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Anime: Dog Days

This is a tale of heroes and princesses, of ears and tails, of hopes and dreams!

The Republic of Biscotti and the Kingdom of Galette are at war, a literal battle of cats and dogs. Biscotti needs to tip the odds in their favor, and so they decide to summon a hero. That hero turns out to be 13-year-old Japanese-British middle-school student Cinque Izumi. While trying to cut class and practice for an upcoming athletic meet, Cinque ends up somersaulting into a magic portal that takes him to the magical land of Fronaldo, where he is the hero. Now he has to learn to be one.

Dog Days is an Anime First series by Seven Arcs, better known for their work on Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and debuting in the spring of 2011.

Season 2 has been has been scheduled to air in July

Not to be confused with the Kane and Lynch sequel. Or with Dog Day Afternoon.

Tropes in Dog Days include:

Abdicate The Throne: Leonmichelle originally planned on abdicating in favor of Gaul once he comes of age. However, due to a prophecy of Millefiore's death, she decided to stay a little longer on the throne and launch an attack on Biscotti. Should they win, she would finally step down and take the two sacred swords somewhere secluded and hope the prophesied date will pass without incident.
Accidental Pervert: Cinque.
Achievements in Ignorance: Cinque's fulfillment of the pre-requisites for not permanently losing his memory.
All Star Cast: Holy moley! See the Trivia section for more.
Aloof Big Sister: Leonmichelle, being Millefiore's childhood friend and loving big-sister figure, suddenly became this by the time Cinque is summoned.
Anime First
Anti-Villain: The Galette crowd in general, but particularly and especially Leonmichelle.
The Archer: Leonmichelle, Vert and Yukikaze.
Art Shift: During Yukikaze's hot spring flashbacks, Eclair's description of Brioche before the attack on Mion fortress; and the art style for the concert in episode 11 also looks different from the art style for the rest of the series.
An Axe to Grind: Leonmichelle's Weapon of Choice. Jaune's, too, though her axe is about as big as she is. While Godwin combines this with an Epic Flail.
Awesome, but Impractical: Seal Cannons. They're great crowd-clearers, but they tire the user out afterwards, and more skilled opponents can deflect them with their shields and armor.
Back-to-Back Badasses: Eclair and Cinque, bordering on Battle Couple.
Badass Cape: Leonmichelle, Gaul and Cinque.
Badass Longcoat: Cinque.
Badass Normal: Even before arriving at Fronaldo Cinque was already an accomplished athlete, as well as an Iron Athletics champion who lifted weights and able to backflip from his second-story balcony.
- Badass Abnormal: He ultimately turns to this once he starts learning magic.
Badass Princess: Leonmichelle. Just don't call her "Princess".
Bare Your Midriff: Leonmichelle.
Bathe Him And Bring Him To Me
Bizarre and Improbable Ballistics: Vert's attack on Ricotta in episode 9.
Blade on a Stick: Roland and Gaul.
Bob Haircut: Eclair.
Braids of Action: Leonmichelle's bangs and Brioche.
But Not Too Foreign: Cinque is half-British, thus explaining his blond hair.
Calling Your Attacks
Cats are Mean: Subverted of course.
Cat Smile: Leonmichelle has this the entire time Millefiore is petting her in episode 12.
Cat Species: And dog species too.
- And rabbit species and fox species. Maybe others, too?
- Jaune is a tiger. Godwin is a leopard or a jaguar. Noir seems to be a black panther.
Cerebus Syndrome: Episode 9 really hammers it in. Ultimately subverted when the show returns to its light-hearted mood on Episode 11.
Child Prodigy: Ricotta invented a machine that allows long-range communication when she was five years old. And it's being used all over the world.
Clothing Damage: In an intense event, it's bound to happen. Leonmichelle, ending up in beach-wear, takes it in stride. Not so much with Eclair, who ends with nothing but her panties.
- Though it does seem to happen more to important characters than to nameless ones.
- It may be part of the protection magic. Pretty girls who are hit hard (also Ricotta and Vert) lose their clothes. Everyone else turns into a furball.
