Line #1 Manga/Mahoraba


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mahoraba21.jpg]]
2	''Mahoraba'' ("Splendid Place") is a {{shonen\|Demographic}} manga by Akira Kojima, which was serialized in ''Monthly Gangan WING'' from 2000 to 2006 and compiled into 12 volumes. It was adapted to a 26-episode anime that aired in 2005.
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4	First-Year College student Shiratori Ryuushi moves into the boarding house, Narutakisou. Under the tender care of Aoba Kozue, Narutakisou provides a home to people whose personal lives are all painful in one way or another; yet together, somehow, they make up a true family. Not only does Shiratori find a home at Narutakisou, but he also finds himself falling in love with a girl who is far more than she seems.
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6	Compare with ''Manga/MaisonIkkoku'', which has a similar setup of a romance at a boarding house, but is more grounded and [[{{Seinen}} aimed at an older audience]]. Not to be confused with ''Literature/{{Maburaho}}'', which sits comfortably on the exact opposite end of the romantic comedy spectrum.
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8	The anime adaptation is free to stream on [[https://www.crunchyroll.com/mahoraba-heartful-days Crunchyroll.]]
9	----
10	!!This series provides examples of:
11	* AllPeriodsArePMS: Momono and Shiratori go to the theater and watch a horror film. When Shiratory asks how girl could see such a bloody film and not be bothered Momono replies, "Girls are used to seeing a lot of blood. Er... Was that a little vulgar?".
12	* AllThatGlitters: The episode when the residents embark on a treasure hunt.
13	* AlphaBitch: Michiyo acts like an AlphaBitch {{Ojou}} towards Asami, [[spoiler:but it's really because she's too insecure that Asami won't like her.]]
14	* AmusingInjuries: Inflicted upon Michiyo and Ero-Freak Boy on a semi-regular basis.
15	* BattleAura: Tamami and the Occult Club President can see each others' battle auras, but almost nobody else can.
16	* BeachEpisode
17	* BittersweetEnding: Manga Only: Wherein Ryuushi has fallen in love with ALL of Kozue-chan's personalities but [[spoiler:his love for her gradually cures her insanity and causes all her personalities, each lovely human-beings unto themselves, to be absorbed into her primary psyche, never to emerge again.]] Afterwards we are introduced to [[spoiler:Kozue-chan and Ryuushi's four daughters, who each [[GenerationXerox bore an uncanny resemblance to the four personalities whom their mother once transformed into]].]]
18	* BlankWhiteEyes
19	* BrandX: Ahashi beer.
20	* CanNotSpitItOut
21	* CloudCuckooLander: Sayoko at one point practices her significant artistic talents by carving most of the trees in the courtyard into sculptures of her daughter Asami. Haibara spends his days fishing in a tiny, obviously fishless pond in the courtyard and only talks through his hand-puppet, Johnny. And those are just a couple of the less bizarre examples.
22	* ColourfulThemeNaming: An impressive list:
23	** Kozue '''Ao'''ba: Blue.
24	** Saki '''Aka'''saka: Red.
25	** Nanako '''Kana'''zawa: Gold.
26	** Chiyuri '''Midori'''kawa: Green.
27	** Natsume '''Kon'''no: Navy blue.
28	** Ryuushi '''Shira'''tori: White.
29	** Megumi '''Momo'''no: Peach.
30	** Tamami '''Cha'''nohata: Brown.
31	** Asami '''Kuro'''saki: Black.
32	** Yukio '''Hai'''bara: Grey.
33	** Erica '''Vermilion''': [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Vermilion]].
34	** Youli '''Huang''': Yellow.
35	** Asahi '''Chigusa''': Light greenish-blue.
36	** Michiyo '''Asagi''': Pale blue-green.
37	** Tsubasa '''Yamabuki''': Pale yellow.
38	** Ryuutarou '''Shi'''ba: Purple.
39	** Mahiru '''Mi'''nazuki: Greenish sky blue.
40	** Satsuki '''Matsuba''': Dark green.
41	** Risona '''Ai'''zawa: Indigo.
42	** Miyabi '''Shirogane''': Silver.
43	** Haruka '''Tobi'''ta: Reddish brown.
44	** Mizuho '''Ama'''ne: Pale yellow.
45	* ComedicSociopathy: In the beginning, mostly at Sayoko's expense, and quite a lot from Saki's side once [[spoiler:she hooks up with Ryuushi, because she's too embarrassed. She tries her best to avoid it, but fails a lot]].
46	* CornerOfWoe
47	* CreditsRunningSequence
48	%%* CuteClumsyGirl
49	* DistantFinale: The last chapter of the manga.
50	* DrivenToSuicide: Played for ''laughs'' of all things with poor Sayo-chan in the very beginning of the manga. Due to "network regulations", this was changed to merely severe depression in the anime.
51	* ExpressiveHair
52	* EyeCatch
53	* {{Facefault}}
54	* FanOfUnderdog
55	* FirstGirlWins
56	* FirstNameBasis
57	* FlungClothing
58	* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Kozue is sanguine (so is Nanako, because she's a kid version of Kozue), Saki is choleric, Chiyuri is phlegmatic, Natsume is melancholic. It's probably worth mentioning that this "ensemble" consists of Kozue's alternate personalities
59	* FunbagAirbag: Asami with Tachibana.
60	* GeckoEnding
61	* GenderVocabularySlip: Shiratori Ryuushi, DoggedNiceGuy and TheChewToy of Mahoraba, was dressed up (against his will and while asleep) to look like a ''very'' cute and beautiful blonde. When confronted with Chiyuri, one of his landlady's five personalities who does ''not'' know him, he accidentally uses "boku" ([[UsefulNotes.JapanesePronouns polite masculine pronoun]]) to refer to himself. Subverted in that Chiyuri finds this contrast quite {{Moe}}, and that although unusual for a girl, "boku" is used as a pronoun by the nicer [[TomBoy tomboys]] out there.
