Maria No Danza Saint Spring School - TV Tropes (2025)

• Elevator School: Includes elementary school, middle school, and high school. From what it looks like, Okaya, Shikimi, and Kinugawa attend since elementary school, while Kiritaka entered Saint Spring School.
• Middle School Is Miserable: Was this for Kiritaka and Yuda.
• Two-Teacher School: Even though there’s a mention of other teachers, only Atsugi and Maria are shown working at the school.

The principal of the school Maria works in. He is the one who actually hired Maria following her "interview".

• Bad Boss:
  • He doesn't care about the fact that Atsugi doesn't drink and forces a glass on him by implying there will be consequences if Atsugi doesn't.
  • His administration sees the more problematic students assigned to the new teachers, leaving them to suffer while the teachers who have been around for longer only deal with the model students.
• Death Glare: Covertly shoots one to Atsugi after he admits in front of Taiichirou that he did know the rumors about Shikimi being tied to quasi-gangsters, complete with Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises, a vein bulge and a darkened sclera, though Atsugi does not notice.
• Dirty Old Man: Deconstructed. His lust for women leads him to be easily manipulated by people like Maria, who has an active interest in harming a few of his students. Let's just say Maria already has a low enough opinion of this morally depraved pervert.
• Evil Principal: Doesn’t care about the well-being and safety of students, prioritizing money and reputation.
• Fat Bastard: Referred to as a pig in a letter threatening him to resign, but also shown to only care about the reputation of the school, not the well being of the students, and how much money he can get in. Even Atsugi isn’t safe from him.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management: Upon receiving several threatening letters the day before the Cultural Festival, one of them stating that the sender has planted two bombs in the school, the principal's response is to dump them in the trash can and refuse to believe that they're anything more than a bluff.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Sure, hire a lady of questionable character in exchange for a blowjob, what's the worst that could happen?
• Just Ignore It: He couldn't care one bit about serious problems regarding the students, whether they disappeared or died, focusing on his school's image and encouraging the staff to do the same by simply ignoring them. It was privately lampshades by Maria.

  Maria: Everyone looks so happy. It's like Kiri-kun's incident never happened.

• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The fact he didn’t bother doing a thorough background check on her, only judging her based on if she can satisfy him, made it easier for Maria to hunt down the monsters.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: He doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about students disappearing (Shikimi and Kowase) and even dying (Kiritaka) on his watch.
• Skewed Priorities: Cares more about maintaining the illusion that nothing is wrong with the school than to actually deal with the issues of the students and the faculty. When Atsugi shows concern about all the students that have gone missing, the principal cows him into silence because they can't have nasty rumors spreading when the students are about to enter prep school.
• Slave to PR:
  • The principal hopes that, by getting students to go to prep schools in Tokyo, he can spread the name of the school across the country. Because of this he frowns on anyone spreading weird rumors about students going missing.
  • Another major reason the principal cares so much about the school's public image is because the more affluent parents of the students bring donations through the Cultural Festival.
• Threat Backfire: One of the immense reasons why this guy shouldn't be a principal is when he blatantly ignores a letter of bomb threats in his own school, believing it to be a prank from "losers who talk big".

厚木 Atsugi

Kowase and Shikimi's homeroom teacher, he confides in Maria after Kowase disappears.

• Adults Are Useless: He is Kowase and Shikimi's homeroom teacher and he completely fails to pick up on them bullying, blackmailing, beating up and/or framing their fellow students. When he confides to Maria about Kowase, he even admits he didn't pay enough attention to him.
  • Deconstruction because it’s heavily implied that the reason he never picked it up is that Kowase and Shikimi are not only good at covering their tracks, but their victims did not come forward to him. It’s implied that he would’ve taken action. Chapter 37 revealed that when he saw the bullies smoking, he did attempt to take action against them, only for the principal to overturn him. It was also revealed that he never even met Kowase because he’s a new teacher, and the problem is that students are given to other teachers. It’s heavily implied that if he had known the extent of the bullies' crimes, he would’ve tried to stop them and turned them into the police, but he would not have let the principal stop them.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Even though he means well, see the Horrible Judge of Character entry.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He completely buys Shikimi's Blatant Lies about her not being in the "Love Street Hotel" district and he is crushed by Kowase's disappearance, completely oblivious to the horrible things Kowase did to Yashima. He also completely believes Maria's Blatant Lies that Kowase will one day return.
• It's All My Fault:
  • He considers himself responsible for Kowase's disappearance, since he is his homeroom teacher and he is supposed to pick up on subtle cues on what is wrong with his students, saying he should have paid more attention to him. While what happened to Kowase wasn't his fault (and the two never even met since he went missing at the start of the school year), yes, he really should have paid more attention to him. When Shikimi stops going to school, he starts feeling guilty for that, too.
  • He also considers himself responsible for Shikimi's disappearance because he didn't act on Maria's warnings about Shikimi's lifestyle and associates in time.
• Naïve Newcomer: Atsugi only recently started working at Saint Spring, which makes it easy for him to suffer under the principal's administration.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Yes, he really should have paid more attention to Kowase but not because Kowase was facing personal problems. He should have paid more attention to him because he was a brutal cowardly bully who was routinely beating up, torturing and sexually assaulting another fellow student.
• The Teetotaler: When Maria offers him a drink at a party, Atsugi gently refuses by saying he doesn't drink. The school principal pours him a glass while subtly letting him know refusing is not an option, but Maria switches his drink with water while the principal isn't looking.
• Tormented Teacher: Atsugi once tried to get Shikimi and Kinugawa to stop their misbehavior, but was flatly ignored by the two. When he went to the principal, he was told to just let them be since their parents bring a lot of donations to the school. His work life becomes more peaceful after the two go missing, and Atsugi feels conflicted for looking forward to the Cultural Festival without them.
• Unwitting Pawn: Maria uses him to play on Shikimi's Psychological Projection and make her paranoid and suspicious of even her friends.

