"Many years ago, a war broke out between two empires. Shinigami, with their brave warriors and spiritual power, and Orochi, with their sneaky tactics and advanced machinery, made the entire world their battlefield. Chaos had erupted all across earth."
Demon Blade is an Urban Fantasy webcomic, created by Samsonese
and launched in 2009 on SmackJeeves, before it was eventually moved to Webtoon in 2019. The comic is about a bounty hunter named Tsurugi Diablo, who is somehow in possession of a magical, ancient sword. The author has described the comic as "Gurren Lagann meets Disgaea: Hour of Darkness."
The story begins with him hitting it big by catching a notorious bandit called Dibi the Rhinoceros. However, this attracts the attention of a Religion of Evil who are trying to collect souls of powerful warriors as part of a plan to resurrect an ancient demon. For no other reason than to save his own skin, Diablo sets out to destroy the Cult... which is easier said than done.
Also has a character sheet.
The comic can now be read on Webtoon.
This work provides examples of:
- Adorable Evil Minions: The Ibli.
- Alternate History: The story is mainly set in Australia, where a large number of Japanese migrated to during a war. The hero's town in particular is a Japantown, with one of the few Australians by birth in said town running a ramen stand.
- Anachronism Stew: The comic was originally supposed to take place in 1950, but this only lasted one chapter, before the author decided to set it in modern times instead, but left the exact year ambiguous for a while. As a result, you'll see console radios, computers with CRT monitors, and phone booths all in the same setting... despite the year later being outright stated as 2009, well into the era of satellite radio, LCD monitors, and mobile phones.
- Animesque
- April Fools' Day:
- In 2010, there was "Chapter 8.5", a five-page alternate version of the then-unreleased chapter 9, consisting of several video game and anime references and some sexual tension between Diablo and Loki.
- In 2011, Demon Blade vs. Capcom was announced out of the blue as a joke. However, the announcement was lost in 2019, after SmackJeeves removed its news feature.
- Art Evolution: The art quality gradually improves throughout the Faustian Cult arc, but really starts to ramp up once the Mephisto arc starts... primarily due to the long delays between chapters nowadays.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Just as Diablo is about to finish Loki off, Zula comes and disposes of him instead.
- Barehanded Blade Block: Dogma stops Diablo's sword with his fingers.
- Battle in the Rain: The party's third encounter with Heimdall takes place on a rainy night.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Most of the villains are either butt ugly or have a horrible deformity.
- Big Damn Heroes: Diablo does this by accident, chopping off Vlad's tail by sheer coincidence when the latter is about to kill Michiko.
- Bilingual Bonus: The scroll in the background during the flashback in chapter 29 reads "Kill Death" in Japanese.
- Bishie Sparkle: The "illustration" of Michiko's yaoi fic is rife with them.
- Black Comedy Rape: Diablo's reaction to Michiko hugging his tail? "SHE'S TOUCHING ME INAPPROPRIATELY!"
- Bloodless Carnage: Diablo can control the sharpness of his sword. This is done as a way to avert Only a Flesh Wound, so if someone does bleed, you know the character is hurt.
- Break the Haughty: Are you an overly proud person in the Demon Blade universe? Watch that pride shatter within ten chapters of your first appearance.
- Captain Obvious: A bedridden Dogma says he might not be able to defeat Heimdall alone. Beat. Diablo replies with, "Duh."
- Co-Dragons: The Marino Siblings.
- Colossus Climb: Ivory implies that Carl did this in order to hijack Kamaoh. It is later shown in a flashback exactly how he did it.
- Combined Energy Attack: Faust is defeated with one, using energy from both living and dead characters.
- Composite Character: Yara-ma-yha-who takes some elements from the Muldjewangk, another Australian myth. Namely the fact that it's amphibious.
- Creepy Twins: Although one is older than the other, the Marino Siblings fit this trope quite well.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: For the penultimate battle before the confrontation with Dios, Yowie sure goes down like a punk.
