Line #21 VisualNovel/RoseGunsDays


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/RGDcover_8823.jpg]][[caption-width-right:250: 1947, in a criminal underworld. Bodyguards wanted.]]
2
3	Rose Guns Days is a [[DoujinSoft doujin]] VisualNovel produced by [[Creator/Ryukishi07 07th Expansion]]. It is unrelated to the franchise 07th Expansion is more known for, ''Franchise/WhenTheyCry''.
4
5	Tokyo, 2012. The city has become a cosmopolitan metropolis, where people of Japanese descent have become very few. The young Journalist Julie Hayashibara is one of them, and is called in by the famous Mafia boss Jeanne Amakawa, Madam of a club in Tokyo called Primavera and Honorary leader of the nationalistic organisation Harukaze. The old woman wants to pass on the story of the unknown first Madam of the club, Rose Haibara, and how Primavera came to be how it is today.
6
7	Tokyo, City 23, [[TheForties 1947]]. In an AlternateHistory, Japan lost the war in 1944, when the country was destroyed by a natural disaster. The United States and China quickly started to compete in the reconstruction, bringing massive waves of immigrants with them, to the point Japanese people became a minority in Tokyo. Three years later, almost all the Japanese people in Tokyo go by a second Western name, and unemployment mixes with criminality and prostitution. Leo Shishigami comes back in his unrecognizable hometown after three years, and saves a young girl chased by TheMafia, who invites him to eat pasta in the club she owns, the Primavera. After wandering around in the city and unsuccessfully searching for a job and a roof, Leo goes back to the club, where the crime boss, [[AxCrazy "Crazy"]] Alfred Akagi, and his henchmen are threatening the girl who helped him. After the incident where he shines again, Leo ends up hired as a bodyguard for "Madam Rose". There begins the story of Rose's determination to help her countrymen in need, where she will have to grow up from an idealistic but naive girl to a confident leader.
8
9	The game is completely different from anything released by 07th Expansion so far, as it features no gore, PsychologicalHorror or mystery, but rather a mix of slice-of-life and action with elements of political drama, and a generally lighter tone. And in a slight originality from the usual sound novel format, action scenes are punctuated by a reflex mini-game with a recorded score at the end of each Season. Instead of a single main story with a single BigBad, the plot is separated into arcs, or Seasons, with a different ArcVillain for each. Considering the setting, some touchy themes come to be treated in the story, especially the questions of nationalism and defense of one's culture, or Chinese-Japanese relationships after WWII.
10
11	[[http://witch-hunt.com/ Witch Hunt,]] the translation team behind 07th Expansion's previous work ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', provides a full English translation of the games. The demo can be found [[http://www.witch-hunt.com/stage_rgd_demo.html here.]] The Last Season was released in January 2014.
12
13	Manga adaptations almost immediately started in Square Enix magazines:
14	* Season 1 started in September 2012 and ended in March 2014 in the ''Gangan Joker''. It was drawn by Sōichirō, who already worked on the manga adaptation of ''[[VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry Alliance of the Golden Witch]]''.
15	* Season 2 started in February 2013 and ended in April 2014 in ''G-Fantasy''. It was drawn by Nana Natsunishi.
16	* Season 3 started in September 2013 and ended in March 2015 in the ''Gangan Online''. It was drawn by You Oomura.
17	* Last Season started in the May 2014 and ended in July 2015 in the ''Big Gangan''. It was drawn by Mitsunori Zaki.
18
19	Other completed manga adaptations include a two-volume spin-off called ''Aishū no Cross Knife'' ("The Cross Knife of Sorrow"), published in the Big Gangan, which takes place in 1946 and focuses on Wayne Uedera, with a [[DarkerAndEdgier generally darker tone]], and a two-volume prologue titled ''Fukushū wa ōgon no kaori'' ("Revenge has the fragrance of gold"), published in Kōdansha's ''Monthly Shonen Sirius'', which takes place before Rose effectively became the Madam. The manga of Season 1 has been licenced by Yen Press.
