Line #56 Manga/Upotte


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/upotte_poster.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:250:Quite interesting title layout.]]
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4	A SliceOfLife show following the lives of Funco and her friends Eru, Ichiroku, and Shigu. At Seishou Academy, the four girls aim to do their best and shoot for their goals. [[LiteralMetaphor Literally]]. With live ammo.
5
6	...Yeah. The students at Seishou Academy are all {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of various military firearms, and the show features {{slice of life}} antics alongside [[ShownTheirWork information about the weapons depicted]].
7
8	The franchise consists of the manga (the regular series and the ''Upotte Nano'' spin-off) with an [=ONA=] (Original Net Adaptation) and OVA so far. Received a simulcast on Crunchyroll. The animated series is licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks and released on Blu-Ray and DVD on March 18th, 2014. [[http://www.theanimenetwork.com/Watch-Anime/Upotte The Anime Network]] is streaming the English dub.
9
10	----
11	!!This series has these tropes in bullet point:
12
13	* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The empty 5.56 NATO bullet casings fired from Ichiroku's [=M16A4=] during the shootout with Ichiyon.
14	* AdaptationDistillation: The anime has scenes from the mangas ''Upotte!!'' and ''Upotte!! Nano''.
15	* AdaptationExpansion:
16	** The anime shows a battle between Ichiroku against Aug and T91 during the jungle wargame arc.
17	** An episode shows everyone in Seisho Academy preparing for their annual [[SchoolFestival school fair]].
18	* AmusingInjuries:
19	** After Eru gets hit in the head by Genkoku, she has a large lump on her head. Several scenes later it's still there while Ichiroku's bump has long since faded. It then drastically shrinks after she sits out in the sun for a while.
20	** Pretty much anytime Genkoku gets hurt, helped by the fact that he usually brings it on himself. [[spoiler: Until episodes 9 and 10 anyway.]]
21	** [[spoiler:Episode 10 reveals that the old maxim "Guns don't kill people; people kill people" is ''literally'' true in this world.]]
22	* AnimeAccentAbsence: Subverted by Thompson-sensei, who speaks with an American accent, but otherwise played straight by everyone else.
23	* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Most of the characters in the school are guns. [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep "Sensei"]] is the one exception. ''Nano'' implies that this might also apply to tanks, as a few of the characters see a spirit of a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_10 Type 10]] tank when visiting a museum, and G3 wonders if [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_2 Leopard 2]] is doing fine.
24	* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Proper firearms safety is stressed, and all characters keep their fingers outside the trigger guard when not shooting.
25	** In the live-fire exercise in "Go for it! Pass it!" (also in the manga), the girls were shooting at balloons above each others' heads. Had they been human, this would have been ridiculously dangerous.
26	** Common safety rules are posted in the hallways at regular intervals. The obedience level... is about what you'd expect from middle school students.
27	* ATeamFiring: Happens a lot, particularly in the last episode. Made more blatant by the fact that sometimes the girls are firing at extremely close ranges at targets that aren't using cover.
28	* BatDeduction: Sixteen realizes that a group of people are targeting her because Eighteen was shot only once while Eighteen's two comrades were shot three times. Eighteen was shot two fewer times; eighteen minus two is Sixteen. That's one obscure way of showing someone you're targeting her.
29	* BeachEpisode: Episode 9. Plenty of FanService as well.
30	* BlandNameProduct: A little boy shoots a [[UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS 3BS]] in episode 1.
31	** And a [=RuMIX=] camera is used in the OVA, a clear reference to the Panasonic Lumix camera. Bonus points for sounding like the [[JapaneseRanguage mispronunciation]] of Lumix.
32	* BlastingItOutOfTheirHands: In Episode 10, Saiga manages to blast Ichiroku's magazine, and immediately after has the bottom of her own magazine shot out by Sig. A hasty retreat and a quick reload later, both are back in the fight.
33	* BloodKnight[=/=]TriggerHappy: While several of the high school girls seem to display this trope, the middle school girls can sometimes seem a bit too eager for combat, particularly Sako.
