Light Novel: Is This a Zombie? aka: Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka
The magical girl, the necromancer, and two vampires. Not pictured: the zombie.
Ayumu Aikawa is dead — or was dead. This Ordinary High School Student has since been resurrected as a zombie by necromancer-knight Eucliwood Hellscythe ("Eu"), who is now living at his house. Relaxing in the cemetery one night while searching for his killer, Ayumu witnesses a girl named Haruna fending off a giant monster with her magical chainsaw. She is a Magical Garment Girl, having come from the magical world. As Haruna attempts to erase his memories, she ends up erasing her own powers (and outfit) by mistake. The Megalo won't cease attacking, though, and as Haruna is quick to discover, her powers have transferred to Ayumu instead. Ayumu is now a zombie and a magical girl, and hijinks ensue.Originally a series of Light Novels (totaling eight as of November 2011), Kore wa Zombie desu ka? was adapted into an anime in the winter 2011 season. A second season started airing in April 2012 officially named: Kore wa Zombie desu ka? Of The Dead (Is This A Zombie: Of the Dead).Funimation has licensed the series and will release it under the translated title Is This A Zombie. Similarly, the original manga adaptation was licensed by Yen Press under that title and began publication in March 2012. Other manga adaptations, currently only available in Japan, are a 4-panel gag series and a third adaptation called Yes, I'm Your Wife.
The misunderstanding is made worse in episode 6 of Season 2 when Ayumu puts a magical ring on Tomonori to prevent a spell/demon in her to self-destruct again. She was unconscious at the time, but upon waking up and finding the ring on her, she seems even more convinced Ayumu wants to marry her.
Action-Hogging Opening: No, none of the awesome stuff in Of the Dead's opening actually happens. This is a harem comedy first. Zombie-Magical Garment Girl-Ninja-Action comes second.
After the King of the Night chops Ayumu's legs off in episode 10 of Season 1, Haruna and Tomonori stick his legs back on, using wood glue. Unfortunately they put his legs on backwards, so Haruna is forced to carry him home.
Haruna kicks him into the wall in episode 5 of Season 2. It leaves a hilarious bloody after-image where the mark has a surprised look on its face. Later a sick Eu asks to sleep in the same bed as him, and in the next scene he has the same exact look on his face. Sera does one as well at the end of the episode.
Anti-Villain: The King of Night. All he wants is to die, which Eu won't grant him since she still counts him as a friend. So he is forced to harm her newfound family (i.e., Ayumu, Haruna, Seraphim and Maelstrom) just to provoke her into doing so.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: One high-class Megalo is a gigantic flying humpback whale. This one is shown as wearing the suit of a Japanese delinquent and can shoot laser beams from its mouth or explosive, targeted water jets from its blowhole.
Badass Cape: Seraphim, Ayumu when he charges his Magical Garment Girl powers, and Kyoko.
Seems to be a given with all vampire ninjas introduced.
Badass Teacher: Ariel said she was going to kill Ayumu if he finished off Kyoko
Bad Santa: Haruna's Imagine Spot in Episode 7 portrays Santa Claus as a tattooed and scarred psychopath who murders people and stores them in his sack, who will grant the wishes of anyone with a ponytail.
Balanced Harem: Although some girls seem to get ahead from time to time, for the most part none of them have won over Ayumu completely yet.
He tries it again in episode 9 of Season 2 against Seraphim, but she's much too quick for him. In the next scene he's still bloodied and knocked out in the corner of the room.
Episode 4 gives a plausible explanation: Eu feels the pain of any ailment she heals. If her necromantic Raise Dead works the same way, she literally relives death as she brings anyone back, including Ayumu. No wonder she's dead serious on the matter.
And later in Episode 6, the gravity of the situation is underlined by her saying DIE repeatedly to Kyoko.
Don't threaten or harm Ariel's students
Best Known For The Fanservice: In-universe example during Season 2 when the school witnesses Ayumu's fight with a Megalo and their memories remain untouched. Everyone makes a big deal about how he was crossdressing and then naked. They don't ever talk about him chainsawing a huge squid monster.
BFS: Sera is capable of increasing the size of her sword. The biggest it's been so far is about 9 feet long.
Big Bad Friend: Eu considered the King of the Night one.