20
21	Please note that in the VN, the story is divided both in 4 seasons (1, 2, 3, Last) and 4 years (1947, 48, 49, 50), but the two ''don't'' coincide. Season 2 covers the end of 1947 and the first half of 1948 for example. In the manga however, a Season covers a full year. When we talk about "Season" here, it refers to a VN Season.
22
23	Obviously not to be confused with ''Music/GunsNRoses''.
24
25	----
26	!!''Rose Guns Days'' contains examples of:
27
28	* AdaptationDistillation: In the manga, most fight scenes are shortened or outright removed. The dialogues and exploration of City 23 are also kept to a minimum, keeping only the core of the plot and giving the story a much faster pace overall; which can lead to some surprising choices, like [[DiscOneFinalBoss the meeting and fight between Leo and Alfred]] in Season 1 being purely and simply axed. While the Season 1 manga keeps a good balance and removes mostly superfluous scenes, the Season 2 and 3 mangas suffer from some CompressedAdaptation issues − like the complete disapearance of [[spoiler:the "War of Soy Sauce"]] in 1948, even though it was an important part of Rose's CharacterDevelopment in the VN.
29	* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: As mentionned above, unlike the VN Alfred and Leo never directly fight in the Season 1 manga, yet in the ''Season 4'' manga Alfred has kept an inexplicable grudge against Leo. It doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things, but it's still confusing.
30	* AlliterativeName: Most Japanese characters who go by a Western name chose one that gives this effect : Wayne Uedera, Cyrus Saimura, Amanda Amamiya, Oliver ("oriba−") Oribe, Nina Ninagi, Alan Aramaki, etc.
31	* AlternateHistory: Outside of American and Chinese immigration, it's also mentionned that there is now a Cold War between the United States and China, and Japan benefits from the Marshall Plan. And since the atomic bomb was never used, the doctrin of nuclear disssuasion probably doesn't exist. However, oddly enough the narration often references events that occured after the war in ''our'' history, making it sometimes ambiguous whether the author is talking about RGD's world or our own. This may or may not be deliberate.
32	* ArcVillain: Each season has it’s own, though they tend to overlap:
33	** Season 1 has [[StarterVillain Crazy Alfred]].
34	** Season 2 has [[WellIntentionedExtremist Father Caleb]].
35	** Season 3 has [[YellowPeril Blue Dragon Wang]].
36	** [[spoiler:[[KnightTemplar Major Gabriel Kaburaya]]]] is this for Season 4 and the closest thing to an overall BigBad.
37	* ArtifactAlias: Season 2 introduces an amnesiac young girl to whom Rose gives the name "Rapunzel" because of her long hair. Soon, everyone starts to call her by the diminutive "Zel". She eventually remembers her real identity [[spoiler:(Saijou Hotaru, a girl forced to work as a spy and assassin under the codename "Hotarubi")]] but continues to go by her new name despite that. And in a way, every Japanese character counts, as they call each other by their made-up English names even when they are between Japanese people.
38	* ArtShift: Not exactly, but many people are designing the sprites, with very different styles.
39	* AwesomenessMeter: Your skill in the mini-game is symbolized by an insignia which becomes more elaborate when you manage a flawless sequence (the more {{Score Multiplier}}s you can manage, the faster it evolves) but regresses every time you screw up an attack. It starts with a single silver chevron and goes up to [[RuleOfCool a golden lion head with golden laurels on the sides.]] Also, the insigna's motif changes depending on the time period.
40	* BackForTheFinale: All the characters that were PutOnABus in previous Seasons come back in the last one.
41	* BandOfBrothels: That's what Primavera is originally, and remains even after becoming a mafia group.
42	* BigBad: Rather than a single main antagonist, the greatest threats to City 23 and Club Primavera are the [[EvilVersusEvil dueling]] [[TheDon mob bosses]], each of whom is fought [[ArcVillain in succession of each other]]. By season:
43	** Season 1 has [[AxCrazy “Crazy”]] [[StarterVillain Alfred Akagi]], a mob boss that extorts the Primavera club for money.
