[[quoteright:230:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Demonbanetop_213.jpg]]

->''I am innocent rage''\\
''I am innocent hatred''\\
''I am the innocent sword''\\
''I am DEMONBANE''

Kurou Daijuuji is a poor detective living in Arkham City ([[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity no, not that one]]). One day, he's asked by Ruri Hadou of the Hadou Financial Group to search for a magical grimoire. As Kurou searches for the book, he unexpectedly runs into Al-Azif, a pretty girl who turns out to be the grimoire Kurou is searching for. While being chased by the villainous Black Lodge, Al forges a contract with Kurou, bestowing him with powerful magic. Soon afterwards, Al also activates the Demonbane, a Deus Machina owned by the Hadou Financial Group, to combat the mechanical menace from the Black Lodge. With this, the war between the Hadou Financial Group and the Black Lodge begins....

A series by {{Nitroplus}} with HumongousMecha and CthulhuMythos elements, it began as an VisualNovel {{eroge}} for the PC, then was ported to the Sony PlayStation2 as a [[BleachedUnderpants non-eroge remake]]. A sequel action game, a prequel novel, an {{OVA}}, an AnimeOfTheGame and a conversion to manga followed the remake.
----
!!Tropes employed in this series are:
* AcheyScars - [[spoiler:Sandalphon's face bleeds when he gets too upset about Leica.]]
* AffablyEvil: Doctor West [[spoiler: Until his HeelFaceTurn.]]
* AliceAllusion - The entire incident with the Mirror of Nitocris.
* AllWebbedUp - In Atlach-Nacha's lair.
* AndThenWhat - Sandalphon is asked what he intends to do after he defeats Metatron. He doesn't really have an answer.
* AnimalMotifs - [[spoiler:The Tyrant acts like a cat and has hair like cat ears.]]
* AnimeHair - '''Everyone'''
* TheAntiChrist: Master Therion, according to one of the trivia pages, translates to [[NumberoftheBeast 666]] in a magic system that assigns numerical values to letters, and he has a personality cult and vast magical ability..
* AntiMagic - Doctor West's Dig Me No Grave.
* AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence - In one ending, [[spoiler: Kurou and Al become Elder Gods]].
* AttractiveBentGender - Kurou gets forced into drag at one point, and though we don't get to see it, even ''Doctor West'' found him hot.
* AvengingTheVillain - [[spoiler:When Caligula is killed by Kurou, Claudius goes absolutely berserk.]]
* BabiesEverAfter - The sequel plays with this, [[spoiler: Kuzaku and Another Blood are Kuro and Al's children.]] However, both of them come from alternate future.
* {{Badass}} - Almost every named character.
** ActionGirl - Metatron and Elsa. Ruri later joins this trope in her route.
** BackToBackBadasses - Kurou and Winfield during the battle at Innsmouth. Elsa and Ruri do this in their route versus Claudius.
** BadassBiker: Doctor West, Al, Metatron, [[spoiler: Sandalphon]] and Kurou get their chances at being this.
*** [[CarFu Motorcycle Fu]]: Done by Metatron, [[spoiler: Sandalphon]] and Doctor West on three separate occasions.
** BadassCrew: Anticross is the evil version of this.
** BadassGrandpa - Every image we see of Ruri's grandfather points to him being this. Just look at those muscles, and that hair, and that pose! [[spoiler:"Hadou Kozou" at that point isn't Hadou Kozou at all, but a time-traveling Kurou from the future.]] Yes, seriously. The sequel adds Laban Shrewsbury to this trope.
*** [[spoiler: In Ruri's route, this would have... implications. Ironically enough, this information is only revealed in Ruri's route and she seems fairly okay about the whole revelation.]]
**** Made less squicky by the fact that [[spoiler: he's not related to her by blood but by adopting her father before she was born.]]
** BadassNormal: Winfield. [[spoiler: Stone and Ness get their moments as well.]]
*** [[spoiler: In a weird mix of this trope and BroughtDownToBadass, the Demonbane becomes this in Al's route after her apparent death, forcing Elsa to take over. True, Demonbane can't use most of it's attacks aside from its fists and Lemuria Impact, but it's still more than enough to take out at least one of the Anticross' Deus Machina.]]
** CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: [[spoiler: Stone and Ness aren't as pathetic as they seem, as Tiberius finds out.]]
** LittleMissBadass - Al and Etheldreda.
** {{Determinator}} - Kurou, Winfield and Doctor West.
** OneManArmy - Almost every magically empowered character.
** PersonOfMassDestruction - Every fighting character.
** WorldOfBadass - Excepting faceless civilians, everyone is this. Hell, even [[ThoseTwoGuys Stone and Ness]] qualify as BadAss, if for no other reason than the ability to survive the kind of stuff that would kill anyone else more times than one can count, ''even when they are at ground zero for a lethal attack''!
* WorthyOpponent - Titus and Winfield consider each other such.
* BattleButler - Winfield, who's a {{Homage}} to Creator/HPLovecraft's father, Winfield Scott Lovecraft.
