Kenji Kazama fancies himself as a delinquent. Given the company he keeps, it's not too surprising everyone else sees him like that too, but he doesn't really mind. He was perfectly content spending his school days skipping classes and hanging around with his two buddies Yokushima and Nakayama, who round off the so-called "Kazama Gang".
Until, that is, he and his buddies make the mistake of visiting the room of the "Game Development Club". Made up of four
really strange girls, before the day is done poor Kenji is "convinced" to join the said club. While one would think it would be a blessing of sorts of be surrounded by four attractive girls, their combined eccentricities ensure that, whatever passed as normal for Kenji's life before, it's pretty much over.
Penned and drawn by Tomoya Haruno, to say that D-Frag! (or
D-Fragments) is an oddball comedy is severely understating things. While it has only five published volumes so far, it also has spawned at least two drama CDs.
Compare and contrast with
Fujimura-kun Mates, which takes a similar situation (a delinquent meeting a strange girl) and
Boke and Tsukkomi Routine comedy structure, but goes off into another direction instead (in that case, full on harem rom-com).
This series provides examples of:
- Action Mom: Takao's mom.
- Affectionate Parody: While the series doesn’t always revolve entirely around parody, it certainly has a lot of fun lampooning many manga/anime and video game tropes.
- And Zoidberg: Shiou is technically a member of the Game Development Club (temp), but is never informed about group activities. His official seat is in the corner behind the bookcase.
- Badass: Shawn Conecone.
- Better than a Bare Bulb
- Bound and Gagged: This happens a lot to Kazama and Takao.
- Butt Monkey: Takao, the creator of the real Game Development Club.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Takao's mother, who is the woman who abandoned Kazama and his friends (along with an old man in a power ranger-style suit) on top of a burning rooftop (they were luckily saved by Shawn Conecone), is one of the opponents during the race for the legendary spring water that turns out to be a fake. Earlier on, Kenji recounts a story during a contest for one of the girls' pouches where he found money belonging to a little girl named Tama-chan, and handed it in to lost and found. Turns out Tama-chan wasn't a little girl after all, and she has a beef with the creators of the Game Development Club (temp).
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Almost everyone.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Takao has shown shades of this starting in chapter 31 when she effortlessly stops a spinning robot with one hand, and then pushes it on its back causing a dent in its chest. Yes, Takao did that. Even the main cast was surprised.
- Once you see how badass her mother is it begins to make sense.
- Distressed Dude: While Kazama can hold his own in a fight, he tends to get kidnapped or is held hostage.
- Chapter 31 and 32 lampshade this. When the girls hear he was kidnapped, they only ask "Again?", and they give him the nickname "Princess Pinch"...
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: A Running Gag is that Kazama Kenji's reputation is kinda nonexistent and that he doesn't really stand out.
- Elemental Powers: The girls of the Game Development Club (temp) think they have one each.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Shinsen, the former student council secretary, is called Pukey by just about everyone.
- The Faceless: Kenji's childhood friend. Makes sense, since Roka bagged her before her face could be shown.
- Fetish: Tama-sempai apparently gets turned on if an underclassman refers to her by the -chan suffix. During the contest and battle that follows between her and the main characters, she constantly tries to get Kenji to call her by the -chan suffix.
- Friendly Enemy: Takao is still the captain of the Real Game Development Club. Tama also starts hanging out with Kazama's harem after the former student council is defeated.
- Gag Boobs: Takao's amazing pair of knockers.
- Gag Series
- Improvised Weapon: Takao and her.... zipper
. - Insane Troll Logic: Kazama during the tournament. Deny luck of the past to get luck in the present.
- Insistent Terminology: Tama is exceptionally keen on having Kazama call her Tama-chan, despite being his senior.
- Japanese Delinquents: The Kazama Gang. Kenji's mother used to be one. They aren't alone, either; literally everyone at the school aside from Funabori is either a member of a delinquent group or might as well be.
- Last Name Basis: Takao and Funabori are only known by their family names.
- Loads and Loads of Characters: Parodied. There are TONS of them. Excluding the main characters, there’s an entire Revolving Door Cast of side characters that will appear and reappear at random. Some mob characters are even given names and personal motives and backstories, only to appear for a few panels or pages. Some won’t reappear for countless chapters before spontaneously reappearing much later on, often as a Call Back or Chekhov's Gag or even as Chekovs Gunmen. Of course, this becomes mercilessly lampshaded later on.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Shiou doesn't get many memos.
- Mundane Made Awesome: The whole tournament; never has musical chairs been so serious and dirty at the same time
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Shawn Conecone. There is also an unnamed teacher who looks suspiciously like Chuck Norris.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Even Shinsen's manager at work thinks of her as Pukey.
- Only Sane Man: Kenji. As his sister and mother shows, it's a family trait. Funabori also qualifies.
- Open Secret: Chitose having the soil element, Roka being the secret boss of the school.
- Romanticized Abuse: Chitose abuses Ataru.
- Selective Obliviousness: Roka refuses to acknowledge Shiou's existence.
- Spiky Hair: Kenji's hair is very spiky, to the point that it pokes anyone who touches it. It seems to be naturally like that too, and is apparently a family trait.
- Stockholm Syndrome: Kazama towards the Game Development Club (temp).
- Surreal Humor
- Tournament Arc: Possibly the most pointless tournament ever.
- Unwanted Harem: Kenji may be getting one. Takao is clearly interested in him, and some of the Game Development Club girls (mostly Roka) may be interested in him as well. And judging from one of the recent chapters, Tama-sempai AKA Tama-chan may be interested in him as well.
- Victory Pose: The girls do this while claiming that they're sorry for trying to blackmail, or failing that, eliminate Mogusa-chan, Kenji's childhood friend.
- Weapon of Choice: Roka with her bag, the president with her dirt, the teacher with her taser and Sakura with her water... though it seems to be more of a psychological weapon.
- White-Haired Pretty Girl: Volume 5's cover reveals that Tama-sempai's hair is bleached white.
- Widget Series
- World Gone Mad
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: While some of the girls have natural (if implausible for native Japanese) hair colors — Roka having blonde hair for example — we also have unorthodox colors like Sakura's bright pink or Shinsen's dark rose.
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