Anime / Blade & Soul

Blade & Soul is an thirteen-episode anime adaptation of the Blade & Soul MMORPG by NC Soft, and premiered on Crunchyroll in the spring of 2014.

It follows the story of Alka, a swordswoman skilled enough to defeat foes with a single strike, as she travels the world in search of vengeance upon the person who killed her master. The story mostly deals with the futility and pain caused by the Cycle of Revenge.

Sentai Filmworks will release the show on Blu-Ray and add it to HiDive in October 2023. For the video game of the same name, see here.

---

This show provides examples of:

• Action Girl: Several of them, such as Alka and Karen.
• Action Prologue: Alka is seen running from some Palam soldiers at the beginning. They seemingly trap her and open fire, only for her to effortlessly dodge their bullets, and proceed to slit all of their throats.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • Karen gets one in episode 9 when her past is more thoroughly explored.
  • Episode 13 focuses on Karen, Dan, and Hazuki as they look for a fountain of youth on a map that brings them to an isolated island. Alka does show up, but only at the very end of the episode.
• And Then What?: Alka is so obsessed with killing Jin Varrel that she doesn't give much thought as to what to do after the latter is defeated. As a result, she has trouble trying to find something else to do, though she ends up working for Karen for a little while in her restaurant.
• The Anime of the Game: At the time it became available for Westerners to watch, the anime happened based off of an MMO that had yet to be localized in NA but was around for a while in Korea. Despite this fact, when the game was finally released years later, it turned out most people weren't even aware that an anime existed.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Palam wants to buy Morii's village for unspecified purposes.
• Anyone Can Die: Seemingly important characters are introduced, and sometimes die within the same episode.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Karen asks Alka one in episode 7. Though it's not heard what she asks, Alka has a look of shock shortly afterwards. She confirms she was the one who killed a man who Karen had some ties with, who was seen in a Flash Back in an earlier episode before being murdered by Alka.
• Ate His Gun: The man living with his wife in the forest in episode 10 does this after he accidentally shoots her instead of Alka when she steps in front of his sights as he was attempting to kill Alka.
• Ax-Crazy: The Boat of Cleansing's mother turns out to be this way, when she wants to sacrifice Alka and shower her followers in her blood.
• Beach Episode: Episode 13, which also doubles as a Hot Springs Episode as there's a hot springs on the island the main characters visit.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Karen seems civil enough, but she ends up showing that she can be pretty badass if needed, and saves Hazuki from getting her throat slit after Alka gains the upper hand on her in episode 2. She does it again in episode 5, killing a crazed man who vowed to destroy a village because they keep insisting on growing flowers used to make narcotics with.
  • Also Lon/Ron, the merchant Alka runs into in episode 2. He seems nice enough to let her keep the shawl, but at the end it turns out he revealed her to spies in Palam, hence why she was chased by various bounty hunters. Fortunately for Alka he utilizes this to help save her in episode 7 by informing Karen of her whereabouts.
  • The Boat of Cleansing people seem nice enough at first. Morii even seems at peace when she sees Alka again, and wants to introduce her to the village leader whom she refers to as "mother". Alka then finds out that they're actually more like a Cult.
• Blade Enthusiast: Alka specializes in short blades, and is quite deadly with them, much more than the typical goons with a gun she faces off against.
• Bounty Hunter: Hazuki is one, and is drawn to the prospect of Alka's 7000 gold bounty Palam put out on her. There are others, but they're killed within moments of seeing Alka.
• Brutal Honesty: Played for Laughs regarding Hazuki in episode 13 when she wonders why the fish-men consider Karen a goddess, but not her. Pia mentions they don't like women who get drunk and rowdy.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Alka's job is to kill people, so she often does it without a second thought. Then Karen reveals to her that one of Alka's targets was her lover. Alka starts to have a My God, What Have I Done? moment upon realizing it.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu:
  • Generally the more villains there are, the faster Alka kills them.
  • Villainous example with Jin Varrel. While Alka manages to last longer than a few seconds, typically the former faces off against large odds. And like the trope suggests, she generally makes short work of them.
• Cruel Mercy: What Alka suffers from in episode 9 when Karen says she wants her to live with the guilt of knowing she murdered the latter's lover.
• Cult: What the Boat of Cleansing really is, as Alka finds out the hard way in episode 7.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Alka is usually on the giving end of these.
