Koshi Inuzuka is an Ordinary High-School Student, handsome and intelligent with dreams of moving into the legal profession... but he's also a member of a martial arts family headed by his huge, muscular father, who persistently looks down upon his chosen path. Said father is very much pleased when Momoko Kuzuryu, the tiny, annoying, love-struck Genki Girl daughter of another martial arts family, seeks out Koshi to sire a child capable of mastering her family's most powerful techniques. Naturally, this not-so-subtle strongarming into Arranged Marriage (of course supported by the fathers of both youngsters) and newfound accompaniment of a pink-haired, Kamen Rider henshin pose-copying, totally enamoured imbecile is not to the taste of violence-phobic and martial arts-hating Koshi.
However, they soon find the reasoning for the Arranged Marriage goes a lot deeper than they thought - Koshi and Momoko are part of a plan to form a bond of blood between twelve Zodiac-related martial arts families and prevent a colossal war between two warring factions of said families, one headed by the Dragon-based family of which Momoko is a member, and the other headed by the Dog-based family that includes Koshi. Naturally, some of the families view such a war as a perfect opportunity to rise above the others - and send assassins after Koshi to ensure the marriage does not proceed.
So far, a reasonably typical martial-arts-and-romance manga and anime. Now, factor into the equation that everything in the show except Koshi is bordering on the insane, and anything and everything is taken to ridiculous extremes.
Sumomo mo Momomo is a manga by Shinobu Ohtaka (who would later become best known for Magi: Labyrinth of Magic), which was serialized from 2004 to 2009 in Young Gangan. The series possesses the subtlety of a hard kick in the face, and packs itself to the rafters with a horde of bizarre nutcases protecting Koshi, baying for his blood, falling madly in love with him and each other and generally going Super-Deformed a lot and doing big shiny martial arts somewhere between Fist of the North Star and Dragon Ball that transform the whole affair into some giant amorphous blob of Ecchi Love Dodecahedron borderline-Gag Series romantic comedy with lots of people beating each other up in completely over-the-top ways on a regular basis.
The title is based on the tongue-twister "Sumomo mo momo, momo mo momo, sumomo mo momo mo momo no uchi."note No, not that Momo (or that one), not that Sumomo, and whatever you do, don't confuse with Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo.
This work provides examples of:
- Aborted Declaration of Love: During the scavenger hunt the first clue for class rep was to grab the person she loved and go to the finish line. Iroha’s attempt to steal the clue for herself was thwarted by Tenka allowing class rep to win the race. However when it was time to show Inuzuka what the card said she discovered that Tenka had actually given her Iroha’s card which read slave.
- Absurd Phobia: Momoko and her unusually specific fear of hard-boiled eggs with faces drawn on them. She can handle normal hardboiled eggs fine, though she refuses to use them in her cooking. Her phobia doesn't kick in unless faces are drawn on them, because her well meaning father once tried to put her on an exclusive diet of hardboiled eggs to increase her protein, and drew faces on all of them to make it more enjoyable for her.
- Absurdly Sharp Claws: The Koganei clan ability especially Tenka who can carve trenches in stone
- Abusive Parents: Moutatsu Inoue raised his daughter as a boy going so far as to regularly beat her anytime she showed attraction to men and even regularly buying prostitutes for her. All of this as some sort of Misplaced Retribution against Unken Inuzaka who was stronger and more popular then him hoping that Shintarou would defeat Koushi and take over his title as head of the eastern army. It's so bad that Shintarou doesn’t even realize that she is a girl, because Moutatsu has led her to believe that her feminine body is a sign that she is unskilled and undisciplined.
- Accidental Kiss: While chasing after Momoko trying to get her to stop her from screaming obscenities he accidently ran into Shintarou where this happens
- Accidental Pervert: After watching a commercial Shintarou spent all day drinking coffee thinking it would cause her to become manlier. Naturally this made her incredibly hyperactive preventing Sanae from studying. When she called her out, Shintarou force fed her coffee preventing her from sleeping. The next day Senae yelled at Shintarou about never letting her into her bed or bath again Shintarou replied that she was sorry she forced herself on Sanae and that she just wanted to be more of a man. Needless to say her classmates saw her as more of a man than ever.
