I Am Here! (Koko ni Iru yo!) is a shoujo manga series by Ema Toyama. The manga was serialized in the shojo manga magazine Nakayoshi from 2007 to 2009, with five volumes released by Kodansha under the imprint Kodansha Comics.
Hikage Sumino has zero presence. None of her classmates appear to notice her, and it seems as though she'll never make friends. She's constantly in the shadows, and her only source of contact is blogging, where she is Himawari and her online friends Black Rabbit and MegaPIG cheer her on to make new friends. Black Rabbit assures Hikage that she can change her world, but Hikage isn't so sure.
But when she starts getting noticed by Hinata Mutou and Teru Mikami—the two most popular boys at her school—Hikage might finally be able to leave the shadows and take her first step into the sunlight...
Tropes that appear in I Am Here!
- 10-Minute Retirement: For less than a chapter Hikage doesn't go to school.
- Accidental Misnaming: Due to her absolute lack of a presence, on the occasions when characters actually notice Hikage they usually get her name wrong. She doesn't correct them though.
- After-School Cleaning Duty: Hikage uses this as her first opportunity to make friends and join a group. Unfortunately it doesn't go well as she ends up getting locked in a closet.
- Alpha Bitch: Aya. Though as it turns out, she is just as lonely as Hikage is. It even leads Hikage to better understand Aya's motivations for bullying her.
- Animal Motifs: Namely, Hikage's two online friends Black Rabbit and MegaPIG. Hikage also has an occasional tendancy to sprout out hamster ears, as the hamster is her favorite animal and the animal she relates to the most.
- Betty and Veronica: Black Rabbit (Betty; Hikage's first friend who has always supported her) and Hinata (Veronica; the seeming "unattainable" popular guy) for Hikage.
- Betty and Veronica Switch: Despite being a School Idol, Hinata is actually very friendly and gentle. Black Rabbit revealed to be Teru demonstrates tough love to show his support.
- Big Damn Heroes: When Aya goes a bit too far with her teasing Hikage's classmates pull a very epic one and support her.
- Birds of a Feather:
- Hinata and Hikage, having similar pleasant personalities.
- Teru, as Black Rabbit grew closer to Hikage because of their similar lonely backgrounds, Teru for his shaky family relationship and Hikage for being isolated from her peers. Teru felt that if he went to the places that Hikage went to in her sunset pictures, then he could feel her. He even gave his first comment to Hikage after going to one of the places on her blog.
- Bishie Sparkle: At one point every male character has sparkled at least once.
- Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Hiyori suggests this to MegaPIG/Aoi Nanjou, in spite of not knowing how to speak Kansai-ben.
- Cannot Spit It Out:
- Hinata's reason for not telling Hikage who Black Rabbit is (out of jealousy, thinking Hikage might like Black Rabbit, and because of his growing suspicion that Teru is Black Rabbit, as Hinata specifically called Teru that when they were children, and recently Hikage and Teru had been becoming "friendlier" than before).
- Teru not telling Hikage and Hinata that he is Black Rabbit until Chapters 12 and 14 respectively.
- Character Blog: Hikage has one.
- Cooldown Hug: Performed by Hikage to Aya in one of the final chapters.
- Cue the Sun:
- Hikage relates Hinata and Teru as "suns"—being the center of their classroom. They're bright, friendly, and everyone is easily drawn to them.
- And Chapters 17-18 show just what happens when the "suns" disappear, leaving the whole class distraught and distressed.
- Hikage has expressed a desire to be in the sunlight, in contrast to the "shadows," which represents her solitude and loneliness.
- In Chapter 19, Hikage personally describes Hinata as her own sun for "finding" her when no one else did and asks him if she can "bloom" with him as her "sun" right before confessing to him.
- Hikage relates Hinata and Teru as "suns"—being the center of their classroom. They're bright, friendly, and everyone is easily drawn to them.
- Childhood Friends: Teru and Hinata.
- Contrived Coincidence:
- Hinata witnessed Hikage attempting to save a cat from getting hit by a car in the flashback (from Chapter 1), and ended up watching over Hikage and falling in love with her.
