The sun, moon and stars have long disappeared from the sky, leaving the world in eternal darkness. The remains of humanity live inside Flandore, the last city-state, while monstrous beings roam free in the endless night outside. However, humanity has gained a power called Mana that allows them to fight those monsters, and those who hold that power form the aristocracy that rules over the common people in Flandore.
Among those aristocrats, a girl is born without any talent to use Mana. A youth named Kufa is dispatched as a tutor to find if Melida Angel has any Mana inside her. If she is not talented, he must assassinate her. However, Kufa is inspired by Melida's determination and decides to do everything in his power to ensure that the day where he kills her never arrives.
Assassin's Pride (アサシンズプライド) is a fantasy light novel series written by Kei Amagi and illustrated by Nino Ninomoto, published since January 2016. A manga adaptation illustrated by Yoshie Katō started serialization in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Ultra Jump in May 2017. An anime adaptation by EMT Squared premiered on October 10, 2019, simulcasted by Crunchyroll and HiDive.
Assassin's Pride contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Three fourths of the main cast. Rosetti Pricket is a prodigy and a big celebrity among Mana users, while Melida and Elise are both studying to become an Action Girl worthy of the surname Angel.
- Aerith and Bob: The maids working at Melida's mansion: Amy, Myra, Grace and Nietzsche.
- After the End: The world fell to disaster long ago. The Corruption turned most living things into monsters and the sky has been blotted out, leaving it Always Night. Flandore is the last remaining city-state of normal humans, while in the Night World, humans struggle to survive.
- Always Night: In this world, the sun, moon and stars have disappeared. As a result, it's always night.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Felgus Angel is a terribly neglectful parent to his daughter because she might be the result of an affair his late wife had. And Sir Mordreuw would rather see his own granddaughter dead than let her existence stain the reputation of the family and, by extension, ruin his current position. There is a group of innovators who seek to restore the purity of the noble bloodlines by removing those they consider obstacles such as Melida due to her suspected heritage. They are also referred to as the pureblood idealists and they play a huge role in the second part of the story as one of them takes over as the new principal of the St. Friedeswide School and treats the students with lower mana classes poorly.
- Battle Aura: When nobles fight, they coat themselves in a flame of Mana to amplify their abilities. Different people have differently colored flames. This is even a plot point in volume 5, where Kufa, who has blue mana, is implicated in a series of vampire-like attacks when a forensic test shows that the attacker also had blue mana. It was Rosetti (under Mind Control), whose mana is normally red but turns blue in her previously unknown vampiric form.
- Bioweapon Beast: Guild Grimhuis has developed artificial lycanthrope called chimeras.
- Calling Your Attacks: It's actually part of the process of delivering a strong attack. Normally accumulating Mana for an attack takes time and concentration, but by associating the technique with a name, it's possible to go through the process in an instant by shouting the name.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Kufa's plan to try and keep Melida alive. He hopes to keep it quiet that he used a Super Serum to awaken her into an artificial Samurai and help her win enough accomplishments to make her too useful for her family to kill off when they inevitably figure out that she isn't a Paladin.
- Character Class System: Nobles are born with one of eleven different mana classes, each with their own specialties. The three knight classes are the strongest. These classes are inherited at birth from Superpowerful Genetics, and while dangerously experimental procedures exist, there is no easy way to change it. Likewise, the different subspecies of lycanthrope are effectively different classes based on anima. Some rare individuals have both a mana class and an anima class.
- Cleavage Window: Downplayed. The school uniforms worn by Melida and Ellie would have a cleavage window, if only Melida or Ellie had any cleavage to begin with.
- Combat Pragmatist: Kufa is an assassin, so he isn't concerned about playing fair, and he teaches Melida to forget about it too. The basic philosophy behind his lessons is: "Use every opening your opponent gives you. If he doesn't give you any, make one through all means available".
- Compressed Adaptation: The anime skips the training segments between Kufa and Melida, despite those scenes being a great source of comedy.
- The Corruption: That which is twisted by the Night is empowered by it. Lycanthropes are animals, and, for that matter, humans, that lost themselves and were turned into monsters by the Curse of the Night. When a baseline human becomes a lycanthrope, they develop instincts that render them a threat even to people they were close to. Baseline humans use special lanterns burning a holy flame to keep the Night at bay. There's also a group of innovators who believe in bloodline purity and seek to disrupt the current system of Flandore.
- Crapsack World: The world is covered in darkness and nigh-unbeatable monsters roam freely through the land. There is only one city-state left where humans can live safely. However, said state is ruled by an aristocracy willing to do anything to keep their position, including murdering a child. There are also guilds made of criminals and former nobles who will do whatever it takes to go back to power, including using the monsters from the outside. Overall, even the last bastion of mankind isn't without its fair share of dangers for its inhabitants.
