Trinity Blood

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"Humans feed on birds and cattle, Vampires on the lifeblood of Humans. Didn't it ever occur to you that there might be something yet higher on the food chain?"

Trinity Blood originally began as a series of Light Novels penned by the late Sunao Yoshida, which were later adapted into a manga and anime series. The manga is known for its lush and Baroque artwork by Kiyo Kûjô; and the anime adaptation is similarly lavish in its visuals and animation quality.

The anime continuity opens on a time far into the future, 900 years after a disaster which nearly destroyed Earth's population. The Catholic Church has re-emerged as a major military superpower and is currently waging a Cold War against the Methuselahs, a vampiric race comprised of humans which have been infected with an alien bacillus. (Said bacillus prolongs the victims' lives, grants them magical powers and super strength, at the cost of being vulnerable to sunlight -- and leaves them constantly hungry for human blood, hence the reason they're considered such a nuisance.)

It is not uncommon for stark, be-trenchcoated heroes to emerge during times like this. However, the main be-trenchcoated hero of this story appears anything but heroic at first glance. In fact, Father Abel Nightroad seems a bit of a ditz, although under the right circumstances, his true form will show itself. (His true form being that of a Crusnik, a powerful and monstrous being which feeds on vampires the way vampires feed on humans.)

The series isn't just about Father Nightroad kicking vampire ass for the Lord, though. There's also plenty of intrigue going on in both the Vatican and Methuslean camps. And a shadowy conspiracy called the Order of Rosenkreuz, which seeks to bring about The End of the World as We Know It. Again.

It's probably worth noting that one of the reasons the anime is so light on content, and that the manga is sort of... hanging... is because the original author died before the series could be finished. And the mangaka aren't really sure how to finish the series well enough so as to honour the author and keep the fandom happy.

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Tropes used in Trinity Blood include:

• The Abridged Series: One by TwilightWolf183 and another by TinyNightroad, the latter of which is So Bad It's Good.
• Absolute Cleavage
  • Worn by a nun, believe it or not. Really.
  • Jane sports this too.
• Accidental Pervert: Abel Nightroad, multiple examples.
• Alien Sky
• All There in the Manual: Seriously. The show tells you almost nothing about the setting and backstory. The manga is more clear and forthcoming about these details. The novels are your best bet if you want to have a clue what's happening, though. There's also the notes left by the original author prior to his death which explains the events after Esther was crowned Queen of Albion. But those events got worse .
• Alternate Continuity: The novels, manga and anime differ greatly from each other.
• Angel Face, Demon Face: Inverted with Abel, whose Crusnik-form appearance is disturbing/demonic, and Cain whose transformed appearance is more classically angelic.
• Anime Catholicism
• Anti-Gravity Clothing
• Anti-Hero: The Pope is a Type I, Abel is a Type II, while Brother Petro is a Type III.
• Are You Sure You Can Drive This Thing??: Sister Esther tries to drive, and almost gives Abel a heart attack. It results in Radu finding them.
• Artificial Limbs: Hugue
• The Atoner: Abel
• Author Existence Failure: Sunao Yoshida died at the age of 34, with the novel series incomplete and the manga adaptation not even begun yet. His best friend Kentaro Yasui took over on both. Nobody bothered to take over the anime, which ended with a 1st-season cliffhanger, though.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Esther at the end
• Badass Automaton: Father Tres.
• Badass Longcoat: Most male members of the cast. And with the introduction of Asta, even one of the females.
• Badass Preacher: The Catholics sure can crank em out when they have to.
• Baker's Dozen: Cour variant. If you treat the multipart eps as single extended episodes, you get 13 episodes over 24 half-hours. It goes: 1, 2, 3-4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9-10, 11, 12-14, 15-19, 20-22, 23-24.
• The Beautiful Elite
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Subverted BIG TIME with Dietrich. He's described as extremely handsome (with the face of an angel)... and is also a total psychopath with no regard for human life.
• Big Bad: Cain Nightroad.
• Big Good
  • The pope
  • Queen Esther of Albion
• BFG: Tres sure loves his heavy artillery...
