Anime / Koihime†Musou

Having lost her family to bandits during a night raid, Kan'u travels across a war-torn China hunting down evil bandits and fighting for justice. During her journey, she comes across others who wish to join her cause. One of them is a little girl named Chouhi, who was also orphaned by bandits.

The Animated Adaptation of the H-Game inspired by Romance of the Three Kingdoms turns Koihime†Musou into Yuri Fan bait by removing the male protagonist altogether: there are actually very few notable men in any of the episodes. The anime's plot is secondary to gratuitous but surprisingly classy fanservice and keeps very little from the original novel. It basically consists of the expies of the "Five Tiger Generals" coming together from across China to band against the anarchical rule of generic bandits.

The anime based on the first game aired in the summer of 2008, and a second season Shin Koihime†Musou aired in the fall of 2009. The third season, Shin Koihime†Musou ~Otome Tairan~ aired in the spring of 2010. Prior to Shin Koihime, an animated follow-up OVA was released with the seventh DVD volume, set in a modern Japanese high school (but without The One Guy again). A sequel to the OVA was released on July 7, 2010, where the characters went on a trip to a southern island.

Depending on region, the broadcast episodes can legally be seen for free at Crunchyroll:

• Koihime†Musou
• Shin Koihime†Musou
• Shin Koihime†Musou - Otome Tairan

Compare Ikki Tousen. Especially since, as of 2010, Koihime and Ikki Tousen are collaborating on the basis of their similar setups.

For individual character tropes, see the full character list.

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Tropes in relation to multiple characters or the franchise:

• Animal Motifs: Bachou's a horse, Chouhi is compared to either a tiger or a pig, and Chouun to a butterfly.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Kan'u and Chouhi in the season one opening, Kan'u and Chouun, Chouhi and Bachou, Batai and Gien in the Otome Tairan opening.
• Bait-and-Switch: Otome Tairan begins with General Kashin being fed what appears to be poison; turns out it can make a person look like a Cat Girl.
• Bait-and-Switch Credits:
  • The opening to season one reveals a person obscured by a snow storm. It was the Fake Ryuubi.
  • A phoenix was shown in season one's opening; it has never appeared in the series at all.
• Bathtub Bonding: The first episode has Chouhi joining Kan'u in the bathtub after their duel, a little before they make their pact of sisterhood.
• Battle Aura: Kan'u and Bachou, among others.
• Beach Episode: The Shin Koihime OVA.
• Big Ball of Violence: Used in the first season and OVA endings, when Bachou tries to steal Chouhi's food.
• Big Damn Heroes: Chouun's re-entry in episode 7, everyone's in episode 12 of season one.
• Big Eater: Chouhi and Bachou, but Kyocho outperforms both because she's a freaking pro at eating contests.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: The nameless recurring mooks.
• Bloodless Carnage: Not a single character ever comes out bleeding from the fights.
• Blue with Shock:
  • Kan'u and Chouhi after they found out the monster that caused them to faint was merely a puppet.
  • Kada when Sousou threatens to cut off his head in the Shin Koihime finale.
• Body Double: In the final attack against Ukitsu, Ryuubi wearing a green version of Kaichou Kamen's mask tries to stab him, but he knocks her down with a magic spell, leaving her dangling on the ledge of his mobile base. But when he takes off her mask, it's actually Choukaku posing as Ryuubi, wearing Ryuubi's outfit and wielding a false sword. The real Ryuubi, wearing a different outfit and wielding the real magical sword, suddenly appears from behind Ukitsu after jumping out of the giant "bento" box Chouhi was carrying, and before he can escape, Choukaku grabs his feet causing him to fall on his back, and Ryuubi hurls her sword at him, impaling him.
• Brick Joke: Played very straight in episode 8 of Otome Tairan: Chouhi develops her double trap again as a way to catch Moukaku. Anyone who've seen the first episode of season one will likely remember Kan'u falling for it; in fact, she cements this trope by sneezing herself.
• Broke Episode: Episode three of season one.
• Cast Full of Gay: Due to an Improbably Female Cast, there's several confirmed lesbians such as Sousou and her harem or Sonsaku's relationship with Shuuyu, and much Homoerotic Subtext among the other girls.
