i have a jello heart, im not that mean!

saiki k is pretty much a satire anime that utilizes common tropes; subverting tropes, satirizing tropes, making fun of tropes, etc. but i think theres a distinct difference between the way the "main" characters' tropes r done versus the more sidelined characters!

"main" characters:

saiki- kusuo is pretty obviously based on the overpowered main characters, the character who always gets the girls, has his own harem, who has overpowered abilities, THE main character. but saiki k SUBVERTS this trope, bc saiki doesnt WANT to be a main character and tries very hard not to be. (ie yumehara being a shoujo main character trope and saiki was set up to be her male love interest but he did everything in his power to make sure itd be someone else)

kaido- based on the chuunibyou trope except hes aware that his delusions arent real and hes rlly just an insecure loser, i think the scene where he jumps in front of that snake as an act of bravery whilst knowing damn well he doesnt have powers is a good representation of this subversion. i also think the fact that hes a chuunibyou whos fantasies r perfectly based on saikis powers is a pretty good subversion of the trope ive never seen done before (correct me if this is a common thing, i usually see chuunibyous in high school/slice of life animes and not action or fantasy so idk if its a thing)

teruhashi- kokomi is based on mary jane characters; characters who r inexplicably perfect and have no flaws, usually there to be the main male characters love interest so the guy can get the perfect girl in the end. saiki k SUBVERTS this trope because teruhashi ISNT rlly perfect, she presents as such and according to saiki shes as perfect as a person CAN be, but she isnt "perfect" (nobody is). since we hear her thoughts, we know she actually ISNT a mary jane but if we didnt hear her thoughts, we would think she was.

toritsuka- i think he fits into the main character subversions BUT for the most part in the manga he fit with the side characters just as his trope but with powers, this is because his trope was presented somewhat like makotos where he just exists as a pervert and the audience is supposed to laugh AT him and AT this trope. specifically, even tho hes more powerful than ur typical perv character, he fails to actually get what he wants most of the time and thats why its funny. but then in the very last 2 volumes he earns his place with a subverted trope! he remains to be saikis foil but he now has heroism and a redemption building under his sleeve which is very much not typical of pervert tropes

"side" characters:

hairo- sports manga main character trope, no subversion, just exists in the manga as a cool guy and a sports manga main character

aiura- gyaru girl character trope, fits neatly into STEREOTYPES abt being gyaru, is often characterized as rude and perverted but also very social and popular

makoto- literally just exists as the perverted siscon trope, as a way to make fun of the trope and laugh at it

saiko- rich guy who learns abt true friendship trope. pretty straightforward but i will say that usually the "learns friendship" part comes from a love interest whereas here, rather than teruhashi who it seemed like that setup was for, he learns it through mostly nendo so... nensaiko is real/hj

yumehara- my girl chiyo is SO close to fitting the main character subversions but she misses the mark, i think she wouldve if she had more screentime. shes supposed to be a shoujo manga main character, but she generally has bad taste in men and saiki is set up to be her male love interest (seemingly a trope of the guy who would break her from her streak of awful men but he ends up putting her right back into it) but since hes saiki, he avoids it and she ends up dating a guy whos pretty close to a shoujo male lead except he ends up being a total loser and a terrible boyfriend, she moves back to saiki but with saikis help and kaidos bravery, she eventually moves on to kaido. shoujo lead girl and the chuunibyou character is def something ive never seen! unfortunately shes sidelined and often reduced to fat jokes. saiki also erased her classic shoujo love confession.

kuboyasu- fits pretty neatly into the reformed delinquent trope i think, his is so obvious that the joke is usually that he tries to keep it secret but hes so cliche everyone can tell (why is there an abandoned puppy after it started raining!?)