62	* GenericCuteness
63	* TheGlomp
64	* HandBehindHead
65	* HiddenEyes
66	* ImageSong
67	* ImprobableWeaponUser: Sa-chan and her book attack, Tamami and just about ''anything'' (tennis balls, bonsai trees).
68	* ImTakingHerHomeWithMe: When the Club-President takes a shining to Asami-chan, she asks Tamami whether she could do this to the little one.
69	* InstantDogend: Haibara does this a lot.
70	* KewpieDollSurprise
71	* KissingCousins: Shiratori and Kozue-chan are actually second-cousins; a fact that is mentioned once in the beginning with a lampshade on how second cousins can get married[[note]]technically, in Japan, even first cousins can get married and this does not evoke the same levels of {{Squick}} that Americans would have, but all the same it's good to keep your relations straight[[/note]]. As such, this fact is fairly quickly forgotten about for the rest of the series.
72	* LyingOnAHillside
73	* LovableSexManiac: Shiratori's male art school friend.
74	* MaximumFunChamber: Shirogane-sensei's room.
75	* {{Meido}}: Sakura and Tachibana.
76	* NinjaMaid: Tachibana, who serves the Minazuki family, has a habit of materializing in rooms like one. She even goes through a car chase sequence to rescue Mahiru from the Italian mafia.
77	* NoblewomansLaugh
78	* NoNameGiven: Only in the anime.
79	** Shiratori's three art school friends. The plot for one of the drama [=CDs=] [[LampshadeHanging revolves around]] their trying to get names. The manga does give them names in the end: Ero Freak's name is [[spoiler:Yamabuki Tsubasa]], the yaoi fangirl is [[spoiler:Aizawa Risona]], and the 'normal' girl with the nail bat is [[spoiler:Amane Mizuho]].
80	** The Occult Club President also was never given a name, until the end when it was revealed to be [[spoiler:Erika Vermilion]].
81	* ObliviousAdoption: [[spoiler:The reader/viewer and most characters are for the longest time under the impression that Asami is the biological child of Sayo's late husband. When she accidentally discovers she was actually adopted and is related to neither of them, [[OhCrap she experiences a horrifying realization]] [[PersonalHorror that there's actually nothing linking her to her mom]], making the in-progress discussion about Sayo abandoning her and remarrying again all the more plausible... before Sayo [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness matter-of-factly, yet unusually assertively]] [[NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech states none of that matters]], as adoption or not, [[HappilyAdopted Asami is 100% her and her husband's child,]] [[GoodParents one whom she will never abandon for anything or anyone]].]]
82	* OfficialCouple: Loaded with them, including two nameless background characters.
83	* {{Ojou}}
84	* OneWordTitle
85	* PercussiveMaintenance: Momono calls it the "Russian Repair Method": "Wish it to be fixed, and pound it." [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]
86	* ThePowerOfFriendship
87	* PuniPlush
88	* RetailRiot: Episode 5 has a mob of crazy shoppers make life hard for Asami.
89	* SchoolFestival: Episode 20, in Kozue's school.
90	* SecretlyWealthy: [[spoiler:Sayako and Asami]]
91	* SelectiveObliviousness: Kozue's personality switching [[spoiler:is a defense mechanism against hard times and problems, justified by her rather [[{{Break The Cutie}} horrifying past]].]]
92	* ShoutOut: In chapter 58, the books that won the novel contest share the same titles of games made by Treasure such as ''VideoGame/RadiantSilvergun'' or ''{{VideoGame/Ikaruga}}''.
93	* SpaceWhaleAesop: Before each episode, they warn about sitting too close to the TV. The consequences involve things like a monster from the TV eating you.
94	* SuicideAsComedy: Poor Sayo-chan in the manga '''regularly''' tries to hang herself, but either the branch or the rope breaks whenever she tries. This is removed altogether in the anime.
95	** Given what we later learn, it seems almost certain that [[spoiler:she stages those failures herself, as [[{{GoodParents}} she would never really go through]] [[{{BreakingTheCycleOfBadParenting}} leaving her daughter alone]]. She just wants the attention.]]
96	* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Kozue loves pickled plums.
97	* {{Tsundere}}: Kozue's "Akasaka Saki" personality.
98	* TsurimeEyes: Tachibana.
99	* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: [[spoiler:Tamami]].
100	* UnsettlingGenderReveal:
101	** Averted for Shiratori's male friend, who never get to see [[spoiler:that the girl he obsesses about really is [[WholesomeCrossdresser Shiratori in drag]]]].
102	** Chiyuri, on the other hand, finds out, and doesn't react well.
103	* UnwantedHarem:
104	** Generally averted. Shiratori lives with five cute girls but four of them have no romantic interest in him.
105	** Subverted when Momono appears to take Shiratori on a date, it turns out she was just "testing" herself.
106	** Played straight if you consider Kozue's five personalities as a harem unto herself... themselves... whatever.
107	* VictoriousChildhoodFriend - Shiratori and Kozue met as children about ten years before the start of the story. Shiratori has forgotten about it, but Kozue still remembers their meeting quite well.
108	* VitriolicBestBuds: Tamami and Momono.
109	* WeWantOurJerkBack: Downplayed, but when the Occult Research Club President is cleansed by visiting a shrine, Tama starts to miss her annoying personality.
110	* YamatoNadeshiko:
111	** Kozue-chan's primary personality; she takes care of everyone and also has personal responsibility for the boarding house.
112	** Shirogane-sensei is like this, but don't you dare to mess up your homework.
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Context Manga / Mahoraba