Literature / Daikaiju Yuki

Daikaiju Yuki is a series of books written by Raffael Coronelli that pay homage to the kaiju genre, as well as giant monsters in general.

Set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, humanity is still recovering from a vicious war that reshaped all that they knew, their total annihilation only averted by the Pantheon Colossi, great beings that saw the good in humanity, and even gave them the ability to form special bonds with them through sacred amulets. In the present, mankind remains divided, the hosts of the monsters acting either as secret weapons, heroes, or just people trying to live their lives.

Enter Yuki Tsubaki, a young woman sent to locate a temple dedicated to one of the Colossi in order to investigate the disappearance of a former comrade. As a result, she ends up bonded to the monster beneath the temple. This sudden turn of events puts Yuki on the path to finding the rest of the Pantheon Colossi and their hosts so that they may prevent a horrible weapon from being unleashed onto the world.

This story was a huge success with the kaiju community, and it spawned several sequels and other stories taking place in the same universe. From the main series:

Y2k: Yuki Conquers the World (2017): A direct sequel, in which Yuki and her friends face a new threat in the forgotten region of Alkebulan. She also comes to terms with her relationship with Midori, the beautiful priestess that got her attention in the first book.

Yuki vs. Fleshworld (2019): In which Yuki and company are pitted against beings from space, as well as a gigantic Genius Loci. At this point, the series veers into Cosmic Horror Story territory.

The Mokwa trilogy, a spin-off series focusing on side character Allie and her Pantheon kaiju, Mokwa:

Mokwa: Lifesblood of the Earth (2018): Allie and Mokwa are called to action by the awakening of Supayra, the last of the destroyer kaiju. This and the rest of the trilogy places a greater emphasis on horror elements. Preceding this story is a short called Thyrus, the Beast of Umbria, which stars a location in the second half of the narrative.

Mokwa: Ursa Major (2020): In which Allie and Mokwa end up facing similar cosmic terrors that the others do in Yuki Vs. Fleshworld after failing to reunite with them.

Mokwa: Exorcism (2022): Allie deals with having a Not Quite Dead Supayra occupying her mind, threatening to make her just as monstrous as he is.

The standalone stories:

Scythian Frost and other Stories (2019): An anthology of stories taking place before the events of first book. They include Scythian Frost (A trio of Scythian scouts go looking for a secret weapon, only to stumble upon something worse in the unforgiving cold), Outrigger (A Tarakonan supply ship gets assaulted by the hungry leviathans of the sea), Lair of the Devourer (A zoologist and her companion launch a last-ditch effort to save an endangered creature known as Ammit from hunters), and The Pantheon Arrives! (In which we see a Pantheon from another planet in action)

Pharaoh of Eels (2020): A pair of craft brewers end up caught in a terrifying adventure with pirates, hidden treasures, and sea monsters.

---

Tropes:

• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Alkonoth's beak is so sharp it can puncture kaiju hides.
  • Broadsword's blade is strong enough to give the Fog Knights an even fight. It eventually becomes Mokwa's BFS.
  • General Yamanra's kaiju's talons are sharp enough to rip other kaiju into pieces.
• Accidental Hero: The worm deep-sea leviathan in Outrigger saves Kai by killing the sea urchin leviathan that had antagonized it earlier.
• Thyrus takes out Romolo and Reno in his short story right before they can kill a little girl. It was just a territorial dispute, but still.
• Action Survivor: Every surviving member of Niko and Manu's party (them included) in Pharaoh of Eels manages to escape pirates and the wrath of a destroyer kaiju despite being nowhere near as equipped to do so like most other protagonists in this series are.
• After the End: The series takes place about fifty centuries after a nuclear war annihilated most of the old world. Known as the Great Fire, this event awakened and/or created many kaiju, all of which almost destroyed the rest before Mokwa showed many of them reason. Now, most of modern civilization has been replaced with near-complete abandonment of advanced technology, and only now has nature started to recover.
• Aliens Are Bastards: The Dreadnought army is full of Planet Looters who destroy entire worlds and either enslave or drive their inhabitants to extinction. Yuki vs. Fleshworld reveals that the legion that the Pantheon is familiar with was doing so to get strong enough to defeat Fleshworld... and control him. So yeah, still bastards.
• All Just a Dream: Supayra tricks Allie into thinking that all of the people she kills while possessed by him in Exorcism are all a part of her cathartic dreams. They're not.
• Amazon Chaser: Midori finds herself attracted to Yuki, but not nearly as much as she is to her.
• And I Must Scream: Dr. Heimann's creation is a horrid chimera of different kaiju parts, and it's in a constant state of madness and pain because of it. So much so that it ends up ripping itself to pieces once it's finally free.
• Animal Lover: Akuma is a zoologist, and very much fascinated with the world's fauna, especially Ammit.
  • The hapless guard from ''Pharaoh of Eels happens to love animals, which enables our heroes to trick him into releasing the uncontrolled eels onto the pirates.
• Androcles' Lion: The giant mountain gorilla in Lair of the Devourer seems to respect Akuma the first time it sees her. Later, it rises to the occasion to help her and Ammit.
  • A much straighter example occurs in Pharaoh of Eels, with Pirangon helping the heroes out after they free him from the amulet's control and restore his true being.
• Apocalypse How: A Class-1 example, with bits of Class 2 thrown in for good measure. Humanity gets hit both by nuclear war and kaiju attacks, but eventually regains some form of civilization in the aftermath, albeit without most of the old technology and with a newfound worship of many of the kaiju.
  • Yuki vs. Fleshworld delivers two Class-X examples, though the first one is a dead planet while the other is one the Dreadnoughts took over.
  • Mokwa: Ursa Major has the planet Ganawenda in the middle of one, with a sentient evil fog destroying everything. It's the result of overpollution.
• Apocalypse Not: As detailed above, mankind recovered rather well after a few hundred centuries, rampant kaiju and civil war notwithstanding.
• Arc Words: "Just keep going"
• Asshole Victim: If a villain dies, nobody's feeling bad most of the time. Frank Houston was a good case in point.
• The Atoner: All of the Pantheon Colossi, especially Narajin, are fighting to make up for killing so many humans in their fury back then.
  • Implicitly, Pirangon.
  • Fleshworld becomes this after Yuki talks with him.
  • Allie becomes this after Supayra no longer possesses her.
• Axe-Crazy: The toxic materials all over the now-disintegrated Death Patch island caused the minds of the leviathans that ate it to unravel, turning them into murderous creatures. Among them was the sea urchin leviathan in Outrigger.
  • Supayra is this in spades, killing everything for the sheer fun of watching everyone else suffer. And he just gets worse in Exorcism.
• Baddie Flattery: Admiral Yamanra constantly praises Yuki for her ability as a warrior and a soldier, much to the human's duress. The romantic undertones become overtones later, but it just demonstrates her selfish desires even more.
  • Supayra is prone to this as well, though the stuff surrounding it is far sicker.
• Bait-and-Switch: The Pantheon Arrives! seems like it'll feature the Pantheon colossi based on the title. Instead, it's about a whole new Pantheon on another planet.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: In Exorcism, fittingly, Mokwa utilizes a Dangerous Forbidden Technique to create a mental fissure between Allie and Supayra, enabling the former to expunge the latter from her mind in a rather freaky sequence.
• Bears Are Bad News: Mokwa. A hero for sure, but for anyone who is her foe, survival is slim.
• Beary Friendly: As detailed above, Mokwa is a total powerhouse of a kaiju, but at the same time, she's one of the purest in disposition. Despite everything humans have done, she still wants to fight for them.
• Behemoth Battle: As expected for a series like this, there are plenty of scenes of giant kaiju beating the crap out of one another.
• Big Bad: Frank Houston for Daikaiju Yuki, with the Gargoyle serving as the monster villain.
  • The four Dreadnought kaiju in Y2K, particularly Charybdis.
  • The unnamed Captain in Scythian Frost.
  • The sea urchin deep-sea leviathan in Outrigger.
  • Enofe Chuk in Lair of the Devourer.
  • The unnamed alien monster in The Pantheon Arrives!.
  • Captain Faro in Pharaoh of Eels.
  • Admiral Yamanra in Yuki vs. Fleshworld.
  • Supayra in Lifesblood of the Earth and Exorcism.
  • The fog and its Fog Knights in Ursa Major.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Buggos in Y2K look like giant flying insects and crustaceans. The rest of the Dreadnought armada have a ton of ones like this.
  • The Wooly Worms in Scythian Frost, giant parasitic beasts that once lived on Vulpog.
  • The alien citizens that debut in The Pantheon Arrives! are clearly evocative of arthropods, as are the kaiju that live on their planet.
  • The Lochsleech in Ursa Major is a giant toothy leech that acts like a Stock Ness Monster.
• Big Damn Heroes: The worm deep-sea leviathan in Outrigger returns near the end to finish off the urchin leviathan that almost had Kai.
  • The giant mountain gorilla does this twice in Lair of the Devourer.
