Love Pistols

File:Love Pistols 1985.png

People are starting to act very odd around Norio. This average, normal boy is suddenly getting a lot of unwanted romantic attention and he can’t figure out why! A broken leg and a fall down the stairs into the arms of a handsome stranger set off the beginning of an explanation, and it is one Norio never could have possibly imagined; 30% of humans are not descended from apes but from other animals. These people are called Zoomans and they have a complex social structure. Its members are ranked by rarity and desirability, and it turns out that Norio is a particularly rare breed and his DNA is in much demand! How will he survive in this modern jungle where he’s suddenly the prey?

Love Pistol is created by Tarako Kotobuki and is known in Japan as Sex Pistols, but due to obvious reasons it was renamed by Blu Manga when it was localized in America. The manga has currently spawned 4 Drama CDs and 2 OVAs.

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Tropes:

• Abusive Parents: The same person is a doting dad to one kid and an abusive mom to another. But it was mostly played for laughs at the end.
  • Said person is hinted to be so utterly screwed up because their dad is even more screwed up and hinted to be a Complete Monster who heavily abused them, if probably not physically, but emotionally.
    • It also may have played a role that while Manami is Makio and Karen's lovechild, Kunimasa and also Yonekuni were only just received to serve as a stand-in successor for their family-clan. She really didn't care much which one of them she took with her.
• Always Identical Twins
• Animorphism: The Zoomans / Madararui.
• Artistic License Biology: You better don't think too hard about how it's possible for a parasitic worm to induce a male body to create an artificial womb and on top of this produce egg cells instead of sperm. And how the heck this should be beneficial for said worms? Don't even go there.
  • Also the whole line-of-descent thing is rather poorly explained by any commonly recognized evolutionary theory out there, let alone any genetic reasoning. It's also not really clear how the changing between human and animal form is supposed to work. But once you're willing to forget about anything you've ever learned about biology and to solely rely on Kotobuki's explanations, it's quite enjoyable.
• Bastard Boyfriend: Several of these. Yonekuni, Seth, Hiromasa and Makio. Hiromasa seems to be the worst.
  • Bespectacled Bastard Boyfriend - Kunimasa, from time to time.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Kunimasa and Norio, mostly at the beginning.
• Big Brother Complex: Manami, towards Kunimasa.
• Big Brother Instinct: Kumakashi over Norio, although he is also crushing.
• Big Screwed-Up Family: the Madarame family, really
• Blatant Lies
• But Not Too Foreign
• Cast Full of Pretty Boys: And HOW!
• Catboy: All nekomata due to the nature of their soul-appearance but mostly Manami, Norio (a cat/monkey hybrid actually) and other lightweights/light seeds.
• Chikan: The story begins with Norio being the target of groping by multiple men in a train.
• Closet Key: not in the most traditional sense, but Inukami to Yonekuni.
• Cross-Popping Veins
• Delinquent Hair: the pompadoured bully in vol 1 ch 3.
• Does Not Like Men: Yonekuni. In fact, getting a boyfriend seems to make this worse, because Yonekuni's totally a Crazy Jealous Guy and assumes any guy who gets within ten feet of Shiro is after him.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Norio, Manami, Wakaba, and justified in Salam as he's a Gender Bender.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Half of the cast really. Played for humor in Norio's case, since it scares the hell out of him when his Smells Sexy pheromones suddenly kick in.
• Gonk
• Has Two Daddies: And Has Two Mommies. Literally.
• Have I Mentioned I Am Hetero Today: Yonekuni hates men to the degree of needing to wash his hands after accidentally touching a male. Of course, he gets his share later on.
• If It's You It's Okay:
  • Quite surprisingly Norio (of all people), towards Kunimasa. He even rejects Kunimasa's little brother Hidekuni, who is pretty similar to Kunimasa overall but has a much more decent character, with the words: 'Well, originally I'm a straight monkey...' He's also comepletely heartbroken over Kunimasa at that moment.
