History Manga / TheLawOfUeki

* ShoutOut: In the first episode, God does the "1, 2, 3, HUSTLE, HUSTLE!!" taunt popularized by ProfessionalWrestling promotion Wrestling/FightingOperaHUSTLE.
* SinkOrSwimMentor: while Koba-sen, Ueki's God Candidate, has a strong sense of justice, he is laid back to the point that he pretty much leaves Ueki to figure out his powers by himself. To be fair, though, those are the rules. When he does step in to save Ueki from certain death--against the tournament's rules--he promptly suffers from the MentorOccupationalHazard. Though he doesn't die, he is [[spoiler:sent to Hell]].

** The strange part is that 9 of his 12 powers were weapons, and one is a Cancelator, but he has also some JetSkates, and a pair of wings. Also, he could try to use his powers in a way that wouldn't harm anybody.

Naturally, this leads many students to thoughts of greed and selfishness. Being TheHero, Ueki decides to take it upon himself to win this tournament to keep that power away from those that would abuse such a gift, fighting for justice with Mori Ai in tow. Along the way they meet not one, but two [[CreepyMonotone creepy]] [[BigBad major enemies]], gather a loyal group of TrueCompanions, discover that Ueki is a Heavenly Being, stumble upon some sort of [[AncientConspiracy ancient heavenly conspiracy]], and indirectly promote recycling and environmentalism (uh, well, sort of).

** The strange part is that 9 from his 12 powers were weapons, and one is a Cancelator, but he has also some JetSkates, and a pair of wings. Also, he could try to use his powers in a way that wouldn't harm anybody.

* AwesomeButImpractical: some powers and a lot of the Zai Ueki seems to get. Cheering Zai, anyone?
** Ueki's [[BoobyTrap Gulliver]]. Used succesfully exactly once. He seems to be aware of this fact and uses it to figure out his opponent's power.

%%* NietzscheWannabe: Robert Haydn.

%%* WeakButSkilled: Sano. Just Sano. (leads to awesome fights)

** The first OP makes it clear that Rinko will join the team, despite being initially presented as one of [QuirkyMinibossSquad Robert's Ten].

* WeakButSkilled: Sano. Just Sano. (leads to awesome fights)

* Exposition: outrageous amounts.

** This is actually ''explained'' early on in the series, when Ueki loses his Study Zai ("talent to study") for attacking a non-combatant before the tournament begins.
* ImportantHaircut: Rinko's [[TraumaticHaircut pigtails getting chopped off]] coincides with her HeelFaceTurn to Ueki's side.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Hideyoshi does this to Team Ueki at the end. Subverted however; he couldn't abandon his friends in the end, and by coming back at the last minute, [[spoiler: He saves Kosuke's life by getting knocked out by his Kurogane attack]].

%%* TalkToTheFist
%%-->'''Enemy:''' Do you want to know what my ability is? I'll show you. When I squeeze a stone, I can...” *tree hitting a face, knockdown*

%%* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway

* {{Autodoc}}: Heavenly Beasts release a healing machine which fully restores anyone inside it for exactly 12 minutes. However, if the healing process is interrupted in any way and the machine is damaged, the person inside it will die.

* HeyItsThatVoice: The afforementioned [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Romi Park]] as Ueki, [[ChronoCrusade Kawakami Tomoko]] as Mori, [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Soichiro Hoshi]] as Sano, [[VisualNovel/{{Clannad}} Mamiko Noto]] as Rinko and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Akira Ishida]] as Wanko, among several others.

* HungryWeapon: Mash, the 4th Sacred Weapon, is a giant block with "eyes" and mouth that chomps the opponent to unconsciousness.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Hideyoshi does this to Team Ueki at the end. However, he couldn't abandon his friends in the end, and by coming back at the last minute, [[spoiler: He saves Kosuke's life by getting knocked out by his Kurogane attack]].

* ExtremeOmnivore: Mash, the 4th Sacred Weapon, is a giant block with "eyes" and mouth that chomps the opponent to unconsciousness.

%%* CallingYourAttacks
* CapeWings: Kabara's ability

* ExtremeOmnivore: Mash's power.

* SprintShoes: The Raika, the 6-star Sacred Weapon (although it's not so much a "weapon") are a pair of shoes that let the user move really fast.

* ArmCannon: Kurogane has a gun strapped to her arm or something.

* AwesomenessIsAForce: Maoh / [[DubNameChange Arch-Enemy]]. [[HeroicWillpower It takes up the form and power of its user's will]]. [[TooAwesomeToUse It can only be used six times in a lifetime, though]].

* {{BFS}}: Ranma's WeaponOfChoice is a big ass sword.

* BoobyTrap: Gulliver probably sets these alot.

* CombatTentacles: Namihana has these.

* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Whoever Hood is probably uses a shield to fight.

