[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hiiro_no_kakera.png]]
''Hiiro no Kakera'' (''Scarlet Fragment'') is an [[RomanceGame Otome game]] series developed by Creator/{{Otomate}}, which has been adapted into an anime television series by Creator/StudioDeen as well as a one-volume manga.

The story starts when a young girl named Kasuga Tamaki is summoned by her grandmother to the small village where she lives. Things turn weird immediately when strange creatures appear before Tamaki in the woods. Well, it turns out that the women in Tamaki’s family are basically in charge of protecting the world and Granny feels that it's time to pass the torch to Tamaki. Not to worry though as she has got a little help; namely a [[NonHumanSidekick magical little fox]] and several young men from the family whose ancestral duty is the protection of the Tamayorihime. Yes, this is a [[ShoujoDemographic Shoujo series]], how did you guess?

Unfortunately for Tamaki, she barely has time to settle into her new surroundings when Logos, a Germanic secret society, rolls into town. Their members are powerful, they want the local ArtifactOfDoom and they are willing to kill anyone who stands in their way; including Tamaki. So it looks like Tamaki is about to get a lot of on-the-job training.

The anime series has been licensed by Creator/SentaiFilmworks in North America.

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!!This series contains examples of:
* AChildShallLeadThem: Logos, exactly how old is Aria Rozenberg? [[note]]10[[/note]]
* AlliterativeName: Drei's real name is [[spoiler:Magus Melchizedek]].
* AnimalMotifs[=/=]AnimalStereotypes: The FiveManBand reeks of this. To break it down we have:
** Ryou Kutani: Dog/Wolf.
** Yuuichi Komura: Fox.
** Suguru Oomi: Snake.
** Mahiro Atori: Crow.
%%* TheAnimeOfTheGame
* AntiMagic: Aria Rozenberg is capable of neutralizing all magical attacks.
* ArtifactCollectionAgency: Logos is in town to acquire the Onikirimaru and some other miscellaneous items. Why they want these items and what they intend to do with them is not really elaborated upon.
%%* ArtifactOfDoom
* AsianFoxSpirit: Komura is descended from one.
* BackFromTheBrink: A good portion of the plot consists of Logos kicking the heroes' asses until the Endgame.
* BarrierWarrior: One of Oomi's talents is creating powerful seals and barriers.
%%* BlackMage: Drei.
* BlowYouAway: Being the descendant of a Yatagarasu, Mahiro has control over the wind and can make powerful gusts of it at will and he can even summon tornadoes.
* BrattyHalfPint: Mahiro Atori's personality can be summed up in three words. Loud, Energetic and Immature.
%%* CoolSword: Onikirimaru.
%%* CreepyChild[=/=]EmotionlessGirl: Aria Rozenberg.
* CrosswordPuzzle: Takuma's favorite hobby which is kind of surprising for TheBigGuy.
* CurbStompBattle: Actually, the Big Bads do it to the good guys way more often than the other way around.....until Endgame.
%%* DarkMagicalGirl: Rozenburg and Vier.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Tamaki's grandmother implies that this is what she will do after going through with sacrificing Tamaki to restore the seal on the Onikirimaru.]]
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: Mitsuru gains these when its time for her to [[spoiler:find the next HumanSacrifice.]]
* EtTuBrute: Tamaki and the guardians, especially Mahiro, takes the revelations that [[spoiler:Shinji and Suguru]] betrayed them, rather hard.
%%* EyepatchOfPower: Zwei.
%%* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Suguru Oomi.]]
%%* FourEyesZeroSoul: Drei.
* FourIsDeath: Aria Rozenberg has four assistants when first introduced, which are code-named one through four in German. [[spoiler:Later we find out that Drei is one of the Four Wisemen.]]
%%* GermanicDepressives: Say hello to Logos, ladies and gentlemen!
* GreyAndGrayMorality: As the plot goes on it get harder and harder to tell which side you should be rooting for...
* TheGrimReaper: Zwei dresses in black, fights with a scythe, eats his opponents souls and Mahiro calls him a "death-god". Yeah, I'd say he qualifies.
* HairTriggerTemper: Takuma is arrogant and short-tempered and often acts in a brash manner.
* HumanSacrifice: [[spoiler:Blood is needed to keep the seal on the Onikirimaru. So far Suguru's mother and multiple others from the village has been sacrificed. Also Mahiro, as an Atori, has been stated to be the next one though now its Tamaki whose blood in now the only thing to combat the weakened seal on the Onikirimaru.]]
%%* IneffectualLoner: Kutani, at least initially.
%%* {{Jerkass}}: ''Tamaki's Grandmother.''
* KickTheDog: Tamaki's Grandmother does this often, belittling everyone around her in practically every episode featuring her.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Eins died defending Aria from Drei in the anime.]]
