Manga / Ojojojo

Haru Jigokumeguri, within a week of moving to yet another new high school, becomes isolated from her classmates yet again due to her arrogant behavior. A lifetime of being brought up as the daughter of the head of a powerful conglomerate has caused her to act unpleasant towards the "commoners" she tries to converse with. As a result, she has never had a single, genuine friend in her life.

With no one else to talk to, Haru decides to dump her self-centered musings onto Tsurezure Kawayanagi, the resident weirdo known for his odd fashion sense and his quiet, emotionless demeanor. Being both somewhat socially awkward in their own different ways, they somehow begin an unexpected friendship.

Ojojojo is a slice-of-life comedy written by Cool-Kyou Shinsha^{Literal Translation}"A believer in the religion of Cool", centered around Haru Jigokumeguri and the small circle of True Companions she gains throughout the story. The manga is drawn in a Yonkoma format where the interactions among the characters become a steady source of humor and some very heartwarming moments. In North America the manga is licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment.

Compare I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying, another Odd Couple series from the same author, except with a married couple. Not to be confused, confounded, or compared with Mojo Jojo, the evil villainous bad guy whose name sounds like the title of the foreign Japanese comic that this online internet page describes above and lists tropes it contains below. Also not a spin-off of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

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This series contains examples of:

• The Ace: Chris is smart, athletic, and far more socially aware than Haru. His only flaw is his arrogance.
• A-Cup Angst: In chapter 8, Akane requests that Haru share some of that with the "commoners". Then she says she's going to start the breast rebellion.
• Adaptation Decay: At one point, Haru has her father finance the anime adaptation of a manga that Akane showed her, only for both of them to be disappointed when it doesn't capture the feel of the original work.
• Alpha Bitch: Subverted. Haru tries to gain everybody's affection with her wealth and status, but her arrogant personality turns them all away very quickly. As a result, she had to constantly change schools before the story started.
• Animal Motifs: In chapter 44, the characters discuss what kind of animal would they be. Tsurezure is compared to a cat, with his aloof and emotionless demeanor and even cat-like appearance.
• Arranged Marriage: When Haru's father gives her a week to choose a suitor, she accepts despite not being happy about it at all (he explicitly told her that she didn't have to go through with it if she didn't want to, but she felt that she had to so she wouldn't let him down). When she changes her mind and refuses, he accepts her decision without any hesitation.
• The Atoner: Akane's motivation for befriending Haru was to ease her guilt over ignoring her when she was lonely in middle school.
• Babies Ever After: The epilogue shows that Haru and Tsurezure have a child together.
• Badasses Wear Bandanas: Tsurezure is almost always seen wearing a bandanna and is a former child assassin (though he didn't get the bandanna until the latter part stopped applying.)
• Bathroom Stall of Angst: During a flashback, Haru went to a public bathroom to cry after alienating herself from her middle school classmates with her Rich Bitch attitude again. Akane heard her, but didn't reach out to her until they met again in high school (a fact that she deeply regrets).
• Becoming the Mask: Originally, Haru's condescending attitude was just a way to hide from the pain of her original friends leaving her due to her social status, but over time it became so ingrained in her personality that she can't stop acting that way, even if she wants to.
• Beta Couple: Chris and Akane. They eventually start dating in the final quarter of the series.
• Big Eater: When invited to a high class party by Haru's father, Tsurezure ate all the food. All of it.
• Birthday Episode: In Chapter 10, Haru becomes jealous when Tsurezure and Akane refuse to invite her to their outing in the city. After following them around all day, she learns that they were trying to pick out the right birthday present for her. Haru is very touched by their gesture, since it's the first time she's received such a meaningful gift.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Aki acts like a sweet little sister for Haru, but she just wants to take her place as heiress. Though her motivations are far more altruistic than they appear at first glance.
• Born in the Wrong Century: Tsurezure has been noted to act like he's from the 1950's in regards to his tastes in clothing, music, ect...
• The Butler Did It: Guess who admits to taking away the missing photograph from Haru's photo album? That's right, it was Gramps, or so he claims. It turns out that Akane was the one who actually stole it.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Haru is complimented for her "nice figure" for her age, and her friend Akane is envious of due to her own A-Cup Angst.
