The story focuses on the adventures of a young Sky Pirate named Coud Van Giruet, an Edel Raid named Reverie Metherlance or Ren as she prefers to be called, and three guardians of an Edel Raid protection organization called Arc Aile named Cisqua, Rowen, and Kuea. Ren is set on journeying to the legendary land of gold called Edel Garden, but it turns out that she is a powerful and rare Edel Raid called the Shichikouhouji which leads to many villains attempting to kidnap her for themselves.
A sequel called Flag of the Blue Sky was also released, taking place two years after the original story but with a new set of characters. For centuries, the Edel Raids of the Velsown family have served the regent of the Fuajarl kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of the Sun. The latest Edel Raid to inherit this position is Jelio "Jean" Velsown, a determined and stoic young knight. When a hostile force invades the kingdom to capture Jean, she is ordered to flee with the young crown princess, Princess Acheaburca Fuajarl XIV. With the fall of the kingdom and the murder of the king, Jean and Acheaburca form a pledge of vengeance and plan to restore Fuajarl to its rightful glory.
See also Soul Eater for a similar concept, liberally mixed with the quirky Gothic sensibilities of Tim Burton.
Contains examples of:
- And the Adventure Continues: In the final chapter of the first manga series, Cisqua receives news that Cou and Ren are still alive, prompting her, Rowen and Kuea to set out in a new journey to find their missing friends.
- Animal Motifs: Primarily Rasati, who is heavily associated with tigers. When she's angry or even just aggressive, one or both of her eyes are drawn like a tiger's.
- Art Shift: How any of the characters is drawn at any given moment can vary widely, but it's usually Cisqua who leads in this regard. A notable example of this is her tendency to crank up the girlish charm when violence called for. Twice, at least, she hits upon a solution to her problem and presents it looking like Cardcaptor Sakura."Lethal Force <3!"
- Badass Normal: How do you survive in a world with humanoid weapons that you refuse to use out of principle? You dress up like Wild West Sakura, call yourself Cisqua and have the armory of Nadesico, Macross and maybe the Yamato under your poncho.
- Blade Below the Shoulder:
- Ren and Kuea's weapon forms are blades that cover their partners' arms.
- In the manga, Greyarts has his arms severed, and is assigned a new Edel Raid that becomes a set of arm blades.
- Bottomless Magazines: Cisqua and her various weapons. Lampshaded when she gets paralysed thinking about how much firing her weapons costs.
- Calling Your Attacks: The Pledgers call out attack names with very bizarre Gratuitous English.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Reacting is very intimate and pleasurable for both the Pledger and the Raid.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: There is a total of 24 elemental types of Edel Raids. Each is good against one type and bad against another, and the last three haven't been discovered yet.
- Equippable Ally: The Edel Raids are girls who can turn into a weapon by making a contract with a Pledger.
- Floating Continent: There are floating islands on the sky of the setting.
- Hot Springs Episode: Chapter 6 has the main characters going to take a bath at the hot springs.
- I Know Your True Name: Edel Raids can be easily sealed by those who know their full names.
- Interplay of Sex and Violence: Most if not all Edel Raids appear as beautiful human women, and the name of their human partners (mostly men) seems to be largely a creepy play on words; to the day, you can still translate it from the original Japanese as either "Pledger" or "Pleasure".
- Interspecies Romance: The series shows humans and Edel Raids that fall in love with each other. The Official Couple is Ren and her Pledger Cou.
- It's the Journey That Counts: In the final volume, Ren starts regretting traveling to Edel Garden after all it got her was seeing her Cool Big Sis Cia turned into an Ax-Crazy monster and being forced to kill her to stop her rampage. However, Cou comforts her by telling her that even though what she found at Edel Garden made her sad, the time they spent together in their journey and the people they met are precious to him so he doesn't want Ren to think it was All for Nothing.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: The first chapter of Elemental Gerade Blue shows that Edel Garden isn't a very nice place which was only stated around 80 chapters into Elemental Gerade Red.
- Long-Lived: Edel Raids have a lifespan much longer than humans.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Cia's love for Keith turned her Ax-Crazy.
- Macross Missile Massacre: Cisqa perhaps carries too many missiles.
- MacGuffin Super-Person: Ren and Jean are both Shichikouhouju, along with Suuchi, the princess of Runbuuram, and the ice adilraid Range, a very rare, powerful type of adilraid. The enemy tries so hard to get their hands on them, and keep failing.
- Magic Contract Romance: The story starts with the Edel Raid Ren making a contract with Cou, turning him into her Pledger. They gradually fall in love in their journey to Edel Garden.
- Magical Girlfriend: The series is about a Sky Pirate boy who meets an Edel Raid girl named Ren who was stolen by his crew during a raid. Ren makes him her Pledger so he can wield her as his weapon and take her to Edel Garden, resulting in them falling in love.
- Mayfly–December Romance: Any romance between humans and Edel Raids falls into this, since Edel Raids have a lifespan much longer than humans.
- Objectshifting: The Edel Raids are female characters who form a bond with a human to transform into absolutely devastating weapons - mainly melee weapons, but guns are not unknown.
- Official Couple: Cou and Ren are the main couple of the series, with their growing romance being a recurring plot point.
- One Cast Member per Cover: Each volume has a different cast member on the cover. The only exception is the final volume's cover featuring the Official Couple, Cou and Ren.
- One-Gender Race: All Edel Raids are female.
- Parental Abandonment: Coud is an orphan who was raised by a crew of Sky Pirates.
- Out-of-Clothes Experience: Edel Raids who reacted are shown nude in their astral projections.
- Perpetual Poverty: The whole party, but particularly Cisqua, who keeps getting billed.
- Piggyback Cute: Since Ren usually falls asleep to recharge her power, Coud has to carry her on his back most of the time.
- Rip Van Winkle: Ren spent 500 years sealed until Cou woke her up.
- Role-Playing Game 'Verse: The premise plays out very similarly to a RPG. Lampshaded when Coud meets Anna and the panel states "Coud Gained An Ally!"
- Schizo Tech: There are airships, floating islands, guns and magic.
- Sky Pirate: The protagonist Cou was raised by the crew of Red Lynx sky pirates that make a living by raiding other airships.
- Stripperific: Kuea's attire. It's more evident in the manga. Her reasoning is that mobility is all-important, even trumping protection. Her outfit consists of a length of chain, a petticoat, a black leather G-string, and a curdoroy mini-tanktop, as well as a pair of long black gloves. When she gets Ren in a similar outfit, all Ren can say is "I'm cold..."
- Tempting Fate: During Cisqua's training session with Cou and Ren, she states that she won't have to worry about an opponent on Cou's level. Thing is, what Cou lack in finesse Ren makes worse with sheer power, and it is precisely that combo that saves Cisqua from having her head slashed to ribbons. Not as much can be said for the grove of trees the pair logged.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Some characters treat the Edel Raids as tools while others treat them as humans. This is explored further with the Viros.
- Years Too Early: Kuea: "It'll take you another eleventy billion years, before you can defeat me in a battle!"
- You Have Failed Me: Orga Night either cripples or kills the minions who fail their missions.