* BeachEpisode - ''The Shadow Over Innsmouth''. Obviously, it's of the [[BusmansHoliday Busmans's Holiday type]].
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe - [[spoiler:Al falls in love with Kurou because he is not like her previous masters. Unlike them, he treats her as a human and more than that, as someone important. The souls of her previous masters admit that when they were working together in the past the various pairs shouldn't have treated each other like tools.]]
* {{BFS}} - The Shining Trapezohedron, which can supposedly cut through dimensions and seal gods. The Scimitar of Barzai also counts.
* BittersweetEnding - [[spoiler:Almost all true and normal ending are this. This is especially true in Ruri's normal and good ending and Leica's true ending.]]
* BladeCatch - When retrieving the independent Scimitar Of Barzai
* BleachedUnderpants: PS2 version
* BloodKnight: Half of Anticross consists of these.
* BlushSticker: [[SuperDeformed Chibi]]-Al Azif and Sonia, the smallest of Ruri's maids.
* BondageIsBad: With a name like "the Tyrant", y'think?
* BoundAndGagged: Chiaki winds up like this a few times, albeit PlayedForLaughs.
* BridgeBunnies - Ruri's [[{{Meido}} servants]] Makoto, Chiaki and Sonia.
* BroughtDownToBadass - [[spoiler:In Al's route, she temporarily dies. While she's gone, Kurou is forced to fight without her. While his performance certainly suffers, he still ends up a rather competent fighter.]]
* ButtMonkey: Kurou does not have much luck with the women in his life. At all.
** Doctor West is also one, especially if you count all the times he gets "beat the shit out of". In fact, [[spoiler: his own creation (Elsa) falls for Kurou and treats her creator like crap, her programming be damned.]]
* CallingYourAttacks
* {{Canon}} - The visual novel has MultipleEndings. In the sequel, it turn out that ''most'' of them occur, with exception of the bad ending. This is possible because of time-loops and alternate timelines.
* CerebusSyndrome: The story starts leaning towards the more Lovecraftian side of things once the character routes start.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Winfield is able to go toe-to-toe with an Anticross sorcerer by virtue of the fact that he's a master boxer. Apparently boxing in ''Demonbane'' can make you superhuman.
* ChickMagnet - Kurou gets over half the women in the game to go googly eyed for him in one way or another. While being a ButtMonkey at the same time.
* ClingyJealousGirl: Al, especially in Ruri's route
* ClusterFBomb - Kurou and Doctor West have dialogue that could strip paint off walls.
* CombatTentacles
* CombinedEnergyAttack: It's [[YourSoulIsMine vengeful]].
* ConservationOfNinjutsu - You'd think that when the true, full-power Demonbane has the ability to summon every Demonbane that was, is, will be, wasn't, isn't, won't be and can't be to fight alongside it, this trope would be the first thing to come into effect. Thoroughly subverted, as having infinite Demonbanes makes it truly unstoppable.
* CoolBike: Hunting Horror.
* CoolGuns - Cthugha is a [[BlingOfWar pimped-out]] Mauser C96, while Ithaqua is a pimped-out [[RareGuns Mateba revolver]].
* CosplayOtakuGirl - Al seems to like changing her outfit to be "theme appropriate" to her situation quite a bit.
* CurbStompBattle - [[spoiler:All of the Anticross vs. Master Therion. On the other hand, [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning his death was just the beginning]].]]
** Anyone who fights Kurou in the finale of Ruri's route, up until the very last one.
** Anyone who is foolish enough to go up against the Tyrant. Except Master Therion, where the joke's on her.
* CuteAndPsycho - The Tyrant. Or at least, she's cute beneath all the bondage gear.
* {{Cyborg}} - [[spoiler:Metatron, the Tyrant and Sandalphon.]]
* DamselInDistress - [[spoiler:Metatron is taken captive to be a substitute C Priestess after the Tyrant is killed by Kurou.]]
* DarkSkinnedBlond - [[spoiler: Cthugha in human form]] is a tanned WhiteHairedPrettyGirl.
* DemotedToExtra - Despite being major characters, Metatron and Sandalphon are nowhere to be seen in anime adaption. Also Alison, who got a whole chapter of focus on her CharacterDevelopment in the visual novel version only.
* DepravedBisexual - Tiberius, though his preference seems to slant towards women, has some creepy affectionate dialogue for Sandalphon.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu - Done rather spectacularly.
* [[DidYouJustRomanceCthulhu Did You Just Romance The Necronomicon]]
* DualWielding / GunsAkimbo / SwordsAkimbo - The Demonbane and Kurou when using Cthugha & Ithaqua, Kuzaku [[RedBaron "Two-Sword"/"Two-Gun"]] and his Demonbane Two-Sword, and lest we forget Titus of Anticross, a ''four-armed sword wielding samurai''.
* DumbMuscle - Caligula.
* DyingAsYourself - [[spoiler:Subverted. Ryuuga dies insane and hating Leica. Or perhaps that was his true self and the boy Leica knew was just a lie. Due to rejecting the idea of dying sane or at peace, he does not reincarnate into the restructured world at the end of Leica's route.]]
* DyingCurse: The last words of Sandalphon.
