Line #69 VisualNovel/Demonbane


1	!This work is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=17125774580.98340600 under review]] at the Content Violation Discussions subforum.
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3	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deus_machina_demonbane.png]]
4
5	->''I am innocent rage\
6	I am innocent hatred\
7	I am the innocent sword\
8	I am DEMONBANE''
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10	Kurou Daijuuji is a poor detective living in Arkham City ([[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity no, not that one]]). A center of both industry and [[LovecraftCountry eldritch lore]], it is home to Miskatonic University ([[VisualNovel/TheMiskatonic not that one either]]), which Kurou is a former student of. The city was built up and is run by an industry group and family dynasty known as the Hadou Financial Group, led by Ruri Hadou, who works to protect the city from the forces of darkness. Her main enemy is the villainous [[TheSyndicate Black Lodge syndicate]], led by the charismatic [[BigBad Master Therion]]. The [[WhiteHairBlackHeart white-haired]] Beast of the Antichrist, he is the most powerful sorcerer in the whole world, and his nihilistic outlook shapes the group's destructive goals.
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12	One day, Kurou is asked by Ruri to search for a magical grimoire. As Kurou searches for the book, he unexpectedly runs into Al-Azif, a pretty girl who turns out to be the grimoire Kurou is searching for. While being chased by the Black Lodge, Al forges a contract with Kurou, bestowing him with powerful magic. Soon afterwards, Al also activates the Demonbane, a [[HumongousMecha Deus Machina]] owned by the Hadou Financial Group, to combat the mechanical menace from the Black Lodge and Therion, who seeks the power of the grimore for himself. With this, the war between the Hadou Financial Group and the Black Lodge begins...
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14	A series by Creator/{{Nitroplus}} with HumongousMecha and Franchise/CthulhuMythos elements, it began as an VisualNovel {{eroge}} for the PC, then was ported to the Sony Platform/PlayStation2 as a [[SelfCensoredRelease non-eroge remake]]. In full, the franchise consists of:
15	* ''Zanma Taisei Demonbane'': "Demon-Slaying Great Saint, Demonbane", the original Visual Novel. Released in English in 2011 under the title ''Deus Machina Demonbane''.
16	* ''Kishin Houkou Demonbane'': "Roar of the Machine God, Demonbane", the [=PS2=] port of the Visual Novel, also the name of the AnimeOfTheGame.
17	* ''Kishin Hishou Demonbane'': "Flight of the Machine God, Demonbane", the sequel game, with a linear story and player-controllable giant mecha battles. This is the one with the Demonbane that can summon infinite copies of itself.
18	* ''Kishin Taidou Demonbane'': "Embryonic Movements of the Machine God, Demonbane", the first {{prequel}} novel, set decades before the original game, focusing on Kouzou Hadou, Augusta Derleth (Ruri's mother), and Azrad, one of Al's past masters.
19	* ''Gunshin Kyoushuu Demonbane'': "Assault of the War God, Demonbane", the second prequel novel, continuing a few years after the first. This is the one with the [[SignatureScene infinitely-gigantic Demonbane.]]
20	* ''Do Marini no Tokei Demonbane'': "De Marigny's Clock, Demonbane", a Dr. West-centered {{interquel}}/prequel novel, telling of his life before coming to Arkham City, as well as dealing with the time-warping artifact known as De Marigny's Clock, one of Al's lost page sets, during the original visual novel's story.
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22	----
23	!!Tropes employed in this series are:
24	* AcheyScars: [[spoiler:Sandalphon's face bleeds when he gets too upset about Leica.]]
25	* ActionGirl: Metatron and Elsa. Ruri later joins this trope in her route.
26	* AffablyEvil: Doctor West [[spoiler: Until his HeelFaceTurn.]]
27	* AliceAllusion: The entire incident with the Mirror of Nitocris.
28	* AllWebbedUp: In Atlach-Nacha's lair.
29	* AMagicContractComesWithAKiss: How Al made the contract with Kurou.
30	* AnachronismStew: Even though the story took place in the 1930s according to the afterword of the novelization, the United States military somehow already has fighter jets, missiles, and ''nukes''. Justified, since Demonbane takes place in an AlternateTimeline where alchemy was proven to exist and became an established branch of science.
31	* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Tiberius' final fate in Al's route. He's absorbed into the Shining Trapezohedron, forever trapped in a dimension of shrieking madness and suffering]].
32	* AndThenWhat: Sandalphon is asked what he intends to do after he defeats Metatron. He doesn't really have an answer.
33	* AnimalMotifs: [[spoiler:The Tyrant acts like a cat and has hair like cat ears.]]
34	* AnimeHair: '''Everyone''', but Kurou stands out when in Magius Style.
35	* TheAntiChrist: Master Therion, according to one of the trivia pages, translates to [[NumberoftheBeast 666]] in a magic system that assigns numerical values to letters, and he has a personality cult and vast magical ability..
36	* AntiMagic: Doctor West's Dig Me No Grave.
37	* AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: In one ending, [[spoiler: Kurou and Al become Elder Gods]].
38	* AttractiveBentGender: Kurou gets forced into drag at one point, and though we don't get to see it, even ''Doctor West'' found him hot.
39	* AvengingTheVillain:[[spoiler:When Caligula is killed by Kurou, Claudius goes absolutely berserk.]]
40	* BabiesEverAfter: The sequel plays with this, [[spoiler: Kuzaku and Another Blood are Kuro and Al's children.]] However, both of them come from alternate futures.
41	* BackToBackBadasses: Kurou and Winfield during the battle at Innsmouth. Elsa and Ruri do this in their route versus Claudius.
42	* BadassBiker: Doctor West, Al, Metatron, [[spoiler: Sandalphon]] and Kurou get their chances at being this.
43	** [[CarFu Motorcycle Fu]]: Done by Metatron, [[spoiler: Sandalphon]] and Doctor West on three separate occasions.
