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Ladies versus Butlers!

Ladies versus Butlers! (れでぃ×ばと!) is a Japanese light novel series written by Tsukasa Kōzuki, with accompanying illustrations by Munyū. The series includes 13 novels released between September 2006 and March 2012, published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation by the illustrator group Nekoyashiki-Nekomaru was serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Moeoh magazine issues between June and December 2008. A drama CD based on the novels was released in September 2009. A anime series adaptation produced by Xebec and directed by Atsushi Ōtsuki aired in Japan from January to March 2010. It has been licensed by Media Blasters for release in North America.

Plot

Akiharu Hino lost his parents and is adopted by his uncle's family. He enters a boarding school, Hakureiryō Academy, because he does not want to burden his relatives. He takes the admission exam and successfully enters the House Management Department, where the school trains servants for high society. He wants to become a butler, but his delinquent appearance frightens the female students, who make up the majority students. Unable to accompany his classmates, Akiharu meets his childhood friend Tomomi Saikyō, a girl with a two-faced character who traumatized him many times when they were kids. Another girl, Selnia Iori Flameheart follows him because of his looks. Akiharu starts finding his feet at the school and his relationship with the girls improves.

Characters

Servant-ed class

Akiharu Hino (日野秋晴)
[2]
The main protagonist of the story considered to be a delinquent, because of his red eyes and rough appearance (accented by a scar bisecting his left eyebrow). In contrast to his appearance, he has a caring personality, but he is dense in regard to girls and matters of the heart. Because of everyone's less than friendly perception of him, he is often falsely accused of perverted acts. He was tormented by his childhood friend Tomomi when they were younger. Now reacquainted, Tomomi is often behind the schemes leading to these misunderstandings.

He is well aware of Tomomi's convincing manipulative nature and devilish personality but is resigned to dealing with her pranks because she knows him so well that she is effectively blackmailing him into keeping quiet about her. On the brighter side, she tells him she will help him through to graduation, perhaps because she subconsciously cares for him, or simply because she enjoys having fun at school often just being around him.

Kaoru Daichi (大地薫)
Akiharu's roommate and fellow servant-ed student. Kaoru is actually a cross-dressing girl (because of a strict father, who told her to graduate from Hakureiryō as a man). She has many fans in the upper-ed section and is easily mistaken to be a boy. She is rather cold to Akiharu at first, but slowly opens up to him. She is always worried her gender will be exposed, especially with sharing a room with Akiharu. She is simultaneously relieved and rather upset when Akiharu sees her naked from the waist up and shows no reaction. She has unconsciously developed feelings for Akiharu, something she realized when responding to a love letter from another female student. She holds a black belt in an unspecified martial art and is implied to be the daughter of a dojo, as shown in a flashback.

Sanae Shikikagami (四季鏡早苗)
A clumsy maid at the academy who causes Akiharu much trouble. Her older sister, Saori, works at the upper-ed. She used to be in upper-ed herself, but because of her family falling on hard times, she was forced to transfer to servant-ed. She is very inept at the tasks typically required of a maid and usually ends up making a mess of things.

Shingo Todoroki (轟慎吾)
A member of the academy's servant-ed class and one of the few boys in the entire school. He is an outright pervert who admits he only came to Hakureiryō because the girls who go to this school are either beautiful maids-in-training or high class ladies from prominent families. His perversion almost always causes him to sexually harass women and therefore invoke the wrath of Mikan.

Mitsuru Sanke (三家満)
A member of the academy's servant-ed class and one of the few boys in the entire school. He is rather a darling of the ladies in the servant-ed class.

Upper-ed class

Tomomi Saikyō (彩京朋美)
An upper-ed student at the academy and Akiharu's childhood friend. Her polite and refined attitude serves as a front to hide her true self: a manipulative deceiver. Her surname was Suzuhashi before her mother got remarried. She entertains herself by preying on other students (especially Akiharu and Selnia) by putting them in compromising situations (e.g. groping, sexual harassment, and nudity). Tomomi is perfectly willing to withhold information from everyone (as in the case of the Hino-Khadim scandal when she decided to keep silent despite having found out the Khadim family rules, only revealing what she knew when things were starting to get too complicated). In some cases she involves others in her schemes to achieve certain ends (as when she assigned Hino to stay with Mimina for a day in order to inspire her to draw). According to Akiharu, she is highly intelligent and also dislikes losing to other people. In the anime, a characteristic high-pitched giggle accompanied by a shadow and dark expression on her face signify that she is thinking evil thoughts. While on a date with her, Akiharu reveals that, despite her constant bullying in elementary school, he had in fact had a crush on her and his dream then had been to marry her when they grew up, which surprised and embarrassed Tomomi, perhaps showing that she reciprocates these feelings. This is further corroborated by her becoming jealous after seeing Selnia and Akiharu kiss.

