Now, Battle Spirits has become a legend
Battle Spirits Sword Eyes is the fifth Battle Spirits anime. It premiered on September 9, 2012, and airs at 7 a.m. Tokyo time during Sundays on TV Asahi. Somewhat departing from the lighter take on the setting shown in the previous series, Battle Spirits Heroes, Sword Eyes returns to a fantasy world setting, not unlike that of the second series Battle Spirits Shonen Gekiha Dan.
The land of Atlantia, the largest country of Legendia, is torn apart by riots. The young prince Yaiba, betrays his mother and ascends to the throne. Amidst the chaos, a newborn baby is taken away by a card battler droid known simply as Bringer. Now 14 years later, the skateboarding-loving boy named Tsurugi Tatewaki, finding the Sword Brave, awakens to his destiny as the Red Sword Eyes of Light. He must train to become a player of Battle Spirits and gather the remaining 5 wielders of the Sword Eyes of Light to face the Sword Eyes of Darkness who are hunting the 12 Sword Braves.
Tropes include:
- Action Girl: Kizakura, as usual for the girls in this franchise, is just as tough as the guys. Amarello is an even bigger one.
- Aloof Big Brother: Yaiba to Tsurugi, initially. He gets better. Tsurugi being an undaunted ball of optimism determined to get through to him helps too.
- And I Must Scream: The spirits themselves, transformed into cards and forced to battle endlessly as punishment for trying to fight God.
- Armor-Piercing Question: "Am I evil?" asked by Yaiba to Tsurugi. The fact that Tsurugi can't actually answer the question is what sets him off in the other direction to try and understand Yaiba better and find another path besides just the predestined light versus dark battle.
- Artificial Human: Suou, who was created by alchemy
- Art Shift: As usual, regular animation to CG monsters during battles
- Audience Surrogate: Tsurugi. He doesn't know the rules of Battle Spirits at first, thus giving the show an excuse to teach the viewers how to play.
- Back from the Dead: The original Suou, who was dead long before the series began, after doll Suou gives up his soul and dies.
- Big Brother Worship: Sora's little brother Long adores him.
- A Boy and His X: In this case, his Robot buddy and bodyguard Bringer. Meeting Bringer is what opens up Tsurugi's world, allowing him to leave his small town, start playing Battle Spirits, and become a hero. Bringer grows through the relationship as well, becoming more human-like. The two are partners throughout, and their bond is at least as important as that of Tsurugi and Yaiba's.
- Brainwashed: Both Sora and Haqua, who start to support the Sword Eyes of Darkness because of this
- Came Back Wrong: Rirove claims that this happened to Suou.
- Cannot Tell a Lie: Bringer is unable to lie. However, he can bluff.
- Childhood Friends: Sora and Kizakura.
- Collectible Card Game
- Colony Drop: Garudos tries to drop what he calls "the iron hammer of God" onto earth, which is essentially a giant moon.
- Cool Bike: Bringer's
- Damsel in Distress: Grenada, Tsurugi's mother. Or so it seems, until the revelation that she's Not Brainwashed. And then, not even on Yaiba's side to begin with.
- Distressed Dude: That being said, Sora spends a large chunk of the later part of the serious captured and then brainwashed.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Tsurugi, once he obtains the Red Sword Eyes of Darkness. On a larger scale, the preconception that those on the side of the Sword Eyes of Darkness WERE evil actually hinders quite a few things. Tsurugi working past that and trying to understand the perspective of those on the other side ultimately brings them together in the end.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Interestingly, this is subverted with: Gordy. After Tsurugi defeats him, it looks like Gordy is going to join up with the good side. However, Yaiba interferes, and the next time Gordy is seen, he's back to his old self. It works the second time, though.
- Disappeared Dad: Tsurugi's father, Atlaios. Supposedly, he's dead.
- Confirmed to be dead, as Garudos murdered him.
- Duels Decide Everything: Of course.
- The Evil Prince: Yaiba
- He's actually a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
- Evolving Credits: Both OP themes were periodically modified to show spirits from the latest sets. Additionally, the 2nd OP gradually adds the Sword Braves once they're shown in the anime.
- Eye Catch: Changes depending on which characters are featured in the episode.
- Foreshadowing: In Episode 7, all six Sword Eyes of Darkness are shown, with the unrevealed ones at the time in silhouette form. The Red Sword Eyes of Darkness' silhouette is clearly Tsurugi's.