- Action Girl: Momoko, of course. And Iroha. And Sanae.
- A-Cup Angst: Momoko, when she discovers that Koushi prefers a more developed woman. It's suggested that Iroha, who has a similar build to Momoko, also has this issue. Both even manage to get the "Petta~n" Unsound Effect previously seen in Negima! Magister Negi Magi.
- Affectionate Parody: It's very hard to see how over-the-top the series is without thinking that it has to be an Affectionate Parody to some extent of both martial arts and Harem Anime. Although this is lost a bit in the anime, which introduces Tenka a bit later and then plays up the seriousness of the zodiac family feud. However, the manga's later Cerebus Syndrome lessens this quite a bit.
- Against the Setting Sun: Parodied - Momoko and an adversary have a moment of newfound acceptance and friendship after a fight as the sun sets... and promptly forget to save Koushi from man-eating sea snakes in the background.
- Ahoge: Momoko has a self-made ahoge. Perhaps she subconsciously realized her personality required one. She briefly tries changing her hairstyle to attract Koushi's attention — by adding more ahoge!
- Arranged Marriage:
- The plot is kicked off by Unken and Sendayuu putting Koushi and Momoko into one.
- Sanae's grandmother also tries to set her up with one.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: By the end of the story, Koushi/Momoko becomes this.
- Art Shift: Frequently, with characters shifting in appearance based on their current mood and how they're looking at other characters.
- Awesome, but Impractical: The Endou ancient ability though powerful is very dangerous. So dangerous that it is beyond the slender constitution of the Endou clan
- Awesomeness by Analysis : The main way Koushi ever defeats anyone. Until he finally Takes A Level In Badass, that is.
- Batman Gambit: Also a huge part of how Koushi ever defeats anyone - one example is early on, when he tricks some bullies into pressing Momoko's Berserk Button.
- Battle Aura: All the top martial artists have one, but Momoko is actually able to use hers as a force field.
- Battle Bikini: The Uma Kamen outfit gives the user more power the smaller it gets.
- Bears Are Bad News: As bears are used in-story as the yardstick for how effective a martial artist is, it's bad news when Koushi is brought before one to show just how strong he is... or is not. Also, when Iroha causes a mass escape at a zoo to assassinate Koushi and Momoko, guess what is the most dangerous of the escaped animals?
- Bedtime Brainwashing: Momoko tries this twice on Koushi. The first time, she accidentally wakes him and really weirds him out. The second involved recordings of Momoko saying things she wanted Koushi to say, and the results of which are mentioned below under Sleep Learning.
- Bifauxnen: Shintarou Inoue, of the Boar clan.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Tenten Koganei
- Bland-Name Product: WcDONALD’S
- Blood Knight: Tenga Koganei.
- Born in the Wrong Century: Tenga states that he can't forgive himself for being this. It's highly implied that he feels this way because the strongest martial artists, that developed martial arts by themselves, lived in the past.
- Bodyguard Crush: Sanae to Koushi.
- Broke Episode: This is Iroha and Hanzou's lot in life for most of the story.
- Butt-Monkey: Poor, poor Hanzou.
- Calling Your Attacks: It doesn't even seem to be the same overly-long incantation for each attack every time they're used.
- Cast from Hit Points: The myriad seal is an art that shares one’s life with another. If you overuse this ability you will die
- Cat Girl:
- Err... well... close. Tenka is from the Tiger family and thus takes on catlike qualities, such as playing with a ball he is convinced talks to him called Becky. At one point he is defeated by being distracted by cat toys and his fear of clear water bottles or "nekoyoke".
- Tenka, after his Heel–Face Turn, uses this against his younger brother quite effectively. It's unknown whether the other Koganeis also act like this.
- Celibate Hero: Koushi doesn't have time for romance, as he is studying to become a lawyer. Possibly not celibate so much as just having the sense to want nothing to do with Momoko's 'seductions'. He certainly seems approving enough of Sanae in general. He continues this even into the finale, which is after a Time Skip where he has gotten together with Momoko. He refuses to consummate the relationship until he has permission to marry from Momoko's father. Momoko makes it clear that she is a bit depressed about this condition.
