers'', known in Japanese as ''Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance'', is a LightNovel series written by Creator/YuShimizu with illustrations by Hanpen Sakura (from volumes 1 to 13), Yuuji Nimura (14-16) and Kohada Shimesada (17-20), which was published for 20 volumes from 2010 to 2019. Also called "Blade Dance of the Elementalers". It has a manga adaptation illustrated by Hyouju Issei that was serialized in ''Magazine/MonthlyComicAlive'' from 2012 to 2016, and an anime adaptation that aired on July 14, 2014, and ran for 12 episodes.
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''Bladedance of Elementalers'', known in Japanese as ''Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance'', is a LightNovel series written by Creator/YuShimizu Yu Shimizu with illustrations by Hanpen Sakura (from volumes (volumes 1 to 13), Yuuji Nimura (14-16) and Kohada Shimesada (17-20), which was published for 20 volumes from 2010 to 2019. Also called "Blade Dance of the Elementalers". It has a manga adaptation illustrated by Hyouju Issei that was serialized in ''Magazine/MonthlyComicAlive'' from 2012 to 2016, and an anime adaptation that aired on July 14, 2014, and ran for 12 episodes.
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* ShoutOut: At one point, a spirit named [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Balrog]] shows up.
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Dewicked trope
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* BladeOnAStick: Ellis's elemental weapon is a spear.
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By TRS decision
Whip It Good is now a disambiguation page. Moving entries to appropriate tropes when possible.
Whip It Good is now a disambiguation page. Moving entries to appropriate tropes when possible.* ElementalWeapon: Claire's Elemental Waffe is a flame whip named Flame Tongue.
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* WhipItGood: Claire's Elemental Waffe is a flame whip named Flame Tongue.
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Now defunct
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* MagicKiss: After the events of Volume 10, whenever Kamito kisses a girl, her power is boosted. This is because [[spoiler: he is transferring a bit of the Darkness Elemental Lord's power, which awakened in him during his fight with Rubia.]]
** Also works as an aphrodisiac, causing a couple scenes of ADateWithRosiePalms.
** Also works as an aphrodisiac, causing a couple scenes of ADateWithRosiePalms.
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* MagicKiss: After the events of Volume 10, whenever Kamito kisses a girl, her power is boosted. This is because [[spoiler: he is transferring a bit of the Darkness Elemental Lord's power, which awakened in him during his fight with Rubia.]]
** Also works]] It also serves as an aphrodisiac, causing a couple scenes of ADateWithRosiePalms.aphrodisiac.
** Also works
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''Bladedance of Elementalers'', known in Japanese as ''Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance'', is a LightNovel series written by Yū Shimizu with illustrations by Hanpen Sakura (from volumes 1 to 13), Yuuji Nimura (14-16) and Kohada Shimesada (17-20), which was published for 20 volumes from 2010 to 2019. Also called "Blade Dance of the Elementalers". It has a manga adaptation illustrated by Hyouju Issei that was serialized in ''Magazine/MonthlyComicAlive'' from 2012 to 2016, and an anime adaptation that aired on July 14, 2014, and ran for 12 episodes.
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''Bladedance of Elementalers'', known in Japanese as ''Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance'', is a LightNovel series written by Yū Shimizu Creator/YuShimizu with illustrations by Hanpen Sakura (from volumes 1 to 13), Yuuji Nimura (14-16) and Kohada Shimesada (17-20), which was published for 20 volumes from 2010 to 2019. Also called "Blade Dance of the Elementalers". It has a manga adaptation illustrated by Hyouju Issei that was serialized in ''Magazine/MonthlyComicAlive'' from 2012 to 2016, and an anime adaptation that aired on July 14, 2014, and ran for 12 episodes.
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Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
''Bladedance of Elementalers'', known in Japanese as ''Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance'', is a LightNovel series written by Yū Shimizu with illustrations by Hanpen Sakura (from volumes 1 to 13), Yuuji Nimura (14-16) and Kohada Shimesada (17-20), which was published for 20 volumes from 2010 to 2019. Also called "Blade Dance of the Elementalers". An anime adaptation aired on July 14, 2014, and ran for 12 episodes.
to:
''Bladedance of Elementalers'', known in Japanese as ''Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance'', is a LightNovel series written by Yū Shimizu with illustrations by Hanpen Sakura (from volumes 1 to 13), Yuuji Nimura (14-16) and Kohada Shimesada (17-20), which was published for 20 volumes from 2010 to 2019. Also called "Blade Dance of the Elementalers". An It has a manga adaptation illustrated by Hyouju Issei that was serialized in ''Magazine/MonthlyComicAlive'' from 2012 to 2016, and an anime adaptation that aired on July 14, 2014, and ran for 12 episodes.
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Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
''Bladedance of Elementalers'', known in Japanese as ''Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance'', is a LightNovel series written by Yū Shimizu with illustrations by Hanpen Sakura, Yuuji Nimura and Kohada Shimesada. Also called "Blade Dance of the Elementalers". An anime adaptation aired on July 14, 2014, and ran for 12 episodes.
to:
''Bladedance of Elementalers'', known in Japanese as ''Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance'', is a LightNovel series written by Yū Shimizu with illustrations by Hanpen Sakura, Sakura (from volumes 1 to 13), Yuuji Nimura (14-16) and Kohada Shimesada.Shimesada (17-20), which was published for 20 volumes from 2010 to 2019. Also called "Blade Dance of the Elementalers". An anime adaptation aired on July 14, 2014, and ran for 12 episodes.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blade_dance_of_the_elementalers.png]]
''Bladedance of Elementalers'', known in Japanese as ''Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance'', is a LightNovel series written by Yū Shimizu with illustrations by Hanpen Sakura, Yuuji Nimura and Kohada Shimesada. Also called "Blade Dance of the Elementalers". An anime adaptation aired on July 14, 2014, and ran for 12 episodes.
The setting is dominated by [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent spirits]], the denizens of Astral Zero. [[VirginPower Only a pure maiden]] can make a contract with a spirit and gain access to its power.
In Areishia Spirit Academy, maidens from noble family are gathered to receive an elite education and become spirit contractors. But one day, the boy Kazehaya Kamito accidentally peeps on a girl taking a bath, Claire Rouge. After punishing him, Claire drags him along to a nearby sealed spirit in the form of a sword, which she intends to contract with for more power. However, the spirit reacts violently and she's unable to form a contract with it. Instead, ''Kamito'' is the one who forms a contract with the spirit.
It turns out that Kamito is the only male alive capable of contracting with spirits. Unfortunately, he isn't the first example of this... the other known male elementalist, Demon King Solomon, went down in history as a cruel tyrant. Because of this, various people are wary of him...
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!!Provides examples of:
%%Move specific character tropes when Characters page is made
* AbandonedMine: The climax of Volume 2 takes place in one of these. Team Scarlet is dispatched there in order to prevent a powerful spirit sealed within the mine from being released. There, they come to blows with Jio Inzagi, who is trying to release the spirit, and was expecting them.
* ActionPrologue: The first scene in the anime is a match where Ren Ashbell is shown easily defeating her opponent in the Blade Dance tournament.
* AlwaysFemale: In-universe, elementalists are pure maidens. The known exceptions are Demon King Solomon and Kamito, though it is known that others with the potential have existed. [[spoiler:All male elementalists have their power because they are born as vessels of the Darkness Elemental Lord.]]
* AnotherDimension: Astral Zero, another world where spirits live. Humans with divine power become like spirits when in Astral Zero.
* AssassinOutclassin: When Kamito was about 13, he tried to assassinate the Dusk Witch, Greyworth Ciel Mais. He was soundly defeated and was taken in by her.
* ATruceWhileWeGawk: The duel between Kamito's group and Ellis's group in episode 2 is interrupted by a demon showing up.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: Velsaria's armor makes her nearly invulnerable to physical attacks, but it isn't well suited for defense against magical attacks. [[spoiler:Claire and Rinslet exploit this by first heating up, then rapidly cooling a section of her armor to cause it to start cracking due to the rapid extreme temperature difference it's subjected to.]]
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: Velsaria's contracted spirit puts her in a giant suit of armor, making her a lot bigger than the other characters.
