History Literature / Gate

* TapOnTheHead: Kuribayashi mentions this when the team captures a Russian commando. Eventually, she [[DefiedTrope defies]] this trope, pointing out that unlike on TV if you actually hit someone in the head hard enough to knock them out, they might [[RealityEnsues die as a result]] (though she's also in favor of just shooting him outright).

* RealityEnsues:
** The medieval era armies of the other world are easily trounced by the JSDF's modern weaponry. See Curb-Stomp Battle above.
** When Japan sends their army to another world, they equip their troops mostly with Cold War-era stockpiles and US Army surplus. This is explained and justified by Itami; the JSDF is the victim of budget cutbacks, and had to assemble their task force very quickly using whatever materiel they had available. Since they were fighting an enemy of unknown strength, they considered the possibility that they might have to retreat through the Gate, and brought gear they could leave behind with minimal economic impact. Additionally, the lack of GPS and telecommunication satellites in the Special Region makes the older weapons more useful than the newer digital-based systems.
** Piña is a trained warrior, but had not been in a real battle before. She freezes up when her plan at Italica goes wrong and everybody starts getting slaughtered.
** The JSDF makes a peace treaty with the city of Italica, but since the Special Region doesn't have anything like phones or radios, nobody else knew about it, and they get attacked by the Rose-Order of Knights.
** When visitors from another world (cute, female ones at that) appear on television, they quickly get their own hashtag on Twitter. Doubles as a FreezeFrameBonus in the anime.
** During the Hakone shootout, Piña and Bozes manage to pick up a couple of the guns that are dropped in the ensuing chaos as they escaped, and the story seems to be set up for a technological breakthrough for the empire with reverse engineering. Then they pass the obligatory security checkpoint at the Japanese side of the gate, and their weapons are promptly found and confiscated. In a bit of a subversion, Itami and third recon claim that the guns were given to the guests for self-defense, but are still confiscated so the Empire doesn't get their hands on them.
** As mentioned below, Sugawara discovered that if all that amount of gold suddenly entered Earth, it would wreak havoc on their world's economy. Of course, in RealLife [[ArtisticLicenseEconomics it probably won't]], 500 millions suwani being about 30 thousand tons of gold[[note]]A suwani is a large gold coin weighing about 60 grams and used mostly for savings[[/note]] or one trillion dollars, which is a large sum, but not nearly large enough do have a ''really'' detrimental effect.[[note]]It's basically just about the size of the suspected China's gold reserve, and injecting this much of ''hard'' liquidity into the market will probably have ''good'' effect on it[[/note]] It would be certain to really drive down the gold prices, though.
** When several Dark Elf warriors volunteer to help Itami and the others hunt the [[spoiler:Flame Dragon]], he gives them a crash course in using the Panzerfaust. When they actually confront it, they panic and completely forget what he taught them. Carnage ensues. Not helped is the ''other'' dose of RealityEnsues, which is that Dark Elves trained their whole lives to use medieval weapons, and only learned of the ''existence'' of modern weapons that same day. Them not remembering how a weapon they didn't know existed works in the heat of battle is another sad bit of reality.
** A fetish-looking winged girl in expensive, revealing garments walks into the hospital without an entourage. Is she a sorceress? A high-elf descended from the mountains? Does she want to pit her magical abilities against the JSDF's best? No. This is the middle ages, education isn't easy to come by, gender oppression is still widespread, and she has bills to pay. She's a prostitute seeking OBGYN services. Even from the conversation, she doesn't sound to pleased with her circumstances either.
** Because all the most experienced troops in the Empire were killed at the beginning of the conflict, the replacements are nowhere near as good. This is further compounded with the fact that their morale is practically nonexistent due to being forced to fight their own countrymen or else they or their families will be killed. They are unable to defeat a force they outnumber over 3 to 1 that is mostly well trained rookies and their past their prime veteran instructors.
** During the battle against the Empire at the Jade Palace to rescue the Rose Order and diplomatic delegation, we see our first Japanese casualties being taken. In essence, even with all the technology and advancements they've made? The JSDF are still as human as the Empire's soldiers. Casualties were inevitable no matter what happened.

** The Empire should’ve known better than to launch an invasion to another world without even bothering to know anything about it first as they arrogantly believed they are the superior force and nothing could stand up to them. All they did was incite the wrath of a world that is far technologically advanced that has proven they are more than capable of wiping out the Empire at anytime they so wish to choose.

** During the fight at Hakone Mountain, the Japanese SFG identity one of the three Black Ops Team sneaking into the mountain as Americans when they find a dead black operative. Comments, varying with the source material, are made to the effect that only the US has black soldiers. While considering the circumstances this is a reasonable assumption, other nations with overseas Black Ops capability also have black soldiers -- some are US allies, like the UK and Canada, but even Russia has some blacks in its armed forces.

** The manga throws this right out the window, as it shows modern Type 10 tanks leading the charge through the gate.

''Gate: Featuring the Starry Heavens'' is a spinoff manga that depicts Tuka, Lelei, and Rory becoming {{Idol Singer}}s.

** After the JSDF are finally called in to stop the invaders, they proceed to beat the crap out of the invaders with guns, tanks, and helicopters. When the invaders try to attack again after the JSDF comes to their world and takes over the Gate, located on Alnus Hill, the JSDF defenders mercilessly shoot them down. The battle of Alnus Hill wasn't even a battle, it was a massacre. As one of their Imperial commanders said, "Like the grains in this porridge, the corpses of our soldiers were smashed into the ground", "Iron thorns blocked our way, and lightning rained down, blowing us away", and last, but not least, "The enemies on Alnus are an army comparable to God, they're a greater threat than the empire!" It turns out that ''over one hundred and twenty thousand'' casualties were taken by the Empire in the attempts to take Alnus, while the JSDF casualties were negligable by comparison, if there were any.

* CuteMonsterGirl: Quite a few of them inhabit the Special Region: the Warrior Rabbits, Medusas (who suck energy through their snake-hair), four-armed girls, sirens (similar to harpies), girls with feathered wings, girls with leathery wings and horns, deer girls, cat girls, etc. They also serve the purpose of reminding us that the world beyond the Gate is a different one, even after the orcs, dragons and werepigs are mostly wiped out.

** Episode twenty focuses heavily on Sherry and her attempts to escape Zorzal's Oprichnina, or SecretPolice, who are arresting every pro-peace noble and senator under the pretense of treason. Youji and his group are only seen in one short scene as they attempt to take random routes to throw off Lelei's assassins.
* DeathByIrony: This is implied to be the fate of Parne, a Bunny Warrior, in the manga. She chose life as slave instead of running away, and was forced to cut off half of her left ear. Later, we see a Bunny Warrior with a cut left ear trying to escape with the Bessara Family, and getting killed. Delilah and her friend continued their vagabond life and were found by late Lord Formal and get to live.
* DecadeDissonance: One of the few likelier explanations the variable levels of arms technology that exist among the countries beyond the Gate -- see how the very Roman-themed Empire exists side-by-side with the Kingdom of Elbe, which has ''mounted knights in plate armor''. This is lessened in the Manga, as the Empire takes on a slightly more medieval feel.
* DeepImmersionGaming: Youji is seen playing a fantasy game on his smartphone during his introduction. He imagines himself as a knight jumping down to fight a large group of monsters. Unfortunately he runs out of energy right after he lands, and is [[AllegedlyFreeGame told by the game to buy more]]. He is then beaten up by the monsters.

* DefiantToTheEnd: Sherry's parents throw wine at the Oprichnina, or Imperial secret police, after they're accused of treason. After Sherry escapes through a tunnel underneath their mansion, she watches in horror with Senator Casel as her family's mansion burns to the ground.

** Slavery. The Royal Family couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that [[spoiler:the existence a Japanese woman captured at Ginza and {{Made A|Slave}} SexSlave]] would make the Itami's unit ''flip their shit'' and [[spoiler:throw the peace treaty down the drain]]. Much like the Roman Empire it's based off, capturing people for sale during military campaigns beyond their borders is a standard practice.
** Imperials are prone to using sex as part of negotiations, and get confused when the JSDF don't take them up on it. For example, in the anime Pina orders Bozes to sleep with Itami so he won't report to his superiors that he was captured and beaten up by the Rose Knights under Bozes' orders after they had agreed a cease of hostilities. For extra Dissonance, while Bozes obviously didn't want to go with it, she gets [[ArentYouGoingToRavishMe very offended]] when she arrives to Itami's room and he completely ignores her, the second daughter of a Noble House, in favor of the small party going on in there despite her ReadyForLovemaking getup. She ends up slapping him ''hard'' across the face for the slight.

