History Manga / PrivateActress

* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Shiho actually ''[[InvokedTrope invokes]]'' this trope on [[spoiler: CutePsycho Satoka, traumatising her so badly in an incident involving fire and the setting of a movie that Satoka mentally reverts to a child-like state, unable to remember any recent events. This is seen as an alternative to ''killing'' her: Shiho's last "client" ask her to punish Satoka for [[DrivenToSuicide causing the death of his girlfriend]], which he had been trying to do until he was fataly wounded by Satoka herself, and Shiho felt that this was the best course of action against a SerialKiller EnfanteTerrible like her.]]

* TraumaInducedAmnesia: [[spoiler: Kana/Satoka collapses mentally and goes through this after Shiho's punishment]]

* PsychicPowers: In an otherwise SliceOfLife manga, some people that Shiho met turn out to have such abilities: [[spoiler: the stage magician Takanori]] ({{telekinesis}}) and "Johannes" [[spoiler: aka Masaomi Hanamura]] ([[{{seers}} precognition]], [[{{telepathy}} mind reading]])

* [[spoiler: EarnYourHappyEnding: Shiho finally earns her own place in entertainement, and her parents are able to get married few later. And ''then'', Tomoomi [[TheBusCameBack returns to her side]].]]

* [[spoiler: SplitPersonality: As a child, Yuuto Tanabe was sexually abused by his uncle and ParentalSubstitute. As a result, he created a personality named "Shuuto" that dealed with extreme anger issues coming from the abuse, and under his influence he [[TheDogBitesBack burned his uncle's house]]. From then on, "Shuuto" and the original Yuuto co-existed more or less in peace as he grew into a MrFanservice -- until Yuuto took control back and fell in love with GirlNextDoor Kana, causing "Shuuto" to snap, [[SplitPersonalityTakeover fully take over]] and try hiring Shiho to get Yuuto's girlfriend away. And ''then'' it turns out there's a ''third'' personality, "Satoru", who has been lying dormant ''underneath'' the two, but wants to get this mess resolved...]]

* BathSuicide: How Misaki killed herself.

* YourDaysAreNumbered: Several chapters of the manga involve people whose lives are almost finished, and somone close to such persons hires Shiho to deal with them.

** Kana/[[Satoka]] is this too.

* NeverGotToSayGoodbye: [[spoiler: When Shiho was a little girl, she was initially raised by her maternal grandmother. At some point they had a fight and Shiho thre a tantrum and ran from home to an arcade. That same day her granny had a heart attack, collapsed and ultimately died in the hospital.]]

* NeverGotToSayGoodBye: [[spoiler: When Shiho was a little girl, she was initially raised by her maternal grandmother. At some point they had a fight and Shiho thre a tantrum and ran from home to an arcade. That same day her granny had a heart attack, collapsed and ultimately died in the hospital.]]

* NeverGotToSaygoodbye: [[spoiler: When Shiho was a little girl, she was initially raised by her maternal grandmother. At some point they had a fight and Shiho thre a tantrum and ran from home to an arcade. That same day her granny had a heart attack, collapsed and ultimately died in the hospital.]]

* LightFeminineandDarkFeminine: Sayuri Nagasawa is the Light, Ruriko Daichi is the Dark. [[spoiler: Shiho and Kana/Satoka as well.]]

** Finally, [[spoiler: the legal wife of Shiho's father is not just TheOphelia, but this as well. Shiho implies that Mrs. Ogata is so frail in all senses that this is the biggest reason why she and Ogata wouldn't get divorced despite their marriage being over for years.]]having been

** [[spoiler: Naoya, Shiho's first client, was raised solely by his mother.]]\\

** Both genderflipped and PlayedForDrama with [[spoiler: Naoya Koshiba, Shiho's first client. He had hemophilia and then contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion; Shiho was hired by his mom to date Naoya so he'd recover of his massive and understandable depression over being lethally ill, but [[FirstLove she fell for him]] [[BecomingTheMask for real]]. And since they briefly met the year before [[MeetCute by accident]], she already kinda had a thing for him.]]