• Censor Steam: Lampshaded a lot in the Hot Springs Episode, partially subverted in the collective DVD volumes, where it's "semi-censored". Shin Koihime manages to enable censorship...through use of rays of sunlight.
• Chekhov's Gun: Remember Ryuubi's sword coming from that dragon when she saved that village back in Shin Koihime, and given to her at the beginning of Otome Tairan? Apparently, it's the only thing that can kill the nigh invulnerable Ukitsu. Kada explains that when a dragon hatches from its egg and ascends into the sky in the middle of a lightning storm, it leaves behind a claw that can eventually become a sword. If that sword is wielded by a someone of noble birth and having a strong will, it can slay any evil opponent no matter how invulnerable.
• Cipher Scything: As stated in the article, the animated adaptation removes the original visual novel's protagonist Kazuto altogether.
• Combat Commentator: Appears during Enshou's tournaments and in the OVA's student council competition.
• Conjunction Interruption: When Chouhi or any of the characters try to object to a plan, they're usually cut off before they can finish.
• Cosplay: Done during all of Enshou's ridiculous tournaments.
  • In Otome Tairan, Enshou cosplays (or more technically speaking, plays) as Sousou during a play, down to the outfit, hairstyle, and flat-chested look (using a Sarashi, which took a lot of work to put on Enshou by Bunshuu) while Ganryou plays as Keifa, and Bunshuu plays as Kakouton. All while Kan'u, Sonshoko, and Rikuson play as the Yellow Turban leaders. To top it all off, Shutai plays as the Wishful Projection version of Kan'u.
• Continuity Nod: Several small events get referenced throughout the anime series. For example, in the last episode of Shin Koihime Musou, Chinkyuu has a chess match with Kaku. The latter appears to be winning handily until Chinkyuu's pet dog knocks over the game board. In Shin Koihime Musou Otome Tairan, Chinkyuu has a match with Keifa and Chinkyuu gestures for her dog to disrupt the game again but this time Keifa had one of her comrades distract the dog... Other smaller examples are Enjutsu using the cup that Koumei traded for Ryuubi's sword in all subsequent episodes and the pit traps Chouhi used on Kan'u which is subsequently used on Moukaku.
• Cranial Eruption:
  • Gien gets this as punishment for being "overzealous" with Ryuubi when she was helping her bathe.
  • Chouun back in Shin Koihime for embarrassing Kan'u in front of mooks.
• Cuteness Proximity:
  • Shutai tends to lose it around cute critters, especially cats.
  • In Otome Tairan, Kan'u herself becomes "infected" by this trope after Shutai invites her to play with a lounging cat, and explicitly plays it straight herself at the end of Otome Tairan towards the Nanban Barbarians.
• Dancing Theme: Otome Tairan's ending, with loads of Super-Deformed.
• Day in the Life: One episode in Shin Koihime chronicles the Chou Sisters rise to stardom.
• Delinquents: Gien in Otome Tairan began as one; apparently her ego's so high she wanted to show off her skills by being a troublemaker, which is the reason for all those Cool And Unusual Punishments from Gengan. She cools off and is forgiven by her master after saving Ryuubi from a second Attempted Rape.
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: In the finale of Shin Koihime, Kakuka has a flashback of her singing the ED after getting out of the shower, and the group performs the OP during their battle of the idol singers.
• Distracted by the Sexy:
  • In the OVA, Enshou attempts to do this to Sousou. It works.
  • Gien nearly gets maimed by Chouhi after letting the sight of a flushed, panting Ryuubi get to her.
  • The Nanman Barbarians and Gien getting lured into a trap by a breast bouncing Ryuubi.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: All over the place! One example would be Sonsaku telling Shuuyu that her "rear gate isn't well defended".
• Double Entendre: The whole damn series uses this humor often.
  • Chouhi when mentioning her relationship with Kan'u.
  • Lampshaded by Sousou in the Shin Koihime anime to Kan'u:
  "You and I are close, so we should be "friendly" with each other."
• Entertainingly Wrong: Everyone she meets keeps thinking Kan'u is Chouhi's mother when they are Blood Sisters. When she convinces others she isn't, people usually start seeing their relationship in a totally different light, which she finds worse
• Erotic Eating:
  • Bachou just before she has her Mushroom Samba moment.
