First-Year College student Shiratori Ryuushi moves into the boarding house, Narutakisou. Under the tender care of Aoba Kozue, Narutakisou provides a home to people whose personal lives are all painful in one way or another; yet together, somehow, they make up a true family. Not only does Shiratori find a home at Narutakisou, but he also finds himself falling in love with a girl who is far more than she seems. Compare with Maison Ikkoku.With An Aesop or a Crowning Momentof Heartwarming (or more likely, both) in every chapter, Mahoraba is one of those "feel good" sort of mangas. The sort you've likely never read before.Not to be confused with Maburaho, which sits comfortably on the exact opposite end of the romantic comedy spectrum.Now with a character sheet under construction.
Bittersweet Ending: Manga Only: Wherein Ryuushi has fallen in love with ALL of Kozue-chan's personalities but his love for her gradually cures her insanity and causes all her personalities, each lovely human-beings unto themselves, to be absorbed into her primary psyche, never to emerge again. Afterwards this troper smiled with tears in his eyes as we are introduced to Kozue-chan and Ryuushi's four daughters, who each bore an uncanny resemblence to the four personalities whom their mother once transformed into.
Cloudcuckoolander: Sayoko at one point practices her significant artistic talents by carving most of the trees in the courtyard into sculptures of her daughter Asami. Haibara spends his days fishing in a tiny, obviously fishless pond in the courtyard and only talks through his hand-puppet, Johnny. And those are just a couple of the less bizarre examples.
Driven to Suicide: Played for laughs of all things with poor Sayo-chan in the very beginning of the manga. Due to "network regulations", this was changed to merely severe depression in the anime.
Dropped a Bridget on Him: Averted, but is an option Shiratori considers when he learns that his unnamed male friend has become single-mindedly obsessed with the time he unknowingly saw Shiratori in drag.
In the manga, the unnamed male friend is called Tsubasa Yamabuki.
Four Temperament Ensemble: Kozue is sanguine (so is Nanako, because she's a kid version of Kozue), Saki is choleric, Chiyuri is phlegmatic, Natsume is melancholic.
It's probably worth mentioning that this "ensemble" consists of Kozue's alternate personalities
Gender Vocabulary Slip: Shiratori Ryuushi, Dogged Nice Guy and The Chew Toy of Mahoraba, was dressed up (against his will and while asleep) to look like a very cute and beautiful blonde. When confronted with Chiyuri, one of his landlady's five personalities who does not know him, he accidentally uses "boku" (polite masculine pronoun) to refer to himself. Subverted in that Chiyuri finds this contrast quite Moe, and that although unusual for a girl, "boku" is used by the nicer-tomboys out there as a pronoun.
Hot Shounen Mom: Sayoko and her mother, Minazuki Yu. By the end of the manga Momono Megumi AND Kozue-chan themselves become cute mommies to equally adorable little girls.
Idiot Hair: Momono. Kozue's Nanako personality has two.
The two strand of hair is refer to as "Hair Antennae" and is not associated with being an idiot like "Idiot Hair" is. Well... not as much or as often anyways.
Jerkass: Tamami to everyone who she believes a threat to Kozue everyone except Kozue.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She only acts like a jerkass because she is extremely protective of Kozue; she deeply loves Kozue and only wants to protect her from anything that might make her mental illness worse.
Kissing Cousins: Shiratori and Kozue-chan are actually second-cousins; a fact that is mentioned once in the beginning with a lampshade on how second-cousins can get married*
technically, in Japan, first cousins can get married as well and is not viewed at the Squick levels most Americans have, but all the same, it's always good to keep your relations straight
. As such, this fact is fairly quickly forgotten about for the rest of the series.
Ninja Maid: Tachibana, who serves the Minazuki family, has a habit of materializing in rooms like one. She even goes through a car chase sequence to rescue Mahiru from the Italian mafia.
No Name Given: Shiratori's three art school friends. The plot for one of the drama CDs revolves around their trying to get names.
Averted by the last chapter of the manga. Ero Freak's name is Yamabuki Tsubasa, the yaoi fangirl is Aizawa Risona, and the 'normal' girl with the nail bat is Amane Mizuho.
The Occult Club President also was never given a name, until the end when it was revealed to be Erika Vermillion.
Token Yuri Girls: Chanohata Tamami admits to Shiratori Ryuushi that she is in love with Aoba Kozue (who is completely oblivious), explaining her mean-spirited attitude.
Unwanted Harem: Subverted. Shiratori lives with five cute girls but four of them have no romantic interest in him.
When Momono appears to take Shiratori on a date, it turns out she was just "testing" herself.
Kozue's five personalities are a harem unto herself... themselves... whatever.
Ventriloquism: Haibara and his puppet Johnny - or actually Johnny and his pet Haibara.
Verbal Tic: "Almost every one of Kozue's personalities besides her main one, and a fair number of other characters... kamo"
Victorious Childhood Friend - Shiratori and Kozue met as children about ten years before the start of the story. Shiratori has forgotten about it, but Kozue still remembers their meeting quite well.
First-Year College student Shiratori Ryuushi moves into the boarding house, Narutakisou. Under the tender care of Aoba Kozue, Narutakisou provides a home to people whose personal lives are all painful in one way or another; yet together, somehow, they make up a true family. Not only does Shiratori find a home at Narutakisou, but he also finds himself falling in love with a girl who is far more than she seems. Compare with Maison Ikkoku.With An Aesop or a Crowning Momentof Heartwarming (or more likely, both) in every chapter, Mahoraba is one of those "feel good" sort of mangas. The sort you've likely never read before.Not to be confused with Maburaho, which sits comfortably on the exact opposite end of the romantic comedy spectrum.Now with a character sheet under construction.
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