History Manga / GrandBlue

Has nothing to do with ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy''.

* MissingMom: {{Downplayed|Trope}}--Chisa and Nanaka's mother [[TheGhost has yet to be seen in the series]] (besides a phone call to Nanaka at the end of Chapter 45), but when Kouhei (with the mindset of an otaku well aware of typical anime/manga cliches and tropes) wonders whether she is dead or divorced, Iori reveals that she is just working overseas.

-->'''Kotobuki:''' "You won't get anywhere if you only try things you can already do. What matters is whether or not you're interested on something."

* GargleBlaster: A RunningGag throughout the series features various characters passing up a concoction of 90% vodka and 10% whiskey as "oolong tea". Judging by its unfortunate consumers' reactions, drinking it isn't a pleasant experience, to say the least.

* MissingMom: {{Subverted|Trope}}--Chisa and Nanaka's mother [[TheGhost has yet to be seen in the series]] (besides a phone call to Nanaka at the end of Chapter 45), but Iori reveals that she is just working overseas to Kouhei, who, being an otaku and thus well-versed in standard anime/manga tropes and cliches, wonders whether she is dead or divorced from Toshio.

* MissingMom: {{Downplayed}}--Chisa and Nanaka's mother [[TheGhost has yet to be seen in the series]], but Iori replies to Kouhei upon being questioned of her absence that she's merely working overseas.

Unfortunately, he discovers that life at the seaside isn't as great as it's cracked up to be when he gets shanghaied into joining "Peek-a-Boo", an inter-collegiate scuba diving club whose members are more interested in [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything drinking and being naked than actually diving]], which so happens to use Grand Blue as their base of operations. Alongside his fellow mechanical engineering freshmen, hardcore {{otaku}} [[BrotherSisterIncest sis-con Kouhei Imamura]] and diving-obsessed Chisa, Iori might just survive this new insanity.

* DoItYourselfThemeTune: The anime's ending theme, "Konpeki no Al Fine", is primarily sung by Creator/YuumaUchida (Iori) and Creator/RyoheiKimura (Kouhei), with backing vocals from Creator/KatsuyukiKonishi (Ryuujirou) and Creator/HirokiYasumoto (Shinji), as the group "Izu no Kaze".

* KaraokeBox: The anime's ending theme, "Konpeki no al Fine", is set up as the four main boys singing the song in a karaoke room and absolutely having a ball of a time, ending with them posing before the camera naked.

** Chapter 15 features a pair of women's swimsuits that look just like [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Asuka Soryu Langley and Rei Ayanami's plug suits]] to Kouhei's pleasure.
* SlasherSmile: A near constant use for whenever characters are either EnragedByIdiocy, the result of GreenEyedMonster or taking advantage of situations in their favor.
* ShoutOut: While the club is going shopping for diving equipment, Kouhei comes across a couple of wetsuits designed like [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion EVA plugsuits]].

* BaitAndSwitchCredits: The opening seems to show it's a legitimate anime about diving instead of dirnking -- just like how everyone thought Peek-a-boo is a legitimate diving club instead of a drinking club.

* AgeLift: In the manga, all the freshmen are around eighteen years old. However, because in Japanese law drinking alcoholic beverages at that age is still illegal, and perhaps to get around MoralGuardians, the anime ages them up to twenty, the legal minimum.
* TheAlcoholic: Just about every named male in the series drinks alcohol of all sorts - beer, ''sake'', spirits, vodka, whiskey, wine; the women are more frugal with their alcohol in-take. ''Grand Blue'' can allow such wanton consumption since [[JustifiedTrope the characters are in college and are not bound by restrictions they'd normally get in high school]].
* AllMenArePerverts: The majority of the male student body at Izu University; they'll even share their PornStash with one another. Only the upperclassmen from Peek-A-Boo aren't openly perverted.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Iori and his first-year batch-mates in mechanical engineering may piss off and {{Troll}} each other to the point where one wonders [[WithFriendsLikeThese why they're even friends]], but if a third-party mistreats one of them, they ''will'' get even or make their point clear.

* DeathGlare: Used frequently by the men when conversations about girlfriends are discussed, especially Iori and Chisa's "relationship" status. Meanwhile, Chisa is an absolute master of this, mostly towards Iori, due to EnragedByIdiocy.
* DoItYourselfThemeTune: The anime's ending theme is sung by Kouhei's and Iori's voice actors. The ending sequence frames this as the characters themselves singing that song in a karaoke session.

