Floreixen is a fantasy anime series that currently exists primarily in the minds of Massawhore, Danichuu and their three other teammates (composing Team Hoshigumi) who came together for this project via a two-week anime program in the Big Applesauce, taught by Dai Sato. Yeah we know you're jealous.
Oh right, you want a plot? Oh, you've got a plot.
Floreixen takes place in the Unmei Domain, a huge city that takes up a large part (and contains pretty much the entirety of the human population) of a small world very unlike our own. In this world, people are born from eggs, rather than birthed (humans are essentially sterile). In addition, all people in this world are born with an ability- some sort of power, whether mundane (ability to make things clean by touching them, for example) to extreme (ability to shoot fireballs).
The eggs, supposedly, are brought down to earth by angels- this is the central belief in the religion that all people are raised to believe. These eggs are covered by a special pattern, which is said to be the painting of the aforementioned angels, and tells the future of the child inside. These eggs- which are collected from the beach that the Unmei Domain borders- are brought to the Sage, who is supposedly an angel himself, and is worshiped as a physical god by the people. The Sage interprets the patterns on these eggs and declares the future of the child inside. The egg is then brought back to one of many facilities throughout the city, where children are raised communally, with no family and little need for friends. The child is blessed by the Sage upon his or her hatching, and that is the last most people will see of the Sage in their lifetime. The destiny predicted by the Sage invariably comes true, and while some destinies have more leeway in them than others, in this dystopia, most everyone lives an undistinguished life in service of the Domain.
However, occasionally a few people fall through the cracks. This story follows a group of (mostly) teenagers living separate lives, each, for different reasons, devoid of a destiny. They are generally treated as outcasts, sometimes treated with pity and sometimes hated. The one who brings them together, Claire, is the only one of them who still has a destiny. However, she is pulled into the events by her premonitions, which tell her that the five are meant to meet. She visits each, giving them a box with a flower- flowers are a great rarity in the Unmei Domain- and a note reading "meet me where the flowers bloom". Of course, the only place where flowers still bloom is the only remaining flower garden, which Claire is destined to tend- Floreixen.
The five of them do meet, but before they do, strange things begin happening to them. The streets seem eerily silent as they walk down them. They are forced our of public places. Anyone they attempt to talk to turns away. While they are used to being treated as outcasts, it's gotten considerably worse. A sixth person meets them there- he introduces himself as Mau and tells them his story. He is without destiny as well, and he knows the source of the trouble- the Sage. Having finally realized that these people without destinies were threats to the Unmei Domain as it was run now, he had sent out a decree. They were not to be sheltered, not to be helped- and they would soon, most likely, be killed. He offered to help them hide, though he told them that the only way to get out of their trouble would be to kill the Sage himself. Reluctant and confused, the five deferred judgment...until an attack that they barely escaped made up their minds for them. With Mau as their leader, they retreated into hiding, waiting for the perfect time to strike...
The anime only twists and turns violently from here. Suffice it to say that nothing is quite as it seems in the Unmei Domain...
Sadly, the flowers have wilted before they could even bloom...
Floreixen provides examples of:
- A-Cup Angst: Mai, and you do not want to mention it unless you want to die.
- A God Am I: The Sage and Mau.
- And This Is for...: By Miles, when he deals the final blow against Mau. "
And this...this is for Kumo!" And this is Conall to Mau, in a nutshell. - Arc Words: "Meet me where the flowers bloom."
- Badass Longcoat: Mau. And he manages to make it look girly!
- Battle Butler: Conall.
- Berserk Button: Don't point out that Mai's flatchested. Or short. Or the fact that she's doomed to be a plumber.
- Cute and Psycho: Mau. Oh so much. Don't mess with the pretty boy.
- Cute Little Fangs: Mai and Mau.
- Deadpan Snarker: Kumo.
- Disability Superpower: Subverted by Kumo. He is blind, and due to his leg condition he is forced to spend much of his time in the hospital. Even so, he's able to 'see' fairly well (he doesn't need to be led), and more notably, possibly because of his blindness, his power is the ability to blind others.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Mau. He's the prettiest girl you've ever seen.