  • The Warrior Beasts from The Pantheon Arrives! show up in Yuki vs. Fleshworld to assist the heroes during the climax.
• Big Damn Kiss: At the end of the first story, Ivan gives Yata this unexpectedly. It's certainly not unwelcome.
  • Yuki and Midori in Y2K, though it's more of the slow, romantic sort.
  • Niko and Manu share one just before the Final Battle in Pharaoh of Eels.
• Big Fun: Yata.
• Bittersweet Ending: Ursa Major has a conclusion that borders on a Downer Ending. The fog is gone for good, and countless Ganawendans have been avenged, but Allie and Obasi are stuck on the planet for what may be all time, Mungonde had to be violently killed by Mokwa, and it's implied that Supayra is possessing Allie in her Darkest Hour. Exorcism deals with the fallout.
• Bizarrchitecture: Alien architechture is quite strange across worlds, but the buildings on planet Ganawenda are explictily pointed out a odd, and throw Allie through a loop almost every time. She repeatedly explains to herself that only beings with eight limbs could do such things.
• Bloodier and Gorier: The stories seem to get progressively more violent. By the Yuki trilogy's end, there have been many, MANY scenes of violent kaiju/person-related death.
• Boom, Headshot!: Laki goes out like this violently in Pharaoh of Eels.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Alkonoth and Mokwa are controlled by Scythia and Laurentia to lay siege to the other nations against their will. The former in particular required a chip bolted to her stone, while the latter just got a nasty soldier taking the reins.
  • Pirangon is subject to this by Captain Faro in Pharaoh of Eels.
  • Supayra inflicts this on a deep-sea leviathan in Lifesblood of the Earth, and makes it his minion for a while. By the next two books, his abilities can now be called Demonic Possession.
• Breather Episode: The Pantheon Arrives! has the least stakes out of the stories paired with Scythian Frost. It still has some death and destruction, but it's also got heroic monsters and a slightly comedic set-up.
• Breath Weapon: The Pantheon colossi have these, with varying degrees of power.
• Bury Your Gays: Unfortunately for Ivan, a person married to another man, he does not survive Y2K. The usual severity of this trope is thankfully downplayed by the other more prominent same-sex couples in the series.
• Butch Lesbian: Yuki is a strong fighter, and is firmly homosexual.
• Call-Forward: In Scythian Frost, it is alluded to how Laurentia is seeking to bring back the glory of the Old World, while the other nations scoff at the mere notion. Sure enough, the first story shows exactly why.
  • Outrigger has Kai joke to Taika that the only reason the young man wants to see Narai is to meet the beautiful priestess of Narajin's temple. Difference is, Yuki actually got the chance.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Aside from lightning, Ganejin is known for his incredible strength.
• Chekhov's Gun: In Y2K, Mount Kilimanjaro plays a pivotal role in the final battle after being passed by earlier.
• Combat Tentacles: Gagag has whip-like ones lining her disks.
  • Pirangon has ones coming out of his head that double as appendages and lightning blasters.
• Combining Mecha: The Buggos can merge together to form the powerful Big Buggo.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Chief Executive of the LCC, Frank Houston. Nuclear bomb enthusiast, jerk to all outsiders, and overall menace to those not as rich and powerful as him.
  • Aeug and Brorsis' boss in The Pantheon Arrives! is a greedy opportunist who gladly allows his company to do things to the planet's Pantheon's detriment.
• Cozy Catastrophe: After nearly 500 years, the Earth has bounced back for the most part in a big way. If the beautiful landscapes and teeming fauna of places like Narai, Avarta, and Tarakona are to go by, both nature and civilization managed to recover. Sadly, there is still the problem of civil war.
• Crapsaccharine World: The planet that Yamanra's legion has colonized appears to be beautiful and full of life, but in fact they've eradicated all of the natural fauna and possibly even all civilization just to make it their own.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: If you happen to be a particularly nefarious villain in this series, prepare to die horribly:
  • Frank Houston gets impaled by Alkonoth, and then ripped in half graphically when she opens her mouth.
  • In Y2K, Aten gives all four Dreadnought kaiju one. The first Flying Buggo gets its head crushed and its brain eaten, the Land Buggo gets its legs ripped off before Ganajin crushes it, the other Flying Buggo gets thrown into and torn apart by Charybdis' black hole, and Charybdis himself is pulled into his own singularity while being turned inside-out in the process before vanishing forever.
  • In Scythian Frost, The Captain is ripped in half by the wooly worms, and a smaller one feasts on the innards that come raining down.
  • Pharaoh of Eels has Captain Faro electrocuted by Pirangon into slowly and graphically exploding.
  • Many Dreadnought kaiju meet very violent ends in Yuki vs. Fleshworld, but Jorguis is slowly beaten to death by Yuki in a place where the gravity is extremely strong, ending with his face being caved in.
  • ''Lifesblood of the Earth has A soldier puke all of his blood out upon touching a deadly plant. Then General Ryan gets ripped apart and eaten by Supayra before his entire squadron gets their brains melted by his super-sonic scream.
  • Ursa Major has Lord Edmund Basilton get his eyes, face, head, and then the rest of his body sucked up by the Lochsleech. Later, a kaiju on Ganewenda is violently sliced apart by the Fog Knights. Finally, Mungonde gets his head slowly caved in by a reluctant Mokwa to put an end to his fog-possessed misery.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: In Exorcism, Mokwa performs the dividing of the mind on Allie in order to get Supayra out of her head. It is a ritual that was around when the act of henshin was young, and it stands a chance of killing both the girl and the frog. Thankfully, one Battle in the Center of the Mind later, and Allie comes out alive.
• Darkest Hour: In the first story, it was when the Pantheon was fooled into wrecking a town of innocents to incite further war, followed by them being thrown in jail without their amulets by Houston. Luckily, Manny manages to mend both situations with a Rousing Speech and holding onto Yuki's stone respectively.
  • Y2K has Yuki escape Mombasa as Charybdis wipes it off the map with its black hole powers. The Pantheon is kidnapped and possibly dead, many humans have died, and Yuki just might have killed Narajin after overriding his consciousness to save Midori. Thankfully, no one in the Pantheon is actually dead by that point.