* PowerGivesYouWings: Seiku can grow wings or something.

* RetractableWeapon: Pick uses these.

* SprintShoes: Raika's shoes let her move really fast.

* ThisIsADrill: Robert's weapon is a drill.

* {{Cross Dressing Voices}}: Romi Paku played the voice of the main character, Ueki Kousuke, who is a guy: and shows not one bit of girliness in him.

* BossSubtitles: for every opponent

* CreepyChild: Robert and Anon, both of who mostly talk in...
* CreepyMonotone

* DisproportionateRetribution: the punishment for a god candidate helping their junior high school student in a battle is to be put on celestial death row. Even if they only do it to save a kid's life.

* {{Fetish}}: [[spoiler: Mori's power gives her opponent a HUGE eyeglasses fetish. ...And then there's Kill Norton, who glued his glasses to his head. Granted, it was in case he got paired up with Mori so he could have a way to counter her power, but still... Also, his glasses are named Bianca. Later, he asks Mori to make him an eyeglasses lover again, so he can work up the nerve to go help his teammates fight Anon. The last time we see him, in the epilogue, he's muttering "Glasses... glasses... glasses..."]]

* {{Meganekko}}: Rinko, Mori has glasses too ([[spoiler: and her powers are based around them]]) but she doesn't ever wear them over her eyes.
** well almost never since the Q&A in the final volume sates that she is long sighted and so they are reading glasses
** It's implied Mori's glasses are purely to invoke this trope, as she carries over a hundred pairs with her, even before [[spoiler: she found out about her power]].

* AwesomeButImpractical - some powers and a lot of the Zai Ueki seems to get. Cheering Zai, anyone?

* AwesomeByAnalysis - Once Ueki figures out your power, you've lost. Same goes Sano. Although the fact that most of the power-users are stupid enough to [[CallingYourAttacks tell their opponent about their power (right up to their limitations)]] didn't helped much.
* BadassTeacher - Just because Kobayashi is [[ActualPacifist against violence]] doesn't mean it's a good idea to pick on his students.

* BagOfSpilling - Between Law of Ueki and the short five volume manga sequel Law of Ueki Plus. Justified, as if Ueki uses any of his old special abilities it would result in the loss of his Zai and he would die, because the tournament is over and therefore nobody is a combatant now.

* BlessedWithSuck - a lot of the powers have rather detrimental parameters for them to work(one has to hold one's breath, keep hands in pockets, hold hands, ''give up a year of life per usage''...)

* BlueWithShock - [[spoiler:The ''entirety'' of Team Ueki experience this when Rinko snaps during her match.]]
* BossSubtitles - for every opponent
* ButNotTooForeign - Rinko is implied to be half-Japanese.
* ButtMonkey - the creator said so himself that Inumaru exists to be bullied by Kobayashi. [[spoiler:Although subverted nicely in the end, when [[ThrowTheDogABone the kids decide to name him as the next god.]]]]
* CallingYourAttacks
* CapeWings - Kabara's ability
* ChewToy - Ueki gets into a ''lot'' of situations that end up with him getting hurt in some way. Mori Ai even notes that this happened to Ueki even before the tournament started. Although most of those were the fault of Ueki's brashness, a lot of random events also seemed to be detrimental to him. It is later explained that this was due to the loss of a good luck zai of some sort.
* ConspicuousCG
* ConspiracyRedemption
* CreepyChild - Robert and Anon, both of who mostly talk in...

* {{Cross Dressing Voices}}: Romi Paku played the voice of the main character, Ueki Kousuke, who is a guy - and shows not one bit of girliness in him.
* {{Determinator}} - Ueki. In fact one of his opponents is defeated by his determination.
* DiscardAndDraw - Ueki loses all his abilities at the end of the manga. In the sequel he gains a new power: The power of "grabbing" in the form of "a mop".
* DisproportionateRetribution - the punishment for a god candidate helping their junior high school student in a battle is to be put on celestial death row. Even if they only do it to save a kid's life.
* DudeLooksLikeALady - [[GenderBlenderName Margaret]], Anon, Kapucho, and Barrow.
* ElementsDoNotWorkThatWay - Real iron isn't nearly as strong as the iron that Sano can turn towels into.
* EvilChef - Marco Maldini, who can change tomatoes into magma. He is also very angry if you waste his soup.