44	* BadassCrew: Anticross is the evil version of this.
45	* BadassNormal: Winfield. [[spoiler: Stone and Ness get their moments as well.]]
46	** [[spoiler:In a weird mix of this trope and BroughtDownToBadass, Demonbane becomes this in Al's route after her apparent death, forcing Elsa to take over. True, Demonbane can't use most of its attacks aside from its fists and Lemuria Impact, but it's still more than enough to take out at least one of the Anticross' Deus Machina.]]
47	* BattleButler: Winfield, who's a {{Homage}} to Creator/HPLovecraft's father, Winfield Scott Lovecraft.
48	* BeachEpisode: Chapter 7 (The Shadow Over Innsmouth). The plot focusses on the gang staying at a Hadou beach resort in Innsmouth to investigate a dark magical presence. The chapter is mostly focussed on comic relief and {{fanservice}}, and even when Doctor West summons his destroyer robot from the ocean, [[spoiler:it’s become too rusted to battle]]. Of course, [[spoiler:this only lasts for the first half of the chapter, with the latter half becoming much darker when the group are forced to confront Dagon and Hydra.]]
49	* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: [[spoiler:Al falls in love with Kurou because he is not like her previous masters. Unlike them, he treats her as a human and more than that, as someone important. The souls of her previous masters admit that when they were working together in the past the various pairs shouldn't have treated each other like tools.]]
50	* BeenThereShapedHistory: Demonbane and Liber Legis's final battle ends up [[PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs causing the extinction of the dinosaurs.]]
51	* {{BFS}}: The Shining Trapezohedron, which can supposedly cut through dimensions and seal gods. The Scimitar of Barzai also counts.
52	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Almost all true and normal ending are this. This is especially true in Ruri's normal and good ending and Leica's true ending.]]
53	* BladeCatch: When retrieving the independent Scimitar Of Barzai
54	* BloodKnight: Half of Anticross consists of these.
55	* BlushSticker: [[SuperDeformed Chibi]]-Al Azif and Sonia, the smallest of Ruri's maids.
56	* BondageIsBad: With a name like "the Tyrant", y'think?
57	* BoundAndGagged: Chiaki winds up like this a few times, albeit PlayedForLaughs.
58	* BridgeBunnies: Ruri's [[{{Meido}} servants]] Makoto, Chiaki and Sonia.
59	* BroughtDownToBadass : [[spoiler:In Al's route, she temporarily dies. While she's gone, Kurou is forced to fight without her. While his performance certainly suffers, he still ends up a rather competent fighter.]]
60	* ButtMonkey: Kurou does not have much luck with the women in his life. At all.
61	** Doctor West is also one, especially if you count all the times he gets "beat the shit out of". In fact, [[spoiler: his own creation (Elsa) falls for Kurou and treats her creator like crap, her programming be damned.]]
62	* CallingYourAttacks: Some of this is justified due to spellcasting requiring incantations... but most of it is just RuleOfCool.
63	* {{Canon}}: The visual novel has MultipleEndings. In the sequel, it turn out that ''most'' of them occur, with exception of the bad ending. This is possible because of time-loops and alternate timelines.
64	* CaptainErsatz: Although there's no clean-cut equivalents and their membership numbers differ, the reputations of the Anticross's members and their overall role in the story is comparable to [[Manga/GiantRobo The Magnificent Ten]]. Master Therion's vague motives, overall character design, and level of power is also comparable to Big Fire himself.
65	* CerebusSyndrome: The story starts leaning towards the more Lovecraftian side of things once the character routes start.
66	* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Winfield is able to go toe-to-toe with an Anticross sorcerer by virtue of the fact that he's a master boxer. Apparently boxing in ''Demonbane'' can make you superhuman.
67	* ChickMagnet: Kurou gets over half the women in the game to go googly eyed for him in one way or another. While being a ButtMonkey at the same time.
68	* ChildSupplantsParent: Another Blood wants to replace her mom. To make it more complicate, she comes from an alternate future and thus is not really related to her parents in the present. And since she's a book like her mom, their genetic relationship is hard to judge; though it may just be that she takes more after her mom than her brother does or maybe only females can be grimoires.
69	%%* ClingyJealousGirl:
70	%%** Al, especially in Ruri's route.
71	%%** Etheldreda is also like this, although she doesn't directly act on it.
72	%%* ClusterFBomb: Kurou and Doctor West have dialogue that could strip paint off walls. Claudius is even worse, [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehaviour considering he's only about 10]].
73	* CombatTentacles: It's based on Lovecraft. Tentacles had to show up at some point. And given they are the limbs of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, they are very effective in combat. [[spoiler:Cthulhu's tentacles in particular are stated to have sufficient power to OneHitKill Demonbane.]]
74	%%* CombinedEnergyAttack: It's [[YourSoulIsMine vengeful]].
75	* CompressedAdaptation: The TwelveEpisodeAnime is basically a summarized version of Al's route as it left out a lot of content from the original visual novel to fit it into a short anime.
76	* ConservationOfNinjutsu: You'd think that when the true, full-power Demonbane has the ability to summon every Demonbane that was, is, will be, wasn't, isn't, won't be and can't be to fight alongside it, this trope would be the first thing to come into effect. Thoroughly subverted, as having infinite Demonbanes makes it truly unstoppable.
77	* ConvenientlyEmptyBuilding: Even though Dr. West rampages through Arkham City with his giant robots and cause massive collateral damage all the time, he never seems to actually kill anybody, so he's LaughablyEvil rather than just evil. Kurou even lampshades this by pointing out it's a real mystery how no one has been killed by the destructive fights he has with West.
78	** Just to hammer home the point, this is completely subverted after [[spoiler:he defects from Black Lodge as they put the C Project into action: countless innocents were killed by their Mass Production Type Destroyer Robots.]]
