"
This is not a tale of a hero. Those who want to become heroes are worthless."
Full Metal Daemon Muramasa (装甲悪鬼村正, Soukou Akki Muramasa) is a
Visual Novel by
Nitro Plus. It was written by Ittetsu Narahara (of
Hanachirasu fame).
Tsurugi (劒冑) - These are
powerful sets of armour which can only be crafted by
special smiths, who infuse their own soul into it at the point of completion. Any man or woman who wields a Tsurugi is known as a
Musha (武者 - Warrior) and will gain powers beyond believe.
The story takes place in
Alternate History Japan, shortly after the
second great war. The Rokuhara Shogunate rules the country with an iron fist and their mass-produced brand of Tsurugi while being under administration by the occupying forces of the
GHQ. While the Shogunate suppresses the people with brutal force, the GHQ tries turning the land into a Military Base for their own needs. Naturally, both sides try to overthrow each other.
Unnoticed by all of this, a young man with name Kageaki Minato is roaming the land with his own Tsurugi, the blood-red
Muramasa as an
unofficial Police Man, solving different incidents involving Tsurugi user and fighting the injustice of Rokuhara. His true motivation, however, is not nearly as noble. Kageaki is longing for
Revenge for his massacred home town and broken sword, searching the one responsible, Ginseigou the Silver Star, one of the most powerful Tsurugi in existence and hunting it down. But Kageaki is no hero nor would he ever call himself a man of Justice. He merely wants to atone himself for his past sins and the people he murders and has murdered over the cause of his journey. Not just the wicked, the corrupt and the evil, but also the innocent, the helpless and the kind.
"The Demon I meet, the Demon I slay. The Saint I meet, the Saint I slay. This is the way of the sowrd!"That is the curse that came when he bonded with Muramasa. A curse that determines both his past and his future.
Originally released in October 2009, on time to
Nitro Plus' 10th Anniversary. In 2010 the Fandisk
Janen-Hen, or Stories of Evil Thoughts, was released featuring a after story to the main plot to wrap-up the loose ends,
different sidestories involving minor characters and some other nifty extras.
Muramasa contains examples of:
- Arc Words: "The Demon I meet, the Demon I slay. The Saint I meet, the Saint I slay. This is the way of the sword!"(鬼に逢うては，鬼を斩る。仏に逢うては，仏を斩る。ツルギの理，ここに在り！)
- "You just killed me, you demon!"
- A Man Is Not a Virgin: Kageaki.
- Alternate History: The existence of the God of Metal and Dwarves brought Tsurugis into the medieval battlefield.
- Japan maintained its Kamakura Shogunate, which was uprooted during an early stage of the Warring States period.
- The America colonies never left the British Empire, and it is a plot point.
- Socialism is discarded by European intellectuals.
- World War II took place in the 1930s.
- Ancient Conspiracy: The Society of the Green Dragon.
- Anime Theme Song: MURAMASA
- Anti-Hero: Kageaki Minato wants to nail the page quote into every player's head.
- Anti-Villain: There are some people who oppose Kageaki that are more moral than him. Ichijo became one in her route's ending and the after story of the canon ending. Shishiku and the leaders of the Continental Army may count too as they fight for nothing besides their countries.
- Aloof Big Brother: Misao. Not the case of Kageaki as he claimed.
- Anyone Can Die: Absolutely anyone.
- Armies Are Evil: From the get-go it is established that the Rokuhara military forces are a bunch of ruthless, bloodlusting assholes who care not about innocent lives. At the start of the game it shows Rokuhara soldiers slaughtering and pillaging a little village simply because its citizens granted a fugitive shelter. The GHQ isn't much better but at least they don't kill random people just for the heck of it.
- Ascended Mook: The God Of Metal took its form and mind after a deranged old soldier first shown in Chapter 2.
- Badass Grandpa: Masamune and Muramasa the First. Sayo is a badass grandma.
- Battle Butler: Sayo Nagakura, to Kanae.
- Battle Couple: Kageaki and Muramasa the Third.
- Battle Harem: All of the heroines briefly team up in the Warlord arc.
- Beneficial Disease: A coma caused by heavy metal poisoning on Hikaru made her synchronize better with Muramasa the Second.
- BFG: The vibrocannons on Arahabaki and the Type 00 units. They're said to be able to change the history of warfare. The Guts Eider also has a 76mm cannon that fires HVAP rounds.
- BFS: Every Tsurugi is a robotic sword.
- Big Bad Ensemble: The Rokuhara Shogunate and the GHQ appear to be the main antagonists at first. However, the "Tyrant" route eventually reveales that the Society Of The Green Dragon are the ones who actually pull the strings behind the scene.
- Big Screwed-Up Family: The Ashikaga clan, ruling body of Rokuhara.
- The Minato family might count as well. Plus Kanae's family, the Ootori clan.
- Black and Grey Morality: Who exactly is the ultimate black is somehow debatable. Probably it's the Society of the Green Dragon.
- Break the Cutie: Too many.
- Brown Note: Ginseigou's song. It drives people insane and makes them slaughter each other.
- Broken Ace: The Ouji older brother.
- Body Horror: Whoever is the user of Masamune will experience this at full force.
- Camp Straight: "Madame" Raijo Imahara!
- Chick Magnet: Kageaki.
- Combining Mecha: Guts Eider*. A very twisted version too.
