Flame of Recca

File:FlameOfRecca.jpg

Recca, since he was young, has always been able to produce flames from his right hand, but has almost no control over anything besides their perpetuated existence. It is only after a fateful meeting with a woman named Kagehoushi, who proceeds to try to kill his new friend Yanagi, that Recca seeks to improve his control over these skills and the real story begins. Meanwhile, certain malevolent parties seek to acquire Yanagi, who possesses the power to heal with a mere touch, for their own ends. Recca and friends appear in the Massive Multiplayer Crossover game, Sunday VS Magazine Shuuketsu Choujou Daikessen

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This series provides examples of:

• Action Girl: Fuuko, every Uruha female fighters (save for perhaps Kirito).
• Aloof Big Brother: Kurei
• Amazon Brigade: Neon's Uruha Oto
• Art Evolution: The original art work for the series was very bland and crude, but by the end of the series, the characters and background were very visually appealing.
• Badass Adorable: Kaoru, oh so very much. Ganko.
• Badass Normal
• Battle Butler: Raiha, Neon, Jishou, most loyal of Kurei's followers, act kind of like this
• Bishonen: Tokiya and Raiha
• Bittersweet Ending: In the manga, Kurei decides to go back in time forever. Guess who follows him? Kaoru. Leaving the rest of the Team Hokage behind, for the sake of Kurei.
• Blessed with Suck: One of the final twists in the manga version: Kurei was the rightful heir as the Hokage leader because his flames have an animal aspect, The Phoenix. But we know how his life turned out to be, so...
• Blood Knight: Setsuna, who doesn't care about anything other than killing and has threatened to kill Recca if he were too weak on more than one occasion.
• Bloody Murder: When desperate, Tokiya can use his own blood to power his sword. And Hiruko has a Blood-manipulating Madogu
• Boobs of Steel: Neon, the strongest woman of Uruha (at least during Kurei's reign)
• Broken Pedestal: Meguri Kyouza, Tokiya's sensei, thought to be the killer of his sister... but it doesn't seem to be that way actually
• Bumbling Dad: Ouka AKA Resshin. Also Recca's adoptive father Shigeo.
• Cain and Abel: Recca and Kurei
• Cloning Blues: Renge, clone of Kurei. Also Aoi
• Clothing Damage: Fuuko. A lot. This is also how Domon accidentally defeats Kirin when she has a temporary wardrobe malfunction.
  • Neon. Talk about utterly shameless Fan Service.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Nearly any with Kurei after the tournament
  • From earlier:

