Line #83 Manga/ThoseWhoHuntElves


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/those_who_hunts_elves_6612.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Left to right: Celcia's old-self, Celcia's current-self, Airi, Junpei, and Ritsuko. ([[SapientTank Mihke]] is missing)]]
3
4	->''"Ready, set... strip!"''
5	-->-- American cover for the first DVD
6
7	It's a show about [[OddFriendship three random people]] who strip elves naked. It's not a [[{{Hentai}} porno]], honestly.
8
9	The three characters in question are Junpei (a [[IdiotHero thick-headed martial artist]]), Ritsuko (a {{tomboy}} and [[GunNut gun enthusiast]]) and Airi ([[ThePowerOfActing an award-winning actress]]). They've been accidentally teleported from Japan to a HighFantasy [[AlternateUniverse parallel world]], and when the spell to send them back home is interrupted, the magic goes berserk and manifests itself as five arcane sigils tattooed onto five elves across the land.
10
11	Of course, there is no way of knowing ''which'' elves have the sigils. So with no lack of misplaced determination and the help of an elven sorceress called Celcia (who is technically responsible for the mess in the first place), the trio vow to hunt down every female elf they can and [[ShamefulStrip strip them bare]] to inspect their bodies [[GottaCatchEmAll and retrieve all five fragments]]. HilarityEnsues.
12
13	That's basically it. It's a comedy, and it also includes a [[TankGoodness tank animated by the ghost of a cat]]. There's not as much senseless {{Fanservice}} as the synopsis implies, as the story focuses more on CharacterDevelopment, RuleOfFunny and the sheer ridiculousness of their situation.
14
15	''Those Who Hunt Elves'' began as a manga by Yu Yagami, which originally ran in ''Dengeki Comic Gao!'' from 1994 to 2003. An anime adaptation aired in 1996 for twelve episodes, followed by a second season in 1997. The original manga was followed by a short sequel in 2007, ''Those Who Hunt Elves Returns'', and another sequel manga titled ''Those Who Hunt Elves 2'' which was serialized in ''Comic Meteor'' from 2013 to 2018.
16	----
17	!!This series has examples of:
18
19	* AdaptationalSpeciesChange: Bruno is a human girl in the manga, but was an elf in the anime.
20	* AnachronismStew: Justified in that [[spoiler:Celcia's spell summons objects from our world to hers]] (so having a tank makes perfect sense [[RuleOfCool and is awesome]]), but also played straight in the pop culture references and the many religious profanities used. And Elf Mc Burger. ''You cannot escape Mc Donalds.'' (This eventually becomes a plot point, by the way.)
21	* AntiHeroTeam: The Elf Hunters, especially Junpei. In some episodes, this could be almost considered as a VillainProtagonist series, due the group tendecy to violently strip many terrified elves.
22	* ArtEvolution: Yu Yagami's artwork is [[https://comic-meteor.jp/meteor_blog/files/2014/06/web2mihiraki-mihon-.jpg pretty loose]] and [[https://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20160930/20/pluckcurry/2b/41/j/o0480033913761386800.jpg?caw=800 sketchy]] nowadays compared to the [[https://ta1.taadd.com/files/img/logo/201505/201505120056005692.jpg earlier chapters of the manga]]
23	* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Creative use of an enlargement potion in an absence of MagicPants makes for instant nudity. It also makes for an angry giantess who punches out a dragon that is threatening her town.
24	* BadassCrew: For better or for worse, Junpei, Airi, and Ritsuko [[spoiler:and later Celcia]] are a team. Junpei can kick people across a town, [[ATwinkleInTheSky literally]], Ritsuko has a [[MegaNeko Neko]] [[TankGoodness Tank]] and an arsenal of military-grade weapons and equipment, and Airi is a master strategist.
25	* BadassLongcoat: Judge.
26	* BadassNormal: Junpei, Airi, and Ritsuko all qualify, since many of their opponents are supernatural or magical in nature.
27	* BarbieDollAnatomy: Present in the anime, averted in the manga.
28	* BareFistedMonk: Junpei.
29	* TheBigGuy: Junpei, played completely straight.
30	* BlackComedyRape: Only ''just'' averted, invoked as well.
31	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Sometimes it happens during episodes. A good example is the first 5 minutes in episode 8:
32	** This:
33	--->'''Junpei:''' Wait a minute. Something's not right. It's only been thirty seconds since the episode title and we've already found an elf.
