YMMV / The Spectrum Game

• Adorkable:
  • Silas has the unholy trinity of being a Nice Guy, a nerd, and Pungeon Master. While he is usually the Only Sane Man, he frequently causes overlap with this trope due to these traits.
  • Azurine is one, too, being perky, adorable and nice to all she meets, no matter what. She can also be somewhat awkward around others.
  • Inigo, of all characters, can come off as this at times. Not only is he unexpectedly awkward in casual conversation, but he's also a massive Kuudere, scoring him some adorable points.
  • Makoto not only shares Inigo's social awkwardness, but is also much shyer and self-conscious about it, unlike Inigo who carries himself with an air of oblivious nonchalance, and it can be incredibly adorable.
• Angst? What Angst?: Kotoba isn't all that cut up about literally losing her eye, though this is in part because she feels she deserves it. Inigo lampshades this trope while healing her.
  Inigo: You know, you're taking this exceptionally well.
• Awesome Ego: Iago. Sweet Jesus, Iago. He represents the Deadly Sin of Pride, but he's so hammy and enjoyable to watch (not to mention he's a genuine juggernaut on the battlefield) that it's worth putting up with.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: After Silas' Initiation in Chapter 20, Silas, Jude, Azurine and Iago pretty much begin LARPing. The reader is likely to be just as confused as Inigo was.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • After Inigo knocks Makoto down for the last time in their second fight, he tops it off by stomping on his body until he surrenders. Considering Makoto had been a somewhat insufferable antagonist up to this point, this is incredibly satisfying to read.
  • Minori's minor Villainous Breakdown after Inigo and Makoto become temporary Partners, due to having quickly established herself as a Hate Sink beforehand. Of course, her more major one later on does not qualify.
• Evil Is Cool:
  • Kotoba Kozuki is a harsh tyrant, but she’s a badass one, too, with her commanding presence and stoic Iron Lady personality. It helps that once she enters a battle, she is clearly immensely powerful, taking only the combined efforts of Inigo, Makoto and Scarlett to defeat her by a hair. Her genuine respect for the heroes, surprising planning capabilities and graceful acceptance of her defeat only add to this.
  • Iago Amino, after betraying Inigo. We always knew he was a powerful, crazy genius, but him turning out to be a powerful, crazy, evil genius launches him right into this trope, especially helped by his humorous hammy antics and genuinely having a good point in a roundabout way keeping him likeable even after his heel-turn.
• Genius Bonus: Inigo being called the Red Joker by Kotoba makes sense. In traditional Tarot decks, there were two Joker cards; the black one representing the Fool, and the red one representing the Magician, which is Inigo's Tarot Motif.
• Growing the Beard: The story gets a lot better once Iago gets captured, kicking the plot into high gear.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Makoto Kozuki is very quick to jump to conclusions, and has a massive chip on his shoulder regarding Inigo, but while his actions aren’t justified, it’s easy to see just why he’s the way he is. Considering his father was assassinated in front of him, it’s easy to see why he’d just want Inigo gone following that. Even after getting over that, he has to deal with being stalked by Minori, his Partner, who he had to watch slowly slip into evil and become a sadist obsessed with him - no matter how much he tried to play Morality Chain - which despite his protests, he is strongly implied to be devastated about.
  • Scarlett Monarich, while not a bad person, did still willingly throw her lot in with Kotoba and Libera for selfish reasons, something even she realises isn’t a good thing. Her reason, however, can cause some to gain sympathy for her. Her father, a Libera loyalist, cared more about taking Apex down than caring for his own daughter, leaving her starved for affection, and she mentions that succeeding in her first mission was the first time she remembered her father ever telling her he was proud of her. This doesn’t excuse her by any means, but her reasoning is incredibly solid. She doesn’t even like doing what she does, but because she’s addicted to all the approval she gets from it, she does it anyway.
  • Minori Asakura becomes one at her Villainous Breakdown near the midway point of Book of Order, where one can see just how much she truly cares for her and Makoto’s friendship despite everything, and when it finally kicks in that Makoto hates her now, and the two of them will never be the same no matter what she does, she realises for the first time that she crossed the line, and is wracked with guilt and despair, enough to activate her Super Mode. It is blatantly spelled out here that she brought this entirely on herself, and yet you can’t not feel bad for her.
  • Iago Amino. He's spent an entire month locked up in a dungeon, and has been mistreated by Libera, with the exception of Scarlett and Valerie. If Book of Order Chapter 36 is anything to go by, Kotoba has even been torturing him for information. At the same time, he is all but stated to be intentionally hiding information about Inigo's past, and has plans to massacre both Apex and Libera for their crimes, so it's not like he's entirely innocent, even if he definitely doesn't deserve what he's gone through.
  • Kotoba Kozuki, holy shit. Kotoba is awful, no doubts about that, what with her tyrannical, fear-based leadership of Libera and becoming her own antithesis in her wars against Apex, but it is revealed that she was once a member of Apex, right up until she learned that Benjamin Amino, who she idolised, betrayed her in one of the worst ways possible; by ordering the death of her beloved father, all for knowing too much. She is clearly devastated when she learns this, and it leads her to quit Apex and take over Libera to stop them. Even Inigo can't help but feel bad for her when he discovers it, even if he maintains that it doesn't excuse what she's done.
• Love to Hate: Grant Monarich is the most gleefully hateable character in the story, and his sheer pettiness and surprising intelligence make him an unexpected yet enjoyable antagonist to Inigo.
• Moe: Azurine is as cute as a button, bolstered by her short stature and Plucky Girl personality.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Benjamin Amino ordering Inigo in the past to murder Ryuto Kozuki, perhaps the one act that everyone in the story agrees is deplorable - doubly so when it is revealed that Kotoba used to be one of the closest people to her, and yet he betrayed her just like that.
  • If Grant Monarich's horrendous treatment of Scarlett didn't tip you off to his depravity, he officially loses all sense of redeemability when he tries to destroy all of Luster Street just to get Scarlett to hand Inigo over to him, and then tries to kill the heroes, including his daughter, when she still refuses. Considering she stops calling him "father" or "dad" in her narration starting from here, it's clear that he's crossed it In-Universe, too.
• Signature Scene: The entirety of Chapter 26; between Inigo receiving his first proper memory, to his near Despair Event Horizon, to his conversation with Scarlett afterwards - the latter of which shows her Hidden Depths and involves him sowing the seeds for her Heel–Face Turn.
• Stoic Woobie: Inigo Lenahan may present himself as a disaffected Deadpan Snarker with a perpetual poker face, but Beneath the Mask lies a deeply troubled and depressed boy. He suffers from amnesia, which gives him no end of doubt as to who/what he actually is, and the things he does find out give him self-esteem issues as he wonders if he was ever truly a good person. Despite the pain that his Quest for Identity causes him, he somehow manages to force himself to soldier on towards the truth, so he overlaps with Iron Woobie, too.

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