Manga / Kuro Kuro ~Black Chronicle~

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While cleaning out a spare room so his childhood friend Miu can use it while her parents are overseas, teenage Yuugo stumbles across the lewd, edgy, cringey novel he'd written as child (along with extensive setting notes). Thinking he'd already cleared out all of the potentially embarrassing geeky stuff in the house, he hurries to dispose of them, but they are caught in the wind and scattered. As he and Mia chase after them, they are attacked by a strange creature, but then saved by none other than Fay Evelead, the heroine of his book.

She informs him that her world, the book dimension Novelia, is in danger because he has left his story unfinished. She has come to the real world to get Yuugo to complete his novel and stabilise her world. But there are two problems. First, he hardly remembers anything about the story and needs his now-missing notes to complete it. Second, Fay isn't the only Novelian to materialise in the real world, and the villains of the story have their own ideas about how things should go.

The manga follows the adventures of Yuugo, Miu, Fay, and a growing pool of allies as they gather the missing pages, take on baddies, and somehow manage to constantly get their clothes torn off.

Kuro Kuro ~Black Chronicle~ contains examples of:

• Action Commands: Fay's entry in the Book of Genesis lists a series of special moves along with fighting game motion inputs.
• Action Girl: Most of the cast are powerful females. This is partly by necessity, since only women can wield Ancient Relics, but even Miu (who is nominally an ordinary human from the ordinary world) is able to beat up three grown men on her own.
• A-Cup Angst: Charlotte has this to the point that using the Grand Master's power to get bigger breasts is one of her main goals when she is introduced, and the only one she doesn't abandon after her Heel–Face Turn.
• Atrocious Alias: There are a couple of these.
  • Yuugo wrote his novel under the alias "Tenkaichi Setsuna". It may not be clear to English speaking ears but, to the Japanese audience, it's a name so grandiose as to be ridiculous.
  • The protagonist of Yuugo's book is called "Silent Raven" because carrion birds follow him wherever he goes. This edgy nonsense sends Miu into paroxysms of laughter.
• Author Appeal: Well-endowed women with prominent tattoos and occasionally deeply tanned skin are featured prominently in Rakko's other works as well.
• Author Avatar: An in-universe version; the unstoppably badass male lead of Yuugo's novel looks an awful lot like he did when he wrote it.
• Bad Powers, Good People: Once her reason for direct conflict with Fay is resolved, Chrome shows a surprising amount of compassion and principle. That said, as a professional assassin, killing is still her go-to method of conflict resolution.
• Barely There Swimwear: The swimsuit Fay wears during the inevitable Beach Episode is quite revealing. She comments that this is embarrassing even though, as Yuugo points out, it actually covers more than her usual outfit.
• Beach Episode: Chapter 4 takes place at the beach and puts the cast in swimsuits.
• BFS: Byakko's sword Tiger Task is not only enormous, but made of the incredibly hard and dense Fantasy Metal, Orichalcum.
• Big Bad: Emperor Nemesis played this role in Yuugo's novel. Out in the real world, he is also viewed as such by Yuugo and company and is initially positioned that way by the narrative. However, since he turns out to be a Doppelgänger of Yuugo and actually answers to his apparent Number Two, Nekoumori, there is likely more going on.
• Blob Monster: The Creeper Oozes are amorphous blobs with eyes and mouths in the classic Dragon Quest style.
• Bond Creatures: Though rarely seen, the Guardian Spirits (sometimes called Minds in the original Japanese) inside Ancient Relics are a classic case. They draw on their contractors' life force to empower the weapons they live inside, though the process by which they do so is just an excuse for more fanservice scenes.
• Calling Your Attacks: The Novelian characters' techniques all have overblown, portentous names that they cry out when performing them.
• Censor Steam: Steam and smoke cover the most sensitive areas in some bath and fight scenes.
• Cliffhanger: The series ends with the heroes cornered by two major villains and Miu kidnapped, not to mention the unexplained revelation that Emperor Nemesis looks just like Yuugo.