• Big No: At the climax of episode 22, and to a lesser extent, episode 3.
• Bishonen: Just about every male cast member is one, including the Pope! The manga even lampshades it a few times. And Abel appears so many times with Bishie Sparkles...
• Bishie Sparkle: Shahrazad appears with Bishie Sparkle with a dose of Love Bubbles every time she smiles at Esther's direction.
• Bi the Way: Jane Jocelyn, one of the candidates for Albion's throne. She's apparently had seven husbands, and is not even remotely shy about showing her blatant, leering interest in Esther.
• Bloody Murder: One vampire could cause his blood to spontaneously combust with air. Abel could form a scythe out of his.
• Bloodstained-Glass Windows
• Bodyguard Crush: Tres' incredible devotion to Caterina Sforza in both novels and manga.
• Broke Episode: Abel never seems to have money when he needs it.
• Burn the Witch: Both Terrans and Methuselah hate witches.
• Cain and Abel
  • Guess what Abel's Evil Twin is named?.
  • They also have a sister named Seth (originally the third son of Adam and Eve, here turned into a girl).
  • Lilith is based on Adam's first wife, who turned into a demon.
• The Chessmaster: Dietrich and Isaak.
• The Chew Toy: Bizarrely, Abel. He takes a lot of abuse for someone who's capable of Badassery.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Pope Alessandro XVIII, King Ludwig II (in the novels) and Empress Seth. The former is timid and easily manipulated; the second is a 15-year-old wheelchair-bound Bishonen AND the ruthless ruler of Germanicus; and the latter is Really Seven Hundred Years Old, but rules through a proxy due to her youthful appearance.
• Church Militant: VERY militant. Straight up to 40K levels.
• Click. "Hello.": Tres, episode 2. May also count as Dramatic Gun Cock.
• Costume Porn/Pimped-Out Dress
• Crash Into Hello: Abel and Esther. Although Abel thought she was a boy when they met.
• Crapsack World: Before the events of Trinity Blood, the humans and the Methuselahs (who were orignally humans and colonizers of Mars but got infected with the bacillus) wage war against each other which almost destroy the entire human race and the planet. During the events of the series, humans and Methuselahs still hold antagonistic feelings against each other. According to the original author's notes, It Got Worse.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Abel and Cain.
• Crush! Kill! Destroy!: Tres in Genocide mode
• Cursed with Awesome: ... which is what infection of the Bacillus would be if it didn't require the constant craving for human blood. Given the wondrous powers it bestows, one wonders why all or part of humanity doesn't allow itself to be infected and then just survive on a diet of synthetic blood. Lampshaded during the fairy synthetic vampires arc: it said that the successful conversion rate is extremely low (at least in the light novels).
• Cute Bruiser: Kaya
• Cute Shotaro Boy: The Pope, who often finds himself torn between his two older siblings.
• Deceptively-Human Robots: Tres and the other Killing Dolls
• Decoy Leader: The vampire empress.
• The Ditz: Abel
• Dragon with an Agenda: Isaak Fernand von Kämpfer whose 'agenda' and 'goals' are described as mysterious and is compared with Karla of Record of Lodoss War in interviews.
• The Empire: The vampires' form of government.
• Eyes Always Shut: Brother Matthew
• Five-Man Band: AX Agency
  • The Hero: Abel
  • The Lancer: Tres, Leon
  • The Smart Guy: William, Kate
  • The Big Guy: Leon, Hugue
  • The Chick: Esther, Noelle
• Flowery Elizabethan English: In the English version of the manga released by Tokyopop, the Empress speaks like this... but only with other noble Methusalehs.
• Flying Car
• Food Chain of Evil: Many vampires are shocked and horrified to learn that they are the natural prey for the even more badass Crusniks.
