Ah, mittens! Welcome to Secret of Mana Theater, a webcomic adaptation of Square's classic game, Secret of Mana, but with a few twists, created by Sprite Monkey. Updates, instead of coming in the form of comic pages, are short videos created using sprites from the game. Its also generally an Affectionate Parody rife with twisted alternate character interpretations, but it has the flexibility to be serious when needed. The author also takes just enough liberties with the plot for those who have played the original game to be kept on their toes by unexpected events.It began back in May 15th, 2002 and sporadically updates to this very day.The webcomic has a forum that can be found here.
Examples of Tropes associated with Secret of Mana Theater:
Adaptation Expansion: Like no one else's business! The author isn't even halfway though the game's story, and we're already up to 303 videos, each of which is about five minutes long!
Oh, and the Village Elder back in Potos village is a pedophile.
Ambiguous Gender: Subverted with Autumn the Sprite. Unlike in the original game, but author decided to simplify matters just by making her a girl and calling it day.
Ascended Extra: Somewhat, with Elinee the witch and Neko the Salescat. Both are featured in the game, but their roles have been increased in one form or another in Theater.
Henry and Doir the lullabuds, spring to mind.
Author Avatar: The Author, but he only shows up in Specials.
Cerebus Syndrome: Started to set in with Thanatos's first appearance in episode 168. Boy has it taken off since 279.
Character Development: In spite of the generally light-hearted nature of the comic, the characters are well-rounded enough to experience all kinds of this.
The Chick: Seth and Autumn play this to Faun's Action Girl status a lot of times, but Seth's been catching up with her more recently.
Grandma in Potos Village comes to mind right off the bat.
Comedic Sociopathy: The Series just absolutely thrives on this. Just look no further than the couch gags.
Con Man: The Dwarf Village Elder and Autumn, but unlike the original game, the Elder does not relent.
Neko, as well.
Contrived Coincidence: Lampshaded. Unlike in the game, when Seth first used Cannon Travel, he just wanted to go far away and just happened to land near the location he was told to go to.
Cool Old Guy: Jema, of course, whether he likes it or not...
Couch Gag: At the beginning of every episode Marle casts a spell with often different results.
Since the beginning of the series, she's been crushed, fried, crushed some more, set on fire, mocked, hanged herself, been replaced a few times, been electrocuted, crushed some more, shrunk, exploded, atomized, chased, run over, been eaten, and has been stripped naked.
When not being mutiliated beyond recognition, Merle has also engaged in riding the title card like a horse or walking on a giant ball, circus-style.
Lucca and Magus from the same game have also appeared in openings.
Creator Breakdown: Sprite Monkey put the series on a 2-1/2 year hiatus when he realized that, by killing Seth in the story, he had broken free of the game's story, but couldn't figure out what direction to take the series in afterwards.
In the original, Elinee is never fought and she gives up her witch-craft ways and is never factored into the story again. In this retelling, her role is expanded and she goes onto enslave the dwarves of Gaia's Navel into readying a cermony to summon the Fire Gigas to attack Pandora Kingdom. Immediately following the success of the ceremony, she is murdered by Thanatos much in the same manner Sephiroth killed Aerith.
Seth, the hero, has also been killed by Thanatos when he tried to prematurely pick a fight with the Evil Sorcerer.
Depraved Homosexual: Potos's Village Elder, no description can do him justice, so perhaps we should just let the series speak for itself:
In Episode 299: P.O.P.:
Jema: (of being wrongfully imprisoned) "Why have you done this to us?"
Potos Elder:"You—you took all my little boys away from me!"
Jema:"I did it in the name of... Wait, what?"
Potos Elder: ''"All the sexy young boys have left town. One by one they all ran off. And it all started when you showed up! You made the villagers mad at Seth.
Autumn:"Seth?"
Potos Elder:"And his pink, supple ass!"
(Autumn and Faun exchange shocked expressions.)
Jema:"You're insane!"
Potos Elder:"Hmm. Maybe, but I'm in charge. I can't let you take away my sexy soldier boys. Toodles."
(Elder exits.)
Autumn:"That's one pissed of pedophile."
Disproportionate Retribution: What the nobles of Pandora did to Elinee for telling them off. What Elinee was about to do to Pandora in return.
Distressed Dude: Dyluck. This should come as no surprise to anyone whoever played the original.
Easter Eggs: Left in a lot of episodes for the viewer to find either for added humor or to advance the plot.