79	* CoolBike: Hunting Horror. A flying motorcycle with ''all the power of a Deus Machina''.
80	* CoolOldGuy: Every image we see of Ruri's grandfather points to him being this. Just look at those muscles, and that hair, and that pose! It's revealed in Ruri's route that [[spoiler:"Hadou Kouzou" is actually Kurou, having taken up his identity after getting stuck in a StableTimeLoop.]]
81	* CosplayOtakuGirl: Al seems to like changing her outfit to be "theme appropriate" to her situation quite a bit.
82	* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: [[spoiler: Stone and Ness aren't as pathetic as they seem, as Tiberius finds out.]]
83	* CurbStompBattle:
84	** [[spoiler:All of the Anticross vs. Master Therion. On the other hand, [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning his death was just the beginning]].]]
85	** Anyone who fights Kurou in the finale of Ruri's route, up until the very last one.
86	** Anyone who is foolish enough to go up against the Tyrant. Except Master Therion, where the joke's on her.
87	** [[StoryBreakerPower Elder God Demonbane]] vs anything. Its ''Athleta Aeternum'' guarantees that, even in the exceedingly rare cases it can't overpower something itself, it can summon an infinite amount of help from other universes.
88	* CuteAndPsycho: The Tyrant. Or at least, she's cute beneath all the bondage gear.
89	%%* {{Cyborg}}: [[spoiler:Metatron, the Tyrant and Sandalphon.]]
90	* DamselInDistress: [[spoiler:Metatron is taken captive to be a substitute C Priestess after the Tyrant is killed by Kurou.]]
91	* DemotedToExtra: Despite being major characters, Metatron and Sandalphon are nowhere to be seen in anime adaption. Also Alison, who got a whole chapter of focus on her CharacterDevelopment in the visual novel version only.
92	* DepravedBisexual: Tiberius, though his preference seems to slant towards women, has some creepy affectionate dialogue for Sandalphon.
93	%%* {{Determinator}}: Kurou, Winfield and Doctor West.
94	%%* DeusSexMachina: How Kurou manages to [[spoiler:control Cthugha and Ithaqua.]]
95	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Done rather spectacularly. Demonbane was specifically made for punching out Cthulhu and his buddies. [[spoiler:Ironically, it becomes an EldritchAbomination itself when it becomes an Elder God... but a benevolent one.]]
96	* DidYouJustRomanceCthulhu: Al Azif is the spirit of the Necronomicon and is a romance option. The BigBad has a similar attachment to his own grimoire, Etheldreda (aka The Pnakotic Manuscripts).
97	* DramaticUnmask: In Chapter 10 of [[spoiler:Leica's]] route, Metatron's mask cracks apart and falls off her face, revealing [[spoiler:a blue-haired Leica]]. The trope is inverted in the following chapter of the same route, when [[spoiler:Ryuuga]] confronts her and then transforms into Sandalphon on the spot.
98	* DualWielding / GunsAkimbo / SwordsAkimbo: The Demonbane and Kurou when using Cthugha & Ithaqua, Kuzaku [[RedBaron "Two-Sword"/"Two-Gun"]] and his Demonbane Two-Sword, and lest we forget Titus of Anticross, a ''four-armed sword wielding samurai''.
99	* DumbMuscle: Caligula. His spellwork basically consists of punching things ''really hard''.
100	* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler:Subverted. Ryuuga dies insane and hating Leica. Or perhaps that was his true self and the boy Leica knew was just a lie. Due to rejecting the idea of dying sane or at peace, he does not reincarnate into the restructured world at the end of Leica's route.]]
101	* DyingCurse: The last words of Sandalphon.
102	* EldritchAbomination: A few. The likes of [[spoiler:Dagon and Hydra]] don't bother anyone too much but [[spoiler:the likes of Cthulhu]] cause some major brain breaking at first. [[spoiler:And then Yog-Sothoth itself is manifested and very nearly annihilates all life on Earth just from ''existing'' before taking on AFormYouAreComfortableWith.]]
103	* EldritchLocation: An entire section of the city has been sealed off for being one of these. Any normal person who enters would simply die instantly. The final battle also takes place in a succession of these, as Demonbane and Liber Legis get randomly teleported throughout all of time and space.
104	* EndingFatigue: In-universe version. In the prequel novel, [[spoiler:Nyarlathotep]] got bored of the never-ending battle between Gunshin Kyoshuu Demonbane and Gunshin Kyoshuu Liber Legis (after watching it for many aeons, even attacks that destroy multiverses can be boring...). So she tweaked the timeline, kicking whole events of prequel out of canon (and erased those two from reality), resulting in one that of the VisualNovel.
105	* EvenEvilHasStandards
106	** Most members of Anticross have contempt for [[PsychoForHire Tiberius]]. Doctor West finds him to be an illogical abomination, and Sandalphon even resorts to [[spoiler: EnemyMine with Kurou]] to screw him over.
107	** A few members of Black Lodge find excess violence rather distasteful. Titus will kill people far below his level if ordered to, but otherwise finds it pointlessly brutal. Doctor West also finds outright slaughter to be so unappealing [[spoiler:that he defects after calling out all of Anticross at once and getting stabbed for his trouble.]]
108	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: In [[spoiler: Elder Gods ending, Nyarlathotep express its confusion at Kurou and Al as they continue to fight for humanity after ascend into Elder Gods]]. The narration make it clear that, to the Ancient Ones, there shouldn't be any good gods.
109	* EvilCounterpart: Liber Legis is the ultimate evil to Demonbane's ultimate good and they have similar but opposite attacks. Metatron and Sandalphon also have this dynamic going on.
110	* EvilIsDeathlyCold: Master Therion's Liber Legis' "Hyperborea Zero Drive" reduces its target's temperature to absolute zero. Also, Caligula's Kraken's main attack.
111	** Ithaqua too, since all magic is technically "unholy".