* DiplomaticImpunity: Inverted example in episode twenty. The Japanese government tries not to interfere with the Empire's internal affairs after Zorzal orders his Oprichnina, or SecretPolice, to arrest anyone suspected of treason. This includes pro-peace nobles and senators, and even Sherry, the twelve year old daughter of one of the most prominent pro-peace faction in the Empire. As she's being forcefully taken away from the steps of the Japanese embassy, Sugawara attempts a simultaneous LoopholeAbuse and ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight by allowing Sherry into the embassy under the pretense that he's going to marry her when she turns sixteen. Pina's knights then prevent the Oprichnina from storming the embassy lest they violate some treaties signed between Japan and the Empire.
* DirtyCoward: The marauder army at the battle of Italica attack the town that had few actual fighters and composed mostly of untrained civilians. They take sadistic delight in killing the townspeople, also engaging in RapePillageAndBurn on the parts of the town they overran, even going as far as to [[KickTheDog throw the corpses of their victims at the survivors to twist the knife further]]. However, [[BigDamnHeroes once the JSDF and Rory enter the fray]], the tables turn and the marauders try to flee in terror but ultimately fail as they simply were no match for their heavy firepower.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: A staple of the genre, but still... Despite the rape and attempted rape of women being portrayed as horrifying throughout the series, when a super strong invulnerable demigoddess driven supernaturally mad with lust pins Itami down against his protests, it's played for laughs/titillation [[note]] Granted, he protests that she ''looks'' like a minor and Japan has laws against that sort of thing [[/note]].

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the Manga, the Orcs only appear in the first chapter. The Wyverns-riders also disappear early on, but that could be due massive losses from the JSDF anti-aircraft guns annihilating them. For the rest of the series the Empire seems almost entirely Roman/medieval humans, with some of the CuteMonsterGirl species appearing just to remind the viewer that there are more than just humans in the other world. There are wyvern-riders seen in shots of the capital in the anime, and in at least one flashback scene to the battle in Ginza, orcs are seen in a prison bus.

* EpicFail: The game Youji plays in the first episode, where he leaps down to fight a large group of monsters. Unfortunately he has no energy to move, and is told by the game to buy more. Said monsters then proceed to pummel his character to death.

** Prince Zorzal is introduced raping a rabbit-woman, who was the queen of her people and gave herself up to him in exchange for saving her people... who, unbeknownst to her, were destroyed years before and think she surrendered just to save her own skin.
* EverybodyHatesHades: Played with in the series. Rory serves Emroy/Emloy, the god of death. Yet as she makes clear in episode 11 and its equivalent chapter in the manga, having a meaningful death means living a full and rich life, and so Emroy (and by extension Rory) is also a god of life (or at least ''living'', which is not the same thing) by proxy. The god of the Underworld Hardy, on the other, plays this straight, by having her disciples wake up the flame dragon, essentially for shits and giggles, and allowing it to massacre her own followers with no warning or explanation.

* {{Expy}}: Shigenori Houjou, the outgoing prime minister in the first episode, resembles former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, while Shinzou Motoi, the new prime minister in the same episode, resembles current prime minister Shinzo Abe, in the manga even more than in the anime. One of the staff members in the White House resembles former US President UsefulNotes/BarackObama, he appears in several chapters in the manga, in the anime he can be seen seated in episode 10. The Russian President in the manga looks like UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin, while his anime counterpart is more similar to UsefulNotes/BorisYeltsin. Defence Minister (and the probable future PM) Tarou Kanou shares resemblance, [[NamesTheSame given name]] and [[{{Otaku}} hobby]] with Taro Aso (also a hardliner like Abe). In episode 16, the two F-4 fighter pilots we see were based on the main characters of a 1970s manga named ''Phamtom Burai''.

* ZeroApprovalGambit: [[spoiler:Motoi quits office after Dirrell leaks to him the news about Japanese cabinet members engaging in bribery - partly because of that, but really it's to prevent the US from getting their hands on our otherworldly guests, as he only promised to ask the JSDF [=SFG=] to stand down from protecting the guests, but not hand over them. His name eventually becomes an insult however.]]

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: The anime's introduction of the [[SecretPolice Oprichnina]] have raised some eyebrows, is based on a 16th-century Russian organization in a country based on 9th-century Franco-roman civilization. Whether or not those viewers read the manga was irrelevant, as it was way behind the anime during Oprichnina's introduction, and it did not even catch up and overtake the anime until August 2019, more than 3 years after the second cour of the anime ended. furthermore, no explanation as to the origins of the organization was given in either medium[[note]]The manga, during its version of the Emperor's audience with the JSDF after the earthquake, drops a hint, as he mentions things that he could not possibly know, such as certain aspects of Japan's history, unless you consider the following........[[/note]] The origins are only given in the novels (the applicable ones were not translated at the time of the Oprichnina's introduction in the anime), where it is explicitly stated that one or more of the books Piña brought back from Ginza and had translated covers this aspect of Russian history, and Zorzal not only thought it sounded like a good idea, he decided to implement it as the very first act of his regency to "root out cowardly traitors" in order to cement his Pro-war position.[[note]]And serves as an explanation as to how Molto even knew the stuff about Japan's history that he was talking about.[[/note]]
* AdultFear: Especially present in the anime's first episode, where the show makes no attempt to hide the fact that there were ''children'' in front of the Gate when it opened.

** In RealLife, should a foreign power attack Japan, the US Military is obligated to help and defend Japan due to a Mutual Defense Treaty between the nations, thus a military operation to the world beyond the Gate would realistically have been a joint Japan-US military force, not JSDF-only like in the story proper. The novels note that the battle in Ginza took a week to conclude, more than enough time for the US to send troops trained to help clear buildings in the nightmare of urban combat. Even the most conservative Japanese politician would invoke the treaty in order to eliminate invaders and rescue trapped civilians, then send in a joint task force that could make use of the far superior logistical support and surveillance of the US armed forces (in order to maintain their status as a defensive force, the JSDF does not maintain the resources necessary for operating away from the home islands). However, [[ValuesDissonance the author is well known for his right-wing and revanchist views]], and belongs to a political faction that wants to both renegotiate the MDT and remove American forces from Japanese soil. Thus, he invokes ArtisticLicense and {{handwave}}s the MDT noncompliance with the Prime Minister [[InsaneTrollLogic declaring the Special Area to be a part of Japan because it connected right into Japan]]. Since it's "part of Japan", the invading army and its leaders are "terrorists" and can be dealt with using domestic forces only, without violating Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution which prohibits offensive military action. This leads to the odd situation where the occupying forces are sent in with obsolete Cold War equipment in case the expedition goes wrong, and keep their inferior firearms and such even after it becomes clear that there is no military match on the other side of the Gate.

* AnAxeToGrind: Rory's weapon is a stupidly-huge halberd so heavy that casually trying to pick it up will wrench your back. That's not an exaggeration - Komakado tries to lift it and breaks his back doing it. In chapter 53 ''three'' quite able-bodied bellboys from a Rondel hotel where the team stays are struggling to carry it.

* BottomlessMagazines: In keeping with the realistic firearms and weapons handling, this is averted in many cases, most notably when Yanagida fires his Minebea P9 on [[spoiler:Deliliah]] exactly nine times, the real life pistol's magazine capacity, before it runs empty.

** Episode 4, where refugees first arrive at the JSDF base on Alnus Hill following a brief run in with a fire dragon. Rory, Tuka, and Lelei don't get to enjoy it very long however, as they head into Italica, which is under siege by some remnants of the allied armies slaughtered in the earlier battle against the JSDF.

* BulletProofVest: A slight variation of this trope is used in episode twenty two, when Lelei is advised to wear armor underneath her mage robe while giving her thesis due to threats on her life. The first assassin is stopped before she can even get close enough to strike Lelei, but a second assassin manages to connect a hit before anyone can stop her. [[spoiler:Shandy, the second assassin, then finds out that Lelei being warned to wear armor is what saved her from the knife attack. Hilariously even though she heard the first assassin mention this, she totally forgot about it.]]

** Zorzal shares this habit as well. Just after watching his nation's soldiers get cut down, largely by Kuribayashi, Zorzal still insists that if Itami wants answers about remaining slaves, he'd best get on his knees and beg forgiveness. Itami's response is to tell Kuribayashi to [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique go all Jack Bauer on the prince]], and "just don't kill him." If the prince only knew what warfare was really like on the other side of the gate....

* CasualDangerDialogue: During the earthquake, all the natives react in a terrified panic as if it were the end of the world. Pina is shocked and confused when she sees Itami and Sugawara calmly walk about discussing the tremor's strength as if they were chatting about the weather.

** In the [[HotSpringsEpisode Hot Springs Chapter]] in the manga, but surprisingly little to the point of non-existence in the anime, because most of he time the girls are either in {{Modesty Towel}}s or in [[SceneryCensor the water]].

