Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

The Marginal Service

 The Marginal Service
type
TVTItem
 The Marginal Service
label
The Marginal Service
 The Marginal Service
page
TheMarginalService
 The Marginal Service
comment
The Marginal Service is an original sci-fi comedy anime produced by Cygames and animated by Studio 3Hz. The show began airing on October 7, 2022.Set in an alternate timeline where the United Nations is trying to manage a worldwide immigration crisis while refugees are blamed for a heavy crime wave throughout Japan. American-born Shibujuku cop Brian Nightraider has just been fired from his job on the force after a failed drug bust ended in the death of his partner along with the suspect. While Brian escapes into the bottom of a bottle, he later receives an invitation to join a mysterious UN task force known only as the "Marginal Service."With nothing left to lose, Brian reluctantly accepts the invitation, and discovers that the Marginal Service is a little-known part of the UN's Immigration Bureau Task Force that deals with extraterrestrial alien immigrants, known as Borderlanders. Borderlanders take on human forms and blend into normal society under heavy restrictions, but when they break their cover or commit crimes, it is up to the Marginal Service to take them down and cover up their presence before the rest of humanity finds out.
 The Marginal Service
fetched
2024-01-25T16:15:33Z
 The Marginal Service
parsed
2024-01-25T16:15:33Z
 The Marginal Service
processingComment
Dropped link to Armageddon1998: Not a Feature - ITEM
 The Marginal Service
processingComment
Dropped link to DawnOfTheDead1978: Not a Feature - ITEM
 The Marginal Service
processingComment
Dropped link to MenInBlack: Not a Feature - ITEM
 The Marginal Service
processingComment
Dropped link to Predator: Not a Feature - ITEM
 The Marginal Service
processingComment
Dropped link to ResidentEvil2002: Not a Feature - ITEM
 The Marginal Service
processingComment
Dropped link to TheThing1982: Not a Feature - ITEM
 The Marginal Service
isPartOf
DBTropes
 The Marginal Service / int_18ce8f1d
type
Full-Frontal Assault
 The Marginal Service / int_18ce8f1d
comment
Full-Frontal Assault: A low-key one happens in episode 5. When questioned by Eddie Snow as to how is he supposed to know she won't have any tricks, Lyra unhesitatingly strips naked, rendering herself literally unarmed. Eddie lets her pass, and after waxing poetic about privacy and Orwellian societies and revealing he's actually a virtual ghost, Eddie threatens to render all of Japan's technology useless with a virus unless Lyra tells him she loves her. Lyra resorts to smashing Eddie's supercomputer with a chair, complete with a major explosion.
 The Marginal Service / int_18ce8f1d
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_18ce8f1d
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_18ce8f1d
 The Marginal Service / int_20b5cce7
type
"Do It Yourself" Theme Tune
 The Marginal Service / int_20b5cce7
comment
"Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The opening, "Quiet Explosion" is sung by Mamoru Miyano, who voices Brian Nightraider, while the ending, "Salt & Sugar", is sung by Yūma Uchida, who voices Rubber Suit.
 The Marginal Service / int_20b5cce7
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_20b5cce7
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_20b5cce7
 The Marginal Service / int_26d18908
type
Puny Earthlings
 The Marginal Service / int_26d18908
comment
Puny Earthlings: The average Borderlander is much stronger than any human, to the point that a rifle bullet to the head will only knock them down for a few seconds before their body pushes it out and heals the wound.
 The Marginal Service / int_26d18908
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_26d18908
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_26d18908
 The Marginal Service / int_2b5ea43c
type
Bland-Name Product
 The Marginal Service / int_2b5ea43c
comment
Bland-Name Product: A lot of alcoholic beverages in the first episode have a few words changed around to avoid copyright issues.
 The Marginal Service / int_2b5ea43c
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_2b5ea43c
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_2b5ea43c
 The Marginal Service / int_330ef176
type
Our Cryptids Are More Mysterious
 The Marginal Service / int_330ef176
comment
Our Cryptids Are More Mysterious: After first contact with grey aliens quickly turned hostile, Earth-native cryptids saved the remaining humans on the expedition by fighting them off. Theodore remarks they are similar to Borderlanders but not quite the same.
 The Marginal Service / int_330ef176
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_330ef176
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_330ef176
 The Marginal Service / int_52488c54
type
Drowning My Sorrows
 The Marginal Service / int_52488c54
comment
Drowning My Sorrows: After losing his job and his partner, Brian copes with heavy drinking.
 The Marginal Service / int_52488c54
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_52488c54
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_52488c54
 The Marginal Service / int_5b565147
type
Meaningful Background Event
 The Marginal Service / int_5b565147
comment
Meaningful Background Event: Multiple news stories playing on broadcast TVs throughout the show about immigrants being blamed for the rise in crime around Japan.
 The Marginal Service / int_5b565147
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_5b565147
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_5b565147
 The Marginal Service / int_72f98935
type
Heroic Build
 The Marginal Service / int_72f98935
comment
Heroic Build: Aside of Cyrus, all the male members of the Marginal Service have muscular bodies, although Theodore is toned yet a lot leaner than his younger and bulkier colleagues.
 The Marginal Service / int_72f98935
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_72f98935
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_72f98935
 The Marginal Service / int_87629455
type
No Communities Were Harmed
 The Marginal Service / int_87629455
comment
No Communities Were Harmed: The start of the show is set in "Shibujuku" (a mashup of real-life Shibuya and Harajuku districts of Tokyo). Whether they were merged and named that in the show's timeline or simply given a false name to avoid controversy is unknown.
 The Marginal Service / int_87629455
