[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dorohedoro_keyvisual.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"What did the guy inside say to you?"]]
''Dorohedoro'' is a {{Seinen}} series created by Hayashida Q. First premiering in 2000 in ''Monthly Ikki'' (a magazine specializing in underground or alternative manga), it ended in 2018 after almost [[LongRunners 18 years being serialized]], with 23 volumes. However, it changed magazines a few times during its run; it ran in ''Monthly Ikki'' from 2000 to 2014 before moving to ''Hibana'' in 2015 after ''Ikki'' ceased publication, and then to ''Monthly Shonen Sunday'' in 2017 after ''Hibana'' also ceased publication. Described by the creator as being like "[[LyricalDissonance a song with really dark lyrics, but a melody that's so happy that you want to dance to it]]," it manages a delicate balance of [[{{Gorn}} gratuitous amounts of gore]], a fondness for [[{{Fanservice}} displaying the random boobie or two]], and [[BlackComedy a stark-black sense of humour]].

In the gloomy, dank and dystopian underworld so dismal it's known only as "the Hole," sorcerers from a different world, the so-called "Magic Users", have been plucking people off the streets to use as guinea pigs for atrocious "experiments" in the black arts. The series follows the story of Kaiman, an unlucky fellow who had such an encounter with a Magic User, that transformed his head into that of a reptile and left him [[AmnesiacHero unable to remember who he was before the transformation]]. Since then, Kaiman has been travelling around the Hole, accompanied by Nikaido, his female companion, in hunt of any Magic Users he can come across, hoping to find whoever cursed him and that in doing so he will be able to reclaim the lost memories of his past.

As alluded to by the quote from Hayashida Q above, ''Dorohedoro'' is a series best described as "a bunch of nice, friendly characters making the most out of living in a place that is simultaneously a CrapsackWorld and a WorldOfBadass". Despite the grim setting and copious amounts of gore and {{Squick}}, the series has a very offbeat sense of charm and places heavy emphasis on both ThePowerOfFriendship and ThePowerOfLove. The series is also well known for its quirky sense of humor. The juxtaposition between the grim setting and the comedic elements of the story creates a very strange but engrossing atmosphere as the world of Hole and the intricacies of its society are revealed to the viewer. The result is a setting of borderline psychopaths living in absolute squalor that nonetheless maintains a positive, if not downright ''cheerful'' atmosphere for most of its run time, and it makes for an unconventional yet fun experience.

There's an [[https://murderchannel.bandcamp.com/album/dorohedoro-original-soundtrack-reissue OST]] in the making, approved by [[ApprovalOfGod Hayashida Q.]]

It was announced in the final volume that it would receive an [[https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2018/11/11/bizarre-fantasy-manga-dorohedoro-takes-the-plunge-as-a-tv-anime anime adaptation]] by Creator/{{MAPPA}}, which began airing in January 2020 in Japan, with Creator/{{Netflix}} streaming the series worldwide in May 2020. In January 2024, it was confirmed a second season is in the works and will be released at an unknown date.
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!!Provides examples of:

* TwelveEpisodeAnime: Though with promises of another ''six'' OVA episodes bundled with the second Blu-Ray.
* ACupAngst: Played for laughs with Ebisu, who is quite underdeveloped in that area. She even tries stuffing Kikurage down her bra once.
* AbbeyRoadCrossing: Chapter 99 has one.
* AbhorrentAdmirer:
** [[MachoCamp Chota]] has a huge crush on En. He doesn't reciprocate.
** The bloated, warped landlady apparently has the hots for some of her Cross-Eye tenants. [[spoiler:When one of them has to date her to prevent her from evicting them, it's treated as a parody HeroicSacrifice.]]
* ActionGirl: Most prominently Nikaido and Noi. But also the Devil, Haru. Ebisu can be one when she's lucid, but that’s very rare.
* AdvertisedExtra: The Sorcerer turning people into bugs was shown quite prominently in the trailers for the anime and one could be forgiven for thinking he was a major character. The fact that he doesn't even have a given name should probably clue viewers in that [[spoiler:he's just a punk who Kaiman kills at the end of the first episode.]]
* AffablyEvil: Devils, when they aren't randomly killing people [[ForTheEvulz for fun]].
* AlienBlood: Magic-users can be identified by black particles in their blood.
* AmnesiacHero: Kaiman doesn't remember anything before being transformed.
* AntiClimax: [[spoiler: After En is resurrected, instead of going after the Cross-Eyes' Boss he ditches everyone to return to his mansion and is promptly incapacitated by the magic-sapping rain.]]
* AntiMagic: A few variations:
** In general, someone who is already affected by magic is resistant to other magic.
** Kaiman, being hexed [[spoiler: by Risu's Curse and Ebisu's smoke]] is immune to smoke.
** Chota's smoke reverses the effects of magic.
** And Noi can restore a body to its normal state (healing Shin's arm after a Magic User starts to melt it). [[spoiler:And, if the Cross-Eyes are well informed, Noi's smoke could have undone Kai's transformation into a pie.]]
** Normal and half-humans aren't affected by the rain, which is so full of concentrated magic that it sickens magic users (it never rains in their world [[spoiler:until it starts to towards the end of the story]]).
* AntiVillain: Most of the main cast.
** En's Family are a bunch of brutal murderers, but every single one of them is more than capable of being completely amicable and nice to not only one another but outsiders. In addition, they all have several sympathetic qualities, like Shin and Noi's love for one another and En's desire to keep his family safe.
** The Cross-Eyes are a group of drug-peddling thieves and bandits but they're all also poor and destitute to the point of hilarity. Dokuga and his gang are emotionally vulnerable despite being grown men, and they live in a society that oppresses them due to their inability to produce smoke. They also follow their boss not out of a sense of respect, but for the obligation of being saved by him. [[spoiler: It's sad that he doesn't give two shits about them, and is easily able to kill them without hesitation.]]
* ArtEvolution: So much. At first, it was extremely detailed but rough at, well, everything. Kaiman looked more monstrous, Nikaido's hair was done in a more realistic fashion, En looked psychotic and angry the whole time, Risu had his hair up, and everyone, while they were always strong, looked a bit shorter and anatomically a bit rough. Also, the girls' breasts looked like they had silicone implants (i.e. they sagged little to nothing). After years of evolution nowadays Kaiman is positively adorable, Nikaido has AnimeHair, En looks bored or serious (and when he's angry he doesn't look like a madman any more), Risu has short WildHair no longer standing like a pack of needles, everyone has better anatomy and finally the girls' breasts sag properly (like natural boobs, if you don't believe it check the latest chapter as of this edit (131) and see for yourself). Sadly, this came at a price, with the art becoming more sketchy, at least, in the backgrounds...
* AssholeVictim: Why most of the {{Gorn}} is PlayedForLaughs. During the second half of the story [[spoiler: from En's death on]] things start getting a lot less funny, and as such the Gorn becomes {{Squick}}.
* AuthorAppeal:
** Food and cooking, especially if it's Japanese street foods like gyoza or nikuman. Several main characters are restaurant owners, and others like Asu are amazing cooks even if they don’t cook professionally. Many important conversations take place over meals, and the eating habits of characters receive special attention that’s unusual for an action manga. In fact, the first opening for the anime is just Nikaido cooking. Intensely cooking, but still. Which is between various copies of Kaiman marching and splatting on the ground, with the second time having their heads replaced with gyoza.
** Q loves shonen manga and battles. It's quite telling considering her work.
** Nudity, both [[MrFanservice male]] and [[MsFanservice female]].
* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Why En is in charge of the Magic Users world.