112	* EvilTwin
113	** Doctor West's "Demonpain", which can do almost everything the original Demonbane can and is even powered by some of Al Azif's pages.
114	*** [[spoiler: EXCEPT use the power of the pages. Can't mimic what you haven't seen, right?]]
115	** Another Blood from the sequel visual novel is another one, being the [[spoiler:Blood Edition of the Necronomicon.]] She describes herself as [[KnightInShiningArmor Kuzaku's]] opposite, [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil counterbalancing his heroism with her evil.]]
116	* [[ExpressiveHair Expresssive]] IdiotHair: Doctor West, similar to [[Franchise/MuvLuv Sumika]].
117	* {{Expy}}: Metatron and Sandalphon have a variant of the [[Anime/TekkamanBlade Blade and Evil]] dynamic.
118	* FacelessGoons: The Black Lodge {{mook}}s.
119	* FacialMarkings: Half the people with AnimeHair, mostly those from Black Lodge.
120	* FateWorseThanDeath:
121	** The bad ending, [[spoiler:Kurou becomes Nyarlathotep's plaything. Trapped in a timeloop, he lives in the world that became an EldritchLocation after the destruction of Shining Trapezohedron. At the end of each loop, he will meet Al but never get a reunion with her.]]
122	** In Al's route, [[spoiler:they don't really bother trying to kill Tiberius.]] Instead, he gets [[spoiler:sucked into the Shining Trapezeohedron.]] Al and Kurou couldn't see what was in there from where they were, but [[spoiler:Tiberius certainly could.]] What he saw was enough to make [[spoiler:the crazed, monstrous immortality freak]] actually beg for death instead of being sucked inside. Kurou simply points out that [[spoiler:after all the horrors he perpetrated to become what he is now]] whatever is in there surely won't be enough to do put an end to him either.
123	* FauxAffablyEvil: Vespasianus. Sure, he's fairly erudite and disturbingly polite for an Anticross member, but his deeds and what he'll do to accomplish them reveal it's but a thin veneer over his MadScientist self.
124	* FilleFatale: Ennea. It isn't really clear if she's as young as she looks, but she does act very sexually aggressive at times.
125	* FinishingMove: Lemuria Impact. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWrh80fhfgA All playable characters in ''Kishin Hishou'' has at least one finishing move]].
126	* TheGadfly: Ennea is quite fond of trolling Al.
127	* GagPenis: Kurou and Therion have inhumanly large members, to the point that they are almost impossible to take seriously. How the girls manage to take them in all the way to the hilt is... probably best not thought about. Fans like to speculate that it's indicative of their magical potential (with the backhanded implication that Doctor West has a tiny one due to using science over magic).
128	* GenreBlind: Nero is indeed the most powerful among Anticross and has no problem fighting both Augustus and Vespasianus at same time. Too bad, she confronted them inside Cthulhu, surround by countless tentacles. Since Demonbane started as {{eroge}}, it doesn't matter how powerful she is. [[spoiler: Then subverted later on when she kills Vespasianus in the blink of an eye and would've done the same to Augustus if it hadn't already been done for her.]]
129	* HalfHumanHybrid: [[spoiler:Therion is the child of the human Nero and the deity Yog Sothoth.]]
130	* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: [[spoiler:Claudius has to be cut in half before he finally dies. And then he comes back as a zombie.]]
131	* HairColorDissonance: Al's light pink hair is referred to as silver.
132	* HairTriggerTemper: Claudius. He has two speeds: about to be pissed off, and pure, screaming rage.
133	* HealingFactor: [[spoiler:The strongest Deus Machinas have a self repair module and the Tyrant is also capable of a great deal of self healing.]]
134	* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Doctor West and Elsa.]]
135	** In the sequel, [[spoiler: Master Therion and Etheldreda. As well as Another Blood.]]
136	* HeroInsurance: Everything's paid for by the Hadou Financial Group, though that doesn't stop Kurou from worrying about all the damage done in the fights.
137	* HeroicBSOD: Kurou has one after he [[spoiler:fail to save Ennea]]. He temporarily recovers after Al [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan slaps some sense into him]]. Too bad, because he soon faces another one after [[spoiler:Al's death]], and is nearly DrivenToSuicide until Winfield puts an end to ''that''.
138	* HenshinHero: Metatron, one of the Black Lodge's many enemies. [[spoiler:She's Leica.]]
139	* {{Hihiirokane}}: Demonbane's armor is made of this, which is nearly impervious to non-magical attacks. Unfortunately, since all of its most powerful enemies are magic-based, this almost never comes into play.
140	* HomoeroticSubtext: Between Doctor West and Kurou, thanks to a misunderstanding on the part of the former. Neither one is happy.
141	* HotbloodedSideburns: It'd be easier listing everyone who ''doesn't'' have them. Seeing how this is a SuperRobot game at its very core, anything less would be preposterous.
142	* HumongousMecha: The Deus Machina and Doctor West's Destroyer Robots.
143	** In the prequel novel, Demonbane appears as the "Gunshin Kyoshuu Demonbane" (War God Demonbane), particularly notable for being '''the''' largest mecha in fiction, even larger than the [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]. It grows so large that it ''pops'' the universe it's in, and accidentally destroys other universes by ''brushing against them''. Of course, its ArchEnemy "Gunshin Kyoshuu Liber Legis" (War God Liber Legis) is just as gigantic and powerful.
144	* HypocriticalHumor: Tiberius crying rape when Al tries to remove ''De Vermis Mysteriis'' from him.
145	* IfICantHaveYou: [[spoiler:Sandalphon isn't crazy because Leica killed him once. No, he was always crazy and a yandere for her and thus he simply can't accept a Leica who wasn't his big sister.]]
146	* {{Immortality}}
147	** Tiberius' grimoire makes him immortal and undead.
148	** [[spoiler:Vespasianus can revive up to three times by sacrificing one of his familiars.]]