** Really, almost every other volume includes a showdown against a giant spirit of sorts.
* AttractiveBentGender: Kamito as Ren Ashbell. EvenTheGirlsWantHer. It's been three years since "she" appeared, and nearly every elementalist in the world is still a rabid fangirl.
* BalancedHarem: Although Claire is the most prominent female character as the main heroine, and Restia is clearly the one closest to Kamito's heart, all the girls in Kamito's BattleHarem receive plenty of attention and development, with Kamito being roughly equally close with each one of them.
* BattleAmongstTheFlames: During the battle against the giant flame spirit Valaraukar, the latter ends up setting the surrounding area ablaze. The flames keep burning for over a day afterwards.
** Naturally happens again when Kamito faces [[spoiler:[[PlayingWithFire Rubia]]]], who incinerates large portions of the tower floor they are fighting on. [[spoiler:After Rubia is defeated, Team Scarlet is soon after forced to face a partial manifestation of her contracted spirit, Larvateinn, who creates an even greater inferno]].
* BattleHarem: Team Scarlet more or less is Kamito's.
* BattleInTheRain: The battles that take place around Nefescal Palace, in the imperial capital of Ostdakia, during [[spoiler:Fianna's rescue]] naturally count. First is [[spoiler:Kamito and Fianna vs. Leschkir Hirschkilt, followed soon after by Kamito and Leonora vs. Greyworth]].
* BedmateReveal: You can usually count on Est to appear in Kamito's bed every morning, though some of the other girls have taken their turn, including Rinslet, Fianna and Restia.
* BigEater: Elementalists have larger appetites than expected from their build, as spirit magic consumes a lot of calories.
* BladeBrake: As Kamito and Rinslet fall into a frozen valley following a confrontation with ice dragons, Kamito grabs Rinslet and stabs Terminus Est Zwei into an icy cliff face. [[AvertedTrope It doesn't slow their fall much]], forcing Kamito to jump into a cave before the fall could kill them.
* BladeOnAStick: Ellis's elemental weapon is a spear.
* BlowYouAway: Wind spirits and elementalists who contract with them. Ellis specializes in this.
* BlueBlood: Nearly all elementalists are nobility of some sort. Its very rare for a peasant child to be born as an elementalist, but it happens.
* BrokenAce: Claire is the daughter of the formerly-prestigious Elstein family, a talented elementalist who can fight at both close and long range, has high grades due to putting effort into her studies, and [[spoiler:has inherited Elstein's True Flame]]. But thanks to her sister Rubia's actions, the Elsteins were disgraced and sent to prison, and Claire is hated by many for her sister's actions. Her lack of friends (besides Rinslet) at the start of the series, and her confrontational personality, are all because of this.
* CastingAShadow: Darkness spirits and their contractors. Notably, the former are mentioned to be rarer than the spirits of the other five main elements, possibly due to the Darkness Elemental Lord opposing the rest. Restia is the main example of a darkness spirit.
** Shadow is also an element separated from darkness in this setting. Shadow elementalists, such as Freya, are able to [[ShadowWalker move around in shadows]].
* CerebusSyndrome: While it never stops being a lighthearted fantasy, things become noticeably more serious during the second half of the series, following the climax of the Blade Dance festival. To elaborate:
** [[spoiler:the FantasyPantheon of the setting, the Five Great Elemental Gods, are revealed to be contaminated by an Otherworldly Darkness populated by [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel-like beings]], which has been slowly driving them mad throughout the ages. These beings intend to enter the human realm, which would bring unparalleled disaster to it, and have so far only been kept at bay by the efforts of the Elemental Lords. However, the Elemental Lords won't be able to hold it back for much longer]].
** [[spoiler: Political instability and an increasing number of weather anomalies leads to several instances of civil unrest. The Alphas Theocracy is caught in a bloody civil war, while the Ordesia Empire is all but taken over by the Holy Kingdom of Lugia, and the heroes are forced on the run, losing the support network that was the academy and their families. Violence is treated more seriously, and people start actually dying, instead of only suffering “mental wounds” like they did in Astral Zero]].
** On another note, [[spoiler:there is a greater focus on the sexual intimacy between Kamito and the girls, particularly because it is revealed Kamito can share some of his power with them through kisses and such, which tend to act as aphrodisiacs as a side effect]].
* ChickMagnet: Kamito.
* ClingyJealousGirl:
** Claire, hands down. And not just in the "love" aspect. Though in general, she's likely to attack the other girl too, unless its Est.
** Est acts like this when Restia is around.
** The other girls also have their moments, though they are usually less violent about it.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint:
** In episode 12, Fianna tells Kamito he can "eat her" along with the cake. Est then says he can eat her as well, not quite understanding what Fianna meant.
** A few moments later, Kamito comments that Ellis looks very pretty in her fancy dress. Rinslet, Claire, and Fianna all get [[ClingyJealousGirl jealous]], and push a slice of cake into his face, telling him to "eat their cake." Est once again misinterprets their actions, and asks Kamito to eat her cake as well. But she shoves a large cake into his face instead of the slices the girls used.
* CompellingVoice: The ability of Word of Power.
* ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: Greyworth made one for Kamito in order to allow him to attend Areishia Spirit Academy with little suspicion.
* CoolSword: Some spirits take on the form of swords as their Elemental Waffe form.
** Kamito has had two:
*** Restia - Vorpal Sword
*** Est - Demon Slayer
* CultureChopSuey: The Ordesia Empire is based on Feudal Europe with bits of Shinto for princess maidens in the Divine Ritual Institute.
* CurbStompBattle:
** One of the reasons Ren Ashbell is so admired is that most of her fights in the previous Blade Dance turned out like this. Only Luminaris is known to have given her some trouble.
** Kamito and Restia utterly destroy an army of demon spirits while fighting together.
** Jio Inzagi easily defeats Ellis's knights.
* CuteClumsyGirl: Carol, Rinslet Laurenfrost's maid; the main reason for hiring her is because she is cute even if she is clumsy and useless at house work.
* DanceBattler: Every elementalist is this.
* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler:Rubia]] contracts with [[spoiler:Laevateinn]] to gain powerful fire magic, the price being that she must eventually sacrifice her life to the spirit.
* DeathByAThousandCuts: It takes Team Scarlet quite a few attacks to finally bring down Velsaria.
* DisguisedInDrag: Kamito does this a few times in his life.
** When he was younger, Greyworth made him dress as a maid to help disguise him so that no one knew that he is a male elementalist like the infamous demon king.
** He dressed as a girl and went by the name of Ren Ashbell when he first participated in the Blade Dance, to disguise the fact he was a boy.
** When he has to sneak into the Grand Shrine to meet Reicha Alminas [[spoiler:to get rid of the Brand of Darkness]], he dresses up as a princess maiden.
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Ultimately downplayed and averted. Thinking they are on the same page due to some miscommunication, Leonora pins Kamito down to a bed with her SuperStrength and starts stripping down, meaning to have sex with him, and not stopping despite his protests. After they are stopped due to outside interference, Leonora thinks to herself how scared Kamito looked at the time, and regrets coming on too strongly.
* DualWielding: Kamito's original fighting style as an assassin. [[spoiler:After regaining Restia as a contracted spirit, he's able to dual wield her and Est.]]
* ElementalPowers: Elemental Spirits are mostly classified by six elements: [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], [[BlowYouAway Wind]], [[DishingOutDirt Earth]], [[MakingASplash Water]], [[LightEmUp Holy]], and [[CastingAShadow Darkness]]. Other elements include [[AnIcePerson Ice]], metal, poison, [[ShockAndAwe Lightning]], etc.
* ElementalRockPaperScissors: Each element is strong against some and weak against others - for example, water has an advantage over fire and holy has an advantage over darkness.
* EnergyBall: About the most common use of the fire element in battle is to create fireballs. They are practically Claire's SignatureMove.
* ExtranormalInstitute: About any facility that teaches elementalists; most notably Areishia Spirit Academy.
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Greyworth]] seemingly undergoes this in Volume 14. Millenia claims that it isn't simply brainwashing, but it's unclear exactly what happened.