Hanabishi Recca vs. Nagai Mokuren: Fight lasted 0 Minutes 1 Second- Recca wins

• Cursed with Awesome: the other half of the last twist in the manga: Recca finds out from Ouka that if somehow he fails to keep his promise to Yanagi, he'll turn into the 9th Flame Dragon with NO SPECIAL ABILITIES WHATSOEVER since his flames don't have an animal aspect and he is, in fact, the cursed flame wielder.
• Cute Little Fangs: Kaoru.
• Dead All Along: Noroi. He's also The Virus
• Dead Little Sister: Dead big sister. For Tokiya
• Deadpan Snarker: Tokiya often plays this part
• Defeat by Modesty: Kirin, who despite her Stripperific dressing style is actually very self-conscious about her body, so when she accidentally exposes herself to Domon she's treated to an unstoppable barrage of perverted thoughts from him, to the point where she can't turn her madogu off.
• Defrosting Ice Prince: Tokiya, and to a lesser extent Rasen after finding out he never lost his emotions in the first place.
• Determinator: Recca most prominently, but the rest of Team Hokage just don't seem to know when to quit and quite a few of their opponents seem to be Made of Iron as well.
• Distressed Damsel: Yanagi IN SPADES. Compassion and Healing Hands aren't that useful in repelling captors.
• Distressed Dude: Mikagami, although he's also an efficient fighter if he's not so unlucky. See Good Is Dumb entry above
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the anime, Kurei and Mori Kouran die in a car crash.
• The Dulcinea Effect: Recca to Yanagi. He doesn't know her well before the series begins and yet he's willing to fight other super powered people to protect her. Though he does have his reasons, see Lady and Knight
• Dumb Is Good: Most of Domon's victories are credited due to his dumb luck. So if you start out dumb, you're good. If you don't start out dumb, however... look at what happened to Mikagami.
• The Chosen One: Subverted: Recca was actually the cursed heir, while Kurei was innocent.
• Elemental Powers: All of the Magodu have domain over a particular "element", though the definition of "element" can be quite loose:
  • Playing with Fire: Recca and Kurei. And Renge, later on.
  • An Ice Person: Tokiya, Meguri Kyouza, Kai
  • Blow You Away: Fuuko
  • Dishing Out Dirt: In a way, Domon
  • Shock and Awe: Raiha
  • Green Thumb: Mokuren
  • Prehensile Hair: Meno
  • Paper Master: Saicho
  • Razor Floss
• Enemy Mine: An epic one in the final story arc. Against the Tendou Jigoku and Mori Kouran, the Hokage and their opponents-turned-allies friends put aside the differences with the Uruha and work together to ensure Mori is down for good.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Kurei loves his moms, past and present. Justified for the second part when all you have is a Complete Monster extraordinary for a father
• Evil Plan: Big Bad Mori Kouran wants to capture Yanagi because he thinks her Healing powers will make him immortal. Recca gets involved because she's his princess and he has to protect her.
• Expy: Recca and Kurei = ninja version of Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami
  • Not to mention the connections between Joker and Nanashi from MAR, another series by the same author.
    • Not an expy if they're the same person.
    • Especially if you wonder where his black hole REALLY took him
    • A straighter example with Joker would probably be Pandora from MIXIM.
• Finger-Snap Lighter
• First Episode Spoiler
• Five-Man Band:
  • The Hero: Recca
  • The Lancer: Tokiya (Recca and Tokiya are also Red Oni, Blue Oni pair as well, a problem Neon's team once tries to exploit)
  • The Big Guy: Domon (Though when not actually battling, he shows some Gentle Giant traits)
  • The Chick: Fuuko (Action Girl) / Yanagi (The Medic)
  • The Smart Guy: Kaoru
  • Team Mom: Kagerou
• Fling a Light Into the Future
• Foe Yay: One-sided, but Kamui has a very open, very disturbing crush on Kaoru.
• Gag Boobs: Yanagi's apparent lack of big boobs (or maybe she's just outclassed by the rest of the ladies) has been the subject of various jokes.
• Gambit Roulette: The entire Ura Batou Satsujin was a ploy to get Kurei killed. Should that fail however, Team Hokage's loss would mean that he gets Yanagi to further his goals. Ultimately fails on both goals, but he had a backup plan all along.
• Gecko Ending: The anime ends after the tournament, and changes the final battle so that Recca and Kurei have to team up against a clone of Kurei that uses green flames (oddly not using Renge, despite her already appearing), and then Kurei gets run over by a car driven by Mori Kouran which proceeds to blow up
• Good Is Dumb: Apparently, once Tokiya starts to let go of his cruel ways, he becomes subject of getting caught. TWICE. So much for being the cruelest.
• Healing Hands: Yanagi's power.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: Double subverted by Recca, as during his first mission, he dresses as a traditional ninja. However after that, he wears normal every day clothes. Same with the rest of Team Hokage.
  • • In the anime, Kurei also wears a cloak of a rather bright shade of red.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Cruelly subverted when Recca's dragons get stolen at one point and Setsuna, who barely tolerates fighting alongside Recca, does NOT want to take orders from anyone else
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Domon expresses these feelings in the final arc.
• Identical Grandson: Sort of, Recca's adopted father looks a lot like his biological father from the past; also Yanagi is more or less implied to be the reincarnation of a similar princess Recca's father once failed to protect
• Immortality Seeker: Big Bad Mori Kouran as well as Kaima, in order to fulfill their own lusts: money, possession (Kouran), and murder (Kaima).
• Lady and Knight: Technically Recca is a Ninja but otherwise fulfills the role of the White Knight by pledging his loyalty and service to Yanagi, who in turn, is a Bright Lady by her compassion. She uses Healing Hands to help others but needs Recca to keep her safe.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: First done by Kagehoshi's reveal as Recca's mother. Subsequently, Recca's father is Oka, aka the Flame Dragon Resshin
• Mask Power: Kurei, and the mask hides a horrible scar. Same thing goes to Noroi.
• Madness Mantra: Chapter 193 of the manga has TITS TITS TITS TITS TITS TITS TITS TITS TITS TITS TITS TITS TITS TITS TITS TITS. It Makes Sense in Context, really. Probably the most awesome mantra ever.
• Meaningful Name: Fuuko means "wind child", appropriate given her madogu, and she lampshades this at one point)
  • This extends to everybody in Team Hokage. Recca is "Fierce Fire", Domon is "Earth Gate" (and his last name has the character for "rock/stone" in it), Tokiya's name has the character for "frozen" in it (and his last name has the character for "water"), Kaoru's last name has the character for "gold/metal" in it, Kagehoshi has the character for "shadow"
  • Some of the villains get in on the act, too, like Mokuren (Wooden Lotus), the guy with plant-based powers.
• Moses in the Bulrushes: Two, in a variation involving time travel
• Ms. Fanservice: Fuuko's clothes have a tendency to... explode.
  • That or get totally ripped off.
  • Katanashi no Rui usually wears only a loose-fitting robe, and the first time we see her in her humanoid form, she burns it off entirely.
  • Don't forget the Ura Batou Satsujin Referees, who were basically MADE to be Fetish Fuel.
• Murderous Mannequin
• Musical Assassin: Neon's Fukyou Waon is a flute, but after Tokiya destroys it, she goes Dual-Wielding
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Raiha and Joker, two Enigmatic Minion
• Oda Nobunaga: very brief appearances
• Odd Couple: Kirin and Rasen
• One-Man Army: Raiha's Uruha Rai consists no one but HIMSELF
• Paper Master
• Panty Shot: A few by Fuuko in her school uniform near the beginning of the anime, especially during one fight scene. But it all ends after she changes her outfit for the rest of the series, trading in the skirt for short shorts.
• Pointless Band-Aid: Recca's. Or is it?
• Powers in the First Episode
• Say My Name: combatants often call each other out during battle, and allies offer support; at the end of the series, Yanagi requests this of Recca, since he'd called her "princess" throughout the entire series.
• Shut UP, Hannibal: Kurei starts giving a speech on how Recca and Yanagi will never see each other again once Kurei crushes him, and, well...