- Die or Fly: Sir Mordew has a tendency to "pressure" Melida by allowing weak lycanthrope into the city to attack her, in the hopes that this will awaken her mana. If they kill her instead, then that saves the assassin some time and trouble.
- Driving Question: Why wouldn't Melida's Mana awaken naturally? Is Melida Angel a Muggle Born of Mages or a Heroic Bastard? And if it is the latter, then who is her real father?
- The Dulcinea Effect: Kufa disobeys orders and throws himself head first into a dangerous self-imposed mission that could get him killed, all for a girl he had just met. He even recognizes that he is letting his emotions guide him, but doesn't back down.
- Fantastic Racism: Kufa reveals to Melida how he and his mother suffered from discrimination in Flandore due to their origin as Night citizens. They were treated as monsters and were rejected from society. She passed away when he was young from stress before he joined guild Jack Raven. When Melida discovered his vampiric nature, Kufa says that no one had ever accepted his half breed status, including the lycanthropes, before meeting her. When he returns to the night world and fights a vampire who knew his mother, his enemy considered all half breed vampires like him as monsters as their lycanthropy will one day consume their human blood and they will then be turned into a full-fledged lycanthrope who only knows destruction and will never be accepted by either side.
- First-Episode Twist: At the very start of the series (within the first chapter of the first light novel volume/first episode of the anime adaptation in fact), Kufa becomes attached to Melida and decides to help her grow into a strong warrior even though she was born without Mana, ignoring his orders. This permanently changes the premise and main source of tension from the series from "Melida may get killed by Kufa if she doesn't demonstrate real potential" to "both Melida and Kufa will be killed if someone discovers the true reason behind Melida's sudden growth".
- First Kiss: The process of implanting Mana inside Melida's body requires Kufa to give her the medicine mouth-to-mouth. Melida thinks it's romantic and fairytale-like… until the effects of the medicine kicks in.
- Gaslighting: Mrs. Othello sabotages the Luna Lumiere competition in an attempt to humiliate Melida and promote Elise against her own will. Since Kufa doesn't have enough evidence to punish her directly and can't afford to let many of the details reach the public either, he instead pulls a vengeful prank using Black Madia's talents as a Master of Disguise. Mrs. Othello returns home only to discover that "she" had already arrived earlier, ordering Elise's maids to dress up as Cat Girls with lacy outfits, speak openly ending their sentences with "nya"note , and decorate her room with a young maidenly pink theme. Mrs. Othello finds herself questioning her own sanity and faints upon seeing a lookalike no one else notices give her a smirk.
- Great Big Library of Everything: Below Flandore is a mysterious Magical Library built by Precursors. In addition to Limited Use Magical Devices, it contains a copy of everything ever written, ranging from children's letters to even secret messages sent by spies.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: People with a lycanthrope parent and a baseline human parent tend to be hated by both tribes.
- Harem Genre: Despite the gothic fantasy setting, the series still falls into this genre, with several female characters being in love with Kufa and competing for his affections.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Three of the four main characters use swords: Kufa and Melida are part of the Samurai class, while Elise is a member of the Paladin class.
- High-Class Gloves: Mrs. Othello creates a unique costume for Elise to wear at the Circlet Night festival, which includes shoulder-length gloves, to make her stand out among her classmates as part of promoting her as the next head of the House of Angel. Elise really doesn't want to wear it.
- Jack of All Trades: The niche of the Jester class, which can imitate the abilities of every class below knight rank, but requires considerably more effort to master any of them, usually leaving them a Master of None.
- Just Eat Gilligan: In a world that is revealed later on to be advanced enough to have successful genetic engineering of Half Human Hybrids, no one in Melida's family ever suggested simply doing a paternity test to confirm her lineage, resulting in the need to hire Kufa Vampir instead of a normal tutor and the rest of the plot. Presumably, her grandfather would rather she be mysteriously killed than confirmed to be illegitimate. Although it makes a lot more sense when you learn the heavy implication that the reason why is because noble families like hers would rather her be killed than be publicly known as born powerless or inheriting a "common" class to their respective families.
- Limited-Use Magical Device: The Magical Library below Flandore is filled with grimoires. Grimoires can produce magical effects a limited number of times. Anyone can activate them by saying the magic phrase, but only people who have earned earned the privilege required for a given grimoire can read what the grimoire will do ahead of time.