honorable mentions:

nendo- putting him here bc im honestly unsure what his trope is so someone please butt in and tell me if u understand him better than i do. in volume 0 of the manga, it seems like he has a main character subversion as hes the delinquent character whos actually secretly just an idiot and very kind, however to my understanding, this seems to have been retconned since i dont think him being an actual delinquent who bullied saiki for his homework is ever mentioned again nor does it make sense with how hes constantly extremely kind and everyone even knows hes kind but just hates him bc hes ugly, and saiki constantly talks abt what a nice guy he is, his aura that aiura saw is literally angelic and perfect, so im not exactly sure what his trope is supposed to be now. is "dumb ugly guys who r actually nice" a common anime trope i just havent seen??? i think he should go in main obviously but i wouldnt know what to say abt it

kusuke- um... a combination of the brocon trope and the mad scientist trope, does that count as a subversion of tropes?? id say hes a much deeper character than most brocons so maybe? idk

mera- what exactly IS her trope, a combination of random side character who eats a lot, character who always works at the establishments the main character goes to, and the broke character?

akechi- not sure where he fits tbhhhh, hes both the character who talks a lot and the childhood friend with a dark past. i think i want to put him in main subversions but im not sure how to word it and i dont think he got enough screentime to justify it... sad

They could describe everything with one single word, you know? Like... Coffee Jelly -- GNARLY

Telepathy -- GNARLY

Teruhashi -- GNARLY

Being forced to go out with friends (ugh)....

This art -- GNARLY

Oh my god, Saiki art...

Like, it's extremely popular in the Fandom, it's legal, they've interacted before, but you just can't like it at all, you think it's trash and genuinely makes no sense to you. What ship would that be to you?

This ship is just absurd. Like for one, it shouldn't even exist. Not only is it completely redundant from a narrative standpoint, but Marinette is Juleka's friend, so Luka shouldn't even be glancing in her general direction, let alone trying to start a relationship with her. Like, dang, chief, on a scale from one to your sister being asked to uninvite you from your own birthday party, how awkward do you want to make this for everyone involved? Marinette isn't even Luka's type, either! We know he likes honest ("... as sincere as a melody...") and courageous ("That girl is unbelievably brave."), but Marinette is neither of those things. Most of her problems are caused by the fact that she lies to people because she's too chicken to have an uncomfortable conversation. No, that description applies more to Kagami, and to a lesser extent Alya. And the show seems to be aware of this on some level, because in Captain Hardrock, the episode that's supposed to set up their romance, every time Luka swoons over Marinette it directly follows an instance where she lies to his face. Marinette "I hate liars" Dupain-Cheng and Luka "I want nothing but the honest truth" Couffaine, ladies and gentlecats.

Then there's what happens after they are established as a potential couple. In S2, Luka actually starts out as a pretty solid foil to Marinette. He makes fun of her eccentricities without going too far over the line, and actually gives pretty solid advice ("Try to be natural. Go with the flow and listen to the rhythm.") He's basically a combination of all the best parts of Adrien and Cat Noir. After his love confession in Silencer, though, it's like he's lost his braincells and his spine in one fell swoop. He's content to let Marinette take the wheel and defers to her on everything, even when that might cause problems for the people around them (usually Adrien), or even Marinette herself. In Desperada, he says nothing when Marinette tries to volunteer Adrien as Jagged's new guitarist, even though Adrien does not play guitar and therefore would have no way to do what Jagged is asking of him. In Wishmaker, he breaks his own "I always tell the truth" policy and hides the fact that he knows Marinette and Adrien's secret identities, regardless of what problems that might cause them down the line. In Ephemeral, he goes along with Marinette's insane plan to get Adrien to reveal his identity. And Marinette never questions this, taking that indiscriminate support at face value and lunging head first into bad decisions because Luka couldn't bring himself to tell her otherwise. If anyone should be activating Marinette's Derision trauma, it should be this guy. After several instances of this, it would be perfectly reasonable for her to come to the conclusion that he's deliberately setting her up to fail so he can laugh at her behind her back.

I keep seeing people say that Luka soothes Marinette's anxiety while Adrien brings out the worst in her, but people seriously underestimate how much of an anxiety inducing hellscape being with someone like Luka would be like. Adrien can actually be trusted to spit out what his problem is, even if he can be pretty wishy-washy about it. Luka on the other hand is the type who will say literally nothing up until he can't take it anymore and has a very explosive meltdown (and he will have an explosive meltdown, if how he yelled at XY in Silencer is any indication), with his partner standing there wondering what the fuck they did wrong.