Satoshi Yabe has become an elementary school teacher, assigned to class 6-3. The school nurse is cute and the job shouldn't be too much of a problem. Except that he got the class with the most troublesome sisters in the whole school - the Marui triplets. All of them are perverted, rambunctious and prone to causing trouble, and it's his job to teach them. Though the rest of the class is only slightly less insane...Based on the manga of the same name, Mitsudomoe*
Three-Way Struggle
was adapted into a 13-episode anime which was simulcast on Crunchyroll. The 14th episode is only available on DVD. A second season, Mitsudomoe Zouryouchuu!*
And You Were There — Gachiranger has a few interestingly shared roles. Gachi Red and Yabecchi, Gachi Pink and Kuriyama-sensei, the Big Bad and Soujirou, and the Gachirangers' monster friend and Yuudai.
April Fools' Day — Hitoha gets a nasty case of paranoia one April Fools', worried she's going to get pranked.
Art Evolution — The manga's art style is rather sketchy in the original chapters but becomes much more professional as the series progresses. The students are also rather twiggy in the first few chapters but gradually round out into the Puni Plush designs seen in the anime, which probably decided (for the best) to go with the later art.
Interestingly, one aspect of it is actually noticed in-universe: In the manga, Mitsuba originally has much longer bangs until chapter 9, when her bangs get cut evenly. Mitsuba then permanently switches to this hairstyle in subsequent chapters, with her original style never being seen again (contrast with Futaba, who copies the hairstyle for the rest of the chapter, but immediately goes back to normal in later chapters). In the anime, Mitsuba always has her even-bangs haircut, even in stories where she had longer bangs in the manga.
Beneath the Mask — Mitsuba desperately wants to be a sadistic bitch, but ultimately it is all bluster.
Hitoha can be cruel, scary and manipulative, but she shows love and compassion towards Nipples, her cat, her sisters (ocassionally) and later Matsuoka and Yabe. But she is too shy to admit it.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing — Mitsuba accuses Futaba of being this in episode 2. But given the situation, Mitsuba was probably stressed so much that it was a justified outburst.
Bland Name Product — The toys for Hitoha's favorite TV show, Gachiranger, are made by a company called "Bonsai" - an obvious play on the real-world toy company Bandai.
Break the Cutie — Yabe suffers from this after episode two of Zouryouchuu. After having the worst Christmas ever by getting rejected by Kuriyama, sitting alone in his apartment while wearing a Santa outfit with a mannequin with glasses wearing a female Santa outfit in front of him, when his beloved mannequin fall face first onto his Christmas cake and then catch on fire, becoming Santa for Futaba when Soujirou is running late, getting the crap beat out of him by Soujirou after a misunderstanding and finally walking home in the freezing snow in nothing but a Santa hat and his boxers, his personality changes in the next episodes and becomes easily irritated, resigned and unsurprised of the weird attitude of his classmates.
Breaking the Fourth Wall — In the "Yabecchi's Room" segment of episode 12, when questioned on her Charles Atlas Superpower and her dogi, Futaba's responses are "I don't know" and "ask the author".
It happened earlier than that. In episode 2, after Futaba gave her a bloody lump on her head during a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, Mitsuba cried out with "How many times are you going to try to kill me in this anime?!"
Cast Herd — The classroom is divided into certain cliques. Team Sugisaki (Miku, Yuki, Miyashita and Sakiko), Shinya and Yuudai (and Shinya's fangirls), the triplets and the rest. Though they overlap frequently.
Cat Girl — After not finding the stray cat they wanted to bring home, Mitsuba gets the bright idea of having Futaba be a substitute cat. She gets really into the role...
Characterization Marches On — During the panty incident at the swimming pool, in the manga, Futaba hates her dad as much as her sisters, which doesn't fit with her being the only one who really loves him shown later on. The anime actually brings this scene in line with Futaba's later characterization, making her the only one not to be punished.