* {{Fanservice}}: Given the genre and the setup, it should be no surprise that there are moments meant to… stimulate the reader.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture:
** Kamito's homeland is implied to be the counterpart of Japan.
** Kuina/Quina Empire is the counterpart of China.
** The Alphas Theocracy is based on the Arabian Peninsula.
* FantasyPantheon: Both the human realm and Astral Zero are ruled by the Five Great Elemental Lords, which preside over all spirits. Its soon revealed there used to be a sixth Elemental Lord, but most traces of its existence were erased.
* FeelingYourHeartbeat: Ellis touches Kamito's chest to check his rising heartbeat and confirm he is indeed feeling excited due to Ellis falling on top of him while wearing a ChainmailBikini. It serves to prove that, despite his mind regressing back to his time in the Instrucional School, the emotions that he developed thanks to Restia are stil there.
* FirstKiss: And not just one! [[spoiler: Claire, Est, Ellis, Restia, Rinslet and Fianna all get their first kiss with Kamito.]]
* FiveSecondForeshadowing: In rare occasions, malevolent spirits demand human lives as offering. This is explained to the audience moments before it is revealed that the spirit Rubia was contracted with had demanded her own life as compensation for the contract.
* {{Foil}}:
** Kamito and Leonora. Both of them are high-level elementalists with incredible power and skill, with Kamito leaning towards the latter and Leonora the former. Kamito wields a sword spirit whose elemental waffe is called the Demon Slayer, while Leonora wields a dragon spirit whose elemental waffe is called the Dragon Slayer. On a more amusing note, both of them assume a dominant role in the field of romance.
** Fianna and Rubia. Both of them are of high birth, with Fianna being the second princess of Ordesia and Rubia the first child of the (formerly) high-ranking Elstein family, one of the Four Great Houses. They both became princess maidens renowned for their skill. Rubia betrayed her position and Ordesia by going against the laws of the Elemental Lords, becoming known as the Calamity Queen. Fianna tried and failed to stop her, and the resulting trauma rendered her unable to use her spirit, causing her to lose her position as well and become known as the Lost Queen.
** Velsaria and Luminaris. Both blonde and prodigious elementalists that took part in the previous Blade Dance three years ago, only to be defeated by Ren Ashbell. In the present day, they are the favorites to win from their respective countries, and both seek to settle the score with Ren Ashbell.
** Rubia and Velsaria. Older sisters of members of Team Scarlet, both of them used to be very affectionate towards their younger siblings, until an incident made them become cold and ruthless, traits only made worse by the negative effects of Cursed Armament Seals, which both of them decided to have implanted on their hearts in order to gain more power. Both of them are defeated by Kamito at the end of a climactic battle with help from their younger sisters, which results in their Cursed Armament Seals being destroyed, and them becoming more like how they were before.
* FoodPorn: Whenever food appears in the light novel, you can expect Shimizu Yuu to [[Main/PurpleProse spend a ton of time describing]] the dishes being served and telling you how awesome they are.
* ForgottenFirstMeeting: Fianna and Kamito actually met three years ago, during the time of the last Blade Dance tournament, but he doesn't remember her until she pulls her hair back into the same style she had at the time.
* TheFourGods: The Blade Dance team from the Quina Empire is named after them. Their elementalist's spirits are even named after each individual god:
** The White Tiger for their Ace, Shao Fu.
** The Azure Dragon for Rao Rin.
** The Black Tortoise for Hakua.
** The Vermilion Bird for Rion Sharma.
** The Qilin as the fifth spirit for their leader, Linfa Sin Quina.
* FrameUp: Greyworth and Fianna are set up by the Holy Kingdom of Lugia to appear responsible for an attack upon the Ordesia emperor, in order to ensure their puppet, Arneus, ascends to the throne instead of Fianna, who many in court saw as more fit to rule.
* FriendshipDenial: Claire and Rinslet occasionally do this to each other, more so Rinslet who calls Claire her self-proclaimed rival. They actually deeply care for each other.
* GenderBlenderName: Ren from Ren Ashbell and Ren Ashdoll.
* GenderRestrictedAbility: Only young girls can contract with spirits and use spirit magic. Male elementalists like Kamito and Solomon [[spoiler:are the vessels of the Darkness Elemental Lord Ren Ashdoll.]]
* GoingCommando: Dragon elementalists tend to forgo panties in order to be closer to their spirits. It is outright forbidden to wear any in the presence of the Dragon King, lest his fury be incurred.
** The members of Team Scarlet are forced to remove their underwear before they are allowed to meet with the Dragon King, much to their dismay.
* TheGreatFire: Upon Rubia's treachery, the Fire Elemental Lord set the entire Elstein Duchy on fire.
* GreatOffscreenWar: There have been several:
** The Ranbal War from a few decades ago. It started as a dispute between small countries regarding spirit crystal mining rights, but it evolved into a conflict involving the entire continent.
** And before that, there was the Demon King War a thousand years in the past, during which Demon King Solomon tried to take over the whole continent.
** ''And before that'', there was the Spirit War, in which the Darkness Elemental Lord waged war against the other five Elemental Lords.
* HealingFactor: By [[spoiler:tapping into the Darkness Elemental Lord's power]], Kamito gains one of these.
* HeroicBSoD: Emotional breakdowns and mental shocks are noted to be particularly damaging to elementalists, since it can easily render them unable to commune with the spirits, including their own contracted spirit. Fianna is the most prominent case in the series, as Rubia's betrayal and her powerlessness to stop it destroyed her self-confidence and left her unable to even summon Georgios, let alone take over as Fire Queen
** Kamito also suffers a few of these throughout the series, though not to the same degree as Fianna. One time he suffers a minor one after Restia first reveals herself to him after setting a mad spirit loose. It takes a ShutUpKiss from Claire to break him out of it.
* HiddenHeartOfGold: Rinslet fits this trope to a T. She is a quite prideful girl on the outside, even a bit aggressive, but she cares very deeply about those around her (even if she won't admit it), including Kamito from the beginning despite him being a complete stranger at the time.
* HumanoidAbomination: Nepenthes Lore is an incredibly powerful entity and a member of Team Inferno during the Blade Dance. It constantly wears a full-body suit of armor, and everyone can tell that there's something off about it. [[spoiler:It's actually a previous vessel of Ren Ashdoll who was consumed by the power and was resurrected by Rubia. The armor acts as a restraint on its power. When it sheds the armor, it sprouts tentacles of darkness and barely qualifies as humanoid anymore]].
* AnIcePerson: Ice spirits and their contractors, Rinslet being the most prominent example.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice:
** How Ren Ashbell defeats Velsaria in their Blade Dance match.
** Kamito does it again at the end of Volume 3, though this time to [[spoiler:break the Cursed Armament Seal that was afflicting her.]]
* IntimateHealing: Due to Kamito's body naturally repelling healing holy magic, Fianna is forced to perform a lot of physical contact in order for it to have any effect. She doesn't mind this one bit.
** During Volume 13 Kamito is injured, and with the nearest help too far away, Rinslet decides to take a page out of Fianna's book, and perform this sort of healing herself. Completely inexperienced in this sort of thing, she takes it too far and ends up kissing him.
* {{Irony}}: Kamito, who is a male elementalist like Demon King Solomon, [[spoiler:wields the same sword that Areishia used to defeat Solomon]]. On the other side, [[spoiler:Rubia]] has inherited the Sacred Maiden's power, and [[spoiler:uses it trying to awaken Kamito as the Demon King]]. This is lampshaded in-universe.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia:
** Kamito loses his memory at the beginning of Volume 12, [[spoiler:due to the trauma of Restia's apparent death. He regains it at the end of said Volume]].
** At the end of Volume 12, it's revealed that this has also happened to [[spoiler:Restia. This is because of an emergency measure by the Darkness Elemental Lord, which cut her off from her power and caused her to be reborn as a human]].
** Volume 13 reveals Restia had also erased all of Jio's memories regarding Kamito, to prevent him from seeking revenge against him, or revealing his identity as Ren Ashbell to the world.
* LightIsNotGood: The Holy Elemental Lord [[spoiler:is corrupted by Otherwordly Darkness, like the other Lords]]. Moreover, the Holy Kingdom of Lugia becomes a major antagonist later in the series.