- Childhood Marriage Promise: Subverted — One of the promisees thought he was entering into a marriage promise... The other was Momoko. Who thought it was a deathmatch challenge. Hilarity Ensues.
- Class Representative: Sanae.
- Clothes Make the Superman: Uma Kamen's outfit. It focuses power into certain parts of her body, and thus inverts the trope by becoming more effective the less of it that is worn. It's at its most powerful when all she wears is the boots.
- Clothing Damage: Sanae's fight with Tenrei revolves around this. Justified, as her second Uma Kamen outfit is designed to fall apart as each piece is struck.
- Combat Pragmatist: Momoko is quite a one when facing adversaries that could mean a threat to her loved.
- Tenten Koganei in an anything goes death match where any and all weapons are allowed she chooses her henchmen as weapon to slowly wear Iroha down.
- She them broke Hanzo and Iroha’s masterful teamwork by first getting Iroha to bluntly state exactly how he feels about him then tell Koushi that she loves him flustering her
- Companion Cube: Tenka has his soccer ball, Becky.
- Cruel to Be Kind: After finding out that he was going to die in a week Koushi acted this way to Momoko hoping that she would move on with her life. Luckily she saw right past this.
- Cursed with Awesome / Blessed with Suck: The Shikago clan were a weak clan, short lived, cowardly and unsuited for battle of any kind. However they had one fearful secret and that was the power to nullify the abilities of any martial artist who opposed them: Myriad Seal.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The Endou Clan Ancient Ability Volatile Primate Eruption though powerful is very dangerous because with each use the armor piercing attack puts more and more strain on the user’s body. Yuusuke's father doesn't care about what this does to his son, as long as it means he can beat Koushi.
- Dark Action Girl: Tenten Koganei, Tenka's sister by adoption.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Tenka, Iroha, Shintarou. Later, Tenga as well, who agrees to train Koushi.
- Held up as an ideal by Momoko's father, and it's strongly hinted that he and Koushi's father went through this process as well (although it's unclear if either won said fight or if it was a draw).
- Determinator: Koushi later in the manga, where he refuses to die in a martial arts duel so that he can fulfill his dream of becoming a prosecutor. His father, shocked that Koushi even had it in him, breaks down in Manly Tears.
- Dirty Coward: Moutatsu
- Souten Koganei when attacked by assassins, he abandoned the clan and fled month’s later he returns stating that he had been granted ultimate power and now wishes to overthrow the Kuzuryuu and Inuzuka clans. He even went so far as to beat his sons half to death when they refused to help him.
- Dirty Old Man: In the manga, an old croquet player in the Koganei Village is frequently seen attempting to ogle the girls, especially Tenten. He is revealed to be the Nikkou Bousatsu, one of only two people wielding authority over all of the clans... And he proceeds to get himself into further Dirty Old Man hijinks each and every time he appears.
- Disproportionate Retribution: After Koushi exposed him as a Small Name, Big Ego and Momoko showed him up (repeatedly) Daigorou engaged her in a number of increasingly ludicrous challenges. Stating that if he wins he’ll flunk Koushi.
- Does Not Like Spam: Due to being force-fed tons of eggs in her youth, Momoko really dislikes them in general, with a particular dread of ones with faces drawn on them.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: In order to show just how much she loved Koushi, Momoko took the same poison that was killing him so that they would either live or die together. Forgetting that the poison would make her too weak to fight for the antidote.
- Dragon Their Feet: Subversion. Tenten is the one who attempts to attack the heroes after the Final Battle is all but won, but she's more the Evil Genius of her group.
- Eye Beams: The specialty of the Inuzuka clan.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Tenten can’t understand why Hanzou would risk his life for Iroha when she doesn’t love him
- Fair-Play Villain: Tenga Koganei could've killed both Koushi and Momoko, as weakened as they were by the effects of the poison, yet he wanted to have a fair fight.