* LittleBitBeastly: The heroes usually take on animalistic features when drawing heavily upon the power of their bloodline. Well, except for Takuma who is the descendant of an oni.
* TheLoad: Tamaki’s main purpose in the story seems to be a DamselInDistress for the guys to rescue every second or third episode and rarely does she do anything really useful. Subverted in ''Endgame''.
%%* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler:Mitsuru]] for Shinji.
* MakingASplash: Oomi has the ability to control water.
* MasterOfIllusion: Yuuichi Komura is descended from a nine-tailed fox, so yeah, the fact that he is good with illusions is kind of a given.
** In the VN, it's revealed that his ancestor's illusion magic [[spoiler:was taught to him by the Tamayorihime of that time.]]
* TheMedic: One of the the areas of magic that Shinji specializes in is the power of healing.
%%* TheMole: [[spoiler:Shinji.]]
%%* NaiveNewcomer: Tamaki.
* TheNapoleon: Mahiro Atori is short and he is not happy about it.
%%* NearVillainVictory: Episodes 12-13.
* NonActionGuy: Shinji in the anime. Not so in the [=VNs=], especially on his own route.
%%* NonHumanSidekick: O-chan the fox.
* TheNoseKnows: Kutani has a penchant for sniffing Tamaki which is due to his powers...well, he is descended from a from an dog-yokai.
* PetTheDog: Despite the KickTheDog examples above, Tamaki's Grandmother does get a noteworthy PetTheDog moment, albeit by saying that she would essentially [[spoiler:''[[DrivenToSuicide commit suicide]] after [[HumanSacrifice sacrificing]] her granddaughter to restore the seal of the Onikirimaru so that Tamaki wouldn't be alone in the afterlife''.]]
* PhenotypeStereotype: The only two German women in the series are both blonde.
* PluckyGirl: For better or for worse, Tamaki doesn't take things lying down.
* PurpleIsPowerful: Takuma has purple eyes, representing his uniqueness among the guardians as the most powerful and [[spoiler:being the reincarnation of the King of the Underworld]].
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Kutani. Takuma gets them too when he taps into his SuperPoweredEvilSide. Zwei has red eyes as well.
* RedOniBlueOni: The FiveManBand seems split down the middle between the Reds and Blues. On the blue side you have soft-spoken Oomi and TheSpock Komura. On the Red side you have TheBigGuy Takuma and BrattyHalfPint Mahiro. Then again, Takuma is ''literally'' the descendant of a Red Oni.
* {{Reincarnation}}: [[spoiler:Tamaki and Takuma are the reincarnations of the Tamayori princess and the king of the Underworld, respectively.]]
* ReincarnationRomance: Implied between [[spoiler:Tamaki and Takuma]].
* ScaryShinyGlasses: Drei often manages to pull off this look.
%%* ShoujoDemographic
* SinisterScythe: Zwei's preferred weapon of choice.
* {{Sleepyhead}}: Komura, whose narcolepsy is treated as an amusing quirk rather than a serious disorder.
* TheSpock: Komura is TheSmartGuy on the team and is usually very quiet and can be damn near emotionless most of the time.
* SummonMagic: One of Drei's magical abilities is calling in supernatural help to beat crap out of the heroes.
* SupernaturalGoldEyes: Komura. Considering that he is descended from a kitsune, it is not too surprising that he should have them.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood:
** Mahiro loves fried noodle rolls.
** Suguru Oomi seems almost addicted to tea.
* TreacherousAdvisor: [[spoiler:Aria's mother was murdered by Drei so that he could raise her in his own interests and he betrays her with the intent to kill later on in the story.]]
* {{Twincest}}: [[IncestSubtext Implied]] between [[spoiler:Shinji and Mitsuru.]]
* UrbanFantasy: The story takes places in modern day Japan.
* [[spoiler:WelcomeBackTraitor]]: [[spoiler:Shinji gets this reception.]]
%%* WingedHumanoid: Mahiro Atori.
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: Shinji is actually capable of using words to control things in his surroundings.
* WouldntHitAGirl: Mahiro, to the point where when Tamaki calls him [[OlderThanTheyLook an elementary school student]], he tries to hit Takuma, who said nothing.
* YouAreNumberSix: ''Ein, Zwei, Drei'' and ''Vier'', which is German for ''One, Two, Three'' and ''Four.'' Yuichi actually comments on this.
** Later, [[spoiler:Shinji]] joins the group and is given the codename Fünf which means five in German.
* YourSoulIsMine: Zwei has a tendency to eat the souls of the people he defeats.
* {{Youkai}}: The series is rife with them. Not only that though but the heroes are descended from them as well. The exact lines of descent are:
** Mahiro Atori: Yatagarasu
** Yuuichi Komura: [[AsianFoxSpirit Kitsune]]
** Takuma Onizaki: Oni
** Suguru Oomi: Orochi
** Ryou Kutani: Okami
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