Line #51 VisualNovel/PhantomOfInferno


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_43990_front.jpg]]
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3	''Phantom of Inferno'' is the first (2000) release by the visual novel developer {{Creator/Nitroplus}}, whose games are almost invariably dark, scary, and full of murder. Nitroplus can be considered a blender of ideas, but ''Phantom'' in fact has a simple story in comparison to their other games.
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5	The story follows the life of a young man who [[HeKnowsTooMuch sees something he shouldn't have seen]], is captured and {{brainwashed}} by a [[TheSyndicate shadowy organization]] called Inferno and then is given the choice "join or die". He is trained as an assassin by a [[SugarAndIcePersonality soft-spoken]] girl called Ein. Ein is Inferno's top assassin, code-named "Phantom" and controlled by the sinister Scythe Master, who also brainwashed the man. The man is given the name Zwei and begins his work at Inferno.
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7	The game was first given an adaptation which tried to sum up the game in 3 OVA episodes in 2004. In 2009, a new anime entitled ''Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~'' was produced by Creator/BeeTrain with [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn Yosuke]] [[Manga/HoneyAndClover Kuroda]] writing and supervising the scripts (including a few from the original scenarist {{Creator/Gen Urobuchi}} himself) and directed by Creator/KoichiMashimo. The game has since been remade for the Platform/Xbox360 featuring the anime design created by Bee Train, for 2012 release. This release was ported on PC in 2013.
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9	Notably, previews for the original game's second release aired at around the same time as ''Anime/{{Noir}}'', which led to viewers connecting the two (as they have [[GirlsWithGuns similar themes]]).
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11	----
12	!!This work provides examples of:
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14	%%* AccidentalAthlete: Drei
15	%%* AmazonBrigade: The Zahlen Schwestern.
16	* AnyoneCanDie: Lots of people die. [[spoiler:Drei, Scythe Master, Ein, Zwei, Claudia, Lizzie, a LOT of people. Just take your pick.]]
17	* AtTheOperaTonight: One of Zwei's coolest moments comes at the start of chapter 2 where he assassinates a rival gang boss who's visiting the opera (or to be precise a performance of ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'') by infiltrating the performance in disguise as The Phantom and shooting his target from the stage in the middle of the show.
18	* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: While there's no crowning ceremony as such, the "Reiji Ending" from the game sees [[spoiler:Reiji lead the Zahlen Schwestern to massacre the assembled leaders of Inferno and make Reiji the head of all organised crime in America]].
19	* BadassNormal: [[spoiler:Reiji]] had implausible fighting capabilities ''before'' joining Inferno.
20	** Later turned into just plain badass after the [[spoiler: first time skip]]
21	* BaitAndSwitchCredits: The second opening plays with this. The actual footage makes things look like a slice of life series, but the intentional SoundtrackDissonance from the song by Music/AliProject suggests that things aren't nearly as peaceful as they seem.
22	* BloodierAndGorier: The OVA features several messy deaths of the BoomHeadshot variety.
23	%%* BodyguardCrush: Zwei and Cal, Mio and Shiga.
24	%%* BrainwashedAndCrazy
25	* BreakTheCutie: Arguably the entire premise of the series. In fact, [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell this is the BigBad Scythe's Job when he's in Stasi, the East German secret police]].
26	* ChekhovsGunman - Back in chapter 2 of the original Visual Novel, there is a small scene where Godoh Daisuke calls and speaks to his niece back in Japan. Considering all of the action that goes on in the chapter, the player will most probably have forgotten about this call by the end of it. [[spoiler: Guess who turns out to be a main heroine in chapter 3?]]
27	%%* DarkActionGirl: Drei.
28	* DeathByAdaptation: The anime follows the "Ein" path from the visual novel and features the "Road of the Cerulean Sky" ending from it as its conclusion, with the exception that [[spoiler: in ''this'' version, Reiji and Ein both die at the very end.]]
29	* DemotedToExtra: In the OAV, Claudia's role was almost completely slashed so that she only appears briefly in the third episode. Additionally, since the OAV only loosely followed in Visual Novel's first act, Cal's only makes a very brief background cameo during the second episode, and notably she's [[AdaptationDyeJob a brunette]] rather than a blonde.
30	* DepravedBisexual: In Phantom: Integration, [[spoiler:Drei]] is one temporarily.
31	* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler:The last 15 seconds of the anime turned it from BittersweetEnding to DownerEnding. Since everyone capable of killing Reiji and Ein had already been introduced and defeated, whoever shot Reiji after the credits wouldn't be recognized in a lineup by Chekhov or viewers.]]
32	* DownerEnding (Anime): [[spoiler: [[DiabolusExMachina In literally the last minute of the show]], Reiji is shot & killed by a disguised assassin in a passing hay wagon, and Ein commits suicide by consuming a poisonous Oxytropis leaf.]]