- Fallen Princess: Iroha, who was doted on by her father and never really bothered to learn about the basics of day-to-day living, or for that matter anything outside of clan disciplines. She discovers the downsides to this when she tries to earn money for her clan via part-time jobs.
- Fanservice
- Fantastic Racism: The twelve clans hated the Shikago clan for being weakest of warriors yet possess the greatest of powers, the Shikago were feared, cursed, shunned. Contact with them became taboo.
- Feed It with Fire: Tenga's main ability is based on this. Attacking him only will result in him becoming stronger each time. Of course this ability has a limit as well.
- Fight Unscene: Only "martial artist vision" can see the intense battle when Tenka Koganei fights his roughly ten-year-old brother. And maybe that's best.
- Flung Clothing: Iroha seems fond of doing this whenever she leaps into battle, as does Uma Kamen.
- Forgot About His Powers: All the time Momoko spent as his housewife caused Koushi to completely forget how to take care of himself (cooking, cleaning, ect) when she went back to her father to recuperate. To the point where when the lights went out he just crawled into bed and went to sleep
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Tenrei, once he notices how easy Sanae's Uma Kamen outfit comes off...
- Gambit Roulette: Tired of Koushi’s blanket refusals Momoko devised a new more forceful method. She tricked him into signing a sex contract knowing that a man who wished to become a prosecutor wouldn’t attempt to break a sacred contract.
- To get out of it Koushi told her that as minors they had to get their parents' consent to consummate their relationship and gave her a contract saying it was already signed. When Momoko signed it she found out that it was actually a refusal contract
- Genki Girl: Momoko most of the time.
- The Good Guys Always Win: The main reason why an emotionally broken Momoko could win against an equally strong, yet much faster and undoubtedly way most experienced and matured than her, Tenga Koganei.
- Except, you know, his being distracted by an extremely mad Koushi.
- Good Is Dumb: Iroha — fearsome Ninja, ruthless fighter, not averse to drugging polar bears to assassinate people... until her Heel–Face Turn and subsequent transformation into a tiny schoolgirl with a voice two (very annoying) octaves higher and designs on Koshi's affections. Doesn't make her any weaker though. This turns out to be an inversion, as she was completely overwhelmed by Koushi before said Heel–Face Turn... in his sleep. Iroha ends up losing every single time she tries to do something until she changes sides.
- Gratuitous English: Saigo's "Good Ruck."
- Heel Realization: Koushi has had a few of this given his treatment of Momoko but what really took the cake was the rant-inducing slight he gave her after Yuusuke’s "The Reason You Suck" Speech. This finally cause him to start taking his training seriously.
- Heir to the Dojo
- Heroic Build: Many of the older male martial artists, such as Momoko and Koushi's fathers, are build like this. A few younger ones (like Sanae's would-be fiance Hikari) also have a similar physique.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Shintarou Inoue. While Shintarou's father does love his son, he's either somehow completely ignorant or in denial about the fact that he has a daughter instead. This results in him smacking his daughter around for being attracted to men, trying to convince Shintarou to participate in
orgies because having multiple women is a sign of manliness, and Shintarou continuing to masquerade as a male because she worries that her father wouldn't love a daughter as much. - I Just Want to Be Normal:
- Koshi wants to be a lawyer, not a martial artist.
- Also Sanae, who hates martial arts, training, and the family heirloom Stripperiffic battle outfit.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Iroha is the most obvious example, but also includes Tenka and Sanae.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Kimie Nakajima, who looked much like her granddaughter Sanae when younger and is a Miniature Senior Citizen now. The head of the Inoue clan had a crush on her when he was younger and was quite shocked to see how she aged.
- Idiot Hero: Momoko.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Daigoro Nittai is such a pathetic loser that you can’t help but feel sorry for him
- Innocently Insensitive: Koushi telling Sanae he hates martial artist and thinks they’re all freaks without knowing that she is one of the zodiac clans.
- Koushi likes to spend time with Sanae because he doesn’t know she is the heir to the horse style. He often vents his frustrations with martial artist at her not knowing that his word are incredibly damaging
- Tenten referring to Hanzo and Iroha’s friendly banter as shameless flirting hit a Berserk Button for Iroha who as a member of an assassins clan felt that she and Hanzo’s relationship was Like Brother and Sister. This hit Hanzo hard as he really does have feelings for Iroha.