  • A particularly gratuitous scene in Shin Koihime involving candy. Lampshaded a moment later by Chouun:
    "Oh. We weren't supposed to lick them and make sucking noises?"

• Expressive Accessory:
  • Chouhi's tiger hairpin always mimics her facial expression.
  • Teiiku in Shin Koihime has an egg-shaped ornament that does something similar.
• Eye Catch: Some are cute, others are funny, the rest are just plain ecchi, mostly after the ending. Also done in a well-edited manner for the Iron Chef episode in Shin Koihime.

• Fanservice: Everywhere; you can't go 30 seconds without encountering a moment.
• Fire-Breathing Diner: Gakushin with her mystery meal to Chouhi, Koumei and Mao in the Shin Koihime anime; surprisingly, Gakushin herself seems unfazed by the lava-like heat.
• First-Name Basis: The entire first episode of the second season is about Bachou finding the courage to call Chouhi by her private name Rinrin and asking her to call her Sui. At the end of the episode, everyone in the main group agree to call each other by their private names as an acknowledgement of them being True Companions.
• Flashback: Kan'u, Bachou, and Chouhi among others; Chinkyuu gets a Whole Episode Flashback in Shin Koihime.
• Foe-Tossing Charge: Chouun gets to pull one off in the first Season Finale.
• Foreshadowing: In Otome Tairan, there's a close-up of Koumei's chipped ink stone. We find out later that Chouhi's the one who damaged it.
• Friendly Address Privileges: Being given permission to refer to someone by their mana or private name, is a big deal. It implies that you two are either True Companions or like family to them. An entire episode was devoted to Bachou getting permission to use Chouhi's private name.
• Funbag Airbag: In the OVA, when Koumei tries to buy some bread at the school canteen, she gets shoved back by the crowd and plows face-first into Kan'u's chest.
• Funny Background Event: In Shin Koihime Musou, whenever there's an establishing shot of a restaurant, there's usually some baffling sight just outside. Like the buff, bald dude wearing nothing more than a tiny pink thong in "Koumei Wishes for a Sister".
• Ghostly Goals: In Shin Koihime, the deceased mother of an orphan befriended by Ryuubi and company comes back to teach the selfish Enjutsu not to disregard the living or the dead.
• High School AU: The OVA included on the seventh DVD of all three seasons. Notably, the high school is St. Francesca, the same school in one of BaseSon's previous visual novels, Harukoi*Otome.
• Historical Gender Flip: As per the original game, practically all military and political figures of the Three Kingdoms period are turned into young girls and women. This ancient China is evidently a lot more open-minded about women in positions of power than in real life.
• Homage: In the OVA, the scene with Kayuu and Chouryou at the cruise ship's bow is a homage to Titanic (1997). It ends humorously though.
• Honor Before Reason: Toutaku takes it to the extreme in Otome Tairan: after Sousou refuses to dispense any kind of punishment to her for the supposed crimes of her kingdom, she declares to commit Seppuku. She is stopped by a cunning ploy by Kakuka (who brings out the severed head of the imitation Toutaku), and Chouun, who uses Toutaku's Queen Incognito activities to portray Toutaku as "Tonton the dillusional peasant", making Sousou dispense a different kind of "punsihment" that Toutaku finds more "acceptable".
• Horse of a Different Color: Chouhi rides a pig into battle. This earns her the title Fierce Pig General.
• Hot Springs Episode: Episode nine of the first season is about the characters going to the hot springs to relax.
• I Ate WHAT?!: Subverted. When Ten'i hinted to Kan'u's group what the main ingredient in her meat buns were, they freaked out when they thought she meant people, when really she meant chicken; they're very relieved when they found out that it was the latter. Later on, it's implied Bachou might've added something extra to the fish for dinner when she peed at a river...
• "I Know What We Can Do" Cut: Episode 12 of Shin Koihime employs this.
• Idiots Cannot Catch Colds: Chouhi attempts to prove this theory at the end of season one; it doesn't work.
• Imagine Spot:
  • Different characters when thinking about MIA friends.
  • Keifa develops an incredibly ecchi one, involving licking Sousou's feet and being stepped on
• Improbably Female Cast: All the major characters are female and the guys are less than can be counted in one hand.
