History Manga / BillyBat

---> '''Radio Announcer''' (paraphrased): [[spoiler: The US president has enacted the Neo-[[UsefulNotes/JamesMonroe Monroe Doctrine]] and recalled all US troops abroad to create [[TheGreatWall a defensive wall]] between the US and Mexico, Japan and China are at war over a tiny island, China is also at war with Uygurs in Tibet, [wherever Timmy is, possibly Texas] is going to have [[GlobalWarming a severe sandstorm]], and the UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion has collapsed due to overwhelming numbers of refugees. [[MoodWhiplash And now for some happy news]]: Billyland UsefulNotes/{{Somalia}} has opened to great acclaim!"]]

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: Gary Devivie's reason for the series of japanese murders. His real father ran off with a japanese prostitute]].

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Kevin in chapter 93]].

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Timmy in 2017 has expanded Culkin Enterprises into water and power (and dismisses accusations by a lawyer who [[EveryoneIsRelated happens to be an ex-girlfriend of Kevin Goodman]] that his operations are polluting the land and poisoning the inhabitants) because he wants to save the world -- specifically [[ItsAllAboutMe all of Billy Bat's current and future fans]] so Billy can live ''forever''. Well, [[UnreliableNarrator that's what he's claiming he's doing]]. [[spoiler: He then orders his men to eliminate the lawyer.]]

* StepfordSmiler: Timmy as head of Culkin Enterprises: His ''Billy Bat'' is bad (his own agents think it's "boring") and his attempts to "save Billy's fans" by expanding into water and power so they can withstand climate change is poisoning them instead (though he denies it) but he always has a serene expression on his face -- at least until he starts explaining his plan to save the world and gets increasingly unhinged-looking.

* TimeSkip: From the late forties to the early fifties to Biblical times to the Warring States Era to the sixties, to JFK's assassination to 10 months later, to 1981, 2001 [[spoiler: right before the World Trade Center attack]] and now we're in 2017.

** HumansNeedAliens / PunyEarthlings: Seeing as the bat's origin was [[spoiler: a meteor that crashed to earth]]: "Ever since that time... You all [humanity/those who can see the bat] has never stopped asking me: [='=]'''''What should I do?'''''[='=]"

* ManipulativeBastard: the Bat and whoever is/trying to control it.

* NoKillLikeOverkill: The lengths Chuck Culkin Enterprises would go to protect its interests, from killing bootleggers and "fan artists" to obliterating a "cult of bat-worshipers" in Tibet [[spoiler: they're just hiding]] to plowing into a crowded newsstand just to kill one snooping lawyer.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Timmy in 2017 has expanded Culkin Enterprises into water and power (and dismisses accusations by a lawyer who [[EveryoneIsRelated happens to be an ex-girlfriend of Kevin Goodman]] that his operations are polluting the land and poisoning the inhabitants) because he wants to save the world -- specifically [[ItsAllAboutMe all of Billy Bat's current and future fans]] so Billy can live ''forever''. Well, [[UnreliableNarrator that's what he's claiming anyway]]. [[spoiler: He then orders his men to eliminate the lawyer.]]

* ButNotTooForeign: Kevin is a Nisei (second-generation) Japanese-American, as are the Momochis; Timmy is half-Japanese, half-German (though it's unknown how much he knows about his parentage).

* [[NonIndicativeFirstEpisode Non-Indicative First Chapter]]
* NoNameGiven: [[spoiler: Fake!Chuck Culkin's real name has yet to be revealed, even though the latest arc depicts his backstory as a WWII German soldier]].
** MysteriousParent: [[spoiler: Audrey Culkin tried to investigate her father's past and found absolutely nothing.]]

* RealityWarper: The bat allows people to either [[YouCantFightFate predict the future]] or [[WindsOfDestinyChange change it]], [[MindScrew (apparently)]].

* RuleOfThree: [[spoiler: There's actually three bats. It used to be one being until it fell to earth in prehistoric times. "Black" and "White" are on earth manipulating humanity while the third one was observing things on the moon.]]

** In the original comics, Billy Bat is a private eye, clearly evoking Sam Spade of the Maltese Falcon who eventually becomes an inspiration for Dick Tracy. The 'real' segments with Kevin start off with every indication that this is Urasawa's Cavalier and Clay, then the mind screw happens.