Evil Empire: Played completely straight with Vandole. Frighteningly so, in fact.
Evil Sorcerer: If you don't know, we're not telling.
Freudian Excuse: The comic takes Elinee, a one-dimensional boss from the original game and fleshes her out to the point that people formerly indifferent to her now outright pity her. She was ostracized by her fellow nobles back in Pandora for using her wealth to help out commoners. Said nobles then framed her entire family for being Empyreal spies and she was made to leave town by dawn after the night it happened, else by arrested and executed along with the rest of her loved ones.
Gosh Dang It to Heck!: "Fugging" and "mittens" are just a few choice exclamatories in place of actual swearing the author uses. "Damn" and "hell" are still used, though.
Grimmification: Believe or not, when not poking fun at the game it's based on, this 'comic can get outright sadistically dramatic.
The Guards Must Be Crazy: Just about every soldier presented thus far has been this. Hell, you can enter just about every location just by asking nicely.
Hilarity Ensues: Just about everytime Seth is left to his own devices.
Incredibly Lame Pun: Seth is the master of these. Faun sometimes dabbles as well.
Interface Screw: Some of the Easter eggs will affect the replay screens at the end of various episodes causing either the replay buttons to not work or removing the ability to view other Easter eggs if you click the wrong Easter egg first until you replay the episode.
It Got Worse: Well, the words Secret of Manaare in the title, you know.
Plus, given some of the levels of Cerebus the author was dreamed up, God only knows what will happen next.
It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Seth's attitude towards his status as the Mana Knight. He learns to cope with it better in time (having two companions helps), but initially he had an outright temper tantrum about it at one point.
It's Up to You: Completely subverted. As much as Jema would love to do this, he's been pulled into the plot much more prominently than in the game.
Prison Episode: In the latest episodes, Jema, Faun, and Autumn have been imprisoned for being mistaken as Empyreal spies. In reality, it was Potos's Elder's fault, because he blames Jema for taking his beloved Seth away from him.
Slapstick Knows No Gender: Being a woman will not save you from grievous bodily harm for the sake of a laugh.
Spared by the Adaptation: Mittens the Spiked-Tiger. In the game, he's just a Wake Up Call Boss who the party kills. In So M Theater, he's instead Midged and goes on to be Seth's pet.
Straight Gay: Potos Village Elder, though the portrayal is hardly flattering and strays right into Squick territory, considering he seeks intimacy with young teen-twenties guys. He's hit on everyone from the seventeen-year-old Seth to a Military Captain.
Suddenly Voiced: Most of the time, viewers have to read the word and thought bubbles. Every once in a while, though, voice acting will be supplied.
Suicide Mission: Given to Dyluck and his men by the King and Queen of Pandora as requested by Faun's father to get rid of him so that his daughter will have to marry a suiter of his choice.
Sweat Drop: Whenever Seth has said anything particularly stupiid and/or just plain weird.
Tim Taylor Technology: At one point, the Cannon Travel Guys try out a new setting on customers. The results were the stuff episodes of Tool Time are made of.
Too Stupid To Live: Seth early on, the dwarves of Gaia's Navel, and several authority figures.
The Scorpion Army counts even more than they did in the game this is based on, and that's...impressive.
Took a Level in Badass: Seth has come a long way from the nigh useless twit he used to be.
Trauma Induced Amnesia: Autumn. she was taken from her home by a flood, which caused her to lose her memories.
Tsundere: Faun. She likes Seth (not romantically, but as a friend), but she will not admit it. At least, not until he's seemingly been killed by Thanatos.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Seth. Assumes the best of just about everyone he first meets, often with hilarious results in which he usually ends up brutalized, swindled, robbed, or all the above before they're done with him.
However, his big heart has also worked in his favor as his good nature charmed two very cynical individuals (Autumn and Faun) into joining his quest.
Welcome to Secret of Mana Theater, a webcomic adaptation of Square's classic game, Secret of Mana, but with a few twists, created by Sprite Monkey. Updates, instead of coming in the form of comic pages, are short videos created using sprites from the game. Its also generally an Affectionate Parody rife with twisted alternate character interpretations, but it has the flexibility to be serious when needed. The author also takes just enough liberties with the plot for those who have played the original game to be kept on their toes by unexpected events.It began back in May 15th, 2002 and sporadically updates to this very day.The webcomic has a forum that can be found here
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