  • Alka, along with the Pleasure Gang, are on the receiving end of one in episode 3 courtesy of Jin Varrel and her minions.
  • Jin Varrel and her minions deliver another one in episode 6 to various anti-Palam forces attempting to fight them, along with some traitors within their own ranks.
  • Karen, despite not looking like she's capable, can completely stomp Alka if needed. The few times the latter tries, the former simply dodges or deflects the attacks.
• Death Glare: Jin Varrel's specialty. She can make people vanish by simply staring at them and using a spell. Dan Roana barely dodges this when one of her minions pushes her out of the way, and later Hazuki sees the aura and says that lady creeps her out.
• Death Seeker: Alka in episodes 10 and especially 11.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Seto tries to rationalize his actions in episode 4 this way. While the first kill was solely because of self-defense, he later starts attacking and killing innocent merchants. Pia, his sister, does not like the direction he's heading, and soon he attacks a merchant with ties to one of the strongest clans in the city. He ends up dying while Alka saves Pia by killing the men that came out to find Seto.
• Doomed Hometown:
  • Morii's hometown in the first episode gets attacked by Palam because she happened to have housed Alka.
  • Almost everyone Alka runs into ends up dead, or their home being destroyed in the process, such as the Pleasure Gang's original hideout in episode 3.
• Emotionless Girl: Alka's default expression. Dan in episode 3 even mentions that it's kind of odd, and that the only other person she's seen like that was Jin Varrel.
• Enemy Mine: The Pleasure Gang saves Alka from Hazuki in episode 3. Their leader, Dan Roana, has no love for Palam either, and many of their friends and relatives were killed by them, so she suggests they work together to get their payback.
• Everyone Has Standards: Though she usually relentlessly pursues Alka, even Hazuki is taken aback after witnessing Karen killing a crazed man in episode 5. Despite clearly having an opportunity to kill Alka, she decides to simply walk off due to having lost interest for the moment.
• Evil All Along: Karen, though argubly a more sympathetic example than usual with revenge as motivation when Alka assassinated her lover in the past.
• Evil Laugh: Done by Karen in episode 9, after The Reveal.
• Evolving Credits:
  • In the ending for episode 2, the same song used in the previous episode plays, but has Karen dancing to it instead of a butterfly.
  • Additionally, Yuu does the next episode preview at the end of each episode, and describes various items and things seen throughout the show. In episode 9 and afterwards, he sports a halo above his head, indicating that he died in episode 8 helping Alka defeat Jin Varrel.
• Fanservice:
  • Quite a few of the female characters have some rather interesting outfits, such as Jin Hazuki wearing a bikini top with her pants.
  • Several of the female characters are given this treatment in episode 13, just wearing a bikini or some cloth wrappings.
• A Father to His Men: Dan Roana gets a lot of respect from her underlings because she looks out for them and usually has their best interests in mind. She tells Alka about it in episode 3, stating that they largely formed the group because they had no one else to rely on after they or their friends/relatives were attacked by Jin Varrel and Palam.
• Flash Back: Alka has some in episode 4 of various lessons her master taught her about the use of a sword.
• Forgiveness: The old woman living in the forest with her husband in episode 10. Meanwhile the man says that if Alka really wants forgiveness, she should cast her sword away at their daughter's gravesite. Unfortunately he still wants revenge for Alka killing their daughter, and attempts to kill her by shooting her.
• Frame-Up: Alka is accused by Palam of murdering her master.
• Friendly Enemy: While Karen isn't quite an ally of Alka, she does rescue the latter from time to time.
• Full-Frontal Assault: Alka attacked a peeping tom during her bath in episode 1.
• Gentle Giant: Doru, one of Dan Roana's henchmen. He's quite large, but is quite friendly to Alka.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Dan, Hazuki, and Karen all suffer hallucinations in episode 13 after spending some time in the hot springs. Alka rescues them, then reveals that the Heaven's Spirit flowers are growing above where the hot springs are located, which is what caused them.
• God Guise: In episode 13, both Karen and Dan are mistaken for goddesses after they suffer a Wardrobe Malfunction, and the creatures attacking them see their breasts. Hazuki meanwhile, gets a little jealous that they don't view her the same, largely because she's a mean drunk.
• Go Mad from the Revelation:
  • Morii at first seems to be at peace when she sees Alka again in episode 7, after losing her hometown and people due to an attack by the Palam Empire. However, the Boat of Cleansing's leader then causes all of her followers to be filled with hatred and attempts to direct it towards Alka. Morii's repressed anger resurfaces, causing her to want Alka dead. Karen just barely talks her out of her justified vengeance.