* ViciousCycle: [[spoiler: The black bat thinks all of the white bat's plans to save humanity/use humans to save the world are like this because ''they keep winding up in the same awful place''.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Timmy in 2017 has expanded Culkin Enterprises into water and power (and dismisses accusations by a lawyer who happens to be an ex-girlfriend of Kevin Goodman that his operations are polluting the land and poisoning the inhabitants) because he wants to save the world -- specifically [[ItsAllAboutMe all of Billy Bat's current and future fans]] so Billy can live ''forever''. [[spoiler: He then orders his men to "eliminate" the lawyer.]]

* ButNotTooForeign: Kevin is a Nisei (second-generation) Japanese-American.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: "Who's gonna read a comic that isn't for kids?"

** Zofuu-sensei looks like the assassin from ''TwentiethCenturyBoys''.

** Jackie Momochi is a less ditzy [[TwentiethCenturyBoys Kyoko Koizumi.]] They even end up having to do their class reports through similar misunderstandings.

Kevin Yamagata was born to Japanese immigrants in California in the 1920s, and during World War II he worked with allied forces in Japan as an interpreter. After the war he became a comic book writer, and by 1949 his series Billy Bat, about a private detective in a world populated by animals, is a huge hit whose popularity rivals the biggest titles of {{DC Comics}}. His comfortable life comes crashing down when the police use his apartment for a stakeout, and one of them notes that his work is very similar to a Japanese manga. Kevin is horrified that he may have subconsciously plagiarized a work he saw while in Japan, and promptly stops work on the comic to go back and investigate.

* NiceJobBrekaingItHero: [[spoiler: Kevin Goodman passing the artist/writer duties of the Billy Bat comic to Timmy Sanada, who went on to became the current BigBad.]]

A manga series by Creator/NaokiUrasawa, the man behind ''{{Anime/Monster}}'', ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'', and ''Manga/{{Pluto}}''.

* LawyerFriendlyCameo: Kevin works for [[MarvelComics Marble Comics]] and by TheFifties Billy has his own theme park in Florida.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bb_2529.jpg]]

** Kevin is a dead-ringer for Sahad, Agent Smith for Gesicht, and [[spoiler:the real Chuck Culkin]] for Professor Hoffman, all from ''{{Pluto}}''.

* SavingTheWorldWithArt: Literally. Mangaka who can see Billy Bat can create manga that actually influences the course of history. But this being Urasawa, it's most certainly played with. [[spoiler: Kevin Goodman prevented Kiyoshi from resetting history and destroying the world, but he changed too much. It's heavily implied that his changes set the course for 9/11...and possibly something even worse.]]

* SavingTheWorldWithArt: Literally. Mangaka who can see Billy Bat can create manga that actually influences the course of history. But this being Urasawa, it's most certainly played with. [[spoiler: Kevin Goodman prevented Kiyoshi from resetting history and destroying the world, but he changed too much. It's heavily implied that his changes set the course for 9/11.]]

* BigBad: So far, Agent Finney and Kurusu from EAI seem to fill the role, also it is implied that General Walker, [[spoiler:Fake! Chuck Culkin and Henry Charles Devivie]] are part of the same circle. Should be noted, due to his ambivalent nature, that there are times when the same could be said of the Bat himself.

* TimeSkip: From the late forties to the early fifties to Biblical times to the Warring States Era to the sixties, to JFK's assassination to 10 months later, to [[spoiler:1981]].

** By Chapter 152. [[spoiler: We're in 2017]].

* DefectorFromDecadence: [[spoiler: Fake!Chuck Culkin, a lieutenant stationed at a POW camp, tried to desert but was captured, possibly in part because he's also part jewish.]]

** And Zofuu-sensei basically describing what a [[MemeticMutation Meme]] basically is (InUniverse) and how it pertains Human Evolution, many years before RichardDawkins even coined the phrase.

* NoNameGiven: [[spoiler: Fake! Chuck Culkin's real name has yet to be revealed, even though the latest arc depicts his backstory as a WWII german soldier]].
* PassingTheTorch: [[spoiler: The Bat tells Lee Harvey Oswald that he must protect Kevin at all costs until he can pass his powers to his new successor, which according to The Bat, has already appeared. It was assumed it was Jackie Momochi, the daughter of the Taxi driver from the mixed-race wedding mini-arc and descendent of the ninjas. It is actually Kevin Goodman, the son of Tony and Diane Goodman, the interracial couple!]].