Combat Commentator: In a sports event-style and their wars are presented like one too.
Cross-Popping Veins
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Genoise, as told by Eclair.
Curtains Match the Window: Ricotta sports this. Rizel as well, but we don't see this until the last episode.
Cute Little Fangs: Justified since they're are Cat and Dogs.
Cypher Language: Inscriptions, signs◊, and magical runes◊ in Dogscript abound.
Cute Scientist: Ricotta.
Date Crepe: Cinque and Éclair don't help their "not on a date" deniability in episode 11 by having crepes.
Date Peepers: In episode 11, Cinque and Eclair weren't really on a date, but try telling that to Yukikaze and Ricotta.
Defeat by Modesty: Double-subverted — after a Cinque/Eclair combo blows off her outer clothing, Leonmichelle simply shrugs it off. Given the nature of the war games, this may have happened to her before. She still however surrenders, but not out of any embarrassment on her part.
Does This Remind You of Anything?
Leonmichelle (to Cinque): "I'll invade you thoroughly next time!"
Dual Wielding: Eclair.
Dynamic Entry: HERO KIIIIICK!
- Eclair does this to Cinque in Episode 4 after he inadvertently accepts a declaration of war. In Biscotti, dog kicks you.
Edible Theme Naming: Biscotti, Eclair, Ricotta, Galette, Panettone... as if the show couldn't be any more sweet.
- Mixed with Gratuitous French and Colorful Theme Naming: Framboise (raspberry), Jaune (yellow) Clafoutis, Brioche d'Arquien, Vert (green) Far Breton...
  - Making this show incredibly hilarious to anyone who can speak French, Italian, or both; since it always seems like everyone is talking about food all the time.
Expy: Millefiore, of Caro Lu Rushe of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, also from Seven Arcs. She's pink all over, she's a wizard, and she sports a hooded cloak◊. Some fan art ran away with this.
- Her armored form◊ is basically a pink version of Saber◊ from Fate/stay night.
Eyes Always Shut: Rizel, except for the ending credits in the last episode.
Eyes of Gold: Leonmichelle and Gaul.
Failure Knight: Less drastic than most, but a lot of what drives Cinque was placing second in the Ultimate Athletics competition and "disappointing" friends and family.
Fantastic Arousal: Comes standard with being part canine◊.
Fastball Special: Eclair when she kicks Cinque into Leonmichelle.
Fridge Brilliance: Leonmichelle participating at the head of the army herself makes more sense when you consider that she's a lioness.
Friendly Fireproof: Averted with Leonmichelle's Gigantic Explosion.
Friendly War/Friendly Enemy: Up to and including one side fishing the other side's soldiers out of the water and sending them off to have another go.
- Also the rulers are childhood friends.
Furry Confusion: Princess Millefiore has a pet dog, Tatsumaki, despite being a dog-person herself.
- Leonmichelle has a pet lioness, Banon.
Fridge Brilliance: You would think that Cinque, who seems to have no combat experience or training of any sort, would have difficulty attacking the citizens of a world where they train and fight most of the time. However the citizens know they won't die and don't receive bursts of adrenaline that would have saved someone who actually could die, and probably don't see the need to train as hard because of this.
Gainaxing: Leonmichelle and Yukikaze.
Genius Sweet Tooth: Ricotta
Genre Savvy: Leonmichelle ordering the cameramen to zoom on Eclair right before her Clothing Damage.
Godiva Hair
Graceful Loser: Leonmichelle, though she does enjoy Eclair's subsequent, humiliating Clothing Damage just a little too much.
Green Lantern Ring: Cinque is using his granted weapon a lot like this, as of episode 5.
- Morph Weapon
Hachimaki: Cinque and Emilio.
Hair of Gold: Cinque, Yukikaze and Vert.
Hero of Another Story: Brioche and Yukikaze are samurai/ninja hunters of "abominations" — monsters and demons — such that Fronaldo barely hears of them; they also do not talk about what they do.
- Yukikaze is also a minor deity. Brioche is "mortal but lives longer than others" for undisclosed reasons as revealed in episode 12.