Hanzo: well she’s right, of course I’m her subordinate and I know I’ll never be anything more than that. I’ve always known but, when you put it that frankly it’s hard to stop the tears - Innocent Fanservice Girl: Sanae was unaware that her grandmother rigged the Shingo Willpower Pegasus Raiment to rip apart when attacked to fall away piece by piece as it is struck.
- Insult Backfire: After starting the get more woman the Koushi and Iroue club Hanzo and Tenka were teased by the second year fine foursome sending them into an angered frenzy gluing noh masked to their face and forcing them to ask out girls like that. Hanzo taunted them when they were turned down by saying that they were nothing but looks and that a man was only as good as his heart. They replied by saying how what they did attract women
- Ki Manipulation: This is how you know someone is a really top-level martial artist in the show.
- Lampshade Hanging: The students wondering why Daigoro Nittai is always the substitute teacher no matter the class.
- Turns out he takes every job he can.
- After Koushi’s Accidental Kiss with Shintarou, Hanzou mentioned a game he brought to Iroha that features a girl raised as a boy due to the traditions of her family. Who accidentally kisses a boy and falls in love with him as they were walking right by them.
- Knight of Cerebus: The appearance of the remaining four Koganei siblings following Tenka's return to the story is when things start to ramp up in the seriousness department. Tenga in particular is the first no-nonsense enemy the group faces and kickstarts the subplot about the powers of the ancient martial artists.
- Latex Perfection: Iroha and Hanzou use this constantly.
- Like Brother and Sister: How Iroha views Hanzou. Unfortunately for Hanzou.
- Little Miss Badass: Momoko might have the build of a pre-adolescent girl, but she's able to go toe-to-toe with the best martial artists around.
- Loony Friends Improve Your Personality: Koushi never wanted an Arranged Marriage or to be surrounded by lunatic martial artists bent on killing/loving him. But after Momoko finally admits she knows he doesn't love her, Koushi acknowledges that his experiences have broken him out of his fear of confronting other people (even if he's still a physical coward).
- Love Dodecahedron
- Love Potion: Hanzou makes one... that doesn't work nearly as well as he thinks.
- Luminescent Blush: Iroha actually bursts into flame.
- The Man Behind the Man: Makihisa Endou is the one behind pretty much everything after the first quarter of the series. Souten Koganei's exile, Tenga's ascent to family head and subsequent attack on Koushi and friends, the raids on several of the other clans, and the attempted usurping of the Eastern army leadership by Shintarou and later (temporarily) successful usurping of it by his own son Yuusuke were all his doing.
- Martial Arts and Crafts: The Koganei Clan is known for using their superb physiques to excel not only in martial arts, but in the bright and glitzy sporting world as well because of this they usually combined the two. Two such arts created by them are:
- Gladiatorial Soccer: a brutal Blood Sport where the goal is to launch opponent’s body into the opposing goal using any means necessary.
- Martial Arts Pool: a form of spearmanship that involves the use of a pool cue as well as launching billiard balls at opponent.
- Master of Disguise: Hanzou, with generous helpings of Latex Perfection and quick-change speed bordering on Shapeshifting.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: Iroha and Hanzo's landlady, Nakajima Kimie. Ditto the Nikkou Bousatsu, though he's not quite as tiny.
- Mundane Utility:
- In the
Bonus Hot Springs Episode, Momoko uses a Ki Manipulation to rocket a van up a steep road. - In the manga, she also uses the same attack to propel herself high enough to vault over the school - for gym class. It Makes Sense in Context.
- In the
- My Instincts Are Showing: Martial artist in this series seem to gain power by embodying the animal their style represents, so not only do they gain their strengths they gain their weaknesses as well.