34	* BloodlessCarnage: When the girls get hit by bullets, they don't bleed. Justified because they are guns, not humans. The trope is zig-zagged with Genkoku. [[spoiler: After he gets hit in episode 10, a puddle of blood appears next to him. When FNC comments that humans can't be killed by the girls' bullets, the blood disappears. There is no blood when he gets hit again shortly afterwards.]].
35	* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler: Sako does one as a cheap shot to Sig at the finals of the Jungle warfare tournament. Of course being a gun, all it does is knock Sig over on her face for a moment, mess up her hair and get her '''really''' pissed off.]]
36	** Chapter 24 has [[spoiler:G3-senpai getting a couple of these from over a kilometer away, giving FNC and Genkoku some much needed covering fire.]]
37	* BottomlessMagazines: While the girls are shown switching magazines from time to time, they almost always fire way more rounds than a magazine should be able to hold. Unsurprisingly, they either run out, have their gun jam during plot-crucial points, or in Saiga's case, have their magazine destroyed by someone else's shot.
38	* BreakingTheFourthWall: In Chapter 52, G3 is seen looking ''and pointing'' at a manga panel showing a [[spoiler: "Yankee" Ichiyon.]]
39	* BreakThemByTalking: The climax of the Atami Shootout in the manga has the Soviet Major try this, first on FNC, then on Sensei/Genkoku when he tries to defend her. Since the Major doesn't appear in the anime version of the same events, AK-74 gives it instead.
40	* BreatherEpisode: Episode 7, which spends time with the girls during the Christmas/New Year holiday.
41	* BrickJoke: During the start of Chapter 44, Sig throws away a box of chocolates outside Fara's dorm room. During the end of Chapter 44, Fara is seen eating that box of chocolates.
42	* BulletproofVest: Seen in the competition, worn by all currently in combat. Shown accurately in that a hit will knock you over like a bowling pin. The students get up just finished afterwards.
43	** Exploited by Sako. She subjects Funco to torture via firing repeatedly into the vest while FMC is on the ground, and lets blunt force trauma hammer her to the point where some of her parts break.
44	* CensorSteam: Quite a bit of it during episode 9 while the girls are in the bathhouse.
45	* ChekhovsSkill: G3's full auto sniping technique, [[spoiler: which Sig later uses against Sako. L also uses it to keep her magazine in place in episode 10]].
46	* CloseCallHairCut:
47	** Sig gets one from Sako, and later returns the favor. Ichiroku/M16 does it as well towards Sako.
48	** FNC gets one as well in episode 9, although it doesn't impact her hair the way it does Sig's.
49	* ColorFailure: Happens to Sensei when he realizes the lady talking to him in episode 9 is Fujiko-sensei without her eyepatch and with her hair down.
50	* CosplayCafe: The girls run a maid one in episode 8's SchoolFestival episode.
51	* DefeatMeansFriendship: Galil is seen with Ichihachi a lot after their match in episode 5.
52	* DisproportionateRetribution: "Sensei" gets shot at by Funco when he talks about her thong/skeleton stock in the first episode.
53	** It should be noted that the first time he ''called'' her "girl with the thong".
54	*** MP had the same thing happen to her, except she asked [=TMP=] if she had her underwear on.
55	* EnemyMine: Sako joins the other western guns in the fight against the [=AKs=] despite being their antagonist in the previous arc in Atami and in Hakone. Galil also helps out the Seisho girls too in the Hakone arc.
56	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Funco realizes she doesn't know the name of the Japanese teacher, and her classmates assume it is just "Japanese Teacher".
57	* FantasticArousal: In Episode 1, Funco gets this way at the thought of being in the hands of a skilled marksman.
58	* FeudingFamilies: Being guns from different countries, there are some who have bad histories with each other.
59	** One example is the American guns (M16 and M14) with the [=AKs=] (in this case, the Galil and [=Rk95=] as their internals are based on the [=AK=] rifles) ever since UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. [[spoiler:16 faces the [=AK=] faction from Red Steel High later on, which fuels her rivalry with them.]]
