Twinkle Saber Nova is a manga by Miyabi Fujieda, best known for the yuri works The Miko's Words and the Witch's Incantations and Iono the Fanatics, which began serialization in Comic REX in 2004. Unlike Fujieda's previous works, TSN is a rather Genre Savvy shounen fighting comedy where lunches are Serious Business and most characters are adorable girls. It is, in fact, a remake of Fujieda's obscure debut doujinshi Twinkle Saber.
The Misaki Academy High School, built on an island in the Tokyo Bay, is known for its laissez-faire approach to student activities. The pursuit of the students' freedom goes so far that even the most outlandish club activities are allowed. One of such clubs is the recently-established World Domination Club, that aims at nothing less than, well, taking over the world. However, since the world and even Misaki Academy are too big for them (yet), they decide to start small by taking over the Misaki Lunch Program and its associated restaurants first.
Enter our heroine, the high school sophomore Hayana Suzunari, who may be not too bright but really loves her lunches and won't give them up to anyone without a fight. Unfortunately for her, the WDC has enlisted some of Misaki's strongest fighters to help them, but soon enough her teacher Kirise Fujishiro offers her a Powered Armor suit, "Twinkle Saber", to combat the WDC in return for her joining Kirise's own club, the Ally of Justice Club (current membership: zero). Much to the surprise of Hayana's best friend Aoi, she agrees immediately and proceeds to kick the WDC's butts in a manner most awesome. Thus begins the story of two very strange clubs' rivalry...
Word of God (cited here
) is that this manga is set in the Fujiedaverse, but about 40 years after all other installments, like Amber Teahouse and Witch and Miko.
The manga offers examples of following tropes:
- Improbably Female Cast: Most of the recurring characters are female (or bishounen).
- Instant Fan Club: Hayana gets hers by chapter one. They even have membership grades from Platinum (top ten members) to Bronze.
- Knife Outline: Yagusae does it to immobilize the owner of a donut shop he is taking over in chapter four. Naturally, Hayana has something to say about that...
- Law of Chromatic Superiority: The strongest Kyokusei of the present is awarded the title "Crimson".
- Powered Armor:
- The Active Dress series, designed and built by Fujishiro-sensei, are the Ally of Justice trump card. So far, two have been introduced: Hayana's Twinkle Saber (001) and Satsuki's Arc Saber (002). There is also the Super Prototype X-Trial series, of which only one, Kuon's Crymson (001), has ever been produced.
- The VSS series, apparently created by Aki Midou, is WDC's Evil Counterpart to Active Dress. So far, only two have been seen: Aki's own Priest and Sae's Silence, but there may be more of them. VSS is an acronym but it has not yet been revealed what it stands for.
- Red Baron: All Kyokusei receive "colored" titles passed down from their respective previous holders.
- School Clubs Are Serious Business: Invoked and lampshaded: The students can get away with literally anything (like trying to take over the school, or demolishing half of it in battles involving Powered Armor), as long as it's a club activity. And to make it a club activity, they only need three members to register their "club".
- School of No Studying: The Misaki Academy has very liberal student conduct requirements, which do not seem to include studying. Therefore, the students spend most of their time participating in various club activities.
- Serious Business: Lunches. Between WDC starting the world conquest with them and Hayana's positively huge meals, this is pretty serious.
- Take Over the City: Starting with the school
- Transformation Sequence, subverted: From the dramatic way Fujishiro-sensei introduces the Twinkle Saber, Hayana expects some flashy transformation to occur automatically. However, she just has to mundanely put the suit on like any other clothes. Cue Aoi pointing out that magic would have been more convenient.
- Two-Teacher School: Fujishiro is the only Misaki teacher introduced (or even mentioned) so far.