  • Lifesblood of the Earth has Mokwa and Mungonde being drained of their mana by an empowered Supayra, leading them to call the rest of the pantheon.
  • Ursa Major is just one Darkest Hour after another, to the point where it can only be called a Trauma Conga Line on Allie's part.
  • Exorcism has King Supayra hold Allie/Mokwa hostage as his remaining sons wreak havok before her. Until Sujayra decides he's had enough, that is.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: The Gargoyle blows up more than a couple of times after its head is obliterated by a plasma overload.
  • All of the Dreadnoughts in Yuki vs. Fleshworld explode upon dying.
• Destroyer Deity: Initially, all of the kaiju were this before Mokwa convinced some to be guardians instead. The ones that didn't defect were, fittingly, called the destroyers.
• Developing Doomed Characters: Several of Niko and Manu's friends perish not long after they're introduced in Pharaoh of Eels.
  • The main soldiers in Ursa Major are all but stated to be going on a suicide mission against the fog. And sure enough, they all die.
• Downer Ending: Scythian Frost ends with everyone dying painful deaths, with only the captain's being justified, and not awakening Alkonoth like they set out to. The only comfort is Sasha not having to die alone as Alkonoth sleeps above him.
• Driven to Suicide: Dr. Heimann's creation is in such agony that it ends up ripping itself apart minutes after being freed.
  • Later in Exorcism, Allie puts a knife to her throat after all is said and done. She gets over it when Obasi stops her and her last son Shujayra turns out to be Not Quite Dead.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Aten's planet is reduced to space rocks by the Pantheon after Yuki taps into its core. This was done on purpose, as there was no life there after what the Dreadnoughts did to it.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Exorcism ends with Allie finally being rid of Supayra, and overcoming her trauma/guilt with the help of Mokwa, Obasi, and her new son Shujayra, whose power enables them all to leave Ganawenda for good, and find the rest of the pantheon.
• Eaten Alive: Enofe Chuk gets tossed into the awaiting jaws of Ammit by a giant mountain gorilla. He more than earned that fate.
  • Many people meet this fate by Supayra.
  • The Lochsleech pulls this on almost the entire Golden Clan, their leader included.
• Egomaniac Hunter: Enofe Chuk.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: During the climactic fight between Yuki/Narajin and Yamanra, the former duo tap into each other's bond to turn their claws into sword-like blades, giving them just the advantage they need to defeat her.
  • In Lifesblood of the Earth, the supernova energy from where Yuki and the pantheon are gets sent to Mokwa and Mungonde, giving them their Universe forms during that story's Darkest Hour.
• The Empire: Both Scythia and Laurentia, the future stand-ins for Russia and the U.S., are this. Difference is that Scythia is facing heavy tolls from the war (and eventually dissolves into a democracy), while Laurentia is pursuing the lost technology of ancient civilizations and the ability to control kaiju.
• End of an Age: At the end of Lifesblood of the Earth, Yuki and Obasi ponder over how, with Supayra and the worst of the Laurentian government gone, there is no more need for kaiju on Earth. Later books prove this to be quite wrong.
• Enemy Mine: The pantheon and the Dreadnoughts are forced to work together in order to defeat Fleshworld. It evaporates instantly after Yuki manages to help Fleshworld through a Heel–Face Turn.
• "Everyone Dies" Ending: the short story Scythian Frost.
• Evil Is Hammy: Frank Houston revels in his role as the Big Bad of the first story, acting almost like a cartoon villain as he prepares to unleash Armageddon on the Earth.
  • Captain Faro from Pharaoh of Eels lives up to his name as the ruler of the pirates in the Lost Continent.
  • Supayra is awfully chatty and smarmy about his globetrotting killing spree.
• Extremely Short Timespan: The entire Yuki trilogy takes place over the course of less than two years.
• Eye Scream: The Gargoyle is finished off when Yuki/Narajin jams parts of the pointy end of a skyscraper into its eyes just as its charging up plasma. Boom goes its head.
• Fantastic Foxes: Vulpog was this, being a giant Arctic fox, but he was also a villainous destroyer.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Aside from most future Earth places being mostly real-life locations renamed (Narai is Japan, Avarta is India, Alkebulan is Africa, etc.), the main civilization on planet Ganawenda is a lot like the United Kingdom, complete with castles, a queen, and machines made to resemble knights. Their sworn enemies, the Fog Knights, reinforce this.
• Feathered Fiend: Alkonoth, though she's a good guy.
• Falling Chandelier of Doom: During her assault on the Golden Clan's castle, Allie takes out a number of guards by using her grappeling hook to send a large chandelier crashing down upon them.
• Fog of Doom: The Big Bad of Ursa Major is a sentient fog on planet Ganewanda that is slowly enveloping everything, creating knight-like beings as a means of killing everything.
• Forced into Evil: Ivan, being forced into fighting in a destructive war for the sake of his family.
  • Any mind-controlled kaiju fit into this.
• Foul Fox: Vulpog, a giant Arctic fox that had to be put down by Alkonoth.
• Fragile Speedster: Jhalaragon.
• G-Rated Sex: Averted. Yuki and Midori's first time in Y2K is described in quite exquisite detail. Later sex scenes in the series avert this too.
• Gaia's Lament: The dead lands are places rendered uninhabitable by the Great Fire. For more info, see below.
  • Aten's planet is a barren wasteland after what the Dreadnoughts did to it.
  • Most of South Laurentia is filled with desolated forests, mostly due to Supayra's influence.
  • The many fog-blighted environments in Ursa Major count as well, especially considering that the fog entity was born from the alien civilization's pollution.
• Gaia's Vengeance: Initially, all of the kaiju were this in response to the atom fire that awakened them. Thanks to Mokwa, a few decided to become otherwise.
• Gentle Gorilla: The giant mountain gorillas of Alkebulan are almost always portrayed as curious and very social creatures, much like their smaller relatives in real life. One even goes out of her way to help Ammit and the good humans in Lair of the Devourer.