- Cool Big Sis: Subaru Minato.
- Crapsack World
- Cute Bruiser: Ayame, Chachamaru and Hikaru, plus one unnamed underage Rokuhara operator disguised as a waitress.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Kageaki Minato
- Darker and Edgier / Bloodier and Gorier: This is by far Nitro Plus grittiest, bleakest and most brutal entry, even compared to earlier works like Phantom Of Inferno or Saya no Uta. Even Hanachirasu looks like a light-hearted ride through Candyland in comparison.
- Dark Messiah: The Society of the Green Dragon, Kageaki in the canon ending also developed an unique way to promote peace.
- Decoy Protagonist: Yuuhi Shinta. He and his posse are based on Muv-Luv's Takeru Shirogane and co, then deconstructed horribly.
- Deconstruction: The entire story is a huge one to the concepts of Heroism and Justice.
- Destructive Savior: The game of the trope, since Kageaki has to compensate the numbers of enemies slayed by offing the same amount of allies and innocent civilians.
- Later, he founds a private army to carry out Muramasa's curse. The only difference is he will leave one allie alive for Survivors Guilt.
- Disappeared Dad: One of the main factors that sets Hikaru in motion.
- Dismantled MacGuffin: Muramasa's original blade. Kageaki has to kill holders of its fragments or it's spawns to retrieve them one by one.
- Downer Ending: Pretty much every ending.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Moriuji Ashikaga dies off-screen in the "Hero" and "Revenge" routes, with only a Newspaper frontpage relating to it. He gets a bit more Screen Time in the "True Demon" route before he's killed by Chachamaru.
- Eagleland: The GHQ is pretty much the embodiment of Flavor 2.
- In the earlier chapters they are technically British instead of American, because the Continental Army lost the revolution. In the Tyrant arc they became the Continental Army.
- Enigmatic Minion: A lot of side characters are in fact members of the Continental Army or Society of the Green Dragon.
- Evil Versus Evil: Rokuhara versus GHQ.
- Eyes Always Shut: Kanae Otori. She later subvert it, and turn out there is good reason.
- For Want of a Nail: Hikaru got heavy metal poisoning because of a modernized factory drained waste into a country river. This story hides a Green Aesop inside.
- Gallows Humour: The characters know they won't stay on the stage long.
- Gambit Pileup
- God Is Evil: The God of Metal, who doubles as a Mad God.
- Gone Horribly Right: The awakening of the God of Metal.
- Gorn: Expect to hear "splat" a lot.
- Hate Plague: Muramasa the Second became the dreaded Ginseigou because of its Panic inducing power.
- Heroic Wannabe: Ichijou Ayame and Yuuhi.
- Hero with an F in Good: Kageaki.
- Historical Domain Character: Hidden everywhere throughout the story.
- Hot Mom: Subaru and Muramasa the Second.
- Honor Before Reason: The Curse of the Muramasa clan.
- Infant Immortality: Averted. The most extreme case is poor Greywand, "collected" by Kageaki minutes after she was spawned.
- Tsurugis Of The Falling Sun: The Rokuhara army.
- Katanas Are Just Better: The game of the trope.
- Kill 'em All: You can pretty much count the characters who're still alive at the end on one hand.
- Kill the Cutie: Being aesthetically pleasing and\or moral in this game guarantees a Cruel and Unusual Death.
- Large Ham: The shogun and Masamune.
- And "RUUUUUUBYYYYYY SAAAAAAACHAAAAAAANT!"
- Light Is Not Good: Ginseigou / Hikaru Minato.
- Loads and Loads of Characters: Probably one of the biggest casts in a VN yet.
- Love Makes You Evil: Hikaru.
- Mad Scientist: Professor Wolf Sievers. He's often referred as Prof. Underpants.
- Madness Mantra: Guts Eider and God of Metal.
- Mini Mecha: Tsurugi are not really huge. Most of them are about 3 - 6 feet larger than a fully-grown human.
- Mummies at the Dinner Table: Doushin made his old friend-turned-enemy's head into a mask, both honoring and humiliating him.
- No Sense of Direction: Ichijou. Most notable in Chapter 2.
- Offing the Offspring: Greywand and The Reveal.
- The Ojou: Kanae Ootori.
- Only Sane Man: Shishiku Ootori is the most normal, practical and soldier like among the four lords of Rokuhara. He uses no extravagant decorations, does not cross dress, is not engaged in Ancient Conspiracies.
- Powered Armor: The Tsurugis. Doubles as Empathic Weapon too.
- Posthumous Character: Subaru Minato and Yuuhi.
- Proud Warrior Race: The Dwarves are the souls inside the Tsurugis.
- Rape as Drama: Almost one per chapter.
- Relationship Values: Subverted.
- Robot Girl: Muramasa the Second and the Third. Plus Chachamaru
- Scarf of Asskicking: Ichijou Ayame wears one.
- Sissy Villain: Raijo Imahara, but he's a very likeable example. The assassin Houma is a stranger example.
- Starfish Alien\Eldritch Abomination: The God of Metal.
- Sugar and Ice Personality: Shishiku Ootori.
- Super Robot
- The Government: The Government Of Evil, Rokuhara Shogunate.
- Villain Protagonist: Deconstructed.
- X Meets Y: Code Geass meets Silent Hill, one way to put it..
- 0% Approval Rating: Nobody likes Rokuhara.
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