Mahoraba

Mahoraba
Cast of Mahoraba
まほらば
Genre	Comedy, Drama, Romance
Manga
Written by	Akira Kojima
Published by	Enix (2000-03) Square Enix (2003-06)
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Monthly Gangan Wing
Original run	January 2000 – July 2006
Volumes	12
Anime television series
Mahoraba ~Heartful Days
Directed by	Shinichiro Kimura
Studio	J.C.Staff
Network	TV Tokyo
Original run	January 10, 2005 – June 26, 2005
Episodes	26

Mahoraba (まほらば) is a manga series by Akira Kojima, which was later adapted into an anime. It was serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Gangan WING manga magazine between January 2000 and July 2006, spanning a total of 12 tankōbon volumes.

The anime adaptation, entitled Mahoraba 〜Heartful days (まほらば〜Heartful days), was produced by J.C.Staff, premiered across TV Tokyo on January 10, 2005, and ended on June 26, 2005, spanning a total of 26 episodes.

Plot

Shiratori Ryushi wants to become a children's picture book writer, and he moves to an apartment, Narutaki-Sou (Narutaki Villa), in order to go to an art school in Tokyo. Narutaki-Sou is an old Japanese style one-story house which doesn't fit in urban scenery. The complex is owned by his mother's cousin and the manager of the apartment is his second cousin, Aoba Kozue. They met each other when they were children, although Shiratori doesn't remember much of it. Kozue is in the second grade of a high school attached to Aoba Junior College.

There are seven residents of Narutaki-Sou. The first, Chanohata Tamami, lives in room #1 and she is Kozue's childhood friend and best friend. Shiratori Ryushi, the main character of the series, resides in room #2. In room #3 resides Momono Megumi, a person who goes her own way in life. Kurosaki Sayoko and her daughter Asami, who is in the first grade of middle school, live in room #5. Finally, in room #6, Haibara Yukio lives with his puppet Johnny.

Narutaki-Sou is filled with characteristic and eccentric people. However, the most eccentric person is Kozue herself. She has a secret of which even she does not know; when she is shocked at something, her personality changes. Not knowing this, Ryushi moves to Narutaki-Sou to realize his dream.