• Ghost Planet: Aten's world has been sapped of all life and mana by the Dreadnoughts, leaving behind only empty architecture and clues as to what happened. It's why the pantheon has no problem blowing it up to defeat scores of them.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Yata briefly loses all feeling and hope upon getting images of the Dreadnought's crimes violently put in his head by Aten.
• Good Is Not Soft: Our heroes and especially the kaiju tend to get rather violent with the villains, depending on who or what they are.
• Ground-Shattering Landing: The first time the pantheon land on another planet in Yuki vs. Fleshworld, they create a massive crater. Thankfully, the place is already barren.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy: The guard in Pharaoh of Eels is easily manipulated by Jenni into releasing the eels to attack the other pirates.
  • The Laurentian squad of soldiers Allie meets are initially fooled by her pretending to be a witch of the South Laurentian jungle.
• Harmful to Minors: Manny is thrust into the thick of battle and war, being a host to Ganejin. For the most part, he manages through it all.
• Harmless Freezing: Averted in Scythian Frost. The titular frost is a kind of frostbite that can kill any person not fully equipped. Once Sasha loses his jacket and gets an open bullet wound, he's screwed.
• Heel–Face Turn: After Mokwa showed them a better way, many of the kaiju became protectors instead of destroyers. In the first story, Ivan goes from villain to hero after abandoning the Scythian Empire's cause.
  • Pirangon has one of sorts in Pharaoh of Eels, mercilessly destroying the pirates base and protecting our heroes after they freed him. While it could just be seen as revenge for being brainwashed (and it was), he takes the time to thank the humans before he dies, implying that his turn from being a destroyer was genuine.
  • Also from Pharaoh of Eels, the Commandant.
  • Yuki vs. Fleshworld has the titular planet itself, though it was only ever Obliviously Evil to begin with.
  • Exorcism has Shujayra defect from his brother/father Supayra when he realizes that Allie is indeed his mother. He even becomes a part of the Pantheon at the end.
• Henshin Hero: The whole draw of the series is that the main characters can bond with kaiju via a combination of special stone and amulet designed for each monster long ago. The process of merging with each other is even called a henshin.
• Heroic BSoD: In the first story, the Pantheon is horrified and scarred by being tricked into destroying a town full of innocents when they thought it was just a stronghold.
  • Yuki has one in Y2K after her actions seemingly get Narajin killed.
  • She very nearly has another one again after brutally killing Jorguis.
  • Kai in Outrigger after Taika is killed on his watch.
  • Allie keeps having these across Ursa Major and Exorcism, the last of which almost causes her to kill herself.
• Heroic RRoD: Pirangon uses up all of his power getting his revenge on the pirates and saving the human protagonists.
• Heroic Host: The hosts of the guardian kaiju are all quite good in their own ways.
• The High Queen: The Queen of Ganawenda is described as being as tall as two Alawas stacked together (and she's really tall, so that's saying something), and is equally beautiful.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Charybdis is ultimately done in by its own black hole powers.
• Hollywood Acid: The acid rain on Aten's planet is so corrosive it burns through everyone's skin in seconds. The pantheon barely gets out alive when a storm hits.
• Honorable Elephant: Ganejin.
• Human Traffickers: The pirates from Pharaoh of Eels specialize in the slave trade.
• Humanity's Wake: Played with. Humanity is still plentiful after five centuries, but the dead lands are a clear monument to the great civilizations that were lost in the war.
• Humanoid Abomination: The Gargoyle, a kaiju that rises from Laurentia as a sort of last-minute defense against humanity from Earth. It looks like an agonized toothy skeleton of a man with malformed anatomy.
• Humongous Mecha: A large knight-like statue known as the Gladius resides in a place within the forgotten lands. Mokwa and Supayra encounter it, and it reveals itself to be an automoton capable of firing countless missiles at them. It's taken out fairly quickly, however.
  • Ursa Major introduces several of these as Ganawenda's line of defense, a Walking Armory named Fortress, a sword-headed one called Broadsword, and a BFG-headed one named Mons Magna. In Exorcism, one resembling the Fog Knights gets made alongside Mecha Mungonde.
• Hungry Jungle: The jungles of South Laurentia are full of poisoned forests that have ended up spawning plants that can cause you to hemmorage completely with just a scratch. Of course, most of this is attributed to it housing Supayra, a vile poisonous kaiju.
• I Am Not Weasel: A Running Gag in the first story is Narajin getting annoyed at Yuki constantly calling him a cat. By the story's end, he wholeheartedly declares himself to be her cat.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Midori's sub-plot in Y2K is wanting to be a part of the action Yuki gets into instead of being a mere spectator. She gets what she wants and then some.
• I Die Free: Pirangon goes out this way.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Many beings get skewered by Alkonoth's long sharp serrated beak, with varying degrees of pain involved. All kaiju affected by it have survived, but Frank Houston sure didn't.
  • Taika gets stabbed through the chest by the giant sea urchin leviathan in Outrigger.
• Interspecies Romance: Allie has a brief fling with Tim, an eight-limbed rubber forehead alien. A much more twisted variant happens in Exorcism, with Allie and Supayra's abusive relationship.
• The Juggernaut: Mokwa, as far as her foes are concerned. Nothing gets in this monster bear's way.
  • Charybdis is a more villainous example. It takes the whole Pantheon to bring him down.
  • Pirangon simply CANNOT be stopped by the pirates, even if it costs him all of his energy.
  • The Fog Knights in Ursa Major take almost no damage in every fight they're in.
• Kaiju: The main focus of every story is that this is a universe full of them, ranging from oversized animals, creatures that vaguely resemble animals, and even aliens!
• Karmic Death: Many villains meet their end this way.
  • Frank Houston dies at the hands, or beak, of Ivan and Alkonoth, whom he manipulated into doing his bidding.
  • Charybdis gets offed by its own black hole ability.
  • the Captain in Scythian Frost is ripped to bits by the worms guarding the tomb of the Goddess he intended on controlling.
  • Enofe Chuk is eaten by the same monster he was hunting.
