Line #87 Manga/Culdcept


1	[[quoteright:275:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_001.jpg]]
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3	The manga series based on ''VideoGame/{{Culdcept}}'', a card-based videogame. The manga was drawn by Shinya Kaneko and serialized in Japan by Kodansha in Magazine Z, and collected in six bound volumes. It is licensed in English by Tokyopop, and in Indonesia by Elex Media Komputindo.
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5	The manga revolves around the adventures of Najaran, a Cepter (card-user) under the tutelage of master Cepter Horrowitz. With her worrywart companion, the sentient staff Goligan, she embarks on a journey save the Culdcept (the book which the goddess Culdra had kept all the cards in until the War of the Gods) from the Dark Cepters.
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7	----
8	!!The ''Culdcept'' manga provides examples of:
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10	%%* AmbiguouslyBrown: Najaran.
11	* AscendedFanboy: One of the minor characters appearing in the third volume, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Talle/Tare]], is based on the winner of one of Culdcept championships. In the finals he even beats Kaneko (who lost it due to [[RandomNumberGod getting four 1's consecutively in his diceroll]]).
12	* AnimateInanimateObject: Goligan and his ilk are [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin talking staffs]].
13	* [[spoiler: AttackOfThe50FootWhatever:]]
14	** [[spoiler: The final battle in the Bistym Forest arc, versus Dark Master.]]
15	** [[spoiler: One of the minor characters in the Cepter's Guild mini-arc has a card named [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Colossus]].]]
16	* TheBerserker: Zeneth does not distinguish much between foe and collateral. It is shown later that his battle strategy is basically throw as many destructive creatures and spells to his adversary. One of his creature cards is even named Berserker.
17	* BerserkButton:
18	** Najaran does not like a cepter who mistreats or takes his/her summoned monsters for granted. Chimino found this out the hard way.
19	* BigEater: Najaran can eat most anything, in large quantities.
20	** This becomes a bit of a ChekhovsSkill ''twice'' in the Bistym Forest arc, in which[[spoiler: she ate a veritable forest of ''shrooms'' in the first trial]] and then[[spoiler: determined the right dryad to capture on the second trial based on her self-taught skill of ''distinguishing good veggies from the bad'']].
21	* BiggerOnTheInside: Glubell's abode is this. Even her ''closet''.
22	* {{BFG}}: Some {{Mooks}} from the Damdam Group carry large musket-like firearms.
23	* {{BFS}}: Averted for the most part, but[[spoiler: in the battle between Najaran and Kigi, Knight (Najaran's summoned creature) sported this temporarily due to its attack and defense getting swapped]].
24	* BigBad: Baltheas in The War of The Gods, the Dark Cepters in present day.
25	* BigGood: Culdra, though she had not shown herself for a while. The Cepters' Guild in present day.
26	* CombatTentacles:
27	** one of the Dark Cepters uses multiple vines to wield multiple weaponry cards.
28	** Endaness and Formalhaut (one of the Dark Cepters) both have tentacles, although only Endaness is shown to use them.
29	* CoolBoat: Captain Cook's ship. It's a pirate sloop crewed by merfolk pirates... and ''[[CoolAirship it flies]]''. Better still, ''it's a card''.
30	%%* CoolOldGuy: A few, notably Horrowitz and Ouen.
31	* DoomedHometown: Zeneth's hometown. Roca probably qualifies too (being the site of the first major Dark Cepter raid in the story), although none of the major characters hail from there.
32	* DrunkenMaster: Gantz is much more dangerous and focused when drunk. When sober, he's a bit of a paranoid wreck [[spoiler:due to battle-related trauma incurred when he was still a soldier defending Roca]].
33	* FantasyKitchenSink: Justified. Culdcept is the book in which Culdra inscribes the knowledge of the past, present and the future. In the War of The Gods, it was shattered by Culdra to stop Baltheas... taking with it ''the inscribed knowledge Culdra meant for the future''. Pieces of Culdcept fell down to earth and becomes the cards, and they get experimented upon by alchemists, who in turn reverse-engineered the knowledge of the future to be built in more mundane means.
34	* FightLikeACardPlayer: Averted. Cepters ''do'' fight with cards, but the majority of people (including some Cepters) fight just as capably with more mundane means.
35	%%* Five Man Band: In the Bistym Forest arc, Najaran is part of such a group.
36	%%** TheHero: Najaran with her naive optimism.
37	%%** TheLancer: Alta with her realistic views.
38	%%** TheSmartGuy: InsufferableGenius Hoakin.
39	%%** TheBigGuy: DrunkenMaster Gantz.
40	%%** [[TagalongKid Tagalong Staff]]: Goligan.
41	%%** TheSixthRanger: Kigi, who lent her support indirectly from afar.
42	* TheFourGods: One set each, both on the evil side and good. They both are the personifications of classical Western elements.
43	* FriendToAllLivingThings: The Woodfolk are small walking tree-stumps which role in Bistym Forest is tenders of the forest.
44	* GreatOffscreenWar: The War of The Gods, in which Baltheas is the BigBad and opposed by BigGood Culdra.
45	* HenpeckedHusband: Captain Cook, a minor character with a pirate-and-sea-themed Book.
46	* HeroicSacrifice: Kigi near the end of the Bistym forest story arc.
47	* InconsistentSpelling: Talle/Tare is the biggest ambiguity, although in the Indonesian translation you can quickly spot which names are mistranslated.
48	* InsufferableGenius: Hoakin. He did learn to be more humble by the end of his time with Alta, Najaran, and Gantz.
49	* {{Jerkass}}: Chimino, Najaran's first adversary. He got better quite fast.
50	* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Hoakin. He knows many things, but those knowledge came from books and thus lacked practical use. ''Mostly''.