* EldritchAbomination - A few. The likes of [[spoiler:Dagon and Hydra]] don't bother anyone too much but [[spoiler:the likes of Cthulhu]] cause some major brain breaking at first.
* EldritchLocation - An entire section of the city has been sealed off for being one of these. Any normal person who enters would simply die instantly.
* ElectraComplex - Another Blood wants to replace her mom. To make it more complicate, she comes from an alternate future and thus is not really related to her parents in the present. And since she's a book like her mom, their genetic relationship is hard to judge.
* EndingFatigue - In-universe version. In prequel novel, [[spoiler:Nyarlathotep]] got bored of never-ending battle between Gunshin Kyoshuu Demonbane and Gunshin Kyoshuu Liber Legis (after watching it for strange aeons, even attack that destroy multiverses can be boring...). So she tweak the timeline, kicking whole events of prequel out of canon (and erase those two from reality), result in one that of the VisualNovel.
* EvenEvilHasStandards
** Most members of Anticross have contempt for [[PsychoForHire Tiberius]]. Doctor West finds him to be an illogical abomination, and Sandalphon even resorts to [[spoiler: EnemyMine with Kurou]] to screw him over.
** A few members of Black Lodge find excess violence rather distasteful. Titus will kill people far below his level if ordered to, but otherwise finds it pointlessly brutal. Doctor West also finds outright slaughter to be so unappealing [[spoiler:that he defects after calling out all of Anticross at once and getting stabbed for his trouble.]]
* EvilCannotComprehendGood - In [[spoiler: Elder Gods ending, Nyarlathotep express its confusion at Kurou and Al as they continue to fight for humanity after ascend into Elder Gods]]. The narration make it clear that, to the Ancient Ones, there shouldn't be any good gods.
* EvilCounterpart - Liber Legis is the ultimate evil to Demonbane's ultimate good and they have similar but opposite attacks. Metatron and Sandalphon also have this dynamic going on.
* EvilIsDeathlyCold - Master Therion's Liber Legis' "Hyperborea Zero Drive" reduces its target's temperature to absolute zero. Also, Caligula's Kraken's main attack.
** Ithaqua too, since all magic is technically "unholy".
* EvilTwin
** Doctor West's "Demonpain", which can do almost everything the original Demonbane can and is even powered by some of Al Azif's pages.
*** [[spoiler: EXCEPT use the power of the pages. Can't mimic what you haven't seen, right?]]
** Another Blood from the sequel visual novel is another one, being the [[spoiler:blood edition of the Necronomicon.]]
* [[ExpressiveHair Expresssive]] IdiotHair - Doctor West, similar to [[MuvLuv Sumika]].
* {{Expy}}: Metatron and Sandalphon have a variant of the [[Anime/TekkamanBlade Blade and Evil]] dynamic.
* FacelessGoons - The Black Lodge {{mook}}s.
* FacialMarkings - Half the people with AnimeHair, mostly those from Black Lodge.
* FateWorseThanDeath
** The bad ending, [[spoiler:Kurou becomes Nyarlathotep's plaything. Trapped in a timeloop, he lives in the world that became an EldritchLocation after the the destruction of Shining Trapezohedron. At the end of each loop, he will meet Al but never get a reunion with her.]]
** In Al's route, [[spoiler:they don't really bother trying to kill Tiberius.]] Instead, he gets [[spoiler:sucked into the Shining Trapezeohedron.]] Al and Kurou couldn't see what was in there from where they were, but [[spoiler:Tiberius certainly could.]] What he saw was enough to make [[spoiler:the crazed, monstrous immortality freak]] actually beg for death instead of being sucked inside. Kurou simply points out that [[spoiler:after all the horrors he perpetrated to become what he is now]] whatever is in there surely won't be enough to do put an end to him either.
* FauxAffablyEvil - Vespasianus. Sure, he's fairly erudite and disturbingly polite for an Anticross member, but his deeds and what he'll do to accomplish them reveal it's but a thin veneer over his MadScientist self.
* FilleFatale - Ennea
* FinishingMove - Lemuria Impact. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWrh80fhfgA All playable characters in ''Kishin Hishou'' has at least one finishing move]].
* FragileSpeedster - Lord Byakhee.
* TheGadfly - Ennea is quite fond of trolling Al.
* GenreBlind - Nero is indeed the most powerful among Anticross and has no problem fighting both Augustus and Vespasianus at same time. Too bad, she confront them inside Cthulhu, surround by countless tentacles. Since Demonbane start as {{eroge}}, it doesn't matter how powerful she is...
** [[spoiler: Then subverted later on when she kills Vespasianus in the blink of an eye and would've done the same to Augustus if it hadn't already been done for her.]]
* GenreSavvy - The entire civilian population of Arkham City seem to be transplanted from Anime/TheBigO and BubblegumCrisis, especially given their in universe reactions to all the crazy shit that happens every other day.
* GirlsAreReallyScaredOfHorrorMovies - Invoked and averted should you decide that Kurou and Ruri will watch a horror movie. Winfield thinks that Ruri will get really scared and thus the standard scene will take place... but as Kurou and Ruri point out in utter boredom, they see this kind of thing every day and fight such monsters.
