History Anime / PumpkinScissors

* [[{{Meganekko}} Megane]]: Martis.

** Which is [[WhatAnIdiot a bonehead move]] since if any nobles get hurt, the peasants AND their families will be exterminated by Section I.

* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Alice is of average height, and shorter than most of her subordinates. Randel, who already towers over the entire cast, makes her look like a child. He's still taller than her even when he ''kneels''. Frankly, he fulfills the 'Huge Guy' role for ''anyone''. He's tall enough that he has to ''duck'' in order to get through most door frames (He also is huge [[BiggusDickus down there]]).

* FiveManBand:
** TheHero - Alice
** TheLancer - Oreldo
** TheSmartGuy - Martis
** TheBigGuy - Randel (Oreldo even calls him "Big Guy" in the subtitles)
** TheChick - Stecchin

* ArcWords: TÖTEN SIE. [[spoiler: roughly translates to "Kill Them". Randel apparently hears this repeatedly chanted whenever he's under the influence of the blue lantern.]]

** [[spoiler:Frighteningly Justified in later chapters. It is revealed that the 901 troopers were never meant for actual tactical purposes; they are all human test subjects who received a brain surgery to create a brain program that activates upon the igniting the infamous "blue lantern". Said programming fill their mind with human's natural killing instinct and make them neglect everything else including their survival. Such human experiment was practiced only because an old genius professor feared death (so he cannot conduct research anymore) and wanted to replicate his own brain on his own research team by surgical methods. The experiment on the 901 troopers was only a test to prove that such alteration to the human brain can deliver the expected results(and it did). Muse even described them as "Spare memo sheets for checking if the pen works".]]

%%* BigBrotherIsEmployingYou
%%* BigFriendlyDog: Merc, when he's not biting people anyway.

** Used in a much less humerous fashion at the end of Ep. 18; Randel does this after [[spoiler: [[TragicMonster Hans]] (another member of the Invisible 9 and just as traumatized from the war as Randel) is shot and killed, just as Randel had started to get through to him.]]

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: The entire town of Karussell has been somehow hypnotized by [[spoiler: the armored train used by the Border Patrol]] and do whatever they're ordered. Up to and including shooting [[spoiler: Randal]].

* DeclarationOfProtection: By the end of the anime (ch. 12 of the manga), Randal has decided that the best way he can make use of his "gifts" is to act as a protector for Alice.

* TheEvilArmy: Corruption exists at all levels.

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Alice

* MookHorrorShow: In the Armored Train arc, [[spoiler: the way Randel takes on the operators of said vehicle is very much like a slasher movie villain, where he used his giant scissors to snip up people when they're not behind armor. Alice may be good at swordplay, but Randel is simply ''merciless''.]]

* MysteriousPast: Randel, for a good portion of the series.

%%* OfficerAndAGentleman: Alice

* PlayingWithSyringes

* SuperSoldier

* WaifFu: Alice

* BigBrotherIsEmployingYou
* BigFriendlyDog: Merc, when he's not biting people anyway.

* BilingualBonus

* NotWhatItLooksLike: Stecchin says the trope name verbatim after Oland walks in on her practicing a silly and embarrassing song and dance she came up with in an attempt to improve morale. Being [[NiceGuy Oland]], he mistakes it for some sort of religious practice and shyly offers his support before [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments politely closing the door in her mortified face.]]

* [[OfficerAndAGentleman Officer and a Lady]]: Alice

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Alice

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: One in which a number of families live in, being too poor and demoralized to live above ground. It's a European FantasyCounterpartCulture, so it makes some sense. Also, they share it with what can only be described a [[PunkPunk protopunk]] [[KillItWithFire flamethrower]] [[VideoGame/BioShock Big Daddy]].
* AccidentalPervert: "Lieutenant, [[ItMakesSenseInContext I need your breasts immediately!"]]

* BiggusDickus: Clearly, Randel Oland suffers from this. He shatters an extra-large urine collector. The fandom has expressed some concern over what would happen if/when Alice and Oland [[VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins tap the midnight still.]]

* LeftHanging: The anime ended with [[strike:some]] most questions left unanswered.

* [[OfficerAndAGentleman Officer And A Lady]]: Alice

* PreMortemOneLiner: Randal throws out a pretty scary one right before he begins his one-man assault on the armored train.[[note]]Normally this would be classified as a PreAssKickingOneLiner, but given what happens next...[[/note]]

* ShirtlessScene: Has a tendency to happen to Randel, [[ScarsAreForever though it's not really meant to be fanservice.]]

* BodyHorror: The flamethrower suits feature faulty cooling systems. Instead of fixing them, the suits were filled with painkillers. As a result, the soldiers inside keep going ''until their muscles burn off''.\\\

* WillOTheWisp: Invoked. At a distance, in the dark, the 901'sts blue-burning Lanterns looked like them, and whenever Randal lights his, his opponent begins raving about how they were "Guided by the Will-of-the-Whisp."

* WillOWhisp: Invoked. At a distance, in the dark, the 901'sts blue-burning Lanterns looked like them, and whenever Randal lights his, his opponent begins raving about how they were "Guided by the Will-of-the-Whisp."

