Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context VideoGame / DisgaeaHourOfDarkness

Go To

1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d1MainPageArt.jpg]]
2
3->''King Krichevskoy, the mighty ruler of the Netherworld...\
4His long reign came to an abrupt end as the news of his death spread throughout the dark land.\
5Ambitious demons rose one after another to seize the opportunity, and thus began the age of turbulence and anarchy.\
6Two years later...''
7-->--'''OpeningMonologue'''
8
9''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}: Hour of Darkness'' is a TurnBasedStrategy game released by Creator/NipponIchi in 2003 for the Platform/PlayStation2.
10
11''Disgaea'' details the misadventures of a demonic EvilOverlord (in-training!) called Laharl and his quest to succeed his deceased father as the undisputed ruler of the Netherworld. His main allies in this are his [[TheLancer devious number-one vassal]] Etna, a [[LoveFreak bubble-headed angel]] named Flonne (who was originally sent to assassinate him) and an army of exploding penguins called Prinnies. HilarityEnsues.
12
13It was later ported to the Platform/PlayStationPortable as ''Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness'', which added several of the gameplay improvements from ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2|CursedMemories}}'' and a brand new AlternateTimeline story called "[[AnotherSideAnotherStory Etna Mode]]" where Etna accidentally kills Laharl during the first chapter and decides to become the Overlord herself. It was also ported to the Platform/NintendoDS as ''Disgaea DS'', which removed most of the voice acting but added "[[GreekChorus Prinny Commentary]]" on most of the cutscenes. A PC port was also released on Platform/{{Steam}} on 25 Februrary 2016, with higher-res art, and the content from ''Afternoon of Darkness''. The game would eventually gain direct sequels in the forms of the VisualNovel ''VisualNovel/DisgaeaInfinite'' and later ''VideoGame/DisgaeaD2ABrighterDarkness''. A full HD remake entitled ''Disgaea 1 Complete'' was released on the Platform/PlayStation4 and Platform/NintendoSwitch on July 26, 2018 in Japan and in October 2018 in the rest of the world. ''Complete'' was then ported to smartphones in 2020.
14
15''Disgaea'' has also received a [[TwelveEpisodeAnime short]] [[TheAnimeOfTheGame anime adaptation]] called ''Anime/MakaiSenkiDisgaea''.
16
17For more information on the characters themselves, check out the [[Characters/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness Disgaea Character Sheet]].
18
19----
20!!This game provide examples of:
21
22* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Famously has one of the highest in any RPG ever, as all of your characters (of which you can have up to 128) can reach Level 9999 (for reference, the game's story can easily be beaten before you even hit triple digits). Oh, and they can reincarnate to give themselves better base stats, meaning you could feasibly keep levelling them up almost forever, though diminishing returns means there is an effective "soft" level cap.
23** And all of their equipment can be levelled up (up to Level 100, for rare items). And all of the characters that live inside the equipment can ALSO be levelled up (depending on the type of character, up to 9999 as well).
24* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: ''Disgaea 1 Complete'' upgrades its graphics to those of later games. Given his aversion brought up in episode 5, this would leave newcomers wondering why Laharl doesn't react earlier on in a hallway full of female Martial Artists, who originally had smaller, unexposed boobs.
25* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: The attacks Flonne and Etna use in Episode 2.
26-->'''Flonne:''' Prima Pretty Prippanica!
27-->'''Etna:''' Fryer Fire Frapparisque!
28-->'''Flonne:''' Berry Barrier Balidaire!
29-->'''Flonne:''' Durian Dragon Dranyago!
30* AffectionateParody: '''Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!''', of SciFi B Movies and TV shows like [[Film/FlashGordonSerial Flash Gordon]], Series/{{Buck Rogers|InTheTwentyFifthCentury}}, and Commando Cody.
31* AllergicToEvil: Angel trainees like Flonne sicken and die in the Netherworld without a protective pendant.
32* AllergicToLove: Laharl has a big-time phobia for "happy feelings". One stage uses this against him and cuts his stats in half.
33* AllThereInTheManual: [[spoiler:Mid-Boss/Vyers is actually Laharl's father]]. Although this is never stated outright in the game, there are several scenes that make it pretty obvious.
34** Supposedly, the artbook confirms that [[spoiler:it was actually Flonne who killed Laharl]] in the Kill Hoggmeiser ending. The game itself doesn't state it, but the background of the credits and the name of the song that plays appear to imply the opposite.
35* AlternateUniverse: Etna Mode in the re-releases, natch. See WhatIf below.
36* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: Though none of the actual artwork changes, the voiceacting between English and Japanese gives very large differences in tone of character. Examples include Japanese Thursday being a [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter oddly-cute sounding robot]] (voiced by a woman) while English Thursday is an instant badass (voiced by a man). It's then inverted when taking on the Alternate Overlord in Chapter 6 (''Afternoon of Darkness''); he sounds exactly the same from huge to small in Japanese; in English, he goes from a booming voice, to a [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments multiple-helium-based voice.]]
37* ApologeticAttacker: Male Healers sometimes say "forgive me" while attacking. Also, Flonne.
38--> '''Flonne''': ''"Oops, pardon me!"''
39* ArmiesAreEvil: [[spoiler:The EDF.]]
40* ArmorOfInvincibility: Baal's Super Robot Suit and Prinny Costume. The former gives an impressive boost to all stats, the latter specializes in massive boosts to HP, DEF, and RES.
41* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: The infamous ''equippable [[ImprobableAccessoryEffect Horse Wiener]]'' scene:
42-->'''Aramis:''' The fists of a Dark Karate master... The legs of the fastest demon in the Netherworld... The brain of Mahogany, a famous sorcerer... The iron body of Hercules... And a '''horse wiener!'''
43** Even worse in the original Japanese, because of its ''even less mature'' name. "Wee-wee" would be a more accurate translation.
44-->
45* ArsonMurderAndLifeSaving[[ArsonMurderAndAdmiration /Admiration]]: After defeating [[spoiler:Maderas]], Laharl [[spoiler:heavily chastises Etna for using him for her plans. Then, due to understanding the [[{{Blackmail}} situation,]] forgives and promotes her for impressing him and taking out an enemy.]]
46* ArtifactName: In ''Disgaea 1 Complete'':
47** Skulls were so-named for the full-head hoods they wore.
48** Cyclopes, the first tier of Galactic Demons, actually had a single eye each comprising their faces. Come the ''Complete'' remake, their sprites have since been swapped with those from later games, with the latter becoming a completely different monster altogether, first tier known in other games as Baciel, while also retaining their original stats and abilities.
49** Manty was originally a manticore, but his class was replaced with the Skeletal Dragon.
50* ArtifactTitle: Etna still calls the game by its original name, "Hour of Darkness," in the remake despite the remake's name being changed to "''Afternoon'' of Darkness."
51* ArtificialStupidity: Enemies are willing to hit their allies if an attack will hit one of your units. This itself isn't so bad, except when they combine this mistake with making poor use of attacks that reposition targets, often as the first move in a series of attacks. This also applies to enemy healers, as they will sometimes heal your units. Additionally, specialists will suicide-charge their way into as many enemy units as possible, which contributes to FakeDifficulty in subduing them.
52* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: When the dark assembly rejects one of your propositions, you can use the "Persuade by force" option and make the senators agree with you by beating them up.
53* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: The Overlord of the Alternate Netherworld, who is so big that only his foot is visible. When Laharl and Etna snark that he's too big to see if his boasts about his power are really true, he decides to split himself into several {{Doppelganger}}s to better represent his power.
