Your typical protagonist - a naive 16 year-old high school girl with a bit of an inferiority complex. Average grades, member of the track team, somewhat shy, neither particularly popular nor disliked by her classmates. Never dated a boy or engaged in any inappropriate behavior in her life. That is, until her sister ropes her into working in her eroge company as their new seiyuu. Reluctant at first, Kanna agrees to give it a try after a little emotional extortion. Much to her shock, she discovers she has a natural talent for erotic voice acting, which is further fueled by her embarrassment, lack of experience and overactive imagination. She resigns herself to pursuing a career in voice acting and always giving her best, no matter how unreasonable her co-workers demands get.
Covert Pervert: According to her sister. Considering Kanna had no clue about... well, anything, it might have been more a case of Bile Fascination at first, until she discovers her ability to go into eroge-mode, which has slowly been affecting her personality. She doesn't talk about it out of embarrassment, but pretty much everyone at the company knows just how much she's interested in lewd things.
A Date with Rosie Palms: Kanna is scolded for not doing this after taking home some examples of eroge... for training purposes, of course. What makes it funny is that she managed to... achieve the same effect without actually involving her hands or any physical stimulation whatsoever.
Enforced Method Acting: Try as she might, Kanna can't perform ero scenes without being embarrassed into a state of trance. Luckily, her sister knows exactly how to trip her up to get the effect every time.
While their looks and personalities are a little different, in terms of their situations Kanna can be seen as an expy of Osono, the main character from the first story in Konno Azure's Puberty Crazies. Osono is the only sane man to her two perverted best friends and is often outraged and incredibly embarrassed by the things happening around her. In the end though, she is revealed to be a covert pervert who may enjoy sex even more than her two friends, she just has a lot more common sense and morals. Osono was also the first character that Kanna was able to perfectly synchronize with, which suggests they may be more similar than it first seems.
Calls Nagatoshi "master" after spending a little too long roleplaying as a meido.
While singing an eroge theme in front of a crowd at Comika, she forgets she was supposed to censor a certain word, spawning an in-universe example of Memetic Mutation.
He Is Not My Boyfriend: Repeatedly denies that there is anything between her and Motoki.
High Pressure Emotion: Has this happen with embarrassment fairly often for obvious reasons.
I Am Not Pretty: Likely due to comparing herself to eroge heroines.
I Just Want to Be Normal: Kanna sometimes lapses into this, since her special skill doesn't go very well with her shy personality, even saying she wants to be "cured" of it in chapter 28.
Imagine Spot: Gets into these a lot, particularly when acting out an eroge scene. She has one hell of an overactive imagination too.
Immodest Orgasm: In an industry where this is pretty much the norm, Kanna must be really loud, since everyone present immediately realize she's not just acting. The anime even adds fireworks and heart explosions.
The Ingénue: Although this is being peeled off as she learns more about the business, she's still incredibly naive and innocent.
Instant Cosplay Surprise: When a game is based around certain character types like meidos or mikos, Kanna will be forced to play dress-up with no warning to get into the character. She doesn't dislike it much though.
Love Epiphany: After noticing how easy it is to project her own feelings onto her character's situation, Kanna finally makes the shocking (for her at least) realization that she is in love. Of course it has to be at the worst possible time and place.
Luminescent Blush: It has become pretty much her default expression by now along with Blank White Eyes, seeing as how the universe seems to be conspiring to embarrass her to death. Considering that she really is aroused and really does orgasm when she works, she has a lot to be embarrassed about.
Mind-Control Eyes: Her eyes get noticeably more cloudy as she slips further into her eroge trance. They go almost completely white when the fictional persona takes over her entirely.
In chapter 30 she gave one to the staff during recording. If Motoki hadn't stopped her from doing it with him, they would have seen more.
There's two assisted panty shots in chapter 31 - first Hadzuki flips Kanna's skirt to see what kind of underwear she had on and then she and Kotori both do it in front of Motoki to show off the new string panties they made her buy, promising him more service in the future.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Her plan to not get recognised at Comika is to dress like a maid, let her hair down and slightly change her last name.
Superpowered Evil Side: Her ero-mode is the voice acting equivalent. It allows her to perform in ways she never could otherwise, but it also clouds her judgement, puts her in a hard to break trance, and leaves her physically exhausted and incredibly embarrassed when it's over. It is also easy to trigger by the right person, even against her will, and can blur the line between fiction and reality. As of chapter 27 it's even actively taking over her like a split personality.
Tempting Fate: "It's not like I'll be doing some outrageously strange job, right?"
Training from Hell: Her training so far includes: dirty talk, watching pornos, playing eroge, simulating fellatio noises by sucking a man's finger, learning to harness the power of her imagination, chocking on milk pudding forced down her throat with a syringe and reading hentai mangas (very meta indeed). If she somehow manages to keep her sanity, she'll no doubt become the greatest eroge seiyuu ever.