In Season 2, Nene and Chris are seen eating and drinking together at the end of episode 9 in Season 2.
And in Episode 10 Sarasvati saves the party from the King of the Night, despite earlier having Sera attacked for disobeying her orders to assassinate Eu.
Maelstrom does one for Haruna/Ayumu when some Megalo had them pinned down in episode 7.
Bland Name Product: Ayumu and Orito eat hamburgers at "MaskDonald", where the staff wear luchador masks, and Orito is drinking "Dr Poppor". Also Ayumu was seen using "Stardust Coffee" awning as shade from the sun.
in of the Dead, videos of Ayumu pop up on Yuatube in the second episode.
In episode 8 of Season 2, he uses Zoogle to look up how to throw a mixer.
Ayumu goes to a 6-Eleven in episode 9 of Season 2.
Ayumu also does it in the ending for both seasons. Again, Played for Laughs.
Book Ends: Episode 1 of season 1, and the last, 10th episode of season 2 have the following exchange between Ayumu and Haruna
Ayumu: Could you get my lower half?
Haruna: Your lower half!? What are you, a pervert!?
Bokukko: Maelstrom uses "ore" to refer to herself, and her speech mannerisms are usually used by males.
Brainwashed,Rinsed, and Dried: Turns out, Kyoko was possessed at the time of her mass murder spree. Eu explains that she'd been possessed by the King of the Night.
This seems to have happened with Maelstrom and her Mon — she automatically invokes it on certain triggers.
Breathe On The Fan: The next episode preview at the end of episode 11 shows Eu trying to do this on one of those new unchoppy, smooth air fans... er, Dyson air multipliers. Needless to say, it doesn't work.
Breather Episode: Episodes 7 & 8 are comparatively lighter in tone than 5 & 6, and episode 12 is essentially a Beach Episode, with all the major female characters in a singing contest.
Celebrity Is Overrated: In episode 2 of the second season, after Ayumu is once again seen in his magical girl outfit, and later in the nude, the students start taking lots of pictures and videos. His attempt to erase the memories is also stopped due to Mystletainn breaking. He immediately feels his social life is over, and when he arrives to school the next day, he is incredibly popular. Which immediately causes him to reject it and runs away from it all.
The opening title sequence features chainsaws in basically every other image.
Chekhov's Skill: When Haruna tries to erase Ayumu's memories of her during their first encounter, she unwittingly transfers all her powers (transformation outfit included) to him accidentally. At the start of Episode 2 it's revealed that he used the same technique to save himself from further humiliation after the rest of the school caught him wearing the Magical Garment Girl outfit. Unfortunately for the guy, come Episode 1 of the second season he is unable to repeat this action after Mystletainn breaks.
In episode 8 of Season 2, both Haruna and Tomonori don't like it when Ayumu is ordered by Eu to hug Taeko in a game, and pulls them apart rather quickly.
In episode 9 of Season 2, Sera seems to exhibit this trope when Nene jokingly says that if she did do anything naughty with Ayumu, it's not a big deal since he's a man. Even though he was completely innocent, Sera doesn't believe him and whacks him on the head with her sword.
Surprisingly enough, Eu, in the original light novels at least (Most of which was not shown in the anime). She constantly shows jealously at the other girls being close to Ayumu, such as after the mixer in volume 5 when Ayumu asks why she came, she responds with, "So that the flies don't nag Ayumu."
Color-Coded Characters: Almost all of the main heroines have different hair colors. Seraphim and Sarasvati are similar, but usually have different eye colors and hairstyles to differentiate them, the former with a ponytail and green eyes, the latter a Hime Cut and red eyes.
Conspicuous CG: Aside from the usual fake-looking passing cars and trucks, the ferris wheel in episode 8 looks like the programming version of the Design Student's Orgasm.
The audience during the singing contest in episode 12 looks like they were taken straight out of a PS1-era game.
Cooldown Hug: Ayumu to Maelstrom when she was about to self-destruct in episode 9.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Yeah, Ayumu is often the servant boy for his ladies, but he can rip your head off, tear you to shreds with a chainsaw, or punch you out of immortality.