  • The unnamed boss in The Pantheon Arrives! gets splattered on his own limousine after he supported anti-Pantheon ideals.
  • One of the pirates in Pharaoh of Eels is drowned by Pirangon, a fitting punishment for someone who let his friends drown for his amusement.
  • Captain Faro is gruesomely killed by the very monster he enslaved.
  • General Ryan and every Laurentian soldier who came to wake up Supayra are brutally killed and eaten by the evil frog.
  • Lord Edmund Basilton gets eaten by the very monster he tried to tame in ''Ursa Major.
• Kid Hero: Manny.
• The Kid with the Remote Control: Although the monsters have their own thoughts and wills, the hosts are mostly in control of what they do, particularly if they use mind-control.
• Killer Gorilla: The giant mountain gorillas only get this way if their turf is infiltrated and/or someone looks at them funny (very much Truth in Television). Other than that, they're the opposite.
• Land Mine Goes "Click!": And the hapless Scythian scout goes boom.
• Last of Her Kind: Aten, courtesy of the Dreadnoughts.
  • Ammit, implicitly.
• Late to the Tragedy: In Y2K, the Pantheon finds the city they were looking for in the Congo...long after something turned it into a gaping hole in the ground.
  • The search party in Scythian Frost finds a base in the wilderness just freshly raided by Wooly Worms.
  • Aten's planet is already barren and dead by the time the Pantheon shows up there.
  • Many times in Lifesblood of the Earth, our heroes arrive just in time to see the damage Supayra has done.
• Legacy of the Chosen: Obasi comes from a long line of hosts for Mungonde, hundreds of them in fact. We see another in the prequel story, Lair of the Devourer.
• Lightning Bruiser: Mungonde. Also, Supayra.
• Literal Split Personality: Somehow through henshin magic, Pirangon got split into a whole swarm of smaller versions of him, which then got controlled by Faro's amulet. Once it's destroyed, they all fuse back into him.
• Lost Technology: Most, but not all, of the technology of modern civilization, or the Old World as it is known, ceased to exist after the great fire. However, the first book shows not only that Laurentia has quite a lot of it, but they also had the nuclear bombs that started the whole mess in the first place. Naturally, that story involves preventing such a catastrophe from happening again.
  • The pirate base in Pharaoh of Eels is FULL of this, complete with things like battleships, cranes, and functioning elevators. It carries a grim vibe, nonetheless.
• Love at First Sight: Yuki practically falls for Midori the moment she meets her, to the point where she can't maintain her stoic composure.
• Lovable Lizard: Jhalaragon, who's described as a free spirit, just like Yata.
• Lovecraft Lite: Yuki vs. Fleshworld involves a titular planet that's alive and feasting on other worlds. It's stopped when Yuki engages it in a therapeutic session for the both of them, ending with the planet declaring her as his friend and promising never to hurt anyone again.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Both the Gladius and the place it guards fire an endless barrage of missiles at Mokwa and Supayra when they show up, practically obliterating themselves as they do so.
  • Mecha Mungonde is capable of this too.
• Mad Scientist: Dr. Sebastian Heimann comes from a line of aristocrats that experimented on dead kaiju For Science!, and ended up creating a grotesque parody of life as a result. Everyone in the forgotten lands is afraid of them.
• Mana: More specifically, the lifesblood of the Earth (and other planets). It is the kaijus' primary food/energy source, and it can be found in all living things and/or natural structures. The biggest sources of mana for the Pantheon is lava (hence why they travel via volcanic passageways whenever they can) and their bonds with each other.
• Mauve Shirt: In the first half of Lifesblood of the Earth, the Laurentian soldiers sent to find Supayra, particularly General Ryan and Seargent Lieberman, are given a fair amount of characterization before the latter is shot for helping Allie, and the former gets reduced to a Big Bad Wannabe by the frog.
  • Rodrigo and Yottatherium are a bigger example, being set up as new allies of Allie and Mokwa before being killed by Supayra's deep-sea leviathan.
  • Ursa Major has the soldiers on Ganawenda against the Fog Knights, Colonel B and Tim included. Allie subconsciously knows they're all going to die. And they do.
• Metamorphosis Monster: The Gargoyle starts out as a moderately sized feral humanoid before being crushed by a much larger version. Then after that one is beaten down, out hatches a form with rocky armor and wings.
• Minion with an F in Evil: Alan the pirate bartender. Also, Shujayra.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Jhalaragon looks like a cross between a frilled lizard and a basilisk lizard, with many of the abilities of the latter amped up by the frill of the former.
  • The Wooly Worms look like blood worms with furry additions like their original host, the fox Vulpog.
  • Ammit is a cross between a crocodile and a lion, with rhino features as well. Quite fitting for a monster based on one from Egyptian mythology.
  • Pirangon combines elements of marine reptiles with cephalopods.
  • Dr. Heimann's creation is a chimera with the head and torso and right arm of a wolf, a ram's legs as well as a head for a left arm, and the wings of a raven.
  • A vast amount of the Dreadnought legion look like creatures mixed together in often absurd combinations, including but not limited to mantis-walrus-like beasts, giant crocodile-centipedes, and even beasts with guns for limbs!
• Monumental Damage: A rare natural example in Y2K. In order to gain more power, Narajin has Mount Kilimanjaro explode and erupt so that the lava within comes pouring out.
  • In Lifesblood of the Earth, an ancient coliseum in Roma gets obliterated by both Mokwa, Supayra, and the Macross Missile Massacre they're dealing with.
• Mook Horror Show: If you happen to be on the wrong side of a battle and you're not kaiju-sized, prepare to die alongside the rest of your mates. Yuki grows out of doing this in the first book, but Pirangon leaves next to no survivors with the pirates that enslaved him.
  • Any fight between the Pantheon and the Dreadnought kaiju is destined to end like this.
• Mordor: The dead lands. These places, rendered sterile by nuclear war, are described as expansive blackened ruins of the old world, full of fractured buildings and structures that make for an altogether unpleasant place to be.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Ganejin the four-armed elephant kaiju.
  • Jorguis is described as having eight muscular arms.