大門 Daimon

A late teacher from Saint Spring School. He owned a judo club in middle school and was admired by his students for his nice personality and for being the only one to tame Kinugawa as an elementary kid. What is under that façade is a scumbag who often beat up "bad" kids like Kinugawa as a way to vent all of his frustrations for his past abuse.

• Asshole Victim: Deconstructed. He physically abused elementary school students behind the scenes and was a pervert who took panty shots of schoolgirls, but Kinugawa got no catharsis from Daimon committing suicide as a result of Okaya's Sadistic Choice, as it only showed Kinugawa just how royally messed up Okaya was even at 10 years old.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: While he pretended to be a kind teacher most of the time, he was an abusive jerk behind closed doors, repeatedly beating up a 10-year-old Kinugawa as a way to vent his own frustrations. He also turns out to be a pervert who takes up-skirt photos of schoolgirls.
• The Chain of Harm: He suffered Corporal Punishment and bullying as a kid. As an adult he did the same to Kinugawa in order to vent, finding it unfair that what was considered acceptable in his own youth was now considered grounds for getting fired.
• Corporal Punishment: Punishing children with physical violence was considered the norm when Daimon was a child; as an adult, he found it very unfair that this was no longer the case, and beat up a 10-year-old Kinugawa being closed doors to vent his frustrations.
• Driven to Suicide: He was horrified by Okaya having dirt on him and threatening to expose his abuse unless he took a naked photo of his own daughter, in turn driving him to take his own life.
• Ephebophile: Not only is he secretly an abusive teacher, he is a disgusting pervert who took up-skirts photos of schoolgirls outside of schools.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He had a family and a daughter he cherished. When Okaya forced him to pick one option between taking a naked photo of his daughter or getting reported to the authorities and losing his job and family, he tried the option of giving him money. When that didn't work, Daimon chose to kill himself.
• Even Evil Has Standards: In spite of his multiple flaws, facing the two choices he had by Okaya, he didn't want to lose his job and family but at the same time he really didn't want to involve his family, especially his daughter whom he cherished, in taking the fall for him when Okaya tells him to take a nude photo of his daughter and instead took his own life.
• Freudian Excuse: Daimon was always physically punished by his teachers and his seniors. He found the new rules of never abusing kids or else get fired very unfair and vented his frustrations on Kinugawa while pressing his knee on the kid's stomach.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: On top of venting his frustrations out on Kinugawa physically, Daimon had apparently made a hobby out of taking upskirt photos of schoolgirls outside of class. Thus, Okaya offers him a Sadistic Choice: to take a naked photo of his beloved daughter in order to de-escalate Okaya's threat to report him to the authorities or risk losing his job and family. Instead, Daimon chose death.
• Hypocrite:
  • He ruthlessly beat up Kinugawa from the time he was an elementary schooler just because he was a defenseless little kid next to him, but deeply loved his young daughter. Okaya called him out on doing this despite having a daughter no older than Kinugawa, along with taking perverted skirt pictures of teenage schoolgirls.
  • His whole motivation on abusing Kinugawa stemmed from dealing with abuse by his own teachers and seniors. Instead of turning his life around and not stooping to their level, he became no better than his own past bullies.
• Meaningful Name: His name sounds a lot like “Demon”. More fitting since he physically abused a kid and secretly took pictures off of teenage girls for his own perverted means.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: A very twisted example in that he made Kinugawa into a punching bag because he was already a known bully and delinquent that was feared and hated by other kids, thus giving him an excuse to beat up a kid less than half his age and size.
• Posthumous Character: Daimon committed suicide before Kinugawa became a middle schooler.
• Sadist Teacher: The only reason he couldn't publicly beat up students was because he would get fired. That's why he was glad to have bad kids like Kinugawa since he could find the excuse to abuse them privately.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He was one of the reasons why Kinugawa was part of Okaya's group and why he took delight in brutally beating up people. Shoot, his constant abuse on Kinugawa may be the largest reason why he's so fucked up in the head.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Elementary students looked up to him due to him being a nice teacher who was the only one who could control Kinugawa, with one student wishing to be in his judo club. A lot of the kids were saddened to hear about his suicide, but never realized that the kind Daimon was fake.
• Would Hurt a Child: He was glad Kinugawa was a difficult child, as it gave him an excuse to violently assault him. However, it's strongly implied that he's the reason Kinugawa is so difficult in the first place because he outright bemoaned using his past trauma as justification for abusing Kinugawa.

