Webcomic / Obsidian Blaze

"You must be something special if my boss is so interested in ya."

Obsidian: "I kinda thought you'd be more worried about the fact I almost got killed."

Anri: "You know, I'm really not. The first few times, maybe. But now I imagine you piss off dangerous people for fun, so it's nothing new to me at this point."

Obsidian Blaze is a sci-fi superhero webcomic created by Sam "TacoDraws" Duncan. In a bleak dystopian future, Tokyo is ruled by a massive corporation called Pyrite Industries, and people with superpowers are forced to hide their abilities. One of these people is Obsidian, a man with no memories and a hatred for Pyrite. After meeting some other people with powers like him, he forms a resistance to fight back against Pyrite and the corrupt government he controls.

The comic is readable here

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"If this troper is who I think he is...":

• Acme Products: Pyrite Industries seems to have a hand in every market available.
• Adorable Abomination: Beat's a very cute girl who also happens to be a demented killer cyborg.
• Almost Kiss: Obsidian leans in for a kiss while talking with Anri in chapter 1, but ends up getting slapped instead.
• Ambiguous Time Period: The story takes place in the 2040's, but isn't specifically stated exactly what year. Instead, the year is listed as 204X, a reference to NES and SNES era videogames
• Ambiguously Gay: In chapter 4, Koba drops several hints that he's not interested in women, all of which seem to fly right past Obsidian.
  Obsidian: "What, you don't wanna see some hot girls?"
  Koba: "Not particularly."
  • The ambiguity is dropped in the very next chapter, when Koba reveals he and Kiann used to date.
• Animesque: The comic was heavily inspired by anime and manga.
• Armor Is Useless: The cops, despite being covered in supposedly bulletproof armour, are no match for Obsidian's hand-to-hand combat.
• Artificial Limbs: Beat has two robotic hands that can transform, and later in the comic we're introduced to even more cyborgs, including Kiann, who becomes a main character.
• Ass Kicking Pose: Obsidian, Koba, and Anri strike one in Chapter 3.
• Author Appeal: The fact that one of the main characters is a stripper, and that much of chapter 4 takes place in a strip club, may have been an excuse for the author to indulge himself.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite snapping at Obsidian constantly, Anri still obviously cares for him, no matter what she tells herself.
• Back Stab: Beat stabs Obsidian in the back to end their fight.
• Badass Boast: Beat has a few of these during her and Obsidian's first fight.
  Beat: "Sheesh, boss wasn't kidding. You are strong... But not as strong as he thought."
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Pyrite is usually seen wearing a sleek suit vest and tie with the sleeves rolled up. The perfect outfit to go to a business meeting in the morning and order an assassination in the evening.
• Badass Longcoat: Both Obsidian and Beat wear abnormally long hoodies. Beat's may even be too big for her seeing as the sleeves cover up most of her hands.
• Batter Up!: Anri owns a baseball bat for self defense, and she grabs it when Obsidian knocks on her door late at night.
• Bitch Slap: Anri delivers one to Obsidian in chapter 1 after he brings up the times they've slept together.
• Big Bad: Pyrite.
• Big Bad Wannabe: While Kokuro is the leader of his own gang, he still works under Pyrite. Chou is only scared of him when his gang has her cornered, otherwise she just views him as annoying.
• Blatant Lies: While Obsidian would have no way of knowing, Beat claiming she's going to kill him is a complete lie since Pyrite ordered her to leave him alive. She later decides to do it anyway after "accidentally" wounding him a little too much.
• Blood from the Mouth: During their fight, Obsidian kicks Beat so hard that she's shown to be bleeding from the mouth a few panels later.
  • Obsidian is also bleeding from the mouth when he arrives at Anri's place.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Kokuro mentions he got a new jacket in chapter 5, because the one he wore in chapter 4 "took too long to draw."
• Breakout Character: Beat is definitely the most popular character from the comic so far. Being one of the first characters to be revealed, she got the most fan attention out of any other character.
  • Anri also became a fan favourite after Chapter 3.
• But I Would Really Enjoy It: Anri and Obsidian are implied to have had sex at least once in the past, and while Anri seems adamant that it'll never happen again, the end of chapter 1 says otherwise.
• The Cameo:
  • Obsidian appeared in GirlyWolfPup's Gun Kitty, where it was heavily implied he just had casual sex with the protagonist, Ruana.