54* AutoPilotTutorial: {{Parodied}}. Etna delivers the tutorial to Laharl by forcing him to get beat up. "And that was what not to do." "But you made me do it!" The sequel has Rozalin and Adell replace Laharl and Etna, respectively.
55* BadassNormal: Jennifer is a potent human fist user with better resilience than most stages of (demon) brawlers.
56* BareHandedBladeBlock: In the trailer for the anime (on the ''Disgaea 2'' disc), Laharl catches the blade of a sword that looks to be ''[[{{BFS}} the size of his castle]]'' with his bare hand. Mind you, said blade was also being swung by [[{{Superboss}} Tyrant Baal]].
57* BaseballEpisode: Averted in the all-Prinny battle in Chapter 6. The Prinnies know they don't stand a chance defeating Laharl in a battle for the title of Overlord, so they instead challenge him to a game of baseball. Laharl doesn't take it and simply orders Etna to kill them. The ensuing battle is a breeze.
58* BatmanGambit:
59** Seraph sending Flonne to assassinate Laharl's father, [[spoiler:knowing he was already dead, but also trusting that she would stay with Laharl and redeem him]], and
60** Etna using Laharl as bait to get the better of a blackmailing vampire and then kicking his ass so hard, he ''begged'' to be ''her'' slave. ''Awesome.''
61** Laharl's challenge to strip him of his deed to the title of Overlord. He reveals to Etna that the deed doesn't exist and the whole thing is a ploy to draw out and defeat all would-be challengers so that his reign would be unquestioned. He pulls a similar stunt in the manga, challenging all would-be challengers to a tournament for the title. His challengers realize too late that he had the arena booby-trapped, taking out a good chunk of his opposition.
62* BattleshipRaid: [[spoiler:Gargantua.]]
63* BenevolentBoss: The previous overlord was quite good to work for.
64* BerserkButton: Call Flonne and/or Etna [[ACupAngst flat-chested]]. [[SchmuckBait Just try it.]]
65* BigDamnHeroes: Midway through Chapter 6, Laharl gets attacked by a [[HopelessBossFight super-powerful]] Alternate Overlord who is out to steal Laharl's place as King of the Netherworld. He promptly splits into ''ten'' copies of himself and [[HopelessBossFight hands Laharl and his crew their collective asses]]. His goof-off retainers arrive just in the nick of time to save him from death.
66** Played with because Laharl suspects that the retainers were hiding in the forest to ambush him, but decided to help instead.
67* BigNo: Gordon pulls this when he's finally aware that he can't escape from the Netherworld, due to the spaceship that he arrived in being broken into several pieces.
68* BilingualBonus: In the English localization, among the voice samples that were not dubbed were those of the Samurai and Ninja classes.
69** Also, some random character names and some item names fall under this. Even before obviously nutty names were introduced in later installments, this game surprisingly had Russian (and possibly other) quite arbitrary words for names. You could get characters named Rubashka ("shirt"), Balalaika (a national music instrument), Mazurka (a Russian name for a Polish dance), [[VodkaDrunkenski Vodka]] (you know this one), and one of the emblem items was called "Pravda Necklace", which would be "Necklace of the Truth".
70* BittersweetEnding: The "normal" ending, gained upon beating the game after accidentally (or deliberately) killing someone in your party, is a huge downer. The "good" ending (beat the game without accidentally killing your own party members ''at all'') is the one considered canon, though.
71* BonusLevelOfHell: Inverted... every level ''except'' for the last two takes place in the Netherworld.
72* BoringYetPractical: The first-level Fist ability, Triple Strike. 6 SP, first ability learned, knocks target back a square. Perfect for knocking Geo Symbols out of No Lift areas and Gatekeepers off the exit portal in Item World.
73** Due to the way Item World leveling system works, the most effective way to slot in your item specialists are simply to put in as much stats boost specialists as possible, regardless of its level to a weapon and leveling them up. Stats boosting specialist offers bonus growth every 10 levels gained on an item from killing Item General, King, and God allowing item slotted in with multiple stats boosting specialist to skyrocket in stats.
74* BreatherEpisode: Probably the reason for '''Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!''' and company getting introduced right after [[TearJerker Chapter 8]].
75* BrightCastle: The Overlord's Castle is a gothic version.
76* BrutalBonusLevel: Etna Mode in the remakes, ''especially'' if you play it via NewGamePlus. Enemy levels start in the 70s, the same as the end-game enemies of the base game, but they rise very quickly, and in just a couple episodes you're going to be facing down Level 100+ enemies, and in the final episode, they're going to rise to Level 200+.
77* BuxomBeautyStandard: Averted. Laharl has a deep-rooted fear of large-breasted women so strong that being near one will cause him to weaken.
78* CaptainSpaceDefenderOfEarth: '''Captain Gordon, [[InsistentTerminology Defender of Earth!]]''' is the TropeNamer.
79* CelibateHero: Laharl, though it seems to be more a matter of his relative youth.
80* ChekhovsGun: Flonne's pendant, specifically [[spoiler:how it burns those with wicked hearts -- note that Laharl is ''not'' burned by it when she gives it to him in the last chapter]].
81* TheChessmaster: Seraph Lamington. Towards the end of the game, he shows just how intelligent he really is as the game reveals that many of the events in the story are essentially a intricate BatmanGambit to bring peace between Celestia and the Netherworld. Cunning enough to even use the plots of his treacherous renegade second-in-command to his advantage (and dispose of the traitor). Even his battle with Laharl was part of his plan (how well this works depends on the ending). A rare example of a non-evil chess master.
82** And, by extension, [[spoiler:[[strike:Vyers]] Mid-Boss, Lamington's co-conspirator in this. He even includes MyDeathIsOnlyTheBeginning in his part of the plan]].
83* ChickMagnet: Laharl, at least in the [[Literature/DisgaeaNovels light novels]]. He manages to attract Etna, Flonne, her sister Ozonne, and Gordon and Jennifer's daughter Jane.
84** There's also Sakura, in an example of DefeatMeansFriendship going a little bit too far. Even [[VideoGame/MakaiKingdom Pram]] is hitting on him.
85* CloudCuckooLander: Flonne. Lamington in the first game's manga also has some symptoms of this. "Vulcanus, what's wrong? Do you want to talk to my bonsai?"
86* CoolGate: The gate in the hub allows you to access various parts of the netherworld.
87* CouncilOfAngels
88* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Laharl can be very hard to take seriously at first, being a loudmouthed scrawny brat, but as is quickly revealed, he's more than powerful enough to take (and keep) the position of Overlord.
89* CuteWitch: Apparently, Laharl's mother was one of these.
90** Flonne could be considered one as well, though she's technically a trainee angel turned fallen angel. Laharl does mention that Flonne is like his mother; though he was referring to her talk of love and demeanor, they may be similar in other ways too.
91* CutscenePowerToTheMax: Laharl [[spoiler:blows up a space armada]].
92* DarkAndTroubledPast: Lampshaded and PlayedForLaughs, of course.
93--> '''Kurtis''': It's been five years since I lost my wife and daughter... and with them, my soul. \
94'''Laharl''': [[LampshadeHanging Hey, he's giving us his life story.]] \
95'''Etna''': [[ShutUpHannibal Should we... attack now?]] \
96'''Flonne''': [[GenreSavvy No, we have to listen! The rival always has a tragic past.]] \
97'''Kurtis''': [[ImStandingRightHere May I continue?]] \
98'''Flonne''': [[OverlyPolitePals Oh, please, by all means.]] \
99'''Kurtis''': As I was saying... [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya It's been five years since I lost my wife and daughter... and with them, my soul.]]
