Line #8 Series/MendolIkemen


1	Mendol Ikemen (also known as ''Mendol ~Ikemen Idol~'') is a Japanese Drama recounting the story of three girls named Asahi, Nami, and Hinata, aspiring idols who as a result of various reasons [[spoiler: (mainly failed auditions, but witnessing a crime in the case of two of them, and an aborted suicide in the third)]] decide to instead become male idols.
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3	They of course meet many troubles due to such a condition, including at least [[SweetOnPollyOliver one of them being hit on by another girl]]. More [[http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Mendol here]]. The series is notable for featuring the three members of the Music/{{AKB48}} subunit no3b, and they perform the ending song as such group.
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6	!!Tropes Contained In This Work:
7	* AwfulTruth: [[spoiler: The supposed lesbian manager is really former Doggy of Animal Crush, meaning she's actually a CreepyCrossdresser who's been fooling Marilyn all along. Marilyn doesn't take this well, and runs out. [[FridgeLogic But wait...]] Have they been having GRatedSex this whole time? Well, no, it was an [[EasySexChange actual sex change]] as revealed by a bed scene later on.]]
8	* UsefulNotes/{{BDSM}}: Totally serious. The manager has a whip and everything. And in episode six, instead of whipping the trio, she whips the assistant (who groans in pleasure).
9	* BeautifulDreamer: Asahi/Riku
10	* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: The band commits ''hara kiri''. It's fake though, since they use prop knives.
11	* BettyAndVeronica: Asahi has a nice (but slightly stalkerish) Jiro as her "Betty" and the more perverted director Katsuyuki as "Veronica."
12	* CasualKink: The manager will suddenly start attacking her assistant sexually, sometimes while she's in the middle of pouring coffee. Or sharing food with just their lips, while licking each other's neck.
13	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: The manager. Besides being into [[ExtremeOmnisexual anything that moves]], and having some serious fetishes, she has some weird dream about having real men as an idol group. Men... who are women, [[InsaneTrollLogic because other men won't do]].
14	** CloudcuckoolandersMinder: The manager's assistant. Also doubles as a lover.
15	* DepravedBisexual: The manager seems a tad on the insane side, and definitely pursues both men and women to some extent.
16	* [[spoiler: EveryoneLives]]
17	* {{Expy}}: The manager looks like the girl from Pulp Fiction.
18	* {{Farce}}: It has all the trademarks. People blurting out things they shouldn't, people walking in on people in compromising situations, CasualKink, and absurd situations. Plus some of the chase scenes are just that ridiculous, like people trying to sneak away on the other side of a bush, [[EpicFail and running into the very person they were trying to avoid]].
19	* GenerationXerox: Asahi/Riku is most like Doggy (the manager), Nami/Kai is most like the current director of Monkey studios, and Hinata/Kuu is most like Usshi. Lampshaded, for Asahi in her TakeOverTheWorld moment, saying that she sounds surprisingly like the manager.
20	* GiftedlyBad: Hinata's singing when in a group is not terrible, but her solo singing of something called "the Angel Song" is so painful that everyone covers their ears in agony.
21	* HitmanWithAHeart: Kuroda. Subverted, when he decides he has no use for Hinata and drugs and kidnaps her. [[spoiler: Double subverted, since he also saves them by faking their deaths.]]
22	* IdolSinger: Pretty much all the main characters.
23	* IfItsYouItsOkay: When Ray finds out "Kai" is actually a girl, she takes all of five seconds to kiss her. Nami (as Kai) mentions liking guys, so this is probably a case of that too. [[spoiler: Also Marilyn, for the manager, after finding out she's really a guy.]]
24	* IncompatibleOrientation: Asahi's love interest Katsuyuki decided that because he likes her (dressed as Riku), he must be gay.
25	* INeverSaidItWasPoison: The girls make a SuspiciouslySpecificDenial about seeing a girl in a "pink" and "frilly" dress, and have to run away as a result.
