Anime / M3: The Dark Metal

M3: The Dark Metal is an anime from studio Satelight, written by Mari Okada (the same from Wixoss). It tells the story of a group of children who met each other when they were lost in an Eldritch Location. Years later they meet again, having forgotten their time together, as they are recruited by a Mad Scientist to fight Eldritch Abomination.

Tropes:

• Action Girl: Raika. Mahmu has Action Girl moments too later in the series.
• Assimilation Plot: What Minashi plans to do in the series finale.
• Ax-Crazy: Heito Isaku and the scientist Natsuiri.
• Brainwashed: The main characters forgot everything that happend to them in the few months around the time of the Lightless Realm's creation.
• Earn Your Happy Ending / Everyone Lives: Most of the Necrometal infection victims get restored to their normal state at the end of the series, thanks to Natsuiri's Linker technology.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Admonitions which get created when people get consumed by Necrometal and their negative emotions create monsters. Also, the Corpse that is the Lightless Realm's core.
• Eldritch Location: The Lightless Realm, areas consumed by the Necrometal.
• Grim Reaper: Argent's nickname.
• Guilt Complex: Akashi, for leaving Tsugume behind in the Lightless Realm.
• Humongous Mecha/Transforming Mecha: The MA-Vess: Argent, Sable and Gueules can change between an egg-like storage mode, tank mode and robot mode.
• Limited Wardrobe: An important aversion is Sasame who starts wearing long sleeved clothes to hide her Necrometal infection.
• Lovable Alpha Bitch: Emiru.
• Mad Scientist: Natsuiri, for whom turning people into living mech parts is not a difficult moral dilemma, but an opportunity to further his reserch. The same research caused the events of the series in the first place.
• A Mech by Any Other Name: MA-Vess.
• Not Quite Dead: Aoshi, who supposedly died during an attempt to research the Lightless Realm, has actually been turned into Argent's Linker Interface Module.
  • Later, Emiru and Sasame share the same fate. They get better though.
• Mind Rape: What the Lightless Realm does to your psyche.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Admonitions are people's souls consumed or infected by the Necrometal.
• Real Robot Genre
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Akashi and Aoshi.
• Sealed Good in a Can: The LIM (Linker Interface Modules), which are a part of every MA-Vess, are actually people consumed by the Necrometal, turned into a system that protects the pilot from the Lightless Realm's effects by synchronising with their mind.
• Slasher Smile: Akashi after he learns that Aoshi has died.
  • Heito has one most of the time.
• Stress Vomit
• The Big Damn Kiss: Iwato and Raika in Episode 21.
• Theme Naming: The MA-Vess are all named after heraldic tinctures: Argent (silver), Sable (black) and Gules (red).
  • The videogame-exclusive MA-Vess is named Vert, which is the heraldic tincture equivalent to green.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Raika Kasumi fits the tomboy role, while the other girls are more of the girly type.
• Tron Lines: Argent, Sable and Gueules have these appear on them from time to time.
• Wham Line
  Takashi! Open your eyes and take a good hard look! We are right here.
• When It All Began: The time of the Lightless Realm's creation is very important. Flashbacks to this time happen in almost every episode.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Akashi's attempt to destroy the Corpse causes the rapid expansion of the Lightless Realm, which threathens to encompass the entire world.
  • Tsugumi, Sasame and Minashi have created the Lightless Realm when they were kids.
• Your Days Are Numbered: After hearing the Corpse's song, you have 9 days left before Necrometal consumes you.

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