100* DarkIsNotEvil: In most works, a red-glowing moon is a bad omen. Here, its purpose is much more benevolent: To provide any Prinnies who have either saved up or atoned well enough the chance to be reborn into a better life.
101* DealWithTheDevil: In an Etna mode chapter break, she offers to beat up bullies harassing a 7-year old kid, in exchange for the kid's servitude as a prinny after he dies. Seeing as this is [[BadBoss Etna,]] a nearby prinny immediately objects.
102* DefeatMeansFriendship: At the end of the tutorial, you have five party members: Laharl, Etna, and three Prinnies. After that, you have two sources of new party members: creating generic units in the Dark Assembly, and recruiting storyline bosses.
103** Also a game mechanic; you can recruit enemy monsters by tossing them into the base panel if your units still in it can beat them. A decent alternative to stealing if you don't feel like leveling up a Thief. However, as this doesn't work on humanoid enemies, you can't get any non-monster weapons this way. Seeing as the only way to get some of the more powerful weapons is to steal them, you're better off creating a Thief.
104** Also a mechanic for creating monsters to fight for your side. Any generic monster can also be created in the Dark Assembly, just like generic classed units. However, you can only create anything you've killed in battle. Moreover, the cost for creating a monster depends on how many you've beaten -- the more you defeat them, the cheaper it is to make one for your side.
105* DefrostingIceQueen: Laharl makes quite a bit of progress in this direction, but never completely stops being an arrogant brat.
106* DeliberatelyPainfulClothing: Flavor text for healers say they wear barbed clothing as self-inflicted [[PunishedForSympathy punishment for being healers]].
107* DepartureMeansDeath: Angel Trainees cannot survive in the Netherworld unaided for long periods of time. The fourth chapter centers around this when Volcanus steals Flonne's pendant that stabilized her.
108* DidNotDieThatWay: Laharl believed that his father had died choking on a dark pretzel, but in reality [[spoiler:King Krichevskoy perished fighting Baal]].
109* DiscOneNuke:
110** If by "disc one," you mean "the game proper." It's entirely possible to completely walk over the main game simply by using Laharl exclusively, building his sword skill and having him leveled well past the enemies, with occasional dips into Item World for LevelGrinding and building up his items and specialists. Don't try this in the bonus content, though.
111** Flonne can be this as well, with good planning. By assigning her the right pupils, she can basically be a Prism or Galaxy Mage long before you could ever hope to unlock such a class. See MagikarpPower below.
112** The Samurai class is the epitome of this. You can easily have it unlocked within the second hour of the game, and they are second only to Majin in terms of raw attack power. Not only that, but they are the easiest class to unlock with S in swords, spears, and axes. Arguably, the class is even more game breaking than Majin because of how easy they are to acquire, requiring only a level 10 female brawler and level 10 female warrior.
113** Remakes from ''DS'' onwards let you recruit Pleinair as a pretty great, unique gunslinging unit upon reaching NewGamePlus. It doesn't seem to be this, until you remember the game counts any NonStandardGameOver as a proper ending, so you can get your hands on her by failing to beat the first boss of the game. All it costs is the eternal disgrace of losing a fight to Mid-Boss.
114* DissonantSerenity: Seraph Lamington seems to never lose his cool, no matter the events.
115* DoubleEntendre: Done by Laharl three times [[note]]"Try to make a fool of me? I'll make you moan in pain!" "If you want to show your gratitude, you can repay me with your body." "Well, maybe he'll be more submissive with a little physical persuasion."[[/note]], which is then lampshaded each time by Etna [[note]]"Prince, did you mean to say, scream in pain?" "Hmmm... I never knew you were like that..." "Uh... Prince, I hope you didn't mean it ''THAT'' way..."[[/note]]
116** Not to mention a large portion of Jennifer's dialogue.
117* DualMeaningChorus: [[spoiler:The lyrics to "Red Moon" in chapter 8 first refer to the Prinnies being literally reborn... and then, repeated at the end, refer to Laharl being ''figuratively'' reborn by rediscovering love.]]
118* DumbIsGood: '''Flonne.'''
119* DVDCommentary: Spoofed InUniverse with the "Prinny Commentary" on the DS version, activated with a NewGamePlus (which means it can be unlocked from the first Mid-Boss fight). The Prinny is hiding out from the rest of the game, and makes snarky comments at the goings on.
120* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
121** The Prinnies are largely [[ButtMonkey inconsequential gag characters]] in future games, but they're treated far more sympathetically here. Of particular note is the Red Moon chapter, where Laharl's attempts to stop them from reincarnating is presented as a [[KickTheDog complete dick move]]. In addition, it's revealed that one of the Prinnies was [[spoiler: his own mother]].
122** Monster weapons are exclusively physical, with no Intelligence-based alternatives.
123** Many Dark Assembly bills have to be unlocked via Promotion Exams battles and reset every time a character reincarnates. Later games drop Promotion Exams and bills are instead unlocked based on progress or milestones.
124** Healing spells are run off the Intelligence stat rather than the Resistance stat, making a Healer with magical pupils an intellectual force to be reckoned with.
125** While the original [=PS2=] version had Japanese and English audio options, this only applied to cut scenes. Battle voices defaulted to English voices with some humanoid classes remaining undubbed.
126** Due to the game originally being localized by Creator/{{Atlus}}, many of the terms used in this game differ from later games in the series, which were localized by NISA. This includes "Transmigration" (Reincarnation) and "Specialists" (Innocents).
127** Also in the original Atlus localization, there were two additional songs added to the English dub, Tsunami Bomb's "Invasion from Within" and "One With the Stars". None of the later games received additional songs and said songs would be absent in all later releases.
128** Many classes introduced in the first game do not appear again or have different designs in later games. This is most notable when comparing the monster classes of ''Hour of Darkness'' and ''Afternoon of Darkness'' with the HD Remaster ''1 Complete'', which recycled many of the sprites from the HD-era ''Disgaea'' games[[note]]''VideoGame/Disgaea4APromiseUnforgotten'', ''VideoGame/DisgaeaD2ABrighterDarkness'', and ''VideoGame/Disgaea5AllianceOfVengeance''[[/note]].
129** The existence of multiple Netherworlds is presented as a big revelation. Subsequent games present the existence of multiple Netherworlds as common knowledge among demons.
130** While a form of innate abilities did exist, they were only present on select humanoid classes with the majority of the humanoid classes, monsters classes, and even story characters being differentiated only by their aptitudes, weapon mastery rank, and skills. For the few that did have them (such as Magic Knight class' ability to cast low level magic after a normal attack), their abilities were only vaguely hinted at in the character creation menu. Starting with ''VideoGame/Disgaea2CursedMemories'', every character received an innate ability (later called Evility), which are clearly described on a character's status menu.
131** There is a distinct lack of romance in this game compared to its successors (save its direct sequel), and any implied feelings don't go beyond simple teasing. Even as the main trio continue to make appearances in future games, how they feel towards each other is left deliberately unclear.
132* ElementalTiers: The various tiers of Dragon and Great Wyrm monster classes have many variants of skills that differ only in the element. For the Dragon class, each tier learns different combinations of elemental skills, although only the weakest one learns any Wind. For the Great Wyrm class, the first tier learns Fire skills, the second one learns Wind, and the third Ice. The fourth and fifth are NonElemental, and the sixth and final tier learns Fire again.
133* EliteTweak: The point of the bonus portion of the game (which is at least as big as the game proper) is to twink yourself to the max.
134* EmbarrassingOldPhoto: Maderas deposits one of these in the castle in Chapter 5 and threatens to distribute them around the Netherworld. Judging by Laharl's reaction, it's real. It's up to the player to decide what was on it, though {{Fanon}} usually depicts Laharl crossdressing.
