Shiho, Yuuri and Karuna.
Idol no Akahon is a short Shōnen manga by Ujiie Tozen, later known for Seitokai Yakuindomo. It was serialized for 20 chapters from June to November 2006 in Weekly Shonen Magazine.A small talent agency accidentally books three aspiring Idol Singers at the same time. With only one manager avaliable, they're put together as a group and get the name Triple Booking.
The characters:
- Karuna Kisaraki - 16 years old, shy and reserved.
- Shiho Iida - 13 years old, frequently talks about sex and bites her tongue.
- Yuuri Arina - 10 years old, with nine of them spent in show business, making her the most experienced in the group.
- Hiroki Itoda - 23 years old, a talent scout recently turned manager.
- Reiko Kashiwagi - CEO for the Ray Princess talent agency.
- Mise Eriko - secretary at Ray Princess, secretly publishes cosplay pictures of herself online under the name Korie-chan.
Tropes associated with Idol no Akahon include:
- A-Cup Angst: When Shiho first meets Hiroki, she hits him with his purse, thinking that he's a pedophile. He explains that he's into girls with big breasts, so Shiho hits him again.
- Broken Pedestal: Subverted. The girls are delighted when they meet a famous idol and see that she's crass, cynical, and had probably been smoking since she was in her teens.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: Yuuri brings Hiroki to her middle school, wanting him to scout potential talents among her schoolmates. Naturally, it doesn't take long for a teacher to wonder what he's doing there. Yuuri then tries to defend him by explaining that "he and I have a special relationship".
- I Take Offense to That Last One: When Hiroki hands Karuna 1000 yen in public to buy soda, Shiho says that it might look like a case of Compensated Dating. Karuna's response is that she's never do that for such a small sum.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: While about half of Shiho's sexual talk are Freudian Slips, the rest are intentional. Yuuri also brings up such things from time to time.
- No Hugging, No Kissing: Reiko tells the girls that they can't be dating people since they have to appear avaliable for their audience.
- No Periods, Period: Averted. Shiho argues that as a manager, Hiroki be prepared for all of their needs, including feminine hygiene products. He disagrees.
- Perpetual Frowner: Karuna. She gets through photoshoots by faking a smile, but when the others ask her to smile in an everyday situation, this
◊ is the result.
- Tsundere: Invoked by Reiko. One of her ways to get their pictures published is to bring the photos to a magazine editor while blushingly pointing out that "It's not like I came here to see you".
- V-Sign: As Shiho is making the V-Sign, Karuna holds up her fist and annonuces that she won a game of rock-paper-scissors.
- You Just Told Me: Mise denies being Korie-chan until Shiho looks at one photo and remarks "Your panties are showing here", which causes a shocked Mise to double-check it.