• The Cameo:
  • Haru has a stuffed animal version of Cool-Kyou Shinsha's hentai Author Avatar in chapter 2.
  • Kobayashi from Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid appears in chapter 24.
  • Akane has a poster for Yuki (a recurring musician in The 'Verse) hung up in her room in chapter 27.
  • In chapter 43.5, Ai Samura (the little girl from I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying) got third place in the golf tournament.
  • The epilogue shows that Akane ended up attending the same college as Chintarou (Chichi Chichi) and Mizuchi (Mononoke Sharing).
• Cannot Spit It Out:
  • Every time Haru makes an effort to say something genuinely nice or sincere to Tsurezure, she reflexively twists her words into something condescending. She gets a little better about it over time. Best exemplified when she had to basically scream at herself just to confess to Tsurezure, and even then she had to phrase it in the most condescending way just to get the words out.
    Say it... say it... say it... say it... say it! SAY IT!!
  • Downplayed for Akane. She isn't ready to tell Chris that she's in love with him, but she can admit it to Haru.
• Cassandra Truth: When Haru calls Tsurezure's house to try and find him, she introduces herself as his girlfriend. His older sister assumes it's a prank call and hangs up.
• Chastity Couple: Haru and Tsurezure. It took them several weeks to reach the Holding Hands phase, and even longer to reach First-Name Basis. Both of them want to go further, but their nervousness makes it incredibly difficult. Akane even lampshades how slow they're taking when reading a magazine article on getting a boyfriend. That said, they are shown to have a kid in the epilogue.
• Christmas Episode: Chapter 48 takes place during Christmas. Haru invites everyone at school for a Christmas Party at her family's mansion.
• Clark Kent Outfit: Chapter 45 reveals that Gramps is incredibly muscular under his suit.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Best friend or not, Haru didn't enjoy Akane's joke about Tsurezure cheating on her in chapter 34.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Tsurezure dresses up in old fashioned clothing, rarely talks, and spends most of his free time starring at the clouds. Known by most of the class as "the weirdo".
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Haru is a contrast to both Rino Juse and Shuri Komori from I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying and Komori San Cant Decline, respectively. Like Rino, Haru is the heiress to a wealthy family, but unlike the Tsundere, Womanchild Rino, Haru is a Rich Bitch who has a Friendless Background due to her initial arrogant, haughty personality, traits that her predecessor do not posses. To Shuri, both are high school students, though unlike Shuri who is an Extreme Doormat and is a Nice Girl who finds friends easily, Haru is haughty and arrogant to others through her wealth and status, leading to others turning away from her very quickly, resulting in her friendlessness that forced her to move to various schools.
• Cool Big Sis:
  • Tsurezure's elder sister Makuro is the one who initially tried to get him to open up, and is responsible for his trademark bandanna and his love of Rakugo.
  • Haru thought she was this to Aki, but severe Motive Decay on Aki's part turned their relationship into a Sibling Rivalry without her noticing.
• Cry into Chest: Haru cries into Akane's chest when they reconcile in chapter 28. Of course, since Haru is at least a foot taller than Akane, she was only able to do so after she fell to her knees. In something of a variation, Akane was crying just as hard as Haru was.
• Cute Little Fangs: Haru, although it's only noticeable when she opens her mouth really wide.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Implied for Tsurezure. Chapter 43 reveals that his birth certificate is fake and in chapter 44 the art shifts COMPLETELY to black when Haru states that she intends to look into his past.^note  they were talking about what kind of animal each character represents.It's later revealed that he is a former Child Soldier who was raised as an assassin.
• A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 49 is a Whole Episode Flashback told from the perspective of Tsurezure's older sister Makuro.
• Distaff Counterpart: Granny, Chris' caretaker, is just as snarky towards his self-centered antics as Gramps is toward Haru.
• Dude, She's Like in a Coma: Subverted in chapter 36. Haru spontaneously kissed Tsurezure while he was taking a nap during lunch and felt incredibly guilty about it. Then it turns out that he woke up the second she started and wasn't bothered by it.
• Elopement: Attempted by Haru and Tsurezure near the end of the series after the latter's status as a former child assassin is leaked to the public, though Tsurezure decides that it's a bad idea and they both head home. It also comes up again in the final bonus chapter when Haru has to beat her father in a golf game to earn his blessing for her marriage and he quietly mentions to Gramps that he's planning on giving it to her regardless of the outcome of the match because he knows she'd just elope again.
