Also called Detective Loki. The original Japanese title, Matantei Loki Ragnarok, is a pun on the word Meitantei, which means "Great Detective". (Matantei being "Demon Detective".)As punishment for something really extreme, Norse god of mischief Loki is bound into the form of a human boy and is collecting the evil in men's hearts to restore his status. To accomplish this goal, he opens a detective agency. But Odin, Lord of the Gods, hates him, and is constantly sending the other gods from Asgard the World Of The Gods as assassins. After all, he's destined to bring about The End of the World as We Know It, even though he has no interest in doing so.Meet Mayura, a paranormal obsessed Miko who bulls her way into Loki's life as his "detective assistant"...and has absolutely no idea whatsoever about the nature of his reality throughout the entire series. Along with her and an interesting group of friends and enemies (mortal and ethereal alike), Loki attempts to figure out the true nature of the situation he has found himself in... and the impact it shall have.
Agent Mulder: Mayura is fascinated by the occult, and is constantly looking for "Fushigi Mystery". She is completely unaware she is surrounded by gods because ironically, she is an...
Anti Anti Christ: Loki doesn't want to cause Ragnarok. This is baffling to many other gods, who technically don't want it either, but are still trying to kill him because they feel that You Can't Fight Fate.
Big Badass Wolf: Fenrir. Also, Hati and Skoll might qualify as lesser badass wolves.
Big Eater: Narukami, Fenrir and Gullinbursti all have seemingly limitless stomach capacity. Lampshaded towards the end of the anime when the trio engage in a competition to ascertain who is the biggest eater of them all - with Gullinbursti emerging as the victor, the vanquished obviously feeling the after effects of chili overdose. Oh the advantages of being a machine.
Bishōnen: Loki himself in his true form. He manages to gather a following of fangirls, including Mayura.
Bolt of Divine Retribution: Skirnir, wielded by Verthandi in a futile attempt to take down Loki and Narugami, aka the thunder god Thor. Silly girl.
Creepy Doll: the first episode of the anime features such a doll, Mayura's search for which takes her to Loki's detective agency.
There's also a less creepy take later on, when Narugami falls for a girl, Yayoi, who turns out to be the mannequin from outside the fast food outlet where he works in this episode, brought to life by the Norn sister Verthandi as part of an elaborate attempt to cause friction between Narugami/Thor and Loki. Yayoi even gets a Heroic Sacrifice, the result of which is a minor Tear Jerker.
Crucified Hero Shot: Episode 12 features Kotarou trapped inside a castle generated by the demonic Nidhogg in the guise of Dracula in a crucifiction pose, held in place by high school fangirls. Episode 9 features Mayura bound to a tree and, in episode 25, an artificial Mayura is chained to a pole atop a hill in a graveyard and speared by at least one of two Grim Reaper lookalikes.
Crystal Ball: Urd, in episode 15, makes use of a crystal ball when posing as a fortune teller as part of an early attempt to take Loki down.
Disguised in Drag: Narukami plays the blushing bride at a wedding at the Daidouji shrine after Verthandi kidnaps and imprisons the real bride - a direct reference to Thor's donning the bridal garb in the Poell, though he was impersonating Freyja.
In the original manga, Narugami also dresses as a bride when a threat is made against her during a wedding to protect her. (It was Loki's idea, just like in the myth, as well.)
Eat Me: Attempted by the monster in the Cooking Duel episode. It doesn't work.
Evil Plan: For Odin it's 'kill Loki' and until then keep he trapped in a child's form.
Fetish: In an omake, while Yamino is explaining why Loki hates cars, Mayura and the other uniform-wearing characters begin question why they are dressed as such. Yamino explains that the artist has a uniform fetish.
Forceful Kiss: This happens twice to Mayura (if you've read the manga). The first time, Heimdall plants one on Mayura to screw with Loki's head. And later on into the story, Loki plants one on Mayura and receives a slap in return. He determined that Heimdall had placed Mayura under a spell through a kiss, and the way to break it was for Loki to kiss her.
Hypocritical Humor: Chapter 11. Reiya's relatives are on the hunt for the family fortune. One woman wants it so bad that she skips breakfast. Narugami wonders how someone could be that greedy for money. He then goes to stuff his face. Loki wonders how someone could be that greedy for food.
Last Episode New Character: Spica, aka Angrboda; the mother of Loki's children appears at their doorstep in the very last episode. She's more featured in the manga.
Leitmotif: "Mama" and "Kind Memories" share the same theme.
Miko: Mayura helps out at her father's temple for a friend's wedding.
Mismatched Eyes: Loki gets these briefly, in episode 13, prior to his temporary return to his true form. His right eye becomes red, his left stays green.
Muggle: Mayura has the magical ability of a rock. And not a magic rock (unlike her dad, who can see magic and spirits, even though he doesn't believe in them).
My Name Is Not Durwood: Loki jokingly refers to Narugami as "Narukami." It's been used so often that even the fans forget, what his name is actually supposed to be.
My Sister Is Off Limits: Frey does this whenever Freya is nice to Loki, although he confuses it for Loki coming on to Freya.
Mythology Gag: Loki convincing Thor to dress as a bride in-series is a nod to a similar myth, where he dressed as Freya to recover a stolen Mojinir.
Paper-Thin Disguise: In chapter 7, when investigating the homicide of a hated school teacher, Yamino and Loki decide to disguise themselves as... You guess it - High school students.
Running Gag: Yamino's addiction to mail-order catalogs and, on a few occasions, Narukami's tendency to keep his hand on a hotplate for several seconds before noticing.
"People are capable of doing things that nobody, not even the gods, can predict. These are miracles."
Sexy Santa Dress: Mayura wears one for circumstances having nothing at all to do with Christmas.
Shapeshifting: Yamino's true form is that of the giant Midgard serpent, Jormungand. Fenrir can change into his giant wolf form. To a lesser extent, both Loki and Freyja have adult and child forms - in the latter case the child form being Reiya Ōshima, whose form Freyja was transmigrated into.
Take My Hand : In episode 21 of the anime, as Heimdall is falling, Loki tries to save him. Heimdall slaps the helping hand away and falls to his death...
Frey discusses it by listing off the traits and calling Mayura one (In the dub, it's translated as "Traditional Japanese Beauty") but she doesn't live up to the trope.
The "Bob's Big Girl" statue is more of a straight example when she is brought to life: kind, determined, wears a kimono, etc.
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