44	** Season 2/1957 arc has Father Caleb Souhei [[spoiler:Keireiji]], leader of the Caleb Family who seeks to gather 100 million Japanese dollars for the American occupying forces [[WellIntentionedExtremist to help his people]]- and kills people, squeezing every last money out of them, and antagonizes Primavera, to get the money.
45	** Season 3/1948 has [[YellowPeril Blue Dragon Wang Yuanhong]], a leader of the Golden Dragon Society, who competes with Primavera to control the spice trade, and also plots on behalf of [[GreaterScopeVillain his superiors]], the Elder Council, to unseat the young emperor of the Golden Dragons.
46	** Season 4/1949 and (indirectly) 1950 has [[spoiler:[[KnightTemplar Major Gabriel]] [[WhiteHairBlackHeart Kaburaya]] of the GHQ, who turns the other villains into his pawns and starts killing everyone to engineer a gang war between Primavera and Golden Dragon as revenge for [[FreudianExcuse his family being killed by yakuza]]. In 1950, he controls [[FaceHeelTurn Richard]] and installs him as the direct threat, but is still the FinalBoss]].
47	* BilingualBonus: There are occasional lines in Chinese or (for the Japanese version) in English.
48	* BloodlessCarnage: Whenever the heroes have a gunfight in 1947 and 1948, you will find nary a mention of blood [[NeverSayDie or anyone being dead]], even though there is little else a gunfight can produce. However this is sharply averted on several occasions in 1949 and 1950. According to WordOfGod, this sudden change of gears in the handling of violence between the first and second half of the story is entirely deliberate, and meant to accentuate the shock.
49	* BolivianArmyCliffHanger: Season 1 ends with [[spoiler:Rose running to safety while Leo and Wayne face Miguel's bunch, and the other characters' situation is unknown.]]
50	* BuxomBeautyStandard: Stella, Amanda, and the rest of club Primavera. Averted with Rapunzel, who is called beautiful yet is as flat as can be.
51	* CallBack: Richard's line "Long live capitalism!" was also said by Krauss at the beginning of ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry''. Except it sounds much more cynical this time. Similarly, speeches about the 3 powers needed to be a ruler mirror what Gaap says in Episode 4 of the same series.
52	* CastOfSnowflakes: Ryūkishi07 was already pretty good at this when he was the only artist, so now that there are several, that's not too surprising.
53	* CatFight: Can happen easily between Meryl and Stella, it seems.
54	* CerebusSyndrome: Sort of. For Primavera, you can say that 1947 is "Spring", 1948 is "Summer", 1949 is "Autumn" and 1950 is "Winter". [[FridgeBrilliance They are called "Seasons" for a reason.]]
55	* CharacterDeath: Really ramped up in Season 3 and Last Season. By the end of the story, [[spoiler:Stella, Yuuji, Oliver, Meixue, James, Maurice, Alan, Cyrus, Richard and Gabriel]] are all killed off, with [[spoiler:Leo and Rose]] confirmed to have died at some point as well.
56	* ChekhovsGun: Leo uses the gold lighter Rose gave her in 1947 to [[spoiler:inform Wayne that he's looking for him in Shizuoka in 1950.]]
57	* CoolShades: Every character drawn by Ryūkishi07 (mostly minor or nameless characters) either sports these or has no eyes, save for Alfred, Claudia and Wang.
58	* DeathIsCheap: Notable for being the first work of 07th Expansion to completely avert this. If a character dies, there is no ressurection, GroundhogDayLoop or afterlife here.
59	* {{Deuteragonist}}: While Rose is the actual main character, each time period has one or several co-protagonists; in 1947 it's Leo, in 1948 it's Rapunzel and the Wandering Dogs, in 1949 it's Alan and Keith, and in 1950 it's [[spoiler:Jeanne herself.]]
60	* DistractedByTheSexy: Weaponized by Nina and Rapunzel in the Last Season to draw the attention of the guards [[spoiler:in the hotel where Rose is confined.]] Jeanne on the other hand, doesn't do anything, but one of the guards who likes "mature women" starts to flirt with her, much to her annoyance. The last guard is NotDistractedByTheSexy… [[{{Gayngster}} but takes a liking to Charles.]]