Cry Cute: Haruna in episode 9 of Season 2, after seeing a Not What It Looks Like moment where a nearly naked Nene collapses on top of Ayumu. After running back home crying adorably, both Seraphim and Eu accompany her. Nene makes it much worse for him by not denying that something may or may not have happened, and if it did, he's a man. Cue more cute Haruna crying, as well as Sera slicing him in the head.
Eu repeatedly kills Kyoko using nothing but words, and would probably have won if Kyoko hadn't torn out her own eardrums.
Later, Ayumu breaks Kyoko's sword and repeatedly chainsaws her to death, leaving her with only one life left.
Immediately afterwards, Ariel makes it perfectly clear that she could kill Ayumu with a single thought if she wanted to — and if he had honestly tried to take Kyoko's last life, she would have.
Dame Swears-A-Lot: Seraphim, particularly by Japanese standards. Some translations even render her vulgarity as an actual local vulgarity (e.g. "piece of shit").
Debut Queue: Ayumu is already living with Eucliwood when he meets Haruna in episode 1. Seraphim gets introduced in the next episode. Mael takes the longest to arrive—she's introduced halfway through the series and finally Saraswati, who pops up near the end.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Seraphim. She begins to develop a liking to Ayumu, occasionally showing hints of jealousy after.
Deliberate Injury Gambit: As a zombie, Ayumu is a textbook exploiter of his basic ability, ignoring injuries in combat. Most notable when he has Sera run him through to kill Kyoko. Doesn't work out quite as well as they thought it would, though...
Detachment Combat: Ayumu can fight with his body parts pretty easily, since they can always be reattached.
Rocket Punch: Ayumu throws his left arm towards Sera.
Different In Every Episode: Ayumu's fantasies of Eucliwood are voiced by a different Seiyuu (frequently well known, but less commonly heard from nowadays) each episode. There is even a scrolling text placed onscreen saying who the Seiyuu is this week. This gag carries over into the english dub, crediting the actresses such as Alexis Tipton, Luci Christian, Jamie Marchi, and Carli Mosier, to name but a few.
She finally talks outside of Ayumu's imagination in episode 11.
Disney Death: Of all people, Ayumu gets this in Episodes 10-11. Earlier, Sera is critically wounded from behind by Yoruno, and it basically takes someone else's blood to revive her.
Distracted by the Sexy: Thrice in the Ova, all in one game. Orito was distracted by Sarasvati, who was standing up giving Orito a great view up her skirt. Sarasvati was in turn distracted by Ayumu's ass, and Ayumu was in turn distracted by Taeko, who loosened the front of her shirt and leaned over, allowing Ayumu to look down her top. The first was deliberate. The second was completely unintentional. The third looks natural, but was on purpose.
Do It Yourself Theme Tune: Iori Nomizu (Haruna) sings both season's opening themes, while Rie Yamaguchi (Taeko Hiramatsu, a girl from Ayumu's class who frequently talks with him) also sings both ending themes.
Empathic Weapon: Mystletainn, Haruna's pink chainsaw, whose allegiance switched to Ayumu after he accidentally absorbs her powers. However, as of Episode 11, it also reaffirms Haruna as its wielder, allowing her to once again transform full-time into a Magical Garment Girl, helping Ayumu double-team the King of the Night.
Engrish: The title, as well as the opening theme song, which mixes random English words in with Japanese sentences.
Fan Nickname: Sometimes the series is jokingly nicknamed "Korean Zombie Desk Car", as a mispronunciation of the title.
Fate Worse Than Death: Literally in the case of Ayumu, who is already a zombie, and gets pictured by a ton of cellphone-cameras when he becomes a Magical Garment Girl. Subverted in that he is able to wipe everyone's memories of the incident along with all of the pictures that they took of him using his newfound abilities.
Fictional Holiday: Due to Haruna's misunderstanding of Earth culture, Ayumu and Sera walk home one night to find Haruna and Eu setting up to celebrate "Christmaween", a holiday that effectively combines Christmas, Halloween, and Tanabata together. Ayumu just goes with it. He wasn't in the mood to correct them or ruin their fun.