135* EnterEponymous: The second chapter is titled "Enter Flonne".
136* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Laharl.
137* EvenEvilHasStandards: Petty theft from Laharl? That's beneath him. He ''plunders''.
138** Also, Laharl freaks out when Jennifer gives him sex-ed lessons along with humans [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil assuming demons as rapists]].
139* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: "From now on, your name is Mid-boss!" Notably, ''everyone in the game'' calls him that after that scene, and his name in dialogue boxes changes as well. (At one point, he accidentally calls ''himself'' mid-boss.) [[spoiler:Though in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, when Laharl runs into him when storming Celestia, Laharl calls him the Dark Adonis, presumably on purpose.]]
140* EvilLaugh: Laharl, or at least his best attempt at one given that he is still essentially a kid.
141* EvilVersusEvil: Demons are nominally evil, at least most in the game consider themselves so. Most of the enemies in the game are other demons as well as a few other evil characters. It is not until the last fight of the main story that you fight anyone who is pretty much good.
142* {{Expy}}: Aside from having tighter pants and a much prettier face, Mid-Boss' sprite resembles a recolored Alan from ''VideoGame/LaPucelle''.
143* FailureToSaveMurder: Kurtis' family got killed and he personally holds Captain Gordon accountable for this, even though the latter wasn't involved in this in any way. As far as Kurtis is concerned, though, Gordon didn't do his job as a Defender of Earth and should be replaced.
144* {{Fanfare}}: "Anthem of Braves", for Captain Gordon and his crew.
145* FireAndBrimstoneHell: The Sea of Gehenna.
146* FluffyCloudHeaven: Celestia
147* {{Foreshadowing}}:
148** When we first see Flonne, she says she wants to be like the flowers.
149** There's a scene featuring Lamington and his mysterious cohort talking about Laharl's upcoming battle with Maderas, and the latter decides he'll intervene. Cue Mid-Boss showing up....
150** In Chapter 6 after Laharl has issued his challenge to be the Overlord, you might notice all of his father's vassals are missing... Sure enough, they're plotting to take the title for themselves but intervene when someone far above Laharl's ability challenges him.
151* {{Forgiveness}}: Laharl unexpectedly forgives Etna for poisoning him in his sleep and using him as bait for her revenge against Maderas because it is what a true demon would do.
152* FridgeLogic: The in-universe Prinny commentator in the DS version makes it its job to lampshade every possible instance of it.
153%% In-universe examples only.
154* FunSize: The trio is often drawn this way on promotional artwork.
155* GagPenis: And ''you can steal that sucker and [[ImprobableAccessoryEffect equip it]]!''
156* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Certain scenes where Flonne talks about injuring others will always play the same regardless of whether or not she was used in combat. [[spoiler:This is especially egregious in the final chapter as she will be punished by Lamington for hurting other angels even if she was never deployed]].
157* GodIsGood: Plays out similarly to the AntiHero part of the description on the trope page... with [[TearJerker tragic]] and [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome awesome]] results.
158* GoldfishPoopGang: Mid-Boss.
159* GraphicsInducedSuperDeformed: Compare proportions of characters in-game and in cutscene portraits.
160* GratuitousFrench: Mid-Boss loves using "moi" in place of "me".
161* GreekChorus: The Prinny commentary in Disgaea DS.
162* GreenAesop: When Jennifer asks Laharl if he's really not planning to invade Earth, he replies, "Earth is that planet where humans foolishly pollute their own environment, right? Why would I be interested in that?" To further drive the point home, the Prinny commentary in the DS version adds, "Man, that's harsh. It's pretty much the end of it, if a demon says that about you."
163** Carter justifies invading the Netherworld because mankind needs a new home when Earth becomes uninhabitable. Laharl's response? "Clean up your own damn mess!" You can't get more direct than that.
164* GreyAndGrayMorality: The player character is a CardCarryingVillain and none of the adversaries can claim to be completely good.
165%%* GuileHero: Lamington.
166* GunFu: One of skills a character can learn from using guns is basically made of this.
167* HamToHamCombat: Laharl and '''Captain Gordon, [[MemeticMutation DEFENDER OF EARTH!!!]]''', Laharl and Midboss, The Prism Rangers, Vulcanus... you know what? [[WorldOfHam Just about every fight in the game.]]
168* HeavySleeper: Laharl, who at the beginning of the game spends two years taking a ten ''day'' nap! [[spoiler:It was the result of being poisoned.]]
169* HellInvadesHeaven: This is what the last few levels are based around. You're the one controlling TheLegionsOfHell. [[spoiler:It turns out to have been a part of a plan cooked up between the guy in charge of heaven and Laharl's father to make sure he ends up as a NobleDemon.]]
170%%* HeadTurningBeauty: Jennifer.
171* HerCodeNameWasMarySue: Etna loves doing this during most of her chapter previews, particularly the one for episode 6. Laharl and Vyers provide snark.
172* HeroesPreferSwords: Played straight by Laharl for promotional images and cut-scenes. Being a humanoid character, however, the player can choose to equip him with any weapon. In fact, he's one of the few in the first ''Disgaea'' to be highly proficient with multiple weapons.[[note]]He has an A ranked proficiency with all melee-type weapons (Fists, Swords, Spears, and Axes) and even a bow.[[/note]]
173* HeyYou: How Laharl refers to Flonne for a whole chapter after meeting her. She [[BewareTheNiceOnes rips him a new one]] for it later.
174* HopelessBossFight: 6-4 Writhing Shadow [[spoiler:in which you face a Lv. 75 Overlord and his copies]] as normally most players won't be anywhere close to that level by the time they reach him, [[spoiler:eventually leading to Krichevskoy's lv. 300+ vassals joining in for the rematch]]. Players can avert it on a second playthrough or through aggressive grinding.
175* HubLevel: Laharl's castle acts as your base of operations.
176* IKnowKarate: Jennifer knows Kung Fu. Hilariously, the Art Book even goes so far as to say that this makes her stronger than Gordon.
177* IMadeCopies: In episode 5, Maderas sends a challege to Laharl to contend for overlordship on the back of an embarrassing photo. He threatens to scatter copies of said photo all across the Netherworld if Laharl does not comply.
178* ImprobableAccessoryEffect: The infamous Horse Wiener can be stolen from its zombie owner and equipped onto any character, providing a decent boost to ATK around the time it's introduced.
179* InfinityMinusOneSword
180** The top-tier Rank 40 weapons cannot be purchased in the shop or won from any stage. The only way to get them is to level a Legendary-rarity Rank 39 weapon to 100 and steal the Rank 40 weapon from the Item God at the bottom. Factor in the time to level the weapon up, the difficulty in descending that deep into high-rank items, and you'll be going through much of the game with the Rank 39s.
181** Testament offers an overall boost to every stats, and is easilly alvailable from the Prinny God found on Prinny Land. Its stats boost make it a useful accesory to get and use even without leveling it on the item world, and its readilly alvailable after the midpoint of the game, making it one of the most useful accesory to use for much of the game, all the way until the best accesory items are finally alvailable most of which are from stealing off the many {{Optional Boss}}es.
182** Class-wise, the Angel. 100% aptitude in all stats save for 110% Resistance, A-level skill with four weapon types and B-rank in a fifth, great base stats, and they naturally learn Heal spells up to Omega Heal, Espoir, and a tier of elemental spells up to Omega. They're unlocked much more easily than the Majin and can still kick a lot of ass until you unlock them.