- David Versus Goliath: The first fight in the comic features the slender, nimble Diablo against the bulky, towering Dibi.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The fourth chapter's splash page displays every member of the Faustian Cult, even the ones who hadn't appeared yet.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Michiko has a nosebleed upon seeing Diablo shirtless.
- Elaborate Underground Base: For starters, the entrance to the Faustian Cult's hideout is under a grave. It's also littered with traps and has many mechanical functions, including electric doors and a bridge that extends and retracts at the flip of a switch.
- Everyone Can See It: Diablo and Michiko. At first, Natsuki is the only Shipper on Deck, but toward the end of the Faustian Cult arc, Hinako joins in.
- Fantastic Racism: Humans and demons generally don't get along well.
- A Father to His Men: Don Falco adopted the Marino Siblings and raised them as his own children.
- For Science!: Dr. Suno offers to remove Diablo's tail for this reason. As he pulls out a bonesaw from under the table.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble:
- Diablo, the most aggressive of the main cast who is often rude to friend and foe alike, is choleric.
- Dr. Suno, as the team's resident tech guy and the most level-headed of them, is melancholic.
- Hinako, being the social butterfly of the group, as well as usually having the most positive attitude, is sanguine.
- Michiko, with her comparative shyness and overall politeness, is phlegmatic.
- Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: The semi-animated "Ask Diablo!" which stars a yukkuri resembling Diablo answering viewer questions (about any of the author's works, not just Demon Blade) with a synthesized voice and Deadpan Snarker tendencies.
- Friendly Local Chinatown: Tengu Town is a Japantown.
- A Glass in the Hand: Zula breaks her own mask while feinting her breakdown.
- Gambit Roulette: The entire Yaibato Mansion mini-arc and the events leading up to it were this on Zula's part to eliminate Carl as a threat to Dios.
- Glasses Pull: Dogma keeps an extra pair of sunglasses for the sole purpose of invoking this trope.
- Gross-Up Close-Up: Zula gets one while revealing to Carl that she killed his wife.
- Hands-On Approach: Diablo corrects Michiko's stance while teaching her how to fence. The blushing that ensues is more because it causes Michiko to remember something Natsuki said earlier than because of an actual crush though.
- Heel–Face Turn: Diablo's father makes one of these to end the Chaos War in the prologue.
- Horse of a Different Color: The uyagi. A fully-grown one can be ridden, as demonstrated by Yaibato and his men, and later by the Lieutenant.
- Humiliation Conga: Things... really don't go well for Vlad and Yaibato during the Yaibato Mansion mini-arc. Just when it looks like they're about to win, Vlad gets his tail chopped off. Then Yaibato gets knocked out with a single kick. Then Jay betrays the Cult, beating Vlad into submission in the process. Finally, the two of them are arrested and jailed offscreen.
- I Am Your Opponent: Hinako shows up at the entrance to the Faustian Cult's hideout to hold Loki off while Diablo goes in.
- Later, Diablo himself does this against Touya and Ishimaru so that Dr. Suno can chase after Yaibato.
- Ironic Echo: Physical variant: Five chapters after Diablo pulled a sneak attack on Loki, the favor was returned.
- I Surrender, Suckers: Diablo pulls this on Dogma. It actually works, and he lampshades it right after.
- Lame Pun Reaction: Diablo makes a sword pun in an omake strip. Not even Michiko is amused.
- Legion of Doom: A meta example. Several members of the Faustian Cult (namely Loki, Heimdall, and Vlad) are updated versions of Big Bads from the author's previous, unfinished works.
- Literal Cliffhanger: Lampshaded with a reference to The Lion King.
- Load-Bearing Boss: The floor underneath Yowie breaks after he's defeated.
- Lock-and-Load Montage: Diablo sees the Ibli marching past his house, triggering one of these. The chapter is even titled "Lock and Load".
- Major Injury Underreaction: After his fight with Diablo, Dogma is more worried about his sunglasses being broken than the fact that almost the entire front of his shirt has been dyed with his blood.
- Master-Apprentice Chain: Two of them:
- Kyaku > Diablo > Michiko
- Charles > Jay > Hinako
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The uyagi, which resemble a cross between a rabbit and a goat.
