History Manga / Nanbaka

* BadassAdorable: Nico is extremely childish. In addition to being severally ill, and the reverse effects of his many strange illnesses, he can pick up complex martial arts skills and battle moves out of nowhere without even knowing what they are. Although, [[spoiler: if he pushes himself too much, he could severely injure or even kill himself, hence the need for the large amount of drugs that keep his abilities under control and his body stable.]] He's also been escaping prisons since he was a child; the first time he broke out, he SMASHED THROUGH THE WALLS of a reform school to escape his medical check-up.

* RedOniBlueOni: In Cell 13, Nico and Rock tend to be more fun-loving and impulsive (red) while Uno and Jyugo are smarter and more observant (blue). On the guards' side, there is Yamato (red) and Seitarou (blue), with Hajime falling in the middle.

** Sure, Rock didn't escape prisons to see his friend, but [[spoiler:he ''was'' mistreated during his initial prison days and not only hated the food in his old prisons, but starved before he met Jyugo and broke into a diner to eat, triggering his BigEater tendencies]].
** Nico's medicine troubles weren't over drug pushing like he was originally sent into prison for, but [[spoiler: being used like a lab rat in every facility he's been a part of]].
** Breaking out of prisons is indeed a hobby for Jyugo, [[spoiler:but only because it's the only thing that gives him a purpose; namely, it's all he ''can'' do with himself and all that he ''has'' done for as long as he's been alive. He also wants to look for a the man who put his collar on him, but until he got to Nanba, he had no such luck.]]
* RobotGirl: Nurse Android Kagu-8 (read as "kaguya"). She is hit on by the inmates due to technically being the only woman beside the warden and head scientist.

* ShipperOnDeck: Hitokoe is this as he's one of the few people who knows about the warden's crush on Hajime.
** In season 2, despite being blind, Mushashi picks up on Kenshiro's crush on the warden and begins teasing him about it

** Also at one point Nico launches a RapidFireFisticuffs [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure while yelling]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvreKmgXlZc "MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA!!"]] and shortly after, emulates [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam Erupting God Finger - Sekiha Tenkyoken]]
* SplitPersonality: [[spoiler: It is revealed that Nico suffers from this, and his other half is scary as hell]].

* TeamMom: Uno for the rest of Cell 13. Nico even says that he's "starting to sound like a mom" in Episode 11.
** For the guards, Kiji easily fills this role, scolding the rest of them when they misbehave and standing up for Samon when [[spoiler:another guard gives him a BreakingSpeech about being as evil as his brother was.]]

* TruthInTelevision: Female and male criminals are separated to ensure no misconduct in real life. The only reason why the [[TheSmurfettePrinciple chief warden is female]] is probably because she is super intimidating.

** Supervising officer Kenshiro Yozakura to Momoko. He even has a dog motif.
** Due to how he saved them and helped them become the people they are today, the cell 13 inmates are all extremely loyal to Jyugo, despite him being a bit of an idiot. Despite his fears, Jyugo nearly killing them during the New Years tournament and the fact that he is a 'monster' doesn't matter one bit to them.
** Uno is arguably the most loyal to Jyugo out of all the cell 13 inmates, as he is constantly seen taking care of him (such as when they are being chased by Ruka Gojou and he actually has to take Jyugo's hand and lead him around so that he isn't caught) and encouraging him. This trope also could actually apply to Uno towards all three of his cellmates, as he is more or less the group's mother figure who keeps Rock in line and makes sure that Nico is taking his medication and going to his check-ups.
** Over the course of season 2, Liang, Upa, and Qi are each revealed to be very loyal to [[spoiler: Samon Gokuu]], due to the fact that he was the first person in a long time to show them kindness after they were sent to prison. After [[spoiler: Enki is set free and takes Samon captive, the three vow to defend building #5 because it was the building that Samon took care of, and they want to be able to help the man who helped them regain their will to live]]
* UnsettlingGenderReveal: In episode 1, Cell 13 hears about a pretty woman visiting the jail and they break out of their cell in to see her. Unfortunately, the woman is actually Hajime's crossdressing brother, Hitoshi.
* UrbanLegendLoveLife: Uno has no backed-up claims so far regarding all his griping for girls. Apparently every time he's tried to break out of jail was on date nights, but that's only because he DIDN'T have any dates due to being in jail.
** Though he was quickly creeped out over the fact that Hajime's 'sister' is actually a [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing brother]] and tells Jyugo he can take him.
** Out of the four, he's the one who reacts the most when he realizes that the warden is a woman (though Rock mentions that she's lovely too).

* WholesomeCrossdresser: Hajime calls Kiji this on occasion, and Hitoshi is this.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: It'd be easier to name the characters who ''don't'' have weird hair colours in this series. Momoko and Seitarou actually do have blue hair, while Juugo's is black and red, Nico's is lime green, Rock's is purple and red, and Uno's is pink and yellow. [[UpToEleven And the list goes on]]...
** One episode has a gag where people start switching hair color, to people's shock and dismay.

** It turns out, Hajime, that [[spoiler:beating a prisoner up until he falls unconscious]] will tend to bring consequences, even if he's going on a rampage. Enjoy your 3 days of suspension[[note]]It is noted here that Momoko ''did'' cut Hajime some slack with this sentence[[/note]].
** This hits Uno, Jyugo, Trois, and Honey HARD in the last few episodes of season two. They end up defeating the building 5 guards, Kokoriki and Youriki, and un-brainwashing them but, Unfortunately, the two have no memory of what happened, and they not only don't believe the inmate's story of what happened, they think that they all were trying to break out of prison and end up trying to restrain them. Honey, Trois, and Uno end up having to try and fight them off as they search for Kiji, and state that if Kiji doesn't believe them, then they are all screwed, because trapping the guards in Trois and Honey's traps counts as assaulting an officer and could get them all hard punishment.
** After the inmates manage to free Kiji, they get lectured INTENSELY, to the point that Uno and Honey are in tears; they may have saved Kiji and he may be pissed at Kokoriki and Youriki for not believing them and trying to free him, but they are still wandering around unauthorized in a cell block that isn't theirs, in a forbidden part of the prison, so rescuing him is more or less worth jack as far as he's concerned. Even though Enki is still loose and some of the guards and inmates are missing, his priority is to handcuff the inmates and take them back to their own cells. In the inmates defense, Trois and Honey broke out to look for Kiji in the first place after he didn't come back from building 5 and the cell 13 boys came to the building WITH Hajime; it's not actually their fault, as it's not like they were looking to get captured and nearly killed. This goes double for Liang and Upa, who actually ARE in their building; they didn't do a single thing wrong. One of their guards, Inori, [[spoiler: turned out to be a mole working for Enki]][[spoiler: and he brutalized and restrained them before showing their unconscious bodies to Samon Gokuu and taunting the supervisior about it before locking them all up. Of everyone involved, the only one who did anything that could be considered wrong was Qi, who temporarily joined up with Hachiman, but he actually had a good reason for that; everyone else was just trying to defend themselves.]] Even still, you can see Kiji's point; not just one high-security inmate escaped, but THREE, including the biggest threat, [[spoiler: Enki Gokuu]], three supervisors were captured, multiple people brainwashed to attack everyone else, it turns out that some of Enki's old handcuffs and other inventions weren't all destroyed after his arrest like they were supposed to be, the security system is all screwed up, and[[spoiler: Inori is the traitor who screwed up the security system], not to mention the fact that all this happened mere hours after the warden left t attend a meeting. All that's bad enough, so they don't need it getting out that eight inmates, five of whom shouldn't even be in the building in the first place, were also wandering free in a restricted area at the same time. And it was mentioned at the beginning of the season that Nanba has already been toeing the line under intense scrutiny ever since [[spoiler: Enki's betrayal]]
** Although Jyugo wants to release Samon from his cell because he believes it's the right thing to do, Hajime has a real moral crisis over what to do, because the situation is more or less a [[MortonsFork catch 22]]. If he has Jyugo free Samon, then he will know that Jyugo can escape imprisonment at will, and the other supervisor will probably report them because he has been gunning for dirt on Hajime to file a report on. But if they leave him, Hajime will get in trouble for leaving a fellow correctional officer behind, and it will also raise the question of how only Hajime managed to get out. He also just really hates Samon and personally wants to see him continue to suffer the indignity of being in a cage. He eventually decided to let Jyugo set Samon free, as he concludes that all outcomes look bad, but that freeing the other guard will raise the least amount of questions and will probably work in his favor if he gets reported.

** Jyugo also later has this reaction upon realizing that he blinded Mushashi for no reason other than annoying him by bringing up the most traumatic part of his past. Between that and nearly slicing Uno in half at the New Years tournament, Jyugo ends up in a deep depression while in the isolation cell and begins worrying that he is a monster and will end up hurting or killing his friends eventually.
* TheNeedless: A deconstructed example in the form of [[spoiler: Jyugo]] When Hajime points out that he appears to lack greed. More specifically, he just has a lack of desire for anything, leading him to do things like escaping or gaining information without any rhyme or reason of his own.