* AdaptationDecay - In-universe. Some of the people in the conspiracy express that Chuck Culkin's Billy Bat is nowhere near quality-wise to Kevin's. [[spoiler: If the conspirators searching for the original Bat's scroll succeed no one will remember Kevin's version at all.]]

* AlternateUniverse - As if time manipulation by a cartoon bat wasn't enough! [[spoiler: There used to be many, but now there's just one.]]
* AmbiguouslyJewish - [[spoiler:Fake]] Chuck Culkin. [[spoiler: Chapter 100 confirms he's at least partially Jewish, by Hitler himself!]].
* AnachronicOrder - It jumps back and forth between different eras and locations, including the US in the 40's, 50's and 60's, Feudal Japan, Modern Day Japan, and Judea in biblical times.

* AntiHero - [[spoiler:Lee Harvey Oswald]]

* ArtShift - From Kevin's FunnyAnimal comic to the "real" manga.
* AscendedExtra - Diane and Tony Goodman, the black bride and the white groom, get not only fleshed out later on, but become important characters later in the series, [[spoiler: and specially their son [[TheChosenOne Kevin]].]]

* BadassGrandpa - Yajirou
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy - Those confirmed to have been influenced and guided by the Bat are: [[spoiler: Judas, Lee Harvey Oswald, Francisco Xavier, Albert Einstein and Adolf Hitler]].
* BiblicalMotifs - An entire arc's worth.
* BigBad - So far, Agent Finney and Kurusu from EAI seem to fill the role, also it is implied that General Walker, [[spoiler:Fake! Chuck Culkin and Henry Charles Devivie]] are part of the same circle. Should be noted, due to his ambivalent nature, that there are times when the same could be said of the Bat himself.
* BigDamnHero - [[spoiler: Lee Harvey Oswald saves Kevin from a thug sent to kill him.]]
* BigFancyHouse - The Goodmans seem to be doing all right.
* BrickJoke / TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive - The Momochi clan seems to be intrinsically tied to the Bat [[spoiler: all the way from Momochi Sandayu, from Iga, to the taxi driver, Randy Momochi, back in 1959, to his daughter, Jackie Momochi, in 1963.]]

* ButNotTooForeign - Kevin is a Nisei (second-generation) Japanese-American.

* ChekhovsGunman - Remember the alleged Soviet spy living across Kevin's room who got mentioned in chapter 1 and never appeared again? No? [[spoiler: It's '''fake!Chuck Culkin'''! Did I mention this guy has never, ever again been mentioned until chapter '''110'''?!]]
* CIAEvilFBIGood - Inverted, Captain Finney works for GHQ (The Military) and Agent Smith works for the CIA.
* CompanionCube - The taxi driver (Mr. Momochi) 's Billy Bat toy, who's his "navigator". [[spoiler: Subverted when Billy talks back, and also knows the future - er, ''present''.]]
* TheConspiracy - Everywhere. With a heavy dose of [[MindScrew Mind Screws]] and [[HistoricalInJoke Historical In Jokes]].
* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot - [[spoiler: What the Bat seems to be saying when he lists all the wars and man-made disasters that will happen if Kanbei doesn't deliver the scroll.]]
* CowardlyLion - Kanbei.
* DarkIsNotEvil[=/=]LightIsNotGood - It's vaguely implied that the white (unfilled) drawing of The Bat is evil while the black (filled-in) one is good. [[MindScrew Or is it]] [[DarkIsEvil the other]] [[LightIsGood way around?]]. [[spoiler: Zofuu-sensei says the white one is sort of MadOracle, and the black one manipulates people into doing bad things.]]
* DeclarationOfProtection - [[spoiler: Lee Harvey Oswald to Jackie Momochi, as he decides to buy her time to escape]].
* DecoyProtagonist - Where is Kevin, anyway? [[spoiler: This is taken to its extreme after Kevin gets killed by a sniper in Chapter 93, and the new protagonist is Kevin Goodman]]

* DefectorFromDecadence - [[spoiler: Fake!Chuck Culkin, a lieutenant stationed at a POW camp, tried to desert but was captured, possibly in part because he's also part jewish.]]
* DirtyCommunists - The series starts at the beginning of the Red Scare, and several conspirators are supposedly commies in Japan.

* DoomedByCanon - [[spoiler: JFK, and Lee Harvey Oswald.]]