* AvengingTheVillain: The main plot gets started when Kaiman kills Fujita's partner Matsumura. Which gets [[AFatherToHisMen En]] after him, which gets [[AxCrazy Shin and Noi]] after him.
* AxCrazy: Shin during work, even if he actually uses an hammer.
* BadBoss: [[spoiler: The Cross-eye's leader]] will kill even his most trusted friends to get what he wants: [[spoiler: their magic powers]].
* BackFromTheDead: In general, this is Kikurage's ability. In one specific instance, [[spoiler: En's after being killed by Kai]].
* BadassInANiceSuit: En's family, being vaguely mafia/yakuza-like, embraces this, although there does seem to be a degree of leniency, as Shin and Noi seem to wear T-shirts or hoodies under their jackets quite a bit.
** This only applies to the higher-ups. Fujita (when not at social occasions), wears shorts. And most family members wear some sort of garment that resembles a boiler suit.
* BadassNormal: The Cross-Eyes. In theory, at least. Only Dokuga is consistently able to stand up to the stronger Magic-Users.
* BarbieDollAnatomy: Subverted in how the women are drawn – they usually have nipples and pubic hair. The men, however, aren't drawn with nipples, and the man inside of Kaiman's mouth is drawn with a featureless crotch. Curiously, the men aren't drawn with nipples, but at one point some En-shaped ''plants'' are.
** Played straight in the anime, where the women are drawn without nipples (if their breasts aren't obscured, that is).
* BashBrothers: Characters in this series always tend to come in pairs; Nikaido and Kaiman, Ebisu and Fujita, Shin and Noi, Jonson and Kasukabe, [[spoiler: Risu and Aikawa]]. In the case of Magic Users, it's a societal norm and an actual institution. Magic Users are expected to find, and be dedicated to, a single partner. They can gain extra abilities regarding it (like being able to sense when the other one is in danger) if they sign a contract on Blue Night that forces them to stay together (willingly or not) for the next four years. That being said, partnerships between Magic Users don't have to be Blue-Night official to be effective, as seen by Yaku and Baku, and even without a contract mages will gravitate into forming extremely tight-knit pairs.
* BattleCouple: Blue Night partnerships don't have to stop at BashBrothers, and can be romantic, though they are rarely seen among named characters. This is one of the (many) reasons En reacts with {{Squick}} at the thought of being Chota's partner despite Chota's incredible magic; Chota would inevitably misunderstand it as a go-ahead to try and take things farther than En would be at all comfortable with.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor:
** [[spoiler: Happens with Ebisu's parents. After Ebisu leaves home, they ask a shady magic user to create an exact replica of Ebisu to replace her. At first looking like a perfect copy, the fake Ebisu is actually a dangerous demon who goes berserk for very petty things, making Ebisu's parents flee their own home in sheer terror]].
** Deconstructed with the [[LiteralGenie wish-granting devil]]. He prefers granting stupid or selfish requests, so if you want your wish fulfilled you have to make it sound silly or greedy. When trying to get their friends healed, the Cross-Eyes wish for things like money. Natsuki, [[GenkiGirl being Natsuki]], decides to wish for [[PoisonousPerson Dokuga]] to be happy... and the Devil makes him laugh, sending his poison spit everywhere.
* BenevolentBoss: En is terrifying, but seems to take good care of his men.
** [[spoiler: Subverted with Kai. Given that the Cross-Eyes idolize him and he gave them a reason to live, one would expect him to be AFatherToHisMen. If he finds out that one of his comrades have magic he wants, he will kill them just like anybody else.]]
* TheBet: The devils are betting their powers on whether the Cross-Eyes' leader succeeds or fails. Considering [[spoiler: they'll be turned back into magic users and the Cross-Eyes' leader wants to kill all magic users]] it's a pretty huge one. [[spoiler: They lost and Store painfully gets rid of all their devil bodies. Fortunately Asu is there, has all his body parts, and is willing to help them... after he does "The Spiteful Dance".]]
* BewareTheSuperman: Magic users experiment on humans, with humans for the most part unable to do anything about it. High class magic users like En also appear like this to weaker Magic Users, like the Cross Eyes.
** Thirteen freaks out when Nikaido returns to the Hole with a bunch of (friendly) sorcerers.
** The devils are this to everyone, even the strongest magic users are afraid of them and are forced to worship them. Kneeling down before a devil slightly reduces the chance of being killed or horribly mutilated for fun.
*** Store, in turn, is this to devils. It seems pretty tame and often does business with them, but they can't quite get over the fact that It can kill them and does so in a manner that's horrifically brutal even for this series- [[spoiler: it quarters them before violently peeling off their "devil suits" and leaving them to rot.]]
* BigEater: Kaiman, Shin, Noi, even the little Ebisu can eat quite a bit.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Johnson is a 2-meter tall cockroach.
* BlackComedy: Extremely so. ComedicSociopathy is in full effect for everyone in this story.
* BlindIdiotTranslation: The Viz translation has many issues, for starters:
** Fukuyama (Tanba's male employee) was called a waitress, or a little girl, when he's in fact a young man. Conversely, Kirion (Tanba's female employee) is referred to as male in later volumes.
** Kikurage is literally called Judas's Ear and is mistakenly called "he" - it's a "she".
** When Chota is listening to the radio about his horoscope, the radio announcer says the "Taurus" prediction, when in reality, it's a "Capricorn" prediction; En's Capricorn, not Taurus.
** There are many unnecessary swearwords all around. Though characters do swear, it's not to that extend.
* BlobMonster: Natsuki's magic. She can cover herself with blob-like substance to protect herself from attacks.
* BodyCountCompetition: In episode 2, Noi compares her brutal kills to Shin’s.
* BodyDouble:
** Turkey's ability is to create doubles (from cooking ingredients). These doubles can't speak, and instinctively seek out their original's body.
** [[spoiler: Asu uses his devil powers to make Chota into Nikaido's double so Nikaido and Kaiman can escape En.]]
* BodyHorror: What magic users (especially amateurs) do to muggles. Kai, what with his multiple heads and all (some of which are rotting). There's also the Cross-eyes in [[spoiler: Kasukabe's wife's house]] who had so many failed surgeries to use magic they look like they're wearing masks but they aren't.
* BodyMotifs: Heads, especially multiple heads, are a recurring motif in the series:
** Because so many characters wear masks, that being particularly relevant in the magic world, the heads of characters are even more important to the general design of each character. Kaiman, the main character, also has a mask and an unusual head, which is a focal point of his design and of his character's story.
** Because magic users get their powers from a devil in their brains, and En's family's member Kikurage can bring people back as long as their devil is intact, heads are also important in fights as destroying the head becomes the main way to kill a magic user for good. [[spoiler:Similarly, the devils also become relevant for a way to make the black powder, leading Kai to have an entire room made out of nothing but the heads of magic users he keeps as prizes]]. Although that's not something Kaiman knows, during his fights with Magic Users, he also aims for the heads, but with the intention of putting them into his mouth.
** The main villain for a good chunk of the series [[spoiler:has multiple heads, and can regrow them at will, and especially when their multiple personalities are switching. Over the course of that conflict, each head represents a life he has, which requires him to be killed nine times to eliminate all the heads. Multiple heads get killed through damage to the heads themselves, like the Tanba magic users cutting his head longitudinally with a cleaver, Shin beheading Kaiman, Curse beheading Kai, Risu beheading the final head, etc.]]
** The final enemy of the manga: [[spoiler:Hole-kun turns into a giant head with the lake of sludge for an eye.]]
* BoisterousBruiser: Kaiman and Noi. It gets [[DissonantSerenity really creepy]] when they act like this while killing people.