33	* EarnYourHappyEnding: The anime's ending ''was'' going this way...but see DownerEnding above! [[DiabolusExMachina Augh!]]
34	* {{Expy}}: Drei looks exactly like Elise from the ''VisualNovel/TriangleHeart3SweetSongsForever'' OVA, and though Elise is much more professional and Drei much more wild, their similarities don't end at using guns, speaking GratuitousEnglish and wearing purple. [[spoiler:Both are introduced after the bulk of the story and are put at odds with the male lead, whom they hate after a traumatic childhood incident involving a bomb planted by the BigBad, and the female lead, who's just along for the ride.]]
35	** Cal has some similarities with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_%28film%29 Mathilda]]: a teenaged girl trying to hire an assassin to avenge her murdered sibling, beginning to fall in love with said assassin, and learning the art of killing herself.
36	** Ein has one in the form of Kirika from ''{{Anime/Noir}}'', who is essentially the same character in an AlternateUniverse.
37	* FallingChandelierOfDoom: One of the Zahlen Schwestern gets this treatment.
38	* {{Fanservice}}: Ein, Claudia, Drei, Mio, and the Zahlen Schwestern.
39	* FanDisservice: Scythe Master licking Ein suggestively in the first couple hours of play. Also Drei violently tearing off Mio's clothes.
40	* GainaxEnding: In the anime, [[spoiler: Reiji is shot dead and Ein lies in the grass smiling. Questions remain, is Ein dead, did Inferno kill Reiji or did Ein? Is Ein dead, did she eat a poison flower? The ending is still hotly debated.]]
41	** [[spoiler: It's not clear if Reiji was actually killed either. We never actually see him get hit, and he ''has'' survived bullet wounds in the past.]]
42	* GenreShift: Joked around with. The anime's second opening will leave you surprised.
43	* GeographicFlexibility: the anime dub states that everything is occurring around Los Angeles, with the desert scenes likely occurring in the Mojave desert to the east. However, if you look at "LA" (or know anything about it), it doesn't have the following: Honolulu's skyline, New York's Chrysler Building, Miami's shoreline, etc.
44	** This is made even worse when Ein drives what appears to be a Fiat Cinquecento, which was never available in North America.
45	* TheGift: Reiji catches Scythe's eye and is trained into Zwei instead of being killed out of hand when he displays a natural affinity for fighting.
46	** Cal also displays a genius-level intellect and knack for handling weapons which intrigues Reiji, [[spoiler:and eventually leads to her being turned into Drei by Scythe]].
47	%%* GirlsWithGuns
48	%%* TheGunslinger: Ein and Drei.
49	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In the "Reiji Ending", [[spoiler:Reiji uses his experience with Ein to take control of the Zahlen Schwesten and subvert them until they serve ''him'' rather than Scythe. He then turns them against Inferno and wipes out their leadership, taking control himself.]]
50	* {{Homage}}: Cal recites lines from films such as ''Film/DirtyHarry'' and ''Film/TaxiDriver'' as she is learning to fire a gun.
51	%%* IKnowWhatWeCanDoCut: Scythe's plan in episode 6.
52	* IntimateLotionApplication: PlayedWith in episode 3 of ''~Requiem for the Phantom~''. Ein visits the Scythe Master to report to him, and we get a creepy scene where she strips naked and allows him to rub a lotion all over her body, in a similar manner to how he oils and cleans his guns. While the scene has some creepy sexual connotations, it's also a metaphor for how he sees her as his "perfect" and most prized weapon.
53	* ItsAllMyFault: Zwei after realizing that, not only did [[spoiler: Cal]] become the new Phantom, but it's his fault, since he's the one who taught her to use a gun, and the one who left her abandoned after [[spoiler: somebody blew up his living space]].
54	** To be fair, he did think she was dead.
55	* KarmaHoudini: In the anime [[spoiler: Raymond [=McGuire=], leader of Inferno, has Reiji assassinated and Ein commits suicide, and even though he's lost Scythe Master and his assassins, still controls Inferno and most of the US criminal underworld.]]
56	* LighterAndSofter / DenserAndWackier: The Picture Dramas, which frequently portray Reiji as both the OnlySaneMan and a major ButtMonkey, Ein as TheComicallySerious, and Scythe as a LargeHam with the entire cast discussing rather mundane things most of the time rather than anything crime or assassin related but still treating everything as SeriousBusiness. Several of the shorts even portray Reiji and Ein as ''live-action puppets''.
57	* MafiaPrincess: [[spoiler:Mio. Even ''she'' doesn't know about it.]]
58	* MoodWhiplash: The first half of Episode 20 in the anime. After such a solemn ending to the last episode, you may question if the anime is playing a joke on you by suddenly switching gears to a high school comedy. However, for the second half of the episode it's just buissness as usual.
59	** Ein and Zwei suffer from this, though often it is part of their cover. It almost seems as if Ein and Zwei are completely seperate people from Eren and Reiji.