* LoveConfessor: Claire is able to tell her parents she loves Kamito, but only by referring to him as Ren Ashbell.
* MagicKiss: After the events of Volume 10, whenever Kamito kisses a girl, her power is boosted. This is because [[spoiler: he is transferring a bit of the Darkness Elemental Lord's power, which awakened in him during his fight with Rubia.]]
** Also works as an aphrodisiac, causing a couple scenes of ADateWithRosiePalms.
* ManaDrain: Many of the antagonists, such as [[spoiler:OneWingedAngel Velsaria, Zirnitra, and Nepenthes Lore]], have the ability to drain divine power, which puts Kamito at a disadvantage because Est requires a lot of it to be used properly.
* MarryThemAll: [[spoiler:By the end of the series, this is pretty much all but stated to be the canon ending, with the girls outright suggesting the idea themselves.... by founding a new Kingdom under Kamito JUST to legalize polygamy. Needless to say, the girls are all for it and Kamito himself puts up next to no real resistance to the idea. And yes, this includes Restia and Est]].
* {{Meido}}: You can tell the author has a taste for them.
** Carol, Rinslet Laurenfrost's maid.
** Milla Bassett becomes Mireille Laurenfrost's personal maid after retiring from the Blade Dance.
** Kamito was made to be Greyworth's after he failed to assassinate her and as a deal to free Restia from Suliman's Ring.
** Ellis dresses up as one in Volume 3 as thanks for Kamito helping the Sylphid Knights deal with Jio Inzagi back in Volume 2.
** [[spoiler:Restia]] spends some time dressed as one after being reunited with Kamito and the others in Volume 14.
* MetaphoricallyTrue: In Volume 16, Cardinal tells the Alphas Theocracy refugees (who are Demon King cultists) that she will bring the Demon King back to life, in order to lift their spirits. [[spoiler:She actually has Kamito, the inheritor of the same power as the Demon King, dress up and pretend to be him.]]
* MilhollandRelationshipMoment: Kamito initially keeps the fact that he was an Instructional School orphan a secret from the rest of Team Scarlet, fearing that said knowledge would cause them to hate or pity him. When the secret comes out during the battle against Muir in Volume 4, the girls are outraged… that he thought knowing that would change their opinion of him.
* MotivationalKiss:
** Claire kisses Kamito in during the first volume to get him out of his funk, after he finally saw Restia again after 3 years, only for her to let a mad spirit run loose in the city and disappear again.
** When Kamito is about to start his long journey towards the Laurenfrost territory, Ellis gives him one as well.
* {{Mukokuseki}}: Averted, if only very subtly. Kamito possesses black hair and dark eyes in a way that distinctly marks him as Japanese-coded.
* MundaneUtility: Spirit contractors often use their contracted spirit for mundane tasks, such as cooking and cleaning.
* NakedFirstImpression:
** Kamito first meets Claire as she was bathing in a lake in the forest he had gotten lost in.
** He also meets Est this way, in the bed he was sleeping in no less.
* NewTransferStudent:
** Kamito, though he wasn't attending any school previously..
** Fianna Ray Ordesia also transferred to Areishia Spirit Academy after hearing of a male elementalist being there.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Early in the series, Claire and Rinslet get into a fight outside Kamito's shed. Claire's spirit accidentally sets his shed on fire, and Rinslet's attempt to put it out ends up destroying it completely.
* NonUniformUniform: Kamito's Areishia Spirit Academy uniform since he is the only male student.
* NoPeekingRequest: When in Dracunia, the female members of Team Scarlet are told to remove their panties before they are allowed to see the Dragon King. Kamito turns around to give them some privacy, until he overhears Ellis claiming she is wearing the same type of underwear Ren Ashbell is said to wear. Kamito, [[SweetPollyOliver being Ren Ashbell]], turns around in an outrage, much to the displeasure of the girls present.
* NotWhatItLooksLike: Est shows up in the bed Kamito was sleeping in midway through Volume 1. She appears to be a young naked girl wearing nothing but thigh-high socks. Naturally when Rinslet gets suspicious, she finds Est under the sheets, and gets the wrong idea.
* OhCrap: Vivian Melosa, the merchant selling cursed seals in the last arc of the anime, has this look after Greyworth shows up to punish her for selling the cursed items to her students.
* OminousObsidianOoze: Enemies that produce it from their body are always trouble, particularly since it is often used to absorb divine power from elementalists.
* OneCastMemberPerCover: The light novel's volumes 1-9 all feature a different girl on each cover. The rest of the covers have one or two of the same girls.
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Leonora invites Kamito to ride a Dragondola with her for her "first time". Naturally, Kamito assumes she means her first time riding a Dragondola, and expresses surprise she had never done it before. Leonora is mildly upset that he thought of her like that, put is pleased when Kamito confirms it is his first time too. It isn't until Leonora pins him down and start stripping that Kamito realizes what Leonora meant by "first time".
* OneGenderSchool: Since normally elementalists are pure maidens, any institute devoted to training them is an all girls school by default.
** Areishia Spirit Academy was this until Greyworth made Kamito enroll.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted, there are multiple beings with the name of Ren.
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: [[They're mysterious beings of great power, revealed at the end of Volume 11 to be an apocalyptic threat to the world. An entire army of them exists inside the Otherworldly Darkness]].
* OutdoorBathPeeping: The story starts with Kamito running into Claire taking a bath at a lake.
* PlayingWithFire: Fire spirits and their contractors. Claire and Rubia specialize in this.
* PublicDomainArtifact: Some elemental waffen in the series are named after them.
* RecruitingTheCriminal: After the TournamentArc, Rubia decides to create a suicide squad. Two of the people she recruits are Velsaria Eva and Vivan Melosa, both characters who were defeated and imprisoned early on in the series.
* RescueRomance: Kamito first met Fianna when he saved her from a dryad during his first Blade Dance. From then, she fell in love with him.
* RoyalHarem: Demon King Solomon used to have one. While he used to make concubines of the princesses of the nations he conquered, nine of them were special among them. With these nine he shared [[spoiler:the Darkness Elemental Lord's power]], allowing them to serve as generals for his army.
* RunningGag: Kamito waking up to find a girl in bed with him. More often than not, someone else will enter the room and [[NotWhatItLooksLike get the wrong idea]].
** Fianna's terrible cooking.
** Kamito making snide remarks about Carol's ever more apparent uselessness as a maid.
** People whispering to themselves about Kamito's sexual deviancy within his earshot.
* SealedArmyInACan: The tactical-class military spirit, Crusaders, which is sealed in Milla Bassett's [[MagicalEye Demon Sealing Eye]].
* SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining: {{Averted}} by Kamito despite having been (successfully) trained since childhood to be a master assassin. This is thanks to Restia and Greyworth teaching him important knowledge to live in society.
* SchoolFestival: The Great Festival of the Spirits doubles as this for Areishia Spirit Academy. The students set up all sorts of stands and attractions for visiting guests and spirits. We get to see one taking place during Volume 12.
* SchoolUniformsAreTheNewBlack: Members of the cast rarely wear anything other than their school uniforms. Its justified by the fact they are actually sacred garments, perfectly suitable to commune with spirits and perform rituals, both very important parts of being an elementalist.
* SecretKeeper: A few people know that Kamito was the Ren Ashbell who participated in the previous Blade Dance.
* ShootTheBullet: Rinslet has a tendency to shoot down projectiles with her arrows. Over time, Rinslet grows skilled enough to shoot down multiple arrows with multiple of her own, at the same time, and from a considerable distance.
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: Kamito knows a spell, Weapon Works, that allows him to construct temporary swords.
* SummonMagic: How most elementalists call forth their contract spirits, as either their purified form or elemental waffe form.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: By drawing on [[spoiler:the Darkness Elemental Lord's power]], Kamito gains enhanced strength, speed and a HealingFactor, but suffers from violent impulses that would [[spoiler:eventually transform him into another Nepenthes Lore]] if he gives in.
* SupportPartyMember: Fianna has this role in Team Scarlet. Being trained as a princess maiden, she lacks combat skills but can support her teammates with ritual dancing and barrier construction. Her spirit, Georgios, is oriented mainly towards defense. [[spoiler:Her elemental waffe, Save the Queen, only continues this trend, as its functions are creating a barrier and restoring her allies' divine power]].
