Universal Lady Justice Aya is an ongoing project that originated in 2013, written by "Mister Drake".
Aya's life has it rough, whether it's dealing with bullies at her school or having quarrels with her mother, her life never seems to change for the better. The only friend she can rely on her pet falcon, Athena, which she can barely see for a few minutes. That is pretty much the rope line of Aya's sanity and A World Half Full from any Wide-Eyed Idealist.
Then, two unexpected things happened in her life.
First, on the verge of Aya's mental breakdown, she finds a small crystal that glows whenever she feels negative emotion. Then, after escaping from her bullies again, she comes across young Ninja pursued by ugly thugs and Mecha-Mooks. Out of instinct, Aya dives in to help and the incident results in her becoming a Magical Girl.
Aya's heroic deeds do bring some new troubles right at her door. Now that she's a magical girl, she is a target of the Anti-Magic Faction, a secret society that controls the world over the dedication to hunting magic users. But that does not stop her from withdrawing. What matters is that she has power, and she's willing to make the most of it.
Universal Lady Justice Aya is divided into five parts, with Part I released in March 2016. However, due to Creator Backlash and an answer to the divided fanbase, the author plans to convert the niche scriptwriting style into a Light Novel series. Due to his intent on shift to Part IV as well, when the new books would come is yet to be determined.
Tropes found in the series:
- Abusive Parents: Aya's mother, Suzume, fares better than the likes of Precia, but she's isn't a nice woman either. Aya knows she used to be better. Perhaps her role as a magical girl also played a part in this.
- Shizuko's parents are even worse, who outright threw her out on the street just for being a magical girl.
- Anti-Magical Faction: Almost word for word, the series' Big Bad.
- Ambiguously Evil: The AMF's reasons for hunting magic users is unknown, thought Livarre states it varies from person to person. He states he's a combination of all of them.
- Bittersweet Ending: Part I, though heavy on the bitter side. Ashley is defeated and subsequently executed by the Inner Circle, but Aya has abandoned much of her former life to pursue her rebellion. Fortunately, she has other magical girls by her side, so she won't be alone. Unfortunately, that does not include Shizuko...
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Subverted, see Obfuscating Stupidity below.
- The Bully: Ashley Haylon, who makes Aya's life a living hell all for no reason other than believing the world always needs someone weak to pick on.
- Calling Your Attacks: Maxine utilizes this trope to save time on casting the complicated spells she draws.
- Invoked by Lia when she does a Combination Attack with Ria.
- Crapsack World: The city of Arahi. Gangs rule the streets at night, Aya's current life is just at the poverty line, bullies basically own Aya's school, and it's probably even worse.
- Dark Magical Girl: Destroyers. According to Max, this is the result of a girl using a Crystal for the first time with a selfish or destructive wishes rather than the selfless, pure ones used by true magical girls. Their lack of moral codes and restraints conflicting with the typical image of magical girls are what gives them their name.
- Died Happily Ever After: Shizuko, after Aya promises that she'll make a haven where magical girls didn't to live in hear of being hunted.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Ashley Haylon, in a helicopter no less.
- Expy: The Shuriken drones are basically the AMF's version of the Manhacks.
- Fair Cop: Detective Finch. He's the owner of Aya's apartment and gets along well with the girl. Even when the AMF destroy the building, he holds no contempt against her and it's suspected at the end of Part I that's he's personally investigating the organization.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Aya is the main heroine, and her main weapon is a sword.
- Heroic Lineage: Aya's mother is speculated to be a magical girl. And not just any magical girl either.
- La Résistance: Who would have expected magical girls to be the base of this trope?
- Magical Girl: Reconstructed. Every girl has been seen suffering harsh lives before they ended up as magical girls. Yes, the job isn't easy, but it's better than any other alternative when in living a world that has turned against you.
- This also plays an interesting take on the genre. Rather than being part of an almighty force that deals with the typical Monster of the Week, they fight in a resistance force against the antagonistic faction that's trying to kill them all.
- Mecha-Mooks: The AMF commonly deploys them. Usually, they are Cannon Fodder and are used to either take out weak girls or gather data for the stronger ones.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Livarre. In the first battle against the girls, he plays out like a typical Bond villain. In the next few fights, however, he shows to be far more competent and would have won if it weren't for unexpected circumstances.
- Power Copying: One of Aya's special abilities.
- Reconstruction: Of the Magical Girl genre, as intended by the author. It's basically taking the flaws of magical girls shown in Puella Magi Madoka Magica to heart and outright firing it back. Aya goes her way to share this belief."All this time, I wanted to fight my way through this hell, but I could never find the courage and power to. It's because of this cry...Because of these powers, I knew that I had a chance. Even with whatever risks it pulled, I would've taken it if it gave me the power to change. The power to fight, or have a chance to fight. That's what satisfies me."
- Rock Beats Laser: The standard battle between a Magical Girl resistance and an advanced Anti-Magical Faction. Granted, their former's weapons are made of completely magic-based materials, which gives them a fighting a chance against the latter's far more powerful weaponry.
- Slashed Throat: How Ashley is executed. She’s bound in place aboard the Anti-Magical Faction’s ship, ranting about Aya and demanding to be released, then a soldier approaches from behind and does this. To add insult to injury, the soldiers present then mock her and call her annoying.
- Transformation Trinket: The Hope Crystals. A very unique type since magical girls don't need one specific Crystal to transform, so one could borrow from another if their powers seemed fit for battle.
- Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: Ashley Haylon getting a four ducted-fan aircraft. Perhaps being affiliated with the AMF is a factor.