- My Kung-Fu Is Stronger Than Yours
- Near-Villain Victory: Two. In the Koganei village arc, Tenga would have won had he not allowed Koushi to give Momoko the antidote to the poison afflicting both of them. Later, Big Bad Makihisa Endou actually succeeds in having his son Yuusuke usurp leadership of the Eastern Army from Koushi and is well on his way to having Yuusuke and Momoko marry, which would put him in control of all the clans and allow him to administer his special drug to them all, making every single martial artist in Japan reliant on the Endou clan and unable to go against them for the forseeable future. Had Koushi not awakened to the Myriad Seal or had Iroha, Sanae and Hanzou not maneuvered to tamper with the drugs given to Makihisa's loyalists, it would have worked.
- New Transfer Student: Momoko, Iroha, Hanzou, Tenka, and Shintarou.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Koushi had actually started taking a shine to Momoko; while he still wasn’t willing to marry her, she had given him his confidence back so he would no longer run away from confrontation, which he was grateful for. However after her battle with Iroha, Momoka left with her, forgetting that Koushi was still stuck in a deadly trap. After that, he wanted nothing to do with her again.
- While Koushi’s mother blocked his potential purely so that he could lead a normal life. She had to have known that as the heir to the Inuzaka family she was putting his life in danger
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Tenten’s poison only affected the seal placed on Koushi’s martial arts abilities now that that seal is gone the myriad seal is at his disposal
- Noble Demon: Tenga, who disdains his sister Tenten's devious ways and her use of poison - in fact, rather than hold onto the portion of the antidote for Tenten's poison until he is defeated, he gives it to Koushi and Momoko so that he can have a proper fight afterwards.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The reason Koushi’s initial response is to run away from confrontation is that when he protected Momoko when they were kids not only was he beat up he was completely humiliated utterly destroying his confidence. A combination of having Momoko back in his life and having to deal with the assassins has allowed him to get his confidence to the point that he stood up to the punks who used to bully him after witnessing them strike the class rep. unfortunately having his confidence back doesn’t change the fact that he gave up martial arts a long time ago and he ended up receiving a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- Nosebleed:
- At one point Hanzo bleeds out of his eyes upon witnessing Iroha covered in... ahem... cream-colored ice cream.
- Not to mention any time Momoko thinks Koushi is open to marriage. Yes, what comes after the ceremony as well, but even the idea of him being open to the wedding results in epitasis.
- Not What It Looks Like: Witnessing Sanae return Koushi’s notebook Momoko mistook it for a loving gesture and took it Tenka walked in on them after Koushi fell on top of her while trying to wrestle the notebook away.
- The reason Moutatsu hates Unken is because he mistook Kimie Nakajima acting as Unken's protector as a sign that they were having an affair.
- Oh, Crap!: Katsuyuki Saigo after seeing Momoko perform the Black Dragon Morning Destroyer.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: When Nikkou went to sooth Shintarou over her fear of becoming the new leader of the eastern army she mentioned how there was something wrong with her body. Nikkou thought she was referring to more male puberty problems
- During their one month anniversary Momoko had gotten it into her head that Koushi had waited for that day to copulate their relationship. He on the other hand was waiting for a sale for a modeling set. The whole day he was talking about what he would do when he got the set and how much fun it would be while she though he was talking about sex. Her imagination went into overdrive when he asked her to go to the toy store with him.
- Only Sane Man: Koushi constantly remarks on the insanity of an underground martial arts war, and quotes the various laws being broken. He later decides to just go with the flow.
- Otaku: Hanzou.
- Pair the Spares: Sanae and Tenka.
- Parental Abandonment: Koushi's father is fine with regularly going off and leaving Koushi and Momoko to their own devices. Momoko's father drops her off with Koushi's father. Shintarou is all but forgotten by the head of the Inoue clan when the latter gets shocked at what happened with Kimie Nakajima.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Momoko's father in the epilogue in the manga. After all that happened, he wants assurances that Momoko will have a strong husband, so he refuses to grant permission for the two to marry until Koushi can defeat him in martial arts. Koushi accept this limitation and is chaste with Momoko, to her chagrin.
- Pillar of Light: Uma Kamen's ancient power does this.
- Power Nullifier: The myriad seal wraps the user’s ki around the energy pathways of the victim, thus “sealing” his or her powers inside.