- Mr. Fanservice: Again, Mau and Kumo, and let's not forget Conall.
- Eyepatch of Power: Kumo wears a blindfold which covers both eyes at all times. When Mai finally takes Kumo's blindfold off, she discovers that not only is he blind but he also has no real eyes- instead there are clear, almost glassy eyeballs, with no iris or pupil.
- Fantastic Racism: Claire has this towards the group at the start, since they're so different from her in that they have no destiny. Later on she grows out of it, especially with certain events that occur...
- Girlish Pigtails: Subverted. Mai's "pigtails" are clip-on extensions.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Subverted. Miles and Mau are both blondes. Miles, though he eventually becomes the leader, is slightly naive and is definitely a Chaste Hero, is not exactly innocent. Mau is similar, up until the reveal.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Poor Kumo...
- Hot Springs Episode: Obligatory.
- Impossibly Cool Clothes: Claire is particularly guilty, but most of the main cast (aside from Ira) has these to some degree.
- Innocent Flower Girl: Claire, once you set aside a fault of hers.
- La Résistance: Our main party. After Mau's betrayal, there is a bigger rebellion group hidden in the forest, and they rise up against the Sage. Claire's boyfriend, Damian, is part of it, which also facilitates her change of heart.
- Light Is Not Good: Again, the Sage, and of course Mau.
- Loners Are Freaks: How Mai and Kumo in particular started out, in a way.
- Manipulative Bastard: Mau. Just, Mau.
- Meaningful Name:
- Kumo: Both 'spider' and 'cloud'- though 'cloud' was the meaning his mother-figure was thinking of (her meaningful name is Sora, meaning sky, and she meant to make a connection between them), most people think of him as a creepy, crawly spider instead.
- Ira: 'full-grown, watchful.'
- Mai: 'coyote'. The boy who tortured her in her youth is named Kojishi, 'lion cub', as (mountain) lions are natural predators of coyotes. Also, her original name was Marisa. As there are two meanings to that name, the one used for her is "star of the sea", implying her water abilities.
- Mau: Adjective form of 'evil' in Portuguese.
- Conall: 'strong wolf'.
- Miles: 'Soldier', which is fitting considering his background with the Public Police.
- Meaningful Rename: Back in her youth when Mai discarded of her destiny, she also renamed herself after the second sage, Maia. Her original name was Marisa.
- No Blood Ties: Kinda hard to have these when everybody's born from eggs with no parents.
- Our Angels Are Different: Quite. For starters, they aren't real.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Kumo. Of course, he doesn't go out much...
- Psychotic Smirk: Mau, and makes it look cute while he's at it.
- Power at a Price: The gang are quite fond of this trope. For Kumo, see Disability Super Power above. Mai gets dehydrated with her hydro-kinetic powers, Claire can only see those who are in contact with flowers, Ira's magic is too unpredictable, Miles suffers from tunnel vision (which combined with his behavior is the worst possible combo)...the list goes on
- Power Fist: Mai will kick your ass with brass knuckles. Easily.
- Scarf of Asskicking: Kumo. In a subversion, he gives Ira a scarf, but being a pacifist, Ira doesn't do much asskicking with it...
- Screw Destiny: Mai's decision about becoming a plumber.
- Secret Relationship: Mai and Kumo. What's the big deal? At worst, Mai's tsundere image would be ruined, and that's all...
- Sixth Ranger Traitor: Mau.
- Stage Magician: What Ira wants to be. Conveniently, he has the power to make objects appear and disappear at will, so he seems quite well suited to the job.
- Super-Speed: Miles
- The Man Behind the Curtain: The Sage.
- Title Drop: The title is the name of the flower garden where the characters first meet and where the final battle is held.
- Tsundere: Mai is a definite type A. Although, Kumo has discovered the magic trick to have Mai go deredere....for the most part.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Mai and Claire.
- The Evil Prince: Mau is an impatient Sage apprentice. Very impatient... Hence the reason why he even bothered to join the group to begin with.