Characters

Narutaki Sou residents

Kozue Aoba (蒼葉 梢 Aoba Kozue)	Voiced by: Satomi Arai
Landlady of Narutaki Sou and Ryūshi's 16-year-old second cousin. She attends the same high school as Tamami. She has several different personalities that come out when she experiences different emotions, but returns to her original one after sleeping or passing out. Each of her different personalities has a different hairstyle and eye color. Kozue's eye color is a bluish green. She is extremely nice and like all of her other personalities, she enjoys umeboshi. In the manga, she begins going out with Ryūshi in chapter 39. Near the end of the manga, it is revealed that the cause of her different personalities is her sad past where she lost everyone that she loved, starting with the death of her great grandfather and her later abandonment by her parents. It is further revealed that her other personalities were influenced by the 10-year-old Ryūshi who showed her his drawings and taught her that one can be anything in one's imagination. In the epilogue, it is shown that she and Ryūshi are married and have four kids, each of them similar to one of her four alternate personalities.
Saki Akasaka (赤坂 早紀 Akasaka Saki)	Voiced by: Satomi Arai
Saki, whose eyes are red, has a very tough attitude and wears her hair in a pony tail. She is also very strong physically (shown to be able to break apart a tree near the end of the manga). Despite this, she actually does care about others, even if she is embarrassed to admit it. She appears when Kozue is surprised or angered. She is an extreme lightweight, and unable to tolerate anything but umeshu (in the manga), in the anime she can't even smell liquor without passing out. Her other weakness is fear of butterflies.
Nanako Kanazawa (金沢 魚子 Kanazawa Nanako)	Voiced by: Satomi Arai
Nanako has the personality of a 6 year old. Her hair develops two "antennae" and she has yellow eyes. She appears when Kozue is embarrassed. She is usually better behaved after she becomes "Shiny." One other noteworthy feature of Nanako is that of all the other personalities that Kozue goes through, Nanako is the only one given an actual age. According to the manga, Saki, Chiyuri, and Natsume all are of unknown age, though it is safe to assume that all of the others have the same age as Kozue.
Chiyuri Midorikawa (緑川 千百合 Midorikawa Chiyuri)	Voiced by: Satomi Arai
Chiyuri loves cosplay. She also makes everyone else cosplay against their will, but only if it is against their will. If they don't care or want to do so, she won't want to. She appears when Kozue is clumsy or frightened. She wears a large pony tail to one side and has green eyes. While she is in this personality, Tamami acts as her assistant, whom Chiyuri refers to as "my partner," while supplying Tamami many embarrassing photo-ops with which to fill her camera. Tamami, in return, calls Chiyuri "my sweetheart". "Correct!" is her catch phrase.
Natsume Konno (紺野 棗 Konno Natsume)	Voiced by: Satomi Arai
Natsume has a very shy personality who initially avoided speaking to anyone at all. She is extremely skilled at sleight of hand and card tricks. The first time she talked was when teaching Ryushi a trick. Flowers will spontaneously pop out of the top of her head (a parody of the first magic trick she shows Ryushi) when she's happy. Her hairstyle is pigtails with a layer of hair in the back. She has blue eyes. She has a habit of ending her sentences with "... kamo," meaning either "maybe" or "I think" depending on the context. She appears when Kozue is sad.
Room 1
Tamami Chanohata (茶ノ畑 珠実 Chanohata Tamami)	Voiced by: Yui Horie
Tamami is close friends and classmates with Aoba Kozue. She always has a camera and likes to take pictures of Kozue in embarrassing situations. She is also an inactive member ("Ghost member") of the occult club, along with Kozue. She is very strong physically (able to K.O street punks in one hit), although she appears quite normal, if not short and weak. A perpetually smiling evil genius, Tamami is cold, sarcastic, cruel, manipulative, inconsiderate and condescending towards those she deem to be her moral/intellectual inferiors; which in other words mean everybody besides Kozue-Chan (and her other personalities). This is explained by her usually being isolated for her extreme genius before meeting Kozue. Tamami goes to Seika Tandai Fuzoku High School with Kozue, and has a habit of saying "desu" at the end of her sentences. In the manga, it is revealed that she is actually a very emotional person, crying all the while during Momono's departure. (Whether she and Momono were especially close or she just loves everyone in Narutakisou is unknown). Her birthday is November 8 and at the start of the manga and anime, her age is the same as Kozue's. At the end of the manga, she becomes a world-class photographer who frequently travels oversea.
Room 2
Ryushi Shiratori (白鳥 隆士 Shiratori Ryūshi)	Voiced by: Ryōko Shiraishi