* CombatPragmatist: The JSDF are seen as this by the Empire. Why clash with swords when you can lay waste to your enemies with bullets?

* CompetencePorn: ''Gate's'' soldiers are depicted as an extremely competent, organised and rational fighting force, with half the fun being the sheer catharsis of skewering the cliche of RockBeatsLaser with a hefty helping of combined arms.

* CrapsackWorld: The world beyond the gate is something out of a prime LowFantasy. Let's start with TheEmpire who bullies other kingdoms around it, LetNoCrisisGoToWaste, SaltTheEarth and all. And then there's a RedLightDistrict smack dab in said empire's capital city run by crime lords and rampant with assassinations. [[spoiler:The queen of a race of wererabbits plots a massive war that will destroy the empire and what's left of her own subjects, who hate her because they thought she betrayed them all]]. To top things off, there's a giant dragon who burns down villages and towns.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Youji may be an huge Otaku but there is a good reason he's in command of the squad other than he knowledge of all things fantasy [[spoiler:seeing as he's a qualified JSDF Ranger and was once part of the Special Operations Group where he received the codename "Avenger"]]. However, the Minister of Defense notes that Itami only did the ''bare minimum'' amount of work required ''not'' to be kicked out of the Ranger training course, and in the end squeaked by to finish the program because the guy ranked above him got injured. Still, the bare minimum to not get kicked out of special forces groups is typically a pretty high threshold ''regardless''...
* CruelToBeKind: A Koda Village refugee's wagon breaks down in during an evacuation. Their chief tells him to pack up what he can carry, and then their wagon is set on fire. Kurokawa wonders if Youji was being a bit too harsh on them. But he says that waiting for it to get fixed would take too long considering they're fleeing from a fire dragon, and the refugees wouldn't leave the cart otherwise. And if they waited for some backup vehicles to arrive to haul their stuff, it may attract unwanted enemy attention, causing battles to break out, and the refugees would then be caught in the middle of it.
* CulturalPosturing: Japanese culture and society is generally portrayed as all around superior to those that exist on both sides of the Gate, with many characters beyond expressing their desire to have a society like Japan. A particularly pretentious example occurs in an omake, where the Japanese characters introduce baseball to the Gate-world as if it were a Japanese sport, instead of an import from the United States.
* CultureChopSuey: Zorzal's StateSec is basically a wholesale imported political police of UsefulNotes/IvanTheTerrible, The Oprichnina, down to its ''name'' (which is HandWaved as an acronym of its official Special Region name) and heavy use of the dog head[[note]]Symbolizing the dog-like devotion to the monarch[[/note]] and broom[[note]]As in sweeping the rebels and traitors clean[[/note]] motifs. While it seems inexplicable at first that a 16th century Russian organization cropped up in the nation populated by the descendants of the 5th century Franks, we find out that Zorzal got the idea from reading about the actual Oprichnina in one of the books Pina brought back and had translated.

** After the JSDF are finally called in to stop the invaders, they proceed to beat the crap out of the invaders with guns, tanks and helicopters. When the invaders try to attack again after the JSDF comes to their world and takes over the Gate, located on Alnus Hill, the JSDF defenders mercilessly shoots them down. The battle of Alnus Hill wasn't even a battle, it was a massacre. As one of their Imperial commanders said, "Like the grains in this porridge, the corpses of our soldiers were smashed into the ground", "Iron thorns blocked our way, and lightning rained down, blowing us away", and last, but not least, "The enemies on Alnus are an army comparable to God, they're a greater threat than the empire!" It turns out that ''over one hundred and twenty thousand'' casualties were taken by the Empire in the attempts to take Alnus, while the JSDF casualties were negligable by comparison, if there were any.

* DecadeDissonance: One of the few likelier explanations the variable levels of arms technology that exist among the countries beyond the Gate -- see how the very Roman-themed Empire exists side-by-side with the Kingdom of Elbe, which has ''mounted knights in plate armour''. This is lessened in the Manga, as the Empire takes on a slightly more medieval feel.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: A staple of the genre, but still... Despite the rape and attempted rape of women being portrayed as horrifying throughout the series, when a super strong invulnerable demigoddess driven supernaturally mad with lust pins Itami down against his protests, it's played for laughs/titillation [[note]] Granted, his protests are that she ''looks'' like a minor and Japan has laws against that sort of thing [[/note]].

** [[spoiler:And as she's about to carry out the assassination on the Ginza slave, she learns her ultimate target is NotSoDifferent, which could clear up the entire situation... which of course is the moment Yanagida chooses to go outside and see someone holding a knife to a Japanese citizen's throat.]]

* {{Eagleland}}: President Dirrell is of the "America, the Boorish" variety. The US initially takes the position that Japan is welcome to go through the Gate first, because they expect the expedition to run into difficulty (being aware that it's on a shoestring budget)and US assistance to be called in. In the meantime, they provide supplies and benefit from being Japan's ally. Later, when Princess Pina and several others come back through the Gate, this seems to be forgotten and the US attempts the same covert grab tactic that China and Russia employ in order to get the visitors from the Special Area into US custody, with blackmail used when the Japanese defense is unexpectedly deadly. The two other black ops teams Rory puts a bloody stop to that effort, though the US still maintains covert watch at the Gate in another attempt to grab them. The president throws a fit when that fails too and Shino blabs about the covert attacks on live TV, but considering the team lost, the valuable blackmail lost and how close they came to succeeding compare to China and Russia's efforts it's perhaps understandable that he's less sanguine than they are. It's never explained why the US didn't simply request an interview of its own with the visitors and lean on its provision of supplies instead of blackmail.

* FollowTheLeader: In terms of animation techniques, it's clear from the first episode that Creator/A1Pictures was ''really'' paying close attention to how Creator/{{ufotable}} animated ''Anime/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks'' since they use the exact same methods from FSN such as blurring, shading, flares, etc. The first episode of ''Gate'' even had the camera rotate 360 degrees as it followed an ArrowCam which ufotable did in Episode 24 of ''Fate/Zero'' and Episodes 20 & 24 of ''Unlimited Blade Works.''

* GoryDiscretionShot: The anime gets this treatment due to the LighterAndSofter theme of it. Rory's introduction scene is the best example, every time she slams her halberd down on some poor individual, a huge cloud of dust pops up, covering the end result. While there's a small scene in episode 1 where Itami stabs an Imperial soldier resulting in blood both on his face and the soldier's armour, blood doesn't make a significant appearance until the Italica arc.

** Leilei, upon being asked how she can support the JSDF instead of the Empire (where she lives), responds that she and her people are nomadic. This reminds Piña that just because you can conquer someone, doesn't necessarily mean that they want to follow you afterwards.
** Earth is this as well- aside from other nations wanting to get into the action of the Special Region and all its resources, the Japan arc shows that not all Japanese are in agreement over the handling of the Region, as shown when they try to rake Itami over the coals for the losses sustained in actions against the Empire and the Flame Dragon.

** Interestingly, this particular example is not so much of humans encountering another species and them deciding humans to be frightening (though the other sentient races on the non-Earth side of the gate agree that the JSDF is strange and frightening themselves), but rather, ''both'' factions that are in conflict are human in nature. It's less that ''Humans'' Are Cthulu, and more that the ''JSDF'' is Cthulu.

* ItsRainingMen: JSDF paratroopers are dropped into the Imperial capital in order to rescue the Japanese ambassador along with all of the other pro-peace delegates and Pina's troops.

* LaserGuidedKarma: The Imperial Army would sadistically and brutally kill innocent defenseless people in the most gruesome manner (sometimes add in RapePillageAndPlunder) to declare their superior might. Unfortunately for them, they pissed off the ''wrong'' people by attacking an unaware Japan, who retaliate in the form of sending in the JSDF with their superior technology/knowledge of war. The Imperial Army soon gets a rude awakening when they realize too late just how far outclassed they are. The cruel arrogant sadists who laughed at the carnage they caused now screamed and begged for mercy as they get even more brutalized and mutilated via shredded apart by gunfire or blown to bloody chunks by tank shells/grenades/mortars/bombs.

** Youji often uses ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight in order to help out people in the special area or the Empire without being given specific orders to do so, such as heading off to an area where the Fire Dragon is terrorizing people under the pretense that he's looking for minerals and other resources the Japanese government can exploit in said areas. For the most part his leadership overlooks these infractions, or don't heavily punish him for it, such as restricting him to the base for a few weeks.
** Zorzal tries to make use of this in order to quell any sentiments of a peaceful resolution with the Japanese. He uses his SecretPolice, the Oprichnina, to arrest pro-peace nobles and senators under the pretense of treason. The Japanese Prime Minister's hands are tied, as Zorzal's men, however horrendous their actions may be, are technically doing internal affairs within the Empire. He orders the JSDF and his ambassadors from interfering or allowing refuge to anyone attempting to flee Zorzal's men, lest Zorzal then uses the Japanese housing "criminals" as an excuse to try and restart the war.

