[[quoteright:325:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/venus_versus_virus.png]]
[[caption-width-right:325:Lucia & Sumire]]

One day middle school student Sumire Takahana meets the mysterious Lucia Nahashi, who is part of a group called Venus Vanguard. From that day on, Sumire is drawn into Lucia's ongoing battles with "Viruses", evil spirits that snatch people's souls away. Sumire discovers that she not only has the power to see the Virus, but that she can turn into a mindless living antibody, called "Berserker mode"--an ability that Lucia finds highly useful for her purposes. It's needless to say that these events turn Sumire's life totally upside down.

''Venus Versus Virus'' started as a manga series by Atsushi Suzumi, which originally ran from 2005 to 2008 (first in ''Dengeki Comic Gao!'' for most of its run, before finishing in ''Dengeki Daioh'' after ''Gao!'' was discontinued). It was adapted into an anime series by Creator/StudioHibari in 2007 (with Lucia voiced by Creator/AyahiTakagaki and Sumire voiced by Creator/MinoriChihara). Even though it's filled with action and supernatural mystery, the focus of the series is on [[PseudoRomanticFriendship the relationship between Sumire and Lucia]] in the face of the threats they encounter.

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!!''Venus Versus Virus'' contains examples of:

* ActionGirl: Lucia and Sumire.
* ActionPrologue: The beginning of the anime.
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal
* AGodAmI: [[spoiler: Aion thinks of himself as this. In the anime, Lucif does.]]
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: This appears to be the case with Lucia to Sumire. [[spoiler:Though the ending of the manga is just vague enough to suggest that it's no longer the case.]]
* ArtificialHuman: [[spoiler:In the anime, Lucif's henchmen, including Yoshiki]].
* ArtEvolution:
** Compare the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen oneshot]] to the actual manga.
** Also, during volume 6, the characters look (somewhat) noticeably rounder and cleaner.
* BaitAndSwitchLesbians:
** Combined with BaitAndSwitchCredits. The opening to the anime shows [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lucia-sumire-bait1_2880.jpg Lucia and Sumire lying on the grass]] with IntertwinedFingers. The girls are not quite so lovey-dovey in the anime itself, [[IntertwinedFingers except...]]
** In the manga there are more over-tones, it's even dubbed a [[YuriGenre Yuri]] series, but it's still subtle.
* BattleAura: Sumire's doesn't glow, but it has enough heat to vaporize the snow in a radius around her feet.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: A lot of things, according to Lucif. [[spoiler: Also, maybe Lucia and Sumire's friendship, since they are the key and the gate. Sumire has Lilith's powers, which didn't awaken until she touched Lilith's brooch.]]
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Aion]] in the manga, [[spoiler:Lucif]] in the anime.
* BishieSparkle: In the anime, Yoshiki does this toward Nene and Riku.
* BlessedWithSuck: Lucia and Sumire sometimes feel this way about having Vision.
* BlowYouAway: Sumire displays this in the last episode of the anime.
* BodyHorror: When a human becomes a Virus.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: [[spoiler: Sumire in the final volume of the manga, when she buys into Aion's whole spiel about the True World being a paradise for all.]]
* ComicBookTime: Averted. The characters appearances change over the time of the manga, especially for Riku. He had a noticeable growth spurt.
* CooldownHug:
** Sumire does this literally to Lucia on one occasion.
** Perhaps this is also what happens [[spoiler:during Lucia and Sumire's final showdown in the anime]].
* CreepyTwins: Lola and Layla have some of this when they're together.
* DarkActionGirl: Ruka.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Lucia's definitely qualifies.
* DeflectorShields:
** Used extensively by Guy.
** A variation is also used to contain Sumire when she's in her Berserker mode.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Lucia, and she begins to warm up to Sumire as the series progresses.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: When Sumire goes into berserk mode, all the time in the anime and at first in the manga, she acts as if she wants to ''rape'' Lucia.
* ElegantGothicLolita: Lucia, Ruka, Lola, and Layla.
* EmotionlessGirl: Layla, especially in the anime. Lucia often behaves like this too.