The male protagonist of the series. Ryushi is an aspiring children's book artist. He moved into Narutaki Sou so he could attend the Sumeragi Design School in Tokyo. Aoba Kozue is his second cousin. He met Kozue when they were younger, but he doesn't remember this at the start of the series. He is eighteen years old and his birthday is September 9. His personality is both childish as well as passive to the point of never objecting when anyone does anything wrong to him, which happens a lot. In the manga, he and Aoba Kozue becomes lovers in chapter 39. In the epilogue, he is shown to have married Aoba Kozue, with four daughters, possibly representing Aoba's former personalities.
Room 3
Megumi Momono (桃乃 恵 Momono Megumi)	Voiced by: Masumi Asano
Megumi attended Washida University for one year, but it turned out to be too expensive so she took a year off. Her hairstyle features an ahoge. She stays at Narutaki Sou all the time and is in a long distance relationship with her middle school boyfriend who is studying cinema overseas. She loves films (particularly poor attempts at horror) and has many DVDs in her room. She's also a heavy drinker and likes to party with Johnny in Shiratori's room, much to his dismay. In the manga her character is much more developed as she is portrayed with a darker past, in connection with her brilliant piano skills in which she says have given her bad memories. In volume 9 of the manga tankubon it is revealed that she attempted suicide when she was younger due to her parents forcing her to perfect her piano skills. She hides the razor scars on her wrist. Eventually, she leaves Narutaki Sou to marry her boyfriend. Near the end of the manga, she admits to herself to have liked Shiratori for a split moment, since she couldn't "help liking a guy who chases after his dreams", before deciding to leave for France with her boyfriend. In the epilogue, she is shown with one daughter, Ruri, who is a fan of Ryūshi's children's books. In the anime, she remains at Narutaki Sou, telling her boyfriend to ask her to join him again once he has finished his studies and fulfilled his dreams. At the start of the series, Megumi is twenty years old (claiming to be nineteen) and her birthday is February 13.
Room 5
Sayoko Kurosaki (黒崎 沙夜子 Kurosaki Sayoko)	Voiced by: Mioko Fujiwara
Sayoko has a very dark personality and is not very responsible. In the manga, she is initially suicidal, though this aspect of her character was cut out in the transition to the anime. (Also, none of her attempts at suicide are even remotely successful so they are normally just for gags). Despite this change, however, she still remains irresponsible in both productions, but wants to make Asami, her adopted daughter, happy and live with her for a long time. Their room is filled with cardboard boxes which, being extremely poor, they use as furniture and bedding. Her father is a rich and talented sculptor, with whom she became estranged in her youth over her choice of her husband; rather than let her parents choose a fiancé for her, she eloped with the estate's gardener. Her favorite food is Mizuyōkan. Despite her evident uselessness throughout the series, she really cares for Asami. Though her age isn't revealed in the manga, her birthday is October 17. It should also be noted that despite her poor skills in living, she possesses great skill in chess (which Momono notes is a useless skill in life) and in the arts (capable of making art pieces out of almost anything—sand, snow, wood, and even food), giving evidence that she seems to have inherited her father's skills. At the end of the manga, she is working as a freelance sculptor, making an expensive looking wooden dragon. It is also revealed that she isn't really lazy or bad at working but rather, simply has low or no confidence and motivation.
Asami Kurosaki (黒崎 朝美 Kurosaki Asami)	Voiced by: Umi Tenjin
Asami lives in room 5 with only her adopted mother since her adopted father died when she was younger. She is a junior high student. She keeps things together in spite of her mother's problems, pulling most of the workload at home and keeping track of expenses. At the beginning of the series, she is twelve years old and her birthday is June 26.
Room 6
Yukio Haibara (灰原 由起夫 Haibara Yukio)	Voiced by: Kenyuu Horiuchi
Yukio doesn't speak directly, but rather uses ventriloquism to speak through his puppet, Johnny. In the anime, he is at one point mistaken for Aleister Crowley by Vermilion, to his and Johnny's considerable distress. In the manga, Haibara's character is developed more fully. It is revealed that he was a very popular high school student and that his father died when he was young. Haibara became Kozue's caretaker after her parents abandoned her at Narutaki Sou. In the manga, Haibara speaks using his own voice only once when he expresses his hope that Shiratori can heal Kozue.
Johnny Ryuusei (流星 ジョニー Ryūsei Jonī)	Voiced by: Kenyuu Horiuchi
Yukio Haibara's hand puppet of a brown dog through whom Yukio speaks using ventriloquism. They both act as if the puppet were really the one speaking; Johnny often "speaks" as if Haibara is the extra part. It is revealed near the end of the manga that Johnny was "born" when Haibara was at a loss as to how to get the sad and lonely Kozue to talk to him after her parents left her.