Of course, then there's whole matter of ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections with Minister Kanou (even if both men would've been reluctant to invoke this, in the personal-connection-based Japanese society, it's fairly certain that the other people ''would not''), and the common attitude towards the [[UsefulNotes/TheModernDayRambo Special Forces officers]], for whom even the much more serious offences often slipped off as if non-existent.

** The first episode of the second cour, starts off with Third Recon laughing at Itami's "dork" outfit, then transitions to Zorzal raping his SexSlave Tyuule.
** The fourth episode of the second cour, starts off with Delilah singing an uplifting song about how wonderful life in Alnus is and getting cheered by the others, then she receives a letter telling her to kill Noriko.

* MuggingTheMonster: While in Ginza, a petty thief attempted to rob Rory of her wrapped-up axe. He steals it and makes a break for it, only to not get very far as he moments later gets nearly crushed and pinned down by the axe's weight.

** Rory is a demigoddess, a chosen Disciple of her god. She is a [[OneManArmy One Woman Army]] [[TheAgeless ageless immortal]] who swings around an axe bigger than she is. Thankfully, when she appears at a Diet hearing, she does not mention that she's the Disciple of a ''death'' god.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Pina and her subordinates repel several incursions from the bandit army prior to the Battle of Italica proper. Some of them die heroically in the process. Yet "the Green Men" wipe out the main bandit force effortlessly and thus receive the lion's share of adulation from the populace. This frustrates her, both personally (it was her first battle) and also politically (the JSDF could occupy the Empire's bread basket without any local opposition).
* OverzealousUnderling: After Pina has negotiated an incredibly generous (compared to her society's usual reparation demands) settlement with the JSDF (they mostly want hostages back instead of punitive damages from the attack on Tokyo), her knights (unaware of the treaty, since messages can't go faster than horses) run into Itami, who they think is still an enemy and violently torment all the way back to the castle. Pina lashes out at Bozes and orders her to sleep with Itami to salvage the situation. Unfortunately, Bozes finds Itami in the middle of a tea party with his squad and some maids [[DiggingYourselfDeeper and slaps him]]. Pina then decides to go along with the JSDF to Japan in order to prevent any more screwups from her troops.

** When they enter the Flame Dragon's nest inside a volcano, Itmai's team leaves Rory above ground with a radio to warn them if the dragon returns. Unfortunately, the rock blocks their signals, so the dragon is able to [[StealthyColossus show up unnanounced and attack them]].

** When Japan sends their army to another world, they equip their troops mostly with Cold War-era stockpiles and US Army surplus. This is explained and justified by Itami; the JSDF is the victim of budget cutbacks, and had to assemble their task force very quickly using whatever materiel they had available. Since they were fighting an enemy of unknown strength, they considered the possibility that they might have to retreat back through the Gate, and brought gear they could leave behind with minimal economic impact. Additionally, the lack of GPS and telecommunication satellites in the Special Region makes the older weapons more useful than the newer digital-based systems.

* StealthyColossus: The dragon is able to sneak up on the team in its lair (somewhat justified in that Rory wasn't able to warn them by radio, and the natives were too terrified to say anything), so only Itami had his back turned.

* TechnologyPorn: In the first episode of the anime we are treated to several beauty shots of the JSDF's armoured vehicles as they enter the Gate and cross the void between the two worlds.

** Though ultimately subverted, Bozes decides to rush off with the intention of rescuing Pina by herself after the JSDF rescues the political prisoners as well as the Japanese ambassador. Were Beefeater not following her, and a small group of JSDF troops waiting until the last second, she would have died.

** In episode fourteen, an earthquake hits the lands of the Empire, something that the capitol is completely unprepared for and inexperienced with. Itami also finds out that Zorzal, the crown prince and SmugSnake, kidnapped some Japanese citizens prior to their first attack. One of the captives, a woman named Noriko, had been used as a SexSlave the entire time. Itami and his soldiers kill several of Zorzal's men, and then allows Kuribayashi to deliver a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on Zorzal in retaliation for said kidnappings and treatment of the captives.

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Every other-worlder is freaked out when they have to take the underground subway. Most of them think it will take them to Hell. Rory has a slightly more justified reason to be afraid; for the past few hundred years, the God of the underworld [[StalkerWithACrush has been trying to get her to marry her]], and she still thinks she'll show up even though they're on another planet. Given that later on, said stalker shows up ''the instant'' she sets foot inside a cave, she had reason to be paranoid.

* ZillionDollarBill: Yao's diamond ([[TreasureIsBiggerInFiction which is the size of an adult's head]]) proves to be nearly impossible for Itami to sell back on Earth. The jeweller Itami commissioned to do so says that not one of his contacts has clients interested in something ''that'' huge and inherently expensive, and he broke into a cold sweat the moment Itami tried to suggest cutting it into smaller, easier to sell pieces[[note]]it is presented as a cut diamond, so they can't exactly make other diamonds from around the edges as is commonly done with large uncut diamonds found in real life[[/note]]. Unfortunately, combined with him [[DudeWheresMyReward being docked his pay going AWOL to deal with the fire dragon]], this makes it his BrokeEpisode.

In August [[YearX 20XX]], a portal to a parallel world known as the "Gate", suddenly appeared in Ginza, Tokyo where monsters and human warriors wearing ancient armor poured out of the portal, killing everyone in their way and trying to claim the area as their own. This would later be known as "The Ginza Incident". Immediately after the attack, the Japanese Ground-Self Defense Forces launches a counter attack, repelling and pushing the invaders back to the Gate and reclaiming Ginza.

Hoping to establish diplomatic relationship with the people beyond the Gate and capture the ones responsible for the massacre of Ginza, the JSDF, under orders by the Prime Minister, takes over and enters the Gate where they dispatch the Third Reconnaissance Team to scout the "Special Region" led by 33 year old First Lieutenant Youji Itami. Itami was there when the Ginza incident happened and, luckily for him, exploring the Special Region is a dream come true since the Lieutenant is an {{Otaku}}. While the 3rd Recon Team explores the Special Region, back on Earth, the major powers take a special interest with the Gate...

''Gate - Thus the JSDF Fought There'' (''Gate - Jieitai Kare no Chi nite Kaku Tatakaeri''), is a Japanese fantasy novel series by Takumi Yanai. Originally serialized online on a novel website called Arcadia, it was published in book form by Creator/{{Alphapolis}} in 2010. There are 5 novels, followed by five ''gaiden'' books each focusing on what the important female characters were doing during an important event. A "sequel" (or "season 2") for the books was recently launched, with the first new book published in 2014.

A manga serialization started in July, 2011, while a more LightNovel-style rewrite/reprinting (complete with revamped and polished character designs) was started in 2012.

An anime adaptation was announced mid-December 2014 and was released in July 2015. After the first twelve episodes aired, the series took a hiatus and resumed in January 2016. Creator/SentaiFilmworks has the series licensed for North American release and it is available for streaming on [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/gate Crunchyroll]].

A prequel manga called ''Gate -- 14 year old Piña Co Lada and The Rose-Order of Knights of the Empire'' (''Gate -- Teikoku no Bara Kishidan - Piña Co Lada 14-Sai'') focuses on Princess Piña Co Lada's past and how she founded the Rose-Order of Knights.

* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The military vehicles look noticeably computer generated from time to time, particularly when the camera is focused on them driving. The fire dragon is also subjected to this. Some of the animated crowds are done via [=CGI=] too.
* AboveGoodAndEvil: Upon Rory's introduction, the light novel highlights that Emroy does not care about good or evil, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality at least not by any human standards]]. Despite being the god of '''judgement''', Emroy decides your fate based upon only one standard. "Are you willing to live, or more importantly, die by your own core principles?" Consistently, Itami has shown that he will, and as such he, and the JSDF under him, can count on Rory's support. People who have not, like the bandit recruit who pleaded for mercy "because his hands were still clean" and the leftist politician who tried to exploit Rory and the Coda village situation to discredit the JSDF for her own political ambitions were met with Rory's disgust and rage respectively.
* AccidentalMarriage: In episode nineteen, Lelei announces that she's married to Youji. She then explains that if they spend three nights together in the same room, it's considered a marriage. Tuka, Arpeggio, and especially Rory don't take [[ClingyJealousGirl this announcement]] very well, with the latter reaching {{Yandere}}-like levels when questioning Youji on why he "married" Lelei and even slept with Tuka (when she thought he was her father briefly), but has yet to do anything naughty with her. Arpeggio meanwhile suffers a HeroicBSOD, and slams a bowl of soup down on her sister's head in jealousy.