* LiteralMinded: [[spoiler:While attempting to work as bartenders in Chapter 14, Iori and Kouhei serve Aina's order of a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screwdriver_(cocktail) screwdriver]]; they hand her a drink with a literal screwdriver]].

Unfortunately, Iori discovers that life at the seaside isn't as great as it's cracked up to be when he gets shanghaied into joining "Peek-a-Boo", an inter-collegiate scuba diving club whose members are more interested in [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything drinking and being naked than actually diving]], which so happens to use Grand Blue as their base of operations. Alongside the hardcore {{otaku}} [[BrotherSisterIncest sis-con Kouhei Imamura]] and his diving-obsessed cousin and fellow mechanical engineering freshman Chisa, Iori might just survive this new insanity.

* TheAlcoholic: Just about every named male in the series drinks alcohol of all sorts - beer, ''sake'', spirits, vodka, whiskey, wine; the women are more frugal with their alcohol in-take. ''Grand Blue'' can allow such wanton consumption since [[JustifiedTrope the characters are in college and are not bound by restrictions they'd normally get in high school]][[labelnote:*]]Not so {{Justified}} in the {{Manga}} as the freshmen are 18 years-old, which is illegal since the legal age of consumption in Japan is 20; the {{Anime}} appropriately ages the freshmen to 20-years old[[/labelnote]].

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Drinking concoctions with an alcoholic content of higher than 70% is akin to drinking rubbing alcohol - it's not meant for consumption, and will kill anyone after a few swigs of it, yet characters who have tried "Spirytus", which has an alcoholic content of a whopping ''96%'', look no worse for the wear after repeatedly binge-drinking it. {{Lampshaded}} in Chapter 21 when Peek-A-Boo makes a cocktail made of different alcoholic drinks from each member. A chemistry major attempts to add rubbing alcohol into the mix, only to reveal he's joking as the resulting concentration is ''too low'' compared to the 96% Spirytus each member had been adding beforehand, horrifying Iori and Kouhei.

* CallBack: Iori's first look into Peek-A-Boo is repeated in Chapter 12.5, with the same paneling and all. The major differences are Aina Yoshiwara is the one opening the door to Grand Blue and Iori's joined his club members in drinking and playing games.
* CheatersNeverProsper: In Chapter 8.5, Iori and his engineering batch-mates must complete a German language exam, but they pull off various forms of "cheat sheets" because they don't know the material; unfortunately, they score with failing grades. {{Subverted}} when the professor bell-curves the scores because the class results were abyssmal, giving Iori and his friends a pass; [[spoiler:DoubleSubverted as the professor announces a re-test since he suspects they were cheating all along]]. Aina calls out Iori and Kouhei and in later chapters for fluking even with cheating.
* ComedicSociopathy: The insanity of the story and its comedy relies on this. For example, in Chapter 36.5, Iori, Kouhei, Hajime Nojima, Yuu Mitarai and Kenta Fujiwara look for a solution to help Shinichirou Yamamoto lose his virginity. They come up with two options - get him a prostitute or via "[[BlackComedyRape brute force]]".
* CosplayCafe: Iori and Kouhei are roped into helping out at a maid cafe during the Ouma Women's University festival. In Chapter 41.5, Kouhei takes Iori to a little sister maid cafe, too.

* EstablishingSeriesMoment: At first, ''Grand Blue'' appears to set up the generic {{Seinen}} story of a college freshman [[LoveAtFirstSight falling in love with a girl he just met]] before first year begins. When he opens the door to his new residence, he finds a bunch of nude, muscular men with demonic faces cackling and playing {{Drinking Game}}s and ropes him into their insanity without choice.
* {{Fanservice}}: Applicable to both genders and is equally balanced - almost all chapters feature the incredibly well-built men of Peek-A-Boo in various states of undress. Meanwhile, the women are shown in swimwear whenever possible ([[JustifiedTrope given the setting is right next to the ocean and the tropical climate allows for it]]), with [[MissFanservice Nanaka Kotegawa and Asuza Hamaoka]] the most curvy and shapely of the female cast.
* FireForgedFriends: Part of the reason Iori and Kouhei get along so well is they both only have each other to depend on whenever faced with Peek-A-Boo's ludicrous activities and demands.