    • Human versions of Yumi and Ace also appear in chapter 2
  • A human version of Noelle from Deltarune appears in chapter 2
  • Chai, the main character from Hi-Fi RUSH, appears in chapter 6
• Captain Obvious:
  Koba: "What did you two get up to while we were gone?"
  Anri: "Why would you ask that?!"
  Chou: "Sex."
  Anri: "WE KNOW!!!"
• Caught in the Bad Part of Town: Anri and Koba make their way to a scary-looking alleyway to meet Kiann for the first time
• Caught on Tape: Koba's damning evidence of Pyrite's evil is video footage of his and Anri's mother being murdered by him.
• Chainsaw Good: Bonesaw has two chainsaw hands, although the saws can be ejected and replaced by a claw-hook, or even better, by another chainsaw.
• Cop Hater: Obsidian is not a fan of cops. Beat expresses a similar sentiment.
  Beat: "Not that I blame ya, I hate cops too. ACAB, amirite?"
• Cute Is Evil: Beat is an incredibly cute teenage girl with pretty pink hair... along with transforming blade hands and an insane bloodlust.
• Cyberpunk: The series takes place in a future where flying billboards, cybernetic enhancements, and holograms are widely available.
• Dark Action Girl: Beat is a perfect example. She's an insane ass-kicking assassin who can easily overpower someone as strong as Obsidian.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Almost all the characters have this, though most of them haven't been revealed as of yet.
  • Obsidian can't even remember his past, but since he's apparently been erased from all records, it's assumed someone wanted him dead or erased.
  • Anri and Koba's mother was murdered, and their father framed for the crime, leaving the both of them orphans.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Despite wearing mostly dark clothes, Obsidian is the hero of the story.
• Dark Messiah: In Chapter 7, it's explained that Pyrite essentially saved Tokyo from nuclear Armageddon, which gave him the power and influence to begin to take over the rest of the world.
• Deadpan Snarker: Anri seems to have a snarky and jaded response to everything Obsidian says.
  Anri:(responding to Obsidian describing his fight with Beat)"You got your ass kicked by a little girl?".
• Death Glare: Everybody gets one.
  • The first time Pyrite's eyes are shown in the comic, he's death glaring.
  • Obsidian glares at the cops in the same way when they approach him.
  • Beat looks up at Obsidian with an insane grinning glare during their fight.
  • Anri gives Obsidian several death glares.
• Didn't Think This Through: Anri bets way more money than she has on Kiann's fight, despite Koba's numerous warnings, and only realizes how badly it could go for her after sitting down to watch the match.
• Double Take:
  Koba: "What's going on with you two?"
  Anri: "Oh, she's just upset because I slept with Obsidian."
  Koba: "Oh okay... Wait, what!?!?"
• The Dragon: Beat is definitely this for Pyrite. She's both his personal assassin, his right hand (wo)man, his assistant, and possibly even more offscreen.
• Drowning My Sorrows: The first shot of Chapter 6 has Onyx downing a mug of beer at a bar. This is right after a nasty exchange of words with Kiann in the previous chapter.
• Did You Just Have Sex?:
  Koba: "...Please tell me you didn't sleep with him again."
  Anri: "...Hm?"
  Koba: "You did."
• Dreadlock Warrior: Obsidian's got some sick dreadlocks.
• Easily Forgiven: Despite offending her enough to smack him, Anri is very quick to forgive Obsidian, realizing she overreacted. Obsidian forgives Anri for this as well, since he did go too far.
• Edible Theme Naming: Anri's cat is named Onigiri, which is more commonly known as a rice ball. The dark spot on her head also mimics the seaweed strip on real onigiri.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Kokuro's misogyny seems to be too far for the other villains in the series. Particularly Beat.
• Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Most of the characters are either horny, aware another character is horny, or were horny themselves at some point.
• Evil, Inc.: Pyrite Industries is your bog standard evil megacorporation. It's logo was directly inspired by Weyland-Utani from the Alien franchise, and the tagline "Doing What's Best for Humanity" is a chilling hint at Pyrite's true intentions.
• Exiled to the Couch: Obsidian gets this treatment after Anri allows him to stay at her place
• Eye Beams: The "Golden God" Obsidian and Koba battle in chapter 3 has red eye lasers.
• Face Framed in Shadow: Pyrite first appears with his face at least partially covered in shadow.