  • Alka suffers from one in episode 9 after finding out she killed Karen's lover in one of her many assassinations. She starts to hallucinate at one point, and sees the various characters she's either killed, or who died because of her.
  • Alka suffers again in episode 10 when she finds out that she was responsible for yet another murder. Namely the daughter of the man and woman who try to help her in the forest.
• Gorn: Quite a bit of blood is spilled in the show.
• Go Through Me: When a man and woman living alone in the woods sees a wounded Alka hiding in their barn in episode 10, he tries to kill her, first with an axe, and later with a hunting rifle. However, she stops him both times, and with the gun, she even blocks him from getting a clear shot. Unfortunately he accidentally kills her when Alka was ready to give up her swords at their daughter's gravesite as he suggested, and she unintentionally walks in front of his sights as he pulls the trigger.
• Grey-and-Grey Morality: A subject touched upon throughout the show. One particularly notable example happens in episode 5, when a man demands that a village stop growing Heaven's spirit flowers, which is used to make narcotic drugs with. However, said flower is also responsible for the prosperity of the village, and they were doing poorly before growing them. The man also doesn't offer any alternatives to growing the flowers, so they ignore his demands.
• Gun Nut: Hazuki's specialty.
• The Gunslinger: Hazuki is very skilled with guns and can fire trick shots.
• Heroic BSoD: Alka suffers one in episode 9 after finding she was responsible for killing somemone important to Karen. She goes white and suffers hallucinations of people she's killed or who died because of her actions. She also goes through this in episode 10 as well, as things she did in the past starts to catch up with her.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • One of Dan's men pushes her out of the way after being hit by Jin's attack, and he ends up disappearing as a result.
  • Yuu does this for Alka in episode 8 during their battle against Jin Varrel.
  • Ga Gante sacrifices himself so that Jin Varrel can escape from Yu Ran.
• Hired Guns: Alka, while she maintains vengeance for her murdered master as top priority, isn't above selling her assassination services to others if they ask her.

• Human Sacrifice: Alka nearly turns into one in episode 7, when the Boat of Cleansing's leader suggests they kill her and bathe in her blood.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Karen tells Morii this in episode 7, when the latter is on top of Alka, and really wants to kill her due to the loss of her people and hometown as a result. Alka, knowing she was responsible, doesn't try to fight back, although Karen's words make their impact, and Morii instead violently stabs the sand on the beach to vent her frustration and anger.
• I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: Done inadvertently by both Karen and Dan, when their Wardrobe Malfunction reveals their large breasts before the creatures that moments before were hostile to them. Said creatures then worship the women instead.
• Implacable Man:
  • Hazuki, who is determined to get the bounty on Alka. She finally manages to hit her in episode 3, once in the leg at the beginning, and again somewhere in the chest at the end, but Alka falls down into a river before she's able to retrieve her.
  • Alka towards Jin Varrel. Later on the roles are reversed when Jin Varrel goes seeking out Alka in episodes 11 and 12.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
  • Seto does this to a random thief who just finished killing off an old woman in episode 4.
  • Malna suffers this fate in episode 5.
  • The man who stabs Malna also suffers this fate from Karen shortly afterwards.
  • Morii nearly does it to Alka in episode 7, but then diverts her dagger at the last minute, and angrily stabs at the sand on the beach instead.
• Important Hair Cut: Alka cuts off the majority of her hair at the end of episode 1, leaving only a portion of it long.
• Improbably Female Cast: The majority of important characters are female.
• Improbable Infant Survival: Subverted. Seto is killed off, while his sister Pia survives due to Alka killing the two men who were searching for him after he stole from a merchant with ties to one of the strongest clans in the city.

• Large Ham: The man in episode 5 who hires Alka, especially towards the end of the episode.
• Love at First Sight: Karen falls in love with a man who she sees staggering down the alley with a significant wound on him in a Flash Back during episode 9. The guy tells her to call Palam guards so she can claim the bounty on his life, then says it must be fate that he fell in love with her before he was supposed to be captured. Instead she saves his life and he later comes back and builds the establishment she's seen running throughout the show.
• Men Are the Expendable Gender:
  • While some nameless women are killed onscreen, almost every important or semi-important male character dies. Even Seto, a young boy, is affected by this, while his sister Pia manages to survive.