149	** [[spoiler:The Outer Gods are suggested to be impossible to ever kill, even by Elder God Demonbane. Azathoth certainly is, considering the multiverse is its dream, and Yog-Sothoth being space-time itself means that its death would mean the end of the universe. Nyarlathotep actually can be killed, but only temporarily: there are an infinite number of universes out there and Nyarlathotep exists in all of them... it can always come back.]]
150	* ImmortalityInducer: Tiberius' grimoire makes him absolutely unkillable so long as it is unharmed. As a side effect, he is a perpetually rotting corpse.
151	* ImprobableWeaponUser: Perhaps in {{Homage}} to ''Desperado'', Doctor West arms himself with a guitar case with a built-in rocket launcher, which he shoots in the same way as that guy from ''Film/{{Desperado}}''.
152	* IncestSubtext: Ruri, in regards to her grandfather. Her grandfather is the most important person in her life and it turns out that the man she falls in love with, Kurou (or at least an alternate version of him), is actually [[spoiler: her grandfather via adoption. Even though she's not biologically related to her grandfather, the reasons why she fell for Kurou are very much the same reasons she admired her grandfather.]]
153	* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Doctor West, [[spoiler:until he pulls a HeelFaceTurn.]]
154	* InsufferableGenius: Both Doctor West and Master Therion, as much as they might irritate most of the cast, are genuine masters of their fields.
155	* IronicEcho: A rare example that's played for laughs. During Kurou's first fight with Master Therion, when he tried to destroy Leica's church in an attempt to get Kurou to show his full power, Kurou described him as an inhuman demon without a shred of ethics, who genuinely enjoys torturing people from the bottom of his heart, like a child tearing the wings off of a butterfly... Several chapters later, he applies the exact same description to a [[InVinoVeritas drunken Ruri]].
156	* LampshadeHanging: Kurou just loves hanging lampshades on SuperRobot cliches as they show up in-story. Notable ones include Demonbane [[Franchise/{{Gundam}} having head-mounted vulcans]] and Elsa having "-robo" as a VerbalTic.
157	* LargeHam: Doctor West THE GREAT! GENIUS! OF THE CENTURY! guitar riff
158	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Nya loves comparing the plot to a stage play, even pointing out the different "parts" each character is playing in the overall story. The second game in particular goes nuts with this idea, explicitly calling each universe/timeline to a "story" created by the emotions and actions of the people living in it.
159	* {{Leitmotif}}: Most of the major characters have one.
160	* LetsGetDangerous: The invasion of the Hadou shelters after Big C is repulsed on several fronts by the combined effort of many supporting characters.
161	* LittleMissBadass: Al and Etheldreda.
162	* LivingMacguffin: [[spoiler:Nero is needed for the C Project.]]
163	* LouisCypher: If a rather creepy character going by the name of Nya in a Lovecraft story doesn't set off any alarm bells something may be wrong.
164	* LovecraftCountry: Set in Lovecraft's fictional city of Arkham.
165	* LovecraftianSuperpower: Tiberius' rather low combat abilities are based around him using his decaying body parts as weapons, such as making spears of his ribs or using his intestines as tentacles.
166	* LovecraftLite: Despite the overtones of terror and despair that come with being a ''Cthulhu Mythos'' spin-off, this is still a Super Robot story, wherein ThePowerOfLove and being HotBlooded can defeat even the Outer Gods.
167	* MadeOfPlasticine: People tend to blow up rather easily.
168	* MadScientist: Doctor West. Vespasianus is a little more low-key in his madness but still qualifies, once you learn exactly what he did with the Moonchild Project.
169	* MagicSkirt: Compare the CG's of the PC version and the [=PS2=] adaption. Al still wears the same costume, and makes the same poses, but the [=PS2=] version no longer has the {{panty shot}}s.
170	* MechaExpansionPack: Shantak, which allows Demonbane to fly.
171	* MegaCorp: The Hadou Group.
172	* MediumAwareness: Kurou and Doctor West often lampshade HGame tropes in their GenreSavvy moments.
173	* MegaManning: If something belongs inside her pages, Al can use its ability once she's subdued it. [[spoiler:Kurou also gains the support of Cthugha and Ithaqua after managing to force the pair into submission. Not that he can ever admit how he managed to do it.]]
174	* MilitariesAreUseless: The United States army is completely helpless against [[spoiler: Black Lodge's mass production Destroyer Robot army]].
175	** [[spoiler: The US President eventually decided to [[NuclearOption nuke Cthulhu]], despite the fact that [[GodzillaThreshold it's above an American city]]. The missile ended up disintegrated before it could even detonate. And the cabinet ends up slaughtered by what's implied to be the Hounds of Tindalos.]]
176	** Zigzagged with the [[spoiler: battle of R'lyeh]]. While the navies of the world got curbstomped by the various Great Old Ones at first, they were eventually able to hold their own with the help of the Hadou Group private fleet.
177	* MindScrew: Al's Bad Ending. Seriously.
178	** [[spoiler: One of the ultimate powers of the Shining Trapezohedron, which is to summon every Demonbane "that ever existed, could exist, never could exist, and never existed." Don't try to think about that one too hard.]]
179	* MoeAnthropomorphism:
180	** The strongest grimoires have their own souls and can manifest themselves as young looking girls. We see the Necronomicon, the R'lyeh test, the Pnakoptic Manuskripts and the spirit of the Nameless One.
181	** Seen through the lens of the Neconomicon and filtered through Al's personality, cosmic horrors also become cute girls. Namely, Atlach-Nacha, Cthugha and Ithaqua.
182	* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:Sandalphon wants to do this as ''well'' as IfICantHaveYou. He's pretty messed up.]]
183	* MultiArmedAndDangerous: [[spoiler:Titus, as well as his Deus Machina, has four arms.]]
184	* {{Necromancer}}: Tiberius can and will raise the dead [[spoiler:including other Anticross members, who retain their abilities.]]