* HypocriticalHumor: After an escapade with two rowdy German {{Otaku}} and their exasperated female friend, Iori and Kouhei muse the latter must have it rough dealing with two male fools all the time. They're saying this to [[OnlySaneMan Chisa]], only to realize the {{Irony}} of their statement as they start pointing fingers at each other.
* HypocriticalHeartwarming: Iori and his college friends have no qualms insulting each other for their particular vices, but when other people do the same to them, they won't hold back as Sakurako Busujima and her clique realizes.
* IncestIsRelative: Nanaka is literally in love with Chisa, while Iori is attracted to the sisters, his cousins, but won't do a thing. [[spoiler:{{Subverted}} when his uncle reveals all three are NotBloodSiblings via Iori's adopted father]].
* InsaneTrollLogic: Used occasionally among the cast against each other, with an early example being the decision to decorate Iori's room - to prove he can be independent enough, the seniors and Kouhei transform his living quarters filled with pornography, then LoliconAndShotacon material, BoysLove and {{Yaoi}} next and finally having images of Chisa's face to appeal to Nanaka's "tastes". Iori is ultimately exiled to a different detached room from the house.

* MarketBasedTitle: The official English translation of the {{Manga}} is called ''Grand Blue '''Dreaming''''', likely to avoid confusion to ''Granblue Fantasy''.
* MissingMom: {{Downplayed}} - Chisa and Nanaka's mother [[TheGhost has yet to be seen in the series]], but Iori replies to Kouhei upon being questioned of her absence she's merely working overseas.

* NightmareFace: Another artistic style the story uses and PlayedForLaughs when many characters regularly pull off these facial expressions in order to enforce a point or bemoan their situation. In fact, alcohol does not need to be involved at all.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Occasionally turns up in order to set a less comedic tone. Take the event when Peek-A-Boo's seniors set up an abandoned elementary school as a haunted house for the freshman to participate - Iori and Kouhei don't take it seriously at first until they discover their seniors have sworn off alcohol until the end of the event.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: Aside from Chisa and Aina, a lot of women, upon seeing [[MsFanservice Azusa and Nanaka]], admit to feeling this way in terms of looks.

** 99% of the time that anyone gets naked, it's usually a male member of Peek-A-Boo.

* SadistShow: Another good part of the comedy is the cast frequently {{Troll}}ing each other in any situation. {{Lampshaded}} in Chapter 21.5 by Shinichirou when he, Iori, Kouhei, Hajime and Kenta discover [[spoiler:Yuu is trying to have sex with his ChildhoodFriend]], thus they do whatever it takes to sabotage it from happening.

* SexyWhateverOutfit: Iori and Kyohei, of all characters, have "Sexy Santa" outfits for Christmas on one color cover of the {{Manga}}.

** At the welcoming party for Peek-A-Boo, after having one too many drinks, Iori drops to his knees and states "[[Manga/SlamDunk I want to play basketball]]".

** Occasionally, Peek-A-Boo will drink Spirytus, which has an alcoholic content of 96%; it almost sounds fictional, but [[https://www.google.com/search?q=spirytus&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-ab such a drink does exist]] - in its undiluted form, it really can go higher than 95%.
** The universal hand signals for diving are depicted accurately, including proper use of diving equipment and techniques. In an {{Omake}} for a collected volume of the {{Manga}}, the author details his experience during a diving trip and used it as a frame of reference for ''Grand Blue''.

* StealthInsult: When Sakurako wonders if Chisa is "the girl with the flattest chest" in Peek-A-Boo during the BeachEpisode, Iori agrees, but adds "if you consider the current lineup" to that affirmation. Evidently, Aina's still getting some jokes even when she's PutOnABus.

* WithFriendsLikeThese: Iori, Kouhei, Hajime, Shinichirou, Yuu and Kenta in a nutshell - all six are perfectly willing to murder each other for the smallest slights against one another; that being said, it's not as if Iori's motives are that much better, either.

Unfortunately, Iori discovers that life at the seaside isn't as great as it's cracked up to be when he got shanghaied into joining "Peek-a-Boo", an inter-collegiate scuba diving club whose members are more interested in [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything drinking and being naked than actually diving]], which so happened to use "Grand Blue" as their base of operations. Alongside the hardcore {{otaku}} [[BrotherSisterIncest sis-con Kouhei Imamura]] and his diving-obsessed cousin and fellow mechanical engineering freshman Chisa, Iori might just survive this new insanity.