60	** In the manga, there's also the rivalry between the Uzi sisters and [=MP5=] sisters on the best SMG. This has some historical truth to it as a lot of security forces worldwide, including America and Germany, were armed with the Uzi during the Cold War until the [=MP5=] took over as the world's main submachine gun.
61	** And in one omake, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler_%26_Koch_MP7 MP7-tan]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FN_P90 P90-tan]] face off, reflecting the competition between both PDW types.
62	* {{Foreshadowing}}: In episode one, L is laid up in the school infirmary with what the school nurse diagnoses as a bent firing pin. Then, in Episode 3, mention is made of L's various woes when shooting. This culminates in Episode 4, when she breaks her firing pin.
63	* FourGirlEnsemble: FNC, 16, L, and Sig.
64	* GirlsWithGuns: The girls ''are'' the guns.
65	* GoingCommando:
66	** Funco wonders if Ichihachi does not wear any underwear.
67	** MP asks [=TMP=] about this, which she met with [[DisproportionateRetribution some response.]]
68	* GoodGunsBadGuns: Seishou Academy students are from Western ([[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks M16A4]], [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships L85A1]], [[UsefulNotes/BelgiansWithBrigades FN firearms]], [[UsefulNotes/SwissWithArmyKnives SIG SG550]], [[UsefulNotes/WeAreNotTheWehrmacht H&K firearms]], etc) nations or Western-aligned ([[UsefulNotes/TheOtherChineseArmy T91]], [[UsefulNotes/KaijuDefenseForce Type 64]], [[UsefulNotes/SingaporeansWithStealthFrigates SAR-21, SR-88]]) nations, while Akaganekou students are Russian and Warsaw Pact weapons ([[UsefulNotes/RedsWithRockets AK-47, AK-74, SVD, RPK, PKM]], [[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets PP-19 Bizon, AN-94, Saiga 12K]], [[UsefulNotes/ChineseWithChopperSupport Type 86S]]). Firearms that are from Western-aligned nations, but are based off Warsaw Pact designs, have questionable morality ([[UsefulNotes/IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles IMI Galil]], [[UsefulNotes/FinnsWithFearsomeForests Sako 95]]). An odd side-effect of this is that, because Akaganekou's name is a pun ("AK ga neko", or "AK is a cat"), good guns are wielded by unambiguously-human girls, while bad guns are wielded by CatGirls, and the questionable ones are likewise in the realm of other UnusualEars (Galil having dog ears and Sako elf ears).
69	* GunAccessories: Ichiroku goes to a small arms store to check on getting a red dot sight for the Seisho Academy jungle war games, and ends up with one mounted on top of an ACOG. Later, during preparation for the school fair, she tries to buy an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/PSQ-20 AN/PSQ-20]] night vision sight.
70	* GunPorn: It is a series about gun girls. ([[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Does not mean porn of the gun girls]]. [[{{Fanservice}} Though it comes close.]])
71	* GyaruGirl: This seems to be the main physical archetype of Barrett-produced guns like [=REC7=] and [=M82A1=] as seen in Chapter 101.
72	* HammerSpace: Where the girls can draw their rifles from at any time. Averted for ammo, though.
73	** Thompson sensei uses this in a fight against Aug. Aug kicks Thompson's gun, held in her right hand, which causes it to swing upwards, deflecting her aim. Next instance, said gun disappears from her right hand and Thompson pulls out another in her left hand, followed by BoomHeadshot at point blank.
74	* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: [[spoiler:When Genkoku tries to get the girls and the [=AKs=] to stop fighting, 74 points out that humans are the ones that produce guns in the first place.]]
75	* HumanShield: Ichiroku uses the teacher as one in episode 7 during a snowball fight.
76	* HumiliationConga: The narrator relating the [=L85=]'s troubled history, with L confirming that all her bad press is true. And then to cap it off, "Taps" is played. As in the bugle music at military funerals.