185	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Near the end Kurou manages to [[spoiler: find a way to beat Nero without killing her]]. Sadly all this accomplishes is to allow [[spoiler: Master Therion to be reborn]].
186	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: The Super West Invincible Robot Type-28 Special(s). It is/they are a varied robot series, always rebuilt and modified whenever it gets destroyed. It's usually a barrel-like thing with [[ThisIsADrill drills]] ([[RocketPunch capable of being launched]]), [[MoreDakka cannons, guns]], [[MacrossMissileMassacre missiles]], [[BeamSpam lasers]], etc.
187	* NotSoInvincibleAfterAll: Tiberius boasting how he's unkillable. You will hear him scream with fear against [[spoiler:Shining Trapezohedron]].
188	* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: Averted. The US Government is willing to destroy [[spoiler:Cthulhu]] at any cost. [[spoiler:Too bad Master Therion literally ''[[RidingTheBomb rides the nuke into Cthulhu]]'' and disintegrates it.]]
189	* TheOjou: Ruri Hadou embodies this to the point that Kurou constantly refers to her as "the princess".
190	* OneManArmy: Almost every magically empowered character.
191	* OnlySaneMan: Crossed with {{Irony}} and PlayedForLaughs. Despite the Lovecraftian premise, the sillier moments of the game have Kurou bemoaning he seems to be the only one with a constantly level head.
192	* PapaWolf: Harm anyone close to Kurou... or even just threaten to harm them, and he will have your head. In Tiberius' case, he settled for nothing less than a FateWorseThanDeath (though you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't think Tiberius deserved that). [[spoiler:So you can imagine what awaits Nyarlathotep when Elder God Kurou finds out that the Crawling Chaos has been tormenting ''his son'', with an Elder God Al Azif as his counterpart MamaBear. They hit the Outer God with an infinite number of simultaneous Lemuria Impacts, completely annihilating every trace of its existence in that universe.]]
193	* PerpetualPoverty: Kurou is so poor that he considers ''putting jam on toast'' and ''instant coffee'' to be living it up. He actually cries ManlyTears when Ruri offers to employ him. Averted in [[spoiler: Ruri's routes]] where he becomes rich either by [[spoiler: going back in time and becoming Kouzou Hadou and creating the Hadou fortune]] or by [[spoiler: presumably marrying Ruri]].
194	* PersonOfMassDestruction: Every fighting character.
195	* PowerDyesYourHair: Kurou's hair turns white when in Magius Style. [[spoiler:The blond Leica]]'s hair also turns white when [[spoiler:she activates her cyborg bits.]]
196	* PowerMakesYourHairGrow: Their hair also grows to waist length or longer.
197	* PowersAsPrograms: Spells are described this way: to cast a spell, the sorceror/grimoire/abomination imposes a new law on reality, which they can then activate as they please to achieve an effect. Of course, sorcerors are able to decode and un-write each other's spells as well, so this isn't quite as unbalanced as it sounds.
198	* PowerLimiter: Using Demonbane's Lemuria Impact requires the Naascal Code. On the plus side, it doesn't drain any energy.
199	* PragmaticAdaptation: Demonbane's animated ending is entirely original, made exclusively for the TV series. [[spoiler:While it appears to take after Al's [[BittersweetEnding good ending]], instead of having her drift through space for eons, the Elder Gods Kurou and Al-Azif (from Al's true ending) rescue her and bring her back to Arkham City]]. The superior quality of the ending is attributed to the fact the animation staff enlisted the aid of the original work's staff for the final episode.
200	* PunchClockVillain: Doctor West. He's actually pretty affable when off-duty.
201	* QuirkyMinibossSquad: Anticross, [[ThemeNaming all of whom are named after Roman Emperors]].
202	* RasputinianDeath: Many of the Anticross members go out this way:
203	** [[spoiler:Caligula]] takes a bullet or shrapnel to the eye, has an arm blown off and recovers before having to be outright exploded before dying.
204	** [[spoiler:Claudius]] gets his hand blown off, then is basically opened up from one shoulder to the opposite hip and has his intestines blown out before getting chopped in half.
205	** [[spoiler:Tiberius, due to his immortality, can only due this way.]]
206	* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Al Azif and Etheldreda, who both count their ages in thousands of years.
207	** [[spoiler: And then there's Nya, who's actually an avatar of Nyarlathotep, an ageless Outer God.]]
208	* TheRival: Titus to Winfield. Sandalphon takes this trope to extreme, and only joins in on operations if he'll get to fight Metatron.
209	* RetGone: After Master Therion's defeat, [[spoiler: he is retroactively erased from history, and since he created the Black Lodge, it also ceased to exist (though Doctor West, being Doctor West, is still wrecking the city with Giant Robots).]] Considering how much damage Black Lodge did to the world in the final chapters, [[spoiler:(killing the ''US President and the entire Cabinet'', wiping out the entire First United States Army, and sinking much of the world's combined navy, among many others)]] this is definitely for the best.
210	* TheReveal:
211	** At the end of Chapter 10 in Leica's route, [[spoiler:Metatron is revealed to be a transformed, blue-haired Leica]].
212	** At the end of Ruri's route, we see [[spoiler:Kurou, after getting defeated by Therion and left stranded in the past, meeting a dying Hadou Kouzou, and taking up his identity, thus becoming Ruri's grandfather through a StableTimeLoop.]]
213	* RobotGirl: Elsa, who bypasses DoAndroidsDream by acting [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots very human]] and quickly gets a crush on Kurou.
214	* RocketPunch: Kraken's wire-arms.
215	* RuleOfCool: All magic in the Demonbane universe functions according to this principle. Look no further than Cthugha and Ithaqua: ''Great Old Ones turned into firearms''.
216	* SanityMeter: Kurou makes reference to this trope during the BeachEpisode.