• Incoming Ham: Played hilariously in the Shin Koihime anime: when Chouun introduces Kan'u to the bandits by "hamming her up" with embarrassing stuff, she gets a lump on the head from Kan'u in response, the bopping hidden by a Relax-o-Vision).
• Ineffectual Death Threats:
  • Kan'u constantly employs this when encountering bandits.
  • Bachou states she will kill Sousou but has since given up on it after asking a favor to provide reinforcements in the season one finale
  • Sousou keeps claiming she'll have Kada's head, but he seems safe...at least for the moment...
• Inner Monologue: Kan'u, Bachou and Chouryou, to name a few.
• Innocent Innuendo: In Otome Tairan, when Kouchuu mentioned to everyone that Riri heard Bachou making strange noises when she was alone in her room, Chouun jumps the gun, thinking she was masturbating.
  Chouun: *completely straight face* She was using her fingers to climb the stairs to Heaven?
  Kan'u: *chokes on her wine*
• Is That Cute Kid Yours?: Chouhi (and sometimes Koumei) is repeatedly mistaken for Kan'u's daughter. This is usually followed by a flustered Kan'u blurting out she has never done anything that would lead to a child.
• It Tastes Like Feet: The "antidote" for Kashin's poison, concocted by Shokatsuryou from the ingredients prescribed by Kata. It stinks so bad everyone very quickly pulled way back, with about half of them holding their noses, once it was brought to the main room by Shokatsuryou (who was already cringing while bringing it out). It doesn't help that it's colored green too. Lampshaded by Chouhi, and especially oh so much by Chouun:
• Joshikousei: In the OVA, all the girls wear these.
• Judgment of Solomon: Moukaku and Chouhi fight over the ownership of the elephant Paya Paya, but the moment Moukaku notices Paya Paya is being hurt by them pulling him, she releases him. Koumei determines Moukaku is the real owner because she was the one who showed concern over the animal's wellbeing.
• Ki Manipulation: Kada and his needles, Kousonsan in her fight against Enshou, Gakushin when fighting the stone soldiers.

• Last Request: Although Bachou's father Batou sustained a fatal head injury from falling off his horse while drunk, he was able to request the way he died be kept a secret because the truth would shame his family.
• The Law of Conservation of Detail: You have to be colorblind not to be able to tell who is or will be important.
• Lighter and Softer: Compared to the original novel and some other "adaptations" such as Ikki Tousen. For one, very few characters are outright evil and several of the villains of the original novel have Historical Hero Upgrades.
• Like Parent, Like Spouse: Or Like Sibling, Like Spouse:
  • Kan'u idolized her dead older brother, and her attraction to the Fake Ryuubi is primarily because he reminds her so much of him, until he's revealed to be a Con Man
  • Gien is attracted to Ryuubi due to a striking resemblance to her dead older sister.
• Look Behind You:
  • Played totally straight with a bear.
  • Then again in Otome Tairan with a demon possessed Payapaya.
• Lost Him in a Card Game: Sonshoukou bet Kan'u in a contest against Sousou, while Sousou bet herself as well as Kakoton and Keifa
• Lost in Translation: In "Kougai Makes a Plan to Deceive her Allies", Bachou tosses a rope to Chouun and says she got it from Koumei. The camera then does a dramatic zoom on Chouun's face, and she yells^note  According to the Crunchyroll subs "It's a rope of Koumai's?!" A stunned Bachou then does a comedy pratfall. It's obvious some kind of pun happened, but the translator apparently couldn't be bothered coming up with a Woolseyism or just putting a translator's note on it.
• Love Bubbles: During Sousou and Keifa's scene in the OVA, or when Koumei thinks Bachou and Ryuubi were together in Otome Tairan
• Lucky Charms Title: Actually, the show's title is "Koihime†Musou"
• Magical Girl: Ryuubi, Kan'u, and Chouhi become these in the Shin Koihime Musou OVA. Which is also a Shout-Out to Powerpuff Girls Z. Aside from the color motifs, Ryuubi takes after Hyper Blossom (complete with the ribbon), Kan'u is modelled after Rolling Bubbles (her attack involves shooting "Carbonated Water"), and Chouhi takes after Powered Buttercup (complete with a hammer, with its head made of Daikon).
