http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3x3logo.jpg
[[caption-width:225:Zombies have it made.]]
3x3 Eyes: The Legend of Trinetrâ

''It has been a long time since I last thought of myself as a human being, my humanity taken away from me so long ago by an act of mercy by a creature of legends. A creature I would soon learn to love and to hate, a creature... no, a woman I would soon fall in love with, and for whom I would endure endless quests, always searching for my lost humanity, and for her redemption.''

''I have seen more pain and sorrow through these eyes of mine than I would deem possible for any living creature to endure and still keep its sanity. But I have also seen love, hope and happiness, and now, as an outside observer, I find myself able to better understand the miracle of life.''

''For now I dwell in the ways of the undead, fulfilling my duties as a Wu, the immortal guardian of one of the last of an ancient and powerful race of magicians, the Sanjiyan Unkara. And so shall I do until the day when I will earn back my right of final rest, either along with my beloved Pai's right of being human, or with our souls' final transmigration.''

Yakumo Fujii is just an ordinary high school kid... with [[ParentalAbandonment a runaway mom and a missing anthropologist father]] and the resulting need to hold down a part-time job as a "waitress" in a gay bar. Then a mysterious [[ChineseGirl Tibetan girl]] named Pai shows up, claiming that his now-dead father sent her to Yakumo to "help her become human." Yakumo is not inclined to believe his dad's last message, to the effect that Pai is the last of a race of three-eyed demons called the Sanjiyan Unkara... until a thief accidentally unleashes her "pet," a giant bird-monster that goes on a rampage ending in Yakumo's death.

Except Pai isn't about to allow that to happen... as a third eye opens in her forehead, and Yakumo's soul is sucked out of his body and into hers, turning him into her Wu, or "undead" protector and slave. Now, their fates inextricably bound, Pai and Yakumo must navigate the perilous occult underworld in search of a way to change them ''both'' into true human beings... and to foil the world-conquering plots of [[BigBad Kaiyanwang,]] "Demon-Eye King" of the Sanjiyan, and his own Wu, [[TheDragon Benares]].

Created by Yuuzo Takada, the author and artist of BlueSeed and AllPurposeCulturalCatgirlNukuNuku, 3x3 Eyes (pronounced Sazan Aizu) ran in Young Magazine from 1987 to 2002, was collected in forty manga volumes of which nine were translated by Dark Horse Comics, and spawned an OAV series adapting the first five. Plans for a 2003 TV series were scotched by Japanese censorship laws.

Although Dark Horse's official translation has been cancelled, an ongoing and nearly-complete {{scanlation}} project may be found [[http://www.sazanquest.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 here]].
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This series provides examples of:

* BadassNormal: Yakumo sort of qualifies, as despite his phenomenal powers of regeneration he doesn't have any other superhuman capabilities and must get by on normal speed and strength. He does, however, learn a form of summoning magic early on, so...
* BerserkButton: if a Sanjiyan is directly harmed or his life is in danger, his Wu's strenght and powers will temporarily increase tenfold and become limitless, all to protect his master. This has worked both for and against the protagonists.
* BodyHorror: a lot, but most horrifying when it comes to the Hyouma Tribe and pregnancy...
* CityInABottle: Amala; for bonus points, the bottle is in the PhantomZone.
* CuteLittleFangs: Pai, very much so.
* DamselScrappy: Natsuko in all her appearances except for the [[ADayInTheLimelight beginning of volume 12]], (and then she's back to that role in her next appearance). Her last kidnapping even caused Yakumo to be [[TrappedByMountainLions trapped inside a spiritual barrier]] for the largest part of a volume.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: Happens a lot, but the results are haphazard -- there's no telling whether the foe will do a HeelFaceTurn or a [[RedemptionEqualsDeath redeeming]] HeroicSacrifice.
* EyesAlwaysShut: Yakumo, although seeing them open isn't ''necessarily'' a sign that you should run away...
* FirstEpisodeResurrection: and ''how.''
* GattacaBabies: the God Citizens of Amala.
* GoodThingYouCanHeal: Yakumo takes an ''amazing'' amount of punishment; fortunately he has a...
* HealingFactor: a Wu can regenerate ''any'' amount of damage up to and including complete vaporization.
* ImplacableMan: pick a Wu, any Wu. Pierce their vital spots? The wound will close up in a matter of minutes. Cut off their arms? The severed limbs will stab you in the back. [[spoiler:Decapitate them? The rest of the body will grapple you and fire an attack at point blank range.]] They can even dismember themselves on purpose to accomplish a combat strategy. Granted, there's a limit to how many times they can regenerate in a row, based on their stamina and strength.
** And even then, threaten their Sanjiyan, and their regenerative powers will become ''even more'' powerful, pulling themselves back from total disintegration before your eyes.
* ImportantHaircut: [[spoiler:Pai, after Haan's death, to steel her determination to destroy Kaiyanwang.]]
* LethalChef: Pai's idea of cuisine is to gather a bunch of ingredients and use magic to fuse them together... into a rampaging building-size food monster, no less.
* {{Masquerade}}: subverted; demons and monsters hold humans in utter contempt, and have been in hiding only because of Kaiyanwang's orders to that effect. The masquerade begins to break down when Kaiyanwang is believed to have been killed, and by the end of the series the situation has devolved into a worldwide supernatural war.
* MeaningfulName: the Sanjiyan are all named after (or, seeing as how most of them are many thousands of years old, probably inspired the names of) Hindu gods -- Parvati, Shiva, Ratri, Ushas...
* {{Mons}}: Juuma (Beast Magic) creatures, apparently created by Benares as combat familiars; however, they're mindless servitors rather than fighting "partners".
* OneHundredAndEight: Referenced through a demon that needs 108 paper talismans to bind it into the world.
* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Wu retain their personalities and humanity (if they had it to begin with) despite having had their souls removed and "stored" in their Sanjiyan partners. One could argue that they're operating their bodies by remote control.
* PhantomZone: the Voidspace.
* PinocchioSyndrome: Pai
* SealedEvilInACan: Kaiyanwang, within the Seima Stone.
* ShamgriLa: the Seichi (Holy Land/Sacred Land), a pocket dimension accessible through worldgates called "Kunlun."
* SoulJar: any Sanjiyan with a Wu.
* SplitPersonality: innocent GenkiGirl Pai and haughty hyper-{{Tsundere}} Parvati the Third. A common trait of aged Sanjiyan or those wearing a Shiva's Claw.
* TheMole: Shunkai poses as the benevolent Ms. Huang, financial backer of Yougekisha and patron of our heroes, for ''five years''. (Not a spoiler, as the readers know this from the moment she first appears.)
* ThePowerOfFriendship: Pai is very, ''very'' devoted to the concept. Parvati... not so much.
* TimeSkip: the four-year gap between volumes 2 and 3.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:the snake demon Houasyou]], amnesiac, disguised as and believing herself to be [[spoiler:Pai]].
* TookALevelInBadass: Yakumo takes advantage of the TimeSkip to take ''several''.
* QuirkyMinibossSquad: the [[strike:Nine]] Three Dragon Generals, Uukai, D.D., and Talisman (nine is clearly too many for a Q.M.S., so their numbers were brutally cut in their first appearance).
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