  • Beat also appears this way when she first meets Obsidian, but only briefly.
  • Kokuro appears this way at the beginning of chapter 4.
• Fan Disservice: While Kokuro's harassment towards Beat seems mostly annoying, him threatening Chou, implying that he wants to take more from her than information, is downright disturbing.
• Fantastic Racism: Anri jokingly calls Koba a "cyberphobe" after he remarks on how unsafe he feels in the underground cyborg city.
  • Kokuro turns out to be an actual cyberphobe, which as Beat points out, is ironic considering he has a cybernetic part in his chest
  Kokuro: "Half-robot cyber-freaks like them ain't fit to be called human."
  Beat: (flips him off with her cybernetic hand)
  Kokuro: "... Present company excluded."
• Fashionable Asymmetry: A hairstyle variant: Obsidian's hair is shaved on one side.
• Friendly Ghost: Azurite, Obsidian's mentor, appears to him as a ghostly figure.
• Friends with Benefits: Obsidian and Anri seem to have this going on.
  • Obsidian also starts a FWB relationship with Chou after they meet. Chou even says as much when correcting Kokuro after he calls Obsidian her "boyfriend."
• Freudian Threat:
  Kokuro: "How 'bout you and I play a little game of our own?"
  Beat: "How 'bout you take your hand off my ass before I snip your dick off?"
• Gadget Watches: Kiann gives Anri and Koba each a wristband that allows them to access the element they control so they can use it at will.
• Get Out!: After Anri finished healing Obsidian, she immediately tells him to "get the fuck out of my apartment."
• Glowing Eyes: Obsidian's eyes glow blue when he powers up.
• Gratuitous Japanese: The comic's logo has this underneath the English text.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Chou will often insert Spanish phrases into her usual English dialogue, usually to insult someone, or to call Obsidian papi.
  Chou: "I can hear you, puta."
  Anri: "The fuck did you just call me?"
• Guns Are Worthless: Both Obsidian and Beat are able to effortlessly dodge gunfire from close range.
  • Anri also barely uses the gun she steals from a security guard in the Basement during her escape.
• Healing Hands: Anri, literally. One of her superpowers is the ability to heal others through touch.
• Immoral Journalist: Implied that Anri is one.
  Anri: "Fuck you, journalism is a real job!"
  Obsidian: "What you do isn't journalism, it's propaganda."
• Implied Rape: While Kokuro tries to get information out of Chou, he uses language that suggests he was going to do more than interrogate her.
  Kokuro: Look, Chou... you know I don't like being told 'no'. So if you're not gonna give me what I want... I'm just gonna take it from you."
• In the Hood: Obsidian wears a hood for the first part of chapter 1, before it flies off when he attacks the cop.
• Intimate Telecommunications: The first thing Chou does when Obsidian gets his cell phone is send him a nude photo of herself.
  • Obsidian also jokingly asks Anri if she plans to send him some.
• Interrupted Intimacy: Obsidian and Chou do get have an intimate encounter, it seems like they're about to go for round 2 when Anri walks into the room and catches them.
• Introverted Cat Person: Anri is shown to live alone aside from her cat Onigiri.
• Infodump: The beginning of Chapter 7 is mostly narration from Obsidian explaining the lore of the comic, and how Pyrite came to take over Tokyo.
• Just Like Robin Hood: Kiann steals cybernetic parts from Pyrite's shipping trucks and distributes them to those who can't afford them
• Kamehame Hadoken: Obsidian learns how to fire energy blasts in Chapter 7, and one of the first things he does with that ability is mimic Ryu from Street Fighter performing a Hadouken.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Obsidian fights using a katana for no real reason other than it looks badass. Koba even points out that katana's aren't the best kind of sword out there, but compliments the build quality of Obsidian's.
• Loony Fan: Beat seems to be a fan of Kiann's fighting career, and says she'd do anything to "step into the ring with him and rip his throat out."
• Love Triangle: Anri, Chou, and Obsidian are in a classic one. Anri likes Obsidian, Chou also likes Obsidian, and Obsidian can't make up his mind.
• Magic Genetics: It's revealed in Chapter 7 that Neohumans powers and abilities come from their special genetics, specifically a "Neo-Gene".
• Mood Whiplash: Obsidian escapes from the intensity of almost being murdered by Beat, and limps to Anri's apartment, where the two have a strangely adorable bickering session.