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_87629455
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_87629455
 The Marginal Service / int_8e20979
type
Wham Episode
 The Marginal Service / int_8e20979
comment
Wham Episode: The last two episodes completely flip everything that the viewer was lead to believe on its head with The Reveal that that Zeno's son is still alive and was kidnapped by the United Nations as a part of a plot to finally unseal the secret alien technology from the spaceship that was briefly shown in the flashback earlier in the series, only to instead activate a system that heralds a second alien invasion.
 The Marginal Service / int_8e20979
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_8e20979
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_8e20979
 The Marginal Service / int_8f8b59c1
type
Inhumanable Alien Rights
 The Marginal Service / int_8f8b59c1
comment
Inhumanable Alien Rights: Zeno hints at multiple points that the UN has established a legal framework for Borderlanders on Earth. For example, a Borderlander arrested by the Marginal Service is allowed to request a Public Defender from the UN to represent them.
 The Marginal Service / int_8f8b59c1
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_8f8b59c1
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_8f8b59c1
 The Marginal Service / int_b3fc9d55
type
An Ass-Kicking Christmas
 The Marginal Service / int_b3fc9d55
comment
An Asskicking Christmas: Episode 5 takes place during Christmas and the team need to stop a cybernetic virus from spreading across Japan.
 The Marginal Service / int_b3fc9d55
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_b3fc9d55
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_b3fc9d55
 The Marginal Service / int_bcc92de7
type
Lost Aesop
 The Marginal Service / int_bcc92de7
comment
Lost Aesop: The series goes back and forth between contradicting messages about immigration before promptly forgetting them right before the last arc.
 The Marginal Service / int_bcc92de7
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_bcc92de7
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_bcc92de7
 The Marginal Service / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 The Marginal Service / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out: The show is full of references to western movies, some examples include: The plot of Episode 1: A young cop chases a suspect who turns out to be a paranormal entity, and is recruited to an orgnization to protect the public from those entities, has a lot of similarities with the first act of Men in Black Episode 2 has Bolts trying to camouflage with mud like in Predator and using a quip from Commando The laser corridor in episode 3 is lifted straight from Resident Evil (2002). Episode 8 is about a zombie crisis in a shopping mall, like Dawn of the Dead (1978). In Episode 9 Zeno suspects that one of the team members is a borderlander imposter, so he performs a tense blood test like the one in The Thing (1982) In the finale, while flying in a small ship to destroy a bigger one, Zeno ridicules the concept of trying to be the guy that sacrifices himself to explode the meteorite or the old alcoholic crashing into the big spaceship.
 The Marginal Service / int_c75df49a
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_c75df49a
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_c75df49a
 The Marginal Service / int_d1b19b75
type
Debate and Switch
 The Marginal Service / int_d1b19b75
comment
Debate and Switch: The series ponders on the topic of immigration, but never comes with a definitive answer by the end of the story.
 The Marginal Service / int_d1b19b75
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_d1b19b75
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_d1b19b75
 The Marginal Service / int_dcbe8a6e
type
Chekhov's Gunman
 The Marginal Service / int_dcbe8a6e
comment
Chekhov's Gunman: Remember the frightened United Nations agent from the First Contact flashback? In the present he is older and has become a very influential politician. Also, he is the Big Bad.
 The Marginal Service / int_dcbe8a6e
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_dcbe8a6e
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_dcbe8a6e
 The Marginal Service / int_df60d405
type
Culture Chop Suey
 The Marginal Service / int_df60d405
comment
Culture Chop Suey: The version of Japan in this show is supposedly in the midst of an immigration crisis and yet full of Americans and other westerners who live and work there, overseen by the United Nations.
 The Marginal Service / int_df60d405
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_df60d405
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_df60d405
 The Marginal Service / int_e6291d05
type
Percussive Maintenance
 The Marginal Service / int_e6291d05
comment
Percussive Maintenance: The crisis of episode 5 is made worse when Zeno smashes the team's computer monitor with a chair when Lyra just needed three more seconds to block the virus. Funnily enough, the crisis ends up averted when the supercomputer is smashed with a chair by Lyra herself.
 The Marginal Service / int_e6291d05
featureApplicability
-1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_e6291d05
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_e6291d05
 The Marginal Service / int_eb81c601
type
Big Damn Heroes
 The Marginal Service / int_eb81c601
comment
Big Damn Heroes: The entire team shows up to save the day in the first episode, complete with dramatic keyframes and an unseen announcer reading each Marginal Service member's name.
 The Marginal Service / int_eb81c601
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_eb81c601
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_eb81c601
 The Marginal Service / int_name
type
ItemName
 The Marginal Service / int_name
comment
 The Marginal Service / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Marginal Service / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
The Marginal Service / int_name
 The Marginal Service / int_name
itemName
The Marginal Service

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
Alien Works / int_f33ed277
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
Anime and Manga of the 2020s / int_f33ed277
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
Anime First / int_f33ed277
 The Marginal Service
hasFeature
Fictional Province / int_f33ed277