  • Also Yonekuni towards Shiro. A particularly suprising case, because Yonekuni has such a deep hate of all men that he refuses to be touched by any, and even goes as far as tearing his own hair out in clusters when it was touched by some guy, but he still falls for Shiro pretty seriously. He's still kinda conflicted about it.
• It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It: averted. It's not known whether Kumakashi enjoyed it or not, but Mc Bear (the culprit) insists it was rape, and apologises.
• Kimono Is Traditional: Tokashiki Karen the Mother In Law From Hell, and more or less everyone in her traditional house: her servants, restaurant employees, even visiting family members. Aogiri's mother as well.
• Meaningful Name: some characters' names have more or less obvious hints to their zooman species: for instance, Kumakashi and Mc Bear (bears), Inukami (wolf) and so on...
• Miniature Senior Citizens: Kumakashi's granny. Wears kimono, upholds enforces family traditions.
• Mister Seahorse: This tremendously freaks poor Norio out every time he sets his mind on how exactly he's supposed to grant Kunimasa an offspring. It also happens when he tries to figure out how everyone in the Madarame family is connected. He decides not to go there. Most of the time he's in deep denial about the matter.
• Rape Is Love: averted. Kumakashi is raped by Mc Bear, "in the good way" or then maybe not. It's made clear that the motive was frustration, not love or infatuation. It's also implied Kumakashi falls for Mc Bear's character and looks rather than the sex.
• Seme: doesn't get as mangled as the Uke stereotype, but gets some flipping around from the authot nevertheless.
  • Kunimasa subverts the "big brother seme" role by ending up as a blushing "wife".
• Shirtless Scene: here and there. First seen with Kunimasa.
• Smells Sexy: Norio's rare and desirable status of missing link causes him to smell irresistibly sexy to everyone, Zooman or human, making him a Lust Object for everyone he comes in contact with. It totally freaks him out.
  • What's more, Norio's first impression of Kunimasa is "something smells good". Later on he gets downright giddy from it. Somewhat justified seeing that zoomans have a heightened sense of smell especially when it comes to pheromones.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Mongooses and snakes are natural born enemies.
• Superstition Justified - Kumakashi's goodluck charm for Norio helps keeping overly eager admirers away because it has Kumakashi's nail clippings inside, giving away his scent, and making people generally think Norio has been claimed by him.
• Tangled Family Tree: highly so, and justified because of the zooman's way of reproducing with this and that person, and being capable of conceiving via female-female and male-male relations as well. For an example, Kunimasa, Yonekuni and Hidekuni are a triangle of half siblings: Hidekuni is by David and Maximilian, Kunimasa by Makio and David, and Yonekuni by Makio and Maximilian. Makio also has two other sons with her wife...
  • Fortunately a family tree diagram was introduced.
• The Beard
• Uke: zigzagged with glee. There is no "classic" uke character to be seen.
  • Denied by Kunimasa to a degree, when he tells Norio that it's "not cute at all for a man to bitch and moan like a woman", and that such behaviour sickens him.
  • Inverted when Norio finds out that Kunimasa is actually shy, and is overwhelmed by the adorableness and cuteness, acting much like a seme in a similar situation would towards an uke.
  • Subverted in the extra story "Cursed Lamp", where the cute little thief seems to be molested all over, but quickly recovers and beheads the genie who dared to get too touchy-feely.
  • Further averted in multiple stories, most of the cast being just as large and manly whether they top or bottom in their respective relationships.
  • Even Wakaba, the series' only blushing, insecure, cute little male, has facial hair.
• Youngest Child Wins: Played straight with both Manami and Hidekuni, who in comparison to their siblings have lead pretty carefree and happy lives until now. Also subverted to a lesser extent with Yonekuni, who's considerably less mind-screwed than Kunimasa, in spite of being older.
• Younger Than They Look: And also Older Than They Look. Would anyone honestly believe Norio and Hidekuni are the same age?
  • Teruhiko Kumakashi, tall as a tower (6' at the very least), beefy as a bull - highschooler. Joshua Mc Bear, almost a head taller than Kumakashi - younger than him.
• Weirdness Censor: Humans that are descendants of monkeys can't see or hear anything related to the zoomans.
• Wholesome Crossdresser