Ah, mittens! Welcome to Secret of Mana Theater, a webcomic adaptation of Square's classic game, Secret of Mana, but with a few twists, created by Sprite Monkey. Updates, instead of coming in the form of comic pages, are short videos created using sprites from the game. Its also generally an Affectionate Parody rife with twisted alternate character interpretations, but it has the flexibility to be serious when needed. The author also takes just enough liberties with the plot for those who have played the original game to be kept on their toes by unexpected events.
It began back in May 15th, 2002 and last updated in 2012.
A dubbed adaptation of Secret Of Mana Theater has been made by The With Voices Project.
Secret of Mana Theater provides examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: Like no one else's business! The author isn't even halfway though the game's story, and we're already up to 303 videos, each of which is about five minutes long!
- Adaptational Gender Identity: Popoi's sex and gender are both ambiguous. Autumn is cisgender female.
- Adaptational Name Change: Randi to Seth, Primm to Fawn, and Popoi to Autumn
- Advancing Wall of Doom: Wall Face in Pandora Ruins, lifted straight out of the game.
- Alpha Bitch: Those spiteful witches in Pandora who ruined Elinee's life.
- Alternate Character Interpretation: Oh, boy. Where to even begin? For starters In Universe Examples include, the Boy (Randi), named Seth in this rendition is almost Too Stupid To Live, incredibly naïve, and has a bad case of Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!. The Girl (Primm), named Fawn is a Sociopathic Hero Jerk with a Heart of Gold, and The Sprite (Popoi), named Autumn is the Only Sane Man.
- Oh, and the Village Elder back in Potos village is a pedophile.
- Ambiguous Gender: Subverted. While Popoi is genderless in the game, here the author decided to simplify matters and just made Autumn a female.
- And Call Him "George": Seymour calls his pet plant "Planty" though it would later take the name "Tropicallo" after maturing a bit.
- Ascended Extra: Somewhat, with Elinee the witch and Neko the Salescat. Both are featured in the game, but their roles have been increased in one form or another in Theater.
- Henry and Doir the lullabuds, spring to mind.
- Author Avatar: The Author, but he only shows up in Specials.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Seth. Full stop.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Seth. Easy-going, dull-witted, fun-loving, and extremely amiable. Do something to harm innocents, though, and watch out.
- Stealing from him and lying to him are two other ways to effectively piss him off, too.
- Blank White Eyes: Primarily seen in anyone who's been brainwashed.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Fawn's father. He sent Dyluck on a Suicide Mission to split the couple up. And we all know where this is leading.
- Cat Girl: Well, Cat Man, actually: Neko.
- Catapult Nightmare: Induced on the party by Thanatos at one point to get into their heads.
- Cerebus Syndrome: Started to set in with Thanatos's first appearance in episode 168. Boy has it taken off since 279.
- Character Development: In spite of the generally light-hearted nature of the comic, the characters are well-rounded enough to experience all kinds of this.
- Cliché Storm: In-Universe, the original game's tendency towards this is lampshaded.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: This webcomic basically takes place in Cloud Cuckooland almost on Ansem Retort levels. Almost.
- Grandma in Potos Village comes to mind right off the bat.
- Comedic Sociopathy: The Series just absolutely thrives on this. Just look no further than the couch gags.
- Con Man: The Dwarf Village Elder and Autumn, but unlike the original game, the Elder does not relent.
- Neko, as well.
- Contrived Coincidence: Lampshaded. Unlike in the game, when Seth first used Cannon Travel, he just wanted to go far away and just happened to land near the location he was told to go to.
- Cool Old Guy: Jema, of course, whether he likes it or not.
- Couch Gag: At the beginning of every episode Marle casts a spell with often different results.
- Since the beginning of the series, she's been crushed, fried, crushed some more, set on fire, mocked, hanged herself, been replaced a few times, been electrocuted, crushed some more, shrunk, exploded, atomized, chased, run over, been eaten, and has been stripped naked.
- When not being mutiliated beyond recognition, Marle has also engaged in riding the title card like a horse or walking on a giant ball, circus-style.
- Lucca and Magus from the same game have also appeared in openings.
- Darker and Edgier: Sometimes.
- Deadpan Snarker: Fawn and Autumn. Unfortunately for Seth, his own bumbling nature gives them tons of ammo to work with.
- Deal with the Devil: How Elinee got her powers in this version.
- Death by Adaptation: Elinee and Seth.
- In the original, Elinee is never fought and, after giving up her witchcraft ways, she's no longer important to the story. In this retelling, her role is expanded and she goes onto enslave the dwarves of Gaia's Navel into readying a ceremony to summon the Fire Gigas to attack Pandora Kingdom. Immediately following the success of the ceremony, she is literally stabbed In the Back by Thanatos.
- Seth, the hero, was killed by Thanatos when he tried to prematurely pick a fight with the Evil Sorcerer.