• Foreign Exchange Student: Chris Portman, an heir born to a British noble family, transfers to the school in Chapter 20. As one of Haru's suitors, he originally came to Japan for a marriage interview but didn't take it well when she refused to have the arranged marriage.
• Foreshadowing: Akane looks ashamed and quietly says "sorry" when Haru lists having such wonderful friends as one of her good points. She also says that "it would have been to painful to bear" when asked why she didn't ignore Haru like everyone else did at first. We later find out that she's The Atoner because she didn't reach out to Haru when they were in middle school.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Haru and Akane were actually in the same class in middle school for a week, but they never talked to each other. When this happens again in high school, Akane becomes Haru's friend as a chance to make up for her mistake of never reaching out to Haru. The guilt of not telling her that they already met slowly eats away at her.
• Friendless Background: Haru spent over a decade of her childhood isolated from her peers due to her Rich Bitch personality (which resulted in a viscous cycle of her becoming even more self-centered as a coping mechanism only for it to isolate her even further). It's only by sheer chance that she ends up in the same class as a boy who is desperate enough for conversation and patient enough to put up with her self-centered ramblings that she manages to make friends, shed her arrogant persona, and find love (not necessarily in that order).
• The Gadfly: Gramps loves to tease Haru, and on several occasions withholds information about what her friends are doing because it's more interesting to see her get worked up over nothing.
• Hair Antennae: Two strands of hair stick out of Akane's hair bun. They fit her personality type — she's the most upbeat, outgoing character out of the entire cast.
• Height Angst: Tsurezure, although it's only ever brought up once. Not helped by the fact that he hangs out with and later dates a girl that's almost a foot taller than him.
• Holding Hands: Haru and Tsurezure hold hands for the first time at the in chapter 20. It should be noted that they had already been a couple for several weeks.
• Hopeless Suitor: Chris Portman could have been Haru's perfect match, if she hadn't already undergone character development and wasn't in a relationship with Tsurezure.
• Huge Girl, Tiny Guy: A thirty-centimeter difference between the two.
• I Hate Past Me: Haru has always been disgusted with how she used to act before she met Tsurezure and Akane. It just takes her a while to say it out loud.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: The entire reason Haru acted the way she did was a combination of desiring friends and a desire to Never Be Hurt Again, even though she was fully aware that such behavior was not only counter-productive, but flat-out destructive. While she does make real friends, each of them had an ulterior motive for befriending her at first: Tsurezure loves conversation and she's the only one who will talk to him, Akane befriended her out of a sense of guilt for past inaction, and Chris tried to get close to her to get her back into their Arranged Marriage.
• Indirect Kiss: Parodied. Haru wonders if Tsurezure reading a book she read counts as an indirect touch. Also, the article she wanted him to read was about kissing.
• Insecure Love Interest: Played for Laughs when Tsurezure tries Meditating Under a Waterfall because he doesn't feel that he's handsome enough to be Haru's boyfriend.
• Insult of Endearment: Haru always refers to her friends and classmates (especially Tsurezure) as "commoners". Becomes an affectionate nickname after she slowly grows attached to friends.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: Haru has a brief conversation with Tsurezure, who replies to all of her brief word fragments with "Mm". They understand each other completely, to Akane's disbelief.
• Interclass Friendship: Haru is best friends with the middle class Akane. Due to Haru having worn the mask of being a Rich Bitch since elementary school, she occasionally refers to Akane as "commoner" by reflex.
• Irony: In the epilogue, Tsurezure (who was raised to be an assassin) ends up using those very same skills to become a bodyguard (someone whose job is to keep people from dying).
• Last-Name Basis:
  • With the exception of Chris, everyone is referred to by their last name. Haru and Tsurezure don't switch to First-Name Basis until chapter 29.
  • In the case of Chris, this was a mistake because he introduced himself as "Chris Portman," where normal Japanese order would have it as "Portman Chris." Akane is especially annoyed that she's been calling him by his first name all this time.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In Chapter 20, Akane holds her narrative speech bubbles on a stick as she recaps the events of the previous chapter.
