Twelve years ago, the star Antares, the brightest star of the Southern Summer constellation went supernova from over 300 lightyears away, and it took over 300 years for this light to reach the earth. For twelve days, nighttime vanished form the earth and a series of small, isolated disasters struck different areas of the planet. After the disaster passed, things mostly returned to normal.
Mostly...
Now people with strange destructive powers known as Altered appear at random. Due to how potentially dangerous they can be, even without committing any crimes, Altered in Asia are gathered together and shipped off to the special prison island known only as Island D. When mostly Ordinary High-School Student Satoru, who simply has the power to deconstruct things, is taken prisoner and being shipped to the island, he winds up accidentally angering an inmate who was brought in after having used his power to kill many people.
While escaping, a young girl with the ability to phase through walls tells him that the only way for him to survive is for him to use his powers to free Jin, an S-Class prisoner in the highest security area of the prison. At first, Jin is apathetic to his plight, but after Satoru proves that he is still a very compassionate and heartfelt person, Jin decides to befriend him.
This work provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Every. Female. Member. Of. The cast.
- Animal Motifs: Enki and cats.
- Back from the Dead/Came Back Strong: Mariko was once a normal girl, but was resurrected and given powers by an Altered. She's very strong, hard to hurt and has no apparent emotions.
- Benevolent Boss: The leaders of the main factions on Island D are actually pretty good people. Asura in particular created a group that would protect the female minority on the island.
- Berserk Button: The groups in charge of the city of Altered on Island D run a questionable "experiment" to test out the newcomers' battle capabilities before entering the city and joining up with them. Jin is not fond of the term "experiment", however.
- Big Bad Friend: Jin's older brother Rei is the leader of the Ubermenshe.
- Big Brother Instinct: Jin to Mika, Kaito to most young girls he lost his sister to an Anti-Altered Serial Killer.
- Body Horror: Rare positive variant with Soga. His power allows him to manifest various medical tools from his body. He then shoves his medical instrument-covered arm into the patient's abdomen, and this heals them.
- Break the Cutie: Rei and Jin went through a serious case of this as kids.
- It's heavily implied that basically all characters went through this, with Maki being locked inside a room and told to kill whoever was thrown there when she isn't even 10, Satoru killing his own mother accidentally and Yuki having his sister killed by an anti-altered serial killer.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Doctor Gajiro Molly, one of the smartest people on the entire prison island, gets his kicks playing dating sims and dressing girls (and Kaito!) in cosplay. He's also the guy who made Area D.
- Cute Bruiser: Mariko.
- Decoy Protagonist: Although Jin is the protagonist, the introduction of the first chapter makes it seems that Satoru is the main character, and that Jin will be his mentor or the Deuteragonist.
- Dirty Old Man: Besides what was mentioned in "Bunny-Ears Lawyer," Molly also enjoys being stepped on by cute girls.
- Emotionless Girl: Mariko.
- Fantastic Racism: It's a wonder that Altered have any rights at all, even those who don't commit any crimes.
- Friend to All Children: Jin.
- Freudian Excuse: The captain of the ship apparently lost his family to a rogue Altered, explaining his hatred for all Altered. There's also a major terrorist organization made of the families of victims of Altered crimes.
- The story takes place in a prison. Most of the villains have one as do the heroes.
- Girls Behind Bars: In a prison, women are clearly an easy target for all kinds of violence, particularly sexual, something that has been show in the plot. Asura knows this, so she created a faction on the island in order to create a safe space for women.
- Green Thumb: A character is shown with these powers early on and Jin steals it, but it's a deconstruction of the power, growing a plant, which is a living organism, drains the nutrients and energy it needs from the user, who can pass out quickly after.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Jin's older brother, Rei, received horrible burn marks on his back when defending Jin from an Altered who had yet to learn how to control his powers.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Satoru's ability, Watchmaker, allows him to unmake anything he touches, but apparently only certain mechanical and metal objects. At first. The truth is that he can literally unmake anything. The reason his power is so weak is because he subconsciously sealed it after losing control and accidentally shattering his mother like glass.
- Even from the beginning, it's very powerful for what it is. Satoru destroys an entire factory building with a single usage, and it's explosively fast.
- Heel–Face Turn: Isobe is introduced as an Altered who wants to kill Jin because Jin is apparently responsible for the Lotus Flower incident, the terrorist attack that gave the anti-Altered movement the momentum it needed to start Area D, in which Isobe's beloved older sister was killed. However, after Jin saves his life, he comes to realize that despite how Jin blames himself for the Lotus Flower incident, he realizes what the readers do: Jin is not the kind of person who would do such a thing, and his wording of "The Lotus Flower incident happened because of me," most likely means that he was simply pivotal to the incident, but not willingly, and later becomes one of his most loyal friends. Enki was also introduced as an antagonist, but she was simply testing out the new prisoners' powers under Asura's orders, and also becomes one of Jin's closest friends.
- Hyperspace Arsenal: Kaito's ability, "Deserted House."
- Impossibly Cool Clothes: Asura, the former supermodel.
- It's All My Fault: Jin is apparently responsible for the Lotus Flower incident, the worst Altered terrorist attack in history and the reason why Area D exists. When confronted about it, he says that it's because of his existence that it happened.
- Little Miss Badass: Mika, Mariko and Haunted House Girl.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Jin
- Mr. Fanservice: Jin, with his long hair blowing in the wind and his perpetual shirtless-ness.
- Ms. Fanservice: Rio, who winds up naked whenever she uses her powers to phase through walls.
- Every female character who isn't a loli, really.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Enki takes her loss to Jin very seriously and besides observing him, refuses to let anyone beat him before she gets a chance to fight him again.
- Origins Episode: "Memory Labyrinth" arc, that tells Jin and Rei's by having a group go through his memories when he uses "Greek Tragedy".
- Phlebotinum Rebel: Jin was kidnapped at a young age and altered due to his abilities as one of the first Altered.
- Photographic Memory: Molly's ability.
- My Brain Is Big: And on the outside.
- Playing with Fire: Enki makes flaming cat golems.
- Portal Cut: Mika's power. Luckily for everyone around her, she can also reverse the effect with no ill consequences.
- Power Copying: Jin's power.
- Power Incontinence: Satoru's ability is actually incredibly powerful, he just subconsciously sealed most of it away after accidentally killing his mom.
- Scarf of Asskicking: Yuki.
- Shout-Out: Chapter 57. Apparently, Heimerdinger works for Umbrella Corp...
- Chief Jailer Jiga will put a lot of Dogs fans in the mind of a certain long-haired swordswoman.
- Stripperiffic: Most adult women and Jin tend towards the bare minimum for clothing coverage in the story.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Satoru's power to dismantle mechanical objects seems rather limited aside from the flashback that reveals that he may be able to crystallize people and shatter them as well, but when it turns out that there are bombs hidden on the ship taking them to Island D...
- Token Mini-Moe: Mika who is about 6.
- Took a Level in Badass: Satoru, who is a Shrinking Violet, but now with awesome destructive powers.
- Tsundere: Enki for Jin.
- Ungrateful Bastard: The ship's captain, albeit with a smile on his face that implies otherwise, still says that he hopes a horrible fates await the gang when they get to the island—despite the fact that they just saved him and all of his crew from the terrorists.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Both Kaito and Jin.
- When He Smiles: Jin, who smiles very few times in the plot.
- Would Hurt a Child: Not even every young Altered are spared the fate of being deemed monsters.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: This is why Asura's power of illusions is so dangerous.