61	* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: The cause of pretty much all the events in the Last Season with [[spoiler:Richard and Keith mistakenly believing that the Chinese mafia was behind the death of Stella and Yūji, while the true mastermind was Gabriel.]] Interestingly though, that's not really the focus of the narrative, which insists more on them losing their mind than the target of their vengeance being the wrong one. Incidentally, [[spoiler:in-universe the truth isn't exposed until ''after'' everything is finished, and it's only quickly glossed over.]]
62	* EaglelandOsmosis: A very extreme example of this, no doubt − at least in Tōkyō. Season 2 shows that this trope is more limited in other cities.
63	* EvilAllAlong: Turns out the mysterious mob boss Caleb is [[spoiler:that big guy with a [[GoodScarsEvilScars facial scar]] and [[WhiteHairBlackHeart white hair]] that helped Leo fight Alfred. Though he makes a HeelFaceTurn later]]. There’s also [[spoiler:Gabriel]], who initially appears as a kind, if stuffy, member of [[spoiler:the GHQ]] and has quite a good reputation... [[KnightTemplar but is]] '''[[HateSink not]]''' [[BigBad a good person]].
64	* FictionalCurrency: Japanese Dollars and Japanese Yuan (although the latter is only briefly mentioned).
65	* FilmNoir: The story has definitely several elements of the genre, including the time period and mafia-infested setting.
66	* FreezeFrameBonus: You can actually read some of the newspaper articles at the end of each chapter if you take a sceenshot.
67	* ForegoneConclusion: Right from the start we already know what will become of Tokyo and Primavera in the future, and that Rose failed to concretize her ideals. The story is about discovering how and why it turned out like it did.
68	* {{Foreshadowing}}: A big one early in Season 3, after Rose and Richard's interview with Wang Yuanhong.
69	-->'''Meijiu:''' ''"[[spoiler:…However, if we leave the short-tempered Richard in power, isn't it possible he'll launch into a war for revenge without regards for appearances]]?"''
70	* FullCircleRevolution: The BigBad of each arc is often someone who was fighting the previous arc’s villain. It starts with the Caleb family taking over City 23’s underground after helping to defeat [[StarterVillain Alfred]] and extorting everyone for money, then the [[YellowPeril Golden Dragon Society]] helping to topple Caleb only for Meijiu and Wang to greedily compete for power, and finally [[spoiler:Primavera itself becoming reminiscent of the Caleb family (which is repeatedly [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]) thanks to it’s [[TyrantTakesTheHelm new leadership]]]].
71	* GenerationXerox: [[spoiler:Wayne devoted himself to protect Rose, and in the ending his grandson Toratsugu devotes himself to protecting her granddaughter Julie.]]
72	* GenreBusting: It's part FilmNoir, part slice-of-life, part political drama, and part… ''something''. While it is far from the {{Mind Screw}}y DeconstructorFleet ''Umineko'' was, the work is still hard to classify, especially considering its rather schizophrenic tone.
73	* GivenNameReveal: A mundane example − some of the Japanese characters' real names are dropped in casual dialogues, but it's never crucial to the plot and rather serves to accentuate the mood of said scene (like Rose giving her Japanese name to a Western-hating old man or [[spoiler:Richard saying farewell to Stella by calling her "Sumiko" during her funeral − and Gabriel doing the same to rub it in later]]). The final credits also list all the characters with their real names.
74	* GratuitousEnglish: The opening ''Ai ga omerta'' contains a healthy dose of it, with gems like "don't know my heart yet but I love you" or "too boring, no can do, man".
75	* GratuitousItalian: Club Primavera (Italian for "spring"). The song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3zkcOkYHjM Maboroshi Ni Shisu]]" (Death in Illusions) also has Italian lyrics. [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Who cares?]]