• Maid Cafe: Meido cafes in Ancient China = win...or not, especially when Ryoufu attempts to work in one.
• Mistaken for Gay:
  • Kan'u and Chouhi's relationship when Chouhi tells people about their "vow of sisterhood" and that they "pledged their relationship in bed".
  • Bachou and Ryuubi were seen in a "compromising" position in Otome Tairan.
• Mistaken for Pregnant:
  • Kada mistakes Sousou for this when questioning her about her "illness".
  • Ryuubi in Otome Tairan uses it for comedic effect.
• Mooks: The bandits exist solely for the purpose of having their asses handed to them by the heroines in every damn engagement.
• Musical Episode: Done in the second season finale. There's even a sing-off, and a song to stop the war against the Yellow Turbans. In fact, this lead fans to believe season two was a "musical season", which then lead to an OVA of Kann'u and Chouhi singing at a stadium. Apparently, writing group Go Zappa were quite into music for this season.
• Mythology Gag: In the some of the anime endings, the girls are seen wearing new outfits. Several of these are from the visual novels such as Koumei's "fairy" outfit.
• Near-Death Experience: When she's going to play Sousou at Enjutsu's play, Enshou has Bunshuu tie down her breasts to portray Sousou as flat-chested as possible. Bunshuu ends up tying them up so hard that Enshou passes out and dreams of being naked at the banks of a river with her dead grandmother waving across at her.
• No Periods, Period:
  • Averted for a pun in the first On the Next of Otome Tairan.
  • Averted when Kada questions Sousou about her "illness", mistaking "it" not happening for a month to refer to this.
• Not What It Looks Like: In Otome Tairen, Koumei stumbles into Bachou and Ryuubi half-naked and in a compromising position, leading her to think they did something together and runs off in embarrassment. It becomes worse when Ryubi starts acting strangely, namely her forced diet after being self-conscious about her figure, leading everyone to somehow think she's pregnant with Bachou's child! Further exacerbated when Ryuubi's found writhing in pain due to food poisoning, which is mistaken for going into labor!
• One-Steve Limit: Subverted somewhat in the Shin Koihime anime: the fake Ryuubi stole the real Ryuubi's sword and name to try to become famous. The real Ryuubi appears in Shin trying to find the stolen blade to regain her lineage (and to stop her mother from throwing her into a river). Cue Kouchuu and Bachou barging in weapons blazing at Ryuubi, thinking it's the fake.
• Only Six Faces: The recurring bandit gangs parody this: the same three bandits : a short guy, a fat guy and a skinny guy seem to be in charge of every bandit gang, but they never recognize the main characters
• Pet Baby Wild Animal: Chouhi states she kept wild animals (a bear and a boar) as pets when she was little. It's a bit of a Running Gag that Chouhi mistakes wild animals for her childhood pets several times, so instead of happy reunions, the characters end up having to run for their lives.
• Potty Emergency: Bachou suffers multiple of these. It's even a large part of episode eleven of Shin Koihime.
• The Power of Rock: The battle against the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the Shin Koihime anime finale is fought not with weapons, but with songs. The Chou Sisters vs. Enjutsu, Choukun and Kakuka, though almost everyone else joins in for song powered by friendship
• Relationship Reveal: Sonsaku and Shuuyu.
• Relax-o-Vision: Used humorously for concealment of certain "stuff":
  • Once in the OVA when the announcers tried to explain why Kacho Kamen was in Chouun's place in one of the contests. Of course, the audience knows it's the same person, but it cuts the conversation short (implying it was supposed to be a secret) and the show proceeds to a much later scene
  • Used again in the Shin Koihime anime when Chouun is introducing Kan'u to the bandits and starts saying something really embarrassing about her. ROV cuts the talk short; moments later, the scene returns with Chouun now sporting a lump on her head
  • Gien and Batai are bitter rivals as of Otome Tairan. However, in the last episode, Batai charges into battle paired with Gien, proclaiming that she wields her spear alongside the person who she has entrusted her life to.