Sumeragi (Imperial) Design School

* Note - these character's names are nicknames^[1]

• Miyabi Shirogane (銀 雅 Shirogane Miyabi):Shiratori's teacher. Students who are disobedient or forget their homework are subjected to "the mysterious closet", which, apparently, is a frightful ordeal. She has a habit of having her eyes half open and talking very cheerfully until certain moments. At one point she and Tamami meet and get along quite well, much to the others' terror. She typically wears kiminos and "normal" clothes on festivals.
• Tsubasa Yamabuki (山吹 翼 Yamabuki Tsubasa)/Ero boy/Erofreak * (Hikaru Tokita):He is Shiratori's classmate who is always trying to charm high school girls and young women. He happened to meet Shiratori when he was dressed as a girl due to a prank and fell in love with "her". Without a name to call this newfound love, he nicknamed her "Reiko", not realizing that she was really Shiratori.

At the end of the manga, he is seen to have become ecchi manga author, giving up his original dream of writing fairy tail books.

• Risona Aizawa (藍沢 理想奈 Aizawa Risona)/Homo-suki * (Riku Moriyama)

She is Shiratori's classmate who wears glasses. Her name is based on the famous bank in Japan "Resona Bank" (Mizuho and Asahi also have names based on a famous Japanese banks). A devoted fan of manga (especially yaoi and yuri manga), Risona aims to become a dojinshi author. She has a fear of white goats eating her manga manuscripts.

• Mizuho Amane (亜麻根 瑞穂 Amane Mizuho)/Nail bat */Megaphone Girl * (Nozomi Masu)

She is Shiratori's classmate who uses her batting skills to punish Tsubasa for his womanizing. She normally uses a spiked baseball bat, but "because of the adults' circumstances", her bat was taken away and replaced with a plastic megaphone. In the epilogue of the manga, she is shown to have become an editor, despite studying to be an author (this is possibly because of her lack of drawing talent).

Seika Tandai Fuzoku High School

• Erika Vermilion (エリカ·バーミリオン Erika Bāmirion) (Shizuka Itou)

She is the head of the occult research lab, of which Tamami, as well as Kozue are technically members. She is never named and only referred to as "club president (ぶちょう Buchō)" until the final chapter of the manga. "Erika Vermillion" is a stage name for her fortune-telling business. She has a masochistic slant as well, and enjoys Tamami's talent for insults and other unusual tortures. When at a shrine, she is strangely purified into a person exactly opposite (bright and kind, to a point of using a lot of money to wish for happiness of everyone).

• Hiro Utsugi (空木 尋 Utsugi Hiro) (Sayaka Kinoshita)

Orchestra club president and conductor. The group which she leads contains only 3 members. She is the younger sister of Sakura. (Side note: Sakura is one of Sayoko's father's maids, and the lady whom Shiratori and Kozue help in the series).

Asami's schoolmates

• Satsuki "Sa-chan" Matsuba (松葉 五月 Matsuba Satsuki) (Akeno Watanabe)

She is Asami's classmate and speaks Osaka-ben. She tries to keep control of Mi-chan's haughty attitude, often using heavy texts such as dictionaries or telephone books as punishment.

• Michiyo "Mi-chan" Asagi (浅葱 三千代 Asagi Michiyo) (Riku Moriyama)

She is Asami's classmate and is rich and slightly snobby, often having a blase attitude and striking old-fashioned poses with her fan. Even if she won't freely admit it, she just wants to be friends with Asami.

At the end of the manga, she started a relationship with Tsubasa Yamabuki.

Futaba Ginza shops

Because of a slight misunderstanding of the phrase literally "good person", figuratively "boyfriend" (いい人 ii hito), practically every merchant in the Futaba Ginza shopping area thinks Kozue and Ryūshi are going out, with Kozue blissfully unaware of this.

• Asahi "Asabi" Chigusa (千草 旭 Chigusa Asahi)

She works for the bakery, which is famous for its taiyaki.

• Hwang Yo "Yo-chan" Lee (黄有麗 (ホァンヨウリー) Hoan Yō Rī)

She works for the bakery, but is notorious for going through several, vastly unrelated jobs in quick succession — most likely because she is known for frequent slip-ups. She was previously a department jewelry store clerk, fortune teller, lifeguard, and various other jobs. She calls herself Hanako Suzuki.

• Grocer / Yaonaga

He runs various prize-games with items such as futon warmers and refrigerators as prizes. He often tells bad jokes and puns, mostly for his own amusement.

• Bookstore clerk

Bookstore business hours: 10:00 AM-8:00 PM.

Minazuki residence

• Ushimitsu Minazuki (水無月 丑三 Minazuki Ushimitsu, Shinpachi Tsuji)

Sayoko's father and an established and wealthy sculptor. He has a tendency to be controlling.

• Yu Minazuki (水無月 夕 Minazuki Yū, Kotono Mitsuishi)

Sayoko's mother. She cannot stand sunlight and is therefore much more active at night. She walks with a cane, which she applies to her husband's feet when he is rude.

• Mahiru Minazuki (水無月 まひる Minazuki Mahiru)

Sayoko's younger sister and Asami's aunt, though they are closer to sisters in terms of their relationship. She has been living in Italy since childhood, so she is somewhat awkward at speaking Japanese. She speaks little, and tends to employ a kind of formal monotone when she does.