** Cell 13, which is composed of two Americans, one Englander and [[CripplingOverspecialization Jyugo]], after being told that they had to do Japanese calligraphy to win the New Year competition.
** This was Samon Gokuu's reaction to Rock using Nico as a human shield while he was chasing the cell 13 inmates down to make them go workout with Yamato. Samon was scared of Nico after witnessing him wipe the floor with Upa at the New Year's tournament, but he quickly gets over his hesitance to touch Nico, however, after Uno tells him that Nico is too sickly to be able to constantly exert himself the way he did at the tournament. (His thinking was that if he had to suffer, he was making Uno and Nico suffer with him)
** The above is reversed in the manga, however; Rock was clinging to the door frame so that Yamato couldn't make him leave, Uno was running his mouth to the guard, and Nico had decided to amuse himself by yanking on Samon's tail. Samon pretty much exploded, and the three inmates promptly panicked and wasted no time in booking it to the exercise yard.
** The warden was so excited about getting to see Hajime when she summoned him to give a report on the cell 13 inmates. Then her look of pure joy quickly turns to one of total horror when Samon Gokuu greets Hajime by drop-kicking him in the face the second he walks through the door.
** This is Liang's reaction in the final episode of Season 2 when, despite Qi, Upa, and Nico telling him not to, he decides to attack what he assumes to be a security doll; it was actually Kiji and the handcuffed inmates and Liang ends up kicking Honey upside the head.
** When Hajime is able to effortlessly stop building 5's top with his bare hands during the top-spinning event at the tournament, Samon and Qi both have an rather epic one, with their eyes jumping out a good foot in front of their face.
* OneLastJob: In Episode 13, Jyugo intends to make one last prison escape attempt with the Cell 13 boys, and then afterwards escape himself and leave the other 3 behind [[spoiler:so they're all safe from whatever Elf and the Man with the Scar are planning for him]]. It doesn't work as planned.
* OnlyAFleshWound: Both Uno and Rock are shock that not only can Hajime talk after being hit with nitro-glycerin, that he also broke out without any harm whatsoever.

** Each and every single prisoner is given a nickname based on their identification number. A lot of them are based on {{Goroawase Number}} puns, but there are some that don't have to do with that.
** Also,the majority of the supervisors have a nickname that matches their animal motif, and most of the other guards have some sort of name that everyone else calls them more often than their given name.
* PaletteSwap: Happens to almost everyone hair color due to one of Nico's medicinal side effects (minus Hajime for obvious reasons).

* PrisonEscapeArtist: The inmates of Cell 13 are infamous for having broken out of many different prisons around the world, hence they are sent to Nanba Prison which is supposedly the most secure and inescapable prison in the world. Their EstablishingCharacterMoment shows them attempting another prison escape, which would have been successful if not for Hajime's intervention. It's later revealed that they tend to do this multiple times per day just for fun, and that they're not interested in actually escaping the prison. Jyugo in particular is an example of CripplingOverspecialization in the fact that's the ''only'' thing that interests him.

** In a manga-only side-story, Nico caches actual 'rapid hair growth disease'. While it only makes his hair a little longer and messier, He turns Jyugo, Uno, and Rock into giant, big-foot-like, balls of fluff after they get too close and catch it. You can only see their eyes poking out of their 'fur', and Hajime actually calls in an animal control unit after seeing them because he mistakes them for some sort of wild animals that got into the prison.

** The Otogi's may be a pair of elderly jerks who will attempt to blow each other up with military grade weapons and/or demand a divorce for extreamly petty reasons; such as the eggs being cooked wrong, but not remembering who actually made breakfast that morning; but they do genuinely love their "daughter" Kaguya and always end their fights for her sake, albeit reluctantly, and try not to start them in her presence. They both also have a bit of a soft spot for Nico. Okina may be rude to him, but it's more [[AngerBornOfWorry concern]] due to how risky Nico's careless behavior can be to his health. In addition to making the arcade room for his tournament prize, Kazari also created an advanced hand-held game system just for him, despite not needing to, and had to hide a little smile after seeing how enthused he was by her work.
** Kenshirou hates hajime and is usually very cold, but he is the calmest of all the guards and the least likely to lose his temper, as well as the one most likely to resolve problems in a calm and nonviolent manner. He also clearly cares deeply for Mushashi and believes that he is a good person. when he confronted [[spoiler: Enki Goku]] because he believed that the former was not truly evil and wanted to hear his side of the story, it takes [[spoiler: the former guard coldly stating his intent to murder Mushashi for possesing his unnatural powers to get Kinshiro pissed enough to fight him]]

** Qi is typically seen reclining or sleeping in the background. In fact, Liang and Upa call him 'lazy trash' more than his actual name. He also usually isn't exactly very motivated, as is made evident during the New Year's tournament;

** Momoko often looks at Hajime this way. Unfortunately, most people, including Hajime, mistake it for a DeathGlare. Usually because it certainly ''looks'' like one.
** Kenshiro has been known to give Momoko herself these, however, she doesn't seem to notice his affection for her and is annoyed by the attention.

** Used in regards to Momoko, who drenches Hajime in these...and then it's revealed Hajime thinks this love vision is a DeathGlare. Made even funnier by how Hajime somewhat looks like he's a certain "[[WebComic/OnePunchMan hero for fun]]" while Momoko is an intimidating woman.
** Also used by Kenshiro, who views Momoko like this. Unfortunately for him, however, the warden only has eyes for Hajime and views Kenshiro as an annoying and yappy dog.

** Hajime is no slouch either considering he survived nitro glycerin.
** Hajime's brother is so tough, Hajime can actually pick up Hitoshi by his legs and use him as a club,even smashing him through WALLS and throwing him like a weight, and all it will do is make him dizzy from being swung around.
* MagneticHero: All of the inmates of Cell 13 are connected in some way to Jyugo, as he was the one who started helping them break out of prisons as well and helped them form their personalities at present.
* MasterOfUnlocking: Jyugo. It doesn't matter whether it is a physical lock or an electronic keypad, he'll disable it in seconds.

* MultinationalTeam: You have two Americans, one English, and one Japanese teenager, all trying to bust out of the most secure prison in the world.
** Also could apply to the cast as a whole, as it is unusually diverse for an anime tv show. You have Jyugo, Hajime, Yamato,Tsukumo, and Seitarou, who are all Japanese; Rock and Nico, who are American; Samon, Liang, Upa, and Qi, who come from China; Mushashi, who is German;Uno, who is British; And Inori, who claims to be Korean.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Jyugo is outright remorseful when [[spoiler:he realizes that he'd nearly gotten his friends killed during his rampage at the New Years' Tournament.]]

** In the first season, Trois and Honey are a little more than a pair of egotistical pretty boys. In season two, they get their moment to shine when they go up against Ruka Gojou. Trois is a mechanical genius who can whip together flamethrowers, rocket launchers, and bombs from random objects in mere minutes, and Honey is an expert at laying traps using homemade bullets rigged with monofilament wire. While the two may constantly argue with each other, they are actually a rather formidable and coordinated team. They escaped previous prisons this way before being sent to Nanba, with an escape record that rivals Cell 13's.
** In the manga, Mushashi tells Kenshirou that he can read and speak forty different languages, despite being blind. He was going to college to become a translator before his arrest, so because he also learned braille, he is still able to read even though he can't see. He is also very intelligent, as it is mentioned that when his condition didn't prevent him from going to school ,he always got straight A's. The only exception is that he appears to not be able to write in other languages; in an manga-exclusive strip showing him and Kenshirou at the New Year's Tournament, Kenshirou did most of the work until the final match, as Mushashi didn't know how to write in Japanese and could't play cards because of his blindness.

** Samon Gokuu is the most hot-headed and argumentative of the guards, constantly bickers with Hajime and Kiji, and has a tendency to run his mouth when he's annoyed but, as revealed in the second season, he actually has a rather kind heart and might be the nicest of all the building supervisors in terms of having a positive influence on their inmates. [[spoiler: All of the known inmates of building five highly respect and admire him and wish to repay him for everything he did for them; He informed Upa's parents that he was still alive and put them back in contact with him, took Liang under his wing and became his mentor after the depressed inmate was transferred to Nanba, and helped Qi regain his trust in humanity after he enlisted the inmate to help him solve a cold case and was the first person to listen to and believe what the chemist had to say.]] Qi flat out thinks that he can't understand why someone as honest and trusting as Samon is considered a potential traitor by the rest of the guards. The guy is still often a total ass, though.
** Uno may be a jerk at times, but he does care deeply for his cellmates, particularly Jyugo. Thanks to Jyugo's lack of skills at...well... pretty much everything,Uno spends a lot of time taking care of him and helping him during their escapes. He actually cares about his friend so much that, when he himself was about to be stabbed to death by Ruka Gojou, his main concern was the fact that Jyugo would be killed for sure if he wasn't there to protect him.
** Upa may have zero tolerance for the foolish behavior of the other inmates, but he does actually care about Nico and consider him his friend. Despite how he yells at him and lectures him about his childish behavior, he is honestly rather concerned about Nico's medical condition;when they are confronted by Hachiman in Season 2, he actually buries Nico in rubble in an attempt to stop Nico from getting involved and overexerting himself. He also is rather close to Liang and Qi, despite how annoyed he can get with his cell mates, and admires Samon Goku more than he lets on.
** Qi may be lazy and focused on self-preservation, but he does care about people, especially ones who are young or sick, more than he lets on. In the past he [[spoiler: had his own internal organs removed and transplanted to a dying Upa, something which Upa is totally unaware of until Qi tells him about it in season 2.]] He also has a bit of a soft spot for Nico and goes through heck to get him his medication after they are strange in the underground without it.

** Mushashi's parents were the rare lot who were unperturbed by their son's unnatural powers, and continued to love him unconditionally. Mushashi admits that the fact that they loved him and constantly told him that he had a good heart and was not a monster was the only thing that gave him hope and enabled him to keep living. Unfortunately,[[spoiler: they were killed in a fire set by Elf, and Mushashi himself was blamed for their murders.]] [[spoiler: This broke him BAD, and discovering that they were murdered by The Man with the Scar and Elf right after he realized his powers were made even stronger, no less. This pretty much drove him off the deep end and set him off on his quest for revenge.]]
** Upa's family could very well be this. As of season two, he is revealed to be the only inmate who is still in contact with their family.[[spoiler: He was kindnapped by the mob as a child so that they could steal and sell his organs, and his parents had been lead to believe he had been killed. But, as soon as they found out from Samon Gokuu that he was alive and under arrest, they began sending him letters and gifts.]]
* GoroawaseNumber: For a majority of the prisoners, their names correlate to their prison numbers(e.g. Jyugo is fifteen in Japanese, Trois is three in French, Qi is 7 in Mandarin, and so on).