Hidden Buxom: Millefiore.
Highly Visible Ninja: Played with. The Galette infiltration team make a big, firework-accompanied entrance in garish outfits... but only after they've completed their mission and are ready to declare an official battle.
- Same goes for Brioche and Yukikaze, who try to introduce themselves after their attacks.
Horse of a Different Color: Rather than horses, everyone uses Cellkulls, large generally flightless birds that are totally not chocobos.
Hot Chick with a Sword: Brioche.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: She cuts through a tower with ease.
- BFS: Her main sword is about as big as Eclair.
Hot Mom: No, that cute and cuddly young blonde is not Cinque's big-sister.
Idiot Hair: Millefiore, Eclair and Leonmichelle.
Idiot Hero: Well, the announcer seems to think so...
- So does Eclair.
- Though the last episode suggests that he's more of a social idiot than anything else.
Informed Flaw: Gaul states that because Cinque is from another world, he is not protected by the enchantment that allows people to turn into "animal balls" when wounded. He has yet to be sufficiently injured anyway.
Instant Runes
Kid Hero: Cinque. Eclair and Gaul deserve honorable mentions.
Knight of Cerebus: The monster.
Lady of War: Leonmichelle and d'Arquein.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: Cinque at the end.
Launcher Move: Yukikaze pulls one off in episode 4.
Lighter and Softer: Thanks to the nature of the conflict, pretty much every Military and Warfare Tropes on this page should be considered through this lens. There are very few other shows, after all, where willingness to fire on one's own troops is considered just another way of spicing up the event (including by those being nuked).
Little Bit Beastly: The denizens of Biscotti and Galette, and presumably most of Flonyard.
Macross Missile Massacre: Ricotta's favored method of attack.
Mad Scientist: Ricotta, though she is nicer than most examples.
Magic Knight: Just about any knight with a name is one of these.
Magitek: In keeping with the show's Final Fantasy-esque setting. May also border on Schizo Tech, as video phones, giant floating televisions, and elevators exist in Flonyard but completely mechanical transportation does not.
Meido: Rizel and her subordinates.
- Ninja Maid
- Maid Corps
Megaton Punch: Cinque receives one from Eclair in episode 2.
Memento MacGuffin: Cinque gives several items to various people in Flonyard as keepsakes. Of particular importance to the possible second season are the items he gives to Eclair (wristband), Yukikaze (cellphone charm), Ricotta (four-color ballpoint pen and portable speakers), and Millefiore (pocket watch and note).
- Similarly, Cinque regains his memories of Flonyard when Millefiore sends Tatsumaki to give Palladion to Cinque.
Mundane Utility: Cinque uses Palladion as a frisbee during his walk with Millefiore.
Named Weapons
Nice Guy and Nice Girl leads: Cinque and Millefiore respectively.
Ninja: d'Arquien and Yukikaze. Also Noir.
Nobody Can Die: Invoked Good news: thanks to Flognar power permeating the land you won't be even be injured. Bad news: your modesty is not protected.
- This only applies to the battlefields, towns, and basically any civilized land. You can still die if you're attacked by monsters in the wilderness or roads. Cinque himself can still get badly hurt, since he cannot change into an animal ball, but he does fine since he's Made of Iron. He has yet to be sufficiently injured anyway.
- This can also change depending on local conditions, such as the presence of an evil entity.
Non-Indicative First Episode: Episode one was low on action and fairly devoid of Fanservice. Cue episode 2.
Non-Lethal K.O.: The combatants who are knocked out, or hit by a hero in the head or back, turn into super deformed animal-head things.
Non-Lethal Warfare
Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Cinque with Flonyard's magic.
Odango Hair: Millefiore has the covered variation.
Older than They Look: While preparing to seal the possessed sword in Episode 11, Yukikaze mentions that she and Brioche have been doing this sort of work for a hundred years. That would explain their dated language ("sessha", "de gozaru"...)
One-Man Army: Most of the generals, but special mention goes to Brioche, who managed to make it up to the enemy general by herself.
Only Known As The Hero: Cinque.