• Foreign Language Title
• Freudian Excuse: A lot of characters, most notably Dietrich. He had a very disturbing past in which he basically was hated and mistrusted since he was born. His father saw an inclination for evil in him, and tried to murder him when he was six years old. IT didn't work, so Dietrich snapped and killed his entire family in a fit of paranoia. Alone and orphaned, little Dietrich had no moral compass to draw from, and became a twisted Mad Scientist miniature. Until Cain and Isaak just happened to walk by his town when he was seven. and picked him up to groom him into a high-ranked terrorist at ten years old. In the Canon Notes it's stated he is unable to comprehend love because he never experienced it, but he is drawn to people who are naturally loving (like Esther and Abel). He's also described as pure evil, but innocent and honestly believes the Orden can make the world better. To the point that when he realizes what Cain's real plans are, he pulls a Heel Face Turn thanks to Caterina's persuasion.
• Gonk: Brother Phillipo
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Inverted. The Hero Abel has scary black or red ones, while Big Bad Cain has white feathered ones.
• Guns Akimbo: Tres
• Gun Kata: Father Tres, episode 2
• The Gunslinger: Quite a few characters, but mainly Tres, to the point that Gunslinger is actually his callsign.
• Handsome Lech: Antonio, Leon in the manga
• Heel Face Turn: Dietrich
• Hermetic Magic
• Heroes Want Redheads
• Heroic Vow: Abel to Lilith, and Esther to Shahrazad).
• High-Pressure Blood
• The High Queen: Many of them.
• Hunter of His Own Kind
• Implacable Man: Tres, again.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Tres. Tres. Tres. Oh my God Tres! Though to be fair, he is a robot.
• Improbable Weapon User: Crusnik 02 wields a huge, wicked, multi-bladed scythe. Made out of his own blood.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Caterina Sforza in the ROM novels and the manga
• Jeanne D'Archetype: Esther Blanchett starts like this in the novels.
• Knight of Cerebus: Cain Nightroad
• Knight Templar
• Lady of War: Astharoshe, Sister Paula, Monica Argento, Shahrazad al-Rahman, Mary Spencer
• Large Ham: Brother Petro, who seemingly can't go five minutes without making a grand proclamation of justice.
• Little Miss Badass: Seth, Kaya
• Lolicon: Seth Nightlord & Mirka Fortuna.
• Lost Technology
• Love Hurts: When it doesn't make you evil or is unrequited, happy protagonists and villains in this series have to deal with the demise of their spouse/lover: Like William and his fiancé, Helga and her husband, Monica and her husband, Leon and his wife, Gyula and his wife Maria, Abel and his beloved Lilith.
• Love Makes You Evil
  • Caterina Sforza in the novels and Manga. When Abel shows too much concern on Esther for her liking. She subtly moves to arrange Esther's accidental death twice. Later on, in Stories Untold, she realizes the grave consequences of her actions and uses this hatred and jaded love to win herself a place in the Orden, in order to destroy them from within.
  • Could also apply to Gyula and his wife.
• Machine Monotone: Tres, Brother Bartholomew
• Manipulative Bastard: Deitrich and Cain.
• Meaningful Name: Shout Outs to historical and religious figures abound in this series.
  • Abel, Cain, and Seth Nightroad: Obvious reference to the three sons of Adam and Eve.
  • Lilith Sahl: Reference to Lilith, Adam's first wife in some interpretations of Genesis.
  • Esther Blanchett: Reference to the biblical queen Esther. Also lampshaded by Dietrich as being homophonous to Greek "Aster," or "star." Revealed to be Esther White in the manga, the White Rebellion.
    • Edward White is not her biological father, but a knight faithful to the Crown Princess who saved Princess Esther and was framed by the real conspirators of the crime. Also Blanchett/Blanchette is a French heroine of a novel with the same name. Also also, "Blanchett" approximately translates from French as "Little White," and Albion, one of the traditional, poetic names of Britain is etymologically related to Latin "albus," or "white."
  • Radu Barvon Named after Vlad "The Impaler" Tepes' traitorous brother, he was the puppet ruler of Wallachia whenever the Ottoman Empire occupied it.
  • Hercules Tres Iqus: Number 3 out of 10 (Iquis is Latin for "X", or in numeral form, "10") Killing Dolls created by Geppetto Garibaldi.