** Presumably the reason Uno does not like handsome men. Apparently though, he ''is'' good looking, but he's massively overshadowed by the men of Nanba.
** Jyugo admits to being envious of how his friends have hobbies and dreams of what they will do when they are released from prison, due to how he has next to no interests or goals for himself.
** Kiji has an obsession with beauty, and subsequently does not like anyone else, especially other men, being considered more attractive than him. The whole reason he dislikes Seitarou and constantly yells at him is because he's jealous that the younger guard was voted the most handsome guard in Nanba over him. He also has zero tolerance for the inmates in his care not maintaining their appearance.

** This is more or less the reason that [[spoiler: Inori]] ends up betraying the guards by [[spoiler: plotting with Enki Gokuu and helping set the events of season two in motion.]] He strongly detested [[spoiler: Samon Gokuu]], who he viewed as weak and cowardly, and only thought that he was able to become a correctional officer because of [[spoiler: his brother Enki's good reputation.]] The tipping point came when [[spoiler: Samon was appointed as Enki's replacement after his older brother was imprisoned for murder; Inori already hated him intensely for no good reason, and the last straw for him was the younger and less experienced guard not only got promoted instead of him, but became his supervisor.]]
* GrievousHarmWithABody: Due to physically being tougher than his brother, Hajime is able to use [[spoiler: his brother, Hitoshi,]] as a bludgeon without worry of hurting him.
* HateSink: [[spoiler: Elf]] is easily the most hated character by fans, and it's not hard to see why. [[spoiler: Not only did he help experiment on Musashi and Jyugo, but it is later revealed that he was the one who framed Musashi for murdering his parents in a house fire. And in episode thirteen, he makes himself even more unlikable by torturing Jyugo and threatening to experiment on his friends as well.]]

** In season one, Samon Gokuu is simply portrayed as an talkative idiot with a grudge against Hajime. In season two, it's revealed that he is actually rather kind and cares a lot about the well being of his inmates. He is also distrusted and feared by the other guards and supervisors due to[[spoiler: being the younger brother of Nanba's infamous traitorous guard, Enki.]]
** While Qi may compulsively manufacture weird drugs and poisons, he's strongly against making drugs that will kill or cause permanent damage. Also, as shown in flashbacks when he [[spoiler: was forced to work for the mob and witnessed a young Liang and Upa being forced into doing things that horrifified them and then being tortured by their boss when they refused to follow his orders,]] he does not like people who think it's okay to hurt children or teenagers. He also has a bit of a soft spot for people who are sick or injured, as he [[spoiler: secretly saved a young Upa's life by giving him his own internal organs after their boss had Upa's removed to sell on the black market.]] He also helps take care of Nico when they are all trapped in the underground cells in season two.** Upa acts rather cold and claims to hate most people but, is actually rather fond of his cellmates and their supervisor, Samon Gokuu. Also, while he is initially annoyed by Nico and constantly yells at him, he secretly considers him to be one of his first friends and is rather concerned about his well-being due to his medical condition.

** In season two, Samon is revealed to have one. [[spoiler: His older brother, Enki, was a prison guard who was respected by guards and prisoners alike, due to his strength and talent. On the other hand, many people, including Enki himself, thought that Samon was weak and cowardly, insisting that the only reason he was able to become a guard in the first place was because of his brother's reputation. Unfortunately, what they didn't know was that Enki was more than just a jerk;[[spoiler: in reality, the man was a sadist, and tortured the prisoners under his care for his own amusement. Unfortunately, once he was transferred to Nanba, Enki didn't stop his cruelty, and was eventually exposed when he murdered an inmate for fun and killed/injured multiple guards when they tried to arrest him.]] [[spoiler: When the other supervisors finally cornered Enki, Samon was able to close in, and was told by the other guards to finish him off, but hesitated because he was unable to bring himself to kill someone, much less his own brother.]] Hajime stepped in and quickly defeated [[spoiler: Enki]] without killing him, resulting in Hajime getting praised by their colleagues, as well as promoted. This entire incident lead to Samon's hatred of Hajime. Samon is eventually promoted, as well, and takes over his [[spoiler: brother's]] job as the supervisor of Building 5. In the present, years after the incident, he's still taunted by some of the other guards, who think that he was only promoted out of need instead of earning his position on his own merits, and many of them also fear that he'll end up being as evil as his [[spoiler: brother.]] The main plot of season two [[spoiler: revolves around Enki's escape and takeover of Building 5, along with two other prisoners and [[spoiler: Inori]], which causes Samon's past to come back to haunt him. When confronted once again by his [[spoiler: brother]], Samon is quickly defeated because of his continued reluctance to kill anyone. Not only that, but [[spoiler: the sole reason Inori betrayed Nanba is because he utterly hates and despises Samon for being promoted instead of him, and wants to see him dead for no other reason than the fact that he thinks that Samon is weak and a waste of space.]] Despite the fact that he can act like a total ass, Samon is a good person at heart and just doesn't want to hurt anyone; he isn't anything like his [[spoiler: brother]] at all, and honestly doesn't deserve all the hate and suspicion he has received over the years.
** Tsukumo was the first inmate revealed to have one. He was born into a shinobi clan, but due to how poor his skills were, he was abandoned in the woods as a child and forbidden to come home until he became a proper ninja. One day, a woman claiming to be his mother showed up and took him in. Poor Tsukumo was so lonely and desperate for a family that he did't realize that the woman wasn't his mother at all; she was a movie producer with a failing career, who stumbled upon him while trying to find a real shinobi to act in the film that could save her career. She took him in and groomed him to be a famous shinobi actor, but he was unaware of the fact that he was just an actor being coached to play a role, as he thought that his acting lessons were training and that being an actor was a normal thing for a ninja to use his skills for. Eventually, he found out the truth after his manager (who also happened to be his adoptive brother) and his mother's assistant accidentally let the truth slip, as they thought he already knew. He took off back to the woods to try and find his village and reunite with his birth family, but he got lost and ended up being arrested for trespassing. The reason he continues to act like a ninja, despite not really being a good one, is because he honestly has no other clue how to act; he spent so long changing his personality and character to please others, that he now has no real personality of his own. When Jyugo tells him he should just be himself and act natural, Tsukumo actually tells him that he has no clue who he even is. If that wasn't sad enough, his brother/manager visits him after he's transferred to Nanba and tries to convince him to continue acting, and totally disregards their mother's lies and the misery that they put Tsukumo through. Currently, all the guy wants is to finish paying his debt to society and find somewhere isolated and quiet to live out the rest of his days in peace, away from the film industry and his adoptive family.
** At this point, despite being a comedy show, pretty much every inmate introduced so far, barring Trois and Honey, has some sort of messed up back story, ranging from sad, all the way to downright horrific.

** Hajime is no slouch either; he's capable of making some downright horrifying faces to scare the Cell 13 inmates into obeying him.
** Heck, most of the guards and inmates are great at making rather terrifying faces at each other when they are pissed.

** After Jyugo activates his swords and gets sent to the solitary confinement, he's colored completely in greyscale until he finds purpose in himself.
** In season two ,after yelling at someone for yanking on his braid, only to discover that it is one of the scythe wielding security dolls, all the color slowly drains out of a terrified Uno and his surroundings.

** Jyugo is perpetually barefoot. It's never been brought up in the series proper, but even as a child in flashbacks he never wore shoes. The only time he has actually been seen wearing some is in a multi-chapter, manga-only side story set in the past. When he and Uno busted out of prison in Nevada, he wore straw sandals as part of his street clothes. They inexplicably disappear in the next special chapter.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: What sets apart the manga and the anime is how they introduce the Cell 13 inmates. In the manga, [[MrExposition Hajime]] reads off Building 13's backstories and reasons for being in Nanba. In the anime, they're actually shown escaping with almost expert precision, show off their unique escaping talents, and after getting soundly stopped by [[OneManArmy Hajime]], treat the whole ordeal as nothing too serious since it's just one of ''many'' attempts.

** Despite being criminals themselves, the inmates of Cell 13 panic at the idea of a murderer sharing their room.

** Qi does manufacture drugs and poisons, but he draws the line at creating substances that could be used to kill or maim others. He also has a special disgust of people who abuse children due to [[spoiler: witnessing Hachiman torturing a young Liang and finding Upa on the verge of death after his organs were removed to be sold on the black market.]]
** For someone who's in jail, even if he is a ninja, Tsukumo sure talks about honor and respect a lot. Justified, in that he was arrested for the most minor offense of all the prisoners; he was trespassing on private property and was totally unaware of it at the time of his arrest.
* EyeScream: Musashi. The poor guy can't seem to catch a break. [[spoiler: The first time, The Man with the Scar slashed his eye after Musashi tried to kill him.]] [[spoiler: The second time, Musashi made the mistake of asking Jyugo about TMWTS; cue Jyugo going into his berserk mode and completely blinding Musashi.]]

* FromACertainPointOfView: The boys' reasons for escaping prison. Rock was horribly treated in his old prisons, either being ocasionally starved or being served tastless/disgusting food. Jyugo busted him out of prison and took him out to a diner and awakened his BigEater tendencies. Nico's dislike of needles probably stemmed from all of the experiments done on him in various prison hospitals. And Jyugo's constant need to escape prison may as ''well'' be a hobby, since he doesn't know what to do with himself otherwise and [[AndThenWhat has no game plan]] for any of his long-term goals after he completes them. He's been doing it his whole life.
* GadgeteerGenius: Kazari Otogi, who despite threatening her husband Okina with a divorce, still manages to whip up a room full of the most modern games (and it is implied from her skill set that she is the creator of their "daughter", [[{{Fembot}} Kagu-8]]).

* GildedCage: Nanba Prison is a high-security, nigh inescapable prison located somewhere off the shores of Japan... but it has great food, the medicine isn't terrible, the inmates aren't all treated terribly as long as they stay in line, and the inmates can have technology or better things if they participate in the New Year's Tournament. With all of that, why would anyone ''want'' to leave?