Haruna: "Furiously riding down the River of Stars, a big fat man drives a sleigh pulled by two HUGE creatures! Covered from head to toe in blood and guts, he flies like a bat out of hell in search of unsuspecting prey. He carries a bag big enough to fit a grown man with him, and under the cover of darkness, he sneaks in through the windows of houses marked with fancy-looking bamboo trees in their front yards. And even though he's a demon, Thunder Clause grants wishes, but only to those who wear their hair in pony-tails!"
Follow the Leader: To Princess Resurrection, indeed there are many similarities (male leads who're undead servants, female monsters join the household, group battling other monsters, chainsaw motif etc) but both series are original in their own right.
Foreshadowing: In Episode 12 Ariel asks if there will be any accidental exposures. Guess what happens.
Freeze Frame Bonus: At the end of the first OP. Pictures include images of mysterious characters, five girls with psycho weapons who seem to be other Magical Garment Girls and a giant grinning Megalo.
Frilly Upgrade: When Ayumu enhances his Magical Garment Girl powers with zombie strength, his frilly clothes become insanely loaded with decorations, while his Theme Music Power-Up soars ever higher.
Girly Run: Watch as Ayumu avoids the crowd while wearing the Magical Garment Girl outfit.
Giving Up The Ghost: When Orito finds out that the 3 cute girls bowling on the lane next to him and Ayumu not only know Ayumu but also live with him, he is so surprised that his ghost gives up another one.
Hand Wave: When an absolutely gigantic Megalo shows up in the city, we see that the civilians are clearly reacting to it's presence. The only reason why total panic never becomes an issue is that Ayumu mentions that he's lucky that he can wipe people's memories as a result of absorbing Haruna's powers in the first episode.
Heavy Sleeper: Nene as introduced in episode 9 of Season 2. She falls asleep answering her door, giving Ayumu some Marshmallow Hell, and later when he's brought some food for her, she gets out of the shower and collapses on top of him. She then later pops up from being buried under a pile of paperwork/drawings.
Heroic BSOD: Ayumu suffers one in episode 11 after Eu refused to take his hand as the King of Night was flying away with her.
Heroic Sacrifice: When the King of the Night plants a bomb on Haruna's head, Ayumu takes it and places it on his own head, then jumps out of the building to avoid the bomb hurting his friends. Being an immortal zombie however, it's not permanent.
Hostile Show Takeover: During episode 10's On The Next segment, Yoruno claims to be the new protagonist since the episode ended with Ayumu getting blown to pieces. Ayumu is not pleased.
Human Alien: Seraphim, Haruna, Eu, or any other girl can pass as a human even though they aren't human at all.
Hyper Space Arsenal:Manga-wise the fight between Kyoko and Ayumu ended up differently than the anime; in the manga Ariel had to literally stop Ayumu from killing Kyoko via pulling out herkatanas out of her lab coat.
I Cannot Self-Terminate: The King of the Night's main motivation for harassing Eu and her friends.
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode title is like a response to the interrogative main title. (e.g. "Yes, I'm a Magical Garment Girl", "No, I'm a Vampire Ninja", etc.)
Idol Singer: Sarasvati, Sera (albeit unwillingly), Haruna (who stole the show), and Eu.
Imagine Spot: Ayumu's is out of control. Notable in that every time he imagines the "inner" Eu, she calls him "oniichan" and is voiced by a different seiyuu, famous for their "cute" character works. Also accompanied with this phrase (in their cutest voice):
Our weak-kneed protagonist, Ayumu Aikawa, has selfishly imagined this voice.
This trope is invoked by Eu, of all people, in episode 7 of Season 2. She outright asks Ayumu why he's not doing one already. Later a jealous Haruna forces him to do one of her as well.
The Immodest Orgasm: Inverted with Ayumu. In the second OVA for Season 1, while infiltrating Tomonori's hideout to recover the recipe he gave to her instead of Seraphim, a trap is triggered, shooting some bamboo into his butt. A second one is triggered shortly afterwards, and it lands smack dab in the middle of his butt, causing him to feel a bit pleased with it. After they successfully recover the recipe, Tomonori stabs him in the same spot, which at first is painful. But then Ayumu forms that same face again, complete with Art Shift and Bishie Sparkle.
Improbable Weapon User: Maelstrom can dissolve a Megalo by showering them with tonkotsu ramen.