* FanDisservice: Shiho once unbuttons her shirt... [[spoiler: to show a HUGE ASS SCAR on her torso. (Which thankfully is a false one).]]\\
\\
In chapter 24 we see a very pretty woman in a night gown that has quite the cleavage. [[spoiler: Too bad the poor girl is Misaki, who's having a mighty mental breakdown that includes her popping pills, having a RageAgainstTheReflection moment, drawing a cross on the wall in her own blood, and then commiting a BathSuicide.]]

* HeroicBastard: [[spoiler: Shiho was born from an affair between Sayuri and an already married veteran actor, Masakazu Ogata. Shiho is very aware of it, and this is one of the reasons why she didn't go into stardom from the very start: she doesn't want anyone to learn about her origins.]] This makes things '''super''' awkward when, in the second story, [[spoiler: she is hired by none other than ''her half-brother Kyousuke'', who is LockedOutOfTheLoop [[note]](he knows his dad is a womanizer but NOT that he had an illegitimate child)[[/note]], to pass as his girlfriend.]]\\
\\
[[spoiler: Naoya, Shiho's first client, was raised solely by his mother.]]\\
\\
[[spoiler: Shiho pretty much takes Mariko Soriarno under her wing after they meet, but gets even more involved in her cause when she learns Mariko is the illegitimate kid of the rich entrepreneur that her Filipina mother was TheMistress to, and has come to Japan [[WelldoneSonGuy to attend a specific audition and have him watch her perform]].]]

* IllGirl: Subverted: Shiho is not sickly, but pretends to be so people won't suspect her when she takes time off school to work. [[spoiler: Genderflipped by Kouichi Kuwabara... who [[WoundedGazelleGambit uses this to his advantage]]: he ''is'' ill, but his illness is less serious than he makes it look.]] \\
\\
Played straight by Kyouko Itou, Shiho and Chie's school mate who hires Shiho to impersonate her since she's hospitalised and cannot go into a series of dates arranged beforehand with a pen-pal.\\
\\
Both genderflipped and PlayedForDrama with [[spoiler: Naoya Koshiba, Shiho's first client. He had hemophilia and then contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion; Shiho was hired by his mom to date Naoya so he'd recover of his massive and understandable depression over being lethally ill, but [[FirstLove she fell for him]] [[BecomingTheMask for real]]. And since they briefly met the year before [[MeetCute by accident]], she already kinda had a thing for him.]]\\
\\
Finally, [[spoiler: the legal wife of Shiho's father is not just TheOphelia, but this as well. Shiho implies that Mrs. Ogata is so frail in all senses that this is the biggest reason why she and Ogata wouldn't get divorced despite their marriage being over for years.]]having been * ItsPersonal: Several of Shiho's works have her getting emotionally involved with her clients and their motivations, specially if they have suffered painful losses in the past. Specially obvious in the cases related to [[spoiler: her nanny Makiko, Mariko Soriarno, and Yuuichirou Minamoto -- all of these people were deeply hurt and asked her to take up their cases, so Shiho works hard to do so.]]

* TheOphelia: [[spoiler: Masakazu Ogata's ''actual'' wife, who is shown as a quiet and sad lady who is often alone at her BigFancyHouse. Her son Kyousuke tells Shiho that she is "a little mentally unstable", implied to be a consequence of Ogata's constant womanizing. This is confirmed when, after seeing Shiho, Mrs. Ogata tries to kill herself; for worse, when Shiho and Kyosuke try to aid her, she mistakes her for Sayuri again and begins to insult and threaten her. (Though she later comes to her senses, realises the mistake and asks Shiho who she ''actually'' is.)]]\\
\\
Later, in the BoardingSchool two-parter, Ophelia the character becomes vital to [[spoiler: the confrontation between Shiho and the murderous AlphaBitch Kana Juumonji, who recite Hamlet lines to each other with Kana playing Ophelia so perfectly that she's still reciting her lines as she's taken away by the police, her deceit uncovered.]] [[spoiler: Kana/Satoka ''actually'' becomes this towards the end, after Shiho succesfully scares her into TraumaInducedAmnesia [[ItsPersonal as specific punishment]] for having caused the deaths of Misaki and later Yuuichiro's, aside of the people whose deaths she provoked before.]]