• Mr. Fanservice: Several of the male characters in the comic are designed specifically with the female audience in mind. Obsidian himself is incredibly attractive, and appears shirtless for a good chunk of chapter 1, showing off his rippling muscles.
• My Eyes Are Up Here: Onyx says this to Kokuro when he flirts with her in Chapter 6, to which he creepily explains he wasn't looking at her eyes.
• Nanomachines: Kokuro's powers come from nanomachines in his blood
• No Smoking: Pyrite grabs a cigarette right out of Kokuro's mouth after he rudely lights up in his office.
• The Oldest Profession: Kiann, Koba, and Anri are approached by two cyborg prostitutes who Kiann is apparently familiar with.
• Old Flame: Koba and Kiann had previously dated, although it hadn't worked out due to what Koba believes was his own fault. It's very evident the two still have feelings for eachother.
• Only Friend:
  Obsidian: "I don't have any friends besides you."
  Anri: "Figures... W-wait a second, you and I are not friends!"
• Playing with Fire: Anri's firebending ability.
• Police Brutality: While Obsidian technically attacked first, the cops did aim their guns at him for the crime of being outside past curfew.
• Power Tattoo: Obsidian has gold markings on his arms that glow blue when he uses his powers.
• Power Up Full Color Change: Obsidian's skin turns blue and his hair turns white when activating his Astral Form.
• Really Gets Around: Chou explains to Obsidian that she's Polyamorous, and states that she's slept with way more girls than he has.
• Right Behind Me:
  Kokuro: "Look, I did my part, time for Pyrite to do his. Tell him to get his ass over here. Now."
  Pyrite: " "My ass" is already here."
  Kokuro: "... Oh... hey... H-how long have you been sitting there?"
• Scenery Censor: When Anri has a shower in Chapter 6, the steam is at the perfect spots to cover up her naughty bits
• Seen It All: Anri is completely unfazed by the sight of Obsidian almost bleeding out in front of her. She implies it has happened many times before.
  Anri: ... I imagine you piss off dangerous people for fun, so it's nothing new to me at this point."
• Romantic Wingman: Anri tries to be one for Koba, nudging him towards Kiann, whom he has a crush on.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: While Koba and Anri are out, Chou decides she wants to have fun with Obsidian, and slowly begins to descend down his body until her head is just out of frame around his lap area. Combined with an unzipping sound effect and Obsidian's pleasantly surprised reaction, you can figure out what she's doing down there.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Chou's introduction involves her dancing on a stripper pole, joking about Obsidian looking at her butt, and suggestively showing him her back tattoo. And this is before she makes him grab her breast.
• Shout-Out:
  • An image of a zapbud flower from the infamous webcomic Sonichu appears on Anri's pyjama top.
  • A can of Wolf Cola from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia appears on Anri's coffee table
  • A poster for the band [1] appears on Anri's bedroom wall. Later on in Chapter 4, she wears a top with the logo from their album Riot.
  • A volume of Manga/Berserk appears on Obsidian's bed
  • In the same chapter, Obsidian has a poster for DOOM on his wall
    • In the previous chapter, Chou's shown to be listening to his album Take Me to your Leader
  • Anri directly quotes the plot of Donnie Darko when Obsidian tells her about the strange figure he's been seeing visions of.
  Anri: "Remember? The movie with the scary rabbit? He tells the main character when the world's gonna end."
  • In the same chapter, Obsidian makes a reference to "Film/Titanic" before the truck he and Onyx are fighting on crashes into a massive iceberg.
• Shower of Love: Obsidian accidentally walks in on Anri in the shower, which leads to them having sex.
• Sinister Scythe: Beat transforms her hand into a scythe before planning to land the final blow on Obsidian.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: While everyone in the comic seems to have no problem with big boy words, Anri swears a lot more than everyone else. She's especially fond of the f word.
• Slashed Throat: Beat implies this is her favorite way to kill people.
  Beat: "Man, when're you gonna get me to slit throats like I used to?"
• Slut-Shaming: Anri's jealousy of Chou often causes her to point out her sexual nature as a negative. Completely ignoring the hypocritical fact Anri can't keep herself from letting Obsidian get it at any given opportunity
• Spiteful Spit: Upon realizing who Pyrite is, Onyx immediately spits in his face.