Indirect Kiss: Saras does one on Ayumu after stealing a drink from his coffee/juice box in episode 9 of Season 2. He even Foreshadowed one earlier in the episode when Saras asked for his coffee box as payment for her ticket to him. Saras will probably consider this an act of marriage, similarly to what happened with Tomonori, but Ayumu will likely try to brush it off.
She can't seem to take losing at anything, including an Accidental Kiss between Ayumu and Maelstrom (which ironically happened due to her pushing Ayumu down).
To the point that Ariel has observed that Ayumu's is the only name Haruna's bothered to remember... so far.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: One of the Magical Garment Girl powers, to Ayumu's relief.
Laser-Guided Karma: Seraphim is on the receiving end of a positive example of this in episode 10 when Eucliwood, whose life she had spared in the previous episode, revives her after she dies in an ambush committed by Yoruno.
Lens Flare Censor: Flat out abused with Haruna, who has a penchant of trying to use her Magical Garment Girl transformation (which destroys her existing clothes to replace them with her magical girl outfit), leaving her nude when the magic wears off.
Leotard of Power/Sensual Spandex: Worn at one point in the OVA by, among others, Ayumu. He promptly lampshades this, and Eu responds in writing. Of course, despite what Ayumu says, they are actually unitards.
Lethal Chef: Seraphim, who creates a hot pot that dissolves utensils and melts a hole through the bowl it was in. Despite her terrible cooking, she still insists on cooking whenever she gets a chance, and later food still burns/melts through the dish.
Via experimentation in Real Life by a fan of the series, it's been discovered that it's possible if you add too much cornstarch. Recipes usually call for 1-1.5 tbs of corn starch per 1-2 cups of milk, but Haruna probably added about 3-10 tbs.
In the second season of the anime Seraphim invokes this trope during the Tsundere challenge. She cooks Ayumu a steak made with nitroglycerin. He bravely eats it (and suffers the results).
Yuki is an interesting example of this. Her dishes are actually pretty good...until she adds the condiments.
Lolicon: Ayumu is accused of being by Orito this once Chris shows up in episode 7 of Season 2. A few moments later Taeko also wonders if Ayumi is one.
Love Confession: Ayumu gets one in episode 8 of Season 2, by Kyoko, who also stabs him with her sword.
When Belphegor! Ayumu is stating his unwillingness to fight Eu he gives the reason that he likes her, though he isn't willing to say whether its "like" or "love".
Eu herself also gives an unspoken one when fighting Ayumu, "You're not the Ayumu that I love."
Love Triangle: From light novel and anime and manga, Saras -> Ayumu <- Yuki/Tomonori and Haruna -> Ayumu <- Eu
Seraphim is showing Ayumu some begrudging respect as of episodes 4 and 5. She asks him to name her new attack one episode late, and in the second season/later novels she geniunely falls for him, but continues to treat him like trash.
"I think you're a maggot, but I do respect your strength."
The Magnificent: Ayumu has gained a title from each girl, basically.
Haruna: Pervert. Seraphim: Maggot (with variations; often translated as "piece of shit" to sound even more insulting) Eucliwood: Servant (she did resurrect him...) Sarasvati: Kuso-Darling (she likes his ass)
Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Not sure if it counts, but Ayumu was wearing a frilly pink dress when he accidentally kissed Maelstrom, who was wearing boyish attire at the time of the incident.
Mayfly-December Romance or May-December Romance: Either way, Sarasvati is already 100+; same goes to Maelstrom and Seraphim; Haruna is currently 14 but in 80 years her appearance probably won't change (just ask Ariel); Eu is probably 15-xxx years old, give or take. Were it not for his new lease of (undead) life Ayumu would probably be dead before they turn into adults.
Eu: Thanks. [pauses writing] You did well, servant.
Ayumu: Don't make it complicated.
Dai-Sensei does one on Kyouko in episode 8 of Season 2 when the latter was about to kiss Ayumu at a mixer. She puts on her angry, red-eyed face, which scares Ayumu.
Mood Whiplash: Episode 4. Yay, Ayumu managed to defeat the monster. Woo, he looked awesome doing it. Wait, did Kyoko just slash her own throat?! What? End credits? No!
New use for Super Strength, carry 4 girls' shopping bags.