* DrowningMySorrows - Kevin, who has become an Alcoholic to stop seeing the [[BadDreams Bat]].

* FacialProfiling - Invoked when two American agents walk around in Tokyo and wonder where all the yellow-skinned, buck-toothed, ''geta''-wearing, bespectacled people have gone.
* FauxAffablyEvil - [[spoiler: Henry Charles Devivie, an agent sent to acquire the land where Billy Bat Land will be built in Japan, a fake front whose real purpose is to find the scroll, and who will kill anyone that stands in the way]].

* FemmeFatale - The mysterious art dealer, Audrey [[spoiler:Culkin]].
* {{Flashforward}} - [[{{Flashback}} And back again.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}} - [[spoiler: The Bat telling Kevin Yamagata that he was destined to die to save JFK. [[ILied He was meant to save Kevin Goodman instead]], he still gets killed eventually after his role has been completed and now the new protagonist is [[ChekhovsGunman Kevin Goodman]].]]
* FrameUp - [[spoiler: Oswald is set up as JFK's assassin, thanks to three doubles.]]
* FreudianExcuse - [[spoiler: Gary Devivie's reason for the series of japanese murders. His real father ran off with a japanese prostitute]].
* FriendOnTheForce - Agent Smith for Kevin.
* GeneralRipper - It is implied Retired General Walker is this.
* {{Gonk}} - "[[PenName Shishou]]", Zofuu's predecessor.
* GoOutWithASmile - [[spoiler: Lee Harvey Oswald is told that he must not allow Jackie to be captured and thus sacrifices himself to the police to buy her time to escape. After doing so, he smiles, feeling satisfied that he at least did something good at the end.]]

* GottaCatchEmAll - [[spoiler: Devivie is destroying all traces of the "original" Billy Bat along with anyone who knows too much about the Bat and/or his mission.]]
* GovernmentConspiracy - [[spoiler: While Marilyn Monroe really did kill herself, capitalist forces are conspiring to kill the Kennedy brothers, and succeed. They also succeed in framing Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone killer of JFK. Later the US government hires a Japanese director known for his obsession to detail and great special effects to fake the moon landing. The government claims the fake footage is a "training film" (and it may well have been) but when the astronauts go to the moon for real the fake film is spliced into the broadcast to cover up a familiar-looking doodle drawn in the moon's surface.]]
* GrandfatherParadox - [[spoiler: ''Weaponized'' by ''Einstein''. Zofuu-Sensei uses it against Devivie by revealing he knows his parents' names.]]

* HarsherInHindsight - [[invoked]] Intentional within the ''Billy Bat'' comics, since they're predicting the future: The boss at Billy Bat World and his friend wonder if "a sexy, MarilynMonroe-ish-thing" in a comic that's clearly about UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy is going to be killed by a GovernmentConspiracy.
* HeelFaceTurn - [[spoiler:Lee Harvey Oswald used to work for Kurusu.]]

* HeKnowsTooMuch - The reason why [[spoiler: Jackie Momochi is in danger. Not only she saw Kurusu with one of the sniper teams, but also has bat-visions about the other sniper teams, including the one on the grassy knoll.]]
* TheHeroDies - [[spoiler:Kevin in chapter 93]].
* HeroicBSOD - [[spoiler: Kevin was in one, until Agent Smith pulled him out of it.]]
* HistoricalFiction - Sort of.
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade - [[spoiler: Lee Harvey Oswald.]]
* HistoricalInJoke - This may as well be called ''Historical In-Joke - The Series''. So far, the Bat has either had influence on, or predicted [[spoiler:Jesus, Judas, and the foundation of Christianity, the fall of Iga and the rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate]], and [[spoiler:the civil rights movement, MLK, the Lunar Landing, the JFK Assassination, the Warren Commission, the RFK Assassination, and Marilyn Monroe's relationship to both men]]. At one point, it predicted [[spoiler: Obama's Presidency as well.]]