Kurei: "Even I have this much generosity. That is to say-- Recca: "Shut the fuck up, Bitch." *Flips him off* "Here's my answer."

• • Recca got a bigger one near the end of the fight and it is a Crowning Moment of Awesome
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Fuuko to Recca
• Qipao: Kage Hoshi wears one once.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: Several
• Revenge: Tokiya's purpose of life, until he later discards it.
• The Stoic: One of Recca's opponents in particular claims to have no emotions. It is eventually revealed that he had been suppressing them after he accidentally erased his mother's existence with his madogu and his stoicism breaks after his battle against Kagehoshi.
• Swiss Army Weapon: Kaoru's
• Technicolor Fire: Kurei's blue flames
• Time to Unlock More True Potential
• Title Drop: When Yanagi is turned into Recca's flame spirit, they say she's "the flame of Recca."
• That's Gotta Hurt: Really, pick any moment where Recca gets beaten down and seemingly defeated. The tenacious little bastard somehow gets up every time, mostly for Yanagi's sake.
• Token Evil Dragon: Setsuna. The rest of the dragons are amiable enough, but Setsuna is somewhat of a Complete Monster, complete with a bloody evil backstory.
• Took a Level In Badass: Domon rose up from being the team's weakest member to possibly one of the more overpowered character ever.
  • And yet he is still arguably the weakest of the hokage.
  • That place would likely go to Kaoru. He may be agile as Spiderman, but he's pretty much defenseless without his weapon, even though he can beat groups of skilled warriors senseless with his bare hands.
• Tournament Arc: Played straight, then subverted in the end when Recca outright refuses to join an exhibition tournament.
• Villainous Crossdresser: Aoi. Recca confirms this first before proceeding to kick his ass.
• We Could Have Avoided All This: When Kurei found out that Kagehoshi was immortal and could've been chasing after her instead of Yanagi... right before he was about to be defeated. Granted, Mori still wouldn't have Kagehoshi's best interests in mind.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Kagehoshi is immortal... and doesn't like it.