- Lineage Comes from the Father: A plot point is that Melida's lineage should have come from her father, as the blood of a noble never fails to pass down Mana to their children no matter whose blood it's mixed with. That it didn't is seen as an indicator that she is not the true daughter of Felgus Angel.
- Lost Technology: The cataclysm that trapped the world in darkness also collapsed civilization with it. Even Flandore, the best protected city in the world, no longer fully understands all of their tech. Their Magical Library and their Golems are subject to research to this day.
- The Magocracy: Nobles are those who inherited Mana from their Superpowerful Genetics. All nobles are required to spend time in military service to protect Flandore, but get special privileges in return.
- Mana: There are two forms of magical energy, mana, and anima. Mana is the energy of the Sun and can be used by nobles. Anima is the energy of the monsters outside Flandore's walls, the lycanthropes, and is associated with the Night. A few individuals contain both energies. Those who possess them have a limited capacity that regenerates over time.
- Mana Drain: The unique power of the Diabolo knight class allows them to steal an opponent's mana.
- Mercy Kill: Kufa initially saw Melida's assassination as this. Because she had no talent for using Mana, all her hard work would never be rewarded and she would be the humiliated "Talentless Girl" for the rest of her life, making him decide to end her suffering instead of drawing it out. When he realized how strong her determination was, however, he decided to place his bets on her and transferred a portion of his Mana to her, giving her a chance to fight back. And if the transfer went wrong and her body mutated because of it, he was again ready to Mercy Kill her right there.
- Muggle Born of Mages: Melida's apparent failure to inherit mana is widely believed to be impossible, but William reveals that there are other cases, including himself. They are often kept hidden from the world or discarded and left for dead.
- No Such Agency: There are rumors of a secret guild, Guild Jack Raven, which answers directly to Flandore's ruling council. They are said to carry out obscenely vile acts on the council's behalf, including assassinations, discrete coverups, and human experimentation. These rumors are completely true.
- One-Gender School: St. Frideswide Girls' Academy, where Melida and Elise study. Volume 2 introduces their "sister school", Saint D'autriche Girls' school. In LN vol.7, the story take place at the Jean Sullivan academy which is an all boy mana school.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Occasionally, the souls of the dead will be trapped in the living world, unable to ascend. They come more than one variety and have supernatural abilities of their own, but are still vulnerable to physical combat.
- Our Vampires Are Different: They are considered to be the strongest type of lycanthrope and have a powerful Healing Factor.
- Our Werebeasts Are Different: This series uses the term Lycanthrope (wolf man) to refer to all kinds of mutant and monsters who live in the night world, rather than just werewolves.
- The Power of the Sun: Nectar, holy weapons, and mana are said to contain the sun's energy.
- Pragmatic Villainy: While Kufa isn't a villain, he is a ruthless assassin. The only reason why he isn't piling up corpses anymore is because protecting Melida is a mission that won't be easily achieved just by killing people. Case in point, he refuses to kill Gin and instead tells him to go back to his client and report that he found traces of Paladin Mana within Melida. If he killed an assassin sent after Melida another would come later, while having Gin deliver a fake report lessens the chances of it happening again.
- Pumpkin Person: Pumpkin Heads resemble pumpkin headed scarecrows and are one of the weakest types of lycanthrope. They are physically strong, but foolish and lack the ability to manipulate anima. They generally act as subordinates to stronger lycanthrope or even normal humans.
- Revealing Cover Up: After the events of Volume 1, Kufa sends a fake report to his guild filled with lies about the reason why the Angels were attacked, so they won't realize Melida isn't a Paladin. Unfortunately, the report only makes them suspect he is hiding something. As Black Madea points out, while the report has internal logic, the motives behind the actions of the people involved are unexplained or forced, as if it was a fictional story somebody wrote about real facts. This leads to the events of volume 2.
- Royalty Super Power: Power in Flandore is shared between three different royal families, the ducal houses, who are considered to be nobles among nobles. The ducal houses are the highest ranking due to possessing the three strongest and rarest classes in their bloodlines, which are supposedly guaranteed to be passed on regardless of who the other parent is.
- RPG Mechanicsverse: The world doesn't function like a game for the most part, but the way they measure everyone's combat power is much like what you would see in an RPG. Their measurements include stats like Hit Points, Mana, a second type of magical energy called anima, attack, defense, agility, and skill levels.
- Shout-Out: The three states of Mana are called Law, Neutral and Chaos.
- Skinship Grope: When the girls notice that Salacha has an above average bust size, especially for their age, they ask for permission to touch them, which Salacha reluctantly allows. Mule implies she's done this before herself. Melida immediately reacts with somber jealousy, since the guy she likes once accidentally touched hers without even noticing, which she blames on their size.