• New Eden: Across the world, the handiwork of nature recovering after five centuries can be seen in gratuitous detail. This includes verdant lands full of animals that have mutated in bizarre yet intriguing ways. Also, kaiju live among us.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Seargent Lieberman saves Allie's mission from failure by giving her Mokwa's amulet, but is shot in the head by General Ryan for it.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Yuki and Jorguis end up giving each other one on Fleshworld. The whole thing is amplified by the intense gravity, so they end up breaking each other so badly that Yuki only survives her victory through her henshin with the planet.
• "Not So Different" Remark: In Y2K, Yuki thinks of how Narajin doesn't seem to know what he's doing most of the time before telling herself that she's one to talk.
  • In Yuki vs. Fleshworld, Admiral Yamanra frequently points out that she and Yuki both are violent warriors at heart, though the former lacks any of the friendship and empathy that makes Yuki sane. Yuki herself points out to Fleshworld that she understands his pain of causing so much death, and uses this fact to encourage him to be better.
  • Supayra tries to pull this on Mokwa, stating that they were both designed to snuff out humanity, but she's not having any of it.
• Nuclear Mutant: Many of the kaiju were brought into the world, or at the very least awakened, by nuclear war tanking the world. Then again, many turned out to be not so nasty.
• Off with His Head!: Alkonoth meets this unfortunate fate in Y 2 K at the claws of a Flying Buggo.
• The mecha Broadsword in Ursa Major ends up getting its head used as a weapon by Mokwa.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Mokwa lost her cubs to a frozen lake collapse, and was so overcome with grief that she stayed where they perished for millennia.
• Polluted Wasteland: The mining town of Norilsk in Scythian Frost is almost always clouded by smog, though its current state post-Alkonoth's awakening is unknown.
  • The Death Patch mentioned in Outrigger was once an island-full of toxic waste matter that sunk in the pacific, but not before driving several leviathans insane.
  • Aten's planet is so tainted by war that it now has acidic rain.
  • Any and all places blighted by the fog turn into this in Ursa Major.
• The Power of Friendship: Surprisingly, a huge source of mana is the goodwill between Pantheon companions. Channeled properly, it can result in a massive power boost, and even the discovery of new powers.
  • As it turns out, this is what has kept Yuki from falling into the Despair Event Horizon. Despite all of the horrible and violent things she's seen and done, her friends (and girlfriend) keep her anchored to humanity.
• Proportionately Ponderous Parasites: The Wooly Worms were once parasites of Vulpog before he died. They went on to become the predators of the Arctic.
• Putting the Band Back Together: The first book is about Yuki and Narajin recruiting the Pantheon Colossi to save the world.
• Reclaimed by Nature: Some places, particularly Laurentia, have slowly been replaced by beautiful landscapes. But some places, like the dead lands, are going to bear the marks of war forever.
• Redemption Equals Death: Pirangon dies after eradicating Faro and his pirate base. The story makes it very clear that he's not the destroyer he used to be as he passes away.
• Subverted by Shujayra, who survives giving his energy to Mokwa in order to defeat Supayra.
• Robbing the Dead: In order to create a means of henshining with Fleshworld, Yuki and Midori and Jorguis raid an ancient alien temple (one that belongs to the Warrior Beasts no less) to get a henshin amulet/stone. Surprisingly, it's a booby trap-free affair.
• Rubber-Forehead Aliens: The only thing separating the Ganawendans from humans is their bluish grey skin, headcrests shaped like hairstyles, and eight limbs.
• Running Gag: From the first story, Yuki calling Narajin a cat and prompting an irritated response, Yuki falling onto the floor after exiting Narajin, and the lion kaiju's failure to understand the concept of a party.
  • Really, the usage of "party" for "explosive violence" persists throughout the trilogy. Yuki sticks with it just for how amusing it is.
  • Y2K has Narajin frequently making errors in judgment, much to Yuki's chagrin.
  • Scythian Frost has the disgusting canned rations the party is forced to eat.
  • In the Mokwa trilogy, there's Allie handwaving the Bizarrchitecture on Ganawenda as the kind of thing a being with eight arms would be able to make.
  • A minor one in the Mokwa trilogy has the Ganawendans get confused every time Allie brings up an Earth animal to describe kaiju.
• Ruthless Modern Pirates: The pirates from the Lost Continent are a bunch of cutthroats and scoundrels that dabble in the slave market, and utilize Old World technology to demolish competition. Also, their leader is a deranged madman who controls a swarm of eels to rip his foes apart.
• Savage Wolves: Romolo and Remo are two super-sized wolves who patrolled the countryside of Umbria and picked off any humans they saw. They were killed by Thyrus, thankfully.
• Scavenger World: The town that the pirates occupy in Pharaoh of Eels is made from the wreckage of Old World technology, but a lot of it does still function. Particularly the weapons.
• Sea Hurtchin: A giant sea urchin leviathan is the main antagonist of Outrigger.
• Sea Monster: The deep-sea leviathans are super-sized versions of modern sea creatures, but out of the kaiju, Pirangon takes the cake.
• Scenery Gorn: Few details are spared in regards to how awful the dead lands are, them being old cities blasted to uninhabitable Hell so long ago.
• Scenery Porn: A lot of places are described in incredibly vivid detail, such as Avarta and the forests of Laurentia. It goes to show how Earth more than recovered after the great fire all those centuries ago.
• Sequel Hook: In the first novel, Yuki teases the idea of "conquering the world" near the end, and there is also the warning of things in the stars.
  • Y2K has more of a And the Adventure Continues ending, though Allie's comment about the Laurentian government doing suspicious things helps set up the Mokwa trilogy's beginning.
  • Yuki vs. Fleshworld has Yuki and Midori acknowledge that while Yamanra and her legion is gone, Dreadnought Command is still out there.
• Sex Goddess: Yuki and Midori's first time is described as being quite literally a state of euphoria for the former that breaks all laws of reality for her (in a good way).