* HalfTheManheUsedToBe - [[spoiler:Claudius has to be cut in half before he finally dies. And then he comes back as a zombie.]]
* HairColorDissonance - Al's light pink hair is referred to as silver.
* HairTriggerTemper - Claudius
* HealingFactor - [[spoiler:The strongest Deus Machinas have a self repair module and the Tyrant is also capable of a great deal of self healing.]]
* HeelFaceTurn - [[spoiler: Doctor West and Elsa.]]
** In the sequel, [[spoiler: Master Therion and Etheldreda. As well as Another Blood.]]
* HeroInsurance - Everything's paid for by the Hadou Financial Group, though that doesn't stop Kurou from worrying about all the damage done in the fights.
* HeroicBSOD - Kurou has one after he [[spoiler:fail to save Ennea]]. He temporarily recovers after Al [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan slaps some sense into him]]. Too bad, because he soon faces another one after [[spoiler:Al's death]], and is nearly DrivenToSuicide until Winfield puts an end to ''that''.
* HenshinHero - Metatron, one of the Black Lodge's many enemies. [[spoiler:She's Leica.]]
* HomoeroticSubtext - Between Doctor West and Kurou, thanks to a misunderstanding on the part of the former. Neither one is happy.
* HumanMomNonHumanDad - [[spoiler:Therion is the child of Nero and Yog Sothoth.]]
* HumongousMecha - The Deus Machina and Doctor West's Destroyer Robots.
** In the prequel novel, Demonbane appears as ''Gunshin Kyoshuu Demonbane'' ([[http://omniversal.wikispaces.com/Character+Profile+-+War+God+Demonbane War God Demonbane]]), particularly notable for being '''''the''' largest mecha in fiction'', even larger than ''Super Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann''. It grows so large that it pops the universe it's in, and accidentally destroys other universes by ''brushing against them''. Of couse, its ArchEnemy ''''Gunshin Kyoshuu Liber Legis'' is as big and as powerful.
* HypocriticalHumor - Tiberius crying rape when Al tries to remove ''De Vermis Mysteriis'' from him.
* IfICantHaveYou - [[spoiler:Sandalphon isn't crazy because Leica killed him once. No, he was always crazy and a yandere for her and thus he simply can't accept a Leica who wasn't his big sister.]]
* Immortality
** Tiberius' grimoire makes him immortal as type 3 (regenerative) and type 5 (the undead)
** [[spoiler:Vespasianus can revive up to three times by sacrificing one of his familiars.]]
* ImmortalityTalisman - Tiberius' grimoire makes him absolutely unkillable so long as it is unharmed. As a side effect, he is a perpetually rotting corpse.
* ImprobableWeaponUser - Perhaps in {{Homage}} to ''Desperado'', Doctor West arms himself with a guitar case with a built-in rocket launcher, which he shoots in the same way as that guy from ''{{Desperado}}''.
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain - Doctor West, [[spoiler:until he pulls a HeelFaceTurn.]]
* InsufferableGenius - Both Doctor West and Master Therion, as much as they might irritate most of the cast, are genuine masters of their fields.
* LargeHam - Doctor West [[spoiler:THE GREAT! GENIUS! OF THE CENTURY! *guitar riff*]]
* LetsGetDangerous - The invasion of the Hadou shelters after Big C is repulsed on several fronts by the combined effort of many supporting characters.
* LivingMacguffin - [[spoiler:Nero is needed for the C Project.]]
* {{Lolicon}} - Makoto, one of the BridgeBunnies, has an unhealthy degree of lust for Al.
* LouisCypher - If a rather creepy character going by the name of Nya in a Lovecraft story doesn't set off any alarm bells something may be wrong.
* LovecraftianSuperpower - Tiberius' rather low combat abilities are based around him using his decaying body parts as weapons, such as making spears of his ribs or using his intestines as tentacles.
* LovecraftLite
* MadeOfPlasticine - People tend to blow up rather easily.
* MadScientist - Doctor West
* MagicSkirt - Compare the CG's of the PC version and the PS2 adaption. Al still wears the same costume, and makes the same poses, but the PS2 version no longer has the [[PantyShot Panty shots]].
* MechaExpansionPack - Shantak, which allows Demonbane to fly.
* MediumAwareness - Kurou and Doctor West often lampshade HGame tropes in their GenreSavvy moments.
* MegaManning - If something belongs inside her pages, Al can use its ability once she's subdued it. [[spoiler:Kurou also gains the support of Cthugha and Ithaqua after managing to force the pair into submission. Not that he can ever admit how he managed to do it.]]
* {{Meganekko}} - Leica, Nya, Chiaki and [[spoiler:Ithaqua in human form]]
* MightyGlacier - Kraken and Legacy of Gold.
* MindScrew - Al's Bad Ending. Seriously. [[spoiler: Also one of the ultimate powers of the Shining Trapezohedron, which is to summon every Demonbane "that ever existed, could exist, never could exist, and never existed." Don't try to think about that one too hard.]]