  • Averted with two of Dan Roana's men, Guil and Doru. Unfortunately they are the only two survivors out of her gang after Jin Varrel's attack in episode 3.
• Mexican Standoff: One occurs in episode 2 when attempting to capture Alka. In the end all three of them die while Alka escapes.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Subverted. After Malna is stabbed in episode 5, the guy who stabbed her accidentally at first has this look on his face. However, he starts to rant yet again about how the Heaven's spirit flowers are bad, and will stop at nothing to destroy it, along with the villagers who continue to grow it despite his demands to them to stop. Fortunately Karen steps in to take care of him before he's able to kill anyone else.
  • Alka suffers from this in episode 9 after Karen reveals that one of her assassination targets was the latter's lover. She goes completely white suffers a Heroic BSoD as a result of it.
  • The man in episode 10 after he fires a shot at Alka, only to end up hitting his wife when she unintentionally walked into his sights while he was attempting to shoot Alka. He grieves for a moment, then turns the gun on himself.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Malna is forced to decide this in episode 5, whether to stay with the village chief who's taken care of her all this time, or to follow the man demanding the village stop producing the Heaven's spirit flowers being used to create narcotic drugs with. She ultimately sides with the chief, and takes a knife stab for him.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A lot of people and towns that Alka visits or runs into tend to have a bad end to them. For the most part it's not intentional on Alka's part, but it still causes anger in some of the survivors, such as Morii in episode 7.
• No One Could Survive That!: Dan, Hazuki, and Karen wonder about this in episode 4, after the former recalls seeing Alka hit by the "Impurity" attack by Jin Varrel, yet is still somewhat able to move instead of being vaporized by it.
• Not Quite Dead: Jin Varrel, who reappears in episode 11.
• Not So Above It All: In episode 13, several of the female characters go looking for a supposed fountain of youth they find on a map. They later find out that Alka was there as well, who also came due to the same map they had.
• Not What I Signed Up For: Yuu berates his companion in episode 6 when he finds out that the latter isn't really trying to gather anti-Palam forces and allying with the Kulun empire to overthrow Palam. Rather, he's relying on Palam forces who are attempting to takeover their empire. He tries to warn Jin Varrel of this, though nothing comes of it.
• Occult Blue Eyes: Jin Varrel's eyes have an ethereal feel to them.
• Outdoor Bath Peeping: In episode 1 Alka is bathing in a pond (the viewer only sees her Shoulders-Up Nudity or Toplessness from the Back with Sideboob) when she notices man peeping at her. So she reaches for her weapon underwater and leaps out of the water to attack him while fully nude. She doesn't kill him since his partner comes out and convinces her otherwise but she does end up scaring the peeper so much he pisses himself in fear. She doesn't bother covering herself even when told to Please Put Some Clothes On, so it's clear she was more worried about being attacked than her modesty.
• The Peeping Tom: Alka is spotted while bathing in the first episode. She responds by picking up her knife and nearly slicing his throat off.
• Perpetual Poverty: Hazuki seems to be stuck in this rut.
• The Plan: The treasure maps that the main female characters obtain in episode 13 for eternal youth turns out to be a trap to lure them into the island as brides for the creatures who don't have many women of their own. None of them are too happy about it when they hear about it, though they seem content to be worshipped.
• Pure Is Not Good: The Boat of Cleansing. Mind-controlling sounds and sacrifices, yay !
• The Quiet One: Alka's not one for conversation.
• The Rat: Lon/Ron the Merchant/Information Broker
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • Karen seems to be one, stopping rude people and also saving Hazuki's life from Alka. She also stops a crazed madman from trying to kill villagers in episode 5.
  • Dan Roana as well towards the Pleasure Gang. As a result, they work and fight really hard for her, although it doesn't help them much against Jin Varrel...
  • The village chief in episode 5. While a certain man doesn't like that his village is growing the Heaven's spirit flowers which are used as narcotic drugs, the former is also taking care of the villagers and providing them a decent livelihood.
• Red Shirt Army:
  • The Pleasure Gang in episode 3 when they try to attack Jin Varrel and her minions. They understandably get cut down rather quickly.
  • The anti-Palam army that goes up against Jin Varrel in episode 6. Despite being outnumbered, she single-handedly wipes them out.
• The Reveal: The character that's been doing the previews and providing info on various things in the episode reveals himself to be Yuu, who's finally seen in episode 6.