77	** And then if this wasn't enough, she breaks her firing pin in Episode 4, after being repeatedly put down and referred to as a dud.
78	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: The episode titles all consist of two verbs in the -tte (って) ending form.
79	* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: 14 firing her M14 on full auto. According to 16, the spread is about 10 ''meters''.
80	* InfoDump: Done on a regular basis to give background information as to why the girls act a certain way, or the relevance of a current event, such as Ichiroku's rivalry with Sako.
81	* InstantBandages: FNC has some in episode 1 when Genkoku accidentally ricochets some cork bullets on her face at a festival stand.
82	* IWorkAlone: M16/Ichiroku during the tournament in episodes 4-6, due to being teamed up with Eru, who misses the flight to the jungle. Until the finals, she actually manages to hold her own while soloing.
83	* {{Jerkass}}: M16 can be this sometimes, particularly towards Elle during the war game arc.
84	* KarmaHoudini: While [[spoiler: Sako]] loses in the tournament in episode 6, she's never punished for [[spoiler: taking that cheap shot at Sig, nor her excessive abuse towards FNC.]]
85	* [[KnightOfCerebus Knights Of Cerebus]]: SAKO in episode 5 and the [[spoiler: the AK group that attacks the girls during the school trip]] in episode 9; it's even stated in the latter case that if [[spoiler: Ichihachi]] had been struck at a slightly different angle she would have ''died''.
86	* LateArrivalSpoiler: A pair of human siblings in ''Upotte! Sisters'' spoil something crucial about [[spoiler:assault rifle girls' Modern Literature teacher.]]
87	* LockedOutOfTheFight: In Episode 10, Sig gets locked in a walk-in freezer during most of the action.
88	* LoopholeAbuse: In the beginning of the first episode, Funco is watching a young boy and girl at a shooting booth at the festival. The boy knocks down a prize, but the booth attendant claims he has to also knock down the stand in order to win the prize, which he conveniently forgot to mention. Funco then volunteers herself, and shoots both the prize and the stand, but now the attendant claims her shot didn't count because she's a pro attending the nearby school (after taking her money of course). Then the teacher shows up and fires, and although he has a good stance, his shots are terrible and he misses the prize, despite somehow being allowed multiple shots when the other characters were only allowed one. Somewhat justified as the viewers/readers might have seen the boy shoot the last of his multiple shots. Funco, being a pro, shot the prize in her first try so she does not need multiple shots.
89	* LyricalColdOpen: "Himekuri," the anime ending theme.
90	* MadeOfIron: Almost literally: since the girls themselves are guns, they're made of metal, which means that they can take bullet hits better than a flesh and blood human could.
91	** Although some guns are made of plastic/polymer. Apparently they are vulnerable to UV exposure.
92	* MaleGaze: Quite evident in the closing credits. The clips of the battle rifles/high school girls include FAL with very short shorts, no bra and an open jacket that just barely covers her breasts, G3 getting fully clothed but leaning down with a heavy focus on her ass, and most blatant of all, a nude Ichiyon with her private parts covered only by a strategically-placed rifle and boot.
93	* MalevolentMaskedMen: Some girls show up in episode 9 wearing masks, and then they start shooting up the secondary girls later in the episode.
94	* MoodSwinger: AUG switches from a shy assault rifle to an overbearing squad automatic weapon with a change of barrel/hairstyle.
95	* MoreDakka: Ichiyon switches to this in her duel with Ichiroku... and doesn't hit her at all.
96	** Most assault rifles can fire on full auto, but as an [=M16A4=], Ichiroku is limited to 3-round burst because full auto uses ammo too fast.
97	** Battle rifles in general are known for their poor accuracy when fired in full auto, and the M14 is even worse in that regard because its lack of an inline stock exacerbates the high recoil inherent to full-auto fire with full-power ammo. G3 later has to teach her a (very embarrassing) shooting stance that has her basically brace with her entire body to keep the recoil down.