- Delivery Guy Infiltration: Fawn and Seth use this ploy to sneak into Elinee's castle. At first the guards refuse to let them in until told the flowers being delivered are from them.
- Depraved Homosexual: Potos's Village Elder, no description can do him justice, so perhaps we should just let the series speak for itself:
- In Episode 299: P.O.P.:
Jema: (of being wrongfully imprisoned) "Why have you done this to us?"Potos Elder: "You—you took all my little boys away from me!"Jema: "I did it in the name of... Wait, what?"Potos Elder: ''"All the sexy young boys have left town. One by one they all ran off. And it all started when you showed up! You made the villagers mad at Seth.Autumn: "Seth?"Potos Elder: "And his pink, supple ass!"(Autumn and Fawn exchange shocked expressions.)Jema: "You're insane!"Potos Elder: "Hmm. Maybe, but I'm in charge. I can't let you take away my sexy soldier boys. Toodles."(Elder exits.)Autumn: "That's one pissed off pedophile." - Disproportionate Retribution: What the nobles of Pandora did to Elinee for telling them off. What Elinee was about to do to Pandora in return.
- Distressed Dude: Dyluck. This should come as no surprise to anyone who played through the original game.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Fawn, at one point.
- Due to the Dead: Seth does this for Elinee, digging a proper grave instead of leaving the body behind in the Underground Palace to rot.
- Easter Eggs: Left in a lot of episodes for the viewer to find either for added humor or to advance the plot.
- Evil-Detecting Cat / Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Mittens absolutely refuses to accompany the gang to the Pandoran ruins, even going so far as to claw Seth and take off.
- Evil Empire: Played completely straight with Vandole. Frighteningly so, in fact.
- Evil Sorcerer: If you don't know, we're not telling.
- Excalibur in the Rust: The Mana Sword starts out as a rusty sword found under a waterfall. As the story goes on, the rust comes off.
- Expy: Seymour is one of... well, Seymour.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Mittens the Spikey Tiger, named by Seth after getting shrunken down to house cat size.
- Freudian Excuse: The comic takes Elinee, a one-dimensional boss from the original game and fleshes her out to the point that people formerly indifferent to her now outright pity her. She was ostracized by her fellow nobles back in Pandora for using her wealth to help out commoners. Said nobles then framed her entire family for being Empyreal spies and she was made to leave town by dawn after the night it happened, or else be arrested and executed along with the rest of her loved ones. Thanatos then chose that moment to meet up with her and win her over to his side.
- Genre Blind: Seth and Dyluck.
- Gender Flip: The Sprite child, who has no gender in the original game (and is male in the English translations) is female here, and her name is Autumn.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: The Scorpion Army.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: "Fugging" and "mittens" are just a few choice exclamatories in place of actual swearing the author uses. "Damn" and "hell" are still used, though.
- Grand Theft Me: What Thanatos is planning with Dyluck.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: Just about every soldier presented thus far has been this. Hell, you can enter just about every location just by asking nicely.
- Hilarity Ensues: Just about every time Seth is left to his own devices.
- Human Cannonball: Anyone who gets around by Cannon Travel. The results are played for laughs quite often.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Seth. He's got the weight of the world on his shoulders, and all he wants to someone to help him ease it up a bit.
- In the Back: Thanatos to Elinee.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: Seth is the master of these. Fawn sometimes dabbles as well.
- Interface Screw: Some of the Easter eggs will affect the replay screens at the end of various episodes causing either the replay buttons to not work or removing the ability to view other Easter eggs if you click the wrong Easter egg first until you replay the episode.
- It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Seth's attitude towards his status as the Mana Knight. He learns to cope with it better in time (having two companions helps), but initially he had an outright temper tantrum about it at one point.
- It's Up to You: Completely subverted. As much as Jema would love to do this, he's been pulled into the plot much more prominently than in the game.
- Jerkass: Fawn, before Character Development. She did have her reasons, such as wanting to save Dyluck, but nothing that justifies some of her earlier actions.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Fawn, after Character Development.
- Just Like Robin Hood: Choppin Hood, eventually.
- Kick the Dog: Thanatos, again, does this quite a bit, especially killing Elinee when she was no longer useful to him.
- Killed Off for Real: Autumn explains that this is what happens to anyone when a Cup of Wishes is not immediately used to revive them - their spirit is taken away by Death. This is what happened to Elinee.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Seth, for the same reasons as Beware the Nice Ones.
- Lighter and Softer: Other times.
- Lightning Glare: Between Fawn and Phanna, upon the latter's first appearance.
- Dwarf Eating Plant: Tropicallo.
- Manipulative Bastard: Fawn steals Seth's sword and claims Elinee stole it so he would go after her to save Dyluck.
- Mass Hypnosis: As if you don't know.
- The Multiverse: Used as a gag in one episode.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Thanatos.