  Haru: What are you doing?
  Akane: My job?
• Lethal Chef: Haru is a downplayed example. Her food isn't bad (if a little overcooked), but fire has a habit of showing up in large quantities whenever she tries cooking.
  Gramps: [After handing Haru a fire extinguisher] Also, should I call the firefighters in advance?
• Lonely Rich Kid: Haru was like this for most of her life due to her original friends shunning her for her social status. It played a major role in why she acts the way she does.
• Lovable Alpha Bitch: Haru eventually becomes one post Character Development. Her friends spend all of chapter 21 proving this to the rest of the class.
• Love Confession:
  • Haru finally musters up the courage to confess her feelings to Tsurezure after resolving not to go through with the arranged marriage that her father wanted for her. His response? "Yeah. Please do."
  • Chris gives a rather casual confession to Akane after telling her about Tsurezure's past as an assassin.
• Love Epiphany: Haru realized she was in love with Tsurezure when her father told her she was going to have an arranged marriage (or at the very least, it served as the catalyst for her to confess). Later on, Akane tells Haru that she realized she was in love with Chris when he came to see her during her Heroic BSoD.
• Marry for Love: Downplayed. Haru rejected the list of potential husbands that her father had given her so she could confess to Tsurezure, and he accepted her answer without question since her happiness is more important to him than seeing that she gets married. Bonus points for the fact that it was also the trigger for her Love Epiphany.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Haru's last name, Jigokumeguri, translates to "Tour of Hells". It's a reference to the Hells of Beppu, hotsprings that are used for viewing rather than bathing due to their intense heat. Just like the hells, people refused to interact with Haru because of her harsh personality.
  • Tsurezure basically translates to "lost in thought" or "idleness", which sums up his personality perfectly.
• Meditating Under a Waterfall:
  • Tsurezure does this in chapter 23 in an attempt to become a person worthy of being Haru's boyfriend. He somehow attains enlightenment.
  • Chris ends up at the same waterfall Tsurezure was at in chapter 23's omake. He also attains enlightenment.
• Meet the In-Laws: Haru met Tsurezure's mother and older sister in chapter 30 (although she was actually there to tutor him). She had talked to his older sister on the phone beforehand but they had assumed it was a prank call. Played for laughs when Haru's father asks her to introduce him the Tsurezure despite the fact that they already met before the Relationship Upgrade.
• Odd Couple: Bystanders frequently comment on how strange it is for elegant, wealthy Haru to be friends with weird, quiet Tsurezure. Becomes a case of Opposites Attract when they start going out with each other.
• Official Couple: Haru and Tsurezure. A cameo in Komori-san Can't Decline! implies that they got married after dating for four years.
• Ojou: Haru. It's right there in the title. She even does a stereotypical Noblewoman's Laugh at one point.
• One-Word Title: Also a Protagonist Title as, although it looks like a Word Purée Title at first, it refers to Haru and her steady character development. "Ojo" means "princess", while "jojo" roughly translates to "gradually" or "little by little".
• Oral Fixation: Tsurezure always has a twig sticking out of his mouth.
• Parents as People: Mr. Jigokumeguri does want to be a good parent to his daughters and respects their decisions if they clash with his own, but the choices he makes end up having disastrous consequences, whether it be setting Haru up for an Arranged Marriage, set her up as heiress when she's only a child, or letting Aki compete for the position.
• Playful Cat Smile: In chapter 21.1, Haru of all people does this when she realizes that Akane has a crush on Chris.
• Protagonist Title: The title, which looks like a Word Purée Title at first, refers to Haru and her steady character development. "Ojo" means "princess", while "jojo" roughly translates to "gradually" or "little by little".
• The Quiet One: Though he enjoys conversing to people, Tsurezure is so quiet because he's no good at starting conversations, and the few people he's talked to never talk to him again. He slowly opens up to Haru after enjoying (and admiring) the self-centered conversations she makes with him.
• Reflectionless Useless Eyes: Tsurezure most of the time, showing his stoic nature. Based on his backstory, they may also be Empty Eyes.
• Rejecting the Inheritance: At the end of the series, Haru passes on inheriting her family's business empire and lets her little sister have it instead since they started getting bad PR once the fact that Tsurezure was a former child assassin became public knowledge. She ends up founding her own company (with the same name), which would end up being the employer of Kobayashi in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.