* PapaWolf: [[spoiler: At some point, Shiho-as-Miyu is attacked and beaten up by a thief who tries to steal Sendou's luggage. In comes a '''very''' angry Sendou, [[CurbStompBattle who knocks out the guy with a single punch]] ''despite being seriously ill and not expected to live for too long''.]] It's later discussed by Shiho and her agent, eith the latter telling Shiho "For his daughter, any father would do the same".\\
\\
Similarly, [[spoiler: when Mr. Sugiyama realises that "Miyuki" (Shiho acting as his dead daughter's reincarnation) might be at the mercy of the man he believes to be Miyuki's killer, he goes searching for her. And right on time -- Mizuhara the SerialKiller has Shiho-as-Miyuki as his target, and Sugiyama's BigDamnHeroes is vital to both save her and catch him.]]
* ParentWithNewParamour: Shiho is once hired to pretend being a PhonyPsychic to undo one of these situations -- the client wants to convince his very young, naive and somewhat spoiled daughter Konomi that, if her beloved MissingMom's spirit "approves" of him marrying Konomi's manager, she will approve of their marriage.\\
\\
Subverted later, however: [[spoiler: Shiho believes that Tomoomi is her mother's boyfriend but it turns out Sayuri is dating ''someone else'', and she hired Tomoomi to pose as her boyfriend to keep her actual lover's identity hidden.]]

* YourDaysAreNumbered: Several chapters of the manga involve people whose lives are almost finished, and somone close to such persons hires Shiho to deal with them.\\
\\
In the first chapter, [[spoiler: Ichima Sendou is a very rich businessman whose ex-wife and daughter were murdered in very strange circumstances years ago, and now he is fatally ill and still clings to the small hope that his daughter Miyu (whose body never was found) may be alive. His secretary Egawa hires Shiho to pretend that she is the returned Miyu, who looked almost exactly like a younger Shiho, so he will be happier in his last days...]]\\
\\
Also happens in the third chapter, where [[spoiler: IllBoy Kouichi Kuwabara would rather have everyone believe he's a cheating asshole than let them know he's dying of illness. [[SubvertedTrope Or that's what it seems]].]]\\
\\
And in chapter four, [[spoiler: a youg man named Matsumura hires Shiho to hold a fake wedding and make his aging and not too far from death mother happy. The catch is, Mrs. Matsumura is an actress too and a ''very'' famous one... Then things go FromBadToWorse.]]

-->"I am a Personal Actress. As long as someone is willing to pay for it, '''I can play any role'''."

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Shiho often changes hairstyles when the role requires it. [[spoiler: As a part of her complete re-invention, the light-haired Kana Juumonji cut her hair shorter, straightened and dyed it black to reappear as Satoka Ryoudo.]]

* BathSuicide: [[spoiler: How Misaki killed herself.]]

* BigScrewedUpFamily: [[spoiler: Then Hanamura clan, which Shiho's boyfriend Tomoomi is a member of. I.e, his father was extremely old so Tomoomi had nieces and nephews younger than himself, one of them being the FortuneTeller Masaomi/"Johannes" -- who resents Tomoomi for reasons of his own...]]

* DisappearedDad: [[spoiler: Shiho's father, as said below, was a famous actor named Masakazu Ogata, who's know for three things: his brilliant career, [[SilverFox his good looks]], ''and'' his [[TheCasanova womanizing]]. Shiho, raised only by her mom and then by her nanny Makiko, understandably has MANY issues related to him; and for his part, Ogata [[LockedOutofTheLoop is completely unaware of Shiho's existence]] until VERY late in the story.]]

* GenreSavvy: Tomoomi, who deduces how much of Shiho's attitude is purely acting and how much is true. The discovery [[OhCrap almost sends pooor Shiho into a panic.]]

[[spoiler: Shiho pretty much takes Mariko Soriarno under her wing after they meet, but gets even more involved in her cause when she learns Mariko is the illegitimate kid of the rich entrepreneur that her Filipina mother was TheMistress to.]]