- Psychopathic Manchild: When Momoko beat him, Daigorou broke down into a sobbing fit. He later threw a temper tantrum because nobody liked him.
- Psycho Serum: The Miyamoto family’s muscle enhancing elixir
- Rain Aura: Momoko, episode 13.
- Raised as the Opposite Gender: Shintarou. Tragic due to the fact that, due to how they were raised, they didn't even know their biological sex until someone outside of their family told them.
- The Reveal:
- Manga: Koushi's mother was the last of a line of pacifists with a Power Nullifier technique considered anathema by the 12 clans. She used it on him as a child, thus preventing his development as a martial artist.
- Anime: Koushi is really the strongest martial artist but he doesn't know it and it's not revealed until the last five minutes of the final episode.
- Samus Is a Girl: Lampshaded in-story, when Iroha points out how ludicrous the concept of a girl being raised as a boy and involved in a Harem is after Hanzou has about an Eroge featuring said plot. Of course, meanwhile, Wholesome Crossdresser Shintarou has just accidentally kissed Harem magnet Koushi and fallen for him.
- Say My Name: Momoko does this consantly. "Koushi-dono!"
- Secret-Keeper: Tenka figures out who Uma Kamen is pretty much immediately and agrees to keep her identity from both Koushi and Momoko.
- Selective Obliviousness: Momoko has not once realized that Koushi doesn’t know martial arts
- Shout-Out: The Inuzuka family's ultimate attack, 'Tenjou Tenge Yuiga Dokuson' is the Mikuru Beam.
- Single-Stroke Battle: Momoko and Iroha's battle.
- Sink or Swim Mentor: Sanae felt her granddaughter relied to heavily on the Shingo Willpower Pegasus Raiment so she tweaked it to start ripping apart when attacked without telling her so that she could learn to harness the great potential within her
- Tenga Koganei agreed to train Koushi but refused to deviate from the Koganei ways, which involve a LOT of Training from Hell.
- Sleep Learning: Koshi uses them to further his studies... until Momoko hits upon this as a perfect way in which to make him love her. Makes things very awkward for Iroha when she attempts a nighttime assassination.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Daigorou Nittai was a member of the 1984 Japanese Olympic Gymnastic Team and he will never ever let you for get it. However he specifically only competed in the preliminaries. His students despise him for being utterly pathetic and not realizing it.
- Something We Forgot: As noted under Against the Setting Sun, poor Koushi was subject to this inadvertently by Momoko and Iroha. The sea snakes were surprisingly gentle, given that he actually lived.
- Speed Echoes: Momoko is able to side step so fast she can create one of these
- Stalker with a Test Tube: The ultimate aim of Koushi and Momoko's betrothal.
- Stripperiffic: The Uma Kamen outfit not only focuses the wearer's strength but is also the most transparent excuse for leathery horse-themed Fanservice you'll see in a long while, complete with a tail and a bit. Later discussed and invoked by Sanae's grandmother, who figures out how to get Sanae's embarrassment to fuel the outfit's powers.
- Super-Deformed: Momoko seemingly spends half the series two feet tall and without hands or feet.
- Super Serum: The resurrection of the ancient power is brought about by periodic dosage of a special drug that artificially expands the tank of ki that a warrior can draw upon. Up to ten times the size of an average modern warrior’s tank.
- Super Window Jump: Uma Kamen bursts through a stained glass window in an outfit FAR too small to avoid the death of a thousand razors. None of the debris even reaches the ground to harm the non-martial artists in the wedding ceremony.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Subverted in Shintarou's case, as she didn't actually know she was a girl, due to her father raising her as a boy and insisting that she was one, until the Nakajimas told her that she was a girl.
- Theme Naming:
- Each of the Zodiac families' names contains the kanji for their representative animal.
- There's also the Edible Theme Naming for Momoko, whose head resembles a peach: "Momoko" literally translates to "peach child."