My God, What Have I Done?: In episode 9, after Eu disappears, Ayumu looks at the various wishes the girls wrote during Tanabata. Unfortunately, he wrote "May none of their wishes be granted" on his, meaning that his wish negated Eu's wish, which was to stay with him and the others forever. He comes to deeply regret writing that in the next few episodes after Eu disappears and then refuses to come back home.
My Name Is Not Tomonori!: Unfortunately, that's how Maelstrom's alias, Yuki Yoshida, reads. Nevertheless, she's fine with Ayumu using it (save for a brief Freak Out in episode 9 when she realizes she had nearly died), as she found his alternative - "Yuki-chan" - far more embarrassing.
The reason she doesn't like Tomonori is because it sounds too tomboyish.
Naked People Are Funny: The anime practically starts with all of Ayumu's clothes flying off after he gets hit by a truck.
Episode 1 of the second season repeats Ayumu's predicament, but this time he's also unable to erase his classmates' memories of him fighting a Squid Megalo in his Magical Garment Girl outfit.
Never Live It Down: In-Universe. Until he (and Haruna) finds a way to fix the Mystletainn, poor Ayumu will never get past the stigma of being a crossdressing pervert after he was caught fighting a Squid Megalo by his classmates in broad daylight in his Magical Garment Girl outfit on Episode 1 of the second season, then breaking Mysletainn, rendering him unable to erase their memories (like he did last time) and butt-naked. This little incident soon exploded into an In-UniverseMemetic Mutation, extending to clips on YouTube and even a fashion statement based on it.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ayumu when he accidentally breaks Mystletainn in Season 2. Made more hilarious by the fact that despite being seen as a cross-dresser, it makes him even more popular, much to his chagrin at trying living a normal, quiet life.
The bad events of the entire first season could have been completely avoided if only Eucliwood wouldn't have been so cruelly selfish and just granted King of the Night the death he yearned for. The dozens of people killed by him (and their family) in order to convince you to let it go are really thankful, Eu...
Eu actually did try to kill him before and mistakenly thought it worked. By the time she faced the dilemma of killing him or not, he had already killed all the people mentioned.
Kyoko certainly seems like one. She does the Magical Garment Girl transformation and used Magical Garment Girl powers, shows off red eyes like Seraphim, doesn't die to a lethal wound, and is said to have Megalo powers, granting her some ridiculous portmanteau of the rest of the cast's powers.
Non-Indicative Name: Haruna's Finishing Move, the Mystletainn Kick, consists of bisecting the opponent with her chainsaw (which at the very least is called Mystletainn).
Almost always followed up with:
Various: "THAT ISN'T A KICK!"
No Respect Guy: Ayumu. He dies rushing in to try and help victims of a serial killer, only to be murdered instantly. He's then brought back to life, fights monsters, defeats a vampire ninja in single combat... and is still called insulting names. In fact, Eu and Maelstrom are the only two main characters that haven't yet called him on his crossdressing when he was in Magical Garment Girl form.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Ariel learns that Ayumu is a Magical Garment Girl in Episode 5 and seemingly pretends to shrug it off. In Episode 6, she appears to have taken it in (though she presumably hasn't seen him in the outfit yet), and her knowledge of Ayumu being a Magical Garment Girl is confirmed in episode 9 when she summons Mystletainn to where Ayumu is standing and has him combat a dark presence surrounding the vampire ninja Maelstrom (specifically, Mysticore).
The Ojou: Seraphim plays the trope straight, until she decides Ayumu's not worthy of any form of respect. She then gains what may be the dirtiest mouth in recent anime history. She still tends to be very polite, but she ends sentences with "Kono Kusomushi!!" (You shit-maggot!!)
Kusomushi is an alternative saying for Funchuu which means the Dung Beetle. It is still highly offensive but doesn't actually refer the person in question as shit.
Older Than They Look: Ariel can't be that young considering she trains millions of girls just like Haruna.
Chris looks as young, if not younger than Ariel, and she was her mentor.
Also goes for all the Vampire Ninjas, and Eu.
One Note Cook: Haruna is a great chef, as long as eggs are the only thing involved. Even the water bottles are filled with fried eggs. The stir fry she tries to create in episode 4 burns through the cast iron pan and through the bedrock, like thermite.