  • Augusta Vradica: Augustus Caesar meets Vlad Dracula
  • Astharoshe/"Asta": Reference to Ashtoreth/Astarte, a Canaanite goddess mentioned in the Old Testament, and namesake of Astaroth, a high-ranking demon in Medieval demonology
  • Suleyman: Reference to Suleiman the Magnificent aka Suleyman I, the longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
  • All codenames (Except maybe Dandelion?)
    • Nope, even Dandelion. He's a dandy, and his name is Leon. That's it.
      • In fact, Dandelion translated to Spanish is "Diente de León", that can be literally translated to "lion's tooth".
  • All members of the Vatican are connected to Renaissance important politicians or members of the Church: Borgia, Caterina Sforza, Medici, Alphonso D'Este.
  • The nicknames "Calamity Jane" and "Bloody Mary".
  • Baybars/Baibars is a reference to another famous sultan known as Abu al-Futuh.
  • Scheherazade/Shahrazad
• More Dakka
• Ms. Fanservice: Noelle Bor, Monica Argento, and Jane Judith Jocelyn.
• Minored in Asskicking: Professor Wordsworth
• Mismatched Eyes: Abel Nightroad First Volume Manga Cover
• Naughty Nuns: In the distant future, the Vatican has given up that whole "celibacy" thing. It makes for really good (wikipedia) (wikicommons) ^{[dead link]} Cosplay.
• Nice Hat: Many, but Empress Augusta's is the most notable.
• No Ending: At least by the original author. His friend, Kentaro Yasui, author of the Ragnarok novels, was asked to continue the series.
• Noisy Guns: Played utterly straight. Any time a gun is even pointed at something, it makes random clicky sounds.
• Nuns Are Mikos
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Abel, although Cain pulls this act more convincingly.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Whenever you hear it, you know someone is about to get their ass handed to them.
• Only Mostly Dead: Abel, after his unsuccessful bid to defeat Cain
• Our Vampires Are Different
• Person of Mass Destruction: The Crusniks.
• Planet Terra: Methuselahs refer to humans as Terrans. Because, as the original novels reveal, the first Methuselahs were created on Mars.
• Plucky Girl: Esther Blanchett
• Power Limiter
  • Abel has imposed one on himself. His Evil Twin hasn't, and the results show why Abel has done so.
  • Seth and Lilith as well, since releasing 100% power would mean the Nanomachines taking possession of the host, which is what happened to poor Cain. Sadly, the anime forgets this fact and some other little details: Lilith has no nanomachines in her bloodstream, or she won't be dead - and Abel got his head blown off to be put in stasis during Throne of the Roses.
• Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: Whenever you hear Abel's voice change and uttering the words "Crusnik 02. Nanomachine output 40%. Activate", you know someone is about to get wrecked in a horrific manner.
• Prehensile Hair: Vanessa. Holy fricking crap, Vanessa.
• Princess Curls: Cardinal Caterina sports a magnificent pair. So does Helga von Vogelweide of the Rosencreutz Orden and Jane from Albion
• Pro-Human Transhuman: A few vampires and Crusniks.
• Putting on the Reich: The RKO's uniforms are modeled after the Nazi's Waffen-SS. Probably to invoke Red Right Hand.
• Really Seven Hundred Years Old
  • The Crusnik and Methuselah.
  • Special mention must go to Seth and Mirka, who are ancient but look about the same age as Ion. What's really striking is that Mirka is Ion's grandma!
• The Reveal: Big time in episode 19, in which Seth is revealed to be The Empress, while The Empress is revealed to actually be Mirka Fortuna, Duchess of Moldova. In all fairness, there was a bit of a Chekhov's Gun that should have at least clarified who Seth really was: at the end of episode 11, you see the bottom portion of her head, revealing her childlike face and giveaway hairstyle (not to mention her voice when she speaks).
• Requisite Royal Regalia: The crown Esther is, well, crowned with, and she also had an ermine cape in the manga
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge
• Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Shahrazad and Esther are a rare subversion, because Esther had 'romantic friendship/partnerships' with a lot of men (Dietrich, Abel, Ion) before 'graduating' from them and establishing one with a true sense of lasting commitment with a girl. Too bad Shahrazad dies minutes after Esther realizes this..