217	* ScrewDestiny: Therion and Nya talk a lot about being trapped in the "Wheel of Fate" and act like everything is predetermined. Kurou is the one fighting against that idea. [[spoiler:Everything seems predetermined only because Nyarlathotep is time-looping the universe, and it's gone through who-knows-how-many iterations by this point, so Therion and Nya (and to a lesser extent, Nero) all know what's going to happen because they've seen it happen before.]]
218	* ScrewYourself: [[spoiler:Kuzaku and Another Blood]], even official art potray them in questionable manner. [[spoiler:This is mostly Another Blood's fault, as she does act very sexually towards anyone she comes into close contact with. It appears that she doesn't really understand the difference between romantic love (of which sexuality is an aspect) and other forms of love.]]
219	* SealedEvilInACan: The true nature of Shining Trapezohedron is [[spoiler:a sealed universe that imprison Outer Gods like Azathoth and Shub-Niggurath.]]
220	* SealedWithAKiss: Al's route and the anime based on it conclude with Kurou and Al sharing a kiss upon their reunion in the world without Black Lodge.
221	* SelfCensoredRelease: The [=PS2=] version, which removes the sex scenes.
222	* SerialEscalation: Elder God Demonbane's ''Athleta Aeternum'' ability can summon countless variants of itself from the multiverse. And not just those exist in the multiverse, it can summon those that ''shouldn't'' exist as well.
223	* ShootTheShaggyDog: Kurou went through much trouble just to save [[spoiler:Ennea]]. Only for her to die in [[spoiler:Master Therion's revival]].
224	* ShoutOut: [[{{ShoutOut/Demonbane}} A very long list.]]
225	* ShrinkingViolet: Alison. The Mirror of Nitocris incident is mostly about her learning to open up a little towards others.
226	* SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror: It blends tropes from HumongousMecha (and {{eroge}} in the original visual novel), with Lovecraftian horror, often lampshading elements of the former two.
227	* SmugSnake: Augustus. Sure he's a smart and high-functioning villain, but in the end he allowed his arrogance to override his common sense. Vespasianus is one as well.
228	* SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome: In ''Kishin Hishou'', Al seem to be slighly older, borderline between young teen and little girl. Keep in mind that she's ReallySevenHundredYearsOld and still look the same in the end of first game.
229	* SpannerInTheWorks: In the sequel, if Doctor West manages to somehow defeat Another Blood in their first battle, [[spoiler:Nyarlathotep basically goes "Well... um, I have no idea what to do in this case. Uh, here's some random comedic epilogues, choose which one you like best!"]]
230	* StableTimeLoop: As revealed in Ruri's route: [[spoiler:Kurou is stranded in the past with Demonbane after his battle with Master Therion and losing Al. He receives a map to gold veins from a dying Hadou Kozou and takes up his identity. He founds Arkham City on the location of the gold, takes care of the son of Kozou's wife and later Ruri (as her "Grandfather"), and arranges for Kurou to be received into the Miskatonic University and sets into motion Kurou's story (including meeting up with Al, acquiring Demonbane, etc). He then dies afterward at the hands of Master Therion]]. The cycle is broken in [[spoiler:the true ends of each of the heroine's routes]].
231	** Another part of the loops is [[spoiler: Master Therion being born from Nero, fights Demonbane and wins, time travels to the past to start the Black Lodge, then gets betrayed and killed by the Anticross before being born from Nero again. Both him and Nero have been trying to break the loop to no avail.]]
232	* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:Augustus arranges a coup to overthrow Therion late in the story, and Vespasianus tries to overtake Augustus following this. It gets them both killed.]]
233	* SuperPrototype: Two examples.
234	** The Super West Invincible Robot Type-28 Special(s) maybe weak when compared to Deus Machina, but at least it can withstand Demonbane's ''head vulcan guns''. One of the mass production Destroyer Robot even got disabled by Winfield ''on foot'' in Ruri's route.
235	** The sequel reveal that Claudius's ''Celaeno Fragments'' is just a copy of Laban Shrewsbury's, which also has girl form call Hazuki. Similar to his Deus Machina, the ''Lord Byakhee'' maybe [[FragileSpeedster fast]], but it still can't compare to Shrewsbury's ''[[TransformingMecha Ambrose]]''.
236	* SuperRobot: The Deus Machina are literally "Machine Gods". Most of them are pure magic, but Demonbane is unique: it's a blend of machinery and magic.
237	%% * SurrealHorror: Al's bad ending.
238	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Al isn't jealous of Ennea at all. Nope. She just senses doom from her.
239	* TeamPet: Dunsany the Shoggoth.
240	* TemporalParadox: Demonbane's origin was an object loop paradox. Supposedly, it was created by Ruri's grandfather Kouzou Hadou. However, it was revealed in Ruri's route that [[spoiler: Kouzou Hadou was actually Kurou, who crashed in the past in the heavily damaged Demonbane. Since all he did was repair the Demonbane, nobody actually created it.]]
241	** The same goes for Al's origin. [[spoiler: Following the final battle with Master Therion, she travelled back in time to the age of Abdul Alhazred and told him about the entire text of the Necronomicon, essentially creating herself.]]
242	** In Al's normal end, [[spoiler: Al and Kurou were left drifting in space, but eventually encounter two unknown figures, who send them back to ancient Earth, which was ruled by the Great Old Ones. They fought the Great Old Ones for untold ages, eventually becoming Elder Gods and reclaiming the planet for its inhabitants. It was implied that the mysterious figures who sent them back were their future, Elder God selves.]]
243	* ThanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Nero]] ''tries'' this near the end. Specifically [[spoiler: she]] tries to force Kurou [[spoiler: to kill her with the Shining Trapezohedron]] so that [[spoiler: Master Therion won't be reborn and Nyarlathotep's plan will be ruined permanently]]. Unfortunately [[spoiler: Kurou turns out to be powerful enough to stop her without killing her]].