- Starting to be reversed, as Millefiore started calling Cinque by his name at his request. Gaul and Jaune also start referring to him by his actual name in episode 7. One of the commentators uses his name in episode 9. Yukikaze sort of used his actual name in episode 11.
Ordinary Middle School Student: Lampshaded.
Person of Mass Destruction: Leonmichelle, whose Seal Cannon is roughly equivalent in effect to a Fantastic Nuke. Still completely non-lethal, though.
Pet the Dog: Quite literally, and quite often.
Physical God: Yukikaze is a tenko (a high ranking fox spirit).
Playing Against Type: Ayana Taketatsu completely breaks away from her cat-girl typecasting (Azunyan of K-On! being her most famous) by playing the Dog-Girl Eclair.
Playing with Fire
Poor Communication Kills: Non-lethal but still... Leonmitchelli could have simply told Millefiore, who still trusts her despite both belonging to warring nations, of her vision of the latter's impending death; as such, they could settle for a peaceful weapons exchange while letting the appointed time pass by without incident.
- subverted. It's mentioned in the anime that she tried. It only made things worse and the Deaths came even faster.
Princesses Prefer Pink: Millefiore. (Even her sword is pink. Not to mention her magic.)
Purple Eyes: Millefiore, again.
Read The Fine Print: The portal Cinque accidentally jumps into has fine print around the edges stating that anyone who enters becomes The Hero and understands that return travel may not be possible.
- Not that he had any chance to read it. It was written in Dog Script, and he was falling at the time.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Eclair is red to Cinque's blue. While Cinque sometimes shows signs of being a red, Eclair almost always tops him seconds later.
Repeat Cut: Cinque knocking away the bazooka round.
Retractable Weapon: Cinque's Weapon of Choice; he usually has it as a Simple Staff but it takes other forms; it's named The Palladion.
Rose-Haired Girl: Millefiore.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Leonmichelle is a princess, but she's also the head general of the cat forces and a fantastically strong opponent. Also her brother Gaul.
Rule of Cute: Heck, this is probably the only show in which even getting "killed" in battle can look cute.
Save the Princess: Episodes 3-4 deal with Millefiore's kidnapping by the Galette Infiltration Squad.
Scenery Porn
Screw Destiny: Leonmitchelli's ultimate goal is to avert Millefiore and Cinque's death. Turns out she needn't go through all the trouble: both took care of themselves just fine.
Serious Business: Inverted; war is normally serious business, but here it's a harmless sporting event.
- At least Leo takes it very seriously.
- Later, it's revealed that one of the reasons they have these wars is to keep their skills sharp in case of demon attacks — it is sort of serious.
Sequel Hook: The end of the last episode.
Simple Staff: Cinque.
Shipper on Deck: Yukikaze and Ricotta for Cinque and Eclair
- Heck, even Eclair's brother.
Ship Tease: There's a fair amount of romantic undertones between Cinque and Millefiore — hero and summoner — Shiku and Eclair — Back-to-Back Badasses/borderline Battle Couple — and Cinque and Becky — the Unlucky Childhood Friend — as well as some Millefi/Leo and Millefi/Eclair Les Yay. But it seems as though Cinque and Millefi are now the Official Couple.
Shout Out: Milhi's armor in episode 9 looks a lot like Saber's armor.
- At the end of the 13th synopsis video, Cinque quotes a lyric from PHANTOM MINDS.
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Name another series that thinks war can be turned into a happy and magically safe sporting event.
Spell My Name with an S: Is it Cinque or Shinku?
- Also, Fronaldo or Flonyard?
- The Japanese Blu-ray discs have English subtitles and even they don't stay consistent. Eclair's big brother is sometimes Loran and sometimes Rolan, for instance. However, the BD is consistent in using "Millefiore".
- Leonmichelle or Leonmitchelli?
Statuesque Stunner: Brioche is very tall.
Stepping Stones in the Sky: How Cinque and Eclair get to the demon in episode 10.
Summon Everyman Hero: Cinque. Subverted in that he doesn't need extensive training anymore. In fact right before he flipped into portal he stated that Kinokawa is peaceful but boring since there weren't many places where he could thoroughly exercise.