They are really tasty eggs, though. Eventually she gets the hang of cooking.
Only Sane Man: Ayumu and Sera during the Idol singing contest
And you don't need a Vampire Invitation - they can eat normal food, can walk even in bright daylight, have funny marriage laws and have reflections and rules against hurting humans... except Ayumu (a zombie).
Paper-Thin Disguise: Ayumu wears the mask he gets from the restaurant. He makes it even more painfully obvious by calling himself "Masked Ayumu" (which he immediately regrets).
Parental Abandonment: Ayumu mentions in one of his internal monologues that his parents left him a few years ago, and their only contact so far has been sending him packages of stuff "from countries [he's] never heard of."
Also counts as Real Men Wear Pink complete with the frilly, girly costume.
Please Don't Leave Me: A major plot point in Season 1 as Ayumu invokes this on Eu after the latter left thinking she was being a burden on him.
P.O.V. Boy, Poster Girl: Haruna is the series' poster girl, Ayumu is the point of view character. However, Eu gets more focus than Haruna.
Power Glows: It also adds extra frills to Ayumu's costume.
Power Limiter: The armor on Eu serves this purpose. It stops her power from influencing everything around her, including herself. Whenever her power is released by speaking, it will induce horrible pain to her brain that can potentially kill her. That power will rage on even if she dies. She's got an exceptionally severe case of Power Incontinence.
Pretty Freeloaders: Subverted with Sera and Haruna for they do cook sometimes.
A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Chris used to be Ariel's top student a century ago and even led a coup against Lilia Lilith at Ariel's request. The coup failed, and after getting struck by the Queen's curse Chris started plotting revenge against Ariel for letting her take the fall. Naturally, Ayumu's party opposes her from the start.
Actualyl the other way around - Ariel was Chris's student, though Ariel did instigate the coup.
Rapunzel Hair: Eu, Sera, Ariel, Kanami and Sarasvati.
Red Shirt: Kyoko appears to become one once she slits her own throat. However, she's revealed to be Ayumu's murderer the very next episode when she lures him to the graveyard and tries to kill him a third time (Kerberos Wansard, a straighter example, was taken out during her second attempt on Ayumu's life).
Running Gag: Ayumu getting impaled in the anus with a sharpened stake.
Serious Business: Vampire ninjas take marriage very seriously. Even if it was a total accident and they just met you for the first time, they will completely devote themselves to you.
Strange Minds Think Alike: Both Haruna and Maelstrom explain "from the beginning" by laying out super string theory.
Stripperiffic: When Ayumu makes an idle wish while having Eu's magic inside him, this happens to the girls, combined with Zettai Ryouiki. Also Saraswati and Seraphim's idol outfits.
Haruna does this to a lesser degree in chapter 5 of the manga when she tries on the ruffled tutu Ayumu had bought for her at the clothing store in the previous chapter.
Stupid Sacrifice: Kerberos, as if sacrificing yourself to protect a nigh-immortal zombie is not dumb enough already.
To make it worse, it didn't even help. Ayumu still got run through.
Super-Deformed: The main girls sometimes revert to this, and at the end of each episode in Season 2, there are a few chibi Eu's talking and doing various things, with the original Eu often showing up shortly afterwards.
Superpower Meltdown: When Maelstrom got injured in Episode 9, it triggered the invocation of her superweapon Mon, which nearly self-destructed. A Cooldown Hug wound up saving her.
Super Strength: Ayumu can punch stuff stronger than an average human due to the fact that he's a zombie and is no longer constrained by the human body's natural limiters.
Just like Newton's third law of motion, for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. If you're hitting something with 800 pounds of force, it's going to hit back.
Team Chef: Ayumu cooks most of the food the girls eat.
Tempting Fate: When Nene collapses on top of Ayumu in episode 9 of Season 2, Ayumu comments that it would be really bad if someone saw them like this. Cue a doorbell ring, and Ayumu getting worried, only to find out there's no one at the door. However, as soon as he closes it, a crying Haruna is seen clinging to the other side of the door. A few moments later, it turns out Haruna did in fact see Nene on top of Ayumu, and assumed they did some naughty things, made worse by Nene jokingly saying that he's a man, so what if they did.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: There's plenty of it between the girls, with Seraphim being the Tomboy to Eucliwood and Sarasvati's Girly Girls and the Girly Girl to Haruna and Maelstrom's Tomboys. Maelstrom is basically the Tomboy to everyone's Girly Girl, and Chris is the Girly Girl to Haruna's Tomboy.