• Robinsonade: Played With in the second High School AU OVA. Flashbacks showed Ryuubi going on a trip, and apparently, she disappeared without a trace. She ended up on what she presumed was a Deserted Island, but it turned out to be the same island resort the rest of the cast went to. She was rescued by the Nanban Barbarians who lived there, but they never ventured far enough from their home to reach the "resort" area until the Giant Octo-Payapaya incident.
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Shin episode 8. Lampshaded when Aisha points out that when dealing with monsters, the old guy you met in the junkyard at the beginning of the episode is usually behind everything.
• Sealed Army in a Can: Ukitsu's ultimate plan in Otome Tairan is to bring to life the Terracotta (Clay) Army hidden underneath the city capital, using the fully charged Crucial Keys to the Way of Peace, and conquer China. They are ultimately defeated by sealing the Crucial Keys.
• Seme:
  • Chouun asks Chouhi and Kan'u which of them is the "seme" and "uke", clearly having her own ideas of their sisterhood, which doesn't help Kan'u when Chouhi states she'd rather be the seme of the two
  • In one episode preview, Kouchuu "teaches" that girls with blond curls (namely, Sousou) are the seme, while girls with a side-ponytail (specifically, Kan'u) would be the uke. Man, they really aren't subtle about this, are they?
• Serious Business: Eel sandwiches, apparently the main source of strife in the OVA
• Shout-Out: Happen a lot.
  • Chouun explains she became Butterfly Mask following death, meeting with Ultraman and getting resurrected. It's a lie, of course.
  • Chouun actually becomes a variant of Ultraman in the Shin Koihime OVA in order to battle the gigantic Octopus-Payapaya; she powers up by donning her Butterfly Mask. However, she is quickly defeated via titillation.
  • In same OVA, after Ryuubi, Kan'u and Chouhi were those rings they turn into the Powerpuff Girls Z.
  • Also, Kada Genka's "GENKI NI NAREEEEE!!!!"
  • One of the spells used by the Chou sisters bears a remarkable resemblance to the Dragon Slave.
  • In Shin Koihime Musou, Enshou attacks very similar to that Spam Punch. Unfortunately, Kousonsan defeats her with "White Horse Comet Fist!!".
• Show Some Leg: Chouun plays this in season one. Repeated later by Sonshoukou, except she strips completely down to her underwear.
• Skinship Grope:
  • Ryofu when she bathed Chinkyuu; according to the latter it "tickled".
  • Gien gets so "excited" when helping to bathe Ryuubi that she scrubs her breasts until we hear a scream. We find Ryuubi passed out and needing time to recover from the ordeal.
• Slasher Smile: Kan'u, after a boy threw rocks at her and called her names in season one; also done with Chouun a few times.
• Sleep Cute: Chouhi effectively blackmails Kan'u into this. Ryofu and Chinkyuu in Shin Koihime.
• Sneezing: Happened to Pairen when people mentioned how she had Ryuubi's sword. Also happened to Kada when Chouhi mentioned his name. Used as a Running Gag in Otome Tairan with Kan'u being referenced several times in one episode by Chouhi and crew.
• Sorry to Interrupt: Koumei to Bachou and Ryuubi in Otome Tairan.
• Sparkling Stream of Tears: Chouhi and Keifa at various times.
• Spoiler Title: In a possible Shout-Out to Mazinger Z, the title of episode two in season one is "Kan'u is going to die with Chouun". Guess what DOESN'T HAPPEN.
  • Stealth Hi/Bye:
  • Ryofu does this to Chinkyuu when she's having trouble sleeping, she just popped-up out of nowhere
  • Chouun's reappearance in Otome Tairan.
• Stripperific: Almost every character. Even the costumes who would be more or less acceptable by modern standards would be scandalous in ancient China.
• Strong Family Resemblance:
  • Kan'u's brother looked like a male version of her.
  • Bachou's cousin Batai looks like a younger version of her.
• Super-Deformed: Usually happens during light-hearted scenes, such as the ending video. Subverted in the DVD versions, though.
• Sworn Brothers: In relation to the brotherly bond between Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and their master Liu Bei, Kan'u, Chouhi and later Ryuubi form a pact of sisterhood. They're so close it's easy to forget they're not blood related.
• Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: Battles in the visual novels: archers beat spearmen, spearmen beat cavalry, cavalry beat archers.
• Take My Hand!: Kan'u and Chouun pull this off in episode two of season one.
