Kotoura-san

Kotoura-san (琴浦さん) is a four-panel manga series by Enokizu. It appeared as a serial in the web magazine Manga Goccha, and the manga magazine Megami from October 14, 2010, to April 22, 2015. Micro Magazine owns the web magazine, and is also the publisher of the series which spanned seven bound volumes released from 2012 to 2015. Kotoura-san is about a first year high school girl named Haruka Kotoura who has the ability to read minds. Growing up she has a horrible life but things turn around when she makes friends who accept her ability. One guy in particular named Yoshihisa Manabe also eventually takes a romantic interest in her.

An anime television adaptation was made from the manga by AIC Classic that aired from January 11 to March 29, 2013.[1][2] Twelve episodes aired in all and included the addition of five bonus shorts called Haruka's Room (春香の部屋). Outside of Japan only the anime adaptation was brought over and released in North America. The series was licensed under the name The Troubled Life of Miss Kotoura by NIS America, they released a Blu-ray subtitled collection on August 4, 2015.

Characters

Main characters

Kotoura Haruka (琴浦春香)
Haruka is a fifteen year old girl who was born with the psychic ability to read minds at a young age. She becomes an outcast by her friends/classmates when she starts blurting out their thoughts, not realizing that these are their true feelings that they may or may not want revealed. Her mother eventually abandons her when she obliviously exposes an affair between own parents. This causes Haruka to conclude that she only brings people trouble, and the best way to prevent hurting herself and/or others is to close her heart to people.[4] When she enters high school she meets a guy named Yoshihisa Manabe who accepts her mind reading ability. He helps her make friends which gradually makes Haruka a stronger person. She is vulnerable though to Yoshihisa's lewd fantasies which causes her to become incredibly flustered when teased.[4] Over the series she develops romantic feelings for Manabe and the two confess their love for one another at the end of the series.

Manabe Yoshihisa (真鍋義久)
Yoshihisa is one of Haruka's classmates who isn't bothered by her ability to read his mind. He is a guy with a big heart but frequently has lewd thoughts about Haruka which he uses to tease her.[5] He is shown to truly love Haruka though whom he deeply cares for. Yoshihisa tries his best to understand her problem while struggling to deepen their relationship.[5] He later forms an unlikely bond with Haruka's grandfather Zenzou, who encourages his perverted side in order to get his granddaughter married. Yoshihisa finally confesses his love to Haruka in the end after being playfully scolded for not saying it sooner.

Mifune Yuriko (御舟百合子)
Yuriko is the president, and creator of the school's ESP Research Club.[6] She invites Haruka upon learning about her ability to join, but initially also has an ulterior motive for doing so. She is fixated on vindicating her mother and her family after her psychic mother committed suicide. The media had accused her of being a fake, so she ended her life to escape the constant ridicule, leaving young Yuriko devastated. Yuriko finds an opportunity in Haruka and shows her only the thoughts she wants her to see.[6] During the series she considers Haruka a true friend which leads her to recognize how selfish she was to which she is forgiven. Yuriko also has unrequited feelings for Daichi Muroto, her childhood friend.[6]

Muroto Daichi (室戸大智)
Daichi is the ESP Research Club's vice president, and Mifune's childhood friend.[7] He is known for his short height and intelligence with things having to do with technology. Daichi is also surprisingly adept at investigation which he uses to see behind Yuriko's plans. While he doesn't interfere with her intentions, he does try to give her advice on how to move forward. Deep down he is shown to be a sensitive person who can "empathize well with others".[7] Mifune shows strong romantic feelings towards him, but he is oblivious to her affection.[7]

Moritani Hiyori (森谷ヒヨリ)
Hiyori is Yoshihisa's childhood friend and classmate, often nicknamed Moriya. She is in deeply in love with Yoshihisa and initially resents Haruka for gaining his attention and becoming romantically interested in Haruka, rather than herself. After Yoshihisa makes her realize what she has done to Haruka, Hiyori reconciles with Haruka and befriends her, even later joining the ESP Research Club. Out of the three girls in the ESP Society, she is the only one who cannot cook. She occasionally has a fearsome aura like a demon that is used to keep Yoshihisa's perversion in check, but she has a habit of panicking in the face of adversity despite her practices in martial arts. She owns her own dojo which led to bullying when she was younger.

Supporting characters

Zenzou Kotoura (琴浦善三)
Haruka's very wealthy grandfather. One of the few people to stick by her after Kumiko disowned her. He is slightly perverted, having dirty thoughts about his kinship with Haruka.

Head priest (和尚)
A monk who is a family friend at a shrine temple in Haruka's hometown. His encounter with Haruka has led to him taking an interest in esper abilities.

Kumiko Kotoura (琴浦久美子)
Haruka's mother. Initially kind-hearted and caring, she becomes more and more stressed because she can't understand Haruka's special ability or deal with the situations it inadvertently caused. She reacted to her husband's increasing emotional distance by cheating on him, and when it is discovered that Haruka's father was also unfaithful, they divorce. She deals with her moral failings and weakness of character by rejecting young Haruka and disowning her. She mentally apologises to Haruka and calls herself a ‘Weak Mother.’ Kumiko utterly regretted disowning Haruka, blaming herself again and again. At the end of the series, she reconciles with Haruka after they both get all their pent-up feeling out of their system.

Gantetsu Ishiyama (石山巌鉄)

type	tv series
director	Masahiko Ohta
producer	Jun Fukuda Hiroshi Yoshida Jiyū Ōgi Kimihito Sekido Masami Abe
writer	Takashi Aoshima
music	Yasuhiro Misawa
studio	AIC Classic
network	CBC
first	January 11, 2013
last	March 29, 2013
episodes	12
episode list	#Anime

Plot

Characters

Main characters

Supporting characters

Media

Manga

Anime

Reception

External links

References