- Non-Action Guy: Seth. He gets better.
- Non-Idle Rich: You do NOT want to be this in the Kingdom of Pandora in SoMT. You do not. Just ask Elinee.
- No Ontological Inertia: Elinee's spell on Dyluck is lifted the instant she's offed by Thanatos...who promptly abducts him.
- Not His Sled: Quite a few parts of the game will go very differently, often leading to an innocuous scene turning into a Wham Episode. One of the earliest examples is Seth forgetting the crystal dropped by the Mantis Ant and having to go retrieve it.
- Obviously Evil: This is an adaptation of Secret of Mana. Guess who.
- Oh, Crap!: Several, but episode 279 comes to mind the most especially since it's the audience giving that reaction.
- Only Sane Man: A few. Luka, Jema, and Autumn all come to mind.
- Our Zombies Are Different: They're just brain-washed Pandoran citizens, but they sure do fill the role.
- Point-and-Click: Implemented a few times.
- Prison Episode: In the latest episodes, Jema, Fawn, and Autumn have been imprisoned for being mistaken as Imperial spies. In reality, it was Potos's Elder's fault, because he blames Jema for taking his beloved Seth away from him.
- Self-Deprecation: The author frequently makes jabs at himself during the Special Edition episodes.
- Shout-Out:
- In episode 1, we have "Oh my God, you killed Timmy!"
- Slapstick: No one is spared from grievous bodily harm for the sake of a laugh.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Mittens the Spiked-Tiger. In the game, he's just a Wake-Up Call Boss who the party kills. In this series, he's instead midged into an ordinary-looking kitten and goes on to be Seth's pet.
- Status Effects: Played straight, mostly for laughs. Autumn the Sprite appears to have been permanently Midged along with Mittens.
- Straight Gay: Potos Village Elder, though the portrayal is hardly flattering and strays right into Squick territory, considering he seeks intimacy with young teen-twenties guys. He's hit on everyone from the seventeen-year-old Seth to a Military Captain.
- Suddenly Voiced: Most of the time, viewers have to read the word and thought bubbles. Every once in a while, though, voice acting will be supplied.
- Suicide Mission: Given to Dyluck and his men by the King and Queen of Pandora on the request of Fawn's father, who wanted him out of the way so that his daughter would have to marry a suitor of his choice.
- Sweat Drop: Whenever anyone (usually Seth, but some other characters too) says anything particularly stupid and/or just plain weird.
- Take That, Audience!: In one of the specials, Elliot claims that every one of the viewers is "a friggin' moron", prompting the author to try to defend them. In response, Elliot says that morons can smell their own.
- Tim Taylor Technology: At one point, the Cannon Travel Guys try out a new setting on customers. The results were the stuff episodes of Tool Time are made of.
- Threat Backfire: The author threatens to fire Elliot if he doesn't watch his attitude.Author: I could have you fired.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Fawn and Autumn, respectively.
- Too Stupid To Live: Seth early on, the dwarves of Gaia's Navel, and several authority figures.
- The Scorpion Army counts even more than they did in the game this is based on, and that's... impressive.
- Seth dies twice against the Mantis Ant while trying to learn how to fight.
- Took a Level in Badass: Seth has come a long way from the nigh useless twit he used to be.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Autumn. she was taken from her home by a flood, which caused her to lose her memories.
- Tsundere: Fawn. She likes Seth (not romantically, but as a friend), but she will not admit it. At least, not until he's seemingly been killed by Thanatos.
- The Unpronounceable: Tropicallo, for Seth.
- Unreliable Narrator: Both Seth and Fawn when they were recounting how they first met to Autumn.
- Upper-Class Twit: The King of Pandora. Just... Just the King of Pandora.
- Uptown Girl: Fawn is this to Dyluck's Unlucky Everydude. Fawn's father does not approve.
- Useless Useful Spell: So far averted... Though that one spell that turns people's hair green raises questions.
- Magic Rope is this in this retelling.
- Villain Song: Feed Me, Seymour.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Anybody and Fawn would count.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: All of 'em so far, but Thanatos in particular.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Fawn gets one for stealing Seth's sword and claiming Elinee stole it so that he would help her go after Elinee ini an attempt to save Dyluck. To a lesser extent, she gets this for Midging the Spiky Tiger, thus costing Autumn an opportunity to return to normal size.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Seth. Assumes the best of just about everyone he first meets, often with hilarious results in which he usually ends up brutalized, swindled, robbed, or all the above before they're done with him.
- However, his big heart has also worked in his favor as his good nature charmed two very cynical individuals (Autumn and Fawn) into joining his quest.
- Wham Episode: Episode 235-237, as well as 279.
- Wham Shot: During the fight with the Spiky Tiger, when Fawn draws the sword that she claimed Elinee had stolen from Seth.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Elinee.
"Heroism. Unrequired love. Pancakes."