** The citizens of the Empire generally wear Medieval style clothing instead of togas in the anime. Togas do make appearances in the court scenes, such as the Senate discussion in Episode 2, Sugawara's visit to the court in Episode 11, and the garden banquet in Episode 13, so they appear to be more of the formal court dress rather than casual clothing — exactly like they actually were in Rome itself, [[FridgeBrilliance to think of]].[[note]]In fact, despite its enormous prestige, on a practical level the Romans ''hated'' toga: it was expensive, cumbersome, hot, heavy, prickly, a chore to wear and an even greater chore to maintain, especially the gleaming white ''"toga candida"'' and purple-striped ''"toga praetexta"''. Both the Republic and the Empire had to maintain a legislation that ''required'' wearing the toga to the Forum and other official functions under the pain of a stiff fine, otherwise the people preferred to wear much lighter and more comfortable tunic+cloak combo, making impossible to distinguish the slaves and the foreigners from the ''quirites''.[[/note]]
** Bozes' nightgown is not see-through in the anime.

** Tyuule's rape scene is shown only in silhouette through the gauze of Zorzal's bed canopy, and the camera in general avoids showing her body.

** Noriko is not nude in the negotiation scene in the anime adaptation, instead given a still-revealing simple rag.

** The dark elves' outfit in the anime are less...{{Stripperific}}.
* AdaptationDistillation: Despite the AdaptationExpansion, the anime did take out some scenes, like the part where the girls are drinking at the hot springs inn - In the anime only the drunken faces of Shino and Rory are seen. Also, Risa fails to make any mention of Itami's mother during his Japan trip in the anime.
** In the Anime, the Ginza Incident seemed to last little more than an afternoon before the Tokyo police and the JSDF stopped the rampaging Imperials. However in the Light Novels and manga, it took almost a week for the last remnants of the invasion force to be captured or killed.

** The distillation is most evident with Episode 14, which is the entirety of Volume 5 from the manga compressed into a 20 minute episode.

** The Battle of Alnus Hill is shown with all three charges done by the Imperial army rather than just the last night battle.

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: The anime's introduction of the [[SecretPolice Oprichnina]] have raised some eyebrows, being based on a 16th century Russian organization in a country based on 9th century Franco-roman civilization. Whether or not those viewers read the manga was irrelevant, as it was way behind the anime during the Oprichnina's introduction, and it did not even catch up and overtake the anime until August 2019, more than 3 years after the second cour of the anime ended. furthermore, no explanation as to the origins of the organization were given in either medium[[note]]The manga, during its version of the Emperor's audience with the JSDF after the earthquake, drops a hint, as he mentions things that he could not possible know, such as certain aspects of Japan's history, unless you consider the following........[[/note]] The origins are only given in the novels (the applicable ones were not translated at the time of the Oprichnina's introduction in the anime), where it is explicitly stated that one or more of the books Piña brought back from Ginza and had translated covers this aspect of Russian history, and Zorzal not only thought it sounded like a good idea, he decided to implement it as the very first act of his regency to "root out cowardly traitors" in order to cement his Pro-war position.[[note]]And serves as an explanation as to how Molto even knew the stuff about Japan's history that he was talking about.[[/note]]

* AlwaysABiggerFish: A dragon shows up in the sky near the JSDF convoy in episode 3. However it's quickly eaten by the much larger fire dragon, who then attacks them.

** Piña's Rose Knights. When they were kids, she just gathered a bunch of the other noble girls and started playing soldier, but eventually she managed to wrangle Grey, an imperial knight, to train them, and by the events of the series she's leading them into battle. There are men in the order, but they play lesser roles, and the highest-ranked guy, Norma, [[spoiler:gets killed early on.]]

** It is {{justified|Trope}} that the Medieval/Roman style armour and shields of the Empire are useless against bullets from modern assault rifles and machine guns, not to mention artillery and heavy explosives.
** Rory's ability to cut armoured men apart with her axe is also justified: she's a demigod who's capable of swinging around a weapon that's bigger than she is, and weighs roughly the same as a car. And even with all of this, she's the apostle of the god of death, so there's probably an aspect of that helping her in some way.
** On the other hand, it's played straight with no excuse when Kuribayashi manages during the Battle of Italica to [[BayonetYa bayonet]] a huge soldier straight through his breastplate so deeply that there's blood up to the hilt; an actual ancient or medieval breastplate would hardly be dented even if the blade were modern steel. The anime aptly {{lampshade}}s this, as her bayonet breaks from the stress of having done that the next time she hits something with it.

** When several Dark Elf warriors volunteer to help Itami and the others [[spoiler:hunt the Flame Dragon]], he gives them a brief walkthrough in the function and procedures to use the Panzerfaust 3. However, they have nearly no practice time to use the weapon, and when they finally meet the [[spoiler:flame dragon]], they ignore every applicable safety that would otherwise be known to a well-trained user, such as backblast safety, arming the warhead, etc. This is somewhat justified, since they ''literally'' only learned of the existence of the weapons the same day they got them, and their "Training" such as it was, could not possibly have sunk in.
** It might be a general Dark Elves thing, as Yao is consistently shown to be TheDitz when operating modern machinery. In addition to the aforementioned Panzerfaust trouble, in the Chapter 52 she makes so much fuss trying to disengage the safety on the Itami's rifle that she ''drops'' it [[spoiler:directly on her intended target — the Minotaur they've been fighting.]]

** In RealLife, should a foreign power attack Japan, the US Military is obligated to help and defend Japan due to a Mutual Defense Treaty between the nations, thus a military operation to the world beyond the Gate would realistically have been a joint Japan-US military force, not JSDF-only like in the story proper. The novels note that the battle in Ginza took a week to conclude, more than enough time for the US to send troops trained to help clear buildings in the nightmare of urban combat. Even the most conservative Japanese politician would invoke the treaty in order to eliminate invaders and rescue trapped civilians, then send in a joint task force that could make use of the far superior logistical support and surveillance of the US armed forces (in order to maintain their status as a defensive force, the JSDF does not maintain the resources necessary for operating away from the home islands). However, [[ValuesDissonance the author is well known for his right-wing and revanchist views]], and belongs to a political faction that wants to both renegotiate the MDT and remove American forces from Japanese soil. Thus, he invokes ArtisticLicense and {{handwave}}s the MDT noncompliance with the Prime Minister [[InsaneTrollLogic declaring the Special Area to be a part of Japan because it connected right into Japan]]. Since it's "part of Japan", the invading army and its leaders are legally "terrorists" and can be dealt with using domestic forces only, without violating Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution which prohibits offensive military action. This leads to the odd situation where the occupying forces are sent in with obsolete Cold War equipment in case the expedition goes wrong, and keep their inferior firearms and such even after it becomes clear that there is no military match on the other side of the Gate.

** Another example, this time caused not by the author politics, but rather by the questionable translation choice, is in Episode 4. In the English translation, Kurokawa and Kuribayashi tries to get Itami's attention by calling "Captain!" However, Itami is a lieutenant so he pays no attention. So after they screamed their lungs out for his attention, Itami simply calls for the unit's actual Captain that the two were seeking him. In Japanese, however, both shouted "Taicho!", which doesn't denote rank and can refer to ''any'' unit leader — meaning that Itami was simply [[{{Otaku}} so absorbed in his web novel]], that he didn't get that they were calling specifically ''him'', as a yet another illustration to his dorky nature.
** Even worse, in the same scene Kuribayashi ends up kicking Itami (her CO and a decorated, commissioned officer) in the butt to get his attention, in front of other officers no less. Striking a superior officer is a severe breach of discipline and is grounds for a court martial in almost every modern military in the world[[note]] The other officers don't like Itami very much and probably feel that he deserved to get kicked for ignoring proper protocol, which can be deadly if the base were suddenly attacked[[/note]].

** It is prominently and explicitly shown that the Japanese have set up their beachhead on Alnus hill as a star fort. While an effective fortification in its heyday of the 1400s-1600s (the design blunted the impact of cannon and the points allowed defenders to hit any attackers in their flanks) and impressive looking, today it is simultaneously obsolete, pointlessly over complicated overkill considering the demonstrated capabilities and technologies beyond the Gate, and inherently prohibits any expansion of the base. There's a reason why modern military bases, even in hostile territory, boil down to layered squares; modern military capabilities can prevent small covert attacks with trenches, fencing, surveillance, and internal security, while large attacks can be detected and interdicted before they get within 100 kilometers of a base (especially in the grassland and rolling hills with scattered forests shown to surround Alnus). The expedition already demonstrated that when they annihilated a force several times larger without ever coming under direct attack when they first came through the Gate.