Twice Shy: She and Motoki are this under normal circumstances.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Sometimes someone comments on Kanna's bizarre eroge trance, but most people adjust unusually quickly to the fact that Kanna can make herself orgasm with her imagination alone. Made doubly weird because she does this, more or less, in public.
Virgin Power: Kanna is a complete virgin who knows little to nothing about sex, let alone eroge. Combined with an incredibly powerful imagination however, she delivers incredibly high-impact performances every single time.
Kanna's older sister and founder of the eroge production company Blue March. Started the company after their father's death out of necessity and to ensure Kanna would get a better chance for a good future. Since then she has settled nicely in the role of an eroge director. Can seem somewhat cold and ruthless at times and has little patience for whining. Nevertheless, she cares for her little sister very much, even if her determination to make her into a great seiyuu at all costs makes that hard to see sometimes.
Big Sister Mentor: She is teaching her sister Kanna important skills for getting along in a job that she seems to increasingly enjoy. Subverted, since the job in question is voice acting in porn, and Kanna is a few years too young for this to be proper or legal, a fact that comes up once in a while.
In Kanna's case she could barely wait for her to turn 16.
In Hadzuki's and Kotori's cases there really wasn't anything to corrupt, she just gave them the opportunity. Seriously, that kind of enthusiasm for this kind of job is not normal.
Not so Above It All: As revealed in a flashback, Yayoi used to be just as embarrassed about working on H-games as Kanna, if not more.
Parental Substitute: To Kanna, ever since their father died and their mother was forced to take extra work to support them. This contributes to Kanna's decision to help her sister out and become an eroge seiyuu.
Refuge in Audacity: Keeps a very straight face while suggesting some very questionable methods of educating her little sister, and manages to even muster support from her co-workers. On at least two occasions this involved suggesting that Kanna perform or watch real life sex acts, on or with her co-workers, to be able to act it better. This is a girl who is not even legally old enough to work in the eroge business.
Scary Shiny Glasses: Gets these briefly during moments of smugness or when trying to intimidate someone, usually accompanied by a menacing aura in the latter case.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Unlike Kanna, Yayoi is very self-assertive, calm, manipulative, and always speaks her mind no matter how inappropriate the topic is in that situation.
Fumika Warasono
Voice Actor: Ayano Ishikawa
A young pro seiyuu and Blue March's main voice provider before Kanna came along. Agreed to watch over her and teach her everything she could about the business. A kind and supportive mentor, she usually tries to stick up for Kanna when things get too out of hand and graciously accepts the fact that, in many way, she is outclassed by the newbie she is supposed to be training. The one thing she is very self-conscious about is the fact she still hasn't had her first kiss at age 21. Has a cat and dog-like relationship with her perverted superior and former voice acting coach Shigekazu Sakanami.
Tropes associated with Fumika:
Big Breasts, Big Deal: Type 3 - Fumika is none too pleased with her rather ample chest and views it as little more than a burden, possibly leaning slightly towards Type 2. The likely reason is that so far her breasts have done nothing to help her get a boyfriend.
Bleached Underpants: In-universe example - Fumika started as an eroge seiyuu, but now her main work is in (non-hentai) anime. She still continues to voice eroge under an assumed name for old time's sake and to show her gratitude to Yayoi for giving her a chance.
Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Occasionally plays this with Sakanami (Fumika is the Tsukkomi), usually ending with a punch to the face, though Sakanami has actually won an argument at least once using his exceedingly perverted logic.
Enforced Method Acting: When she has trouble expressing shyness in her performance, the solution proves to be turning the recording desk around so that everyone would see her face while she acted, embarrassing the hell out of her in the process.
Gag Boobs: While no one doubts that Fumika is well-endowed, the paizuri *
The other co-founder of Blue March and the person who first suggested the idea to Yayoi. Grew up with her and has known Kanna since birth, becoming her big brother figure and comforting her after the death of their father. Both of them consider him family, Kanna even referring to him as onii-chan. A fanatic bibliophile ever since he was little, he eventually became obsessed with reading, and later writing, erotica, which led to his involvement in the eroge business as a script writer. Yayoi picked him to be Kanna's initial practice partner, since Kanna has a minor crush on him.
Tropes associated with Nagatoshi:
Author Avatar: Nagatoshi is the resident writer of Blue March. He has little personality and when he's not giving exposition on eroge, he generally spends most of the time off-screen doing research and working on the next script. He also came up with almost the exact same scenario for a game as the actual author's previous work, right down to the heavy emphasis on *ahem* technical virginity.
Big Brother Instinct: Nagatoshi raised Kanna along with her sister, and that closeness is probably why he was the only person Kanna could properly work with, but as busy as he is, she had to get familiar with Motoki.
Bookworm: According to Yayoi, he has read over a thousand books since elementary school, until he came across erotic books. From there, he started to write his own erotic books.
Cloudcuckoolander: Even Yayoi finds him somewhat weird and that is saying something.
Covert Pervert: Fits this, considering he's been reading and writing porn for years without Kanna finding out.