183* InfinityPlusOneSword:
184** The Rank 40 weapons, obscenely difficult to acquire as told above. Special mention to the Rank 40 sword Yoshitsuna, ''the'' strongest weapon in the game but '''very''' hard to get -- the Rank 39 Cosmic Blade you need to level up to get it will have enemies hitting the 9999 level cap well before you reach the bottom, and the Item God you need to steal the Yoshitsuna from will be Level 9999 too, making it very, very hard to steal from.
185** The Majin. 110% aptitude in all stats, 120% at higher levels, S-rank skill with all weapons, and huge base stats. The catch is unlocking them requires five specific jobs all in the party at once at Level 200. Once you do unlock them, aside from reincarnating as mages to learn spells, there's little reason to not reincarnate your entire team as Majin.
186* InnocentlyInsensitive: Just before she leaves for reincarnation, Flonne asks [[spoiler:Laharl's mother]] why she won't say goodbye to her son. The latter replies that it would hurt too much for him and that he's suffered enough. Flonne apologizes afterwords and understands where she's coming from.
187* JapaneseSpirit:
188** ThePowerOfLove and ThePowerOfFriendship are {{Anvilicious}}ly repeated throughout the story, and is what unites and eventually motivates the protagonists (even if [[{{Tsundere}} Laharl doesn't want to believe it]]).
189** However, demons have their own expression of it. Laharl and Etna are steadfastly against any form of complacency or taking an easy path to success. They [[BoisterousBruiser gladly pick a fight]] with opponents even if the fight seems hopeless, value any {{Worthy Opponent}}s for their strength, and will recruit (read: "vassalize") any strong persons they defeat.
190** Nowhere is it demonstrated better than in the battle against Kurtis, where the characters [[LampshadeHanging specifically wait for Kurtis to give his life story]] so that they can compare how their ideals match up to his. Captain Gordon ('''Defender of Earth!''') even states that Kurtis was fighting for what he believed was right, but that it was NotQuiteTheRightThing. Upon being defeated, Kurtis says he feels the [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything "Defender Spirit"]] within Gordon and makes a HeelFaceTurn, [[spoiler:followed by a HeroicSacrifice]].
191** Also demonstrated in the last battle the party has against [[spoiler:Mid-Boss, who is [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness uncharacteristically serious]] during this battle]] and specifically fights them to "test their resolve". After losing, he [[GracefulLoser gracefully bows out]], but not before reminding them of everything they learned on their journey.
192** The DefeatMeansFriendship and NotQuiteTheRightThing aspects are subverted against [[spoiler:Vulcanus]], who is convinced that his goals are selfless and benevolent, but he really just wants to TakeOverTheWorld. The party tries to convince him that he's wrong and to see it their way, but he absolutely refuses, even when beaten. He's never going to get it, which [[spoiler:Lamington]] knew from the start.
193* JustOneMoreLevel: Laharl thinks a good evil plan would be making an addictive video game to rob kids of sleep.
194* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Laharl the wannabe EvilOverlord vs. an OmnicidalManiac.
195* KilledMidSentence: At one point, Flonne steals Etna's role of providing a wildly inaccurate [[OnTheNext preview]] of the next episode.
196--> '''Etna:''' "Flonne, whatcha doing?"
197--> '''Flonne:''' Oh, hi Et...
198--> *Gunshots*
199* KnightKnaveAndSquire: Laharl is the Knight, by Underworld standards at least, Etna the Knave, and Flonne is the Squire.
200* KnightOfCerebus: As soon as General Carter shows up, the plot takes a turn for the serious.
201* KnightTemplar: Vulcanus, living proof that LightIsNotGood.
202* LargeHam: Mid-Boss is one, as is '''Captain Gordon, [[LargeHamTitle Defender of Earth!]]''', who apparently has NoIndoorVoice. Vulcanus counts, as well.
203** Laharl counts too! Bonus points for being voiced by [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Rita]] [[Creator/BarbaraGoodson Repulsa]] in the English Dub.
204** [[LoveFreak Flonne]] is not amused, for her display of love is beyond any doubt.
205* LateArrivalSpoiler: [[spoiler:Flonne's transformation into a Fallen Angel in the Good Ending]] isn't that big of a spoiler after having spent almost all of her following appearances in her latter form. The same goes for [[spoiler:Kurtis returning as a Prinny]].
206* LawyerFriendlyCameo: The Prism Rangers, Thursday, and '''Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!'''
207* LegacyBossBattle: The game has Majory, the BigBad of ''VideoGame/RhapsodyAMusicalAdventure''.
208* LethalJokeCharacter: Scouts and Thieves. They have mostly low stats and aptitudes and poor weapon skills outside of Guns. But in the Item World, they ''shine''. Scouts can use Dark Cannon to blast out-of-reach enemies from across the map and Geo Change to shift up troublesome Geo Panel set-ups, while Thieves can throw teammates farther than any other class to move them across the map quickly and they can use stealing items to grab rare and powerful equipment off of enemies for free.
209* LethalJokeItem: The [[ImprobableAccessoryEffect Horse Wiener]]. Even Laharl is afraid of it, though justifiably. How would you block it, dood?
210* LivingWeapon: Longinus, the sentient spear who teaches you about weapon skills and mastery.
211* LordErrorProne: '''Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!''' again.
212* LoveFreak: [[TropeNamer Named for]] Flonne, who was very fond of talking about love and kindness, in contrast to Laharl and Etna, who are both demons and have no use for that stuff.
213** [[spoiler:Or so they say.]]
214* MagicKnight: The knight class -- decent growth with swords and most stats, learns the first four levels of a randomly-chosen non-Star element, and will occasionally follow up a physical attack with a casting of a spell (any spell learned, either via level or by tutoring) in the same action. With the mentoring system, theoretically any physical fighter can become one as well.
215* MagikarpPower: Flonne again. She starts out really weak, but if you assign Mages and Skulls as apprentices to her, she can learn magic abilities that surpass just about any other character you can create.
216** In the sequels, she goes beyond MagikarpPower and well into GameBreaker territory, toeing the line to OneManParty -- and with some HP twinking, she ''really can be''.
217* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: [[spoiler:Rare benevolent variation. King Krichevskoy dying from choking on a black pretzel was merely what the people were told; he actually died of wounds sustained in battle.]]
218* MasterOfAll: The [[GameBreaker Majin class]]. Very high stats all across the board, positive Aptitudes for all stats, very proficient with all weapons, and high mobility. There is no reason to use anything else when you have unlocked this class (though it requires a bit of a GuideDangIt). The subsequent games {{nerf}} this class severely, though. The [[VideoGame/Disgaea2CursedMemories second game]] reduces its mobility to the minimum, making it somewhat of a MightyGlacier instead. The [[VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice third]] and [[VideoGame/Disgaea4APromiseUnforgotten fourth]] games take it even further, giving it low aptitude above the low mobility, and ''no weapon proficiency'', making the class require a lot of work to even be remotely playable.
219* MiniDressOfPower: The girl mages wear frilly short dresses, almost like maid outfits.
220* MoodWhiplash: In Episode 7, you have to bring back Aramis' zombies (including the one with the Horse Weiner). Episode 8 is a TearJerker in which even the battle music is depressing. In Episode 9, we meet none other than '''CAPTAIN GORDON, DEFENDER OF THE EARTH!''' . (Yeah, it's just fun to say.)
221* MoralityChainBeyondTheGrave: If you've fulfilled the requirement for the Good Ending, Laharl will halt himself from [[spoiler:killing Seraph Lamington in revenge for him (apparently) executing Flonne, realizing that if Flonne had still been there, she would've stopped him, just as she'd stopped him from killing so many others along the way.]] (If you ''don't'' fulfill the requirements, [[TearJerker well]]....)