• Tachibana (タチバナ)

The senior maid of the Minazuki household. She is an extremely skilled maid and is a capable martial artist and especially skilled with projectile weapons such as darts. Despite her tough appearance, she has a soft spot for things like teddy bears. She is very conscious of her height, thinking herself to be too tall (at the shrine, her wish is to shrink). She is extremely protective of Mahiru.

• Sakura Utsugi (空木 桜 Utsugi Sakura) (Yuka Inokuchi)

A maid of the Minazuki household. While her heart is in the right place, she is extremely careless and clumsy, a flaw which often lands her in trouble. In the epilogue, her little sister works as a maid in the house with her.

• Chauffeur

The personal chauffeur of the Minazuki household.

Other

• Tobita Haruka

An artist who happens across Sayoko's carvings. After multiple attempts to track her down, she is now producing and selling sculptures with Sayoko whom she considers to be a genius.

Sidestories

Children's storybook sidestory

Ryushi Shiratori's children's story that is seen many times throughout the anime involves the story of a prince. The prince, who is a representation of Ryushi himself, discovers a castle with a princess living in it. The princess has a fondness for umeboshi and for various reasons concerning umeboshi, she multiplies into other princesses. These new princesses are the representations of Kozue, Saki, Chiyuri, Nanako and Natsume and the princesses appear in the same episode as each of the new personalities are introduced.

Comic panel sidestory

Often during the anime a vertical comic-style sketch related to the main story is shown. The art style and music are consistently used in this way as various situations are shown for comedic purposes. Each panel is displayed for several seconds until the next panel scrolls into view. Usually there are four panels (4コマ yon-koma) per situation, reflecting the same yonkoma device that is used in the manga.

Anime

Episodes

1. Welcome to Narutaki-sou (ようこそ鳴滝荘へ)
2. The Landlady's Secret (大家さんのひみつ)
3. The Precious Place (たいせつな場所)
4. Warm and Fuzzy (ぬくぬく)
5. Nega-Posi (ネガポジ)
6. Tama Check (珠チェック)
7. Hide and Seek (かくれんぼ)
8. Shopping (おかいモノ)
9. Correct-o (これくと)
10. Sketch (スケッチ)
11. Affection (想い...)
12. Summer! Swimsuits! The Beach! (夏だ!水着だ!海水浴だ!)
13. Narutaki-sou's Treasure (鳴滝荘のタカラモノ)
14. The End of Summer (夏の終わりに)
15. ...Maybe (...かも)
16. Guests After Guests (千客万来)
17. Color of the Sky (そらのいろ)
18. Meow Meow Meow (にゃーにゃーにゃー)
19. Everyone's Day (みんなの一日)
20. School Festival (学園祭にて)
21. Mother and Daughter (親·子)
22. Important... (大事...)
23. Among the Red Leaves (紅葉の中で)
24. Bells (すず)
25. Night of Revelation (告げる夜)
26. Heartful Days

Theme songs

Opening

• Daiji Da·I·Ji (大事▽Da·I·Ji) by Saiki Mia and Shiraishi Ryoko

Ending

• Boku no SPEED de (僕のスピードで) by Chihiro Yonekura

Together with King Records (Starchild label).

Manga

Manga volumes

Name	Date published	ISBN		Name	Date published	ISBN
Mahoraba volume 1	July 2001	ISBN 4-7575-0501-9		Mahoraba volume 7	September 2004	ISBN 4-7575-1278-3
Mahoraba volume 2	January 2002	ISBN 4-7575-0625-2		Mahoraba volume 8	December 2004	ISBN 4-7575-1329-1
Mahoraba volume 3	July 2002	ISBN 4-7575-0750-X		Mahoraba volume 8 [2]	December 2004	ISBN 4-7575-1329-1
Mahoraba volume 4	December 2002	ISBN 4-7575-0848-4		Mahoraba volume 9	March 2005	ISBN 4-7575-1415-8
Mahoraba volume 5	September 2003	ISBN 4-7575-1039-X		Mahoraba volume 10	October 2005	ISBN 4-7575-1531-6
Mahoraba volume 5 [2]	September 2003	ISBN 4-7575-1040-3		Mahoraba volume 11	April 2006	ISBN 4-7575-1675-4
Mahoraba volume 6	December 2003	ISBN 4-7575-1115-9		Mahoraba volume 12	July 2006	ISBN 4-7575-1728-9

Mahotarot(まほタロ)

A set of 22 tarot cards with Mahoraba's characters exist. The drawings are done by the author, and in addition to original cards, others such as mass-production versions (simplified background), fake tarot cards (different pictures for card number), and special editions (holographic) exist. These are supplements for related merchandises, and cannot be collected in its entirety solely by buying the books; thus, it is hard to complete the collection.