* BoobsAndButtPose: Cover 16.
* {{Bowdlerize}}: Interestingly, the anime has little to no censorship, gore and nudity are shown without problems in the Netflix broadcast. Most of the instances of nudity that the manga had uncensored remained without the nipples. However, the scene in episode 10 where Noi and Ebisu are charged with giving the BoundAndGagged Nikaido a bath has Noi and Nikaido still dressed (and cuts away before either woman loses their clothing), whereas the manga version of this event had them both naked. Ebisu is also shown wearing panties in this scene, while her bare butt was exposed in the manga.
* {{Brainwashed}}: Making a contract to be someone's partner doesn't seem to require the consent of both parties. [[spoiler:Nikaido becomes loyal to En due to the contract between them that En forced on her, and even once it's removed from her body, she's told that she'll become loyal to En again if she ever lays eyes on him at any point before the next Blue Night.]]
* BreakTheCutie: Subverted with Ebisu in the first volumes since the author made it look [[TheChewToy hilarious]].
* BroughtDownToBadass: Shin's smoke doesn't work on Kaiman, but then Kaiman makes the mistake of thinking that Shin is a SquishyWizard, and [[CurbStompBattle gets stomped on.]]
** [[spoiler: Asu eventually cheeses off Chidaruma too much and loses his [[PhysicalGod devilhood]]. Of course, you have to be an elite magic user to become a devil in the first place.]]
* BullyingADragon: When a pair of bullies pick on Fujita and Ebisu, knowing full well that they work for [[AFatherToHisMen En.]] Now, this would be fine, seeing as Fujita is a weakling... but his friends, [[AxCrazy Shin and Noi]] are not.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Mushroom-happy En. He lives in an enormous estate filled with statues of himself, sells mushroom items (including some that, when in the trial stage, attach themselves to people and refuse to let go), and decides that [[MushroomSamba testing dream mushrooms on himself and his subordinates is a good idea.]] With all of these quirks, which are PlayedForLaughs, it is easy to forget that he basically rules the Magic Users' world.
* ButtMonkey: Fujita just can't seem to catch any breaks. Upon hearing that he will be sent on a dangerous mission, the other members of En's Family, somewhat surprised that they were not chosen, conclude that he was chosen because he is expendable.
* TheCaligula: Kai. Erratic, homicidal and prone to [[SplitPersonality switching personalities]], he takes to sending his men out to collect the heads of as many Magic-Users as possible. Which he uses to [[spoiler: create and [[OneWingedAngel fuse with]] some sort of [[BodyHorror flesh monster]]]] for no apparent sane reason.
* CastOfSnowflakes: While some characters do resemble each other and certain features are reused often, the resemblances are usually on purpose, and if you took hair and clothes away, the characters would still be very easy to tell apart by face and body type alone.
* CannotCrossRunningWater: A variant: All Magic-users are weakened to the point of immobility by rain-it's mentioned it never rains in the magic-user world. It's a plot point several times in the series.
* CentralTheme: Racism Is Bad. You shouldn't look down on others because they're different from you, and real friendship can look past initial appearances.
** The ViciousCycle that dominates the series is rooted in FantasticRacism. The only reason why things go as bad as the do is because Magic Users oppress their own people and torture the residents of Hole on a daily basis. This leads to the following: [[spoiler: En dying, Kai coming back, the spirits of the magic user victims possessing a corpse and turning into an artificial demon, the Magic Users world being completely and utterly destroyed, widespread mass murder]] and more. Had the Magic Users exercised restraint on their own people instead of running amok, the story would have never happened.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Most of the main cast can [[MadeOfPlasticine slice and dice]] their opponents quite easily, with their bare hands if need be. They also happen to be fast enough to deal with guns.
* ChekhovsGun:
** In a bonus chapter, Shin is plagued with a feeling like he's constantly being watched and goes to view his devil friend's concert with the intention of asking for his help afterward. It turns out that he was cursed by a magic user and a devil's song breaks curses. Later, [[spoiler: Risu's Curse is about to attack Kai when Haru unknowingly breaks into song and scares him off, inadvertently saving Kai.]]
** During his first fight with Shin, Kaiman is beheaded and killed, though he resurrects by himself. Vaux, him, and Nikaido attempt to dissect it to see if they learn anything about it, but it vanishes during a power outage. [[spoiler:Risu's Curse is revealed to have stolen and kept it, and through magic, a Devil brings him back to life during the final arc using that head.]]
* ClothingDamage: Generous amounts of it, especially for the ladies.
* CloudCuckooLander: Ebisu, though it is due to brain damage caused by Kaiman. [[spoiler:When she recovers her original personality, she is a quite serious and stoic girl, but in her resurrection, a magical hairpin ends up in her brain which returns her to her brain damaged personality.]]
* CloudCuckooLand: The Magic Users' world, full stop. Strange fashions, stranger masks, odd architecture, a restaurant whose main attraction is a toilet connected to Hell...
* CombatMedic: Noi's magic is healing people. She's also a bruiser that can crush people with her hands.
* CostumePorn: Is such a thing as costume {{Gorn}}? Welp, the clothes are VERY detailed, and are a pain for fan artists. You'll be surprised of how many folds and textures even a pajama can have!
* CrapsackWorld: Oh boy. You could end up living in a [[WretchedHive filthy, crime-filled slum]] and die by way of criminals or Magic Users, who think that [[BodyHorror turning you into something awful]] is a really good time. Or you could be a Magic User, living in a similarly bad world [[FantasticCasteSystem with skilled Magic Users running the whole show.]] And when you die, if you were born a magic-user, you go to straight to hell.
* CreepyCrosses: Upside-down crosses are a common motif in the Magic Users' land, and Magic User gravestones are upside-down crosses on top of large eggs.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: [[spoiler: Ebisu]] of all people. When using black powder, she turns into a giant lizard.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Anyone on the receiving end of Shin's vivisection ability. Except it [[Main/SubvertedTrope doesn't actually kill you]], though it slowly wears off over a period of ''two months''.
* CurbStompBattle: Two notable examples: En to [[spoiler: Kaiman]] and Kai to [[spoiler: En]].
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Most people - [[CrapsackWorld unsurprisingly]] - have one of these. A variation with Nikaido, who is troubled because [[spoiler: [[RetGone her past doesn't exist]]]].
* DarkerAndEdgier: Once the Cross-Eyes [[spoiler: take over the Magic Users' World and]] start killing off Magic Users. Arguably, the trend began about [[spoiler: when En [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomped]] Kaiman, leading to the return of [[BigBad Kai.]]]]
* ADayInTheLimelight: The Bonus Curse chapters occasionally focuses in secondary characters like Natsuki, Risu and Ebisu.
* DeathIsCheap: Played with. Most of the main characters end up dying ''at least'' once, horribly maimed, or incapacitated by magic (i.e. being dismantled or turned into a pie) in a way that might as well qualify as dead. However, because of powers like Noi's HealingFactor, normally-fatal or debilitating injuries can be healed without consequence. It becomes somewhat more problematic if the victim is long-dead or killed instantly, but even then, En has a pet -- er, ''[[InsistentTerminology family member]]'' that can bring Magic users back to life, so long as their Devil-Shaped Tumour remains intact.
* DemonOfHumanOrigin: Devils are magic users that have undergone years of training and passed the Devil Exam. [[spoiler:Though given their origins as [[OurHumansAreDifferent a similar but distinct race]] created by Chidaruma, the human part is somewhat open to question.]]
* DePower: At the worst possible moment [[spoiler: Risu fulfills his Curse against Aikawa by stomping on his head and loses his Curse powers, just as it's revealed Ai/Kai/Aikawa/etc. was just the host for something ''worse'']].
