A Channel is a Japanese Seinen yonkoma by bb Kuroda. This Schoolgirl Series is about the daily high school life of Run and her violently-protective Childhood Friend, Tooru, who is acrimonious towards Run's friends Yuuko and Nagi.
The manga was serialized in Manga Time Kirara Carat from 2008 to 2021, with eleven volumes released. An anime adaptation by Studio Gokumi (the first anime produced by the studio) started airing in April 2011, with two Original Video Animation episodes named A Channel +smile released on early 2012. There's also a prequel manga, A Channel ~days in junior high school~, which is... well, the story of how Run and Tooru met and their life in junior high school. It started serializing in Manga Time Kirara Carino from January 2012.
Not to be confused with Special A, A-chan, Sotchi ni Ikanaide, or A-Channel (the former name of Canadian TV network CTV Two or of fellow Canadian network Citytv in some areas of Western Canada).
A Channel provides examples of the following tropes:
- Batter Up!: Tooru deploys a baseball bat anytime boys get too friendly with Run.
- Beach Episode: Episode 5, when the girls head for Kamakura and visit the lighthouse there.
- Bittersweet Ending: There's a growing consensus that the anime ending qualifies. Tooru realizes that there is going to be a time, coming very soon, that she will still be in High School but the other 3 will be either in the workforce or at College — either way, not in her life anymore. She resolves to make the most of the last year they have together.
- Bland-Name Product: The Bonyo keychain Yuuko buys to forget a horror movie.
- Paskin Robbins Ice Cream
- iBod
- Pocari Sweet & Coco-Cola
- Geeple
- A Hamaha speaker in episode 7.
- Lawsom convenience stores.
- Butt-Monkey: Yuuko can't seem to catch a break, whether it's being tormented by her friends, teachers, dogs, her own misunderstandings, or pure bad luck. And it's hilarious!
- Happy Rain: Kito-senser's sentimenal Imagine Spot of the protagonist quartet on a rainy day when they forgot to bring umbrellas. However reality isn't that kind - but looks
hilarious nevertheless. - Idiosyncratic Episode Naming:
- Every episode has a regular Japanese title and a secondary title in English that always starts with an "A".
- All song titles on the soundtrack
are English words starting with the letter A.
- Imagine Spot: On a rainy day Kito-sensei is brooding about the protagonist quarted happily rushing outside without umbrellasnote . Then it cuts to actual scene of the girls in foul mood scampering home in a hilariously clumsy fashion.
- Marshmallow Hell: Yuuko does this to Tooru at one point to prevent her from intimidating a boy Run was talking to.
- Nonuniform Uniform: Nagi and Tooru almost always wear their respective beige and purple cardigans over their school uniforms.
- Older Than They Look: Run's mom looks exactly like her, so much so that she's often confused as Run's sister.
- Only One Name: This is the case with all of the students. None of their last names have been mentioned, and even during class the teachers are on First-Name Basis with them.
- Pet the Dog: Tooru is fond of small animals and children, often giving kids candy. Also she is a great help in the classroom.
- She finds Yutaka annoying, but she's perfectly fine with showing the girl her notes or helping her with problems. She even feels lonely when Miho drags Yutaka away, which sends her into an impromptu identity crisis.
- Shown more in the Manga, but Tooru is shown on a couple of occasions to like Yuuko.
- Sarcasm Failure: Nagi has no words when Run freaks out ("Who are you?") over Nagi's letting her hair down. This despite Nagi having jokingly done the same thing not one full minute before.
- Shout-Out: In the third episode of the anime, Nagi shouts "'They're not panties, so it's not embarrassing?'! It sure as heck is!"
- In episode 8, when the girls talk about hiccups, Tooru states that it takes a hit to the stomach to cure them.
- And in the same episode, it's not hard to sense a connection between Kito's poem notebook and Yukari's love letter.
- In episode 11, Nagi is suitably freaked out when she finds Run's notebook full of names.
- Might be a coincidence, but after Run asks to use Nagi's glasses as a magnifying glass, Nagi (again) declares, "What the hell do you think glasses are?!"
- Nagi joking that her glasses are just for show, because if she takes them off she can see... death?
- Rum Raisin ice cream!
- In episode 8, when the girls talk about hiccups, Tooru states that it takes a hit to the stomach to cure them.
- Sparkling Stream of Tears: Nagi and Yuuko try to sneak past an overenthusiastic teacher trying to get students hyped up for the school day, but Yuuko is caught and dragged into spirited shouting. Nagi continues on without her, silently apologizing for abandoning her and shedding some sparkling tears.
- Super-Deformed: Not so noticeable at first, but the girls have a slightly simpler design for the more lighthearted moments.
- Token Mini-Moe: Tooru, big time. She is only 141 cm (4'7") tall.
- Tsundere: Nagi describes Tooru as this, Run forgets what one is and imagines Tooru with a spear.
- Wiki Walk: When talking about schoolgirls running the possible risk of being abducted by strangers, Run ends up wondering if aliens are able to speak Japanese or not.