'''Grand Blue''' (''ぐらんぶる'') is a monthly {{seinen}} {{manga}} written by Kenji Inoue (of the ''LightNovel/BakaAndTestSummonTheBeasts'' novels fame) and and illustrated by Kimitake Yoshioka (of the ''LightNovel/AmagiBrilliantPark'' manga fame). What sets it apart from most SliceOfLife stories is its cast and setting: college is very different from high school, and topics that wouldn't usually show up in the latter like the consumption of alcohol, sex and the quest to lose one's virginity are rampant. Despite the narrative's potential for raunchiness, ''Grand Blue'' is light-hearted and tells an always hilarious, yet moving story of [[ComingOfAgeStory a young man's journey into adulthood]].

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Drinking concoctions with an alcoholic content of higher than 70% is akin to drinking rubbing alcohol - it's not meant for consumption, and will kill anyone after a few swigs of it, yet characters who have tried "Spirytus", which has an alcoholic content of a whopping ''96%'', look no worse for the wear after repeatedly binge-drinking it. This was even lampshaded in chapter 21 when PAB was making a cocktail made up of a drink from each member. A chemistry major attempted to add rubbing alcohol in the drink only to reveal he was joking as the concentration was too ''low'' compared to the 96% Spriytus each member had been adding before. Iori and Kouhei were horrified.

* CallBack: Iori's first look into Peek-A-Boo is repeated when his sister comes by for a visit, with the same paneling and all. The major differences are Aina Yoshiwara is also present and Iori's joined his club members in drinking and playing games.
* CheatersNeverProsper: One side chapter of the manga has Iori and the gang cheating on a German test, which made them retook the same test by their professor. Aina even calls both Kouhei and Iori out in the later chapters about them flunking even with cheating.
* ComedicSociopathy: The insanity of the story and its comedy relies on this. To give an example, in Chapter 36.5, Iori, Kouhei, Hajime Nojima, Yuu Mitarai and Kenta Fujiwara look for a solution to help Shinichirou Yamamoto lose his virginity. They come up with two solutions - get him a prostitute or via "[[BlackComedyRape brute force]]".

* GargleBlaster: A RunningGag throughout the series features various characters passing up a concoction of 90% vodka and 10% whiskey for "oolong tea". Judging by its unfortunate consumers' reactions, drinking it isn't a pleasant experience, to say the least.

* HypocriticalHumor: After an escapade with two rowdy German otaku and their exasperated female friend, Kouhei and Iori muse that she must have it rough dealing with two fools all the time. They're saying this to [[OnlySaneMan Chisa]], and then realize the irony of their statement, pointing fingers at each other.

* LiteralMinded: [[spoiler: Chapter 14 of the manga has Iori and Kouhei working as bartenders where they served Aina a literal screwdriver when she ordered a screwdriver drink in the bar.]]
* MarketBasedTitle: The official english translation of Grand Blue is called Grand Blue ''Dreaming'', likely to avoid confusion to Granblue Fantasy.
* MissingMom: {{Downplayed|Trope}}--Chisa and Nanaka's mother has yet to be seen in the series, though as Iori tells Kouhei, she's merely working overseas.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: A lot of the other girls admit to feeling that way in terms of looks compared to [[MsFanservice Azusa and Nanaka.]]

* SurprisinglyGoodForeignLanguage: The new chapter has characters speaking [[spoiler: German]] language.

* VomitIndiscretionShot: The first episode/second manga chapter has this with Kouhei after drinking too much alongside Iori.

* {{Kimodameshi}}: The freshman go through one set up by the rest of Peek-A-Boo in same sex pairs in specialized courses. While Aina and Chisa's is textbook, Iori and Kouhei's is filled with things meant to be disgusting rather than terrifying.

* VomitIndiscretionShot: The first episode has this with Kouhei after drinking too much alongside Iori.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Drinking concoctions with an alcoholic content of higher than 70% is akin to drinking rubbing alcohol - it's not meant for consumption, and will kill anyone after a few swigs of it, yet characters who have tried "Spirytus", which has an alcoholic content of a whopping ''96%'', look no worse for the wear after repeatedly binge-drinking it.