* MismatchedEyes - R'lyeh's Text and Kurou in Magius style [[spoiler: and after he becomes an Elder God.]]
* MoeAnthropomorphism
** The strongest grimoires have their own souls and can manifest themselves as young looking girls. We see the Necronomicon, the R'lyeh test, the Pnakoptic Manuskripts and the spirit of the Nameless One.
** Seen through the lens of the Neconomicon and filtered through Al's personality, cosmic horrors also become cute girls. Namely, Atlach-Nacha, Cthugha and Ithaqua.
* MurderTheHypotenuse - [[spoiler:Sandalphon wants to do this as ''well'' as IfICantHaveYou. He's pretty messed up.]]
* MultiArmedAndDangerous - [[spoiler:Titus has four arms.]]
* NamesTheSame - Winfield called Titus "Mister Bushido" long before [[{{Gundam 00}} the other one appeared]].
* {{Necromancer}} - Tiberius can and will raise the dead [[spoiler:including other Anticross members, who retain their abilities.]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Near the end Kurou manages to [[spoiler: find a way to beat Nero without killing her]]. Sadly all this accomplishes is to allow [[spoiler: Master Therion to be reborn]].
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot - The Super West Invincible Robot Type-28 Special(s). It is/they are a varied robot series, always rebuilt and modified whenever it gets destroyed. It's usually a barrel-like thing with [[ThisIsADrill drills]] ([[RocketPunch capable of being launched]]), [[MoreDakka cannons, guns]], [[MacrossMissileMassacre missiles]], [[BeamSpam lasers]], etc.
* NotSoInvincibleAfterAll - Tiberius boasting how he's unkillable. You will hear him scream with fear against [[spoiler:Shining Trapezohedron]].
* TheOjou - Ruri Hadou
* OnlySaneMan - Crossed with {{Irony}} and PlayedForLaughs. Despite the Lovecraftian premise, the sillier moments of the game have Kurou bemoaning he seems to be the only one with a constantly level head.
* PerpetualPoverty: Kurou is so poor that he considers ''putting jam on toast'' and ''instant coffee'' to be living it up. He actually cries ManlyTears when Ruri offers to employ him. Averted in [[spoiler: Ruri's routes]] where he becomes rich either by [[spoiler: going back in time and becoming Kouzou Hadou and creating the Hadou fortune]] or by [[spoiler: presumably marrying Ruri]].
* PowerDyesYourHair - Kurou's hair turns white when in Magius Style. [[spoiler:The blond Leica]]'s hair also turns white when [[spoiler:she activates her cyborg bits.]]
* PowerMakesYourHairGrow - Their hair also grows to waist length or longer.
* PowersAsPrograms
* PowerLimiter - Using Demonbane's Lemuria Impact requires the Naascal Code. On the plus side, it doesn't drain any energy.
* PragmaticAdaptation - Demonbane's animated ending is entirely original, made exclusively for the TV series. [[spoiler:While it appears to take after Al's [[BittersweetEnding good ending]], instead of having her drift through space for eons, the Elder Gods Kurou and Al-Azif (from Al's true ending) rescue her and bring her back to Arkham City]]. The superior quality of the ending is attributed to the fact the animation staff enlisted the aid of the original work's staff for the final episode.
* PunchClockVillain - Doctor West
* QuirkyMinibossSquad - Anticross, [[ThemeNaming all of whom are named after Roman Emperors]].
* RasputinianDeath - A lot, though certain instances like Caligula and Claudius stick out. [[spoiler:The former takes a bullet or shrapnel to the eye, has an arm blown off and recovers before having to be outright exploded before dying. The latter is basically opened up from one shoulder to the opposite hip and has his intestines blown out before ''finally'' dying due to being chopped in half. Apparently the disemboweling wasn't enough.]]
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld - Al Azif amd Etheldreda.
* TheRival - Titus to Winfield. Sandalphon takes this trope to extreme, and only joins in on operations if he'll get to fight Metatron.
* RobotGirl - Elsa, who bypasses DoAndroidsDream by acting [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots very human]] and quickly gets a crush on Kurou.
* RocketPunch - Kraken's wire-arms.
* RuleOfCool: All magic in the Demonbane universe functions according to this principle.
* SanityMeter - Kurou makes reference to this trope during the BeachEpisode.
* ScheduleSlip - The English release, so much, that among English-speaking VisualNovel readers it had the same reputation as ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever''.
* ScrewDestiny
* ScrewYourself - [[spoiler:Kuzaku and Another Blood]], even official art potray them in questionable manner.
* SealedEvilInACan - The true nature of Shining Trapezohedron is [[spoiler:a sealed universe that imprison Outer Gods like Azathoth and Shub-Niggurath.]]
* SerialEscalation- Elder God Demonbane's ''Athleta Aeternum'' ability can summon countless variant of itself in multiverse. And not just those exist in the multiverse, it can summon those that ''shouldn't'' exist as well.
* ShootTheShaggyDog - Kurou went through much trouble just to save [[spoiler:Ennea]]. Only for her to die in [[spoiler:Master Therion's revival]].