* DevilButNoGod: The setting has no "benevolent" deity, only devils.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: From the beginning it looks like that En is the BigBad of the series (which isn't saying much thing considering the BlackAndGreyMorality in this manga), but after several volumes later it turns out that the actual Big Bad is [[spoiler:Kai, as he schemes to steal the abilities of every Magic User]]. But then by the end of Volume 15, it seems like that the ''real'' actual Big Bad is [[spoiler:Chidaruma]].
* DissonantSerenity: Nikaido, who looks positively bored while killing people in horrible ways.
** Becomes positively horrifying when, as Kaiman accosts poor little Ebisu, Nikaido stands there with a massive smile on her face.
* DrugsAreBad: The Black Powder is basically steroid for magic users: it greatly strengthens their power at the expense of utterly crippling them if they aren't prepared for it.
* {{Dungeonpunk}}: The setting as a whole falls under this. The Magic Users' World plays this straight, but Hole tends towards more of a traditional {{Cyberpunk}} aesthetic as the {{Muggles}} there are completely incapable of using magic and use of regular old technologies instead.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Just about everyone who's still alive by the end receives a happy ending.]]
** [[spoiler:En's Family all get revived and make it through the mess with Noi, Shin, Fujita and Ebisu being able to move on with their lives.]]
** [[spoiler:Shin reassures Noi that he will stay in the sorcerer's world for the rest of his life and the same would go for the two's partnership.]]
** [[spoiler:Fujita is finally able to let go of his friend's death and is looking forward to becoming official partners with Ebisu. The same could be said to Ebisu as she is seen buying him a(very silly-looking)new pair of shoes in replacement for the funeral shoes he's been wearing for the entire series.]]
** [[spoiler:En is brainwashed by Shou into forgetting Nikaido, likely as a favor to Kaiman for saving them all, meaning Nikaido will live on without getting forced into a partnership she hates. It turns out later that the spell wears off since En keeps getting triggered into remembering Nikaido, but then Asu informs him that Nikaido can't use magic anymore and En promptly drops her for good to the relief of the family.]]
** [[spoiler:On top of this, Shin realizes that Kaiman and the Cross-Eyes Boss are two different people, and lets him off the hook for all the trouble his alternate selves have caused since he now owes Kaiman his life.]]
** [[spoiler: The two remaining Cross Eyes officers are shown mercy by Kaiman, who wordlessly gives them a gift of Noi's healing smoke in a gesture that simultaneously fulfills his obligation to them as the Boss and ends his involvement with them, to the betterment of both parties (though he still regularly runs into them later as coworkers for Nikado's Hungry Bug restaurant).]]
** [[spoiler:Chidaruma is forced to live a life as a human for fifty thousand years as punishment for losing his game [[note]]And [[UncertainDoom maybe]] dies, which arguably is the ideal outcome for everyone else[[/note]]]]
** [[spoiler:Risu and Asu decide to take the exam to become Devils together.]]
** [[spoiler:Professor Katsukabe returns to Hole and reunites with Jonhson, but keeps in touch with his ex-wife Haru.]]
** [[spoiler:The residents of Hole manage to set up a religion to Hole-kun and make a monument out of his corpse- while this sounds gruesome, his bones still have the debilitating effects of the rain, and will thus cause any magic user to pass out in pain. This means that the people of Hole finally have a defense against rogue magic users and the era of "Magic Practice" has finally ended after millions of years. ]]
** [[spoiler:Lastly, Nikaido reopened the Hungry Bug with Kaiman working for her, just as she wanted to.]]
* EldritchLocation: The Hole Central Department Store is where the climax of the story takes place. The store seems bigger from long distances (despite being relatively small from up close) and is built on the Lake of Refuse, an enormous cesspool of blood, gore, corpses and trash. The effects of this lake are so strong that it affects the very city itself- [[spoiler: the lake is where the magic-user debilitating rain comes from]] and reality is warped in and around it. [[spoiler: Once Kai completes his ritual and becomes a Devil for real, the entire store loses all sense of location. Places warp back around on themselves in infinite loops, rooms appear and disappear randomly and people are teleported around inside of it. All the entrances become blocked by mysterious black walls, and it sinks into the cesspool of the lake it's built on.]]
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: It's pretty obvious that Kaiman and Nikaido, and Shin and Noi don't want to confess their feelings for each other, leading to many ShesNotMyGirlfriend moments. Possibly the same with Ebisu's crush on Fujita as well.
** Shin and Noi especially. Among the {{Mooks}} of the En family, it's pretty much taken as fact that they are already dating. One guy walks in on Shin straddled over Noi and his reaction shows he isn't at all surprised to see them "sleeping together" (though it was a misunderstanding). Instead he's just embarrassed he didn't knock first and worried they'll be mad.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: [[spoiler: Nikaido, upon being made to join En's family. Once again when she starts turning into a devil as well.]]
* EyeScream:
** In a flashback sequence, it is shown that Tetsujo had his left eye stabbed by a Magic User wielding a pair of scissors.
** Also in Volume 1, Nikaido makes the eye of some thug fly away by just kicking him in the face.
** Nikaido does this to Noi, slashing her eye. But since this is [[HealingFactor Noi]], it doesn't stick.
* EyesAlwaysShut: Natsuki.
* FaceOfAThug: Both played straight and averted. When masked all the cast look like it's [[EverythingTryingToKillYou out to get you]] (it probably is actually...), when unmasked they're all [[BeautyIsNeverTarnished pretty cute]]. En even ventures into cute little boy territory in a flashback.
* FacialMarkings: The Cross-Eyes Gang have -- you guessed it! -- crosses tattooed over their eyes. This becomes important, as Kaiman has these tattoos, as well. There's also a wanna-be Cross-eye with a UsefulNotes/WW2 German-style helmet with Manga/{{Naruto}}-like "claw marks" on his cheeks.
* FairPlayWhodunnit: The first part of the story has shades of this, as the author provides plenty of hints (some easier to catch than others) that may allow readers to have a right guess at what is going on before they are precisely told. However, starting roughly [[spoiler: by the time Kai is introduced]], the story sharply turns into a [[CluelessMystery Clueless Mystery]], even tho is still kinda obvious, at that point, that [[spoiler: [[SplitPersonality multiple]] [[LiteralSplitPersonality personalities]]]] are involved.
* FakeBoobs: [[ACupAngst Ebisu]] orders a pair of these along with an outfit in order to compete with Noi. Nobody except Noi pays any attention, though.
* FantasticCasteSystem: Dr. Kasukabe notes that, as far as weak magic Users are concerned, the Magic Users' World is little different from [[WretchedHive the Hole]].
* FantasticDrug: The Black Powder is essentially this, allowing weak magic users to temporarily power up their abilities. [[spoiler:It is produced by extracting and distilling all the smoke from the Devil-Shaped Tumours of powerful magic users.]]
* FantasticRacism:
** Magic Users and Devils consider humans to be little more than trash only fit for performing experiments on or eating.
** PlayedForLaughs when Kawajiri (Asu) says something along the lines of "Shut up, human" to Thirteen.
* {{Foil}}:
** Shin's magic can slice people up; Noi's magic can heal them.
** [[spoiler: Nikaido is a magic-user who lives as a human; Ai/Kai/Aikawa/Kaiman was a human who wanted to become a magic user.]]
* ForcedTransformation: Transformation is a very common type of magic, usually limited to specific forms (for example, En can turn anything into mushrooms).
* ForTheEvulz: Devils mess with people for the heck of it, ranging from throwing crap at them to growing to enormous size and stepping on them. To be fair, this basically appears to be their job description and a side-effect of becoming a devil at all.