** Nobody, including his own father, steps in to protect Zorzal from the beating he's taking. Though they're likely just as much hesitant from the fact the person administering the beat down, Kuribayashi, had just cut down everyone that tried to aid him after he was struck by Itami than they are from him being an asshole. The rest of the 3rd Recon Group also have their guns at the ready, and have already demonstrated what they can do.

** The first battle at Alnus Hill is the biggest instigator. The armies of the Unified Kingdoms assumed they would curbstomp the JSDF occupying the hill because they outnumber them 100,000 to their 10,000. Boy were they wrong...

* AttackItsWeakPoint: A fire dragon attacks the JSDF convoy escorting the refugees who left Coda. Despite their firepower, including a .50 caliber machine gun, it doesn't seem hurt at all. Tuka awakens around that point, refers to and repeatedly points at her eye, prompting Youji to signal to his men to aim at it. Once they focus on the dragon's eye, they force it on the defensive long enough to fire a rocket at it.

* AnAxeToGrind: Rory's weapon is a stupidly-huge halberd so heavy that casually trying to pick it up will wrench your back. That's not exaggeration - Komakado tries to lift it and breaks his back doing it. In chapter 53 ''three'' quite able-bodied bellboys from a Rondel hotel where the team stays are struggling to carry it.

* BackToBackBadasses: Kuribiyashi and Rory fight together in melee during the Battle of Italica while engaging the bandit army. There's the classic pose, one with a huge axe and the other a bayonet/handgun, and also the kill-the-enemy-attacking-the-other exchange as well.

** The JSDF quickly prove that crazy unknown forces from another world are no match for their training, equipment, and all around guts.

** The Empire Army who invaded Ginza also has some credit to be be able fighting in Japanese homeland for seven days while being technologically inferior. Though, outnumbering JSDF and attacking in surprise, as well as RefugeInAudacity because nobody in authority could believe a medieval army with fantastic beasts was attacking, certainly help.
* BadassBystander: Youji was shopping during the Ginza incident, where he immediately took command of the police and help the evacuation of civilians to the safety of the Tokyo Imperial Palace and hold off the invaders until the JSDF arrive. [[SkewedPriorities Too bad his plans get cancelled]].
* BalancedHarem: Rory, Lelei and Tuka are all interested in Itami and the three get equal amount of focus and interaction with Itami. None of them being "in the lead" has a lot to do with the fact that Itami treats them all like kids and he thinks they are too young for him. [[note]]Although technically, only Lelei is younger than him, but [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Rory and Tuka]] still look and [[ImmortalImmaturity act]] like teenage girls.[[/note]]

* BatmanGambit: A number, as manipulation is a very popular political tool in the Empire.

** Sherry Thierri, a frigging [[TokenMiniMoe 12-years old loli]] plays it on the Japanese ambassodors in the recent arc, [[spoiler:manipulating them into allowing her to take a shelter with them during the Zorzal's purge, which they generally are reluctant to do because of Realpolitik.]]
* BattleHarem: Itami's harem is made of an elf with magic and archery ability, a genius mage and an apostle for the god of death.
* BeleagueredBoss: Pina is overjoyed at having managed to negotiate a peace settlement with the JSDF that's unbelievably generous to the Empire, mostly wanting information and the return of prisoners instead of ruinous reparations. Then she learns that her AmazonBrigade ran into Itami, captured him and beat the crap out of him on the way back (as there is no radio in the special area, Bozes and the knights thought they were still at war). As this incident could reignite a war the Empire cannot possibly win, Pina orders Bozes to sleep with Itami by way of apology (something aristocratic daughters are used to doing). Bozes enters Itami's room... but on finding him having a tea party with the demihuman maids, opts to slap him instead. On seeing Itami even more roughed up than before, Pina understandably decides to join the delegation herself to prevent any more incidents.

* BerserkButton: While Itami's team talking peacefully with the Emperor to advise them about an Earthquake, the Elder prince shows up dragging a bunch of naked slave girls chained behind him... one of them is a girl who was taken during the Ginza attack. ''Itami'' promptly knocks him to the floor, then takes the girl back. The JSDF demands the immediate release of all Ginza prisoners, and obliterates the Senate building with an airstrike that night just to make their point. [[spoiler:And they haven't even found out that at least one of the other prisoners has died as a slave in one of the Empire's mines]]. Cue "shock and awe" all over the palace.

* BloodKnight: Rory is a priestess of Emloy, the god of battle, and for her there is no greater pleasure than participating in combat. She loves it so much that battle sexually arouses her, and she can't stand it if there's one going on nearby without her. Shino might start counting as well. [[spoiler:Tyuule falls between here and OmnicidalManiac.]]

** Dark Elf Yao Ha Dusshi has an impressive chest, and coincidentally is [[spoiler:the only elf warrior to survive the battle with the Fire Dragon.]]
* BookEnds: For Itami. In the first and last episodes of the anime he tries [[spoiler:and fails]] to attend the summer Comiket.
* BoomHeadshot: A lot of imperial soldiers meet their end this way due to the JSDF's guns. During the Jade Palace rescue, JSDF soldiers snipe headshots on the Oprichnina, knowing that taking them out would cause the rest to scatter. The commander of the force even orders to "shoot at any kobold heads" due to their helmets. During the rescue of the last Japanese citizen held prisoner, a JSDF soldier kills the Oprichnina commander with a headshot from an ''[[BFG anti-material rifle]]''. His head was instantaneously blown off without a trace.

* BrokeEpisode: While he's usually paid well enough to even support a family (which is what actually drove [[PerpetualPoverty Risa]] [[GoldDigger to marry him]]), all those shenanigans around him sometimes result in Itami being docked or put on a half-pay as punishment, like [[DudeWheresMyRespect after the whole Fire Dragon story]]. In Chapter 53 he's seen scratching up his Comiket purchases plan [[SkewedPriorities with tears in his eyes]], because he cannot afford half of it this month.

** In the aftermath of Rory's hotspring rampage, the Minister of Defense wonders if she [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure put on the stone mask and feeds on blood]].

** [[spoiler:Rory]] gets swallowed by the Minotaur, though she's immortal and had to be rescued by [[spoiler:Itami and Yao]], or else she woud probably have to live through the ''very'' disturbing process of being, ahem, [[{{Squick}} passed out]] [[NightmareFuel naturally]].

* ThoseTwoGuys: Itami and Kurata, being the only otakus in Third Recon Team helps.

* VirtueIsWeakness: The Empire believes that Japan valuing all of its citizens, even the "peasants", and refusing to sacrifice or abandon any of them is a sentimental weakness they can exploit. [[spoiler:They don't expect Japan to call in an airstrike as warning though.]]
* WakeUpCallBoss: The Fire Dragon. In his first encounter with it, Itami and his troops are mostly powerless against it, until Tuka tells them to go for its eyes, which also gave them time to launch a rocket at it. However, it only runs away due to losing an arm in said explosion. And in his second encounter, he has even less firepower initially, though fortunately Lelei and Rory manage to hold its attention for a while.

** [[spoiler:Explanation: She opened it to let interesting elements from the other side come in long enough to change up the world. It's implied that she opens gates at a regular basis, each time choosing a different world that catches her fancy. After enough time has passed, she'll shut the gate. Of course this means the JSDF must retreat before "enough time" comes, otherwise they'll never return to Earth.]]

** Molto describes the death of the Flame Dragon as if Leilei was the one who did all the work, as the primary combatants were the JSDF (who they're at war with), Rory the Reaper (a Demigoddess, and thus not good for morale), Tuka (an elf, and not an Imperial Citizen), and Yao (a Dark Elf, again, not an Imperial Citizen). Since Leilei is human (even if she doesn't like the Empire much), she's the one he chooses to honor.

** Grey is bald and [[StoutStrength notably rotund]] in the manga, but has blonde buzzcut and is more muscular in the anime. Then the spinoff prequel manga turns him into a black-haired {{hunk}}.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In episode 3, Rory becomes intrigued by the humvee being commandeered by Youji, and decides she wants to ride in it as well. Unfortunately she decides to sit in his lap. As the scene cuts to a wide view of the humvees as they're driving, Youji tells Rory not to touch his pistol. He is then heard telling her not to touch him "there". Takeo, who was sitting in the driver side, gets a little jealous as Youji protests Rory touching "parts" of him.

* BoomHeadshot: A lot of imperial soldiers meet their end this way due to the JSDF's guns.

** Once Itami and his crew rescue Pina, they make their escape in a military vehicle. Empire soldiers attempt to stop them, only to be either gunned down or run over. Despite that, they ''still'' try to pursue their vehicle, only to get blown up by backup forces who had set up mines to cover their escape.