* ShoutOut:
** VisualNovel only:
*** There is a poster for ''PhantomOfInferno'' in the cinema, during Elsa's walk around the town.
*** Music from the soundtrack of ''Kikokugai'', another {{Nitroplus}} VisualNovel, also plays in one of the movies Kurou can watch. [[spoiler: Doctor West at one time also references its premise: that of a best friend killing your little sister and splitting her into five parts.]]
*** Doctor West at one time sings the lines from opening of ''Vampirdzhija Vjedogonia'', still another VisualNovel from the same company.
*** The second prequel novel, ''Assault of the War God'', gives the name of Ruri Hadou's mother as Augusta Derleth, from AugustDerleth.
*** Nya gives Alison a ''Mirror of Nitocris''. Soon afterward, Alison brings various beings from Literature/AliceInWonderLand to Arkham City. The mirror is also named after a short story by Creator/BrianLumley.
*** Al names the Shoggoth TeamPet ''Dunsany''. This is a reference to Creator/LordDunsany, who was a source of inspiration for Lovecraft's Dream Cycle.
*** Incidentally, the Shoggoth itself first made an appearance in ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness'' where it rolled over and crushed giant albino penguins. Al is [[AWizardDidIt somehow]] able to procure fresh penguin meat from the South Pole for Dunsany (see Ruri's route).
*** The final battle involves a lot of shifting through time and space. Kurou visits a few of the more infamous places in the Mythos:
**** Celaeno, in the Pleiades Star Cluster. Notes taken from the Great Library form the Celaeno Fragments (as seen in ''TheTrailOfCthulhu'').
**** Yaddith, from ''Through the Gates of the Silver Key''. Kurou mentions the protagonist Randolph Carter and his alter-ego (of sorts), the alien wizard Zkauba.
**** Yith (the black, aeon-dead orb in space) from ''The Shadow Out of Time''.
**** The Darkness of N'kai, which appears in ''The Whisperer in Darkness''.
*** Episode 13 of Leica's route is the aptly named ''Call of Cthulhu'', in reference to the short story of the same name.
*** Episode 14 of Ruri's route is named after ''The Haunter of the Dark'', another one of Lovecraft's short stories.
*** The description of Azathoth near the end (daemon sultan, flutes, nuclear chaos and so on) is taken from ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath''.
*** The thing that attacked Kurou in the library and traumatised him against magic for life was, quite literally, ''Literature/TheDunwichHorror''.
*** Hunting Horrors are Mythos monsters too, taken from ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'' and are servants of Nyarlathotep.
*** Metatron and Sandalphon are angels that were said to have been humans before. In some texts they are twins.
*** Timaeus and Critias are the titles of two dialogues written by Plato in which he talks about the creation of the world and its universal laws, as well as the history of '''Atlantis'''
*** In the epilogue Doctor West's Destroyer Robot is subtitled [[GiantRobo ~Everything for Big Afro~]]
*** Al brags that she's more persistent than the Hounds of Tindalos, which is quite an achievement because they pursue their quarry without end through the angles of time. Better find a nice round bubble-shaped room to hide in, Kurou...
*** Kurou once quotes [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Amuro's]] "You hit me...not even my own father hit me." Also, "as cliché as it might be, Demonbane has vulcans built in his head".
*** During the BeachEpisode, he begs [[TheAmericanRevolution "Give me liberty or give me death!]]
*** Doctor West at one time goes [[MacrossSeven "Listen to my song!!!" and "Here's my Love Heart!!!"]]
** Anime only
*** Episode four, "The Invaders", is a Cthulhu Mythos story by Henry Kuttner.
** Anime and Visual Novel
*** Episode/chapter one's title, "I AM PROVIDENCE", is named after a line in one of the letters Creator/HPLovecraft had written during his life. In 1977, fans of Lovecraft created a headstone to mark his burial place and on it they put the line from his letter "I AM PROVIDENCE".
*** Miskatonic University is a fictional university in the fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts, created by Lovecraft and used in many of his stories. The Necronomicon is also a recurring creation of Lovecraft's; in ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness'', several Miskatonic scholars have actually ''read'' that book of forbidden and maddening knowledge, and the University itself has a copy, [[spoiler:and, as Al's Good End reveals, the original itself.]]
*** Kurou's name is the Japanese romanization equivalent of the name "TitusCrow", the main character in a set of horror fiction novels written by Creator/BrianLumley.
*** Anime episode five's title (and that of Visual Novel chapter 7), "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", is a story of the same name by Creator/HPLovecraft.
*** Episode nine / Chapter 12, "The Hunt" is a Cthulhu Mythos story by Henry Kuttner.
*** Episode eleven's title shares its name with Chapter 14 of Al's route, "The Return of the Sorcerer", which would be a nod to ClarkAshtonSmith's "The Return of the Sorcerer". Clark Ashton Smith was a correspondent of Lovecraft while he lived. In the story itself, the Necronomicon is quoted.
*** The last episode/chapter "Strange Eons" is a name taken from the book written by Robert Bloch of the same name. Bloch was a good friend of Lovecraft and best known for the LiveActionAdaptation he wrote called "Psycho". It references a line from the Necronomicon mentioned in several of Lovecraft's stories: "That is not dead which can eternal lie / And with strange aeons even death may die".