* ForScience: Kasukabe. He even tells Kai that he wants to help him in order to study him (and was [[spoiler: responsible for turning Kai, then Ai, into a magic user.]]) He even struggles to record explanations on phenonenon on the brink of death.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: That Nikaido is a magic-user: she "gets sick" when it rains in Hole in chpt. 4, and all magic-users are weakened by rain. Also with regards to Nikaido, when she becomes En's unwilling partner he gives her a costume with devil horns; many chapters later she's turning into a devil with real horns.]]
** [[spoiler: Nikaido's door is shown to be designed like a cassette tape, and has fast forward and rewind buttons on it, hinting that her magic is time manipulation]]
** When Kaiman and Nikaido go shopping for clothes, a certain outfit catches Kaiman's eye but the significance of it is very easy to miss. [[spoiler: It's the outfit Aikawa wore during Risu's flashbacks, and the connection Kaiman feels with it is evidence of him being Aikawa.]]
** [[spoiler: Also, Nikaido at the first opening is shown with a [[SlasherSmile laughing]] while chopping meat, this foreshadows when she starts becoming a devil at the end of the manga]].
** We learn very early in the story that [[spoiler: the Cross Eyes boss orders his men to fetch every possible magic user corpse to study them and become stronger]] and, on several other occasions, that [[spoiler: magic users get their magic from a little devil-shaped tumor in their brain that produces smoke]]. We get the full picture of this only much later, when we learn that [[spoiler: the Cross Eyes boss get his magic powers by implanting the devils of powerful magic users he has killed into his own brain, and the devils he won't use are grinded up and turned into black powder]].
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Ai. [[spoiler: Started out as a kid in the Hole who wanted to be a Magic User. Ends up ruling the Magic Users' world.]]
* FlyingBroomstick: "Broomsticks" are more like wheel-less flying motorcycles, though they can be used for cleaning. And [[MagicCarpet taxis]].
* GenderBender:
** When Asu transforms Chota into Nikaido in Volume 7.
** [[spoiler: Happens later in chapter 78 with Nikaido and Asu.]]
** [[spoiler: When Nikaido becomes a full devil, her outer appearance becomes very masculine, albeit, [[{{Hunk}} handsome]]. The "real" Nikaido is still female.]]
* GenkiGirl: Natsuki and Noi.
* GoKartingWithBowser:
** When Fujita ends up playing baseball against Kaiman and crew (and Fujita's zombified partner Matsumura for good measure).
** Kasukabe and [[spoiler: Shin]] end up working together or hanging out with each other.
* {{Gorn}}:
** '''Oh, lord.''' Every time there are fights, expect body parts flying around.
** The [[spoiler: Cross Eyes Occupation]] and Central Department Store arcs have absolutely incredible amounts of gore every few pages. Things like [[spoiler: Kai's room full of magic user heads, the unsettling way in which Kai regenerates, and ''everything'' to do with the artificial Devil suit that Kai manages to create]] are absolutely NightmareFuel.
* GreenEyedMonster: [[spoiler: Chota is viciously envious of Nikaido for having been chosen by En as a partner (even though she was forced into it), and will mistreat, disrespect, and even try to maim her at every turn]].
* GreyAndGreyMorality: You couldn't honestly call anyone in this manga good ''or'' bad with a straight face.
** [[DudeNotFunny Depending on how seriously you take]] the BlackComedy, it verges on EvilVersusEvil and BlackAndGreyMorality.
* TheGrimReaper: Risu and Aikawa meet one of these in a Bonus Curse story.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Since humans and magic-users are two different species, [[spoiler: Shin and possibly Kirion, who are not as affected by the rain as pure-blooded magic-users]].
* HealingFactor: Noi, who can regenerate an entire body provided that her head survives.
* HellGate: The Magic Users' world has toilets and dumpsters that connect to Hell.
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: Kaiman]] has one when, led by a small fraction of memory, he goes to an abandoned school building in the Magic Users' world and realizes he was actually [[spoiler: Aikawa and not Risu]].
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Aikawa]] tries to get rid of [[spoiler: Kai]] by letting Fukuyama turn him into a pie. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the Cross-Eyes find some of [[AntiMagic Chota's smoke]] lying around.]]
* HopeSpot: While exploring the underground looking for [[spoiler:Kai]], Ton is knocked over by a tide of blood and gore after opening a door. He wakes up unharmed, eventually comes across Natsuki unconscious in a liquid-filled hole. He manages to pull her out and resuscitate her. [[spoiler:After wandering around a bit more, he realizes that he had just been killed and devoured by Kai, that Natsuki was dead as well, and that they have been reduced to little more than devil-shaped tumours absorbed by the monstrosity that Kai had become.]]
* {{Hulkspeak}}: Slightly subverted; Ebisu talks in a childish, stilted manner.
* HumanoidAbomination: Stoa, a horrifying bird-man-thing capable of killing even [[PhysicalGod devils]]. It's invisible to normal eyes. It's implied to be an "angel" in opposition to the "devils" that live in hell.
** [[spoiler:Kai.]] Whenever he appears, everything seems to twist around, Magic Users feel ill, and see the headless/neckless man that [[spoiler: Kaiman/Aikawa]] meets in his dreams. [[spoiler: When he changes from Aikawa to Kai, his head explodes off of his body.]]
* IJustWantToBeAbnormal: Ai was a normal human from Hole who wanted to become a magic-user; unfortunately magic is restricted to the MageSpecies. [[spoiler: He eventually succeeded and became Aikawa/Kai, and now he wants to become a ''devil'', which the other devils find highly amusing]].
* IJustWantToBeNormal:
** Kaiman wants his head back. As in, he wants to look human again.
** Risu and the other [[MuggleBornOfMages non-magic-users of the magic-users' world]] who attend the school for Magic Users. All they really want is to be Magic Users.
* ImAHumanitarian: En serves the people he turns into mushrooms in his restaurant.
* ImpracticallyFancyOutfit: Devils, no longer constrained by mortal limits, love these. Actually averted for everyone else when they are in their combat gear. BadassInANiceSuit Shin pointedly wears sneakers because running or fighting in dress shoes would suck. The monks of Hole wear tracksuits and running shoes underneath their robes when they have to deal with zombies. Most characters actually have a separate, practical outfit for when they expect to fight.
* {{Invisibility}}: Shou. This, combined with him being difficult to notice (he was the En family's assassin before Shin and Noi) makes most people forget about him. Except for [[AFatherToHisMen En]]. He later enchants [[spoiler: Fujita]].
* InstitutionalApparel: Striped prison uniforms are worn in the jail in the magic users' world.
* InvisibleToNormals: The Gyoza Man. Apparently he's a fairy that oversees Nikaido's restaurant.
* JekyllAndHyde: [[spoiler: It is gradually revealed that Kaiman, Aikawa and Kai share the same body]].
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Applies to many characters, but Tanba is possibly the most notable example. Despite beating his employees for incompetence and constantly insulting them, he actually shows concern for them. He is also the one who helps Kaiman after he comes alone to the world of the Magic Users to find about his past.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Tetsujo. Though it gets [[AvertedTrope averted]] once he fights really strong characters and his katana doesn't help much.
* KilledOffForReal: Thanks to Kikurage's ability, this trope rarely happens. But it still has limitations. Basically, anyone too damaged or rotted away is impossible for Kikurage to heal [[spoiler: like Matsumura]], although Noi can "freshen up" the body back to suitability [[spoiler: like with Risu's mummified head, Ebisu and En's corpse]].