222* MultipleEndings: At least eight endings, not counting the general Game Over screen.
223** The Good Ending, which is canon: [[spoiler:Laharl beats Lamington down, but stops before inflicting lethal damage, since [[MoralityChainBeyondTheGrave Flonne wouldn't want him to]], and begins to sacrifice himself to turn her back to normal. Mid-Boss stops him and reveals it wasn't a permanent transformation, after which Celestia and the Netherworld begin making steps towards peace.]] Reguires you not triggering any other ending.
224** The Normal Ending: [[spoiler:Laharl ''kills'' Lamington in a rage and then ''does'' sacrifice himself to turn Flonne back. Etna becomes the new Overlord and Laharl apparently shows up again... as a prinny.]] Requires one or more team kills. (This is also the setting of ''VideoGame/PrinnyCanIReallyBeTheHero''.)
225** Item God 2 ending: [[spoiler:Laharl nearafatally wounds Lamington and decides he is not ready to be Overlord yet, abdicating the throne to Etna and dedicating himself to WalkingTheEarth, at least for the time being.]] Requires you to have defeated the Item God 2 at the bottom of a level 40 item.
226** Dark Assembly Ending: [[spoiler:Laharl picks Flower Flonne and vanishes.]] Requires passing at least one hundred bills by force by the final level.
227** Flonne Tragedy Ending: Laharl decides to go through with killing Hoggmeiser, but Flonne stops him with lethal force. Requires fifty team kills by the end of the third chapter and choosing to kill him.
228** Maderas Ending: Maderas is killed instead of recruited, as well as Flonne when she tries to stop it from happening. Laharl follows before too much time passes. Requires one hundred team kills by the end of the fifth chapter and choosing to kill him.
229** Human World Ending: Laharl takes a side trip before confronting the final boss and takes over the Earth instead. Requires unlocking the Human World map and defeating the last level.
230** Mid Boss ending: [[spoiler:Without intending to,]] Vyers defeats you in battle and decides to just run with it.
231*** '''Goleck''': [[LampshadeHanging The Prinnies were talking about "multiple endings"...]]
232* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Passing bills in the Dark Assembly is not a simple matter of just winning a majority vote; you have to win by a margin greater than the mana cost of the bill you're trying to pass. For the larger bills, this ranges from difficult to flat-out impossible, particularly as many have penalties that make normally neutral senators dislike the bill proposed, and there's no way you can win by 1000+ votes. The only way to get a bill passed once it is voted against is to kill off the opposing senators. Unlocking all the optional areas and getting your party's power to the highest limit will require you to regularly mass-murder senators in order to pass your bills by force.
233* MundaneMadeAwesome: The Dark Assembly voting is done with a rapid-fire sequence of senators casting their votes as tallies for Yay and Nay at the top of the screen count up, and when voting is concluded the word "Rejected" or "Passed" appears in large black letters as the screen turns dark red or lights up in bright yellow depending on the result, appropriate music accompanying.
234* MythologyGag:
235** In one of the OnTheNext segments, Etna is challenged to a cooking battle by a character named Dark Chef Hao. This is a reference to Nippon Ichi's early [=PS1=] game, Cooking Fighter Hao.
236** Amongst the phrases used by the Imps to weaken Laharl in Episode 5 is "Girls take initiative." This is Kururu's CatchPhrase in ''VideoGame/RhapsodyAMusicalAdventure''.
237* TheNapoleon: Laharl, according to official sources, is about 4'3". The ridiculously oversized scarf he wears is an attempt on his part to mask this fact, as are his hair antennae.
238* NeverTrustATrailer: Parodied with Etna's implausible next episode previews at the end of each chapter. [[spoiler:Except for the one for episode 9 which sounds just as implausible, but turns out to be mostly correct.]]
239* NobleDemon: Laharl, after some character development, in the anime and in the canon ending. He's still a brat, though.
240* NoExperiencePointsForMedic: You'll need to give them a bow or use the pupil system to level up.
241* NoHuggingNoKissing: Unlike the later games in the ''Disgaea'' series, this one features virtually no romance.
242* NoobBridge: If you've never played the game before, the first battle with Mid-Boss can be incredibly difficult because it's the first level where GeoEffects play a large role, as well as being the first level where you're supposed use the throwing mechanic. If you forget that you can toss your troops to the GeoEffects rather than trying to get there normally, most of your team will be dead before you get a second turn.
243* NoodleIncident: Episode 5 gives us the "embarrassing picture". All we ever know about the picture is Laharl's ''[[http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b68/burnfist23/InPain.jpg reaction]]'' to said picture and that it's something Flonne never expected Laharl to have done.
244** Just before that, Etna talks to Flonne about how some guy pissed her off, so in response, she "''[[GroinAttack kicked him right there]]''".
245* ObfuscatingStupidity: [[spoiler:Vyers, aka Mid-Boss.]] It's also spoofed when, after an incredibly serious scene where he chews out General Carter and informs him he's cruising for an IronicHell, he then congratulates himself for being awesome.
246* ObviouslyEvil: Parodied [[IncrediblyLamePun to hell and back]] with Vulcanus, once the party meets him, and even moreso with Prinny commentary on.
247-->'''Vulcanus:''' It reeks of evil.
248-->'''[[GreekChorus Prinny]]:''' So do you, dood.
249* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Jennifer earned a [=PhD=] in every subject by age 10.
250* OnlySaneMan: Lamington.
251* OnlyThePureOfHeart: [[spoiler:[[strike:Vyers The Dark Adonis]] Mid-Boss]] can touch Flonne's pendant (which harms evil) without being punished. He says that "the heavens wouldn't punish such a pure heart as mine". This is foreshadowing, as [[spoiler:he is King Krichevskoy, and working with Seraph Lamington in a BatmanGambit (it depends on the actions of the player) to make his son a better person (or demon).]]
252* OnTheNext: Subversion; Etna's chapter intermission interludes [[UnreliableNarrator have absolutely nothing to do with the following chapter]] [[spoiler:...most of the time]].
253* OverRatedAndUnderLeveled: [[spoiler:Kurtis]] pulls a BigDamnHeroes and joins your party... at level 50, at a point your party should be level 60 (150 is easy at this point if you try). This makes him pretty ineffective on the monsters you were "saved" from.
254** The scene actually spoofs itself -- [[spoiler:Kurtis]]'s BigDamnHeroes moment is instantly undermined by his newfound status as a [[ButtMonkey Prinny]], and he nearly gets laughed off the stage by the heroes before they finally accept his help.
255* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: Several. Which is a good thing, given the insanely high level cap.
256** One level in particular is peppered with Succubi and Kit-Kats, and aside from one square at the far end of the map, ''everyone'' is invincible. So the trick becomes to lob the monsters onto one another, creating one much stronger femme fatale which can be trapped in the single vulnerable square and [[ScratchDamage whittled down]].
257** An even more effective one is in the Cave of Ordeals -- though you have to be pretty high-leveled already just to make it there. There are no invincibility squares, but the entire map is covered in a "+50% EXP" Geo Effect, and the nine monsters on the map (already of a class that grants the highest experience per level) are arranged in a convenient 3x3 clump for efficient disposal. Happy slaying!
258** At the highest levels (mostly useful for embarking on a career of making maxed-out Divine Majins with 185,000 stored levels; not really that useful for regular play), Beauty of Evil. It can be cleared in 45 seconds if you're properly prepared, and in so doing, provides the highest XP-to-time ratio in the game. Since this is Disgaea, players have gotten [=BoE=] runs down to a mathematical formula for maxing out your characters as efficiently as possible.
