A series of videos released on YouTube by Katapicture
. It follows the adventures of a bunch of friends as they live a story of life... and awesomeness.
...Oh, and did we mention, it's an RPG?
Taking the guise of a JRPG, RPG Parade both uses tropes normally seen in RPGs and lampshades them. It all starts here. Watch, and enjoy!
Party Members:
- Janman, the main character of the series. Uses a unique fighting style called 'Betting It All'. His main source of power appears to come from his Hoodie of Wildfire.
- Steel, who, despite his archetype is NOT the main character. Has a big anger problem.
- Nomi, whose offensive arsenal is based on food. She appears unable to talk about anything else: because what else is there to talk about, in her view and has an unusual method of addressing people.
- Whiffler, the drunken guy. Rarely seen without a bottle of booze.
- Totchi, a bard who wishes to find inspiration and make music which would melt the hardest of hearts. Left Team Parade in Episode 46 to find his own path.
- Gri, one of Janman's best friends. He has a bit of an attitude, and uses piercing attacks to get by armoured foes.
- Abi and Ica always fight as a single unit. Both have an unhealthy obsession with violence.
This series includes examples of:
- Aborted Arc: In the first few episodes, viewers are lead to believe that The Demon, a mysterious fighter that beat Janman so thoroughly that it crushed his fighting spirit, would be a major plot point. However, this seems to be abandoned early on in favor of more focus on the conflict with the Kabuki Kings and the search for Robot.
- After-Combat Recovery: With a few, normally plot relative exceptions, the characters fully heal after every battle.
- The Alcoholic: Whiffler is never without a bottle in his hand.
- Ambiguously Bi: Early in the series Totchi grows increasingly infatuated with Janman. However, in one episode he is also shown looking rather perversely through at a female swimsuit magazine, and is known to also be unable to say no to a girl. He becomes even more transparent later, including making a passing comment about his old friend Takumi being "cute", and wanting to "join in" after witnessing an Innocent Innuendo between Janman and Nomi.
- Badass Boast: Quite a few, but Episode 33 deserves special mention. Gri delivers one while getting a particularly brutal beating by a group of Kabuki Thugs. He then gets up from said beating and PROVES it.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Pro is a guy with a flair for the dramatic and always seems to have a comb in his hand and in his hair. Nevertheless, he's shown to be quite strong, and a great trainer.
- The Chessmaster: Robot seems to be subtly manipulating everything, from guiding team parade to giving the Kabuki Kings the runaround to buy them time.
- Clothes Make the Superman:The Wildfire Hoodie seems to be the source of power for the Wildfire Fist style. Janman is significantly weaker without it and when Totchi wears it, he gains Jan's abilities, despite never having trained to use them.
- Combat Pragmatist:There's quite a few instances of this, but of note is Abi's "Mr. Peanut Butter Fun" B.A.A. and an instance during the fight with Diva. When Whiffler is called out for a Groin Attack, he invokes this trope in response.
- Come Alone: D's letter to Janman invokes this. He realizes it could be a trap, but goes alone anyway.
- Downer Ending: "In the end... it was their pride that killed them both. Dreams shattered... a friendship destroyed. Darkness and evil will consume the land... and life will cease to exist." Just kidding.
- Dual Boss: Used as a boss and as a party member as well. Abi and Ica fight as a pair, Abi as a defensive type, Ica for the offensive.
- Dual Wielding: Panzer does this, as does Namnaj the 10th, though the latter doesn't last long
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: A non-gun example but very similar. When Janman is teaching Nomi how to use her wand like a knife, she ends up shooting him in the face with her magic. He then demonstrates again how she should have done it. She does... and blasts him in the stomach instead.
- I Just Want to Be Badass: Totchi. He's unsatisfied that all he can do is support others and can't take care of himself. When he brings this up in a later episode WHIFFLER of all people tells him "If anyone knows what it's like to be weak and defenseless... it's me."
- Mana: An interesting take on this. Every character has a different version of the typical "Magic Points" used in many RPGs and each are a little different, at least in theory. FS (Fighting Spirit), which is based on Heroic Resolve, RP (Rage Points) which is based on strong emotions, and so forth.
- Mind Screw: Quite a few.
- At the end of episode 13, Janman THINKS he sees Robot. It turns out to be Gri, who simply walks away. It's hard to say rather this was meant to be Played for Laughs or not, but its definitely surreal.
- Episode 15 has the Dream Sequence. It starts innocent and peaceful, then quickly takes a turn for the ominous.