* KnightTemplar: The Hole once had an anti-magic squad, who brutally killed any Magic user or anyone involved with them, until they [[spoiler: killed Shin's father for marrying a magic-user and Shin discovered he ''really'' likes using his hammer on people's heads. When Kaiman learns this he blames Kasukabe for helping Shin and destroying the only people who ever stood up to magic-users in Hole]].
* LargeAndInCharge: [[spoiler: When Aikawa/Hole becomes a devil-like being he becomes four meters tall and immediately starts thrashing magic users.]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Kaiman, a.k.a. [[spoiler:Aikawa. ''Twice.'' He also somehow managed to forget being the ''BigBad'']].
* LethalJokeCharacter: Fukuyama can beat opponents instantly by turning them into ''pies''. [[spoiler: He beats some of the Cross-Eyes this way, and even Aikawa (who admittedly let it happen).]] En's mushroom power is similar, just substitute mushrooms for pies. He can also propagate them through spores without directly using smoke. [[spoiler: This bites Kaiman, who is only immune to smoke, in the butt. En even manages to take down the Cross-Eyes' Boss by filling him with mushrooms until he nearly explodes and ''dies'' -- unfortunately that wasn't his final form.]]
** Natsuki's magic is large and blobby, but becomes less funny when [[spoiler: even Risu's Curse ability can't hurt it.]]
* LizardFolk: Kaiman. Also, Ebisu's ability is transforming people to reptiles. [[spoiler: And it is indeed Ebisu's smoke that transforms Kaiman into his lizard form, though it wasn't by her hand directly]].
* MaskPower: Freaking ''everyone''.
** Masks are a status symbol in the magic-users' world. If you prove your magical skill to a demon, it will make a mask for you. Those with lesser powers emulate this with home-made or store-bought masks, such as Ebisu and Fujita.
** GasMaskMooks: En's henchmen.
* MadDoctor: Kasukabe seems pretty happy about having made his magical door out of [[strike:human]] ''Magic-User skin''.
* MadeOfPlasticine: Sure, Noi is strong, but it's supposed to be nigh impossible to ''karate-chop a person in half''.
* MageKiller: [[AntiMagic Kaiman]] (who gets introduced as this in a boxing match) and [[BadassNormal Dokuga]]. [[spoiler: What the Cross-Eyes' leader really is -- the rage of all the human victims of Hole using Ai's body on a quest to kill all magic users, even talent-less ones like the Cross-Eyes.]]
* MageSpecies: The series has a very biological approach to magic: Magic Users have a special organ in their abdomen for producing magic smoke, with smoke ducts running along their arms to their fingertips. They also have a tiny devil-shaped tumor in their frontal lobe. [[spoiler: It appears magic users were created by devils, and Chirudama creates a magic user for fun]].
* MakeWayForTheNewVillains: [[spoiler: Although the Cross-Eyes had been introduced earlier, they were little more than side characters to the main conflict... until their boss comes back. Their revived boss effortlessly kills En, scatters any En Family members he didn't manage to kill in time, and resurrects the Cross-Eyes as the new main villains. Weirdly, thanks to his SplitPersonality, he's able to do this ''again'' after he completes his human sacrifice and becomes Artificial Devil Kai. The Cross-Eyes leadership, previously shown to be able to kill Magic-Users by the dozens, are slaughtered by his bestial new self, leaving Hole-Kun (Devil Kai's final form) and his zombies as the final threat.]]
* MeaningfulName: The Cross-Eyes have a few. Dokuga, a PoisonousPerson, is the name of a poison moth. Ton, a fatty, is the name of a pig. Lampshaded during their part-time jobs, where they each where costumes related to their names. Shin, whose name means heart, wears an anatomical heart-shaped mask.
** Hole itself: The town got its name from Chidaruma "admiring" the giant sink hole that swallowed a ''mountain'' of human corpses made by ancient magic users, which later became the waste pit where [[spoiler: the human Ai transformed into the magic-user Aikawa]].
* MediumBlending: The anime is mostly 3D animated, with some sequences and effects done in 2D.
* AMillionIsAStatistic: This and that the victims decided to fight is the reason that the wholesale slaughter unleashed by the Cross-Eyes isn't treated as a MoralEventHorizon.
* MoodWhiplash: The Boss, the character perhaps taken the most seriously in the entire manga, [[spoiler: transforming into a {{Humanoid Abomination}} not even capable of speech anymore, horrifying and mystifying his subordinates...only to have to have Dokuga make him stop eating garbage off the ground and trying to drink water from a sewer.]]
* MookHorrorShow: The first few panels look like a couple of innocent people getting massacred by a lizard monster; this scene loses none of its disturbing quality when the two are revealed to be [[AssholeVictim Magic Users.]] For bonus points, [[HeroicSacrifice Matsumura's last action was helping Fujita escape...]]
* MoreDakka: Fujita attempted to blast Kaiman and Nikaido with a machinegun, [[EvenEvilHasStandards En told him to don't try it.]] Also, his door is fashioned after a lot of magazines and pieces of guns [[GunPorn stacked together.]]
* MuggingTheMonster: Some thugs decide to mug Nikaido and get killed horribly for it.
* MuggleBornOfMages: Anyone from the magic-users' realm who can't use magic (or is really poor at it) is regarded as no better than a human from Hole.
* MugglePower: The Hole militia, Option 2.
** The Cross-Eyes, who [[IJustWantToBeAbnormal just want to be Magic Users.]] To accomplish this, they sell the power-enhancing black powder and work to defeat the reigning [[BewareTheSuperman En family.]]
* MundaneLuxury: After [[spoiler: taking over En's house]] [[PerpetualPoverty Dokuga and friends]] are much more impressed by the stash of food than the gold.
* MundaneUtility: Fujita's nigh-useless smoke makes him an incredible pitcher.
* MushroomSamba: En gives himself and his subordinates mushrooms that allow them to have lucid dreams... which promptly turn into nightmares.
* NewWeird: Where to start? Not a typical horror or urban fantasy story: sorcerers with masks using magic smoke, becoming a demon from hell being treated as a job, weird science that exposes the rules of magic, undead removal treated like a community anti-litter day...
* NoOntologicalInertia: Everything a magic user has done decays and stops upon their death.
* NoRomanticResolution: There is plenty of ShipTease between Kaiman and Nikaido and Noi and Shin respectively (even Fujita and Ebisu get some). However [[spoiler: by the end neither of the pairs end the manga as a romantic couple. They do affirm the deep bond they have with each other, though]]
* NothingButSkulls [[DecapitationPresentation And Heads]]: [[spoiler: The Cross-eye leader]] has neatly stacked collection of skulls and heads that goes to the ceiling. When it gets knocked over during a rainstorm the result is ''messy''.
* NumberOfTheBeast: Comes up so often that it's more of a RedHerring. Conversely, pretty much ''any'' three-digit number other than 666 is important.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Professor Kasukabe is well over sixty, and looks maybe sixteen. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], as he used MagiTek to make himself appear younger. This could also apply to [[spoiler: his wife Haru, who's also a devil]].
* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler: Kai. By fusing with something he made out of flesh and a bunch of heads.]]
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Magic-users can become devils if they can survive TrainingFromHell that includes not using their powers for a year. [[spoiler: Noi failed because she used her powers at the last minute to save Shin (En doesn't mind because Shin saved Noi); Nikaido is turning into a devil because Asu's helping her relearn to use magic and she's accustomed to not using her powers. Other magic-users-turned-devils are Asu, who was literally stripped of his powers after it was discovered he was helping Nikaido; Kasukabe's wife, who can get out of her devil "body-suit" for a limited time, and apparently Aikawa/Kai who made a "devil suit" that the other devils find intriguing.]]