34	** Later during the explanation:
35	--->'''Junpei:''' Weren't you afraid of ghosts in the last episode?
36	--->'''Ritsuko:''' Then was then. Now is now.
37	--->'''Junpei:''' Boy, I hate fantasy stories!
38	** Junpei's catch phrase:
39	--->'''Junpei:''' "This is why I hate fantasy stories!"
40	** Episode 9:
41	--->'''Junpei:''' Man this series sure uses a lot of screwball comedies.
42	--->'''Celicia:''' Fantasy series Junpei, fantasy series.
43	* ButtMonkey: If there is anyone who has earned this title for the sheer amount of [[EpicFail Epic Fails]] alone, it is Celcia, who is considered to be, ironically, the best magician in the land. In the manga she even gets stuck as a literal monkey for a time.
44	* ButNowIMustGo: [[spoiler:Ultimately the fate of the Elf Hunters sans Celcia at the end of the sequel manga]]
45	* CanonImmigrant: The elf Annette who showed up in the anime first and was later added to the manga.
46	* CanNotSpitItOut: Seriously, people. "Hey, my friends and I are looking for the fragments of a very powerful and important spell that has imprinted on five random elf women. You don't happen to have any odd marks that popped up recently, do you?" IS THAT REALLY SO HARD?!
47	** They've tried. It didn't work. Elves can be such snobs.
48	* CatchPhrase: At least in the dub, Junpei says, "This is why I hate fantasy stories!"
49	** In the original manga, and it's "Freaking fantasy world!".
50	** "Forgive me for stripping you!"
51	* CensorSteam: Even during the initial fantastic tearing of clothes, the camera rarely catches inappropriate elf bits. Averted in the manga were they do show nipples.
52	* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Junpei has incredible strength and speed from all his training and, as he put is, a natural talent for fighting.
53	* ChickMagnet: Several of the elves end up falling for Junpei, they even willingly strip because of it. Celica and Ritsuko also have a clear crush on him. In the manga the Elf Rebecca even stole all the fragments they had gathered because she didn't want Junpei to be sent home.
54	* ClingyCostume: Millia from episode 10 ended up with an indestructible armor she cannot remove after trying to save her village from a giant. This ended up ruining her life, seeing how the armor comes with a pair of [[AbsurdlySharpBlade absurdly sharp blades]] she can't even stop wielding, making her unable to raise her hands without almost killing people. She got so desperate about it, she actually approached the protagonists and ''begged'' them to strip her naked. [[spoiler:By the end of the episode, they do succeed in removing the armor, much to her delight, but she ends up putting it back on when she realizes wearing a NighInvulnerable armor and wielding two [[CoolSword Cool Swords]] [[CursedWithAwesome is kind of awesome]].]]
55	* CoolTank: The Mitsubishi Type 74 tank, practically a character in its own right. [[spoiler:Later on, it actually ''does'' become a character, when the cat spirit Mike (mee-kay) possesses it.]]
56	* CriticalFailure: Celcia, a ''lot''. She screws up the spell to send the trio home [[spoiler:not once, but twice]]. [[spoiler:Not only that, but she's the one who cast the spell that summoned Junpei, Ritsuko, and Airi to her world in the first place!]] Especially true in the manga where she loses the fragments they've collected multiple times whenever they get all five or are close to getting all five. Despite exemplifying this trope for the sake of the plot, she's reasonably competent when the stakes aren't returning the heroes home.
57	* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Be very afraid when Junpei finally stops fooling around and fights seriously. Same will Celcia when she reminds you that she's not just a ButtMonkey and really is one of the most powerful magic users in the Elf world.
58	* CurbStompBattle: The fighting in this series pitch the residents of a typical high fantasy setting (normally wielding swords) against a second generation main battle tank. It goes about as well as you expect.
59	* {{Cult}}: At one stage, Airi founds a religious organisation who pray stark naked. Unsurprisingly this is mostly marketed at elves.
60	* CurseCutShort: In the first episode, one of the shark creatures lets out a 'What the fu-' in the English dub before being attacked.
61	* DarkerAndEdgier: The manga Mold arc, with a villain that actually managed to conquer the world and killed ''8 million people'' upon her introduction alone. Compare this to the usual story arcs where pretty much nobody dies.