** Mushashi's parents were the rare kind of people who were unperturbed by their son's unnatural powers and continued to love him unconditionally support him. Mushashi outright admits that the fact that they loved him and constantly told him that he had a good heart and was not a monster was the only thing that gave him hope and enabled him to keep living. Unfortunately,[[spoiler: they were killed in a fire set by Elf, and Mushashi himself was blamed for their murders.]] [[spoiler: This broke him BAD, and discovering that they were murdered by The Man with the Scar and Elf right after he realized his powers were made even stronger, no less. This pretty much drove him off the deep end and set him off on his quest for revenge.]]

** Nico was a homeless street kid who was experimented on, abused, and used by a gang of drug dealers. After he was sent to jail for being tricked into helping transport drugs without knowing about it, [[spoiler:some sadistic prison doctors used his sickly condition as an excuse to perform painful and invasive medical experiments on him. He spent most of his childhood and early teen years naked and strapped to a medical table in an empty white room, and eventually gave up all hope.]] Jyugo stumbled upon him after breaking out of his cell and, disgusted by how the doctors treated Nico like he wasn't human, snapped his restraints and freed him. Later on, the two become cellmates and Jyugo introduces a severally depressed Nico to manga and anime. Nico credits him with giving him the will to live again.
** Musashi seems to have the worst. When he was little, he was diagnosed with spontaneous combustion and as he grew older, it got him labelled as a monster after he lost control over his powers one day and was shunned by everyone except his parents. He was eventually able to return to college, but was cast out by the teachers and students, who speculated that he was the person responsible for the mysterious arson attacks that had been happening in the area. One night, he came home from school to find his house set on fire by [[spoiler: Elf,]] with his parents inside. When the police tried to arrest him on suspicion for murdering his family, he lost it and unintentionally killed them, and had to run away after a mob of bystanders started screaming that he was a murderous monster. After being caught, he was bounced around to multiple prisons and, due to his uncontrollable fire powers, was horribly abused by the guards. After losing his parents,[[spoiler: The Man with the Scar and Elf]] were the only people who believed he was a good person and promised him that they would be able to rid him of his powers if he let them perform medical experiments on him. After the experiments, Musashi learns that while he can control his flames, the [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar]] increased the frequency and power of his flames instead. It's revealed that[[spoiler: they]] had been spying on him since he got his powers and killed his parents to send him to prison where they would experiment on him. When Musashi attempts to attack [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar]], [[spoiler: he]] [[EyeScream slashes Musashi's eye]]. Later, after finding out that [[spoiler: Jyugo]] was also experimented on, and asking him about [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar]],[[spoiler: Jyugo]] slashes his other eye, totally blinding him. By the start of the anime, Musashi has totally lost all hope and has resigned to the belief that he really is a monster and, since he is already damned, decides to hunt down [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar]] and kill him. After the New Year's Tournament, he begins to mellow out once Kenshirou promises to look further into the experiments being performed on inmates by [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar.]]
** As revealed in season two, [[spoiler:Liang, Upa and Qi]] also have one. [[spoiler: They were all blackmailed into working under a Hachiman, a crooked mob boss who brutally tortured Liang for being unwilling to kill his assigned targets, kidnapped Upa when he was a child and [[spoiler: sold some of his vital organs to sell on the black market due to being talented in chi manipuation,]]and attempted to trick Qi into creating a drug that would poison his clients. They're all later arrested and sent to Nanba prison, but in the middle of the second season, [[spoiler: Hachiman, an ally of Enki, comes back to challenge them.]][[spoiler: It turns out that Liang and Upa also had a run-in with Enki in the past. He was unfortunately assigned to them as a supervisor when they were in prison back in China, and he brutally tormented and abused them and the other prisoners in their cell block. It was so bad, that Upa thought he was going to die, and kind of hoped he would, as he just wanted the abuse to end. They were relieved when Enki was transferred to Nanba, only to find out that they were going to be transferred to Nanba and be assigned to his building. Fortunately for them, by the time they got there, Enki had been exposed as a monster and locked away underground.]]
** In season two, Samon is revealed to have one. [[spoiler: His older brother, Enki, was a prison guard who was respected and admired by guards and prisoners alike, due to his strength and talent. On the other hand, many people, including Enki himself, thought that Samon was weak and cowardly and seen as beneath his brother, insisting that the only reason he was able to become a guard in the first place was because of his brother's reputation. Unfortunately, what they didn't know was that Enki was more than just a jerk;[[spoiler: in reality, the man was a sadistic and tortured and abused the prisoners under his care for his own amusement. Unfortunately, once he was transferred to Nanba, Enki didn't stop his cruelty and eventually ended up being exposed when he murdered an inmate for fun and killed/injured multiple guards when they tried to arrest him.]] [[spoiler: When the other supervisors finally cornered Enki, Samon was able to get in close and was told by the other guards to finish him off, but hesitated because he was unable to bring himself to kill someone, much less his own brother.]] Hajime stepped in and quickly defeated [[spoiler: Enki]] without killing him, leading to Hajime getting praised by their colleagues, as well as promoted. This entire incident lead to Samon's hatred of Hajime. Samon is eventually promoted, as well, and takes over his [[spoiler: brother's]] job as the supervisor of Building 5. In the present, years after the incident, he's still taunted by some of the other guards, who think that he was only promoted out of need instead of earning his position on his own merits, and many of them also fear that he'll end up being as evil as his [[spoiler: brother.]] The main plot of season two [[spoiler: revolves around Enki's escape and takeover of Building 5, along with two other prisoners and [[spoiler: Inori]], which causes Samon's past to come back to haunt him. When confronted once again by his [[spoiler: brother]], Samon is quickly defeated because of his continued reluctance to kill anyone. Not only that, but [[spoiler: the sole reason Inori betrayed Nanba is because he utterly hates and despises Samon for being promoted instead of him, and wants to see him dead for no other reason than the fact that he thinks that Samon is weak and a waste of space.]] Despite the fact that he can act like a total ass, Samon is a good person at heart and just doesn't want to hurt anyone; he isn't anything like his [[spoiler: brother]] at all, and honestly doesn't deserve all the hate and suspicion he has received over the years.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Enki and his group do this to some of the guards of Building 5 using talismans, so that they can use them to attack the prisoners and other guards. Rock and Yamato are the first to become victims of this, and end up spending pretty much all of season two in the infirmary.

** Rock is very fond of cats. Apparently, the last time he was caught after an escape was due to the fact that he got hit by a car while trying to save one. Additionally, Hajime and Chef Shiro are both very intimidating and own cats that look identical to them.
** Despite frequently acting like a hot-blooded idiot, punching Hajime in the face, yelling at the Cell 13 inmates and threatening them to get them to obey him, and frequently arguing with the other guards, Samon is actually a rather good person who cares deeply for the inmates in his building, to the point that [[spoiler: Liang, Upa, and Qi credit him with helping them regain a purpose in life after being sent to prison and are secretly very loyal to him.]]

* CerebusRollercoaster: While the series still focuses on comedy, it becomes more and more like a standard action series with the ever-growing presence of the Man with the Scar and those associated with him. The mood in general takes a drop during season two and whenever Jyugo reflects on himself. Lampshaded with the title of the fourteenth episode, "''Nanbaka'' is a Comedy Anime"[[note]]adapted from the similarly-named chapter "''Nanbaka'' is a Gag Manga"[[/note]].
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Yamato is a ''beast'' in the strength department, easily holding things that no man alone could carry and having energy to spare. He says that the secret to his success is long, vigorous training, which we see him do constantly in his off-time.

* ContraltoOfDanger: Momoko speaks with a deep voice to keep a professional and intimidating image, but accidentally slips into a higher pitched one when she's distracted.
* CostumePorn: While everyone at Nanba wears a standard prison or guard uniform, they are allowed to add some personal and stylish touches.
* CulturedWarrior: Hajime, Yamato, and Kenshirou are both very skilled in Japanese calligraphy.
* CuttingTheKnot: When confronted with a laser hallway, Uno guides the rest of his inmates with a few elaborate movements (and his braid moves with it). Jyugo simply disables the lasers and doesn't tell them [[ItAmusedMe as he wanted to see what they would do]].
* DarkerAndEdgier: While Nanbaka is categorized as a comedy anime, it is actually quite darker than it was initially billed as. Pretty much all the inmates are deeply screwed up on some level because of their pasts, and the show eventually introduces topics such as human experimentation, what it means to be human, abuse of power, the dark side of the criminal justice system, the criminal underworld, revenge, and child abuse. The prime example of this is how the mood takes a dive for several episodes after Mushashi's introduction.
** Season Two quickly becomes this. While the humor may still be there, it is far more focused on the action aspect and revolves around the inmates trying to foil the plots of [[spoiler: Enki and his allies]] after the group breaks out of their secret underground prison, and involves people actually trying to kill the main characters. It delves into the pasts of the Building 5 inmates and Samon Gokuu, as well as elaborating on the pasts of the Cell 13 inmates and their bond with each other. It also brings up more serious and philosophical topics, such as: the power of kindness,regaining the will to live, the limits of the human mind and body, the power of trust, loyalty, the dark aspect of humanity, and morality.
* DarkAndTroubledPast mixed in with a few cases of AdultFear for good measure:
** As we learn early on, Jyugo. He was born and grew up within the prison walls and his father was considered Nanba Prison's biggest embarrassment for unrevealed reasons. His inescapable manacles [[spoiler: were placed on him by The Man with the Scar.]] His backstory and those connected to it are part of the backbone for the greater plot of the series. It's later revealed that his past could also possibly be even darker than initially shown because [[spoiler: he eventually realizes that large parts of his memories are missing, and that they were likely wiped out by The Man with the Scar experimenting on him more intensely than he initially recalled.]]
** Rock was something of a juvenile delinquent and had trouble controlling his temper. From his flashbacks, it appears that he was from a rich family, and that he ran away after his father disowned him due to his behavior. He was arrested for brawling on the streets, and was sent to a run-down prison that neglected and abused its inmates. When he ran his mouth to a guard, he was brutally beaten and thrown into solitary confinement, where the guards starved him. He eventually became so malnourished that he became very weak and sick. The only reason he didn't die was because Jyugo found him. After Rock refused to eat the disgusting prison food that Jyugo offered him, Jyugo freed him from his cell and took him to a diner outside of the prison. The reason he is such a food enthusiast is because of the starvation he was put through; he credits Jyugo with being the person who gave him his appreciation of good food.
** Uno is also hinted at having one, although it has yet to be elaborated on. He's very loyal to Jyugo, and states that it's because Jyugo saved him and gave him his freedom back. So far, the few flashbacks shown of his past show him emaciated, beaten up, and in tears, and he has also had a flashback of Jyugo breaking his chains and setting him free.
** Nico was a homeless street kid who was experimented on, abused, and used by a gang of drug dealers. After he was sent to jail for being tricked into helping transport drugs with out knowing about it,[[spoiler: some sadistic prison doctors used his sickly condition as an excuse to perform painful and invasive medical experiments on him. He spent most of his childhood and early teen years naked and strapped to a medical table in an empty white room, and eventually gave up all hope and just wanted to die.]] Jyugo stumbled upon him after breaking out of his cell and, disgusted by how the doctors treated Nico like he wasn't human, snapped his restraints and freed him. Later on, the two become cellmates and Jyugo introduces a severally depressed Nico to manga and anime. Nico credits him with giving him the will to live again.