Too Soon: The last three episodes were delayed a week due to the Sendai earthquake. Apparently, the broadcaster decided that showing an anime with "violent content" so soon after the 9.0 earthquake would offend sensitive people.
Two Lines, No Waiting: There's the Monster of the Week that the Magical Girls are fighting, and now we have a vampire ninja war about to erupt... and based on the ending of the second episode (and Japanese Wikipedia) we know there's at least 1, maybe 2 more girls coming. And there's apparently an organization that's not happy about Ayumu being resurrected without the proper paperwork.
Unmoving Plaid: The first season ending uses this on everything.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: A huge explosion blows Ayumu and the Lobster Megalo out of a window in his school's third floor. He cuts it in half with a chainsaw in mid-air, lands leaving a huge crater, stands up unhurt and the only thing his schoolmates find strange is his frilly pink outfit.
And again he fights a Squid Megalo in broad daylight, Taeko gets captured and everyone is still focused on Ayumu's outfit.
Maelstrom having couple arguments with Ayumu in public doesn't cause a stir at all. Note that they're still highschoolers (read: below 18, the typical legal age) when they got "married".
Unwanted Harem: It seems almost all of the main female characters are falling for Ayumu, whether he likes it or not.
Currently, his track record includes - Six girls who are certainly in love with him: Haruna, Eu, Sarasvati, Maelstrom, Kyoko and Taeko - and a few others who seem to be leaning towards it: Seraphim, Nene and Chris.
Vampire Invitation: Subverted, since Seraphim just appeared out of the blue. Justified considering the fact that she's a ninja.
Vapor Wear: Haruna's rather obviously not wearing any pants since losing her Magical Girl uniform. Fridge Brilliance when you realize she wasn't expecting to be stuck on Earth, yet alone without her magic.
This is a running gag in the first several chapters of the Light Novel, as she always seems to show up at a battle scene wearing only panties and Ayumu's shirt. His theory is that when she detects a Megalo she immediately makes another (futile) attempt to activate her Transformation Sequence, which dissolves her clothing but fails to add her Magical Girl equipment, leaving her... well, you know.
Weaksauce Weakness: Zombies and direct sunlight. Which is made inadvertently more hilarious as it's not always adhered to, and sometimes Ayumu can be seen walking in broad daylight (without his umbrella and while not in Magical Girl form) with no issues.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Sera's faction has put a contract on Eu as of Episode 9 for being a Megalo magnet. Sera herself could've easily become one as well had Ayumu not talked her out of killing her.
The King of Night could arguably be this as well. His main motive for summoning all the Megalo was simply so that Eu would let him die/fade away, but she initially refused because she still considered him a friend. Had she of just granted his wish when they first met in episode 8, episodes 10 & 11 probably wouldn't of happened.
We Want Our Jerk Back: In episode 10 of Season 2, Dai-sensei erases Ayumu's memories of all the time he spent with the girls after he fails a test she put out. The girls ultimately decide they'd rather have the original Ayumu back rather than the new one devoid of any memories of them along with a weird personality, and go through some great lengths to restore him back to normal.
What Have I Done: Ayumu really comes to regret what he wrote for Tanabata in episode 9. The three girls wrote various things they wished for. In Eu's case, she wanted to stay with Ayumu and the others. Ayumu, meanwhile, wrote "May none of these things come true." probably as a joke, but then Eu leaves shortly afterwards.
What the Hell, Hero?: Ayumu to Seraphim in episode 9 after she tells him her superior wants Eucliwood's head for being a Megalo magnet and that she's been selected to carry out the sanction. This leads her to refrain from performing the sanction, and she continues to hold that position even after she's nearly sanctioned herself as punishment for bailing out.
Also to a lesser extent Ayumu vs Kyoko in the anime. It's pretty much this when your harem and the villain call you a pervert after you've done your Transformation Sequence.
You Have Failed Me: Rare heroic example: Seraphim was nearly offed by her own faction for disobeying orders to kill Eu.
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