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade - [[spoiler: Henry Charles Devivie, who might be based on Esmond Cardon Walker]].
* {{Homage}} - Chapter 32 is based on ''Bad Day At Black Rock'' [[spoiler: minus Smith's gimpy arm, the burned house, and dead Japanese-American. The locals act mean to protect Kevin, who gave their little town a cameo as the setting for one of his non-Billy Bat comics]].
* HitlerAteSugar - [[spoiler:Hitler hosting Fake!Chuck Culkin, a german soldier of jewish descent, to his private house and showing him to his private art gallery]].
* HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct - [[spoiler:Played with it. Chapter 100 reveals that Hitler ordered Fake!Chuck Culkin to find the Bat, take control of it and start an empire based on it, and if possible to get hold of the scroll with the intention of changing Hitler's history so that [[IJustWantToBeNormal he is accepted at the Art Academy in Vienna]]]].
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold - [[spoiler: Unfortunately also a DisposableLoveInterest]]
* IdenticalGrandson - Momochi Sandayu looks exactly like his descendant, Randy Momochi.
* IJustWantToBeNormal - [[spoiler:Hitler, in chapter 100 - he just wants to join the art academy and resurrect his beloved girlfriend/cousin (Einstein tells him that's impossible)]].
* IJustWantToBeSpecial - [[spoiler: Lee Harvey Oswald]].

* ItWillNeverCatchOn - "Who's gonna read a comic that isn't for kids?"
* JediTruth - The Bat will employ this at times.
* JesusTaboo - Averted. [[spoiler: Jesus is (or could be) an actual character in one of the flashbacks, along with Judas.]]
* JigsawPuzzlePlot - After spending some time with Kevin, the story suddenly starts wildly moving through many different time periods to show all the people the bat image has influenced.
* LawyerFriendlyCameo - Kevin works for [[MarvelComics Marble Comics]] and by TheFifties Billy has his own theme park in Florida.
* LongestPrologueEver - [[spoiler: 93 chapters! Chapter 94 starts with the tag "And so our story meets its true protagonist"]]
* MacGuffin - The Ninja Scroll (no, not that [[Anime/NinjaScroll one]]).
* ManBehindTheMan - [[spoiler: Or in front of the man: Chuck Culkin, Kevin's Creator/WoodyAllen-looking assistant who took over ''Billy Bat'' after Kev went to Japan, is "played" in public and in business by a WaltDisney-lookalike.]]
* ManipulativeBastard - the Bat and whoever is/trying to control it.
* MindScrew - It's Urasawa, what do you expect? Examples include:

* MrAltDisney - Chuck Culkin [[spoiler:and the real Chuck Culkin!]] who took over Billy Bat when Kevin left.
* MushroomSamba - Kevin is sent on one thanks to some drugged sake, where he imagines Billy Bat and some of his other characters talking to him. [[FromBadToWorse Now, he doesn't need to drugs to have the bat talk to him.]]
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous - In-universe. Tony Goodman explains he named his kid Kevin after Kevin Yamagata.
* NeverFoundTheBody - [[spoiler:Agent Smith.]]

* NoNameGiven - [[spoiler: Fake! Chuck Culkin's real name has yet to be revealed, even though the latest arc depicts his backstory as a WWII german soldier]].
* PassingTheTorch - [[spoiler: The Bat tells Lee Harvey Oswald that he must protect Kevin at all costs until he can pass his powers to his new successor, which according to The Bat, has already appeared. It was assumed it was Jackie Momochi, the daughter of the Taxi driver from the mixed-race wedding mini-arc and descendent of the ninjas. It is actually Kevin Goodman, the son of Tony and Diane Goodman, the interracial couple!]].

* PetTheDog - [[spoiler: for ''Lee Harvey Oswald'']]
* PowersThatBe - [[spoiler:The Bat]] refers to itself as "The Administrator of the Human Race". [[spoiler:It's also actively working for humanity, trying to prevent the apocalypse from happening early.]]
* PrivateDetective - Billy Bat is one of these.
* PrivateEyeMonologue - In the first chapter.
* RealityWarper - The bat allows people to either [[YouCantFightFate predict the future]] or [[WindsOfDestinyChange change it]], [[MindScrew (apparently)]].

* RedHerring -

* ReusedCharacterDesign - Several characters in Billy Bat have an uncanny resemblance to characters in other Naoki Urasawa's works.
* RoomFullOfCrazy - [[spoiler: Kevin's cabin at "Black Rock".]]
* SacrificialLamb - [[spoiler:Shizu.]]
* SacrificialLion - [[spoiler:Agent Smith's sacrifice is Subverted.]]
* ScaryShinyGlasses - Kurusu
* SealedEvilInACan - [[spoiler: Kanbei attempts this. It doesn't work.]]
* ShoutOut - Everywhere, what did you expect in a Urasawa manga?