76	* GreekChorus: Jeanne and Julie play this role in the VN, occasionally interrupting the story to comment the events; [[DemotedToExtra in the manga though, they only appear in a short prologue to introduce the story.]]
77	* GrayAndGreyMorality: To some extent, since the story still takes place in the criminal underworld. While there ''are'' some unambiguously good-intentionned characters, many of Primavera's men follow Rose [[IFightForTheStrongestSide because she's on top]], not because they are decent people. And a few of the characters we are made to root for or sympathise with, like Butler, are quite morally dubious by common standards. In the end, the plot is more about each side fighting to defend their own interests and worldviews than defeating a BigBad. [[spoiler:The one character that can qualify for this title, Gabriel, isn't even defeated by Primavera or the GDS, but [[TheDogBitesBack by his own underling]].]]
78	* GunPorn: This ''is'' a story about mafia after all. The preparation of the 1947 climax is the most notable example though. Between this work and ''Umineko'', Ryūkishi seems to like researching on guns, especially [[{{BFG}} heavy ones.]]
79	* HateSink: Wang may seem friendly at first, but he’s an obnoxious SmugSnake. Though he ''pales'' in comparison to [[spoiler:Gabriel]], a brutal KnightTemplar who causes most of the {{character death}}s in the story, brings immense suffering to City 23, plays TheCorrupter to [[spoiler:Richard and Primavera]], mocks Butler for being unable to do anything about it to the point of turning him into an EmptyShell, and does it all [[DissonantSerenity with a gentle smile]]. And to top it all off, [[spoiler:even though he’s eventually defeated, he’s able to [[TheScapegoat shift all the blame onto]] [[AllLovingHeroine Rose]] while he presumably [[VillainWithGoodPublicity goes down in history as a hero]]]].
80	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Even in this setting, UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur is still the Supreme Commander of the American occupation army. Film director Creator/EliaKazan also makes an appearance in a rather weird digression about the RedScare in the US in Season 3.
81	* HopelessBossFight: There are a few fights throughout the series where the "blue" side − the one you play − loses. This notably includes [[spoiler:the FinalBoss, Gabriel, who kills Richard.]]
82	* HookedUpAfterwards: At some point in Season 3, it's strongly implied that Wayne married one of the series' characters afterwards, though Toratsugu is cut just before he can say who. It turns out [[spoiler:[[LeftHanging we never learn the answer.]]]]
83	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: In the manga, Season 1 chapters are named "scenes", Season 2 chapters are named "tracks" and Season 3 chapters are "reasons".
84	* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: In the VN it's not too obvious, as the gunfights are in mini-game form and, well, it's a VN so the images are static. In the manga however, Alfred's henchmen somehow manage to not hit Leo even after emptying entire magazines. At a 5-meter distance. As he is ''just standing there idly.'' Caleb's men don't fare much better. Either they use toy guns, or Leo is actually [[Franchise/TheMatrix Neo]].
85	* ImplausibleHairColor: Leo is entirely Japanese, yet has blue eyes and orange-ish hair.
86	* InsistentTerminology: They are not ''prostitutes'', they are ''ladies of the night''. Granted, not all the girls in Primavera are sex workers.
87	* {{Homage}}: The Overkill badge shows [[VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry Rena]] with her cleaver.
88	** The opening movie is probably one to Anime/CowboyBebop.
89	* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: Stella and Meryl are good at hanging out with lonely men, and wiping the floor with impolite ones.
90	* [[spoiler:KillTheCutie:]] [[spoiler:Yūji is killed at the beginning of the Last Season. Just after Stella.]]
91	* [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Leo Shishigami Is About To Shoot You]]: With his finger, but still.
92	* LighterAndSofter: Considering we're talking about the author of the ''When They Cry'' series and ''Manga/TheUnforgivingFlowersBlossomInTheDeadOfNight'', the mood is certainly much lighter ([[CerebusSyndrome although it does get darker at some point]]). The story setting is still kind of depressing though.
93	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: This gem from Caleb:
94	-->'''Caleb''': Putting bounties on people, ha! It’s almost like we’re the bad guys in a story! [[EvilLaugh Wahahahaha!]]