• Revenge:
  • Alka's primary motivation in the show.
  • Various other people are also seeking this against the Palam empire due to previous actions they did, such as forcibly taking away land, and killing relatives of the survivors who form anti-Palam groups.
  • Morii nearly kills Alka in episode 7 because of the latter causing her to lose her people and hometown.
  • Karen enacts one in episode 9. However, she doesn't want to kill Alka; rather she wants the latter to live with the guilt of having killed someone important to her.
• Sanity Slippage: Alka. See Go Mad from the Revelation above.
• Sequel Hook: Near the end of episode 12 it is revealed that Yu Ran is alive and well, and whatever it is that she and the Palam Emperor were planning is not over yet - losing control of Jin Varrel just set them back as they need to make a replacement for her.
• Serious Business: The battle between the fish-men and the cat-men in episode 13 regarding the island's hot springs, which both groups have been fighting to control. The female characters end up taking sides with each group, with Hazuki and Karen siding with the fish-men, while Dan assists the cat-men.
• Scars Are Forever: Episode 6 reveals Jin Varrel has quite a few on her body.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Karen does this to a crazed man in episode 5 after he accidentally kills someone, and vows to keep killing.
• Sneeze Cut: After the Pleasure Gang mentions it was worth buying information regarding the person Alka is chasing after, a quick scene shows Lon sneezing as he travels in the desert. He does it again after Dan mentions using him to leak information on where Alka was to lure Jin Varrel in. And it happens again in episode 5 when the man who hired Alka comments that it was Lon who recommended her.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Pia seems to be able to understand what the fish-men are saying in episode 13, and translates for Karen. Dan Roana's two henchmen also seem to at least understand the basics of what the cat-men they encounter are saying.
• Slashed Throat: Alka's signature way of killing. Jin Varrel's dragon and Hazuki immediately knows she's alive because of it.
• Swallowed Whole: Hazuki is eaten by a gigantic fish in episode 13. However, she manages to cause enough of a ruckus and Karen inadvertently frees her when she slices said fish in half.
• Taking the Bullet:
  • One occurs in episode 5, with Malna intercepting a knife attack on the village leader by a crazed guy.
  • A more straight example accidentally occurs in episode 10, when the man living in the woods with his wife accidentally shoots her instead of Alka when she unintentionally walks into his sights as he pulls the trigger to shoot Alka.
  • In episode 11, after Karen, Hazuki, and Dan find Alka, she tells them she wants to die. Karen then rushes Alka and tackles her as Hazuki shoots two bullets. It's ultimately subverted, because Hazuki deliberately missed, stating that the Alka she knew wouldn't have wanted to die, so therefore that Alka was already dead and wasn't the woman standing in front of her right there.
• Temporary Blindness: Alka is blinded after waking up from a coma in episode 4. Her vision gradually returns to her by the end of the episode.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Hazuki feels this way towards Alka. When she hears the latter may have died in episode 4, she doesn't believe it. Later on she finds evidence that Alka is indeed still alive after finding two dead men with slashed throats.
• These Hands Have Killed: Seto goes through this in episode 4 after he kills a thief in self-defense, and then manages to find some valuables the latter was pillaging from an old lady. Unfortunately he also starts heading down a very slippery slope, and soon begins to attack other merchants in order to acquire goods to sell.
• They Died Because of You:
  • Once she's filled with rage and anger by her "mother" in episode 7, Morii remembers the destruction of her hometown, as well as the death of her people due to Alka's presence, and wants to kill Alka because of it. Alka, weakened by the crazy sounds that knocked her out earlier, as well as the guilt for her accidental part in the destruction of Morii's hometown, doesn't put up a fight, and even seems ready to let Morii take her revenge. Fortunately Karen talks her out of killing Alka.
  • Karen makes it a point to let Alka know that she killed someone important to the former as well.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Subverted with Yuu in episode 6. After he finds out his partner was secretly allying with some Palam forces to take out the Palam empire, he tries to warn Jin Varrel of the attack in an attempt to avoid needless bloodshed. However, she doesn't believe him and attacks. Yuu just barely escapes her attack. Once Jin Varrel finds out about the traitors, it doesn't take her long to stomp them out as well.
  • Played straight with anyone attempting to attack Jin Varrel or her two minions. Alka barely survived her first encounter with her as well, and was only saved due a lucky shot from Hazuki knocking her down into a river.
• Tonight, Someone Dies: EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. Death flags are handed out like candy whenever Alka is around.