* EnemyWithin
* EverybodyDiesEnding: [[spoiler:In the anime, Nahashi, Lucif, Sonoka, Ruka, Guy, and Yoshiki all die, and the fates of Lucia and Sumire aren't made clear, at least not without going into [[WMG/VenusVersusVirus Wild Mass Guessing territory.]] But in the manga, the only ones who die at the end are Aion and Sonoka.]]
* EyepatchOfPower: Lucia has one over her left eye.
* FeminineWomenCanCook: Or at least arrange flowers.
* GeckoEnding: In the anime, leaving the viewer with [[WMG/VenusVersusVirus a game of "guess what the symbols mean"]].
* GirlsWithGuns
* {{God}}: [[spoiler: Aion is considered to be the God of the True World he and Sonoka are trying to make.]]
* GodOfEvil: [[spoiler: This is the the protagonists describe Aion as, although he claims the True World is beyond the concepts of good and evil.]]
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: Nahashi's glasses give him The Vision, as he lacks it normally.
* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:In the manga, Aion possesses Lucif and Yoshiki, and Sonoka possesses Ruka.]]
* TheGunslinger: Lucia, although she loads her gun with blanks containing Virus-antidote.
* GunTwirling: Sumire tries this once in the anime. She ends up dropping her gun.
* HappilyEverAfter: The manga and presumably the anime.
* TheHeartless: When people with Vision lose their Fragments, they turn into Viruses.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:In the anime, Yoshiki betrays Lucif to save Sumire, and in the manga Ruka betrays Sonoka to get even for Sonoka treating her like a disposable minion.]]
* HellishPupils: Viruses, plus Berserk!Sumire and Lucif, have cross-shaped pupils.
* HomoeroticSubtext: There are hints between Lucia and Sumire, as pointed out by a few characters.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Sumire, at regular intervals.
* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight: [[spoiler: Lucia to Sumire in the finale of the anime, and to a lesser extent at the end of the manga.]]
* IntertwinedFingers: Sumire and Lucia do this often, starting in the opening credits.
* InterruptedSuicide: [[spoiler:Lucif.]] This is the way [[spoiler:Lilith, Lucia's mom,]] dies in manga. It's a TearJerker and TheReveal.
* InvisibleToNormals: Only those with Vision can see Viruses.
* {{Keep It Foreign}}: A joke early in the anime revolves around saying the phrase "I love you" in English, Chinese, and Russian. In the English dub, the languages are changed to Japanese, Spanish, and Russian.
* KissingCousins: Riku, Sumire's younger male cousin, has a crush on her.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: [[spoiler: Near the end of the anime, after Lucif kidnaps Sumire, no other characters remember Sumire, besides Lucia, Lola, and the villains.]]
* LeftHanging: The fates of [[spoiler:Lucia and Sumire]] in the anime.
* LimitedWardrobe: Lucia usually wears the same dress. In fact, most of the characters have little variety in their wardrobes, except Sumire who usually wears something new each volume.
* LimpAndLivid: Sumire in her Berserker mode.
* TheLostLenore: It's all but stated that Nahashi had feelings for Lilith, and though they were never in a relationship, it's clear he's still mourning her death.
* LuminescentBlush: When Lucia gets one, it's really telling.
* MagicSkirt: For all the jumping around Sumire does in a miniskirt, it keeps her covered.
* MagneticMedium: The Virus prefers to attack people who see it.
* MeaningfulName:
** Lucia's name means "light," and her parents are named [[spoiler:Lucif and Lilith]], although those ones are also kind of silly.
** Sumire Taka''hana'' keeps flowers around to lend cheer to Lucia's environment. For those non-Japanese speakers, ''hana'' means "flower." The name Sumire is also Japanese for "violet".
* MoreThanMindControl: The way Aion prefers to manipulate others.
* OlderThanTheyLook: In the anime, [[spoiler:Lola and Layla]] are ageless artificial humans, so they're much older than Lucia and Sumire. In the manga, they're [[spoiler:just preteen girls with psychic powers.]]