** In season two, it's revealed that Liang, Upa, and Qi all admire Samon Gokuu a great deal, and that they are unusually loyal to him. [[spoiler: This is because of how they were helped by him after they were arrested. When Upa was arrested back in China, his family, who had believed that he died as a child, suddenly got back in contact with him and began sending him letters and gifts. Turns out, Samon found out about his past after reading his file and decided to inform his family that he was alive without him knowing about it. Liang was severely messed up in the head after his stint in the mob, and he was no longer able to believe that people could be good, especially himself. After he was transferred to Nanba, Samon took him in and began training him, and Liang was eventually able to get over his depression and start trusting people again. He outright considers the man to be his mentor, and wants to get stronger so that he can be useful to Samon and repay him for helping him. Qi had decided to never make drugs again after discovering that the mob boss he worked for had used them to kill people, and was very suspicious of the intentions of everyone who took interest in his skills. Shortly after he was arrested and sent to Nanba, Samon secretly took him to visit a garden that was off-limits to the prisoners because he wanted to thank him after he was able to use information Qi supplied upon his arrest to help solve a cold case. He had no ulterior motives, and also told Qi that he thought that his pharmaceutical skills were cool because they could be used to help others. Qi ended up regaining enough trust in himself to keep manufacturing drugs because of what Samon had said. He was surprised that someone actually admired his abilities, and by the fact that Samon was so nice and honest, after he had heard rumors from the other guards that the supervisor was a traitor.]] Upa outright tells Nico that it was really just a bunch of little things and that Samon was totally unaware of how much they had appreciated his actions and even after the absolute hell they had been through, even something really small had made a difference for them and helped them all recover and find a new purpose in their life.

** Samon really doesn't appreciate being [[spoiler: reminded of or compared to his evil older brother, Enki, and he especially doesn't like it when people accuse him of being destined to become a monster like his brother]] He also doesn't like being called stupid or being seen as below Hajime.

** As made terrifying clear during the New Year's Tournament, bringing up [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar to either Jyugo or Mushashi is a very good way to send them on a berserk rampage. Although, this becomes less of an issue after the New Year's Tournament. Thanks to the fact that they got thrown into solitary confinement for their rampage, they don't really have much choice, except to reveal how they were used in illegal experiments. After Jyuogo is forced to evaluate himself and what he wants by Hajime, and Kenshirou listens to Mushashi and believes his story, the two inmates, while they do still want revenge on TMWTS, mellow out considerably, to the point that they are able to make peace with each other.]]

** Don't brawl or otherwise attempt to cause trouble in the dinning hall unless you want to incur the wrath of Chef Shiro.

* BishieSparkle: The manga was simply bright and colorful, with some sparkles here and there. In the anime, it's present in ''[[UpToEleven literally every scene]]''. Turned UpToEleven when they actively want to add shoujo sparkles to a scene. [[spoiler:Though it starts to diminish once Enki Gokuu appears, to the point that only one or two scenes in the following episodes have sparkles.]]

* BoobyTrap: The door leading outside the prison is trapped to explode if given the wrong pass code.
* BookEnds: At least in the anime. The first episode begins with an escape sequence showing the Cell 13 inmates go through dozens of traps until they reach the last prison doors and get stopped by Hajime. The last episode of the first season had them all attempt it again, but this time Jyugo planned on escaping alone [[spoiler:so his friends [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies won't get caught up]] in the mess he's in with Elf and The Man with the Scar]]. They all get beaten up by Hajime again by the end of it though.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Enki and his group do this to some of the guards of Building 5 using talismans so that that they can use them to attack the prisoners and other guards. Rock and Yamato are the first to become victims of this, and end up spending pretty much all of season two in the infirmary.

We're not? Okay then... ''Nanbaka'', alternatively known as and/or subtitled ''The Numbers'', is a manga [[note]]despite its heavy [[ShonenDemographic shonen elements]], Comico is an all-ages web magazine, so it cannot be categorized as such[[/note]] which began as a [[http://www.comico.jp/articleList.nhn?titleNo=49 Comico web manga]] by Sho Futamata. [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/comics/manga/nanbaka/volumes The manga got licensed under Crunchyroll]] until the license expired in 2017, and then so did [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/nanbaka the anime]](which is available worldwide bar Asia, picked up for a simuldub by [[http://www.funimation.com/blog/2016/10/04/funimation-unveils-simuldub-schedule-for-fall-2016-season/ Funimation]] and is produced by {{Creator/Satelight}}), which aired in the Fall2016Anime season and Winter2017Anime seasons for two cours.

We have Jyugo (inmate no. 15) who's good at [[CripplingOverspecialization nothing but escaping prison]], Rock (inmate no. 69) who [[BigEater enjoys eating]], Nico (inmate no. 25) who [[{{Otaku}} loves anime and games]] and Uno (inmate no. 11) who's [[TheGambler a gambler]] and a [[UrbanLegendLoveLife womanizer (or so he'd like to think)]]. Along for the ride are Hajime Sugoroku, the no-nonsense supervisor of Building 13, and his subordinates, Seitarou Tanabata and Yamato Godai, plus all the other wacky prisoners and supervisors of the elusive Nanba Prison.

* {{Adorkable}}: Thanks to the above, it didn't carry over to the anime, but Mushashi is definitely this. Before his life totally went to hell, he was an extremely intelligent star student with the desire to become a doctor and that intelligence hasn't gone away. Even though he's blind, he still can read brail in over a dozen languages and is a major book nerd who is almost always reading in his free time. Thanks to his past, he also has no social skills or experience making friends and often ends up sulking in gloom in a corner over his confusion about other humans.

** Nico has the habit of calling Hajime "Hajime-chan", and this later extends to calling Kenshirou "Kenshirou-chan". Hajime doesn't really care, as he is used to the wacky antics of Cell 13, but Kenshirou is creeped out by it, although he hides that fact from the inmate.
** Mushashi always calls Kenshirou "inu-chan" (little dog) instead of his name. Initially, this was more mocking than affectionate, but it takes on a friendlier tone after Mushashi reveals his past and Kenshirou promises to [[spoiler: investigate the experiments on the inmates.]]

** Kiji (pheasant), Samon (monkey), and Kenshirou(dog) are based on the trio of animals from ''Literature/Momotaro''.

** In Building 5, Samon Gokuu, Hakkai Inori, and [[spoiler: Ruka Gojou, a former correctional officer who was imprisoned in the underground cell,]] form the three animals in ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', Son Goku, Cho Hakkai, and Sa Gojou respectively.
** As of episode sixteen, Houzaki Sanzou joins as a new guard of Building 5 and gets his name from Genjo Sanzo, the priest from ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''.
* AnimeHair: A lot of examples. A notable one is Chief Warden Hyakushiki Momoko, with hair so spiky that people could injure their hands on it. The only aversion is Hajime, who's bald.
* AntiHero: This is a colorful and comedic prison story. But still a prison story. Many of the prisoners and prison guards don’t or can’t shy away from the darker aspects of their position.
* BadassAdorable: Nico is extremely childish. In addition to being severally ill, but thanks to the reverse effects of his many strange illnesses, he can pick up complex martial arts skills and battle moves out of nowhere without even knowing what they are. Although, [[spoiler: if he pushes himself too much, he could severally injure or even kill himself, hence the need for the large amount of drugs that keep his abilities under control and his body stable.]] He's also been escaping prisons since he was a child; the first time he broke out, he SMASHED THROUGH THE WALLS of a reform school to escape his medical check-up.
** And as of season two,[[spoiler: his repressed powers and past trauma have been revealed to have actually created a terrifying split personality capable of ripping out your throat.]]
* BaitAndSwitch: Episode fourteen spent the entire episode setting up situations where it looked like the series was going to take a turn for the serious, but kept averting them.