* SwordPlant: [[ExaggeratedTrope Excessively so]]. Any time someone needs to put their sword down, they will plant it tip first into the ground.
* TailorMadePrison: The Temple of World Isolation, located at the imperial capital is shown to be this to princess maidens, even ones as skilled as [[spoiler:Fianna]]. It completely cuts you off from the outside world, and prevents you from even contacting your spirit.
* TerminallyDependentSociety: The world is dependent on the spirits. One time, the Fire Elemental Lord was angry and made fires impossible to light in the Ordesia Empire.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill:
** Velsaria's opening attack against Claire's team in episode 12 is to unleash a barrage of shots, which vaporizes the surrounding battlefield. Fortunately for the girls they manage to deflect much of Velsaria's attack away from them.
** Also applies to Rubia and Muir when they each eliminate entire teams in the tournament by themselves, the former by using the strongest fire spirit in existence, and the latter by summoning Military-class spirits to decimate her opponents.
* TookALevelInBadass: The female members of Team Scarlet undergo training in Volumes 15 and 16, resulting in significant boosts to their skill.
* TournamentArc: The Blade Dance festival that takes place between Volumes 4 and 11 is a team tournament free for all, with 5 members in each team.
* TransferStudentUniforms: Fianna still wears her Divine Ritual Institute uniform.
* TransformationNameAnnouncement: Whenever an elementalist transforms their weapon into its spirit form, usually in the form of an animal or monster.
* TwoTeacherSchool: The only relevant staff members for Areishia Spirit Academy are Greyworth and Freya. Some unnamed teachers do appear in Volume 12 though.
* TykeBomb: The assassins of the Instructional School.
* {{Unperson}}: Ren Ashdoll, the Darkness Elemental Lord, was subject to this.
* VirginPower: Elementalists have to be young[[note]]their powers grow weaker in their 20's; they take it as cue to get married (Greyworth is an exception)[[/note]], '''pure maidens'''; their powers disappear along with their purity. Whether this applies to Kamito or not is unknown.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Upon witnessing how resourceful she can be, [[spoiler:Millennia actually offers to let Fianna become the Holy Kingdom's puppet instead of [[TheWrongfulHeirToTheThrone Arneus]]]]. Given what Fianna had just gone through because of them, she declines without giving it much thought.
* WhatTheHellHero: Claire gets extremely upset at Kamito after hearing that he agreed to help Ellis and the Sylphid knights out for a short while in episode 10. She feels he's going to leave her, and doesn't want to get too friendly with the knights because many of them continue to mock her sister.
* WhipItGood: Claire's Elemental Waffe is a flame whip named Flame Tongue.
* WingedHumanoid: Restia's human form is a girl with black feather wings.
----
''Bladedance of Elementalers'', known in Japanese as ''Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance'', is a LightNovel series written by Yū Shimizu with illustrations by Hanpen Sakura, Yuuji Nimura and Kohada Shimesada. Also called "Blade Dance of the Elementalers". An anime adaptation aired on July 14, 2014, and ran for 12 episodes.
The setting is dominated by [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent spirits]], the denizens of Astral Zero. [[VirginPower Only a pure maiden]] can make a contract with a spirit and gain access to its power.
In Areishia Spirit Academy, maidens from noble family are gathered to receive an elite education and become spirit contractors. But one day, the boy Kazehaya Kamito accidentally peeps on a girl taking a bath, Claire Rouge. After punishing him, Claire drags him along to a nearby sealed spirit in the form of a sword, which she intends to contract with for more power. However, the spirit reacts violently and she's unable to form a contract with it. Instead, ''Kamito'' is the one who forms a contract with the spirit.
It turns out that Kamito is the only male alive capable of contracting with spirits. Unfortunately, he isn't the first example of this... the other known male elementalist, Demon King Solomon, went down in history as a cruel tyrant. Because of this, various people are wary of him...
----
!!Provides examples of:
%%Move specific character tropes when Characters page is made
* AbandonedMine: The climax of Volume 2 takes place in one of these. Team Scarlet is dispatched there in order to prevent a powerful spirit sealed within the mine from being released. There, they come to blows with Jio Inzagi, who is trying to release the spirit, and was expecting them.
* ActionPrologue: The first scene in the anime is a match where Ren Ashbell is shown easily defeating her opponent in the Blade Dance tournament.
* AlwaysFemale: In-universe, elementalists are pure maidens. The known exceptions are Demon King Solomon and Kamito, though it is known that others with the potential have existed. [[spoiler:All male elementalists have their power because they are born as vessels of the Darkness Elemental Lord.]]
* AnotherDimension: Astral Zero, another world where spirits live. Humans with divine power become like spirits when in Astral Zero.
* AssassinOutclassin: When Kamito was about 13, he tried to assassinate the Dusk Witch, Greyworth Ciel Mais. He was soundly defeated and was taken in by her.
* ATruceWhileWeGawk: The duel between Kamito's group and Ellis's group in episode 2 is interrupted by a demon showing up.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: Velsaria's armor makes her nearly invulnerable to physical attacks, but it isn't well suited for defense against magical attacks. [[spoiler:Claire and Rinslet exploit this by first heating up, then rapidly cooling a section of her armor to cause it to start cracking due to the rapid extreme temperature difference it's subjected to.]]
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: Velsaria's contracted spirit puts her in a giant suit of armor, making her a lot bigger than the other characters.
** Really, almost every other volume includes a showdown against a giant spirit of sorts.
* AttractiveBentGender: Kamito as Ren Ashbell. EvenTheGirlsWantHer. It's been three years since "she" appeared, and nearly every elementalist in the world is still a rabid fangirl.
* BalancedHarem: Although Claire is the most prominent female character as the main heroine, and Restia is clearly the one closest to Kamito's heart, all the girls in Kamito's BattleHarem receive plenty of attention and development, with Kamito being roughly equally close with each one of them.
* BattleAmongstTheFlames: During the battle against the giant flame spirit Valaraukar, the latter ends up setting the surrounding area ablaze. The flames keep burning for over a day afterwards.
** Naturally happens again when Kamito faces [[spoiler:[[PlayingWithFire Rubia]]]], who incinerates large portions of the tower floor they are fighting on. [[spoiler:After Rubia is defeated, Team Scarlet is soon after forced to face a partial manifestation of her contracted spirit, Larvateinn, who creates an even greater inferno]].
* BattleHarem: Team Scarlet more or less is Kamito's.
* BattleInTheRain: The battles that take place around Nefescal Palace, in the imperial capital of Ostdakia, during [[spoiler:Fianna's rescue]] naturally count. First is [[spoiler:Kamito and Fianna vs. Leschkir Hirschkilt, followed soon after by Kamito and Leonora vs. Greyworth]].
* BedmateReveal: You can usually count on Est to appear in Kamito's bed every morning, though some of the other girls have taken their turn, including Rinslet, Fianna and Restia.
* BigEater: Elementalists have larger appetites than expected from their build, as spirit magic consumes a lot of calories.
* BladeBrake: As Kamito and Rinslet fall into a frozen valley following a confrontation with ice dragons, Kamito grabs Rinslet and stabs Terminus Est Zwei into an icy cliff face. [[AvertedTrope It doesn't slow their fall much]], forcing Kamito to jump into a cave before the fall could kill them.
* BladeOnAStick: Ellis's elemental weapon is a spear.
* BlowYouAway: Wind spirits and elementalists who contract with them. Ellis specializes in this.
* BlueBlood: Nearly all elementalists are nobility of some sort. Its very rare for a peasant child to be born as an elementalist, but it happens.
* BrokenAce: Claire is the daughter of the formerly-prestigious Elstein family, a talented elementalist who can fight at both close and long range, has high grades due to putting effort into her studies, and [[spoiler:has inherited Elstein's True Flame]]. But thanks to her sister Rubia's actions, the Elsteins were disgraced and sent to prison, and Claire is hated by many for her sister's actions. Her lack of friends (besides Rinslet) at the start of the series, and her confrontational personality, are all because of this.