* PacManFever: A bizarre aversion happens in the third ending of the anime. It showcases a parody of a cross between ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' (the level design) and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' (the HUD) with En as the "player" and using shrooms as his weapons. The "gameplay" shown is ''very'', convincing to the point an unsuspecting viewer might think it's a real [[GameMod custom Doom wad]], given the rather faithful "graphics" and "gameplay" compared to the original game.
* PerpetualPoverty: The Cross-Eyes in Berith. They keep the light off as long as possible to save money and take whatever (crappy) jobs they can get. They almost lose their house until they (accidentally) kill the landlady. Justified in that they need to keep a low profile and cannot take any major jobs.
** Nikaido is almost perpetually broke, to the point where she is eventually forced to enter a prize fight to pay for rent and keep the Hungry Bug in business. Subverted in that it turns out the reason she is broke in the first place is because Kaiman ''never'' actually paid for all the food he's eaten at her restaurant, and that his frequent visits scare off customers. Once Kaiman leaves on a quest to discover his identity in the Magic World, business starts booming.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: En, whose mushroom power covers an entire village with mushrooms during his battle with Kai. The Cross-Eyes Boss also qualifies.
* PhlebotinumPills: The black powder, which dramatically enhances the strength of Magic Users.
* PinkySwear: Kaiman and Nikaido share one.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: Nikaido as a child. She was even able to take down adults in hand to hand combat.
* {{Planetville}}: The Magic Users' world has multiple cities but The Hole seems to be one MegaCity.
* PlotTriggeringDeath: The series opens with the protagonist goes on his daily Magic Users hunt routine and kills off a weak, unimportant mob. Turns out killing the henchman of the most powerful mafia family in the Magic Users world makes you their target, kicking off the series of events of the story.
* PoisonousPerson: Dokuga. He takes baths after his companions and eats alone to avoid poisoning them. He does manage to kill an entire party of Magic Users by taking a bite of something and throwing it into the punch bowl.
* PowerCopying: In hopes of becoming a sorceror, Ai takes Little Devil Tumours and implants them in his own brain. [[spoiler:Kai does it by [[CannibalismSuperPower outright devouring his victims whole, ripping out their tumours in the process.]]]]
* PsychoKnifeNut: Kaiman, Aikawa, Risu, Kai, Dokuga, Ton... [[spoiler: Three of these are actually the same person.]] Kai still takes the grand prize for putting the "nut" in "PsychoKnifeNut".
* PsychoSupporter: Chota was locked in his tower ''for four years'' before his introduction, and isn't pleased when [[spoiler: En chose Nikaido to be his partner over him (Chota) and plays many cruel pranks on her like dropping bowling balls on her head]]
* PunyHumans: Haru thinks of humans this way. She even makes a song about it.
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:Kaiman. After getting beaten up by En and losing his lizard head when Ebisu dies, Aikawa's personality becomes dominant.]]
** TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:Kaiman comes back though, when it turns out Devil!Nikaido resurrected Kaiman with his original personality from his [[ChekhovsGun preserved severed head]] from close to the beginning of the manga.]]
* PuttingOnTheReich: [[spoiler: Nikaido's (and Chota-as-Nikaido) costume when she's En's partner.]]
* {{Reincarnation}}: [[spoiler: Kai/Ai/Kaiman/Aikawa. Whenever he gets killed, a new head appears on his body. Though the same personalities reappear, his inner world is filled with various corpses, presumably previous personalities. Occasionally, one of these return, such as the original one, Ai, who is [[{{Squick}} rotting]].]]
* RetGone: What happens to [[spoiler: Nikaido's]] surrogate sister. She also erases ''her entire past.'' [[spoiler:Nikaido manages to make it better though.]]
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: The Cross Eyes, who started out as the oppressed in Magic User society, stigmatized, tormented and forced to live overall sucky lives because they lacked magic power. Once they gain political power, [[TheCaligula Kai]] decides that it is time to begin the slaughter. Mountains of corpses result.
* RuleOfThree: Chapters typically end with three things we learned. From chapter 113:
--> What we learned today:\\
1. [[EldritchLocation Leaving the Department Store is impossible.]]\\
2. [[PetTheDog If you're useful you'll get petted.]]\\
3. [[spoiler: __Asu__]] [[{{Gorn}} was neutralized. (he gets better)]]
* SamusIsAGirl: You have no idea that Noi is really a girl until she takes off her mask by the first time.
** Ebisu was less obvious with her skinny body but unless you're already used to Q Hayashida's style, you don't expect a young girl under that skull-faced mask.
** Kirion has a very un-girly, bulky "fursuit" and even without it looks only slightly more feminine than Fukuyama.
** [[spoiler: Haru, Devil!Nikaido, and an unknown number of female devils on account of their "outer selves" being very masculine.]]
** This ends up being the case for [[spoiler: Turkey, who on a whim decided to slowly transform himself into a woman using high-level magic.]]
** Considering the tone of the manga and ambiguous pen name, you could say the author herself is an example.
* ScaledUp: This turns out to be [[spoiler: Ebisu's]] power.
* SecretIdentity: Several examples: [[spoiler: Nikaido is a magic user; Aikawa is really the Cross-Eyes leader and Risu's killer; Shin's dog is actually a devil; Kirion is a human when she is not affected by things that would weaken magic users]]
* ShoutOut: Ebisu has a poster of [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]] in her room.
** [[spoiler: The fully demonized Aikawa/Hole looks like a ragged version of [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings humanoid Sauron]].]]
** Risu is an {{Expy}} of [[Manga/{{Akira}} Tetsuo Shima]], there's a [[https://66.media.tumblr.com/d6b175781c61556079107269c83cec1c/tumblr_nsu5ecP28i1r7su4qo2_r1_500.jpg panel]] that ][[https://66.media.tumblr.com/59f390e9c65fa48550a506f45d925f92/tumblr_nsu5ecP28i1r7su4qo1_500.jpg homages]] it. Also, his appareance is based on that of Music/BillyIdol of all people! Go check the [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lx2fZU5USus/maxresdefault.jpg Shock to The System]] video.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VEEMilZ4MM OH MY GOD! SHIT!]]
** In episode 4, Ebisu is seen holding a CD of the manga's soundtrack and reading the list of songs.
** The third ending is a straight up parody of ''Franchise/{{Doom}}'', with En in the role of Doomguy and using mushrooms as his weapons.
* SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset: Bones occasionally feature in character designs, and devils are said to like wearing bones as fashion items like necklaces.
* SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty: [[CrapsackWorld There is nothing shiny here]], even elite places are filled with stains and scuff-marks (though that could just be the artist's style).
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The Viz releases change Kaiman's name for "'''C'''aiman".
* SplitPersonality: [[spoiler:Aikawa/Cross-Eyes Boss Kai/Ai/Kaiman literally has different ''heads'' for each personality.]]
** LiteralSplitPersonality: [[spoiler: The four main personalities are Kai, Aikawa, and Ai Coleman- Kaiman is just Aikawa with a lizard head and no memories. Despite this, later in the manga a second Kaiman is created (complete with a whole new body), and Aikawa hijacks it to save the day, seperating the personalities into the original body (just Kai) and the newly made body (Aikawa, Kaiman and Ai Coleman)]]
** SplitPersonalityMerge: What happens as a result of the above. [[spoiler: Aikawa remembers everything from all three of his lives- his life as Ai, his life as Aikawa, and his life as Kaiman, creating a combination personality of all three. This is symbolically represented by the new personality looking like a combination of Aikawa and Kaiman's outfits- Aikawas mask with a backwards cap (complete with Kaiman's spikes jutting through it) and Kaiman's Mage Killer outfit.]]