62	* DespairEventHorizon: Ritsuko slips into this briefly during the Mold arc after [[spoiler:she realized she gave away the titular Mold, which allows the villain to burn her pretty much at will.]]
63	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: A dragon makes the mistake of perving over a stripped elf.
64	** Played very straight in the Christmas episode. Junpei kicks Satan up a chimney when he offers the group [[DealWithTheDevil a deal]].
65	* DismantledMacGuffin: Our heroes have to search for a series of tattoos that were originally on Celcia's body, and thanks to a failed spell, now scattered all around the land.
66	* DisproportionateRetribution: While it's understandable that the elves would be upset about our protagonists stripping them in public, some take it too far and try to kill our heroes in revenge or just to prevent them from stripping them.
67	* DirtyOldMan: Celcia's advisors are perhaps a little too eager to help the Elf Hunters in their quest to return home. And Millia's grandfather having a potion that makes elves take off their clothes?
68	* DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength: [[spoiler:Millia, from episode 10.]]
69	* {{Dracolich}}: There is one Dracolich in episode 3.
70	* EvilCounterpart: Bartz, Kilica, and Teesen in the manga who serves Dawn Baxton. Their roles are similar to Junpei, Ritsuko, and Airi respectively, i.e. Bartz is a BareFistedMonk, Teesen is a ShapeShifter, and Kilica...well, hers is actually slightly different as she's actually a puppet master who specializes with PeoplePuppets and StatusEffects instead of being a FriendlySniper. Oh, she also used a PortalBook to capture people. Add to that that they're ''also'' hunting elves to use as magical batteries.
71	* {{Fanservice}}: Comparatively little, considering the plot.
72	** So little in fact that the English dub got away with slapping it with a PG rating because of the violence. Even though the plot involves ''people stripping Elves down to their birthday suits''!
73	* FriendlySniper: Ritsuko.
74	* GagDub: The English dub for episodes 5-13 certainly falls into this territory, seeing as it was written/directed by Steven Foster. They were filled with excessive profanity, now-dated American pop culture references (such as to Music/BritneySpears and Music/CelineDion), and in many cases seems to be making fun of the characters and the show itself. All other episodes have more faithful scripts (though by no means any less comedic).
75	* GuileHero: In addition to being a MasterOfDisguise, Airi is skilled at reading people and controlling them. She can often do more with a few words than the others can do with magic, bullets or fists.
76	* GunsAkimbo: Ritsuko. She is a military otaku.
77	* IdenticalStranger: Kilica from the manga is pretty much Ritsuko with elf ears and a different hair color. Bartz and Teesen are also similar to Junpei and Airi respectively, but they at least have different hairstyles than their counterparts.
78	* IdiotHero: Junpei. Though how dumb varies between the manga and anime. For example in the manga he finds the portal to the mermaid temple by himself, while in the anime he needed Airi's help. Similarly in the manga Junpei explains Heliocentrism to Celcia on his own, while he asks Airi to give the explanation in the anime.
79	* IGaveMyWord: Junpei takes his fighter's honour very seriously. It actually wins over some of the elves they meet in their journey.
80	* InnocentPlantChildren: Mandrakes from are tiny green elves with a rose-like flower and two leaves growing out of their heads. They sleep buried to the base of the flower in dirt and scream like children when disturbed.
81	* InspectorJavert: Judge. While he's in the right about Those Who Hunt Elves being criminals and a serious nuisance, he's very much an authoritarian JerkAss. Even on the second season, when the team gets a special dispensation that allows them to do their "job" freely, he continues to insist that he wants them in jail and keeps seeking methods to make them lose the dispensation so he can do it (his favorite being stringing them along with a series of ImpossibleMission bets with their freedom on the line--the team accepts because otherwise they would not be able to have access to the elves on those places, period). [[spoiler:And when the team finally loses the dispensation, Judge orders their capture as gleefully as he can in his immense haughtiness.]]
82	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Junpei.
83	* {{Leitmotif}}: The [[CoolTank tank]] is represented by an electric guitar riff.
84	* LightningBruiser: Junpei.
85	* MagicMisfire: Celcia disguises herself as a doglike creature to try to help them find the spell fragments without being recognized. However, when they find the first fragment and she transfers it to herself, it causes [[spoiler:ShapeshifterModeLock until they have all the fragments. Her increasingly ridiculous appearance as the spell fragments transfer to her become a RunningGag.]]