- The Power of Hate: Momoko took Koushi’s "death" really hard where before Tenga was able to completely No-Sell all of her techniques afterwards she completely dominated the battle
- The Spartan Way: This is why Koushi’s father let him fight the Koganei alone. He quickly realized that it was a stupid thing to do
- The Koganei aptitude test
- Time to Unlock More True Potential: All human beings harbor deep within them some form of subconscious talent. Sporting ability, scholastic aptitude, the martial arts. The key to unlocking that great power can be anger, sorrow, or, in Sanae’s case, shame.
- Training from Hell: Unfortunately for Koushi when he does decide to buckle down, this is the only training method his father seems to know. Koushi's later training under Tenga Koganei is even worse.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Nikkou while in the bath discovered that Shintarou was a woman and passed out from blood loss. When he woke up he had forgotten the whole thing.
- Tsurime Eyes: Iroha
- A Twinkle in the Sky: Ushi Kamen, the cow-themed woman at the end of her anime-only episode.
- The Voiceless: Saigo, with Momoko able to translate because "People in love are connected by heart."
- Unknown Rival: When they were young Moutatsu has a crush on Kimie however he mistook her being Unken’s secret protector as a sign that they were having an affair despite the fact that Unken has no feeling for her what so ever
- Villainesses Want Heroes: This is the reason why Tenten hates Iroha out of all the Miyamoto clan. Hanzou was the only one who saw through her façade that in combination with him being a nice guy made her see him more then just a puppet. However he was completely fascinated with Iroha.
- Weak, but Skilled: The Endou clan has always been the brain of the twelve heavenly generals. Their innate battle skills are far, far inferior to those of the Inuzuka. That said, the Endou come within a hair's breadth of controlling all 12 clans through manipulation and skullduggery.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: A minor example — Koushi first wishes that his father would stop bothering him about the martial arts and just accept his dreams of being a prosecutor. It later becomes apparent that his father Unken does approve of Koushi's ambitions, only bothers Koushi to train in the martial arts because he's the target of assassins, and actually feels really guilty that Koushi has to go through all of this due to his parentage. Unken is just really bad at saying all of this.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Following a two year timeskip in the manga's final chapter:
- Koushi has become a full-fledged martial artist while still continuing his studies towards being a prosecutor. While still engaged to Momoko, he must defeat her father before he'll allow the marriage to occur. He's tried 128 times unsuccessfully and prepares for his 129th attempt. He barely wins.
- Momoko is still in love with Koushi and is elated that he now loves her back, eagerly awaiting the day they can finally be married. Despite her constant attempts to get him to have sex with her, when he finally consents she's too embarrassed and knocks him out with an energy dragon.
- Iroha has cut her hair short and is well on her way to reviving the Miyamoto clan, supported by Hanzou and a group of brand new followers.
- Tenga and Tenten are unable to use techniques after having their ki sealed by Koushi. They withdraw from the clan with Tenrei in tow and go on a journey of training (much to Tenten's chagrin)
- Tenchi has become the de facto leader of the Koganei clan due to being the strongest child of the main house.
- Tenka is undergoing fierce training to reclaim his birthright as the Koganei heir in order to ease the burden on his younger brother.
- Sanae and Hikaru are assisting Tenka with his training. Sanae admits that she might not mind guys with Heroic Build after all, hinting at an attraction to Tenka.
- Shintarou comes to grips with her gender and attempts to reveal the truth to Tenka and Hanzou. It takes a LOT of convincing to get them to believe it.
- Makihisa has given up pressuring Yuusuke to engage in politics. Yuusuke, free of politics and martial arts, uses his newfound freedom to puruse art studies.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Shintarou, who continues to present herself as a boy even after she's told that she's female.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Moutatsu wanted Shintarou to be a boy so he deludes himself into thinking she is one and has deluded Shintarou into thinking this as well
- The Worf Effect: Poor, poor Anime!Saigo — until he finally gets his own episode.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Kinu pulls this to try to turn everyone against Momoko in the anime. In the manga,
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Momoko though it takes the whole series to go from stalker to devoted companion, willing to follow her man even into the next world.
- World's Strongest Man: Tenga declares to be this himself.
- Worthy Opponent: Tenga seeking one is what leads him to be antagonistic to begin with. He acknowledges Momoko to be one during his final battle with her.