• Super Mode: Obsidian accidentally activates a super form to defeat the Golden God in chapter 3, a form Pyrite later refers to as his "Astral Form".
• Super-Strength: While Obsidian isn't shown to have Superhuman levels of strength, he is able to shatter a cops visor with a single punch, and sends Beat flying with just one kick.
• Surprisingly Creepy Moment: Beat seems mostly cute at first, if not a little sinister, but she suddenly goes full on scary when she lunges at Obsidian with her face twisted into an insane grin and announces she's going to kill him.
• That Didn't Happen: At the beginning of Chapter 7, Anri and Obsidian agree that their hookup in a shower at the end of Chapter 6 never happened, although Obsidian gets Anri to admit that she did enjoy it, and mentions that he hopes it can happen again.
• The Bad Guys Are Cops: The police officers in chapter 1 are very clearly not there to protect and serve. One of them scans Obsidian's face without permission, which Obsidian points out is against the law, and the other threatens him at gunpoint for speaking up.
• The Reveal: At the end of Chapter 3 it's revealed The Golden God was actually Pyrite in a mech suit.
  • Also in the same chapter, Koba shows Anri footage of Pyrite murdering their mother.
• Three-Point Landing: Kiann performs one when jumping from the back of his pickup truck onto the back of a much larger truck. He does another one when jumping onto a second truck. Obsidian seems to struggle with pulling the same move.
• Tomboyish Baseball Cap: Beat wears a backwards facing cap.
• Tongue-Out Insult: Beat sticks her tongue out while calling Kokuro a loser.
• Tsundere: Anri is an example of this. She clearly cares for Obsidian enough to heal him without question, and appears concerned when seeing the severity of his wound, but she's also incredibly mean to him throughout the whole process. And then she slaps him. And then she sleeps with him.
  • In Chapter 4, she instantly gets jealous when Obsidian talks about Chou. Despite this, she still claims she doesn't like him.
  Obsidian: "Why are you acting so jealous anyway, I thought you didn't like me."
  Anri: "I'm not, and I don't."
• Train Job: Chapter 6 has the gang robbing a convoy of Pyrite's shipping trucks. While not exactly a classic train robbery, the fact the trucks are all driven by AI in a straight line evokes the feeling of one.
• The Twink: Anri calls Kiann this as an insult when she first sees him, only to be corrected by Koba.
  Koba: "First of all, he's a twunk."
  Anri: "... What?"
  Koba: "It's like the halfway point between a twink and a hunk-''"
  Anri: "I don't care."
• Two Girls to a Team: Anri and Chou are the only two girls on the main good guy team for a bit.
  Anri: "Besides, as the only two girls in this friggin' place, I'd rather we get along than try to kill eachother over a boy."
  Chou: "*Giggle* I couldn't agree more."
• Two Guys and a Girl: The main group initially consists of Obsidian, Koba, and Anri, before other characters join in.
• Unsexy Sadist: Kokuro is a creep through and through. He tries to come off as sexy, but when a girl such as Chou refuses his advances, he lets the mask slip a bit, until eventually it falls off completely.
• Unusual Pop Culture Name:
  • The Killer Queens are named after the song by Queen (Band)
    • Kokuro's bike has another musical reference, being named after the song Dragula by Rob Zombie
  • Bonesaw is named after the wrester character of the same name featured in Spider-Man
• Video Arcade: The opening of Chapter 4 takes place in an arcade, with Beat playing a game as she meets with Kokuro
• Waistcoat of Style: Pyrite wears one, and he looks damn good in it.
• Whatevermancy: Anri's fire-controlling powers and Koba's water and ice-controlling powers are named pyromancy and hydromancy respectively
• Wham Line:
  Pyrite: "He's not even human at all, but here's a secret. I'm not human either"
• What the Hell Are You?: Obsidian asks this to Beat after he sees her hands transform, but he substitutes the word "hell" for another big boy word.
  Obsidian: "What... the fuck are you?"
• Will They or Won't They?: Anri and Obsidian.
• World War III: It's explained in Chapter 7 that a nuclear war broke out about 20 years before the comic began, allowing Pyrite to take over in the chaos.
• Your Mom:
  Cop: "What's your name, sir?"
  Obsidian: "Joe."
  Cop: "Joe who?"
  Obsidian: "Joe Mama."
  Cop: "Very funny."