• Talking in Your Sleep: Bachou, Chouhi, and Moukaku at various times; the latter two have also been known to bite in their sleep.
• A Taste of the Lash: Chouhi almost received this in the very first episode as punishment for her constant outrageous pranks. In the OVA, Totaku feigns giving Ryofu's puppy this; the reason is so Ryofu is motivated to win the three-legged race.
• Ten Minutes in the Closet: In Otome, Tairan Sonsaku and Shuuyu get into a spat, and Kougai eventually tricks them into going into a storage room together and locks them in to force them to resolve their differences. Next morning they're found sleeping together naked.
• Through Her Stomach: Several times througout the series, but most prominently featured at the very ending of Otome Tairan: Sonken to Ryomou when the last piece of the food the latter wanted was taken by Sonsaku; then Sonsaku attempts one to Shuuyu mouth-to-mouth; then much later Chouryou trying it on Kan'u before they are interrupted by Ryuubi.
• Tickle Torture: In her introduction episode, Gien gets punished for insubordination by Gengan and is tied up and tickled using a catnip twig. Rather than being Played for Laughs, her reaction is rather erotic.
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: In the Shin Koihime anime, there exists a magical book "Crucial Keys to the Way of Peace", with a slight mind of its own, thus even if used for good, will cause misfortune and strife. Was in the possession of the Idol Singer trio and used by them to further their career, and being sought after by Kada to have it sealed away. Ukitsu took possession of it by the end of Shin Koihime, and used it in Otome Tairan to bring the Terracotta Army to life and launch his conquest of China. After Ukitsu is killed by Ryuubi, Kada finally seals it, which in turn causes the Terracotta Army to revert back into ordinary clay statues.
• Training from Hell:
  • Bachou puts her cousin Batai through this in Shin Koihime. Apparently, it's a standard training regimen for their family/village martial art style (or so claimed by the former). Said regiment includes (but not limited to):
    • Bunnyhopping with a big weight tied to one's waist, fast upside-down situps while hanging from a tree, swinging a log, and push-ups while having someone sit on one's back - and all this is just warm-up
    • Tying oneself to a tree, then jumping into a raging whirlpool - to build resistance against all kinds of movement
    • Doing a handstand while circling around a volcano crater
    • Playing baseball against Kouchuu's arrows using a decent sized log as a bat - to improve one's ability to track high-speed projectiles
    • In Otome Tairan, Ryuubi starts to become conscious of her figure after a few remarks from Chouhi, and begs Bachou (who Ryuubi is surprised to find having the "perfect figure" despite being a Big Eater) to put her through the latter's training regimen, with disastrous results-
• True Companions: All factions reflect this: their friends/comrades are their family.
• 12-Episode Anime: Every season consists of twelve episodes.
• Twitchy Eye: Kan'u and others when annoyed
• Two-Teacher School: In the OVA, Sonsei and Kashin are the only teachers, while Kouchuu is the school nurse, and Chousen the principal
• Unusual Euphemism: In episode 1 of the second season. Bachou kept on trying to have Chouhi say her true name by practicing on a drawing, a process which Riri saw. When Riri describes what she saw, Chouun wonders if what Riri saw was, in her words, "using her fingers to ride the stairs to heaven."
• Verbal Tic:
  • Chouhi's "Nano da!"
  • Ukin's "-nano", although she ends some sentences with just "-no".
  • The Nanban Barbarians' "Nyaa!"
• Volleying Insults: Enshou's team loves to engage Sousou's in such confrontations.
• Walking the Earth: The series is famous for almost always having its main characters on either random adventures, or fetch quests.
• Who Would Be Stupid Enough?:
  • Apparently you, Kan'u, for falling into a trap meant for mooks set by kids
  • Ditto with Nanban Barbarian leader Moukaku, who very easily got herself caught in a bleedingly obvious looking basket trap just because it was baited with fish.
• Wire Dilemma: In Otome Tairan, the Nanban Elephant gets turned into a raging beast which no one can defeat, and Chouhi has to cut off its fake tail to get it to return to normal
• World of Action Girls: Pretty much all girls wield a weapon, even some that don't, such as Chinkyuu punishing a stranger for getting too close to Ryofu.