• Chainsaw Good: The chain blade Hayatemaru is a chainsaw katana.
• Character Class System: Most of the Novelian characters all have an assigned character class in their profile. It's not clear what those classes do as such, or whether everyone from that world necessarily has one, but those profiles are physical objects that actually determine Novelian characters' traits, so the classes are a matter of fact. If nothing else, they all seem to accurately describe what the character does. As we do not see profiles for every character, the following list is not exhaustive but some examples include:
  • Fay is a Bullet Gunner.
  • Chrome is an Assassin.
  • Charlotte is a Princess. (What that has to do with giant drills is unclear but she does at least initially have a castle and at least one servant.)
  • Rem's class is listed as "???" but there is a class listed on his entry in the Book of Genesis that is difficult to make out because it is (badly) written by hand.
  • Seiryuu is a Ninja.
  • Byakko is a Berserker.
• Clothing Damage: No humanoid character loses a fight with their modesty intact.
• Cute Monster: Fay's Guardian Spirit, the flame lizard Salamander, is an adorable little creature that looks more like a fiery hedgehog than any kind of reptile.
• Cut Short: Word of God is that the series is on an indefinite hiatus, but that he doesn't expect to continue it. Given that this was over ten years ago, that assessment seems accurate.
• Defeat by Modesty: Byakko is a combat powerhouse that the heroes can't take down with conventional means. Instead, Chrome uses a hallucinogenic poison to make Byakko see herself (and everyone around her) as completely naked, and then proceeds to give a full rundown of her physical characteristics to the onlookers. Byakko can't swing her BFS and maintain her Hand-or-Object Underwear at the same time and is taken down.
• Demihuman: Though we are usually not told exactly what species they are, some characters have traits that mark them as not fully human.
  • Fay has three horns and yellow sclera.
  • Byakko has cat ears and a tiger pattern on some of her skin.
  • Rem is a living Ancient Relic, and has pointed ears.
• Dream Sequence:
  • Yuugo has one in Chapter 1 during which Fay makes her Naked First Impression.
  • Fay dreams about betraying her allies to Emperor Nemesis and fears that she is seeing her destiny once Yuugo's novel is complete.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Just about every other character initially takes Rem for a girl.
• Elemental Powers: Each Ancient Relic has a signature element and grants powers to their contractor accordingly.
  • Fay's Crimson Blazer has the fire attribute.
  • Chrome's Poison Thorn has the poison attribute.
  • Charlotte's Infinity Spiral nominally has the earth attribute, although we never see it conjure or command earth, just dig through it like a regular drill could.
  • Rem is himself an unnamed Ancient Relic. Nominally he is elementally aligned to water, but all of his attacks are ice based.
  • Seiryuu's Hayatemaru has the lightning attribute.
• Elite Four: The Divine Force, having originally been fictional in-universe, are a deliberate example. In fact, the team's name (though pronounced in English) is written using the kanji for shitennō.
• The Empire: Implied to exist in Novelia; Emperor Nemesis is an emperor after all. He is explicitly stated to be the king of the Dragon Clan, and seems to have vast material and humanoid resources at his command. No name is ever given for Nemesis's territory, however.
• Fanservice: Characters are constantly being disrobed and manhandled for the benefit of the audience.
• Fantastic Firearms: Fay's Crimson Blazer is a magically empowered handgun. Chrome's Poison Thorn isn't exactly gun-shaped, but is a high-tech/magical projectile weapon.
• The Four Gods: The Divine Force are named after the four divine beasts. It's not clear whether these are their real names, but we do know that membership of the team has shifted at various points and no reference is made to the previous members using the same titles.
• Full-Frontal Assault: While she isn't completely naked, Fay does fight Chrome dressed in nothing but her barely-there panties, having run to the scene straight from the bath.