- Small, Secluded World: The holy city of Flandore is basically a gargantuan chandelier built with Lost Technology. The supporting structure contains a Magical Library and Great Big Library of Everything. The individual "lights", the canbells, are domes of glass containing the separate living areas of the city. The city itself is on an island that can only be left by airship. The island contains a giant vein of Nectar, a fuel imbued with The Power of the Sun. The people of Flandore pump Nectar to the canbells and burn it against the glass to produce a holy flame that keeps out The Corruption. The people of Flandore do not know what they will do when the Nectar vein inevitably runs out. At best, their Lycanthrope research might allow them to protect their minds when the invading corruption turns them into monsters, at worst, they will descend into savagery like most of the tribes outside Flandore.
- Stock Light-Novel Hero: Zigzagged with Kufa. In terms of appearance and role in the plot, he seems to be the definition of this trope: he has the short dark hair with soft facial features that one would expect of a Japanese protagonist (even though the series doesn't even take place on our Earth), wears dark clothing, is much stronger than most of the cast from the start, and is surrounded by pretty girls who like him and fight together with him. (Comparisons with Kirito are common.) When you see his personality and backstory however, they don't resemble this trope at all: far from being a normal person dragged into a fantastic world, he has been raised to be an assassin since he was a child. Being so overpowered doesn't come just from an innate power, but also from having far more experience in battle than a person his age should have. He may look like an All-Loving Hero at first glance, but that's just a façade he puts on for the sake of his mission, in reality he is cold and calculating. And while he does come to genuinely care about one girl, his core personality remains the same and he only looks more heroic than he actually is due to pragmatism.
- Superpowerful Genetics: The ability to use Mana is passed on via genetics. More importantly, the children of the three dukes always inherit the Mana of their noble parents, regardless of who their other parent is. So when the daughter of the patriarch of the Angel family was born without Mana, the logical conclusion was that she was the child of an affair her mother had.
- Super Serum: Guild Jack Raven's research has developed a special medicine that can be used to implant one person's mana into another, allowing them to make commoners into nobles artificially. The medicine is still classified and experimental, with a high chance of mutating or killing the subject.
- Title Drop: Kufa drops the title when contemplating Melida's assassination. He later alters it to showing pride for teaching Melida to hold her own in battleKufa: "It's the mercy of a professional killer, an assassin's pride."
- Un-Sorcerer: Melida could not use Mana while everyone else at school can.
- Unspecified Apocalypse: It is clear that the world has fallen to some sort of catastrophe and its people are living After the End, but the details have only been introduced very slowly. It has been mentioned that historical records speak of the Sun, Stars, and Moon, but now it is Always Night and the sky has only darkness. Flandore is the most advanced civilization left due to being the best built apocalyptic shelter, but even they no longer understand much of their Lost Technology. The world is covered by The Corruption, which turns living things into monsters and makes their minds savage. Most of humanity has been turned into tribes of such monsters, only a handful of communities like Flandore have access to the Nectar needed to protect against the curse. When in the outside world, the main characters witness ruins from the great civilization that came before, who despite their technological advancements were helpless against whatever catastrophe struck their world.
- Vicariously Ambitious: Mrs. Othello wants Elise to be at the top, and repeatedly promotes Elise in ways that only cause her to suffer. She coerces Elise into acting like a Glory Hound, alienating Elise from her classmates. She makes Elise train harder than even her own personal tutor thinks is healthy, because she believes that Misery Builds Character. She also does everything she can to take down and humiliate Elise's best friend and cousin, Melida, because with Melida being an Inadequate Inheritor, she sees an opportunity for Elise, the Angel family's rising star, to take her place as the Angel family's successor.
- Weak, but Skilled: Melida is part of the Samurai class, which isn't known for being strong in direct battle, which is why she is taught Combat Pragmatist skills from Kufa. Even before meeting Kufa, she was practicing her whole life, which gives her a advantage in battle.
- Weapon Specialization: Most of the mana-based classes specialize in a particular type of weapon. For example, Paladins use swords longer than their own bodies, Samurai use katanas, and Dancers use rings. Jesters are one of the few classes that likely wouldn't specialize in a particular weapon, since their class revolves around Power Copying.
- Wizarding School: There are thirteen of those schools through Flandore, including the one the main cast goes to. Their purpose is to nurture the Mana users, who are seen as "the last hope" of humanity, as they are the only ones who can fight Lycanthropes.
- Would Hurt a Child: There are many people out there who have no issues ordering the death of a 13 year old, and just as many people willing to carry out the order.