Charles Atlas Superpower — The only way to explain Futaba's powers is that she's almost super-human.
Chew Toy — Yabe and Mitsuba, because the world hates them.
Chick Magnet — Shinya Satou, so much that perhaps half of the school was chasing him in order to get a date by being the first to show him their panties — even the old janitor wanted to date him too.
Soujirou Marui used to be one, too, until he finally let himself go.
Christmas Cake — Kaieda, class 6-1's teacher. 29 going on 30, and horribly aware of it.
It certainly doesn't help that the kids keep pointing it out. They even go so far as to nickname her "Thirty".
Clark Kenting — Nobody recognizes Miyashita when she removes her hairpins.
Immediately subverted when she tries to invoke it, as all of them recognize her, despite asking who she was just a moment ago, because that time she had her hair-clip in. She is understandably confused by this.
Clingy Jealous Girl — The Hopeless Squad with Shinya. Also Hitoha with the hamster Nipples.
Color Failure — Happens quite often, with hilarious results. A good example is episode 13: after Hitoha discovers that the cat she and Futaba were caring for had supposedly left them (and after their father said that they could keep it and they bought cat food and toys for it too, no less), she loses all color and repeatedly fills the cat's food dish with kibble, empties the kibble back into the bag, and repeats it.
Cool Big Sis - As revealed in her character song Choujo Dashi, ne! Mitsuba tries to be this to Futaba and Hitoha, but her tsundereness doesn't help much.
Cute Bruiser — Futaba, only in elementary school, can shatter various pieces of furniture (doors, desks, chairs, podiums, you name it!) with her bare hands and feet.
Daddy's Girl — Though she's not the only daughter, Futaba is the only one of the triplets who really loves her dad, faults and all.
Forehead of Doom — That one female student whose forehead shines.
Free-Range Children — The Marui siblings seem to be this. They appear to go to the mall unsupervised in episode 5.
Friend to All Children - Yabe states in his character song Sensei wa Kodomo? Kodomo wa Sensei? that he doesn't care about his students disrespecting him because he still gets along with them all.
When convinced that Shinya likes panties more than anything (Thank you, Futaba...) Oga from the Hopeless Trio removes hers on the spot, kicks them into the stratosphere, and swears to never wear them again.
Goofy Print Underwear — A running gag is that Mitsuba tends to wear animal-print panties, despite being the oldest of the triplets.
Groin Attack — Actually the focus of an entire story. The triplets try this, under the logic that if Yabe got hurt, Kuriyama-sensei would have to look at his crotch, immediately fall in love, and then he'd get laid.
Hartman Hips — For some reason, the girls in the anime are a unique combination of Puni Plush with pear-shaped bodies.
Hostile Show Takeover — In the first season's opening. Mitsuba briefly considers changing the name of the show to Mitsuba-sama, but is pushed away by Hitoha before it goes further.
Image Song — In order: The triplets, Sakiko, Miku, the Hopelessly in Love with Satou-kun Trio and... Nipples. The hamster has a character song. It's 4 minutes of Momoko Saito making squeaking sounds. Yabe has one as a B-side on the second season's opening, and the show's best album adds songs for Miyashita and a duet for Yuudai and Shinya. Yuki is the only major character without a song.
Lethal Chef — Subverted by Futaba. It is likely that, due to her ridiculous strength, she tends to make food that comes out looking like it was crushed thoroughly (or in the case of the Valentine's chocolate she made, looked misleadingly like dog poo). Anyone who takes a first glance at her cooking may think "Is that even food?"; however, it actually tastes delicious, according to those who have tried it.
Limited Wardrobe — While most characters avert this, Futaba is always seen wearing either a dogi or, after she cuts that up to make pencil cases, the blue top seen in the page image.
Locked in a Room — Mitsuba and Hitoha get trapped in the gym storage shed when a game of cops and robbers goes astray.