• Say My Name: Esther and Ion, stuck in a cell together. You wouldn't think they'd have to cry out the names, what with being in the same cell, but they do.
• Scenery Porn
• Schizo-Tech
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: In the episode Overcount I. The Belfry of Downfall Cardinal Caterina Sforza breaks Vatican protocol in seeking to stop a weapon that could destroy all of Rome. As a result she placed under house arrest and is hinted that that she might have been executed. However, she is cleared when the weapon is used.
• Sexy Priest: The AX agents seem to be ranked according to how attractive they are. Abel of course is first. Tres may be an exception, as he was designed that way.
• Shotacon: Ion Fortuna. The anime ending has hints of Abel×Ion. Considering the former is a priest and the latter looks like a boy...
• Sliding Scale of Vampire Friendliness: On the friendlier side. Only cruel or debauched vampires go on blood-guzzling sprees. Most live on cloned blood.
• The Spock: Tres
• Stripperiffic: Most female vampires. Sister Monica and Sister Paula also, despite being nuns.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Esther Blanchett, in Star of Sorrow. Also Vanessa Walsh.
• Sweet Tooth: Abel would like thirteen sugars in his tea, please.
• Shout-Out: Episode 2 of the anime has Tres throw it out to John Preston by pulling a similar "bust into badguy hideout, kill the lights, and blow everyone away while standing in the same spot" entry.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial
  • Oh, Brother Petro. "I'm merely been assigned to be His Holiness's escort! It's not as if I'm on another mission and have been sworn to absolute secrecy or anything! Because I am definitely not! Don't get the wrong idea!"
  • Also the Duke of Tigris: "W-Whatever do you mean? Why would I ever blow up Your Majesty?"
• Technical Pacifist: Abel in the anime. He's rather less disturbed by killing in the novels and manga.
• Tin Man: Tres has his moments
• Token Loli: Seth
• Tsundere
  • Astharoshe "Asta" Asran, and using that nickname without permission is an easy way to trigger the tsuntsun side. Ion Fortuna. Esther Blanchett to a degree is a tsundere type B, usually she's polite and kind, but she has her triggers specially around Abel in the novels.
  • Vanessa Walsh as well.
• Unknown Rival: Brother Petro and Tres, who really couldn't care less.
• Unorthodox Reload: Tres
• Unrequited Love
  • Sister Noelle, for Abel.
  • And Caterina Sforza for Abel (maybe Tres for Caterina).
  • Ion Fortuna and the Pope, for Esther Blanchett.
• Vampire Monarch: Empress Augusta Vradica the First is the leader of the Methuselah vampires of "The New Human Empire". In reality, she is the childlike Seth Nightroad, a Crusnik Vampire and is Really Seven Hundred Years Old.
• Winged Humanoid: The Crusnik when they're at 80% and over.
• Walking the Earth: Abel and Ion at the end of the anime.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Some members of the Orden, particularly Balathasar, are like this. Esther could have been one in the beginning, specially in the novels. Also Suleyman.
  • Vanessa Walsh.
• White-Haired Pretty Boy: Cain, inverted with Abel
• Whole Costume Reference When Esther is crowned, she wears a Pimped-Out Dress just like one Elizabeth I of England wore, but it wasn't her coronation dress
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Cain, who apparently went crazy after fusing with the Crusnik nanomachines at 100%, thus demonstrating why Abel's voluntary Power Limiter is a very good idea.
• The Worf Effect: Brother Petros seems to assume this role after his initial battle with Abel.
• Would Hit a Girl: Abel slaps Esther after she defies the direction of her bosses and nearly torpedoes a crucial diplomatic operation
• X Meets Y
  • Hellsing meets Trigun meets Chrono Crusade.
  • And also "Alucard meets Vash" to some extent.
  • The After the End vampire civilization is straight out of Vampire Hunter D's Backstory.
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Seth speaks in Old-ish English to Süleyman during his attempt on her life. Only in the Tokyopop translation, though.
• You Are Worth Hell: Shahrazad is this for Esther.
• Yuri Fanboy: Abel has a moment of this after Jane comes on to Esther.