Refuge in Audacity: Much like Yayoi, he has a thing for saying really awkward things without a second thought, like the full lecture he gave Kanna about anal sex with everyone else present. It ends with everyone suspecting he did it with Yayoi.
Kotori (left) and Hadzuki (right)
Hadzuki Nouge and Kotori Makino
Voice Actors: Juri Nagatsuma (Hadzuki) and Maina Shimagata (Kotori)
Kanna's classmates and friends since elementary school - a busty, somewhat airheaded girl from Kyoto and a quiet deadpan loli, who likes video games. Always seen together. Started as Those Two Guys, but got upgraded to full-fledged supporting characters after they discovered Kanna's secret and Yayoi offered them a chance to work as seiyuus on a whim. While they lack Kanna's experience and natural talent, they more than make up for it in sheer enthusiasm.
Emotionless Girl: Kotori again. The only thing that seems to inspire a reaction from her are games and, by extension, voice acting for games.
Expies: Their looks and personalities are very similar to the two supporting characters from Konno Azure's Puberty Crazies. Made more obvious after they get involved with Blue March and start acting more like genuine hentai characters.
First Name Basis: They start calling Motoki by his first name after it works so well during the second round of the moe attacks.
Foil: Both of them to Kanna and Motoki. They have no concept of tact and will frequently tease and embarrass them for the hell of it, even more so than Yayoi.
Gamer Chick: Kotori, but not H-games... yet anyway. That is to say, she doesn't play them, she just helps make them.
The Idiot From Osaka: Averted with Hadzuki. She's from Kyoto, and she's far from being an idiot, as she has the second-best grades in class behind Motoki.
Jumped at the Call: Unlike Kanna, it takes them a grand total of five seconds to accept Yayoi's invitation to become seiyuus.
Little Miss Snarker: Kotori is significantly less developed than her classmates, has a "loli voice" and a tendency to attract special interestgroups, much to her annoyance.
Perpetual Smiler: Though not exactly perpetual, around 90% of the time Hadzuki has a big open-mouth smile on her face, often for no apparent reason.
Another one of Kanna's classmates, though she doesn't know much about him at first. He is actually in a very similar situation, having been recruited in his father's eroge company at an even younger age. He quickly recognises Kanna's voice from the first game she was in and confronts her about it. During a collaboration between the two companies, he is picked to be her practice partner - an arrangement that takes quite a bit of getting used to. Very intelligent, exceedingly polite and knowledgeable about the eroge business. He does everything he can to ease Kanna's embarrassment and help her out in her struggle.
Not so Above It All: Motoki makes the big mistake of actually claiming to be above it all. He has been proved wrong on multiple occasions by several people since.
Only Sane Man: Not that anybody listens to his protests.
Secret Keeper: Though every named character is already in on it by now.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: Has this reaction to the suggestion that he and Kanna are dating. For added points, Kanna says the exact same thing simultaneously, with a joint Speech Bubble, no less.
The Stoic: Since he was exposed to the eroge industry at a young age, Motoki made it a point to always act as professionally as possible, making him appear dull and reserved to others. Of course, maintaining such a facade is nearly impossible with Kanna and company around.
Thanks for the Mammary: Happens between him and Kanna in chapter 32. What's worse is that they are both almost naked including the part where Motoki's hand accidentally lands.
Twice Shy: He and Kanna are this under normal circumstances.
Natsumi (left), Fuyumi (center) and Yokoyama (right)
Harie Natsumi, Hirobe Fuyumi and Yukihira Yokoyama
The Blue March trio of artists - Natsumi and Fuyumi are in charge of character designs, while Yokoyama does backgrounds. Natsumi and Fuyumi formed a doujinshi circle while in university and got noticed by Yayoi and Nagatoshi at an event. Yokoyama on the other hand is a classically trained landscape painter, having graduated from an art college and applied for the job not knowing the company produced eroge.
Tropes associated with Natsumi, Fuyumi and Yokoyama:
A Day in the Limelight: "The Employees of Blue March", focuses primarily on their backstories.
Author Avatar: Natsumi has shades of this, being the most prominent artist in the story and absolutely obsessed with erotic things, especially when it involves schoolgirls. Also there's her infamous opinion on censorship.
Covert Pervert: Fuyumi seems pretty well-adjusted, especially when compared to most of her colleagues, until you learn she has been drawing hentai long before joining Blue March and she was the one who got Natsumi into it.
A veteran seiyuu with a career in anime. Senior member of Fumika's agency as well as her former teacher. Frequently employed by Blue March because of his experience and talents. Acts incredibly perverted and hammy most of the time. Harasses every pretty girl he meets, except for Fumika, because he doesn't find her attractive, or so he claims (he did harassed her when they first met). Hilarity is all but guaranteed to ensue in any scene he's in.
Serious Business: Everyone treats eroge voice acting seriously, but Sakanami shows the most passion about it. He gives Hadzuki and Kotori a few pages worth of exposition on fellatio.