And then later on in Zouryouchuu episode six, they wind up being in their home's bathroom after Mitsuba crash lands on their side's doorknob while their dad's out cold from drinking too much.
Missing Mom — Nothing is ever said of where the triplets' mother is.
Mistaken for Index — Misunderstanding-based comedy is a staple of the series. It's rare to see an episode/chapter where someone doesn't get the wrong idea at some point.
Mistaken for Cheating — Nipples learning to backflip thanks to Futaba, coupled with some vague language, makes Yabe think there's a sexy love triangle going on.
Miku's obsession with knocking Mitsuba down a peg often results in looking like a different kind of obsession from a third (or even Mitsuba's) perspective.
And later Miku eating the cookie crumbs off Sakiko.
Nightmare Face — Take Hitoha's book away from her, and you get one of these. Or try to stop her from doing something she wants to do (such as play with Nipples).
No Name Given — Miyashita is the only major student in the class who's never given anything beyond a last name. A handful of background characters get the same treatment (like Amikawa, that girl with the really shiny forehead).
Nonstandard Character Design — Soujirou Marui is drawn in a much rougher art style with thicker lines compared to everyone else on the show.
Also Yuki's dad is drawn in the same fashion.
Also there's that kid whose face looks like a dog and his mother.
Not Allowed to Grow Up — There are several stories that feature the same yearly holiday (usually Valentine's Day and Christmas), yet the kids are always in sixth grade.
The Not Secret — When Miku is trying to find Mitsuba's weakness, she goes straight for the Goofy Print Underwear. Which doesn't work, since the entire class knows about it already, to the surprise of Miku and Mitsuba.
Ominous Latin Chanting — Hitoha walking up the steps to see Nipples is a call for the angelic choir and slow motion. She can be pretty scary when she's mad.
Only Sane Man — Miyashita believes herself to be the only normal one in the class, but her attempts at doing so make everyone think she's the weird one. Shinya is probably the closest to the role.
Though as of Zouryouchuu she can be officially be considered as this. Unless she's trying to befriend Hitoha.
Onmyoji — Sakiko Matusoka, junior occult fan and Hitoha fangirl. She's convinced that Hitoha is one herself, and wants to join her in spirit-busting.
Overprotective Dad — Soujirou loses his cool if there's even the slightest hint that a boy is getting close to one of the triplets (though he makes an exception for Shinya).
Panty Shot — Futaba does it willingly to Shinya, with no shame whatsoever. This gets the idea in the school that letting Shinya see one's panties means he'll date them. Though it's hardly the only time panties are used for humor.
If you pay attention, you'll notice that, for all the panty jokes and seeing panties being tossed around, we never see a traditional up-the-skirt style panty shot.
Panty Thief — Yuudai willingly, Shinya by accident. Futaba to her own sisters.
Futaba literally stole them off of Miku once.
Papa Wolf — For as much as Soujirou is a bumbling dad, if he thinks anyone is messing with his daughters, he gets serious and scary. Suddenly it's clear from who Hitoha inherited her Nightmare Face, Futaba her Super Strength, and Mitsuba her protectiveness.
Paper-Thin Disguise — Miyashita let her hair down and no one recognized her, but when she put hair pins in...
Pet the Dog — Hitoha is manipulative, scary and cruel to almost everybody. But she does care for Nipples (and later, the cat), so there's some compassion in her.
Despite she is cruel and manipulative to Yabe, deep down, Hitoha cares for him.
Unfortunately, everytime she shows compassion to him, he thinks the wrong idea from her.
She is also surprisingly mild toward Sakiko, who she seems to have taken a bit of a liking to.
She actually hates her (Especially when Sakiko spoils her Gachiranger moment in ep 7 and burns her Gachi Red photograph in Zouryouchuu ep 2.) but does not show it out of courtesy.
This is subverted in Chapter 221 of the manga in which it seems that she has come to care about her, such as when Hitoha called her "Sacchan" when Matsuoka was blank and later becomes embarrassed for doing it so.