259** The PSP and DS remake gave us the Demonhall Mirror. Like Cave of Ordeals 3, this one had 9 [[StoneWall Galactic Demons]] in a 3x3 formation. However, it has ''2'' EXP +50 effect and the monsters are of higher levels and tiers. However, you have to fight you way through several {{Optional Boss}}es such as a powerful Serpentine Dragon, Serra Winguard, The alt. Overlord, Laharl's dad's vassals, the Fallen Angel Vesuvius, and [[VideoGame/Disgaea2CursedMemories Adell and Rozalin]] before getting to the grinding first.
260** The Alt. Overlord in episode 6 is a HopelessBossFight until Laharl's servants pull their BigDamnHeroes to save the day. If you get lucky, though, you can have one of your units land the final blow on one of the level 75 clones, which will grant enough experience to level it up into the 30s, way above what one should be at this point in the game.
261* PetMonstrosity: Episode 7 involves helping a kid find his pet zombie. Etna also kept zombies as pets when she was a child. Given Laharl's reaction, it's still ''very'' weird for a demon to have zombies as pets (and he only knows Etna and Aramis had them).
262* PicnicEpisode: Episode 10.
263* PokeThePoodle:
264---> '''Golem Vassal''': Demons don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom. It's custom.
265--->'''Flonne''': Is that so...
266--->'''Etna''': I, I wash my hands!
267** Laharl's ideas on what to do after becoming the overlord, such as raining pepper on earth so people can't stop sneezing, or giving human kids an addicting video game to deprive them of their sleep.
268* PowerLevels: "[[NoFourthWall Oh, come on! Level 4000?]]"
269* ThePowerOfLove: Subverted when a massive AU overlord decides to off Laharl and snatch his throne, Flonne claims that the Overlord can't win, as he lacks enough Love (TM) to defeat them... just before she, Laharl, and Etna get their asses massively handed to themselves.
270** ThePowerOfFriendship: Towards the end of the game, a force field needs to be broken past, the happy-go-lucky '''Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!''' and his team are ready to go with this, Laharl and his crew (sans Flonne, who's even ''more'' enthusiastic than '''Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!''') all sound like they're being made to go take Piano lessons or something. [[spoiler:It works anyway.]]
271** Flonne actually has a special technique called "ThePowerOfLove". It's a healing technique, to surrounding allies.
272** A very important point in the game; the main plot actually revolves around this. [[spoiler:Seraph Lamington and Laharl's father]] wanted to see if angels and demons can love each other and co-exist. The whole reason why Flonne was sent to the Netherworld was so she could develop a bond with Laharl and Etna. Then, [[spoiler:Lamington]] pretends to kill Flonne to see the reaction that that bond has created; he almost ends up dead for it in the canon ending and did end up dead for it in the alternate ending.
273* PrejudiceAesop: This aesop is a major underlying theme. Most angels, like Archangel Vulcanus, consider the demons to be pure evil, that angels are the only source of good, and humanity is effectively TooDumbToLive without the angels' guidance. Flonne, whom has spent time in Laharl's company, effectively rebukes Vulcanus's claims during the final chapter.
274* PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo: Prier(e), the heroine of ''VideoGame/LaPucelle'', appears as an OptionalBoss.
275* PurposelyOverpowered: The Majin class. They have 110% aptitude in all stats, 120% at higher tiers, S-rank with all weapons, and their first tier form has stat growth rivaling the highest tiers of other classes. However, unlocking it requires five specific jobs at Level 200 and all in your party at the same time, and the cost to transmute a character into one is huge.
276* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Laharl's plot to rule the Netherworld in ''Disgaea'' eventually extends to Celestia [[spoiler:and in a silly optional side-quest, the Human World]]. Possibly subverted, as Celestia [[spoiler:did attack first, after all]].
277* RapidFireInterrupting: '''Captain Gordon, DEFENDER OF EARTH!''''s infamous interrupting Etna in the end of Episode 9. Which ends with...
278-->'''Etna''': "Ha ha ha ha", ''MY ASS!!'' *gunshot, beating sounds*
279* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Laharl, Etna, and Flonne are all revealed to be well over a thousand years old. Angels and demons age at 1/100th the rate as humans.
280* RedOniBlueOni: Inverted. Cool blue-haired Laharl has an extremely short temper, while fiery red-haired Etna is calmer and ([[ACupAngst usually]]) more rational.
281* RegalRinglets: The Archer unit has this hairstyle. Later incarnations would change to twintails.
282* RewatchBonus: Start the game over after [[spoiler:learning that Mid-Boss was working with Lamington, re-watching the scenes where Lamington is speaking with his unseen collaborator, one can see {{Foreshadowing}} to it being Mid-Boss.]]
283* TheRival: Kurtis. His initial class is explicitly stated as "Rival".
284* RobotBuddy: Thursday.
285* {{Rounded Character}}s: Each of the three main characters got a great spectrum of emotions, possesses a wide variety of personality traits that that can be categorized as virtues, flaws and idiosyncrasies, struggles with internal conflict, learns and grows from their experience, got backstories and motivations that reinforces their behavior. Even the masterminds behind the plot get their fair share of [[HiddenDepths hidden depth]] as well.
286* SadBattleMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idHONGNrXds&ab_channel=TheDiscoShrew Angel of Sorrow]] shows up during sad story moments, but it also plays during Chapter 8's battles, which is fittingly the saddest chapter in the entire game.
287* SafetyInIndifference: Demon Prince Laharl wakes up from a two-year sleep (more like coma) to find out that his father is dead and that he is now inheritor to the throne of Overlord. [[NiceGirl Angel Trainee Flonne]] tries to console him about his father's death, but he brushes it off like nothing, which horrifies her. Later, we learn that [[spoiler:Laharl ignores his emotions -- especially empathy and love -- because of the pain of losing his mother when he was young.]]. Laharl actually cares a lot more than he lets on, but acts indifferent both because he hates the pain, and because [[TheChainsOfCommanding he can't look weak as the Overlord.]]
288* SayMyName: All up and down the final chapters, mostly by '''Captain Gordon, DEFENDER OF EARTH!''':
289** Thursdaaaaaaaaaaaay!!
290** Jennifer!! Jenniferrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...!!!!
291** Kurtiiiiiiisssssssssss!!
292** Flonne! (Laharl and Etna both yell Flonne's name at least twice apiece in the scene leading up to the final battle. Laharl gets one more in the good ending.)
293** Prince!! (Title, not name, but close enough. Etna, in the good and normal endings, when Laharl is going to [[spoiler:sacrifice himself for Flonne]].)
294* ScriptedBattle: Etna plays with this by scripting the tutorial battle to make you lose, to show the player what NOT to do.
295* ShooOutTheClowns: Lampshaded in the DS version: During the NewGamePlus, the Prinny commentary stops during really emotional scenes, usually prefaced with something to the tune of "I'll shut up for awhile." It's back as soon as the dialogue turns goofy again.
296** At the end of chapter 13, Etna's 'next episode' preview is completely serious and accurately describes the upcoming event, instead of the goofy and wildly inaccurate scenarios she usually predicts. The others find this utterly terrifying.
297*** When you encounter Vyers at the entrance to Celestia, Laharl calls him "Dark Adonis" instead of "Mid-Boss" as usual, recognizing that the guy may be more than he seems.
298* ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/{{Disgaea}} Has its own page]] thanks to its ReferencedOverdosed status.
299* SiliconSnarker: Thursday, the robotic assistant to '''CAPTAIN GORDON, DEFENDER OF EARTH''' and Jennifer, who built him, proves to be quite snarky on a number of occasions.