No	Card	Character	Merchandises bundled with card
I	The Magician	Natsume Konno (紺野 棗)	Volume 3, First Edition
II	The High Priestess	Mahiru Minazuki (水無月まひる)	Volume 4, First Edition
III	The Empress	Miyabi Shirogane (銀 雅)	Volume 4 + Gangan WING sweepstakes
IV	The Emperor	Mizuho Amane (亜麻根瑞穂)	Volume 4 + Gangan WING sweepstakes
V	The Hierophant	Risona Aizawa( 藍沢理想奈)	Volume 4 + Gangan WING sweepstakes
VI	The Lovers	Chiyuri Midorikawa (緑川千百合)	Volume 4 + Gangan WING sweepstakes
VII	The Chariot	Megumi Momono (桃乃 恵)	Drama CD "Travels, Happenings, Mahoraba!!" (旅だ、事件だ、まほらばだ!!), First Edition
VIII	The Strength	Saki Akasaka (赤坂早紀)	Volume 7, First Edition
IX	The Hermit	Yukio Haibara & Ryuusei Johnny (灰原由起夫&流星ジョニー)	Volume 8, First Edition
X	The Wheel of Fortune	Yu Minazuki (水無月 夕)	Gangan WING supplement, March 2005
XI	The Justice	Michiyo "Mi-chan" Asagi( 浅葱三千代)	Gangan WING supplement, April 2005
XII	The Hangedman	Ryushi Shiratori (白鳥隆士)	Gangan WING supplement, May 2005
XIII	The Death	Sayoko Kurosaki (黒崎沙夜子)	Volume 9, First Edition
XIV	The Temperance	Asami Kurosaki (黒崎朝美)	Gangan WING supplement, June 2005
XV	The Devil	Erika Vermillion (部長)	Gangan WING supplement, July 2005
XVI	The Tower	Tamami Chanohata (茶ノ畑珠実)	Gangan WING supplement, August 2005
XVII	The Star	Nanako Kanazawa (金沢魚子)	Gangan WING supplement, September 2005
XVIII	The Moon	Satsuki Matsuba (松葉五月)	Gangan WING supplement, October 2005
XIX	The Sun	Ryouko Shiratori (白鳥隆子)	Volume 10, First Edition
XX	The Judgement	Tachibana (タチバナ)	Volume 11, First Edition
XXI	The World	Kozue Aoba (蒼葉梢)	Volume 12, First Edition
0	The Fool	Tsubasa Yamabuki (山吹 翼)	Gangan WING supplement, February 2005
EX	The Wand	Sakura Utsuki & Hiro (空木 桜&尋)	Gangan WING supplement, November 2005
EX	The Sword	Ushimitsu Minazuki (水無月丑三)	Gangan WING supplement, November 2005
EX	The Cup	That Thing (それ)	Gangan WING supplement, November 2005
EX	The Pentacle	Hwang Yo "Yo-chan" Lee (黄有麗)	Gangan WING supplement, November 2005
SP	THANK YOU!	Narutaki Sou residents (鳴滝荘メンバー)	Gangan WING supplement, July 2006

References

1. In the drama/soundtrack CD "Extras' Heaven (脇役天国 Wakiyaku Tengoku)", the names for the three friends of Shiratori are semi-officially named (by a drunk Momono) 友人A "Friend A" for Tsubasa, B子 "Friend B-Ko" for Mizuho, and C子 "Friend C-ko" for Risona. As a bonus gag, the three of them are named as a group and "(working names (仮 kari))" is appended to the end. In addition, the white goat phobia and the nail-bat information can be found from this CD.
2. (Special limited edition)

External links

• (Japanese) Mahoraba ~Heartful Site (Archived): Anime official website
• (Japanese) Mahoraba: Manga official site
• (Japanese) TV Tokyo Anime X-Press Mahoraba ~ Heartful days