• Shadow Archetype: Admiral Yamanra, resident Big Bad of Yuki vs. Fleshworld, embodies the very worst of Yuki's violent impulses. Unlike Yuki though, she thoroughly embraces it, and actively encourages the woman to be just like her. Sure enough, without Yuki's friends, she'd turn out like Yamanra in no time.
• Shock and Awe: Ganejin has lightning powers. As does Pirangon.
  • Shujayra has lightning-based powers too.
• Shout-Out: The entire concept of the amulets and the importance of mana as the lifesblood of the Earth takes very clear cues from the Heisei Gamera trilogy.
  • Narajin bears a great resemblance to King Caesar.
  • The title of the second Yuki book is an obvious nod to Frankenstein Conquers the World.
  • The chapter that introduces the Dreadnought kaiju in Y2K is called "The Astro Monsters".
  • It was probably a coincidence, but the end of Y2K has Yuki bringing up Plan Z in regards to facing the Dreadnoughts.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Midori is an elegant and calm priestess, but she also killed Ken to prevent Narajin from being abused. Not to mention, once she henshins with Aten, she delivers unto the Dreadnought kaiju some positively violent and brutal deaths.
• Sinister Subway: In Ursa Major, Allie ends up in an abandoned town's subway, encountering both the Plague Knight and an army of possessed civilians.
• Starkiller: The remaining Dreadnoughts at the end of Yuki vs. Fleshworld cause a nearby sun to go supernova. Thankfully, the pantheon is able to channel the cosmic energy into Earth where Mokwa is.
• The Swarm: The eels that Captain Faro controls (actually aspects of Pirangon) come in droves, and rip their prey to pieces as they do so.
  • The Fog Demons in Ursa Major attack in droves, utilizing a Zerg Rush to take on larger foes.
• Super-Persistent Predator: The sea urchin deep-sea leviathan in Outrigger chases after Kai endlessly, despite having just ate Taika. Justified, as it had been driven mad by eating parts of the Death Patch long ago.
• Token Good Teammate: Surprisingly a few among the pirates in Pharaoh of Eels:
  • Alan the bartender is a kindhearted and cherry man who enjoys his job, despite being blind. He makes it out of the place without a hitch.
  • The unnamed guard is very open to helping the protagonists, if only because they're great with bribing him with equal distribution of wealth (or "re-destruction") and his love of animals. He's killed for releasing the eels, though Shaheed promises to pour one for him when they get back.
  • And finally, the Commandant, who always seemed more like a Sour Supporter, despite being Faro's second-in-command.
  • In Lifesblood of the Earth, Seargent Lieberman is the only Laurentian soldier who does something right via giving Allie her amulet back. She gets shot in the head by the general for this.
  • Exorcism has Shujayra, the only son of Supayra who isn't all on board with his plans. Realizing that he's been attacking his mother the whole time pushes him to the side of good for real.
• Toothy Bird: Alkonoth.
• Touched by Vorlons: Yata is graphically given mental images of what the Dreadnoughts have done by Aten. Later, Midori willfully henshins with Aten after her original host dies.
• Trauma Conga Line: Man, oh man, Allie and Mokwa are put through HELL in Ursa Major and Exorcism. Go to their Character pages for more info.
• Uncanny Valley: An in-universe example in The Pantheon Arrives!. The kaiju attacking the city looks nothing like a person, but it has a strong resemblance to the citizens below, which unnerves them all greatly.
• Uncanny Village: At first, Allie thinks that Umbria is this, with it's kooky elder and everyone hiding in their homes from them. She thinks she and Obasi ended up in a cannibal community before it's revealed that they're just paranoid about vampires. Implications of them killing previous outsiders aside, it's more silly than creepy at that point.
  • The Irish island of Gael, under Supayra's influence, has almost everyone in a trance-like state as they prepare to be sacrificed to the frog. The only ones not affected are those too drunk for mind control.
• Vagueness Is Coming: Near the end of the first book, Houston warns Yuki that they brought out the bombs mainly because their observatories found something lurking in space. The next two books prove that he was very much right...
• Viking Funeral: One is held for Ivan after his death near the end of Y 2 K.
• Villainous Breakdown: Houston loses his cocky demeanor when it becomes clear that he's losing against the Pantheon. All he can do is futilely push the button to the nuclear detonator (despite Jhalaragon disabling it) before Alkonoth arrives to finish the job.
  • In Y2K, the Dreadnought kaiju begin to truly panic and scatter when Midori goes full rage-mode as Aten.
  • In Scythian Frost, the Captain madly proclaims he will be Alkonoth's host before shooting Sasha for no reason. Then the worms get him.
  • Captain Faro truly loses it when Pirangon is out of his control.
  • Supayra loses all bravado and begins shrieking his defiance once Mokwa and Mungonde aquire their Universe forms.
• Wacky Wayside Tribe: One of the villages Allie and Obasi pass through is Umbria. Aside from it being patrolled by a large reptilian monster, its natives are convinced that every visitor they get is a vampire, and make them eat pizza packed with garlic as a test. The two pass thankfully, but the absurdity of it all doesn't go unnoticed (Allie actually thought they were cannibals).
• War Is Hell: Arguably one of the central themes of the series, or at least the Yuki trilogy. Time and time again we are reminded of how war leads to broken lives and world-hurting catastrophes. From the Great Fire that started everything, to Yuki's PTSD, to Ivan being Forced into Evil for the sake of his family, there are plenty of examples to go around. And as Narajin plaintively puts it, war eventually spills blood on everyone's hands.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Yuki does a lot to honor the memory of her deceased father, who was also in the Narai military.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Narajin is quite critical of Yuki killing enemy soldiers so brazenly in the first book. She quickly relents.
  • In Yuki vs. Fleshworld, everyone gets on Yata's case after he makes his disdain at Yuki's closeness/similarity to Yamanra clear, even Manny.
  • Obasi calls out Allie for her worsening personality in Exorcism, unaware that Supayra is poisoning her mind.
• Wretched Hive: The pirate base in Pharaoh of Eels is full of utterly awful thieves and killers under Captain Faro's command, with few exceptions.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Yuki isn't very fond of Yamanra complimenting her more violent aspects.

---