Selnia Iori Flameheart (セルニア＝伊織＝フレイムハート)
An upper-ed student at the academy. She is extremely proud of her status as scion of the Flameheart family. She is often the unfortunate target of the various misunderstandings involving Akiharu that are purposely caused by fellow student Tomomi Saikyo. While outwardly harsh and condescending towards Hino like assault, she continually expresses concern for him when he finds himself in less-than-desirable situations, though this is usually followed a blunt lecture or unnecessary violence. Her hairstyle is the reason why Akiharu refers to her as "Drill" (which upsets her). In the anime, her hair spins and make sounds similar to a drill whenever she is upset. She is shown to have strong feelings for Akiharu, exemplified in her kissing him and her rivalry with Tomomi for his affection. Even though she outwardly denies feeling anything for Akiharu, she does in fact realize and accept how she feels.

Others

Tomomi's mother.

Kaede Tenjōji (天壌慈楓)
Hakureiryō Academy's principal whose hobbies include playing eroge even at work. Her otaku tendencies tend to get in the way of her work, and cause her react to situations like characters in her games do which usually leads to more misunderstandings. She is often reprimanded by Mikan, whom she is afraid of, and who strives to keep her focused on more serious matters. Kaede also sponsors the anime "Magical Diva" and as such has a large collection of items related to the anime including the original manuscript. She would like to discuss anime with Pina more than she already does, but is unable to do so easily because of Mikan, who keeps a close eye on her.

Mikan (深閑)
The academy's head instructor who oversees almost all matters related to the school. She is known for her mastery of all subjects related to becoming a maid or butler. She has a strict and cold demeanor, particularly towards anyone who slacks off and as such, the students, and even the principal herself, avoid provoking her wrath. She throws fountain pens with deadly accuracy much as a ninja uses throwing knives.

Anna (アンナ)
The head maid of the Flameheart family household. She is very close to Selnia and has watched over her since birth.

Media

Light novels

Ladies versus Butlers! began as a series of light novels written by Tsukasa Kōzuki, with accompanying illustrations by Munyū. ASCII Media Works published 13 novels under their Dengeki Bunko imprint between September 10, 2006, and March 10, 2012.[3][4]

Manga

A manga adaptation by the illustrator group Nekoyashiki-Nekomaru was serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Moeoh seinen manga magazine between the June 2008 and December 2008 issues. A single tankōbon volume was released on December 18, 2009, under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comics imprint.[5]

Drama CD

An hour-long drama CD based on the novels was released by ASCII Media Works on September 8, 2009. The drama CD was bundled with a booklet featuring material written by Tsukasa Kōzuki and illustrated by Munyū, a leaflet describing the characters, a small collection of rough sketches, and a set of postcards.[6] The CD features three episodes, the second of which is an original story for the drama CD. The voice cast of the drama CD is the same as with the anime adaptation.

Internet radio show

An Internet radio show to promote the anime series and other Ladies versus Butlers! media called Mai's and Mariya's Radio versus Butlers! (麻衣と茉莉也のらじ×ばと!) aired 31 episodes between September 28, 2009, and May 31, 2010, hosted on the anime's official website.[7] The show was streamed online every other Monday, and was hosted by Mai Goto and Mariya Ise. The show's theme song is "Arashi o Yobu Party Nau" (嵐を呼ぶパーティなう) sung by Goto and Ise.

Anime

A 12-episode anime television series produced by Xebec and directed by Atsushi Ōtsuki aired in Japan from January 5 to March 23, 2010, on AT-X. The first episode was given a special early broadcast on December 29, 2009, on AT-X.[8][9] Six short bonus specials are included on Blu-ray. The anime was licensed by Media Blasters in North America,[10] who released it on Blu-ray and DVD on November 3, 2015.[11][12] The series premiered on Toku in the United States in January 2016.

Episode list