95	* LoveTriangle: Not so much in the VN, but more prominent in the manga, between Caleb, Miguel and Amanda. The latter two both love Caleb, Caleb seems to reciprocate Amanda's and even Miguel's feelings to an extent, but Miguel and Amanda can't stand each other.
96	* MeaningfulRename: After the disaster and the loss of the war, most Japanese in Tōkyō started to go by a Western second name, apparently to forget about the war and start anew.
97	* {{Mukokuseki}}: Mostly played straight, but curiously averted with Lee Meijiu's henchmen, who actually look Chinese.
98	* NintendoHard: The fight mini-game starts gentle but gets harder as your score gets higher. By the end of a given Season, landing more than 3 or 4 hits in a row becomes nigh-impossible.
99	* NoodleIncident: The event that kick-starts the plot. It's never really explained what the "Great Disaster" was, only that it apparently destroyed the entirety of Japan.
100	* OddNameOut: The rest of 07th Expansion's novels (''Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni'', ''Umineko No Naku Koro Ni'', ''[[Manga/TheUnforgivingFlowersBlossomInTheDeadOfNight Higanbana No Saku Yoru Ni]]'') have an obvious formula to their titles that this game forgoes.
101	** In the series proper, there is the owner of Jeanne's breadshop in the Last Season, called… Bread Yamada. That's apparently his ''real name''.
102	* [[OddlyShapedSword Oddly Shaped Knife:]] Jack's titular weapon in ''Aishū no Cross Knife''.
103	* OfficialCouple: Caleb and Amanda, as well as [[spoiler:Rose and Leo.]] In Season 3 we have Alan and Meixue and [[spoiler:Stella and Keith.]]
104	* OncePerEpisode: Every time, the climax of the year is preceded by a quiet scene with the sound of a single spotlight flash, along with the date, hour and details of the weather.
105	* PinnedDown: Happens twice in 1949, the first time when [[spoiler:Yūji has been shot by a sniper, and Keith and Stella can't go save him.]] The second time [[spoiler:when Meixue has been shot by Keith, and Meijiu and Alan can't go save her. Neither end well.]]
106	* PiratesWhoDontDoAnything: It's sometimes very easy to forget that the Primavera family is a mafia under Rose's rule. Some characters lampshade in Season 3 that people rather see it as some kind of charitable organization, and that it can actually be a handicap when other mafia groups are involved. [[spoiler:This becomes subverted [[TyrantTakesTheHelm when Gabriel and Richard take over.]]]]
107	* PyrrhicVictory: Subverted in 1948. At first the writing can give the impression [[spoiler:it's a superb victory for Primavera who defeated Wang against all odds… before you realize that they gained pretty much nothing in the conflict and sacrificed almost every assets they had to only ''limit the damage''. Not only is it pyrrhic, it's not even a victory; only choosing the lesser evil.]]
108	* PreAssKickingOneLiner: All over the place in Season 1 (it's less the case afterwards). Of course, [[TheAce Leo]] is the king of it.
109	* PresentDayPast: The story takes place in the 1940s, but the background photos (especially those of city landscapes and car interiors) are obviously taken in 2012.
110	* ProlongedPrologue: While Season 1 has the opening credits at the beginning and Season 2 and 3 don't have an opening at all, the Least Season oddly places the opening something like 7 or 8 hours of reading in, after several dramatic and crucial events have already happened.
111	* RealPlaceBackground: In usual 07th Expansion fashion. If [[http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2012/27/1341516531-rosefrance.png this]] is anything to go buy, the photos have been taken in France (most likely Paris). And yep, the club Primavera is actually the [[http://www.encyclopedie-enligne.com/Images/2/250px-moulin_rouge.jpg the Moulin Rouge.]]
112	* RepetitiveName: Leo '''Shishi'''gami[[note]]"leo" and "shishi" are the Latin and Japanese words for "lion", respectively[[/note]] and Rose Hai'''bara'''[[note]]"bara" is Japanese for "rose", though the kanji used in her name is different[[/note]]. Probably justified, since Leo and Rose aren't their birth names (their real names are Koutarou and Misaki, respectively).