86	* MasterOfDisguise: Airi, justified in that she is an [[MasterActor award-winning actress]].
87	* MegaNeko: [[spoiler:Once the tank is inhabited by a cat spirit.]]
88	* MirrorMatch: Used by Judge to weaken the heroes to arrest them.
89	* NakedFreakout: Often the reaction to the elf of the week.
90	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: It's a comedy about stripping people, enough said.
91	* NotSoAboveItAll: Airi doesn't voice her frustrations over not being able to return to Japan as often as Junpei and Ritsuko, but she does complain internally. Like in episode nine of the anime where she has an inner monologue complaining about having to work a retail job selling dresses and the fact that in the elf world she's a nobody with no money.
92	* NotSoDifferentRemark: Airi and Ritsuko have mentioned more than once how Junpei and Celcia are more a alike than they care to admit.
93	* TheNudifier: The potion which will make any elf naked.
94	* TheOneGuy: Junpei.
95	* InhumanlyBeautifulRace: All elves ''look good'', but otherwise their society seems to have integrated well into that of human's, and several are villains.
96	* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: For one, they can remove their tails and walk around looking like elves in bikinis. Averted in the manga where their tails weren't removable.
97	* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: In the Elf world you become a werebeast by drinking water from an animal's footprint. Celcia became a werepanda after accidentally drinking water from a Panda's footprint. In the manga because she slipped into the footprint and in the anime because Annette accidentally pushed her into it.
98	* PaperFanOfDoom: the women in the main cast, usually directed at Junpei (or any male too obsessed with the Elf Hunters quest), although Junpei himself uses it to prevent an uncomfortable old man homoerotic moment.
99	* PervertRevengeMode: Junpei in the second season gets subjected to ''two'' of these moments in rapid succession after busting into two rooms with undressed girls in them to try to take care of a PottyEmergency.
100	* PimpedOutDress: The DancesAndBalls episode.
101	* PlayboyBunny: Junpei accidentally bursts into a room where girls are dressing into them while trying to take care of a PottyEmergency, leading to PervertRevengeMode.
102	* PottyEmergency: Junpei, Season 2 Episode 2, complete with a graph and flashing alarm showing his current state. His dilemma leads to some [[{{Squick}} uncomfortable images.]] Ends with [[spoiler:the discovery of a teddy bear that can excrete toilet paper, in perfect rolls, complete with cardboard tube. Yeah.]]
103	* ThePowerOfActing: Airi uses this as her main weapon.
104	* PrettyInMink: A few outfits. Most of them worn by elves. You can guess what happens to them.
105	* RememberTheNewGuy: How Annette's introduction into the manga was handled. With the main cast acting like they've always known her and that she always was one of Celcia's advisers like in the anime, even though in the manga it was originally just the two old elves.
106	* RightBehindMe: Dawn broadcasts a giant hologram of herself holding up a wanted poster of Junpei, telling everyone on the planet to watch for him, [[EnemyRisingBehind entirely unaware of Junpei's looming silhouette]] just behind her. Since she can sense the native's emotions, she briefly wonders why 2 billion people are mocking her at once before Junpei's foot lands.
107	* SexySantaDress: All the girls who act as Santa for temp jobs.
108	* SapientTank: The type 74 "Mike" after being possessed by a cat.
109	* SaveBothWorlds: Brought up explicitly near the end of the first season is the idea that both Earth and the magical world to which the cast has been sent are fundamentally connected and in danger of some sort of magical cataclysm if the cast are not sent back to Earth. Then averted, or maybe just forgotten by the writers, because it's never mentioned again. This plot was never used in the manga.
110	* SchizoTech: There isn't really much of a difference from the real world other than that everything runs on magic instead of technology. Yet for some reason police and guards still use swords when there should logically be some kind of magical firearms technology.
111	* ShamefulStrip: Multiple examples. Lots of examples. It's the RunningGag that is central to the TitleDrop and the whole damn plot. It was a subverted a few times where the target willingly strips herself.
112	* ShapeshifterModeLock: Happens to Celcia. More details below, under Voluntary Shapeshifting.