26	* LarynxDissonance: When in front of several men in the second episode, they keep saying stuff in very girly voices, and have to keep adjusting their voice.
27	* LipstickLesbian: Ray and Nami. Also the manager's girlfriend, Marilyn. The manager, isn't, [[spoiler: because [[CreepyCrossdresser "she's" a he]].]]
28	* MagicalGesture: The manager frequently makes motions straight out of ''Film/PulpFiction''.
29	* MarshmallowHell: When visiting a club, the girls get this.
30	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Ray, finally deciding to pursue Kai, comes right as the band fakes a ''hara kiri'' style suicide. It of course, screws up their entire plan, because Hinata responds by asking about the kiss. They all break character to respond to her, and the jig is up.
31	* TheNoseKnows: Marilyn, the manager's assistant, is able to identify who Asahi has been with.
32	* TheOmniscient: The manager, apparently. The girls are chasing a thief around town, and by radio she tells them where she went to just now.
33	** And again with having knowledge that Jiro knows their secret.
34	* PortmanteauSeriesName
35	* PunnyName: See the name in print, and it's usually hyphenated as Mendol-Ikemen. This is something like "Men-Idol Pretty Boy", using the rough translation. But if you see the title online it reads mendolikemen or "Men Do Like Men." All though this series is also about girls liking other girls, at least one of them has a former boyfriend who is seeing their "male" persona.
36	* TheReveal: Happens twice in one episode. The first time, however, the guy doesn't realize what he sees.
37	* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Obviously.
38	* SecretIdentity: "Kai" is Nami, "Riku" is Asahi, and "Kuu" is Hinata.
39	* UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}}: Nami is at one point sweeping the entrance as a [[{{Miko}} Shrine Maid]].
40	* SkinshipGrope: [[GenderFlip Gender Flipped]], with one of the guys doing this to Riku's breast, and then commenting on how [[ThanksForTheMammaries "firm his chest is."]]
41	* StalkerWithACrush[=/=]DoggedNiceGuy: One of the girl's former boyfriends (Jiro) is at the first concert.
42	* StatusBuff: While trying to outrun a mugger, then mugger in question uses Haste.
43	* StupidSexyFlanders: Katsuyuki goes a bit nuts because he's attracted to Riku, who he's convinced is a guy. So much so that he dives on top of Asahi because she looks like Riku, but is female.
44	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Several, but one in particular:
45	--> ''Kai: I wasn't thinking Ray was cute, not at all.''
46	* SweetOnPollyOliver: Most of the romantic interests.
47	* SweetPollyOliver: The entire premise of the story.
48	* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: Hinata gets one, where Nami and Asahi (as Kai and Riku) talk her out of jumping during their concert. Also counts as TheReveal, since they mention something she said about being an angel, which they heard while they auditioning together.
49	* TakeOverTheWorld: Part of the manager's [[EvilPlan grand scheme]] of using the band. Largely PlayedForComedy, as Asahi interrupts this speech to talk about her own plans in that regard.
50	* ThirdPersonPerson: Hinata.
51	* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: [[spoiler: Asahi is dating Jiro and is a high school student, Nami works for a moving company and dates Ray, and Hinata is pretty much back to her "normal" self. But... There's another epilogue after that, where they meet up again and try to become female idols.]]
52	* WhipOfDominance: Sakeo is a [[BunnyEarsLawyer eccentric idol manager]] who is so strict and domineering that she uses a whip to intimidate the girls, hitting them with it whenever they're out partying, or doing something wrong. She also has a {{Dominatrix}} side and uses the whip for fetish purposes, often hitting her CloudcuckoolandersMinder assistant with it.
53	* WigDressAccent: GenderFlip. They get chased by the mafia, and have to make up a disguise on the spot. Later, the manager notices them, and decides they'd make great male idols.

Context Series / MendolIkemen