• Retired Badass: Tsurezure is a former assassin.
• Rich Bitch: Haru is a deconstruction. Because of her incredibly snobby attitude, she's alienated herself from everyone around her and constantly has to transfer schools. The worst part is that she only adopted that persona because her original friends refused to associate with her because of her status. She does slowly get better as the manga progresses, but she's still calls her friends commoners out of force of habit (much to her own frustration).
• Running Away to Cry: During a flashback, Haru went to a public bathroom to cry after alienating herself from her middle school classmates with her Rich Bitch attitude again. Akane heard her, but didn't reach out to her until they met again in high school (a fact that she deeply regrets).
• Servile Snarker: Gramps, Haru's butler, who likes to make sarcastic comments at the least opportune times, but serves faithfully nonetheless.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Akane Tendou very much wants Haru and Tsurezure to get together. When they finally do, she takes great pleasure in watching the two of them do things together. Haru's sister and father also seem to approve of their relationship (the former even takes to calling Tsurezure "brother").
  • Haru tries to hook Akane and Chris up with each other in return for Akane's help with bonding with Tsurezure.
• Shipper with an Agenda: Akane wanted to hook Haru up with Tsurezure because it would ease her guilt over not reaching out to Haru in middle school.
• Shout-Out: Popuko and Pipimi appear on the golf tournament banner in chapter 43.5.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: The Jigokumeguri sisters are complete opposites in how they act and how they really are. Haru is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who has been acting stuck up as a defense mechanism for so long that she's can't stop despite wanting to be nice. Aki is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who would like nothing more than to dig up dirt on Haru and take her place as heiress. The only thing they have in common is their complete failure to act on their real intentions (Haru ends up reflexively acting like a Rich Bitch whenever she tries to be nice and Aki's attempts to drive Haru and Tsurezure apart bring them closer together).
• Ski-Resort Episode: Chapter 47 focuses on a class trip to a ski resort. Around half of the chapter has Haru reflecting on her Character Development over the course of the series.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Haru started off as a nice kid, but after being shunned by her envious elementary school classmates for her social status, she started acting arrogant to gain attention, even if it would also mean being hated by everyone. She acted like this for so long that the conceit became deeply rooted into her personality.
• The Stoic: Tsurezure constantly wears an aloof, emotionless expression on his face.
• Token Rich Student: Haru transferred schools every couple of weeks ever since she was a child due to her Rich Bitch attitude alienating her from her classmates. Why she never attended a private school with her social peers (which would circumnavigate the problem) is never explained. Chris (the son of a British noble) transfers into the school later in the series, though he is at least justified by the fact that he specifically transferred in to try and get Haru to agree to an Arranged Marriage.
• Tsundere: Haru, due to her Rich Bitch attitude getting in the way of her attempts to be nice. Her friends even list it as one of her good points.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Pretty much all of Haru and Aki's problems can be traced back to when their father first started to train Haru to be the family heir.
• Uptown Girl:
  • Haru is the heiress to the Jigokumeguri zaibatsu. Tsurezure is upper middle class at best. People comment on how weird it is, but nobody seems to have a problem with it (Haru's father even seems to be a Shipper on Deck).
  • Gender-Inverted with Akane (same social status as Tsurezure) and Chris (British noble).
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: The entire Arranged Marriage fiasco was caused by Haru's inability to turn down her father (even though he told her she didn't have to go through with it if she didn't want to).
• When He Smiles:
  • After Haru tells Tsurezure her backstory, he shows her an absolutely stunning smile (that he'd been practicing for weeks) to cheer her up. She's so stunned by it that she begs him to do it again.
  • During Haru and Tsurezure's first date they end up going to a Rakugo show. Haru notices Tsurezure smiling during the performance — the first time she's ever seen him smile — which utterly stuns her.
  • Haru gives a brilliant smile after saying she isn't angry at Akane for lying about their Forgotten First Meeting.
• Word Purée Title: That's what the title looks like at first, having 'jo' repeated thrice, but it's actually a Character Title that refers to Haru and her steady character development. "Ojo" means "princess", while "jojo" roughly translates to "gradually" or "little by little".

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