** [[spoiler:Zorzal and Tyuule flee the capital in the finale to avoid retaliation from the JSDF and his family, instead of their MutualKill in the other versions.]]

* DoorSlamsYou: In the manga and episode 5 of the anime, Princess Piña hits Itami in the face with one of Italica's gates when she comes out to greet Rory, Lelei, and Tuka. This is just the start of a long list of screw-ups she makes while dealing with the JSDF.

** Another example, this time caused not by the author politics, but rather by the questionable translation choice, is in Episode 4. In the English translation, Kurokawa and Kuribayashi tries to get Itami's attention by calling "Captain!" However, Itami is a lieutenant so he pays no attention. So after they screamed their lungs out for his attention, Itami simply calls for the unit's actual Captain that the two were seeking him. In Japanese, however, both shouted "Taicho!", which doesn't denote rank and can refer to ''any'' unit leader — meaning that Itami was simply [[{{Otaku}} so absorbed in his web novel]], that he didn't get that they were calling specifically ''him'', as a yet another illustration to his {{adorkable}} nature.

* CastFullofPrettyBoys: Say what you want, the males in the show, particularly the Japanese, are rather attractive.

* CrisisCatchAndCarry: At the climax of the Italica battle, one of the JSDF copters warns any friendlies in the area to clear out as it was about to gun down all the bandits within the city gate. Itami quickly picks up Rory in his arms while Tomita hauls Kuribayashi on his shoulder before running out of the danger zone.

** Episode 24 after defeating the giant ogre, Zorzal's ace in the hole, the spoiled prince refused to accept defeat and tries to challenge Itami to a fight but gets stopped by a sniper shot. Itami coldly tells Zorzal that he's way in over his head and delusional to think he has any hope of winning despite all the setbacks dealt to him. Frankly, it's getting tiresome and annoying, so Itami warns Zorzal if he ever entertains any thought of trying something against them again, they WILL kill him where he stands.

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: The anime's introduction of the [[SecretPolice Oprichnina]] have raised some eyebrows, being based on a 16th century Russian organization in a country based on 9th century Franco-roman civilization. Whether or not those viewers read the manga was irrelevant, as it was way behind the anime during the Oprichnina's introduction, and continues to be behind even more than a year and a half after the end of the anime's second cour[[note]]As of July 2017, it's at the Rose Knights' defense of the Jade Palace[[/note]], and furthermore, no explanation as to the origins of the organization were given in either medium[[note]]The manga, during its version of the Emperor's audience with the JSDF after the earthquake, drops a hint, as he mentions things that he could not possible know, such as certain aspects of Japan's history, unless you consider the following........[[/note]] The origins are only given in the novels (the applicable ones were not translated at the time of the Oprichnina's introduction in the anime), where it is explicitly stated that one or more of the books Piña brought back from Ginza and had translated covers this aspect of Russian history, and Zorzal not only thought it sounded like a good idea, he decided to implement it as the very first act of his regency to "root out cowardly traitors" in order to cement his Pro-war position.[[note]]And serves as an explanation as to how Molto even knew the stuff about Japan's history that he was talking about.[[/note]]

** The first battles at Alnus Hill between the JSDF and the Unified Kingdoms Army. Though the Unified Kingdom was 100,000 strong, they lost badly to the JSDF's 10,000 due to heavy artillery rounds, stopping the, from even getting halfway up the hill.

** Zorzal orders his large group of soldiers to kill Itami's small party. Kuribayashi mows them all down with her machinegun.

* LaserGuidedKarma: The Imperial Army would sadistically and brutally kill innocent defenseless people in the most gruesome manner (sometimes add in RapePillageAndPlunder) to declare their superior might. Unfortunately for them, they pissed off the ''wrong'' people by attacking an unaware Japan, who retaliate in the form of sending in the JSDF with their superior warfare. The Imperial Army soon gets a rude awakening when they realize too late just how far outclassed they are. The cruel arrogant sadists who laughed at the carnage they caused now screamed and begged for mercy as they get even more brutalized and mutilated via shredded apart by gunfire or blown to bloody chunks by tank shells/grenades/bombs.

** The Empire sent an army though the Gate to conquer whatever world was on the other side, without any kind of reconnaissance or scouting ahead. They pay dearly for it.

** Once Itami and his crew rescue Pina, they make their in a military vehicle. Empire soldiers attempt to stop them, only to be either gunned down or run over. Despite that, they ''still'' try to pursue their vehicle, only to get blown up by backup forces who had set up mines to cover their escape.

An [=iOS=]/Google phone game called ''Gate: Brave Scramble'' was released by Bandai Namco Entertainment in 2016 [[NoExportForYou for the Japanese market.]] It is currently discontinued from service.

* AristocratTeam: Princess Pina's Rose Knights are an AmazonBrigade of the daughters of noble houses.

** It might be a general Dark Elves thing, as Yao is consistently shown to be TheDitz when operating modern machinery. In addition to the aforementioned Panzerfaust trouble, in the Chapter 52 she makes so much fuss trying to disengage the safety on the Itami's rifle that she ''drops'' it [[spoiler:directly on her intended target — the Minotaur they've been fighting]].

** [[spoiler:Tyuule]] of all people plays Zorzal like a fiddle, engineering his [[spoiler:[[TyrantTakesTheHelm taking the throne]]]] and antagonizing Japan into a restart of the war — which is deeply disadvantageous for the Empire… [[spoiler:JustAsPlanned]].
** Sherry Thierri, a frigging [[TokenMiniMoe 12-years old loli]] plays it on the Japanese ambassodors in the recent arc, [[spoiler:manipulating them into allowing her to take a shelter with them during the Zorzal's purge, which they generally are reluctant to do because of Realpolitik]].

* BenevolentAlienInvasion: Japan to the fantasy world. The most R-rated elements to the story, are the fantasy characters imagining what Japan’s army will do to them once they ‘invade.’ When Japan does send soldiers in, they inflict such horrors such as modern medical assistance, food for the hungry, unparalleled defensive support, and trade. They follow these up with outrageous demands such as treating [=POWs=] with respect, banning slavery, and encouraging various Geneva Convention mandates.
* BerserkButton: While Itami's team talking peacefully with the Emperor to advise them about an Earthquake, the Elder prince shows up dragging a bunch of naked slave girls chained behind him... one of them is a girl who was taken during the Ginza attack. ''Itami'' promptly knocks him to the floor, then takes the girl back. The JSDF demands the immediate release of all Ginza prisoners, and obliterates the Senate building with an airstrike that night just to make their point. [[spoiler:And they haven't even found out that at least one of the other prisoners has died as a slave in one of the Empire's mines.]] Cue “shock and awe” all over the palace.

* BystanderSyndrome: After witnessing some of the JSDF’s modern warfare, Pina rightfully panics at what they’d do if they decide to march in on the Empire. Lelei simply points out that the Empire started the whole mess by attacking the other world completely unprovoked, thus they “stepped on a griffon’s tail”. Bozes gets angry at Lelei’s lack of concern at the strong possibility that the Empire could be in danger. Lelei counters that since she’s a nomad, she has no connection or obligation to the Empire, therefore its fate is not her problem. Tuka also points out as an elf, she’s got no obligation to the Empire, either. Rory just smirks, since as a demigoddess, she couldn’t care less what happens to the Empire.

* CasualDangerDialogue: During the earthquake, all the natives react in a terrified panic as if it were the end of the world. Pina is shocked and confused when she sees Itami and Sugawara calmly walk about discussing the tremor’s strength as if they were chatting about the weather.
* CatSmile: Both the {{Cat Girl}}s and Kurata when talking to Cat Girls.

* EpicFlail: Used by one of the bigger bandits in episode 6. He manages to kill quite a few people with it as well, [[PersonOfMassDestruction until Rory shows up.]]

* GambitPileup: The Japanese have their own plans for coexistence with Piña. Prince Zorzal has his own plans to succeed his father. Some Earth countries (the US, China and Russia) each have their own plans for the Gate and the lands beyond. The dark elf ambassador is plotting to use Tuka to convince the JSDF to attack the dragon in her lands. [[spoiler:A third prince, Diabo, has plans to eliminate Zorzal and Piña as competitors by allying himself with someone else beyond the Gate. Tyuule, Prince Zorzal's freaking ''SexSlave'', has plans to tear apart everything into bloody war as revenge for being considered a traitor for giving herself to Zorzal, by framing Piña for the murder of the released Ginza slave. And then the chosen murderer for the task is revealed to have plans of revenge against Tyuule for selling out their race. Hardy, the ''god of the underworld'' (who is [[FelonyMisdemeanor female]]) [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking plans to have Rory marry her]]. Oh, and Hardy also decided that things were ''boring'' so not only did he[=/=]she decide to awaken a Flame Dragon early, they also decided to open the portal to Japan, unleashing the JSDF on the Special Region.]] ''Sheesh.'' It's not so much of a pileup as it is a clusterfuck......
* GatlingGood: The attack choppers utilize these during the Battle of Italica to gun down the bandit army outside Italica's walls. Then they initiate a "cleaning procedure" inside the walls.