*** Al-Azif's name is derived from the Arabic name for the Necronomicon, "Kitab al-Azif."
*** Azrad's name is taken from the name of the author of the Necronomicon, Abdul Alhazred.
*** The Shining Trapezohedron is the name of an ancient artifact in ''The Haunter of the Dark'', coincidentally associated with [[spoiler:a certain Nyarlathotep]].
*** Ruri's butler Winfield is named after Winfield Scott Lovecraft, the father of the author.
*** ''Dig Me No Grave'' is a Mythos short story written by Creator/RobertEHoward.
*** Black Lodge is named after the parallel hotel in ''Twin Peaks''.
*** Dr. West's name comes from the Lovecraft story ''Herbert West -- Reanimator''.
** The Anticross and their Grimoires are walking shout outs as well (again, found in the anime and visual novel):
*** Master Therion is a pseudonym of occultist AleisterCrowley. His mech Liber Legis also named after Crowley's book, '''''Liber''' AL vel '''Legis''''' (The Book of the Law). Etheldreda was the name of Aleister Crowley's dog, and her other namesake, the Pnakotic Manuscripts, first appeared in one of Lovecraft's short stories, ''Polaris''. Incidentally, they're not joking when they say she's the first grimoire. ''Polaris'' was the first appearance of a grimoire ever in the Mythos.
*** Augustus' ''The Golden Bough'' is a treatise on theology mentioned in ''The Call of Cthulhu''.
*** Vespasianus' ''Book of Eibon'' appears in several of Lovecraft's stories (''The Haunter of the Dark'', ''A Shadow Out of Time'') while Cykranosh is the Hyperborean name (in the Mythos) for Saturn.
*** Nero's ''Unaussprechlichen Kulten'' was actually created by Creator/RobertEHoward and is Lovecraft's GratuitousGerman translation for Nameless Cults, which calls forth the appropriately-named Deus Machina Nameless One. It's actually more like Unspeakable Cults, but regardless, that name works just as well.
*** Titus' ''Culte des Ghoules'' is another creation of Bloch's. Ogre has four arms, probably reference to Gug, the subterranean race of the Dreamlands.
*** Caligula's ''Cthaat Aquadingen'' is from Lumley's work.
*** Claudius' ''Celaeno Fragments'', as mentioned above, are the work of Professor Laban Shrewsbury, whose name also gets dropped by Kurou as one of the professors at Miskatonic. Byakhees are creatures that are capable of flying through space, that appear in ''The Festival'', by Lovecraft, and are said to be servants of Hastur ([[WhatAnIdiot Hastur, Has-]]). [[spoiler:Claudius' grimoire is just a copy. Shrewsbury himself appears in the sequel and summons a much more powerful Lord Byakhee with the original copy of the Celaeno Fragments.]]
*** Tiberius' ''De Vermis Mysteriis'' appears in ''The Shambler from the Stars'', a Bloch story. Beelzebuth is an allusion to the ancient god Beelzebub or the Lord of the Flies.
** The Sequel
*** [[TheTrailOfCthulhu Laban Shrewsbury]] is one of playable character piloting Deus Machina Ambrose, obviously reference to AmbroseBierce, pre-Lovecraft author who created the name Hastur. Him being playable character might be reflection of how Hastur is rather benevolent god in Bierce's ''Haita The Shepherd''.
*** Another Blood is Necronomicon: Blood Edition, this might be referrence to [[Franchise/EvilDead Necronomicon Ex-Mortis]]. Note that this book isn't relate to Al Azif, and thus Another Blood come from alternate future that shouldn't exist.
*** As the FinalBoss, Nyarlathotep appear as ''Clockwork Phantom'', which is eleborate version of ''Tick-Tock Man'' from mythos.
* ShrinkingViolet - Alison.
* SmugSnake - Augustus. Sure he's a smart and high-functioning villain, but in the end he allowed his arrogance to override his common sense. Vespasianus is one as well.
* SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome - In ''Kishin Hishou'', Al seem to be slighly older, borderline between young teen and little girl. Keep in mind that she's ReallySevenHundredYearsOld and still look the same in the end of first game.
* [[spoiler: StableTimeLoop - Kurou is stranded in the past with Demonbane after his battle with Master Therion and losing Al. He receives a map to gold veins from a dying Hadou Kozou, impersonates the latter, founds Arkham City on the location of the gold, takes care of the son of Kozou's wife and later Ruri (as her "Grandfather"), and arranges for Kurou to be received into the Miskatonic University and sets into motion Kurou's story (including meeting up with Al, acquiring Demonbane, etc). He then dies afterward at the hands of Master Therion. The cycle is broken at the true ends of each heroine's route.]]
* SuperPrototype: Two examples.
** The Super West Invincible Robot Type-28 Special(s) maybe weak when compared to Deus Machina, but at least it can withstand Demonbane's ''head vulcan guns''. One of the mass production Destroyer Robot even got disabled by Winfield ''on foot'' in Ruri's route.