Porn Stash — Yabe has one out in the open, but then it is his apartment. He just wasn't expecting Hitoha to make a duplicate key and break in...and that's not even saying anything about Hitoha's massive stash. Yabe's stash turns out to be Futaba's undoing in the cockroach-smashing episode.
Potty Emergency — Episode 2-6, when the girls eat bad oranges and Mitsuba refuses to let them in.
Precision F-Strike — Hitoha towards Mitsuba, sometimes calling her a *** pig.
Something Completely Different — Episode 1 of Zouryouchuu! is an episode of Gachiranger, only occasionally cutting back to the Marui triplets.
Call Back — In the ending, Miyashita is dressed up in the uniform and Transformation Trinket belt like the others as Gachi Green. As Hitoha is quick to point out, "there is no Gachi Green".
The Danza/Theme Naming — Every member of the Gachiranger is named after their voice actor. Such as Red, named Hiro, who is voiced by Hiro Shimono.
Sound Effect Bleep — When Hitoha calls Mitsuba a "*** pig," the asteriked word is represented as pig noises.
Special Edition Title — Episode four of Zouryouchuu! ends with a version of "Nearer My God to Thee" sung by the Marui triplets, played over stained glass windows depicting the events of the last sketch. Hitoha breaks the screen at the end, furious.
Hitoha: Don't make endings where I die.
In episode 1-7 (and only episode 1-7 for some reason), the opening has sound effects added for events such as Futaba breaking things, people popping up from the sides of the screen, and Yuudai getting a Nose Bleed.
Episode 1-9 with Futaba ice-sliding to Blue Danube.
Super Window Jump — Futaba leaps out a fourth story window to retrieve her dad's picture, much to the surprise of Shinya's fangirls.
Talking With Signs — Futaba, temporarily after losing her voice in episode 7 of Zouryouchuu!
Teacher/Student Romance — Hitoha wanting to apologize to Yabe about insulting his love of Gachiranger leads to Yuki assuming that Hitoha's a Stalker with a Crush. Yet it's Yuki herself who makes Yabe actually think that when he walks in at the wrong moment.
Hitoha and Yabe's being (or accidentally getting) unusually close is also reiterated throughout the show, even though there is no apparent sign of romantic attraction. The main example is Hitoha spending her entire time in the school under Yabe's desk, both in the classroom and in the teachers' room. Other examples include Hitoha helping Matsuoka undress Yabe, Hitoha seemingly allowing Yabe to feel her "breast tumor", Hitoha having Yabe's home phone number and calling him over, and the continuation of the misunderstanding about Gachiranger (climaxing with Hitoha clenching Yabe's hand to tell him she loves them).
This only happens in the anime, since their relationship is slightly distant in the manga.
Theme Triplet Naming — The sisters' names go [number]-[kanji for leaf], starting from three and working down to one.
Thirteen Episode Anime — The first season. Zouryouchuu! takes it even further, consisting of only eight episodes.
Throw the Dog a Bone — Episode 13 is the first time Mitsuba does something selfless that doesn't come back to bite her in the butt.
The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter — Though Soujirou apparently let his age get to him, with his current looks, it's hard to believe the triplets are related to him at all.
Unfortunate Names — The class hamster, named Nipples. Which leads to a scene long Innocent Innuendo where Kuriyama-sensei gets some very wrong ideas.
Miku's mom seems to border on this at the thought of being abused.
Yank The Dog's Chain — Mitsuba finally gets some genuine fans when she twists the definition of "nympho" to suit her own ends, but has to distance herself when she learns that might have consequences.
Yuri Fan — At least two of the three sisters. Hitoha's book seems to be full of this and Futaba's a fan of breasts and yuri.
Yuki also appears to be in favor of the idea of Miku liking Mitsuba. Or Miyashita liking Hitoha.
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