51	* [[LastOfHisKind The Last of Their Kind]]: Later on, we find out that[[spoiler: Endaness is the last of the Water King Dagons.]]
52	%%** Kigi and the elven elder.
53	* LivingWeapon:
54	** There are a trio of it in Glubell's mansion.
55	** TheFourGods in this story are essentially living weapons themselves.
56	* MasterOfUnlocking: Alta, who can open a prison padlock in 2,6 seconds.
57	%%* TheMole:[[spoiler: Goligan]].
58	* {{Mook}}:
59	** Many (character-wise or creature-wise), although the prime example is Najaran's Eidolons.
60	** [[spoiler: The Four Elemental Kings turn out to be mere EliteMooks.]]
61	* MundaneUtility: Najaran is not averse in using a creature summoned from cards to do housework. The Eidolons, Najaran noted, makes a good sponge for washing dishes.
62	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: TheFourGods from the evil side, in general. They are named Dagon (water), Dark Master (earth/ground), Flame Lord (fire), and Beelzebub (wind).
63	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In the Bistym Forest arc, Zeneth[[spoiler: destroyed Old Willow with his tank, thus letting loose King of Ground Dark Master.]]
64	* NoEnding: the manga stops at the point when [[spoiler:the baddies obtain Endaness (returned into card form) and Flame Lord (by cutting off Zeneth's arm)]]. It's presumably never finished.
65	* OhCrap: Glubell's scrying on the Migoals' headquarters, revealing that[[spoiler: there are more than one Wind and Earth King. Meaning, those hard-as-nails-to-beat monsters are merely EliteMooks]].
66	* OldMaster: Horrowitz[[spoiler: and Salvathor both]] are quite old when they start tutoring Najaran[[spoiler: and Zeneth, respectively]].
67	* TheOmniscient: Glubell is borderline this. She can 'read' the destiny (past, present, future) of an object or creature. Naturally, she can't read Najaran (and possibly Goligan, too).
68	* OurElvesAreDifferent:
69	** Kigi's ilk. For one, they can turn into Dark Elves if the forest of Bistym gets tainted by human greed or otherwisely compromised; they get stronger, but they can't control their power.
70	** A bit of a subversion too, because ''not everyone'' who had a pointy ear is an elf in this story.
71	* OurDragonsAreDifferent: the Elder Dragons are decidedly western.
72	* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: Chimino's goblins are notably larger and stouter, about what the average fantasy nut would expect from an orc.
73	* ParentalAbandonment: [[DisappearedDad Najaran's father]] had a lot of debts and presumably left her with Horrowitz (he still showed up in flashbacks), and her mother is never shown.
74	* RedBaron: "Southern Tiger" Ouen. Many of the cepters in Cepters' Guild has nicknames too.
75	* SealedEvilInACan: The reason that[[spoiler: all the gargoyle statues in the lost city of Bistym is facing ''inward''. King of Ground Dark Master is sealed there by Old Willow, which is [[PoweredByAForsakenChild powered by the elvenkind's constant sacrifice]]]].
76	* {{Shoutout}}:
77	** To the Franchise/CthulhuMythos -- One of TheFourGods on the evil side is named ''Dagon, King of Water'', and the tribe that worshipped the four of them is called the ''Migoal'' tribe.
78	** One of the minor characters is named [[UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla Tesla]], and is [[InsufferableGenius Hoakin's]] main competitor in grades at school.
79	* SuddenlySober: Gantz, after Hoakin made him an alcoholic drink that ''tastes like disinfectant''.
80	* SpiritedCompetitor: Dragon-eye Zeneth to Najaran.
81	* SummonMagic: The most common application of the cards is to summon powerful creatures who will fight for you.
82	* TakenForGranite: The statues outside Glubell's mansion. One gets LiterallyShatteredLives, even.
83	* {{Tsundere}}: Tesla, a minor character. Kigi also shows shades of this.
84	* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters:
85	** This is what Goligan said would happen to summoned monsters if a Cepter cast spells exceeding his/her power capacity.
86	** [[spoiler: Endaness, in a sense. All of the other Dagons had died out due to infighting, and she is the only one left. She had also mellowed out from her kin's evil and destructive tendencies, although arguably still within ChaoticNeutral territory.]]
87	* TurtleIsland: The Cepter's Guild stands on this.[[spoiler: It's actually on the back of Endaness's massive true body. Justified that Endaness never dove since the inception of the island; not that she can't.]]
88	* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Glubell, Horrowitz, and Salvathor (Zeneth's teacher) were once allied. Cepter alliances like that are exceedingly rare; it is said that eventually greed will broke alliances between Cepters.
89	* VancianMagic:
90	** Arguably, the cards. Cepters arrange them into Books (in-universe terminology for a deck) about the same way you would expect a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' wizard would prepare their spells for the day.
91	** Subverted in that Cepters still need to power the cards with [[ManaPoints their own powers]], although the cards do form 'packets' of magic and is mostly stackable.
92	%%** Alta's RevolversAreJustBetter, although any gun could do.
93	* WeaponBasedCharacterization
94	** Najaran [[WaifFu can fight well enough]] [[HeroesPreferSwords with a longsword]] or a warhammer, but she prefers to FightLikeACardPlayer; So do Zeneth. Most of the other Cepters do only the latter.
95	** Hoakin causes StuffBlowingUp, although of course [[ElementsDoNotWorkThatWay chemistry is not always like that]].
96	** True to her elven heritage, Kigi's the archer, although [[NoArcInArchery her arrows can nail something behind a grove of trees]]. Of course, she FightLikeACardPlayer too.
97	* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The end of the Bistym Forest arc is a bit like this. Of course, Najaran goes on with her journey and the manga itself hasn't concluded yet by that point.
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Context Manga / Culdcept