- Episode 59 with the Awareness Training. This one IS Played for Laughs: Or played for weird. During the Quick Time Event, the team begins acting really strange, culminating in them actually KILLING Janman which results in a Nonstandard Game Over.
- Mirroring Factions: One episode shows a couple of Mooks attempting to recruit Bahtur into the Kabuki Kings. While this may SOUND bad, the mooks in question were actually quite kind and supportive of him. In fact, it was Steel and Abica who were the aggressors of the following battle, threatening and attacking said mooks without provocation, and Steel himself, Bahtur's creator who only wanted a killing machine, and refused to accept him for who he was.
- Mook–Face Turn: Whiffler first appears as a member of the Kabuki Kings, possibly having joined while in the midst of a drunken stupor. He changes sides pretty quick.
- Oh, Crap!: Totchi's reaction when Janman and Steel decide to demonstrate the Engine Buster on him.
- One-Man Army: Gri. Due to being an Ineffectual Loner, he refuses to work with anyone. He has the skill to back it up though, able to take on whole groups of Mooks or even bosses on his own.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Subverted/Parodied with Robot Sr. The character IS Robot's father, but they don't even try to make him look different outside of a fake mustache and pipe. This is lampshaded by Gri.
- Passing the Torch: Inverted when Janman passes the Wildfire Hoodie to Totchi. In this case it's TOTCHI that leaves to find his own path. Jan gives him the hoodie as a way to keep him safe.
- Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Gri's B.A.A., Perforation, and Robot's Special B.A.A., Angry Malfunctioning Robot. Bonus points for the latter being accompanied by a machine-gun sound effect.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Steel and Whiffler provide an interesting inversion given their positions in the Ensemble. Steel is the red, while Whiffler is the blue.
- Robot Buddy/Robot Maid: Rohbahtur. He's extremely loyal, acts very gentlemanly, and most of his abilities are very Butler-esque
- Shout-Out: Oh boy, here we go...
- Episode 1 has a reference to The Legend of Zelda with the Item Get! pose and jingle.
- Episode 6 makes a reference to a certain famous song from Mulan when Gri describes The Dragon's fighting style.
- Janman's ringtone in episode 14 is the Final Fantasy victory fanfare.
- In Episode 15, Janman sings along with the jingle for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
- In Episode 16, Janman and Gri describe a game called "Armored Mechs 2". The title, and weapons sound an awful lot like another mecha related game.
- The end of episode 52 has a short scene between Bahtur and Gri. When telling Bahtur to leave him alone he says "I go! You stay! Don't follow me!"
- One of Whiffler's drunken Catapult Nightmares references Final Fantasy IV
- Episode 57 shows the team having a discussion about a series of movie: yes, movies called "Beginning Reality", and another called "Time Switch".
- Spoony Bard: Played with. Totchi seems to be this at first, having abysmal attack power and laughable moves and seeming effectively useless at level 1. It's quickly subverted with the reveal that his Magic Music makes him a competent White Mage. The only one unhappy with this is Totchi himself, who feels useless and dissatisfied that all he can do is heal.
- Team Chef: Janman's cousin, Meeks, makes great cookies, which comes in handy later on in the series
- The Drunk Was Right: When Team Parade is discussing Kuya, Whiffler suggests that his make-up is the cause of his insanity. No one seems to pay any attention to this comment... until the battle, when Kuya stops to reapply it after Janman rubs some off. At that point, Jan starts putting two and two together.
- The Reveal: It appears Ryujin was Robot all along.
- Rather, Robot is able to control Ryujin's body from within, and is manipulating the Kabuki Kings to aid Team Parade.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Gri has this reaction when he fights The Dragon. He's right.
- Unstoppable Rage: A good portion of Steel's character development has to do with him learning to control this.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Totchi in the Wildfire Hoodie. He's addicted to its power, but is unable to control it. Every time he uses it, he gets a constant Slasher Smile, complete with an uncontrollable lust for violence. It's gotten to the point where he's even developed a complex bordering on split personality. A more subtle indicator is that whenever he uses it, his Mana Meter is based off of RP (Rage points) rather than FS (Fighting Spirit), which every other practitioner of the Wildfire Fist style uses.
- Wizard Needs Food Badly: Taken to its logical conclusion with Nomi. She's a mage who, every time she uses her powers, gets extremely hungry and needs to eat A LOT in order to recover her strength.
- You Are Already Dead: Gri utters this line after using Vaporization on a group of Kabuki thugs.
- You're Not My Brother: Janman says this Kuya when they first meet again