* CastingAShadow: Darkness spirits and their contractors. Notably, the former are mentioned to be rarer than the spirits of the other five main elements, possibly due to the Darkness Elemental Lord opposing the rest. Restia is the main example of a darkness spirit.
** Shadow is also an element separated from darkness in this setting. Shadow elementalists, such as Freya, are able to [[ShadowWalker move around in shadows]].
* CerebusSyndrome: While it never stops being a lighthearted fantasy, things become noticeably more serious during the second half of the series, following the climax of the Blade Dance festival. To elaborate:
** [[spoiler:the FantasyPantheon of the setting, the Five Great Elemental Gods, are revealed to be contaminated by an Otherworldly Darkness populated by [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel-like beings]], which has been slowly driving them mad throughout the ages. These beings intend to enter the human realm, which would bring unparalleled disaster to it, and have so far only been kept at bay by the efforts of the Elemental Lords. However, the Elemental Lords won't be able to hold it back for much longer]].
** [[spoiler: Political instability and an increasing number of weather anomalies leads to several instances of civil unrest. The Alphas Theocracy is caught in a bloody civil war, while the Ordesia Empire is all but taken over by the Holy Kingdom of Lugia, and the heroes are forced on the run, losing the support network that was the academy and their families. Violence is treated more seriously, and people start actually dying, instead of only suffering “mental wounds” like they did in Astral Zero]].
** On another note, [[spoiler:there is a greater focus on the sexual intimacy between Kamito and the girls, particularly because it is revealed Kamito can share some of his power with them through kisses and such, which tend to act as aphrodisiacs as a side effect]].
* ChickMagnet: Kamito.
* ClingyJealousGirl:
** Claire, hands down. And not just in the "love" aspect. Though in general, she's likely to attack the other girl too, unless its Est.
** Est acts like this when Restia is around.
** The other girls also have their moments, though they are usually less violent about it.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint:
** In episode 12, Fianna tells Kamito he can "eat her" along with the cake. Est then says he can eat her as well, not quite understanding what Fianna meant.
** A few moments later, Kamito comments that Ellis looks very pretty in her fancy dress. Rinslet, Claire, and Fianna all get [[ClingyJealousGirl jealous]], and push a slice of cake into his face, telling him to "eat their cake." Est once again misinterprets their actions, and asks Kamito to eat her cake as well. But she shoves a large cake into his face instead of the slices the girls used.
* CompellingVoice: The ability of Word of Power.
* ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: Greyworth made one for Kamito in order to allow him to attend Areishia Spirit Academy with little suspicion.
* CoolSword: Some spirits take on the form of swords as their Elemental Waffe form.
** Kamito has had two:
*** Restia - Vorpal Sword
*** Est - Demon Slayer
* CultureChopSuey: The Ordesia Empire is based on Feudal Europe with bits of Shinto for princess maidens in the Divine Ritual Institute.
* CurbStompBattle:
** One of the reasons Ren Ashbell is so admired is that most of her fights in the previous Blade Dance turned out like this. Only Luminaris is known to have given her some trouble.
** Kamito and Restia utterly destroy an army of demon spirits while fighting together.
** Jio Inzagi easily defeats Ellis's knights.
* CuteClumsyGirl: Carol, Rinslet Laurenfrost's maid; the main reason for hiring her is because she is cute even if she is clumsy and useless at house work.
* DanceBattler: Every elementalist is this.
* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler:Rubia]] contracts with [[spoiler:Laevateinn]] to gain powerful fire magic, the price being that she must eventually sacrifice her life to the spirit.
* DeathByAThousandCuts: It takes Team Scarlet quite a few attacks to finally bring down Velsaria.
* DisguisedInDrag: Kamito does this a few times in his life.
** When he was younger, Greyworth made him dress as a maid to help disguise him so that no one knew that he is a male elementalist like the infamous demon king.
** He dressed as a girl and went by the name of Ren Ashbell when he first participated in the Blade Dance, to disguise the fact he was a boy.
** When he has to sneak into the Grand Shrine to meet Reicha Alminas [[spoiler:to get rid of the Brand of Darkness]], he dresses up as a princess maiden.
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Ultimately downplayed and averted. Thinking they are on the same page due to some miscommunication, Leonora pins Kamito down to a bed with her SuperStrength and starts stripping down, meaning to have sex with him, and not stopping despite his protests. After they are stopped due to outside interference, Leonora thinks to herself how scared Kamito looked at the time, and regrets coming on too strongly.
* DualWielding: Kamito's original fighting style as an assassin. [[spoiler:After regaining Restia as a contracted spirit, he's able to dual wield her and Est.]]
* ElementalPowers: Elemental Spirits are mostly classified by six elements: [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], [[BlowYouAway Wind]], [[DishingOutDirt Earth]], [[MakingASplash Water]], [[LightEmUp Holy]], and [[CastingAShadow Darkness]]. Other elements include [[AnIcePerson Ice]], metal, poison, [[ShockAndAwe Lightning]], etc.
* ElementalRockPaperScissors: Each element is strong against some and weak against others - for example, water has an advantage over fire and holy has an advantage over darkness.
* EnergyBall: About the most common use of the fire element in battle is to create fireballs. They are practically Claire's SignatureMove.
* ExtranormalInstitute: About any facility that teaches elementalists; most notably Areishia Spirit Academy.
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Greyworth]] seemingly undergoes this in Volume 14. Millenia claims that it isn't simply brainwashing, but it's unclear exactly what happened.
* {{Fanservice}}: Given the genre and the setup, it should be no surprise that there are moments meant to… stimulate the reader.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture:
** Kamito's homeland is implied to be the counterpart of Japan.
** Kuina/Quina Empire is the counterpart of China.
** The Alphas Theocracy is based on the Arabian Peninsula.
* FantasyPantheon: Both the human realm and Astral Zero are ruled by the Five Great Elemental Lords, which preside over all spirits. Its soon revealed there used to be a sixth Elemental Lord, but most traces of its existence were erased.
* FeelingYourHeartbeat: Ellis touches Kamito's chest to check his rising heartbeat and confirm he is indeed feeling excited due to Ellis falling on top of him while wearing a ChainmailBikini. It serves to prove that, despite his mind regressing back to his time in the Instrucional School, the emotions that he developed thanks to Restia are stil there.
* FirstKiss: And not just one! [[spoiler: Claire, Est, Ellis, Restia, Rinslet and Fianna all get their first kiss with Kamito.]]
* FiveSecondForeshadowing: In rare occasions, malevolent spirits demand human lives as offering. This is explained to the audience moments before it is revealed that the spirit Rubia was contracted with had demanded her own life as compensation for the contract.
* {{Foil}}:
** Kamito and Leonora. Both of them are high-level elementalists with incredible power and skill, with Kamito leaning towards the latter and Leonora the former. Kamito wields a sword spirit whose elemental waffe is called the Demon Slayer, while Leonora wields a dragon spirit whose elemental waffe is called the Dragon Slayer. On a more amusing note, both of them assume a dominant role in the field of romance.
** Fianna and Rubia. Both of them are of high birth, with Fianna being the second princess of Ordesia and Rubia the first child of the (formerly) high-ranking Elstein family, one of the Four Great Houses. They both became princess maidens renowned for their skill. Rubia betrayed her position and Ordesia by going against the laws of the Elemental Lords, becoming known as the Calamity Queen. Fianna tried and failed to stop her, and the resulting trauma rendered her unable to use her spirit, causing her to lose her position as well and become known as the Lost Queen.
** Velsaria and Luminaris. Both blonde and prodigious elementalists that took part in the previous Blade Dance three years ago, only to be defeated by Ren Ashbell. In the present day, they are the favorites to win from their respective countries, and both seek to settle the score with Ren Ashbell.
** Rubia and Velsaria. Older sisters of members of Team Scarlet, both of them used to be very affectionate towards their younger siblings, until an incident made them become cold and ruthless, traits only made worse by the negative effects of Cursed Armament Seals, which both of them decided to have implanted on their hearts in order to gain more power. Both of them are defeated by Kamito at the end of a climactic battle with help from their younger sisters, which results in their Cursed Armament Seals being destroyed, and them becoming more like how they were before.
* FoodPorn: Whenever food appears in the light novel, you can expect Shimizu Yuu to [[Main/PurpleProse spend a ton of time describing]] the dishes being served and telling you how awesome they are.