113	* RunningOverThePlot: The 1948 part begins with Rose hitting a girl who jumped in front of her car, apparently running from procurers. She [[LaserGuidedAmnesia loses her memories]] in the process and Rose gives her a temporary name, "Rapunzel". [[spoiler:It turns out the girl ''literally'' jumped in front of the car so that Rose would "save" her, since her mission was to infiltrate Primavera and get close to Rose.]]
114	* SaveScumming: A good (if a bit cheap) method to maximize your score.
115	* SenselessSacrifice: All over the place in the last 2 years. [[spoiler:It starts with Stella's sacrifice which doesn't prevent Yūji's death; it continues with Oliver fighting desperately to protect what he doesn't know is a double, and dying with him anyway; and finally Cyrus fighting and dying to let Richard escape, only for the latter to die pathetically when trying to kill Gabriel.]]
116	* ShootTheFuelTank: Played with in 1950. [[spoiler:Keith shoots the fuel tank of the car Rose is hiding behind not to make it explode, but so that the fuel spills out and eventually explodes by evaporating (the narration describes it as an "hourglass"). We never see it explode in the end.]]
117	* ShoutOut: Leo gives one to the Tale of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urashima_Tar%C5%8D Urashima Taro]].
118	** [[VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry The Castiglioni family]] are in charge of city 7.
119	** The character sheets on the official site are chock-full of call-backs to ''Franchise/WhenTheyCry'', with Meryl hating pumpkins like Satoko, Maurice Monobe (Okonogi's {{Expy}})'s hobby being gardening or James Tomitake liking nurse outfits, among others.
120	* ShownTheirWork: Ryūkishi still has a tendency to digress with historical trivia, although said digressions don't last too long and remain relatively in-topic. There is also visibly a lot of research about [[GunPorn guns]], notably all the details on Keith's sniper rifle.
121	* SlidingScaleOfAlternateHistoryPlausibility: Probably a type III (soft AH), considering that the scale of the disaster and of the immigration wave that follows are thoroughly implausible. But the author does try to portray more-or-less realistically how such a Japan would be ruled and how the Japanese and immigrants would live in it, as well as the impact it would have on US-China relationships. The setting would have probably be closer to type II had the story taken place some decades after the Disaster instead of just 3 years.
122	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Despite having a protagonist who starts as a WideEyedIdealist and having part of its message built around the protection of the future generations, the work can be quite cynical about how the world works, as well as very critical of some aspects of the Japanese mentality, be it through the narration, the voice of Chinese characters or the voice of Rose herself. It's still not quite as cynical as Umineko or Higanbana were though.
123	* SoHappyTogether: [[spoiler:Stella and Keith]] are hit by this brutally in Season 3.
124	* TheStinger: There is one at the end of each Season. Season 1 has a ([[NeverTrustATrailer partially misleading]]) trailer of Season 2. Season 2 has the first appearance of Wang Yuanhong. Season 3 has [[spoiler:the first appearance of the young Jeanne.]]
125	* SpoilerOpening: Brand New Way is pretty bad with this, since it only plays halfway through the Last Season and reveals several events that happen before it rolls. Except many readers will have watched the movie ''before'' reading Last Season.
126	* SuperFunHappyThingOfDoom: What name more fitting for an underground hangar selling black market weaponry than… the "Toy Shop"?
127	* TimeSkip: The story is divided in 4 years (from 1947 to 1950), with a time jump in the middle of each Season after the first. The Seasons in the manga, somewhat more logically, follow the time jumps though. It's likely that the author had originally planned a "1 season = 1 year" structure but Season 1 ended up being too long, so he had to go for mid-Season time skips instead.
128	* TitleDrop: … Kinda sorta. The climax of the 1947 part is a battle named "the Night of Roses and Guns". The actual title is dropped at the beginning of the final chapter.
129	-->'''Rose:''' Yeah, let's start this. The ending tale of these days of roses and guns!