Finally, [[spoiler: the legal wife of Shiho's father is not just TheOphelia, but this as well. Shiho implies that Mrs. Ogata is so frail in all senses that this is the biggest reason why she and Ogata wouldn't get divorced despite their marriage being over for years.]]
* ItsPersonal: Several of Shiho's works have her getting emotionally involved with her clients and their motivations, specially if they have suffered painful losses in the past. Specially obvious in the cases related to [[spoiler: her nanny Makiko, Mariko Soriarno, and Yuuichirou Minamoto -- all of these people were deeply hurt and asked her to take up their cases, so Shiho works hard to do so.]]

* LightFeminineandDarkFeminine: Sayuri Nagasawa is the Light, Ruriko Daichi is the Dark. [[spoiler: Kana/Satoka and Shiho as well.]]
* TheLostLenore: [[spoiler: Naoya Koshiba, for Shiho. Lampshaded when she tells Tomoomi about him and finished by saying that even when she does suncerely love Tomoomi, she'll never forget Naoya.]]

* NeverGotToSaygoodbye: [[spoiler: When shiho was a little girl, she was initially raised by her maternal grandmother. At some point they had a fight and Shiho ran from home to an arcade. That same day her granny had a heart attack, collapsed and died.]]

* TheOphelia: [[spoiler: Masakazu Ogata's ''actual'' wife, who is shown as a quiet and sad lady who is often alone at her BigFancyHouse. Kyousuke tells Shiho that she is "a little mentally unstable", implied to be a consequence of Ogata's constant womanizing. This is confirmed when, after seeing Shiho, Mrs. Ogata tries to kill herself; for worse, when Shiho and Kyosuke try to aid her, she mistakes her for Sayuri again and begins to insult and threaten her. (Though she later comes to her senses, realises the mistake and asks Shiho who she ''actually'' is.)]]\\

Similarly, [[spoiler: when Mr. Sugiyama realises that "Miyuki" (Shiho acting as his dead daughter's reincarnation) might be at the mercy of the man he believes to be her killer, he goes searching for her. And right on time -- Mizuhara the SerialKiller has Shiho-as-Miyuki as his target, and Sugiyama's BigDamnHeroes is vital to both save her and catch him.]]
* ParentWithNewParamour: Shiho is once hired to pretend being a PhonyPsychic to undo one of these situations -- the client wants to convince his very young, naive and spoiled daughter Konomi that, if her beloved MissingMom's spirit "approves" of him marrying Konomi's manager, she will approve of their marriage.\\

* {{Reincarnation}}: One of Shiho's jobs is centered on this concept. [[spoiler: Kozue Sugiyama hires her to pretend she's the reincarnation of her older sister Miyuki, who was murdered at age 7 and would be around the same age Shiho is, had she been reincarnated.]] This very unusual request comes from [[spoiler: Kozue and Miyuki's father being so traumatised by Miyuki's murder that he's been trapped in his pain for 16 years; Kozue wants him to recover and believes that if he thinks Miyuki has been reincarnated and lives happily, he'll start properly living again]]

* TheRival: [[spoiler: Kana Juumonji/Satoka Ryoudo]], to Shiho. Ruruko Daichi, to Sayuri Nagasawa.
* SailorFuku: Shiho's all-girls school has the ''fuku'' as its uniform, and sometimes Shiho goes out with her clients while wearing it.
* SecretKeeper: [[spoiler: An assymetric one -- Sendou ''did'' realise that Shiho wasn't the real Miyu (Miyu had a birthmark on her hand and Shiho lacked it), but didn't say anything since he appreciated how she kept him company in his last days. Shiho doesn't realise this until Egawa tells him his FamousLastWords: "Miyu is with me... ''now''."]] Shiho's work involves to be one of these too, helping her clients keep afloat lies for different reasons.

* YokoOhNo: An in-universe example: [[spoiler: Tomoomi is hired to pose as Sayuri's lover, and a bunch of Sayuri fanboys attack him. Shiho walks into this and quickly pulls a BigDamnHeroes by ''pretending she is her own mother'' to calm them down.]]