300-->'''Thursday:''' ''Gordon has been relegated to bitch work. Where's your skirt, pansy?''
301* SmugSnake: Maderas.
302* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: Laharl, Etna, and Flonne all believe that Jennifer's [[UnwillingRoboticization modifications]] would make her a giantess with TorpedoTits.
303* SuccessionCrisis: The first half of the game.
304* SymbolSwearing: Thursday.
305* TakeAThirdOption: As a means of coping with [[spoiler:his mother's death]], Laharl didn't blame himself for being sick, nor his mother for the sacrifice she made, but the emotion that drove her to do so: Love.
306* TakeMeInstead: [[spoiler:Laharl]] desperately tries to invoke this in the endings.
307* TakeOverTheWorld: Much of the game's missions surround various characters' attempts to take control of the Netherworld - Laharl (who succeeds), Carter, and Vulcanus all attempt it, in addition to an unnamed demon from a different Netherworld, Prism Red, and Laharl's own retainers. [[spoiler:Also, the ending for completing the Human World ends with Laharl deciding to take over the Earth after all.]]
308* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:Seraph Lamington behind Archangel Vulcanus.]]
309* ThemeNaming: Laharl, Etna, Lamington, Vulcanus, Vesuvius, Yasurl, and Krichevskoy are all related to volcanoes ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahar lahar]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Etna Mount Etna]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lamington Mount Lamington]], the Roman fire god/[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcano Vulcano]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Yasur Mount Yasur]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klyuchevskaya_Sopka Kliuchevskoi]], respectively). Also the prinnies = [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plinian_eruption plinian]], a type of eruption.
310* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: In the PC trailer, the narrator wonders if maybe they are going a bit overboard, when a PC pushes an enemy ''into the sun'' as an attack.
311-->'''Narrator''': "Isn't that a little overkill?"
312* ThisIsUnforgivable: Mid-Boss says this after Laharl gives him his new nickname.
313** Laharl after Etna's spell bounces off Flonne and burns up his hair.
314* Title1: While there were many previous ports, ''Disgaea 1 Complete'' was the first to actually add a ''1'' to the title.
315* TooAwesomeToUse: The DS and PSP re-releases add the ultimate Hand (stealing item), the Dream Hand. Hand success rate is based on HIT, and the Awesome hand, the best usually, maybe ballparks at just over 100 HIT without specialists and is Legendary Rare. Dream Hands ballpark at over ''1500'' HIT, almost always ensuring a successful steal and making them excellent for grabbing Legendary Rare top-rank items otherwise very difficult to grab. The catch? They have a range of one, forcing the Thief to get right next to their target to use them, and you can only get a handful on each playthrough of the story.
316* TorpedoTits: The Prinny commentary jokes that when Jennifer is kidnapped, this might have been done to her.
317* TransformationSequence: Subversion -- in the battle with the Prism Rangers, Etna shoots both Blue and Yellow into {{non lethal KO}}s, leaving Red to fend for himself.
318* {{Tsundere}}: Laharl comes pretty close to the textbook definition, when he finds Flonne's pendant, and when he follows her to Celestia.
319** [[spoiler:Etna]] is is ridiculously Tsun to everyone but, if you read her diary, shows she has a pretty soft spot for [[spoiler:the late King]].
320* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:Laharl]] in the main ending of Etna mode. [[spoiler:The shot that supposedly killed him just knocked him out for four episodes.]]
321* UnknownRival: The sassy demon Vyers, whom the protagonists unflatteringly refer to as Mid-Boss.
322* UnreliableNarrator: Etna's OnTheNext monologues. [[spoiler:Subverted in Chapter 9, when the (highly unlikely) introduction of '''Captain Gordon, Defender of the Earth''' plays out exactly as foretold, and then Chapter 14, when Etna's too disheartened to make up more tall tales.]]
323* UnsettlingGenderReveal: Happens in the manga where Maderas becomes attracted to a beautiful woman, only for Etna to tell him that the woman is actually [[DisguisedInDrag Vyers in drag]]!!!
324* UnwillingRoboticization: At one point, Jennifer is turned into a cyborg.
325* UnwittingPawn: ''Everyone'' is a pawn of Sereph Lamington. The most awesome part of this was that said gambit involved a three-link chain of Xanatos Suckers (Gordon to General Carter to Vulcanus to Lamington).
326* UpdatedRerelease: ''Afternoon of Darkness'' and ''DS'' are the same as ''Hour of Darkness'', with some new features and entire new story with Etna.
327* VerbalTic: Thursday's "BEEP BEEP BLIP BEEP", and the Prinny's "Dood".
328* TheVoiceless: All of the GuestStarPartyMembers have no voices for some reason. That also goes to Asagi and the Prism Rangers in the PC release and beyond.
329* WeirdMoon: The red moon.
330* WhamEpisode: Chapter 8, which explores Laharl's aversity to love and kindness. After what's been a really silly adventure to that point, it also serves as a serious MoodWhiplash and the chapter features no gags, just tears.
331* WhamLine: When the Big Sis Prinny tells Flonne why [[SuicideIsShameful she killed herself]], [[spoiler:revealing her identity as Laharl's mother]]:
332-->'''Big Sis Prinny:''' [[spoiler:To save my son's life.]]
333* WhatIf: Etna Mode in the two updated re-releases -- what if Etna accidentally killed Laharl while trying to wake him up? [[spoiler:On the one hand, this results in Vulcanus being killed ''without'' contacting the EDF, and thus the war that consumes the second half of the game never occurs. On the other hand, because it's Etna doing all the work, Laharl never undergoes the CharacterDevelopment intended by Vyers and Lamington, and Flonne is probably going to head back to Celestia once Vulcanus is taken care of.]] So a bit of a mixed bag.
334* WingedHumanoid: Flonne, though outside of one of her attacks, in which they spread out and grow, she's never seen actually flying with them. Etna also has wings, and in ''Disgaea 2'', demonstrates that they actually grow to 3 times their normal size to allow for flight. Official art and a cutscene in ''Disgaea 2'' also reveal that Laharl has a pair under the cape -- [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything and they're absolutely tiny]].
335* WithAFriendAndAStranger: Laharl, Etna, and Flonne.
336* WithCatlikeTread: When Flonne infiltrates Laharl's castle, she loudly provides sound effects.
337-->[[SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud Whoosh! Nin nin nin! Wumph!]]
338* WorldOfHam: And how! Just about every character indulges in some good old-fashioned [[ChewingTheScenery scenery chewing]], but special mention goes to Laharl, Mid-Boss, and '''Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!!!'''
339* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: In Chapter 5, Maderas does this to [[spoiler:Etna after she unwillingly betrayed Laharl. Fortunately, she foresaw this and her counter-plan was set into motion]].
340** And near the finale, [[spoiler:Lamington, as a reminder to the viewer that he truly is a badass, does this to Vulcanus by turning him into a flower as punishment for his sins (in ''Anime/MakaiSenkiDisgaea'', he turned him into a frog) when Vulcanus gets a VillainousBreakdown upon finding out that he was an UnwittingPawn and tries to kill him after he has served his purpose of bringing peace between Celestia, the human world, and the Netherworld. Serves that mad archangel right.]]
341* YouNeverAsked: For most of the game, Jennifer is relegated to being TheSmartGuy, {{Fanservice}}, and cheering from the sidelines. Once she's {{Mind Control}}led and uses her [[SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat Kung Fu skills]] on the main cast, '''Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!''' asks her why she never told him about that before. [[YouNeverAsked He Never Asked]].
342** Though this is no surprise to the player unless they never used her once she joins the party.

Top