- Teru, as Black Rabbit, had went to Hikage's blog by accident. He did not know they they were from the same school and that Himawari was Hikage until he saw that the sunflower she was growing was the same one from Himawari's blog.
- Cross-Popping Veins: Teru occasionally gets these when watching Hikage and/or Hinata.
- A Day In The Lime Light: In Chapter 19.5 (one-shot), MegaPIG takes the spotlight, where he asks Hikage to help him with his crush.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: After Aya's plans fall apart she gets pity from Hikage. She does not take it well.
- Emoticon: Many of Hikage's posts, as well as the replies by Black Rabbit and Mega Pig feature these.
- Escapism: Hikage spends lots of time online and always says things like "I always have my blog" no matter how bad things are. She eventually begins to enjoy real life more.
- Everything's Better with Sparkles
- Extreme Doormat: Hikage has trouble standing up for herself even when she's right.
- Fangirl: The female population of the class is split almost perfectly even between Teru and Hinata fans.
- Ferris Wheel Date Moment: Although Hikage was on a date with Hinata, she goes on the ferris wheel with Teru to cheer him up when she notices that he's depressed and wants to help him like he helped her while he was Black Rabbit. It is also especially endearing when Hikage tells Teru that the view on the ferris wheel is one of her favorite sunset views on her blog, and Teru lets Hikage hold hands with him when she gets scared of the jerking on the ferris wheel.
- First Girl Wins: Played with, as both contenders for Hikage are "first guys." Hinata was the first person who "noticed" Hikage, the first to confess to her, and the first love interest introduced. But Black Rabbit—revealed to be Teru—is Hikage's first friend, the first to support her, and knew her first. And while Hinata was introduced before Black Rabbit, Hinata and Teru were introduced into the series at the same time. In the end, Hikage chooses to be with Hinata instead of Teru.
- Freudian Excuse: Aya started out just like Hikage—alone and desiring friends. When Aya started liking Hinata, many girls befriended her out of their mutual affections for Hinata and made Aya feel like she belonged. And everyone defended Hikage from her, Aya lost both her friends and her reputation—leading to her Woman Scorned revenge on Hikage. She gets better.
- Free-Range Children: The only character whose parents are even mentioned are Teru's.
- Friendless Background:
- All three main characters, with Hinata and Teru having no friends as children (Teru only having people around him because he's "loud," and Hinata being too shy to make friends; this ironically leads Hinata and Teru to becomes each other's first friend and best friend).
- Aya, prior to liking Hinata and making friends. So when Aya loses all of that, well... she gets very, ''very'' vengeful.
- Gang of Bullies: A group of Hinata fangirls, led by Aya.
- Generic Cuteness: Despite the many scenes showing off her long, elegant hair and sparkly eyes, lots of girls claim Hikage is average-looking.
- Grew a Spine: By the end Hikage is a bit less of an Extreme Doormat.
- Green-Eyed Monster:
- The Alpha Bitch Aya is jealous of Hikage's closeness with Hinata and makes several attempts to slander her. And when Aya loses all her friends and reputation after everyone defends Hikage from her, Aya turns into a Woman Scorned out for revenge on Hikage, who again has something Aya does not—friends.
- When Hikage tells Hinata about her online friends Black Rabbit and MegaPIG, Hinata attempts to dissuade Hikage from her blogging, stating that she doesn't know them in real life and dislikes the fact that
- Happy Place: The hill with the sunset view for Hikage, as well as her sunflower at school.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Hikage, lacking confidence in herself, doesn't think she should date Hinata until she can become a girl who can be by his side.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Though her Played for Laughs narration has nothing to do with her parents, Hikage explains that she had always been invisible or least not noticeable since she was a child, and then she tried to stop a car from hitting a cat; a biker hit her instead. After being in the hospital for two months, Hikage is further distanced from the already made cliques and groups at school.
- Idiot Ball: Aya makes Teru think that Hinata is forcing Hikage to choose between Teru and Hinata, and then fools Hinata into thinking Teru's making Hikage choose the same way. Teru and Hinata come to blows over this, and not once do they realize the obvious fact that it's a hoax.
- The Idiot from Osaka: Mega Pig acts like one online. Subverted when you find out he's more of a Shrinking Violet.
- I Just Want to Have Friends:
- Hikage and Teru, when he was a child.