* GenreSavvy: Itami's otaku bent gave him near encyclopedic knowledge of the "mythical" creatures he encountered in chapters 50-52, [[spoiler:including a cockatrice and the Plague Zombies.]] Rory is duly impressed.

* JerkassGods: Hardy, not from being openly antagonistic, but from sheer apathy on numerous occasions. [[spoiler:The opening of the gate without warning or explanation. Ordering Giselle (presuming she's not lying) to awaken the Flame Dragon, and then ignores the cries of her followers when the Flame Dragon decides to make snacks out of them, and the whole Female Plague Zombies arc in chapters 49-52 because Hardy couldn't be bothered to do her job properly and deal with the forbidden lab where some fool was experimenting with immortality and got it wrong, not to mention properly guiding the souls of the dead in that area to their final destination(s) so they wouldn't become shambling husks.]] Gets worse in the later novels when it is revealed [[spoiler:that the reason there's MedievalStasis in the first place is that all the gods, Hardy included, absolutely forbid rapid or sudden technological progress, upon pain of death, even when the gods' actions themselves are directly responsible, like opening a gate to a world with a vastly superior technological base.]]

* MadeASlave: The fate of many of those captured at Ginza. The JSDF has made it very clear they want them all back. ''Alive''. They are looking forward to what Piña can find about them... And when the Prince shows up with one of these in tow, [[BerserkButton things don't end well for him.]] [[spoiler:Expect things to get worse when they find out that at least one of the other prisoners died while being forced to work in the Empire's mines.]]

* MedievalStasis: The stagnation of the Special Region is actually ''enforced'' [[spoiler:by their gods.]] This goes so far as [[spoiler:Hardy]] threatening Lei Lei with death should she spread her revolutionary insights about magic and the accompanying understanding of modern scientific theory.

* MeleeATrois: US SF vs. Russian SF vs. Chinese SF vs Japanese SF. Then in the manga/anime, [[FromBadToWorse Rory jumps in.]] However the Japanese Special Forces Group have backed down when she joins the fight, meaning it's the United States vs Russia vs China vs Rory.

** [[InterspeciesRomance Kurata and Persia]], and later [[spoiler:[[InterspeciesRomance Yanagida and Delilah.]]]]
** And in the anime: [[spoiler:Colonel Kengun and Beefeater after he [[RescueRomance rescues her from the Jade Palace.]]]]

** And this normal fish comes from another pool with several larger fishes. Hardy knows what would happen if the Gate leads to New York, Moscow or Beijing instead. One can only note that The Empire is getting off ''easy'' with the JSDF as they are being portrayed. There are few nations on the other side of the gate that would hesitate to give The Empire a hot steaming plate of its own medicine when their citizens are threatened, especially with kidnapping, enslavement, and rape, and The Empire's government absolutely refuses to listen to negotiations, especially if they time attacks when the press is not watching. Russia, in particular, has a history of absolutely steamrolling entire offending countries even when the press is watching, with little regard for collateral damage, while China are arguably even worse in the same regard even before the Communist Party takeover as evidenced by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzungar–Qing_Wars the Qing dynasty violent conquest of Dzungar people]] and the United States isn't that much better either -- see the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_Wars Barbary wars]] for some early example.

** When they enter the Flame Dragon's nest inside a volcano, Itmai's team leaves Rory above ground with a radio to warn them if the dragon returns. Unfortunately, the rock blocks their signals, so the dragon is able to [[StealthyColossus show up unnanounced and attack them.]]

* PrecisionFStrike: Lelei, the show's EmotionlessGirl, shouts "Die, you [[spoiler:reptilian]] piece of shit!" [[spoiler:at the Fire Dragon]].

* QualityOverQuantity: The Empire’s favorite tactic to overrun other nations was to utilize ZergRush. This meant absolutely nothing to the JSDF who had the advantage of superior modern warfare to the Empire’s medieval gear, proving hot weapons are superior to cold weapons. Notable examples:
** The first battles at Alnus Hill between the JSDF and the Unified Kingdoms Army. Though the Unified Kingdom was 100,000 strong, they lost badly to the JSDF’s 10,000 due to heavy artillery rounds, stopping the, from even getting halfway up the hill.

** Zorzal orders his large group of soldiers to kill Itami’s small party. Kuribayashi mows them all down with her machinegun.

** A fetish-looking winged girl in expensive, revealing garments walks into the hospital without an entourage. Is she a sorceress? A high-elf descended from the mountains? Does she want to pit her magical abilities against the JSDF’s best? No. This is the middle ages, education isn’t easy to come by, gender oppression is still widespread, and she has bills to pay. She’s a prostitute seeking OBGYN services. Even from the conversation, she doesn’t sound to pleased with her circumstances either.

** Episode 24 after defeating the giant ogre, Zorzal’s ace in the hole, the spoiled prince refused to accept defeat and tries to challenge Itami to a fight but gets stopped by a sniper shot. Itami coldly tells Zorzal that he’s way in over his head and delusional to think he has any hope of winning despite all the setbacks dealt to him. Frankly, it’s getting tiresome and annoying, so Itami warns Zorzal if he ever entertains any thought of trying something against them again, they WILL kill him where he stands.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: When Yao (the Dark Elf emissary) arrives to ask the JSDF to help her people against an ancient dragon (the same one that had been driven off before by modern weapons), there's a brief altercation between her, Itami, and Rory. Several bystanders think that due to the fight, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero the JSDF will be vengeful and not get involved.]] Sadly for her, the JSDF decide not to get involved, as the onlookers predicted... but it is for ''political'' reasons, both back home and because the JSDF doesn't want to cross borders with the tanks, planes, and weapons needed to kill the dragon and start a war on multiple fronts with the Kingdom of Elba.

** The elder Prince keeps a bunny girl for the role; unusual in that she used to be a princess of her people. The Prince promised her that in exchange for her services, [[YouWillBeSpared her kingdom will be spared]]. Turns out, [[ILied he was lying]]. Not that he intends to allow her to know that. [[spoiler:He doesn't [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow know she already knows]], [[TheDogBitesBack and that she's planning to trigger a bloody war between all powers by arranging the murder of a Ginza slave.]] ]]

** The 4th Combat team chooses to [[GunshipRescue ride to the rescue]] to the tune of ''Ride of the Valkryies''. It's going to be a real [[Film/ApocalypseNow Apocalypse, now!]] The base commander even references the movie twice (title and all the second time) as they're preparing to take off. Certain points of the manga draw this battle shot for shot from the movie. And the shit-eating grins worn by the 4th Combat Team and their quotes taken straight from the movie show they know [[InvokedTrope exactly what they're doing.]] The anime version just makes it better: The episode's name is ''"Ride Of The Valkyries"'', complete with the score being played during the battle.

** As part of a BookEnds, [[spoiler:Itami misses Pina's coronation to go visit the Summer Comiket]].

* VillainForgotToLevelGrind: Averted, and subverted. Prince Zorzal realizes on seizing the throne that he needs to use new means to strike back at the JSDF, even using means like dressing his troops as the enemy and utilizing subdued armored ogres. Both look like dangerous threats until the obvious holes in such plans (The Empire's troops lacking firearms; the ogres still being vulnerable to anti-tank weapons) are pointed out in the most humiliating ways possible.

** During episode eighteen, Emperor Molto seems to be slowly and reluctantly warming up to the idea of seeking a peace treaty with the JSDF. He also proposes a toast to Lelei, who he gives almost all of the credit to for slaying the fire dragon since she was technically an Imperial citizen. As everyone takes a drink, Molto then suddenly collapses, while the camera pans to various characters and their reaction to someone [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink poisoning the emperor's drink.]] Zorzal, at first, has a shocked look on his face, but it quickly turns into a smirk when he realizes that he won't have to deal with his father anymore once he takes over.

** Later volumes reveal that even if the Prime Minister had not used the legal fiction of the land across the Gate being Japanese territory, the US Military was getting [[TheWarOnTerror held up in Iraq]] to the point that they were in no position to help as they simply can't spare enough troops for a joint Japan-US military force to travel through the gate.

* NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight: ''Big time''. The Empire's medieval weapons and warfare were simply no match for the JSDF's superior weaponry of guns, bombs, helicopters, tanks, etc.