60	* MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers: [[spoiler: If you come down to the choice between Ein and Cal at the end of chapter 3, the one Reiji doesn't search for will die by the end.]]
61	** TakeAThirdOption: There's only one way to [[spoiler:get through chapter 3 with both Ein and Cal alive- take the Mio route. Ein will remain Reiji's platonic ally in protecting Mio, and while Cal won't forgive Reiji for betraying her, she'll at least stop trying to kill him.]]
62	* NotBrainwashed: Drei is the result of Scythe's "thought experiment" to see if keeping her memories and playing on her old grudges will keep her as loyal and efficient as removing her memories altogether would.
63	* NotQuiteDead: Over and over and over...
64	* TheOjou: Mio.
65	* OminousMusicBoxTune: Drei's music box.
66	* RapeAsDrama: It's implied that [[spoiler:Drei]] does this to [[spoiler:Mio. With a gun barrel.]]
67	* RecapEpisode: Episode 11. Parts of episode 19 as well, but not as bad as episode 11.
68	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: A real ''rampage'' in one of the game's potential bad endings; after [[spoiler:Reiji's apartment is bombed, apparently killing Cal]] then instead of letting Reiji succumb to a HeroicBSOD you can instead choose "Kill Everyone". Reiji promptly [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin kills EVERYONE]], slaughtering his way through pretty much everyone in Inferno, [[SelfDestructiveCharge ignoring all the wounds his takes]] until he reaches [=McGuire=] and, despite letting [=McGuire=] shoot him, kills him before succumbing to his wounds. Unfortunately, just to drive home that this ''is'' a bad ending and keep you from [[CatharsisFactor enjoying yourself a bit too much]], you still get the scene of [[spoiler:Cal sobbing in lonely despair in the ruins of your apartment]].
69	* ScarsAreForever: In the anime after Reiji is shot by Scythe at one point, the bullet wounds leave permanent scars over his body. This is most evident in one brief scene where he's sun-tanning on his apartment roof and they're clearly visible over his chest. Eren also has a scar where she was shot by Lizzie.
70	* ShoutOut:
71	** The first episode has a few homages to ''Film/{{Scarface 1983}}'' including the Giant Globe bearing the words ''The World is Mine.''
72	** Reiji and Cal's initial relationship is a notable homage to one between the two protagonists of the film ''[[Film/TheProfessional Leon]]''.
73	** In the Picture Dramas, Scythe takes on the identity of [[Series/TwentyFour Agent Back Jauer]]. Ein also pretends to be [[Manga/UruseiYatsura Lum]] in one of them.
74	* ShownTheirWork: The original game went into ''ridiculous'' levels of detail when it came to the guns. You got ''lectures.''
75	* SlasherSmile: [[spoiler: Reiji near the end of episode 10.]]
76	* SleepCute: Cal and Reiji in the second anime, [[{{Bowdlerise}} oddly replacing a sex scene.]]
77	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Is it Elen or Eren?
78	* SuperPrototype: Played with. Ein is Scythe's prototype assassin, an apparently ordinary girl he used his brainwashing, mental conditioning and induced amnesia on to turn into an emotionless killer. His second attempt with Zwei, attempting similar techniques on a boy with [[TheGift a natural instinct for killing]] and allowing Ein to train him, arguably produced a more deadly killer, but Zwei proved ultimately impossible to control, as well as less clinically professional. Drei, his third project based around training another girl with [[TheGift a knack for combat]] by exploiting ThePowerOfHate generated another deadly human killing machine, but the ultimate result was still only roughly equivalent to Ein. Finally he created the Zahlen Schwestern, a mass-produced group of female assassins utilizing the same techniques he used to create Ein, but when Ein and the Zahlen Schwestern actually fight each other, she wipes them out almost single-handedly, even registering disappointment that development had advanced so little since her own creation. In the end, it's debatable who the deadliest is, but Ein seems to have the greatest edge because of her cold precision.
79	* TheSyndicate: Inferno.
80	* UpdatedRerelease: Releases on DVD and Platform/PS2 add voice acting, but remove sexual content. ''Phantom: Integration'' adds more sexual content and an extra ending, but removes voice acting.
81	* UpgradeVsPrototypeFight: Any time Ein (the prototype), Zwei, Drei (the upgrades) or the Zahlen Schwestern (the mass produced versions of Ein) fight each other. Results vary depending on the route.
82	* VagueAge: The only apparent reason to why Drei grew up and Ein/Zwei didn't.
83	* VideoGameRemake: Remade for Platform/Xbox360 featuring the new character designs created in the anime series ~Requiem for the Phantom~ as well as the voice cast of the anime.
84	* VivaLasVegas: One episode has Ein carry out a hit at the Paris hotel.
85	* WhiteMaskOfDoom: Worn by assassins.
86	* YouAreNumberSix: Ein, Zwei, Drei as well as the individual members of the Zahlen Schwestern in the anime.
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Context VisualNovel / PhantomOfInferno