- Morph Weapon: The titular weapon changes shape depending on its user.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg:Vlad: Do you think you can defeat us all? Look how outnumbered you are! One little Kitsune, against two of the Four Avatars of Dios, and our gatekeeper!Touya: Hey, what about us?Vlad: What about you?
- Mythology Gag: Diablo wonders if he should have a "cool mercenary name", and his first and only idea is "Diablo the Echidna", a reference to an early prototype of the comic which was intended to be a Sonic the Hedgehog fancomic. The idea is immediately shot down by Jack.
- A literal mythology gag occurs in the April Fools' Day chapter, in which Loki makes a reference to his namesake's Fate Worse than Death. (Specifically, how he'd actually prefer that over what happened in his dying dream.)
- Neck Lift: Loki does this to Jack.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Many real-world celebrities have expies in the Demon Blade universe, usually appearing as minor characters or one-time cameos.
- Emperor Keiji's design is stated by the author to have been a mish-mash of Hitler and Tojo.
- Commander King resembles Patrick Stewart. While this was unintended in his first appearance, later appearances rolled with it.
- One of the soldiers at Carl's funeral looks suspiciously like JonTron, even wearing the YouTuber's signature hat instead of the standard military police cap.
- Noodle Incident: "...and that's why you should always bring a helmet whenever you visit the Honda area."
- Nosebleed: Michiko has a nosebleed when Diablo takes off some of his wet clothes to restore his mobility. In the omake strip for the same chapter, she is shown with a bloody tissue in her nose while writing a yaoi fic.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Loki points out that Diablo is similar to the Faustian Cult, in that he only thinks of himself.
- Now or Never Kiss: Hinako and Dogma, after the latter makes it perfectly clear that he's either going to kill Dios or die trying.
- Official Couple: Hinako and Dogma are implied to be this when the latter defects from the Faustian Cult, but their Now or Never Kiss toward the end of the arc seals the deal.
- One-Steve Limit: Humorously averted; there are several Bruces in Tengu Town.
- Our Demons Are Different: Demons are considered an entire biological kingdom, rather than just one species.
- Our Souls Are Different: Demon Blade's souls are translucent, colored balls surrounded by white flames.
- Ow, My Body Part!: Loki yells "Agh, my spleen!" after being kneed in the chest by Hinako.
- Prison Rape: Humorously subverted. Touya brings a pack of cards into his cell, and Carl insists on "making the game interesting" since he feels Touya owes him for his help. Touya is understandably horrified. Later, it turns out they're gambling for each other's food.
- Recoil Boost: Jay uses the recoil from his dark flames to dodge an attack while fighting the Marino Siblings.
- Religion of Evil: The Faustian Cult.
- The Reveal: Dios is an evil spirit who has taken over Diablo's dead brother's body, his previous host was Emperor Keiji, he created the Demon Blade... and Diablo is adopted.
- Rocket-Tag Gameplay: Fights tend to be very short, and the number of blows exchanged in most fights can be counted on one hand. To date, the longest fight in the comic, against Dios, lasted only a chapter and a half, and only 11 hits in total were made among five combatants.
- Rule of Three: The name "Bruce" is listed exactly three times in the phone book when Diablo looks up Dr. Suno's number.
- Running Gag:
- Diablo tends to leaves things behind, but he's always interrupted by a shocking sight when he's about to say what he forgot.
- If a background character has a name, it will almost invariably be Bruce.
- Sadistic Choice: The entire reason behind Dr. Suno and Carl Baki's duel. The Faustian Cult had set it up so that no matter who wins, an innocent person dies.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Carl leaves his post and takes Kamaoh with him to save Michiko. He goes to jail for it.
- Self-Fanservice: In-universe; Stuart Levi is a lot prettier in the illustration of Michiko's yaoi fic than what we see of him in the Dusk poster.
- Shout-Out: Several internet memes are referenced, such as the "guy yelling at his cats" video and "IMMA FIRIN' MAH LAZER!"