* ShowWithinAShow - The ''Billy Bat'' comic book inside the manga. When someone reads it you can see that it reads from left to right, like a comic book should.
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace - The black bride's white groom's family can't keep quiet. [[spoiler: The groom decides not to go along with it.]]
* SpeciesSurname - Billy Bat is, well, a bat.
* SpiritAdvisor - The Bat, as those who would be "carriers" see him while others do not.
* TakingTheBullet - [[spoiler: The Bat implies that Kevin must die to save JFK. On one hand, [[ForegoneConclusion we know how that ended in real life]], [[MindScrew on the other hand, it's Naoki Urasawa.]] Except that the Bat died, and what Kevin was supposed to do was save Kevin, his successor.]]
* TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat - While Kevin is reading a letter from Agent Smith by the window, the last line is "PS. Don't stand so close to the window."
* ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld - Billy's opening monologue in the very first page of the (real and in-story) manga.
* TimeMachine - [[spoiler: Fake!Chuck Culkin is able to figure out that the scroll is this, sorta, thanks to the real Chuck Culkin explaining the basics of Einstein's Theory of Relativity and TimeTravel.]]
* TimeSkip - From the late forties to the early fifties to Biblical times to the Warring States Era to the sixties, to JFK's assassination to 10 months later, to [[spoiler:1981]].
* TimeyWimeyBall - [[spoiler: A bat doodle beats the astronauts to the moon(?), and it seems {{Jesus}} is affected too.]]
* TownWithADarkSecret - See Homage.
* {{Trickster}} - The Bat, probably. Wasn't there two of them? Now there's at least ''three'' of 'em.
* TrueCompanions - Ken-chan and pals. [[spoiler:He ends up killing them all.]]
* UnwittingPawn - [[spoiler: Oswald, even after his HeelFaceTurn. And the Real Chuck Culkin working under the Fake one.]]
* VillainProtagonist - [[spoiler: Lee Harvey Oswald, although in-story, he is a [[UnwittingPawn would-be scapegoat]] for a government conspiracy.]]
* WeCanRuleTogether - [[spoiler: What the Bat seems to be selling ("Hey - want to rule the world, or become a superhero?")]]
* WhamEpisode - Chapter 93. [[spoiler: Kevin Yamagata gets killed and the story jumps to 1981, with Kevin Goodman as the new protagonist]].

* YouShallNotPass -

* [[spoiler:AnyoneCanDie - Kevin Yamagata in Chapter 93. Or so we are led to believe.]]

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Devivie]].

* BrilliantButLazy: Adult Kevin Goodman. Never goes to class. Relies on classmates' notes. Yet he's good at memorizing and passes all his classes. And he's good at writing college papers too. [[spoiler: Turns out he spends most of his time painting murals at the guidance of Billy Bat.]]

* FacialProfiling - Invoked when two American agents walk around in Tokyo and wonder where all the yellow-skinned, buck-toothed, ''geta''-wearing, bespectacled people have gone.

* {{Gonk}} - "[[PenName Shishou]]", Zofuu's predecessor.

* HeroicBSOD - [[spoiler: Kevin was in one, until Agent Smith pulled him out of it.]]

* [[spoiler:HitlerAteSugar - Hitler hosting Fake!Chuck Culkin, a german soldier of jewish descent, to his private house and showing him to his private art gallery]].
* [[spoiler:HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct - Played with it. Chapter 100 reveals that Hitler ordered Fake!Chuck Culkin to find the Bat, take control of it and start an empire based on it, and if possible to get hold of the scroll with the intention of changing Hitler's history so that [[IJustWantToBeNormal he is accepted at the Art Academy in Vienna]]]].

* [[AnachronicOrder Non-Linear Story]] - It jumps back and forth between different eras and locations, including the US in the 40's, 50's and 60's, Feudal Japan, Modern Day Japan, and Judea in biblical times.

* TheHeroDies - [[spoiler:Kevin in chapter 93]].

* InstantAwesomeJustAddNinja

** Zofuu-sensei could be one, with beret and all, to OsamuTezuka, who however is mentioned in-story as being a huge influence in manga.
*** [[spoiler: Kurusu also becomes an expy of OsamuTezuka, although it seems it was only in a dream or an alternate universe.]]