* OneeSama: Lucia gets addressed this way by Sumire's classmates.
* OnTheNextEpisodeOfCatchPhrase: "I'll kill you gently! Teehee!" (As said by Lola.)
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: In the anime, Lola [[spoiler: summons the ghosts of Nahashi and Lilith to restrain Lucif from attacking Sumire and Lucia.]] They fall under types 2 and 7 and look like blue-white versions of themselves.
* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Those with Vision have a Fragment of the True World within their souls.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The Virus often has the appearance of zombies.
* ParentalAbandonment: Lucia's mother is dead and her father [[spoiler:is the {{big bad}} in the anime, or possessed by Aion, the actual main villain, in the manga]]. Sumire's parents are rarely mentioned, but they are alive and well.
* PerpetualFrowner: Layla, and Lucia to an extent.
* PoorCommunicationKills: In the anime, Lucia [[spoiler: tries to kill Yoshiki]], even though he was in the midst of a [[HeelFaceTurn Heel Face Turn]]. Lucif finishes the job.
* PsychoLesbian:
** Sumire, in Berserker mode! It's a little bit subtle as she is violent with the Viruses and more sexual (in a rape sort of way) with Lucia, as at one point she says they should "become one."
** Also, Lucia appears to be this in the anime, when she [[spoiler:stakes Sumire's boyfriend.]]
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Ruka, and Sumire in her Berserker form.
* ReligionOfEvil: [[spoiler: Aion and his followers are described as being a cult and responsible for many of the problems involving the Viruses, and their religions has shades of [[{{UsefulNotes/Gnosticism}} Gnosticism]].]]
* RevolversAreJustBetter: Lucia prefers a revolver over the half-automatic gun Sumire uses, although Sumire also uses a revolver in the manga.
* SayItWithHearts: Ruka is fond of doing this.
* ScrewDestiny: [[spoiler: Lucia and Sumire reject their destinies as the "Gate" and "Key" to the True World at the end of the manga.]]
* SexAsRiteOfPassage: One of Sumire's friends, Mika, exclaims how Sumire has "become a woman" after she ''thinks'' Sumire lost her virginity during the spring.
* ShowerOfAngst: Lucia has a few.
* SmokingIsCool: Lucia, but only in the manga. [[spoiler: Subverted, as of Volume 7 where Sumire finally convinces her to quit.]]
* SparklingStreamOfTears
%%* {{Subtext}}: Ooooh boy, is there ever.
%%* SugarAndIcePersonality: Lucia, sometimes with hints of {{Tsundere}} occasionally.
%%* SupernaturallyDeliciousAndNutritious: Viruses see those with Vision this way.
%%* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Sumire's Berserker mode.
* SweetTooth: Lola loves chocolate, whereas her twin sister Layla prefers konpeito.
%%* TokenMiniMoe: Lola and Layla.
* TookALevelInBadass: Automatically Sumire when she enters Berserk mode. Even more so in the manga, where she can activate it whenever she wants and control herself.
* TooLongDidntDub: The English translations of the manga keep the Japanese honorifics and terms such as "sempai/kohai".
%%* TwelveEpisodeAnime
* UnbalancedByRivalsKid: Refreshingly averted--Nahashi cares for Lucia like his own daughter, and at the end of the manga she even refers to him as her true father.
* VagueAge: For the most part, Lucia is depicted as being older than Sumire, but she is apparently only one year older (two years in the anime).
%%* TheVirus: Obviously.
%%* WeirdMoon
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: Chapter twenty-two in the manga and episode seven in the anime, focusing on Nahashi's past with Lucia's parents.
* {{Yandere}}: In the manga, Layla, when she's not being an [[EmotionlessGirl emotionless girl]]. Although it's not romantic, she has a creepy obsession with "becoming one" with Lola.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: In the anime, Lucif knocks off his minions, apparently [[ForTheEvulz For the Evulz]], and in the manga [[spoiler: Sonoka does this to Guy after Yoshiki desouled him.]]
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Lucia is only fifteen years old, although she looks like she is at least eighteen. It doesn't help that she smokes...
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