Rurumo and Chiro. Oh, and Kouta as well.
Kouta Shibaki, an Ordinary High-School Student notorious for his perverted tendencies, found a book in the school library that claimed to contain a ritual that could summon a witch that could grant any wish. However when he finally tried the ritual... nothing visible happened, at least until he got home, where he found the object of his (very stupid) wish: a girl's panties, and with strawberry print at that.
However on the way to school the next morning he runs into Magi-Mogiruka Rurumo, a slight girl dressed in a stereotypical witch outfit (complete with pointy hat only served to make her seem taller) that claimed to be not only a witch, but the one who granted his wish. There was a big problem, however: in return for the wish, Kouta was going to die in two days.
Oh, and those panties? They were hers, and she needed them back.
One thing led to another, and Kouta somehow managed to escape with his life. However soon after, Rurumo reappears, apparently demoted to witch-in-training, and what's more, she's stuck in the human world until she finishes her retraining... Which of course involves Kouta again.
Created by Wataru Watanabe, Magimoji Rurumo (まじもじるるも) was serialized from 2007 to 2011 in Monthly Shounen Sirius. A sequel Makai-hen followed soon after, from 2011 to 2013, while a third series Houkago no Maho Chugakusei started serialization on June 2013. An anime adaptation by J.C. Staff of the first part started airing during the summer of 2014.
Magimoji Rurumo contains examples of the following tropes:
- A-Cup Angst: Rurumo, Shimomura, and Inoue, when Sawashita's bountiful tracts of land are focused on during episode 9.
- A Day in the Limelight:
- Episode 5 is devoted mostly to Rurumo going about her first errand, encountering all the other members of the cast, and only encountering Kouta himself close to the end of it.
- The last chapter of volume 3 of Makai-hen is devoted to Harulily's three followers — Achaco, Michie, and Rumba — exploring the mortal world, and even crashing a concert of an idol group that suspiciously looks like AKB48, which they mistook for karaoke.
- A Friend in Need: In Makai-hen, Harulily (and her girl posse) decides to pretty much say screw this to the existing status quo, and decides to help Rurumo try to recover Kouta's soul, and eventually escape back to Earth, because in the end she just values Rurumo more than any standing and prestige she currently has.
- All Men Are Perverts: Played quite straight, with Kouta himself being an unabashed pervert, and what's more, apparently distributes "treasures" to his male schoolmates to appreciate.
- All Witches Have Cats: Chiro, a purple talking cat with long and pointy ears who serves as Rurumo's familiar. And Mimi, Harulily's own familiar.
- Alpha Bitch: Harulily gives this impression, when she's first introduced. However it's soon revealed that it's all just an act, done to force an emotional reaction — any emotional reaction — from Rurumo. She drops it soon after.
- Artifact of Death:
- The book of Magic Tickets. The use of each ticket leeches a bit of the owner's life force, and more powerful wishes require multiple tickets. Needless to say, when the tickets run out, it's over for the unfortunate owner.
- A more literal one with the Glasses of Misfortune in episode 04, which can't be taken off by the wearer, and will eventually kill off its wearer through sheer bad luck (as it very nearly did to Inoue).
- Back from the Dead: Guess who? At the end of Makai-hen, that is.
- Body Backup Drive: Not the initial intent, but this is pretty much what happens when Kouta's soul is stolen from the witches' soul repository. It gets first put into a golem body that looks exactly like his own, but when that gets damaged during his, Rurumo's, and Harulily's escape to the mortal world, he gets stuck instead in a female golem body.
- Brought Down to Normal: Rurumo lost her witch licence when she violated one of the laws that govern witches (which is to say, not killing Kouta after granting his wish). Demoted to witch-in-training again, she is now unable to use her magic unless Kouta use a Ticket to wish for something. Once all wishes are granted she will get her licence back, but she will lose her witch licence forever if Kouta doesn't deplete the Tickets in 500 days.
- Cast from Lifespan: Magic is powered by a person's life force. The book of Magic Tickets is a physical representation of Kouta's lifespan. Magic, although highly practical, have its limits as bigger wish cost more tickets to be granted. It is stated that reviving the dead by magic is downright impossible, although grievous injuries may be healed almost instantly. Kouta died immediately as he used his last Magic Ticket to save a girl.
- Censor Steam: When Chiro first transforms in public.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The girl with the balloon and twintails that Kouta and Rurumo save? It turns out that she's the leader of the demon world, the eponymous Maou.
- Childhood Friend:
- Inoue and Kouta's families are old friends, and the two have known each other since grade school.
- Rurumo and Harulily have known each other since they started out as apprentice witches.
- Cosplay Otaku Girl: Shimomura Masako of the Discipline council. Incidentally she mistakes Rurumo as this too, after encountering Rurumo wandering lost in the city in episode 5.
- Creepy Monotone: Rurumo again, going hand-in-hand with her stoic nature. Not that people find her tone off-putting however.
- Cute but Psycho: The series provides a grown-up version, and probably a compelling evidence of what exactly happens when this particular archetype grows up and gets a family. Who is it? Kouta's mom.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Rurumo is fairly clumsy, often tripping over herself and whatnot. When she takes a job as a helper in the canteen of Kouta's school, it's quite rare for her not to break things.
- Cute Little Fangs: Chiro has one, more cute obviously while in her human form.
- Dead to Begin With: Kouta, during Makai-hen. Technically. His soul eventually gets deposited into a golem look-alike, which gives him more freedom to move around.
- Dandere: Rurumo maybe?
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Kouta's mom when she goes psycho.