* SpoilerOpening: Besides being loaded with FoodPorn, the anime adaptation's intro symbolically foreshadows [[spoiler:the [[YouAreNumberSix true nature of Kaiman]], [[DecoyProtagonist his "death" midway through the series]], and the madness that will eventually consume Nikaido.]]
* SquishyWizard: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with the main ensemble. Many powerful Magic-users [[spoiler: including the heroes]] have CharlesAtlasSuperpower to go along with their magic. The aversion is justified with Noi, whose magic lets her heal her own injuries. Outside of that though, average magic-users are still basically people and go down as easily if their magic can't prevent it.
** En is an interesting case. Though he never shows any major physical feats, preferring to destroy people with [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower his magic]], he does survive getting punched in the face by [[ActionGirl Nikaido]]. The same Nikaido who [[MadeOfPlasticine karate chopped a man's head off]].
* SerialEscalation: Just when you thought the {{Gorn}} couldn't get any worse, the Cross Eyes begin collecting heads...
* StalkerWithACrush: Chota is unashamedly gay for En. The feeling is '''''[[BigNo NOT]]''''' mutual.
* StatuesqueStunner: Noi is one of the tallest members of the cast and is tied with Nikaido for having the most sex appeal.
* TheStoic: Dokuga. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that he literally cannot laugh out of fear for [[PoisonousPerson killing his friends.]]
** Nikaido when [[spoiler:she's unwillingly made into En's partner]]; she has a blank look no matter what's happening to her. She goes [[SlasherSmile the oppo]][[CheshireCatGrin site way]] when [[spoiler: she's hopped-up on devil powers]], then swings back to blank when [[spoiler: she becomes a full devil. Her "outer self" is still smiling under its mask]].
* SuperPoweredEvilSide: [[spoiler:Risu's ''Curse'' form]].
** The cross-eyes' boss to [[spoiler:Aikawa]].
* SupremeChef:
** Turkey. His recipe for clones is ''delicious''.
** Nikaido during [[spoiler:her transformation into a demon]], whose gyozas send everyone into a frenzy for more.
* SurrealHorror: It gets particularly blatant in dream sequences, when it gets harder and harder to tell who is speaking to who, or when it was supposed to take place, or [[{{Gorn}} what the hell that actually is.]] The author's art style makes a good part of the main story have this feel to it as well.
* SympatheticMurderer: Shin, [[spoiler: whose father was killed simply because Shin's mother was a magic-user. Shin took revenge by murdering the entirety of the anti-magic squadron, thus dooming the entirety of the Hole. But he's still rather sympathetic, probably because of his [[AffablyEvil easygoing personality]]]].
* TheSyndicate: En's family is this in the magic users' world.
* TeleportersAndTransporters: Kawajiri's magic.
* TheReveal: Why rain weakens magic users, why the victims of magic users rise as zombies, and what exactly is going on with the Cross-Eyes' leader: [[spoiler: According to Ai's "ghost", it's collected rage of the human victims of magic users that congealed at the bottom of the pit. It went into him and now its goal is to kill all magic users, even ones with no magical abilities like the Cross-Eyes.]]
** Kaiman's identity is that of [[spoiler: one personality living in Aikawa's body. The others include the original user, Ai Coleman, and the BigBad himself, Kai.]]
* ThreeShorts: While almost every episode adapts at least three chapters of the manga, the actual episodes are inconsistent on having them be separate segments of the episode; generally, every even-numbered episode is broken up into three segments (except for episode 8, which had four), while every odd-numbered episode (except episode 9) has just one.
* TimeTravel: [[spoiler:Nikaido's magic power, which is why En wants her as his partner - he wants to go back in time to when he fought an extremely powerful Cross-Eye member, and find out who he was and whether he actually survived their encounter, since all he remembers is seeing that Cross-Eye's headless body [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction get up and escape through a magic door]]]].
* TokenMiniMoe: Ebisu. Though, her actual age is never mentioned, so she may simply be flat-chested.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:Kaiman]] is actually a homicidally berserk Magic User. And the ''BigBad'' of all things.
* TookALevelInBadass:
** [[spoiler:Kai/Kaiman]], once he accesses his SuperpoweredEvilSide.
** Nikaido, after undergoing the physical training for the Devil Exam.
** Devils in general (at least those who used to be Magic Users), going straight from MageSpecies to BewareTheSuperman.
* TortureIsIneffective: Not explicitly stated, but the {{determinator}}s who make up the cast aren't often affected by it.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Kaiman loves Nikaido's ''gyoza'', En loves mushrooms.
* TrainingFromHell: The Devil Exam, which involves wearing massively heavy armor, carrying around giant bats, and -- the hardest part part for most magic-users -- no using magic for a year. It's also a literal example, in that devils live in an actual Hell.
* {{Transhumanism}}: Replace becoming another human/going into a more powerful, robotic body, with becoming a devil, and it's the same.
* TrueCompanions: The En family, Kaiman and Nikaido, Dokuga and his friends.
* UnreliableNarrator: En's {{biopic}}, although Shin and Noi back up the part where [[spoiler:the Cross-eyes leader curbstomps them]].
* UrbanFantasy: A variant in some way. The Magic Users ride on brooms (basically flying, [[AppliedPhlebotinum smoke-powered]] broom-shaped motorcycles) and use cell phones. Plus, the whole setting reminds a cyberpunk-like esque universe.
* VilerNewVillain: En's family are fairly easy to sympathize with. [[spoiler: The villains who take their place, the reformed Cross-Eyes, start their reign by committing out-and-out genocide against Magic-Users, something En's family would never even think of doing towards humans.]]
* VillainEpisode: This manga concentrates just as much on the "villains" as the "heroes".
* VillainsOutShopping: The En family will often be shown engaging in everyday activities. In the case of [[BigEater Shin and Noi]], they will be at some fancy restaurant. En runs his many non-evil businesses, and Ebisu plays with Kikurage. They also actually go shopping.
** The Cross-Eyes in Berith (Dokuga, Ton, Tetsujou, etc.) live in poverty and try to find whatever jobs they can. For much of the series, their appearances involve keeping the lights off as long as possible to save on expenses, freaking out because they missed recycling (which they turn in for money), or finding various strange jobs (termite extermination and hot springs workers).
* TheVoiceless: Kirion.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Rain physically weakens Magic users. [[spoiler: When Kai going OneWingedAngel makes it rain in the Magic Users' world, most of the Magic Users start collapsing and feeling ill. Kai seems to have absorbed some of the rain's toxin, as being near him gives Magic Users the same effect.]]
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Oddly enough, [[MageKiller Kaiman]] is terrified of ghosts. The same guy who is alright with [[ZombieApocalypse zombies.]] According to him, zombies are [[HorrorHunger only hungry]].
* WithOurSwordsScene: Fujita gets loaded up with Family magic before [[spoiler:he goes to recon the Crosseyes leader]]. Subverted, in that [[spoiler:he has to leave it all behind, so that he doesn't fight recklessly]].
* WretchedHive: The Hole. The gritty artwork makes the entire place look dark and dirty. Houses are cobbled together out of who-knows-what or are part of a disheveled urban sprawl. Though good people can be found, having to dodge the crime and the [[ZombieApocalypse zombies]] as well as Magic User attacks makes it not so fun to live there.
* ZombieApocalypse: Hole gets one regularly, possibly due to the fallout of magic smoke from the Sorcerer's world having various effects on Hole's corpses. The people turned this into a money-making event.
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--> All of this is still... in the most chaotic shambles.

--> That is... DOROHEDORO.