* {{Fetish}} - [[spoiler: Mori's power gives her opponent a HUGE eyeglasses fetish. ...And then there's Kill Norton, who glued his glasses to his head. Granted, it was in case he got paired up with Mori so he could have a way to counter her power, but still... Also, his glasses are named Bianca. Later, he asks Mori to make him an eyeglasses lover again, so he can work up the nerve to go help his teammates fight Anon. The last time we see him, in the epilogue, he's muttering "Glasses... glasses... glasses..."]]
* FiveManBand -
** Ueki is TheHero
** Mori is TheChick
** Sano and Rinko flip-flop which one is TheLancer and TheBigGuy. Before Hideyoshi joins, Rinko also plays TheSmartGuy.
** Hideyoshi is TheSmartGuy
* ForTheEvulz - Anon helps humans then proceeds to harm them immediately afterward just to find out what kind of reaction he will get [[spoiler: (like rescuing a boy's puppy and trying to throw that puppy to an electric pole)]].
* FunnyAfro - Ueki temporarily gains one along with a Disco Zai ("talent to dress stylishly" in English). Apparently, Ueki was following the good ol' Saturday Night Fever style. He was immediately beaten up by Mori.

* GenderBlenderName - Margaret is a girl's name, and Margaret [[DudeLooksLikeALady looks female]], but Margaret is definitely ''not'' a woman.

* TheGenericGuy - Or girl. Mori (at least initially, before she gets BlessedWithSuck)
* GreenThumb - Ueki's power. A rare example of TheHero using this power.
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower - The premise of the whole show.
* HannibalLecture - Some of the less friendly God Candidates and team leaders are prone to these- and not just at the heroes.
* HappinessInSlavery - Rinko, who [[LoveMartyr loved]] Robert. Although, she does get out of it soon after meeting Ueki, [[HeelFaceTurn joining his group]].
* HeyItsThatVoice - The afforementioned [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Romi Park]] as Ueki, [[ChronoCrusade Kawakami Tomoko]] as Mori, [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Soichiro Hoshi]] as Sano, [[VisualNovel/{{Clannad}} Mamiko Noto]] as Rinko and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Akira Ishida]] as Wanko, among several others.

** ArmCannon: Kurogane is a Type 2.
** AwesomenessIsAForce: Maoh / [[DubNameChange Arch-Enemy]]. [[HeroicWillpower It takes up the form and power of its user's will]]. [[TooAwesomeToUse It can only be used six times in a lifetime, though]].
*** [[spoiler: RuleOfSymbolism]]: [[spoiler: Ueki's takes the form of Kobasen/Mr. K, symbolizing his desire to protect his TrueCompanions, while Anon!Robert's is an EldritchAbomination symbolizing [[KillAllHumans his hatred for humanity]].]]
** [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe Luckily My]] PowerFist [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe Will Protect Me]]: Hood
** {{BFS}}: Ranma
** ExtremeOmnivore: Mash
** RetractableWeapon: Pick.
*** DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Ueki's resembles a black-and-yellow roadblock.
*** ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Barrow's is a pencil-shaped spear made of stone.
*** ThisIsADrill: Robert's.
** SprintShoes: Raika
** BoobyTrap: Gulliver.
** CombatTentacles: Namihana
** PowerGivesYouWings: Seiku.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming - All episode titles begin with "The Law of..."
* IdiotHair - Many characters. Some have 2.
* IdiotHero - while Ueki does have several brilliant insights, especially in battle, for the most part he seems rather simple-minded and clueless. On first meeting Tenko's gigantic dog-like form he thinks it's just a really big ''chicken'' of all things.

* ImportantHaircut - Rinko's [[TraumaticHaircut pigtails getting chopped off]] coincides with her HeelFaceTurn to Ueki's side.
* IncrediblyLamePun - One of Ueki's opponents has the ability to change his IncrediblyLamePuns into reality.
* KingOfAllCosmos - The winner's God Candidate gets this job. The incumbent KingOfAllCosmos is a DirtyOldMan dressed in an unbuttoned button-down shirt, shorts, sandals, and wears a ten-gallon hat with CoolShades on it.

* KirkSummation - [[spoiler: The purpose of the tournament was so the King could try to get the Protectorates to see that times had changed and they had to stop living in the past and start looking to the future. He even gives a speech about it to the Protectorate controlling Margaret. It doesn't go as planned.]]
* LastMinuteHookup - Ueki and Mori officially become a couple at the end of ''The Law of Ueki Plus''.
* LethalChef - subverted in Mori's case. Her cooking looks [[AlienLunch disgusting (and alive)]] but [[TastesLikeChicken tastes very good]].
* {{Meganekko}} - Rinko, Mori has glasses too ([[spoiler: and her powers are based around them]]) but she doesn't ever wear them over her eyes.

* MagicAIsMagicA: The setting is not consistent with those rules, though. It's explicitly said that every power has its limiting conditions. And yet not only some of the power users don't have any conditions - Sano, whose condition (holding his breath) is explicitly stated, [[TalkingIsAFreeAction freely talks while using his power]].