- Eye Poke: Done by Shiba to Nishino to keep him from peeping on Rurumo changing in episode 03.
- Fake Memories: In order to prevent being skewered by his psycho mom for secretly bringing Rurumo home with him, Kouta is forced to expend tickets to make a wish, turning Rurumo into his younger sister, which also alters the memories of his family in the process. It mostly works, though one can tell that his mom doesn't seem to be quite convinced herself.
- Forced Transformation: Kouta gradually turns into a Japanese wolf over the course of episode 10, due to some spring water found by Hatayama. Thankfully it isn't permanent.
- Gecko Ending: JC Staff dispenses with the expected ending of the first series, and instead closes the show with a cute original episode.
- Genre Throwback: The Rurumo anime adaptation has much more in common in feel with shows featuring magical girls from The '80s or The '90s like Minky Momo than contemporary series, or even Bewitched.
- Going Commando: For a good part of the first episode. Why? Because it was her panty that was used to grant Kouta's wish.
- The Hero Dies: At the end of the first manga, Kouta dies after expending his final ticket to save the life of another person, despite knowing full well that it would kill him.
- Heroic Sacrifice: See The Hero Dies.
- Hidden Buxom: Kouta's mom. As Chiro snidely notes, she's apparently hiding E-cup melons under that apron of hers.
- Hot Springs Episode: Episode 10.
- Instant Costume Change: Whenever a wish needs granting, Rurumo can change to her witch get-up in less than an eyeblink.
- I Will Wait for You: Harulily's promise that she'll be there for Rurumo no matter what happens.
- Japanese School Club: FHK, the Occult Research Club that Kouta is a member of.
- Knight Templar: Inoue's school monitors are a relatively light version of this, though they can and will resort to violence to make sure everyone follows the school rules.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Rurumo does this to Kouta's family, friends, and classmates, to make everyone forget her after she has to leave in the wake of Kouta's funeral. However it doesn't quite take — Tanako eventually remembers her.
- Lethal Chef: Rurumo, but only revealed in Makai-hen. It's enough that Kouta, who's pretty much just a soul riding a golem body at the time, still gets sick.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Rurumo seems to sincerely have no idea that using up the Magic Tickets will eventually kill Kouta.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Kouta. He's a pervert, but he's meant to be seen as a good person at heart.
- Luminescent Blush: Rurumo's usual reaction when Kouta does nice things for her.
- Magic Skirt: Rurumo's outfit pretty much defeated any and all attempts to take a peek during the first episode. Then again, it might actually BE enchanted.
- Megaton Punch: Care of school monitor Kyouko.
- Mood Whiplash: Episode 6. An adorable episode about Kouta finding a box full of three kittens. Then they get sick in a rainstorm. And the runt of the litter (Who he'd grown super attached to) dies. It hits like an emotional freight train.
- New Transfer Student:
- Rurumo, Harulily, and Shibako who is just Kouta in a female golem body at the end of volume 3 of Makai-hen.
- Rurumo again, for real this time, at the end of Makai-hen.
- No Sense of Direction: Rurumo, as displayed by episode 5.
- No Social Skills: Rurumo's clumsiness is not only physical, but social as well, and she has extreme difficulty trying to fit in with "normal" people.
- Number of the Beast: The book of Magic Tickets contains 666 tickets at start.
- Oblivious to Love: Hatayama is either this, or he's completely asexual, as he blatantly ignores Kujirai's open affection for him well into Makai-hen, and indeed completely ignores her when, in one instance, he learns that she isn't Kouta.
- Proper Tights with a Skirt: Part of Rurumo's "civilian" wear, particularly with her work in the cafeteria.
- Really 700 Years Old: Rurumo is 315 years old, and Harulily is at least that old as well. Indeed all the witches in the series are Older Than They Look, by dint of being not really human to begin with. The Maou takes this to ridiculous levels, admitting to being more than five thousand years old, making her older than written history.
- Rei Ayanami Expy: Rurumo hits a lot of the notes here: Love interest for the lead male character. Otherworldly origins. Stoic. Has No Social Skills. Speaks in a short clipped style in a quiet monotone. Has reddish eyes, pale skin and short bobbed blue hair. Suffers an injury in the first episode.
- Sexy Soaked Shirt: Inoue gets treated to this in episode 04, though mostly due to the effect of the cursed glasses she was wearing at the time.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Kouta is forced to use a ticket to save the erotica that Inoue confiscated from being burned in the school incinerator... Except these still end up getting burned up anyway (this time by Kouta's mom) because he didn't specify to Rurumo where to hide them.
- Self-Serving Memory: Rurumo's recollection of her time under the cursed swimsuit is a tad...different than what actually occurred.
- The Stoic: Rurumo doesn't really emote much.
- Taken for Granite: Kouta, when its revealed that pretty Tanako Kujirai wasn't in love with him, and was instead joining the FHK because she had a crush on Hatayama.
- Tsundere: Harulily, who admires Rurumo but is too proud to admit.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Chiro can change into a tanned and shapely teenager, apparently due to having getting a license to do so. She can stay in the form for about thirty minutes only, however.
- When She Smiles:
- Rurumo is pretty cute during the rare times she gets to smile.
- Hilariously weaponized in the last volume of Makai-hen, when two older witches who bullied Rurumo in the past managed to capture Harulily. They were so weirded out by the wide grin Rurumo had on her face, that they weren't able to counter her magic.
- Wild Card Excuse: Kouta tells Rurumo that there is one magic word that can get her out of any trouble: Cosplay.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Harulily and her companions do this at the start of volume 4 of Makai-hen, to buy Rurumo and Shibako time to find and confront the Maou.