** The sequel reveal that Claudius's ''Celaeno Fragments'' is just a copy of Laban Shrewsbury's, which also has girl form call Hazuki. Similar to his Deus Machina, the ''Lord Byakhee'' maybe [[FragileSpeedster fast]], but it still can't compare to Shrewsbury's ''[[TransformingMecha Ambrose]]''.
* SuperRobot
* SuperRobotWars: Makes its debut in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsUX''. Note that ''UX'' will obviously not adapt the original ''Zanma Taisei'' visual novel, but the ''Kishin Houkou'' anime instead, making this the first series inclusion in an [=SRW=] based off of a visual novel.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial - Al isn't jealous of Ennea at all. Nope. She just senses doom from her.
* TeamPet - Dunsany the Shoggoth.
* ThanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Nero]] ''tries'' this near the end. Specifically [[spoiler: she]] tries to force Kurou [[spoiler: to kill her with the Shining Trapezohedron]] so that [[spoiler: Master Therion won't be reborn and Nyarlathotep's plan will be ruined permanently]]. Unfortunately [[spoiler: Kurou turns out to be powerful enough to stop her without killing her]].
* ThemeNaming - The Anti-Cross are named after Roman emperors. [[spoiler: Al's route reveals that Master Therion bears one too: ''Domitian''.]]
* TheStarscream - [[spoiler: Augustus and Vespasianus both have aspirations of this.]]
* ThoseTwoBadGuys - Claudius and Caligula.
* ThoseTwoGuys - Stone and Ness.
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks - The Scimitar of Barzai functions as a boomerang when thrown.
* TokenEvilTeammate - [[spoiler:In Al's route, the Tyrant helps Kurou out pretty frequently, both out of interest/attachment and because she hates Anticross for her own reasons.]]
* TokenGoodTeammate - [[spoiler:On the other hand, the reason that Anticross views her as a traitor isn't really because she's cruel and violent but rather because she was trying to stop them.]]
* TokenMiniMoe - Al Azif and Etheldreda, both of whom are also [[TomeOfEldritchLore Tomes Of Eldritch Lore]].
** Ennea also counts.
* TomeOfEldritchLore - As noted above, the original copy of each grimoire [[MoeAnthropomorphism appear as a young girl]] instead of a book. The artist actually has design [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/Kuruni/Girl/tomes.jpg human version of every tomes used by Anticross]] as well, but none of them appear in story[[hottip:*:From left to right: The Book of Eibon, De Vermis Mysteriis, Cultes des Goules, The Golden Bough, Cthaat Aquadingen. Not pictured: Celaeno Fragments and Unaussprechlichen Kulten.]].
* {{Tsundere}} - Evidently Al, but the visual novel expands this to Ruri in her individual character route.
* TwoGuysAndAGirl - Odd variant here. Nya seems to like trying to seduce Kurou and [[spoiler: Master Therion]], depending on her whim, and even though the latter party is aware of this, the usual jealousy one would expect is absent.
* {{Tykebomb}} - Metatron, Sandalphon and the Tyrant, though rather than being their primary purpose it's a useful (or rather annoying, depending on one's point of view) side effect.
* UnknownRival - Doctor West is convinced that he's Kurou's rival, but Kurou just thinks of him as a pest.
* VerbalTic - Elsa's "-robo" is what convinces Kurou that she really is a robot, apparently.
* VillainousCrush - To quote [[spoiler:Nyarlathotep in Elder Gods ending]], "''Then I shall answer you with unforgiving hate, and unrelenting love!''".
* VitriolicBestBuds - Caligula and Claudius act like they want to kill each other. [[spoiler: After Caligula dies, all Claudius gives a damn about is avenging his death.]]
* WhamEpisode - They pull this as fast as ''Chapter 2''. The first chapter play like typical SuperRobotGenre story, Kurou in Magius Style is super human who can catch and throw rocket back. Demonbane [[MadeOfIron can withstand everything Destroyer Robot throwing at it]] ([[MoreDakka cannons, guns]], [[MacrossMissileMassacre missiles]] and [[BeamSpam lasers]]). In second chapter, he fight against Master Therion - who's without Liber Legis - and ''lose''. The battle is mostly one-side to boost.
** And, then there's the chapter where the Anticross appears.
* WhatTheHellHero - Given by Metatron to Kurou, regarding his being a PersonOfMassDestruction predilections not being good for the health of the city in the long term.
* WorldsStrongestMan - [[spoiler:The Tyrant is the strongest sorceress on Earth. Therion was conceived from her.]]
* {{Yandere}} - [[spoiler:Ryuuga aka Sandalphon.]]
* YouDontLookLikeYou - The artist took very deliberate interpretion on Great Old Ones appearance. Atlach-Nacha is a GiantSpider with human torso in place of its head. Cthugha has beast-like body in the middle of massive fireball. Ithaqua first seen as glowing red eyes in the mid of violent storm (''Death Walker'' as called in TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu) but is really a massive dragon.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness - [[spoiler:In Leica's route Vespasianus decides he needs Leica to be the new C Priestess and thus tries pulling this one Sandalphon.]]
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