** This is pretty much the reason that the Cell 13 inmates are all so loyal to Jyugo. [[spoiler:Nico was sent to a reform clinic where he was cruelly experimented on by the medical staff and eventually ended up just wanting to die. Jyugo broke his restraints and, after they became cellmates later on, introduced him to manga and anime in an attempt to get him interested in life again. Rock was abused and starved by the prison guards, and Jyugo broke out of his own cell just to bring him some bread. When Rock refused to eat the crappy prison food, Jyugo freed him and took him to a diner. Rock was actually on the verge of STARVING TO DEATH, and Jyugo not only saved him, but also helped him develop his big eater tendencies as a result of the whole incident. Uno's past and how he met Jyugo have yet to be elaborated upon, but he has repeatedly stated that Jyugo saved him and gave him his freedom back. The few flashbacks shown show Uno emaciated,crying, and in a clear state of extreme distress, before another flashback shows Jyugo smashing his chains and Uno nearly bursting into tears as he realizes that he's free.]] While Jyugo doesn't seem to think he really did anything, the other three clearly believe otherwise. Following Jyugo getting beaten half-to-death by Hajime, Uno told Hajime that Jyugo may be stupid and unable to do anything other than bust out of jail, but he is definitely not worthless or a monster because he cares about people and is able to understand them in a way that no one else can.
** This is also more or less the reason Jyugo feels so close to his cellmates. Despite the fact that he is near incapable of caring for himself and constantly needs their help, they don't ditch him and are more than willing to help him, even if they whine about it. Jyugo outright states that his world was miserable and gloomy before they came into his life and brightened it up. Even if he can't understand them, it makes him happy to just be near them. This comes through rather heavily after he's released from solitary confinement after the New Year's incident; he's terrified that they will hate him for lying to them and being a monster, but his friends couldn't care less and are just happy that's he's okay. They accept him for who he is, even if he is unaware of who exactly that is.
** In season two, it comes out that Liang, Upa, and Qi all respect and admire Samon Gokuu a rather great deal, and that they are unusually loyal to him. [[spoiler: This is because of how they all were helped by him after they were arrested. When Upa was arrested back in China, his family, who had believed that he had died as a child, suddenly got back in contact with him and began sending him letters and gifts. Turns out, Samon found out about his past after reading his file and decided to inform his family that he was alive without him knowing about it. Liang was severally messed up in the head after his stint in the mob, and he was no longer able to believe that people could be good, especially himself. After he was transferred to Nanba, Samon took him in and began training him, and Liang was eventually able to get over his depression and start trusting people again. He outright considers the man to be his mentor and wants to get stronger so that he can be useful to Samon and repay him for helping him. Qi had decided to never make drugs again after discovering that the mob boss he worked for had used them to kill people, and was very suspicious of the intentions of everyone who took interest in his skills. Shortly after he was arrested and sent to Nanba, Samon secretly took him to visit a garden that was off-limits to the prisoners because he wanted to thank him after he was able to use information Qi supplied upon his arrested to help solve a cold case. He had no ulterior motives to to, and also told Qi that he thought that his pharmaceutical skills were cool because they could be used to help others. Qi ended up regaining enough trust in himself to keep manufacturing drugs because of what Samon had said. He was surprised that someone actually admired his abilities, and by the fact that Samon was so nice and honest, after he had heard rumors from the other guards that the supervisor was a traitor.]] Upa outright tells Nico that it was really just a bunch of little things and that Samon was totally unaware of how much they had appreciated his actions and even after the absolute hell they had been through, even something really small had made a difference for them and helped them all recover and find a new purpose in their life.

* GoroawaseNumber: For a majority of the prisoners, their names correalate to their prison numbers(e.g. Jyugo is fifteen in Japanese, Trois is three in French, Qi is 7 in Mandarin, and so on).

[[caption-width-right:350:Don't be fooled - Breaking out of prison [[CerebusRollercoaster isn't all fun and games.]][[labelnote:*]] Top-Bottom: Hajime, Nico, Rock, Uno, and Jyugo.[[/labelnote]]]]

There's a group of guys that are trying to escape from prison...

...wait a second, are we talking about ''Manga/PrisonSchool'' here?

We're not? Okay then...

''Nanbaka'', alternatively known as and/or subtitled ''The Numbers'', is a manga [[note]]despite its heavy [[ShonenDemographic shonen elements]], Comico is an all-ages web magazine, so it cannot be categorized as such[[/note]] which began as a [[http://www.comico.jp/articleList.nhn?titleNo=49 Comico web manga]] by Sho Futamata. [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/comics/manga/nanbaka/volumes The manga got licensed under Crunchyroll]] until the license expired in 2017, and then so did [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/nanbaka the anime]](which is available worldwide bar Asia, picked up for a simuldub by [[http://www.funimation.com/blog/2016/10/04/funimation-unveils-simuldub-schedule-for-fall-2016-season/ Funimation]] and is produced by {{Creator/Satelight}}), which aired in the Fall2016Anime season and Winter2017Anime seasons for two cours.

* Adorkable: Thanks to the above, it didn't carry over to the anime, but Mushashi is definitely this. Before his life totally went to hell, he was an extremely intelligent star student with the desire to become a doctor and that intelligence hasn't gone away. Even though he's blind, he still can read brail in over a dozen languages and is a major book nerd who is almost always reading in his free time. Thanks to his past, he also has no social skills or experience making friends and often ends up sulking in gloom in a corner over his confusion about other humans.

* AffectionateNickname:

** Kenshirou may more or less hate hajime and act very cold and distant, but he is the calmest of all the guards and is the least likely to lose his temper; when Hitokoe gives his unfavorable introductions of the guards during the New Year's tournament, he's actually calmli sipping tea in the foreground while the others are screaming at Hitokoe in the background. Kenshirou also was able to trap Mushashi, although he needed help from Samon and Kiji, without hurting him, which contrasts with Hajime simply pummeling Jyugo and nearly killing him; he clearly prefers less violent means of coercion. He also has a rather strong sense of justice, and wishes to find The Man With The Scar and his associates to punish them for what they have been doing to the prisoners in their care, and mushashi admits to beginning to feel a bit better after being put in his care.

The manga itself is split into "parts"; Futabasha compiled all of Part 1 into eight volumes, and is currently on Part 4.

* The above is reversed in the manga, however; Rock was clinging to the door frame so that Yamato couldn't make him leave, Uno was running his mouth to the guard, and Nico had decided to amuse himself by yanking on Samon's tail. Samon pretty much exploded, and the three inmates promptly panicked and wasted no time in booking it to the exercise yard.

* LongingLook:
** Momoko often looks at Hajime this way. Unfortunately, most people, including Hajime, mistake it for a DeathGlare. Usually because it certainly ''looks'' like one.
** Kenshiro has been known to give Momoko herself these, however, she doesn't seem to notice his affection for her and is annoyed by the attention.

* EyeScream: Musashi. The poor guy can't seem to catch a break. [[spoiler: The first time, The Man with the Scar slashed his eye after Musashi tried to kill him.]] [[The second time, Musashi made the mistake of asking Jyugo about TMWTS; cue Jyugo going into his berserk mode and completely blinding Musashi.]]

** Hajime is no slouch, either; he's capable of making some downright horrifying faces to scare the Cell 13 inmates into obeying him

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: What sets apart the manga and the anime is how they introduce the Building 13 main cast. In the manga, [[MrExposition Hajime]] reads off Building 13's backstories and reasons for being in Nanba. In the anime, they're actually shown escaping with almost expert precision, offer their unique escaping talents, and after getting soundly stopped by [[OneManArmy Hajime]], treat the whole ordeal as nothing too serious since it's just one of ''many'' attempts.

** While Liang may have been employed as an assassin by the mob, he firmly believes that killing is a sin
** Qi does manufacturer drugs and poisons, but he draws the line at creating substances that could be used to kill or maim others. He also has a special disgust of people who abuse children due to [[spoiler: witnessing the boss of the crime syndicate he was forced to work for torturing a young liang and finding Upa dying after his organs were removed to be sold on the black market.]]
** For someone who's in jail, even if he is a ninja, Tsukumo sure talks about honor and respect a lot. Justified, in that he was arrested for the most minor offense of all the prisoners; he was trespassing on privet property and was totally unaware of it at the time of his arrest.
* EyeScream: This happens to Musashi TWICE. [[spoiler: The first time, the man with the scar tried to kill him after experimenting on him by stabbing through his eye. The second time, Musashi made the mistake of asking Jyugo about the man; cue Jyugo going into his berserk mode and completely blinding Musashi.]]
* FatBastard: Hachimon.

* FromACertainPointOfView: The boys' reasons for escaping prison. Rock was horribly treated in his old prisons on top of being served tastless/disgusting food, and Jyugo busting him out of prison and taking him out to a diner awakened his BigEater tendencies. Nico's dislike of tasteless medicine probably stemmed from all of the experiments done on him in various prison hospitals. And Jyugo's constant need to escape prison may as ''well'' be a hobby, since he doesn't know what to do with himself otherwise and [[AndThenWhat has no game plan]] for any of his long-term goals after he completes them, and he's been doing it his whole life.
* GadgeteerGenius: Kazari Otogi, who despite threatening her husband Okina with a divorce still manages to whip up a room full of the most modern games (and it is implied from her skillset that she is the creator of their "daughter", [[{{Fembot}} Kagu 8]]).

** Mushashi's parents were the rare kind of people who were unperturbed by their son's unnatural power's and continued to love him unconditionally support him. Mushashi outright admits that the fact that they loved him and constantly told him that he had a good heart and was not a monster was the only thing that gave him hope an enabled him to keep living. Unfortunately,[[spoiler: they were killed in a fire set by The Man With The Scar and Elf, and Mushashi himself was blamed for their murders.]] [[spoiler: This broke him BAD and discovering that they were murdered by The Man; and right after he realized his powers were made even stronger, no less; pretty much drove him off the deep end and set him off on his quest for revenge.]]
** Upa's family could very well be this. As of season 2, he is revealed to be the only inmate who is still in contact with their family.[[spoiler: He was kindnapped by the mob as a child so that they could steal and sell his organs, and his parents had been lead to believe he had been killed. But, as soon as they found out from Samon Gokuu that he was alive and under arrest, they began sending him letters and gifts.]]
* GoroawaseNumber: The basis for most, if not all names in the setting (e.g Jyugo is 15, Trois is 3, Qi is 7 and so on).