* MentorOccupationalHazard - If a god candidate helps their student in battle in ''any'' way, [[DisproportionateRetribution they get sent to Hell and put on death row there]].
* NietzscheWannabe - Robert Haydn.
* OddlyNamedSequel - The Law of Ueki Plus
* OffModel - Happens relatively often in the manga. Some panels just look ''weird''...
* OfficialCouple - Ueki and Mori. While not explicit in the anime (although there are are a few subtle ShipTease moments) it is made clearer in the manga and becomes fully canon by the end of the sequel series, ''[[OddlyNamedSequel The Law of Ueki Plus]]''.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome - intentionally done twice, with characters describing how awesome a DangerousForbiddenTechnique was, after it was used ''off-camera''. It is then [[{{handwave}} explained]] as the result of a lack in special effects budget.

* {{Ojou}} - Rinko, whose status and wealth had been exploited to no end by her schoolmates, leading her to join the Robert's Ten.
* OmnicidalManiac - Robert and Anon. Possibly Margaret.
* {{Portmanteau}} - The creator, fans, and most of the characters refer to Kobayashi-sensei as "Kobasen." (In English, it gets shortened to "Mr. K.")
* QuirkyMinibossSquad - Robert's 10. Almost every team in Round 3 is another squad.
* RuleOfFun / RuleOfCool - The series runs on these.
* ScaryShinyGlasses - seems to be Kobayashi's natural state, coupled with OpaqueLenses.
* {{Screw This Im Outta Here}}: Hideyoshi does this to Team Ueki at the end. However, he couldn't abandon his friends in the end, and by coming back at the last minute, [[spoiler: He saves Kosuke's life by getting knocked out by his Kurogane attack]].
* SinkOrSwimMentor - while Koba-sen, Ueki's God Candidate, has a strong sense of justice, he is laid back to the point that he pretty much leaves Ueki to figure out his powers by himself. To be fair, though, those are the rules. When he does step in to save Ueki from certain death--against the tournament's rules--he promptly suffers from the MentorOccupationalHazard. Though he doesn't die, he is [[spoiler:sent to Hell]].

* SnarkyNonHumanSidekick - Tenko, although he quickly loses his initial snarkiness and becomes more of a standard NonHumanSidekick later on.
* SplitScreenReaction
* SpoilerOpening - the second OP spoils quite a few things, most significantly the fight against Team Marilyn.
* SuperpowerLottery
* TalkingIsAFreeAction - it may be more of a premise of the whole show than HeartIsAnAwesomePower.

* [[TalkToTheFist Talk To The Tree]]
-->'''Enemy:''' Do you want to know what my ability is? I'll show you. When I squeeze a stone, I can...” *tree hitting a face, knockdown*
* TeensAreMonsters - All of the contestants in the tournament are supposedly junior high school students, yet a lot of them want to be the champion in order to take over the world, and have no qualms about '''''killing their opponents'''''.
* TooDumbToFool - BJ starts off trying to win fights by claiming to be Robert Haydn, which causes people to run in fear. While Mori falls for this, Ueki just remembers that BJ introduced himself as BJ earlier that day, and just can't seem to understand BJ's claims that his name is really Robert Haydn... And keeps insisting that he's really BJ. The fact that he doesn't even know who Robert Haydn is probably helps.
* TournamentArc: well, nothing more than that.
* TrueCompanions
* {{Tsundere}} - Mori, who leans much more toward ''tsuntsun'' than ''deredere''
* TunnelKing - One character has, as he calls it, "A power to turn my beautiful hair into a drill!" which allows him to dig extremely fast.
* WeakButSkilled - Sano. Just Sano. (leads to awesome fights)
* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway - so very subverted.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair - Ueki and Mori have green and aquamarine hair respectively. Not to mention Rinko, whose hair is pink.

* AncientConspiracy

* BatmanGambit: See AintNoRule, above.

!!''TheLawOfUeki'' provides examples of:

* PantyShot - A grand total of one in the anime, obscured by a black shadow in one version.

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheLawOfUeki.jpg]]

** Let's not forget that the guy who can only use his power when he's not breathing can ''talk while he's using his power''.

** One can argue, talking is still holding one's breath. You aren't inhaling, are you? It's obvious Sano further mastered his power past episode 2 (where he was explicitly shown HOLDING his breath in comedic fashion), but later on, he can talk and still use it, implying he's learned to control his breathing far better. He is also shown gasping for breath at the end of the Matthew fight.

* {{Autodoc}}: Heavenly Beasts release a healing machine which fully restores anyone inside it for exactly 10 minutes. However, if the healing process is interrupted in any way and the machine is damaged, the person inside it will die.

* HeyItsThatVoice - The afforementioned [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Romi Park]] as Ueki, [[ChronoCrusade Kawakami Tomoko]] as Mori, [[GundamSeed Soichiro Hoshi]] as Sano, [[VisualNovel/{{Clannad}} Mamiko Noto]] as Rinko and [[GundamSeed Akira Ishida]] as Wanko, among several others.