244	* ThemeNaming: The Anti-Cross are named after Roman emperors. [[spoiler: Al's route reveals that Master Therion bears one too: ''Domitian''.]]
245	%% * ThoseTwoGuys: Stone and Ness.
246	* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: The Scimitar of Barzai functions as a boomerang when thrown.
247	* TokenEvilTeammate:
248	** [[spoiler:In Al's route, the Tyrant helps Kurou out pretty frequently, both out of interest/attachment and because she hates Anticross for her own reasons.]]
249	** After his HeelFaceTurn, [[spoiler:Doctor West]] is treated as this.
250	* TokenGoodTeammate: [[spoiler:On the other hand, the reason that Anticross views her as a traitor isn't really because she's cruel and violent but rather because she was trying to stop them.]]
251	* TokenMiniMoe: Al Azif and Etheldreda, both of whom are also [[TomeOfEldritchLore Tomes Of Eldritch Lore]].
252	** Ennea also counts.
253	* TomeOfEldritchLore: As noted above, the original copy of each grimoire [[MoeAnthropomorphism appear as a young girl]] instead of a book. The artist actually has design [[https://i.imgur.com/Z9afI27.jpg human version of every tomes used by Anticross]] as well, but none of them appear in story[[note]]From left to right: The Book of Eibon, De Vermis Mysteriis, Cultes des Goules, The Golden Bough, Cthaat Aquadingen. Not pictured: Celaeno Fragments and Unaussprechlichen Kulten.[[/note]]. Considering how much of a sick fuck some of the Anticross members (most notably Tiberius) are, though, it's probably a good thing they never showed up in the game.
254	* {{Tsundere}}: Evidently Al, but the visual novel expands this to Ruri in her individual character route.
255	* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Odd variant here. Nya seems to like trying to seduce Kurou and [[spoiler:Master Therion]], depending on her whim, and even though the latter party is aware of this, the usual jealousy one would expect is absent.
256	* {{Tykebomb}}: Metatron, Sandalphon and the Tyrant, though rather than being their primary purpose it's a useful (or rather annoying, depending on one's point of view) side effect.
257	* UnknownRival: Doctor West is convinced that he's Kurou's rival, but Kurou just thinks of him as a pest.
258	* VerbalTic: Elsa's "-robo" is what convinces Kurou that she really is a robot, apparently.
259	* VillainousCrush: To quote [[spoiler:Nyarlathotep in Elder Gods ending]], "''Then I shall answer you with unforgiving hate, and unrelenting love!''".
260	* VitriolicBestBuds: Caligula and Claudius act like they want to kill each other. [[spoiler: After Caligula dies, all Claudius gives a damn about is avenging his death.]]
261	* WhamEpisode:
262	** While Chapter 1 has Demonbane wiping the floor with the Destroyer Robot, withstanding everything the latter throws at it, Chapter 2 immediately establishes that Demonbane is anything but invincible. Master Therion takes on Demonbane by himself (without the use of his own Deus Machina) and wins.
263	** Chapter 10 (Big "C"), the final chapter of the common route. [[spoiler:The C Plan - Black Lodge’s plan to summon Cthulhu in the Illusory Heart Mother - is put into action as the base appears for the first time and directly attacks Arkham with hundreds of Destroyer Robots. Therion and Kurou battle again, but the big twist comes when all six members of the Anticross rebel against Therion and kill him, destroying Liber Legis before turning on Demonbane. Augustus stabs Doctor West in the abdomen and Elsa escapes with him, planning to [[HeelFaceTurn ask for Kurou's help]].]] What happens next varies from route to route: in Leica's route, [[spoiler:Demonbane is destroyed entirely and Leica herself is revealed to be Metatron]], in Ruri's route, [[spoiler:Demonbane survives but Kurou is completely incapacitated in the process]], and in Al's route, [[spoiler:Al ''dies'' saving Demonbane and Kurou]].
264	** And yet again when Nero is defeated. Nobody, not even the main characters, saw ''that'' coming.
265	* WhatTheHellHero: Given by Metatron to Kurou, regarding his being a PersonOfMassDestruction predilections not being good for the health of the city in the long term.
266	* WorldOfBadass: Excepting faceless civilians, everyone is this. Hell, even [[ThoseTwoGuys Stone and Ness]] qualify as badass, if for no other reason than the ability to survive the kind of stuff that would kill anyone else more times than one can count, ''even when they are at ground zero for a lethal attack''!
267	* WorldsStrongestMan: [[spoiler:The Tyrant is the strongest sorceress on Earth. Therion was conceived from her.]]
268	* WorthyOpponent: Titus and Winfield consider each other such.
269	* WrongGenreSavvy: Nya seems to think this is a CosmicHorrorStory, in which the heroes are destined to lose without accomplishing anything significant, and fails to realize that it's in a [[SuperRobotGenre Super Robot story]], where HotBlood and [[{{Determinator}} being determined]] trump everything.
270	* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler:Ryuuga aka Sandalphon.]]
271	* YouCantFightFate: In Metatron's route, [[spoiler: Nero attempted to break the time loop by intentionally provoking Kurou into killing her, only for Therion and Nya to show up and taunt her as she lay dying. After Therion finished her off, Nya completely broke her by telling that she changed nothing, and that ''the exact same thing has happened 33 times already'']].
272	* YouDontLookLikeYou: The artist took very deliberate interpretion on Great Old Ones appearance. Atlach-Nacha is a GiantSpider with human torso in place of its head. Cthugha has beast-like body in the middle of massive fireball. Ithaqua first seen as glowing red eyes in the mid of violent storm (''Death Walker'' as called in TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu) but is truly a massive dragon.
273	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:In Leica's route Vespasianus decides he needs Leica to be the new C Priestess and thus tries pulling this one Sandalphon.]]

Context VisualNovel / Demonbane