* ForgottenFirstMeeting: Fianna and Kamito actually met three years ago, during the time of the last Blade Dance tournament, but he doesn't remember her until she pulls her hair back into the same style she had at the time.
* TheFourGods: The Blade Dance team from the Quina Empire is named after them. Their elementalist's spirits are even named after each individual god:
** The White Tiger for their Ace, Shao Fu.
** The Azure Dragon for Rao Rin.
** The Black Tortoise for Hakua.
** The Vermilion Bird for Rion Sharma.
** The Qilin as the fifth spirit for their leader, Linfa Sin Quina.
* FrameUp: Greyworth and Fianna are set up by the Holy Kingdom of Lugia to appear responsible for an attack upon the Ordesia emperor, in order to ensure their puppet, Arneus, ascends to the throne instead of Fianna, who many in court saw as more fit to rule.
* FriendshipDenial: Claire and Rinslet occasionally do this to each other, more so Rinslet who calls Claire her self-proclaimed rival. They actually deeply care for each other.
* GenderBlenderName: Ren from Ren Ashbell and Ren Ashdoll.
* GenderRestrictedAbility: Only young girls can contract with spirits and use spirit magic. Male elementalists like Kamito and Solomon [[spoiler:are the vessels of the Darkness Elemental Lord Ren Ashdoll.]]
* GoingCommando: Dragon elementalists tend to forgo panties in order to be closer to their spirits. It is outright forbidden to wear any in the presence of the Dragon King, lest his fury be incurred.
** The members of Team Scarlet are forced to remove their underwear before they are allowed to meet with the Dragon King, much to their dismay.
* TheGreatFire: Upon Rubia's treachery, the Fire Elemental Lord set the entire Elstein Duchy on fire.
* GreatOffscreenWar: There have been several:
** The Ranbal War from a few decades ago. It started as a dispute between small countries regarding spirit crystal mining rights, but it evolved into a conflict involving the entire continent.
** And before that, there was the Demon King War a thousand years in the past, during which Demon King Solomon tried to take over the whole continent.
** ''And before that'', there was the Spirit War, in which the Darkness Elemental Lord waged war against the other five Elemental Lords.
* HealingFactor: By [[spoiler:tapping into the Darkness Elemental Lord's power]], Kamito gains one of these.
* HeroicBSoD: Emotional breakdowns and mental shocks are noted to be particularly damaging to elementalists, since it can easily render them unable to commune with the spirits, including their own contracted spirit. Fianna is the most prominent case in the series, as Rubia's betrayal and her powerlessness to stop it destroyed her self-confidence and left her unable to even summon Georgios, let alone take over as Fire Queen
** Kamito also suffers a few of these throughout the series, though not to the same degree as Fianna. One time he suffers a minor one after Restia first reveals herself to him after setting a mad spirit loose. It takes a ShutUpKiss from Claire to break him out of it.
* HiddenHeartOfGold: Rinslet fits this trope to a T. She is a quite prideful girl on the outside, even a bit aggressive, but she cares very deeply about those around her (even if she won't admit it), including Kamito from the beginning despite him being a complete stranger at the time.
* HumanoidAbomination: Nepenthes Lore is an incredibly powerful entity and a member of Team Inferno during the Blade Dance. It constantly wears a full-body suit of armor, and everyone can tell that there's something off about it. [[spoiler:It's actually a previous vessel of Ren Ashdoll who was consumed by the power and was resurrected by Rubia. The armor acts as a restraint on its power. When it sheds the armor, it sprouts tentacles of darkness and barely qualifies as humanoid anymore]].
* AnIcePerson: Ice spirits and their contractors, Rinslet being the most prominent example.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice:
** How Ren Ashbell defeats Velsaria in their Blade Dance match.
** Kamito does it again at the end of Volume 3, though this time to [[spoiler:break the Cursed Armament Seal that was afflicting her.]]
* IntimateHealing: Due to Kamito's body naturally repelling healing holy magic, Fianna is forced to perform a lot of physical contact in order for it to have any effect. She doesn't mind this one bit.
** During Volume 13 Kamito is injured, and with the nearest help too far away, Rinslet decides to take a page out of Fianna's book, and perform this sort of healing herself. Completely inexperienced in this sort of thing, she takes it too far and ends up kissing him.
* {{Irony}}: Kamito, who is a male elementalist like Demon King Solomon, [[spoiler:wields the same sword that Areishia used to defeat Solomon]]. On the other side, [[spoiler:Rubia]] has inherited the Sacred Maiden's power, and [[spoiler:uses it trying to awaken Kamito as the Demon King]]. This is lampshaded in-universe.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia:
** Kamito loses his memory at the beginning of Volume 12, [[spoiler:due to the trauma of Restia's apparent death. He regains it at the end of said Volume]].
** At the end of Volume 12, it's revealed that this has also happened to [[spoiler:Restia. This is because of an emergency measure by the Darkness Elemental Lord, which cut her off from her power and caused her to be reborn as a human]].
** Volume 13 reveals Restia had also erased all of Jio's memories regarding Kamito, to prevent him from seeking revenge against him, or revealing his identity as Ren Ashbell to the world.
* LightIsNotGood: The Holy Elemental Lord [[spoiler:is corrupted by Otherwordly Darkness, like the other Lords]]. Moreover, the Holy Kingdom of Lugia becomes a major antagonist later in the series.
* LoveConfessor: Claire is able to tell her parents she loves Kamito, but only by referring to him as Ren Ashbell.
* MagicKiss: After the events of Volume 10, whenever Kamito kisses a girl, her power is boosted. This is because [[spoiler: he is transferring a bit of the Darkness Elemental Lord's power, which awakened in him during his fight with Rubia.]]
** Also works as an aphrodisiac, causing a couple scenes of ADateWithRosiePalms.
* ManaDrain: Many of the antagonists, such as [[spoiler:OneWingedAngel Velsaria, Zirnitra, and Nepenthes Lore]], have the ability to drain divine power, which puts Kamito at a disadvantage because Est requires a lot of it to be used properly.
* MarryThemAll: [[spoiler:By the end of the series, this is pretty much all but stated to be the canon ending, with the girls outright suggesting the idea themselves.... by founding a new Kingdom under Kamito JUST to legalize polygamy. Needless to say, the girls are all for it and Kamito himself puts up next to no real resistance to the idea. And yes, this includes Restia and Est]].
* {{Meido}}: You can tell the author has a taste for them.
** Carol, Rinslet Laurenfrost's maid.
** Milla Bassett becomes Mireille Laurenfrost's personal maid after retiring from the Blade Dance.
** Kamito was made to be Greyworth's after he failed to assassinate her and as a deal to free Restia from Suliman's Ring.
** Ellis dresses up as one in Volume 3 as thanks for Kamito helping the Sylphid Knights deal with Jio Inzagi back in Volume 2.
** [[spoiler:Restia]] spends some time dressed as one after being reunited with Kamito and the others in Volume 14.
* MetaphoricallyTrue: In Volume 16, Cardinal tells the Alphas Theocracy refugees (who are Demon King cultists) that she will bring the Demon King back to life, in order to lift their spirits. [[spoiler:She actually has Kamito, the inheritor of the same power as the Demon King, dress up and pretend to be him.]]
* MilhollandRelationshipMoment: Kamito initially keeps the fact that he was an Instructional School orphan a secret from the rest of Team Scarlet, fearing that said knowledge would cause them to hate or pity him. When the secret comes out during the battle against Muir in Volume 4, the girls are outraged… that he thought knowing that would change their opinion of him.
* MotivationalKiss:
** Claire kisses Kamito in during the first volume to get him out of his funk, after he finally saw Restia again after 3 years, only for her to let a mad spirit run loose in the city and disappear again.
** When Kamito is about to start his long journey towards the Laurenfrost territory, Ellis gives him one as well.
* {{Mukokuseki}}: Averted, if only very subtly. Kamito possesses black hair and dark eyes in a way that distinctly marks him as Japanese-coded.
* MundaneUtility: Spirit contractors often use their contracted spirit for mundane tasks, such as cooking and cleaning.