* [[spoiler: SplitPersonality: As a child, Yuuto Tanabe was sexually abused by his uncle and ParentalSubstitute. As a result, he created a personality named "Shuuto" that dealed with extreme anger issues coming from the abuse, and under his influence he [[TheDogBitesBack burned his uncle's house]]. From then on, "Shuuto" and reinvented himself into a big star, co-existing with Yuuto... until Yuuto took control back and fell in love with GirlNextDoor Kana, causing "Shuuto" to snap, [[SplitPersonalityTakeover fully take over]] and try hiring Shiho to get Yuuto's girlfriend away. And ''then'' it turns out there's a ''third'' personality, "Satoru", who has been lying dormant ''underneath'' the two, but wants to get this mess resolved...]]

In chapter 24 we see a very pretty woman in a night dress that has quite the cleavage. [[spoiler: Too bad the poor girl is Misaki, who's having a mighty breakdown that includes her popping pills, having a RageAgainstTheReflection moment followed by her drawing a cross in her own blood, and then her BathSuicide.]]

* GoodScarsEvilScars: [[spoiler:The reason why Shiho's mother stops acting.]] Additionally, towards the end we meet an aspirant actor named [[spoiler: Yuuichiro Minamoto]] who has one [[spoiler: on his wrist, coming from him trying to commit suicide to join his dead girlfriend Misaki.]]

[[spoiler: Naoya, Shiho's first client, was raised solely by his mother.]]

* ItsPersonal: Several of Shiho's works have her getting emotionally involved with her clients and their motivations, specially if they have suffered painful losses in the past. Specially obvious in [[spoiler: how she took the work of impersonating the dead HeroicBastard of a politician to ruin him, as revenge for his treatment of her nanny]], or in the last chapter - [[spoiler: when Yuuichiro dies and asks Shiho to punish Satoka for her role in the death of his girlfriend Misaki, Shiho takes it '''very''' seriously, to the point of traumatising Satoka for life.]]

''Private Actress'' is a manga by Creator/MichiyoAkaishi, author of ''Manga/TowaKamoShirenai'', among other titles. It had 31 chapters and was released in eight tomes. There's also ''Private Actress Tokubetsu-hen'', a collection of short stories.

* WhiteDwarfStarlet: [[spoiler:Shiho's mother ''almost'' turns into this]]. She actually relies more on her acting talent than her gorgeous looks, but [[spoiler:once she's scarred, it's very hard for her to keep up. (It's hinted at the end, however, that she might be able to recover her career by switching to stage acting.)]]. At the same time, her old rival Ruriko Daichi is absolutely ''terrified'' by the prospect of becoming one of these, which is what makes her become a LadyDrunk.

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Shiho often changes hairstyles when the role requires it. [[spoiler: As a part of her complete re-invention, the light-haired Kana Juumonji cut her hair shorter and dyed it black to reappear as Satoka Ryoudo.]]

* LightFeminineandDarkFeminine: Sayuri Nagasawa is the Light, Ruriko Daichi is the Dark.

* FanDisservice: Shiho once unbuttons her shirt... [[spoiler: to show a HUGE ASS SCAR on her torso. (Which thankfully is a false one).]]

And both genderflipped and PlayedForDrama with [[spoiler: Naoya Koshiba, Shiho's first client. He had hemophilia and then contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion; Shiho was hired by his mom to date Naoya so he'd recover of his massive and understandable depression over being lethally ill, but [[FirstLove she fell for him]] [[BecomingTheMask for real]]. And since they briefly met the year before [[MeetCute by accident]], she already kinda had a thing for him.]]

* MistakenForCheating: Happens in the third chapter. [[spoiler: A guy named Kouichi Kuwabara hires Shiho to pose as his lover to speed-up his divorce, therefore invoking the trope. Then Kouichi's sister-in-law Chie turns out to be one of Shiho's school mates and follows them - unaware that her ''sister'' is the one who actually has a lover. And then things get more and more convoluted.]]

* TheRival: [[spoiler: Kana Juumonji/Satoka Ryouda]], to Shiho.

* SerialKiller: [[spoiler: Kana Juumonji, [[EnfanteTerrible before turning 15]], had already caused several deaths.]] Also [[spoiler: Miyuki Sugiyama's killer, Dr. Mizuhara, a man with MisMatchedEyes who killed people (and specially girls) with similar characteristics; when he targets Shiho-as-Miyuki, she and Mr. Sugiyama manage to catch him.]]