* TheRemnant

The more horrifying part is that the substance in the fluid is not just an anesthetic, but a preservative: the wearer's body doesn't start coming apart until a few minutes after the suit is removed. By which point, it's already to late to get the suit back on, since it's a horribly complex affair that takes a long time to put on or take off. [[spoiler: Which is what saves Hans, since he was still having trouble getting his suit off when his friends started falling apart.]]

** [[GenkiGirl Stecchin]] also shows shades of this to a lesser extent, coupled with BewareTheSillyOnes. When a soldier from Section I starts making fun of Pumpkin Scissors for being a "useless" unit, Stecchin ''boxes his ears''.

** Randel is a rather unnerving take on this trope. Several times, when he is in said state, he ''has'' used tactics and quick thinking to win a fight (examples: using his gun to take out roof supports above a nest of snipers, whipping his coat in front of him to absorb an acid splash, holding a man down in front of a runaway carriage) instead of just blindly advancing. Not only does this show that he is ''not'' mindless in that state, it also shows that he ''knows'' the full extent of what he and his equipment can do. The implications of that are scary as hell. The armored train arc shows just exactly what he's capable of when he's fully equipped, and it's not pretty...

** In case you're thinking they're actual scissors, they're more like glorified [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolt_cutter bolt-cutters]] with pointed jaws. You'd have to be suicidally brave to attack a tank with them - which is what the lantern does. As a weapon they're impractical[[spoiler: - a flashback shows a tank covered with 901 troops ''slowly'' gnawing away at its armour with their 'can-openers'.]] Presumably, they use them to open a hole they can shoot through... and human wave tactics to ensure there's enough left to shoot. It's proven to be quite effective in CQC combat situations with infantry, however, [[spoiler: when Randel used it to great effect during the armored train mission. They're pretty effective at cutting up homan bodies too...]]

* MysteriousPast: Randal, for now.

* SociopathicSoldier: Subverted with Randel Oland. Played straight with most antagonists, especially those from the Invisible Nine.

* YouShallNotPass: A minor one occurs in episode 23. After the first WhyDontYouJustShootHim moment mentioned above, one of the more vengeful peasants tries to do it again. Randal (who, keep in mind, is over seven feet tall, heavily muscled, and covered in scars) loudly clears his throat, steps in front of him, and looms over him with a DeathGlare. The peasant looks at him, then nervously glances at a guy that had earlier fought with Randal (who is currently curled up on the ground, covering his head, and sobbing hysterically).

* AccidentalPervert: "Lieutenant, [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments I need your]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext breasts immediately!"]]

* AwesomeButImpractical: Anything and everything having to do with the Invisible Nine. It seems the Empire's entire SuperSoldier program was a response to horrifically bad engineering. Deconstructed somewhat, as The show takes pains to point out just how impractical their equipment is, and Martis wonders about the possibility that the Invisible Nine may have been created for purposes other than winning the war.

** See MsFanservice below for a straighter example.

* MadScientist: Muse, who also overlaps with FourEyesZeroSoul.

** We also have the sobriquets of the Invisible Nine; 901-ATT, "Gespenstjäger,"[[note]]"Ghost Hunter"[[/note]] 903-CTT, "Krankheitsjäger,"[[note]]"Disease Hunter"[[/note]], 906-FTT "Fallschirmjäger,'[[note]]"Paratrooper", literally "Parachute Hunter"[[/note]] and 908-HTT "Aldschmiedjäger."[[note]]"Old Smith Hunter"[[/note]]

** We also have the sobriquets of the Invisible Nine; 901-ATT, "Gespenstjäger,"[[note]]"Ghost Hunter"[[/note]] 903-CTT, "Krankheitsjäger,"[[note]]"Disease Hunter"[[/note]] and 908-HTT "Aldschmiedjäger."[[note]]"Old Smith Hunter"[[/note]]

** See MissFanservice below for a straighter example.

* MaleGaze: Seen [[http://mangafox.me/manga/pumpkin_scissors/v04/c013/24.html here]].

* MissFanservice: Alice's older sister, Solice. See [[http://mangafox.me/manga/pumpkin_scissors/v06/c018/13.html here]].

* DeathGlare: Randel has an... [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/pumpkin_scissors/v04/c012/39.html interesting]] version of this whenever he's berserker mode.

* SmugSnake: In the manga, the viscount who amuses himself by hunting TheMostDangerousGame is most certainly one. Along with his little hobby, he also treats his household staff like crap and is supremely confident in his own [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections untouchable status]] (and possession of a tank) when the Pumpkin Scissors confront him. He tries his little hunting schtick on [[MuggingTheMonster Randel]]. [[spoiler:It's rather satisfying to see how badly this goes for him; his overconfidence rapidly disintegrates into weeping, begging for his life, and wetting himself.]]

* TheMostDangerousGame: A noble in the second episode of the anime (as well as in the manga) does this. ''With a [[TankGoodness tank]].'' Against unarmed peasants who are chained together at the wrists.

* ImprobableAge: Alice is justified, as she's a noble out of officer school (in the prologue). She's still in her teens in the series proper, but younger people have fought in WorldWarOne (see below).

* {{Kaiserreich}}: This is very much Germany, especially in the dub, where German accents abound and the occasional German word sneaks into the dialogue...which, if history is to be followed, [[WorldWar2 means things are about get a lot worse]].

* WorldWarOne: It's blatantly a fantasy analogue of post-WWI.