** Jyugo admits to being envious of how his friends have hobbies and dreams of what they will do when they are released from prison, due to how he has next to no interests or goals himself.
** Kiji has an obsession with beauty, and subsequently does not like anyone else, especially other men, being considered more attractive than him. The whole reason he dislikes Seitarou and constantly yells at him is because he's jealous that the younger guard was voted the prettiest guard in Nanba over him. He also has zero tolerance for the inmates in his care not maintaining their appearance.
** Trois and Honey, following the rumored stereotype of the inmates of Kiji's building, are rather vain and spend a lot of time arguing about who's more attractive.
** Kenshiro Yozakura is jealous of Hajime being the object of the Warden's affections, whom he has an unrequited crush on.
** This is more or less the reason that [[spoiler: Hakkai Inori]] ends up betraying the guards by [[spoiler: plotting with Enki Gokuu and helping set the events of season 2 in motion.]] He strongly detested [[spoiler: Samon Gokuu]], who he viewed as week and cowardly, and only thought that he was able to become a correctional officer because of [[spoiler: his brother Enki's good reputation.]] The tipping point came when [[spoiler: Samon was appointed as Enki's replacement after his older brother was imprisoned for murder; Inori already hated him intensely for no good reason, and the last straw for him was the younger and less experienced guard not only getting promoted instead of him, but becoming his boss]]
* GrievousHarmWithABody: Due to physically being tougher than his brother, Hajime is able to use his brother as a bludgeon without worry of hurting him.
* HateSink: [[spoiler:Elf]] is easily the most hated character by fans, and it's not hard to see why. [[spoiler:Not only did he help experiment on Musashi and Jyugo, but it is later revealed that he was the one who framed Musashi for murder in the first place, and in Episode 13, he makes himself even more unlikable by torturing Jyugo and threatening to experiment on his friends as well.]]

** Seitarou is an inexperienced pretty-boy who can be pushed around easily by the inmates, but as we see in the New Year's Tournament, he also has a frighteningly good memory.
** Hajime may be tough and called a bald gorilla, but he has a knack for Japanese calligraphy
** In season one, Samon Gokuu is simply portrayed as an talkative idiot with a grudge against Hajime. In season two, it's revealed that he is actually rather kind and cares a lot about the well being of his inmates, and that he is also distrusted and feared by the other guards and supervisors due to[[spoiler: being the younger brother of Nanba's infamous traitorous guard, Enki.]]
** While Qi may compulsively manufacture weird drugs and poisons, he's strongly against making drugs that kill or cause permanent damage. Also, as shown in flashbacks when he [[spoiler: was forced to work for the mob and witnessed a young Liang and Upa being forced into doing things they found immoral, and then being tortured by their boss when they refused to follow his orders,]] he does not like people who think it's okay to hurt children or teenagers. He also has a bit of a soft spot for people who are sick or injured, as he [[spoiler: secretly saved a young Upa's life by giving him his own internal organs after their boss had Upa's removed to sell on the black market.]] and helps take care of Nico when they are all trapped in the underground cells in season 2.
** Upa acts rather cold and claims to hate most people but, actually, is rather fond of his cellmates and their supervisor, Samon Gokuu. Also, while he is initially annoyed by Nico and constantly yells at him, he secretly considers him to be his first friend and is rather concerned about his well-being due to his medical condition.
** In the first season, Tois and Honey are little more than a pair of egotistical pretty boys. In season two, they get their moment to shine when they go up against Ruka Gojou; Trois is a mechanical genius who can whip together flame-throwers, rocket launchers, and bombs from random objects in mere minutes, and Honey is an expert at laying traps using homemade bullets rigged with special wire. While the two may constantly argue with each other, they are actually a rather formidable and coordinated team; they ended up at Nanba because they broke out of many prisons this way and have an escape record to match Jyugo and company's.
** In the manga, Mushashi tells Kenshiro that he can read and speak 40 different languages, despite being blind. He was going to college to become a translator before his arrest, so he also learned braille, which is how he is still able to read even though he can't see. He is also actually very intelligent, as it is mentioned that when his condition didn't prevent him from going to school ,he always got strait A's. The only exception is that he appears to not be able to write in other languages; in an manga-exclusive strip showing him and Kenshirou at the New Year's Tournament, Kenshirou did most of the work until the final match, as Mushashi didn't know how to write in Japanese and could't play cards because of his blindness.
* IAlwaysWantedToSayThat: The New Year's Tournament reveals that Nico has a whole ''list'' of heroic quotes he's got stashed away for when he gets into certain situations. Unfortunately, they're mostly the type that require censoring. He at least gets to say his #2 and #1 quote.

** This is pretty much the reason that the Cell 13 inmates are all so loyal to Jyugo. [[spoiler:Nico was sent to a reform school where he was cruelly experimented on by the medical staff and eventually ended up just wanting to die. Jyugo broke his restraints and, after they became cellmates later on, introduced him to manga and anime in an attempt to get him interested in life again. Rock was abused and starved by the prison guards, and Jyugo broke out of his own cell just to bring him some bread. When Rock refused to eat the crappy prison food, Jyugo freed him and took him to a diner. Rock was actually on the verge of STARVING TO DEATH, and Jyugo not only saved him, but also helped him develop his big eater tendencies as a result of the whole incident. Uno's past and how he met Jyugo have yet to be elaborated upon, but he has repeatedly stated that Jyugo saved him and gave him his freedom back. The few flashbacks shown show Uno emaciated,crying, and in a clear state of extreme distress, before another flashback shows Jyugo smashing his chains and Uno nearly bursting into tears as he realizes that he's free.]] While Jyugo doesn't seem to think he really did anything, the other three clearly believe otherwise. Following Jyugo getting beaten half-to-death by Hajime, Uno told Hajime that Jyugo may be stupid and unable to do anything other than bust out of jail, but he is definitely not worthless or a monster because he cares about people and is able to understand them in a way that no one else can.

** In season two, Samon becomes the first guard to have one. His older brother, Enki, was a prison guard who was respected and admired by guards and prisoners alike, due to his strength and talent. On the other hand, many people, including Enki himself, thought that Samon was weak and cowardly and constantly compared him to his brother, insisting that the only reason he was able to become a guard in the first place was because of his brother's reputation. unfortunately, what they didn't know was that Enki was more than just a jerk;[[spoiler: in actuality, the man was a sadistic and sick monster who tortured and abused the prisoners under his care for his own amusement. Unfortunately, once he was transferred to Nanba, Enki didn't stop his cruelty and eventually ended up being exposed when he murdered an inmate for fun and killed/injured multiple guards when they tried to arrest him.]] [[spoiler: when the other supervisors finally cornered Enki, Samon was able to get in close and was told by the other guards to finish him off, but hesitated because he was unable to bring himself to kill someone, much less his own brother.]] Hajime stepped in and quickly defeated Enki without killing him, leading to Hajime getting praised by their colleges, as well as promoted; that's why Samon hates Hajime. Samon is eventually promoted, as well, and takes over his brother's job as the supervisor of building 5. In the present, Years after the incident, he's still taunted by some of the other guards, who think that he was only promoted out of need instead of earning his position on his own merits, and many of them also fear that he'll end up being as evil as his brother. The main plot of season two revolves around Enki's escape and takeover of the prison, along with another two prisoners and [[spoiler: the gaurd Inori]], which causes Samon's past to come back to haunt him. When confronted once again by his brother, Samon is quickly defeated because of his continued reluctance to kill anyone. Not only that, but [[spoiler: the sole reason Inori betrayed the guards is because he utterly hates and despises Samon, and wants to see him dead for no other reason than the fact that he thinks that Samon is weak and a waste of space.]] Despite the fact that he can act like a total ass, Samon is a good person at heart and just doesn't want to hurt anyone; he isn't anything like his brother at all, and honestly doesn't deserve all the hate and suspicion he has received over the years.
** Tsukumo was the first inmate revealed to have one. He was born into a Shinobi clan but, due to how poor his skills were, he was abandoned in the woods as a child and forbidden to come home until he became a proper ninja. One day, a woman claiming to be his mother showed up and took him in. Poor Tsukumo was so lonely and desperate for a family, that he did't realize that the woman wasn't his mother at all. She was a movie producer with a failing career, who stumbled upon him while trying to find a real Shinobi to act in the film that could save her career. She took him in and groomed him to be a famous Shinobi actor, but he was unaware of the fact that he was just an actor being coached to play a role, as he thought that his acting lessons were training and that being an actor was a normal thing for a ninja to use his skills for. Eventually, he found out the truth after his manager (who also happened to be his adoptive brother) and his mother's assistant accidentally let the truth slip, as they though he already knew. He took off back to the woods to try and find his village and reunite with his birth family, but he got lost and ended up being arrested for trespassing. The reason he continues to act like a ninja, despite not really being a good one, is because he honestly has no other clue how to act; he spent so long changing his personality and character to please others, that he now has no real personality of his own. When Jyugo tells him he should just be himself and act natural, Tsukumo actually tells him that he has no clue who he even is. If that wasn't sad enough, his brother/manager visits him after he's transferred to Nanba and tries to convince him to continue acting, and totally disregards their mother's lies and the misery that they put Tsukumo through. Currently, all the guy wants is to finish paying his debt to society and find somewhere isolated and quiet to live out the rest of his days in peace, away from the film industry and his adoptive family.

* DeathGlare: Poor Hajime thinks that the warden wants to kill him instead of wanting to kiss him every time she looks at him.
** Hajime is no slouch, either; he's capable of making some downright horrifying faces to scare the cell 13 inmates into obeying him
** Heck, most of the guards and inmates are great at making rather terrifying faces at each other when they are pissed
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: In Tsukumo's flashback, his adopted mother and her assistant were the only characters that were in greyscale, even when moved out of her office.
** After Jyugo activates his swords and gets sent to the underground cells, he's colored completely in greyscale until he finds purpose in himself.
** in season two ,after yelling at someone for yanking on his braid, only to discover that it is one of the scythe wielding security dolls, all the color slowly drains out of a scared Uno and his surroundings
* DemotedToExtra: In Season 2, [[spoiler:Rock, Yamato and Seitarou are all confined to the infirmary for the second season while the rest of Cell 13 play an active role in the plot.]]

* DoItYourselfThemeTune: The Cell 13 boys sing the ending theme of the anime's two cours. Hajime is present for it, but he just yells at them.