- The Glasses Come Off: Haqua's once he's revealed as a Sword Eyes. The OP made it obvious that they'd come off eventually.
- Godhood Seeker: Yaiba actually wants to surpass God. With somewhat justifiable reason. He plans to kill God with the Sword of Judgment and guide the humans in a world that they run.
- Also, after getting the Sword of Judgment, Garudos believes himself to be God.
- Gratuitous Ninja: Hagakure, the green Sword Eyes of Light comes from a ninja village
- Hidden Backup Prince: Tsurugi.
- The High Queen: Grenada has this reputation.
- Kid Hero: All of the Sword Eyes of Light are teenagers (or look it, as they don't have canon ages aside from Tsurugi)
- King Incognito: Megalla II, the King of Megallanion, disguises as a commoner.
- Mark of Shame: Brau's scar. Because of it, he was no long able to be part of the royal guard, and it reminds him of his failure and need for revenge on Bringer.
- Meaningful Name: Both Tsurugi and Yaiba mean blade.
- And then there's Rebel. He's a rebel.
- Amarello and Brau, which can sound like amarillo (yellow) and blau (blue). Guess what colors they use?
- Possibly Grenada too. While she has nothing to do with the country, when pronounced in Japanese, her name sounds like "guren" which means crimson. She's involved with the Red Army.
- Money Fetish: Haqua. Somewhat justifiable since he owns a business, but he gets to the point of tricking Hagakure into buying useless junk, and trying to bribe Cornell to get out of prison.
- Narcissist: Rirove outright admits to being one.
- Ninja Brat: Hagakure, though he has his moments of awesome, is actually a pretty unskilled ninja.
- Older Than They Look: Garudos which actually becomes plot-significant.
- Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: Brau almost seems to have a death wish, as whenever he loses a battle risking something important, he offers Yaiba the chance to behead him.
- Poor Communication Kills: While he does justify it, Yaiba could've saved himself a lot of trouble by just telling the Sword Eyes of Light why he wanted the Sword of Judgment.
- Raised by Grandparents: Tsurugi was raised by non-blood related grandparents, since his father was dead and mother missing.
- Red Is Heroic: Tsurugi, who wears red, uses red, and is the red Sword Eyes of Light.
- Refusal of the Call: Haqua tries this, going as far as using special glasses to hide the fact that he is a Sword Eyes.
- The Mole: As of ep. 24, Grenada is revealed to be one, as she's actually working with the Red Army.
- The Rival: Tsurugi vs. Yaiba
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Tsurugi and Kizakura both adamantly deny it when Tsurugi's old friends think they're a couple.
- Shonen Hair
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Tsurugi and Yaiba, with a literal twist with Tsurugi as a Sword Eyes of Light and Yaiba as a Sword Eyes of Darkness. Their personalities are just as different. The dynamics change a little once Tsurugi gets the Red Sword Eyes of Darkness because he wanted to be able to understand Yaiba's perspective better. Yaiba does his share of defrosting too towards the end.
- The Smurfette Principle: The Sword Eyes of Light and Darkness appear to have one female member each.
- Spoiler Opening: It shows you who the majority of the Sword Eyes are, before they're introduced/revealed to be Sword Eyes in canon.
- Supreme Chef: Kizakura. She seems to only make sweets, but they're high quality.
- Sweet Tooth: Kizakura. She's the head of an organization devoted to Sweets.
- Tsundere: Haqua is a male version. He's a Type A, with a crush on Kizakura, and even voiced by Rie Kugimiya. He also plays this role in a platonic way with the other Sword Eyes of Light, trying really hard to not be friends with them.
- Undying Loyalty: Serveal cases of this. Bringer to Tsurugi. Of course, he's a droid, so it's just in his programming. Additionally, Amarello to Grenada, because she was told by her father to protect Grenada, and this gave her a purpose. Similarly, Brau dedicated himself to Yaiba for accepting him. Really, don't threaten Tsurugi or Grenada around Bringer or Amarello unless you're ready to take a beating.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Yaiba seems to think he's going to benefit the world in the long run. Everything has been part of his plan to save the people from destruction. Still, he's caused suffering for quite a lot of people in doing so, to the point that Tsurugi thought of him as evil at first.
- Yin-Yang Bomb: Tsurugi becomes the Red Sword Eyes of both Light and Darkness. Exemplified when he Braves both of his Sword Braves to his ultimate ace card, Shining-Dragon-Overray.