• To Serve Man: Dan Roana and her two henchmen are subjected to this in episode 13. However, once her top accidentally comes off and the cat-men see her breasts, they immediately worship her instead.
• Tranquil Fury: Alka can be eerily calm while attacking at times.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Alka's butterfly tattoo activates in episode 3 as she's hit by Jin Varrel's Agony Beam attack. While it's not quite seen what it does exactly, it allows Alka to move around a little bit, and doesn't vaporize her like other people hit by it.
• Tsundere: Hazuki shows shades of this when Dan suggests she join the Pleasure Gang in episode 6. She refuses to at first, but seems to do it at the end of the episode, though she vehemently refuses to wear the spiked armor the other members do. Hazuki is also a bit of a tsundere towards Alka, and in episode 12 Dan Roana and Karen even tease her about it a little bit:
  Dan Roana: You're totally into Alka now, aren't you? You like her, don't you? Even though you say otherwise.
  Hazuki: [while blushing slightly] Yeah, right...
  Karen: Looks like she's right.
  Hazuki: What?! You guys are the same, right?!
• Vengeance Feels Empty: Arguably the main theme of the series.
  • Alka defeats Jin Varrel, and realizes that killing her master's murderer didn't bring her any sort of fufillment.
  • After Karen dishes out her revenge against Alka, she doesn't really feel any better either. This prompts her to burn the mementos from her former lover and go after Alka for a second time.
• Villainous Breakdown: The idealistic guy in episode 5, who attempts to burn the Heaven's spirit flowers a village was producing. He's stopped by Karen, and then Alka refuses to follow his order to kill everyone in the village. He then starts to go crazy, and attempts to kill them himself, but is stopped first by Malna, then Karen.
• Villain Episode: Episode 6 focuses mostly on Jin Varrel and her putting down anti-Palam forces.
• Villainous Rescue:
  • In episode 3, Hazuki is still chasing after Alka. She manages to get one bullet to hit the latter's leg, but then she's chased off by the Pleasure Gang before she can move in for the kill.
  • Hazuki possibly saves Alka at the end of episode 3 after the latter is hit by a spell cast by Jin Varrel. She seems to resist the power somewhat, but then is shot and falls down into a river underneath the natural bridge leading to the Pleasure Gang's hideout. She likely would have died if she stuck around Jin longer however, considering she was barely in control of her body at that moment.
  • Alka is saved by Karen in episode 7, after falling victim to the Boat of Cleansing's deranged leader, thanks to Lon visiting the place earlier, and informing Karen's men about where she was at.
• Wardrobe Malfunction: Both Karen and Dan suffer this in episode 13. The fish-men and cat-men who were hostile to them moments before suddenly worship them instead after witnessing their rather ample cleavage.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Quite a few characters are introduced, then die within the same episode. Your best guess as to who you should be paying attention to, aside from Alka, is watching who's in the opening credits.
  • Morii finally shows up again in episode 7 after last being seen in the first episode. She gets more Character Development, and is understandably angry at Alka due to what happened to her home and people.
• Wham Episode:
  • Episode 9, where Alka learns she killed someone important to Karen. She doesn't take it very well.
  • At the end of episode 10, Jin Varrel's minions are seen attempting to resurrect her. The next episode makes it clear that they have succeeded.
  • At the end of episode 11, the four main female characters discover that Jin Varrel isn't quite dead yet.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The guy in episode 5, who views the Heaven's spirit flowers as a bad drug. While he's not wrong, he also fails to consider that said flower is what is allowing the village to prosper.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: The guy who hires Alka in episode 5. He has her assassinate guards around a village chief's house as a warning for them to stop producing the Heaven's spirit flowers, which he views as bad. Unfortunately he refuses to see that said flower is also producing the livelihood for the town, and before they grew them, their town was suffering badly and were on the brink of famine. He only cares that they stop producing the flower, and doesn't seem to have any plans beyond that to help them.
• World of Action Girls: So much so that practically all of the important characters are female.
• World of Buxom: It seems that hitting puberty in-universe means that they have to be as big as your head, or bigger.
• Wretched Hive: The city that Alka visits in episode 2, and the one Karen runs a restaurant at. At one point, a guy dies on the street, only for a nearby guard and then several other people to start searching for valuables on his body.
• You Killed My Father: Alka's reason for seeking vengeance, because someone from Palam killed her master, and framed her for it as well.

---