130	* TomTheDarkLord: The {{Arc Villain}}s seem to have this. The first two are called Alfred and Caleb, respectively, which rather downplays their [[TheDon threat level]], and it’s taken up to eleven with [[spoiler:Gabriel, who’s angelic name belies his vicious KnightTemplar nature]]. Averted with Wang, which is written with the character for "king" (王).
131	* TrueCompanions: The Wandering Dogs rapidly become this.
132	* TyrantTakesTheHelm: [[spoiler:When Gabriel and Richard take over Primavera, they turn it into a mafia [[FullCircleRevolution no better than the Caleb family]]]], and [[spoiler:Gabriel]] himself [[spoiler:takes full command of the American occupiers and turns them into puppets for his revenge plot]].
133	* UnproblematicProstitution: Played variously. Primavera is a high-class club, so the "ladies of the night" can work in relatively decent conditions (although it's not like they all chose this job eagerly), and there are bodyguards to take care of the problematic customers; those working for the mafia [[spoiler:like Hotaru]] probably aren't so lucky. By Nina's case, it seems being legal isn't even a requirement to work in Primavera.
134	* ValuesDissonance: Invoked multiple times in the story, notably between Japanese and Chinese conceptions on various matters.
135	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler:Gabriel. To the American army, he’s a hero. To Primavera, he’s an invaluable ally. To the general public, he’s a ReasonableAuthorityFigure trying to keep City 23 safe and orderly. To those who really know him, he’s an [[KnightTemplar utter bastard.]]]]
136	* WarIsHell: The few flashbacks of the frontlines never describe anything pretty.
137	* WhamEpisode: Chapter 3 of 1949, titled [[spoiler:"When the Rose Dies."]] The biggest wham being [[spoiler:Stella's graphically described death by headshot. In a series where the main characters seemed unkillable, the scene hits you like a truck.]]
138	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: A frequent complaint about the ending. [[spoiler:Outside of the four main characters, you can only imagine what became of the surviving cast after Jeanne took over. No WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue or even a brief exposiiton from Jeanne, nothing.]]
139	* WhiteHairBlackHeart: After Kasumi, [[spoiler:Amakusa]], young Kinzo and [[spoiler:Kyrie]] in Umineko, the series seems to perpetuate the pattern with Alfred, Caleb and [[spoiler:Gabriel]]. In a 07th Expansion story, if you have naturally white hair, chances are you're a bastard of some degree.
140	* WomenAreWiser: Not quite explicitly stated but several female characters serve as a voice of reason to reign in a male one, beat some sense into him or just make him a better person (notably Zel to Oliver and Meixue to Alan; and Rose to Richard, kind of). One scene also compares the vision of women to a "radar" (able to vaguely sense a danger from far away) and the vision of men to a "microscope" (more prone to analyse the threat in detail from close up).
141	* WordSaladTitle
142	* WritersCannotDoMath: In Season 2, it is said that december 31st 2012 is the 67th anniversary of [[spoiler:Leo's departure from Japan]], which happens in… 1947. Unless the calendar doubled a couple of classes, that's 65 years.
143	** The very setting of the series is a bit dubious in that regard: the Japanese are said to already be put in minority a mere 3 years after the war; considering the Japanese population was over 70 million in the 40s, even taking the war and the disaster into account that would require an immigration rate far beyond anything obvserved in human history, not to mention overpopulation issues. It's also possible it applies only to Tokyo, which would make it slightly more believable.
144	* YouALLLookFamiliar: It seems there are like ten mafia mooks in Tōkyō. Although admittedly, there are surprisingly many different sprites for nameless characters, which is an oddity in itself for a VN.
145	* YouMonster: [[EvenEvilHasStandards Corrupt bureaucrat Butler]] says this to [[spoiler:Gabriel]] at one point, albeit softly since [[spoiler:he’s an EmptyShell by then]].
146	* {{Yakuza}}: You would think there would be at least a few of them in a story about the criminal underworld in Japan, but there are surprisingly absent.

Context VisualNovel / RoseGunsDays