98	* MotorMouth: M10-chan, who proceeds to fire off an entire panel of text in about 10 seconds, causing FNC and Sig to wince in pain...until she runs out of ammo. Being of the Ingram MAC-10 family, she has a massive rate of fire.
99	* NotSoDifferentRemark: After spending 2 episodes putting down L, 16 realises she's not so different after all, when she remembers the M16's troubled performance in Vietnam.
100	* PowerCopying: Sig learns G3's secret technique after observing it in their sniper duel.
101	* PragmaticAdaptation: While the anime keeps the Atami shootout from the manga, it differs in several aspects from the source material. Aside from the fact that the girls are actually fully-equipped with tactical jackets, Galil is taken out early, [[spoiler:making it possible for Sako to step into her role]], and the high schoolers (G3, FAL, and M14) intervene in the fighting as well. The biggest change of course is the appearance of the Soviet Major, who gives out the BreakThemByTalking speech to Sensei and FNC in the manga; in the anime, AK-74 gives the speech instead.
102	* {{Pun}}: There's a reason why all the AK-type weapons of Red Steel High have cat ears: The original full pronunciation of the school from its kanji 紅鋼高 (Akaganekou) contains a pun (AK ga neko, or AK is a cat).
103	* PungeonMaster: 14, [[LamePunReaction much to her sister 16's annoyance]]. Funco does this too in a few instances and this also annoys 16.
104	* SacredFirstKiss: Funco loses hers to Sako at the end of the Jungle Wargames arc. Funco's really upset as she was waiting until she had been registered.
105	* SchoolFestival: Episode 8 has one.
106	* SecretHandshake: Rec ([=REC7=]) and Barret ([=M82A1=]) does one after the latter shot OSV-96 in the face, taking her out.
107	* ShoutOut:
108	** Jatimatic's appearance is based on ''{{Film/Cobra}}''[='=]s Marion Cobretti, the most famous user of the weapon, and [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname everyone calls her "Cobra"]] after the movie as well.
109	** Sig could [[Franchise/LupinIII make a good Goemon]] based on her Iai technique. "Once again, I have shot a worthless object."
110	** When the girls visit Enoshima, FNC notices (and is confused by) a shop selling ''Anime/TariTari'' goods.
111	** M16 mentions [[VideoGame/DeadRising "being surrounded by a pack of zombies, confined in a mall with lots of guns"]] and directly references [[Film/{{Tremors}} the Graboids]].
112	* ShownTheirWork: Mostly the firearms used in the franchise.
113	** [=G3=] & Sig's sniper duel correctly shows basic sniper and counter-sniper tactics.
114	** The show does explain how the British military were eventually armed with the [=L85A2=]. Alongside the problems they encountered such as the frequent jamming, their issued magazines falling from the rifle and parts breaking down (for example, the broken firing pin that puts L-chan in the infirmary was the most common failure reported during the Gulf War) before the [=L85=] was modified to the A1 and A2 standards. Poor L-chan never got the modifications, though.
115	** The evolution of the M16 series with the differences between the various M16 rifles. Also shown with Ichiroku constantly taking baths and cleaning herself excessively, as the M16 tends to jam when not maintained properly.
116	** The hand signals used by the assault rifle teams in the jungle wargame story.
117	** [=T91=] and [=AUG=] demonstrate [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounding_overwatch bounding overwatch]] in their battle against 16.
118	** Aspects of urban warfare were shown during the gunfights between the Seisho students against the [=AK=] faction, including suppressive fire to provide cover and crouching to avoid being an easy target by using the corner.
119	** The description of the Vintorez VSS in Chapter 58, detailing it as not an outright sniper rifle, but a close-quarters marksman rifle firing subsonic ammunition to eliminate any sound signature, and its ability to go automatic.
120	* SignificantAnagram[=/=]SdrawkcabName: Upotte!! (うぽって!!) is the reverse of "Teppou" (てっぽう) which means "gun". Yes, that means this show is called ''Nug!!'' Or ''Snug!!'', since Japanese is not particular about plurals.