- One of the names listed in the phone book when Diablo looks up Dr. Suno's number is "Ryan, Aaron"
- Instead of a picture, Diablo's X-ray is shown as a writing, "Everything's fine! Nothing is ruined."
- Chapter 5 is titled "The Fox and the Hound".
- The slogan on Dr. Suno's sweater in one chapter reads, "A doctor's job is to cure." (Dr. Suno himself being an homage to Faust)
- The April Fools' Day short was full of references to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Mobile Fighter G Gundam, Mega Man, and even Super Mario Bros..
- Touya cracks an ice-car reference when attempting to justify his whoring.
- Natsuki's "I'm not trying to be disgusting, I'm trying to be realistic" speech is a reference to a rant about Fleshlights by YouTube user DemoniusX.
- During one conversation with Michiko, Natsuki makes a face resembling that of Arakune.
- "I reject my humanity!"
- During a flashback, Ivory wears pants with "What What" printed on the seat, much like the ones Samwell wore in the "What What (In the Butt)" music video.
- Heimdall, appropriately enough, quotes The Princess Bride's Count Rugen after he has Dogma cornered. However, unlike Inigo, the latter does not receive a Heroic Second Wind.
- One omake strip directly references Sassy Gay Friend.
- Chapter 20's splash panel pays tribute to the cover of The Beatles' Abbey Road album.
- The "Dusk" poster in Michiko's room features a character making a trollface.
- Right before stomping Diablo's hand as he's hanging from a ledge, one of the Ibli says, "I think the appropriate response here is, 'Long live the king.'"
- Shown Their Work: Fencing is the author's favorite sport. It shows when Diablo teaches Michiko how to do it.
- Spanner in the Works: As soon as Diablo gets blown through the wall of Yaibato Mansion, that's when Vlad's plan starts to go down the hole.
- Spit Take: Ivory spits up his (very hot) tea this after finding out that Diablo's story, which sounds like something a child would make up, is in fact true.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Dogma tries to convince Hinako not to join in the final battle against Dios. Although, it's slightly justified, since she had just recovered from a life-threatening injury.
- Stupid Jetpack Hitler: Even though the Orochi Empire weren't German, Keiji was intended to resemble an Asian version of Hitler, so it's close enough.
- Stylistic Suck: The advertisement for the official dub.
- Take That!: At one point, it appears the mechanical half of Vlad's face is running on Windows...
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: When Diablo wakes Hinako up after freeing her. He later busts out, "Don't knock it 'til you try it, bitch!" in regard to Zula underestimating his speed.
- The Three Faces of Eve: Among the female characters are the intelligent and serious Hinako, the innocent and naive Michiko, and the vulgar and perverted Natsuki.
- Training from Hell: Diablo strongly implies that this is what Michiko will experience under him. As an example, before he could even begin to train her, he made her hit herself until it was made clear she could take pain.
- Tuckerization: While Loki is posing as a cat, Jack names him "Sam", which is also the author's first name.
- Underwater Boss Battle: After Diablo falls into the lake in Dios' hideout, he is ambushed by Yara-ma-yha-who.
- Unsound Effect: The sound of Dr. Suno pulling a bonesaw from under a table? "BONESAW!"
- World of Technicolor Hair: Downplayed. While there are plenty of green, blue, and purple-haired characters who are no different from the others, natural hair colors are much more prevalent, with only one of the four main characters having an unnatural hair color.
- Xanatos Gambit: Dios put Yowie in a room with a weak and easily breakable floor. If Yowie succeeds in killing any intruders, then he succeeds. If he fails, his sheer weight as he's knocked down breaks the floor and sends the intruders falling to their deaths anyway.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: A wrench is thrown into Zula's plot when Loki attempts to provide Diablo with a means of curing Hinako's scorpion sting, but that very same wrench is incorporated into it and later used against the heroes.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Zula kills Loki after the latter is defeated by Diablo three times in a row.
- Yowies and Bunyips and Drop Bears, Oh My: A Yowie appears as a minor enemy, simply named "Yowie". The Yara-ma-yha-who also makes an appearance, and there is an area of the Demon Blade universe called Bunyip Desert.