八島 幸 Yashima Sachi

The student council's accountant. After Kowase caught her shoplifting, she became one of his most frequent targets.

• Bespectacled Cutie: Yashima is easily recognized by her trademark glasses.
• Blackmail Backfire: After Kowase threatens to expose her shoplifting and sex videos one time too many, Yashima threatens to expose him in turn by telling everyone of all the abuse he's put her through.
• Break the Cutie: Yashima's experiences with Kowase have all but shattered her spirit. Maria gives her the strength to pick up the pieces.
• Caught on Tape: Stole a few items from a convenience store once, and had the rotten luck to be recorded by Kowase, of all people. Yashima became his personal toy ever since.
• Cigarette Burns: One of the many ways Kowase has tormented Yashima is by putting out cigarette butts on her belly while she was Bound and Gagged, telling her to "give him some good fucking moaning".
• Exhausted Eye Bags:
  • All the stress from being under Kowase's thumb has left Yashima with eye bags as her default look.
  • Even though Kowase has been gone for weeks, Yashima still has the eye bags because she was there when he went missing and has been trying to keep it a secret because she's terrified of becoming a suspect in the eyes of the police.
  • Fortunately, when she appears in chapter 37, she no longer has them and is more cheerful than before.
• Fangirl: By the time of the Cultural Festival Yashima has become so attached to Maria that she gets giddy when she wears the clothes Yashima made.
• Girlish Pigtails: Her default hairstyle is two pigtails draped over her shoulders.
• Grew a Spine: Following Maria's encouragement, Yashima defiantly stands up to Kowase and tells him to get out of her life.
• Hidden Depths: Despite being a shy girl who was a victim of Kowase, it’s revealed there’s a lot more to her than she appears:
  • She's shown to be talented at playing the saxophone.
  • She's also revealed to be an accountant and part of the library committee. The former implies how she's good at managing money.
• I Am a Monster: Yashima has been so traumatized by Kowase's abuse that, several weeks after his disappearance, she wishes that he was never found. She's not pleased at catching herself thinking like that.

  "I wish Kowase-kun would never be found again... I've been having terrible thoughts like that..."

• I Have This Friend: How Yashima tells Maria about her troubles with Kowase. Maria is tactful enough to play along while subtly letting Yashima know that she can read between the lines.
• Karmic Nod: One of the reasons Yashima puts up with Kowase's abuse is because, since he caught her shoplifting, she thinks she's just reaping what she's sown. Maria discourages her from this line of thought after Yashima goes to her for advice.
• Last-Name Basis: Yashima is a family name; the girl is always referred to by her surname with no given name mentioned, so far. Chapter 37 finally reveals her given name Sachi.
• Lesser of Two Evils: Yashima determines that letting Kowase ruin her future prospects by exposing her is far more preferable than having to put up with his bullying for one more day, and dares him to do so while screaming at him to get out of her life.
• Nervous Wreck: Poor thing is constantly soaked in her own stress sweat. Even after Kowase has seemingly disappeared from her life entirely, both the fear of being pegged as a probable suspect in his disappearance, and the realization that she hopes he stays gone, weigh heavily in her mind.
• Oh, Crap!: Reacts with fear when Kowase approaches her from behind, and tries to run from him after her talk with Maria. Unfortunately for her, Kowase perceives this as so Out of Character that he determines she's the one who hacked his phone and draws a cardboard cutter on her, leading to an even bigger Oh Crap from Yashima.
• Out-of-Character Moment: Yashima running from Kowase instead of being paralyzed with fear is seen as so Out of Character by him that he decides she's the one who hacked his phone.
• Sexual Extortion: On the receiving end at the hands of Kowase, who is strongly implied to have raped her, and likely on video.
• Shrinking Violet: Yashima is a shy and demure girl who lacks the strength to stand up to Kowase.
• Stress Vomit: Yashima is introduced giving money to Kowase under threat of being exposed for shoplifting. When she's only able to scrounge up 20,000 yen instead of the 30,000 he demanded, Kowase kicks her in the stomach hard enough that she's forced to vomit.
• When She Smiles: Yashima endured Kowase's abuse and torture for an unknown amount of time after being blackmailed into becoming his slave and looked utterly miserable throughout all of it. Eventually she is kidnapped and tortured by Kowase, but before he can kill her she is rescued by Maria, who kidnaps Kowase before Yashima can notice and eventually kills him. About a month after Kowase's disappearance, Yashima's mood is vastly improved: she's shown going to a café with one of her friends during the summer holidays with a serene smile on her face.