• Furo Scene: Yuugo's home features a spacious bathroom, where female characters are frequently shown for Fanservice purposes and someone inevitably ends up getting their breasts fondled.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: Article 175 of the Penal Code of Japan requires genitalia to be censored, even in pornography (and standard practice is not to directly depict them at all in anything aimed at general audiences). Rakko gets away with a lot of partial obscuring of naughty bits using unusually thin Censor Steam or translucent slime.
• Going Commando: Involuntarily. Miu has her panties pulled off by a Creeper Ooze just before she is kidnapped by Seiryuu.
• Gratuitous Rape: The series swerves from a fairly standard seinen fanservice vehicle to having surprisingly explicit (though fantastical) depictions of sexual violence in its last two chapters.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Chrome is consistently described as a half-breed of human and machine (rather than as a cyborg) and is capable of romantic attraction to machines, so she counts.
• Hand-or-Object Underwear: Byakko does her best to preserve her modesty with her hands and sword while under the influence of Chrome's Illusion Mist.
• Home of Monsters: Everything supernatural in the series originates in Novelia, the setting of Yuugo's book.
• Human Weapon: For a given value of human anyway; Rem is an Ancient Relic in humanoid form. He can use all the powers that would be available to someone wielding him, though not without cost.
• Hybrid Monster: Seabeef has traits of both a cow and a sea slug. Nekoumori, as his name indicates, has features both cats and bats.
• An Ice Person: Though Rem's signature element is nominally water, all of his attacks are ice blasts of some kind.
• The Immodest Orgasm: Fay has a big one while being raped by Creeper Oozes. This has the side effect of defeating her assaulters because of a Japanese homophone.
• Kiss of Death: Chrome's Venom Engage is a technique where poison is administered mouth-to-mouth.
• Leotard of Power: Byakko is an unrivalled physical powerhouse, and wears a sheer, high-legged leotard when she's not full concealed under a cloak or completely naked.
• Little Bit Beastly: Byakko has cat ears and markings that look like tiger stripes on her legs.
• Magitek: Ancient Relics are mechanical weapons powered by elemental spirits. It doesn't get much more magitechnological than that.
• Metamorphosis Monster: Creeper Oozes undergo drastic changes in ability (if not in shape) as they mature. Alpha Creeper Oozes can alter their shape up to a point but Beta Creeper Oozes can mimic organic forms in detail. We never find out what Gamma Creeper Oozes might be capable of.
• Naked First Impression: Fay first appears to Yuugo in a dream, barely concealed by Censor Steam.
• Naked on Arrival: Fay's first scene is a dream sequence in which she appears fully nude.
• Naked People Are Funny: The way characters react to their own or others' nudity in fanservice scenes is often played for laughs.
• Naughty Tentacles: Earth Dragon's numerous tongues certainly count. The Creeper Oozes don't use tentacles but still molest women with their amorphous appendages.
• Ninja: And a Highly Visible Ninja at that, in the form of Seiryuu. She was originally a fairly standard and interchangeable ninja before her traits were rewritten by Emperor Nemesis making her much more powerful, but also extremely free-spirited for some reason.
• Nipple and Dimed: In the very first scene there are wisps of smoke partially obscuring Fay's nipples, which is a little odd considering how consistently this is averted in the rest of the series (even in the same chapter).
• Our Demons Are Different: Demons are confirmed to exist in Novelia, at the very least, and to have bodies with physical properties (one of Chrome's poisons is refined from demon blood) but little else is said about them.
• The Paralyzer: Chrome's Paralyse Mist is a paralytic toxin.
• Pixellation: Unusually for an ecchi work, there is one scene where Fay's intimate areas are hidden with a mosaic blur. This isn't played for laughs, and is especially surprising given that what would be behind the pixels is nothing that the series hasn't gotten away with elsewhere.
• Please Put Some Clothes On: Yuugo's reaction to Charlotte after her fight with Byakko. Charlotte is initially unfazed since it's technically an illusion, but eventually gets embarrassed and complies.