121	* SkinshipGrope: In episode 3 Ichiroku forcibly helps Funco with her "maintenance". And in episode 9, she does it to Eru.
122	* SkirtsAndLadders: From Episode 1, except it's the stairs-type, instead of a ladder. it's how "Sensei" sees that Funco wears a thong. She's standing in a short skirt, in front on him on a higher step, and the wind blows the skirt in the "right" way.
123	* SteelEarDrums: The humanoid guns do not need ear protection when they shoot. Regular humans also seem to be just fine standing a few feet away from them as they're firing as well.
124	* StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred: AK-74 tries this with FNC at the end of episode 10.
125	* StunnedSilence: Ichiroku and Ichiyon after the former managed to successfully bat away a chestnut into the latter's balloon.
126	* SupportingProtagonist: Genkoku is introduced as a main character, but spends most of the time as a supporting character.
127	* ThisIsUnforgivable: Funco says this quite a few times in Episodes 9 and 10.
128	* TooDumbToLive: "Sensei" for some strange reason brings up Funco's thong/skeleton stock. The result: he was hospitalized even longer. He does it again by accident in episode 7, although FNC at the end of the episode pouts (after getting suspended again) and says that she didn't hit him; rather he fell out of the window in his apartment on his own.
129	* TournamentArc: The jungle wargame arc.
130	* TransferStudentUniforms: [=G3=] and her [=MP5=] sisters wear the uniforms of their old school. The exception is 53, which is apparently a reference to the fact that she is the only G3-based gun to appear in the series with a sliding stock.
131	* TheReveal: Downplayed on the Japanese teacher's nationality. The long-asked question of his nationality is very simply answered by him in the Blu-ray 4-Komas.
132	--> '''Japanese Teacher''': Me? I'm [[spoiler:American]]. And...?\
133	'''Funco, Ichiroku, Sig, Eru''': Wai...!! [[BreakingTheFourthWall Why are you revealing such important info in this]] [[{{Yonkoma}} 4-koma]]...!?
134	** Then in Chapter 60, we finally get his surname: [[spoiler:Browning]].
135	* TheUnreveal: Sako tells Sig the Japanese teacher's name between Chapters 56 and 57, but it was obscured from the readers. This scene is averted by Chapter 60 however.
136	* UrbanWarfare: The Red Steel High-based [=AK=] faction engaged all of the Seisho assault rifle girls, fighting throughout Atami with urban warfare tactics (sans military support and all). Ms. Fujiko and the battle rifle girls join in the fight, assisting the latter with a super friendly Galil; in the anime, Galil gets injured partway through and Sako gets in on the fun in her place. The [=AK=] faction receives help from 2 other [=AK=] derivatives, the Bizon SMG, and the Saiga-12 self-loading shotgun.
137	* {{Ventriloquism}}: Sig does it in episode 9, which surprises everyone.
138	* WhamLine: In Chapter 60:
139	--> [[spoiler:It's been a while... Browning-Sensei]].
140	* WhamEpisode: Chapter 67 reveals that [[spoiler:Genkoku was indeed rescued, but Fal was destroyed in the battle. She was repaired, however she lost all of her memories. Fujiko explained that even though they can be repaired, removing damaged parts will cause them to lose their memories]].
141	* WhatTheHellHero: Ichiroku/M16 constantly bashes Eru's performance and frequent breakdowns, which causes the latter to attempt skipping the jungle wargames tournament.
142	* WilliamTelling: A variation of this occurs in episode 9. Sig annoys HK by calling her Chuusuri-chan, and Chuusuri shoots the cover on the book Sig was reading on the beach named ''[[Myth/WilliamTell Wilhelm Tell]]'', which featured an arrow piercing an apple on the cover. After it gets shot, Sig holds the book up, and points out that it's a library book, and Chuusuri gets a scolding from one of the teachers.
143	* YouDontLookLikeYou: The anime's creators chose not to follow the manga artist's somewhat idiosyncratic way of drawing faces and instead went with a more conventional style. Especially noticeable with the characters' eyes.
144

Context Manga / Upotte