- Also Aya.
- In-Series Nickname: Hikage Sumino is known as Suminon by one of her classmates. She is also known as Sunflower online. The same goes for Mega Pig (Aoi Nanjo) and Black Rabbit who is Teru, from an instance when Hinata compared him to the popular but lonely black rabbit kept at their elementary school.
- It's A Small Net After All: The only explanation as to how Black Rabbit and Mega Pig found Hikage's tiny picture blog.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
- Black Rabbit discontinues his contact with Hikage after seeing that Hikage can finally stand on her own, as she stood up to her bullies, her classmates finally notice her, and she can finally become someone who can be near to Hinata.
- After revealing himself as Black Rabbit, Teru tell Hikage that he wants her to be happy with Hinata and forget about Black Rabbit.
- When Hikage must choose between Hinata and Teru, she receives a message from "Teru" telling her that he wants to be with her, and if Hikage doesn't choose him, then his relationship with Hinata and their class will never be the same. It's really Aya sending the message after she found Hikage's cell phone. Hikage, not wanting the relationship between Hinata and Teru as well as the class to break, is forced to choose Teru over Hinata.
- In Chapter 19, Teru decides to let Hikage and Hinata be together after Hikage realizes her feelings for Hinata.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mega Pig is constantly noted by Hikage to be this. Teru in real life acts this way, but online he's a pure Nice Guy.
- Kick the Dog:
- Teru defends Hikage when Hinata's fangirls gang up on her, only to say that she's pitiful and that Hinata was helping her because she couldn't be left alone. The only reason Teru said that was to get the fangirls to ease up, but it was still a big hit to Hikage's self-esteem and initially caused her to believe that Hinata would always look at her out of pity.
- Again, Teru to poor Hikage when she's desperately looking for Black Rabbit after he mysteriously left her blog, telling Hikage an abrupt "goodbye." Teru tells Hikage it's useless, and yet again tramples on her feelings. And this was just Teru trying to help Hikage move on and to cover-up the fact that he's really Black Rabbit.
- Aya is a constant offender to Hikage. Her final attempt to kick Hikage is to destroy "the last place [Hikage] goes to"—her sunflower.
- Last-Name Basis: Hinata always refers to Hikage by her last name Sumino, even after they start dating.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Hikage, in regards to the identity of Black Rabbit. Until Chapter 12.
- Locker Mail: The plot by Aya to destroy the relationships between Teru, Hinata, and Hikage includes planting a fake note from Hikage in Teru's locker.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Teru.
- Love Triangle: Between Hikage, Hinata, and Teru naturally.
- Motifs: Sunflowers, suns, certain bunnies and pigs, and making friends.
- Nice Guy: Hinata and Black Rabbit (Teru).
- Perpetual Frowner: MegaPIG/Aoi Nanjou, according to his crush Hiyori and their classmates, though it may be more because of his Shrinking Violet personality. When Hiyori notices that Aoi only smiles when talking to Himawari/Hikage on his cell phone, she becomes saddened, thinking the person he is talking to is his girlfriend.
- Pinky Swear: Hikage promises Hinata that to not score a zero on their up-coming test and watch the fireworks with him. When Hikage is late to the festival because of her supplementary classes, Teru helps her keep her promise to Hinata.
- Poor Communication Kills:
- Hikage is under the belief that Hinata might be Black Rabbit after hearing them say similar things and overhearing a conversation between Hinata and Teru on how Hinata wants Hikage to focus more on reality than her blog. When Hinata refuses to tell Hikage anything, she begins to doubt him and even thinks that if Hinata was Black Rabbit, then perhaps Hinata had been making fun of her all this time. After Black Rabbit tells her to meet with him and he'll tell her everything, Hikage is overjoyed, hoping that this'll end their conflict and that Hinata and she will be able to move up. As it turns out, Hinata isn't Black Rabbit and had nothing to with it the entire time. Black Rabbit is Teru.