* NakedFirstImpression:
** Kamito first meets Claire as she was bathing in a lake in the forest he had gotten lost in.
** He also meets Est this way, in the bed he was sleeping in no less.
* NewTransferStudent:
** Kamito, though he wasn't attending any school previously..
** Fianna Ray Ordesia also transferred to Areishia Spirit Academy after hearing of a male elementalist being there.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Early in the series, Claire and Rinslet get into a fight outside Kamito's shed. Claire's spirit accidentally sets his shed on fire, and Rinslet's attempt to put it out ends up destroying it completely.
* NonUniformUniform: Kamito's Areishia Spirit Academy uniform since he is the only male student.
* NoPeekingRequest: When in Dracunia, the female members of Team Scarlet are told to remove their panties before they are allowed to see the Dragon King. Kamito turns around to give them some privacy, until he overhears Ellis claiming she is wearing the same type of underwear Ren Ashbell is said to wear. Kamito, [[SweetPollyOliver being Ren Ashbell]], turns around in an outrage, much to the displeasure of the girls present.
* NotWhatItLooksLike: Est shows up in the bed Kamito was sleeping in midway through Volume 1. She appears to be a young naked girl wearing nothing but thigh-high socks. Naturally when Rinslet gets suspicious, she finds Est under the sheets, and gets the wrong idea.
* OhCrap: Vivian Melosa, the merchant selling cursed seals in the last arc of the anime, has this look after Greyworth shows up to punish her for selling the cursed items to her students.
* OminousObsidianOoze: Enemies that produce it from their body are always trouble, particularly since it is often used to absorb divine power from elementalists.
* OneCastMemberPerCover: The light novel's volumes 1-9 all feature a different girl on each cover. The rest of the covers have one or two of the same girls.
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Leonora invites Kamito to ride a Dragondola with her for her "first time". Naturally, Kamito assumes she means her first time riding a Dragondola, and expresses surprise she had never done it before. Leonora is mildly upset that he thought of her like that, put is pleased when Kamito confirms it is his first time too. It isn't until Leonora pins him down and start stripping that Kamito realizes what Leonora meant by "first time".
* OneGenderSchool: Since normally elementalists are pure maidens, any institute devoted to training them is an all girls school by default.
** Areishia Spirit Academy was this until Greyworth made Kamito enroll.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted, there are multiple beings with the name of Ren.
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: [[They're mysterious beings of great power, revealed at the end of Volume 11 to be an apocalyptic threat to the world. An entire army of them exists inside the Otherworldly Darkness]].
* OutdoorBathPeeping: The story starts with Kamito running into Claire taking a bath at a lake.
* PlayingWithFire: Fire spirits and their contractors. Claire and Rubia specialize in this.
* PublicDomainArtifact: Some elemental waffen in the series are named after them.
* RecruitingTheCriminal: After the TournamentArc, Rubia decides to create a suicide squad. Two of the people she recruits are Velsaria Eva and Vivan Melosa, both characters who were defeated and imprisoned early on in the series.
* RescueRomance: Kamito first met Fianna when he saved her from a dryad during his first Blade Dance. From then, she fell in love with him.
* RoyalHarem: Demon King Solomon used to have one. While he used to make concubines of the princesses of the nations he conquered, nine of them were special among them. With these nine he shared [[spoiler:the Darkness Elemental Lord's power]], allowing them to serve as generals for his army.
* RunningGag: Kamito waking up to find a girl in bed with him. More often than not, someone else will enter the room and [[NotWhatItLooksLike get the wrong idea]].
** Fianna's terrible cooking.
** Kamito making snide remarks about Carol's ever more apparent uselessness as a maid.
** People whispering to themselves about Kamito's sexual deviancy within his earshot.
* SealedArmyInACan: The tactical-class military spirit, Crusaders, which is sealed in Milla Bassett's [[MagicalEye Demon Sealing Eye]].
* SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining: {{Averted}} by Kamito despite having been (successfully) trained since childhood to be a master assassin. This is thanks to Restia and Greyworth teaching him important knowledge to live in society.
* SchoolFestival: The Great Festival of the Spirits doubles as this for Areishia Spirit Academy. The students set up all sorts of stands and attractions for visiting guests and spirits. We get to see one taking place during Volume 12.
* SchoolUniformsAreTheNewBlack: Members of the cast rarely wear anything other than their school uniforms. Its justified by the fact they are actually sacred garments, perfectly suitable to commune with spirits and perform rituals, both very important parts of being an elementalist.
* SecretKeeper: A few people know that Kamito was the Ren Ashbell who participated in the previous Blade Dance.
* ShootTheBullet: Rinslet has a tendency to shoot down projectiles with her arrows. Over time, Rinslet grows skilled enough to shoot down multiple arrows with multiple of her own, at the same time, and from a considerable distance.
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: Kamito knows a spell, Weapon Works, that allows him to construct temporary swords.
* SummonMagic: How most elementalists call forth their contract spirits, as either their purified form or elemental waffe form.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: By drawing on [[spoiler:the Darkness Elemental Lord's power]], Kamito gains enhanced strength, speed and a HealingFactor, but suffers from violent impulses that would [[spoiler:eventually transform him into another Nepenthes Lore]] if he gives in.
* SupportPartyMember: Fianna has this role in Team Scarlet. Being trained as a princess maiden, she lacks combat skills but can support her teammates with ritual dancing and barrier construction. Her spirit, Georgios, is oriented mainly towards defense. [[spoiler:Her elemental waffe, Save the Queen, only continues this trend, as its functions are creating a barrier and restoring her allies' divine power]].
* SwordPlant: [[ExaggeratedTrope Excessively so]]. Any time someone needs to put their sword down, they will plant it tip first into the ground.
* TailorMadePrison: The Temple of World Isolation, located at the imperial capital is shown to be this to princess maidens, even ones as skilled as [[spoiler:Fianna]]. It completely cuts you off from the outside world, and prevents you from even contacting your spirit.
* TerminallyDependentSociety: The world is dependent on the spirits. One time, the Fire Elemental Lord was angry and made fires impossible to light in the Ordesia Empire.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill:
** Velsaria's opening attack against Claire's team in episode 12 is to unleash a barrage of shots, which vaporizes the surrounding battlefield. Fortunately for the girls they manage to deflect much of Velsaria's attack away from them.
** Also applies to Rubia and Muir when they each eliminate entire teams in the tournament by themselves, the former by using the strongest fire spirit in existence, and the latter by summoning Military-class spirits to decimate her opponents.
* TookALevelInBadass: The female members of Team Scarlet undergo training in Volumes 15 and 16, resulting in significant boosts to their skill.
* TournamentArc: The Blade Dance festival that takes place between Volumes 4 and 11 is a team tournament free for all, with 5 members in each team.
* TransferStudentUniforms: Fianna still wears her Divine Ritual Institute uniform.
* TransformationNameAnnouncement: Whenever an elementalist transforms their weapon into its spirit form, usually in the form of an animal or monster.
* TwoTeacherSchool: The only relevant staff members for Areishia Spirit Academy are Greyworth and Freya. Some unnamed teachers do appear in Volume 12 though.
* TykeBomb: The assassins of the Instructional School.
* {{Unperson}}: Ren Ashdoll, the Darkness Elemental Lord, was subject to this.
* VirginPower: Elementalists have to be young[[note]]their powers grow weaker in their 20's; they take it as cue to get married (Greyworth is an exception)[[/note]], '''pure maidens'''; their powers disappear along with their purity. Whether this applies to Kamito or not is unknown.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Upon witnessing how resourceful she can be, [[spoiler:Millennia actually offers to let Fianna become the Holy Kingdom's puppet instead of [[TheWrongfulHeirToTheThrone Arneus]]]]. Given what Fianna had just gone through because of them, she declines without giving it much thought.
* WhatTheHellHero: Claire gets extremely upset at Kamito after hearing that he agreed to help Ellis and the Sylphid knights out for a short while in episode 10. She feels he's going to leave her, and doesn't want to get too friendly with the knights because many of them continue to mock her sister.
* WhipItGood: Claire's Elemental Waffe is a flame whip named Flame Tongue.
* WingedHumanoid: Restia's human form is a girl with black feather wings.
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