** Jyugo is perpetually barefoot. It's never been brought up in the series proper, but even as a child in flashbacks he never wore shoes. The only time he has actually been seen wearing some is in a multi-chapter,manga-only side story set in the past; when he and Uno busted out of prison in Nevada, he wore straw sandals as part of his street clothes. They inexplicably disappear in the next special chapter.
** Mushashi, as well; he at least wears what looks like straps wrapped around his feet, but they aren't technologically shoes. In flashbacks, he stopped wearing shoes some point after he was arrested.

** Musashi seems to have the worst. When he was little, he was diagnosed with spontaneous combustion and as he grew older, it got him labelled as a monster after he lost control over his powers one day and was shunned by everyone except his parents. He was eventually able to return to college, but was cast out by the teachers and students, who speculated that he was the person responsible for the mysterious arson attacks that had been happening in the area. One night, he came home from school to find his house set on fire by [[spoiler: Elf,]] with his parents inside. When the police tried to arrest him on suspicion for murdering his family, he lost it and unintentionally killed them, and had to run away after a mob of bystanders started screaming that he was a murderous monster. After being caught, he was bounced around to multiple prisons and, due to his uncontrollable fire powers, was horribly abused by the guards. After losing his parents,[[spoiler: The Man with the Scar and Elf]] were the only people who believed he was a good person and promised him that they would be able to rid him of his powers if he let them perform medical experiments on him. After the experiments, Musashi learns that while he can control his flames, the [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar]] increased the frequency and power of his flames instead. It's revealed that[[spoiler: they]] had been spying on him since he got his powers and killed his parents to send him to prison where they would experiment on him. When Musashi attempts to attack [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar]], [spoiler: he]] [[EyeScream slashes Musashi's eye]]. Later, after finding out that [[spoiler: Jyugo]] was also experimented on, and asking him about [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar]],[[spoiler: Jyugo]] slashes his other eye, totally blinding him. By the start of the anime, Musashi has totally lost all hope and has resigned to the belief that he really is a monster and, since he is already damned, decides to hunt down [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar]] and kill him. After the New Year's Tournament, he begins to mellow out once Kenshiro promises to look further into the experiments being performed on inmates by [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar.]]
** As revealed in Season 2, [[spoiler:Liang, Upa and Qi]] also have one. [[spoiler: They were all blackmailed into working under a crooked mob boss, a man so vile that he brutally tortured Liang for being unwilling to kill his assigned targets, kidnapped Upa when he was a child and [[spoiler: removed most of his vital organs to sell on the black market,]]and attempted to trick Qi into creating a drug that would poison his clients. They're all later arrested and sent to Nanba prison, but in the middle of the second season [[spoiler: , their former boss comes back to haunt them.]][[spoiler: And it turns out that Liang and Upa also had a run-in with Enki in the past; unfortunately, they were assigned him as a supervisor when they were in prison back in China, and he brutally tormented and abused them and the other prisoners in their cell block. It was so bad, that Upa thought he was going to die, and kind of hoped he would, as he just wanted the abuse to end. He was relived when Enki was transferred to Nanba, only to find out shortly after that they were going to be transferred to nanba and end up in his building. Fortunately for them, by the time he got there, Enki had been exposed as a monster and locked away underground.]]
** In season 2, Samon becomes the first guard to have one. His older brother, Enki, was a prison guard who was respected and admired by guards and prisoners alike, due to his strength and talent. On the other hand, many people, including Enki himself, thought that Samon was weak and cowardly and constantly compared him to his brother, insisting that the only reason he was able to become a guard in the first place was because of his brother's reputation. unfortunately, what they didn't know was that Enki was more than just a jerk;[[spoiler: in actuality, the man was a sadistic and sick monster who tortured and abused the prisoners under his care for his own amusement. Unfortunately, once he was transferred to Nanba, Enki didn't stop his cruelty and eventually ended up being exposed when he murdered an inmate for fun and killed/injured multiple guards when they tried to arrest him.]] [[spoiler: when the other supervisors finally cornered Enki, Samon was able to get in close and was told by the other guards to finish him off, but hesitated because he was unable to bring himself to kill someone, much less his own brother.]] Hajime stepped in and quickly defeated Enki without killing him, leading to Hajime getting praised by their colleges, as well as promoted; that's why Samon hates Hajime. Samon is eventually promoted, as well, and takes over his brother's job as the supervisor of building 5. In the present, Years after the incident, he's still taunted by some of the other guards, who think that he was only promoted out of need instead of earning his position on his own merits, and many of them also fear that he'll end up being as evil as his brother. The main plot of season two revolves around Enki's escape and takeover of the prison, along with another two prisoners and [[spoiler: the gaurd Inori]], which causes Samon's past to come back to haunt him. When confronted once again by his brother, Samon is quickly defeated because of his continued reluctance to kill anyone. Not only that, but [[spoiler: the sole reason Inori betrayed the guards is because he utterly hates and despises Samon, and wants to see him dead for no other reason than the fact that he thinks that Samon is weak and a waste of space.]] Despite the fact that he can act like a total ass, Samon is a good person at heart and just doesn't want to hurt anyone; he isn't anything like his brother at all, and honestly doesn't deserve all the hate and suspicion he has received over the years.

** Musashi seems to have the worst. When he was little, he was diagnosed with spontaneous combustion and as he grew older, it got him labelled as a monster after he lost control over his powers one day and was shunned by everyone except his parents. He was eventually able to return to college, but was cast out by the teachers and students, who speculated that he was the person responsible for the mysterious arson attacks that had been happening in the area. One night, he came home from school to find his house set on fire by [[spoier: Elf]] with his parents inside. When the police tried to arrest him on suspicion for murdering his family, he lost it and unintentionally killed them, and had to run away after a mob of bystanders started screaming that he was a murderous monster. After being caught, he was bounced around to multiple prisons and, due to his uncontrollable fire powers, was horribly abused by the guards. After losing his parents,[[spoiler: The Man with the Scar and Elf]] were the only people who believed he was a good person and promised him that they would be able to rid him of his powers if he let them perform medical experiments on him. After the experiments, Musashi learns that while he can control his flames, the [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar]] increased the frequency and power of his flames instead. It's revealed that[[spoiler: they]] had been spying on him since he got his powers and killed his parents to send him to prison where they would experiment on him. When Musashi attempts to attack [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar]], [spoiler: he]] [[EyeScream slashes Musashi's eye]]. Later, after finding out that [[spoiler: Jyugo]] was also experimented on, and asking him about [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar]],[[spoiler: Jyugo]] slashes his other eye, totally blinding him. By the start of the anime, Musashi has totally lost all hope and has resigned to the belief that he really is a monster and, since he is already damned, decides to hunt down [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar]] and kill him. After the New Year's Tournament, he begins to mellow out once Kenshiro promises to look further into the experiments being performed on inmates by [[spoiler: The Man with the Scar.]]

** This is pretty much the reason that the Cell 13 inmates are all so loyal to Jyugo. [[spoiler:Nico was sent to a reform school where he was cruelly experimented on by the medical staff and eventually ended up just wanting to die. Jyugo broke his restraints and, after they became cell-mates later on, introduced him to manga and anime in an attempt to get him interested in life again. Rock was abused and starved by the prison guards, and Jyugo broke out of his own cell just to bring him some bread. When Rock refused to eat the crappy prison food, Jyugo freed him and took him to a dinner. Rock was actually on the verge of STARVING TO DEATH, and Jyugo not only saved him, but also helped him developed his big eater tendencies as a result of the whole incident. Uno's past and how he met Jyugo has yet to be elaborated upon, but he has repeatedly stated that Jyugo saved him and gave him his freedom back. The few flashbacks shown show Uno emaciated,crying, and in a clear state of extreme distress, before another flashback shows Jyugo smashing his chains and Uno nearly bursting into tears as he realizes that he's free.]] While Jyugo doesn't seem to think he really did anything, the other three clearly believe otherwise. Following Jyugo getting beaten half-to-death by Hajime, Uno told Hajime that Jyugo may be stupid and unable to do anything other than bust out of jail, but he is definitely not worthless or a monster because he cares about people and is able to understand them in a way that no one else can.

** [[spoiler: Don't insult Elf's boss.]]

* BadassAdorable: Nico is extremely child-like and cute. In addition to being severally ill, but, thanks to the reverse effects of his many strange illnesses, he can pick up complex martial arts skills and battle moves out of nowhere without even knowing what they are. Although, [[spoiler: if he pushes himself too much, he could severally injure or even kill himself, hence the need for the large amount of drugs that keep his abilities under control and his body stable.]] He's also been escaping prisons since he was a child; the first time he broke out, he SMASHED THROUGH THE WALLS of a reform school to escape his medical check-up.

** Kiji (pheasant), Samon (monkey), and Kenshirou(dog) are based on the trio of animals from ''Momotarō;''.

** In Building 5, Samon Gokuu, Hakkai Inori, and [[spoiler: Roku Gojyou, a former correctional officer who was imprisoned in the underground cell,]] form the three animals in ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', Son Goku, Cho Hakkai, and Sa Gojou respectively.

* BaitAndSwitch: Episode 14 spent the entire episode setting up situations where it looked like the series was going to take a turn for the serious, but kept averting them.

** Mushashi always calls Kenshirou "inu-chan" (little dog) instead of his name. Initially, this was more mocking than affectionate, but it takes on a friendlier tone after Mushashi reveals his past and Kenshirou promises to investigate the man who conducted experiments on the inmates.

* TheAlcatraz: Nanba Prison. The narration even mentions Alcatraz as an inferior holding facility in the introduction.
* AllChinesePeopleKnowKungFu: In addition to the many other markers that present Building 5 as the "China Building", all of the major players during the New Year's Tournament knew some form of Chinese martial arts.

** Kiji (pheasant), Samon (monkey), and Kenshirou's (dog)characters are based on the trio of animals from ''Momotarō''. Meanwhile, Hajime is constantly referred to as a gorilla, much to his irritation.