113	* ShipTease: As mentioned somewhere in this page, Celcia and Junpei, and also Ritsuko and Junpei. The latter seemingly even gets jealous when something happened between Junpei and other girls, [[spoiler:especially the time he (accidentally) kissed another girl]].
114	* ShoutOut: "Those damn dirty humans!"
115	** The whole point of the series is to poke fun at pop cultures and conventional fantasy tropes.
116	** In Episode 1 Airi disguised as an Elf, gives a Cutey Honey Speech and even coins the phrase Lovely Warrior.
117	** A certain [[Literature/{{Discworld}} landmass]] supported on the back of four elephants and a turtle appears often.
118	* SiblingYinYang: [[spoiler:Junpei is the polar opposite of his younger sister Mai Shintani in the sequel manga]]
119	* SixthRanger: In the sequel manga the team has a new member, Mai Shintani [[spoiler:who is Junpei's younger sister]].
120	* SlapSlapKiss: [[spoiler:Junpei and Celcia, believe it or not. Junpei sure doesn't. As in, he's completely oblivious even when Celcia confesses to him. Though Junpei does admit to finding Celecia's true form attractive.]]
121	* [[TheSmartGuy The Smart Girl]]: Airi, lacking muscles, magic, and guns, relies solely on her brain and her acting skills to support the group.
122	* SpannerInTheWorks: The elf hunters become this when an evil sorceress holds the entire world hostage as her magic, which can burn anyone at whim, does not work on those from the outside world.
123	* SpiritualSuccessor: ''ThoseWhoHuntTheButterfly'', aka ''AgehaOOuMonotachi'', which is basically Junpei as an ex-prison guard trying to hunt down Airi while she hides in plain sight ([[AC:InSpace]]...), by simply stripping everyone naked(Women and men) he can and checking for a tattoo. Unlike ''Elves'', though, Junpei tends to end up arrested/beat up/etc for his trouble.
124	* StableTimeLoop: [[spoiler:It turns out that the BigBad whom Celcia casts a protagonists-summoning spell to defeat is amnesiac Celcia from the future.]]
125	* SummonEverymanHero: The back-plot of the story: to defeat the BigBad, Celcia casts a spell which summons the protagonists. Less than a minute later, the BigBad is [[spoiler:only mostly]] dead, thanks to Ritsuko blasting it with the armored tank that the spell also brought along.
126	* TankGoodness: The friendly cat-possessed tank is certainly helpful.
127	* TeamPet: Celcia, for most of the series. Though what type of pet changes over the course of series.
128	* ThisIsMyBoomstick: As this world does not have any equivalent to firearms and tanks, the average citizen or villain tends to assume that these weapons are magical.
129	* TitleDrop: The title being the name that the magical society has given the group, and considering the fact that they are TheDreaded and treated like high-class criminals, it's dropped ''a lot''.
130	* UnscaledMerfolk: One episode involves some elven mermaids who showcase in the epilogue that they can get rid of their tails as easily as taking off a skirt (they still wear bikini bottoms, by the way). The whole group does this at the same time to show Those Who Hunt Elves if they have any magic marks. Averted in the manga were they couldn't do this and they just took off their tops.
131	* VitriolicBestBuds: Celcia has this type of relationship with her old Academy Rival the elf Rebecca in the manga and Junpei in both Anime and Manga. Junpei and Rebecca actually hit off because they both care for Celcia and think she's an idiot.
132	* VoluntaryShapeshifting: [[spoiler:Celcia can transform into whatever she wants with her ring. However, played with in that she always ends up transforming into animals (hence she is considered TeamPet) and cannot transform back once she absorbs any one of the spell fragments. She can only change back once she gains all fragments or lose them all. The fact that the spell fragments, which manifest visibly in her body as she gains them, make her [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/072.jpg look ridiculous]] does not help. For those who don't understand the image, the dark lines on the big bird are the spell fragments that manifest on Celcia's body. And that big bird is only ''one'' of the forms that she ends up not so willingly taking throughout the whole comic.]]
133	* WrongGenreSavvy: In one chapter of the manga, Junpei states that "you can't go by in a fantasy world without knowing a spell or two", and thus sets out to train in the arcane arts in his very own way. HilarityEnsues.
134	* YankTheDogsChain: Celcia has been able to return to her original form and can even stay in it for a few chapters, but she'll inevitably get stuck as some sort of creature again.
135

Context Manga / ThoseWhoHuntElves