• Plot Twist: Emperor Nemesis is revealed to be an exact duplicate of Yuugo. This goes some way to explain how he has the same authority to rewrite the Book of Genesis as Yuugo, but also raises further questions we never get answers to.
• Poison Is Evil: Resident poison-user Chrome is introduced as a villain.
• Pun-Based Creature: Seabeef is a literal sea cow. This pun works in English and Japanese, though better in the latter since it is clearly modelled on sea slugs (whose Japanese name translates to "sea cow") rather than on manatees.
• Rape by Proxy: Nemesis's underlings punish Byakko for losing to the heroes by chaining her up to be painfully raped by Creeper Oozes and their sticky appendages.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Divine Force are the four strongest soldiers in Nemesis's empire. They have unique abilities but also strong personalities that you wouldn't expect to make for very good soldiers.
  • "Thunderclap" Seiryuu is a Highly Visible Ninja with lightning powers and a chainsaw katana. Instead of loyally serving the Big Bad, she seems to be actively playing factions against each other. She is also weirdly cheerful and friendly, even when being casually cruel.
  • "Silver" Byakko has absurd physical strength, but is also a prideful Blood Knight with little interest in Nemesis's agenda.
  • "Kingfisher" Genbu is a pessimistic grumbler, but also a mechanist in command of the Walking Tank, Tekkou Genbu.
  • "Flameburst" Suzaku speaks with refinement but rarely has anything kind to say. She is never shown fighting or using any special abilities but her epithet implies she might have fire powers, making her something of a Mirror Match for Fay.
• Reluctant Fanservice Girl: More or less every female character who gets naked does so unwillingly at some point. Notable exceptions are Seiryuu (who is faking her unwillingness), Chrome (who is an indifferent Shameless Fanservice Girl) and Ichiru (who often drags other girls into situations involving social nudity).
• Rewriting Reality: Novelian characters and artefacts can be changed by rewriting their entries in the Book of Genesis (Yuugo's setting notes) so long as the writer has the authority to do so.
• Sea Monster: Cow-nudibranch hybrid Seabeef rises from the ocean to attack innocent beachgoers.
• Slime Girl: When the Beat Creeper Oozes take on the shapes of other characters (all of whom are female) they keep their original slimy colour scheme and become this.
• Shadow Walker: Seiryuu can melt into and attack from people's shadows. It's not clear whether she can teleport from one to another, but she can definitely enter a shadow without its owner noticing.
• Shameful Strip: Byakko's leotard is melted off by Creeper Oozes as her bosses punish her for losing to the heroes, though that's just the start of her rape.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Chrome is indifferent to the eyes of others and never shown to be flustered or embraced by nudity (whether her own or anyone else's). Seiryuu might also count since the only time we see her stripped down she is pretending to have been captured.
• Shoulders of Doom: Not only Emperor Nemesis but also his Elite Four, the Divine Force, first appear in concealing black cloaks with heavy pauldrons.
• Spikes of Villainy: Emperor Nemesis has a very angular look overall, and in particular his helmet is not only covered in small spikes, but is also one big spike itself since it is conical.
• Split Personality: Rem alternates between his meek default personality, and a brash ass-kicking punk. These don't seem to be separate individuals, just radically different ways for a single person to express himself.
• Stripperiffic: All of the Novelian characters' outfits are like this to some extent, but none more so than Fay, whose main outfit doesn't even fully cover her nipples.
• This Is a Drill: Charlotte's Infinity Spiral is an Ancient Relic in the form of a drill.
• Unexpected Virgin: Fay and Chrome are shocked, shocked to learn that Byakko is a virgin.
• Vapor Wear: Fay's outfit actually covers less than the bare minimum. Suffice to say, if she had a bra or panties on, you'd definitely be able to tell.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Beta Creeper Oozes can mimic the shape of any living thing they have touched, and can mix and match forms to add entire body parts.
• World of Buxom: The only female characters without big boobs are Charlotte (for whom it is a sore point played for laughs) and Ichiru (who is explicitly younger than the rest of the cast).