- Hikage decides to choose Teru over Hinata after he sends her a message telling her that if Hikage doesn't choose him, then his relationship with Hinata and their class will never be the same (something that Hikage does not want to happen); it's really all a scheme by Aya to ruin Hikage's relationships with everyone. At the same time, Hinata discovers the message left by "Teru" and is under the impression that Teru is threatening her, while Teru is under the same impression about Hinata after he finds a letter from "Hikage." After the conflict is resolved, Hikage chooses to be with Hinata, who she is in love with.
- In Chapter 19.5, Aoi Nanjou (MegaPIG) goes to Hikage (Himawari) for advice on love via cell phone. When his crush Hiyori overhears him say, "I'm just really... in love right now" and sees him smiling, it misleads her into thinking that the person Aoi talks to on his cellphone is his girlfriend, saddening Hiyori, as she feels she can't make him smile like that. They get better.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Although both men are called "the two suns" by their schoolmates, Teru is usually a loud, enthusiastic extrovert who is always surrounded by many people (Rd Oni). By contrast, Hinata is serious and demure, and can rarely say "no" to girls' requests.
- Ridiculously Average Guy: Hikage is so average that people barely notice her presence.
- The Rival: Teru is Hinata's love rival for Hikage's affection.
- School Idol: Hinata and Teru are the female students' idols. They are often described as being the "suns" in the classroom.
- Series Mascot: MahiMahi, the sunflower... creature that Hikage adores.
- Shrinking Violet: Hikage. Aoi Nanjo, aka Mega Pig is one in real life.
- Sitting on the Roof: One of the chapter artworks features Hikage and her friend Arisa doing this.
- Slice of Life: A shrinking violet's at that.
- Stalker with a Crush: Don't you dare try to get close to Hinata, or Aya and her friends will make your life hell.
- Super-Deformed: Scattered around the more flaily parts.
- Third-Act Misunderstanding:
- From Chapters 10 through 12, Hikage comes to the conclusion that Hinata might be Black Rabbit and gets conflicted with him, especially when Black Rabbit discontinues blogging with Hikage and Hinata attempts to dissuade her from blogging and focusing on reality. As it turns out, Black Rabbit is Teru. Hikage and Hinata eventually reconcile in time for Hikage to keep her promise and watch the fireworks display at the festival with him.
- From Chapters 16 through 19, a vengeful Aya seeks revenge on Hikage and attempts to destroy all of her relationships. Hikage, at the process of choosing between Hinata and Teru, receives a message from "Teru" telling her that if she doesn't choose him, then his relationship with Hinata, as well as the class, will never be the same. Not wanting this to happen, Hikage decides to choose Teru over Hinata; the message was really from Aya, who found Hikage's cell phone and discovered her blog. Aya then conveniently leaves Hikage's cell phone where Hinata could find it, where he discovers the message and thinks Teru is threatening Hikage. Aya then leaves a letter with a similar message from "Hikage" in Teru's locker, and Teru jumps into the conclusion that it's Hinata threatening Hikage. Simultaneously, Hikage's class is distressed over Hinata's and Teru's conflict and grow desperate for a reconciliation. By the final chapter, everything is resolved.
- Troll: At the end Mega Pig is a bit of this he lies about his weight for no real reason.
- Tsundere:
- Teru is one of sorts, often going back and forth between helping Hikage or being a bit of a jerk to her. He was also a bit of one towards Hinata when they were children, insulting him and then complimenting him afterwards.
- Black Rabbit, who gives Hikage tough love advice that's ultimately to help her mature. It helps that Teru and Black Rabbit are the same person.
- According to Hikage in Chapter 19.5, MegaPIG is one.Hikage: MegaPIG-san... is someone who leaves tyrannical and bullying (although sometimes nice, it's really up to interpretation) comments...
- Villainous Breakdown: Aya has one when she finally confronts Hikage and reveals how she lost all her friends because of her and wants Hikage to feel the same way.
- Wham Line:Teru: The one who has always commented on your blog is... me. I am Black Rabbit.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Hikage never did seem to send Black Rabbit and MegaPIG the stuffed animals. It's explained in a short comic that Hikage sleeps with the stuffed animals because she can't sleep by herself. Hilarity Ensues when Hinata and Teru find out.
- When She Smiles: MegaPIG's offline identity is a shy guy who appears to be very cold/aloof. His classmate (and secret crush) kept on pulling weird antics to try and make him smile, to no avail.