Sword Beam: Eclair uses these several times; Brioche uses this occasionally.
Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Leonmichelle only with white Hair and Brioche (once again) with brown hair.
Talking Is a Free Action: Subverted — everyone who attempts to introduce themselves gets attacked mid-sentence and they'll mention it too.
- Yukikaze completes a particularly long introduction one time when she's preparing her sealing spell against the demon sword.
Thanks for the Mammary: Cinque accidentally grabs Eclair's chest when she has him pinned down.
- Made even worse for him as that is when he realizes she's a girl.
The Call Has Dogs Spying on You: And they will abduct you given half a chance.
The Klutz: Vert's backstory claims that she is this outside of battle. The arm-wrestling scene in episode 12 confirms this.
Tsundere: Eclair.
Trapped in Another World
Universal Universe Time: Nobody questions the assumption 16 days in their world will be exactly the same as 16 days in the Hero's world.
Unlucky Childhood Friend: Becky, but given the show's generally optimistic tone, it's never expanded upon.
Unusual Ears: Cat and Dog ones.
- Vert has rabbit ears. Yukikaze has fox ears.
Verbal Tic: Brioche and Yukikaze use "de gozaru".
- This may be more an instance of Antiquated Linguistics, as "de gozaru" is an older version of "desu".
- Ricotta ends nearly all her sentences with "de arimasu"
War Is... Heaven?: It's more like Playground Olympics. The consequences for losing is that the other side will be unhappy and the Princess won't have time to sing; at the worst-case scenario, expect Clothing Damage here and there. War Is Glorious indeed.
War for Fun and Profit: Quite literally, the prize money one gets for successfully participating is enough to make a decent living out of it and, of course, the whole thing is more of an elaborated sports event anyway.
Warrior Prince: Gaul.
We Have Reserves: Leonmichelle is a big fan of wave attacks, and none too fussy about any damage to her own side that her attacks might cause. Of course, like most war tropes applied here, this is completely Played for Laughs, because in such a war where nobody gets seriously hurt, the only real casualty in a worst-case scenario would be the clothes.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Leonmichelle's harsh, militaristic international policy is part of a gambit to avert the prophesied death of her childhood friend Milhiore, as well as her Hero, Cinque.
Wham Episode: The ending of Episode 6 — Cinque and Millefiore are doomed to die in 30 days, and nothing can change this. Not if Leonmichelle has anything to say about it, though.
White and Grey Morality: In any other show, warmongering Galette would be pretty clearly evil, but given that "warmongering", in this case, means "healthily appreciative of sporting activities", we've just got a bunch of friendly, polite Worthy Opponents instead.
White-Haired Pretty Boy: Prince Gaul.
White-Haired Pretty Girl: Her Majesty, Princess Leonmichelle Galette des Rois.
Wistful Amnesia: Cinque regains his memories of Flonyard after receiving Palladion from Tatsumaki.
World of Badass: These people love war so much they turned it into a sport!
- In ep 12, Roland explains that the wars also serve as live-ammo training for the knights and the militia, who occasionally have to go out and fight for real against monsters and demons.
Worthy Opponent: All of the antagonists so far, really, but Leonmichelle if you'd like a specific example.
Wrestler in All of Us: Jaune and Gaul have a little competition and Vert was the referee. A few episodes later, Cinque and Gaul decide to arm-wrestle, which eventually becomes actual wrestling when Vert trips and spills several drinks on Cinque.
X Meets Y: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge meets Zero No Tsukaima
You Can't Go Home Again: Cinque learns in episode 2 that, as a Hero, he can't return home, much less communicate with family and friends. This is why it isn't done very often. Although the communicate bit is subverted in episode 3, since Ricotta builds a machine that allows him to call Rebecca.
- And as the series goes on, Ricotta also finds a way for him to return, but with conditions. He will forget all memories and experiences of his time in Fronaldo, and he'll never be able to come back. Oh, and he can't bring anything either.
  - Luckily, it turns out that there is a way to bring him back.
Zettai Ryouiki: Noir, and Yukikaze in her dress uniform.